Disclaimer: I don't of Big Time Rush or Charmed.
Ch54: The Good, The Bad, The Cursed. Part 2.
Katie's POV:
There is awkward and then you have this. I mean this skipped past awkward and went straight to painful. We're still at the dinner and aunt Joanna is still ranting about angelic beings, aunt Sylvia and uncle Eric are quietly talking to each other like they're trying to ignore Joanna, mom's looking everywhere but at me, Camille or Jo, and aunt Brooke is still glaring at Joanna.
As for Jo and Camille... Camille's doing a great job at pretending she's not bothered at all by aunt Joanna though her jaw is shut a little too tight. Jo looks downright uncomfortable and pale.
"The thing is that they can orb into their charges' lives any time of the day or night." Aunt Joanna continues only pausing when the waitress came to refill her coffee. "Without us mortals even knowing about it. You can't trust the Whitelighters, girls." She says looking at Jo and Camille as if she just let them in on a big secret. "They're sneaky little bastards."
Wow, maybe she's finally done yapping.
Jo looks like she's perfectly okay to let this one slide, Camille... not so much, and neither am I.
"Really?" Camille asks crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. "Cause Logan says that they're really, really good guys. More of, like, guardian angels."
"Kendall said so too!" I quickly add.
Aunt Joanna clearly isn't impressed though. "That's the party line, Camille," the woman insists. "don't believe it. You can't trust 'em. They have this tendency to fall in love with their charges. Before you know it, you're in too deep!"
I have no idea what that's supposed to mean and by the looks of it neither do Jo and Camille but the other adults on the other hand...
"Mom what does she mean..." I trail of when I hear a jingle like sound coming from... the sky? It takes me a moment to realize what it must be. Kendall told me about the way the whitelighters get called to their charges or to the Elders. It's kind of like a pager.
Kendall was right it does sound like jingling bells.
Only magical folk can hear it though so mom and aunt Brooke have no idea. The others do and I bet they know what that sound meant to.
I've never seen aunt Joanna look so furious.
End Katie's POV.
Camille actually winced. "Uh-oh."
"Uh..." Jo bit her lip. "I have to go now."
Sylvia frowned. "Go?"
"Yeah," Jo nodded. "and I don't think you're gonna like the way I have to go, either." She said before orbing away leaving them all in silence.
A silence that continued for five full minutes.
"So..." Camille coughed awkwardly trying to ease the tension. "I suppose no one's up for ice cream?"
Big-Time-Charmed.
Upon orbing into the living room Jo noticed one thing first. "What the hell are you doing here?" The blond angel demanded looking at Muffy who appeared to be pacing.
"Forget about her, Jo." Those words came from Logan, of all people. "James has been shot."
That definitely pulled her thoughts away from the demon standing in their livingroom and away from her lunch from hell. "Shot? How did that happen?"
"No time to explain." Kendall replied from his place kneeling on the ground near the couch where James lay. "Can you heal him?"
Nodding Jo walked over and moved her hands to the bleeding hole penetrating the side of James' stomach her palms glowing a golden glow as she tried using her powers to heal her friend.
"Where are our parents?" Carlos asked.
"Seething probably." Jo answered her brown eyes not leaving the wound she was trying to heal, the wound that hadn't shown any sign of healing since she started, a fact that didn't go unnoticed.
"What's the matter, Jo?" Muffy asked, her tone challenging. She had stopped pacing and was now glaring at the angel. "Why isn't it working?"
Yeah, cause she knew everything right? "I don't know." Jo grunted letting her hands fall to her sides. She looked at he soon to be brother-in-law. "James, you gotta tell me exactly how this happened."
James blinked up at her, he had trouble focussing on her. "Um, I don't, I don't really know. I had ah-" Taking a sudden sharp breath James had to blink away the tears of pain. "a premonition and I felt Bo get shot and then I came out of it..." His glazed eyes gazed down at the bleeding wound on his side.
"So can you heal him?" Logan was the one to ask the dreaded question.
Jo solemnly shook her head. "No," she admitted. "because James wasn't the one that was shot. Bo was."
Definitely not the answer they had wanted to hear.
"What are you talking about?!" Kendall exploded on his feet in seconds. "He's bleeding." He cried gesturing to James.
"I know," Jo sighed, she knew Kendall wasn't really mad at her. He was mad at the situation, one of his younger brothers as seriously hurt and he couldn't do anything. He got like that when felt really helpless. "but it's more like a psychic echo. James is somehow linked to Bo. Whatever he feels, whatever happens to him happens to James aswell."
Muffy bit her lip as she figured it out. "Bo must be magical too." She like Jo, had to advantage of age making it easy for her to piece together what must be going on. The last time she dealt ith links had been well over 40 years ago though. "The only way they can be linked is through their magic."
There was no Bo in the Warren line as far as she knew. Muffy knew that because she had done her research before taking on the mission to assassinate the Charmed Ones. Jo knew because she had been informed on everything important about her charges.
The angel nodded agreeing with the demon. "You're right."
"So we have to find Bo. Heal him." Carlos concluded.
Logan's jaw was set, sure there was a solution "But he's cursed into a time loop along with the rest of the town. And we don't know how to get there, let alone where there is."
"Well, it's gotta be a parallel plane existing in the same physical space as the town." Muffy stated it as if it were obvious, which to her, it was.
"You know," Logan turned to her, eyes cold with anger. "I don't think that we need any demonic input right now."
