Chapter Ten

"Block," Michael barked as he threw another punch at Sage.

She blocked the strike, but weaker than she should have and her arm wavered under the hit.

That’s what years of "classes" will get you—girl still has trouble believing someone will hit to hurt.

"That was terrible," he informed her.

"Why can’t I just duck or use a reversal like I usually do?"

"Because your moves should be varied. You will get hit and it will hurt if you don’t learn to block more effectively."

The door to one of the side rooms creaked open. Finn had stayed up all Wednesday night, well past the point of exhaustion, then dropped dead on the guest cot and slept for eleven hours straight. Now that he was awake in the early evening, Michael figured he’d stumble around sleepily for awhile as he tried to remember where he was, and so he didn’t turn when he heard his friend up and about.

A giggle followed from where Genevieve and Merri sat just a few feet from where he and Sage worked.

"Michael, your friend’s naked," Gen said in a low voice.

"Finn, clothes," Michael shouted, still without turning.

"Ah, bugger," came a mutter. Several minutes later, the door opened again. No giggles ensued, so Michael figured he was at least slightly clothed.

"Take a break," he said to Sage as Finn padded towards the kitchen. Sage retrieved her water bottle and then, to Michael’s surprise, sat down on the couch with Merri and Gen.

Michael went to the kitchen, where Finn waited at the new breakfast bar, and put on a pot of coffee.

"Time change is gonna kill me," Finn said with a sigh. "Don’t know how you could stand to travel so much."

"It was harder with Laurie phoning whenever she felt like it, which tended to be in the dead of night wherever I was. Did you run into her in London?"

"Yeah. I think she’s still a bit mad that you fired her."

"I gave her a decent severance package."

"She wasn’t looking for a severance package. Didn’t ya ever—"

Michael shook his head. "I don’t fuck employees."

Finn gestured over his shoulder to where the three girls sat, brow raised suggestively. "And—"

"Or students," Michael interrupted him.

"You’ve got wee things like that running about here every day and you didn’t think to stoat—"

"They’re practically children."

"They’re…nubile."

"Still not going to happen." The coffee prepared, Michael turned to fetch some mugs and to effectively end the conversation. Finn must have taken the hint, for he didn’t continue. Michael filled two mugs and handed one to his friend.

"And which did ya call me about?" Finn asked.

"Sage."

"The dark one, is she?"

Michael nodded.

"When do you want to do this then? Tonight?"

"Nothing with her right now. I don’t want her getting her hopes up—it’ll do more harm than good."

"I can’t just open up to every damn spirit in the area, Michael. I need someone who knew the lad."

Michael’s gaze settled on Genevieve, who seemed deep in conversation with Merri about something. He nodded in her direction. "You’ve got a volunteer over there."

Finn swiveled on his seat to study the girls. "Which one?"

"Blonde."

"She’d be up for it?"

"Yes." As long as she doesn’t have to actually do any work, he thought with a touch of disdain. "Take a few days to get used to the time zone and get settled. When you’re ready, I’ll make arrangements for her to be here without the others."

"I don’t mind if they’re here. I know you said you don’t want the one around the first time I try but—"

"I don’t think it would be wise for Merri to be present," he said, putting it as delicately as he could. Finn didn’t know the true nature of the girls and Michael preferred to keep it that way. "She’s…sensitive to things. You tend to attract attention."

"What can we do this evening, then? Sit with these pretty ladies and stay in all night?"

"We can hit a bar."

"You be my wingman tonight?"

"Of course," Michael snorted. "I’m not getting drunk enough to force you to drive my fucking car."

"I’ve driven your bloody American cars before—"

"You wrapped my Porsche around a tree outside of London last year. This is the second car I’ve had to buy since living in town and I’m not taking a chance with it."

"Lemme change and we can go." While Finn returned to the next room, Michael called to the girls.

"You can leave now."

"Yay, dinner at home!" Gen said brightly and jumped up to retrieve her bag right away.

"But it’s early," Sage protested.

"I’m going out."

"Hey, you can go out tomorrow, too," Gen said. "‘Cause remember I’m having my girlfriend over for dinner."

"No one cares about your damn girlfriend," Michael muttered.

"Merri does. Don’t you, Mer?"

