Chapter Two

Allison sighed out of slight boredom as she followed her cousin through the dark caverns of the Underworld. Chris seemed focused enough that he knew what he was doing, but when they passed by the same rock formation for the third time, Allison felt the need to bring it up, or else walk in the same circle for all eternity.

"We've been by here already," she said.

"Shhh," he hissed. He then added in a hushed whisper, "I know that."

"Okay," she said in the same tone, "then what are we doing? I thought we were following your demon trail or whatever."

"Look, I don't know exactly when he's gonna be here, but I know he will."

"Well, can you explain to me what we're doing? Because I'm very uninformed right now, not to mention bored. How do you know that this demon is going to be here, and how do you even know that it's connected to Traya?"

Chris sighed and made a complete one eighty so he was facing her full on. He sucked in his lips for a few seconds and then said, "Okay, so this demon, he's a power seeker."

"I've never heard of those. Are they in the book?"

"No, because it's not an official demon name. It's like…slang. Basically, it's a low level demon that kisses up to the big boys, hoping that he can cash in when the big boy becomes the big man. See what I'm saying?"

"Sort of," she mumbled.

"Power seekers spend a lot of time with seers and oracles. They're trying to hunt out the next big evil threat to the world. When they find something potentially that big, they go to this possible big evil demon-"

"The big boy," she interjected.

"Right. And they say, whatever you want. I'm yours. See, they want to secure their place in the new hierarchy, once the demon takes power and becomes-"

"The big man," she said with a slight grin.

"Exactly. This demon that I'm looking for, he's been spending a lot of time around here, which just so happens is where the Seer sets up shop. Demons don't visit Seers on a regular basis. Not like this. So if he's hunting for a new threat, then I'm guessing he was connected to the former big threat. Traya."

Allison nodded. "But this is all speculation."

"Yes, but if you don't speculate, you have nothing to go on. When I first started investigating Dylan, it was all speculation. But we see how that turned out. I was right."

"Not to brag or anything," she said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes, and she added. "I see your point. My question is, if Dylan is still up to the same tricks that Traya was, then wouldn't this…power seeker be following him?"

"I don't think Dylan is in a position of power yet. I think he's waiting. Trying to figure things out. And it's possible that what this demon is going to find out from the Seer is that Dylan is the next threat."

"So you're hoping he leads us to Dylan," she said.

"Good guess, but no."

"All right, then what?"

"We need to know what he knows about Traya's plans. I'd rather know what the plan is then to have the leader of the plan."

"Really?"

Chris shrugged. "We killed Traya, the supposed leader of the plan, but if I'm right, it's still going on. The chain of command may never end. We need to know what we're up against and what they're planning."

"Okay. So how long are we going to wait here for him to show up?"

"As long as it takes," he said simply.

"All right, but I have to be home, you know, at some point."

"You can leave whenever you have to go. Although I'm surprised. Lately you haven't exactly been one for rules."

"Things are just…different now," she said. "With my parents."

"Right. Melinda said…well, she told us how they've been fighting."

"There's enough stress in my house already. I don't need to cause trouble for something so stupid." She paused. "What about the other demon? The one we were originally going after?"

Chris sighed. "That demon will still be there tomorrow. This might not be. He might get his answer today and be untraceable."

"Somebody could die," she said softly. "Wyatt would never forgive us, and I don't think I could forgive myself."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked. "I can't leave here."

"Let me go then."

Chris sighed. "Allison…"

"I know. But it's the best solution."

"Wyatt-"

"Doesn't have to know. Maybe I've never done it alone, but I might as well have. You guys have never had to jump in front of me. I've stood by you, practically an equal. You know I'm ready."

"It's not my decision. He's your white lighter."

"So? I know exactly what I'm doing. It's a quick vanquish. If I end up in trouble, I can call for help." She noticed his hesitation and added, "It's been almost an hour. I'm not helping by just sitting here. I could be doing something else."

"I'm probably gonna regret this…" Chris noticed how her face was already lighting up. "Okay, okay. You can go, but the second, and I mean the second that you're done-"

"Come back and tell you."

