The Midnight Hour [Caleb Danvers] .o4

Reid sighed as he dragged his hand through his hair and slouched back in his chair. He stared blankly into the room, ignoring the watchful eyes of his friends who all sat around him.

The room was silent save for the constant ticking of the clock on the mantel. Reid bit his lower lip and rubbed his temples before shaking his head and leaning forward, propping his arms on his knees.

"What on God's green earth are we going to do? Much less, what the hell am I going to tell her?" he said.

"That you're not going to have her institutionalized would be a start."

Everyone's gazes rose to watch a somber Caleb walk through the door. He crossed the room to the window and looked out, almost as if he was trying to find something specific.

He turned his gaze from the window to the group and then specifically to Reid.

"She thinks she's crazy. No. She'sconvincedshe's crazy. That she belongs in the loony bin and that's exactly where you're putting her."

Caleb watched Reid's expression contort into one of confusion and sadness.

"Why would she think that?"

Pogue sighed and shook his head before saying, "Reid, the girl has no inkling of a thought about what and who we are. She doesn't know how our world works."

Tyler chimed in, "He's right, Reid. All she knows is that she's seeing her dead parents pop out of nowhere and that it's not normal."

The room became silent as everyone processed what was out. Caleb, after a few short moments, moved to sit on the dark, wooden bench next to the fireplace before looking around the group.

"When she would see them at night after a dream, it was easy to cast them off as her imagination. But now that someone's sent them during the day...she's terrified. More of herself and what's happening than of the darklings themselves."

Reid groaned and covered his face with his hands.

"It's all my fault. I've brought her into this. This whole &%$#@ thing is my fault. She doesn't deserve this."

Pogue stood from his place on the couch and crossed the room to Reid, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Reid. But you're right. She doesn't deserve this. But we can't take it back now that it's happened. We need to fix this."

The room fell to silence again and Reid looked up at Tyler's pensive expression.

"I think, Reid..." he started. "...I think we're going to have to tell her. Unless any of you have any better ideas of how to explain it while getting her to stop believing she's insane."

Reid sighed and groaned. "Yeah, yeah. I'll go talk to her."

Pogue reached for Reid's shoulder as he stood to leave the room. "Are you sure that's the best idea? Would it be better for all of us to be there when you tell her?"

Reid shook his head and pursed his lips before saying, "Nah. I've got this. Everything will be fine."

**********

I sighed, picking at the grass around me as a gentle breeze floated through, rustling the branches of the tree above me. I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on top, staring off into the vastness of the yard. Memories played out in front of me as if they were a movie and I was the audience.

I could see the boys and I playing tag and hide-n-seek, weaving in and out of the trees and bushes that were scattered over the grounds. Our laughter was so innocent. So unknowing. We had no clue what was---

The crunch of someone's footsteps interrupted my thoughts and I said, "So, what'll it be? Asbury or Rosings? Nothing short of Bedlam, I beli---"

"I have something to tell you, Jules," came his familiar voice. "Something important."

I turned around to watch him sit beside me on a protruding root and sighed. Here it was. Here was when Reid Garwin would tell me, Julia Taylor, that they were sendi---

"Jules, the guys and I, we're...warlocks. Descendants from five colonial families...well, really four but that really doesn't mat---"

I leapt from the ground in a rage.

"Reid Garwin! You pompous a**hole! You think this is funny?! You would, wouldn't you? You were always one to play jokes and think they were hilarious. But this..." I bit my bottom lip in anger and looked out to the yard. "...this isREAL. i can't believe you would joke about something like this. It isn't funny, Reid."

I ground my teeth together and looked down at him again. He sat there wide-eyed and...looking like he was about to say something, when voices yelled across from the house.

"Everything alright? We heard...yelling," Pogue called as he leapt down the porch steps.

I sighed and took a deep breath before turning to face them as they approached the tree. Caleb was the first to get there as I told them the problem.

"This idiot thought he could poke fun at me seeing my dead parents by telling me that you were warlocks. Magic people. Blah blah blah."

There was a long silence after as everyone heard this.

"Well...?"

Caleb licked his lips and looked to the other guys. I narrowed my eyes on him and watched his every move. Something was going on here. And I no longer thought it had to do with them putting me in an asylum.

"Caleb?"

He looked at me and suddenly both his eyes went pitch black. I gasped and stepped back towards the tree as he lifted his hands in front of him, producing a small orb of...what was that?

He looked around him and then thrusted the orb to the ground beside the gate, leaving a large hole where one never used to be.

I looked back to him and swallowed as he said, "Jules...wearewarlocks."

And that was when everything I knew collapsed into a pit of darkness...