It's been a while, but congrats if you can still remember what's going on, as I appear to be having trouble... Anyhoo I don't think I own this; I'll go check with my Mommy to see what she says... I'll get back to you on that one.
Chris, Ben, Bridget and Nixa were sitting around a round table in the Food Court in the mall. The ceiling was peaked into glass pyramids, and the sun shone in through them, dazzling anyone who looked up. The mall's omnipresent air-conditioning kept the whole place artificially cool, and fake ferns stood in faker pots around them. The food court housed a McDonalds, a chicken place, an Italian and a Dairy Queen. Bridget and Nixa had been to the latter while Chris and Ben had sodas.
Across from the food court there were escalators, one going up and one going down, flanked by yet more plastic plants. There was a usual array of shops, the Gap, (which was having a sale) a Radio Shack, an art gallery, a couple of record stores and many anonymous shoe stores. Imitation marble fountains tinkled throughout and sculptures that would have been better placed in a dentist's surgery dotted the (fake) marble floor.
"How many demons were there?"
"You mean before or after they called for reinforcements..."
"Both?"
"Well there were seven... And then there were four... Then there were twenty- four plus a leader..."
"Ouch..."
"They're all dead, though. Courtesy of some exploding potions and Ben being able to put them on ice,"
Bridget spooned the last of her cookie dough fudge mint chip into her mouth, "You still should have asked us to come, though..."
"We already told you, we couldn't have woken you up if we'd tried..." Bridget was now scraping the sides of the cup to get the last of it onto her spoon.
"Probably could have done with the extra firepower though, we ended up pushed down this pipe in the floor..."
Nixa snorted into her Oreo blizzard, "You what?"
"Hey, don't laugh,"
"How do you guys even survive without us?"
"Hey, we manage, we're witches, it's what we were born to do, right, Chris?"
Chris was looking into the distance at a group of people standing outside the Gap. In the centre of them sitting on a bench and surrounded by ex-high school jocks and ex-high school cheerleaders was a petite woman of about twenty with red and obviously highlighted hair.
"Hey, Chris, you've got no chance," Ben said with a grin, elbowing his arm and snapping him out of it.
"What?"
"Oh come on, that's Bianca Campbell, ex-head cheerleader, ex-high school slut... I think her status is now at college slut, actually..." Nixa mused, still eating Blizzard and surprising everyone, "What, I can't be bitchy now?"
"No, you're normally the sweet one,"
"Hmph, whatever,"
"What is she wearing? I mean you would have thought that when she could into college her outfits would have evolved for leather tramp chic but no, maybe not. What's she's wearing is barely there,"
"Ah, see, Bridget is like that all the time, Nix..." Chris was gazing back in her direction again and slowly Ben's eyes swivelled to follow suit.
"Oh, hey, when you two have put your eyes and tongues back in," Bridget snapped, clipping them both around the back of the head.
She got a collective "Ow!" and rolled her eyes.
"Oh please, you totally deserved that," She got up to leave so Nixa quickly finished her ice cream and Ben and Chris drained the last on their sodas as Bridget stalked down the escalator. They ran to catch up with her as she got off at the bottom, clutching her bag holding the new motorcycle boots she had wanted
"Hey, you shopped at Payless?" Bianca sneered as Bridget walked past. The Hunter went slightly red.
"Sorry, we can't all shop at whores 'r' us, Bianca," She retorted.
"What did you say to me?"
"You heard," Bridget turned to walk away, but Bianca grabbed a handful of her black hair and pulled.
Bridget gave a growl of indignation, before whirling round and shoving Bianca. The older girl's fingers clawed at her scalp, so Bridget punched her squarely with a right hook, the noise echoing enough to make people near them go quiet and watch.
"Don't touch me," Bridget spat, trying to fix her hair again.
"You bitch," Bianca said, breathing hard, her hand massaging her jaw. Bridget just gave her a hard look, put her nose in the air and began to walk off again. There was the sound of running heels from behind her, and then Bianca grabbed her around the waist and tackled her to the ground, sending her bag skidding across the tiles.
