Secrets, Lies, and Covens (Phan)

28 Black Veronica

Dan quickly paid the driver and dashed into the coven house. Standing against the wall was Anya who had been waiting for him.

"Dan, thank god! I think she's here! I think I saw her! Dan, I'm scared!" Anya said quickly.

"Hey, Anya, shhh," Dan spoke softly putting his hands gently on her shoulders. "It's ok. It's going to be ok."

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Clarissa's French accent snapped from behind him. "I told you to stay home with Phil! We have this all under control!"

"It's fine! Really! He understands that I had to leave," Dan tried to convince her, but he could tell that already saw that they had gotten in a fight.

"We have it under control," Clarissa repeated in a softer tone of voice.

"You call this under control?!" Anya cried grabbing Clarissa by the wrist and holding out her left arm for Dan to see. A large, bandaged gash stretched from the curve of her shoulder to her elbow threatening to bleed through the white strips of fabric.

Immediately, Clarissa yanked her arm out of the American's grip and held it close to her side. "Don't touch me!" she snapped stepping away from the girl.

"What happened?!" Dan questioned in an alarmed tone.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Clarissa told him.

"She was thrown back into a glass, decorative vase by what we think was her," Anya explained.

Dan just stood there staring at the girls in shock, "That sounds serious? Are you ok, Clarissa?"

"I'm perfectly fine!" she huffed.

"Is anyone else hurt?" Dan asked.

"Well, Chris got hit on the head by a flying book in the library, but that's about it so far," Clarissa informed him.

"Yeah, a book that just happened to be a part of the library attacking us," Anya added.

Clarissa shot her a look as Dan's eyes widened. "What?! I thought ghosts couldn't use magic!"

"They normally can't, but on Halloween, they're equally matched with us, which means they do have powers, but they're just as out of control as ours," Anya continued farther.

Dan threw his hands up in frustration, "Great! Is there any other life threatening information that you forgot to mention?!"

Anya shifted her weight uncomfortably, "Well... um...-"

"The enchantment on the house is unsteady so if a full on fight breaks out, the building could implode in on itself," Clarissa spat out.

Dan just stared wide eyed at the girls as he nervously glanced around the room.

"I think that about covers it," Anya tried to say positively, but failed miserably.

"So you're saying that we could all die?!" Dan shouted.

"No, I'm just saying that we could all be crushed... to our possible deaths," Anya said the last part slowly.

"If that could happen, then why don't you just leave for the night?!" Dan pointed out.

"Because we're not protected from any other spirits that could be outside," Anya explained.

Dan looked at the girls in disbelief, "I've been in and out all day and I'm still perfectly fine! What's out there that's so horrible that it's worse than Veronica?!" Both Anya and Clarissa looked away guiltily as they began to realize his point. "Round everybody up. We're going to my house," Dan told them as he began walking up the stairs.