Muffy just barely kept herself from actually growling. Out of all of them Logan hated her the most, he always had, even when he thought her to be a harmless D.A. "If I can help save James' life, you sure as hell do." She managed to get out through gritted teeth.
Logan opened his mouth to snap at the demon who had seduced his younger brother, but Kendall spoke up before Logan could get a word out.
"We're listening." Kendall said sending Logan a warning look. They needed help and if it took the help of the half demon who was apparently head-over-heels in love with their brother than so be it.
Nodding at Kendall to show her gratitude Muffy started explaining. "Look, I move through different planes all the time. It's how I've been hiding from the Source. Shouldn't be any problem to shimmer into Bo's plane and bring him back here so you can heal him." She said looking at Jo.
"You said you don't use your powers anymore." Carlos reminded her.
Muffy shrugged. "Shimmering isn't a lethal power."
James sighed, shifting on the couch to try to get in a position in which he'd feel less pain- a task apparently impossible. "Uh, why don't you just take Jo with you and you can heal Bo there?"
That could be a problem... Jo cringed, looking away. "I can't." The elders would pull her away before she and Muffy even arrived in the right plane. "I'm not allowed to work with a demon."
Someone else had to go in her place.
"Fine." Logan said surprising them all. "I'll go."
"Loges," James started to protest, weakly trying to sit up. He knew how Logan felt about Muffy. The smartest of the four witches had made that very clear. James couldn't ask Logan to just set his feelings aside so he and Muffy could work together. Not when Kendall or Carlos could do this, they had less against Muffy. Kendall likely because he knew what it was like loving someone you weren't supposed to, and Carlos because he didn't want James to go through a heavy break up again. "you don't have to-"
"I'm studying to be a doctor, remember?" Logan gently reminded James, concern shining in his dark eyes as he looked at his directly younger brother. "I'm the closest thing e got to a medic seeing Jo can't go. So it has to be me that goes with Muffy."
"But what if something goes wrong and you get stuck in the time loop and you don't get back before midnight and time resets?" Carlos asked tilting his head wishing very much that he hadn't left his helmet in the van. Camille had insisted he'd leave it there, she was probably in on the plan on getting him to drop the habit of putting his helmet on whenever he felt nervous.
"It's not the time loop I'm worried about." Logan replied refraining from glancing at the demon he was supposed to work with.
Kendall took a deep breath "Once you're gone Jo and I will head to town, see if we can find anything there to help break the curse and Carlos will continue to search the Book of Shadow for something to help James incase..." The leader trailed of refusing say it.
Logan nodded understanding the words Kendall didn't say. He looked at James. "Hang in there buddy, we'll fix this.
James smiled weakly- a far cry from his usual confident smirk. "Play nice, you two."
Holding her hand out Muffy said "Gotta hold my hand."
"This already sucks." Logan muttered complying.
Muffy sent James one finale comforting smile before shimmering away.
The two were gone for a total of three seconds before the front door was forced open and the people Jo had been forced to leave behind at the diner walked in.
"Jo!" Joanna screamed. "Where are you?!" She demanded stomping into the living room. "You lying little piece of-"
Quickly jumping in front of his fiancé Kendall held up one hand to halt his aunt's rant. "Okay, aunt Joanna, not now. Help Carlos take care of James. We'll be back." He ordered before taking ahold of Jo's hand and orbing away with her.
Joanna could only blink, her gaze going to the couch where James lay and Carlos stood, the firestarter's hand protectively against James' shoulder. "Wha-?"
James looked at her, an odd look on his face. He only spoke up when Camille, Katie and the rest of the parents entered the living room. "Don't get mad at me, I've been shot."
Big-Time-Charmed.
When Logan found solid ground underneath him he finally dared to open his eyes. The witch found himself in a western like town. definitely the place James described. "Oh, wow, it worked."
Muffy spared him a sideways look. "You doubted me?"
"Hell yeah." Logan muttered surveying the area. "For all I know you were gonna take me to the Under- Whoa! Aah!" Whatever he was about to was lost when the odd pair heard gunshots and Muffy suddenly pushed him to the ground. "Okay..." Logan grunted when he caught up to the fact that he was being pinned down by his brother's demonic ex.
"Welcome to the Wild, Wild West." Muffy grunted getting off of him.
"Alright, just-just so we're clear," Clearly flustered. "I'm in charge here. You're just my ride."
Ride? Whatever. This was her only chance to save James, she didn't need Logan to trust her. "Fine with me. What's your plan?" Muffy stopped herself from sighing when she realized that she did need Logan to trust her, Sweets would never take her back if his brothers were so against her. Maybe she could take this and take change his hatred for her to... mild dislike?
"Find Bo, lay low."
"That's a plan?"
"Yeah." Logan shot her an annoyed look. "You got a better one?"
Muffy eyed the pale man up and down. "Maybe, but first I think we better find something to wear that doesn't scream time travel."
Logan opened his mouth to snark at her but paused, that was actually a very good idea. "Got any ideas?"
The half demon half human woman's dark eyes were fixed on something happening a couple of yards away. A couple of cowboys were dragging a dead body somewhere.
Well, beggars can't be chosers.
"Yeah." The black-haired woman nodded. "Nothing you're gonna like though."
Big-Time-Charmed.
A little while later the odd pair walked into the saloon, now dressed in more appropriate cowboy clothing. "I still think you should have worn that red dress drying on the line." Logan told Muffy as they sat down at the bar. He was sure a woman dressed in a man's clothes would be very noticable, especially in this era.