"Absolutely," Merri said with a grin.

He watched Sage, who for a moment looked as though she had something more to say to him. If he had to venture a guess, it involved discussing Hayden and Anne, for they hadn’t had that conversation yet that day. He needed at least one day of rest, however. For so long her pain was his own, and it seemed easier some days to ignore it altogether. Push it out of his head completely. He wouldn’t rescind on his promise to talk to her—not yet anyway—but sometimes there was only so much he could take.

She seemed to understand that there would be no reminiscing about dead lovers that day, so she moved to retrieve her jacket and shoes. Once dressed, she trailed behind the others as they moved towards the door, however, biting her lip and debating saying something.

"My mom’s friends are in town and they’re all staying at a casino for the weekend," Sage said to Merri and Gen. "My sister’s babysitting their kids and Mom doesn’t want just me and her in the house. Can…would either of you like to stay over this weekend?" Everything she said came out awkward, as if she’d never made such a request in her life. A few moments of silence passed, in which it seemed everyone was too shocked to comment.

"Sure," Gen jumped in first. "I’ll bring my overnight bag to school and go straight to your place after on Friday. That is if someone can live without us for the weekend." She looked pointedly at Michael.

"Gladly," he said. "We’ll pick up on Monday."

"How ‘bout it, Mer?" Gen said.

"I can’t Friday," Merri said. "I’m busy."

"With Thad," Gen said in a dreamy voice.

"But Saturday’s good," she continued, ignoring Gen. With that decided, the three went out the front door, letting a rush of cold air in briefly.

Michael threw the coffee mugs in the dishwasher and Finn returned from changing.

"So, do I get to hear about this skanky Satanist I hear you’re seeing?"

"She’s not a Satanist."

"But she’s a skank?"

"I’m not introducing you, so don’t ask."

Late Thursday afternoon, Genevieve lay on her bed, gaze on the ceiling, waiting for Peyton to return from the washroom.

Gen found she was far more nervous bringing Peyton home after school the next day than she had been when she asked her to dinner in the first place. She hadn’t informed her parents that she was having company over, and definitely wouldn’t tell them she was her girlfriend. A couple years earlier she’d told them about liking Janine, and that had led to merciless teasing from her father and her mother telling all her friends. The fact that Gen had special powers and her life was occasionally in danger seemed enough of a relationship obstacle; she didn’t want to add her parents embarrassing her to the mix.

After showing her around the house, Gen had ended the tour at her room. She was a little worried about doing so initially, as she had only ever had her regular friends hang out there and wasn’t sure if it was "normal" to do with a girlfriend, but decided at last to just give it a shot.

She heard the bathroom door open and made a mental effort to seem relaxed and normal.

"I can’t believe you’re allowed to do your walls this colour," Peyton said, gazing around at the vibrant purple walls. "My mom would go ballistic and probably disown me or something like that. My options were baby blue, pale yellow, or dusty rose. Hunter green was okay for the den, but never, ever a bedroom."

"Oh, my mom’s a firm believer in dusty rose," Gen said. "You didn’t see my parents’ room. But the purple thing wasn’t a big deal; they like me to express myself."

"Must be nice." Peyton sank down on the end of the bed. "My little brother gets away with that, but I never did. He had a Lacrosse game last weekend on Sunday and got to miss church. If I ever tried that, I’d be made to quit the team first. You’re lucky."

Gen eased up to a sitting position and absently played with a dangling thread on the comforter. When she spoke, she tried to sound casual. "So you guys are kinda religious?"

"Not like really or anything. Not more than most people. Don’t you at least go to church?"

"Um, once when I was like six." She neglected to add the part where she hated every boring second of it and begged her dad to take her home again. Church became a threatened punishment after that and she still shuddered at the thought of being made to go back.

"We’ve gone every week since I was a kid. Wednesday night I go to a youth group thing too—I always have, but I just started going to the one in this area when we moved. Hey, you should come sometime. The pastor’s really nice and it’d be fun."

"Yeah," Gen said, trying to sound excited, but the idea of spending an hour hearing about how she was going to burn in hell for eternity didn’t sound "fun." Although it might be interesting to inform people I am both a lesbian and a witch, and then give a little demonstration of both. That’d go over well. Still, getting Peyton kicked out of her church group for bringing along her girlfriend would probably be problematic for their relationship. While Gen was trying to think of something more to say about church, she found Peyton’s gaze going to her dresser.

