Charmed: Heritage – 115 – My Curse on You ~ Part 1

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 2, 2017 11:12:00 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Very complicated thing here - with the infection and communication around. Let's hope Wyatt can Emily tell what he needs and if she can contact his brother. Complicated, really. lol

Considering where Chris is, contacting him requires him remembering to check his phone. Good luck with that.

---

Chapter Twenty-One – Mud

Demons surrounded them on all sides. It would be difficult for two witches to handle under normal circumstances. When one of them was mostly magicless, it became a whole lot harder.

It was a well known fact that being without magic didn’t mean powerless. Chris ducked down as acidic substances sailed over his head. “I don’t think they like us.”

“You think,” Brianna retorted as she kicked out her leg and tripped a slimy demon that was advancing on her. “An active power would be nice right now.”

“Yeah, that would,” Chris retorted as he slammed his fist into another demon. “How are you with spells?”

She grabbed a tree branch out of the mud and swung it around her, knocking several demons down. “Passable.”

“And you’re the best among your friends?”

“Not hard when CT’s the only other witch,” she retorted as she whapped a demon that was charging Chris over the head with her branch.

“Thanks,” he chuckled as kneed a demon in the groin and ducked the punch of another.

“Spell huh,” she commented. “Close your eyes.”

“That doesn’t seem smart,” Chris commented as he caught motion on the edge of his vision and kicked the demon down into the mud.

“Use your sensing,” she suggested. “It should be able to tell you where everyone is and how to avoid them.”

“Like your empathy does,” he shot back as he ducked from an energy ball.

“Totally different power,” she informed him. “Fine, just make sure you close them before I finish the spell.”

Chris ducks under another demons attack, grabs up a sharp stick, and stabs it into the demon. He grinned as he watched the demon explode even as he got covered in demon gut. “One demon, five to go.”

“Which still isn’t an easy feat,” she reminded him as she swung her branch at the demons knocking one of them down. “Bright as light off the snow, make this fighting ground glow. Blind the eyes of those who look . . .”

Chris ducked down as another fireball whizzed over him, right where his head had been a moment before. He closed his eyes and forced his attention on his sensing power.

Brianna leaned away from an incoming stream of acid before continuing her spell. “So their vision I will have,” she chanted closing her eyes before finishing, “took.”

All around them a blinding white light filled the vision of the five remaining demons, blinding them. Several seconds passed before Brianna opened her eyes. The light had abated and the demons where in a state of confusion. Brianna watched, a little surprised, as one of the demons hit another with acidic spit and the second demon burst into nothing. “Two down, four to go,” she announced followed with, “you can open your eyes now.”

“Correction,” Chris turned to face her, pulling a branch out of a demon as he did so. “Three down, three to go.” He opened his eyes but didn’t bother looking behind him as the demon exploded into globs of goo that covered them in muck.

The three remaining demons didn’t bother fighting anymore. They shimmered out and left the two witches alone.

Brianna grinned and dug into the dirt. She pulled up a muddy sphere. She wiped it off with her sleeve and looked at the see through globe in her hand. She handed it to Chris.

He stuck the orb in his pack, no longer bothering to ask why they needed such odd ingredients. If they did they did. He wiped some mud off his face and looked at her. “Are you all right?”

Brianna nodded as she combed mud out of her hair with her fingers. She spit some out of her mouth and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Belying her statement she limped a few steps. She gave him a shrug. “I’ve had worse.”

Chris shook his head with a smile. “Tough girl, huh?”

“You got it,” she agreed before sighing. “Well, so much for the easy part.”

“The easy part?” Chris asked in disbelief. “How was that the easy part?”

“Yeah,” Brianna confirmed. “Now, we have to find a unicorn.”

Chris stared at her for several seconds and burst out laughing.

Brianna glared at him. “It’s not funny. You ever try hunting a unicorn?”

“No,” he denied. “I wouldn’t bother. Come with me and I’ll introduce you to my brother’s pet unicorn.”

This time Brianna stared at him in disbelief. “You have a pet unicorn?”

He shook his head. “No, my brother does.”

“How does one keep a unicorn as a pet?” she asked, trying to comprehend this.

“By making everyone think it is a white horse,” he informed her.

“And how does one keep people who know from stealing horn dust?” she pressed. “Or even the whole unicorn?”

He chuckled at that. “You’ll see. Are you going to take us there, or not?”

She nodded. “Oh, yeah, I’m coming.” Her eyes glow eagerly as she adds, “I can’t believe I’m going to see a unicorn.”

Chris laughed at this. “Well, you’re going to have to get us there, because we both know I can’t.” He looked at the items collected in his pack. “Is this everything else we need?”

She nodded. “That’s everything else.”

[Chrisaholic]

Good combination work of both Chris and Brianna. And now with the unicorn and that Wyatt has one as a pet. lol What a picture here, or did I miss anything maybe?

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 6, 2017 10:38:49 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Good combination work of both Chris and Brianna. And now with the unicorn and that Wyatt has one as a pet. lol What a picture here, or did I miss anything maybe?

Yep, Wyatt has a unicorn as a pet. Chris explains that in the chapter after this one when he introduces Brianna to said unicorn. First, though, let's let Piper finally manage to get in contact with her older son.

---

Chapter Twenty-Two – Up to Date

“Wyatt, hi!”

Up until that point, Piper had only paid a negligible amount of attention to Emily’s phone conversation. Piper turned to look at Emily, startled. “Wyatt’s on the phone?”

Emily looked over and nodded. “Just a moment, Wyatt. You should probably talk to your mom. She’s got your aunts here trying to look into what’s going on.”

“If you were going to end up helping a member of my family, I would have thought it would have been Chris,” Wyatt commented on the other end of the phone.

“I called Chris,” she admitted, “to pass on your message. And then I was given reason to come here. Just talk to your mom, okay.”

“Sure, no problem,” Wyatt agreed easily. “If all she knows is what I told your brother, she’s probably pretty worried.”

“I think it’s the fact that she knows more than that which has her more worried,” she corrected him. “Here’s your mom,” she informed him before handing the phone to Piper.

“Wyatt, what is going on?” Piper asked the second she got the phone to her ear.

“An artifact arrived in the museum,” he informed her, realizing she wasn’t interested in pleasantries, “and my friend, Nathan, unpacked it. It enveloped him in a green glow and he said he felt evil. I wasn’t really comfortable with it, but I made the mistake of letting him convince me to keep working. Then, Andrew showed up to deliver a message. When he did he helped Nathan with something and came in contact with him. The same thing happened to him that happened to Nathan. He was covered in a green glow. At that point I tried to call Chris, but Nathan freaked out and broke my phone, so I used the excuse Andrew had given me to get out into the hallway and try and orb home. Only I couldn’t orb out.”

“What did you say?!” Piper exclaimed at almost a yell. “First your brother, now you.”

“What happened to Chris?” Wyatt asked concerned as he absorbed the words. “Are you saying he can’t orb, again, either. This is nuts. I don’t remember coming in contact with any strange gels.”

“It’s not just his orbing,” Piper informed him. “Chris has no powers. Do you?”

Wyatt frowned. His telekinesis hadn’t exactly failed. It acted more like it was deflected considering he was pretty sure a door couldn’t throw him across the floor. He looked around the room he was in, Kate Leigh’s office. On her desk he spotted a paperweight. He focused on it and waved his hand at the desk ever so slightly.

The paperweight moved.

He held out his hand and blinked at the same paperweight. Blue white orbs surrounded it and it appeared in his hand. He gulped.

“Wyatt, are you still there?”

“Yeah, Mom,” he agreed absently. “I’m just testing a few things.”

“What’s going on, Wyatt?” Piper asked, concerned.

“I’m going to put down the phone,” he told her, “just for a moment.” He didn’t wait for a response before doing just that. He put down the phone and closed his eyes. He focused his attention across the room instead of across the city and blue white orbs surrounded him, orbing him across the room.

Confused, Wyatt walked over to the window. He looked down and focused on the ground three stories down. He closed his eyes and focused on the ground below. Blue white orbs surrounded him and dispersed without anything else happening.

After another attempt he sighed and grabbed back up the phone. “Mom, still there?”

“I’m here,” Piper informed him. “What were you doing?”

“My powers aren’t gone,” he announced. “I just can’t use them to affect the outside.” Wyatt looked across the room at Olivia, wondering how long he could keep her out before he needed to deal with her suicidal tendencies.

“Have you tried leaving?”

“Yes, mom,” he informed her. “Now, what’s this about Chris having lost his powers.”

Piper sighed. “Looks like someone gave him a stripping potion. Odd thing is whoever they are seems to want to try and make amends. They sent me a package with a portion of the potion they used, a spell they cast on the potion, and an explanation of what they claim happened. We’re looking into it.”