"Right, and then get your ass back home. You understand?"

"One hundred percent." She smiled. "I'll see you in like ten minutes. Tops." The grin was still on her face as she orbed.

Whitney was in bed, but she wasn't sleeping. She'd rolled around her squeaky mattress for almost an hour, looking at her clock, watching the way the moonlight moved across the window at the end of her bed. With a frustrated sigh, she reached over and turned her lamp on, sitting up.

Rubbing her eyes from the sudden invasion of light, she wrapped her fingers around the drawer handle of her nightstand and pulled it open. The letter was sitting inside. She unfolded it and read it again, resting her chin in her hand, her elbow on her folded thighs.

Dylan didn't say where he was, but he told her he couldn't see her until he knew he could trust her family. He said that he knew he could count on her and that she wouldn't believe what everyone was telling her. And he said that in time they could be friends again.

The letter wasn't long, but it was long enough. It wasn't as though they'd been best, best friends, but she missed hanging out with him. When she had premonitions that scared her, she always preferred talking to Dylan, because he didn't get upset and worried like her mom did. But things had definitely changed near the end of the school year. He wasn't around as much, and he acted more serious around her, as if he had a heavy load on his shoulders. She suspected that he hadn't always known his mother was a demon. She wondered how recently he had discovered it.

There was a soft knock at the door and Whitney quickly crumbled up the letter, shoving it into the drawer and closing it, just as her bedroom door opened. Her mother peeked her head in.

"You still up baby? I thought you went to sleep."

"I was just reading a little," she said. "I was about to turn the light off."

Phoebe nodded. She regarded her youngest for a few seconds. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Whitney shrugged. "No."

"You were really quiet at dinner." Phoebe pushed the door open further, coming into the room. "Actually, it hasn't just been tonight."

Whitney couldn't bring herself to look at her mom. "I'm all right," she said softly.

With a sigh, Phoebe sat on the end of the bed, her fingers resting on Whitney's leg through the light green and yellow flowers on her bedspread. "I know all this has been hard on you."

"All what?"

"You know what," Phoebe said with a knowing look. "After everything that happened to your friend-"

"His name is Dylan."

"All right," Phoebe said gently, immediately sensing her daughter's annoyance. "Sweetie, I understand what you're going through."

"Because of Cole," Whitney said.

Phoebe was startled. "How do you know about Cole?"

"Maddy told me."

"How does Madeline know?" Phoebe said in a stern tone.

"I think Wyatt and Chris told her."

"Wyatt and-" Phoebe stopped with a groan, putting the heel of her hand on her forehead. She took a breath and looked up at her daughter. "Well if you know about Cole, then you know how much evil, even a little bit, can affect you."

"But you still fell in love with Cole. You found the good in him."

"The pain I went through…I don't want you to ever experience that."

"I'm already experiencing it," Whitney muttered.

Phoebe fought back a smile. She knew better than to insist that her daughter's friendship with this boy wasn't as strong and intimate as Phoebe's relationship had been with Cole.

"I guess I know how you feel about Dylan now," Whitney said. "You don't trust him either. No one does."

"He was behind your kidnapping," Phoebe said.

"He wasn't!" Whitney said. "He was trying to help me. While I was down there, a bunch of demons attacked and he protected me."

Phoebe processed the earnestness on Whitney's face. She saw how desperate she was for her mother to believe her and trust Dylan. The boy had disappeared almost two months ago without a trace. The fact that Whitney's mind was still centered on him concerned her.

"Do you know where Dylan is?"

Whitney seemed thrown by the suddenness of the question. "No. Why would I?"

"I'm just checking."

"Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you. You'd probably get Wyatt and Chris to kill him."

"Whitney," Phoebe said firmly.

"You all think he's evil and nothing is going to change your mind. Well, I know different and I'll protect him."

"If you know where he is-"

"I don't!" she practically yelled. "Just leave me alone." She scooted down in her bed, acting as though she were going to go to sleep. She turned her face to the wall and waited for the mattress to dip. The door closed and Whitney was alone.

