CHLOE'S POV

This was, hands down, the most uncomfortable car ride I had ever experienced in my life, and that was saying something. There were five of us crammed into Derek's small Buick, with two of the five being full grown werewolves it didn't leave much wiggle room. And needless to say, but you could have cut the tension in the air with a knife. Jack was the one behind the wheel, too much of Derek's displeasure. William had called the shotgun seat, which left me, Derek, and Myrtle Husht packed uncomfortably close in the back.

Every few minutes I would glance over at Derek with an apologetic smile; it was obvious he was uncomfortable. Myrtle sat wedged between us and her perfume was enough to make my nose cringe. I couldn't even image what it was doing Derek's hypersensitive nose.

Derek caught me looking at him, his face twisted in an effort to ignore his surroundings. I could see that all the effort was making him close to passing out. He cursed under his breath, finally having had enough; and he lowered his window all the way, sticking his head halfway out and basking in the brisk and fresh air from the gusting highway. I held back a laugh; he looked far too much like a dog with his head out of the car, ears/hair flapping in the wind.

Myrtle looked at him confused. "It's still a bit chilly to have the windows down do you not think?"

Derek growled and William turned his head smiling. "Ma'am, I speak for my nephew and I think for the rest of the passengers, in the most polite manor possible, that your odor is beyond the capacity of our ability to endure. I believe the window is necessary."

She looked taken aback, turning to me with a quizzical pout. My face, at that moment, was scrunched up as I tried to breathe through my mouth, nodding in agreement with William. Myrtle brought a lock of her hair up to her nose, but she obviously didn't see anything wrong with the nineteen different flowerily scents forced into her perfume.

I looked out the window as the countryside disappeared into an all too familiar blur, another: life over. Good bye Chloe Blake, good bye perfect small town, good bye freedom, and in this case; hello forced supervised captivity. We were heading to a safe facility the SCC had prepared for us while they took care of our pursuers and located Simon. Myrtle had tried to explain how grand it was; with state of the art computers, premium gym and facilities, luxurious rooms and plenty of space. A recluse's dream home. No matter how she tried to put it, however, it didn't change Derek, Tori and mine's opinion. Four walls sometimes came with a price. A prison was still a prison and all the fancy words in the world wouldn't change that.

I tried to hide my smile from Myrtle as I rested my arm on the windowsill. The facility was located somewhere in California. But I had no inclination of going sunbathing. William's plan had been much more thought out then mine, and had a much more likelihood of succeeding. Simon's phone call last night had also helped with the direction we needed. Tori had found me immediately after the call, and explained everything that had happened. There were no words for the relief that I had felt at that moment. Simon was okay. Well as okay as we could have hoped.

We had a destination, a smaller searching ground, which just so happened to be right in William's backyard. I looked behind me and saw Tori sitting in the passenger front seat of Kit's van, driving just behind us. She saw me and waved weakly, smiling before resting her head back on the window.

I felt horrible leaving her behind to be assessable to Kit and Myrtle's rage. However, there was no way she was well enough to come with us. Ethan had dubbed her ailment, beyond his knowledge and power to heal. He said in order to discover what spell or dark magic had been cast on her she would need to be assessed by a Demonologist. Of which they employed a few in the California facility.

She had objected, but it was obvious that whatever Simon had done to her was affecting her physically and even on a supernatural level. She had been putting one of the last boxes in the van when she had accidently gotten a paper-cut and all the windows in the house had shattered out of their frames at once. Therefore, the rescue team would consist of Me, Jack, Derek and William. Now we only had one problem to solve: ditching Myrtle.

The skin under my wrist brace started to itch and I had to fight the urge to scratch it. I looked at my watch. I was wearing a flapped hat to conceal the bandage on my head as well. We would be stopping soon at a scheduled rest stop. The two black cars ahead of us were associates of Myrtles who were in charge of protecting us, so were the two driving the moving van behind Kit. I looked at William, unsure. We were good at daring escapes, but there was always that moment of unease. He seemed confident the plan would work. He saw me out of the corner of his eye and winked assuring. I smiled and looked back out my window.

My mind couldn't help but wonder to a strange conversation with William not to long before; we had already traveled four hours that night and had stopped at a rest stop so Tori could have a moment from carsickness. He had asked for a moment of my time, while Derek was busy buying food from the fast food joint across the street.