“Okay, you keep on that,” Wyatt suggested. “I’m going to call Chris, see if he has found anything useful. Ask Emily for her brother’s cell number. He agreed to let me borrow it.” Wyatt paused a moment before adding, “If something happens to me and this all goes bad, I love you, Mom.”

“This isn’t going to go bad,” Piper announced. No other option was acceptable. “You are going to get out of there safe and sound.”

“Not if I can’t leave soon,” Wyatt told her softly. “I tied up two coworkers in one of the storerooms because one of them tried to hang himself and I don’t trust the other one to remain in control enough to stop himself if he gets to that point. I have another coworker who slit her own wrists trying to avoid unseen evils. I have an accountant who is by my order locked up in an office, so far not infected, and at least one other coworker whom I haven’t located yet. I have no idea if she’s been infected or not. And mom, I am infected. It is horrific. I cannot describe how badly I want to avoid it, and the only thing keeping me from even considering doing something . . . permanent about it is the fact that I know my family and friends are out there and that unlike everyone else here, I know they can deal with this kind of thing. I know that no matter how much I want to escape this, if I wait a little longer there might be a less deadly way to escape. I’m scared, Mom. This is evil and it surrounds me. It permeates me. It whispers suggestions in my head and there is nowhere to run.”

[Chrisaholic]

Yeah, all complicated enough with all what's going on and no wonder when Piper is worried about her sons. At least, now she spoke with Wyatt, her worry might lessen. Or not.

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 6, 2017 11:13:09 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Yeah, all complicated enough with all what's going on and no wonder when Piper is worried about her sons. At least, now she spoke with Wyatt, her worry might lessen. Or not.

Yeah, probably not a whole lot lessening of worry.

---

Chapter Twenty-Three – A Unicorn Named El

Chris wobbled away from Brianna and sank down onto the ground. “Any way you can turn that thing down?”

Brianna bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I am completely serious,” he informed her. “I don’t know what it is that makes me and . . .” he waved his hand in her direction, “blinking, incompatible, but is there any possible way to turn it down.”

She shook her head. “Sorry, no. There’s no voltage switch. Either I’m using it or I’m not.”

Chris chuckled weakly. “It was worth a shot.” He forced himself to stand back up and grinned at her. “You ready to meet a unicorn?”

She laughed. “How did your brother even end up with a pet unicorn in the first place?”

“Well, the elders send him when Wy as born,” Chris began as he walked over to a post and leaned against it, “because they knew magic would be stopped and they knew we’d need it. Of course they wanted him back afterward, so my parents returned him. When magic stopped again, he just kind of showed up. Mom got worried since this white ‘horse’ was catching attention. Wy begged to keep him.”

“And your mom just let him?” Brianna asked in disbelief.

Chris shook his head. “Not even close. I think he was seven when she finally relented. That’s about four years. We found out later he was the same unicorn from before.” He snorted. “Actually we had to find out that he was a unicorn first, because before then we thought we just had a white horse that was extremely attached to my brother.”

“You didn’t know you had a unicorn?” Brianna burst out laughing. “How could you not know? There’s a horn sticking out of its forehead.”

Chris chuckled. “Just wait.” He led the way down a dirt path through some trees and turned to look at her as they came to a break in the trees.

Brianna looked through the trees to see a stable. Saddled horses ran around in a pen at the lead of their riders. A smile tugged at her lips as she turned to look at Chris. “Do you come here very often?”

He shook his head. “Not really. El’s Wy’s and . . .”

“El?” she interrupted. “You named a male unicorn, you did say male, right?” When Chris nodded she continued. “You named a male unicorn ‘El’?”

Chris chuckled as he started walking toward the stable. “It’s short for Elder Whitelighter, but we don’t spread that around too much. If someone asks what El stands for, Wy has all sorts of interesting answers. I think he’s trying to find one he likes that isn’t magical in origin.”

“What kind of interesting answers?” she asked as she took several quick steps to reach his side.

“Eloquent Mane was one of the more believable, I think,” he informed her.

She stopped and stared at him. “Seriously?”

He nodded. “Quite serious.”

She laughed some more as she followed him down to the stable. He waved at some people as they passed through the stable. They stopped at the end.

Brianna looked into the stable and saw nothing. “Is this the right place?”

“El, safe,” Chris announced.

What at first appeared to be a pile of straw moreover as a small white horse resembling an overgrown Shetland pony stood up and shook about. El trotted over to edge of the pen and stuck his head out.

“El, meet Brianna,” Chris instructed. “She may be a friend.”

Brianna rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure that’s complimentary.”

Chris reached out and rubbed El’s nose. “I barely know you. If, in time, I get to know you better, maybe that will change.”

Suddenly El reared back, lay down on the ground, and seemingly turned into a pile of straw.

Brianna stared in surprise. “What . . ?”

“Halliwell,” a voice behind them began, “I heard you were here with a hotty. Wasting your time on your brother’s mangy pony?”

Chris turned around to glare at the intruder. “What’s your problem, Carson?”

“Your ‘horse’ has been showing up my Dandelion Queen,” the man named Carson announced, “I don’t appreciate that at all.”

“Well, maybe you ought to train Dandy rather than just use her to show to the girl of the week,” Chris suggested with a glare.

Carson glared back. “You don’t belong here, Halliwell.”

Chris shrugged. “I’m not too interested.”

Carson went off in a huff.

“Old rival?” Brianna asked as she walked him walk away.

“Of Wy’s,” Chris commented. “And more current, I guess. Carson is often complaining that El does better than Dandy, which might have something to do with Carson’s dislike of Wy.” He turned back to look at El. “El, Wyatt’s in trouble and we need some of your horn dust, please.”

“That’s it?”

“Watch,” he suggested.

The air around El’s forehead shimmered and a horn grew out of it.

Brianna watched with a child like glee. “That’s so cool.” She took out a small container and handed it to Chris.

He took is and held it up next to El.

The unicorn bent down his head and shook it, allowing dust from his horn to settle into the container. He stopped and looked at Chris with big brown horse eyes.

Chris smiled. “Thanks, El.” He capped the container and put it with the rest of the ingredients. Then, he nuzzled the unicorn’s nose affectionately. “I guess we’d best go before things get any worse at the museum.” He patted the unicorn one more time as the unicorn’s horn slowly disappeared. “Bye, El. I’ll make sure Wy comes to see you and to thank you personally.”

Brianna smiled. “Thanks, El. It was nice meeting you.”

“Let’s head to my apartment first,” he suggested as they began the walk to the entrance. “I want to see if Seth called. And I don’t particularly want to deal with my mom yet. She’ll coddle me.”

“You don’t have a cell?”

Chris grimaced. “Right. I forgot.”

She starred at him amazed as he dug into his pocket. “You forgot about your cell?”

He opened it up and blinked. “Six messages.”

He put it to his ear and listened. The first voice on there was Seth. “Hey, Chris. It’s Seth. I found something interesting about those articles I left you. Call me.”

His curiosity peeked, Chris listened to the next message, also from Seth. “Chris. Seth, again. It’s been almost an hour. Did you forget your phone despite your promise?”

Apparently Seth didn’t want to leave anything on there that might mention magic. Chris waited and listened to the next message. This one wasn’t from Seth. “Chris, we might have something for you. Apparently someone did this deliberately, but didn’t want it permanent.”

Chris tried to digest his mother’s words as the voice mail went onto the next one, again from Seth. “Chris, I still haven’t heard from you. What are you doing? And why don’t you answer your phone?”

Seth was sounding more worried. His mom’s words on the next message where more cheerful. “Peanut, we might have something for you soon. Call me.”

Chris liked the sound of that. He listened to the last message from only a few minutes before they arrived at the stable. “Chris, I’m at your apartment with Peter. We need to talk.”

Chris had no idea what Seth needed to talk about, but one thing was clear. Chris closed his phone and turned to Brianna. “Definitely to the apartment next.”

[Chrisaholic]

At least, they got all they needed and can now work on more. Hopefully, to solve all this mess. El? Strange name for a unicorn but hey, that was Wyatt's decision. lol

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 10, 2017 13:23:58 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

At least, they got all they needed and can now work on more. Hopefully, to solve all this mess. El? Strange name for a unicorn but hey, that was Wyatt's decision. lol

Can't imagine why Wyatt thought naming the unicorn after the elders made sense, but there you have it. He did. Actually, I do know. It's sort of along the lines of sarcasm.

Speaking of Wyatt, here he is.

---

Chapter Twenty-Four – Reality

Wyatt stared across the room at Olivia. She had awakened during his conversation with his mom and he had chosen to end the conversation quickly before she heard something she shouldn’t hear.

“You’re not real,” Olivia insisted suddenly.

Wyatt looked at her wearily. “Of course I’m real.”

Olivia shook her head hard. “No, you’re not. Wyatt’s covered in blood, so much blood.”

Wyatt shook his head and took a step toward her. “No, Olivia. You called the paramedics. You got them here in time. You saved my life, Olivia.” Had she not been there his family wouldn’t have known about his injuries in time to do anything to save him. Though she had no magic, Olivia really had saved his life.

