Chapter Ten: Back to Work
A couple hours later, everyone, except for Henry and Coop who were still at work, were back at the manor. Piper tapped nervously on the table top.
"No, I refuse to let you guys go after her yourself. At least not without proper preparation." Piper said, firmly.
"If we spend the time to prepare, he will know what will be coming." Wyatt told his mother.
"No, how would he know? I'm not saying to have to have a full plan with potions and spells, but something would be perfect. Come on. Being prepared never hurt anyone." Phoebe pointed out.
"No, I think he already knows about us and our plan. We have to go. Attack or he might come after us all next. I promise we will be careful. We just have to go." Patience told her aunt and mother.
Prue orbed in. "I have really bad news." She blurted out, immediately. "Jeremy is coming. He knows everything that you are doing and what you will do. He has a new gift. One where he can attach a leach to your brain and steal information from your brain. It's actually pretty easy for him to do. He can do it from no matter how far away you are."
"There is no way that is possible. He isn't that powerful. I know he isn't!" Piper insisted, in denial.
"Piper, maybe he is. He was vanquished for over twenty-five years. He probably found a way out with the powers he had collected from the Wasteland. Remember what had happened to Cole." Phoebe asked.
"She's right. It isn't that impossible. He probably met Cole and they shared tips. Cole needed Phoebe's help, but maybe Jeremy didn't. Maybe he found his own way out." Paige said.
"You mean to tell me that Jeremy escaped the Wasteland without our help." Piper asked, clearly skeptical.
"Well, I don't see why not. He probably picked up a ton of powers there. It made him really strong. Plus, we know demons would be coming back so maybe he didn't escape. Maybe he just waited for this day when he was freed. Who knows? Anyway, it doesn't matter how he escaped or got his powers. All I care is that he does and we need to stop him before he hurts anyone else." Phoebe explained to her family.
"Well, how do we do this without a plan? He will kill us all if we just go straight on." Patty asked, biting her lip in thought.
"We could block that power from him. Like our parents blocked Phoebe's empath power when she first got it." Patience proposed the idea.
"I don't know. We would have to get close enough to get him to drink it and even then he would already know our next move." HJ pointed out.
"Well we could hide it in something." Peyton said.
"We could, but doesn't that leave us in the same problem because he would know what it is?" Patty asked her younger cousin.
"Wait. I have an idea." Penelope said. Everyone turned to look at the youngest cousin, desperate for a plan, or lack thereof.
"Shoot." Chris said, hoping for a good idea.
"Okay," Penelope started. "What if we used the potion and created a spell so all of us will drink it instead of him?"
Chris was shocked. It was an amazing idea and she was wondering how his youngest cousin had come up with the idea, but not him. He was supposed to be the brains of the operation and was getting jealous. He was supposed to be the one to save his family. He had done it once. Well, not really him. An alternate version of him. One that had died, trying to save his family. But still, the version was still very much a part of him. It always would be.
Chris excused himself for a minute to walk over to his fiancé who had come in. He was exhausted from lack of sleep and trying to find his younger sister. The one he shouldn't have lost in the first place. Nikki noticed this immediately and instructed Chris to sit down. Chris did, not having the energy to fight with her. Nikki sat down on the couch right next to him. He rested his head on her shoulder. Nikki nodded and pulled him close. She understood what he was going through. She patted his back, calmly trying to let his tense body to relax a bit.
His family continued to build off the idea as Chris's eyes got heavy. He leaned more against her as he slipped into a sleep, something that hadn't happened for a couple days. The young man rested as Nikki moved him so he laid on the couch. She went to stand over by her in-laws to take Chris's place for a while. They kept talking, not even noticing her.
"Okay, that makes sense. Let's get started. I want Mel back." Patience said, clapping her hands together. Everyone beamed or orbed away to help with the new plan. This left the parents, Nikki and a sleeping Chris. Even Kate had orbed out to help.
The young woman looked towards Chris and smiled. Piper nodded. "He definitely needed the sleep whether he showed it or not." Piper told her to be daughter in-law. "I would have never known behind the permanent mask he has on. He has so much pain, ever since he found out about the other Chris and his adventure. It really isn't his fault, but you do a great job with him. I don't know how he would have made it without you."
Nikki blushed a little, flattered. "Thank you, but he has you too. I'm not the only one taking care of him."
