Author's Note: There isn't really much to add this time, except that I still don't own anything except Ginny Warren.
Chapter 2
Ginny awakened to familiar voices. "Ginny? Are you alright?" Phoebe dabbed her head with a wet cloth as Leo hovered over her, healing her burnt cheek. Ginny sat up on her bed, touching her face were her wound had just been. Piper walked back in the room. "Wyatt's sleeping again." Chris was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. "Where did you go? Who summoned you?" Paige interrogated. Ginny's mouth opened to say something, but Chris jumped up, coming between her and the sisters. "I think Ginny needs some time alone." He said. Piper stepped up to him. "Chris, this could be serious. Ginny disappears, and when we get her back, her face is burnt. The only people stupid enough to get that close to her are people who want to hurt her." Chris exhale forcefully. "Mom, I know, that's why…" "No." Piper interrupted him. "If someone attacked her, then that means someone is after us." "Maybe not." Chris said. "What's that supposed to mean?" Paige stood up from the bed. "I think it's time I tell them." Ginny spoke up. Chris shook his head rapidly. "No, Gin." "Tell us what?" Piper turned to Ginny. "I think…" "Ginny!" Chris sat down in front of Phoebe, close to Ginny. "You can't. There are rules." "What rules?" Leo suddenly jumped into the conversation. Phoebe's empath power kicked in. "He's worried because he knows something. He's hiding something from…" Phoebe leaned towards Chris, who was backing away slowly. "From Ginny."
Now they all turned to Chris. "What?" Ginny said, annoyed. "You're hiding something from me? Does this have to do with those dreams?" Chris didn't answer. "Dreams? What dreams?" Piper asked. "Dreams of people. Of a life I don't know." "How long have you been having them?" Phoebe asked. "For about 6 months now." "What are they of?" Phoebe returned. "Well, some are very happy. They seem so joyful. I'm laughing with friends, here in the manor. Then some are…" Ginny pulled her knees to her chin. "horrifying. Death and destruction. One in particular. There's lots of fire, and I'm screaming out. There are people all around, just watching." The lot of them cast worried and intrigued looks. "I… I think they're memories."
They're attention landed back on Chris. "So what are you not telling me?" Chris rolled his eyes. "I'm not…" Ginny jumped up from her bed. "What are you HIDING??" Her voice raised as she angrily approached him. "You knew. All this time you knew, and you didn't tell me." She stepped right at him, her face so close to his that he could feel her fierce breath on his face. "I deserve to know." She hissed. Chris's jaw tightened up, his eyes becoming moist. "I can't." He whispered, looking away. Ginny's frown turned to a scowl, and she raised her right hand, making it glow a fiery red, up to his neck and ready to wrap her fingers around it.
Before Ginny even knew it, Paige tossed a blanket, enveloping Ginny with it and Leo grabbed her from behind. Restraining her, he and Paige orbed her up to the attic. Piper gently grabbed Chris by his arm and sat him down on Ginny's bed beside Phoebe. "What is it, Chris? What aren't you telling us?" Piper said as she pushed some of Chris's hair out of his eyes. A few tears started to roll down his face as he listened to the commotion from upstairs. Phoebe curled one of her arms in Chris's. "Don't listen to them up there. Leo and Paige will talk some sense into her. She just needs some time to cool off." Chris stared out the window behind him, avoiding Piper and Phoebe's prying eyes. "I can't." He said, shaking his head again. Piper sighed. "Come on then. Come downstairs and I'll fix you a snack or something." They got up and as they were leaving, Piper turned to Phoebe. "You go upstairs and see if you can help Paige with missie fireball."
Ginny struggled in Leo's grasp as Paige tried desperately to calm her down. "Listen to me!" Paige shouted over Ginny's incessant fury. "There's probably a perfectly good reason why he can't tell you what he knows! You have to trust him!" Still tangled in the blanket Leo had wrapped around her, Ginny started glowing red all over. Paige stopped talking, and the blanket around Ginny started smoking. Leo back away suddenly, stumbling to get away from her. The blanket fell from her shoulders, and the inside of it had burned away, lying in a smoldering heat on the attic floor. Ginny started for the door, but Phoebe was just coming in. She stopped in the doorway when Leo yelled, "Don't let her leave!" Ginny stared at Phoebe, and although afraid of the glowing woman before her, she stood her ground. "Step aside, Pheebs." Ginny demanded. "No." Phoebe said in a shaky voice. Ginny's face curled in anger, her hair flying up around her as she glowed even brighter.