"Yeah, it was a prostitute's dress." Muffy replied rolling her eyes. "Not exactly the kind of impression I wanted to make."
"Well you did seduce-"
"Don't go there." Muffy's tone was just tired now. "At least I decided to dress like the good guy." She said indicating her white cowboy hat while gazing at Logan's mostly dark brown attire.
Just then the bartender, a bald man in his mid-forties walked over to them "What'll it be?"
"Carlitos." Logan muttered to himself, thinking back to the time he and James traveled to the past and met their past lives. The four of them could always recognize each other's souls. This must be this parallel world's version of his youngest brother.
"What?" Muffy asked not having heard what the witch had said.
"Nothing." Logan replied shaking his head, already starting to figure out how James and Bo must be connected. He looked back at the bartender, not seeing the bald man Muffy was seeing. "Moonshine." He said in a voice far too gruff as he tried far to hard.
It only earned him an odd look from the bartender.
"He means whiskey." Muffy helped out. "Make it two. Leave the bottle." She waited till the bartender's attention was elsewhere before turning to Logan. "You don't know how to dress and you watch all the wrong movies."
"If I were like that you'd be confusing me with James."
Part of her wanted to say 'Ooh the venom' and dramatically roll her eyes, a testament for how used to hanging out with James she'd gotten. Instead the demon looked him square in a the eye and whispered "Not a chance."
It would have escalated in a battle of who could annoy the other the most if the bartender hadn't returned with their drinks in time. "You two just passing through?"
"Maybe." Logan replied aware that the question was directed at him.
"Well if you're not, you ought to consider it." The bartender said, clearly a warning. His whispering tone made it obvious that the man was afraid of someone. "Things are getting pretty dangerous around here. Friendly advice. Wet your whistle, get back on your horses, and move on as fast as you can." Brown eyes darted to the door before settling on Logan again. "There's some trouble between a powerful man in town-"
"Sutter?" Muffy guessed smirking when the bartender's chocolate brown eyes widened and he whipped his head to the left to look at her. It was quite comical.
"How do you know about Sutter?"
Muffy grinned sending the bartender a somewhat mocking look. Woman didn't have much rights in this era, the demoness was quite aware of that. That was why she found it so enjoyable breaking the stereotype. "This pretty little head knows a lot." Her imitation of an accent belonging to a woman from this time sounded far more convincing than Logan's attempt at sounding like a cowboy. "So, why don't you tell us what's going on."
Wary of the woman dressed as a man the bartender complied. "One of Sutter's men just got killed and now there's gonna be hell to pay."
It turned out that the bald man had reason for whispering, just a moment after he finished speaking three cowboys came barging into the saloon, gaining not just Logan and Muffy's attention, but everyone else's aswell.
A large buff man in black came walking in after them. Without a doubt this was Sutter.
"Where is he?!" Sutter demanded looking around the saloon. Like a predator his eyes scanned the bar.
Unsurprisingly no one said anything. Nearly everyone found their glass far more interesting than the authority figure demanding answers. Sutter walked around the saloon, people hunched in on themselves when he or his goons got close.
"Just so you know," the man spoke in a mocking voice, "I've already taken the liberty to print up the evening edition. Just so you know how serious this is." Sutter pulled an edition of the newspaper from his coat and held it up for everyone to see.
Half-breed to Die at Sundown. The headline read.
"All the news that's fit to print." The man sneered turning around to tower over a woman who sat at the table, she had long black hair, and was wearing a long brown skirt and pink blouse. "You know where your little brother's hiding, now don't you?" His tone was hushed. Somehow h managed to sound both threatening and flirty at the same time. As if flirting would somehow make the indian betray her brother.
Not that the flirting would ever work with the look of disgust on the older man's face.
The woman eyed Sutter with a look of pure hatred. "Even if I did, I'd never tell you. I'm not afraid of you, Mr. Sutter."
"Well, if you were smart, you'd be." The flirting undertone was gone, replaced by mocking. He put two beefy fingers underneath her chin and forced her to look at him. "Of course your kind are not, are they?"
Logan was already halfway out of his chair but Muffy pulled him down by his wrists. "Lay low!" She hissed.
Sutter released the woman and turned to look at a somewhat scrawny man, with short blond hair and mustache.
When Logan looked at the man that held Sutter's gaze, the witch didn't see a scrawny man, with short blond hair and mustache. No he saw blond hair and green eyes. He saw the older brother that was at the manor worried sick. This must be Kendall in this Parallel world.
"I-I haven't seen Bo, Mr. Sutter," The man quickly said nervous under Sutter's angry gaze. "I swear. Not since he took off."
Sutter chuckled, amused. "You know, you lie to me again, Cal, and I'll do worse than this." He said grabbing his whip.
Everyone's eyes were on the whip, no one expect one of Sutter's goons to casually walk over to Cal before stabbing the man's hand with a small knife.
That was it.
Logan couldn't stay in his chair any longer.
He was on his feet and rushing over to Kenda- Cal's side before Muffy could protest. The witch tackled the cowboy away and quickly retrieved the knife from Cal's hand. "Here." He said handing the older man his scarf to wrap around the bleeding wound.
Logan then turned his glare to Sutter and his three goons. "What the hell is wrong with you people?!"
Again Sutter chuckled. "Well, well, well. What do we got here?" There was more amusement in his voice than before.
Reluctantly Muffy got up. "Uh... Logan?" She questioned wondering if she should be forming an energy ball or not.
