Charmed: Heritage – 116 – My Curse on You ~ Part 2

[StoryGirl83]

Charmed: Heritage
Episode 1X16 – My Curse on You ~ Part Two

Chapter One – Family Relations

Fri, Apr 23, 2027

An underworld lair should be one place where someone, be they demon, warlock, or darklighter should feel comfortable. Normally Steve Kessler did. A feeling of being watched had overtaken him several minutes earlier and he couldn’t shake it.

Unable to stand it any longer he stood and paced around the room almost crashing into his niece, Brianna McInnis, learning against the wall watching him.

“Hello, Uncle Steve,” she greeted him.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Steve protested, feeling that he had been violated by her presence in his lair.

“Why not?” she asked, unconcerned. “I’m a warlock, aren’t I?”

“We both know you’re not,” he spat back. This was Angel’s daughter, but that didn’t mean he was delusional. He knew the crowd she hung out with.

Brianna raised an eyebrow, the action almost invisible in the dark. “Do we?”

Steve was silent.

“Do you know how amusing it is to find a witch who can’t handle blinking?” she commented, matter of fact.

Steve frowned, not sure where this conversation was going. “Witches have no trouble being blinked somewhere. It’s part of their genetics, same as with warlocks.”

She shrugged and walked over to his desk. She hopped up and sat on it. “Ever see someone so disoriented after being blinked somewhere that they threw up or passed out?”

“I don’t have time for this,” he growled.

“No, no, you’re far too busy trying to get yourself killed.” The last words were growled out. “Did you honestly think someone wouldn’t put the pieces together?”

“I suppose you are here to vanquish me,” he spat out, disgust in his voice.

“Hardly,” she countered. “I’m here to warn you. Devia needs her father. Stay on this course and you will deprive her of that.”

“And you’re concerned,” he scoffed, not believing her for a minute.

“For Devia,” she confirmed, not bothering to pretend anything more. “And for what you were,” she added without explanation.

“Then, help me.”

“And get myself killed for my troubles?” she asked mockingly. “No, thanks. I don’t have a death wish.”

“Why are you here, Brianna?” He growled out the question.

She jumped off the desk and walked over to him. “This whole thing has me thinking of Uncle Ry.”

Steve frowned, suddenly lost in this conversation. “What?”

“Uncle Ry,” she repeated. “You know him. He’s a member of your coven.” When he didn’t reply she added, “He calls me his shortcake.”

“Was,” he corrected bitterly, “a member of my coven.”

“Oh.” She looked at him, surprise and a little bit of pain evident on her face. “I see. That explains a few things. How?”

“As if you care,” he snarled.

“Of course I care,” she snapped back. “He’s part of my childhood. He was like family.”

“Well, he wasn’t your family,” he reminded her with growing annoyance. “I’m your family and you don’t care.”

“I care more than you do, Uncle Steve,” she informed him. “Don’t you remember how I used to follow you around asking you questions about just everything?”

“And returned to your father and tattle,” he returned bitterly.

“Tattle?” she chuckled. “I was a little kid sharing my new knowledge with my daddy. I wasn’t tattling for goodness sake. You make yourself sound like a small child trying to hide something from his or her parents only to have his older sister or brother run off to tell mom or dad just to get you in trouble. It was never like that.”

He scowled and pointed at the exit. “Get out.”

“Don’t continue this course, Uncle Steve,” she repeated her earlier words.

“You don’t understand,” he protested. “They killed Dam. I promised him. I won’t break that promise.”

“You’re a warlock, Uncle Steve,” she reminded him. “Do you really mean to keep a promise made to a vanquished darklighter?”

“He was my friend,” he protested, unsure how he ended up on the defensive.”

“You’re a warlock,” she shot back. “Evil doesn’t understand friendship. He was a darklighter. It’s their job to get you evil and keep you there. They don’t care about friendship.”

“How is that different than your relationship with those two darklighters you call friends?” he shot back.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she informed him, adding, “not if you think Dam was your friend.”

“And you say you care about what happened to Ry.”

“I do,” she assured him. “I care about Ry, Shora, Kayla, Eden, even Dathe, but not Dam. I’m an empath, Uncle Steve.”

“Who has only had that power recently,” he reminded her.

“There’s still a sense of people that I’ve always had,” she informed him. “And Dam never cared.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he protested.

“And you don’t know what you’re throwing away,” she informed him with a shrug as she headed toward the exit.

“I can’t let you just leave,” he announced, grabbing her arm.

She shook him off and glared at him. “Uncle Steve, I’m not going to ‘tattle’ on you, not now, but if you want to survive, you’d better alter your path. Thanks for the help.” Before he could say anything else she blinked out.

Steve frowned. “Help? What help?” he asked the empty air. He ran the conversation through his head, but try as he might, he couldn’t think of anything that might have been construed as help. He let out a frustrated yell before he blinked out, heading home.

Credits Roll

---

If you haven't read part one in the previous episode, click here and enjoy.

[Chrisaholic]

Oho, complicated family things. Yeah, so Brianna knew about the attack and the motives. Wonder how it goes on though.

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 23, 2017 17:55:02 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Oho, complicated family things. Yeah, so Brianna knew about the attack and the motives. Wonder how it goes on though.

He's family. She's not ready to sever that connection, mostly because of her cousin and the rest is fond childhood memories.

---

Chapter Two – Opening the Doors

Flashback

Chris orbed in between two cars in the museum parking lot. On his back was a backpack with eight doses of the cure safely tucked in it. He felt like a grade school student heading off to his first day of school rather than an adult witch trying to get a cure for a magical curse to his older brother.

He stood up and walked toward the building. His eyes widened as he saw the crowd in front of the museum. The area was roped off, holding people thirty or so feet from the building. Policemen stood on one side of the tape working crowd control. Many people stood on the other side of the tape. Chris recognized some of them as coworkers of Wyatt’s. He ignored them and tried to look for a way in. The front door obviously wasn’t it.

A bouncing sound behind him caught his attention. He turned around just in time to see Emily Colson’s feet hit the ground.

“I assume by your entrance that your mom was able to fix your powers. Did you also find a cure for whatever is in there?” she asked as she walked over to him.

“How long have you been waiting here?” he asked, not liking the fact that she was so close to this.

“Long enough,” she replied with a shrug. “I figured you’d show up eventually and that this was the only way I was going to tell me anything.”

Chris sighed. “Emily, you can’t get so close to these things. It’s too dangerous.”

“This is my brother, Chris,” Emily reminded him. “I can’t do much, but I can lend my presence.” She paused before asking, “Do you have your phone?”

Chris frowned and pulled it out of his pocket.

Emily grabbed it and started pushing buttons, getting into menus.

Chris stared at her, too stunned to react for a moment. When he did, it was only to ask, “What are you doing?”

“Putting my number into your phone,” she informed him without pausing. “Call me when it’s safe to go find Nate.” She gave him a smile and climbed back onto the hood of the yellow Chevy Camaro she had jumped off of when she’d spotted him.

Chris glanced at the new entry in his phone’s contact list. He closed his phone and moved a little closer to the boundary the police had built. He didn’t bother getting past the edge of the parking lot. There was no way he was going to get in there through the front entrance. He focused his attention on being invisible and walked around toward the back. Though he passed two police officers trying, unsuccessfully, to open one of the windows, he didn’t find anyone around back. He relaxed and allowed himself to be visible again as he headed toward the door. He passed the stone railing to the stairs and did a double take as he found Brianna waiting there for him. “I thought you had something to do.”

“I finished it,” she informed him, “but now I have a problem.”

He looked up at her wearily. “What’s that?”

She held out a piece of paper. “The spell on this paper should get us inside, if I’m right about why we can’t enter.”

“But?” he’s expression growing wearier. “I head a but.”

“If I’m wrong, it’ll make things worse,” she informed him as she put the paper into her pocket.

Chris’ frown grew even more. “What do you need to know?”

“The spell I think was used, can’t lock doors physically,” she informed him as she pushed herself to a standing position. “What it does is prevent magical travel through its borders.” She gave him a wry look. “That’s pretty much been tested, since I understand your brother can’t exit and I’ve tried. I can’t enter through blinking.” She glared at the building. “I’m pretty convinced that it was used, but as I said, it can’t physically lock the doors, so it is used with another spell most of the time. I can’t test that spell.”

“How can I help?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “The thing is, all the other spell does is hide normal locks. You can’t see them and you can’t touch them.”

“So cast the counter to that that one, if the counter to the other one is dangerous,” Chris reasoned.

“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple,” she announced. “I need to know what’s being hidden or the spell won’t work even if there is something there.”

“So you need to know if there is an invisible lock,” he snorted as he looked at the door behind her.

She nodded. “But I’m not sure how and if I reverse the other spell and it’s the wrong spell, it might permanently mess something up.” She frowned as she realized she could no longer see Chris anywhere. “Where did you go?”

Meanwhile, an invisible Chris ignored her as he focused on staying invisible. Clearly she had a short memory, since he had told her about this power earlier. He walked past her to the back entrance, he eyes focused on the chains holding the door closed. “Chains!” he ordered.

Orb lights surrounded the chains, but they didn’t move an inch. He hadn’t actually expected anything, but he was still disappointed. He turned around to face Brianna and relaxed, allowing her to see him.

“Oh!” she gasped. “I forgot about that.”

Clearly.

“Anything there?”

“Chains on the door,” he announced. “Do you need more of a description than that or will that suffice?”

“No that will work,” she agreed quickly. “Thanks.”

“So what’s next?” He asked as he glanced back at the building. “Will those spells you have work?”

She pulled the paper back out of her pocket and unfolded it. “Yes, it should.” She looked down at it and began to read. “Unchain this door, let all pass thru. Make visible bonds, let magic thru. All attempts go through the door. Release the evil from its core.”

“Evil!” Chris exclaimed even as he saw the chain on the door became visible.

“Yes,” she agreed. “There’s more to this than you know, but you don’t need those details now. Get that chain off the door while I undo the other spell.”

“Why couldn’t you undo the other one first?” he asked as he held out his hand. “Chain!” Once more orb lights swirled around it and nothing else happened.

Brianna scowled. “Looks like unless you can get that off without magic, I’m going to have to cast this other spell first.”

“Then get on it,” he ordered. He pulled out his phone and dialed the last number received.

Brianna sighed. “Within these halls good magic revive. As orbing returns evil won’t survive. Magical transport can from within, or from without be used to rescue them.”

“Wyatt’s not answering his phone,” Chris informed her as he flipped closed his phone. “Can we get in?”

“Orb away that chain and go find your brother,” she ordered him. “I’ll take care of the rest of the exits.”

“Chain!” Chris called out as he held out his hand once more. This time the orb lights swirled around and when they disappeared, the chain went with them, straight into Chris outstretched hand. He dropped it to the ground and orbed away.

As Brianna walked toward the next exit she thought about how she had located those spells.

---

The air was still. The room was dark. It was definitely not quiet. From the other room sounds could be heard of children reciting the spelling of words along with a voice on the TV.

It was to the sound of squeals of joy that Brianna blinked into Ry’s empty study. Keeping an ear open for footsteps, she whispered, “Entire reveal.”

A cold shadow swept through the room making Brianna shiver even as items appeared on the shelves, posters appeared on the walls, and a dart board featuring a picture of the local law enforcement officers. She rolled her eyes at the dartboard and the picture which was liberally sprinkled with holes and looked around.

She located a news article on the wall about a fire in an apartment complex. Several hundred people had been trapped in the building. Most of them had died. The doors had been magically locked in much the same manner as she believed the Museum of American History currently was. The word “victory” was hand written at the top of the article, but there were no clues as to what spell had been used.

“Uncle Ry, why couldn’t you have understood?” she whispered sadly. She knew there was little of no chance for most of her dead mother’s coven, but they had always been good to her and it made her sad to see them as they truly were.

Footsteps reminded her of what she was after and she looked toward the bookcase. She pulled off a likely seeming book, flipped it open to confirm it’s contents, and sighed in relief upon seeing that it was what she thought it was.

“Entire hide,” she whispered as she tucked the grimoir under her arm. She heard the footsteps coming closer and blinked out with the grimoir even as the shadows hid everything in the room, again.

Ry’s widow and kids knew nothing of his other life. She hoped they never found out, but chances were high that they would. Those three children were going to ask questions when it occurred to them that they had magical powers, because she rather doubted Ry would have done anything to hide that from them, especially while magic was gone.

She was going to have to go back and hope that she provided a positive magical influence before someone else offered a negative one.

---

As soon as Brianna blinked into her bedroom she laid the grimoir out on her bed and started flipping through it. It took her almost ten minutes to find the page she wanted.

She grabbed a notepad and pencil and started copying the counter spells she needed, hoping that she didn’t have this all wrong. From what she’d read of the crystal, every minute she spent was one that made the situation worse and from the look of these spells, they were probably causing their fair share of trouble for the people in the building.

Once she finished copying, she stuffed the grimoir on her shelf. “Hide from every prying eye, this thing I want no eye to spy. Until the time I want it back, change the image, no detail lack.”

She stuffed the paper in her pocket and blinked in behind the museum. She surveyed it for several seconds before plopping down on the steps to try and think of a solution. It had been less than a minute later when Chris had rounded the corner and presented the solution she needed.