"This will probably be the last time we have to speak alone for a few days, and I fear what I need to talk to you about is quite urgent." William said his voice low to insure he would not be overheard. He tried his best to keep his distance from me. I had grown accustomed to his presence over the years, when I had first meet him his wolf dominance-thing had been overwhelming. Now was different, I felt completely comfortable, even when his animal like golden eyes stared me down like they were now.

"Okay." I said preparing myself for an onslaught of information that I would have to remember. William seldom said anything unless it was important.

"I need to know your intentions with my nephew."He said his face frozen and serious.

I looked at him taken aback. What? I blinked trying to find my voice. What do I say? "I umm…umm what?" Clever Chloe, really clever.

"I have assumed that Kit has talked to you on this matter before." William said his eyes keep glancing in the direction Derek would eventually reappear in. I fought off an involuntary urge to role my eyes. As I've said many times Kit had been worried from the beginning of our relationship from the get go. Telling us countless horror stories about Werewolves who had chosen human 'companions'. Talk about uncomfortable, having a supernatural sex talk with your new boyfriend's dad, who you had just met. "But what he has to tell you is second hand information. Even those who consider themselves Werewolf experts know little of our culture or our mindset. Miss Chloe, Wolves are more complex then you could ever imagine." I open my mouth ready to refute him when he held up a hand to stop me. "No matter how close you assume you are, it doesn't matter. Even you can sense Derek closed off nature, he hides more than he lets on. Our minds are our most fragile of muscles; deep within our consciousness, it is split in two. Part wolf, part man. Unless the wolf and man can merge, act, and think in harmony, there is no hope for a werewolf surviving for that long."

I had wanted to say he was wrong, that I knew Derek better than anyone. But I felt my throat constrict, that wasn't true. Derek had only told me about the voice in his head just a few days ago. I knew Werewolves were secretive; it was the main reason why they had survived for so long while other supernatural races had perished. I knew that if William was telling me anything that their people considered sensitive information, than he must trust me. But I also knew that resorting to this meant he was worried about Derek, probably as much as I was.

"The boy is my only living family. I will not lose him just because he could not express his true feelings. That would be quiet a wasteful end. Don't you think?"

I looked at him, nodding slowly. William opened his mouth to continue when his nose flared and he jerked his head behind him. He cursed and shook his head. "Not enough time." He looked down at me and then back where I could now see Derek's tall dark silhouette making its way back across the street. "Tomorrow, if all goes well," He hissed under his breath. "I want you to be weary. Derek still holds a grudge against the wizard boy, even if he doesn't admit it. His actions could become clouded. It will be your job to make sure he stays grounded in reality. He will not let me help; he will only see me as a threat."

And with that he sauntered off as if nothing had happened, Derek arrived shortly after looking a bit confused and starring after William as if he had overheard the entire thing. And, I may point out, was not the tiniest bit amused.

"This Rest Stop looks as good as any." I jumped as Myrtle's voice pierced through my concentration, I looked over at her with her cell phone pressed to her ear. "Double back and rendezvous with us there." With a flick of her wrist, she shut the phone and instructed Jack to turn up ahead. She looked at me and smiled. "It shouldn't be too much longer."

"Yippie." I smiled trying to fake enthusiasm as much as possible.

….

"Myrtle?" I had to act as innocently as possible if this was going to work. A difficult task under the stern woman's deep gaze. I had come accustomed to playing a role every-day of my life for years now. Be the new girl, lie about your name and your past, and above all: Fit in. Rehearsing the day, reminding myself at all times to stay in character, seeing the cheesy un-dramatized movie play before my eyes minutes before it happened. It was hard now to even remember what I use to dream of being; a Screenwriter? Director? Or was it Actress? It didn't really matter now; I knew I would never have a real chance at chasing either dream. I had a much harder and important job at the moment. Play your role, and stay alive.

Today's job: Distract Myrtle Husht.

Myrtle looked up at me her stylish glasses anchored on the bridge of her nose. She had been digging in her purse for the past five minutes looking for something within the expensive Prada black hole. "Yes Dear?" She said friendly enough.

"I've been thinking..." I bit my lip trying to seem unsettled; it wasn't that hard to pretend. I really didn't want the answer to the question I was about to ask in the first place. "I was wondering...about the other day." Myrtle's eyes tightened slightly listening closely. "I've had a lot of time to think about the lesson you tried to give me a few days back and I have become rather consumed with something."

She looked around her as if she dropped something before straightening up and clearing her throat. "This is a conversation better said in private." She gestured to the small park connected to the rest stop. I screwed up my face trying to seem afraid of the dark surrounding the broken down swing set and monkey bars. "Don't worry; your bodyguard is only a shout away." She pointed to Derek who was leaning on Kit's van and starring at them suspiciously.