Piper shook her head. "Not like this. He doesn't know how lucky he is to have you. I could never have done this. You have a real gift for knowing him. One that no one else possesses. Keep up the wonderful work you have done. I'm delighted to have you as a daughter in law."
Nikki smiled, looking towards the love of her life sleeping on the couch. "Thank you, Piper. Now, I'm going to go kick some ass so he can stay this way." Piper and her sisters smiled at Nikki's enthusiasm. It reminded them of themselves when they were her age. Nikki smirked, trying t figure out where everyone went. Some were in the kitchen and some upstairs. She chose to go upstairs as Chris would have.
When Nikki got upstairs, Wyatt, Kate, Henry Jr and Penelope were crowded around the book. This meant everyone else was in the kitchen. Nikki went over and looked at the page. It was the empathy blocking potion with all the failed spells they had tried. She grabbed a pen and paper to copy down the potion.
"Let's see. I'm sure we are going to need a spell with this." Henry Jr pointed out. Just then, he got a call from a charge. "I got to go. Can you take care of it?"
"Sure. Go ahead, I'll get started on the spell." Wyatt said. "Kate, want to help me?" Henry Jr nodded and orbed out.
"How? I'm not a witch." Kate asked, walking over to her husband as he plopped himself down on an old couch that had been up in the attic for as long as anyone could remember.
"Just because you can't say the spell and get it to work, doesn't mean you can't help me with the wording." Wyatt pointed out as they both looked at the piece of paper and worked on the spell.
They began to talk through it for a while, before Nikki handed the potion recipe over to Penelope, who beamed downstairs with the recipe, figuring the spell might take a while. She handed the instructions over to Patty as Rose, Peyton and Patience crowded around her to look at the recipe.
"This looks decent." Patty said, handing it to Piper who was here to help since they all were terrible at making potions. Piper glanced at the recipe, figuring out how the new recipe would work. She bit her lip, figuring it out.
Piper took over and began the potion. "I am going to give you all a potion making class someday because none of you are very good at this." Piper said as she requested a couple ingredients.
"You say that every time, Aunt Piper." Patience stated. "And besides we aren't all terrible. Mel is excellent at this and Chris isn't half bad."
Piper smirked. "So. We should have more than 3 people in this house, including me, who know how to make potions." Piper stated, mixing the potion at high heat.
"We all know how, we just aren't any good at it." Patty replied.
"You sound like your mother. Anyways, that's my point, I want to make it so all or almost all of you are really good at making potions, because I can't help you guys forever." Piper told everyone as she stepped back to let the potion bubble. They all watched as the potion bubbled. No one had ever made this particular potion before and they were curious what it would do.
Patty picked up the potion ingredients list. "Now it says all we need is this egg thing." Patty showed the list to the rest of the room.
Piper studied the list and sighed. "We should really have Chris working on this. He was the one who had requested this be made in the first place, the first time it was made."
Peyton looked at her aunt. "Chris? But I thought you guys made this potion before he was even born?" Peyton asked, racking her brain to see if she had gotten something wrong.
"You are correct. He wasn't born yet. He came back from the future. At the same age he is now. He changed the future for the better and saved Wyatt and myself and all of us. An alternate Chris grew up in a time where Wyatt was the source of all evil and most of us were dead. He had a fiancé, Bianca who died trying to send him back to us to change the future. He did." Piper's voice cracked as tears rolled down her cheeks. She fought to get one more sentence out there. "On the day that the Chris you all know was born, the other Chris died, fighting to save Wyatt." Piper cried and Patty hugged her to help her. Everyone else began to tear up.
Peyton turned a pale white. "Does he know? Does Chris know?" She asked. "And does Wyatt know?"
Piper nodded, crying. "T-they both-th know." She took a deep breath. "Chris since his birthday and Wyatt for a month already. They both know." Piper broke into tears again.
Patty helped her to a chair. Piper sat down and cried her eyes out. Leo must have heard because he orbed in and hugged his beautiful wife. "What happened?" Leo questioned everyone, letting her cry on his shoulder.
Piper took a deep breath and her crying ceased. "Nothing. Nothing. They know about Chris. The other Chris."
Leo held his wife tighter as tears welled up in his eyes for the first time in a while. "They know everything?" He asked, hinting at the part about his death.
