Disclaimer: Neither Jordan nor I own Charmed.

A/N: Me: So chap two! Still no canons in sight… sorry about that.

Jordan: BUT THEY SHALL APPEAR, WE SWEAR!

Me: Yes. Though somehow these chaps are ending up a lot longer than we plan them. XD

Jordan: True. So please review?


Chapter Two – We're What!?

Lyn had been up for two hours already, and it was dead boring. There wasn't anything on TV back home at six AM, and there definitely wasn't anything she wanted to watch on TV in California at that time. It was all surfing competitions and fashion updates and a million other things that didn't interest Lyn in the least. Well, surfing itself was pretty cool, but watching a bunch of wannabes talking smack and wiping out wasn't her idea of a good time.

Finally she gave up on trying to find something to do by herself and went to Jordan's room. Of course, it wasn't smart to poke a sleeping dragon in the eye, as the old saying went, but at the moment Lyn would welcome anything to break the monotony. Even if that something was running for her life from a ticked-off Jordan.

"Morning!" Lyn said in a would-be cheery voice as she threw back the curtains in Jordan's room and then plopped down on the side of the bed. "Time to get up and kill some daylight, JJ."

"Walk away or I'm gonna kill you… slowly," Jordan muttered into the pillow, moving to kick any part of Lyn she could reach without moving from her spot.

"Come on, seriously," Lyn said, shoving her sister in the shoulder. "You've been asleep for thirteen hours or something!"

"I'm gonna work for twenty-four and you're standing in my way!" Jordan grumbled, finally hitting her mark and kicking Lyn in the stomach. Not hard, mind you, but hard enough to make her point known.

"You can sleep for twenty-four hours some weekend this fall when I've been to college and know somebody else to bug," Lyn shot back, whacking Jordan upside the head in penance for the kick that had hit home. "Anyway, we have to unpack stuff! Seriously, move before I go get a bottle of water out of the fridge in there and pour it over your head!"

"You… SUCK!" Jordan shot back at Lyn, getting up and succeeding in accidentally pushing Lyn off the bed and onto the floor. "Whoopsies!" she said, and then ran away, knowing that Lyn would want to get her back for it. She ran downstairs, looking for Lizzie, not even noticing a new presence in the house.

"Jordan – Jane – Elumo," Lyn growled, stomping downstairs with her hair half fallen out of the clip she had put it in earlier, still dressed in the white camisole and short blue gym shorts that served as her pajamas. "If you don't get back here right now, you are so getting worms and roly polies in your bed for this…"

"NO! It was just an accident!" Jordan yelled from behind the couch in the first-floor living room.

James's attention was caught as he heard the girls yelling at each other, and he walked out of the kitchen and leaned against the living room wall, just out of eyeshot.

"Oh?" Lyn hissed as she marched into the room with eyes narrowed. "So then was it an accident that you kicked me, too? You just having random muscle spasms, is that it?"

"Sure – let's go with that!" Jordan yelled back, crawling across the floor quickly, trying to get to the TV, where she could hide.

James smirked at their antics and crossed his arms, watching Lyn look around.

"You are the worst liar in the history of the freaking world, you know that?" Lyn demanded, walking over to the couch and glaring at Jordan over it. "And you really should learn not to, oh, I dunno – talk – if you're trying to hide from somebody."

"It was eight o'clock! I wouldn't have had to kick you and accidentally push you off the bed if you hadn't woken me up! Such a temper on you, big sis…" She grinned innocently, getting up and backing away toward the kitchen, also still wearing her pajamas – a pair of short blue Soffee shorts and a black tank top.

James's smirk widened and his right eyebrow shot up as he saw Lyn's murderous glance.

"That's eleven o'clock at home!" Lyn said exasperatedly, throwing her arms in the air. "I mean, for heaven's sake, you slept for thirteen hours! Who sleeps for thirteen hours!?"

