Chapter 7

"Chris?! Oh, Christopher?"

Honey froze. "Shhhhh!" Chris hissed, "He might get bored and go away."

"When has that ever happened?" she rolled her eyes.

""Honeeeeeeeey?"

"Not now Wyatt!"

"Oh good you're home. I,"

The bedroom door handle turned. "No!" Chris yelled but too late. Honey squealed and grabbed for her shirt.

"Seriously? It's two in the afternoon." Wyatt turned to face the door.

"It's our home! We're newly weds. It's expected."

"Well I need you. Actually I need Honey. Actually Paige needs Honey. Well technically…"

Honey now properly attired huffed, "Point Wyatt?"

"Paige was hoping you'd do some substitute teaching at magic school One of the professors left suddenly on some sort of vision quest kick."

"Me? But,"

"Why didn't she just call?" Chris asked.

"She did but you weren't answering your phone."

"Otherwise occupied." Chris said in an undertone.

"People!" Honey cried before Wyatt could begin teasing, "I can't be a teacher! I'm only twenty!"

"Paige asked for you especially. It's the ethics class. She feels like you are the right person. Just give it a try? Chris can give you a lift. He's supposed to be there anyway."

"Actually I can work whenever I want so…"

"Yeah, yeah so you can come home for a quick one." Wyatt mumbled but he shut up pretty quickly at Honey's death glare.

"I'll give it a go. I'm not promising anything but… next time you have to knock! Far too many people in this family orb in on each other in various states of undress."

ooo

Paige walked Honey down the hall. "Its eleventh grade ethics. It's basically just a discussion class. Keep them talking, keep the ideas flowing, keep them from killing each other please? You'll be fine." She grinned reassuringly then shut the door firmly.

Honey turned round to a sea of expectant faces all looking disturbingly close to her own age. "So… ethics huh?"

Chris poked his head around the door. "Demons are intrinsically evil." One of the pupils said.

"Are they?" Honey asked the room from her perch on the desk. "There is more than one case study showing demons choosing humanity." She noticed Chris and clapped her hands, "Homework; look one up and highlight any points that indicate a level of choice. Class dismissed."

The students filed out. Chris grinned and rested her hands either side of her hips, "You are a pretty sexy teacher you know." He breathed sliding his nose down her neck.

"Careful, I could stick you in detention." Honey tried to sound stern but Chris' lips burning a path along her neck were making her feel slightly drunk. She let out a little gasp as his hand splayed on her back dragged her closer to the edge pressing their bodies more firmly together. She ran her fingers through his slightly spiked up hair tugging at the strands to guide his mouth to hers. His other hand had started out innocently enough on her knee but soon it had slipped higher and higher up underneath her skirt. Honey curled her leg so that her foot caressed his thigh and felt his breath catch.

"We should stop." He said raggedly. "Don't want to get caught by another member of my family."

Honey groaned "I know." She rested her forehead against his relishing his closeness. He stepped back and she hopped off the desk smoothing out her clothing. "How's the research going?"

"Oh you know time travel, paradoxes, alternate realities. It's a blast. How'd teaching go?"

Honey smiled, "I enjoyed it. I really, really did. It may be something I'd seriously consider as…."

"A career?"

Honey shrugged, "Maybe. Is that crazy?"

"No! If that's what you want then I think you should go for it. Ask Paige to give you a trial run."

"D'you think she'll go for it? I mean I'm not officially qualified or anything. And I never went to magic school myself. And I never went to college. And I,"

Chris covered her lips with a finger. "You're rambling again. Paige wouldn't have asked you if she didn't think that you could do it. And I think you can do it. I know you can. You got some time before your next class? Why don't we hang out in the courtyard for a bit?"

"There's a courtyard?"

Sun shining, birds singing. It was like paradise. Of course the courtyard was inside so the sun, birds and sky were all magically conjured. "Last week it was snow." Chris said lazily.

Honey sighed and stretched luxuriously and rolled over on her back. Chris propped himself up on his elbow his other hand stroking her hair gently, "If you get the job what with you here, Dad, Aunt Paige, Laura on her last year and me finishing up the library the Halliwells'll be overrunning the school."

ooo

Chris glanced over to where Honey sat legs slung over the arm of one of the squashy chairs reading essays. "Did I tell my students freaked out completely when they found out I was married at twenty after knowing you less than four months?"

"How'd that come up?"

"We were talking about love. Do you think it was crazy?"

Chris looked over as her, "Do you regret it?"

"No! No, of course not. I knew that I loved you and that, you know, you loved me and I wanted to marry you. It was the one truly great thing I did in my life. I may have embarrassed them when I just started gushing about how right it felt and how perfect you were."

He laughed, "Well, I guess I can't complain about you singing my praises."

"In four part harmony" She turned her attention back to the papers in her lap now into her second week of teaching Honey was in her element.

He smiled to himself as her brow furrowed slightly and she tapped her pen against his cheek. He reached for the last book in his pile. "Almost done." he called over to Honey.

"Seriously?"

"Last book!" he held up the small leather covered volume.

"This is a big moment." Honey said "Hold on." she grabbed hold of a spare piece of paper and threw it in the air as it fell turned into dozens of tiny gold sparkles. "Ta da!" she giggled. Chris flicked the brass latch open and then pried the covers apart. It was surprisingly stiff.

"What the…" from the crease in the centre of the book bright blue light shone rapidly spreading across the paper and past the boundaries of the page. Before they even had time to cry out or, as Chris was leaning towards, swear loudly the portal had engulfed the pair of them.

They fell out into existence in a distinctly darker looking library. The windows were smashed, the chandelier lying on the floor bits of crystal scattered around it like tears, the shelves were all on funny angles or pulled clean off the wall and the remaining books were torn and dusty the piles of ashes indications to the fate of the others. "I don't like this." Honey whispered, "Where are we?"

Chris reached for her hand and squeezed her fingers reassuringly. "Whatever happens we're sticking together. Just keep hold of my hand. Come on." he led her out of the doors and down the corridor stopping outside another seemingly identical door. Gingerly he pushed it open.

Honey peered over his shoulder, "The manor? Wait what the hell is going on with all the mannequins?"

Chris paled, "I know where we are. And when." Two floating machines appeared Chris threw them against the wall where they crashed sending out a furious spray of sparks. "We have to get the hell out of here." Outside was like stepping into a war zone. "Don't use magic." Chris whispered as he pulled her along the road side stepping bits of brickwork.

"Chris," she was half jogging to keep up, "I don't understand. Where are we?"

"I'll explain everything, I promise, we just need to find somewhere safe first. Somewhere out of the open."

"Out of the open? What the hell? Are we in like a battle or something?"

"Yeah, or something." He said bitterly.