Sam tried to breathe. 'Did he just say what I think he said?' she thought.
The thought of her causing her own brother's death was horrifying. She
couldn't take it anymore.
"Oh my god..." Sam whispered as she broke into tears and buried her head in her hands. Piper sat next to her and hugged her. "Sam, it's going to be ok..We'll find him..."
"I caused my brother's death....I killed him. He's going to die because of me."
"That's not true Sam. We are going to find Alex and Paige and Rachel before he even gets a chance to touch them. We won't let them die." Leo said, trying to comfort her. Sam shook her head in denial.
"No...It's never going to be ok....first Mom, then Dad. Then everyone else and now it's going to be Alex. I can't take this...I can't. Oh god...."
While Sam was grieving, Cole walked over to Phoebe. Her look was blank, and she didn't exactly know what to do. Cole stood in front of her and held her shoulders. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah. I'm...fine." Phoebe hesitated. She didn't want to look up at him. Now that she knew they were destined to be together, she didn't know what to think. "Are you sure?" he asked again, acting like a really worried being. Phoebe shook her head and pushed him awa.y
"Cole, stop."
"What? What am I doing?"
"We may be destined to be together in the future, and we may be destined to have a beautiful, handsome baby boy, but right now, things are not changing yet. I'm still pissed at you, I still want to be alone, I still want some time alone. Don't make this harder than it already is."
"But Phoebe...I..."
Phoebe laid a hand over his mouth. "Stop. Just, I don't want to hear anything anymore...."
Cole nodded and stepped away. He felt hurt by the cruel things she said in an angry tone but he decided to deal with it. Things would get better, he encouraged himself. It would just take some time.
Sam paced back and forth, her tears still raining down her cheeks. Piper and Leo tried to calm her down but it was no use. She was so nervous and she was breaking down. "Oh god, Oh god, Oh god." she kept whispering to herself.
She reached into her back pants pocket, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She took one out of the pack and practically shoved it in her mouth. She looked around her pockets for a lighter. Piper looked at her wide-eyed.
"What the HELL is that in your mouth?"
Sam looked up at her startled. She looked down at the cigarette in her mouth and looked back at Piper. She said nothing and kept searching for her lighter. "You smoke?? My daughter SMOKES?" Piper screamed angrily at her. Sam shrugged. "I started when Dad died." She said calmly.
Piper wasn't happy at all. "I don't care what you're reason is. Why the hell did you start smoking? Did you KNOW how deadly those things are to your lungs? I want you to quit right NOW!"
"You're not the boss of me!"
"Oh, who says I'm not???"
Sam ignored Piper and found the lighter in one of her pockets. She nervously tried to start the lighter, but her hands were too shaky. "Come on..." She mumbled with the cigarette still in her mouth. Piper glanced over to Leo with angry eyes. Leo looked scared, but then knew what to do.
Leo walked up to Sam, snatched the cigarette out of her mouth, threw it on the floor and stomped on it so that it would be crushed. "No smoking for you honey." He said, his eyes sympathetic.
Sam sighed and tried to gain control over her haywire emotions. She shoved the lighter and pack of cigarettes back into her back pocket. While she did that, she felt a small pouch there. She grabbed it and took it out. The pouch was made of brown leather, and it was old and worn out. She knew exactly what it was. She paused to stare at the old pouch. Her father had given it to her the day after her mother had died. It was something, that she never had to use before. She couldn't figure out how it got to her pants pocket. Maybe she had put it there for good lucky? She couldn't seem to remember anything.
"Sam? Sam honey?" Piper said, trying to bring Sam back to reality. Sam looked up suddenly and stuffed the pouch back in her pocket. "What are we going to do mom?"
Piper thought for a minute. She called Phoebe and Cole over. They were gathered around in a circle. "Ok people. Leo and Cole: Try to sense for anything and try to look for them. Sam: You hit the book for anything. Phoebe: You make the vanquishing spell. The warlocks are shapeshifters, so try to remember that. And me? I shall go scry. Now people, we can't panic. We have to stay strong and we have to keep a positive thought in our minds. We are going to save them. Ok?" she said, as if she were a drill instructor.
Everyone nodded his or her heads. Sam nodded hers slowly, still negative thoughts raced through her brain cells. "Break!" Piper said jokingly. Leo orbed out. Cole shimmered out. The three witches ran to the attic. They all got down to work.
