Rich Boy: Growing Pains - 11. Chapter 11

Worthington sighed with disgust as he watched Brandon washing the blood, vomit, and other detritus down the drain of the bathroom's shower room and turned to walk out, almost running into Colin, who was looking with interest in the room. He'd wanted to watch and had been upset when both Worthington and Jamie had flat refused. Worthington still remembered the look of surprise on his brother's face that Worthington had spoken at the same time as him, but had nodded in appreciation that Worthington would not allow Colin to learn what he'd just done to the soldier.

"Will, you ever teach me what it was you did?" Colin asked as he looked at Brandon washing the detritus down the drain.

"No," Worthington said flatly, and honestly. Colin frowned but shrugged.

"He made it five feet out the gate before they took him." Colin laughed softly and shook his head. "Two soldiers popped up out of the ground and had him handcuffed before I'd done more than blink. I almost felt sorry for the guy, out there in nothing but his boxers and taken to the ground by his buddies."

"Not my problem." Worthington shrugged. It had been a long night, and he wanted to get some sleep before it was over. Colin held the shield right now while Jamie rested. They'd had Brandon keep an eye on Colin to keep him from trying to sneak into the bathroom and watch what Worthington had been doing to the soldier. Jeremiah had not liked the process at all, but then Worthington had liked it even less. The vomit Brandon was getting rid of had been his, not the mercenary-soldier's. "I'm going to get some sleep. Why don't you help Brandon finish cleaning up?"

"You're not worried I'll get any ideas from all these ropes and other stuff?" Colin asked with an arched red eyebrow.

"Colin, I don't have the patience for these games right now," Worthington said irritably. Sometimes the kid could be downright infuriating. "If you like to get kinky, do it on your own time."

"Shit, you're cranky." Colin chuckled as he moved into the shower area to help Brandon. Worthington just shook his head and made his way to his dorm room where twenty boys were sleeping. He collapsed onto the narrow bunk that was his bed here and closed his eyes as he tried to drift off into sleep.

The truth was that he was bothered by what he'd just done far more than he ever expected to be bothered by such things. Sex, violence, and control of others were all part of his life, his training along the Dark path of magecraft. He wanted something different though, and tonight's experiences had shown him how much he had changed in the last year.

What he'd learned once he'd overcome the blocks and controls in the mercenary's mind had made it necessary to do what he'd done in that shower room. Jamie had agreed, if only reluctantly and had flat out insisted he would have no part in it this time. His long look at Carl was all the explanation needed. If anything could be termed ‘evil' in nature, it was what Worthington had done tonight.

The fact that it was necessary did not change that in the least.

Jeremiah Francis, age 28, had not been his own person in over a year, even if he didn't know that at the time that Worthington had entered his mind. Mages, whose exact relationship to the government was still unclear, had set controls and blocks inside the one-time soldier's mind. Unlike the government mages Worthington had captured and scanned before, these blocks were not as complex and had been much easier to unravel.

Worthington understood why they were not as complex, although it didn't exactly make him feel any better in the long run. The mercenaries were most commonly used as guards, not doing what they were doing right now. Only rarely did they accompany the actual government mages outside the facilities they ran. When they did, they were given basic blocks like the ones Worthington had overcome, some magical protections, and acted as back up, eyes and ears, and heavy muscle.

Facilities.

As in more than one facility. As in multiple locations for a growing group of mages that answered first and foremost to a ‘project director' who was based out of the ‘Department's' Washington D.C. facility. Oddly enough it was the perfect place for a government-run mage facility to start out, and that was the impression Worthington had gotten as he dissected the mercenary's mind. Jeremiah had worked for the mage group within the government for three years now and had spent two and a half of them in Washington at their main facility.

Six months ago they had opened two more facilities, one in San Diego and another in Wichita. The ranks of government mages were growing, literally by leaps and bounds. Most of the mages they were facing outside the campground right now had only been cleared for field duty within the last year. How they came to be in the government's employ was one of the reasons Worthington had taken the drastic step of forever stripping away everything Jeremiah Francis had been and putting him back together in a new pattern, a pattern that would forever be faithful to Worthington before anyone, or anything else.

With Carl, Jamie had changed the process of torture and rape that accomplished this and turned it into a form of freedom for the young boy. Worthington did not have the luxury of doing that with the soldier though. The government mages would take his mind apart to see what had been done to him. They would be wary of traps, and anything less than what Worthington had done would not necessarily last.

So, he had committed great evil to serve good.