"I don't know who you are or where you come from but you obviously don't have the slightest idea who you're dealing with." Sutter said toying with the hilt of his whip.
When Sutter swung Logan squinted his eyes at the whip- it had been a while since he channeled his telekinesis through his eyes- and made the whip subtly move just the right way so he could easily block the attack.
If the saloon wasn't already so quiet everyone would have fallen silent at Logan's action.
Sutter's three goons reacted by pulling out their guns and aiming them at Logan.
Aware that they were going for 'subtle' Muffy quickly snatched a riffle from the cowboy nearest to her's pants and aimed it at Sutter. "Don't make me use this baby." The half demon half human didn't bat an eye when one of the goons pointed his gun at her.
"No," Sutter said. "we'll deal with these two later, after we take out Bo."
The cowboy-also the one Logan had tackeled- reluctantly lowered his gun "This ain't over." He muttered. "You and me, we got a score to settle." He said before following Sutter and the others to the door.
Sutter stopped at the entrance, and looked around the salon one last time. "One of you know where he's at. And if you don't tell me, I'm gonna burn this town to the ground looking for him." With that said he turned around and left, his goons following him.
Muffy sighed putting her stolen gun in her pocket. "So much for laying low."
Logan nodded numbly. "Yeah."
Big-Time-Charmed.
A short while later Logan, Muffy and the woman Sutter had been harasing- Isabel, Bo's sister, left the saloon. "Sutter's in tight with the railroads. He came here a couple of months ago promising to bring the tracks through and make it more than just an old mining town." The black-haired woman explained the situation, a grim look on her tan face.
"In exchange for what?" Muffy asked.
"A piece of everything." Isabel breathed out sounding about as tired as she looked worried. "The mines, the bank, the newspaper. When folks started resisting, his boys took over. At first everybody stood up to them, but after they killed the sheriff." She glanced at the sherif's station as they passed it. "Cowards."
Logan agreed. "Why's Sutter after your brother?"
Chewing on the inside of her cheek Isabel kept her gaze forward as she answered. "Bo and I are different, we're-"
"Half blood." Logan unintentionally interrupted her.
Isabel nodded. "When the sheriff got killed the rules regarding our kind changed. There was almost no tolerance. Refusing to change who he is Bo fought for our rights. He's against everything Sutter stands for."
That sounded a lot like someone she knew. Even if he was a half-breed, James never thought of trying to find away to change that. "Sounds like a great man." Muffy replied smiling.
Isabel allowed herself a small smile at that. "He is." Her smile slipped away all too soon "Too bad the others aren't."
They needed this explanation, but they also needed the hurry. Logan looked at the indian woman. "Isabel, we know that Bo is injured. We know that he's been shot. We can help you, and I know that you don't trust us, but-"
"I do." Isabel interrupted him, looking into his eyes. "Bo said you'd come."
Muffy paused, mentally backtracking to see if she heard correctly. "How's that again?"
"Bo," Isabel explained. "he saw it in one of his dreams. He said that two strangers would come, so, um, I knew." She finished suddenly uncomfortable.
"Bo has dreams about the future." Concluded Muffy.
Isabel nodded. "He has a gift. He inherited it from our father, who was a great medicine man. His name was Soaring Crow." Her hands toyed with the fabric of her skirt.
She was too exhausted for this. Too worried and anxious.
Why else would she have betrayed her brother's secret, and she was about to reveal another important secret by showing these strangers Bo's location.
"Was?" Logan probed.
Isabel once again averted her gaze. "He died when we were young." She said her voice sounding far away. When we moved here, my mother wouldn't allow Bo to talk about his gift. She knew that magic was considered evil in the white man's world."
When she looked back at her companions the indian realized her words had had an effect on the two strangers.
Logan gazed at the sky "Yeah," he said quietly. "I know what it's like to have a gift that you have to keep a secret."
"And live in a place where you have to hide half of who you are." Muffy added not looking at Logan.
The odd trio rounded the corner where the stood three horses awaiting them. Two brown and one black.
Logan and Muffy looked at Isabel wondering why she had brought three horses.
The woman smirked at the unasked question. "I told you. I was expecting you." She said before walking ver to her horse.
Embracing the cliché Muffy walked over to the black stallion. "I still say we eliminate the threat first," She said climbing on top of the horse. "kill Sutter. It will probably break the curse anyway."
Logan grunted as he climbed on top of the brown horse. "Yeah, well, we don't know that, which is why we need to get to Bo first." What happened to Bo also happened to James, so if they failed to save Bo they'd lose James, but what happened if they didn't break the curse? Would James heal again when time reset itself only to get shot all over again?
They needed to tread carefully not just for the people in this parallel plane, but for James sake aswell.
Speaking of which...
Logan glanced at Muffy. "You know, Muffy," it was the first time that Logan didn't sound disgusted, annoyed or amusing when adressing the half human-half demon hybrid. "if you want to try your hand at being good, your first instinct shouldn't be to kill." It was advice not a warning.
Big-Time-Charmed.
In their realm Kendall and Jo were still searching for clues in the abandoned ghost town. They'd been searching for nearly two hours now, trying to find something that could give them some sort of clue on how they could break the curse. Jo looked to the left when she heard the crow- oddly there was only one crow in the town- where she saw it land on the roof of the saloon. She glanced back at Kendall. "James said Bo got into a fight in a bar, right?"
Kendall followed her gaze and all but rolled his eyes. "It's a western. Of course it's the saloon. Why didn't we think to check it sooner?"