"That looks like a really old book," she said. "Do you collect stuff like that? My dad does—he gets all kinds of first editions…you should show him that one sometime."

Dammit! It was the book recounting all her other lives and stuff that Michael had given her. At least it wasn’t a spell book, though God knows she had some of those lying around as well.

"Yeah, it’s just this old art history book," she said quickly. "Kinda obscure. This guy I know—this, like, artsy guy—gave it to me. To look at. ‘Cause I like art." Wow, I should get some lying lessons from Merri sometime.

"Gen, did you ever like boys?"

"Um, no, but I’ve always appreciated logical segues."

"I know, I’m sorry. If I’m not talking constantly, I’m thinking constantly, and I forget stuff doesn’t always make sense. I was just wondering, is all."

"Well, no, I’ve never been into boys. I mean, I liked plenty as friends and I love Levi more than just about anyone. But never got the whole hetero thing. Girls are much prettier, anyway."

"Yeah," Peyton leaned back on the bed and sighed. "I don’t think I ever really liked boys either. It was weird, not knowing anyone else like me."

The butterflies in Gen’s stomach started up again. She should probably do something now, but she’d be damned if she knew what. Some moments were easy—it was like hanging out with any friend. But then she’d get the overwhelming urge to kiss her, and her brain would jump in and warn that it might not be appropriate.

She settled for stretching out on her stomach next to where Peyton lay. Resting her head on her folded arm, she studied Peyton’s face in silence for a moment. Her long dark eyelashes grazed her upper cheeks when she blinked, her expression was always animated and immediately drew Gen in when she spoke, then there were those lips that seemed rather kissable… No, she could honestly say she never understood the attraction to boys.

"Hey, wanna see something cool?" Gen said.

Peyton turned onto her side to face Gen. "What?"

"Magic."

"Magic?" She looked skeptical, though Gen could hardly blame her.

"Yep." Genevieve nodded to the pillar candle on her dresser. "I’m going to light that candle using only the power of my mind."

"Is this one of those things—"

"It’s totally not what you’re thinking. Watch." There’s more than one trick Michael doesn’t realize I know. True, lighting a candle was much, much more difficult than putting one out, and she couldn’t do it solely with her mind, but instead required a spell found midway through the workbook Michael had given her. And she’d only successfully done it once with Meredith, but she decided to give it a shot anyway. Worst case scenario, it didn’t work and she’d look like an idiot, but that could always be passed off as a joke.

She focused her gaze on the candlewick and let her vision tunnel until it was all she saw. Breathing deeply, she tapped into the power around her and directed it at the candle. She mumbled the words of the spell, low enough that her audience couldn’t make them out.

Ignite.

Peyton glanced back and forth between Gen and the candle. Her jaw dropped when she saw the wick ignite.

"Oh my god, how’d you do that?"

Gen grinned, pleased that not only had she completed the spell successfully, but she managed to not embarrass herself in front of her girlfriend. "I told you: magic."

"Is it a trick candle or something?"

"Or something."

"Do you have a controller or remote or button that you press—"

Gen interrupted by leaning forward and kissing her suddenly, tentatively. Perhaps magic wasn’t the best idea, but at least she had a good way of ending the conversation.

Peyton responded to the kiss, and though it was still a little awkward, Gen felt things definitely seemed smoother than they had the first time. Between the magic and the kissing, Gen’s head was swimming as if she was drunk and she felt giddy as the kiss ended.

"I wanted to ask you," Peyton said, her wide grin mirroring what Gen imagined was on her own face. "My family is doing their annual Christmas party next month. Do you want to come?"

As long as it’s not at church. "Sure."

"Great! It’s usually kinda boring, but I’m glad you’ll be there with me."

With her. I’ll be ‘with’ her somewhere. Gen didn’t think the world could get much better than that moment.

Genevieve retrieved her overnight bag from her locker and slung it over her shoulder, which was made difficult by her thick winter jacket.

"Running away from home?" Levi said as he leaned against the locker next to hers.