Olivia shook her head and hugged her knees to her chest. “No, Wyatt’s dead. There was so much blood, so much blood.” She started rocking back and forth, back and forth. “So much blood. How can you stand it? I see it everywhere.”

Silence her.

Wyatt shuddered as the thought ran through his mind.

Make her quiet and make her stay that way.

Wyatt forced the thought back. He didn’t want to hurt Olivia. “Olivia, I need you to come with me. Kelly’s around here somewhere and I need to makes sure she’s alright.” He walked over to her and stopped when she tried to back up closer to the wall.

“Not real,” she announced. “You’re not real.”

Wyatt sighed and reached out his hand, taking hers into his. “I am real, Olivia. I am real and I am alive. I am also Wyatt. You saved me, Olivia. You saved my life, so that I didn’t die.”

Olivia stared down at his hand holding hers. “You’re real?”

Wyatt nodded. “I’m real.”

Olivia pulled her hand out of his and wrapped her arms around her thighs and sobbed. Not sure what else to do, Wyatt sat down next to her and hugged her. It wasn’t as if she could infect him. He already was infected.

It was several minutes before she stopped crying and Wyatt just held her, uncertain what else to do. He knew he needed to check on Nathan and Andrew. He needed to find Kelly and determine if she had been infected or not. And he needed to try calling his brother now that he had another phone to use.

Right now, though, he had a scared coworker who needed him here.

When she finally stopped crying she sniffed and looked up at him. She was shaking as she said, “I’m glad you’re not dead, Wyatt.”

He smiled. “Me, too.”

She grinned and a tiny laugh escaped her lips. “The blood’s gone.”

Wyatt looked around. “You actually saw blood?”

She nodded. “Lots of it. And now I feel a lot better.”

“Do you feel up to coming with me?” he asked, knowing that was really the only option. He couldn’t leave her here.

“No more blood?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. I’m trying to prevent that. You tried to kill yourself, Olivia.”

She nodded. “I know. I remember that. I just wanted to escape the blood.” She looked down at her wrists. There was no sign of them having been cut. “I don’t understand how they healed so quickly. Do you?”

“You must have a guardian angel looking out for you today,” he suggested as he stood and offered her his hand.

Olivia clasped his hand and let him pull her up. Then, she looked at him with a smile on her face and wiped away her tears. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” he replied easily. “I’m glad you feel better.” Because I sure don’t. At least the voice hadn’t made any more suggestions to harm Olivia. “Do you remember banging on one of the doors earlier?” he asked as they exited the room.

She nodded. “Lauren’s office. The auditor is in there.” She frowned as she looked down the hall. “It was locked. I found that odd.”

“Blame me for that,” he admitted. “Strange things were going on downstairs, so when I went up to see him, I warned him to lock himself in.”

She looked at him, confused. “Why didn’t you just suggest that he leave?”

Wyatt froze mid-step. He sighed. “I had already attempted to leave. I wanted to see if I could reach my brother if I left the building and found I couldn’t leave the building. Someone locked the door.”

Olivia stared at him stunned. She started breathing hard and rocking back and forth again. “Someone wants us dead,” she decided when she managed to gasp her breath again.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” he commented. “Olivia, I really need you to come with me.”

“Come where?” she asked cautiously.

“I am going to go down and check on Nathan and Andrew,” Wyatt informed her.

“Are they okay?” she asked almost wistfully.

“Not even close,” he admitted, thinking of how he had left his two friends.

“What’s wrong?” she asked looking scared.

“Can you trust me?”

She stared at him for several seconds and shook her head. “I just don’t know, Wyatt. Something is wrong here and you seem to have all the answers. That’s not always a good thing.”

“I can’t just leave you here,” he protested. He closed his eyes and tried sensing through the building. He had no trouble identifying that Nate was still unharmed. The other three were more difficult, farther away, but something didn’t feel right.

“Sure you can,” she argued. “I’m fine, Wyatt.”

“You tried to kill yourself, Olivia,” he reminded her. “That’s not fine.

“I feel much better, now,” she informed him. “Well, I still am quite uneasy, I no longer see blood, and I no longer feel the need to do anything to escape it.”

“And if it comes back?”

“It won’t,” she decided.

“You can’t know that.”

“I can,” she announced stubbornly.

Wyatt closed his eyes, again, and focused on his three coworkers. He wasn’t sure where Kelly was, but he figured the two together had to be Nathan and Andrew and something was wrong with them. He sighed. “Olivia, I have to go. Please, just come.”

Olivia shook her head. “I’m going to get out of here.”

“The doors are locked,” he reminded her. “And don’t you dare touch these windows. You wouldn’t survive the fall.”

She scowled at him. “Fine. I’m still checking the doors. Maybe they missed one.”

Wyatt closed his eyes and as soon as he tried to sense Nathan and Andrew, his senses started screaming. He ran out of Kate’s office without another word. As soon as he was out of sight, he orbed out. Olivia was in control, at least for now. Somewhere in the basement one of his friends was dying.

[Chrisaholic]

At least, Wyatt could help Olivia here and also bring her back to reality. Now he has to take care of his friend who's in danger. Hopefully, he arrives on time.

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 11, 2017 9:43:22 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

At least, Wyatt could help Olivia here and also bring her back to reality. Now he has to take care of his friend who's in danger. Hopefully, he arrives on time.

You'll find out in the chapter after this one. This one was fun, because it gives you a look into the Witch Hunts world and the relationship between Prue and Andy there.

---

Chapter Twenty-Five – The Truth as You See It

Flashback

Flashback

Flashback

Flashback

Flashback

Flashback

“I can’t believe this!” Piper exclaimed excitedly as she looked down at the tiny remnants of the potion used to strip her son’s powers. She had only needed a little to figure out a potion to reverse it, but this was beyond believing.

Paige looked down at the liquid poured into a small glass. She blinked in surprise as she noticed that it appeared to have separated. An amber liquid settled on one side and a blue liquid on the other.

“Watch,” Piper directed as Prue came over and looked down at it skeptically. She covered the glass with a saucer and held it tight. Then, she picked up the glass and swirled it around. Holding the saucer on tightly, she held it up for her sisters to see. The liquid was well mixed, a brownish blue color.

Unimpressed Paige looked up at Piper. “So?”

Prue shook her head. “Piper, this is a waste of time.”

Piper smiled. “Just watch.” She lifted off the saucer and placed the glass down. Several seconds passed and then suddenly the colors began to separate, almost violently, spreading to different sides of the glass. Piper looked up at her sisters with a big grin on her face. “I might be mistaken, but I think we have a sample of the anti-orbing gel that inflicted my boys a couple of months ago. And if we’ve got a sample, that means I have the chance to find an actual cure.” She looked at her two sisters, her grin big. “We’d never have to worry about long term orbing loss for Paige or the boys or any whitelighters at all. We’d be doing the magical community at large a huge favor.”

“You know what this means right?” Prue asked.

Piper looked at her questioningly. “That I should start working on this potion?”

Prue shook her head. “Not this minute. If someone comes to you for a cure, you might be able to use the one you made for Chris,” she commented dismissively. “No, it means that someone believed the stripping potion wouldn’t take care of Chris’ orbing, so they mixed the two. If he has other whitelighter powers, it might mean he still has those. It also means that we need to try and call your other son and see if there’s anything we can do to help him. I don’t like not going after the demon behind this. We may not be able to cast a power of three spell, but we’re still the Charmed Ones . . . more or less.”

“Yeah, but it is more or is it less?” Paige retorted.

“What does that mean?” Emily asked from the doorway into the kitchen. “The power of three, the Charmed Ones. What does that mean?”

All three sisters turned to look at her, having completely forgotten her. Piper raised an eyebrow at her. “Exactly how much have my sons told you about magic?”

“Exactly how much?” she repeated. “Well.” She wrinkled her nose and shrugged. “Exactly very little, though I gather from it that Chris had a terrible life in another reality and Wyatt was a magical murderer in that other reality. And I have a pretty good grasp on what orbing is, though the way they describing I haven’t a clue why they can do it.”

“They can orb, because they are half whitelighter,” Paige informed her, slightly put out.

Emily shrugged. “See that doesn’t make any sense. It’s not like being Irish. I mean, aren’t whitelighters . . . dead?”

Prue chuckled. “You might have a point there. Both Piper’s husband and my own died prior to marrying us. Both are now living once more and no longer whitelighters.”

Paige gave her a look. “I’m a whitelighter.”

“Do you have charges?” Emily asked.

“Yes,” Paige replied instantly, before changing her answer. “No, not at the moment.”

“Hmm,” was the only response Emily gave.

“I think that’s enough of you,” Piper announced. “Did you have anything else that we could help you with?”

“Get my brother out of that building alive,” she replied without hesitation.