When Allison orbed back home, she felt like she was on cloud nine. The demon vanquish had gone flawless. She'd orbed in, caught the demon's attention, offered him a classic Paige Matthews one-liner, and threw the vial, vanquishing him in a cloud of smoke.

Chris had seemed indifferent when she told him how well it had gone, but it made her even prouder that he almost acted as though he'd expected her to succeed. Now that she was home, she had the sudden urge to do more.

Allison heard her mom in the kitchen and she started towards there with every intention of asking if she could go back and join Chris on his stakeout, but she stopped at the end of the hall, just outside the kitchen.

"You act like you're doing what's best for our children, but you don't even-" Henry Sr.'s voice was drowned out by Paige talking over him.

"I do know what's best for our children! You knew I was a witch when you married me, and you knew our children would be too."

"We discussed this when you were pregnant with the twins. You said that we would both have a say-"

"You're the one trying to monopolize the decision. I'm trying to work with you, but you're not cooperating. You can't just ignore-"

"I wanted to bind their powers, but you said no. The least you could do is keep them out of this demon fight until they're older."

"It's not my decision, Henry. Destiny has made them the new Power of Three. Demons are going to target them for the rest of their lives. We're doing our best to get them ready, but you fighting me isn't helping."

"That's another thing. The Power of Three?"

"I know it doesn't make sense to you, but it's the way it is. The nine of them are a collective power. No, they aren't all needed to form the Power of Three, but losing one of them will weaken them."

Henry rolled his eyes. "You know, I am so tired of hearing you spout off these asinine statements that are so full of shit-"

"Henry!" Paige yelled, trying to interrupt his tirade. "You want to bind their powers? It won't matter. All it will do is make them vulnerable. You think demons are going to care that they can't find back? They're the Charmed Ones." She paused. "And in case you didn't hear me the first hundred times, they will always have a target on their back. The best thing we can do is protect them now and prepare them to protect themselves later."

Allison didn't want to listen to anymore. It was the same fight over and over, and her dad still wouldn't listen to reason. Going back down the hall, Allison pushed her bedroom door open. The lamp in the corner was on and Jessica was stretched out on the chaise lounge, reading a book.

"Hey," Allison said.

"Hey." Jessica didn't even look up.

Allison slid on the edge of her own bed, facing Jessica. "How was your day?"

"Fine," she said in a monotone.

"What's wrong?"

Jessica sighed, slamming her book shut. "I'm just frustrated, okay? I'm frustrated that you're so good at this and I can't get it. I know it's wrong to take it out on you, but I don't care. That's how I feel."

"Oh." Allison hadn't seen that coming. Sure, Jessica had been kind of quiet the last week or so, but it wasn't like that was completely out of character for her. She'd always been pretty reserved. "You know Jess, it's not like I just randomly decided to be a witch. I've been working at this my whole life."

"I know," Jessica said.

"You want me to help you?"

"No." Jessica sucked in a breath and let her shoulders slump. "Yes. I just can't get my aim right. I try to TK something somewhere and I always miss my target. No matter how hard I concentrate."

"That's probably your problem. You need to relax. Here," Allison paused, getting off the bed and walking to their dresser. She opened the top drawer and pulled out a rolled up pair of socks. She put it on Jessica's bed. "Now just close your eyes."

"I can't do it with my eyes closed," Jessica said.

"Would you just go with i?"

Jessica sighed and closed her eyes.

"Not so tight. Your eyelids are too wrinkled." Allison stepped over and put her hands on her sister's shoulders. "Loosen up a little."

"I am loose!"

"You're not loose if you're snapping at me." Allison stepped back, satisfied. "Okay, now take a deep breath." She nodded as Jessica obliged. "Now just imagine the socks moving from your bed to the blue circle on my bedspread."

"What are you doing?" a deep voice cut in and both girls turned to the doorway where their brother was leaning.

"You interrupted our flow," Allison said.

"What flow? What is this?" Henry Jr. asked.

"Allison's helping me with my telekinesis," Jessica explained.