When he woke a few hours later with Colin shaking his shoulder gently, Worthington didn't feel all that refreshed. His sleep had been troubled, and he'd had some fairly nasty dreams. Even telling himself that he would take care of Jeremiah Francis once he was done dealing with the government facilities hadn't salved his conscience.

"What's the matter, boss man?" Dechaun asked at breakfast. Worthington was just moving the food around on his plate as the dining hall was filled with the noise of happy campers.

"Just got a lot of things on my mind." Worthington tried to smile and sighed before taking a bite of the eggs on his plate. He'd need the energy, and playing with the food wasn't a good sign.

"You okay?" Jamie asked him after lunch as they sat in the common room of the dormitory, their default meeting place. Their groups were out participating in the afternoon sporting activities that the camp staff had arranged. Colin, Carl, and Brandon were all out there as well, keeping an eye on things while Jamie and Worthington had some alone time. They sat on the carpet in the big room, with Worthington leaning against his brother.

"I will be." Worthington sighed with unhappiness. "You know, all this is getting to be a little overwhelming. Why is it that we're the ones who keep on finding ourselves in this type of situation? Shouldn't it be happening with other, older, more experienced Adepts? Why do we have to keep ending up in these situations?"

"Have you thought it might be because we're not living in our own little bubbles?" Jamie asked calmly. "Think about it. All the adepts we know about move in rarified circles, surrounded only by other mages, rarely interacting with the world at all. On the other hand, we live in the world, and we interact with it every day. It's only in the last few decades that mages have started moving out of their little communities and into bigger cities like Phoenix and Scottsdale."

"You mean Light mages," Worthington said. "Dark families have been in the business world for a lot longer."

"But that's just it, they don't interact with the ‘common' world at all," Jamie argued in a quiet voice. "How often has a Dark family associated outside their own little circles where everyone knows everyone? There are what, three Dark schools like the one you attended, and a dozen colleges or universities with that fraternity that trains mages at that level?"

"Yes." Worthington nodded. "Light families really don't even have that much."

"They do have more communities where they live together, like some of those small towns in Nevada and other places." Jamie shrugged slightly. "Basically mages have created their own little bubbles that they live in, and while it's usually surrounded by the non-magical world, and they interact with non-mages, they really don't participate in the day-to-day world except in rare circumstances. Sure, they work like my moms do, but when they go home, it's to a mage house. Frankly, we're a lot more involved here in the Phoenix area than most mages are with the mundane world."

"I thought it was different than that," Worthington admitted quietly. "I thought this was an example of Light communities."

"I think that's my fault." Jamie laughed softly. "It's how I grew up so it only seemed natural that was how other Light communities would be, but talking with some of the new arrivals to our area has shown me just how different things really are out there. People might work in the mundane world, but when they go home, they leave it behind by and large. Their friends are usually fellow mages only, and they keep the mundanes away to protect the ‘Great Secret' without having to alter too many memories. Most of them are shocked beyond belief that we have mundanes in the MR that know about magic and are allowed to keep those memories, even if under controls."

"So you're saying it's only natural that we are at the center of all this?" Worthington asked, and Jamie sighed against him.

"Yes, because we're not just living in the mundane world, we're a part of it, and we're making waves in it as surely as these government goons will make waves in the magical world," Jamie said sadly.

"They already are, but we just didn't know it yet," Worthington grunted at that particular memory he'd taken from Jeremiah Francis. Most of the time, the mercenary was a guard in the government facilities, and so his memories contained a lot of information on what the government was doing in those facilities. What he'd seen there had been far more than Worthington had suspected from his earlier run-in with government-trained mages, and he had to wonder if they'd somehow ripped a page from the Sinclair book on adjusting people's minds.

"Just imagine how happy they would be if they got their hands on us, or our dear Uncle and learned the Sinclair process for taking someone apart and putting them back together as a totally new, controllable person." Jamie shuddered. "What you did with the mercenary was a risk, you know."

"I know, but it's one worth taking." Worthington frowned. "You know we can't just sit by while they kidnap mages and brainwash them in their facilities, or take them apart mentally and throw them away as mindless husks afterward."

"No, we can't." Jamie frowned as he shuddered. "I still can't believe they were so surprised about Light and Dark path mages when they captured that family last year."

"Well, now we know that I wasn't the one who tipped them off to that." Worthington frowned at the memory that played out in his head. Jeremiah's mind had been a veritable wealth of information since he dealt a lot with new prisoners, taking them to and from their ‘appointments,' and often times being peripherally involved in those sessions.