---

“Unchain this door, let all pass thru. Make visible bonds, let magic thru. All attempts go through the door. Release the evil from its core.”

As soon as the chain holding the door closed was visible she realized that she had a problem she’d forgotten to consider. Without Chris there, she had neither the magic to simply move it nor the strength to remove it on her own. Well, there were other ways to get around this. It was just going to take some creativity, especially when she got to the doors up front. For now, it was time to get to work.

[Chrisaholic]

I take it that Chris is now in whereas Brianna has different problems. Emily is really worried if she gives her number to Chris on her own. Let's hope for the best!

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 24, 2017 10:45:50 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

I take it that Chris is now in whereas Brianna has different problems. Emily is really worried if she gives her number to Chris on her own. Let's hope for the best!

Chris is now in and yes, Brianna has her own problems and I don't mean the doors. That's easy compared to something else she has to deal with. Yeah, Emily is worried about her brother (mostly, somewhat about everyone else, but her brother comes first). She wants to know as soon as he is safe.

---

Chapter Three – Attack to Kill

Confident that Kelly was fine and that Nathan and Andrew would be for the present, Wyatt had decided to check on Olivia. He only hoped her could control the thoughts that kept going through his head. He’d decided to walk in hopes that it would clear his head a little, but it had only given his mind more time to think about things he never wanted to think about.

They hate you. They all hate you.

“No, they don’t,” Wyatt heard himself arguing aloud. Arguing with myself. Great.. I’m a real idiot.

Yes, you are. And they know that.

“I’m not though,” Wyatt argued. “Just because I thought it doesn’t make it so.” I hope.

But you are and no one wants you around. Even your brother wants you gone.

Wyatt glared ahead of him. “That’s not true. That’s not true! Leave me alone!!”

Haven’t you noticed how he’s keeping secrets from you, how they all are?

“That doesn’t mean they don’t want me around,” Wyatt argued, not bothering to deny that his family was keeping secrets. He knew they were, but it didn’t mean they didn’t love him. “Go away!”

Wyatt was so busy arguing with himself that he didn’t notice Olivia sneaking up with him. His first clue was when a he felt a stabbing pain as a letter opener was stabbed into his right shoulder.

Wyatt spun around, all reason lost on him as he grabbed Olivia and slammed her into the wall. He slammed her against it, time and again until she lost consciousness. Breathing hard he glared down at her. He reached back and tried to pull the letter opener out of his shoulder, but couldn’t get a good grip on it. He looked around and grabbed one of Hal’s vases. He stood over Olivia’s unconscious body and held it up.

“Vase!” Chris voice yelled. The vase orbed out of Wyatt’s hands and into Chris’.

Wyatt turned around, glaring at his brother, his eyes bloodshot. “How dare you interrupt?!”

“I dare because my brother looks like he’s trying to kill someone,” Chris shot back. He put the vase back on its pedestal. “Is she alive?”

Wyatt took in several deep breaths as he looked at Chris. “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from here?”

“Are you able to heal her without hurting her worse?” Chris pressed. “Let’s stay focused on what’s important here.”

Wyatt closed his eyes for a second and then turned back around to look at Olivia’s body slumped against the wall. He stooped down and held his hands over her until a golden glow began to emanate from them. He kept them there until she began to move. His body began to wobble as he stood stooped there. As Olivia’s eyes blinked open Wyatt toppled over, moaning. He screamed as the action caused the letter opener still stuck in his shoulder to be shoved deeper in.

Olivia stared up at him with wide eyes. “He tried to kill me.”

“Quite possibly,” Chris mumbled.

“I mean he really tried to kill me,” she repeated in shock.

“He’s not himself right now,” Chris informed her.

“Wait, how’d you get here?” she looked at him confused. “Wyatt said . . . but then it was Wyatt.”

“Wyatt told you the truth,” Chris interrupted. “Things have changed.” He looked down at his older brother, still howling in pain on the floor. “I’m guessing by the knife in his shoulder that you weren’t the only one attacked in the past few minutes.”

“Me?” she stared at him confused. “No, I wouldn’t do that. That would be bad.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “Look I need you to do something for me, okay.”

She pulled her eyes away from Wyatt and looked at him suspiciously. “What’s that?”

“I need you to go get me some cups from the drinking fountain . . . wherever that is . . . and fill them with water.”

“You don’t work here, do you,” she mumbled.

“No,” he agreed. “I’m here about the problem of people acting abnormal, like he is, like you were when you stabbed him. I have a medicine to help, but I need to have some cups for it.”

She frowned. “He drinks it first,” she announced pointing at Wyatt.

“Sure,” he agreed quickly. “Just get me some cups while I deal with the knife.”

“Letter opener.”

“What?”

“It’s a letter opener,” she informed him.

“Oh.” Chris was at a loss as to what else to say. “Well, thanks for the info.” I’ll be sure to use it well. As soon as Olivia rounded the corner into another corridor Chris looked down at his brother. “Letter opener!” he ordered in a whisper. When it orbed to him he moved out of the way and let it drop to the floor. He didn’t want to risk getting infected, even with the extra dose he carried. He’d never hear the end of it if he did. “Wy, how are you feeling?”

“Terrible,” Wyatt told him as he rolled over. “Didn’t I tell you to stay out of here?”

“I believe there was an implied ‘without the cure’ in that order,” Chris countered, shaking a finger at his brother.

Wyatt looked at him startled as Olivia rounded the corner, unnoticed, with the paper cups of water. “You have the cure?”

Olivia stopped and waited in silence.

“I do,” Chris agreed. “But it smells awful, so I sent your co-worker . . .”

“Olivia.”

“Right,” Chris conceded. “I sent Olivia for some water to wash away the taste.”

“But it will work?” Olivia asked from behind Chris.

Chris turned around and looked at her. “It will work. Will you drink it?”

She stared at them in silence. Her eyes shifted back and forth between the two brothers. “If he takes it first,” she finally decided.

Chris looked back at his brother. “Well?”

Wyatt nodded. “Yes, please.” He sat up, careful not to touch his back to the wall.

Chris returned his attention to Olivia. “Give him one of the cups.”

“Say please,” she directed him.

“Please,” he conceded.

Olivia handed one of the cups to Wyatt. She turned her suspicious eyes to Chris. “The medicine?”

Chris pulled out two small glass bottles with screw on lids. He handed one of them to Wyatt.

“No, I want that one,” Olivia protested before Wyatt could grasp it in his hand.

Chris shrugged. He handed the bottle to her, careful not to actually touch her.

She grabbed it from him. Then, she surprised them both by unscrewing the lid and swallowing it down in one gulp. She then followed it with the water. As she downed the water, the brothers watched astounded as green bubbles popped all over her head and continued down her body. When it reached the bottoms of her feet a green smoke puffed around them and vanished into nothing. She stared down at the empty bottle.

With horror Olivia’s eyes fell on Wyatt. “I stabbed you. Oh, my word, I stabbed you!”

She’s mocking you. She deserves to die.

The wild look returned to Wyatt’s eye.

“Wyatt, stand down!” Chris ordered him.

Wyatt snorted, his eyes continuing to watch Olivia.

Olivia ran behind Chris, as if he was enough of a barrier to protect her from Wyatt.

Chris is becoming a nuisance. You may need to deal with him first.

“She’s an innocent,” Chris pleaded.

Wyatt’s eyes snapped to Chris. “The cure. Quick!”

Chris handed it over to him, again, careful not to touch him.

Wyatt’s next actions mimicked Olivia’s down to the green bubbles as he gulped down first the potion and then the water. As the smoke dissipated around his feet he felt as if a giant weight was removed from his shoulders.

Olivia watched in fascination at the strange things happening in front of her. She peeked around Chris and in a whispered voice asked, “Are you okay now?”

Wyatt gulped. “I think so.” He closed his eyes and found to his relief that there was no sense that his friends were in immediate danger. “Chris, how did you get in?”

“Back door.”

Wyatt looked over at Olivia. “If you want to leave there’s your way out. It should be safe enough now, but try not to let anyone see you. Kelly said that everyone is out there trying to get in.”

Olivia glanced down at her watch. “It’s closer to close than it is to open. I’m not surprised.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I should hope so,” she agreed. “I want answers, but seeing as I seem to recall trying to kill myself and you somehow fixing that, I will wait, but I want them. Something very strange has been happening here today.”

Wyatt nodded. “I know. And I’m sorry you were involved.”

She looked at them rather hesitantly. “I’ll see you next week. I mean to get tomorrow off and Hal will not deny me.”

Wyatt chuckled. “Try not to be seen. I’m not sure we’re ready for people to come in.”

She frowned. “We weren’t the only ones, were we?”

He shook his head. “No, and they still need the cure.”

She sucked in a breath and nodded. “In that case I’ll be in my office with my door locked. Fix it.”

Once she had rounded the corner, Wyatt turned to his brother. “They are alive down there, but Andrew’s already tried to kill himself once and Nathan once. Can you . . ?”

Chris raised an eyebrow at his older brother. “Can I what?”

“Mom said your powers . . .”

“My powers are fine,” Chris assured him. “Mom fixed that. Let’s go help your friends.”

---

That takes care of part of it. But we still have a lot to deal with before this is all over.

[Chrisaholic]

One problem down and many still to go. Though Wyatt's arguing about Chris being there but deep down, he's happy, I guess. lol At least, they can now cure all others in the museum.

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 25, 2017 9:33:24 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

One problem down and many still to go. Though Wyatt's arguing about Chris being there but deep down, he's happy, I guess. lol At least, they can now cure all others in the museum.

He doesn't want his brother in danger, but yeah, he is glad to see Chris, especially since Chris has a cure.

This next one is setting stage for a story line that will be playing out for the rest of the season. Why do you think they do this?

---

Chapter Four – Changing Around

and two unidentified magical young men

“How are you and Andy adjusting to your home?” Piper asked as she wrote “Aphrodite Crystal Cure” on a label and stuck it on the vial.

“Not all that well,” Prue admitted. “As you know I found a job at that art museum on Fifth, but a nearly thirty year employment gap doesn’t look good for me or Andy. He still hasn’t found anything and it’s beginning to bother him. We really appreciate all the help you two have been giving us.”

“Not help my sister,” Piper teased with a mock look of horror on her face. “I’d never do that.”

Prue grinned. “Ben and Alice have helped some, too, but I hate causing all this trouble.”

“We’re glad to help,” Paige assured her. “And speaking of help, my girls were wondering if your girls would like to spend a weekend over at our place. Think you could help me arrange that?”

Prue smiled. “Sure. The girls have been having trouble making friends in school, especially when it’s someone they knew before and now everything’s different and everyone looks the same, but they’re all strangers. My girls would really enjoy the chance to hang out with their cousins and not have to worry about knowing too much, especially Pat. A little over two weeks ago she came home in the doldrums. She’d run into a girl who’d been a good friend in school. Her friend was killed in a car accident just before they started high school and Pat says she completely messed things up and now this girl thinks she’s a freak and it has Pat pretty depressed.”

“That’s awful,” Piper commented. “Have you run into that, too?”

Prue nodded. “There’re too many memories, too many things that are close, but way too far away. It’s hard to remember what we should and shouldn’t know. That’s why I’m so glad I have you two, that Andy has Ben and now Darryl to talk to, and that my girls have their cousins.” She looked over at Paige with a grin. “Pat’s been calling all three of your kids everyday for the last two weeks, so they can help her on various school projects. She doesn’t want to deal with the kids in her own school anymore.”

Paige laughed. “So that’s who Hanks been talking to. I’d been wondering.” She cocked her head to the side, “But are you sure they’re talking about homework?”

Prue frowned. “What else would they be working on?”

“Magic,” Paige announced. “I’ve heard Hank discussing potion ingredients, demons we’ve dealt with, and how to write spells. It’s not something I usually hear one of my kids discussing over the phone.”

“I hope she doesn’t think she needs to hide that from me,” Prue commented with a frown. “I’ll have to talk to her when I get home.”

“I wish you would just move back to San Francisco,” Piper commented as she put away the last of the potion ingredients. “It would be a lot easier to visit you if we didn’t have to drag Paige into it every time.”

“Paige doesn’t mind,” Paige retorted, “so long as you don’t call me when I’m busy or a charge needs me.”

“And why is Paige referring to herself in the third person?” Piper teased.

“Because she’s feeling left out,” Paige returned.

“Right,” Piper drawled, “because all this talk about your kids is so far from discussing you.”

Paige chuckled. “True. Speaking of kids, do you think we should call yours?”

“As much as I want to, I promised Chris I’d give him an hour before I started calling him or reinforcements.” She glanced down at her watch. “He still has twenty-five minutes. It’s frustrating. The potion will work. I verified that girl’s findings, but that doesn’t tell me if Chris will get it to everyone in time.”

“Twenty-five more minutes,” Prue mumbled. “Why’d you give him so much time?”

“Because he’s my son,” Piper informed her, “and I trust him with magic, because he can do this. And by giving him a time limit I have an excuse to call him as soon as it’s up which he can’t complain about, because I warned him. It’s not working too well though, because right now I want to be more involved than just making potions. Problem is, other than when Tyler coming to me, I haven’t had any idea where to look to find innocents in need of help. They’ve pretty much been falling into my sons’ laps, but they are trying to protect me. Me! They’re the kids. I’m the parent. It’s supposed to go the other way around. And without Phoebe we don’t even have premonitions, because none of the kids got them. It’s probably the universe conspiring against us so that all four of us can’t be together.” Piper scowled.

