Suppose to Set an Example
Toy Soldiers: Eminem
September 2013
A childishly shaking hand rested on the marble wall of the endless hallway of Magic School catching strands of black hair underneath a sweaty palm. It a stolen moment of freedom and unrestricted adulthood, two children stood nervously starring at each other.
Somewhere further down the hall a door slammed shut and a fighting scuffle echoed off the walls. An aggravated professor with white hair was struggling to pull a rebellious firecracker of a student.
Wyatt panicked pressed his youthful inexperienced lips onto the giggling lip glossed lips in front of him.
"Let me go! I didn't do nothing!" Chris' hollered indignantly as he pushed his sneakers into the marble resulting in a sound that made Wyatt and his hiding date to pressed their hands to their ears.
"It's your brother," The little girl whispered hoping that they would remain hidden. Wyatt nodded grimacing at the sound and at the prospect of getting caught. The already aggravated professor stretched out a hand and clutched Wyatt's shoulder in seconds.
"Mr. Halliwell, of course you would be out here causing trouble. It seems you boys like to try to outdo each other." The older gentleman chastised.
"Wyatt?" Chris stopped struggled and craned his little body around to examine what exactly his brother was doing in the hallway. Chris noticed the girl immediately, before even acknowledging his family member.
"Idina?" Chris questioned.
"Miss James, back to your classroom before I bring you to the headmasters office as well." The grumpy professor stated sternly. Idina James stood frozen for a second not daring to the look at the angry adult but instead focusing an apologetic look at Wyatt. Fidgeting for half a second with the tips of her heavy black hair, Idina stepped forward and pecked Wyatt Halliwell on the check before running off.
The professor ignored the exchange, as if completely blind to the personal forming moment of his troublesome charge, and pushed the brothers forward still. Chris stared his green eyes wide and a taunting smile starting to form on his round face.
"What were you doing with Idina James outside of class Wy?" Chris whispered. But the older brother didn't have an opportunity to answer before both boys found themselves in the familiar surroundings of their father's office.
Leo Wyatt was sitting at his desk absorbed in the stacks of paperwork on his desk mumbling to himself about advance potion making classes. The headmaster did not notice the arrivals in his office until the angry professor coughed.
"Headmaster Wyatt," He growled.
"Professor Green," Leo didn't look up immediately. "What happened with Chris this time?"
Now the headmaster lifted his head and the amusement in his blue eyes was shadowed by the frown that formed when he found not one of his children but two standing in front of him.
"Boys, you know your mother is going to be very upset about this." He sighed.
October 7
Carefully working under the light of the half moon, Chris' nimbly fingers cut and prune a little plant that emitted a soft reddish glow until its stem was snapped. An old faded red plastic container sat open and ready for the plants. A chilly breeze swished past the working young man and he effortlessly tugged on the strings of his sweatshirt, pulling his hood closer to his face and maintaining his warmth.
Chris was laboring to breathe, not use to the high altitude of the Andes mountains but he pushed forward finally pulling up four flowers but the roots. He cleaned them off meticulously before lovingly placing them in the plastic rectangle box he had brought along. Giving the mountainside a quick scan to ensure that he had collected all of the magical herb in sight before he pressed the faded red top over the plants, sealing his prize safely away. Chris pushed himself up to his feet and tucked the Tupperware into his jacket as he admired the nature around him.
Chris stood starring at the lush green in the soft pale light of the moon, smiling at the sight he knew not many people ever saw in life. Contrary to his image, Chris Halliwell actually enjoyed many moments such as these in his life. As the middle child of a charmed one and a powerful witch part elder, Chris knew he was blessed and cursed with every breath. He often joked that he was reckless because he enjoyed life, not because he valued it any less than his siblings or cousins. He was vocally quieter than Wyatt and more about taken action than Melinda. But out of the three Halliwell siblings, Chris was the only one that practiced any sort of mediation often times on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. Chris gained his clarity from being able to see far beyond his reach, far beyond his current world or issue or demon. Sucking in the crisp fresh air of the mountains, Chris shut his eyes for just a millisecond trying to inscribe the feeling of being in this place at this moment before he left.
A breeze blew past him and suddenly he felt another presence, a familiar soft presence next to him.
"Verity, what are you…" Chris whispered not wanting to disturb the peace of nature around him.
"Danger, it's coming everywhere." Verity's voice shook with a deadly omen.
Darkness swallowed the manor suddenly, as the power seemed to go out of the large house that was bustling with the noise of a party spinning out of control. Four fights had broken out in the last three hours, and two of the bathrooms were occupied with puking teenagers. Screaming erupted when the lights went out and instead of attempting to find the source of the problem an intoxicated Patience snapped her fingers and the lights went back on. Dervin pulled her fingers tightly into his hand keeping her from throwing around any more unrestricted magic. HJ was dancing with a flirtatious sophomore from his Speech class while trying to watch Amelle who was also dancing with a sophomore that looked suspicious to the young whitelighter. Dora was crawling underneath the snack table, clutching a bowl of pretzels as the girl was unknowingly shrinking again. Melinda appeared at the top of the stairs, having changed into a tighter shirt, as the girl seemed to be growing out of her clothing by the second though in her drunken state she was hardly noticing.