She had an answer to that, but wisely remained silent as she followed Kendall to the saloon. It was her own fault for falling in love with the stubborn leader.
Inside the saloon it was dark, damp and dusty. Jo's shoe connected to a bottle. Bending down the whitelighter picked it up and squinted trying to read what as written on the old label. "Hankins Nerve Tonic, calms raw nerves." she read tilting her head she looked at Kendall. "Think I should bring a bottle back for your aunt Joanna?"
"I don't think that'll do it." Kendall replied a tiny smile tugging at the corner of his mouth before it disappeared again. "Damn it! There's nothing here!"
"Actually..." Jo said noticing a stack of very old paper on the floor. "Look." She said picking it up. A newspaper.
How had that gotten here from the other plane? Jo didn't have time to worry about that, because soon her honey colored eyes landed on the headline.
'Half-breed to die at sundown'
Before she could prevent it Kendall had already taken the paper from her hands and read headline.
Jo watched the color drain from her lover's face. She knew exactly what he was thinking. In all her years she had only encountered two magical hybrids, and they had found each other. James half witch half cupid and Muffy, half human half demon. "Read it," the whitelighter quietly but urgently insisted. "who's gonna die."
Nodding numbly Kendall read the article. Swallowing he looked up. "Bo Light Feather."
Big-Time-Charmed.
Camille and Jenifer have taken Katie upstairs, distracting the twelve-year-old from the drama in the living room. So that left James, Brooke, Joanna-who hadn't spoken at all since Kendall and Jo orbed away-, Carlos and his parents in the living room
"So you've mastered fireballs and you're thermokinesis is growing?" Sylvia Garcia asked in an attempt at distracting her son. "Soon you might actually develop cyrokinesis." She and Eric had been trying to distract Carlos from his futile search through the Book of Shadows.
Carlos hadn't reacted at all, un till now.
The man looked up from the book to gaze at his parents. The look he sent their way pleading.
Whether Carlos was pleading with his parents to be quiet so he could continue to search for away to break the curse or pleading for his parents to somehow have the answer they didn't know.
So neither said anything when Carlos sighed and went back to work.
Kneeling down in front of the couch Brooke handed her son a glass of water. "Here you go. Drink up." She said when all James did was take the glass and stare at it.
Without saying anything James shifted and took a small sip of the water before handing her the glass back. He then went back to his original position. Hazel eyes rolling aay from his mother.
The action didn't go unnoticed by Brooke. "What is it?"
"It's nothing." James said eyes still on the ceiling.
"Honey..." Brooke sighed, a small sad smile on lips. "I might be a mortal now, but that doesn't mean you get to keep me in the dark. I'm your mom, you can tell me anything."
The subtle tremors going through James suddenly turned into full out shakes. "I'm dying." The man managed through cracked lips. That earned him not only a quiet gasp from his mother, but also for Carlos, his parents and Joanna to quickly turn their heads in his direction. Carlos put the Book of Shadows down and made his way over to the couch. "What do you mean?"
James was still shaking. "It's like a... something that you can feel deep inside of you. I-I can't explain it."
Brooke blinked rapidly. "Your frie-" she'd been the last of the parents to accept the fact that the four boys were the Charmed Ones. That their souls were connected. Brooke glanced at Carlos before looking back at her son. "Your brothers are not gonna let that happen," She grabbed both his hand and squeezed. "I am not gonna let that happen."
Just then Kendall and Jo orbed into the living room.
"How is he?" Kendall asked immediately going to James' side.
Brooke gave James' hands another squeeze. "He's gonna be fine." Whether she said it to convince James or herself? She didn't know.
Kendall smiled at James before going into full leader mode. "Okay, we have to hurry. We found out Bo dies at sundown, except we're not sure if Logan and Muffy know that. But..." The blond man glanced at Jo who nodded. "But I have an idea to let them now." He brought his attention back to James. "James, if you're getting visions from Bo, maybe he can get one from you."
With Brooke and Carlos' help James manged to prop himself up against the couch. "I don't get it."
"James, if you can will yourself to get a premonition about Bo's death, he might be able to see it too," Jo explained, her tone gentle and caring. "and then he can tell Logan and Muffy that they don't have as much time as they think they do."
Thinking back to that morning... Before she started all this mess. Because really this was her fault. Brooke looked at James. "But I thought you said you couldn't always get premonitions when you want."
Eyes glazed James nodded. "I can't." he whispered. He looked at Kendall. "I can't."
"You can try." Kendall said, voice calm. He held the newspaper he and Jo had found.
Slowly nodding James took the newspaper and held it in both hands.
Big-Time-Charmed.
In the parallel plane Isabel pulled the reins and stopped her horse at an old church, Logan and Muffy did the same. "Ready?" Without waiting for their answer she opened the doors and walked into the church, Muffy and Logan following her inside. "How are you doing?" She asked walking to the corner where her younger brother sat clutching his side.
Upon seeing the two strangers his sister had brought to their hideout Bo straightened up. "What's the matter with you?" He demanded, voice stained with pain. "Who the hell are they?"
"It's okay." Isabel assured. "They've come to help."
"Just like in your vision, remember?" Logan said trying to appear none threatening. Trying to ignore how he recognized this as this world's version of James.
Bo glared at them "I don't know what you're talking about."
His sister was having none of it though. "Bo, I told them-"
"Too much apparently." Bo angrily cut her off. "We don't need your help." He snapped, dark brown eyes glaring daggers at Logan and Muffy. "Just leave now."
