Legacy: Power Thrust

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: Divide and Conquer

As he opened his locker, Bobby Connelly replaced the books from his third period just as he felt a hand brush against his and he looked up to see Patty Halliwell standing right next to him, a stealthy smile on her face as she slipped a note into his hand before walking away, glancing back at him only once before disappearing into the crowd.

Pretending to be looking for something in his locker, Bobby opened up the note and smoothed it out to read Patty's note.

Meet me on the roof, I've got something that I want to talk to you about.

Patty

Bobby looked up to where she had disappeared to, but she was already gone. With a sigh, he closed the locker and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder as he headed upstairs, sneaking into the unauthorised entrance to the roof, closing it behind him before he climbed upstairs, not even thinking about ignoring Patty's message, mostly because he couldn't stand to be away from her for much longer.

Patty was more than just a fellow student and a girl in his band; she was also secretly his girlfriend. They hadn't told anybody, because if his dad found out that he was seeing one of the Halliwells, then he'd only see it as productive if he was getting inside information on the brothers, his sister, and the nymph. And Bobby had no interest in using Patty. Besides, he was crazy about her.

Pushing open the door to the roof, Bobby stepped out into the sunlight, smiling as he saw Patty standing there, her gaze staring off into the distance as he walked towards her, moving around to face her and tilted her chin upwards so that he could kiss her.

But to his surprise, she pulled away, looking annoyed. "I said that I needed to talk to you, not that I wanted to make-out," she told him, glaring up at him.

"I can't kiss you hello?"

Patty shook her head furiously. "Did you know that your sister just broke up with my cousin so that she could be with her old boyfriend?" she demanded angrily. Bobby blinked in surprise; that was what this was about? "Did you know?"

"Well . . . sort of. I knew that something was going on when Ethan came into town, but I didn't know what had happened exactly." Bobby sighed as he sat down on the wall, looking up at his girlfriend. "Patty, what's wrong? Why are you so mad at me?"

"Because you deliberately kept something from me, something that involves one of my family members?"

Bobby glared at her angrily. "I just found out about Ethan yesterday! And anyway, I didn't really know anything!"

Studying him carefully, Patty shook her head as she turned away. "You know, I was really starting to like Susan. I thought that she might actually be good for Chris. He'd really been hurting ever since we had to vanquish Bianca, but then she turns around and just crushes his heart like it was nothing! She has got to be one of the heartless people that I have ever met!"

"Hey!" Bobby stood up, angry. "Don't talk about my sister like that! I'll admit, maybe she didn't do the best thing concerning Chris, but you don't have any right to judge her like that! Neither one of us know exactly what happened between them and until we do, I don't think that you can honestly say that Susan was entirely in the wrong here!"

"So you're taking her side when you know full well that she just went and broke my cousin's heart intentionally? If that's the way that it goes, then I'm not sure that this is a good idea anymore. In fact, maybe we should just get everything out in the open here and now."

Bobby shook his head. "I'm not going to have a fight with you over Susan and Chris," he said. "I'm gonna go to class before one of us says something that we're going to regret later. I'll see you at band practice."

"Don't even bother," Patty retorted as she walked past him. "I don't know how I can even talk to you right now, so don't show up." Bobby opened his mouth to argue, but she cut across him. "I'm not going to have you messing up my band, Connelly! You're out!"

"Do you really think that's fair?" Bobby demanded as he walked after her. Patty ignored him. "That's real mature, Patty. You're gonna hold me accountable for what's going on between Susan and Chris? Because she didn't realise until now that her heart belonged to another man?"

"Yeah, you know, I am," Patty replied, slamming the door behind her. Bobby stared after her, unable to believe what had just happened . . . what had just happened? Did they just have a fight or did they just break up?

Slowly, he moved over to the wall, sinking down onto it just as he heard screaming coming from one of the science classrooms.

His head shot up and before Bobby even realised what he was doing, he had hurried down the steps and back into the school, racing towards the source of the screams. The moment that he entered the room, Bobby stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening at the scene that met his gaze.

In the middle of the room was a girl—Hannah Williams, if he remembered her name right—curled up on the floor, gripping her bangs as she screamed and whimpered in pain. Every time that someone tried to move forward to help her, however, a burst of telekinetic energy exploded from her, sending them flying backwards.

"What happened to her?" he asked one of the students, who shrugged, looking bewildered.

"Don't know, man. She's been out for a week, then today she shows up completely exhausted and suddenly started screaming and fell onto the floor and then that freaky thing happened." He shook his head. "I always thought that she was weird, but . . . jeez, this is beyond weird."

"Didn't almost the same thing happen last week to Clarence Hampton?" a blonde girl asked, wringing her hands fretfully. Bobby took a deep breath before he looked at Hannah, slowly edging towards her.

Her eyes flashed and he saw . . . power rage through them before he was flung off his feet, causing a few people to scream. Bobby shook his head as he got to his feet, moving towards her again.

"Connelly, what are you, crazy?" he heard someone yell as he was flung into a desk. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"

Ignoring them, Bobby made his way to Hannah, finally reaching her and he placed a hand on her shoulder, quieting her.