"Okay." As we made our way out of eavesdropping range, I chanced a look back and saw William and Jack starring as well. Looking once more at Derek, I winked to assure him I was fine before turning my compete attention to the task at hand. So far, so good. Once under a big tree that shadowed the swings, Myrtle turned back to face me. Actually was nervous, so I wasn't really pretending when I stuffed my hands in my front pockets and shuffled my feet, kicking a small stone a short distance away. I waited for her to say something first but she just stood there, expecting. Taking a deep breath I began reciting the words I had given myself to say. Act One: Bring up the elephant in the room.

"The old woman in the picture." I watched as Myrtle's face became even more contorted. "Who was she."

"She is none of your business, Ms. Saunders. You refused the task so she shouldn't matt-."

"No but she's important." I glared at her. If she thought that I was going to take No for an answer, she really didn't understand me at all. "I'm not stupid like you keep thinking I am. I can tell a lot from what you're not telling me. First you ask me to do a difficult task, calling a spirit from a great distance with only a picture and a personal artifact. A task that would be difficult for a normal Necromancer, restricted with their herbs, candles and voodoo. Not for me though, the tampered experiment, the out of control teenager, right? As a responsible adult your first 'test' for me would never be something this complicated. No matter how curious you are about my restrictions. Its personal then. The woman means something to you? Someone who has information you want—no need. But she's beyond your reach, none of your chanting and incense sessions have worked. Instead you try to use me. And if there is one thing I do not like, it's being used."

Myrlte watched me, the corner of her mouth slowing twitched into a smile. "Smart, Inturtive, Poweful, and Observent. My, my Chloe Saunders. I sure had you pegged wrong from the get go. You are the complete package. Go on, I'm listening."

"I may still seem like I'm new to this, but I'm not a rookie anymore." I smiled back at her, "I know the rules, even though I was never really taught them. It's more like common sense, if you ask me. And one of the biggest No-No's is calling back family. My mother died when I was young. I won't lie, discovering my strange gift had me under the assumption that I would finally have closure for her death. But I knew it was wrong...I could feel it."

I blinked feeling the old wound open, but quickly forcing it to the back of my mind, "I did eventually speak to her however." I put a hand to my chest, feeling my mother's amulet under the cloth. "It could have just been a dream. But...She helped me..." I took a deep breath. "What I'm trying to get at is that this old woman isn't just some poor soul you choose to challenge me. I can tell, under the mask you've made, that she means a lot more to you than that. She's part of your past, and you were hoping for closure too, because you're only human." I sighed. "And being a fellow necromancer, I just wanted to say I understand. I'm probably one of the few who will ever understand"

"Again, Brilliant. You are a prize, my Dear." She sighed. "She is my late mother." I watched her carefully, every word could be useful, and I needed all the ammunition I could get. "Not my Biological mother of course." She laughed, "I am old but nowhere near THAT old." Said the assumingly 70-year-old woman. To give her credit she looked as if she had enough plastic surgery done to look like the Barbie version of a 70-year-old, but still, I fought back the urge to roll my eyes. "My real mother died giving birth to me, I never knew her and to be honest I never really wanted to. If she loved me she wouldn't have risked hers and my young life with the drugs she took while she was pregnant. No my Mother came to me in the form of Marie Weese, my elderly Grandmother. But to me she will always simply be, 'mother'." The photo from before had appeared out of nowhere,and was clutched in her wrinkled and perfectly manicured hands.

I continued to watch her closely as she gazed on the ancient old woman in black and white. It was becoming harder and harder not to become lost in the pain that was now flowing from the old woman. "She died when I was sixteen, about the time when I discovered my gifts for the first tim...Of which we shared. The gift skips a generation in my family. It missed my 'real' mother and her siblings and instead was bestowed upon me. Oh how that thrilled her." For a moment, Husht's eyes were no longer that of an older woman, but of a wide-eyed girl filled with life and hope. "I never understood how she died...yes she was old after all, but I was never one to accept the obvious. She was dead, but they didn't look for anything suspicious. Old age. She was built of stronger stuff my Mother. And age never scarred her, nor did Ghosts. It was the living she feared. I wanted answers; I wanted someone to be punished for the crime. That has been my underling thought all these years." Her eyes peered over the photograph and bore into mine. "You are right; a Necromancer must never cross that line. Family is a thing too precious to be soiled with our tampering. Once you've called back a loved one's Ghost...It becomes more difficult to let them go again. And bad things happen when the Dead remain."