Suddenly, the glow, the wind, and the anger disappeared, and Ginny's body clenched up as she gasped. She went limp and fell to the floor, Leo rushing to her side. "I know that look!" Phoebe half shouted. "You just had a premonition." "But I don't get premonitions!" Ginny stammered. "But Phoebe does." Paige stated, as a matter of fact. "Thank you, captain obvious." Ginny said as she stood up clumsily. "What did you see?" Phoebe asked. Ginny backed away a bit and started pacing as she spoke. "I was at some kind of hall, and there was this… creature. People were running, screaming. Paige tried to orb me away, but the beast grabbed me. I tried to run. Something hit me from behind. I tried to blast the creature, but my powers… they didn't work. I just stood there. I couldn't move. Then…" Fear came over Ginny's features. "Then?" Phoebe asked. "Then… he leapt towards me. Everything turned black."
Two hours had passed. "Nothing!" Piper shouted as she slammed the book shut. Paige looked up from her potion mixing. "No luck?" Piper joined her, her hands on her hips. "Not a smidgen." Phoebe walked into the attic. "Any luck?" The sideways glance cast by Piper answered her. "I think we need to have a chat with Chris about this. I have a hunch he knows something about this demon." Piper said. They all agreed. "Chris!" Piper called out. He orbed to them. "Yeah?" "Ginny had a premonition." Paige came around her table. Chris gave a sideway glance. His face downcast. "What's happening to Ginny?" Paige asked. Chris sat down on the couch in the corner. "She's receiving her original powers." "What?" Piper sat on the couch too. "She gets premonitions?" "No. Power mimicry." "Power mimicry? What's that?" Paige crossed her arms over her chest. "It's the ability to copy another's powers when she's in close vicinity of that person." "And how do you know that?" Phoebe asked. Chris stood up and started pacing again. "Because I knew her."
Max pulled back his hand, the golden glow disappearing as he did so. "That was strange." He said, sitting next to Michael on the floor. "Strange?" Melinda yipped. "That was impossible!" "I agree." Isabelle said, joining Parker. "The couldn't have been her. Ginny's gone. I was there. I saw it with my own eyes." Michael rose from the floor angrily. "It was her, goddamnit! I touched her! She was real! I cast a 'to find a lost love' spell. Who else could it have brought?" "He's right." Parker jumped to Michael's defense. "I felt it. It was her alright. What I don't get is why she didn't recognize us. She seemed shocked to be here." Max shook his head. "Why did she burn you like that? That's not her power." "Maybe it's Wyatt's curse." Isabelle suggested. "Remember? Just before she died, Wyatt placed a curse on her, for shunning love for her." Michael was lost in thought. He marched over to the book again and started flipping pages. "What are you doing?" Max put his hand on the book to keep him from turning another page. "I'm calling her back." "What if she hurts one of us?" Melinda asked. "All she has to do is touch someone." Michael shoved Max's hand from the book. "It was an accident. She won't hurt us." "You can't be sure." Max tried to take the book and Michael pushed him away. "No! I have to! She's out there, and I'm going to find out what the hell happened to her!" He put his hand over his eyes. "You don't understand what it felt like to see her again." His voice softened. "We all lost her, Michael." Isabelle put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Ginny had gotten dressed and came marching up the attic stairs. She was determined to see that man again. She had to find out who he was. He was real. She knew that for sure. She knew her dreams weren't dreams. They had to be memories. There was no other explanation.
She waited until the sister's went back downstairs to talk to take a rest and try to figure what to do about that mysterious demon that she saw in her vision. She flipped to the memory spell in the book. She placed the book in the circle with her. She drew the triquetra around her, and tossed the chalk out of the circle.
Michael lit all the candles again. "Now remember," Max reiterated. "This spell is only meant to give us a 48 hours window." They all nodded in acknowledgement. Then he tossed a stern glance at Michael. "You know the rules." Michael nodded, rolling his eyes. He and the rest of them decided to cast the spell together, but this time, it would take them to her instead. They joined hands and chanted the spell together. "Powers of the witches rise. Find the witch who out lives our ties. Whether our love may be, bring us closer to thee."
Ginny swept some stray hair behind her ears as she knelt over the book. "Powers and emotions tied; a witch's heart is where it hides. Remind me of my destiny. Bless me with my memory."
Steps could be heard as the sisters and entered the attic. Just when they came in, a whirlwind of light and wind came down around Ginny, blowing out the candles and sending various objects flying through the air. "Ginny!" Chris leaped forward, but it was too late. As Ginny disappeared, five strangers appeared in the light.
"Leo?!" Paige shouted. Leo orbed in immediately, Chris's face turned to shock as his mouth dropped. "Oh my god." One of the two men stepped forward. "Chris?" Michael asked. "Where's Ginny?" Leo said, looking around. Chris exhaled uneasily as he glanced down at the book. "She's in the past."