****
Rachel kicked another small pebble on the ground to her cousin. "Alex! Wake freaking up!" she screamed at him. They weren't that far from each other, but Paige and Rachel were stuck. Alex laid face down on the floor, still unconscious from the blow he suffered to his head. Paige stopped her.
"Let me try." She said with confidence in her voice. Paige faced Alex and recited:
"Let this be no mix-up.
Evil has struck and has caused a big break up.
Need him now, need to round up.
Wake him up, now wake him up!!!"
Paige screamed the spell that she made at the top of her head. Bright white lights swirled over Alex's head and then the mother and daughter heard a small groan. Rachel smiled. "Wow. Nice spell."
"Not really. I've done better." Paige said. Rachel let out a small laugh as they patiently waited for Alex to come around. Alex let out a small grunt and pulled his face from the ground. "Huh?"
"Alex! You dork! You got hit by the warlock and now we're in some kind of realm...." Rachel said to him. Alex got himself up. He was struggling, since his hands were tied by magical bindings behind his back. "Rachel? Aunt Paige?" he whispered. He squinted in the darkness so he could see the two.
"What the heck? Aunt PAIGE! You freaking hit me! Where the hell are we? Why'd you hit me? I didn't do anything!" he exclaimed in a whiny, complaining voice. Paige looked at him in a weird way and lifted an eyebrow. "No I didn't. I was here the whole time...it was probably that stupid shapeshifter warlock. Darnit, when I get my hands on him..."
"So we got kidnapped??" Alex asked. Rachel nodded slowly. Alex shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time." He said in a casual voice. "I'm sure Sam and them will save us. And you know how CJ is. He'll stop at nothing to find us."
Rachel nodded and smiled. She tried to glance back at her mother. "See? What did I tell you? Sam and CJ always come to help. They never stop! We love each other more than anything!" she said with a grin. Paige laughed at her immaturity. Rachel got an idea.
"Hey Alex! Remember those times when you and Sam communicated telepathically??" she said. Alex thought for a moment. "Yeah...why?"
"Why don't you try doing it now to tell them that we're ok and where we are?"
"I can't exactly do it on my own. It just kind of happens in times of need."
"What the HECK do you call this??? A get together party?" Paige said sarcastically. Alex grinned. "Boy, you two are mother and daughter..." He muttered. He gave a big sigh, closed his eyes and concentrated.
"Sam...Sam can you hear me. It's Alex. Sam..SAM.." he thought hard in his head.
****
"I just have to go to the bathroom. I'll be back." She casually said to Phoebe and Piper. Piper nodded and went back to her scrying. She climbed down the stairs from the attic to the second story. She ran to the bathroom and shut the door tight.
She nervously reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cigarettes and lighter. She couldn't take the urge to just smoke. In times like this she couldn't help but smoke a cigarette to help calm her down. She lit the end of the cigarette in her mouth and puffs of smoke started coming from the cigarette.
She sat down on the closed toilet bowl, breathing the smoke into her lungs. Sure, it tasted bad, but she got used to it. After all the hell she'd been through, she smoked enough cigarettes to feed at least 20 packs to 20 people. It was a little something to get her away.
She stared straight ahead of her, just smoking. She pulled the old leather pouch out of her back pocket to observe it. It was a pouch of memory dust. She still tried to remember how it had gotten into her pocket, but she didn't know if it was the cigarettes or everything that was going on, but lately she had been having bad memory of things.
The pouch. She had had it since the day after her mother died. She kept it close to her, since it was the only things she had of her father. It was like a whitelighter to whitelighter gift. She had to use it only in times of a really bad situation. She had never used it before but always kept it in her pocket when she was a kid.
She stared at it for a while, but then heard a sudden calling.
"Sam. Sam...Are you there? Please Sam..." it said. Like a little whisper in her head. Alex?
They were communicating telepathically. It was something that they had to share. But they didn't really have control over it. She put her cigarette down and closed her eyes.
"Alex...Alex. Where are you? Are you ok? Are you hurt?"
"Sam. I miss you. I don't know where I am. Paige and Rachel are here with me. A warlock kidnapped us. There are twin warlocks..."
"I know. I know. I killed one of them already, and the other one is on his way back. You have to be careful Alex. He's mad. Just don't get hurt."
"I'll be fine. But you have to come and find us. We have some sort of magical bindings on our hands so we can't get out. These warlocks are powerful...."
"We fought them in the manor but they went away."
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine. I had a real close call, but Dad came in time."
