Covenant of Liars (Part 3)

[tenshinrtaiga]

Covenant of Liars
by tenshinrtaiga
Disclaimer: I don't own the Covenant or Pretty Little Liars
Primary Characters: Alison DiLaurentis, Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, Emily Fields, Hanna Marin, Chase Collins, Caleb Danvers, Pogue Parry, Reid Garwin, Tyler Simms.
Secondary Characters: Ezra Fitz, Wren Kingston, Samara Cook, Sarah Wenham, Kate Tunney, Caleb Rivers and more.
Pairings: canon pairings plus some Caleb D./Spencer, Aria/Reid, Alison/Chase
Author's Note - Much thanks to my artist dhfreak for the awesome art.




Summary: No one really knows how the Power came to be. Not even the Book of Damnation recorded its beginning. But those who mastered it have always been hunted. In the middle of the 17th Century, many escaped the brutal Witch-hunting in England and France by coming to America. As the brutal persecution of those with the Power spread throughout Massachusetts, the ten families of Ipswich (Danvers, Hastings, DiLaurentis, Putnam, Parry, Fields, Montgomery, Garwin, Simms and Marin) formed a Covenant of silence. And for 300 years it has kept them safe. Until now.

Alison, Caleb, Spencer, Pogue, Reid, Aria, Emily, Hanna and Tyler have to deal not only with their own high school drama, but the strange supernatural ones that keep popping up. And it doesn't help that the Covenant of silence is splitting at the seams as Spencer deals with her family, Caleb finds himself in love with someone else and Aria falls for her new teacher. And of course, further splitting the group, there's Alison and the girls as they try and secretly deal with That Jenna Thing.



“He made the shot, dickhead,” Tyler spat as he left Nicky’s and entered the back alleyway, Reid right behind him. “You bet him he couldn’t and he did.”

Noel smirked and got into the brunette’s face. “We ain’t paying you shit so if you don’t like it, why don’t you do something?”

“What’s the problem?” Caleb asked, interrupting Noel as he and Pogue stepped out into the back alley.

“None of your damn business!” Aaron replied back but Reid had no such interest in keeping Caleb out of the fight.

“He bet me I couldn’t make a combo shot and I did,” the blond explained, giving a telling smirk at Caleb over his shoulder.

The brunet boy gave a sigh realizing that Reid had Used his magic to cheat. “Why don’t we just forget about it, okay?”

“Hey!” a gruff voice came from behind them as Nicky appeared wielding a bat. “Take it somewhere else, ladies,” he demanded. When none of the boys moved, he smacked the bat against his hand angrily. “Now!”

“Whatever you say, Nicky,” Aaron reluctantly agreed. Nicky’s was the only decent place to hang out around Ipswich. Fighting Caleb and Reid wasn’t worth getting permanently kicked out.

As soon as Aaron and Noel left, Caleb turned on Reid. “What were you thinking?” he asked.

“We were just playing ‘em,” Reid replied casually, only a little bit of regret in his voice. He wasn’t sorry for cheating and Using, but he was sorry that he caused a fight over it that led to his brothers being dragged into his mess.

“Yeah, come on, Caleb. They were suckers for it,” Tyler said backing up his best friend.

“Why don’t you quit being such a pussy,” Reid grunted out angrily as he made to go around Caleb.

Caleb put an arm out to stop the blond. “I’m not finished with you yet.” Reid grabbed his arm, his eyes going black as he began to get angry. “What is the matter with you?” Caleb asked, getting angry as well. “Is this about Aria?”

“Aria?” Reid asked incredulously.

“Yeah. We all saw her with that guy at the bar. Look, you two have your own arrangement. We don’t pretend to understand why you guys continue to hook up with other people-”

“At least we’re up front about it!” Reid exploded angrily.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Caleb growled back.

“I’m talking about Spencer!” the blond spat. “She isn’t some girl that you can just hurt or throw away! If you like Sarah, then say something to Spencer about it. If not, then forget her because Spencer is one of us and brother or not, you hurt her and we’ll all kick your ass.” As if to prove his words, Reid began to Use, causing Caleb’s veins to restrict painfully in his arm.