Piper nodded, tears reforming in her eyes. Leo nodded and pushed away the tears that burned at his eyes. He let go of his wife and let her sit down. Piper took a couple deep breaths to calm down.
"Well, now that you guys know the truth, we have to get this potion finished." Piper stated, a bit robotic, holding back the tears once again. "For Mel. I will not lose another child."
"You won't. We will find and save Mel. I promise." Leo told his wife.
"For Mel!" Patty exclaimed. Everyone chimed in. "For Mel!" They went back to work as Piper went to wake up her son.
"Chris? Chris, honey wake up. Come on Chris." Piper told her son, gently shaking him awake. He was really tired and it was going to take a lot more to wake him up. "Chris! Wake up! We need your help. It's for Mel. Come on. Wake up, hun."
Chris turned over, opening his eyes. "Hi, mom. What happened?" He asked, yawning.
"Nothing. You just fell asleep. We need your help to save Mel." Piper stated.
"My help. Why my help?" Chris asked, siting up. He yawned once more. "Why couldn't anyone else help?"
"Because you were there last time we made the potion and we need to know how to find the egg." Piper stated, a bit nervous as to what Chris would say to this.
"What do you mean? I wasn't even born yet." Chris pointed out, looking at his mother like she had just lost her mind.
"No. You are right. You weren't, but the other Chris was. He was the one who went to the potion maker person to get the potion. The other Chris was your age at the time. Since you have access to the memories, we figured you could help." Piper said, looking her son in the eye.
"How? I have no real access to those memories. They are just flashes of craziness. I don't even know what most of it means yet. Besides, I can't always control it." Chris replied, discouraged.
"You have to. It's the only way to help your sister. Come on. We can't do this without you. You just have to learn how, just like your aunt Phoebe had to learn how to control her premonitions." Piper replied.
"Is there even enough time? I mean, he could attack and kill us all any minute." Chris questioned his powers at the moment. After all, he was the one who had gotten his sister in the situation in the first place.
"What do we have to lose? If we don't try, he's just going to kill her and come after us all next. Chris, you are Mel's only option. We will all die otherwise. You have to try." Piper insisted.
Chris nodded. "The pressure's on me." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. Chris took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He focused on the other Chris. His other life and personality. He tried to block out himself and only focus on the Chris who had saved his family. The one who had died for all of them. He could do this. His body relaxed and he went into almost a trance-like state.
A picture popped into his mind. He was in a dark cave. It was vaguely familiar. Just then he realized that this wasn't him. It was the other Chris and he was back 20+ years ago. Chris couldn't move. He wasn't in control. It was as if he was only here just to watch. His other self walked up to an old man and asked for the potion. The man told him it will take six weeks or even more. He became impatient and demanded the potion. The old man gave him a little speech. Chris told him off and demanded the potion again. The man told him of a place and the name of the egg.
Chris is yanked from the memory. "Okay, that was really weird."
"What happened?" Piper asked, looking over at her son.
Chris thought for a moment on how to describe it. "Well, it was like I was in the other Chris's body, but I had no control. I was only there to watch."
"Did you find anything out?" Piper asked, hopeful.
"Yes. The egg is called a Kotochul egg and they can be found at Swamp Land." Chris replied, smirking.
"Swamp Land?" Piper asked, cracking up. "Is that even a real place?"
"I know. I thought the same thing, but apparently there is. I'm sure I can find it." Chris said, determined. Piper nodded.
"Be careful, oh and by the sounds of it, it's a muddy place, so wear old clothes." Piper told her son. Chris smiled, nodded, orbing home to change and then to Swamp Land.
Patty had turned the heat off on the stove and came into the living room with the others. Kate, Nikki and Wyatt had come downstairs.
"Where is Henry?" Paige asked.
"He was called away by a charge. Don't worry. It's probably nothing." Wyatt explained. Paige nodded, unconvinced.
"Where did Chris go?" Nikki asked, noticing he wasn't on the couch.
"He went to go get the last ingredient for the potion." Piper stated.
"Wait, how did he know where to find it?" Patience asked.
"He had a little memory flashback. From the other Chris." Piper explained. Wyatt looked concerned.
