So sorry for the long delay-- finishing up my education. BUT, from here on out I should be able to update regularly again, which means I'll update my other stories within the next couple of days too :)
CHAPTER 7
Party's Over
Wyatt shrugged his shoulders as Mr. Allen repeated his question. He glared over at Sara Burnheart's group, sending a silent message that anyone who did answer the question would suffer innumerable consequences by doing so.
Mr. Allen pushed his glasses further up on his nose and folded his arms. "So what you're attempting to get me to believe is that Ryan's eye just spontaneously decided to turn black and blue?"
"I never said that, Sir." Wyatt answered. "From what I saw, he tripped over one of his two left feet and bashed his face in on one of the bleachers." The witch turned to the boy with the ice pack on his face. "Right, McCallister?"
The youth narrowed his good eye and after a heated pause responded, "Yeah."
The history teacher turned suspicious blue eyes from one teen to the other. When neither young man spoke, he turned his focus to the girls who had been present during the incident. "Well, what do you all have to say?"
Sara opened her mouth, but after a quick look from her date closed it again. She tossed her hair back and turned her face away.
"Sara?" Mr. Allen questioned. "You realize that if no one says anything I'm just going to pretend I believe the bleacher story. I have better things to do than play detective. So, if you're alright with injustice, by all means, keep quiet, and I'll be on my way to the snack stand."
Wyatt folded his arms over his chest and smiled at Sara.
The girl rolled her eyes. "No, nothing to say at all, Sir."
"Okay then." The history teacher turned to Ryan. "Don't keep that ice on too long. Twenty minutes tops, ok, Champ? Good. All right. Any one needs me, I'll be stuffing my face with pizza."
"You all made a very wise decision," Wyatt commented as Mr. Allen's stout frame disappeared out the gym doors. "Just remember that in the future, Molly Vettle is under my protection. You mess with her, and you're messing with me, and we will have issues."
Amber, from her position next to her date, nodded. "That goes for me too."
Suddenly, a part of Wyatt's mind felt empty. A presence that normally pervaded every moment of his life, even if it sometimes only felt like a dull feeling of a memory forgotten, a presence as calming to Wyatt as a security blanket, vanished.
Something had happened to Chris.
Without bothering to come up with an excuse, without acknowledging anyone, the young man tore out of the gym, slamming the doors in his race to find somewhere private to orb out from. The bathroom being closest, the teenager skidded to a stop in front of the doors, pushing back the door and racing inside.
A gothic looking boy getting a drink from the fountain smiled and shook his head. "Guess he had the chili fries too."
000
Molly felt herself flying. Only it wasn't quite the same. It was as if only her mind existed, and it was floating through a bright white light. Her thoughts were fuzzy in this non-place, confused. However, as confused as she was about what was happening to her, she found she was calm. As though the warmth of the sun was permeating her skin and entering into her very being, giving her a peace like that of dreamless sleep. Unfortunately, the serene moment was just that, a moment. It ended in the time it would have taken a person to clap.
When the white light faded, Molly found herself in entirely new surroundings. It appeared to be someone's home– a conservatory to be precise. It was lovely, a white love seat was underneath a lovely Victorian style windows. A table in front of the love seat was covered with magazines and books, and in the chair on the left hand side of the table, sat one Piper Halliwell.
Piper glanced up from her romance novel as she heard the sound of orb lights. As she saw who it was that appeared in them, her eyebrows show up. "Oh no."
"Mrs. Halliwell-Wyatt?" Molly glanced around nervously. "What's going on? How did I get here?"
The matriarch sighed and put her book down on the table as she rose to her feet. "Come here, Sweetie. Why don't you sit down and tell me what the last thing you remember is."
Molly, too shocked and scared to protest let the older woman guide her into the seat. She shook her head, her thoughts still jumbled. "I...there was...there was a lunatic with a crossbow,
then a couple more people just...just appeared. Just poof, there they were. Like magic."
Piper laughed nervously, "Magic...riiight."
The girl didn't notice. "They took us somewhere, but then Chris raised his hand and the next thing I know I'm here." She frowned shaking her head. "That doesn't make any sense. None of this makes any sense."
Piper put a hand on her shoulder sympathetically. "Unfortunately, it actually makes more sense than you'd think."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh boy. Well, you see. . ."
At that moment, Phoebe and Paige walked into the room carrying cups of tea and laughing about something they had been talking about in the kitchen. Phoebe noticed the new arrival first and frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be at the dance? Where's Chris?"
Paige pulled a face, "Oh man, did demons attack the prom?"
Phoebe slapped her sister in the arm while Piper glared.
"Demons?" Molly asked. "Is that how Chris...did that thing with the light?"
"We're not demons," Paige responded hotly. "We're witches."
"Paige," Piper admonished. "What is the matter with you?"
