"Chris! It worked! I did it! I found my father!" said Parker in breathless disbelief, running to Coop's side as happy tears fell down her face.

Chris was finding it harder to get into the moment. Parker had used maps Bianca had drawn by hand of the underworld when she had been searching for her family and a scrying crystal Chris had enchanted and had tracked down her father after hours of reciting additional spells. Chris had wanted to wait, to stock up on supplies, get rested and maybe even enlist more magical support but Parker had refused. The safe house had been enchanted to make sure people couldn't leave without Chris' permission, but she had found the spell in one of Chris' note pads and had undone most of the protections on the safe house just to make it possible to beam herself, Chris and a duffle bag full of Chris' potion reserves down to the right part of the underworld leaving Sally behind to move the boys to a new safe house.

Once in the Underworld, they had quickly been set upon by demons. Most upper level demons were either above ground, acting as generals in Wyatt's armies or had been vanquished for refusing to join so no demon individually was a threat, but in each chamber where they searched for Coop, more and more demons sensed their presence and for every one they vanquished, two more seemed to arrive. It was only through sheer luck they found the small chamber where Coop was lying unconscious on the floor before they ran out of vanquishing potions but the demons were still coming and there was no door to the chamber to keep them out.

"We need to leave. Now!" said Chris, skidding to the floor next to Parker and Coop. Parker was busy doing a first aid exam- checking pupils, breathing and for any sign of injury. He was clearly alive, his chest was moving up and down but she couldn't get him to wake up. "Parker." insisted Chris, shaking her gently by the shoulder to get her to listen. "We really need to leave!"

The sound of stampeding feet were growing close. The whole network of caves were like a maze and they had taken enough turns to loose their demonic tails momentarily but judging from the noise they had a minute at most.

Finally satisfied that her father was alive and not too terribly injured: Parker nodded and took both Coop and Chris' hand and then- nothing happened. She frowned and closed her eyes, trying to force herself to beam but nothing worked. Her eyes snapped open, meeting Chris', utterly panicked, and then looked down at her father.

"It… it isn't working." she said, shaking. "I can't… I can't… mmy mmagic. It's it's… I can't." she trembled. The demons were almost on them now and they were trapped.

"What do you mean it isn't working?" demanded Chris. "Try again, focus!"

"I AM FOCUSING!" yelled Parker, dropping both the hands she was holding and shooting to her feet, backing as far away from the entrance to the chamber as possible. "My powers are gone Chris, something is blocking them."

"Damn it!" yelled Chris, hitting the stone floor hard with his fist. "Damn it! I told you this was a bad idea. We needed a plan!"

"Well great!" exclaimed Parker, her voice high and hysterical. "Good for you Chris! I am sooo happy you were right. Now do you maybe want to DO SOMETHING?!"

"Ok ok ok!" said Chris, trying to stay calm. He knew there was only one possible option.
"Powers of the witches rise,

course unseen across the skies. Come to us who call you near, come to us and settle here." he recited, remembering word perfect the spell the sisters had given him back on Valhalla. He waited for the sudden rush of power but nothing happened. He tried the spell again, and then again, this time changing a few of the words but nothing. "Shit-" he breathed under his breath. "This was a trap, wasn't it." said Parker, looking around the room desperately for some way out. "It's this place. It's blocking all magic maybe if we..." but before she could finish, an energy ball came flying through the entrance way and exploded on the wall behind her. She screamed and dived for the only cover in the room, a large boulder slightly separated from the wall.

Chris looked over and saw a huge demon step over the threshold, leering menacingly as it looked at its cornered pray. For a moment Chris felt hope that surely the cave would block the demon's power just as well as it had blocked his and Parker's but that hope was quickly quashed as a second energy ball flew over his shoulder, grazing his ear and singing his hair.

"Not all magic then." he called to Parker, as he threw one of the last few vanquishing potions at the demon so it exploded at his feet. Luckily it worked, giving them a second's reprieve but that was barely long enough to get himself and Coop to shelter behind the boulder before three more demons stalked into the cave.

"Chris I'm scared." confessed Parker, her eyes wide, as she gripped her father close to her. Suddenly her young age was all over her face. She was no longer a brave and powerful witch, but just another thirteen year old girl in a situation she should never have to face. "I'm sorry… I'm so so so sorry!" she was whimpering now and Chris was certain he had seen every type of crying possible from his cousin over the last few minutes but there was no time to dwell. Parker had broken down and was not going to get them out of this so it was up to him.

"Parker-" he said gently. "-we have to get out of here, OK? We can use the vanquishing potions to clear a path but then we have to run. We need to carry your dad between us, ok and you need to keep trying to beam. The second we are clear of this spell we will be safe, ok? All we need to do is run!"

"But… but the demons!" stuttered Parker. Chris patted the bag with the three remaining vanquishing potions and also pulled out an athame.