"Dad...That's really cool. Just come and find us. I don't even know where we are. We are in some kind of realm. Remember in the BOS, it said that these warlocks were especially good at making portals to other realms so they can hide out there? I think we're in one."
"Don't worry. I swear we'll find you. I'm coming. I promise."
"Don't promise. Promises are pain, remember? Our motto sis...Hurry please."
"Yeah, ok."
"Hey wait, CJ's here. Yes! You guys did come after all! But where are you? Are you still at the manor?"
"No....Alex! Alex!! Don't go to him! He turned evil! He's under a spell...ALEX!" she screamed in her head. She opened her eyes and tears came down her cheeks. They had lost the connection. The last word that she heard in her head was: "Help."
****
"CJ! I knew you would come! We all knew you would come! Where's Sam? Where's Piper and Phoebe??" Rachel exclaimed once she saw her cousin come from the shadows. CJ didn't talk. His face was blank. "CJ?"
Alex was talking with Sam when he saw CJ. He grinned as hope glimmered in his eyes. "CJ!" he exclaimed. Sam was trying to say something to him but he wasn't really paying attention. CJ remained silent, but somebody came from behind him. One of the warlocks.
The warlock smiled and laughed. "Oh, you charmed ones are quite the animals aren't you?" he whispered.
"What did you do to CJ???" Rachel exclaimed. The warlock had an athame appear in his hand. He walked slowly to Paige and Rachel and slid the athame across Rachel's neck. She felt a chill from the icy cold metal that touched her skin. "I did a little magic of my own." He said as he kept toying with the athame around Rachel.
"Leave her alone!" Paige exclaimed, trying to get free from her bindings. The warlock turned to Paige. "Relax. It's not you I'm after." He said slyly. He walked over to Alex.
"Say hi to my brother in the afterlife for me." He said as he held the athame in his hands in front of Alex's face. Alex's fear rose in his body. His breathing started getting heavier and heavier. He was scared to his life. He wasn't going to do it....was he. "Sam, Help." He thought in his mind.
Darien stabbed the Alex in the stomach with the athame and Alex gave a little gasp.
"ALEX!!!" Rachel screamed in tears.
A/N: I'm getting good at cliffhangers. Don't blame me!! I'm learning it from all the other authors I like that don't update for a long time and leave ME with the cliffhanger!! Hee hee. Well, I'll update soon ok? Gotta get through school first...
"Oh my god..." Sam whispered as she broke into tears and buried her head in her hands. Piper sat next to her and hugged her. "Sam, it's going to be ok..We'll find him..."
"I caused my brother's death....I killed him. He's going to die because of me."
"That's not true Sam. We are going to find Alex and Paige and Rachel before he even gets a chance to touch them. We won't let them die." Leo said, trying to comfort her. Sam shook her head in denial.
"No...It's never going to be ok....first Mom, then Dad. Then everyone else and now it's going to be Alex. I can't take this...I can't. Oh god...."
While Sam was grieving, Cole walked over to Phoebe. Her look was blank, and she didn't exactly know what to do. Cole stood in front of her and held her shoulders. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah. I'm...fine." Phoebe hesitated. She didn't want to look up at him. Now that she knew they were destined to be together, she didn't know what to think. "Are you sure?" he asked again, acting like a really worried being. Phoebe shook her head and pushed him awa.y
"Cole, stop."
"What? What am I doing?"
"We may be destined to be together in the future, and we may be destined to have a beautiful, handsome baby boy, but right now, things are not changing yet. I'm still pissed at you, I still want to be alone, I still want some time alone. Don't make this harder than it already is."
"But Phoebe...I..."
Phoebe laid a hand over his mouth. "Stop. Just, I don't want to hear anything anymore...."
Cole nodded and stepped away. He felt hurt by the cruel things she said in an angry tone but he decided to deal with it. Things would get better, he encouraged himself. It would just take some time.
Sam paced back and forth, her tears still raining down her cheeks. Piper and Leo tried to calm her down but it was no use. She was so nervous and she was breaking down. "Oh god, Oh god, Oh god." she kept whispering to herself.
She reached into her back pants pocket, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She took one out of the pack and practically shoved it in her mouth. She looked around her pockets for a lighter. Piper looked at her wide-eyed.
"What the HELL is that in your mouth?"
Sam looked up at her startled. She looked down at the cigarette in her mouth and looked back at Piper. She said nothing and kept searching for her lighter. "You smoke?? My daughter SMOKES?" Piper screamed angrily at her. Sam shrugged. "I started when Dad died." She said calmly.