Logan sighed walking closer to the wounded man. "Bo, my brother gets visions too, and he had one of you getting shot, alright? We're here to help you."
"And help him." Muffy added seeing just a wounded black-haired indian and not a parallel version of the man she loved.
No one in the room anticipated in Bo reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small hunting knife. "It's a trick!" He would appeared much more threathening if his hand didn't shake so much as it did. "Sutter sent you. I know he did."
"No," Isabel tried to defend her new friends. "they stood up to Sutter. You should have seen it."
"Just get out of here!"
They didn't have the time for this! Every moment they were here was a moment Sweets was hurting. Muffy couldn't stop herself from not snapping back. "We're not going anywhere!
That did get Bo to be silent. His dark gaze focused o Muffy, a deep frown on his face. Finally he spoke. "I know that look..." Sutter's got it too. You're evil. I can sense it."
And... There was that vague feeling of the power of empathy. Yep this was an alternate version of James. "Alright," Logan said carefully pushing Muffy from Bo's field of view. "then just look at me. You can't say the same thing about me can you?" He wasn't really surprised when Bo looked at him, the harsh gaze softening just slightly. "Bo, this isn't just about you, alright? My brother will die too. This whole town will if you don't let us help you."
"They think that something Sutter is going to do will trigger a curse." Isabel helpfully provided. "The kind that father used to speak about."
"If we show you that we have gifts too, will you trust us then?" Kendall wasn't the only Charmed One good at negotiation. Logan looked at Muffy. "Show him."
"Show him what?"
"Your gift." Logan repeated. "Show him your gift."
Rolling her eyes Muffy shimmered away from Logan's right side only to re-appear again at his left side. The half demon-half human smirked when Bo's eyes grew to the size of saucers.
Big-Time-Charmed.
Back in the saloon Sutter angrily used his whip, shattering a row of bottles on the bar. The poor bartender didn't dare to comment.
Sutter glared at his three henchmen. "This better be good."
"We couldn't find him, boss." One of the three cowboys admitted.
Which was why they requested him here and they weren't searching? "Now you listen to me and you listen real good." Sutter said taking great enjoyment in how the three goons squirmed under his gaze. "Bo's giving the townsfolk ideas and I don't want 'em getting ideas."
"No one knows where he's at and if they do, they ain't talking." Another of his henchmen said.
"Well, you make 'em talk. This town is mine and it's gonna stay mine. When that railroad comes through, and mark my words it will, I'm selling this land, and that land's gonna be worth more than any of you three are capable of imagining." Sutter didn't need to crack his whip to make these three fear him.
The man one of his goons had injured, Cal came walking into the saloon. Sutter smirked. "You have something useful to tell me, Cal?"
Cal nodded nervously. "I know where Bo is hiding."
Sutter grinned a grin wide enough for him to be able to show off two rows of yellow rotten teeth. "Finally. Someone knows what's good for him."
Big-Time-Charmed.
Logan was on his knees besides Bo, the young witch assasing the wound. If he looked really good Logan could still see the bullet. He didn't need to be studying to be a doctor to know what needed to be done. "Alright, the first thing that we need to do is to get that bullet out of you." Logan said sounding more confident in his abilities as a doctor than he felt. "I'm sorry, but this is gonna hurt."
Bo didn't need to brace himself, just as Logan used his telekinesis to remove the bullet Bo's eyes fluttered shut.
/Sutter raised his whip, it made a cracking sound as it connected with its' target. Again, again and again. So much pain! His back! Screams from both their mouths! Both their lives. And everyone else watched. Even as he lay there in pain he could feel their eyes on him as they watched./
When Bo opened his eyes again he found Logan looking at him with a startled look on his face. The indian only managed two words as he struggled to control be breathing.
"I believe you."
Big-Time-Charmed.
He was aware of the tears streaming down his cheeks, aware that he was being hysterical and that he was panicking. James wasn't aware of the fact that he was hyperventilating till he heard the voice trying to calm him down.
"It's okay," His mother's soothing voice reached him. "you're okay sweetie." It had always amazed James how big the difference was from the cold business woman she was to the loving mother Brooke also was. "Take a deep breath." She gently coaxed.
"I-I saw," James said the moment he was under control of his breathing. "I saw, what they're gonna do to Bo."
"Do you think he saw it too?" Jo asked.
James nodded weakly. "I know he did. It felt like we were the same person.".
"So what do we do now?" Eric asked looking around and meeting everyone's gaze in his search for answers. There was only one answer for them now.
Jo sighed wrapping her arms around herself. "There's nothing else we can do but wait. It's up to Logan and Muffy."
They'd all be happy to leave it at that, all aware that there really wasn't anything left for them to do. All of them, except for Joanna Mitchell.
"And you call yourself their guardian angel?!" The dark-haired woman suddenly snapped surprising everyone except for Sylvia and Eric who had been expecting something for a while now. The witch had been quiet for too long now and that only meant that they had given her anger time to stir.
"What the hell good is a Whitelighter if all you can do is stand there and watch my nephew die!" Joanna screeched.
Brooke glared at the woman from her spot on the floor. Hazel eyes shining. "Stop it!" She snapped her voice unsteady and the woman didn't care. Here baby lay there dying and Joanna wanted to turn this into something about her grudge against angelic beings. It's her own fault that she hadn't dared to go against the rules at the time...