"H-he can con-ntrol them now?" Wyatt asked weakly, not wanting to know any more about the evil Wyatt. Kate wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close to comfort them. He looked down at her and smiled faintly.
"Yes. Not for very long, but he can." Piper told her eldest son. Nikki smiled. "Wyatt, he didn't see anything bad. Just about him and this old man that was supposed to make a potion for him. Everything is okay." Wyatt was instantly relieved.
"Well, how long do you think it will take?" Rose asked.
"I don't know. Chris said the man had told him it was rare, but if we know Chris, he will find one." Piper replied, thinking back to the day when the other Chris had requested the potion. He had broken into her date with a guy and his shirt was covered in mud. Chris was so protective, but manipulative. Things with Leo were not so great at the time.
"Piper? Piper!" Phoebe shouted. Piper snapped out of her thoughts. "Piper, did you even hear me?" Piper shook her head.
"No, Sorry Pheebs. What did you say?" Piper asked. Phoebe sighed.
"I asked you if you knew where he went." Phoebe explained to her sister.
"Yeah. He went to Swamp Land." Piper said, giving a small chuckle.
Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious? That's a real place?"
Piper nodded. "Yes it is. I asked the same question to Chris."
HJ orbed back in. "Hey, guys."
"Hi, Henry. What happened?" Paige asked her son.
"Nothing, she's just a typical witch who was lost and confused. She called to me help her understand some stuff better. No biggie." Henry Jr. told his mother. "So what's going on around here?"
"Nothing much. Chris had a vision of the other Chris and went to go get the last ingredient." Piper explained.
"Wait, the other Chris? Which other Chris?" Henry asked, confused. Piper sighed and gave a quick explanation of the other Chris. Henry nodded as she spoke. "Is he okay?"
"I don't know. We sent him out a bit ago, but the egg is rare." Piper stated, simply.
"Well, I'll go check on him, then." Wyatt volunteered.
"Just be careful and don't get too dirty." Piper told her son as Wyatt nodded and orbed out.
Fifteen minutes later, Wyatt and Chris orbed back, both covered completely in mud. They laughed as they appeared into the room.
Piper stopped them in their tracks. "Don't dare walk into this room until both of you change and take a shower." She told both of her sons.
Wyatt sighed. "Fine. We will be back soon. Here's the egg." He handed his mother a rather large egg as they both orbed out. Piper walked into the kitchen to clean off the egg. She handed it to Patty and a group of kids went to work on the rest of the potion. Piper grabbed a cleaning tool out of the closet and went to clean up the floor where her sons' muddy footprints were.
Phoebe supervised Patty, Patience, Peyton and Penelope in the kitchen. Rose had plopped herself on a couch and didn't intend on moving any time soon. She closed her eyes. Paige sighed at her rebellious daughter and went to help Piper with the mud. It was thick and goopy and was beginning to dry to the floor. It was some strange material that neither of them had come across before and they weren't sure how exactly to clean it up.
"What the heck is that?" Paige asked, grossed out.
"It feels like a wet clay dirt mix, but it looks like a gelatin goop type thing that dries really fast." Piper replied. "Now come on. It's drying."
"Yuck!" Paige exclaimed as she scraped it off and threw it away. This awoke Rose who simply smirked at her mother.
"Sis, you can handle demon guts, flesh and blood but you are grossed out by this?" Piper asked, teasing.
"Ew. Yuck!" Paige squealed as Piper picked up a chuck and dangled it in her face. She had to peel it off the floor. "Piper! Don't do that! Please!" she flailed her hands, resulting in one of them whacking the substance right out of Piper's hands. It landed with a plop on the floor. Piper rolled her eyes as she threw it away and rubbed at the floor to get the remaining chunk off the floor.
"Better?" Piper asked as she grabbed out the garbage bag and tied it up to go throw it away.
"Much." Paige answered her sister's question as Piper returned.
Peyton walked into the living room, holding something in her hand. She held out her hand, uncurling her fingers to reveal a red potion. "Finished! Let's go get Mel!" She said with a smiled, handing it to her aunt Piper.
Wyatt and Chris orbed back in, with damp hair and new clothes on. "Ready?" They asked. Wyatt pushed something deeper into his pocket.
Piper showed them the potion. "Yep." They walked into the kitchen. Rose got up and followed the rest of her family. Patty handed a potion to each person.