“Calm down, Piper,” Prue directed her, putting an arm around her shoulders as Paige stood nearby looking concerned. “Phoebe is alive and she’s out there somewhere. Grams or Mom would have told us if she wasn’t. We will find her and we will bring her home safely.”

Piper sighed and snuggled up against Prue. “I know. I’m just so worried about her.”

Paige came over and hugged Piper and Prue. “We’ll find her.”

Piper wiped away a tear forming in her eye. “Someone distract me, please. There’s too much time left.”

“Next time, give them less time,” Prue suggested with a chuckle. “How about you tell me about your restaurant? You have one in the other reality, but you called it Chez Magique.”

“House of Magic, huh,” Piper replied with a laugh as she turned in her sister’s arms. “A little obvious, don’t you think?”

Prue chuckled, again. “A reporter asked you about that at the open and you said whatever anyone said or thought, Phoebe was your sister whom you loved and she died because she was accused of magic, but the only magic you would admit to was the magic of sisterhood, which was kind of ironic considering our relationships when she died.”

“I got that idea,” Piper admitted. “Your assistant hadn’t even met me.”

“She’d met you,” Prue assured her, “but it had been a long time. Let’s not talk about that, though. I’d rather you tell me about The Manor.”

Piper smiled. “Well, up until November I had a full crew. Then, I lost two of my chefs when they moved to Florida. Since I still had Callie and Jen I didn’t worry too much about it, except Jen quit the next month citing personal reasons.” Piper scowled. “I also lost various waiters and waitresses over the last few months for different reasons. And one of my waitresses, Chelsea Michaels was on maternity leave for three months. It pretty much left me scrambling and then on top of it demons were attacking, again.”

“Sounds like it hasn’t been easy for you lately with your restaurant,” Prue commented.

“Well, now that Chris works for me, it’s been going a lot better,” Piper admitted. “I’ve hired some more waiters and waitresses and I have a new greeter to help out Drinka. You’ve met Drinka. She’s an absolute marvel and she knows about magic so she can help me or Chris by covering for us if needed.”

“How about chefs?” Prue asked. “You said you lost three, but Chris is the only one you’ve hired on.”

“I hired a girl yesterday who has potential,” Piper informed her, “but she wants to work as a waitress, so we’ll see. I also have a couple of kids on my wait staff who either have interest or talent. Of course at least one of those is only seventeen, so I can’t have him in the kitchen quite yet.”

“Sounds like you are getting things back in place,” Prue commented as she sat down on the couch.

“Yeah, it’s getting back to normal,” Piper agreed as she sat down on the arm of the couch.

“She’s also got a teenager working for her that has decided she’s going to cover for them,” Paige informed Prue as she plopped down on the couch next to her.

Prue frowned. “I understand telling Drinka, since you explained that, but a teenager? Does she even have magic?”

“Not the type you mean,” Paige announced. “And it wasn’t Piper’s decision. That’s all on the boys, but they don’t seem to be handling well. You saw her earlier, the girl that brought the box for Piper.”

Prue looked at her. “Oh, her.”

Piper turned a questioning look on her. “What do you mean “oh, her”? Emily has been sticking her nose in things and she could get into trouble.”

“Has she actually gotten in the line of sight of any demons?” Prue asked, "Because she came to us today.”

“She came to us, yes,” Piper agreed, adding, “but who’s to say where she went when she left. When James Thomas kidnapped all those kids, she spied on some people who were most likely witches and reported what she saw to Chris.”

“Sounds like she is trying to impress Chris,” Prue chuckled.

“Well, she’s not,” Piper informed her. “She’s got Chris regretting his decision to let her remember his saving her.”

“What happened?”

“She fell off a ladder in my kitchen and almost got knifed,” Piper told her, remembering the story her son had told her. “Chris orbed her out of the way and then he used the truth spell on her, but he changed it.”

“Right,” Prue stated, remembering the conversation earlier that day. “Not his brightest move. Hopefully he’s right and she won’t change her mind or circumstances won’t change it for her.”

“Darryl never did,” Piper reminder her. “Even when things went badly, he never told anyone other than his wife.”

“So all we have to do is fear the person this Emily marries?” Prue retorted with rolled eyes.

“I’m sure if that’s a problem, we can worry about it later,” Piper responded, laughing.

“She seemed like a nice girl,” Paige commented. “Hopefully she will be a good friend for your boys and a good employee for you.”

Piper sighed. “Yes, if all she does is cover for us, she should be fine, but it worries me that someone dropped off something magical for me at her house.”

“She might have been picked simply because she worked for you.”

“Which worries me even more,” Piper admitted. “If that’s true, then any of my employees could be in danger.”

“Remember the muses,” Paige reminded her. “The warlock brought Melody to P3 on a busy night. That could have been bad.”

Piper groaned.

“Remember the guardian demon,” Prue added. “We had some dead bodies at P3, because of that.”

Piper winced.

“And it sure wasn’t good when Abbey was so obsessed with me,” Prue continued. “And she wasn’t even a demon. Things happen around us, Piper. It’s not often a good thing, but it’s something we have to live with.” She smiled at Piper. “So you’re just going to have to enjoy your restaurant and do your best to see to it that nothing happens there.”

“But it will,” Piper moaned. “Is that what you are saying?”

“Not necessarily,” Prue shook her head. “Just if something does, don’t waste time bemoaning it and just deal with it as best you can.”

“And call for reinforcements,” Paige added. “You’ve got a large family to help you. Utilize it.”

“I’m closing The Manor and P3 now,” Piper said, pulling out her cell.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Prue instructed her as she grabbed the phone out of her phone. “P3? It’s still open?”

“Oh course,” Piper agreed, letting her have the phone. “Of course for all I’ve been there lately it could have been condemned and I wouldn’t have noticed. I’ve been so busy these last few months trying to put my crew at The Manor back together and dealing with the demons my sons throw my way that I haven’t had time for much else. Leo and I have tried to spend a couple of free days together only to be interrupted. Once it was because demons had attacked Wyatt and cut his spinal cord. Thank goodness for Paige.”

“I didn’t do that,” Paige told her. “I was going to heal him, but I never did. Someone else did or else Wyatt has learned to self heal, something I can’t do.”

“Great another mystery I don’t need,” Piper bemoaned. “I haven’t had a proper date with my husband in almost six months. My sister has been missing for almost three months. I have an over curious teenager working for me who knows about magic. And I haven’t even been in P3 since Jen quit in December. Not even once.”

“I would have thought you would have sold P3,” Prue commented. “Didn’t you need the money to start The Manor?”

Piper shook her head. “I couldn’t have sold P3. It’s got too many memories of you, Phoebe, and me together, something I didn’t think I could ever have more of.” Thinking of Phoebe she gulped. “Something I still don’t know if I can have more of.”

Prue hugged her arm around her and pulled her off the arm of the couch onto the cushions. “We are going to find Phoebe and she’s going to be all right. We’re here,” she reminded her sisters as she pulled Paige into the hug, “all three alive and well. If that’s possible, then anything’s possible.”

Piper grinned. “Right. So P3’s not going anywhere. Besides it’s a good club with a good income.” She laughed as she added, “With all the damage done to this house over the years . . .” She winked at her sister. “We need the money.” A sudden though stilled her. A grin grew wide on her face as the idea took root and grew wings. “Hey, Prue, what would it take to get you to move back to San Francisco?”

“A job for one,” Prue retorted.

“Done,” Piper announced. “There’s about to be an opening at P3 for a manager/entertainment coordinator. It’s yours if you want it.”

Paige snorted as she realized what was going on. She knew why that job was about to be open.

“You are not firing someone to give me a job,” Prue informed her, her brows furrowed together.

“Of course not,” Piper agreed, thinking about the note downstairs. “He’s quitting to return to school.”

Prue relaxed a little. “Well, as long as you aren’t firing someone.”

“Besides as an original investor in P3 I owe you all sorts of back pay,” Piper added.

“I’d have to discuss this with Andy,” Prue hedged.

“Naturally,” Piper agreed. “It needs to be a joint decision. Moving across country is a big deal.”

“And we’d have to find a way to explain everything to Andy’s parents and his sister,” Prue added, her mind elsewhere as she played with the possibilities in her mind.

Paige looked at her surprised. “You mean you haven’t told them.”

Prue shook her head, pulling her mind back to the attic. “Mark and Alice never told them that Alice was a witch, so we couldn’t figure out a way to explain without mentioning that.”

“Oh, boy,” Paige whispered.

Prue gave her a look. “And how much does Henry’s family know?”

Paige nodded, understanding. “Fair point, but still it’s going to be tough to dump all of that on them all of a sudden.”

“No kidding,” Prue agreed. “Andy would love to be able to talk to his parents and his sister. Sarah and her husband have twin daughter who are just a year younger that Vicki and she just told Mark and Alice last week that she’s expecting another baby, maybe even more twins since they run in Josh’s family.” With a chuckle, she added, “A lot.”

“Is Josh Sarah’s husband?” Piper asked. This was the first time she’d heard much about Sarah’s family. And Sarah was so many years younger than her brothers that it was the first time she’s actually heard much about Sarah at all. Sarah had been so much younger than them, just starting high school when they’d gone to Andy’s funeral all those years before.

Prue nodded. “Yeah, Josh Gibson. According to Ben he’s a pretty nice guy, but I’ve never met him.”

In a dark corner of the attic not quite illuminated by the light the sisters were using the air shimmered and formed into two people. They crouched down and looked across the room.

How long you think it will be before they notice us?

The question popped into the head of one of the two intruders as an almost audible voice. The turned and glared at the young man next to him, the source of that voice. A while if we are silent and don’t move. I don’t intend to wait that long.

An audible sigh popped into his head along with the words, Good. Let’s get this done then.

Are you sure you want to do this? he replied through his thoughts, as if talking telepathically was common place for him. It wasn’t. It’s not too late to turn back.

I’m sure, the thought popped into his head. From what I saw they are going to need this if they are going to get their sister back.

So offer them your help, he suggested. Tell them what you saw.

His companion’s head shook. No. They have to see if for themselves. He bit down on his lip to stifle an exclamation of pain.

I thought I said silent, he retorted in his thoughts.

Repeat that.

Why?

I couldn’t concentration on reading your mind. There was several seconds of silence followed by, Please.

He sighed. All I thought was a stupid comment about being silent. You okay?

Not really, his companion admitted. Let’s get this over. His companion pulled out a folded piece of paper. He turned his head and looked him. Any chance you can cast this?

He rolled his head. You’re the witch here, not me. No spell casting for me.

Expecting that answer, his companion nodded his head and in a low whisper began to chant. “A sisters’ bond is always there, even after thirty years. What’s Prue’s is Phoebe’s, what’s Phoebe’s is Prue’s. There is so much to lose. To keep them from this pain I find, let their powers cross the line. I offer up their gifts to share, switch the powers through the air. As the powers switch around, undo it only when Phoebe is found.”

Across the room Prue noticed a spiraled ball of light exit her body and head for the window. She jumped to her feet and waved her hand at it. It didn’t slow down.

“What on earth?!” Piper exclaimed as she rose to her feet.

“Light ball!” Paige called out as she held out her hand.

Nothing happened.

Prue groaned, catching the attention of her sisters.

“Prue?”

“I can’t use my powers,” Prue informed them as she waved her hand at a chair across the room. “Nothing. I think someone just stole my powers.”

That was when the second ball of light entered the room from the same general path of the first. It went straight for Prue and slammed into her, entering her body before she could even protest.

Prue waved her hand, hoping it was her powers returning to her. Her hand brushed against Paige and she was pulled into a premonition.

---

Piper and Paige looked at Prue worried as she stood there unmoving.

Prue gasped and looked at them in shock.

Before she could say a word, Paige’s cell phone rang. Paige dug into her pocket.

Piper opened her mouth to speak.

---

Prue gasped as she came out of the premonition and looked at her sisters in shock.

They were both looking at her worried.

Before she could say a word, Paige’s cell phone rang. Paige dug into her pocket.

“Prue, what happened?” Piper asked, concerned. “You zoned out there for a moment. It reminded me a little of . . .”

“Phoebe,” Prue finished. “It reminded you of Phoebe, because somehow I just had a premonition.”

[Chrisaholic]

Wow, a light ball has such an effect on Prue but they need the Power of Three complete and that includes all powers. Nice sisterly talking and bonding and for Prue a whole new world. Hopefully, she and her family can find suitable jobs.

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 26, 2017 6:20:06 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Wow, a light ball has such an effect on Prue but they need the Power of Three complete and that includes all powers. Nice sisterly talking and bonding and for Prue a whole new world. Hopefully, she and her family can find suitable jobs.

Did I get it wrong? I thought that was how it looked on the few occasions when they switched powers. Things are definitely going to be different for Prue for a while.

---

Chapter Five – Is It Over?

Considering how rapidly things had went downhill with Wyatt and Olivia, neither brother wanted to take the time with the stairs. They orbed in just outside the door to the room where Nathan and Andrew still were. They heard yelling coming from the other side of the door.