As the lights returned flickering, Melinda lost her balance at the top of the stairs and came tumbling down. Bobby and Tricia were standing at the bottom of the stairs, talking and leaning against the banister. Bobby reacted to the falling Melinda quickly, causing Tricia to react as well and the young couple caught the aging girl before she hit the ground of the first level. But as Tricia clutched the white arm of Melinda Halliwell her eyes glazed over again, as Melinda started to scream.
Dervin swung his arms around Patience protectively and instantly at the high-pitched shriek silenced the party.
"Freeze everyone!" Tricia shouted as her eyes started fluttering. Dervin let go of Patience's hands and Melinda became lucid for a moment and threw up her hands at the same time as Patience and the entire room frozen except for the cousins and two teenagers that slipped out of the house unnoticed.
Wyatt slurped at an empty soda cup as he listened to Bianca explain why she only ate pizza without cheese. Bianca threw her used napkin onto the now empty pizza pan in the middle of the table and jumped off her stool decisively communicating that she wanted to leave the crowded college all night pizza place.
"But you get that its weird not to like one of the main ingredients of pizza on your pizza right?" Wyatt insisted as he stood up and strolled out into the night with Bianca.
"Everyone has a weird food preference. I am sure that even you perfect Wyatt Halliwell has one…" Bianca mocked as she stole his empty cup and threw it at a nearby trashcan.
"Maybe I do." Wyatt laughed.
"I shared mine!" Bianca pointed out.
"I didn't ask you too, you wanted pizza. You set yourself up for that." Wyatt shrugged.
"Oh come on," Bianca slipped her hand into Wyatt's hand carefully and leaned her head into his shoulder.
"I have one that people do think is strange," Wyatt conceded.
"And…" Bianca nudged.
"I loved peanut butter on everything when I was five. Mom had to buy a new jar every week because I would eat peanut butter with every meal. Now I grew out of the phase, except that I still put peanut butter on my burgers." Wyatt laughed remembering his childhood food. Bianca giggled, sticking out her tongue in mock disgust but she didn't mock him. The two walked along a quiet path back into campus, enjoying each other's company without any conversation.
"Damn it." Wyatt groaned suddenly as he clutched his stomach. Bianca sighed knowingly.
"The wonders of being charmed." She nodded. "Who's in trouble?"
"I think," Wyatt started as he groaned again. "All of them?"
"You'd better go then…" Bianca encouraged.
"Sorry," Wyatt straightened back up and leaned in to kiss Bianca but orbed away before making contact.
"I could help…" Bianca sighed at the empty spot in front her. It was a quiet proposal, as Bianca knew that the twice-blessed young man would never bring her along to help his family.
A crackling laugh broke the tensed silence of the mountains, a laugh that sounded frightfully familiar to Chris. A large animal came charging at Chris right side before he turned all the way around and sent him flying into the side of a rock. Verity let out a girlish squeak and evaporated as quickly as she had appeared.
"Not so fast Christopher," The chilling voice chided. A cold metal plunged into Chris' leg in a swift movement. Chris writhed in agonizing pain as he tried to fight his way away from the demon that was causing him harm.
"This should make this easier." Nemod said and suddenly Chris was pinned to the ground and unable to move.
"Wyatt?" Chris whispered.
"Oh he's busy…" Nemod laughed again as another sharp object pierced into Chris arm. Chris screamed in pain sending a painful shudder through not only the demon but also his family members miles away.
The windows of the manor shattered, all at once, into the house and against the masses of teenagers. Wyatt appeared in the center of the foyer, hitting his shoulders against still framed dancing couples. Abnormally large dogs came clambering through the empty window frames and Wyatt stood unable to gauge the situation he had stumbled into.
"The innocents, get the people out of the house Wyatt!" Henry shouted before he wrapped his arms around Amelle and dissolved towards the attic. Wyatt scooped the air in front of him in a one motion and embraced the room with a deep breath and the entire population of the party dissolved and Wyatt concentrated on ensuring they arrived safely to their homes.
Tricia was pushing ice from her hands at the attacking dogs, as she kicked at the sleeping Melinda. Melinda had curled up and fallen asleep on the wooden floor of the foyer. Patience was holding on to the wall with one hand and trying to freeze the oncoming dogs with the other. Henry reappeared standing protective in front of the snack table where Dora was crying out of sight.
"Come out here and help us Dora," Henry begged as he tried to focus enough to send a few of the dogs flying back out of the windows. Wyatt was about to send a sonic boom through the house when he clutched his stomach again in pain.
"Henry, I need your help!" Wyatt shouted over the chaos. HJ bent down and grabbed his sister's leg and pulled her out from under the table only to suddenly realize that Dora was now a crying seven-year-old.
"Of course," Henry threw his hands up as Dora started crawling back under the table. He sprinted over to Wyatt's side and Wyatt automatically clutched his hand.
"Think about Chris," Wyatt commanded. The two white lighters took a deep breath and tightly shut their eyes as they focused on Chris.
Seconds later a bleeding half coconscious paling Chris appeared on the ground in front of Wyatt and Henry. The demon dogs were gaining access to the center of the house, the foyer where Patience and Patricia were trying to fight them off bravely. Dora though still crying was shooting out blasts of fire beneath the dogs to keep them away from her and her family. Melinda snapped awake suddenly and threw her hands up again freezing the dogs instantly around them.
"Damn it, Chris." Wyatt choked at the sight of his younger brother.
"What are these?" Henry shouted as Wyatt placed his hands over his bleeding brother letting the warm light emit over his wounds.