Henry walked further in the room. "I thought you were mad at her, now you're asking for her help?"

"I offered," Allison said. "What is your problem?"

"One of you is enough. You were the only one that used to care about this stuff, and now you've sucked in Jess too."

"I have a mind of my own, Henry," Jessica objected. "Besides, I always cared about my powers. I just never had a reason to get better before. Now I do."

"And so do you," Allison said.

"My powers are fine, thank you," Henry said. "And it's not like you're much of a teacher anyway. You're still in training, just like us."

"But she gets to face actual demons," Jessica said. "Not a simulation of one."

"And," Allison paused, putting on the proud face, "As of today, I'd like to consider myself out of training."

"Why is that?" Henry asked.

"Because I faced my first demon all by myself. And I won."

"By yourself? I can't believe Mom gave you permission," Henry said.

"It's not her place to give me permission," Allison said. "She's not my white lighter."

"So Wyatt gave you permission," Henry said.

Allison hesitated. Maybe she should have thought it through before she'd started running her mouth. "Yeah. Of course." Desperately wanting to change the subject, she said, "Now we were in the middle of something so please go."

Henry slid his eyes from one sister to another, but agreed, stepping out into the hall to silence. It sounded like his parents had stopped fighting. For the moment at least.

When Wyatt got home, he kicked his shoes off and immediately started unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a plain white t-shirt underneath. As he slid the outer shirt off his shoulders, he walked towards the stairs and went to toss the shirt on the back of the couch in the sitting room.

"Don't even think about it." Piper walked into the dining room, just in time to see what he was going to do. "Take your dirty clothes up to your room."

"All right. Sorry. I just had a long night. I think your manager hates me."

"Taylor doesn't hate you."

"Yeah, he does. If you weren't his boss, he'd fire me."

"We need to talk," Piper said, suddenly serious. She walked around the couch to sit down and Wyatt's shoulders slumped as he followed.

"Well, that's never good," he said. He settled next to her, rubbing at a sore spot on his neck. "What's up?"

"Paige just called. Did you tell Allison that she could go vanquish a demon on her own?"

"What? God, no. Mom, you were there. I told Chris to go with her."

"She apparently told Henry Jr. that you told her she could go."

"I didn't. Is she okay?"

"She's fine. But that doesn't justify her doing this. She's still too young and too inexperienced."

"You're preaching to the choir," Wyatt objected. "I did not give her permission." And with a deep scowl, Wyatt realized exactly what had happened. "Chris!" he yelled. He waited. His brother didn't orb in, didn't walk down the stairs. Nothing. "Chris!"

"He wouldn't do that," Piper said.

"Oh, but I would?" Wyatt asked. "CHRIS!"

"They left together," Piper said. "I saw them. He even insisted they orb together so he wouldn't lose track of her."

"He doesn't care that she's inexperienced. He loves having the extra pair of hands. It would not surprise me if he sent her to vanquish the demon so he could follow up on his lead." When Chris still hadn't shown up, Wyatt threw up his hands. "All right, I'm going to him then."

"If he did let her do this, you make sure he understands how not good this is," Piper said. "If he doesn't, you tell me. I'll set him straight."

"Okay Mom."

"Paige and Henry are having enough trouble working this out as it is. She really did not need Henry to use this as extra ammunition."

"I know," Wyatt said, slightly annoyed. "We'll be right back."

Wyatt used his sixth sense to zero in on his brother and orbed immediately. Once he was saw that Chris was safe and healthy, he decided that he was furious. "So you're just sitting here?" Wyatt asked.

Chris sighed and used the edge of the wall he was leaning against to stand up. "I'm waiting. What are you doing here?"

"Well, since you weren't responding to my calls…"

"I'm sorry. But this is important."

"This about your lead then?" Wyatt asked and Chris nodded. Wyatt continued, "So you vanquished the other demon then?"

"It's been taken care of."

Wyatt was silent for a few seconds, waiting to see if he would confess. But all Chris did was read Wyatt's expression and say, "What?"

"I know that you sent Allison to vanquish the demon by herself."

