Hello, hello, hello! I'm back! Did you miss me? Sorry for the long wait. What can I say? Life happens. So, I got some sparks of inspiration lighting up my mind, so I thought I'd write them up and see what happens!

PLEEEEEEASE review. I haven't gotten any, and it's really quite depressing.

So, without further ado (how the heck is that expression supposed to be written? O.O) I give you... Chapter 2! Enjoy!


"Aaaaaaah!"

"Piper will you please just-"
"I want that thing OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"Someone hand me the-"

"I'm not a demon, I swear!"

I sighed and ducked as bits of broken furniture flew around the attic. Piper and Trace had started an exploding contest. The whole house was in chaos.

"YO!" Sky screamed. It was ignored. Rolling her eyes, she lifted her hand toward the ceiling. Suddenly a blinding flash lit the room, immediately followed by a huge roaring crash that shook the whole house and made my ears pop.

When I could see again Sky was still standing with her hand raised and a patient expression on her face. She lowered her hand only when everyone quieted down and removed their hands form over their ears. Trace had a ghost of a smile on his face, Piper and Piage looked extremely pale, and Grandpa was shaking.

"Now that I have your attention," Sky stated calmly, "can we all talk about this like adults before someone gets hurt?"

"D-... Did you do that?" Paige's voice was trembling.

She smiled straight at me. It was more blinding than the lightning she had conjured. "I'm getting better with my powers. Pr-" I shot her a look and she cut herself off. "My trainer has been teaching me how to filter my emotions with my abilities."

I could sense her excitement. No, I mean it. Literally. Do you have any idea how hard it is hiding the fact that you're an empath from the Charmed Ones? I'm just glad Mom and Paige took a potion a while back to block them from empaths. Phoebe alone is hard enough to deal with on a daily basis.

I narrowed my eyes as I sensed another emotion. Trace. He was filled with overwhelming pride and adoration. And he was beaming at Sky.

Mom interrupted my train of thought as she recovered before everyone else in the room. "Fine. You want to talk? Let's talk. What is a demon doing in my house?"

"I'm not a demon," Trace exclaimed.

"Only demons have been immune to Piper's exploding power," Paige said suspiciously, her lips pursed.

"I'm not a demon!"

"Then why did you blow up my chandelier?!" Mom was trying to step closer confrontationally, but there was a lot of broken glass between her and the sheepish man.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know you would be here. How was I supposed to know if I sneezed it was gonna blow up?"

"Everyone pause!" Grandpa stepped in the center of us. "Let me get this straight. You sneeze, and the chandelier explodes, and then Piper tries to blow you up, and instead the scrying table is blown up. And you expect us all to believe you're not a demon?"

Sky chuckled under her breath. I realized suddenly that I had never heard her laugh before. No laugh, no chuckle, not even a humorous snort. The sound was light and thrilling and promising. I shook my head, trying to shake off the distraction.

Trace lightly punched her in the arm. "It's not funny!" He turned to Mom solemnly. "Please let me explain."

Mom crossed her arms and waited. He took a deep breath. "Well you see, I was born with this power. It didn't manifest until I was about sixteen. Around then, I was already aware that my family descended from witches on my dad's side, though I had never met another witch." He looked at Sky wryly. "Or so I thought." She grinned at him. "Anyway, I was walking home really late one night, and ran into this warlock that sensed my power. He had the ability to throw energy balls. He also had the ability to blink. When he conjured the energy ball and poised to throw it at me, I got so scared I squeezed my eyes shut. When I opened them again, I was home. No warlock, no energy ball. I convinced myself I had imagined the whole thing.

"That is, until a couple weeks later. I got expelled from school for damaging my gym locker. They thought I threw lit fireworks in it. But I got really angry and turned to punch it. Instead my hand threw an energy ball at it.

"And that's when I discovered I was a sponge. Er- What did you say it's called Sky?"

"Empathic mimicry," she answered. "It means he has the ability to copy and use the powers of people like him."

"I have all sorts of powers, now. About two years ago I came across a nine-year-old girl with a mirroring power. No offensive magic could be used on her. It just bounced off and hit the nearest target near her. I can't control my power sponging, so I got that too."

"Which explains why Mom couldn't blow you up," I said, getting it.

He nodded. "By the way, um... I can pay for that to be fixed. This happens a lot when I meet new witches. I'm sorry."

Does that mean he knows I'm an empath? Then why did my empathy work on him?

Mom sighed and uncrossed her arms. "You don't have to pay for it. But you do have to clean it up." He nodded.

"Wait," Paige said, lips still pursed. "If you soak up powers, how do we know you won't kill us all with that lightning she-" she tilted her head at Sky "-pulled out of the air."

They exchanged looks, and Trace put his arm on her shoulder. "She's the exception."

"Eh?" Mom and Paige asked together.

Sky elaborated. "He can't access my power. No one can."