Piper wasn't happy at all. "I don't care what you're reason is. Why the hell did you start smoking? Did you KNOW how deadly those things are to your lungs? I want you to quit right NOW!"
"You're not the boss of me!"
"Oh, who says I'm not???"
Sam ignored Piper and found the lighter in one of her pockets. She nervously tried to start the lighter, but her hands were too shaky. "Come on..." She mumbled with the cigarette still in her mouth. Piper glanced over to Leo with angry eyes. Leo looked scared, but then knew what to do.
Leo walked up to Sam, snatched the cigarette out of her mouth, threw it on the floor and stomped on it so that it would be crushed. "No smoking for you honey." He said, his eyes sympathetic.
Sam sighed and tried to gain control over her haywire emotions. She shoved the lighter and pack of cigarettes back into her back pocket. While she did that, she felt a small pouch there. She grabbed it and took it out. The pouch was made of brown leather, and it was old and worn out. She knew exactly what it was. She paused to stare at the old pouch. Her father had given it to her the day after her mother had died. It was something, that she never had to use before. She couldn't figure out how it got to her pants pocket. Maybe she had put it there for good lucky? She couldn't seem to remember anything.
"Sam? Sam honey?" Piper said, trying to bring Sam back to reality. Sam looked up suddenly and stuffed the pouch back in her pocket. "What are we going to do mom?"
Piper thought for a minute. She called Phoebe and Cole over. They were gathered around in a circle. "Ok people. Leo and Cole: Try to sense for anything and try to look for them. Sam: You hit the book for anything. Phoebe: You make the vanquishing spell. The warlocks are shapeshifters, so try to remember that. And me? I shall go scry. Now people, we can't panic. We have to stay strong and we have to keep a positive thought in our minds. We are going to save them. Ok?" she said, as if she were a drill instructor.
Everyone nodded his or her heads. Sam nodded hers slowly, still negative thoughts raced through her brain cells. "Break!" Piper said jokingly. Leo orbed out. Cole shimmered out. The three witches ran to the attic. They all got down to work.
****
Rachel kicked another small pebble on the ground to her cousin. "Alex! Wake freaking up!" she screamed at him. They weren't that far from each other, but Paige and Rachel were stuck. Alex laid face down on the floor, still unconscious from the blow he suffered to his head. Paige stopped her.
"Let me try." She said with confidence in her voice. Paige faced Alex and recited:
"Let this be no mix-up.
Evil has struck and has caused a big break up.
Need him now, need to round up.
Wake him up, now wake him up!!!"
Paige screamed the spell that she made at the top of her head. Bright white lights swirled over Alex's head and then the mother and daughter heard a small groan. Rachel smiled. "Wow. Nice spell."
"Not really. I've done better." Paige said. Rachel let out a small laugh as they patiently waited for Alex to come around. Alex let out a small grunt and pulled his face from the ground. "Huh?"
"Alex! You dork! You got hit by the warlock and now we're in some kind of realm...." Rachel said to him. Alex got himself up. He was struggling, since his hands were tied by magical bindings behind his back. "Rachel? Aunt Paige?" he whispered. He squinted in the darkness so he could see the two.
"What the heck? Aunt PAIGE! You freaking hit me! Where the hell are we? Why'd you hit me? I didn't do anything!" he exclaimed in a whiny, complaining voice. Paige looked at him in a weird way and lifted an eyebrow. "No I didn't. I was here the whole time...it was probably that stupid shapeshifter warlock. Darnit, when I get my hands on him..."
"So we got kidnapped??" Alex asked. Rachel nodded slowly. Alex shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time." He said in a casual voice. "I'm sure Sam and them will save us. And you know how CJ is. He'll stop at nothing to find us."
Rachel nodded and smiled. She tried to glance back at her mother. "See? What did I tell you? Sam and CJ always come to help. They never stop! We love each other more than anything!" she said with a grin. Paige laughed at her immaturity. Rachel got an idea.
"Hey Alex! Remember those times when you and Sam communicated telepathically??" she said. Alex thought for a moment. "Yeah...why?"
"Why don't you try doing it now to tell them that we're ok and where we are?"
"I can't exactly do it on my own. It just kind of happens in times of need."
"What the HECK do you call this??? A get together party?" Paige said sarcastically. Alex grinned. "Boy, you two are mother and daughter..." He muttered. He gave a big sigh, closed his eyes and concentrated.
