Disclaimer: I don't own anything, just me, myself, and my sick, twisted mind. Drew is a part of the last one!!
"Don't go up there," Wyatt ordered.
"Why?" Chris pressed.
Wyatt gave a glare. "Don't you remember? The bounty-hunter! The one that's after you!"
Chris glared back. He had forgotten. Was that such a crime? Besides, what did that have to do with...Wait. The demon—it was in the attic with Mel!
"Mom! Dad!" Wyatt called loudly. He nodded at Chris and orbed to the attic.
"What's going on?" asked Piper, halfway up the stairs.
"Demon, in the attic," Chris explained.
"It's the bounty-hunter!" Wyatt screamed.
"Damn it, we haven't finished the potion yet," Phoebe swore, following Piper. It was apparent that Leo had already orbed to the attic because he orbed in next to Chris with Mel in his arms and orbed them both away.
"The sisters will take care of it," Leo assured him.
"What about Wyatt?" asked Chris.
"He'll be fine. Don't worry."
Chris looked around him and suddenly felt very nervous. It was obviously a part of the Magic School, the fancy upholstery was all he needed to see to know what it was. His stomach lurched. The telepath—Phil—was in the corner of the room, engrossed in a book.
"I'm going to take Mel to the nursery. You wait here, okay?"
Chris nodded. Leo took the rather shaken Mel by the hand and led her down a corridor. Chris couldn't help but feel very much alone with Phil in the room...what if telepathy wasn't his only power?
Phil scoffed. "I'm not going to hurt you, you know." He looked up from the book. "Too many witnesses."
"But there aren't—"
"There will be. Three...Two..."
The doors came slamming open. Before Chris even saw the face of the person, he ducked by instinct under the table. He didn't feel safe in this place, not one bit. Whoever was coming in couldn't be any safer.
"I will not tolerate it," the voice boomed. "They cannot use the nursery as a safe house. I will not tolerate it!"
"Gideon, sir," said a feeble voice, "they are the Charmed Ones. Their children are constantly in danger. If you just tried to..."
"Sigmund, be quiet!" The voice took in a calming breath. "Phil, how nice to see you..." he said sweetly once he realized the boy was in the room. "Wait—there's someone else in here, isn't there?"
Chris held his breath. Phil was going to tell this man he was here. For all he knew, Gideon could be an elder—the very people he was supposed to be hiding from. Along with the pesky bounty-hunter.
His mind raced. What to do, what to do? A thought came to his head and he whispered, "Trick their eyes/ I am not here/ Tell them lies/ I disappear."
Gideon's suspicious look seemed to fade away.
"Nope. Just me," Phil lied.
Chris was shocked. He thought he was a goner, but Phil just basically saved his life.
"Very well," Gideon said. "Must have been a false alarm. I don't sense anything anymore."
The doors swung open and a very flustered looking Leo rushed in. "G-Gideon—nice to see you," he said in a strained voice.
Gideon cocked an eyebrow. "Same to you, Leo," he replied curtly. "What's going on at the manor?"
"Demon attack. The sisters and Wyatt are taking care of it, but they told me to drop off Mel. She's so little and all..."
"I see," he interrupted, though it was clear he was feeling quite the opposite way. "Come back for her when you feel it's safe, then."
"I will."
Leo watched as Sigmund and Gideon left the room and waited until the sounds of their footsteps could no longer be heard. "Chris? Chris, where are you?" he asked in a panic.
Chris got up from under the table. "They were elders, weren't they?"
"Thank god—yes, they were elders, but they weren't supposed to be here! There was a teacher's meeting today, I'd assumed..." He paused. "Well, I didn't think they'd be coming here. How'd you know they were elders?"
"Weird vibes came off of them."
"But...why didn't Gideon find you?" Leo wondered. "He's an elder. He can sense."
"He cast a spell," said Phil, still not bothering to look up from his book. "I suggest you two leave, as other teachers may be following the two of them."
Leo gawked at the kid, mouth agape. "Telepath," he murmured in realization. "Thanks."
"Yeah, thanks," said Chris gratefully. But he meant his thanks for covering for him when those elders came along. Leo orbed them back to the manor, still mumbling his apologies to Chris though Chris wasn't listening anymore.