Wyatt entered the room first, wanting to protect his brother if one of his friends was dangerous. As Chris closed the door behind them, Wyatt looked at his two friends.

Andrew was pacing the room, ringing his hand and occasionally stopping to yell some sort of unintelligible babble. The gibberish that came from his mouth seemed to comfort him in some way.

Nathan, on the other hand, sat in the far corner of the room, his arms wrapped around his knees, rocking back and forth, as he argued with some unseen foe.

Chris stared at them in horrified wonderment. “What is he doing?” he whispered as Andrew screamed.

“No! No! No!” came Andrew’s finally intelligible cry.

Chris put down his backpack and pulled out two bottles. He handed one to Wyatt.

“I won’t do it!” Andrew yelled. “You can’t make me!”

Chris raised an eyebrow at his brother. “You want to deal with him? Or should I?”

His words weren’t soft enough and Andrew stopped his pacing to look at them. “What did you say?”

“We’re trying to help, Andrew,” Wyatt told him, trying to calm him.

Andrew shook his head. “No, no you’re trying to hurt him, too.”

“Trying to hurt who?” Wyatt asked confused.

“Nathan,” Andrew informed him. “Can’t you hear them?” His eyes narrowed as he stalked closer to the brothers. “Or maybe you’re in league with them.” He took menacing steps toward them. “That’s it, isn’t it? You sent the voices.”

Wyatt moaned. “Andrew, remember the conversation we had earlier. I’m not trying to hurt you.”

It was silent except for the sound of heavy breathing as Andrew eyed them critically.

“Lacey needs me,” Nathan announced, breaking the silence.

Andrew looked at Nathan. “Do you have any idea what I did?” he asked looking back at the brothers.

“I was here,” Wyatt reminded him.

Andrew shook his head. “You don’t get it,” he accused, anger returning to his eyes. “I killed my best friend. Look at him, he’s dying in pieces.”

“Andrew, you didn’t infect Nathan,” Wyatt reminded him. He shot a glance at his brother.

Chris correctly interpreted the look and backed up against the wall. He slowly edged out of Andrew’s line of site and toward Nathan.

“Let me help you, Andrew,” Wyatt offered.

“I don’t deserve help,” Andrew insisted. “I killed Nathan.”

Wyatt shook his head. “Andrew, Nathan’s not dead.”

“But he is,” Andrew insisted.

Chris reached Nathan and squatted down a couple feet from him. In a low voice he began to speak for Nathan’s ears only. “Hi, Nathan. I’m Chris, Wyatt’s little brother.”

Nathan made a clear effort to focus his eyes on Chris. “I think we’ve met before,” he mumbled.

“Probably,” Chris agreed. “You were just saying that Lacey needs you.”

“And Glory,” Nathan added.

“And who are they?”

“Lacey’s my wife,” Nathan appeared to be exerting a lot of effort to say that. “But I can’t return to her if I’m going to hurt her.”

“Are you going to hurt her?”

Nathan nodded. “I caused all this. I opened the box. I infected Andrew with it and Olivia. And Andrew infected Wyatt. It’s all because of me. I’d only hurt Lacey if I went to her like this.” The more he spoke, the less effort he seemed to require. “I hear Andrew over there ranting and raving about hurting me, but it’s my fault. If it weren’t for me, he never would have tried to kill himself. And he never would have attacked me. It’s not in him to do stuff like that.” He scowled as he looked up at Chris. He had stopped rocking. His eyes were perfectly clear and lucid. “It’s all because I scoffed at the idea that the crystal was magical,” he decided. “Had I ignored that box . . .”

“Someone else would have grabbed it and opened it,” Chris informed him. “Had it not been you it might have been someone who grabbed it and brought it up stairs while the museum was open, infecting countless numbers of people with it before they even realized what had gone wrong.”

“It’s kind of hard to ignore the green glow and the chilling feeling of evil,” Nathan retorted. “They’d have known.”

“Did you?”

Nathan frowned and looked at Chris. “What do you mean?”

“Did you know it was as bad as this?” Chris asked. “Did Wyatt? Or Andrew?”

Nathan’s brow furrowed as he considered the question. “I guess not.”

“I have a cure for it,” Chris informed him. “It’s kind of awful smelling, but it works and it will allow you to go home without hurting your wife.”

Nathan looked at him interested.

“I kind of forgot to bring something for you to wash it down,” Chris admitted, “but it works. Olivia and Wyatt already had some and see how much better Wyatt seems.” He was only guessing on that. He knew how Wyatt had been when he’d found him, but he didn’t know how Wyatt had seemed when Nathan had seen him.

Nathan stared at him for several seconds and nodded. “I want to go home to my pregnant wife.” He held out his hand.

Chris looked at the outstretched hand in surprise. He held out the small bottle still held tightly in his hand.

Nathan took it and unscrewed the lid. He wrinkled his nose at the smell. “For Lacey,” he mumbled before he used his free hand to pinch his nose closed and tipped the bottle up to his lips.

As it had with Olivia and Wyatt green bubbles began at his head and made their way down to smoke at his toes. Nathan took in a deep breath of air and smiled. “That’s amazing. The feeling of evil is gone.” He looked down at the empty bottle in his hand. “It really is magic, isn’t it?”

Chris didn’t answer. There wasn’t any chance to.

“What did you do to him?!” Andrew yelled. “Was that poison?”

Wyatt moaned. When Andrew ran at him he lifted his shield.

It had the desired effect of shocking Andrew out of his rant. Andrew stared at Wyatt in shock. Apparently what he knew of magic was mostly in theory.

Nathan gasped and stared at the shield. Even as Wyatt dropped it, he stared at the place where it had been. He looked at Chris. “Was I seeing things or did your brother just generate a shield around himself out of thin air?”

Chris looked at his brother, not sure how much he should say.

Wyatt nodded. It was time his friend understood a bit more about him.

“I’m not sure I’d say it was out of thin air,” Chris commented, “but Wyatt certainly did generate it. It’s not something I can do to be sure.”

Andrew’s eyes fell on Nathan and he took in several deep breaths as his eyes cleared. “Nathan’s alive.”

Wyatt nodded.

“He’s not going to die.”

“Not today,” Wyatt assured him. “Nathan will be all right. He’s cured.”

Andrew shook his head, confused, not believing.

“Andrew,” Wyatt called, trying to force Andrew to focus on him, “Nathan is fine.”

“He doesn’t blame you for any of this,” Chris added.

Andrew turned to look at Nathan. “You don’t?”

“Of course not,” Nathan protested instantly as he stood up and walked over to his friend. “Why would I?”

Andrew frowned, looking at him confused. “I tried to kill you.”

Nathan shrugged. “And?”

“Isn’t that enough?” Andrew asked, his confusion growing.

Nathan shook his head. “Not when you’re cursed.”

“When did you start believing in curses?” Andrew asked surprised.

“About the time I started believing in magic,” Nathan admitted.

“Which was?” Andrew pushed.

“When my best friend strung himself up and I just watched,” Nathan informed him, regret in his voice. “And then instead of trying to stop him, trying to save him, a voice in my head was telling me to kick the chair out from under him.”

“Which you didn’t,” Andrew reminded him.

“But I thought it,” Nathan argued.

“You didn’t do it,” Andrew argued back. “I did. I tried to kill you.”

“Because I infected you with a curse,” Nathan pressed. “And you stopped.” There wasn’t a trace of doubt in his voice. He turned unquestioning eyes to Wyatt. “Didn’t he? Remind him that you didn’t stop him from killing me, that he stopped himself.”

“Were you conscious?” Wyatt asked, confused. “I don’t remember you being conscious.”

Nathan shrugged and looked at Andrew. “I know him. He’s been my best friend since before we turned two. We fight sometimes, but not even a curse could make either of us kill the other.”

Andrew looked around the room.

“They have a cure for this,” Nathan informed him. “If you take it, the voices will stop.”

“I won’t do it,” Andrew announced, forcefully.

Nathan looked at him startled. “What?”

Andrew shook his head. “Not you.”

“Andrew,” Wyatt drew his friend’s attention to him. “You said you believed in magic.”

Nathan looked at Andrew in surprise.

Andrew nodded.

Wyatt held up the potion that his brother had handed him. “In this bottle is a potion that will cure you.”

Nathan frowned at the word “potion”.

“Olivia drank it,” Wyatt continued. “I drank it. Nathan drank it just a minute ago. Now, it’s your turn.”

Andrew stared at him for several seconds and then oddly enough, he chuckled. “Potion, right,” he mumbled with a laugh. He held out his hand. “I’m ready for this to be over.”

“It tastes pretty nasty,” Nathan warned as he watched Wyatt handled the bottle containing the potion to Andrew.

Andrew opened the potion and wrinkled his nose. He looked up at Wyatt. “This really works?”

Wyatt nodded. “Olivia and I were trying to kill each other when Chris came upon us. Well, I was trying to kill her. I’d already knocked her unconscious.” He grimaced. “I had a voice trying to get me to do all manner of terrible things and it’s gone. It hadn’t stopped making some sort of sound, some sort of suggestion at least once a minute, usually more. Now, there’s nothing. It’s all me.”

Andrew tipped the potion to his lips. As soon as it touched his tongue he pulled it away. He made a face as he held it away from his mouth. “You’re not kidding, Nathan. This is nasty.”

“Just drink it,” Nathan directed him. “I want to go home.”

Andrew sighed and lifted it to his lips, again. In a quick movement, he tipped it and let the liquid run down his throat. As he handed the bottle back to Wyatt, the green bubbles began at the top of his head and worked their way down. His eyes widened as he watched this progress down his body. “Just like that?”

“Hardly,” Chris retorted. “If you had any idea what it took to get the ingredients needed for that. A little bit of this thing only found in this one location. A little bit of this other thing only found in this other location far away from the previous item. Fortunately the item my companion claimed was the hardest to find turned out to be the easiest for me.”

Wyatt looked at him sharply at the word “companion”.

Chris held his stomach. “And it was the worst form of transportation I have ever experienced. And it just got worse with ever location we traveled to.”

Wyatt frowned. “Seth bothered you?”

Chris snorted. “It wasn’t Seth. He was doing his own research which I’m going to deal with now.”

“I’m going with you,” Wyatt announced.

Chris shook his head. “No. Right now anyone looking in will only see another person who got trapped in this building. You leave and they’ve got a suspect. There are police out there, Wy.”

Wyatt moaned. “What exactly are you taking care of?”

Chris smiled a little. “Apparently my former boss had an affinity for rare gems and got himself cursed.”

Wyatt looked at him startled.

“Two of his best friends got themselves cursed in order to protect him from himself. They tied him up and then each other before the curse started effecting them and relied on another friend to stay uncursed and to keep them alive for the next week.” There was a look of clear respect on Chris’ face as he added. “I don’t know that I could have done what they did, but I think it’s time they were given the chance to get rid of that curse.”

“Your brother did that,” Andrew informed him. “He got cursed because he chose to come in here and save my life.”

“Magic,” Nathan mumbled, shaking his head. “This is going to take some getting used to.” He began rummaging through his pockets.

“What are you looking for?” Andrew asked, more curious than anything else.

“My cell,” Nathan informed him. “I need to call Lacey to reassure her if she’s heard anything.”

“It’s in the air duct,” Andrew announced, pointing at the air duct in question. “You threw it in there, remember?”

Nathan sighed as he looked up at it. “I’ll never get it out.”

Wyatt held out his hand and blue white orbs formed into a cell phone in his hand. He handed it over to Nathan. “Try not to put it in there, again. I’m not really supposed to use my powers for that sort of thing.” He waved away Chris protest. “I figure I can get away with this, because you did that under the influence of a curse.”

Chris sighed. “Before I get going, we need to figure out what to do with that crystal. We can’t just leave it here.”

Wyatt nodded. “Agreed. Did any of your research have suggestions on how to destroy it?”

“There wasn’t much research that was actually mine,” Chris admitted. “Most of it was either Peter’s, Nick’s, or Brianna’s, but I think I know how to find an answer. Brianna mentioned a source that might contain the answer. I’ll have to relocate her, which isn’t going to be easy. For now, let’s get it somewhere it won’t be messed with.”

“You do that, if you can,” Wyatt suggested. “Apparently, I’m going to be needed here. Just don’t touch it.”

Chris snorted as he gave his brother a look of disbelief. His gaze went back and forth between the three young men so recently cursed by that crystal. “Are you kidding me? After what I just saw, I wouldn’t dare risk it. I want to cure other victims, not infect more. And I sure don’t want to . . .”

“Act like us?” Wyatt asked, finishing the sentence as his brother trailed off.

Chris sighed. “Pretty much.”

“Well, it didn’t affect Nathan until he made physical contact with the crystal,” Wyatt informed him, thinking back to what had happened early that morning. “So don’t touch it and you should be safe, but keep that antidote close. I don’t want my little brother getting cursed.”

Chris nodded and grabbed up the box and orbed out with it.

Nathan stared at the empty space where Chris had been stunned. “This is going to take a lot of getting used to.”

“Can I trust you to keep this a secret?” Wyatt asked.

Nathan nodded.