And it was then that she turned to continue her following of Jordan around the house and saw someone leaning against the wall next to the kitchen door – the good-looking gardener from yesterday! A bright red crept up onto her high cheekbones and her gaze flickered from said guy to Jordan and back again. "Uh… yeah… er… Hi… So, um, JJ… You might wanna turn around…"

"Why? So you can attack me? I don't –"

"Hi, girls," James said, grinning and cutting Jordan's rant short.

Jordan turned around quickly, coming face-to-face with the gardener. "Er, hi… James… er – gardener man? Dude?"

James chuckled. "You can call me James. So what's this about?" he asked, gesturing from Lyn to Jordan.

"Nothing," Lyn said darkly before switching her gaze back to Jordan and forcing a sarcastic smile. "Or nothing that could be done in front of potential witnesses, anyway, which, I'm sure, is what you're counting on. Not that that'll stop me from continuing this discussion later, so bear that in mind before you go hiding behind gardener boy or Lizzie or anybody." Her eyes flashed with a spark of true humor for a second as she added in a whisper, "I know where you sleep."

Jordan glared at Lyn. "Drama queen…" She rolled her eyes and a spark of realization hit her. "So… James. What are you doing in the house? Not that it's like a big… uh… never mind. So what are you doing?" She turned bright red and looked to Lyn.

"Psh, like I want to chase you around this maze of a house and threaten your life," Lyn said, shaking her head. "It's not my fault you can't remember your manners and just apologize so you run off like a chicken with its head cut off. Anyway, it's not like there's anything more interesting to do. How I'm supposed to keep from going crazy until fall, I'll never know."

"Riiight… Well, Lyn, I think it's time we unpacked, huh? Yeah…" Jordan switched her gaze to Lyn.

"Oh, that's fine," James said, looking from Jordan to Lyn. "Your aunt asked me to watch you guys for the day. She's out doing stuff, she said not to let you out of my sight, so I guess I'll just sit in you guys' living room while you unpack."

Lyn went from passive to outraged in half a second. "What!?" she demanded, glaring incredulously at James. "Are you freaking serious!? She got a babysitter!?"

"'Fraid so. She said you would probably react this way…" he murmured, looking slightly afraid.

Jordan rolled her eyes. "Ugh… whatever. Lyn, it isn't a big deal… He can just hang out while we unpack."

When Lyn's gaze switched to Jordan, she looked like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. But she nodded slowly and switched gears again, her eyes darkening further and emptying of emotion. "Yeah, you're right," she said in a low, toneless voice. "It's not a big deal at all. She just drags us across the entire dadgum country, takes us away from everything and everybody so she can act like she's Mom and we're five years old. Obviously not important at all. So let's just go unpack and then I can go sit where the babysitter can watch me and wait for my birthday, when I can actually have my own life again."

Her lips twitched upward feebly in a sad attempt at forcing a smile before she turned on her heel and walked back toward the stairs.

Jordan huffed out a breath. "Sorry about her… She's more… out there about her feelings."

"It's fine – I understand where she's coming from. I was the same way when my parents died," James said.

"Your…" Jordan's face fell. "I'm sorry."

James smiled. "It's okay. It was a few years ago. Thanks, though." He looked towards where Lyn had walked away and asked, "So what do you say we go do some unpacking?"

Jordan smiled. "Yeah, good idea."

He smiled back at her. "So, do either of you need any help?"

"Well… I'm sure Lyn would most likely cut your head off if you tried to ask her that… But I have one more suitcase extra…?" she said, her voice hopeful, as she walked up the stairs.

James laughed. "I'll help you."

"Thanks," Jordan replied.

Lyn closed the door with a snap as soon as she was in her room and leaned back against it. Why did everybody have to keep treating her like she was a porcelain doll that was about to break!? Lizzie didn't know her, didn't know anything about her! What, did she think Lyn couldn't take care of herself? That she was going to lose it and break down because she wasn't dealing with losing her parents? And treating her like a child was supposed to fix that?