"I will deal with the demons. You just focus on your magic." Parker nodded her head several times and then screamed. One of the three demons had just appeared round the side of the rock.

"MOVE, NOW!" yelled Chris. He threw a vanquishing potion at the demon, clearing the path and hoisted Coop's arm round his shoulder. Parker froze for just a second but then leapt into action, throwing her father's other arm over her shoulder and keeping pace with Chris.

The second demon ran at Chris but he ducked under it's claw and stabbed it's heart with the athame, not stopping for a second. He dispatched the third with another effortless move and kept moving to the entrance. Immediately on their left stood two more demons prepared for an ambush. Chris dropped the penultimate potion between the pair and they were vanquished together. More demons had just rounded the corner to their right, but now the left was clear and Chris half sprinted down the long, damp tunnel, scarcely feeling Coops weight thanks to the adrenalin pumping though his system.

Two more demons arrived but Chris had no trouble seeing them away with the knife. And then three more arrived. Without thinking, he threw his final vanquishing potion. He had hoped that it would kill at least two of their attackers, but it only hit the largest. The second he again stabbed with the athame, but the third knocked it out of his hand.

Chris stumbled backwards, pulling Coop and Parker with him. They changed direction and tried to go down a different tunnel but there again were demons. Their hunters weren't even running any more, they knew they had them.

"Can you beam yet?" asked Chris hopefully, though he didn't need Parker's sad shake of the head to know the answer. They retreated back to the original chamber but they knew it was no use.

Even before they could reach the only shelter in the room, the demons had filled the entrance way and the corridor outside with greater numbers than Chris could hope to fight even if he had all of his active powers. Whomever had laid this trap had laid it very well and Chris began to wonder whether the demons had really been after them when they had first arrived, or whether they had been herding them towards this very moment- analysing their defences and entirely disarming them.

The demons were moving into the room quickly, circling them and cutting off any hopes of cover. Chris half expected Parker to start crying again, but to her credit she didn't. She stood stoically, staring down any demon that crossed her eyeline. Chris' mind was racing for any plan to save them and as it turned out his last resort also crossed Parker's mind.

"MELINDA!" screamed Parker, hoping the powerful white-lighter would hear her and come rescue them. Melinda was the daughter of an Elder and as such her powers were more heightened than the average white-lighter and she had often been able to sense when he or Wyatt had been in the Underworld when they were growing up.

"Chris? Oh my God!" exclaimed a familiar woman's voice and for a second Chris thought it had worked and that Melinda had come to rescue them. Certainly the demons were surprised by the new arrival and whereas they had been just blocking Chris and Parker in before, they all now moved to offensive positions. It was only when a volley of energy balls obliterated the demons closest to Chris that he realised who the voice belonged to and spun around in disbelieving excitement and relief.

"Bianca!" he said, a wide smile spreading across his face. "What are you doing here? How did you know?"

Bianca didn't take the time to explain. The rest of the demons had begun to fire warning shots nearer and nearer to Bianca and even she couldn't hope to fight every one of the demons off so instead she grabbed the three defenceless beings before her and shimmered them all to safety.

"Are you ok?" she demanded, the second they were in a new safe house. She began examining Chris for injuries or signs of concussion and for once Chris didn't fight it. He was just so relieved to see his fiance that he couldn't stop staring and grinning his stupid grin until she slapped him in the face to get him to snap out of it. "Chris focus!" she insisted, still looking worried. "Tell me where it hurts."

"No where! I am fine. Where is Coop?" he said, suddenly remembering why they had been down there.

"Sofa." said Bianca.

Chris hurried over to where Coop lay flat on the sofa, still unconscious and unresponsive. Parker wouldn't take her eyes off him even for a second, as though she were afraid that he might disappear if she so much as blinked but when she felt Chris' hand on her shoulder she spoke in a small voice.

"We need to get him to your sister." she said. "She can heel him."

"I know. I have some power amplifying crystals upstairs. I thought you might be able to astral project straight to Valhalla and tell everyone the good news yourself. Give them this address and I am sure they will be here in minutes."

Parker nodded gratefully and Chris left to get the crystal and to tell Sally, Richard, Tim and the boy that they would be able to leave for the Resistance sooner than they had expected. (It had been agreed in private the previous night that Richard and Tim would go to Valhalla with one of a set of two way notepads so they might spy on the Resistance and report back to Chris). After that, he went looking for Bianca and found her sat on the front porch outside, staring out at the suburban street as the sun set.

"Hey." said Chris, sitting next to her. Bianca didn't speak. "You really saved our asses there. Thank God for your phoenix powers because our magic was utterly suppressed." Bianca nodded curtly, displaying none of the warmth she had shown when she had been examining him for injuries. "How did you find us any way?"

"I put a tracking charm on you." she said. Chris laughed, believing it to be a joke, but when she didn't smile he froze.