Wyatt handed over his cell phone. “Call your wife. Andrew and I are going to see if we can let people in. Kelly apparently decided to take advantage of the silence, so she won’t be a problem. Olivia wants answers and I don’t want to talk to her again until I have something to say to her.” He frowned. “Actually, Andrew, you get to try the doors. I need to return a cell phone.”

Andrew looked at him surprised. “What for?”

“In case you forgot,” Wyatt reminded him, “Nathan broke mine. I borrowed one from the accountant auditing Lauren.”

“Did he get infected?”

Wyatt shook his head. “He’s fine. I think his sister would have killed me if anything had happened to him.”

“You’re afraid of his sister,” Andrew snorted.

“You know his sister,” Nathan added amused.

Wyatt groaned. “A few minutes ago you were ready to kill each other or at least yourselves.”

“Not ever,” Nathan protested.

“Fine, Andrew was,” Wyatt shrugged. “The point is, now you’re ganging up on me.”

“Is there something to gang up about?” Nathan asked with a grin.

“I hardly know the girl,” Wyatt protested, not sure how this got out of hand. “Look, I need to return this phone. I’ll see you guys later.”

Nathan watched with amazement at Wyatt orbed out. When the last orb bubbles were gone he turned to Andrew. “As soon as I call Lacey you are going to tell me how it is that you aren’t surprised by any of this.”

“Not surprised?” Andrew chuckled at him. “I’m dumbfounded. I won’t deny I know some things about magic, but I’ve never seen it before. Be glad Wyatt is magical or we might all have been dead by now.”

Nathan nodded. “I guess. I don’t want to think about that.” He flipped open his phone and started dialing his wife’s cell.

Andrew didn’t wait for him to finish dialing. He headed out of the room and shut the door behind him. His eyes slid closed as he slid down the wall on to the floor. “Has it started? Was this about Wyatt? Or was it about me?”

[Chrisaholic]

So, nearly all infected are cured. And Chris may know where the crystal can be secured from anyone, and I'm glad that he wants to cure his old boss. So nice of him.
Hehe, Wyatt remembers Emily and her brother and the cells. lol

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 30, 2017 10:08:41 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

So, nearly all infected are cured. And Chris may know where the crystal can be secured from anyone, and I'm glad that he wants to cure his old boss. So nice of him.
Hehe, Wyatt remembers Emily and her brother and the cells. lol

At least the people in the building are all taken care of. Chris doesn't, but Brianna might. And yes, you will be meeting Chris' old boss soon.

Yeah, Wyatt's going to have fun with that conversation. Nate is not too eager to let someone in after what he heard in the hallway.

For the moment, back to Brianna. Which also brings us to introducing some of Max's very messed up family.

---

Chapter Six – Chain of Command

Flashback
with Beono and Lisa

A snake had wound its way around Max Keegan’s body. Instead of looking scared or even concerned, he looked annoyed. He swayed back and forth until both he and the snake went tumbling over.

The snake’s hold loosened just enough to allow Max to slam an elbow into the snake’s coiled body. The snake let out a rather unsnakelike squeal.

The air around Max shimmered and he vanished from the snake’s coil. He reappeared several feet away grinning. “Nice try, River.” He waved his hand in a circle and the snake transformed into a muscular, dark haired man. “You almost had me.”

“But I didn’t have you,” River Snow complained. “How am I supposed to gain any respect if I can’t ever beat you?”

“Taking those defeats with grace might be a good start,” Max suggested, ignoring the fact that he reacted with annoyance and ill temper wherever one of his friends beat him.

“I’m a demon, not a dancer,” River scowled at him, flicking out his forked tongue.

“What did Irixi tell you about sticking out your tongue?” Max scolded.

“You mean before father had her vanquished for only bearing daughters?” River shot back.

Personally, Max though there was a bit more to it than Irixi’s small nest of four daughters. He thought her plot to have all of her husband’s older children killed and then being caught in the attempt, mostly the being caught part, had more to do with it. River knew nothing about it, because she’d been caught before she’d had a chance to attack him. That Irixi’s attacks had successfully killed several of the Snake Lord’s children hadn’t registered with the bored, occasionally psychotic or just plain moronic, teen. He’d had other things on his mind.

Max would have been rather enjoyed testing his skills against Irixi, but it had all been just after they’d gotten back powers and so Ben had just sent her on her way. You didn’t want to mess with CT Bennett when he sent you away.

River took Max’s silence as unvoiced disagreement. “So you don’t. How long’s this last any way?” He asked referring to the magic Max had used to returned River to his human form.

“An hour unless I change you back,” Max informed him.

“I’ll pass,” River announced looking at something over Max’s shoulder. “Tell your witch girlfriend it’s nothing personal,” he added before he shimmered away.

Max turned around to find Brianna standing in the shadows watching him. “Your timing stinks.”

Brianna walked out of the shadows and over to him. “Was it River?”

Max shook his head. “No, it wasn’t River.”

“You’re sure?”

“He hasn’t made his first kill yet,” Max informed her, “so yes, I’m sure.”

She nodded. “I’m glad. You seem to have a greater fondness for him then some of the others.”

“When sixty-three siblings you get, you try keeping track of all of them,” he retorted, seventeen of which were dead, six in the last few months. “Still they are all my brothers and sisters,” he reminded her.

“Yes,” she agreed, “but when was the last time you thought Beono and Naidran could be saved?”

Max rolled his eyes. “Seeing as Naidran was in prison for murder until magic came back and he could shimmer out, it’s been a long time since I thought that for him. But there still is hope for Beono.”

“How?” she stared at him. “And don’t you dare say he hasn’t made his first kill. I know better.”

“There’s a girl,” he stated.

“And you know his mind,” she retorted. “She might be a target.”

“I don’t,” he admitted, “but Pricilla Halliwell sure seemed to.”

Brianna frowned. “What were you doing using a Halliwell with her knowledge?”

“Pure coincidence, actually,” he informed her with a laugh. “I was sent to fetch Beono. He’s been attending college along with maybe three dozen of my other brothers and sisters, mostly to learn to blend in, most of whom are likely beyond saving.” Two of whom were now dead.

“How does Pricilla fit into this?” Brianna asked impatiently.

“Right,” he said, pulling himself back on topic. “She’s doing a project with the girl and she was looking for her while I was looking for Beono. We found them at the same time and bumped into each other. I knocked her down.”

---

Max looked down at the young woman he’d knocked to the ground. His eyes widened in surprise as he recognized her as Pricilla Halliwell, middle daughter of Phoebe Halliwell. “Sorry about that,” he mumbled. “I was focused on my brother. I didn’t see you.”

She gave him a rather odd look. “Beono Keegan is your brother?”

Max nodded. “I’m Max Keegan.”

“Cilly Halliwell,” she informed him. She gestured toward Beono and Lisa Anatole. “I’m in drama with Beono and the girl with him, Lisa.”

“Drama?” Max chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds like Beono.”

She frowned. She ran her fingers through her long dark hair and nibbled on her lip. She looked up at him with a troubled frown. She scrunched up her nose and wiped the look off her face. “Have you met Lisa before? He’s real sweet on her.”

Max looked at her in disbelief. “That doesn’t sound like my brother.” And it wasn’t just that brother that it didn’t sound like. None of his brothers or his few adult sisters could be considered sweet on any one. It wasn’t exactly an encouraged emotion.

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, he is. I have a . . . good sense for this kind of thing.”

---

“Which of course she does,” Max concluded, “if the rumors in the magical community are in any way true.”

“Which we both know they are,” Brianna reminded him with a roll of her eyes. “I need your help.”

Max frowned. “Well, get someone else. I have to go after River.”

“You’re brother’s not going anywhere, Max,” she informed him. “I’m not so sure about this.”

“This?”

“As if I could speak that freely in the underworld,” she retorted.

Max shook his head and sighed. “Look, Brianna. I don’t have time for this. Either tell me what you need my help with or else let me go after my brother. He’s vulnerable to suggestion and I have a feeling his mother didn’t raise him the way our father has since he arrived here.”

Brianna sighed. “Do you even know what happened to her?”

Max shook his head. “One day ten years ago he showed up. Father said he was his son, and the proof is rather difficult to refute. You remember. It was two years after we met.”

“Max, River isn’t like Damien,” she reminded him. “Damien’s half human for starters.”

“We don’t know River isn’t half human,” Max informed her. “And that doesn’t mean anything. I’m not human.”

“Aka would have told us,” Brianna argued.

“Would she?” Max sighed. “Look, it doesn’t matter to me if he’s human, demonic, or whatever. He’s my brother, just like Damien, just like Beono, and yes, just like Naidran. If I can save any of them from this, I will.”

Brianna stood there silently, looking at him. She sighed.

“Well?” he asked impatiently.

She exhaled slowly. “Ben let the demons get away yesterday, but we know that’s not what he wanted. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I saw bloodlust in him. I could almost feel it, it was so tangible. We both know how well my powers work with the four of you.”

“There is a reason we drank the blocking potion as soon as we learned what your power was,” he reminded her.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Yeah, to thwart me. At any rate, the damage those demons did has been undone,” I hope, “but the demons are still around. After what Ben . . .” She sighed. “Everything is not well with him. He’s been keeping dangerous secrets from us.”

Max looked at her curious.

“It doesn’t matter right now,” she forged on, “but he is not in a position to deal with this on his own, so I need your help. Aka’s off doing who knows what, looking for some sort of answer to some sort of question that I’m not even sure what is and Toby’s trying to deal with Ben.”

“Bennett has issues,” Max announced.

She gave him a look. “Why do you call him that? I never heard you do so until yesterday.”

“It annoys him,” he informed her with a shrug. “I think I will call him that from now on.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just remember that if he actually wanted to, he could probably vanquish you in a matter of minutes, maybe even seconds.”

Max shook his head. “His conscious wouldn’t let him, not over something that trivial.”

“People start hearing you call him that and . . .”

“All they’ll hear is me using the end of his name,” Max informed her. “He’s CT Bennett. They all know that.”

“Yeah, but it’s still not a good idea,” she argued. “Are you coming?”

“Do you know where to find them?” he asked with a scowl. “Or what they are?”

“Yes to the first and no to the second.”

“Great,” his scowl grew. “I guess we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

[Chrisaholic]

All is complicated but at least, these cool friends help each other, no matter what. Even though they met Halliwells before. Hehe, I bet the Cupid has made some interesting notes.

[StoryGirl83]

Mar 30, 2017 11:09:34 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

All is complicated but at least, these cool friends help each other, no matter what. Even though they met Halliwells before. Hehe, I bet the Cupid has made some interesting notes.

Oh, yeah, that cupid (Phoebe's middle daughter if that wasn't clear) has some interesting notes, but she doesn't realize Beano is a demon. She'll probably learn that eventually.

---

Chapter Seven – A Time to Wait

Peter Silberman unclipped his seatbelt as Seth pulled the car to a stop in front of Nick Martinez’s home. There was no question this time that Peter was going in. He had his door open before his brother had even turned off the engine.

Seth sighed. “Peter, you have to slow down.”

“Or you’ll what?” Peter asked, amused. “Tell Dad?”

“Maybe,” Seth admitted. “You know better.”

Peter shrugged and headed for the door. He knocked on it as his brother climbed out of the car.

“What do you . . ?” the annoyed question in Nick’s voice ended the second her recognized the two brothers. “You’re back.”

Seth nodded.

“I thought you had to help your friend,” Nick commented confused.

“Can we come in?” Seth asked as he reached the door. “This isn’t a conversation I want to have out here.”

Nick nodded and stepped out of their way. “I didn’t expect you to come back,” he admitted.

“Well, we did,” Seth informed him, unnecessarily. “We needed to talk to you, again.”

“Couldn’t find what you needed?” Nick scowled as he closed the door behind them. “I should have known.”

Seth shook his head. “Actually, my friend’s brother found everything they needed, no help from me.”

“And what exactly is everything?” Nick asked, mocking back in his voice. “A time machine to stop Reggie from getting that stupid gem in the first place. Some sort of kick in the pants for Jarod’s wife, so she realizes that Jarod’s all talk and that he needs to talk to someone about this and that’s what’s making him crazy, not some suicidal tendencies. Some way for Ev to hold down a job without the voices in his head convincing him to do something that gets him fired.”

Seth frowned. “No time machine, sorry. We can’t affect the past, but we can affect the future. My friend’s brother collected the ingredients for a cure that will make those voices go away, that will allow your friends to stop hearing them. It will be up to them to fix what has come before, but at least this will give them a chance.”

“It’s not . . .” Nick stopped cold. “A cure? The one mentioned in the book? Does it work?”

“It should,” Seth informed him, “but I can call my friend first. By now his brother should have found a way to get it to him. His brother will be here later. We’ll need your help to get the cure to your friend Jarod. We wanted to let you know what was going on, so you could quit wondering.”

“I wasn’t wondering,” Nick protested.

“Of course you were,” Seth argued. “I would if my best friend had dealt with this for as long as yours have and someone told me they were trying to fix it. I’d want to know if they had, if there was a chance to help my best friend. Seeing as my best friend was infected with this and I can’t be there to help him myself, I understand something of what you are going through. I’d want to know, so I have to believe you want to know.”