Letting out a long, heavy breath, Lyn crossed the room and unzipped the nearest suitcase. Clothes, naturally. She didn't have that many, and most of the ones she did have were second-hand. But that was perfectly fine with her, because she didn't go for flashy things, anyway. Well, usually. She had let Jordan and Lizzie talk her into accepting that car, though, and that was definitely flashy…

She needed something to wear, anyway, though; she certainly wasn't going to walk around all day in her pajamas. Lyn sighed and grabbed her favorite jeans and a random t-shirt, which happened to be a green one from the book drive she had worked at the community college last year. And as she changed, she was forcibly reminded of how her mom had smiled and said it went perfectly with her eyes.

Trying to ignore that memory, Lyn removed the clip from her hair and shook it down her back in slightly tangled waves. Tossing the clip onto the vanity and pulling open one of the dresser drawers, she began folding t-shirts into it. Currently, it was taking all her effort not to pick up the nearest solid object and throw it at the nearest solid wall.

Why did everyone think she was so helpless and weak, anyway!? She had always managed to take care of herself, she was responsible and quick-thinking and mature… Well, she was usually mature. That little stunt downstairs had been pretty immature, though. But why could Lizzie possibly think that a seventeen-year-old needed someone to watch her!? And why in heaven's name would the woman hire a gardener, of all people, for the job? It was ridiculous! Why couldn't they all just back off and leave her alone!?

Sighing, she all but threw the last t-shirt into the drawer, slammed it shut, and fell back onto the bed with her eyes already closed. She didn't want to think about it any more, any of it. She just wanted everyone to leave her alone and for everything that had happened in the past two weeks to just go away.

Jordan walked to Lyn's room and knocked on the door. There was so answer, so naturally (being a little sister) she just opened it, anyway. "Hey, Lyn – uh… Lyn? Did you… leave…?" She wrinkled her brow and looked around. "That's weird. I could've sworn she was in here," she muttered to herself.

Lyn finally opened her eyes and stared at Jordan incredulously. Her eyebrows furrowed and she crossed her arms in an annoyed sort of way. "What, I walked off so now you're ignoring me?"

Jordan's eyes went wide. "Where are you!? I could've sworn you weren't in here! Are you behind the bed or something…?" Jordan walked over to the bed, but there was no sign of Lyn. Her eyebrows shot up and she knelt down, looking under the bed. "Okay… you're starting to freak me out now, Lyn…"

"Are you blind!?" Lyn demanded, sitting up and glaring. "I'm right here!"

Jordan peered up over the bed and yelped in surprise, falling backward onto the ground. "Oh, my God! You weren't there a second ago!" she yelled at Lyn, her eyes wide.

James ran into the room a second later. "Are you okay!? I heard yelling!"

Lyn looked from Jordan to James and then back again, her expression a cross between confusion and frustration. "What the crap are you – look, Jordan, if you're just trying to mess with my head or annoy me, knock it off, already. It's not funny, and it hasn't been funny since you were three."

"Lyn… seriously. I'm not trying to mess with you! You weren't there one second, just your voice, and then you were!" Jordan yelled at Lyn, her voice shaking.

James's eyebrows shot up, and his eyes went wide with realization. "Since you guys are okay, I'm gonna go make a phone call…"

He walked out of the room and then almost ran down the stairs, grabbing the phone and calling Lizzie's cell.

"Hello?" her voice answered, sounding a little less chipper than usual. "James, is that you? Is something wrong?"

"It's Lyn," he answered, looking back toward the stairs. "It's happened."

"What happened?" Lizzie asked quickly. "Is she okay? Did they figure it out?"

"All I heard was the yelling, but Jordan said something about Lyn not being there one minute and being there the next. Lyn just thinks Jordan's trying to annoy her, and Jordan thinks Lyn's trying to freak her out. As far as I know, Lyn's okay, just annoyed at Jordan."

"Invisibility," Lizzie breathed. "That makes sense, their father had that power. What about Jordan? Has she shown any signs?"

