Chapter
Seventeen
Clark Kent had teleported before, thanks
to Alicia. But that had been like jumping into a black hole. For
several long, heart-stopping moments, there was nothing. No light. No
air. Nothing but cold emptiness.
But this was nothing like
that. This was like swimming through a sea of electric blue stars.
Being surrounded by warmth, and safety, and music. Like being in one
of those dreams where nothing really happened, but you never wanted
to leave. In fact, it was such a pleasant experience that
re-materializing at the side of a dark, deserted road—being
snatched back into reality—felt harsh and jarring.
Wow,
Clark thought. Was that what Chris felt every time he orbed? If so,
it was a wonder he stayed in solid form as much as he did.
"Chris?!"
A female voice exclaimed. A very pregnant woman was hurrying—as
fast as she could—in their direction. "Chris!"
"Mom!"
Chris exclaimed. Smiling wider than Clark had ever seen him smile
before, he ran towards her.
"Oh, my God," the woman said,
embracing Chris in a hug. It should have seemed awkward, considering
Chris was quite a bit taller than she was, and her stomach was kind
of in the way. But, somehow, it didn't. "I have been so worried
about you."
Just then, Clark noticed two other women
standing nearby, watching the hugging pair. One, arms folded, was
smiling almost serenely. The other, who had short, brunette hair, was
grinning from ear to ear.
It was such a happy scene, Clark
couldn't help smiling himself. It was obvious that Chris had been
found. If the woman he was hugging was his mom, the other two must be
the aunts he sometimes talked...
Suddenly, Clark's thoughts
stuttered to a halt. The smile faded, slowly, from his lips.
Eyes
wide, Clark stared at the pregnant woman. It might be dark out but he
could see her plain as day. And she couldn't possibly be much more
than thirty years old. So, unless she gave birth to Chris when she
was 7 or 8, there was no way she was his mother.
Pulling back,
she stared at Chris with concerned eyes. "How are you? Are you
okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. A little tired maybe but, other
than that, I'm good."
"Good." Smiling widely, she
patted the side of his face. "That's good."
"Okay,
okay!" the woman with short hair said, holding out her arms. "It's
my turn now."
With a rueful smile, Chris turned to face
her. "Hey, Phoebe."
"Hey, you!" Phoebe almost
squealed. Standing on her toes, she wrapped her arms around Chris's
neck. "You scared us half to death, mister. Piper has a fresh crop
of gray hairs because of you."
"That's nothing new,"
Chris said. He gently disengaged from Phoebe's enthusiastic
embrace. "She used to say that, thanks to me and Wyatt, the woman
who colors her hair was able to buy a new car."
"Okay,
people!" the pregnant woman exclaimed "Let's keep my hair color
out of this."
Phoebe and Chris just snickered.
"Hey,"
the younger of the women said, scowling in mock insult. "What about
me?"
"Hi, Paige," Chris said, stepping into her
embrace.
Paige's hug was more subdued than Phoebe's had
been. Short but sincere.
"So, you're sure you're okay?"
she asked Chris, looking him over with narrowed eyes.
"Yeah,
I'm fine," Chris assured her. "Really."
"Good,"
Paige nodded. Then, without warning, she smacked Chris on the
arm.
"Ow!" Chris exclaimed, looking startled.
"That's
for going off to fight a demon on your own!" And this is for
orbing off and scaring your poor mother prematurely gray."
SMACK!
"Ow! Now wait a minute!" Chris tried to back away,
but Paige was hard on his trail.
SMACK! "And that's for
giving me gray hair, for which I am way too young." SMACK!
"And that's for..."
"Paige!" Piper finally
interrupted, although her voice was filled with amusement. "Stop
abusing my son."
"Oh, come on," Paige sighed, folding
her arms. "You know you want to do it, too."
"No, I have
no intention of hitting Chris," Piper said. Then, she gave Chris a
look filled with ominous promise. "I'm just going to have a talk
with him."
And Chris gulped audibly.
"Uh, right,"
he said, trying to avoid Piper's formidable gaze. "Yeah. T-talk.
Um, but maybe we could do that after we get home." He looked
imploringly at Phoebe, the only one who hadn't hit him, or
threatened him with a lecture. "Since you guys got here, I'm
assuming you know how to get us back."
"Well, it depends
on what time it."
Chris looked puzzled. "Last I looked, it
was about 12:15, 12:20. Why?"
"Because opening the door to
here was a little easier than opening the door to go back will be.
Not only does it require the Power of Three, but the spell has to be
performed by the light of the moon, but before the middle
hour."
"Yeah, you know." Paige shrugged. "After
sundown, but before midnight." She rolled her eyes at all the
quirks involved in practicing magic.
"You see," Piper
continued, "It's still day back home. So we thought it would be
day here, too, and we'd just have to wait a few hours before we
could go back. But now..."
"I see what you mean." Chris
frowned thoughtfully. "And no wonder none of the stuff I tried did
any good. But why won't the spell you used to get here
work?"
"Well, we didn't just use a spell," Phoebe
grinned. "We got help from a friendly neighborhood vorlek. Before
we vanquished it, we were able to 'borrow' some of it's
dimensional-doorway-opening powers."
"I've never seen
Leo like that before," Paige mused. "Once he realized what
happened to you, Chris, he wouldn't rest until he tracked one of
those demons down."
"He wouldn't?" Chris asked,
sounding surprised, but pleased.
"Of course he wouldn't,"
Piper said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You're his son.
Nothing mattered to him but getting you home safe."
Chris
started to smile, but it quickly turned sour. "So, why didn't he
come here with you guys?"
"Give your dad a break, Chris,"
Paige said. "Someone had to stay home with Wyatt. And it couldn't
be Piper, because we need the Power of Three to..."
"Okay,
okay," Chris sighed, holding up his hands in surrender. "I get
it. Take it easy on the father figure, right?"
"Exactly."
Paige put her hands on her hips. "Anyway, what are we going to do
until tomorrow night."
"Well, this is a pretty nice place.
Waiting here until tomorrow night shouldn't be..."
"Uh,
guys," Phoebe said. "It looks like we have an audience."
The
four of them turned to look at Clark, surprised expressions on all
four faces. It seemed the three women had been too caught up in the
happy reunion to really notice him. And Chris had been so excited,
he'd forgotten he was even there.
"Clark," Chris said,
eyeing him somewhat warily.
Clark, for his part, was too
stunned to do anything but stare. All he'd seen, all he'd heard,
was spinning dizzily through his mind.
Finally, pulling his
thoughts together a little, he looked at Chris. "She's
your mom?" he asked, voice thick with disbelief. Then, he turned to
Piper. "He's your son?" He glanced at Phoebe. "Spells?"
Then, head shaking, he looked to Paige. "Demons?" Then, mouth
hanging open, he went back to staring.
"Uh oh," Chris
said, sounding worried. "I think we sent him over the edge."
Piper
sighed. "Yeah. Our family tends to have that effect on
people."
(TO BE CONTINUED)
