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)