“Reid,” Caleb warned. Seeing that the blond wasn’t stopping, Caleb began to do some magic of his own. He pushed Reid away, throwing him up against the side of a nearby warehouse. “What will it take for you to get it? It’s addictive, you moron. You’ve seen what it can do if you abuse it. You want that, that’s your business, but if you use in the open like you did tonight, you risk exposing us all and that I won’t let happen.” Pissed off, Reid picked up a barrel and began causing it to hover in mid air. “My power is greater than yours,” Caleb reminded.

“Not until you Ascend,” Reid refuted.

“Alright, go for it, tough guy,” Caleb shrugged, confident in his abilities. Reid threw the barrel, but Caleb easily knocked it aside and threw Reid back into a large stack of empty beer bottles.

Pogue and Tyler exchanged weary looks. Neither of them had seen Caleb this angry. Reid was a hot head, everyone knew that. Caleb normally let it go. He never rose to the bait like this. As Caleb started forward, Pogue hurried to get into his path, stopping him from continuing the fight. “Stop it! This is crazy!”

“It’s for his own good!” Caleb yelled back, watching as Tyler helped Reid up. “Keep Using like you did tonight, like you did last night. When you Ascend you’ll be as good as dead!”

“So I fixed her car, big deal,” Reid spat shoving away Tyler’s help.

Caleb glared at the blond. “Don’t play me Reid. I’m talking later and you know it.”

“The hell I do!” Reid yelled before getting up in Caleb’s face. “I didn’t Use later.” Reid shoved his way through the two boys and left.

Tyler hesitated before speaking up. “It’s not right Using on each other, Caleb.”

“Aw, tell it to Reid,” Caleb groaned, bringing a hand up to his face. As soon as Tyler left, Caleb spoke up. “Reid’s lying. Had to have been him.” But there was something in his tone that said he wasn’t entirely sure. The look in Reid’s eyes when he said he didn’t Use later… it had seemed real.

“How do you know?” Pogue asked, trying to understand how Caleb was so certain.

“’Cause it wasn’t you, Tyler doesn’t have the balls to lie to me and Spencer already told me none of the girls were Using,” Caleb listed.

“Hey,” Spencer spoke up from behind them, leaning against Nicky’s back door.

“Hey,” Caleb replied back with a sigh, turning to look at her. He blinked in surprise when he saw Sarah right behind the girl. Unbidden, Reid’s earlier words came back to him. He needed to do something about Sarah and Spencer.

Sarah looked at him worriedly. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” Caleb nodded easily.

Spencer, already knowing that Caleb would be perfectly fine, cocked her head. “Let’s go.”

Caleb hesitated for a moment before looking at her seriously. They would need to have a serious talk tonight. “Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

~

Caleb parked his Mustang and walked Spencer up to her apartment. She could tell that something had been on his mind then entire drive and she wondered how long it would take for him to finally talk about it. She had a suspicion about what it was he wanted to say, but she waited patiently for Caleb to make the first move.

“So…” Caleb shifted uncomfortably once they made it to her front door, unsure of how to bring it up. “About what happened at the bar…” Seeing Spencer’s confused look, he clarified. “About me dancing with Sarah at the bar…” Spencer gave him a knowing look and turned to give him her full attention. Finally, Caleb just spat it out. “This isn’t really working, is it?”

“It never really did,” she replied easily, not at all phased by the fact that she and her boyfriend of two years were breaking up.

“Right. So.” Caleb shoved his hands into his jeans. He had no idea what to do. “I mean, are we…”

“Broken up?” Spencer asked in amusement. It was rare to see Caleb off his game and she was enjoying the show. “I think so.”

“Right. Good.” Caleb nodded before looking panicked. “I mean, not good.”

“Caleb,” the brunette girl responded patiently. “This was mutual. There’s no need to get awkward. We’re best friends and part of the same Covenant, so please don’t make this awkward.”