She closed the door and snapped on the lock. Pausing before answering, she briefly considered lying. Sure, he decided he still had feelings for Sage, but they weren’t exactly BFF’s or anything.

"Sage’s," she said at last. "Her mom’s going away for the weekend, so she asked me to stay there, to keep her and her sisters company."

"Want a ride?"

"Did you get Hayden’s car back or—"

He shook his head. "Police never gave us that back, though I don’t think they ever found anything useful on it. But insurance got us a new one and after a lot of arguing, Dad let me have it." He took her overnight bag for her and the two of them walked toward the parking lot.

"You got someone to talk to her?" he asked, genuine concern showing on his face. "Will she be okay?"

"I think so." She recalled what Michael had said two days before. He must have spoken to her about Hayden by now and went so far as to have a friend from the U.K. or wherever to come down. Maybe if Finn could contact Hayden, Gen could even tell Levi… Michael wouldn’t like it, sure, but then Michael didn’t like anything.

They drove to Sage’s in silence. When he pulled in the driveway, Gen prepared to thank him, but he turned to her first.

"I didn’t see you or Meredith the other day after you went to talk to that girl."

"No, we decided to blow off the rest of our classes," she said quickly. "That was when we ran into Sage and she asked me over to her place today."

"Okay, just curious. Are you coming to Stephie’s tomorrow?"

"I may still be at Sage’s."

"Let me know. Otherwise I’ll see you on Monday, Genny."

God, I hate all this lying, she thought as she got out of the car. Much more of this and I’ll be as good at it as Mer. There didn’t seem much she could do about it, though, so she plastered on a smile as she walked up to Sage’s front door. A second car was parked next to one she recognized as Diana Bethany’s, so she figured Sage’s mom’s friends were already there.

Sage’s younger sister, Kat, answered the door when Gen knocked. She had only met her once before and it was the day Hayden was attacked, so the kid was understandably quiet and upset then. On this day, however, she smiled brightly when she let Gen inside.

"Sage just got home from a run so she’s up in the shower. I’ll take your bag downstairs." Kat took her overnight bag and disappeared down the hall. Gen stowed her shoes and coat in the closet, then continued toward the living room. The youngest Bethany girl, five-year-old Cecilia ran past with a squeal and raced upstairs. A second girl, about Ceci’s age, followed with long red hair trailing after her.

Diana Bethany stepped out of the kitchen and smiled when she saw Gen. "I’m so glad you can stay here this weekend, Genevieve. Sage tells me your friend Meredith will be by tomorrow as well to stay with the girls. I feel a lot better having another person in the house."

"It’s no problem." ‘Cause if someone breaks in and attacks us, Sage will really need my help to kill them.

"And thank you for helping to bring her out of her shell. She’s done much better the past few days, and I thought you probably had a hand in that."

Or thank you Michael. Gen smiled in response anyway.

"Have a seat, dear, and I’ll get you a drink. What would you like?"

"Um, water I guess. Thanks." Gen continued toward the living room, where she heard the T.V. on but no voices. A man and a woman, each perhaps thirty, sat on the couch. A sleeping six-month old with a head of strawberry blonde hair rested in the blond man’s arms. His blue eyes went to Gen as she entered the room and seconds later the woman’s did the same. The girl Gen saw playing with Ceci must have been theirs, for the woman had the same copper hair.

"Hello," the guy said with a kind smile that put Gen at ease while being in the unfamiliar environment. She tended to feel horribly uncomfortable with people she didn’t know, but relaxed a little in their presence and sat down.

"Did you see which way the girls went?" the woman asked.

Gen gestured over her shoulder. "Ran upstairs."

"I’ll make sure they don’t break anything." She rose and left the living room. Kat returned just then and her eyes lit up as they settled on the baby.

"Aw, is she asleep?" she asked.

"She is," the child’s father said.

"We’ve got Ceci’s old crib set up—want me to put her down, or would—"

"That’s fine."

Kat retrieved the baby, who didn’t stir as she was being moved. "Hiya little Maya. Oooh, I just love babies!"

"I didn’t really just hear my thirteen year old say that," Diana called from the kitchen. She returned with Gen’s glass of water, and then looked about the room. "Where did Eve go?"

"To look for the girls."

"You guys are supposed to be out here to relax—I’ll go find her."