Piper’s face softened. She’d forgotten that Emily did have stake in the problems of the day. “From the sound of it, your brother should be just fine. I’ll make sure to let you know as soon as I hear that he is safely out of there.”

Emily smiled. “No need,” she assured them. “I’ll know the moment he gets off the phone with Matt, because Matt will call me to lecture me, again.”

Piper looked at her confused. “Wyatt has his cell, how is he supposed to call Matt?”

“Oh, don’t you worry there,” Emily returned unconcerned. “My brother’s are very resourceful. There’s no doubt he find a way to borrow one,” a mischievous look crossed her face as she added, “with or without the owners knowledge.”

“Your brother would steal a cell phone!” Prue exclaimed.

Emily shrugged. “He’d put it right back. They’d never even miss it.”

Prue looked at Emily, disturbed. “You have no issues with this?”

Emily chuckled. “Nate’s an accountant, not a pick pocket. He can do it if he had a mind to, but he wouldn’t. There are rules you know.” She looked at the three sisters. “So no, I have no issues with this.”

“Odd family,” Paige commented.

Emily gave her an innocent look. “Says the witch whose dad died at least six decades before she was born.” She nodded with laughter in her eyes. “Yep, I’m the one with the weird family.” She looked at Piper. “You’re right though, I no longer have a reason to be here. I’m completely lost when it comes to magic and you don’t need me underfoot right now. I’d like to learn, but today is clearly not the best time to do that.” She sighed. “I can show myself out. It was nice meeting you, Prue, and to be formally introduced to you, Paige.”

Piper watched her for a second and then turned back to her potions. “We’ve got something for Chris,” she repeated her earlier assessment, “so I guess we’d better call him.”

“You trust her?” Prue asked, looking at Piper curious.

Piper sighed. “Chris trusts her, and you have to admit, all problems aside, it’s hard to argue with a truth spell.”

---

Andy round the corner toward his apartment, juggling a bag of groceries while he hunted his pocket for his keys. When he reached his door, he was surprised to see Prue standing there. “Prue.”

“Andy,” she greeted him as he came to a stop in front of her. “I need to know how you feel about what I told you.”

“I’m gonna need a little more time,” he informed as he walked past her and reached toward the door with his key.

Prue turned with him. “I don’t have time, Andy.”

He stopped and looked at her.

“I need to know before eight.”

“Alright,” he conceded and nodded at the door. “Won’t you come inside and we’ll talk about it.” He went back to work on the lock with his key.

“I can’t,” she informed him.

“Prue . . .” he began.

“Andy, no,” she repeated firmly. In a dead serious tone, she continued with, “Look, if I come inside, we’ll have drinks, there’ll be small talk, and precious minutes will pass. I need to know now.” The look on her face earnest and a bit sad as if she suspected the answer would not be the one she wanted. “Can you or can you not accept that I am a witch?”

Andy’s lips moved slightly as he tried to form the words on his lips. “If I have to answer right now . . .”

Her eyes were big as she watched and listened.

“. . . I don’t think so, Prue.”

Prue looked down, sadness in her eyes, tears starting to fall.

“I mean there’s nothing wrong with it, I guess,” he continued, solemnly. “It’s just not a future I envision having.”

Then the bell had rung in eight o’clock and the end of the spell, leaving Andy with no memory of what had been said or done that day.

---

It was a few months later, a week after Andy had found out about magic, again, he was none too happy when he found out about the truth spell. “You did what last year?” he asked annoyed as he hurried down the stairs from the attic, glancing back at her in exasperation.

“Look,” Prue tried to explain as she followed his down. “I just wanted to see how you would react to finding out I was a witch.”

“So you cast a truth spell on me,” he shot back even as he slowed down at the bottom of the stairs. “Why didn’t you just ask?” Instead of looking at her, he looked away toward the door.

“Oh, because I was afraid you’d freak out on me,” she explained, more than a touch of annoyance in her own voice. “Which is exactly what you did, by the way, you just don’t remember. Part of the spell.”

“Wait a minute,” he stopped her, turning around. “My reaction to your being a witch isn’t the reason why we stopped seeing each other, is it?” he asked, hands on his hips.

“You’re the one who wanted to stop seeing me first,” she reminded him.

“Because you wouldn’t tell me what your secret was,” he shot back in disbelief.

“Yeah,” she agreed, “which turned out to be a good thing considering how you reacted.”

“Freaked out,” he repeated, annoyed.

“Exactly,” she agreed, again, “Kinda like what you’re doing right now.”

“You haven’t answered my question,” he informed her, lowering his tone. “Did that have anything to do with why we stopped seeing each other?”

“Sorta,” she spat out. When Andy gave her a searching look, requesting a straight answer, she sighed and in a normal voice admitted, “Okay, yeah, it did.”

“And just out of curiosity,” he continued. “How much time did you give me to react anyway?”

“Why?” Prue asked, confused. “What difference does it make?”

“How much time?” he repeated firmly.

“A minute,” at his widening eyes, she backpedaled with, “or two.”

“A minute?!” Andy exclaimed in disbelief.

“Or two,” she repeated in defense. “It, it, it was a twenty-four hour spell, all right. I was against the clock.”

“And that’s what you based your entire decision about us on?” Andy asked, stunned. “Prue, I’ve had a week to react to it this time. I still don’t know how I feel. You shouldn’t given me more time. I think I deserve that. I think we deserve that.”

Prue sighed and the moment, such as it was, was broken as Phoebe came down the stairs to join them.

---

Later that day, Andy came to Buckland’s to tell her he needed to talk. “Listen, Prue,” he began, breaking a happy mood with his serious tone. “I’ve done some thinking about the truth spell.”

Prue nodded and let him talk.

“And well, I’m still trying to sort my feelings out, but I’ve kind come to the conclusion that no matter whether I had a minute, a month, or a year to think about it, it wouldn’t change the truth. It may sound boring, but I know someday, I want to have a normal life to come home to. With a white picket fence, a two car garage, a screaming kid . . .”

Prue smiled at that, an amused sound escaping her lips.

“. . . But no demons.”

She nodded and sighed. She’d known this was coming.

He sighed, too. “Maybe it’s because of all the evil I deal with everyday on the job. I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to explain,” she stopped him, shaking her head. “I understand. Believe me I wouldn’t want to come home to it either if I could avoid it, but I can’t. You can.”

He nodded ever so slightly.

She smiled, and wrapped her arms around him, a good-bye, of sorts, to what could have been.

---

And then Andy had died. He’d understood why they did what they did so much that he turned in his badge to avoid answering questions in an internal affairs investigation. And he’d cared for them so much that he had gone into their home, knowing about a premonition that Phoebe had where he died, knowing that Rodriguez was a demon, almost certainly the one who would kill him. And then when he knew they could have let time be reversed, again, he told her to make sure it wasn’t, that she had taught him everything happened for a reason.

Prue shook her head with a sad smile. I lost so much time there. “Sometimes things aren’t always what they seem. You can say a complete lie, if it is what you believe. According to the spell, the truth . . . is the truth according to what they know at that moment in time.”

And for that moment in time, that was the truth for Andy, but there was another moment in time. It was over ten years later when the other side of the matter had presented itself.

---

“This was more Phoebe’s thing,” Prue admitted as she looked at Paige. She had pulled her long blonde hair into a pony tail, something her hair hadn’t seen in more years than she cared to consider. I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. I’ll probably pull a muscle.

Running Buckland’s had not been a particularly stressful activity . . . physically. There had been no need for training. In fact, she’d been so busy with Buckland’s and Piper had been so busy with Chez Magique, Melinda, and the divorce, that Phoebe had been the only one doing anything with magic or demons or any of it in months.

And Phoebe was dead, killed because, ironically she had misused magic. It wasn’t as if she didn’t, in retrospect Prue realized that. It was more that she did it the least of the three sisters.

Four sisters, Prue amended as she ducked a kick directed at her midsection. They’d been at this for half an hour already. Paige had asked her to show her some moves she used when fighting demons and it had quickly become apparent that Prue was rusty and Paige had some skills.

Another kick from Paige and Prue forced her attention back on her friend and newly discovered sister. How could we have known her all these years and had no clue that she was also our sister? She heaved in a breath and landed a well-aimed punch at Paige’s midsection, right before she doubled over in pain.

Paige stopped instantly and looked at Prue with concerned. “Prue, are you all right?”

Prue moaned and clutched her midsection. “I don’t know,” she admitted through clenched teeth.

“Leo!” Paige screamed. “Leo!”

Leo appeared in front of them in white orb bubbles. Seeing Prue his eyes widened. “Prue, what happened?” He held his hands against her stomach.

“I don’t know,” she repeated. “Leo, something is wrong.”

“But not with you,” Leo informed her puzzled. “How did this happen?”

“We were sparring,” Paige told him concerned. “She landed one on me and she was the one who went down.” She placed a concerned hand on Prue’s shoulder and was instantly surrounded in orb bubbles.