“Good point,” the boy agreed. “And about Sarah…”

“I don’t mind if you date her,” Spencer finally said, tired of waiting for Caleb to just ask. “She seems nice.”

“Really?” he asked, half in excitement, half in skepticism.

Spencer rolled her eyes and opened her front door. “Get in here. We’re gonna have a movie night and you’re gonna relax.”

~

Sarah twitched in her sleep, slowly waking up as she felt something on her face. She sat up and slowly combed through her hair, making a face when a spider fell out. She patted it off the bed, but then realized that her legs felt weird. Throwing off her blankets, she gave a loud scream as spiders crawled all across her bed, up and down her legs. She threw herself out of bed, shaking her legs and accidentally knocking over her lamp. Looking down she spotted even more spiders and screamed even louder as she shook her legs even more, trying to get the spiders off her and trying to kill the ones already on the floor. She tried to brush off the ones on her pajamas and looked frantically over at Kate only to spy a spider go into Kate’s nose and for a small nest to burst out of the girl’s forehead.

With a great gasp, Sarah woke from her nightmare, pulse racing. Across town, three more people woke up similarly.

Caleb looked around before reaching out for his cell phone on the coffee table. His skin felt clammy, having woken up in a cold sweat. Putting his phone to his ear, he gingerly sat up, his muscles tense like he was expecting to have to run or fight. “Yeah.”

“I just saw the same darkling you saw last night,” Pogue said getting straight to the point. “That dead kid at the Dells. What the hell is it?”

“I don’t know. It’s starting to freak me out,” Caleb muttered, glancing up when Spencer walked out of her bedroom, staring at him with freaked out eyes. She didn’t need to say anything for Caleb to realize that she had felt the power too. “I’m telling you, someone’s using powers and I mean big time. I intend to find out who.” After a quick good night, Caleb hung up the phone and collapsed back on the couch with a groan.

Spencer moved to sit next to him and neither said a word for several minutes. “Who would be Using?” she finally asked. “Why?”

Caleb shook his head. “I don’t know.” Again there was silence before he finally sat back up again. “I should head home,” he said checking the time on his phone. He had fallen asleep towards the end of the second movie and Spencer had apparently turned off the tv and gone to bed without waking him.

“It’s three in the morning,” Spencer retorted. “School starts in four hours. Don’t be stupid.” She got up and gently pushed him back on the couch. “Go back to sleep, Caleb. The problem will still be there when you wake up.”

~

Aria slunk into the classroom at the last minute while the professor’s back was turned. She slipped into her seat next to Reid and hurriedly pulled out her notebook. She was vaguely aware of the professor calling roll but she didn’t pay attention until her name was called.

“Aria Montgomery.”

“Present,” she replied, finally looking up from her bag only to stare wide eyed at the person up front. Ezra was equally surprised to find the girl he had made out with at a bar in his classroom. There was an awkward moment of silence as the two stared at each other before Reid not-so-gently nudged her, drawing her attention away from the professor who then finished calling roll.

“My name is Ezra Fitz and I’m your new English professor. We’re going to study four American contemporary writers of fiction.” He turned to write their names on the board. “First is Cormac McCarthy, then Tim O’Brian, Kent Haruf and last but not least, Stephen King.”

“Yeah,” Reid cheered. “Dreamcatcher was the shit,” he punned.

Aria let out a snort of laughter but obligatorily whacked him across the shoulder.

“Thank you, Mr… Garwin?” Ezra asked, unsure if that was Reid’s last name. “But, no. My choice is the Shining.”

After class ended, Aria hesitantly picked up her books and slowly made her way down the stairs. As she passed by Ezra on the way to the door, they caught eyes. There was a moment that passed between them, but what it mean, Aria didn’t know. She quickly left the classroom, Reid hot on her tail.

“What was that?” he asked as they made their way down the hall toward the cafeteria for lunch.

“What was what?” she asked, trying to play it off as nothing.

Reid wasn’t having it. “Aria…”

She nibbled on her lip, but quickly tugged the blond into an empty classroom. “That guy I was with last night?” Reid nodded, understanding who she was talking about. “That was him.”

