Hi everyone! I'm getting back into the swing of writing again. So, with any luck, this will be updated a bit more regularly. Hopefully the cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter didn't annoy anyone too much. Sorry about any mistakes in this chapter, the spell check on my computer is being difficult today. Enjoy!
Mel froze. In front of her, Henry, too, had gone deathly still. Even Ryake appeared surprised to see them.
The Demon recovered quicker than they did. With an evil grin, he flung out his hand, knocking Henry back away from the door. Henry fell with a shout, all the air audibly rushing from his lungs. Mel flinched at the sound his skull made when it slammed back against ground.
She gritted her teeth together and rose to her feet. Before she could raise her own hands to blast him, Ryake was ready to attack again.
PJ had readied herself quicker than Mel or Henry and had fired an arrow at Ryake. The Demon waved his hand, almost lazily, and knocked the arrow back towards PJ.
"Arrow!" Kat hissed while Matt dragged PJ out of its path.
Before it hit the ground, PJ had pulled out of Matt's grip and snatched it up. "Kat, check Henry!" She ordered as she prepared to knock the retrieved arrow.
Ryake was too busy watching PJ to focus on Cole. That proved to be a big mistake when Cole threw a fireball at Wyatt's lieutenant with a shout of rage.
He stumbled back with a growl, and, while he was off balance, Mel tackled him. Before he could react, Mel leaned back blew up his face.
Ryake's screech of pain caused Mel to rear back and cover her ears. She cursed. Loudly. Not that it could be heard over Ryake's scream.
"Hurry!" Cole shouted from somewhere behind her.
Mel was only able to glance over her shoulder before Matt had grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the crying, newly faceless demon. She was barely out of his reach before Matt shimmered them both away to the attic.
PJ dropped Kat's hand as soon as they orbed into the attic. Their fight with Ryake had been unplanned but it had still been salvageable, until Mel blew up his face and his screaming alerted every guard in the Manor. Although, PJ wasn't too angry at Mel for that. Ryake had been behind her father's death. Getting his face blown off was barely on the list of things that she wanted to happen to that monster. And it was a long list.
Without PJ taking up her second hand, Kat focused all her attention on Henry. He hadn't lost consciousness but he hadn't opened his eyes. They were squeezed shut in pain.
"It'll be okay, Henry," she soothed, worriedly.
PJ kept half an eye on Kat while she turned to Mel and Matt. They were still holding each other, with Matt trying to scoop Ryake's blood out of her hair. Cole had pulled out a piece of chalk and was busy drawing the triquetra circle. As soon as he finished, PJ, Mel and Kat would have to read the spell. They would need the Power of Three to get the six of them to a specific point in the past.
Alarms blared throughout the Manor, masking the sound of Mel slamming shut the attic door with a wave of her hand. She pulled away from Matt and brushed her doubtlessly sticky hair away from her face. Matt moved over to Henry and helped pull him to his feet.
"I hope you still have the spell, PJ," Cole muttered, beckoning them over to the wall.
PJ slipped off her quiver and pulled out the tiny sheet of folded paper. Chris had written a spell before in case he failed and one of them needed to go to the past to finish what he started. Paige had rewritten the spell before they left.
Behind their backs, there was a banging at the door. The demons had finally figured out where they had gone.
"We can't waste any time," Cole reminded them. "Matt, take Henry through first, then the girls. I'll cover you, just in case."
"Don't forget to follow us, Cole," PJ warned. Her voice had an edge that made her sound shockingly like her mother had when she had dealt with Cole. She knew that the half-demon wouldn't dare disobey her when she used that tone.
"Go on," Matt urged.
Wordlessly, Kat snatched up PJ's hand and Mel snaked an arm around PJ's other arm. With their heads in close together they spoke as one,
"Hear our words, hear our rhyme,
Send us to another time,
Know our hope, know our plea,
To find our displaced family."
PJ hardly dared to glance up from the paper but once she did, she saw the swirling blue vortex that she hoped would lead them to the past. To Chris. To her mother, as well.
She's not your mother yet, PJ reminded herself. But it was hard to remember seeing as the bond she had always shared with her mother, as one empath to another, as mother and daughter, was back. PJ had felt it shattered with her mother's death. She had felt it as it withered after her dad was murdered. But that hadn't hurt as keenly as it did now. Knowing that her mother was so close, and she couldn't reach out to her and tell her how much so loved her, how much she missed her. She wasn't even in the past yet. How did Chris do it, she wondered. Especially considering that he had held Piper in his arms when she died.
"Matt, Henry, go!" Mel ordered.
Matt didn't need to be told twice. With Henry's arms over his shoulder, he dragged him through the portal. Matt didn't hesitate to go through, despite the ice-cold fear that PJ could sense.
The boys had barely cleared the portal when the attic door splintered.
"Go! I'll hold them off!" Cole shouted.
PJ unwrapped Mel's arm from around her own and shoved the other girl forward. Mel stumbled through, gracelessly with a glance over her shoulder at Cole. Kat moved forward with minimal prodding from PJ. She sensed that the younger girl was desperate to see that her brother was okay.
Now it was only PJ, Cole and the horde of demons swarming the attic.
"PJ!" Cole hissed, spotting her still standing beside the portal.
PJ ignored him. She pulled out her bow and knocked an arrow. She had to make sure that no demons got through the portal until it closed. She would leave Cole if she had to. Or so she told herself.
"Prudence Johana! Get through that portal!" Cole shouted when an arrow whizzed past his ear into the throat of a purple haired demon that had moved to hit him in the back. It was Jarik, the leader of the Archer demons, Cole noticed. At least they had accomplished that much.
"I'm not letting you kill yourself here, Cole!" PJ shouted back. "If you want to die, at least let yourself see Mom first!" She fired another arrow into the eye socket of a demon that had gotten too close to the portal.
Cole let out an enraged shout. "Fine!" He spat. "But get in there first!"
"Deal!" PJ laughed. She still couldn't resist the urge to fire one more arrow into a purple, horned demon. With a quick glance to ensure that Cole was now moving towards the portal, PJ jumped through into the swirling vortex of magic.
The dizzying twists and turns seemed to last an eternity, and yet, it was all too soon before she was tumbling back out into the attic, into the pile of her awaiting cousins and under the scrutiny of her long-dead aunt.
Yay! Back to the past! Now everyone gets to meet each other, but of course it's not going to fun for everyone. I hope you enjoyed this chapter because fighting scenes are not my strong point, and there are going to be a few more of them in later chapters. I know this chapter is a bit short, but that's because the next one is mostly talking. This seemed like the right place to break it up. See you at the next chapter!