"Sam...Sam can you hear me. It's Alex. Sam..SAM.." he thought hard in his head.
****
"I just have to go to the bathroom. I'll be back." She casually said to Phoebe and Piper. Piper nodded and went back to her scrying. She climbed down the stairs from the attic to the second story. She ran to the bathroom and shut the door tight.
She nervously reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cigarettes and lighter. She couldn't take the urge to just smoke. In times like this she couldn't help but smoke a cigarette to help calm her down. She lit the end of the cigarette in her mouth and puffs of smoke started coming from the cigarette.
She sat down on the closed toilet bowl, breathing the smoke into her lungs. Sure, it tasted bad, but she got used to it. After all the hell she'd been through, she smoked enough cigarettes to feed at least 20 packs to 20 people. It was a little something to get her away.
She stared straight ahead of her, just smoking. She pulled the old leather pouch out of her back pocket to observe it. It was a pouch of memory dust. She still tried to remember how it had gotten into her pocket, but she didn't know if it was the cigarettes or everything that was going on, but lately she had been having bad memory of things.
The pouch. She had had it since the day after her mother died. She kept it close to her, since it was the only things she had of her father. It was like a whitelighter to whitelighter gift. She had to use it only in times of a really bad situation. She had never used it before but always kept it in her pocket when she was a kid.
She stared at it for a while, but then heard a sudden calling.
"Sam. Sam...Are you there? Please Sam..." it said. Like a little whisper in her head. Alex?
They were communicating telepathically. It was something that they had to share. But they didn't really have control over it. She put her cigarette down and closed her eyes.
"Alex...Alex. Where are you? Are you ok? Are you hurt?"
"Sam. I miss you. I don't know where I am. Paige and Rachel are here with me. A warlock kidnapped us. There are twin warlocks..."
"I know. I know. I killed one of them already, and the other one is on his way back. You have to be careful Alex. He's mad. Just don't get hurt."
"I'll be fine. But you have to come and find us. We have some sort of magical bindings on our hands so we can't get out. These warlocks are powerful...."
"We fought them in the manor but they went away."
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine. I had a real close call, but Dad came in time."
"Dad...That's really cool. Just come and find us. I don't even know where we are. We are in some kind of realm. Remember in the BOS, it said that these warlocks were especially good at making portals to other realms so they can hide out there? I think we're in one."
"Don't worry. I swear we'll find you. I'm coming. I promise."
"Don't promise. Promises are pain, remember? Our motto sis...Hurry please."
"Yeah, ok."
"Hey wait, CJ's here. Yes! You guys did come after all! But where are you? Are you still at the manor?"
"No....Alex! Alex!! Don't go to him! He turned evil! He's under a spell...ALEX!" she screamed in her head. She opened her eyes and tears came down her cheeks. They had lost the connection. The last word that she heard in her head was: "Help."
****
"CJ! I knew you would come! We all knew you would come! Where's Sam? Where's Piper and Phoebe??" Rachel exclaimed once she saw her cousin come from the shadows. CJ didn't talk. His face was blank. "CJ?"
Alex was talking with Sam when he saw CJ. He grinned as hope glimmered in his eyes. "CJ!" he exclaimed. Sam was trying to say something to him but he wasn't really paying attention. CJ remained silent, but somebody came from behind him. One of the warlocks.
The warlock smiled and laughed. "Oh, you charmed ones are quite the animals aren't you?" he whispered.
"What did you do to CJ???" Rachel exclaimed. The warlock had an athame appear in his hand. He walked slowly to Paige and Rachel and slid the athame across Rachel's neck. She felt a chill from the icy cold metal that touched her skin. "I did a little magic of my own." He said as he kept toying with the athame around Rachel.
"Leave her alone!" Paige exclaimed, trying to get free from her bindings. The warlock turned to Paige. "Relax. It's not you I'm after." He said slyly. He walked over to Alex.
"Say hi to my brother in the afterlife for me." He said as he held the athame in his hands in front of Alex's face. Alex's fear rose in his body. His breathing started getting heavier and heavier. He was scared to his life. He wasn't going to do it....was he. "Sam, Help." He thought in his mind.
Darien stabbed the Alex in the stomach with the athame and Alex gave a little gasp.
"ALEX!!!" Rachel screamed in tears.
A/N: I'm getting good at cliffhangers. Don't blame me!! I'm learning it from all the other authors I like that don't update for a long time and leave ME with the cliffhanger!! Hee hee. Well, I'll update soon ok? Gotta get through school first...