Most of the time the government found new mages it was through one of their recruitment programs and the people they found were untrained mages not affiliated with an existing mage family. In fact, they found more mages like that than the Light and Dark path families did combined. These they trained as they had learned themselves, taught by a mysterious figure that Worthington had not been able to find out more on than just that he existed.

Other mages they captured in the performance of their ‘duties.' Most of those had been from overseas, captured in the War on Terror. It seemed the terrorists loved using mages to make suicide bombers, and that really was the root of the government's program, to counter that ability. Worthington had a hard time arguing with that philosophy. Certainly, if mages were cooperating with terrorists, or even were terrorists themselves, it would take other mages to combat them. In a way, he could see the need for the government program, and the awareness of the government regarding mages.

What he couldn't support or even allow was the blanket policy that any mage not under the control of the government ‘Department' was considered a terrorist. About a year ago they had captured a family of Light mages on vacation in Washington, D.C. Unsurprisingly, the nation's capitol was actually the home of no mage families, Light or Dark. Mages tended to shy away from that place as being too close to a government they feared ever knowing about them. Certainly, mages would pass through there, or visit as tourists, but none lived there.

The family's fifteen-year-old son had been playing with mage lights as they drove around the city, and his use of magic had been noticed by a government mage in a nearby car. They had been followed by the government mage, and after he reported back about an entire family of mages, they had all been taken into custody. The shock of finding out there was a whole culture of mages out there, hiding from the government had sent shock waves through the Department that were still being felt.

A new program had been instituted to start tracking these families of mages and finding out everything they could. In the last six months, they had managed to take several more ‘samples' of these families, both Light and Dark, without attracting notice. They probably knew more than Worthington had been able to pick out of Jeremiah Francis's mind, but even that much was too much. Byron Jones would have a heart attack if he knew the government was quite aware of his boarding school and the students that attended there.

That was the only reason they had not moved in force against the wider community of mages before this. There were far more government mages than he had imagined, but they were, by and large, less capable than their mage-family counterparts. What they were learning from the Light and Dark captives was confusing them even more, especially since the ones they had captured were largely loners, not really directly involved in any of the older families or larger communities.

That was changing though with the government having finally achieved what they considered a critical mass of over a hundred ‘trained' and ‘loyal' mages. The fact that nearly a third of these mages were only loyal because of control spells or similar devices didn't mean much to them. The father and mother of the family taken in Washington both worked in that facility's laboratories, teaching everything they knew to newly recruited mages because as long as they cooperated, their son was treated well.

What they didn't know was that the son had been escorted to several sessions by Jeremiah and was essentially as controlled as a mage could be by a senior government mage. His parents thought he had simply accepted a position with the government, and now that he was sixteen they had given up arguing he was too young. The boy had been sent to the San Diego facility along with twelve senior mages and fourteen junior mages as they were ranked.

The two mages Worthington had dealt with before were good examples of the differences in controls that were set on government mages. He would have had a difficult time breaking through those controls and blocks, whereas the ones on Jeremiah Francis had been much easier to control. That was because the mages were all blocked and set by the mysterious figure Worthington could not pick out of Jeremiah's memories. When a mage was ‘activated' into the government's ranks, it was done in a way that Jeremiah had no involvement with at all.

"Do you think everyone back in Phoenix is okay?" Jamie asked in a worried tone. That was one thing they were both worried about.

"I think so." Worthington sighed. "I shared what I was able to get from Jeremiah with you. They knew we would be up here alone, and chose to take us in for questioning. The plan was to take us one-by-one. Colin was the first of us that went off by himself, and they tried to get him, but we stopped them. All that other shit they threw at us with the fake FBI agents was just meant to make us scared and hopefully surrender. They don't want to have to take this camp, and they don't want the general public to know what's going on up here. They're as scared as we are about what will happen when everyone knows about magic."

"But they aren't going to let us leave, and if the moms come up here, they'll take them too." Jamie frowned. "I can't believe they'd think they'd be able to break us in just a week and not have anyone notice."

"It's worked for them before." Worthington shrugged. "That's all it took for them to break the others, and they can't understand we might be different."

"I still find it hard to believe that they would be that arrogant," Jamie said with a sigh, and he gave Worthington a long, penetrating look. For a brief moment, his mind touched Worthington's, and they dropped into a light, easy rapport. "Funny."

"No, it isn't." Worthington frowned as the rapport ended.

