CHAPTER 2

Bad Moon on the Rise

Chris rang the bell at his Aunt's home and shot a look to his girlfriend as he heard the sounds of chaos from inside the house. Someone had bumped into something, the object crashing to the ground. His Uncle Henry was yelling at his son about it. The girls were heard chattering away in the background at a million miles an hour. Paige was shooting orders to them, but Chris doubted they were hearing a word.

A few minutes later, Henry pulled open the door, a weary look on his face as he gave a tight smile to his nephew. "Hey, Chris, thanks for doing this on such short notice. Paige and I appreciate it."

"Sure." The witchlighter gently guided Molly in front of him using his hand in the crook of her back. "You remember my girlfriend Molly."

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Mitchell."

Henry nodded, shaking her hand. "You too. I hear you've made the Dean's list. Pretty impressive at Boston College. What are you studying again?"

As he guided the two teens into the entryway, Molly answered, "Psychology and human development. I really want to be a counselor, help troubled kids."

"I'll tell you, there's nothing more rewarding than setting a kid back on the right path," Henry confided.

Paige entered into the entryway then, her salmon dress swaying as she hurried over. She looked to her husband and rolled her eyes, "I think I finally got them straightened out. I swear, this is payback for what I put my parents through."

"That right there, so not making me want to do this," Chris put in.

His aunt smiled at him, giving him a quick embrace, "Hey, Little Man. How's it going?"

"Well, I'm babysitting on New Year's Eve. What do you think?"

The youngest Charmed One brushed him off, "They'll behave for you. You're not the enemy. Besides, the twins practically worship the ground you walk on. You could tell them to go to bed at nine after they finish their creamed spinach, and they'd do it. Though," she narrowed her eyes, "No waiting until you see the headlights to put them to bed this time, Mister. Henry Jr. gets to stay up till the ball drops and that's it. The twins can be up a half an hour later. Got it?"

"Hey, the sooner they go to bed the better, as far as I'm concerned," Chris defended.

"That's just because Molly's here," his aunt deducted. "By the way, it's nice to see you again."

Molly smiled, "You too."

Paige turned to Chris conspiratorially, "Bottle of bubbly in the fridge for you two. You tell your mother, and I will deny the whole thing. Also, the spare room is made up for Molly. Chris, you can take the couch."

"Couch?" her nephew whined.

His aunt quirked an eyebrow, "And you better be on it when we get back."

"You wouldn't have been at my age," Chris replied.

Henry stifled a laugh, which earned him a sharp look from his wife, who turned back to her nephew, "I mean it. No funny business at my house. Your mother would blow me into tiny little pieces."

"So if it wasn't in your house, per se. . ." the young man challenged, mischief shining in his eyes.

This time Henry couldn't hold back, a hearty laugh escaping. When his wife shot him another look he shrugged, "He is your nephew, Paige."

"I give up," the woman announced.

Henry slipped her coat over her shoulders. Looking at Chris, "Prairie had an ear infection earlier in the week, so make sure she takes her antibiotic before bed; it's on the counter. Oh, and Henry Jr.'s been a real handful with his conjuring lately, so just watch out for that."

"Got it."

"Okay, you two, have fun," the man said on his way out the door, pulling his wife gently behind him as she reminded Chris that in case of emergency they were only an orb away.

Chris shut the door behind the couple, shaking his head. "Well, you sure you're still okay with this?"

"Definitely."

Just then, nine year old Henry Jr. came bounding into the room, his dark brown hair flopping around his ears. He paused just in front of Molly and grinned, looking absolutely adorable with one of his front teeth missing. "You're much better than Wyatt."

"Really? Why's that?"

The little boy grinned, an exact replica of his father's. "Cause you're a lot prettier."

Molly's face lit up into a large smile as she bent to his height. "That's so sweet. You're a pretty handsome guy yourself."

"This is for you," the child announced, a purple carnation appearing in his hand out of thin air.

Chris folded his arms over his chest. "Hey, there. No using your magic like that."

"It's not personal gain," the little boy protested. "It's for Molly."

"Still. . ." the older cousin argued. "Don't do it."

Henry leaned over to Molly's ear whispering, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Hey, I heard that," Chris protested. "Back off you little thief. Get your own girlfriend."

Molly laughed. "I don't know Chris, he is a lot cuter than you are. . ."

Her boyfriend rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Molly, wanna come see my Christmas present?" the little boy asked, grabbing her hand and tugging.

Molly shot a look at Chris and shrugged, "I guess I'm going this way."

"Henry, stop pulling at her. It's rude."

"I'm no-ot. She wants to come see, right? Right?"

"Sure," the future whitelighter responded. "We'll be back in a minute."

As he watched his little cousin drag his girl up the stairs toward the child's bedroom, the young man shook his head. "Out done by a nine year old."

"Chris," a chorus rose up in the voices of his two twin cousins, Prairie and Persephone, both newly turned twelve.