"Wait. You're serious?" he clarified, feeling violated by such a move. "But I can always tell when there is a tracking spell on me! I detected Wyatt's one in seconds!"

"Yes, but then you needed my power to manipulate it and that is when I added one of my own."

"Oh-" said Chris. He wanted to be angry about this. To complain of invasion of privacy and of a lack of trust but he suspected he wouldn't win that argument considering his own indiscretions so instead tried to focus on the positives. "So does that mean you were looking for me?" he asked.

"Obviously." Chris waited for further explanation but when one did not immediately come, he assumed it was because she wanted him to speak.

"Did you want to talk about-"

"When are you going to bring your brother, sister and mother together?" she cut in, flicking her head to look into his eyes, transfixing them with her icy stare.

"I- err- a few days, a week maybe." said Chris, caught off guard by the question. "I still don't have all the supplies I need and then there is the question of power and how-" but before he could finish Bianca shook her head and interrupted him once more.

"That won't work. It needs to be soon. Twenty four hours at most." Chris was surprised. He didn't think Bianca had thought much of his mother's desire to see all of her children beyond her hope that it would bring Chris back into the fight but now one would think it was all she cared about. Chris opened his mouth to ask why but Bianca didn't give him the chance. "Come with me." she ordered, holding out a hand which Chris took. "There is something you need to see."

Bianca shimmered the pair of them to a hilltop looking out what Chris imagined was once a quiet, respectable small town except now the air was filled with screaming and the acrid smell of smoke. Houses were burning and the roads were backed up with cars as people tried to escape the demons that were hunting them down for sport. It felt like they had travelled back in time to when Wyatt had first taken over, back when he had let his demons run wild to prove his power and dominance when he restored order.

"We have to help those people!" Chris declared, beginning to run down the hill, but Bianca held him back. "There isn't time! We have to go!" he objected but Bianca didn't loosen her grip and Chris sighed in defeat, turning his mind to why Bianca would bring him here if not to help. "This is Wyatt's anger, isn't it? For Mum siding with the resistance, for me leaving?"

"Look closer." ordered Bianca. Chris frowned and looked once more at the town, trying to take it all in but all he could see were the hundreds of innocents running for their lives and the dozens of demons chasing them, setting alight to their lives and also- Chris blinked and looked again.

"The demons- they are fighting each other!" he said, pointing to the city square where indeed a battle was raging between two groups of lower level demons. "What's going on?"

"It is happening all over the world. Some demons are breaking away from Wyatt's command and are doing what they want. Not in the major cities yet, just small towns like this one where Wyatt's presence isn't so strong. Wyatt's sending his demons to put the revolutions down but the only time they truly stop is when he turns up himself."

"But how is this happening? He is the source. He has brought the most prosperity to demons ever! Why would they turn on him now?"

"Because he's not the source." said Bianca.

"Yes he-"

"No, he has the Source's power but despite what you want to think he never truly became the Source. He was able to resist the powers from taking control of him while he used the power to control the demons. Now though, I don't know… it is like he is loosing focus. The Source is able to exert some of its will as well and this is what it looks like. Both groups of demons seem to be trying to fulfil the wishes of the Source."

"This is very bad." observed Chris. "It's the Charmed Ones isn't it? They are dristracting him? Making him rethink holding the Source's power altogether? B, if he to rejects the Source's power it will kill him and the Source will find a weaker body and take full control!"

"Maybe." said Bianca. "But it could just as easily be that they are angering him and pushing him more towards giving into the Source's will."

"Which would give the Source all of his powers as well! This is very bad." he repeated, racking his brains for a fast fix "Wait, you said the reunion needs to be sooner rather than later? Why? Surely it would be better if we sent away the sisters- they're source of the conflict. I have Leo, we could-"

"No!" interrupted Bianca once more, growing tired of Chris' short sightedness. "Don't you see: he is already conflicted! The change is already happening! Sending them away won't help him, it will just leave him with more questions. We need to push them together. Force a result, one way or the other and then have the Charmed Ones there to help us deal with it."

"So you want to gather my entire family to watch my brother either die or be consumed entirely by evil?"

"I thought you wanted to quit being a Halliwell? Now we have a real chance to do something suddenly you are all mushy about them?"

"I do want to quit being a Halliwell and these ridiculous situations are why!" said Chris running his hand through his hair. He then sighed and nodded. "I know you're right, though." he conceded, "This is the best chance we have." he bit his lip, looking back down and the burning town. "I just wish I knew how to do it."

"You said you already have the safe house! We got the ingredients you needed, what else could you possibly need?"

"Power."

"So then get your damn powers back Chris!"

"No… they aren't enough with this little time. I needed clever spells and stuff to keep both siblings in the room and pacified with just my powers. We need to find more… something stronger than both of them-" he broke off and looked up at Bianca with a grin. "And I know just where to find her."