"Yes, it is." Jamie chuckled. "You're more disturbed at last night than at facing down the entire government."

"It's not the entire government, and they've been careful about who in the government knows about magic." Worthington shrugged. "I figure once we get the more experienced Adepts involved in this, they can take the lead on solving that. They sure as hell won't want to leave it in our hands. It's our responsibility to get out of here, so they know and to make sure they understand the seriousness of the situation. After that, all we have to worry about is whatever they expect us to help with in handling the problem, and making sure the people of our valley are okay. That's it."

"Or so you hope." Jamie countered. "Listen, bro, I don't think you understand how much of a good thing it is that you're bothered by what you did last night."

"What do you mean?" Worthington asked.

"Do you think Colin would be bothered?" Jamie asked.

"No." Worthington actually snorted, even though it was an undignified sound. "He'd be pleased. The boy has a sadistic streak in him a mile wide."

"Which is why he really is better off in your hands." Jamie sighed. "I never should have tried to handle him when I saw that. His grandparents were insane to think he could ever walk the Light path. Hopefully, you'll be able to drum some ethics into him before he gets too powerful. The Light knows he'll never listen to me about such things."

"He will, or he might find himself on the receiving end of what I did to Jeremiah last night," Worthington growled and then almost vomited again as he realized what he'd just said. "Fuck! Did you hear that? It makes me sick to even think about doing something like that again, and here I am saying I will, and meaning what I said! How sick is that?"

"It's for the best, really." Jamie shrugged. "You're strong enough to do what needs to be done, and you've got enough of a conscience that I don't have to worry about you going off the deep end and becoming a megalomaniac. Someone like Colin, the way he is now, well that worries me."

"I don't know if that's supposed to comfort me or make me sicker," Worthington muttered with a frown.

"Take it as a compliment," Jamie said with a shrug. "A year ago, I'd have put you in the same category as Colin about this stuff. Well, maybe not the same category. You were always less emotional about these types of things."

"That's one thing I've never understood," Worthington said with a sigh. "Before I came into your life, you had everything going for you. You were well on the road to becoming a Light Adept, you had a loving family, and everything was happy. Who knows, you'd have probably married Sarah and had ten children in a decade. Then I came along and screwed everything up."

"You didn't do it yourself." Jamie murmured in a comforting tone. "Worthington, we've been over all this before. It wasn't more than a few days ago when we were just a thin little bit of power away from being joined as one mind. We haven't changed that much in a short amount of time. I don't suddenly hate you. Frankly, I'm better off now than I would have been if you had not come into our lives. Who knows if we'd have managed to face off the demons together?"

"Thank you, brother," Worthington said with a sigh as he leaned back against his brother and let go of some of the worry inside of him.

As they relaxed against each other, they fell into a rapport that grew steadily deeper. Without the Sinclair consciousness trying to meld them together, this rapport was different, something healthier, and stronger in its own way. Bit by bit their thoughts began to move in similar lines, although there were differences between them that they felt, more than heard as words in their heads.

No matter what else, the dwarves and elves were right that the world, and magic, was changing. The only story that either could remember about brothers both being Adepts came from around 1099 with the story of Wilbur and Aaron MacRae. Together they'd built a small little kingdom in the northern highlands of Scotland until they made the mistake of pissing off the local clergy.

Not even being Adept had saved them from treachery and poisoned food. The poison had been nothing more than a drug that knocked them out for a few hours. When they had woken, it was with the flames of the stake eating at their flesh. Supposedly the pain of that had been enough that they couldn't concentrate enough to call magic to their aid, and so they had died.

Neither Jamie nor Worthington wanted to go down that road, not even the ‘good' part of taking over a fair amount of land. So long as they could live their lives relatively peacefully, they had no problem not being in control of things. They would always be close, but eventually, they would start their own families with their own houses.

Worthington loved Clairville and the castle there. He wanted that place as his primary home and would do whatever it took to make that his home. Jamie loved the house being built in Scottsdale next to his childhood home. Both places could actually accommodate both of them, had even been designed with that fact in mind by other people who knew them, and in the case of the Scottsdale home, who loved them. Whatever wives they eventually took would have to be close enough to understand that Worthington and Jamie would always be close, and while they would lead separate lives, their lives would always have room for the other.

Serious thought about the future faded away as they playfully began dreaming about the future life they would have. Worthington invited Jamie to Clairville Keep through the hottest parts of the summer, and their wives were happy to see each other as well. Oh yes, they were sisters. That would be best. They'd be very happy to see each other so much more if they were sisters, or at least they would as long as they were the type of sisters who got along.