He smiled over at them, grinning at their contradicting outfits. Lately, the two had been desperately trying to look as different as possible. Persephone had chopped her hair chin length in an edgier look, also opting to die her hair a bright red. Her outfit screamed rebel– black hooded sweatshirt, short black pleated skirt and bright green tights with black and purple sneakers. Her sister had gone the other way. Prairie kept her naturally brown hair long, flowing down around her shoulders. She wore a fluffy pink sweater and blue jeans with white sneakers.

"Hey, guys," Chris smiled as he felt two sets of arms wrap around his waist.

Prairie frowned, "I thought Wyatt was watching us?"

"Yeah, what happened?"

"The flu."

"Awesome," Perse declared.

"That's not nice," her sister chided. "Wyatt's sick on the New Year."

"But now we get the cool cousin," the other twin argued.

Prairie looked thoughtful, "Well, that's true."

"Oh, Chris, guess what I got for Christmas?" Perse excitedly questioned. "A hover board. Just like the one you have. Could you teach me how to ride?"

"Sure. It's really not that hard once you get the hang of it."

"She'll never get the hang of it," her sister commented.

"Will too."

"Nu-huh."

"Shut up."

"You shut up."

A shrill whistle cut the argument off at the knees. Chris let out a breath, "Okay, rule number one for the night, no bickering. Tonight is going to be as calm as possible, got it?"

"Cause Molly's here," Perse stretched the phrase out, grinning. "Oooh, are you guys gonna kiss when the ball drops?"

"Oh, Molly, I love you soooo much," Prairie mimicked dramatically.

Her twin turned her back to the other two, wrapping her arms around herself, pretending to kiss someone, "Molly, marry me. I need you, I can't live without you. Mmmmm."

Chris rolled his eyes, putting his hands on his hips, "You two planning on giving me grief all night?"

"Yes," they answered simultaneously.

"Yeah, see, I don't think so," their cousin replied grabbing them both in his arms and lifting them off the floor. As they squirmed, laughing and crying out for him to put them down, he marched into the livingroom, "What's that? You want down? I don't know why I should. . ."

Perse, still laughing, cried, "We won't give you a hard time anymore."

"Yeah, we're done."

"Promise?"

"Yes," they both answered.

"Okay, then." Chris dumped them both on the sofa. "Now, what do you guys want to do?"

Perse suddenly shot straight up on the sofa. "Oh, hold on, I have something for you."

The pre-teen jumped up off the couch, running into the adjoining kitchen.

Chris looked at the girl left behind. "Should I be worried?"

"Always."

"Here," Persephone said, returning a moment later. She held out a slip of paper to her cousin. "You'll never guess who it's from."

Chris frowned, taking the paper in his hands and unfolding it. He could have been knocked over by a feather when he saw what was on that piece of paper.

Chris,

I really need to talk to you. It's important. New cell– 315-299-2325.

Casey

Casandra Alvarez. Casey for short. He couldn't believe it. He hadn't heard from her in almost a year. Her family had moved to Puerto Rico when her mother had gotten a job there teaching English at one of the Universities. Before they'd lost touch, Casey had been a good friend of his, a fellow witch he'd met in one of his classes at magic school. In the end they'd even been a bit more.

"Earth to Chris," Perse called.

Prairie shook her head, "You shouldn't have given it to him."

"Why not? She asked me to."

"Because he's with Molly now. I thought we said we were going to toss it in the garbage."

Chris' head whipped up. "When did you see her?"

"A few days before Christmas. She was in China Town with that friend of hers– the one that came with when you two took us for ice cream that time."

"Jessica." The young man shook his head. "Wow. I can't believe this."

Molly came into the room, Henry Jr. trailing after her. She tilted her head to the side. "What can't you believe?"

Chris tucked the note into his back pocket. He glanced quickly toward the television and gestured vaguely at it. "The actor in this movie. He's awful. Can't believe he could even get a job in the biz."

"Well, Henry has just requested that we throw in that new Disney film, so if it's okay with the girls, I thought that'd be a nice way to pass the time until the ball drops."

"Sure," the twins responded simultaneously.

Chris nodded, moving to the movie cabinet. Perusing the selection he found the brightly colored packaging belonging to the happy go lucky movie of the month and yanked it out of its slot. Closing the door behind him, he stood, moving over to the player and sticking it in. After a few moments the title screen came on. He hit play and moved back to sit on the love seat while the three kids occupied the entire couch.

"You all right?" his girlfriend quietly questioned, taking a seat on the arm of his chair.

"Yeah," the teen quickly responded. "I'm good. Let's watch the movie. Haven't seen this one yet."

Molly quirked a dark brow but remained silent.

An hour and a half later, the animated film was at an end. Henry had, by this point, crawled onto Molly's lap and was more than half asleep. Perse was complaining that the main female character was a wimp and that if her mom were in the film the evil wizard would have been history after the first ten minutes. Prairie agreed on that front, but felt the prince made up for the heroine's short comings. He was, in her words, dreamy. Molly was staring at Chris, who hadn't changed expression during the entire show, his thoughts far away from this particular livingroom. She'd have to have a talk with him once the kids were asleep.