"Hellhounds." Paige and Phoebe announced in unison appearing at the front door. Paige had her hair up in curlers and was wearing a pair of bright pink bunny slippers, while Phoebe was in her at home tracksuit with a light layer of her night cream on her face.
"We're going to need your help," Paige rested her hand on Wyatt's shoulder and Phoebe looked worriedly down at the moaning Chris.
"Just repeat after us Wyatt," Phoebe whispered.
"From below hounds, return to where you're found. A dark mate for a dark fate, leave us here and go back there." Phoebe and Paige chanted once before Wyatt's shaky voice joined them. Wyatt repeated the words strongly, as everyone else in the chaos repeated the words in small whispers so the entire power of the Halliwell family wished the demons gone from their home.
The hellhounds burst into flames, leaving behind the destruction of their arrival. Chris struggled to get up from the ground and Wyatt forcefully pushed him back down.
"You're still bleeding you idiot." Wyatt commented through gritted teeth. A sobbing tiny Dora sprinted from table sanctuary and clung to her mother's leg.
"It's ok baby," Paige said automatically soothing the little girl. It wasn't until she noticed Phoebe's strange frown that Paige looked down and discovered her teenage daughter was no longer fifteen going on twenty.
"Pandora?" Paige questioned confused.
"That's her mom." HJ nodded sadly but before he could explain his sister's predicament any further Amelle came running down the stairs.
"Are they gone?" She cried as she threw herself into Henry's arms. HJ patted the girl on the back unsure of what else to do for her hysterics.
"Yeah, calm down Amelle." He whispered.
"Who the hell is that?" Chris spat still struggling against his brother's arm.
"How did she get here?" Paige demanded.
"She called for me hours ago, because something was following her…" Henry started.
"Those big scary dogs that were just here, they were following me." Amelle explained prying herself away from Henry but still clutching his hand tightly.
"They were after you then?" Phoebe nodded trying to piece the situation together.
"She called for you?" Wyatt frowned.
Patricia and Patience worked together to help Melinda sit steadily on the bottom steps of the stairs. As the three sat and stared at their destroyed party, Tricia was holding Bobby Jensen's watch tightly while Patience pulled Dervin's jacket closed as Melinda tried to keep her eyes open.
"A charge? You got a charge?" Chris found his strength again and pushed Wyatt forcefully off of him. The grandfather clock started striking one, Melinda leaned over her own knees and started puking.
"I want to go home," Tricia jumped away from her cousin and the steps of the manor.
"I don't even know what to do," Phoebe frowned as she picked up a red party cup filled with pink contents.
"Why does Melinda look older than me?" Wyatt asked the room, as he had rushed over to his sister's side to pull the hair out of her face.
"Obviously Dora and Mels cast a spell, to be able to buy the booze. Duh, Wyatt." Chris stated sarcastically as he took a sip from a full bottle of beer sitting on the floor next to the front door. Chris strolled waved his hand and a bucket came flying out from the kitchen that he placed in front of his little sister.
"Personal gain no-no Mels." Chris cracked a smile at Melinda's pale and sweaty face before she started heaving again.
"You suck." Melinda managed to whisper to her brother in between choking up all the contents of her stomach.
"I want to go home." Tricia started repeating the phrase, in a soft and demanding tone.
"All right, I'm going to take Amelle home and set some crystals and I will take Tricia home before she has a nervous breakdown." Paige sighed looking over at her perfectly intact and correct aged twin, Tricia was rocking on the balls of her feet and refusing to look anywhere but her hands where she was still holding a wristwatch.
"NO! MOMMY DON'T LEAVE!" Pandora wailed suddenly kicking her feet around Paige's left leg.
"I have a headache." Paige pressed her fingers against her temples.
"Just go home with all three of them, Dora might wake up her old self again and if not we'll figure out the spell in the morning. HJ if you don't mind taking Patience home?" Phoebe suggested.
"And then coming straight home yourself." Paige inserted, holding out her hand Amelle.
"Can HJ take me home?" Amelle begged still clutching the boy's hand. Paige shrugged too tired to truly care at this point and with one thump of her left leg, she put her arm on Tricia and the three Mitchell women disappeared.
"Go on with you then Henry, remember to set a few crystals though I don't think anyone will try to attack her again tonight." Phoebe shook her head.
"Also take Patience home, I don't know what your role was in this young lady but you can rest assured that we're going to have a long talk about everything while you never leave the house again." Phoebe lectured for a moment.
"None of this was my idea…" Patience started.
"I don't want to hear it." Phoebe snapped annoyed. HJ beckoned his cousin with his outstretched fingers. Patience stood up from her spot near the still puking Melinda, Chris gave her a disappointed look but she leaned towards her cousin anyway.
"Glad you didn't die." Patience whispered giving him a small peck on the cheek before skipping to HJ. The three adult children of Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt were left, Melinda still puking with either brother sitting on her left and right side.
"Your mom is going to kill all three of you." Phoebe sighed.
"I didn't do anything!" Wyatt defended himself.
"And I had no idea they were throwing a party…" Chris shook his head.
"It…wasn't…their…fault…" Melinda tried to explain.
"All right, all right. Wyatt get her upstairs to a bathroom. Once she's finished, help her clean up, give her an aspirin and get her to bed?" Phoebe instructed. Wyatt nodded tightly wrapping his arms around Melinda. Chris was left alone on the steps, his black shirt torn in places that still had drying blood on his white skin.