"I didn't send her."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying!"

"But you knew that she went to do it on her own. I told you to vanquish that demon first, and I told you to do it together, but you just did the absolute opposite."

"And why do I have to do what you say Wyatt? Since when are you the boss? This used to be a partnership. And the Wyatt I know would have believed in Allison. He would have recognized that she's ready. He wouldn't be micromanaging both her and me."

"Somebody has to be responsible here, Chris."

"I'm not talking about being responsible. If you had just acknowledged that this lead is more important than some stupid low level demon, we wouldn't be here right now."

"Well, what difference does it make what I say? You just do what you want anyway."

"The only reason Allison wanted to go was because we promised you we'd vanquish the demon. I made the call that this was more pressing and decided to do this instead, but she was the one that felt like the other demon needed our attention. So I let her take care of it."

"It's not that simple, Chris! Her parents are mad at me now. She could have gotten killed and then what?"

"What if I had gotten killed?"

"What?"

"Would Mom and Dad not be upset if I got killed?"

"What is your point?"

"My point is it's the same thing. They're going to be upset no matter how old she is. If their daughter's dead, she's dead."

Wyatt's face tensed and he suddenly took in where they were. "I'm not having this conversation here." He grabbed Chris's arm and orbed them back to the manor, in Wyatt's room. Chris wrenched his arm from Chris's grasp and went straight for the door.

"Don't leave," Wyatt said. "We need to figure this out."

"We're not going to agree."

"I know we aren't. But if you and me are going to be partners in this, then we need to figure out a system." Wyatt paused, waiting for Chris to pull out Wyatt's desk chair to sit. "She's fifteen. She's still a kid."

"I know."

"Okay. Then you know that her parents are still in charge of what she does. If they don't want her fighting demons by herself, then we don't let that happen. Do you get that?"

"So is that how it's gonna be? 'Cause you know Uncle Henry will never let that happen."

"It's not our problem."

Chris sighed. "I won't let it happen again."

"Thank you."

"But I was still right about blowing off the other demon. We don't know what Traya was planning, and I had a shot at figuring it out."

"I'm not convinced that there was any major plan."

"Well, that's what makes you, you, and me, me. I like to be thorough. And I'm usually right. You have to admit."

"So you're thorough and I'm careless, is that it?"

"No," Chris said. "It's more I'm the brain and you're the brawn."

Wyatt grinned and threw a pillow at Chris. "Well, they don't call me the Twice Blessed for nothing."

Chris's own smile faltered slightly. "Yeah. Twice Blessed."

"What?"

"It's just…" Chris sighed. "You're still using them."

"Using what?"

"Your Twice Blessed powers."

"Oh geez, Chris. It's not like I'm on drugs or anything. It makes things easier."

"Yeah, but before you said you were only using them to save Whitney. Now you use them all the time, for all demons. I don't want you to rely on them."

"Why not?" Wyatt paused. "You know, I don't even know if I understand what you mean when you say my 'Twice Blessed' powers. What powers are you even talking about?"

"You know which ones I mean. You vanquish demons with a wave of your hand. And then the energy balls."

"Is that it?"

"Well, it's a lot when you use them all the time. You've got like five other powers. Is it that much to ask that you don't use those two?"

"I just don't get what the big deal is."

"I know you don't." Chris paused. "It's not like I understand it either. I just get this…feeling in my stomach. I don't like seeing you that way. You know, with that much power."

"So this is about how much power I have. Not what kind."

"No…well kind of. I don't know."

"Well, I can't say I understand your weird feeling, but if it's really bothering you this much, then I guess I can stop using them."

"Thanks."

"No problem bro." Wyatt stood up and slapped Chris's back. "But uh…could you maybe do me a favor in exchange?"

"What?"

"Call Aunt Paige and tell her that you were the one that told Allison she could go."

Chris groaned, but knew it was his responsibility. With Wyatt pushing on his back, he left to go make what he knew would be a dreadful phone call.

A.N. Thanks for the reviews! They really made my day. Things will hopefully start to heat up in the next chapter.