"How?" I asked, remembering how I had done just that the last time I was in the future.

She smiled at me. "There was an incident about six months ago where someone fried almost everyone in the room with my power. Almost killed himself, too. The idiot." She chuckled, and I refrained from jumping to defend myself in front of Mom and Paige. "After that, I took some precautions to make sure it couldn't happen again."

"Precautions?" Grandpa asked.

In response she hooked her thumb in the waistband of her camo cargo-capri pants at her right hip and pulled it down to the very bottom of her hip bone. That was even more interesting to watch than when she reached into her blue T-shirt to pull out the note.

There, on the bare flesh of her hip, was a simple tattoo of what looked like the triquetra at first glance. Upon closer inspection-not literally, though. I'm pretty sure she would have slapped me if I tried-I realized that it had four half circles instead of three. And unlike the triquetra that was bound inside a large circle, the four points connected in a tiny diamond at the center of a small circle in the center of the knot. (If you guys want to see a picture of the symbol and see what it means, there is a link on my profile!)

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a Witches' Knot. It's a symbol of protection. The circle is the energy being protected by the four half circles. Their job is to reflect energy by trapping it in the continuous pattern so that it can never reach its target. Trace's power can never affect mine. It can't touch it."

"All that from a symbol?" Paige asked.

She smiled. "No. It's enchanted. I've got a friend with the ability to transfer power into ink. She used a different ink for each point, though you can't tell. One has a mirroring power, one a sort of repelling power, a hiding power, and one a guarding power. Like a magical forcefield. No matter how they do it, anyone trying to access my magic is in for a shock."

"I didn't notice it was blue and white before," Trace said, leaning just slightly to look closer. I'm not sure why I was annoyed by that. When he said it, I relaized the colors were highly unusual. The two half circles on the top and bottom of the center circle were done in pure white ink that glistened in the light as Sky's hips moved. The center circle was also white. The insides of those points were filled in with blue ink the color of the sky. For the other two points on the right and left, it was the opposite. The lines were sky blue and filled in with the bright white.

"I didn't know they made white ink," I murmered absently.

She smirked. "Not sure if the manufacturers do or not, but I know magic does." I looked up into her eyes then. They were twinkling with amused mischief. I could have drowned in those warm brown eyes. Suddenly the engagement ring I kept in my jeans pocket seemed to turn so hot it was like it was searing it's shape into my skin.

Trace's voice snapped me out of the moment. I didn't know whether to be grateful or backhand him. "Why white and blue?"

She shrugged. "White is a powerful color commonly used for protection because it is considered the color of purity. Seemed like a good idea."

"And the blue?" I asked

"Blue is her favorite color," Trace answered at the exact same time Sky did. They laughed. "Symbols have a more solid foundation if the person using them has a personal connection to it," he added.

"I know. I use them too." I tried not to grit my teeth.

Much to my disappointment, Sky pulled her pants back up and once again hid the intricate tattoo. She turned to the two sisters. "Satisfied?"

Mom and Paige exchanged a look before Mom answered, "Alright, but keep him in check. And you're not leaving until it's clean!"

"Piper," Paige said soothingly, "why don't we get you to your room so you can relax some, huh?"

"Okay." Mom sounded tired as Paige and Grandpa guided her out of the attic. I felt guilty. It was bad enough that Mini Me was inside her making her feel like crap. She didn't need future me making problems for her, too.

Sky's face turned thoughtful, as if she was forgetting something. Then she turned to Trace with a smile. "By the way, bless you."

He blinked and stared at her for a moment, then turned to clean up the mess he had made, shaking his head. She stuck her tongue out at his back and rolled her eyes, turning to me. I wanted to go to her, but it would have been weird with someone else around, and we had more pressing matters to deal with. I switched to my usual manner: all business.

"So, any idea who could have sent it?" I asked her. Her expression turned serious.

"It can't be Wyatt. It's not even remotely close to his handwriting. Or his forgery writing."

I winced. Sky had had a thing with my brother a few years back. She had yet to tell me any details, but judging from the way they had acted toward each other, there was still a lot of passion between them. Granted, now it was passionate hatred, but still. I wasn't exactly very comfortable thinking about it, so I tried to do so as little as possible.

"It's my handwriting. I don't know how anyone outside the Pertinacia would know how it looks."

"Could it be... Someone on the inside?" Her voice was grim.

"A traitor? No way. I know almost everyone in the resistance personally. Even new recruits, they've never had a reason to want to help him."

"We've gotten quite a few new recruits in the last few months. We've rescued over a hundred witches."

I blinked. "Um. What?"

Her face once again lit up the entire world with her smile. "Well, Prue's put me in charge of all rescue missions. I pick the teams, but she requires that I go on every single one of them. My days get long, but it's worth it to save lives. Between Henry, Annabeth, Melinda, Trace and me, no demon horde can stand in our way."