"You help me clean up this mess." Phoebe pointed at her nephew. Chris popped his lips and looked around the foyer and the living room and the sunroom and shrugged.
"Let the object of objection become but a dream, As I cause the seen to be unseen." Chris recited lazily and the manor was cleaned of the traces of the party immediately. Though the furniture was still pushed up against the walls maintaining the empty spaces and Chris shrugged.
"Magic can't fix everything." He stated knowingly. Phoebe crossed her arms as she glared at her nephew.
"Christopher," She sighed. Chris crossed his arms, mimicking his aunt stubbornly and matching her glare with a bored stared.
"Phoebe?" He asked.
"Melinda is upstairs in the body of a twenty two year old and Pandora is clinging to Paige in the body of a seven year old. Don't you think maybe for a second you kids should stop using magic so selfishly?" Phoebe demanded tapping her foot.
"Paige has been saying that spell daily since the day that I was born… actually maybe even the year before I was born." Chris mouth twisted at the recognized memory.
"Yeah, I guess she was…" Phoebe stepped forward towards her nephew and put her arm on his bicep.
"What were you doing tonight that you missed that your cousins were throwing a wild party?" She asked pointedly.
"Wyatt and I were doing something…" Chris started.
"I know when you're lying to me, I have plenty of experience in that particular habit of yours." Phoebe sighed.
"Come on aunt Phoebe. It's been a long night and I should help Wyatt with Mels, maybe do some research on how to reverse the aging spell in case she doesn't wake up herself again?" Chris fidgeted nervously. Phoebe nodded as she looked around the manor and caught herself smiling. Prue was the only one that had ever been gutsy enough to throw a wild high school party when they had been young.
"How did you know to come tonight?" Chris whispered his question.
"A friend of yours told me." Phoebe nodded knowing that Chris understood that Verity Vanguard had helped his aunt see her vision of several dangers and that is why the charmed sisters had appeared right in time.
"Send me home? I will talk to you tomorrow, and try to avoid me and I will tell your mother about your little girlfriend." Phoebe pressed a maternal finger into Chris' nose.
"Ok, ok." Chris nodded. He gave his aunt a hug and sent her away before jetting up the stairs. Wyatt was standing in the doorframe of Melinda's bedroom, starring into the dark. Chris joined his older brother and looked at the older version of his little sister snuggle underneath a large purple comforter and clutching a tiny rag doll that she had slept with since she was an infant.
"Just a normal party…" Melinda was muttering.
"I know Mels," Wyatt whispered reassurance.
"Trying to be social legends…" Mels explained half asleep.
"How'd that go for you sis?" Chris laughed a bit.
"Going to be grounded forever…" Melinda mumbled turning to face the wall away from her brothers.
"It's not so bad," Chris sighed.
"The spell was Dora's idea…" Melinda whispered her last attempt at speaking before she drifted completely into sleep.
"Completely shocking it was Dora's idea." Wyatt rolled his eyes stepping into the hallway and pulling the door shut behind him. The brothers trudged down the hall a bit to their own doors, before Wyatt turned to glare at Chris.
"What'd you do?" Wyatt sighed.
"How'd your date go?" Chris smiled.
"Seriously Chris, you were close to…"
"…to dying. Tell me something new." Chris shrugged. Wyatt took a step forward and pulled at the tear in his brother's shirt.
"There's quite a bit of blood still, did I heal everything?"
"Can we do the big brother thing tomorrow then? It's been a long day, unless you want to share details about your date?" Chris slapped Wyatt's hand away.
"Go to bed." Wyatt pushed his brother. Chris crinkled his nose in disgust and turned the knob of his door.
"You can't tell me what to do." Chris stuck out his tongue before ducking into his bedroom as Wyatt swung at the air.
"Good night!" Wyatt shouted at the door before turning into his own room.
The darkness of the night was unnerving in the countryside of Massachusetts. A soft almost undetectable glow emitted from shadows of the woods, where a lone cabin stood. The wax of several candles was melting drips off the edges of a large wooden table where a stone bowl sat protectively nestled around dark relics of ancient magic. Sitting inside the stone four vials glittered ruby red in the candlelight, Nemod was pacing around the table lovingly glancing at the blood every so often.
"The phantasms worked marvelously!" Nemod clapped excited. Klea stood stoically near the door of the small cabin nodding.
"The children did not even suspect that something was array." Klea nodded.
"Yes teenagers and Halliwells so deliciously self-centered sometimes." Nemod nodded. "No more blood collection for the next five days, but we shall start the beginning of phase two?"
"Yes sir," Klea affirmed. "Where is the seer this evening?"
"I sent her away," Nemod tapped his fingers against the table.
"For what purpose?" Klea demanded suspiciously. The old demon was not particularly fond of the giddy nature of the new seeking source, but she did respect his cunning strategies. Nemod was as smart if not smarter than Belthazor and even though Belthazor had been a traitor and weak in his love for a witch, Klea had respected him.
"Did you sense the powerful little creature that was with Chris tonight?" Nemod smiled darkly at his first in command. Klea blinked rapidly before nodding.
"A child of an oracle and a witch, impossible." Klea stated.
"As impossible as a witch and a whitelighter child, or a witch and an elder child." Nemod laughed.