"Not yet, but if Lyn's already manifesting invisibility, it's to be expected that Jordan will show something soon, too. They're pretty linked."

"Of course they are – all they have left is each other." There was a short pause before Lizzie asked, "Best not to make anything of it, I suppose? At least not until Jordan comes into her power?"

"I'll keep an eye on them both," he assured her, then heard footsteps. "Gotta go."

"All right – just watch out for them."

"Whatever, Jordan," Lyn called exasperatedly as she came down the stairs. Then she caught sight of James and said, "You, babysitter dude. I am allowed to find food, assuming I can locate any in this place, correct?"

James set the phone back on the receiver. "Go for it. Hey, can I talk to you?"

Jordan flopped down onto her bed and sighed. She sighed so much that she and Lyn could stop fighting, that Lyn would just talk to her about what Jordan knew she was feeling herself. Sometimes, like now, she wished she was someone else – hell, even something else. All of a sudden, she felt dizzy, fell off the bed, and her body started to hurt. She opened her mouth to scream but, much to her surprise, she whinnied instead.

Lyn's head jerked back toward the stairs, brow furrowed and eyes uncertain. What in the world was that sound…? "Jordan?" she called, ignoring James's question and starting back up the stairs. "What was that…?"

James followed Lyn. "What?"

Jordan caught a glimpse of herself in her mirror on the wall and whinnied again. I'm a horse!? What the – okay. I guess I'm taking all this harder than I thought. This must be a really weird dream with a cryptic meaning… she thought to herself.

"You didn't hear that?" Lyn asked, shooting James a sideways look as she started up the second flight of stairs, going faster, now. Why was she freaking out, anyway? Had that stupid dream really put her so on edge? And why did there have to be three stupid floors to this stupid house, anyway!? This wasn't even similar to the dream, and yet something was still making her afraid, making her feel that something was wrong…

"I heard it that time…" Oh, boy… They're gonna freak out!

Jordan heard footsteps on the stairs and started to lose it. They can't see me like this! Where can I hide…!?

She trotted to the other side of her bed and knelt down, bowing her head so that she was completely blocked from view by her gigantic bed.

"JJ?" Lyn called as she reached the head of the stairs. "Jordan…?" She was nowhere to be seen in the main room, and Lyn was half running by the time she made it to Jordan's bedroom door. "Where are you?"

James walked into Jordan's room and caught a glimpse of an ear. An animal ear, sticking about an inch over the bed. "Uh, Lyn? Over there," he said, pointing toward the bed.

Jordan's heart stopped. Damn that gorgeous gardener… she grumbled to herself.

Lyn had taken three steps into the room when she stopped dead. Her expression was rather appropriate to having been clubbed in the head as she stared at the brown mustang crouched by the side of Jordan's bed. She closed her eyes for a second and opened them again, convinced that it would go away, but… it didn't. Two more long blinks, but still the horse was there, and her eyes went wide.

O…kay… I… have officially… lost… my mind… Her mind was still so confused that her words were almost unintelligible and her voice half disbelieving, half frightened at the prospect that she might be going insane as she said out loud, "Holyfreakingcrap, there's a horse in a third-story room."

James stared at the horse for a second before looking to Lyn. "That's… Jordan."

Jordan stood up and walked slowly over to Lyn and James. She bobbed her head up and down, attempting to nod. God, please let me turn back into a human! As soon as she thought the words, her body seized up and started to hurt again as she felt herself falling to the ground.

"Ow…" she muttered to herself, then, upon realizing that she was human again, she looked up to Lyn and James. "That… was weird…"

"You okay?" James asked Jordan, helping her to her feet.

Lyn was staring at them both, her expression frozen in shock. Finally she raised a shaking finger to point at Jordan and began, "You – you were – but you can't have been – but you –" she switched to pointing at James and stammered, "You – you said – and you saw – and you knew!?"