She grabbed another fistful of hair and pulled, but Bridget kicked her in the stomach and flipped up from the floor. Bianca got up as well.
"Come on then, you slut. You think you can take me?" Bridget asked, her eyes glinting.
"Bridget, no!" Chris yelled, running over and grabbing his friend's arm, trying to drag her away. Bianca chose that time to leap at her, but Chris smacked the hands that were aiming for Bridget's throat away, "No, we were just leaving... I said NO!" Chris yelled, making a grab for Bianca's arms as she tried to slap Bridget again.
One of her ex-jock friends lumbered up behind Chris and dragged him off, throwing him across the floor, "Don't touch her!"
"Look, I was trying to-" Bianca and Bridget ran for each other, clashing together and falling to the ground.
"So you can fight, then, you don't need some guy to protect you..." Bianca was now on top of Bridget, her hands entwined in her hair again.
"Let go of me, you stupid bitch!" She managed to kick Bianca off and nursed a bleeding lip, which was scratched from one of Bianca's talon-like nails. Both the girls got up, and found Chris in the middle of them again.
"Wait! Stop it!" Bianca shoved him aside and lunged back at Bridget, who grabbed the girl's arm and flipped her over. Her huge high school quarterback was back, and he drew back a fist and punched Chris in the face.
"I said don't touch her!"
"She touched me!" Chris yelled back, now on the floor.
In the watching crowd, Ben and Nixa exchanged looks and rolled their eyes, "Come on," Sighing they went to the aid of their friends.
Bridget and Bianca were now interlocked, each trying to push the other to the floor. Bianca had three scratches down her cheek, and Bridget's lip and nose were bleeding.
"Bridget, come on, stop it..." Nixa pleaded, trying to separate the fray, "You're better than this..." Her reward was a sharp, misaimed slap from one of the two that snapped her head to one side and left a handprint on her face.
"Dude, chill, he wasn't hurting her; he was trying to stop the fight..." Ben told the ex-football player, "That's all..." An ugly purple bruise was rising around Chris's eye. "Calm down, ok?" He grabbed Ben by the shirt and slammed the younger guy into the wall.
"Stay out of this," He slammed Ben backward again, and the brunette grunted in pain "Got that?" He smashed Ben back into the wall again, "Got that?"
"Ok, fine, you want to play it this way?" Ben was about to ice an important and unseen asset of the ex-jock's but Chris got their first with a roundhouse kick that sent the guy flying so far he smashed through a plate glass window and trashed the manikins on display in The Gap.
"Nice concealment of your powers there, Chris..." Ben chided and the guy got up, dazed, with a ladies' sunhat on his face.
"Whatever," They looked over to where the catfight was still going on, and at Nixa frantically trying to separate them. A jeering crowd now surrounded them.
"Someone's gonna call those mall rent-a-cops soon..." Ben said as they made their way over to the warring females. As they fought their way through the crowd, the two gave a mighty lurch that that sent them sideways into a table. The plastic legs buckled and then snapped, sending them back onto the floor again, slightly winded from the impact.
Chris grabbed Bridget's upper arm and hauled her to her feet, "Come on, Bridget, she's not worth it," He could feel Bridget's heart pounding even through her arm; he could hear her ragged breathing and see her chest heave under a torn and dirty top.
Ben made a grab for Bianca just as she moved towards Bridget, grabbing her wrist and spinning her round with her own momentum. She slapped him hard across the face and he let go.
"Don't you do that to him!" Bridget shrieked, struggling against Chris.
"No," Nixa said firmly, thrusting Bridget's bag into her friend's chest, "We're leaving,"
"Ok..." Bridget said sulkily, glaring at Bridget. "What the matter?" Bianca said, and sniffed blood back up her nose, "Can't finish me?" Bridget growled again, slipping out of Chris' grasp. She lunged from Bianca, her hands wrapping around the older girl's throat before they both tumbled backwards and landed with a splash in one of the chintzy fake marble fountains.
Bridget's three friends ran over to the water feature, where the opponents both kicked up a spray trying to get at each other, but mall security wrenched them out of the water and held them. They were both dripping with dark hair plastered to their faces, shooting each other death glares and breathing heavily, various wounds bleeding and swelling.
