Chapter Eleven

Reid frowned as he read the floating book. He had been staring at it for the past several minutes. Waving a hand, the page turned over in mid air. Over the years, he may have slacked off when it came to reading the Book of Damnation. There was always something better to be doing than be stuck down in the gloomy basement of Caleb's old family house.

When nothing jumped out at him straight away, his frustration got the better of him. With an annoyed sigh, he quickly waved his hand again. The book closed and floated back to the centre of the room, gliding over the hundreds of burning and semi melted candles that stood around the altar.

He knelt forward, leaning his elbows on his on his knees as he looked around the flame-engulfed altar. Tyler was yawning quietly on his seat as he absently swiped at his phone. The other two, Caleb and Pogue, was sat facing each other laughing over something Caleb said. None of them were really interested.

"Anything?" asked Tyler in a bored voice.

He had put his phone back in his pocket when he noticed Reid wasn't reading anymore.

"No," Reid replied.

"Like we said," Pogue yawned and stretched his back. "Probably just a fluke."

Reid let go of his frustrated breath his was holding and ran a hand over the back of his head, massage the knot in his neck. They didn't understand why it was bothering him so much. But if it happened once, what was the chance of it happening again?

"I know you want to know what happened. And maybe one of these will have an answer, but it would take us years to look through all these books," Caleb stated quietly. Looking at Reid, who tilted his head to stare back at him.

Around the cavernous rooms, was bookcase after bookcase full of old and decaying books. Handed down from each generation from the first colony of Ipswich, their ancestors.

"Yeah," Reid conceded quietly, letting his hand slip from his neck.

The three other guys in the room looked slightly relieved. Pogue clapped his hands and stood up with the rest of them.

"Let's go home, boys."

Caleb's eyes flamed and blacked as he stared at the altar. With everyone watching, the book floated back to its resting place in one of the many packed bookcases. With the book gone the candles burned out. Plunging the room into darkness. Following the only light that lit up the curved uneven stone staircase, they left the secret room behind.

"You heading back to school?" Tyler whispered to Reid as they walked quietly out of the ruined house.

Even though Caleb's father had passed, they still tip toed around the building. It had been used as a gathering place since the beginning. Though it has fallen into disrepair with the echo of it former glory slowly decaying away, it was really only used for two things now days.

One was for what they just did. The other was a lot different. The burnt out men in the family line would spend there last days within these walls, just like Caleb's father. Being close to the altar and the book, would ease some of the pain. Though it never stopped the evitable. Each of the Son's knew this was where they were going to end up. It was a sobering thought. But even that image couldn't bring Reid out of his thoughts.

"No," he replied just as quietly, while giving Caleb a quick look. Him and Pogue were already walking across the dark front garden towards the property fence where their cars were parked.

"I'm just going to visit someone," he added.

Tyler used all of his restraint to stop from rolling his eyes and sighing. Instead he followed his best friend out the house. Flaring his eyes as he glanced behind him, he used his power to close and lock the door as they both caught up with Caleb and Pogue.

"We'll drop you guys off first," Tyler said as they all stood next to the hummer.

Caleb and Pogue looked between Tyler and a stony faced Reid.

"Okay," Caleb shrugged.

Pogue was going to add something, when each of them felt something. It wasn't the first time Reid had felt someone use before. The main time was when Caleb was having a power smackdown with Chase. But none of them had used. So who was it?

Neither of them was expecting Gregory to attack. Before Eleanor could intervene, Gregory whipped his hand back. The air around his open hand shifted and blurred. Georgina heard a sizzling electric sound. Her eyes widened slightly as she instantly held her hands up in front of her. The energy orb flew through the air and collided into Georgina's shield. The shockwave rebounded off the invisible shield and hit both Gregory and Eleanor. Gregory maintained his balance but Eleanor ended up on the floor. The force of the attack sent waves of blue and purple light around her, blowing air through her damp hair.