Nick sighed and wandered over to his couch and sank down. “A cure. A real cure.” He looked up. “This isn’t some sort of joke? This is real?”

Seth nodded. “Do you mind if we stay here until my friend shows up?”

“The one who was cursed?” Nick asked, furrowing his brow.

Seth shook his head with a laugh. “Na. The brother. They are both my friends. One’s my best friend, but the other is my friend, too.”

Nick nodded. “Will it be a while?”

“I think so,” Seth decided. “When I talked to Chris he said he was going to talk to Reggie and Ev before he came over here, since he knows Reggie and I guess he knows Ev’s daughter.”

“Genevieve,” Nick informed him. “Since you’re going to be here a while, would you like to play a game. I have a bunch of board games in my closet. Before all this happened the four of us used to play a lot. Now, they don’t get used as often, but I still get a chance to play with Reggie or Ev from time to time. And I’ve found others to play with.”

“Do you have a favorite game?” Peter asked, curious about this. There weren’t too many board games at their house. And there were non the few times he’d been to his mom’s house.

“Not really,” Nick admitted. “I just enjoy playing. Why don’t you pick one? The closet’s right over there.”

Peter grinned and headed over to the closet.

Seth watched, amused, as his little brother opened the door and his jaw dropped at the treasure trove of games brimming from within.

---

Next stop Centennial and you finally get to meet Chris' former boss, Reginald "Reggie" Hollis.

[Chrisaholic]

Hehe, so all can play until Wyatt and/or Chris show up again with the cure. At least, there's hope for anyone. Thank God!

[StoryGirl83]

Apr 3, 2017 9:01:39 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Hehe, so all can play until Wyatt and/or Chris show up again with the cure. At least, there's hope for anyone. Thank God!

Well Nick's not really someone who can claim knowledge of how to deal with anything underworld and he doesn't have the cure (neither does Seth, but it would be easy for Seth to get it) and Seth is hanging out with his brother. There's no way he's putting his brother in danger by involving him in this anymore than he already is.

---

Chapter Eight – Centennial’s Boss

and Naomi Walz
Flashback

Flashback

As Chris entered Centennial a wave of nostalgia hit him. He remembered the first time he’d entered the store. It had been the day of Wyatt and Seth’s high school graduation. Wyatt had dragged him out of the graduation celebration almost as soon as he’d gotten out of his cap and gown.

Monday June 7, 2021

Are you serious?” Kali Nicolae giggled as she pushed passed him into the store. “You’ve never been in here? This place is amazing.”

Chris stared at the fourteen-year-old for a few seconds and then over her head at Wyatt. “How did she get invited?”

“It was her idea,” Wyatt replied with a shrug. “And since I’m going to need some things for the dorm this fall I figured who not.”

“Wyatt?” Seth asked from the doorway, a cell phone in his hand. Once the other three were looking at him he asked, “How long are we going to be here? Danielle’s being nice for once and she’s decided to cook a graduation dinner for me. Dad says he wants me there.”

“Well, it is your graduation dinner,” Wyatt teased.

“Yeah, but it’s Danielle,” Seth protested. “I don’t think she likes me too much.”

“Haven’t they been dating forever?” Kali asked her back to him as she looked at a display of some kitchen supplies. “Are they ever going to get married?” Kali’s dad had disappeared before she was born and she clung to the idea that had her parents married things would have been different.

Chris had once heard a conversation that lead him to believe demons had killed her father, so he doubted it. He let her keep her illusion that her dad was alive. Besides, what did he know of demons. They hadn’t attacked since he was he less than two.

“I kind of doubt it,” Seth informed her. “Dad’s asked her twice and she didn’t seem interested. Besides I’m not sure I want her to marry dad.”

“But what about Peter?” Kali persisted, looking over at him. “Danielle is his mom.” Since her dad was gone her mom was the most important person in her life. The idea that a mom might be less than revered baffled her.

“Some Mom,” he retorted. “She actually lived with us for a while, but as soon as she found out she was expecting Peter she left. Dad didn’t even know she was expecting.”

Chris looked at him confused. “I thought Peter had always lived with you.”

“Almost always,” Seth amended. “She kept him for a while. He was six months old when she finally told Dad about him. It was another ten months before she decided she didn’t want to deal with a toddler bumbling around. So he’s been living with us for more than half his life and he’ll live with us for the rest of it. She’s not getting him back.”

Wyatt chuckled. “You really haven’t been paying attention, have you little brother?”

Chris gave him a look. “Honestly, you’d think you were so all knowing. You don’t fool me.”

Wyatt rolled his eyes. “I know more than you do.”

“Just because you’ve graduated high school,” Chris teased. “Time will give me that knowledge.”

“But it will never give you the year and a half between us,” Wyatt retorted.

“Am I supposed to care?”

“Probably,” a voice behind them announced.

The four friends turned around to find a woman behind them. She was in her late teens to early twenties, maybe as old as her mid twenties. They couldn’t be sure. On her name tag was the name “Alex”. “May I help you find something?”

Wyatt held out his hand. “I’m looking for some furniture for my dorm in the fall.”

She smiled. “Well, I’m Jelly and I would be happy to help you find some. Are your friends looking for furniture, too?”

“I’m staying home and commuting,” Seth informed her, “and they’re,” he pointed at Chris and Kali, “too young for college yet.”

“Jelly” smiled.

“May I ask a question?” Chris said looking at her.

She shrugged and nodded. “Do you need something for your home?”

“No,” he shook his head. “It’s about your nametag.”

She laughed. “That’s a long story. My name is actually Alexis Porter, but around here I’m known as Jelly.”

“That doesn’t sound long,” Chris mumbled.

“Well, no I guess it doesn’t sound that way,” she agreed, “but the reason behind that is quite long and . . . and not something I wish to share.”

“Then, why doesn’t your name tag say “Jelly” instead?” he asked, confused.

“I guess because Mr. Hollis didn’t think it was very professional,” she informed him. She turned to look at Wyatt. “How about I show you some of that furniture you might need this fall?”

---

Wyatt had grinned and let her lead them away, but even as they had walked Chris had wondered about her strange reaction. There was some story behind that name and he wanted to understand it. Chris chuckled. Almost six years later, she no longer went by “Jelly” and he still had no idea what the story was behind that name.

Chris stopped in front of a door which clearly stated “Employees Only”. Of course he could easily get by it, but right now was not the time to be flaunting his thankfully reacquired ability to orb.

“Chris, is that you?” a familiar voice asked behind him.

Chris turned around. Behind him was Brian Heitzman. There was something very unusual about his connection to Brian. He’d only known Brian since the beginning of the year, but the other him had known Brian for years, something he had realized just before he quit working at Centennial. There was a massive difference between the Brian of the other time line and this one, mostly to his physical appearance, but there was enough similarity of action and personality that, now that he knew, it messed with his head.

“What brings you here today?” Brian asked. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen you here.”

“Well, I haven’t had any need for furniture or kitchen utensils since I left here,” Chris informed him with a shrug.

“So you need an excuse to come see us, huh?” Brian teased. “Then, what brings you here today?”

“Actually I need to talk to Mr. Hollis,” Chris admitted, “but I kind of forgot about the lockout for all non employees. Would you mind going in there and seeing if Mr. Hollis will come out and see me?”

Brian chuckled. He pulled out his swipe card and ran in through the scanner on the card. The door beeped and the little light on the door handle turned from red to green. He turned the handle and waited as it was scanned. Once they heard another beep Brian pushed open the door and stuck his head inside. “Hey, Ms. Walz, any objections to Chris coming in?”

Apparently he received a negative, because he pushed the door all the way opened and indicated for Chris to enter. “Knock yourself out and don’t forget to say ‘hi’ on your way out.”

Chris grinned at him and entered the room, shutting the door behind him. He smiled at Naomi Walz, Mr. Hollis’ receptionist. “Is Mr. Hollis in?”

“Here for your job back?” she teased.

He shook his head, good naturedly. “Na, David’s welcome to that. I’m enjoying working for my mom.”

“What brings you here then?”

“Just some personal business I might be able to help the boss with.”

She raised twin eyebrows. “In other words, don’t ask.”

“Take it how you like it,” Chris replied, unconcerned. “Is he in?”

“Let me go see if he’ll see you,” she suggested as she stood and headed into Mr. Hollis’ office. She was gone less than a minute before she reentered and nodded him in. “Mr. Hollis will see you.”

Chris smiled at her as he entered Mr. Hollis’ office.

Mr. Hollis looked up from some papers as Chris closed the door. “Naomi said you wanted to see me, Chris.”

Chris nodded and walked up to the desk. “How have you been, Mr. Hollis?”

“Well enough, I suppose,” Mr. Hollis replied.

Chris wondered if he imagined the sad tone in his former boss’ voice.

“Have a seat,” Mr. Hollis invited with a wave of his hand.

Chris shook his head. “No, thank you. I need to ask you a question.”

Mr. Hollis waited expectantly.

“Why didn’t you destroy the Aphrodite Crystal?” Chris asked watching his former boss’ face carefully.

He wasn’t disappointed. The shock couldn’t be hidden fast enough. The fright that followed was also quickly hidden. Anger and suspicion followed that. “What do you know about the Aphrodite Crystal?”

“I know it’s never going to bother anyone ever again,” Chris informed him. He might not have found a way to destroy it or to neutralize it, but he would and until he could, he wasn’t going to let anyone near it.

Suspicion warred with hope. His voice was softer as he asked again, “What do you know about that?”

“I know that the Crystal showed up at my brother’s work early this morning,” Chris informed him. “And I know that the four people affected by it have been cured.”

“You can’t know that,” Mr. Hollis protested. “No, one knows how to find the cure.”

“I have resources you would have a lot of trouble accessing,” Chris countered. “Would you like the cure, Mr. Hollis?”

Mr. Hollis gulped and stared at Chris, uncertainty clear on his face. “How do I know I can trust you?”

“Search your mind,” Chris suggested. “Think back over the year that you’ve known me. Would I lie to you?”

Mr. Hollis hesitated. His mind went back to one day the previous summer.

---

Reggie directed Rose Laughlin, his newest employee, past one of the front registers.

Jody Powell, the daughter of his friend, Jarod Powell, waved at them. He sometimes felt sad when he saw her, knowing it was his fault she didn’t have a father around, because it was his fault that Jarod had gone mad.

“Who’s that?” Rose asked, a smile in her voice.

“Jody,” Reggie informed her. “You’ll meet her later. Right now I want you to meet Alex. She’s my assistant manager.” He led the way down the hall and knocked on a door and pushed it open. “Alex, this is . . .” he stopped and frowned.

The name plate on the door as well as the one on the desk said “Alexis Owens”, but the person at the desk was Chris Halliwell. A phone was held next to his ear and his eyes were on them.

“Chris, what are you doing in here?” Reggie asked. “And where is Alex?”

Chris nibbled on his bottom lip and frowned. “Hi, Mr. Hollis.”

Reggie gave Chris a look.

Chris looked a little uncomfortable. “My brother called and Alex said I could use her phone in here. Then, Josh showed up and she decided to leave early.”

Reggie sighed. “I see. I’ll deal with Alex later. Why couldn’t your brother wait until you get off to call you?”

“Amber didn’t get home last night,” Chris informed him. “And no one’s at her sister’s home. Wyatt’s worried about her, about both of them really.”

Reggie recognized the name of Chris’ brother’s girlfriend. He’d met her a few times and found her to be a nice girl. “I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m sure they’ll show up soon. Finish you phone call quickly and return to work.”

---

That should have been that, but Chris had informed him that he was really worried about Amber. He said he didn’t think he could finish out the day. Reggie had insisted that he stay there. He’d already had one employee leave early without permission.

As it turned out, Chris literally couldn’t finish the day, but it hadn’t been the missing Alden sisters that had caused problems for him. It had been a rupturing appendix. How Chris mixed the pain of a rupturing appendix for feelings of worry Reggie hadn’t a clue even now, but hearing him talk about the Aphrodite Crystal like this made Reggie think there was a lot more to that story then he could imagine.

Anyone who knew what the Aphrodite Crystal was capable of making one think or do would run scared. Well, anyone except Ev, Jarod, and Nick and they had done it for him. Only Nick had come out of it without voices in his head and sometimes Reggie wasn’t so sure of that. He had an idea that while Nick didn’t hear the voices the rest of them heard, Nick was haunted by the voices of the past, of how different the other three were before Reggie made the stupid mistake of going after the Aphrodite Crystal.

“Tell me about your brother’s girlfriend,” Reggie instructed Chris suddenly.

“Huh?” Chris looked at him as if he hadn’t heard him right.

“The one who’s missing,” Reggie directed.

As if there was any other. “What’s that have to do with this?”

“You said you won’t lie to me, so tell me about her.”

Chris stared at him confused. “But what? She’s missing. It’s been months and there’s no sign of her or her sister. We don’t know anything.”

“But you suspect something,” Reggie pushed. “I saw it that day last year when she went missing. You suspect something.”