"Yes. I know. Let's wait until your aunt gets home to explain all of this. Excuse me…" He walked out of the room so suddenly that the girls didn't have time to object.

"That was really weird…" Jordan said, looking at Lyn.

James walked quickly down the stairs to the kitchen, grabbing the phone and, once again, calling Lizzie.

This time Lizzie answered with a simple but mildly concerned, "Jordan?"

"Turned into a horse," James replied, trying to ignore the sound of the girls shouting indistinctly from two floors above.

"Oh, dear. I don't imagine there's any way that went unnoticed."

"Lyn freaked out; Jordan did, too. I think they both know something's up. And they want answers."

"You can't really blame them. Just try to keep them calm and don't let them kill you. I'll be back in twenty, thirty minutes, tops."

"Okay," he agreed before hanging up the phone and walking back upstairs, back to Jordan's room.

"Oh! Look who's back! The disappearing man, who runs away every time something strange happens! Care to explain!?" Jordan demanded, trying hard not to freak out on him.

"That whole thing earlier, where Jordan couldn't see me!" Lyn accused, and for once her green eyes weren't dark; they were aglow with the fire they had been lacking for the past two weeks as she took a step toward him, glaring fiercely and looking like she was about to hit him. "You ran off then, too, and you weren't even curious or looking like you thought we were crazy, which you should've been! And this weird stuff, none of it happened before we came here, so what the crap did y'all do to us!?"

"We didn't do anything to either of you," James said, leaning against the doorframe. "Your aunt's going to be home in twenty minutes, thirty tops. I'm not the one who should tell you both what's happening."

Jordan glared daggers into James's head. "Well, isn't he the King of Intrigue. I have to say, you've got me interested. You, Lyn?"

"Something like that," Lyn growled. "But you're wrong about one thing, hon. You had better tell us whatever the crap's going on or else I'm gonna beat your freaking face in."

"Sorry, can't do that," James said, crossing his arms.

Jordan, who had been concentrating on not completely freaking out, started walking toward James. "So help me God, if you don't tell us… now, I'm going to hit you so hard that you'll forget your own name."

James's eyebrows shot up. "I'm not scared of you."

"Fine – don't be scared," Lyn hissed in a dangerously low voice, her eyes fierce as her voice. "It's pretty irrelevant. See, it only matters if you're scared if we just intend to intimidate you. But what you apparently don't realize is that I don't do empty threats."

Jordan walked closer to James, glaring up at him. "I don't care that I'm five five and you're just… tall. I'll kick you in the shins over and over… Or I'll just get Lyn to kick your ass. Either way, it won't be pleasant, so tell us!"

There was the sound of a slamming door from downstairs and Lizzie's voice called, "Lyn? Jordan?"

"All right, she's here!" Lyn declared. "Now either spill your guts or I spill your blood!"

"You sure are violent," James said to the two girls as Lizzie came up the stairs to the third floor and Jordan's room.

"Yeah, one of our more charming qualities," Lyn spat sarcastically.

"Hey there, Aunt Lizzie. Care to share what this…" Jordan glared at James before simply concluding, "was too scared to share?"

Lizzie smiled faintly. "I hope you haven't been too hard on the poor boy. I did ask him not to tell until I arrived."

"Okay, fine," Lyn growled. "Then we'll get ticked at you instead next time jerk-face won't tell us something. Just spill it already!"

"All right," Lizzie said with a sigh, wringing her hands. "Well, first you should understand that you really should know all of this by now. It's your birthright, I told Cryssie that, but she and Terry were just dead-set against it."

Something in Lyn's eyes shifted as a muscle in her jaw twitched, and Lizzie backpedaled quickly. "I'm very sorry, that was a poor choice of words. I just mean they were very… adamant about the decision to keep you two in the dark. Until you were older. But then this happened, and… well, their plans kind of fell through. They never meant for you to learn like this, I'm sure, but I knew you wouldn't trust me if I just told you."

"Oh, my God!" Jordan yelled suddenly. "Just tell us!"