“You hooked up with our professor?” Reid asked, more impressed than anything.

Scowling, Aria whacked him hard. “Shut up.”

Seeing that she was upset, he stopped laughing and looked at her seriously. “Okay, well you like him, right? You broke off our little arrangement last night because you said that you were really into him.”

Aria nodded. “But that was before I knew he was our professor,” she scowled up at him.

He gave a shrug. “I don’t care if you date the teach. I doubt the others would either. Ali would hold it over you forever, but no one would care. If you want to, go for it. It would just have to be on the down low.” Aria nibbled on her lip, clearly still worrying about it. Reid gave a sigh and slung his arm over her shoulder, leading her out of the classroom and back toward the cafeteria. “Look, either way you have to talk to this guy so don’t worry about it until then, okay?”

~

“Emily!” Samara called as she raced to catch up with the girl. Emily slowed to a stop as she waited for the blonde. “Hey.” She grinned at the brunette as she caught up.

“Hey,” Emily returned, happy to see her friend. “How was your first day?”

“Good,” Samara replied as though honestly surprised at her own answer. “It’s not as strict as most of the other private schools I’ve been to.”

The brunette smiled knowingly. “Spencer’s strict about academics and their dress code. That’s pretty much it. You heading to lunch?” she asked changing the subject once she noticed Samara holding a paper bag.

“Yeah. Do you wanna sit together?” the blonde asked with only the slightest hint of shyness.

Emily bit her lip. “I would but…”

Samara nodded her head with a hint of self-deprecation. “I’m sure you’d rather sit with your friends.”

“No! That’s not it at all,” Emily replied strongly. “It’s just that I volunteered to spend my lunch hour sitting in the Gay-Straight Alliance classroom. We try and have someone there as much as possible in the first week,” she explained hesitantly.

“You’re gay?” Samara asked.

“Yes. I’m gay,” Emily spoke with only light hesitance. It was clear that while she was out, she still wasn’t a hundred percent comfortable admitting her sexual orientation yet.

“I am as well,” Samara returned with ease, clearly long since comfortable admitting such things to others. “So maybe I better check this club out,” she smiled at Emily.

Emily returned the grin. “Really? Yeah, I’ll show you the classroom.” The two girls continued down the hall when they passed a familiar face.

“Hey, Em,” Ali smiled. She took a good look at the blonde accompanying her friend. She vaguely remembered being introduced to Samara last night but had been much more interested in the boy she met than one of Emily’s new friends. In the light of day, however, Alison was more curious. “Got a new girlfriend already? I’m impressed, babe. Maya’s barely out the door.” She laughed as she continued on her way to the cafeteria. Alison sure did love stirring up trouble.

Emily stared at Alison’s back, more than a little annoyed with her best friend. She loved Alison, she really did. But sometimes she wondered why. “Sorry about her,” she apologized to Samara before continuing on their way.

“It’s okay. I think everyone knows at least one pot-stirrer,” she replied. After a second, Samara brought up what Alison had said. “You have a girlfriend?”

Emily hesitated to answer. “I did. Her name was Maya. She got caught with some drugs and her parents sent her to some boot camp over the summer. We haven’t talked so I guess she’s really my ex-girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Samara smiled kindly, but as the two locked eyes and sparks flared, they both knew that Samara was not sorry at all to hear that Emily was single.

~

Aria clutched Reid’s hand tightly for comfort as they slowly made their way down the hall after class. They paused in front of the English room. Aria stood hesitantly, eyeing the doorway. After a few tense seconds, Reid finally spoke up. “Are you going to talk to him or not?”

The brunette nibbled on her lip, but nodded. She let go of Reid’s hand and pushed open the door. She walked into the classroom and found Ezra sitting at his desk in the front of the large classroom. He distractedly looked up from some papers only to do a double-take once he realized who it was.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “You told me you went to Hollis,” he said, diving straight into the issue.

“No.” Aria gave a small smirk. “I said I was thinking about majoring in English,” she corrected.