Chris exhaled slowly, trying to remember what he might have been thinking that day. He’d received the phone call from his brother about Amber and Molly and while he was still on the phone his appendix had ruptured. It had been a bad day over all. “I don’t know,” he admitted. He slumped into the chair he had previously refused. “I don’t know. She wouldn’t have left, not of her free will,” Chris informed his former boss. “I’m not even the one that got left behind,” he mumbled. “I’m the one who had to pick up the pieces. Wyatt was completely berserk there for a while. At first he expected every phone call to be her, calling to say she’d gotten lost or something and then as days past by he became certain that she was dead, that her body was at the bottom of some ditch somewhere. I’m not sure what he expected to happen if he wore himself out checking and double checking every inch of San Francisco.”

Chris gulped. “He ever pushed her brother up against a wall once having decided that her family was hiding her from him. I can’t imagine James Alden was too happy about that. He’s freaked out about his sisters and Wyatt’s accusing him of hiding them.”

Reggie listened. It appeared to him that Chris needed someone to talk to about this. Reggie wasn’t really learning anything that could help him gauge if Chris really had a cure for the Aphrodite Crystal. It was so easy to be hopeful, but he’d learned not to easily trust in hope.

Chris looked up at Reggie. “After that he just lost all interest in anything except work. It’s only been in the last few months since magic . . .” Chris froze and looked at Reggie. He sighed. “Magic. That’s how I know about the Crystal, how I am able to have a cure, because of magic, real magic. The curse was made by magic and that was the only way to fix it.”

Reggie looked at Chris surprised, but thinking about it, he supposed that made sense in a weird way.

“Magic brought my brother back,” Chris informed him, thinking of the change that had come over his brother. It had been weeks before Wyatt even remembered to think about Amber, or at least to mention her to anyone. Before magic had returned everyone had been very careful not to mention Amber to Wyatt and even now as Wyatt was beginning to mention her on his own that continued. They didn’t want him to return to the way he had been for those first few months. Chris didn’t think he would. As much as magic returning had been good for Wyatt, Chris wasn’t so sure how good it had been for him. “But it lost me.”

“What?” Reggie looked at him very confused.

“Magic made Wyatt focus on something besides his sorrows and his fears,” Chris explained, “but it also turned me into someone I’m not. For the rest of my life I have to deal with someone else’s memories. Sometimes I approve of what he did and sometimes I don’t, but I am still trying to learn how to keep it from controlling who I am.” He looked at Reggie. “That’s not what you wanted to know, though.”

Reggie nodded slowly. It wasn’t originally, but this was more interesting.

“It all goes back to the same source though,” Chris informed him. “Magic, demons, innocent people needing protection, people like you and your friends.” Chris stopped and looked at his former boss. “Mr. Hollis?”

“Reggie,” Reggie corrected. “You don’t work for me anymore.”

“Right,” Chris returned skeptically. “Mr. Hollis, I don’t feel comfortable continuing this conversation. I want to help you, Mr. Hollis, but there are things I just can’t tell you.” He sighed. “The cure’s not going away. You’re not getting worse, I don’t think, so I’ll quit bothering you.” He stood from the chair and gave Reggie a sad look. “You know how to find me if you change your mind.” He turned away and walked to the door.

“Wait,” Reggie requested as Chris turned the knob.

Chris turned around and looked at him.

“Give me the cure,” he requested.

Good, Chris smiled as he let go of the doorknob. I want to help you. He returned his face to normal as he turned around. He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the small bottles Piper had put the doses in. He put it down on the desk in front of Reggie. Then, he walked over to a small fridge in the wall and pulled out a water bottle. “You’ll want to drink this after you finish with the cure. It smells nasty and everyone who’s had it so far agrees that it tastes as bad as it smells.”

“You haven’t had any?”

Chris shook his head. “I wasn’t infected. The Crystal showed up at my brother’s work. That’s where people were infected. I managed to avoid touching anyone while they were infected, so I’m fine.”

Reggie picked up the bottle and unscrewed the lid. He took a whiff of it and shuddered. “What did you put in there? Horse dung?”

Moss, mud, horn dust, but not horse dung. Chris shook his head. “Nothing like that.”

Reggie took the bottle of water from Chris and sighed. He picked up the bottle with the potion and gulped it down as fast as he could. Then, he grabbed the bottle of water and started glugging it down. As he did this green bubbles began to work their way down his body.

Chris broke out into a broad grin.

Reggie stopped drinking the water and gave Chris a look. “What’s with the . . ?” A stunned look crossed his face as the green smoke drifted unnoticed from beneath the desk. “Incredible,” Reggie pronounced stunned. “I haven’t felt like this in years.” He smiled and then he gave Chris a curious look. “That was real.”

Chris chuckled. “You still didn’t believe me?”

Reggie shrugged. “I’ll try anything to get rid of this so long as I’m sure it won’t kill me.” He grinned. “And now I don’t have to try anything ever again. Thank you.”

Chris shook his head amused. “How about thanking me by backing me up if I call and ask you to tell one of your friends that this works? I’ve got a dose for each of them. Would you mind?”

“Mind?” Reggie looked at him incredulous. “They’re my best friends. I want to help them.”

With a grin on his face Chris headed for the door. He had another stop to make before he joined Seth and Peter.

---

Chris may be dealing with the victims, but someone needs to deal with the demons responsible, so that's what's going on next, a fight between two of the demons and two of Wyatt and Chris's new allies.

[Chrisaholic]

So, all good for Chris and his former boss in a way. But now he has to go on to some friends of Reggie. That could work in the end.

[StoryGirl83]

Apr 3, 2017 10:01:33 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

So, all good for Chris and his former boss in a way. But now he has to go on to some friends of Reggie. That could work in the end.

Yep, and the first friend of Reggie's that he goes to is someone he knew in season six Chris's original reality. For now, though, there are some demons to fight.

---

Chapter Nine – Biology

and two demons

Max stared across the field at the two demons. There was something familiar about them. He hadn’t noticed when he had been trying to follow them, but now that they weren’t shimmering all over the place he had an uneasy feeling that he wasn’t going to like what he learned.

Next to him Brianna was trying to focus on them, but her powers didn’t seem to be doing much good. “They’re so confusing,” she whispered. “It’s like they are bouncing their emotions back and forth between them. It’s a rather weird sensation.”

“It’s a good thing I took that blocking potion in January,” Max mumbled resigned to what he knew had to be true.

“Huh?” Brianna looked at him surprised. “What has that to do with this?”

He sighed, unsure how to explain it. He didn’t really want to explain, but there seemed to be no other way.

“Max?” she looked at him concerned. “You’re worrying me. What do they have to do with the blocking potion?”

“Actually, it would have been good if you had taken one,” he commented. “They’ll be able to track you, but it’s way too late to worry about that now.”

“Track me?” She looked at him confused.

He nodded. “They can track emotions.”

“Does this have anything to do with the underworld tracking the infamous CT Bennett?” she asked in a mocking whisper.

Max rolled his eyes. “Of course not. They have nothing to do with Ben.” He scowled. “They’re Synergists.”

Brianna blinked and looked at him surprised. “So that’s what this is,” she whispered, recognizing the name. “They’re family.”

“No, of course not,” Max disagreed instantly. Not that it mattered much. “Just because they are of the same species as my mother does not make them family.”

“Then, I still don’t understand,” Brianna admitted. “They tried to kill that girl.”

“She has a name you know,” Max reminded her, trying to get her off the subject of his much unloved mother.

“Well, Ben didn’t say which girl,” Brianna argued.

He’d told Max. “The youngest one. Pearl, I think.” He’d known it was the one argument that could stop Max’s every disagreement, but now that he knew they were Synergists it was a lot more complicated than his friend had realized.

“But you understand why we can’t let them continue on,” she pressed.

“They are no longer a threat, Brianna,” Max disagreed. Not to Pearl Halliwell there weren’t. No, the threat wasn’t to her now. Now, he was the one in danger.

“I don’t understand,” she whispered confused. “If we don’t they’ll hurt someone else.”

“They’re in hiding, Brianna,” he argued. “They aren’t planning to hurt anyone.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You don’t understand the Synergists, Brianna,” he disagreed. “They’re . . . different then other demons.”

Brianna frowned. “Then, tell me what I need to know. You keep that part of you quiet. We know all about your father’s side, but you never even mention the Synergists.”

“That’s because it’s too dangerous,” he admitted.

“To talk about them?” she asked in a slightly amused whisper. “Honestly, Max, it’s not as if they are going to lock you away for mentioning them.”

“Maybe not,” he admitted, “but at the same time when you’re one of them you don’t want to anger them, especially if you are only half Synergists. I can’t fight back.”

“Fight back?” she queried. “But what can they do?”

A disembodied hand grabbing her by the leg and pulling her down answered her question. The sound of Brianna crying out shocked Max into action. He may have wanted to avoid this confrontation, but that was no longer an option. He shimmered out and reappeared behind the two Synergists. The air around him shimmered as he transformed into a large snake.

Brianna scrambled up. She pulled a potion out of an invisible belt she’d enchanted for use. She threw it at the demon that Max wasn’t fighting with.

To her shock the demon froze.

“They’re lower level!?!” she demanded of the coiled form of Max as he squeezed the second demon.

He turned his snake head toward her and flicked out his tongue. It was an odd thing to see his head wag back and forth in a negative.

Brianna sighed as pulled a potion out of a different spot on her belt. She needed Max in humanoid form so she could get complete answers from him.

The Synergist unfroze and lashed out a disembodied hand at Brianna.

Max lashed out his tail in the air between the Synergist and its hand.

Brianna blinked in surprise as it caused the hand to drop down and recoil at its owner. A grin popped onto her face. “Invisible forces in the air; show yourself, we’ll see you here. Demonic forces to hide the truth; allow us to see you beneath this roof.”

Max squeezed the demon within his grasp tightly enough to knock it out. He let go and returned to his humanoid form.

Brianna watched amazed as extra limbs appeared all over the two demons. She turned a glance at Max. “You?”

He shook his head with a slight grin. “Nope.”

“Still.”

He chuckled.

“Ideas?” she asked as she dodged one of those extra limbs. She was knocked off balance a moment later by a second limb coming at her and fell to the ground.

One of the extra limbs wacked Max in the back hard enough to knock him down before he could answer. He heaved in a breath before he pushed himself back to his feet.

Brianna rolled over and jumped to her feet. “Not what I meant.”

Max chuckled some more as he dodged another limb. It was immediately followed by another that split the air between the two and rammed into the wall behind them, getting stuck.

“Don’t touch it,” Max directed her.

“Problem?”

“Electricity,” he informed her as he ran toward the limb crackling with electricity. He took half a second to savor the startled look that crossed the Synergist’s face before he shifted his body back into that of a snake.

The Synergist started shooting limbs at Max, unsure what his intention was, but sure it wasn’t good. He ignored Brianna all together as he tried to stop Max’s progress, shooting limbs at Max which were all avoided with ease.

Brianna felt fear emanating from the Synergist to the point where it immobilized her. The demon was terrified.

Max slithered along, dodging the limbs, trying to stop him with speed that was almost a blur.

Brianna couldn’t move, the fear coming from the demon overwhelming her. She couldn’t even see what was happening, it was so fast.

As Max slithered toward the Synergist at lightning fast speeds he ran electricity through his torso, rapidly building it up to deadly levels. A Synergist could kill another Synergist, but it was at the cost of their life. Being only half Synergist Max couldn’t predict the result.

He shot his electrically charged body into the air and wrapped it tightly around the limb still stuck in the wall. Even as the demon finally managed to dislodge the extra arm and try to escape, Max just coiled tighter and tighter, pulling the demon at him.

Brianna forced the Synergist’s fear and her own to the back of her mind. She still didn’t know what Max was up to, but she could see the sparks rising from the two combatants and she could see the second synergist beginning to stir.

She reached into her belt to grab a potion just as an explosion emanated from where Max and the Synergist were fighting. It filled the entire cavern, slamming Brianna into the cavern wall, knocking her unconscious as blood began to seep out a wound in her head.

---

The next chapter is called "Phone Calls," because there are a couple of them going on in it.

[Chrisaholic]

Oh my, there are a lot of conflicts down in the underworld again and it would be good to be prepared for anything, it seems. Let's hope for the best here!

[StoryGirl83]

Apr 7, 2017 11:46:45 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Oh my, there are a lot of conflicts down in the underworld again and it would be good to be prepared for anything, it seems. Let's hope for the best here!

Picking opposing sides from the majority where you live can be a dangerous choice to make.

---

Chapter Ten – Phone Calls

“I win!” Peter exclaimed to the amusement of his brother and their host. He shot his arm up and standing, did a little victor dance.

Seth laughed. “Congratulation, little brother.”

Nick opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as his phone rang. He stood and walked over to the wall phone. He grabbed it up. “Hello?”

“Hi, Nick,” Reggie said from the other side of the phone.

“Reggie, hi,” Nick replied a frown in his voice. “You sound different.”

“Well, I feel wonderful,” Reggie informed him. “I haven’t felt this good in years.”

Nick looked across the room at the two brothers.

“Someone I knew found a cure, Nick.”

Nick grinned at that. “So it worked.”

“You knew?”

Nick’s grin grew. “Actually they came to me for advice. I wasn’t able to give them a whole lot, but I think I helped some.”

“I should think so,” Reggie laughed, “with all the data you’ve collected over the years. I think he’s going over to see Ev, but all he did before he left was ask for my help in convincing one of my friends if they needed it. I figure if he knows that much he has to be heading for Ev or Jarod and we both know getting in to see Jarod isn’t easy.”

