Palmer sat on the couch in his brothers' loft. His older two brothers, Parker and Pace, had moved two floors above Wyatt and Chris a few weeks earlier. It was different to be so near family; in Palmer's reality the only family left was their immediate relatives. Piper had died when Shax attacked the sisters. Phoebe had died giving birth to a demonic baby, care of her ex husband Cole- who had been inhabited by the essence of the Source at the time of conception. Both of those deaths had taken place before his own birth, so he had no memory of the Power of Three, or any experience with a large extended family. Paige's death the previous year had spurred the family into fleeing their reality. Luckily, Palmer's eldest brother, Parker, was able to teleport himself and others into different realities. Part of his power was to 'know' what was different in each reality, which helped the family to adjust. Unfortunately, Palmer's mother, Prue, was hiding behind a glamour and an assumed name and was unwilling to let her arrival endanger her sisters. For this reason, most of the family had no idea that Palmer and his family were related to them. Thus far, only Wyatt and Chris knew the truth and the five men hoped that between them subtly working on Prue/Priscilla Bennett they'd be able to get her to agree to let the rest of the massive clan in on the secret, to convince her that her fears for their safety were unfounded. His newly found cousins were finding out what the 'Bennett' boys had known forever, Prue Halliwell-Trudeau was a remarkably stubborn woman!
Shaking his head ruefully at his mother's behavior he started focusing on the book in his lap. He flipped through the familiar book. After all, his mother, as the last surviving Halliwell sister, had inherited the book and, of course, it alone of all their possessions was irreplaceable. Unlike his cousins here, who only recently acquired their powers when magic returned, Palmer and his brothers had fought demons with their mom all their lives, and were infinitely familiar with the book. That's not to say that Prue didn't want to protect her children just as much as her sisters did, she just wasn't given as much opportunity. The reversal of deaths, hers and Andy's for Piper, Phoebe and Paige, hadn't been the only difference in her reality; the balance of good and evil had shifted too much and demons had literally taken over her world. As a result, any who could fight did. No one was given a choice; those with power were constant targets. Having grown up being a target, Palmer never let it affect him, he shrugged it off, but he could never shrug off the pain of innocents.
"He's not in here," he informed the waiting men.
"Wait. What do you mean? Demons are always in the book," Wyatt informed his younger cousin.
"Not always," was the response from Chris, Parker, Pace and Palmer simultaneously. Chris chuckled and continued, "The only demons in the book are ones that our ancestors, or mothers, have come across.
"Hey, you ever notice how many of those demons was a one-of-a-kind?" Palmer quizzed. Pace nudged him with his elbow but Palmer continued, "What? You don't think it's strange that if there's only one of that demon, and there's a vanquishing spell and/or potion, why weren't they just vanquished? Why put 'em in the book?"
"Maybe the person who put the spell in the book wasn't powerful enough to perform the spell," Pace answered.
"Or maybe it was put in by the daughter of the witch who died trying to vanquish it," Parker added quietly. The eldest brother was a bit more battle scarred and weary than the others. He was also a plainspoken man who never minced words and usually said what others were thinking.
"So, spell on the fly?" Wyatt asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure we can come up with something appropriate," Chris grinned wickedly.