During the heart of winter, they would, of course, spend that time in Scottsdale at the house that would be finished by the time they got done with the camp. Like Jamie's mothers' home, it had all the ‘common' areas on the top floor, without the master bedroom that Elizabeth and Stacy had in their home. Downstairs in part facing the outside of the hill were two large bedrooms with a set of bathrooms between them and a connecting walkway. The rest of the floor was set up into a series of smaller bedrooms and a medium size entertainment room.

In the Spring they would stay at their respective places, having their time apart, so they knew they were living their own lives. During early summer they would enjoy long vacations when the kids were out of school. Of course, they would start the vacations in different locations, but then they'd always finish them together.

All the major holidays would be next door at the moms' house. Richie's family would be on the property on the other side, and so they would all be there, one humongous family happy together. It would be as close to perfect as anything could be in this day and age.

"It's a good dream," Jamie said aloud with a sigh as their minds drifted apart and they were each their own person again.

"Think we can make it more than a dream?" Worthington asked with a sigh of his own and a slight smile on his face. "I mean, all we have to do is break this siege, convince the government it doesn't want to fuck with us, and maybe have another go at our Uncle once he gets greedy again."

"Don't forget Zaroc in there." Jamie laughed. "You know that Demon Lord is going to go after us again eventually."

"Then we'll probably have to deal with a few evil mages along the way who just have to pick on us because we're the strongest kids on the block." Worthington laughed.

"Don't forget the stupid mages who pick on people we've sworn to protect." Jamie laughed as well. "We'll have to make a few of them object lessons for the rest before we're done. You can handle that part. I hate getting my hands covered in blood."

"Like I enjoy it any better?" Worthington retorted.

"You do," Jamie said, and then his entire body winced as Worthington stiffened. The words brought up last night, and why he'd thrown up, why he was so disgusted. Jamie's arms around him tightened. "It is okay, brother mine."

"No, it's not," Worthington said and had the unfamiliar sensation of tears coming to his eyes. Tears were not something a Sinclair experienced often.

"Yes, it is." Jamie tried to reassure him, but Worthington just became tenser.

"You don't understand," Worthington said in a horrified voice.

"You threw up because it disgusted you," Jamie said softly, tenderly. "I understand. You're changing, and that's a good thing. The fact that you couldn't do it as easily as you did before is a good sign."

"You don't understand," Worthington said in a weaker voice.

"What don't I understand?" Jamie asked with concern. "Worthington, talk to me, brother. I'm not going to reject you or hate you for anything you tell me."

"I hope you mean that," Worthington said with a heavy sigh as he felt a single tear drip down his cheek.

"You know I mean it when I say stuff like that." Jamie almost sounded offended, and Worthington let himself relax with a deep breath. His brother's arms encircled him, and he leaned back in that embrace.

"I didn't throw up because what I was doing disgusted me," Worthington said in a very soft voice.

"Then why did you throw up?" Jamie asked with some confusion.

"I threw up because I was disgusted at how much I enjoyed what I was doing," Worthington said with shame, and Jamie's arms stiffened around him. There was no outburst though, no condemnation, no rejection. "Well?"

"I'm waiting," Jamie said softly, tenderly.

"Waiting for what?" Worthington snapped.

"I'm waiting for whatever it is that's supposed to shock me," Jamie said calmly, and Worthington felt a rise of anger at his brother's calm attitude.

"Jamie, I'm saying I fucking enjoyed it!" Worthington snapped at him.

"No, you're not." Jamie countered. "If you enjoyed it the way you used to enjoy it, you wouldn't have thrown up, or felt so disgusted afterward."

"I got off on the power," Worthington admitted miserably. "Having that much power over someone, doing the things I did to him, being covered in his blood, raping him, knowing I was the first man to ever enter him like that, it made me feel powerful, invincible."

"It made you sick to your stomach." Jamie countered, and Worthington shifted, trying to get out of those arms.

"Yes, but only when I realized what I was feeling," Worthington muttered when Jamie wouldn't let him go. "

"There's why I'm not disgusted," Jamie said softly. "C'mon, bro, you know how I felt about doing the same thing to Carl. I enjoyed it too, and that's what disgusted me. I wasn't disgusted necessarily by what I did, but rather by the feelings it stirred up in me."

"Yes but…" Worthington tried to argue. Except he couldn't, because those memories were still inside of him and although he knew they were Jamie's and not his, he could still remember them, and he knew what his brother had felt.