"Easy, Hannah," he said quietly. "Come on, I'm gonna try and get you some help. But I need you to come with me, all right?" She looked up at him, her brown eyes scared and pained. "You can trust me," he said, holding out his hand to her.

Slowly, she reached out and took his hand and the telekinetic energy slowly dissolved as he helped her out and led her out of the classroom, the students and teacher staring after them.

Meanwhile, Patty Halliwell moved out from where she had been watching him, wondering if she was judging him too harshly for crimes that he himself had not committed.

--

"This the place?" Wyatt asked Susan as they climbed out of his car and onto Rose Street, looking up at the building. She nodded as she looked around at their surroundings, obviously recognising them from her premonition. "Okay, so let's go check it out."

"Maybe one of us should stay out here, just in case something happens in there," Brooke said nervously.

Wyatt gave her a look. "Babe, as much as that sounds like a good idea, I'd rather have strength in numbers." Brooke looked unconvinced, but followed them up the steps and Wyatt opened the door gingerly, pushing it open carefully before looking around.

"Hello, anybody home?"

Susan followed them into the store, looking around carefully before she returned her attention to them. "It doesn't look like anybody's here," she observed, squatting down next to some old, dusty books.

"Spread out," Wyatt instructed, looking at the girls. "If you find anything that looks suspicious, say something." He wandered through the store, checking out the situation, looking through every book and box that he saw there, trying to find something, anything that would be related as to why Susan would have a vision there.

Just as he was about to head into the back room, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he whipped around to strike, but the man caught his hand easily before lowering it.

"Good afternoon, sir," he said pleasantly. "Is there anything that I might be able to help you with? We have an excellent selection of totems on the back wall there and also some crystal balls, if you're interested."

"Uh, no thanks, I'm just looking around," Wyatt said as Susan and Brooke appeared behind the clerk. "My, uh . . . sisters and I just got word of this place. Anything strange happen around here? Any weird people hang around here?"

"No, I have to say that you three are the strangest I have met as of late," the clerk answered with a smile. "Are you sure that I can interest you in anything? There are some mystical stones that I have in stock. . . ."

"No, that's—"

"Yes," Brooke interrupted. Susan and Wyatt stared at her. "I mean, it really couldn't hurt just to take a look, could it?"

Susan frowned at her. "But we are kind of on a tight schedule, remember?" she reminded her. "And—" She was cut off by her cell phone and she picked it up, looking down at the ID. "Uh . . . I got to take this. I'll see you guys outside."

As Susan disappeared from the store, Brooke smiled brightly at the clerk. "So, where were those stones that you were talking about?" she asked with genuine interest. The clerk smiled eerily as he motioned them over to the glass counter and Brooke followed him, Wyatt right behind her.

Meanwhile, outside Susan was on the phone. "Okay, slow down, Bobby, what are you talking about?" she asked. "What girl?"

"Her name's Hannah Williams, I go to school with her," her younger brother explained. "She had some sort of episode earlier and she looked like she was in real pain. Every time that somebody tried to get near her, she was displaying some sort of telekinetic energy. And I heard somebody say it happened to another guy earlier in the week."

"Telekinetic energy?" Susan repeated, shaking her head. "The only way that she could do that is if she was a witch, but that doesn't explain why it was hurting her."

"Yeah, I know. Something's going on, Susan. Please, I really need your help. I can't take her to Dad's—"

"Take her over to my apartment," Susan told him firmly. "I'll be over there shortly and we can take a look at her. There's a key in my car, you remember which one it is?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, the Book of Shadows is in my room on my desk. Start going through that and see if you can find anything that's related to what's going on. I'll try and see if Brooke and Wyatt can take care of this thing here."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you bail on whatever it is that you're doing. I can do this on my own."

Even over the phone line, Susan could hear the voice of a small child that just needed his big sister. "Don't even think about it, I'll be there, okay, buddy? There's three of us and I really think two will be able to handle it. Divide and conquer. I'll see you soon."

As she hung up, Susan headed into the store again, where Brooke was looking at some stones and Wyatt was standing nearby, still looking around stealthily. She motioned him over.

"Bobby needs my help with something," she muttered to him. "A friend of his is in some demonic trouble. You guys think you can handle things here?"

Wyatt paused, looking worried, but he nodded. "Yeah, we should be able to. Just call and check in later, okay? I have a feeling that we're gonna be sticking around here awhile. Something about that guy's giving me bad vibes."

"Oh, you too?" Susan cast a quick glance at the clerk. "Yeah, he's creepy. I think he might be our guy, but I could be wrong. Call me if you find anything, I'll keep my cell on."

"Be careful," Wyatt warned her. "And Sue?" She paused at the door. "Call Chris and tell him what we're doing. Somebody should know where we're at."

Susan sighed; it was the last thing that she wanted to do, but what choice did she really have? Wyatt was right, Chris should know where they were at in case something happened. "Okay," she said reluctantly as she headed out the door to find someplace safe to orb to the apartment.