"Joanna, sweetie," Sylvia said gently, how she had become the one that tried the keep the calmth she didn't know, but she damn well was not planning on letting her friend lose herself in her anger. "You're not helping."
"Oh and she is?!" Joanna screeched, furiously gesturing at Jo, it was a statement to the amount of control the witch had over her powers that she her emotions hadn't made her lash out with her telekinesis. "Why don't you do something?" She demanded glaring at Jo. "Isn't that your job?"
Her yells had been loud enough to be heard upstairs and Camille and Jenifer hadn't been able to stop Katie from rushing downstairs to see what was going on. The three came into the living room, all having heard Joanna accusation.
By now everyone was ready to come to Jo's defense, something very unnescery seeing Jo could handle herself.
When she spoke Jo sounded nothing but calm. "I am doing something, I am trusting your son." She didn't show it, but Jo was somewhat pleased with herself when Joanna's eyes widened. "I know that you feel helpless. We all do. But Logan is not gonna let James die and neither is Muffy."
But Joanna didn't plan on giving in, just yet. "Oh, so now I'm supposed to trust a demon?" The powerful witch challenged.
Then the person the expected it from the least spoke up. "Joanna?"
"James?" Joanna asked turning to her nephew. There was no way she could snap at him, with him being hurt like this.
"You know," James were closed and his voice hoarse. "almost a year ago... we met Sam-" the cupid/witch hybrid took a shuddering breath. "he missed you... so so much."
The color drained from Joanna's face. "Y-you, you met Sam?" All the self righteous anger was gone, now the woman just sounded drained.
James nodded weakly. "You were scared to break the rules... Don't hate Jo because she and Kendall aren't."
Big-Time-Charmed.
Looking through the small heavily decorated church window Muffy's eyes narrowed when she spotted Sutter's three goons in the distance. She turned around to face Logan, Bo and Isabel. "Sutter's men just showed up. We better get Bo out of here."
Isabel gasped. "What? How did they find us?"
"We must have been followed." Muffy muttered angry at herself for not having noticed. The Source's best assassin and she hadn't noticed a sneaky cowboy tracking them. "I'll shimmer him back to Jo," She said nodding in Bo's direction. "then come back for you two."
Logan got to his feet. "No."
The woman faltered. "What do you mean, no?" Muffy stopped herself from snapping. "He dies, James dies."
"Taking Bo out of here will not break the time loop." Logan clarified with a grim look on his face.
"It'll save James." Muffy argued.
"Un till time resets itself." Logan replied. "We have to break the curse by sundown, otherwise this entire town is doomed to repeat the same day over and over again." And their already tight schedule just got worse.
Someone slammed their fist against the church doors. "We know you're in there, Bo." A gruff voice called out. "Come out with your hands up and nobody gets hurt. What's it gonna be, Bo?"
Muffy sighed. "Alright," She said looking at Logan. "how do we break the curse?"
"I don't know," Logan reluctantly admitted. "but I do know that it hinges on keeping Bo alive."
"No, it doesn't." Bo spoke up surprising them. Despite being in serious pain Bo managed to sound in control. "The curse isn't about me or about Sutter. It's about them." Bo said dark eyes on the door. "The townspeople who stood there and watched me die. The only way is for me to give myself up."
"No!" Isabel immediately protested refusing to let her little brother do that to himself.
Bo smiled sadly and reached for Isabel's hand. "It's okay, Isabel." He assured... Or tried to. "Have faith."
Even when Muffy did not.
The demon-human hybrid eyed him warily. "They'll kill you."
Bo wasn't bothered by her at all. "Maybe, this curse came from my father's people." Bo nodded, his eyes closed. It was obvious, why else would his father interfere. "I understand that now. It's meant to heal," Bo said carefully getting to his feet. "to teach the townspeople to act without shame. I have to give them that chance."
Logan's eyes widened when he realized Bo was right. "Helping them to save you saves themselves."
Slowly Bo made his way to the door, before Isabel or Muffy could protest the indian pushed the large door open and raised his arms in surrender.
Big-Time-Charmed.
They had taken Bo the center of town where Sutter had gathered everyone.
Muffy, Logan and Isabel and been quick to follow them. One of the three henchmen roughly dragged Bo to Sutter.
Sutter smirked looking down at Bo in disgust. "I want you all to see what happens when people cross me." He hissed, his face inches apart from Bo's till he pushed the idian to the ground.
"NO!" Isabel screamed. She tried to run to her brother's side, but Logan stopped her by grabbing her wrist.
"Don't!" The witch warned. "He knows what he's doing." At least he hoped Bo did.
Bo seemed to have some kind of plan... And apparently it was to make Sutter hate him more than he already did. His face expressionless Bo got back to his fate.
Clearly Sutter was not happy with this. Angrily Sutter raised his whip and had it come down against Bo's shoulder.
Bo's knees buckled, but he managed to stay on his feet... Only till Sutter whipped him again. The indian didn't make a single sound as he fell to his knees.
Sutter continued to whip him. Again!
Again!
Again!
During the entire torture Bo did not utter a sound.
His victim's silence did not please Sutter. "What's the matter, boy?" Sutter taunted. "You too stupid to scream?" There was more force behind the whip's next hit. "I want you to beg for mercy."
Sutter continued the whipping laughing when Bo grunted.
Oh this was bad, this was bad and ridiculous. Not able to whipe the anger from his face Logan stepped forward and turned around so he was facing the crowd. The townspeople who watched Bo be tortured to afraid to speak up. Damn cowards. "What are you people doing?!" The witch cried. "Look at him. He has the courage to fight Sutter for all of you. You can just stand there and watch him die. You have to do something! You can take him down!"