"That's... Wow. That's really great. I can't believe..." I'm not ashamed to admit that I got pretty choked up. I didn't start crying or anything, but thinking that maybe the future was helping itself until I got back... It was more than I could ever have hoped for when leaving my family behind.

"Chris? Are you okay?" I picked her up in a massive bear hug and embraced her as tightly as I dared.

"Thank you so much. I'm so glad you're there for my family when I can't be. I can't imagine anyone I would rather leave them with."

She was tense at first, her arms locked at her sides, and her back stiff. But after a few moments, she sighed and returned the hug. Her body relaxed, but I could feel her heart racing, and her emotions.

She had been scared when I reached for her. It didn't last longer than a few seconds, but I felt her terror well up inside her. She fought to quell it down, and then after I spoke it was washed away by relief. Relief and... Something. I didn't really recognize that emotion. Must be one I've never felt.

I put her down. "Sky?" I whispered. "Why were you afraid?"

Her eyes widened and she took a step back from me. Her face flushed and she stammered.

"I- I um... Uh-" I didn't realize until then that Trace had been standing a few feet away from us the whole time, watching. When Sky stepped back, he went to her and put his hands on her shoulders, but she stepped away. "I'm okay. I'm fine. Finish cleaning up."

With a frown on his face he resumed picking up the glass pieces and throwing them in a garbage bag. "Hey man," I said, "there's a little broom and a dustpan in the kitchen downstairs."

He stood up and faced me. After hesistating for a second, he nodded. "Thanks. I'll be right back."

She waited until he left, then turned to me. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

"What was that?"

"I just... I've got issues, Chris. My childhood wasn't exactly normal, and I've just got some habits that I haven't quite broken yet. I'm working on it."

"You don't need to apologize. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"No," She cut me off firmly. "No. Never apologize for caring. You were being kind. You did nothing wrong, okay?

I nodded. She stepped forward and hugged me this time. I held her for a second, confused and worried and embarrassed.

We're getting off track, I thought. Back to business.

I stepped away from her and put my stoic mask on. Trace returned right around then, dustpan and broom in his hands.

"Even still, none of the new recruits would know it. Prue burned all my instructions left behind, and if there is any necessity for writing-which their hardly ever is-it would be handled by her."

She nodded, frowning. "Good point. Who else could it be?"

At that moment, something orbed into the room between us and dropped to the ground. Immediately Trace's hands were on fire, Sky had a knife in one hand and sparks flying off the other. I stood tense as we all stared at the paper on the floor.

"Should I fry it?" Sky asked me.

I frowned and waved y hand over it. "If there were any curses over it they should be dispelled." I reached down and picked it up.

"Chris!" I waited. No electricity No plague, or excruciating pain.

"I think we're good" I stood up and opened it. I ws surprised to once again find my handwriting spread across the page.

Good, you're together. Now, I need to see you to tell you the rest of what's going on. I'm in danger, and we don't have much time. Chris, I know you still have the ring. Meet me where you first gave it to her.

I felt my eyes get so wide I thought they were going to pop out.

Sky had been reading over my shoulder, with Trace pressing his face to hers to read as well. "Chris," she whispered, "what does this mean?"

"I-"

Suddenly writing began appearing on the page beneath the first message. Sky hissed behind me.

Oh, and trust me, you do NOT want to tell the sisters what's going on. They don't have what it takes to handle this yet.

"So this dude wants us to just show up at Goddess knows where to talk about who knows what without the sisters," Sky seethed.

"Sounds legit," Trace said sarcastically.

I didn't say anything. I know you still have the ring. Meet me where you first gave it to her... No way. He couldn't mean...

"I'm going."

Their heads snapped toward me. "Are you suicidal or just stupid?" she snapped

"I know where the place is. No one should know about that place. Not in this time, or the future for that matter. Besides, you two are stuck here. Clearly there's a reason for all of this. I'm gonna find out what it is."

Sky glared at me for what seemed like forever. But as hard as it was, I met her eyes defiantly the entire time. After an eternity, she sighed and nodded. "Then I'm going with you."

I immediately objected. "It's too dangerous. I don't want you to get hurt!"

She snorted. "Please. I was raised by demons. I can handle whatever this dudebro thinks he's got."

Trace moved closer to Sky. "I'm with her, so it looks like you've got me, too."

I watched them, trying not glare at Trace. "I have no idea what I'm walking into. You sure it's worth the risk?"

She took my hand. "You're worth everything," she whispered. "Besides," she said more loudly. "We got the first note. We're as much apart of this as you are."

"Whatever this is." Trace said grimly. I sensed his eyes on my hand, so I squeezed Sky's hand even tighter.

"Then let's go."


Oh snap! What do you guys think it is, hmmm? I have no idea yet! Still just letting the story guide me hehe. What do you think so far? Love it? Hate it? PLLLLLEEEEEAAAASE REVIEW It'll make me update faster! Thanks for reading! Until next time, my lovelies.