James leaned against the wall silently, watching Lizzie, who sighed again and looked first down, then to Jordan, then to Lyn and said quietly, "You're witches."

There was a very short silence before Lyn's left eyebrow started twitching. "Yeah, well, I would tell y'all two what you are, but, see, I don't cuss."

"No!" Lizzie said quickly. "I mean to say that what happened to you two, today… It's magic. Your magic."

"Riiight… Okay, tell us what's really happening and quit with the evasive crap," Jordan said, rolling her eyes.

"What would you rather I tell you, then?" Lizzie asked with raised eyebrows. "Should I say that I slipped you LSD and you've just been hallucinating? Would that explain it better? Just think about it! Think about what happened while keeping in mind the idea… that you're witches."

"Okay, number one, that just sounds like a bad scifi show or something," Lyn growled, crossing her arms impatiently. "Number two, it's not freaking possible. Number three, you're cotton-picking NUTS. And number four – well, I don't even need a number four!"

"I think Lyn pretty much covered it," Jordan said, glaring at Lizzie and James.

James shot a sideways look at Lizzie. "I think you should show them."

"Show us what?" Lyn asked angrily.

Lizzie sighed, then closed her eyes tightly, set her jaw, and a crease appeared between her eyebrows. She looked like she was trying not to scream – and then suddenly there was a whooshing sound and, on either side of here, there stood another Lizzie.

Lyn stared. Three Lizzies, standing in the doorway of Jordan's room as if they all had a purpose to being there. As if they belonged there, and this wasn't anything unusual at all. Then the one on the left spoke, her voice gentle as she said, "You see?"

The one on the right then added, "I hope this isn't scaring you."

"But it seems there's no other way to make you believe," finished the one in the middle.

"Y-yeah, sure," Lyn said in a mildly shaky voice that was a mockery of defiance, apparently without realizing she had instinctively taken a step back when this strange multiplication had occurred. "Funhouse tricks. That's supposed to convince somebody you're not out of your mind."

Jordan's eyes went wide, then the lids fluttered shut just before she fell backwards.

"Whoa!" James yelled, jumping forward and catching her before she hit the ground. "She… fainted!?"

He looked up at Lizzie – well, the Lizzies. The one on the right and the one on the left each put a hand on the shoulder of the one in the middle and were somehow pulled back into her. It was a strange sight, to say the least. She started toward Jordan, but Lyn suddenly stepped forward and pushed her back. The girl's heart was pounding so loudly that she was sure her aunt could hear it, but she didn't care.

"Go away," Lyn snapped, glaring fiercely despite a sudden thrill of fear. "Just go away, don't you think you've done enough!? Go away and leave her alone!"

James picked up Jordan and placed her on the bed. "She didn't do anything, Lyn. This is who you are. You can't ignore it. Your powers are already developing, and there are people who will want to harm you because of them. You two are the new generation of witches – more powerful. You can repress it and deny it all you want, but in the end, if you do, it's only going to harm you." James met Lyn's gaze. "And you aren't the only ones. There are other witches. Demons, warlocks."

"Oh? And what're you!?" Lyn demanded, glaring up at him. "No, wait, let me guess – leprechaun?"

"You know what? I don't need this crap!" James declared, glaring right back. He then walked out of the room and down the stairs, but then the sound of his footsteps stopped. As if he wasn't even there anymore.

"Your turn!" Lyn growled, rounding on Lizzie.

"Well, I'm a witch, dear," Lizzie said slowly. "Like you and Jordan and your –"

"No! I meant your turn to go away!"

Lizzie sighed. "All right, dear. When she wakes up and you want to talk, I'll be downstairs."

As soon as the hem of her sleeve was through the door, Lyn slammed said door and leaned back against it as if she were expecting someone to try to knock it down. Her breath was shaky and her knees were weak, but only now that she was alone except for an unconscious Jordan and there was no one to see did she slide to the ground with her face in her hands.