---

The vision Paige had been pulled into, a most bizarre combination of Phoebe’s premonitions and the orbing ability Paige possessed due to her whitelighter father, Sam, had taken her far away to the other side of the planet where a young woman lay crying over her dying whitelighter.

Paige had ordered Leo to follow her and to bring Prue.

---

Prue wobbled as Leo let go of her. In all their years of having him as a whitelighter, she had only been orbed once or twice. Leo had put his foot down after a time and he’d stopped orbing anyone, even Piper places. That had been a week and a half after that had met Sam. Sam’s situation with Patty Halliwell twenty odd years before had mirrored the story unfolding before everyone’s eyes with Piper and Leo.

After they had saved Sam from sacrificing himself for Prue, and much to Prue’s relief, saved her, too, he had been none too happy about it, but the three sisters had badgered him for stories about their mom, especially Phoebe. It had taken four days, sixteen hours, and ten bowls of chocolate ice cream to get him not only relaxed enough, but also hyped up on sugar enough to talk. Most of that had been Phoebe’s doing.

Six days later he had told them a story about orbing their mom somewhere and how she’s nearly gotten killed as a result. Leo had over heard the story and after that he refused to orb them anywhere.

And yet, ten years later, here they were.

Paige looked around and quickly spotted the young woman from her premonition. “Leo, there.”

Leo followed her running form as she sprinted over to the young woman crying over the still form of a man.

She looked up at the sound of running footsteps. “Can you help him?” she asked, pleading. “He won’t let me even try.”

The first thing Prue saw was the arrow sticking out of the man’s back. “Turn him on his side,” she directed. “We have to get that thing out of him.”

Leo knelt down and felt for a pulse. It did no good to try healing until the arrow was removed, but he wanted to know if the man was even alive.

“You can’t touch it,” the woman protested.

“I know,” Prue admitted, thinking of the first time she had seen a darklighter’s arrow, deeply embedded in Leo’s body.

“Then what . . ?” The woman stopped as she watched Paige and Leo turn the man on his side.

“Your whitelighter?” Prue queried as she readied her hand.

The young woman just nodded.

Prue waved her arm and sent the arrow the rest of the way through the dying whitelighter’s body and into a nearby concrete wall, snapping it in two.

Paige helped Leo turn the whitelighter over the rest of the way. It wasn’t until Paige moved out of the way to allow Leo space that Prue glimpsed the whitelighter’s face.

“Andy!”

---

Prue had never truly gotten over Andy’s death, but she had moved on with her life. She had spent ten years without him and suddenly, there he was. Just knowing that he was literally just a call away had been hard, but for once things seemed to go her way and in time Andy had been granted permission to not only see her, but ultimately to marry her.

---

“Thanks, Aunt Prue!” Melinda called out as she grabbed her homework off the table and ran toward where Leo stood in the doorway.

Prue smiled and waved.

“Thanks for watching her, Prue,” Leo said over his daughter’s head as Melinda hugged his torso.

“Anne thinks I’m nuts,” Prue informed him with a laugh.

“There are worse things,” he reminded her as orb lights swirled around next to her.

“Get out of here, Leo,” Prue ordered good naturedly as the orbs turned into her boyfriend, Andy Trudeau.

Leo smiled and grabbed Melinda’s hand. “Say good-bye to Prue, Melinda.”

“Bye, Aunt Prue,” Melinda called out before pulling Leo toward the hall. “Come on, Daddy. I want to show you what I did in school today.”

As the door closed behind them Prue turned to Andy. “I thought they said you couldn’t come here, too much magical exposure risk or something like that.”

“Actually, I think the ruling from then was that I stay out of places in this building with cameras unless I am glamoured, since I am still officially dead,” Andy informed her. He smiled at her. “No cameras here.”

Prue smiled back at him. She learned over and planted a kiss on his lips. “So how’s my favorite whitelighter doing?”

“I believe he’s doing good, hanging out with his daughter and all,” Andy teased.

“Not Leo,” Prue gave him a little shove in the shoulder. “You. How are you, Andy?”

“Nervous, if you must know,” he replied matter of fact.

Prue looked at him puzzled. “Nervous? Whatever for?”

“Remember when you asked if I could accept that you were a witch and what you really meant was could I accept that I was dating a witch?”

Prue nodded, a little sad at the memory. “And you said no, twice.”

“Yeah, well I don’t precisely remember that first time,” he reminded her. “So it’s probably best we don’t go into that one.”

She nodded. “You were nervous then,” she mumbled to herself.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, you were nervous that day, too,” she commented, wondering what had him nervous today. “We both were, but this time I’m not the one with a secret. You know I’m a witch. Why you chose to risk coming her and being seen by Anne, is a mystery to me.”

“Maybe because you still spend far too much time here and I wanted to see you today, rather than next week,” he teased. “So do you have time for me?”

“Of course,” she informed him. “You had just to ask.”

“And what if I wanted more of your time than this?” he asked looking at her questioningly. “What if I want to come home to you every night?”

“You sleep?” Prue asked, regretting voicing the thought as soon as it exited her mouth. “I mean . . . I . . .Oh, dear.”

Andy chuckled. “You’ve known Leo how long and yet you ask that question?”

Prue gave him a wry smile. “Before I embarrass myself anymore, why don’t you explain what you are talking about, Andy. You want to move into my little bitty apartment with me? You might have noticed I’m never there.”

“No,” he told her with a smile on his face. “I want you to marry me.”

---

To say she was stunned would not have scratched the surface of her emotions. With everything that had happened since the elders let Piper and Leo marry, she never expected they would let Andy and her marry. She’d been surprised that he’d been allowed to date her.

It wasn’t as if normal was ever going to happen to him at that point, but that had never been in the plans for Andrew David Trudeau, believer in the supernatural. What he had wanted was normal to come home to. When his desire to live his life out with Prue at his side had outweighed his desire to come home to a white picket fence, a two car garage, a screaming kid, and no demons, he’d ended up with all but the no demons. Truth had changed as Andy had changed. Had he again been asked those same questions from all those years ago, he would answered differently, and it would have still been truth, because it was the truth as Andy saw it, not some universal truth that was unchangeable. And that was worried Prue about Emily. When it came to feelings or opinions or plans, truth changed.

[Chrisaholic]

Great memories here. At least, Prue and Andy are together and Prue can also understand Emily. But for Emily to say that her family is weird. Well, the Halliwells are definitely weirder.

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 12, 2017 7:33:33 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Great memories here. At least, Prue and Andy are together and Prue can also understand Emily. But for Emily to say that her family is weird. Well, the Halliwells are definitely weirder.

It's a matter of perspective. Weird to one person is not necessarily weird to another, but Emily will make her own opinion on that in time. For now, let's show you what Wyatt is up to.

---

Chapter Twenty-Six – Escalation

Wyatt orbed in right outside the open door to the basement storage room. The open door worried him, but Wyatt ignored it and entered the room. He found Nathan on the ground, blood seeping out of a head. Andrew was on his knees, his shirt stripped off and pressing against Nathan’s wound. He looked up at the sound of Wyatt’s footsteps. His eyes were filled with terror and appeared to be completely lucid.

Wyatt covered the last few feet as fast as he could move and dropped down to his friend’s said. “Did he do that?”

Andrew shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

Wyatt looked at Andrew shocked. “You did this?!”

“Not now,” Andrew pleaded. “You can berate and pick my mind later. Nathan’s dying, Wyatt.”The next words out of Andrew’s mouth stunned Wyatt. “You have to heal him, Wyatt. I don’t think he’ll survive otherwise.”

Wyatt stared at him. “You aren’t Andrew. Andrew doesn’t know anything about that.”

Andrew gave a half hearted laugh. “You have no idea what I know, Wy. Right now none of that is important.”

“Are you a witch?” Wyatt accused.

A ghost of a smile crossed Andrew’s face. “No magic, sorry. Nathan?”

Wyatt stared at his friend as if he had never seen him before. He felt for a pulse on Nathan and found one, weak and fading. With one last glance of confusion at Andrew he held his hands over Nathan’s wound. A warm, golden glow covered his hands and the wound slowly healed.

Andrew watched with a mixture of amazement and relief. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He’ll survive,” Wyatt assured him. “But okay? Nathan doesn’t believe in anything supernatural. He won’t take any of this easily.”

“I don’t care about any of that,” Andrew informed him before back tracking and saying, “not so much anyway. I’m more worried about the fact that I almost killed my best friend.”

Wyatt starred at him as Nathan’s wound completely healed up. He looked down at Nathan’s closed eyes. A fluttering of eyelashes peeking open just enough to not be seen told him that Nathan was wide awake but not ready to announce it.

“What happened to me?” Andrew asked miserably. “First, I try to hang myself and now this. If you haven’t come when you did. . .”