Ezra nodded. It was true, though it was a loophole. “Look, I think you’re amazing, Aria. When I first met you I thought ‘who is this girl?’” He grinned at her lightly.

A smile made its way across Aria’s face. She hadn’t known what to think when she walked in here to have this conversation, but his words… It sounded like he was still interested. She hoped he was still interested. “I’m still that girl. Nothing’s changed.” She reached out to lightly grasp his hand on top of the desk.

He stared down at their hands before speaking again. “Yes. Yes it has. I’m your teacher.”

Aria swallowed, knowing that he was right. “I know it’s not just me. You feel like this is right for us too.” She looked up into his eyes probingly.

“But it’s not right.” Ezra spoke with a hint of condescension and withdrew his hand. “We just can’t.” He stood up and swiftly left the room leaving a shocked and hurt girl behind.

After a few minutes she heard the door open again. She whirled her head hoping that Ezra had come back, but found Reid instead. He took in her face with tears in her eyes threatening to fall. “I take it things didn’t go well,” he said sympathetically but with a hint of humor. Aria gave a choked laugh in response before flinging herself into his arms. Reid tightly wrapped her in his embrace. “Shh,” he cooed softly. “You’ll be okay.”

After a few minutes, she finally calmed down. Her breathing steadied and despite the tears in her eyes, she didn’t shed a single one. She refused to be anything less that strong. “Thanks,” she finally said, withdrawing from his embrace. “I swear, what would I do without you?”

Reid gave a half-hearted shrug, slinging an arm around her shoulder and leading her from the classroom. “Let’s never find out,” he suggested.

~

“Okay, I’m confused,” Hanna said as she stared off into the distance. “When did that happen?”

“I have no idea,” Pogue replied, equally confused. Although, he was just happy that Chase no longer appeared to be after his girl.

Speaking of his girl… “Hey, guys!” Kate smiled as she made her way over. “What’s going on?” she asked when she noticed that neither her boyfriend nor her best friend were paying an ounce of attention to her. Hanna jerked her head in the direction that she was looking and Kate followed her eyes. “Woah. When did that happen?” Kate asked in confusion.

Pogue finally drew his gaze away to look at his girlfriend. “We don’t know.” He smiled down at her and drew her into a hug as he laid a quick kiss on her lips.

“It had to have been recent,” Hanna spoke up, also turning her gaze away from the new couple. “Ali was hooking up last night so it must have been some time today.” Across the courtyard, Alison and Chase were seen cuddling and exchanging kisses seemingly very much together.

“What had to have been recent?” Spencer asked as she came down the front steps to meet her friends at what was generally considered their group’s spot.

“Ali and Chase,” Pogue replied nodding his head towards the couple.

Spencer took a good look, but gave nothing more than a simple “huh” in response. Seeing something else nearby she gave a smile. “Hey, look. There’s Caleb and Sarah!” she said excitedly. “Do you think he’s finally asking her out?”

Kate, Hanna and Pogue all gave Spencer a weird and incredulous look. “Wait, what?” Hanna asked in complete surprise. “What happened to you and Caleb?”

Spencer shrugged easily. “We broke up.”

“When?” Kate asked, also in complete shock.

“Last night,” the brunette replied simply.

“Okay, back up and start again for those of us who can’t read your mind,” Pogue commanded, tired of the little back and forth.

Spencer rolled her eyes but nodded agreeably. “Caleb likes Sarah. Caleb and I broke up. Caleb asks Sarah out,” she spoke slowly as though talking to a child.

“Helpful, thanks,” Hanna snarked.

“Hey, guys. What’s going on?” Emily greeted as she dragged Samara down the steps with her to hang with her friends.

“Caleb and Spence broke up and now Caleb’s asking out Sarah!” Hanna replied. “Oh, and Chase and Alison are together.”

Emily looked across the courtyard at the two make shift couples. “I only missed lunch period,” she said in confusion, not understanding how all of this could have happened under her nose. “How did I miss this?”

“Tell me about it,” Pogue groaned. “Yo, Baby Boy!” he called out to Tyler who was slowly making his way over.