"You wish to collect limited editions?" Klea smirked despite her stony nature.
Nemod conjured two chairs and the demons sat and darkly started plotting out the second phase to a plan that revolved around charts and timelines, witches and demons and was so confusing it wasn't likely that anyone aside from its creators understood it.
The afternoon sun was bursting into the Halliwell attic, glaring off a pair of dark sunglasses. A still young twenty something Melinda was slouching down in a red armchair, with a hand pushing up against the left side of her face as she groan periodically.
"When can I take something for this headache again?" Melinda whined.
"Maybe you'll think twice the next time you decide to drink," Wyatt lectured as he thumbed through the Book of Shadows. He tapped at the open page, quickly scribbling down a note on a notepad before flipping to the next page.
"You can't remember what spell Dora used?" Wyatt demanded again from his younger sister. Piper's children had been pent up in the Manor's attic trying to figure out their many magical problems from Melinda's present age to the hellhounds that had attacked them the night before. All while Melinda moped through a hangover that her brothers wouldn't allow her to sleep through and Chris and Wyatt silently argued with each other about their secret whereabouts from the night before.
"No, no and no! I can't remember the stupid spell Wyatt." Melinda spat angrily pulling her knees up to her chest.
"Leave her alone for a few minutes Wy," Chris begged. Chris sat at the other side of the attic, studying one of charmed ones many resource books while also conducting a search with her laptop. On the table near the book, Chris cell phone started vibrating but the young man just tapped the reject button and continued with his research. Seconds later, Wyatt's phone started sounding from his jean pocket. Wyatt rolled his eyes as he slipped his hand into his pocket for a second before pulling it back out and jotting down another note.
"Are you guys going to tell her?" Melinda stroked her dark hair over her face as her cell phone started singing loudly. The youngest didn't touch her phone, sitting on the ground in front of her.
"For being in your twenties you sound like a three year old." Wyatt commented.
"You're in your twenties and you're still terrified of mom." Melinda stuck her tongue out at her older brother.
"You wanted to be normal. Normal sixteen-year-old sophomores get pretty grounded when they throw a party and get drunk when her parents are out of town." Chris commented without looking away from his computer screen.
"I'll tell her you almost died again," Melinda threatened.
"Wyatt was going to tell her that anyway," Chris shrugged.
"He's right." Wyatt nodded.
"I hate both of you." Melinda sighed.
"You've been saying that…" Chris shook his head. A door slammed from somewhere below.
"Mom came home early." Melinda jumped out of her chair and ran to hide behind Chris.
"Or Aunt Phoebe is here," Wyatt frowned as he glanced over his shoulder out of the window. Something crashed below, the sounds of shattered glass and shouting preceded a tiny set of white lights that materialized into a seven-year-old Pandora.
"Who are YOU?" Pandora screamed at Wyatt with a pointing finger.
"Volume. Inside voice Pandora." Melinda cried burying her head into Chris' side. Chris softly petted his sister silky black hair lovingly with one hand and used his other hand to follow the sentence in the book in front of him.
"PANDORA MITCHELL!" Paige burst into the attic irritated.
"Mommy is mad." Dora whistled unafraid. The little girl smiled a toothless grin, before stamping her foot on the floor sparking flames.
"Dora!" Wyatt exclaimed flicked his wrist magically moving a glass of water that had been Melinda's over the small fire.
"Pandora!" Paige huffed over to the young girl and placed her hands under the girl's arms and picked her up. "You're going to sit right here, and not move. You're totally on a time out."
Paige set Pandora on the armchair that Melinda had been in only moments before. Phoebe had waltzed into the attic, her cell phone pressed against her ear.
"Piper, calm down." Phoebe was saying.
"You answered mom!" Chris moaned quietly. Phoebe waved at him to be quiet.
"I know, I know. I will tell them. Really, we have it under control. I don't think you should…" Phoebe was arguing. Paige snapped her fingers at the fidgeting Pandora before walking towards Wyatt and the Book.
"Any luck?" Paige yawned.
"Melinda can't remember the spell…" Wyatt shrugged.
"Piper, stop yelling at me!" Phoebe snapped. Suddenly the charmed one held out the phone to the room.
"One of you answer your mother, otherwise she's going to the airport right now and waiting for a standby plane…" Phoebe warned. Melinda shook her head and buried herself more into Chris side. Chris looked at Wyatt and smiled.
"Please? You know you're her favorite…" Chris begged. Wyatt let out a frustrated groan and stepped away from the book and snatched his aunt's phone.
"Hey Mom…" He started. A loud shrieking started to come out of the phone and Chris and Melinda cringed.
"Ignoring her never makes it better. Ever." Phoebe rubbed her temples before walking over to inspect what Chris was researching.
"I know mom. I understand." Wyatt was mumbling into the phone.
"Can I play with the doll house mommy?" Dora screeched.
"No. Timeout means no playing Dora." Paige sighed.
"But I want to!" Dora cried loudly.
"Please keep it down." Melinda cried.
"Look twenty and seven, same noise." Chris mocked.
"Oh for the love of God, this is driving me crazy. I didn't do anything for personal gain." Paige shook her fist at the ceiling.
"I will tell them mom. Yes, I understand. Absolutely nowhere, completely disappointed." Wyatt grumbled.
"She's going to kill me." Melinda cried again.