"It's safe," said Piper in relief, seeing them orb into the kitchen.
"Is Mel okay?" asked Phoebe, following her downstairs with Wyatt and Paige.
"Yeah, she's fine, but I just did the stupidest thing..." Leo said, hanging his head down. "Gideon and Sigmund almost found Chris. I left him alone for five or so minutes in plain view in the library—I can't believe how stupid that was—"
"Did anybody see him?" asked Piper urgently.
"Just Phil," said Chris. Wyatt was motioning from behind Paige's back to go upstairs with him, so Chris looked up at the adults one last time and followed his brother up the stairs.
"Just Phil? That kid was in the library?!" Paige demanded.
"Yeah...and apparently so were Gideon and Sigmund."
"Why didn't they find him? Gideon's one of the most powerful elders there are! He should've been able to sense Chris," Phoebe said, confused.
"Phil was there. He said that Chris cast a spell. I didn't teach him to do that."
"Neither did I," said Piper, looking over at her sisters expectantly. They merely shrugged their shoulders—neither of them had, either.
"Wiccan instincts?" Paige guessed.
"That kid is powerful."
"Oh, damn, there's still that meeting going on. I had to leave to fight the demon. I'm so late!" Paige exclaimed.
"Can you pick up Mel and drop her off here on your way?" asked Phoebe.
"Sure." Paige orbed up and was back down an instant later. "See ya, Mel," she said to her niece, orbing again.
"Bye-bye Aunt Paige," she giggled. Apparently the daycare teacher had worked wonders, because it seemed that she forgot all about the demon.
"Time to go home, honey," Phoebe announced, taking her daughter's hand. "Bye Piper, bye Leo. See you soon."
"Bye, Pheebs." Piper paused, sighing as the door closed. "Even after all these years, it seems weird to have the manor all to myself, you know?"
"Yeah," said Leo distantly. "I know."
"Was it the bounty-hunter?" asked Chris the instant they were out of earshot from the adults downstairs.
Wyatt nodded.
"And you...vanquished him?" Chris asked hopefully.
Wyatt sighed. "No. But we did hurt him pretty badly. I have the feeling that he's not coming back anytime soon."
"Well, that's good," said Chris, flopping onto the bed beside Wyatt's. "I don't understand why those stupid elders hate me so much."
"It stinks," Wyatt agreed. "You'd think they'd be after me, since the whole being-evil-in-a-past-life thing, but no—they go after the kid who's basically the reincarnation of the hero. It makes no sense. And now you have to hide, even though you did nothing wrong...." Wyatt hushed his voice. "But they're not all wrong. Some of it's right. I mean, in the last time I was supposed to be more powerful than you. But in this time..."
"I know. And I won't become evil."
"I know," Wyatt assured him, "but still. It's stupid. Just plain stupid. I mean, they took you away from us when you were just a baby—you were an innocent!"
"A what?"
"An innocent. That's what we call the people we save—we save them because they're innocent."
"Oh." Chris ran a finger through his hair. "This whole witch thing is confusing."
There was a significant pause in the room, both brothers thinking in their own little world. Suddenly they both piped up, "I have an idea!"
"You go first," said Wyatt.
"No, you," Chris insisted, "mine probably won't work. I don't know what magic can and can't do yet."
"Okay." Wyatt took in a deep breath. "Well, the Chris from the other time died, right? I was figuring that we could..."
"...summon him from the dead," Chris finished.
"Exactly," said Wyatt with a grin. "You catch on pretty fast."
"Thank you. So, what do we need to do?"
"Go to the attic first. I'll orb you so Mom and Dad don't hear us leave." Wyatt took Chris' hand and orbed them both by the podium. "Then you set up all these candles like this and come up with a spell. Let me think...Hear my words, hear my rhyme—"
"Spirit from the other side," Chris interjected. Wyatt grinned.
"Come to us, we summon thee..." Wyatt added.
"The man that I would someday be," Chris finished.
A gust of wind swished through the room and both boys had to balance themselves on the podium to keep from blowing away.
More cookies!! Lol. Thank you to all who have filled my virtual stomach with yummy nonexistent treats!! YOU ALL ROCK!! Lol!