“Did we plan to all meet up like this?” Aria asked as she and Reid came down the steps to stand beside Samara and Emily, joining the group conversation.

“Who the fuck cares?” Hanna cried out. “I just want to know how the Spencer-Caleb-Sarah thing happened!”

“What?” Tyler asked in total confusion.

“Argh!” Hanna grunted in anger. “This is what happens when there’s nine of us,” she groaned before randomly waving her hand in Kate and Samara’s direction. “And company.”

“Thanks,” Kate replied sarcastically before turning to explain to the latecomers. “Alison and Chase are dating, Spencer and Caleb broke up and Caleb’s asking Sarah out.”

“We think,” Pogue butt in. “We think Caleb’s asking Sarah out.”

~

“Thanks for walking me,” Sarah smiled, looking up at Caleb.

“No problem,” he grinned back at her. “Besides, we all tend to hang out after class together so I thought you might need help finding us.” Sarah nodded in understanding. There was a soft silence between them as they made their way through the changing autumn trees. “So, the Fall Fest is this Friday,” Caleb started. “It’s the first dance of the year.”

“Yeah, I heard about that,” Sarah nodded.

“Would you… like to go with me?” he asked.

Sarah stopped in her tracks, looking up at him in surprise causing him to pause too. “You have a girlfriend,” she reminded hesitantly.

“No, no, no. Spencer and I broke up,” he hastened to explain. For some reason he had thought everyone knew that already. Probably because of how fast gossip worked around the school.

“Oh,” Sarah replied, a little shocked. “When?” she asked.

Caleb winced knowing how this was going to sound. “Last night.” Sarah opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted. “I know what you’re going to say, but this wouldn’t be a rebound. The truth is Spencer and I have always been more family than anything else. Our family sort of pushed us together and we went along with it, but we were never really good at being a couple. Our break up was one-hundred percent mutual without any sort of romantic attachments.” Caleb paused seeing that Sarah was processing his words and seemed to be going along with it. After a few seconds of silent walking, Caleb asked again, “So, Fall Fest?” Seeing that she still looked a little reluctant, he put on his best charming grin. “In addition to being the first dance of the year, it also happens to be my birthday.”

A large grin broke out over her face. “Well, if it’s your birthday… I’d love to go with you.”

The pair was still smiling when they made their way to where their large group of friends were waiting, Alison and Chase having joined them. “What’s going on?” Caleb asked in confusion when he noticed all of them talking at once. Realizing that Caleb had finally arrived, they all turned to talk to him simultaneously. “Woah!” he yelled causing everyone to silence. “What’s going on?” he asked worriedly.

“I’m trying to explain to the boys that they don’t need to beat the crap out of you,” Spencer explained.

“What?” Caleb asked in shock.

Reid stepped forward to grab hold of Caleb’s shirt threateningly. “We told you that if you hurt Spencer we’d all kick your ass.” Behind him, Tyler nodded in agreement and though Pogue looked uncomfortable, he too was behind Reid.

“Us too!” Hanna nodded as she, Emily and Aria crowded around Spencer protectively. Alison just looked amused, but she too stood by Spencer.

“I thought you said it was mutual,” Sarah said worriedly.

“It was!” Spencer yelled. “None of you guys are listening to me!” As if to prove her point, Reid swung out and decked Caleb causing both boys to fall as they started to scuffle.

“Seriously, Reid!?” Caleb shouted incredulously as he reached up to wipe away a small trickle of blood while Tyler and Pogue fought to keep the blond from attacking their leader again. “It was mutual!”

“Yeah right!” he shouted back. “You and Spence have been together for years and suddenly there’s a shiny new blonde and you’re dumping Spencer like she’s old trash! That ain’t mutual!” Caleb blinked in surprise. Well, when worded like that…

Spencer got up and got into Reid’s face forcing him to stop flailing, trying to get out of Pogue and Tyler’s grip. “Reid. I love you,” she smiled affectionately. “And I’m really glad that you’re sticking up for me like this, but I swear to you that our break up was mutual. You know that Cay and I have always been more like siblings. It was our parents that pushed us together.”