Chris couldn't stop thinking about Casey. It was just so random. Her running into his cousins like that, giving them that note. Did she expect them to just pick up where they left off? Because it wasn't going to happen. He loved Molly. The real question was, though, should he call her? Just as a friend. After all, they'd been friends longer than they had been. . .not friends. No, that'd probably be a really terrible idea. But, she did say it was important. . .

"Chris," Perse's yell drew him from his thoughts.

The young man looked up just in time to see some sort of demon pull out a laser whip and crack it at the kids, who all orbed out just before the piece of furniture was ripped in half. Chris jumped to his feet, waving his arm at the attacker, sending the guy flying backward into the wall.

"Chris, what should we do to help?" Perse asked as she and the other two children reformed.

"Get your siblings upstairs and use the crystals," the older witchlighter ordered. "I'll take care of him."

The three went up in a swirl of lights once more.

Molly yelped as a female version of the same whip happy demon appeared behind her, aiming her weapon for the young woman's head, which would have been taken clear off if she hadn't had the sense to drop to the floor.

Her boyfriend spotted the newcomer and turned his wrath on her, skewering her with the fireplace poker he whipped at her chest with his telekinesis. The female demon let out an ear drum bursting scream before going up in flames like a piece paper lit with a lighter, her body practically shriveling to nothingness.

However, while she went screaming back into the pits of hell, her friend was already recovering and threw an energy ball at Chris, who ducked just in time to see the family photo hanging on the wall get burned and crash to the floor.

Molly ran for her purse, coming back with three potion vials in hand. When she reentered the room, Chris was on the ground, wrestling with the demon, who was trying the slice the witchlighter open with his newly conjured athame. "Chris, orb."

Without question, the young man disappeared in a shower of lights just as the woman he loved tossed one of the potions at the remaining demon, who had followed Chris' lead and shimmered out, causing the potion to land on the floor, burning a large whole into the carpet.

Chris reappeared next to Molly, "Get upstairs. The crystals will protect you."

"No way. I'm not leaving you down here to face this thing alone."

He could tell by the look in her eyes that there would be no point in arguing with her. He let out a breath and kept a lookout for the demon. To Molly, "Throw at anything that moves."

The air rippled in front of the main window. Molly took aim and nailed the demon in the chest just as he reformed. He went up in a shower of flames, his cries piercing the evening air. Unfortunately, he was standing a bit too close to the curtains when he exploded, and now the youngest Charmed One's drapery was in flames.

"Shit," Chris cursed, orbing out.

Reappearing a moment later holding a fire extinguisher, the witchlighter made quick work of the flames. When it was all out, he gazed wearily at the damage. The couch was split in half, the photo of the Charmed Ones hanging on the wall was destroyed, there was a whole in the carpet, and now, the curtains were pretty much rags, smoke damage all over the neighboring wall. Paige was going to kill him.

Molly's eyebrows shot up, "Paige is going to kill us."

"Well, at least we know those all-purpose potions I made for you work."

His girlfriend laughed, wrapping her arms around his waist and nodding.

Perse came back down first, peaking her head over the banister. "Are they dead?"

"Yeah. Come back down."

"Will there be more?" his girlfriend questioned. "Normally, they keep coming back."

Chris let out a breath. "I'll call mom and let her know. She can figure out what to do."

"You don't have a plan?"

"No."

Molly frowned, "No desire to go look at the Book of Shadows?"

Her boyfriend narrowed his eyes and tossed a look back at her, "No. Why?"

"It's just. . .that's your thing. That's all. I figured you'd be all over this attack. I'm just worried."

"Can't I have an off day now and again?"

Molly held up her hands, "Whoa. Calm down. I didn't mean anything by it. Why are you biting my head off?"

Chris ran a hand through his hair, groaning in frustration. "I don't know. I'm sorry. It's just. . .it's New Years Eve and nothing is going the way I wanted it to."

He shook his head at the sight of the room. He cringed as a piece of cushioning floated down through the air in front him. "What a disaster. It'll take the rest of the night just to clean up this mess."

"No it won't," Perse argued. "I learned this from mom: May the object of objection become but a dream as I cause the scene to be unseen."

In a flash, lights covered the room, shining over everything until suddenly vanishing, leaving everything as it were before the attack.

"Personal gain," Chris automatically lectured.

Perse shook her head, "No it wasn't. I saved your date with Molly. So not personal."

"Go get your brother and sister," the cousin wearily replied. "The ball's going to drop soon."

As he watched his cousin run up the stairs Chris had a feeling the ball wasn't the only thing going to drop tonight. As he felt the note's presence in his back pocket, he knew that any moment a shoe would join it, and any hope he had of enjoying his New Year's Eve would be ruined.

tbc . . .