Wyatt shuddered. “Yes, if he hadn’t come when he did, he would be down a friend. And likely when this was all over, he’d be down another. Murder was rather difficult to explain away.

“How do I explain to him that I didn’t mean it?” Andrew asked miserably. “How does one explain that sort of thing?”

“What happened?” Wyatt had to know. “How did you even get free? I . . .”

“Yes, I know,” Andrew interpreted. “You tied us up for our own good. Though, it is worrying, if this is affecting you, too.”

Something clicked in Wyatt’s mind. “You are sounding more yourself. How did that happen?”

“You don’t know?” Andrew asked sarcastically. “I figured you knew all about this." He didn’t wait for an answer, instead looking down at Nathan with worry. “When’s he going to wake up?” He grabbed Wyatt’s shoulders and shook him. “Why isn’t he waking up?”

Don’t let him push you around. Stop him.

Wyatt pushed Andrew’s hands off his shoulders a little roughly. “Nathan.”

Nathan peeked open an eye and gave them a chagrin look. He pushed himself up and looked into the glaring eyes of his best friend.

“You were faking!” Andrew exclaimed annoyed. “You made me worry!”

Nathan made a show of rubbing his head where his wound had been. “You tried to smash my head in with a statue.”

Andrew glared at him and ignored his point. He started pacing the room, mumbling under his breath. “I can’t believe I was worried about you. The whole time you were faking.”

Making him quiet.

Wyatt cringed and watched his friends. Andrew was becoming increasingly erratic, again. Nathan was watching Andrew with suspicious eyes. Whatever had caused them to act more within their norm was gone.

“Keep him away,” Nathan ordered, his tone low. “Lacey and Glory need me.”

It appeared his earlier words had affected Nathan.

Whine. Whine. Whine. Who cares about his wife and kid? He’ll kill you given the chance.

Wyatt forced his hand down. He didn’t want to think about what that hand had been trying . “Andrew?”

Andrew stopped his pacing, turned and ran at Wyatt, surprising him as he toppled him over. “You did this, didn’t you?!”

Wyatt pushed his friend off of him and wrestled him to the ground. “Be reasonable,” he demanded. “Would I stick around to get infected if I did?”

Kill him.

“No!” Wyatt screamed at the voice, startling both Andrew and Nathan. He backed away from both of them, not trusting himself with Andrew’s life in that moment. They both looked at him wearily. Wyatt looked back at them. Andrew’s eyes were slightly glazed and wild.

You don’t need him. Get rid of him.

Wyatt shivered.

Despite being infected first, Nathan’s eyes were suspicious, but clear.

Wyatt closed his eyes and tried to sense the others in the building. He couldn’t identify them, but all three of them appeared fine. He opened his eyes again and looked at them.

Wring his neck.

Wyatt backed up.

Why did you save him? You don’t need him. Let him kill himself.

Wyatt hit the wall behind him.

They’ll be in your way. Cut them loose.

Wyatt started breathing heavily.

Nathan looked at him with suspicious and a bit of curiosity. “Wyatt?”

KILL HIM!!!

Wyatt ran out of the room as fast as he could, unable to move away from his friends and the voice urging him to harm them fast enough.

[Chrisaholic]

Huh? Andrew is also included in that world. Nice but Wyatt seemed to get more infected when he hears that voice over again. Killing his friends would achieve nothing, I guess, but we don't know the plan here.

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 16, 2017 11:21:28 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Huh? Andrew is also included in that world. Nice but Wyatt seemed to get more infected when he hears that voice over again. Killing his friends would achieve nothing, I guess, but we don't know the plan here.

Andrew has always been included in that world. His story will be told later, but I will tell you now that although I named him, he is not my original character. He is from one of my favorite episodes of Charmed and named after my favorite character in Charmed. He was important enough that someone traveled back in time to stop him from being born.

As for Wyatt "wanting" to kill his friends, this thing causes extreme paranoia and suicidal tendencies, so what it is doing is giving him the idea of "kill them before they kill him." For an added bonus, as long as no one kills him, Nathan will be fine. It will not be clear in this story, but Nathan is quickly getting a lot in common with the one person this never affected. Basically, his desire to live is so strong that he is fighting it more completely than anyone else. I think he has some relapses, but nothing will make him take his life.

Actually, Nathan is a lot like Jarod . . . so fear for him, not his life, for his sanity.

---

Chapter Twenty-Seven – Fitting Things Together

Flashback

Peter was sitting on the couch in Wyatt and Chris’ apartment, remote in hand as he flipped through the channels. Seth was looking out the window, thinking.

“This has got to be a million ways illegal,” Peter announced as he switched off the TV.

Seth looked at him confused. “What does?”

“Entering the apartment like we did,” his brother informed him.

Seth chuckled. “I have permission to enter at anytime.”

“I think they meant through the front door,” Peter retorted.

“I left my key at home.”

“You have a key?” he asked surprised.

Seth looked at him amused. “Yes, I have a key. Wyatt gave it to me a week after they moved in. You know, just in case.”

Peter opened his mouth to respond and froze as the air fluttered and suddenly Chris and Brianna were there. His eyes widened as he looked at his brother. “Did you see that, Seth?”

Seth chuckled. “Yeah, I saw that.” He raised an eyebrow at Brianna. “Why’s she here?”

“She’s helping me out,” Chris informed him. “Some of my . . . he knows, right?”

Seth rolled his eyes. “If he didn’t, he does now. He did know though, so you’re safe.”

“You called and said we needed to talk?” Chris asked, trying to change the subject.

Seth nodded. “Did you read the papers I gave you?”

Chris nodded. “It’s hard to imagine Mr. Hollis and Mr. Lawson as cursed. Neither seems that way. I don’t know the other two, so I can’t say.”

“We talked to Nick,” Seth informed him, “the one of the four who isn’t cursed. He feels guilty about that and he decided to keep track of the Aphrodite Crystal by putting surveillance on it. That means he has magic recorder, because three demons stole it.”

Chris stared at him stunned. “He has magic recorded? I don’t suppose you got the tape.”

Seth shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I did however get last names for his three friends . . . though I guess you already know them.”

“Just Reginald Hollis and Everett Lawson,” Chris corrected. “I don’t know who Jarod is.”

“Jarod Powell is the one in the mental institute.”

Chris frowned and glanced at the papers on the table. “Powell? As in Jody Powell.”

Seth shrugged. “No clue. Who’s Jody?”

“A former co-worker at Centennial,” he informed them. He thought about Jody, about his dealings with her.

---

“Mom, I am an adult,” Jody Powell’s annoyed voice announced from the other side of the break room door. The door handle turned and she entered the room, her cell phone to her ear. You can’t forbid me from seeing him.” Don’t you even care anymore?”

Chris looked up from his coffee.

Jody didn’t even notice him. “Dad needs us, Mom. You can’t keep me away from him.” She began pacing the room. “I’m not afraid of him,” she protested. “He’s never shown any inclination to hurt either of us. I’m going to go see him today.” Jody slammed closed her phone and finally noticed Chris. She grimaced. “Sorry that you had to hear that.”

“Are you okay?” he asked concerned.

“Yeah,” she assured him. “My mom and I have a difference of opinion. It’s a long story and I really don’t want to go into it.”

---

He’d just let it go. Now, he wondered if that had been the right choice, but he doubted he would have learned of the curse from her. Chances were that Jody didn’t know anything about that.

Chris walked over to the table and picked up the paper that said “Jarod” on top. He turned to Brianna. “Do we have enough ingredients for three more antidotes?”

“You have an antidote?” Seth asked surprised.

“Not yet,” Brianna informed him. “What have is ingredients and a recipe, but we’ll have an antidote soon." She looked over at Chris. “We’ll have enough, but let’s get moving.”

The phone in Chris’s pocket began to ring. Startled Chris pulled it out and looked at the caller ID. “Nate Colson?” With a shrug he put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“Chris, I’m going crazy here,” Wyatt’s voice announced over the phone.

Chris breathed a sigh of relief. “Wyatt, you’re all right.”

“I am nowhere near all right,” Wyatt disagreed. “I’m going crazy and this whole thing is driving me nuts.”

“I could join you,” Chris suggested.

“No, absolutely no,” Wyatt informed Chris over the phone. “I will not risk your life, too. It’s bad enough that I have suicidal co-workers to watch out for. I don’t want to have a suicidal brother, too.”

“Wy, think,” Chris implored him. “It’d be the other way. I’d be affected the same way you are; I’d stay sane after you were losing it. I could protect you.”

“No,” Wyatt returned flatly thinking of Andrew’s anguish over what he had done to Nathan. “If there is no cure, this is staying with us. I’m not adding another person to the potential dead.”

“No one’s going to die,” Chris argued. “There is a cure. We just have to find it.”

A confused look from Brianna caused Chris to mentally amend that. Or rather we have to mix it together.