"We've all survived death a la Piper before," Phoebe winked at her niece. Wyatt hung up the phone and glared at his siblings.
"Mom wants you to know that we are all grounded for the rest of the weekend and that she is terribly disappointed…" Wyatt started.
"Disappointed in us and can't believe that we acted so irresponsibly and that when she calls it's meant to be answered." Chris and Melinda finished in unison.
"And I hate both of you." Wyatt added handing the phone back to his aunt.
"Everyone in this family is so dramatic." Phoebe patted Chris on the shoulder.
"Can I have a snack?" Dora asked.
"This was not her best age," Chris commented from his spot over his research materials. Wyatt walked back to the book, while Melinda started crawling towards her younger cousin.
"Melinda, you can walk." Wyatt growled at her.
"No, right now I think I prefer to crawl. Thanks for your offered help bro." Melinda replied sarcastically.
"Hung over then?" Phoebe commented, trying not to laugh.
"Clearly," Paige didn't even try not to laugh.
"And the big brother holier than thou and bratty little sister thing has been going on for hours." Chris complained.
Melinda reached the chair and placed two hands on Dora's little knees. Pandora was wearing an oversized t-shirt as a dress and socks with no shoes.
"Pandora, can you remember the spell you said last night? Remember it was something about momentarily…" Melinda begged.
"I called upon the ancient powers." Dora giggled.
"I've been asking her that for hours!" Paige glared at her daughter.
"Were you yelling at her? When Dora was seven she never responded well to the yelling." Chris pointed out to his aunt. Paige glared at Chris now.
"She masked us, aging us prematurely." Melinda nodded leaning against the chair and staying on the ground.
"When did you guys cast the spell?" Phoebe questioned.
"Before we walked into the liquor store to buy the drinks…" Melinda responded.
"Not only is what you did illegal but it was also a big personal gain no-no. Of all the irresponsible uses for magic, haven't we taught you girls better than that?" Phoebe crossed her arms and looked disappointed.
"We were just going to use the ids but Dora didn't want to take any chances." Melinda hide her arm, resting the nook of her elbow over her nose.
"I'm going to call your Henry and let him just arrest the both of you." Paige leaned back into the windowsill obviously giving up looking through the book of shadows.
"We didn't mean anything bad by it Mommy," Pandora explained.
"We wanted to be social legacies and throw the biggest party anyone had ever been to." Melinda explained.
"They wanted to be normal." Wyatt whispered for his sister.
"I mean it wasn't the best plan to try to be normal using magic, but it's the effort." Chris nodded giving his sister and cousin a sad look.
"Magic gets involved in everything else." Melinda had started shrinking at the same time that Pandora had started growing.
"We didn't mean anything by it at all, I'm sorry we used magic at all." Pandora stated as she filled out her t-shirt.
"Looks like we can cross get Melinda and Dora back to normal off our list." Chris laughed.
"What am I wearing?" Dora questioned looking down at her neon socks and plain t-shirt.
"The only thing seven year old you fit into." Paige shrugged.
"Grounded?" Dora asked her mother.
"Oh yeah." Paige nodded. "Very, very grounded."
"Can I go back to sleep?" Melinda begged of her brothers.
"As long as you can have the house clean before mom shows up, which if we're lucky is still tomorrow." Wyatt nodded. Melinda groaned and the two young women scurried out of the attic before they were lectured, begrudged or criticized anymore.
The afternoon sun was dropping down in the sky, as Bobby Jensen pulled open the passenger door of his beat up old car. Patricia set her cell phone down in the middle console of the car before stepping out of the car. Both young people were dressed in matching blue t-shirts brightly stating they were members of the clean the park operation. Bobby held a large trash bag, while Tricia quickly snatched a pair of gloves from the glove compartment of the car.
"You're really going to leave your phone? That's unlike you." Bobby frowned shutting the door slowly.
"I don't think I'll need to talk anyone." Tricia shrugged glancing down and avoiding Bobby's gaze.
"Are you in trouble?" Bobby asked as he started walking away from her carefully giving her the distance she wanted without leaving her completely alone.
"Not exactly." Tricia shook her head as she stepped forward slowly. The Golden Gate Park clean up crew was the activity that had first brought Robert Jensen and Patricia Mitchell together at the beginning of the fall semester. It had become an unspoken weekly date between the two overly active school government officials.
"Did your mom find out about the party last night?" Bobby asked knowingly. In their afternoons together Bobby had learned quite a bit about the Mitchell-Halliwell family from Pandora's most annoying habits to how Paige liked her coffee. Not that the young man hadn't shared details about his family, a hippie older sister that was attending UC Berkeley and reminded Bobby and Tricia of an older version of Dora. He also found himself divulging about his parent's fighting to the quiet and always supportive Patricia.
"You could say that." Tricia sighed.
"Dora was pretty hammered. Though I don't remember how I got home exactly, but it was a long night." Bobby swooped down and picked up an empty water bottle.
"Well you know how you don't stay up late well…" Dora smiled nervously. She started wandering off the park path into an area that was usually littered with trash. Bobby followed her willingly into the tall tree trunks.
"Where was your family this afternoon?" Bobby asked casually.
"Mom was at the manor, checking on Melinda and Dad went with HJ to play a game of basketball at the community center." Dora explained.
"So no one was home when you left?" Bobby asked.
"No." Tricia frowned as she pulled the gloves on before starting to pick up glass chards near the base of a tree.