My chest tightened, suddenly slightly afraid of the vision of my mother. Had it been me the entire time? "But my mother..." I started to say but was stopped by Myrtle as she shook her head.

"I know what happened. Why she is there." She reached up and squeezed my shoulder, and for the first time she felt actually human. Her fake smile and her scheming eyes where hidden behind a veil and none of that mattered. "A Necromancer walks a dangerous road. And requires guidance. It is known that our gift requires an anchor within the spiritual world that also bridges to the living realm. It is not a proven fact, but there is a popular theory; A Spiritual guide that lives within us. Someone who had such an impact in our lives while they lived that even in Death they remain. It is a sad thing to admit but Death follows a Necromancer, and sadly affects those around them. Mothers, Fathers, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers and Sisters, No one is safe." She looked sadly back at the picture. "The Spiritual guide also explains why we cannot call back our loved ones. Our guide puts up that wall, protecting us from ourselves and abusing our powers."

I released a deep breath I didn't realize I had been holding. It did make sense. Believing that my mother had been with me this whole time...it was a warm and heart breaking feeling.

"Your Mother could be with you. And your heightened powers might be triggering that. I thought maybe, just maybe, you would be able to pull forth a guide. If it is true, I know my own watches over me. Always watching, teaching, and helping. If anyone could bring her from the astral plane. It would be you."

"You could have just asked me..."

I looked away. MY plan was backfiring on me. I hadn't planned on feeling bad for Myrtle. I planned on listing, and keeping her distracted. But it hurt. Why did it always hurt? Necromancy was a dark art, and I had come to accept that fact. But now...It seemed worthless. What use was this ability if the young necromancer hadn't been able to get a simple answer of why her mother died? I had the dreadful luxury of knowing the car accident that killed mine. However horrible it had been, it had been an accident that had taken my mother away. Living all these years without a sure answer, I knew would have driven me mad. I found myself wanting to help her now. But at the same time I knew that no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't. The line was an easy thing to cross, but the journey back was the hard thing.

"Just because I can do something," I said weakly, "doesn't mean I should."

The older woman rubbed her eyes, careful not to smudge her makeup. She hadn't been crying but I could tell that she was exhausted from the long day traveling and the recent emotional toll. "Again wisdom I did not expect. And I know why." She took a deep breath. "I was expecting you to be more like me, my mother only had a few months to teach me what she knew, and for years after her death I struggled to understand everything she failed to. I expected to teach my granddaughter when her gift blossomed. I've brought five children into this world, and only one survived to have a family, and she only gave me one grandchild...And Jade it seemed failed to receive the my family's genetics...And then I found you. The want to have the relationship I once had with my Mother, my Teacher...it blinded my judgment." She sighed and put the picture back in her purse. "Well I can promise you something, if you allow me to teach what little you have left to learn, I won't underestimate you ever again."

It was kind of melodramatic that she finished her little speech just as William and Derek jumped out of the darkness and carefully as possible knocked her out. William had assured me that he knew what he was doing, having knocked a few heads in his time. She would've hit the ground if Derek hadn't caught her and gently laid her against the tree. It would have been cheesy to say so I only thought it, but she really shouldn't have underestimated me from the beginning. I reached down and checked her pulse, she was fine. My gut twisted in guilt I shouldn't have felt for this woman, twenty minutes ago I had not cared ganging up on her. She had been the corporate bitch, who wanted to imprison us and study us for the rest of our lives. Who wanted to train and hide me away from the world as her own personal weapom. But that was before I knew who that damn old lady was. And all my prior opinions on this woman seemed more like childish preception. I had to take a deep breath and remember what was at stake, hurting Myrtle was a necessity. A little bump on the back of the head was nothing; she was tough for an old lady, just like her Mother had been. She was made of stronger stuff.

…..

DO NOT OWN DARKEST POWERS.

Omg an update? What sorcery is this?

Okay. Not much happens in this chapter. Sorry. Had to explain how they got away before I could do anything else. Actually cut a bunch out of this chapter because it just dragged on the escape too much, and I realized actually finding Simon was more important to the story. I'm a bit rusty when it comes to writing so if there are any blazing mistakes be free to call me out on it.

Hope to update again soon. Next chapter we get to New York and the search begins.

EDIT: did a few changes this morning, mistakes I missed and what not.

Review please and thank you.