Chapter Ten

Reluctantly, the young blonde man descended the steps towards the living room, from which his mother's voice could still be heard along with his cousin's more reassuring tones. It came as no surprise to Wyatt that his mother was making such a big deal out of this, as she seemed to be expressing what he himself was feeling, but just couldn't put into words. He just couldn't believe that once more, he'd managed to put his younger brother in danger. As the oldest, he was supposed to protect Chris, and not send him after demons who were apparently too powerful for him. It was Wyatt's duty to keep such tasks for himself, and keep his siblings safe.

Sighing, Wyatt passed his hand over his face, as his feet finally left the stairs to arrive on the ground floor of the manor. He still didn't want to face his mother's anger, which was the reason why he'd walked downstairs instead of orbed. He knew who she would be taking her worry out on, and he wasn't willing to stand it.

Sure enough, as soon as he stepped into the room, Piper turned around, her hair escaping from the ponytail she'd pulled it in. The black strands framed the worried face as she looked at her older son. Her mouth opened to begin speaking, when Wyatt interrupted, knowing that if she got started, she would not be able to stop. "Don't worry, Mom, I'm handling it."

As soon as the words left Wyatt's mouth, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. His mother's face colored, and he saw her take a deep breath to begin her lecturing.

"Handling it? Is that why your brother is lying upstairs without any memories?" she exclaimed, unable to stop herself. Piper had only wanted one thing ever since she'd become a witch: to lead a normal life. Now, that she had to pass on the dangers of her magic onto her children, she couldn't help but resent herself, and sometimes take that frustration out on those who were closest to her, especially her older son, who already held too much responsibility.

Realizing this, she stopped herself, and took another deep breath. She noticed Wyatt cringe slightly as he prepared for more yelling, but she surprised him as she said to him. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I'm just really worried. Does he really remember nothing at all?" She turned her dark eyes onto her son, and then glanced to her niece, needing confirmation. PJ nodded, and Piper fell into one of the couches. "My poor peanut," she said sadly, hating how her son was suffering. Every time her children suffered because of her magical life, she hurt so much, burdened with the guilt of handing this responsibility over to them, and with the need to keep them from harm.

There was a slight pause, and PJ went to sit next to her aunt. She patted the woman's hand reassuringly. "Don't worry, Aunt Piper," she murmured, "Wyatt will figure out how to fix it." PJ looked at her cousin, narrowing her eyes slightly, communicating to him without words.

Seeing PJ's expression, Wyatt nodded. "Yeah, definitely. I was actually just going to look into the Book. Hopefully there will be something in there about the demons that sucked out Chris's memories."

As soon as Wyatt said this, Piper's head, which had been previously hanging down staring at the hands clasped in her lap, jerked up. Those words had brought up a memory inside her… something that had happened more than twenty years ago, when she and her sisters had just received their powers. Phoebe had stumbled across a particular kind of demon that had the power to take people's memories, and it was through this process that three weeks of her sister's life had been completely erased.

"What? What is it?" PJ said, recognizing her aunt's expression. She'd learned to pick up on these signs that demonstrated Piper's mood, especially as they could serve as a warning to pranksters that they were in for a rough time.

Piper stood up, and began walking towards the stairs. Her son and niece hurried to keep up with her. "There was a demon who sucked out memories in the Book. Prue, Phoebe and I had to face them once, and they had these really sharp needle-type fingers." Pausing mid-step, as a thought occurred to her, she said, "PJ, go and wake Chris up. Ask him if he remembers anything about the demons that attacked him. If I'm right, and it was these demons, there should be a potion to bring his memories back."

PJ hesitated, and then asked, "But what if Chris tries to escape again?" She had seen the anxiety in her other cousin's eyes, and the fear he had felt as he'd noticed her approach. If she woke him up now, she was certain that he would once again try to run, and this time, he might access his telekinesis again and really injure her.

Piper faltered as she heard about her son's attempt to escape. Was this true? Was Chris really lost enough that he had tried to run away from his own family? Ignoring the blame shouted in her ears, she replied brusquely, "Wyatt, you go to the attic and start looking these demons up. PJ and I will go to talk to Chris."

Wyatt nodded before continuing his ascent. He waited until he was outside of his mother's sight before orbing. There was no reason to postpone seeing the Book, so it made sense to use his powers to get there.

Piper's fantastic hearing caught the faint jingling of the orbs, and a slight smile brought up the corners of her mouth as she began to follow PJ over to Chris's room. She was eager to see her son, and felt her motherly instinct rear up and prepare to comfort him, and convince him that he was safe. Soon enough, he would realize that he was with his family, and that there was no reason to escape. Hopefully that would keep him calm and safe enough until the potion was made. Then, he would drink it, and become her son once more. But, until then, she would have to tread carefully.

PJ arrived at Chris's closed bedroom door. She raised her hand as if to knock, but then remembered that her spell had put her cousin to sleep. There was no way he would be able to tell them to come in. Feeling slightly guilty, she pushed the door open, and then stopped.

Two demons were surrounding Chris's bed, and their hands were raised with energy balls inside them. They were poised to destroy the younger Charmed son. Yelling, PJ launched herself forward into an attack taught to her by her mother. With a vicious kick, she managed to knock one of the demons out of the way, making the power it had been holding fall to the ground and only destroy the edge of the carpet, instead of the oblivious man on the bed.

Piper raised her hands, and quickly blew the second demon up. It vanished with a yell that echoed around the room for a few seconds, the fire further smudging the practically brand-new carpet. Pushing her need to mourn for the carpet aside, Piper quickly blew up the second demon, before helping PJ up from the ground. "Are you ok?" she asked, having seen how her niece had fallen after delivering the kick.

"Yeah," PJ answered, rubbing her arm. "I just didn't expect the demon to be that strong." She'd managed to surprise it and knock it out of the way, yet, her kick had somehow managed to knock her to the ground once it landed against the demon's hulking mass. It was only thanks to Piper that she was ok now.

Piper, reassured that her niece was ok, turned to look at her son, who was still sleeping on the bed. With a motherly gesture, she pushed the hair away from his forehead, combing it back in a way she knew he hated, and yet she always protested that it let her see his big green eyes. "He's not safe here," she said quietly, devastated to realize that her son could not be protected in his own home.

"What do we do now?" PJ murmured, noticing the strange look in her aunt's eyes.

"We take drastic measures."

(A/N) What measures could Piper possibly mean? Why are the demons after Chris (well, you should know this by now)? How will he get his memories back? What does the Seer actually want? All these questions and more shall be answered very very soon!

Now onto the wonderful people who added this to their Alerts, to their Faves, and most of all, to my gorgeously fantastic reviewers: Crystalzap, Patry (what do you think of Piper's reaction?), vampfreakwithMPD, and my new reviewer, charmedtomeetyou (charmed to meet you too!).

And, that's it for this week! I will see you all next Friday, with a brand new chapter! Yaay! Bye!