Nick chuckled, drawing the attention of the two brothers across the room. “You’ve got that right.”

“Well, I only called to tell you that I was cured,” Reggie admitted. “I know, despite how often we’ve all told you not to, you’ve felt guilty for not getting cursed and I wanted you to know the end was nearing, but I guess you already knew that.”

Nick smiled. “I knew what they were planning, yes, but until you called I didn’t know it was working.”

“Well, I’ll talk to you later,” his friend informed him. “I have to get back to work. One of my employees just entered the room and I need to see what she wants.”

Nick chuckled as he hung up the phone.

Peter looked at his brother. “He sounds nicer,” he whispered for only his brother’s ears.

“Sounds like he got good news,” Seth whispered back.

“You’re friend’s been busy,” Nick informed them.

Seth started to say something and then changed his mind as the relevance of that statement took full hold. “I’ve got to call Wyatt.”

“Huh?” Peter looked at him confused. “How’d you come to that conclusion?”

“If his friends are calling him,” Seth informed his little brother as he pulled out his cell, “then that means Chris has finished with Wyatt’s work. I’ve got to see if he’s all right.” Remembering that Wyatt hadn’t been using his phone, he searched through his phone directory for another number.

Chris answered the phone quickly. “Sorry, I didn’t call. I’ve been kind of busy.”

“No problem as long as everyone is all right,” Seth informed him, despite that it did bother him.

“Yeah, they’re fine,” Chris assured him. “Wyatt’s still at work. He had to stay there to avoid suspicion.”

“Suspicion?” Seth frowned at the word.

“The police got called,” Chris admitted. “That kind of thing tends to happen when a major museum is closed without warning and without letting most of the employees know.”

Seth sighed. “I guess.” He glanced down at brother and then across the room at Nick. “Look, when you talked to Wyatt earlier it wasn’t on his phone, was it?”

“Right,” Chris agreed. “The phone belongs to an accountant who was in the building today. He’s also Emily’s older brother. . . You remember her, right?”

“Sure, the little blonde girl that was giving you the hives a few weeks ago.”

Chris scowled as he looked at the building in front of him. “She was not giving me the hives. I was just worried about her potentially exposing magic.”

“And now?”

“Now, I’m pretty sure that’s not an issue, but I’m worried she might get too involved in all this and get herself hurt or worse.”

Seth bit back a chuckle. “Well, I’ll let you deal with that. I just wanted the number so I can call Wy.”

“Can do,” Chris agreed. “You’ll listen to me, eventually.”

Seth brushed him off. “The number?”

Chris chuckled as he looked through his phone for the number. “Ready?”

Seth grabbed a scrap of paper off a nearby table. There was also a pencil, so he grabbed that. “Ready when you are.”

---

Wyatt was in the hall headed toward Lauren’s office with the borrowed cell phone, when that phone started ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. No name was listed, but he recognized the number. “Hi, Seth. How’s Peter?”

“Having fun playing board games with a new friend,” Seth informed him before adding wryly, “He seems to enjoy learning about magic more than he does spending time with me.”

“Not true!” Wyatt heard Peter’s voice call out in the background.

He chuckled. “Sounds like your brother disagrees.”

Seth grinned. “He’s probably just humoring me, but I love him for it.”

“So why’d you call?”

“I wanted to see for myself that you were all right,” Seth admitted. “This has been a day I’d rather not repeat . . . at least the parts about worrying about you.” He grinned over at his brother. “I imagine I’ll have to make it up to Peter that we didn’t stay home today.”

“I’m good,” Wyatt heard Peter’s voice announce.

Wyatt grinned, but chose not to comment this time. “Well, I’m feeling very good. I’m not really sure how I’m going to handle Nathan knowing about magic, or how it will change things, and I’m even less sure what to think of the fact that Andrew already knows about magic . . .”

“He already know?” Seth interrupted. “How?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Wyatt admitted, “but I will be getting an answer from him later.” He groaned as he remembered who else was going to be demanding an answer.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just remembered that I’m going to have to figure out a way to explain this all to Olivia,” he muttered. “I don’t have a clue what I am going to tell her.” He stopped in front of Lauren’s office. “I have to return this phone now, so don’t call this number unless you want to talk to a complete stranger.”

Seth chuckled. “The main point was to hear for myself that you were fine, so talk to you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Danielle is still coming over tonight,” he reminded Wyatt, “so yeah, tomorrow.” He paused a moment before commenting, “but call me if you need my help.” He chuckled, “I have a feeling that Peter wouldn’t mind another detour.”

“Will do,” Wyatt agreed. “Bye.”

Once Wyatt had hung up, he knocked on the door. He waited in silence for a response from inside. When there was none, he knocked, again. “Mr. Colson, are you in there?”

Inside the room, Nate Colson looked at the door wearily. He recognized the voice as belonging to his sister’s friend from earlier. He remained silent.

“Nate, would you please let me in,” Wyatt requested as he knocked, again.

Nate took a few steps away from the window and asked, “How’s the girl?”

Girl? Wyatt thought confused. A smile tugged as his lips as he realized, Oh, Olivia. “She’s good, completely cured.”

“Are you sure?” Nate asked cautiously.

“Yeah,” Wyatt was quick to assure him. “We found an antidote.”

“It was some sort of poison,” Nate asked curiously.

“Something like that,” Wyatt agreed, slightly amused. It was as good an explanation as any other. “Can I come in?”

“No,” Nate decided instantly, “you said not to let anyone in.”

“I said not to let anyone other than me in,” Wyatt argued.

“You also said you were infected by this virus,” Nate reminded him.

“I was,” Wyatt agreed. “I’ve taken the antidote, too and I’m fine now.”

“How can I trust that?” Nate wanted to know.

“Earlier you didn’t want to trust me that something was wrong,” he was reminded.

“That was before the crazy girl tried to get in here,” Nate informed him.

“She wasn’t crazy, just,” Wyatt paused, looking for the right word, “delusional.”

“Close enough,” Nate decided.

Wyatt sighed. “I’m just here to return your phone. If you want to lock yourself back in after that, go right ahead.”

“How do I know this isn’t a trick?”

“Because I wouldn’t want anyone to experience what I was earlier,” Wyatt assured him. “If it helps, I promise not to touch you or anything in the room.”

“Maybe,” Nate hedged, clearly thinking about it.

“Your family will want to know you’re all right,” Wyatt reminded him. He could tell Nate was about to give in.

Nate sighed, know Wyatt was right. “Fine. I’ll open the door.” He frowned at the closed door. “You’re sure it’s safe?”

“Yes,” Wyatt announced. He was sure of that. He trusted the potion his mom had made and he had not heard any thoughts other than his own since he’d taken it. And then there was the whole green bubble field. The evidence was massive that the potion had worked exactly as they had hoped.

There was the sound of footsteps as Nate walked toward the door. Instead of just opening it part way, he opened it fully and looked at Wyatt. “You look sane.”

Wyatt blinked. “What exactly does an insane person look like?”

Nate chuckled. “Good point. “You said you were returning my phone?”

Wyatt nodded and held it out. “You’ll find a couple unfamiliar numbers on it. I talked to my mom, my brother, and my best friend.”

“I didn’t expect you to stick to people in my address book,” Nate retorted. “Are the doors opened now?”

“My brother says so,” Wyatt informed him. “I haven’t tried them myself.”

“Then, the woman whose office this is will be in soon?”

“Perhaps. I’m not sure she knows it’s open yet.”

“And the police?”

“You noticed those?”

Nate nodded. “What do they want?”

“Not sure,” Wyatt admitted. “I think maybe they think this was a hostage situation.”

“Was it?”

Wyatt frowned. He sighed as he said, “Not in the normal way. I’m pretty sure whoever did this is long gone.”

“I see.” He held out his hand. “I trust that having my phone was helpful to you in finding this antidote.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Wyatt admitted, “but it did help reassure those who were looking for that antidote.”

“Your mom, brother, and best friend?” Nate asked in response.

“Or someone who was working with them,” Wyatt agreed. “I haven’t actually asked for many details. I was busy keeping those of us here from killing ourselves.”

“Suicide?” Nate asked, concerned. “Did you . . ?”

“No,” Wyatt assured him. “The virus, poison, whatever, does lead ones thoughts in that direction, but I did not attempt that.”

Nate heaved out a sigh. “I see. Well, I’m glad my phone could help.”

“It did,” Wyatt admitted. “Talking to my brother at one point might well have helped keep me sane.” He handed back the phone. “Thanks for its use.”

Nate took his phone and opened it up. “I’m going to call my brother and sister now and hope they didn’t tell my parents anything about this.”

Wyatt chuckled. “I know all about trying to keep parents from worrying. Mine have more reason than most to do so.”

“Oh?” Nate looked at him, concerned.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” Wyatt tried to assure him.

Nate shook his head. “It is if it will affect my sister. Will is?”

“I can’t see how it will,” Wyatt informed him, hoping he was right. “She works for my family. And perhaps she is becoming a friend to my brother, but that friendship of itself is not dangerous, I don’t think.”

Nate sighed, relaxing a little. “Thanks. I’d better make those calls before my brother gets it into his mind to call our parents, if he hasn’t already.”

“I’ll leave you to that, then,” Wyatt replied as he headed back into the hall.

Nate watched him leave before he started the call to his brother.

Matt Colson was quick to answer the phone. “Where is my brother?!” he demanded.

Nate grinned. “I take it, you’ve talked to Wyatt.”

Matt sighed. “He claimed you lent him your phone. That didn’t sound like you.”

“Let me guess,” Nate said with a chuckle. “You hung up on him.”

“Good guess,” Matt admitted.

“Not really,” Nate mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” Nate was quick to claim.

Matt chose to ignore the lack of answer. “So this Wyatt, is he dangerous for Em?”

“I told you already,” Nate announced impatiently, “he’s not insane. As to dangerous . . . I can’t say, but I think she’s probably safe with him and his brother.”

Matt relaxed. “All right. I’ll leave Em alone then.”

“She’ll appreciate that,” Nate informed his brother with a laugh.

“It’s an older brother’s job,” Matt pronounced.

Nate laughed. “Speaking as her other older brother . . .”

Matt joined him. “Everything okay over there now?”

“Yeah, I’ve still got a little bit of work to finish up here,” Nate informed him, “but I don’t think these are going to be the last accounts I do here.”

Matt snorted. “In other words, someone’s stealing, but it’s not the person you are auditing.”

“You know I can’t answer that.”

“Whatever,” Matt chuckled. “Talk to you later. Dinner tonight?”

“I’ll pass,” Nate said quickly.

“It’ll just be the four of us. I promise.”

Nate sighed. “I have nothing in common with those two any more.”

“Except a lot of good times in school,” Matt retorted. “Come on.”

“Mom wants me over tonight,” Nate informed him. “So it’s not really an option.”

“Which means I’ll be getting a call soon enough,” Matt concluded with a sigh. “I’ll get off and call her myself.”

“Sounds smart.”

“Yeah, until she starts asking questions about my laundry or some subject even less desirable,” Matt retorted.

Nate chuckled. After he said his good-byes to his older brother, he dialed in the number for his sister.

---

Still sitting on her car outside, Emily pulled out her cell. She didn’t bother checking the ID. “Emily.”

“Hey, little sister,” Nate smiled. “Any idea what Mom’s planning for tonight?”

“Does that mean I can come in?” she asked ignoring his question.

“It’s still employees only,” he informed her with a laugh.

“Pity,” she decided as she plopped off her car. “Meet me in the lobby and I’ll bring you something to eat.”

“Can you get in?”

Emily glanced across the parking lot at the police still directed the crowd away from the building. They appeared to be entering the building, which was progress she supposed, but it didn’t appear they would be letting anyone else in any time soon. She sighed. “Yeah, probably not. I guess I’d better head to work. Mrs. Halliwell told me I could be skip the day because of all this, but it’s still a Friday night, so they’ll probably want me there. Come over to The Manor when you get off work, okay?”

“Aren’t we supposed to eat at the house tonight?”

Emily chuckled. “Na uh. We aren’t. You and Matt are. Have fun with that. I’ll see you later, okay.”

---

Inside the building, Nate close his phone, a smile on his lips. It had been a strange day, but thankfully the worst of it seemed to be over. He no longer wondered if he would make it through the day and that of itself was a huge improvement.

He walked back over to the desk and went back to comparing the info in her computer to what he’d been given to start with. Admittedly, he’d gone into this with the preconceived notion that she was innocent of whatever was going on. Not too many people handed over their passwords and didn’t show up before he did. By tomorrow he imagined all those passwords would be changed, but this woman clearly didn’t care too much what he saw, which inclined him to trust her. Nothing he had come across had led him to believe otherwise.

He’d be done soon and come Monday he’d be back at it with a different employee’s records. Based on what he’d seen today, he expected that one to go much the same . . . minus terrifying half crazed people trying to get in and kill him. At the same time he looked forward to the challenge of seeing if there was anything in that computer that would tell him more about his sister’s new friends. Wyatt Halliwell had better not be hiding anything, because if he was, Nate intended to find it.

[Chrisaholic]

So now all and everyone are checked by a call, now back to the normal business. lol If only ...