"So you're grounded and didn't ask if this counted as a social activity you were allowed to still do?" Bobby snapped his fingers as he came to his conclusion.
"Stop deconstructing my life." Tricia snapped.
"Why would you risk getting into more trouble to come out and clean a park, could it be for the good of our community…?" Bobby joked. Tricia ignored him as she fell to her knees and started to dig out the base of the broken bottle.
"Or might it be because a certain Miss Mitchell enjoys the company of student body vice president?" Bobby was standing right behind Tricia now.
"Why do you need to refer to yourself with a title?" Tricia sighed before she stood back up and turned to face him. Bobby had dropped the trash bag and was standing with a grin plastered on his face.
"It makes me sound more powerful and cool." He shrugged.
"And you think you're not already powerful and cool?" Tricia's eyebrow popped up in a manner that resembled her mother. A strong gust of wind blew through the area, causing Tricia's light brown hair to dance into her eyes. Bobby automatically reacted and pressed his hand against the girl's cheek as he combed her hair back.
"Uh, Thanks." Tricia stuttered caught off guard by how close Bobby had suddenly gotten.
"You know I've wanted to kiss you for months, and I was sure that last night I finally would…" Bobby bent down and pressed his lips against Tricia's slightly opened shocked lips. It didn't take long before Patricia was kissing back and Bobby was slipping his hands behind her back. As the impulsive and slightly inexperienced hands of Bobby started struggling to get underneath the cotton t-shirt of Tricia, the little witch panicked popped all of her fingers at once. A fire sparked catching to the drying wood and leaves of the wood around the young couple.
"Fire," Dora cried.
"Yeah," Bobby sighed running his hand across her now bare back.
"No, really fire!" Tricia cried again trying to pull Bobby off of her. Bobby reacted the second time she stated the problem, turning around to see the quickly growing flames.
"Fire," Bobby struggled with his hands shaking to pull out his cell phone and dial 9-1-1. Tricia pulled him away from the dancing flames, as tears started to fall freely from her hazel eyes.
"Yeah right off of John F Kennedy Drive, near the conservatory of flowers. You'll see the flames, hurry its growing fast." Bobby explained. As he hung up the phone, Bobby slipped his hand into Tricia's.
"Don't cry." Bobby whispered.
"It's my fault, I'm going to burn down the park." Tricia cried. Bobby shook his head, looking completely confused for a second.
"It can't be your fault, you are just feeling guilty. Let me take you home, it will be ok. We just have to wait for the fire fighters." Bobby tried to calm Tricia who was now sobbing uncontrollably.
"My fault, my stupid fault." Tricia was crying. Sirens were blasting from down the street and soon the place was surrounded by firefighters who dismissed Bobby and Tricia fearing they might get hurt. Bobby quickly ushered a now inconsolable Tricia into his car and started driving.
"Do you want me to walk you up to the door?" Bobby asked timidly of the still crying girl. Patricia shook her head and tried to compose herself for the thousandth time in the car. She ran her wrist across her eyes, smearing mascara and moisture of her tears across her face. She sniffled for a second, regulating her breathing before she gave Bobby an embarrassed smile.
"I think I'm just tired." She hiccupped.
"And feeling guilty much," Bobby sighed. The boy leaned forward and kissed her momentarily before Tricia panicked and jumped out of the car. Flames were flickering at her fingertips and the girl ran into the building to her family apartment. The tears started flowing freely again and as she stormed into her family's living room the crying teenager barely heard her father's chiding.
"When you're grounded young lady it means you don't leave the house…" Henry was yelling still as Patricia slammed the door to the room she shared with Pandora. Crying frantically Tricia threw herself across her white comforter, clutching a cross-stitched pillow with the word Noble on it in a soft blue.
The girl didn't even hear her father enter the room over her sobbing. Henry sat on the edge of his usually calmer teenage daughter's bed. He bounced a bit to get the girl's attention but when that didn't work he started coughing softly. Tricia didn't stop crying, she didn't acknowledge him at all.
"PT what's wrong?" Henry asked softly. When the twins had gone into kindergarten they had demanded to have nicknames like their brother HJ, so Henry had compiled and still occasionally called his girls PT and PD.
"Cleaning…Bobby…Fire…My…Fault…Hate…Magic." Patricia cried loudly.
"I don't understand you at all," Henry sighed.
"Leave me alone please?" Tricia sobbed clearly before curling up into her pillow. Henry let out a heavy sigh before deciding it was the effort that counted with an emotional teenage girl.
"Maybe I'll order a pizza with pineapple and have HJ go pick up some s'more stuff for dinner?" Henry suggested before stepping out of the room. Pineapple pizza and s'mores were Tricia's favorite dinner items and Henry was willing to bribe his daughter out of her crying mood.
The sun was starting to set and Phoebe, Paige, Chris and Wyatt sat around the kitchen table at the manor sipping hot apple cider tea. The book of shadows sat opened in the middle of the table, as Paige tapped her fingers hurriedly.
"So you went to a place called The Apple?" Paige asked her voice scathing with disbelief.
"Demon bar, been there since the dawn of time. I'm honestly really surprised you guys have never been there." Chris explained as he pulled the book towards him and started writing on a black page.
"And you heard about this bar how?" Phoebe asked.
"Chris actually took me there before telling me anything about it." Wyatt shrugged and crossed his arms stubbornly.