As Diana left, Gen pulled her messenger bag onto her lap. Sage wasn’t back yet, so she figured she might as well get some homework done. Not schoolwork, however; the notebook she retrieved contained the notes she and Merri had been making with regards to their own investigations into The Brethren and whatever Michael might have been keeping from them. They didn’t exactly have much in the way in information yet, but in between practicing spells and meditating at Michael’s, they had combed the books he had available to them for anything useful. Nothing helpful had come up yet, though, so Gen decided to independently work up a new plan of action. So far, her thoughts centered on finding truth serum of some sort and drugging Michael with it.

And of all his books, nothing about any assassins, no explanations regarding the people who attacked us…nothing about us, let alone mention of The Brethren, whatever they are. She couldn’t say what the hell she and Merri would do if they couldn’t knock Michael out and inject him with truth serum.

Maybe he’ll decide to talk the next time we’re almost getting murdered by random men.

"What?"

Gen’s head shot up to see Diana’s friend, Eve, standing in the living room doorway staring at her with curiosity and a touch of worry.

"I-I didn’t say anything."

Eve’s eyes went to her husband for a second, and Gen followed the gaze. They two of them exchanged a series of long looks, though no words were said. At last Eve sat down.

A few minutes of silence followed, and then Eve turned back to Gen. "Okay, I’ve just got to ask something." She glanced back at her husband as if he’d said something, and then continued. "You gotta understand, I’m a protective mother. Are my girls in any danger here?"

"What?"

"Assassins, The Brethren or whatever—are my girls safe here while I’m away?"

Gen shot a glance at Eve’s husband, but he was shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "You’re scaring the kid," he said to his wife in a low voice.

"Yeah, well, she’s freaking me out."

"The girls are settled in Ceci’s room," Diana called as she returned. She hung in the living room doorway, as if she wasn’t ready to sit yet. "They’re doing unimaginably cruel things to Barbies—it’s safe not to ask."

"Dezzie probably started it," Eve said. "She gets it from me."

"I figured as much. Anyway, let me throw my bags in the car, go over my instructions for the kids, then we can head out so you can clean house." Diana gestured to Eve but addressed Gen. "This woman is phenomenal at poker. She almost got us kicked out of a casino at one point, but Colin managed to calm security down. I’ll never know how she does it."

"It’s pretty simple," Eve said with a grin. "I can read minds."

Gen caught the sudden look her husband gave her, but Diana seemed to overlook it.

"Now that I almost believe," Diana said before she left again.

"You can read minds?" Gen said once Sage’s mom was out of earshot. "Both of you?"

"And you can put out candles by force of will," Eve said. "We’re a whole group of super freaks. You still didn’t answer my question."

Genevieve supposed that, given everything she’d seen and experienced—and in some cases done herself—she shouldn’t have been so shocked, but thus far everything had been confined to her small little world. This was too much.

"We don’t mean to put you on the spot," the man, Colin, said gently. "But we do need to know whether or not the girls are in any danger being here with you…" He paused, frowning slightly, and Gen felt the urge to shield her mind, though she had no idea how that would be accomplished. "You or Sage, apparently."

"You don’t need to worry," Gen said, glancing back and forth between the two of them. "Your daughters will be fine. I was just…thinking and exaggerating. And you really don’t need to worry with Sage around; she’s wicked strong."

"Worrying is a given," he said with a small, half-smile. "But I’ll take your word for it that it’s unfounded."

"Now how about a showing of good faith," Eve said brightly. "I know someone’s secret that I believe you’ll be totally pleased to know, given your thoughts just minutes ago. It’s about…ah, shit, I’m bad with names." She looked over at her husband. "Who was that guy we saw? At the gas station?"

"You told me you weren’t paying attention." A smile hovered on his lips. He slid his arm over her shoulder and she settled against him.

"Well, I’m nosy."

"Michael," he filled in for her.

"Right." She returned her attention to Genevieve. "We ran into Michael, and I’m pretty sure it’s the same guy you were thinking about smacking around a minute ago because he also mentioned something called ‘The Brethren.’"

"He spoke to you about it?" Gen asked, confused.

"Well, no, he was thinking about it while he was talking to some guy he was with. Now, it’s not like I go around monitoring everyone’s thoughts and invading their privacy all the time, or anything like that."