"Cheers?" Patience asked, uncorking her potion and holding it into the center. They others nodded, doing the same.
"Cheers!" They exclaimed, downing the potion in a solid gulp. Kate unrolled a piece of paper and handed it to her husband. Everyone set down the potion vial and locked hands, including Kate.
Wyatt cleared his throat before saying, loud and clear as he read off of the piece of paper. "I call upon the ancient power, to hide us from his secret power. The power to read minds. We wish to be set free to save our sister." Wyatt let go as with everyone else.
"Let's go save her." Chris said as they all orbed or beamed out. They reappeared in an old, dark cavern that looked abandoned.
"Did we orb to the wrong place?" Penelope asked, looking around at the dark and wet cave.
"No, I don't think we all could have orbed to the wrong spot. Where is he?" Peyton replied, turning towards her younger cousin.
A dark figure walked out of the shadows and pushed the hood down. It fell over his shoulders and revealed his face. It was Jeremy. Just the way he had looked oh so many years ago, but this time he looked more evil, sinister and dangerous. "Hello, children. I see you have brought your mothers as well. Oh, the Charmed Ones. I hear that elemental demon, what was his name? Oh yeah, Shax killed the eldest one, was it Prue? It doesn't matter. That was years ago and she always was the bitchy one. Anyways, you must be the half-sister. The lovely Paige. I'm delighted to finally meet you after all these years." He said stepping forward.
"Go to hell." Paige exclaimed, fiddling with the potion bottle in her hand.
Jeremy held a hand to his heart in mock hurt. "Aw, that really hurt. You may have vanquished me before, but you won't now. I know you still love me, Piper."
Piper raised an eyebrow at her ex. "Are you kidding me? I couldn't care less if you burn in hell for all of eternity! In fact, I would love to be the one to send you there!" She exclaimed.
Jeremy smirked as her anger grew. He was clearly testing her. "Anyways, I'm assuming you aren't here to exchange pleasantries, so what are you here for?"
"We are here to vanquish your sorry ass and to get back Mel." Piper said, taking an assertive stance.
"Oh, Piper, Piper, Piper." Jeremy said, shaking his head. "You really don't get the big picture do you? Take your stupid troubles somewhere else. Mel isn't here."
"What the hell do you mean by 'She isn't here'? She is to here! We saw you take her." Piper screamed at her ex.
"I mean she isn't here. Things move fast in the demonic world, if you couldn't tell, and she is somewhere else. I couldn't tell you where." Jeremy replied, bored.
"You will be telling us or... Else!" Phoebe exclaimed, tightening her grip on the potion bottle.
"Or else what?" He mocked. "Going to vanquish me? I don't think so." Piper was furious as she whipped up her hands to blow him to a billion bits and pieces. Jeremy wasn't even bothered by the power. "Wow. Seems like I'm the only one who got stronger here." He smirked.
"Don't talk to her like that!" Wyatt yelled, stepping up.
"Why? You think you little tiny weakling can destroy me?" Jeremy asked, with a chuckle, scanning his challenger.
"You think I'm weak. I'm the Twice-Blessed child. You are the one who doesn't stand a chance." Wyatt firmly pointed out. He sent a huge wave of energy mixed with his rage towards the powerful warlock. The Warlock tried to blink out, but before he could, Wyatt grabbed a potion out of his pocket and threw it at Jeremy. Jeremy was stuck as he was hit with the energy. It looked as though his body had just been rattled with bullets as he disintegrated before their very eyes. "That, was too easy." Wyatt had pointed out, turning to his mother.
Piper walked up to where his ashes were and stomped on them. She rubbed her shoe in them. "Think I love you now, Bastard?" She stomped one more time for emphasis, before turning away and briskly walking back to her family.
Wyatt looked around. "Do you really think he doesn't have her?"
"I don't know." Piper replied. "He has lied multiple times in the past, but I honestly don't know. Look around." She ordered and everyone fanned out. With everyone, it only took them a couple minutes to search the entire room, fully.
They all came back, nervous and sad with empty hands. "She isn't here. Jeremy was telling the truth. How do we find her?" Patience asked.
"We could scry and try a couple spells, but that's it." Patty told the group. Everyone sighed as they beamed and orbed home.
(This was a longer chapter… Anyways, keep reviewing! )