"I'm afraid we're going to have to escort you from the building," The rent- a-cop told them.
"Fine, let me get my stuff..." Bianca stalked over to where a fellow cheerleader was sitting, leaving the security guard behind.
"You could have taken her, B," She assured her.
"It's witches," Bianca said through gritted teeth, "Witches always turn up at the wrong times... I could have had her, the little bitch..." Flipping wet hair out of her face she marched loftily through a set of sliding double doors, onto the street and out of sight.
"If I tell my Mom I got into a fight at the mall she'll never let me go again," Chris grumbled, gingerly pressing the swelling round his eye.
Bridget had gone home to get changed. They couldn't help but feel she was annoyed at the way they had stepped in and tried to stop the fight, but they shrugged it off.
"Listen, I have to baby-sit my cousins," Nixa said, pulling a face, "Two biggest child terrors on the face of this Earth... I'll see you later, ok?" She walked out of the Manor's driveway and off down Prescott Street.
"You and me, then?"
"Sure, but I have to go back for lunch," Chris used his key to unlock the front door and they both went through into the entryway.
"Mom! I'm home!" Silence, except for the clock ticking, a lawnmower buzzing outside and a car rumbling past. "Mom?" Chris turned to Ben, green eyes starting to fill with panic, "She's not here, they're not here..."
"Well... Ok, you go put some ice on your eye, I'll go and find a crystal in the attic, ok?"
"I'll meet you there,"
When Chris came up to the attic, he had some ice wrapped in a washcloth over his eye and he found Ben scrying.
"Found them?"
"Give me a chance... The crystal was in the middle of this forest here when I came up here, but if they're still there it's not landing there..."
"Come on, I'm related..." Chris said, taking the crystal off of Ben, "Let's see if I can find them, yes?"
Ben just shrugged, "Ok, fine. Just call me if you find them, or if you need me. Don't go off on your own, ok? I gotta go for this lunch thing with my Aunt..."
"Will do," Ben left the attic as the crystal span in ever-widening circles, having a prism-like affect on the sunlight and fracturing it into a wavering rainbow on the wall.
Pixie Wildfire: - :), just :)
Claddagh Ring: - Oh... I just read the date on your review and nearly died, I've just spent nearly a fortnight without updating... Oh dear... I got the jitters last time I tried to get off caffeine... Someone else said that, about Ben, that is, and I never realized that I somehow managed to model him on me... Lol, odd, huh?
Flephanie: - Not so much finding out about where they went in this chapter... But yeah... sorry about that, and thanks for reviewing.
Aldrea7: - Gah, this one took just as long... I don't know what's with me lately... Anyway thanks for sticking with this ad reviewing.
Chattypandagurl: - Lol, yeah, it's a teenage rebellion.
HollyShadow: - Thanks! Again less with the finding out about the family in this chapter but yeah...
Charmed Amber: - I'm not quite homework free, but there's a lot of homework I can just skip... Gloss it over; if I can't see it it's not there! (There's an old joke about Denial and river in Egypt but I've never got that, so...)
Willows2: - Halliwells rule, I would have no fics without them. I like series, although it must be one of the many I've done... Will shut up now because I think that I'm psycho babbling so yeah... bye...
Dominique1: - Lol, your review made me laugh. Lol, I like them too. Yes, grumpy people, so much like me... Oh well... Lol, thanks for reviewing.
Taynna: - Well that chapter would have been all different without you, so yeah... You deserve credit. Thanks for reviewing!
Random insane person: - It's ok; I forgot half the plot too... Oh, wait, I'm the author, I'm supposed to remember the plot... Meh, whatcha gonna do...?
NoAlias: - I didn't abandon it, writing got pushed to a back burner... And then someone blew the gas out... So I suffocated... But yeah, someone opened the window and I REVIVED! Bet you're sorry, huh?
cherry7up56: - Well seeing as I never update when I should I don't mind you being late...
Thanks for all of your reviews, sorry for not updating.
Twisted Flame