Behind her, Colin mouthed the words, "Yes, she does."

"I heard that," she directed his way before continuing. "Anyway, the whole thing stuck out in my head ‘cause a., that guy’s a fucking psycho, in case you weren’t yet aware, and b., he clearly wasn’t a delusional psycho, so when I heard him thinking about some life or death situations, I listened up. ‘The Brethren’ came up. Do you know what they are?"

Gen shook her head.

"I only got a few glimpses. They’re definitely bad news, and they’re definitely after some people that Michael guy is loathed to be looking after."

He doesn’t have to ‘look after’ us!

"Ah," Eve raised a copper brow, and Gen flushed a little as she remembered the woman could read her mind. "So it’s you guys. Well, he knows a lot more than he’s telling you."

"Are you purposely leaving out the computer?" Colin asked her. "Or are you saving that for your grand finale."

"Computer?" Her brows furrowed.

"Yes, where he not only keeps files on such things, but where he has indexed all of his books."

"Sneaky bastard," she said, and gave him an affectionate smack.

"I simply wanted to learn as much as I could about any potential murderers in the same town as the girls while we’re away," he continued.

"Whatever—you’re just as bad as me. No concept of privacy whatsoever."

"So you mean I don’t have to go through all of his books one by one?" Gen asked. "I can just go on the computer and it’ll tell me which books have info on The Brethren?"

Colin nodded. "Although if I were to advise you of anything, it would be to avoid him as much as possible. There are corners of his mind that very few would tread."

"He has his moments," Gen said, a little unsure as to why exactly she was defending the man, except that he had saved her life on more than one occasion.

"No, I have my moments," Eve said. "He has nanoseconds of humanity, and they’re the result of practicality rather than feeling."

"They’re few and far between," Gen agreed. "But I don’t really have a lot of choice in the matter right now."

"Be careful," Eve said. "He’s dangerous, and I don’t say that lightly."

"I’ll be okay," Gen said. She heard footsteps in the hallway and looked to see both Sage and her mom in the doorway. I’ll be okay…I’m not alone.

"Ready to go?" Diana directed to Eve and Colin.

Gen rose when they did and fell into step with Sage as everyone headed for the front door. Kat waited to the side with the two five-year-olds. Diana said goodbye to her girls, while Colin picked up his daughter for he and his wife to bid goodbye. Once the adults were gone, Kat chased the young girls back upstairs to play, and Gen and Sage headed for the basement.

"Sage," Gen said as they walked. "I need to tell you something that you may not want to hear, ‘cause you’re such a Michael fan and all, but…" She launched into the brief details of her recurring dreams and mention of The Brethren, that she and Merri had been trying to look into it on their own, and ended with what Eve and Colin had told her before they left. While Gen sat cross-legged on the couch and told her everything she knew, Sage sat on the end of her bed absorbing it all.

"So my mom’s friends are telepaths?" Sage said at last.

"Of course you’d miss the main point and focus on something like that." Gen rolled her eyes. "What do you think of everything else?"

"You think we need to break into Michael’s house, crack his computer password, read his private files, steal his books, all because you had a dream that mentioned a group that may or may not exist, may or may not have anything to do with us, and because my mom’s friends, who are secretly telepathic, told you they heard him thinking about these things?"

"Jeez, when you say it like that it sounds so silly."

"It is silly."

I knew I shouldn’t have told her. "Fine, if you’re not going to help us, could you at least not tell Michael?"

"Of course I’m going to help you. You’ll need the help."

"And you won’t tell Michael?"

"That would be a little stupid considering I’ll be helping to break into his home."

"Good point. I guess we need to talk to Merri."

Getting a hold of Merri proved to be difficult because it turned out Sage didn’t have her number either. Genevieve found that, thankfully, she had left Thad’s number on her phone, so she called him up. Sure enough, Merri was with him, and after Gen gave her the gist of what she’d learned, Merri promised to be at Sage’s the following day. Saturday evening found the three of them huddled in Sage’s room, hatching a plan of action. It would require a few days of preparation, but Gen figured the plan would be a sound one.

Get ready, Michael, Gen thought as their schemes took shape. Whatever you’re keeping from us won’t be your secrets for long.