The youngest witch shrugged. "Please, she obviously orbed in here. It's not like we can just make her forget everything she already saw. Besides, it'll help us find Chris if she knows exactly what we're dealing with here." She turned to the teenager, "We're good witches with real magic powers and we save people. The guys who attacked you were..."
"Darklighter and a couple warlocks," Piper supplied reluctantly.
"Exactly," Paige finished. "But you have nothing to worry about because we've handled situations like this a thousand times before. More probably."
Phoebe's eyes grew wide, "Wait a minute, a darklighter? Was Chris shot?"
"I'm not sure. It all happened so fast."
"What all happened so fast?" Leo asked, trotting down the stairs and heading over to the group. He noticed Molly sitting in the chair looking shocked to her core. He turned to Piper, "Demons?"
"Yup."
"Oh, that's too bad. The kids deserved a good time."
Phoebe cut in, "Piper, weren't you guys attacked earlier today? Before the boys went to pick up their dates?"
"Yeah, Wyatt got a pretty nasty bruise from the fight."
Molly muttered, "A shelf, huh."
"Well," the middle sister continued, "seems to me that somebody was targeting Chris for some reason."
Paige smirked, "Like demons need a reason."
Leo noticed Molly's discomfort and moved to her side, "Hey, do you want some toast? It always helps me settle down, and maybe it'll help you too. I'll sit with you and keep you company too if you'd like."
Molly nodded and rose to her feet with his help, letting him guide her into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, a new set of orb lights appeared coalescing into Wyatt's frantic form. "I lost Chris."
"Lost him?" Paige remarked. "What is he, your puppy?"
Pheobe rolled her eyes and moved to comfort her nephew. "Sweetie, it's not your fault. Obviously someone in the underworld is gunning for Chris, and we'll just have to find out who and take them out. Don't worry. He'll be fine."
"I'm not sure about that," Piper argued. "If he got hit by a darklighter arrow, we don't have much time. Wyatt, you can't sense him?"
Wyatt shook his head. "No. Something's cut us off."
"Then he was hit," Piper reasoned. "He's probably unconscious somewhere in the underworld."
"It has to be that," her son agreed. "Our connection gets weak when one of us is down there and the other isn't. If he was unconscious too...well, it'd make sensing him impossible."
"Wait, so if you were down there too, do you think you could pick up on him?" Phoebe asked.
"Maybe."
"Maybe might have to do at this point," the eldest put in. She turned to her sisters, "You guys go and get some potions ready just in case."
Wyatt ran a hand through his hair, watching as his aunts disappeared in a swirl of lights. He turned to his mother. "I should have sensed something was wrong sooner."
"Wyatt..."
"– I mean it. I'm his big brother. I'm supposed to protect him, just like you've told me for as long as I can remember. I failed tonight. I didn't notice when he was in trouble."
Piper put her petite hand on her son's cheek. "You aren't omniscient. Besides, your brother's almost an adult. He can usually take care of himself just fine without any help. He's strong, smart and determined just like his aunt Prue was during her life. He'll be okay."
"Yeah, but Aunt Prue..."
"Not Chris."
Wyatt shook his head, "Mom, we have to find him. I can't deal if something happens to him."
Piper pulled her son into an embrace, "You won't have to worry about that. We will find your brother. I promise."
000
"So...they're like angels then?"
Leo nodded, "For the most part. Only whitelighters take care of good witches and future whitelighters."
"And that's what I am or will be?"
"Right, which means that you have a very special destiny ahead of you. You're going to be a great person, helping others. It's a real honor, Molly, and it says a lot about who you are in your heart."
Molly took another bite of her toast. Swallowing, "So, Wyatt is mine?"
"Right."
"And he has to do whatever it takes to make sure I follow my destiny?"
"It's his job to make sure you are safe and that nothing interferes with the life you were meant to lead– like the darklighters we already talked about."
Molly nodded, setting her toast on her plate and pushing it away.
Leo frowned, noticing a change in the girl. Before she had been confused and upset, but now she almost seemed sad. It wasn't the normal response to hearing about magic. Panic, fear, anger, awe– those were normal responses. Sorrow didn't make sense. "Molly?"
"Can someone take me home, please?"
"I don't think that's a good idea. Not until we stop these demons first. Just in case they were after you and not Chris."
Wyatt came into the kitchen just then. "Molly, are you all right?"
The young woman looked down at her plate. "Fine."
The Twice Blessed shot a look at his father, but the older man merely shrugged, not sure what had set the girl off. Perhaps it was just the situation.
"Well, mom, the aunts and I are going down to the underworld to rescue Chris, you two will be okay while we're gone, right?"
Leo smiled, "Of course we will. You just be careful, okay?"
"I will." He looked to Molly, "It'll be okay, Molly. I promise."
As Wyatt exited to join his mother and aunts, Leo could have sworn he saw a tear run down Molly's face.
Tbc...
I think this is the first chapter I've ever written that didn't have Chris...I feel weird. He'll be back big time for the rest of it though!