Reid finally seemed to be listening to what Spencer was saying. “So, you’re okay with him asking Sarah out?” he asked, relaxing enough for his brothers to let him go.

“Who do you think told him to do it? You know Caleb. If left to his own devices he would have waited months before getting up the nerve to do it,” Spencer said, rolling her eyes. Reid shrugged in agreement as both Tyler and Pogue nodded.

“Hey!” Caleb shouted, insulted, but happy that it didn’t look like he’d be getting punched again. “So, we’re all good?” he asked, easily letting the teasing go.

His brothers looked up at him seriously, Reid the most seriously of them all. “Yeah, man,” the blond said reaching out a hand. Caleb clasped the hand and they have each other a quick hug. “Sorry about your face,” Reid said, but the smirk on his face said he wasn’t that sorry. “I was just lookin’ out for Spence.” Now that Caleb did believe.

“I know, man.” Caleb nodded agreeably. “I’d have done the same if I thought you hurt Aria.”

~

Spencer had just moved the last of her things from her car into her old room at the house. Melissa was more and more anxious to move into the apartment so Spencer had begun to pack up her things and moved them into the house while her parents found her a new apartment. Personally, Spencer thought it was a waste. Why not buy a new apartment for Melissa? That would make more sense.

“Tough night?” Wren asked as he passed by Spencer’s room with a load of laundry. He and Melissa had been staying with the older Hastings while they waited for Spencer to finish moving.

“Sort of,” Spencer smiled slightly, sitting up. She actually liked Wren. He was a decent guy and a lot different from Melissa’s normal boyfriends. “I’m still moving my stuff out.” She gestured down to the boxes littering her old room. “I should be done in the next couple of days. Thursday probably since I have field hockey practice starting back up.”

“Take your time,” Wren returned, stepping into her room and taking a look around. He set down the laundry basket and moved closer. “Do you need help unpacking?”

The brunette shook her head. “No thanks. Hopefully I won’t be here for very long and I won’t need to unpack at all.”

“Your parents were serious about the new apartment?” he asked incredulously.

“Welcome to my family,” she said with a laugh. “We don’t make a lot of sense.”

Wren gave her a smile as he moved to look at an old bulletin board she had set up in the corner. “Happy to be here.” He examined the pamphlets and scraps of fabric she had tacked to the cork. “You’re into interior design,” he said over his shoulder, feeling when she came up behind him. He turned to face her in time to catch her wide smile.

“Yeah, actually. I decorated the apartment from scratch,” she said with a reminiscent smile. “It was fun. I’m actually looking forward to doing it again with my new place.”

“You’re good,” Wren complimented, his eyes quickly going back to the board which held some of her sketches and ideas.

“You know interior design?” Spencer asked incredulously. It seemed much more likely that he was simply complimenting her.

“I can appreciate beauty,” Wren returned, turning to look at her. All of a sudden, the two seemed to realize exactly how close they were as their eyes locked in on each other. Before he could help himself, he had reached out to gently cup Spencer’s cheek and moved in for a kiss.

As their lips met and melded, Spencer lifted her arms to gently grip his sides as both of his hands cupped her face. They continued kissing for several minutes before Spencer drew away with a moan. “We can’t do this,” she said breathlessly, shaking her head even as Wren leaned in for another kiss. She lifted her hand and rested it against his chest to stop him. “It’s not right.”

“Because you have a boyfriend.” Wren nodded as he backed off.

Spencer looked at him incredulously. “Because of Melissa.”

~

Caleb shifted in his sleep as his body tried to tell him two separate things. Finally, he flinched as he woke up violently, his body doused in a cold sweat as the Power woke him up. Someone was Using… again.

Suddenly, the second thing his body was trying to tell him caught up with his mind and he looked around the room, feeling someone’s eyes on him as he slept. He sat up in fear when his eyes found the form of the Darkling staring at him from the foot of his bed. The ghost lifted a hand in warning before disappearing from view.

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