“That’s another thing,” Wyatt responded, unaware of his brother’s thoughts. “You have to be able to look at sources I can’t. You have to be able to contact people.”

Chris scowled and slammed a book into the apartment wall.

Seth looked up from the laptop and over at the book falling onto the couch next to him.

From the doorway, Peter’s eyes grew wide as he looked from the book to Chris.

Brianna actually had the nerve to watch him amused. This was mild compared to some of the arguments her friends had at times. CT and Max sometimes seemed like they were trying to end each other when they tried to let off some steam.

Seth was not so nonchalant as he looked from the book to Chris, suspicion in his eyes. “You aren’t trying to off me, are you?”

Chris glared at him, not bothering to answer. “Seth’s here. He could do outside recon.” As if much was needed anymore. They just had to find those three demons behind this and they knew where one of them was.

“There answer is no, Christopher.” There was a pause before he added, “Besides, you can’t get in. I think there’s some sort of magical barrier around the building. We can’t leave.”

Chris didn’t like the sound of that. “You can’t leave?”

“Why do you think I told your friend’s brother to lock himself in Lauren’s office?” Wyatt threw back.

Chris frowned. “So you’re saying you can’t orb out?”

Brianna looked at him, curiosity on her face.

“Exactly,” he confirmed. “I can’t orb out and I can’t walk out. I’ve tried the doors. Someone’s planned this out well.” Chris could hear a shaky breath being drawn in on the other end.

“Wyatt? What aren’t you telling me?” he didn’t know what it was, but there was definitely something not being said.

“It’s enough to drive a person mad,” Wyatt mumbled mostly to himself.

“Wy, we will find a way to get in there,” Chris announced with more conviction than he felt. Oh, he knew they’d find a way in there, but would they find it in time.”

“Bye,” Wyatt said suddenly without explanation and then the phone went dead.

Chris looked at the phone in his hand with concern. “Something’s wrong.”

“More than before?” Seth retorted.

Chris sighed. “I don’t know. Let’s just hurry.” He turned and looked at Brianna. “Can you bring me to the manor?”

Brianna nodded. “Yeah, but then I have to go.”

Chris looked at her surprised. “You didn’t seem to be in a hurry earlier. You should have said something.”

She shook her head. “Something came up.”

“Would you rather Seth took me?”

Brianna glanced over at the two brothers and shook her head. “No, he has other things to worry about. Besides, I’m the one who knows the recipe. You’ll need that to put these together, so let’s get going. I’ll be back if I can.”

Chris looked at her suspiciously. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing you need worry about,” she hedged. “It shouldn’t take long, but we’d better get started. Besides, didn’t you’re mom say she had good news?”

“Good news?” Seth asked, looking interested.

Chris nodded. “About my powers, I hope.

“Then, you’d better get going,” Seth decided.

“Seth, did you find out where Jody’s dad is?”

Seth shook his head. “Sorry, Nick didn’t mention it.”

“See if you can find that out,” Chris suggested. “We’ll need that info it we are going to give him the cure once it’s made.”

Seth looked over at his little brother. “How about it? Should we return and talk to Nick?”

Peter nodded quickly. “Nick will be expecting that.” With a mischievous grin he added, “He did ask us to help them after all.”

Seth chuckled. “Good thing I brought you along,” he teased. “I’d forget all these things if I didn’t.”

“We’re all set then?” Chris asked looking between the other three. After receiving nods all around, he walked over to Brianna. “We’re going to my mom. Try to make it look like I’m not about to fall over. She tends to worry.”

---

*After rereading that, randomly thinks about something related to Nate Colson's cell phone in season four. Rolls on floor laughing.* Poor Nate.

Weird wording at some points due to the fact that Wyatt's point of view on this conversation has been a flashback in Imaginary Fiends (and Real Friends) for several years and was written prior to this story before I knew that Chris would have the cure ingredients by the time they had this conversation. My apologies, but I wasn't going to mess up my own canon no matter how much of a mess it gave me. Other flashbacks from there are also giving my trouble.

[Chrisaholic]

Oh my, several problems ahead but at least, the brothers spoke now, though Chris tends to be like Piper. Worrywart! Anyway, his reaction is also typical and let's hope they can mix the antidote and find a way in as well as find the one responsible. Phew, much to do!

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 20, 2017 10:40:00 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Oh my, several problems ahead but at least, the brothers spoke now, though Chris tends to be like Piper. Worrywart! Anyway, his reaction is also typical and let's hope they can mix the antidote and find a way in as well as find the one responsible. Phew, much to do!

Yeah, I got to this point and I was at a loss as to how I was supposed to finish this story, which is why it is a two parter (really three, because the previous episode is part of it).

---

Chapter Twenty-Eight – The Missing Co-Worker

“What are you hiding?” Kelly Conley demanded as she tried to look past Wyatt.

“How have you been, Kelly?” Wyatt asked, trying to distract her.

Such a lovely neck she has.

“Miserable,” she glared at him. “Hal started calling me around nine. He wanted to know why no one was answering any phones. The doors are locked and no one can get in. Know anything about that?”

“I’m not sure what’s up with the phones or doors,” he informed her truthfully, though he of course figured it had to do with the cursed gem in the basement, “but I did notice that. If Hal called you so long ago, why haven’t any of us heard from you?”

“I’ve been busy trying to work,” she informed him. Then, to his surprise she added, “I figured if the building was unexpectedly closed, I might as well get some things done that I couldn’t with guests in the museum.”

Her neck’s right there. So thin. Twist it. It’s easy.

Wyatt shuddered.

“Wyatt, are you all right?” Kelly asked concerned. “You look cold and it’s warm in here.”

“He’s fine,” Andrew informed her, peeking his head of the room. “Go back to your statues, Kelly. Tell Hal, the doors will be opened, when they are opened.”

“He has the police out there, trying to figure out how to open them, but they can’t even touch them,” Kelly told them with a look of disgust. “So much for the all mighty San Francisco PD.”

Andrew waved his hand at her dismissively. “Get out of here, Kelly. I’m sure the people able to fix all this are on it, so don’t worry.”

“Really, Andrew,” Kelly shook her head at him. “You sound like a child with something to hide. Is Nathan here? He’s usually more reasonable.”

Such a lovely thin neck.

“Kelly, just go,” Wyatt told her, his body shaking with his effort to not follow through on the thoughts of killing her. “Nathan’s busy.” He glanced at Andrew, letting the question in his mind show through on his face.

Andrew nodded quickly. “We may be locked in, Kelly, but we’re still at work,” he reminded her. “So let us get back to that.”

Kelly shook her head. “You’re up to something.”

One quick twist and it’s done. She wouldn’t even feel it.

“We’re just busy,” Wyatt attempted to assure her, trying to hide his revulsion.

“Whatever,” she tossed back as she turned around and headed back toward the stairs.

Wyatt slumped against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness!”

“She’s not infected, is she?” Andrew asked looking at him.

Wyatt shook his head. “One less person to worry about. She should be fine just as long as she doesn’t run into Olivia.”

“And what about the police?”

Wyatt sighed. “That was bound to happen, I guess. It just makes it more difficult, but I don’t think they can get in.”

Andrew groaned. “This is hard, Wyatt. How much longer do we have to wait before we go completely crazy?”

“Don’t think like that,” Wyatt ordered him. “Just don’t think like that. There’s a cure out there. There has to be and my brother will find a way to get it to us before it’s too late. Just hold on, Andrew.”

“I tried to kill my best friend, Wyatt,” Andrew reminded him. “That’s not something that goes away.”

“I wanted to wring her neck,” Wyatt told him deadpan.

Andrew looked at him startled. “What?”

“The thought popped into my head and it wouldn’t go away until she did,” Wyatt informed him. “You have to control your thoughts, Andrew, no matter how hard. I don’t know how you can do it, but you have to. You have to if you are to protect you and Nathan. Or else you have to let me tie you up again, and trust me.”

Andrew gulped. “Right now, I’d rather not trust someone other than myself. It seems to dangerous.”

Wyatt nodded and closed his eyes, trying to sense for Olivia. No one appeared to be in immediate danger so he sighed and looked over at Andrew. “I’m sorry you’re involved in this. These things tend to happen to my family.”

Andrew shrugged. “The way I hear it, I wouldn’t even be here if not for your family, so don’t worry about it.”

Wyatt looked at him with a frown. “You mentioned before that you know magic and now this. Care to explain?”

“Maybe when there isn’t a danger of us killing each other,” Andrew informed him with a shrug as he headed back into the basement storage room.

[Chrisaholic]

Oh my. Wyatt is really close to lose control but it seems he still can manage. But at least, he has a good friend in Andrew now and they can talk freely about Wiccan things. Let's see how it goes on.

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 23, 2017 17:23:53 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Oh my. Wyatt is really close to lose control but it seems he still can manage. But at least, he has a good friend in Andrew now and they can talk freely about Wiccan things. Let's see how it goes on.