She had perfected a shield many years ago when she grew tired of her Uncle lashing out at her. If he thought he could intimidate her, he could think again. Just as the sparks died, and Georgina looked back at Gregory who was ready to throw another orb, when she changed her stance. Eleanor must have saw something in Georgina's eyes because in that moment, when both sides were ready to unleash, she did something foolish.

"STOP!"

Screaming, she got up and put herself in between them. Gregory has already let go of his orb. His face went from ugly and vicious to a deathly white in half a second. Georgina watched in horror as the orb headed straight towards Eleanor's back. She disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. An instant later, the orb hit the person standing in the middle.

Eleanor didn't see the energy ball. All she saw was Georgina's wide eyes and then black smoke. Then she felt a body collide with hers. Landing painfully on the floor, she pushed against the wooden floor. Whoever had hit her was lying motionless on top of her back.

"Oh God," she heard Gregory say somewhere behind her. "I'm sorry."

Eleanor struggled under the dead weight. Twisting her torso, she managed to look at the scene around her. Georgina was lying on top of her legs, unconscious.

"Georgina?" Eleanor whispered.

Gregory, overcoming his reaction to her, gently pulled Georgina off the floored Eleanor and slowly put her on the chaise lounge. He heard the clacking of Eleanor's heels as she got up and came quickly to her side.

"What have you done?" she accused.

Her hair was messed and her clothes were untucked and disarrayed but her eyes were manic. She looked over the motionless Georgina. Her skin was a pale as ever and her eyes were closed. Looking at her chest, she could see that it was till moving. She was still breathing, nice and evenly. But there was a large bloody and messy patch of skin where her family's crest used to be burned.

"I didn't mean-," Gregory mumbled.

"It's done now," snapped Eleanor viciously. "Heal her."

Gregory paused and looked at Eleanor. He saw the tenderness in her eyes as she looked down at the unconscious Pendle witch. When he made no move to help, her fierce eyes locked on to his.

"Heal her."

Eleanor's voice was low and dangerous.

"You know I can't use that much power-"

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to use my sitting room as a battle arena. This was your mistake. Fix it."

While every member of Georgina's family has power, the other family's do not. Within the Ipswich family's rules, it is forbidden to use offensive magic within the vicinity of a female. They can't protect themselves. And while the broken law wasn't mentioned, it was heavily implied.

A Gregory held off for another tortured moment. Eleanor could see the battle with his thoughts in his mind. She understood what his problem was. But this, to her, was more important.

Gregory took a deep breath and moved closer to the still Georgina. He placed his hands gently over the bloody wound. Georgina's brow furrowed slightly from the contact.

"Gently," whispered Eleanor, cautiously.

"It's a soft as I can do it," replied Gregory, closing his eyes.

He felt the heat beneath his hands. He also felt the tacky slickness of her blood. Using his power, he could feel it being released into Georgina. Opening his eyes, he watched as the ruptured and charred skin started to mend. The blood was still smeared over her chest, but within a few moments, the electric burn that covered her chest, was gone.

Pulling back his power, he cut off the flow. Before he took his hands away he watched as his own skin on his hands, as aged and mottled as it was, got older. Eleanor too saw the small change, but she didn't say anything. She turned slightly and wet a nearly cloth with water from the table pitcher. Taking the damp cloth, she cleaned up the blood. It was too thick to see her skin underneath.

Taking the bloodied cloth away, Eleanor frowned. The new burn had healed. But the Pendle family crest remained unmarred on her porcelain skin. Gregory, who had been looking and rubbing the back of his hands, looked up and he too saw the scar.

"I don't understand," Gregory said softly, running a finger gently over the ugly burn. "It should have healed. In fact the others should have to."

They both looked at the other scars. Eleanor was sickened when she saw Georgina reveal them. And she had a feeling, the small patch they small on her chest, were just the tip of the iceberg.

"Unless whoever did them, didn't want them to be removed so easily," Eleanor replied softly.

Gregory watched on as an upset Eleanor affectionately smoothed down Georgina's dampened wild hair. He didn't know how he felt. Clearly what he knew about the Pendle family was wrong. And as much as Eleanor needed him, he just didn't know if he could stick around to find out the truth.