Muffy backed him up. "Sutter can't take all of you out. You need to do what's right!"
"You can't just stand by and let this happen." Logan added. "Stand up to him! Don't be scared."
Sutter heard them, their encouragement to the townspeople, but wasn't the least but worried. "Nobody crosses me." he laughed. He was done with this public display of power.
Time to finish this.
Reaching for holster Sutter pulled out his gun and aimed it at Bo, who by now was curled up on the ground, still not making a sound other than the occasional grunt. He put his finger on the trigger and-
Suddenly the gun was shot out of his hands.
Whipping his head around Sutter turned to crowd, quite clearly shocked that someone had dared to go against him.
The bartender's face was pale, gun still in his hands. "I think you just oughta leave Bo alone, Sutter." His voice surprisingly even.
Sutter smirked, just another chance for him to show the townspeople why you didn't mess with him. "You just signed your own death certificat-" He stopped abruptly when Cal pointed his gun at him.
"If you wanna kill Bo, you're gonna have to kill me too." Cal said, finally he had enough. He wasn't gonna play lamb for Sutter anymore.
Cal's act of bravery was followed by all men in the crowd reaching for their guns and aimed at Sutter
Taking advantage of Sutter's shock Isabel quickly ran to Bo's side. "Are you okay?" She asked gently grabbing his shoulders. "Bo, can you hear m- AAH!" Isabel screeched when when Sutter grabbed her by her hair.
"Anybody comes after me and she's dead." Sutter warned yanking Isabel closer to him and wrapping an arm around her neck.
Muffy quietly walked over to Logan. "Now can we do something?" She asked in a whisper.
"Oh, yeah." Logan nodded just as ready for action as Muffy.
Sutter let go of Isabel, pushed her away and quickly jumped on his horse riding away. Logan got on the horse Isabel had given him and followed. Gun ready he shot at Sutter hoping for the best.
His aim wasn't half bad.
Sutter fell from his horse, now on his knees he tried to crawl away.
Even an inexperienced shooter like Logan couldn't miss him now. Getting of the horse Logan grabbed gun Logan hit Sutter in the chest... Which even Logan didn't expect. Surprised by his own action Logan swung his arm, using telekinesis to send Sutter flying into the sheriff's office.
Bo and Isabel came to his side. "What about the curse?" Bo asked.
Logan gazed at the orange turning sky and smiled. "It's a beautiful sunset isn't it?" He asked turning to the two siblings. "I don't think there's been one quite like it in 128 years."
All three of them jumped when they heard gunfire.
Big-Time-Charmed.
Muffy had followed one of Sutter's goons when he tried to hide in the saloon. Grinning Muffy fired her gun at him faltering when nothing happened after she pulled the trigger.
The cowboy smirked "Looks like you're outta bullets. I'm gonna enjoy this. See you in hell." He mocked.
Muffy rolled her eyes. "Been there, done that." She had been waiting for this all day.
So when the cowboy aimed his gun at her Muffy flexed her hand and formed an energy ball and threw it at the cowboy. She hit him full on in the chest, filling the room with the rotten smell of burned flesh.
"Ha!" Muffy laughed throwing her fist in the air in celebration when the cowboy went down.
"Like I said, once a demon always a demon."
Gasping Muffy whirled around to find Logan standing in the doorway clearly having seen her murder the cowboy.
Big-Time-Charmed.
They all watched the marks slowly fade from James' back.
"How do you feel?" Carlos asked when James sat up and grabbed the clean shirt his mother had brought him.
James paused putting the shirt on. "...Like nothing happened." He answered frowning.
Just then Logan and Muffy shimmered into the living room.
"Eew!" Logan cried immediately releasing Muffy's hand.
Surprisingly Katie was the first to react. "What took you so long?" The twelve-year-old demanded a large smile on her face. "We've been worried sick." She said freeing herself from her mom's and running to Logan's side to hug her other big brother.
"Sorry," Muffy apologized. "we had a few... uh, loose ends to tie up."
"Are you okay?" Logan asked looking at James. "I'm so sorry we couldn't stop the whipp-"
"I'm great." James interrupted, a relieved smile on his face. "Thank you. Both of you." He said looking at Muffy, his smile gaining a new purpose as he and Muffy gazed into each other's eyes.
"And the time loop?" Jo asked.
"Broken." Logan answered thinking back to the parallel versions of his brothers. "They will never have to live through that horror again."
Camille nodded a small frown on her face. "So where is Bo now?"
They were all surprised by the one who answered her. "Peacefully living out their lives in a parallel plane." Joanna answered moving to stand besides Camille. "Try not to think about it much." She said sending the gypsy a friendly smile. She then turned to Kendall and Jo. "Anybody up to a rehearsal dinner?"
"Absolutely." Eric said, voice booming. "I'm starving."
Those word send everyone heading to the dinner room.
Everyone except two.
"Well," Muffy said, suddenly finding her boots very interesting. "I guess I should be going."
She was surprised when arms wrapped around her waist and she was pulled close to a warm body.
James smiled lovingly as he looked down at her. "You're not going anywhere." He quietly told her.
Muffy glowed, but she couldn't take the risk... "James, I don't want to cause any trouble between you and your-"
James silenced her with a kiss.
"You're staying" he said when they pulled apart. "and that's that."