Yeah, things are not going well for Wyatt at the moment.

Andrew knowing will help. Yes.

---

Chapter Twenty-Nine – Potions

“Done,” Piper announced as she held up a potion bottle. The liquid inside was a pale yellow. “Now all we have to do is get my son here.”

“Done,” Paige commented amused as she watched Brianna blink in with her arms around Chris.

Chris wobbled in Brianna’s arms. His face turned green and he ran toward the door of the attic. He almost made it to the door before he started spewing liquid and chunks of food.

Piper watched her son stunned for a moment and then turned to look at Brianna. “What did you do to my son?!”

“Nothing,” Brianna exclaimed quickly. This was not the way she wanted to me a Charmed One, again. It was probably enough to have her out for Brianna’s blood. “He just reacts badly to blinking.”

Three sets of eyes looked at her with mixtures of disbelief and confusion.

Chris slipped down the stairs to clean up.

“He reacts badly to blinking?” Prue asked, skepticism lacing her voice. “I can understand that, if it was orbing and he wasn’t half whitelighter or maybe if it was shimmering, but blinking? That’s the most gentle form of magical travel I’ve experienced.”

Brianna smiled a little at that. “Yeah, it’s a mystery all right. I have a friend who reacts in a similar fashion.” She chuckled. “It’s rather amusing to see him humbled like that, but since it causes him physical pain and not just disorientation, I’ve decided it’s not worth it unless absolutely necessary.”

“Yeah, well it’s absolutely not necessary to do that to my son,” Piper insisted, placing the potion vial back on the table, none too gently.

“Actually,” Brianna commented as she held up the bag with the ingredients they had collected, “it is, if you wanted to get these faster.”

Piper looked at the bag, questioningly. “What’s in there?”

“The ingredients to a potion that will help your other son,” she informed her as she walked over to them and placed the bag on the table next to potion Piper had been working on. “We need at least seven doses. That should be plenty for at least a dozen, probably two dozen or even more.”

“Where on earth did you find a cure?” Piper asked, amazed. “I couldn’t even find mention of one.”

“I followed some demons around for hours this morning,” she announced. “And then I search through some old books, really old books, so old I had to borrow diving equipment to breathe, because it’s kind of buried.”

“You went into a buried library?” Paige asked, a touch of concern in her voice. “Are you okay?”

Brianna nodded. “Oh, I’m fine. I go down there from time to time for research, though usually one of my friends joins me. It was something my friend Toby found years ago.”

Chris reentered the attic with a wash rag and a basin, grimaced at the sight of the throw up and bent down to clean it.

“Leave it,” Piper directed. “We have bigger issues right now.”

Chris nodded as he put down the stuff in his hands. He stood up and moved around the throw up. “So you said, you have good news,” he commented. “I hope it includes getting my powers back, because no offence to Brianna, but I don’t think I can stand more blinking. That was a very unpleasant experience.”

Brianna chuckled at that. “You and CT.” She chuckled a little more.

Chris frowned and looked at her. “What about him?”

She shrugged. “He reacts in a similar manor, that’s all. We try to make sure that someone other than me is around to transport him somewhere if needed.”

“That’s the friend you mentioned earlier?” Piper asked.

Brianna nodded once more. “We’ve got some ingredients for a potion you need to make for your older son. What have you found?”

Piper allowed for the change in subject. “Chris, your friend, Emily. . .”

“She’s not my friend,” he protested. “I just work with her.”

“She knows your secret, Chris,” Piper reminded him. “That builds a bond, and I’ve seen that between the two of you to work.”

Chris frowned. “She’s not magical, Mom. Being my friend is dangerous. Do you have any idea how many people have died because they were my friend?”

Silence met that statement.

Chris didn’t even notice. “Miles was beaten so badly he was in a coma for three weeks before he died. We found Brian’s bloody broken body in out headquarters. Gen found him. I’m not sure which was worse for her. Watching her brother killed or finding her boyfriend’s body. And then Gen. She had a blast of electricity shot through her head.” Chris appeared to be seeing things no one else could see. “And I can never tell Wyatt about Amber. I can’t hurt him like that. He stopped and looked at Piper. “Don’t you understand, Mom? It’s too dangerous for her to be my friend.”

Brianna watched him curiously. She could understand where he was coming from, but she had very different reasons for avoiding friendships with the nonmagical. She couldn’t accept anyone who couldn’t accept her closest friends and accepting her friends was hard enough for the magical community. Oh, she had friendships with some people who weren’t magical, but none of them were close. . . not like those four idiots she called her best friends.

Piper sighed. “Back to my point. Emily came over here with a package someone had delivered to her. It was address to me. Inside there were various items that allowed me to make a potion that should fix your powers.”

Chris frowned. “Are you sure?”

“I studied the potion enough to be certain of its origins,” Piper informed him. “You were given a modified stripping potion mixed with more of that gel that gave you and Wyatt so much trouble earlier this year.”

Chris frowned as he tried to figure out what she meant. His widened as realization hit him. “The gel that kept us from being able to orb?”

Piper nodded. “And I have a cure for that, too. I’ve mixed the two, together, but you’ll need to take them as soon as possible, so drink up.” She picked up the potion vial she had put down when he had arrived and handed it to him.

Chris took it and looked at the yellow liquid with distaste on his face. “Are you sure?”

“Drink it,” Piper instructed him.

Chris sighed and unstopped it. The odor did little to encourage him. Much to the amusement of the others in the room, he pinched his nose, put it up to his lips and swallowed it down in two gulps. He heaved in a deep breath and handed the vial back to his mom. “How long until it works?”

“It needs to get into your bloodstream,” she told him, “so why don’t you two tell me what you mean about a potion to help Wyatt.”

Chris inclined his head toward Brianna. “She’s the one who knows how to make the potion. All the ingredients are in the bag she has with her.” He frowned as he realized the bag was no longer with Brianna. “Or had. Where is it?”

“This one?” Piper asked, suddenly remembering the conversation they had started before Chris had reentered the attic.

Brianna nodded. “I wrote down the portions needed, but my hand writing . . .” she shrugged apologetically, “it’s never been all that great.”

“How do we know we can trust you?” Prue asked.

Brianna held her head up high as she looked Prue in the eye. “Trust me or not. You won’t find me defending who I am or my actions. I don’t particularly care what people think. The thing is, there are at least seven people in need of the potion right now, four of them quite desperately, including your nephew. You wait long and four of them might be dead.” She glanced over at Chris, before returning her attention to Prue. “He doesn’t know what I read. He only knows the testimonials of four friends, three of whom are infected, but dealing with it, and what little his brother might have told him, but it isn’t something you wish on your nephew or anyone else.”

“Prue, Piper should be able to tell if the potion is going to help or harm,” Paige reminded her. “She’s had a lot of practice with that.”

Prue ignored her. “What are you?” she asked Brianna.

“Depends on who you ask,” Brianna snorted. “Witch. Warlock. Who knows.” She turned away and looked at Piper. “Am I going to help? Or do I leave now?”

“You stay,” Chris surprised everyone by saying. “Aunt Prue, I trust her. Besides, she’s Wyatt’s only chance.”

Brianna afforded him a smile. “Thanks.”

He shrugged. “We need your help. I believe you are willing to give it.” He looked at his mother and aunts. “Come on, we need to get to work. Wyatt sounded quite desperate when last I talked to him. I don’t thing things are not going well for him.”

Piper opened the bag and began pulling jars, boxes, and other small containers.

Paige walked over to the table, looking at the contents with a wrinkled nose. “This is supposed to help?”

Brianna nodded. “There is one ingredient not in there.”

“What?!” Chris exclaimed. “You said we had everything.”

She gave him a look. “We do. I said it wasn’t in there. I didn’t say we didn’t have any. I should imagine you have a huge supply in this house.”

“A huge supply?” Chris asked skeptically.

She grinned. “A gallon or two ought to work, depends on the number of batches you wish to make.”

“A gallon or two?” Chris repeated, surprised.

Paige chuckled, having figured out what missing ingredient Brianna was teasing Chris about.

Prue watched with a slightly amused look on her face.

Piper was not so amused. “Just go get the water, Chris,” she ordered.

“Water?” Chris blinked and then laughed. “Right.” He headed toward the door.

“Try orbing,” Piper directed.

Chris looked at his mom, a half smile on his face. “Worth a try.” He focused on the kitchen downstairs and orbed out.

No one was paying attention to Brianna in that moment or they would have seen the grin on her face. Yes! Take that, Uncle Steve!

Piper sighed in relief. “One problem fixed; one much bigger one to deal with. Let’s get to work ladies.”

TO BE CONTINUED

The story's not over yet. If you'd like to see what happens next just click here and enjoy.

[Chrisaholic]

Hehe, so one problem down, still many to go for the family! Cool, that Chris trusts Brianna and she knows who was behind it. Up to the next one.