"Right, because that was the responsible way to take care of that…" Paige rolled her eyes.
"I didn't want to go 58 rounds with Wyatt about why we needed to go down there, so I figured the blind attack on his part would be the best approach. If I remember correctly you did a similar thing when you tried to take on Cole, as the source, alone." Chris glanced up only for a second before re-focusing on his entry.
"Christopher, attitude sir." Phoebe frowned at her nephew.
"How did you find this bar mister?" Paige wrinkled her nose at him.
"If I had to bet money, it would be either on one of his many escapades in the underworld alone or Javin…" Wyatt yawned.
"I might have other demon friends you don't even know about Wy." Chris laughed.
"Cute, really cute." Phoebe gave Chris a light kick under the table.
"We found out from this demon Benji, that there is a rising source. And old friend of ours," Wyatt explained.
"It's Nemod." Chris stated confidently.
"And you know this because?" Phoebe asked. A cheer erupted from the other room, as Coop was playing a game of trivial pursuit in the other room with his three girls, Pandora and Melinda.
"An old friend of ours? Demonic old friends don't last long in this family." Chris shrugged knowingly.
"Benji also said something about a demonic child, aunt Phoebe?" Wyatt asked quietly. Phoebe paled suddenly and stared shocked at her nephews. She opened her mouth a few times without any words.
"It was nothing to worry about Wyatt," Chris tried to dismiss what he recognized as a fear in his brother.
Melinda came sprinting into the kitchen though before anymore could be said on the subject.
"Mom and dad are home." She cried hurrying to stand behind her two older brothers.
"You know hiding behind us when you broke mom's favorite picture frame was cute, now not so cute." Wyatt spat.
"And just because someone told you once that you looked good in blue doesn't mean you should have taken them seriously enough to only wear blue." Melinda snapped back. Paige flicked her hands up and the Book of Shadows disappeared and Phoebe hurriedly walked towards the kettle and started pouring more tea. A scuffle of noises, luggage being dropped and a series of hellos sounded from the conservatory. Moments later the oldest charmed one stormed into the room and strode right to her three cowering children. She immediately started inspecting Chris, pressing her hands over his arms.
"Ok flight mom?" Wyatt started asking. Leo walked into the kitchen looking exhausted, probably from the last minute plane ride after only part of the conference.
"Boys, you know how ignoring your mother's phone calls makes her crazy…" Leo sighed as he kissed his daughter on the top of her head before taking a cup of tea from Phoebe. Piper finished examining Chris and moved to Wyatt, repeating the process of checking his arms and then torso.
"What are you girls doing here?" Leo asked confused. "It seems that all the problems from the kids little party were fixed."
"We were just making sure that they didn't get into anymore trouble here," Paige smiled. Piper finished checking Wyatt and moved on to Melinda, starting with the girl's face.
"Mom?" Chris sighed.
"She's not going to talk to you while she's inspecting." Wyatt sighed.
"She might not speak to you at all for the evening." Leo commented.
"That mad huh?" Chris scratched behind his ear.
"Maybe this would be the time for us to leave?" Phoebe waved Paige out of the kitchen.
"Brunch tomorrow, same time." Piper commented as she finished with Melinda.
"Be here." Her sisters responded.
"Try being on time!" Piper yelled after them. "Leo would you tell your children that I am going to make dinner and they should spend the rest of the night convincing me that they are truly sorry that they ignored their mother when she called them repeatedly." Piper asked Leo.
"Piper, don't you think…" Leo started.
"Mom, I made chicken pesto pasta." Chris winked at his father.
"And I made salad." Wyatt nodded excitedly pulling out a bowl from the fridge.
"Of course, I baked a pie." Melinda giggled.
"We saw that you were going to be back." Chris shrugged. "We started sucking up early."
Wyatt and Chris smiled at each other before taking steps to surround their mother and pick her up into a hug.
"No, no! Not getting off the hook that easily! You horrible boys!" Piper shouted. Leo and Melinda started laughing as Leo pulled his youngest into a hug.
"You know you're grounded for a while?" Leo sighed to his daughter.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Melinda nodded giggling at her brothers smothering her mother.
"And we're going to have some long talks about personal gain magic, and why its not a good idea to break laws with magic. And how you shouldn't do things that destroy trust with your family." Leo commented.
"I know dad," Melinda sighed.
"And about responsibility." Leo added.
"I get it dad," Melinda nodded.
"Dad is like the song that never ends." Chris laughed.
"You and I, are probably going to have a conversation too Chris." Leo shook his head.
"Wyatt did it." Chris pointed and laughed.
"All right, car keys and no orbbing for the night. I'm not going to lecture tonight, because I'm exhausted but this kind of behavior is completely unacceptable from all of you." Piper held out her hand. Melinda fished out a set of keys and dropped them into her mother's hand. The night went quickly into different pictures of domestic tranquility, with all the charmed cousins quietly stuck under their own roofs.
Author's Note: Just a day late! Wanted to let everyone know there is going to be about a two week break as I start working on a paper that is due (and super long) so sorry, for the wait but the next chapter is going to prove to bring out some important plot points, promise you want me to only have to focus on writing that!
On that note, this is the first new chapter (with nothing of the old story in it) so, maybe some reviews? Let me know what you guys are liking, what you arent' liking... what you want to see more of? etc... I really do take what you guys respond into account!
Thanks all!