"I think that's the slippery slope of the Dark path," Jamie said softly as he let out a long exhalation that was more than a sigh. "It's why so many Dark mages go from just Dark into actually being evil. The power of what you can do in the Dark path, the way it can let you take such control of others is seductive. It is so easy to slip from using that control, that power for a productive purpose and just use it for a selfish purpose. I used it to free Carl from our Uncle's manipulations. You did it for a reason just as important, and unselfish. Neither of us did it just because we could, or purely for our own enjoyment or self-aggrandizement. There's a difference there."

"Yes, but is it enough to justify what we're doing?" Worthington asked. "We're taking away their free will, making them into little more than a living tool for our own purposes."

"It has to be done," Jamie said with a shrug.

"Now there's your Light-path upbringing speaking." Worthington countered, and he felt a very slight smile touched his face. "The principle of sacrifice for the greater good being right."

"So maybe there's a bit of truth in both of them, especially when you mix them together," Jamie said softly. "You and I, we talk about being neither Light nor Dark, but rather a mixture of the two."

"A Grey Path." Worthington voiced it aloud for the first time. They'd mentioned it, referenced it, but this was the first time they had said it in such a way as to make it official.

"A part of both Light and Dark, not separated from them, cut off from them," Jamie said with affirmation. "Grey is a mixture of the two, not the absence of them. I think that's what other people in our position have missed before. They felt cut off from the Light, or the Dark, like they couldn't be that path so they were lost in the grey area between, but that's not it at all."

"Instead we're both, but not really a part of either," Worthington said as he felt something that had been troubling him a while coalesce into a whole piece. "That's why I can make a deal with the Light the way I did, and still use something Dark like what I did last night, or the joining spell."

"Same with me," Jamie said softly. "So, it raises the question, is this something we can teach?"

"I don't know if Colin will like some of the Light principles involved." Worthington laughed.

"Not everyone is suited to the Light, or suited to the Dark," Jamie said quietly. "It stands to reason not everyone will be suited for the path made up of both."

"No, it doesn't." Worthington agreed as he thought about it for a bit. "How does this fit in with last night though and the way it made me feel?"

"It fits in just as us being in this camp now fits in," Jamie said with a shrug. "There's a price to pay for using both Light and Dark, and they're both examples of the prices that we have to pay ourselves. We do what we do for the good of all mages, right? That's what you and I are about here?"

"Yes." Worthington agreed, and his agreement felt like two final pieces of a puzzle fitting together, or the binding of a magical contract. Something inside of him seemed to call out for more, and he lifted up his hand, forming a ball of dark light there. It shimmered, sucking in the light around them and Jamie drew in a deep breath before lifting the same hand, his right and summoning a ball of pure white light.

"For the good of all, we combine Light and Dark," Worthington said softly, and he knew in that moment that both the Light and the Dark were watching.

"With Light and Dark, we serve all," Jamie said softly, and their hands moved towards each other until the two balls of light merged into one ball, a dark murky grey that both shone with light and seemed to pull light into itself. It was something that could not exist, except for magic, a contradiction, a paradox, and even with the power of magic behind it, it faded out as their hands dropped.

"What did we just do?" Worthington asked softly.

"I'm not sure," Jamie responded with awe in his voice just as power slammed into the shield outside. Even Worthington could feel it, a massive amount of power and Jamie tensed up behind him even as feet pounded up into the dormitory building. Carl was in the front, his face going blank, and Brandon catching him just as Jamie grabbed him in a fierce link and pulled power from him in a massive wave. Brandon carried him further into the room as Worthington got to his feet, forming the link he'd need with Brandon.

"They're massing at the front gate," Colin said breathlessly as he got out of the way of the main doors. The camp staff and counselors were hustling the campers inside the building, responding to the control spells Jamie had set in them earlier. The campers, who weren't as controlled were babbling excitedly but began to droop as Colin wove the quick spells Worthington and Jamie had taught him, variations on the sleep spell Worthington had invented the other night.

"C'mon," Worthington said as a massive amount of power struck the shield again, and Jamie groaned aloud. He could feel his brother's pain, and as soon as the last of the campers were inside and headed towards their dorms, he was heading out the door. Colin, who had used a fair amount of power keeping the campers under control would stay with Jamie in the common room, a last line of defense.

Worthington strolled down the steps and tried to not look afraid as he headed towards the main gate of the camp with Brandon walking behind him.