After work, Buck drove home to change clothes before he went to Eddie's house for dinner. He had already checked the route from his house to Eddie's so he wouldn't get lost and arrive late. His friend's house was in a part of town Buck had never been to before he'd met his new friend. It wouldn't make a good impression if he arrived late, and he wanted to make a good first impression on Eddie's brothers.
That was when IT happened. It started after Buck tried to phone his mother again, but there was no answer. Buck was worried that maybe something bad had happened to her. If her boyfriend had harmed her, he would make sure he got locked away for life. As he was thinking this, he was looking out the window at a bird (he couldn't identify what type it was) flying in the sky; what an easy life birds had - they could fly anywhere they pleased without having to pay for fuel or any other expenses. Life was a lot simpler for birds.
Then Buck felt himself moving fast toward the ground, as though he were shrinking. Then his arms started shrinking and changing shape. When his arms stopped changing, they started growing feathers. Buck gasped - what on earth was happening to him? He closed his eyes, hoping everything would get back to normal while he couldn't see what was happening. But when he did re-open them everything seemed a lot bigger - certainly not normal as he had hoped. "What the ?" he tried to say but all that came out was a noise that sounded like a bird's whistle. He looked at his arms - they were now brown wings; he realized that either he was dreaming or he had really become a bird. Buck flapped his wings and was flying, so he flew to the mirror and studied his reflection - he was definitely a bird, but this must be a weird dream. He wondered when he had fallen asleep - he hadn't felt tired. He wished he could wake up so everything was back to normal; and he could go to dinner at his friend's house.
Then, in an instant, he was back to being human. "I better wake up now or I'll be late." Buck tried to open his eyes properly, but they were already open. He pinched himself - he had to be dreaming. Buck started to panic - he couldn't wake up; and, just when things couldn't get any worse, his mother suddenly appeared in the room in a flash of yellow light.
"Mom? H-how did you get here?" asked Buck in shock. The man was shaking; weird things were going on which he couldn't explain.
"I came to tell you that I had to die to unbind your magic powers, so that you can track down and kill your father's murderer - before he kills more witches to steal their powers. I can't explain things very well - someone else will help you come to terms with the changes in your life from now on. I was allowed to come back as a ghost to say a final good-bye before I go to Heaven. Good-bye, Buck - I'll miss you." Bianca started to cry.
Buck found himself unable to speak - he couldn't comprehend a word of what the illusion that looked like his mom had said. He must still be dreaming - would this nightmare never end?
"Buck - magic really does exist in this world but it is hidden from humans," explained his mother through her tears - since her son was having trouble coming to terms with everything. "Your father had magical powers and, as his son, you inherited powers from his family line. Your particular powers are the same that your great-grandfather had and you will learn to control them in time. Use them to protect the people of this world from evil beings, Son. I must go now. Remember, I will always love you. Good-bye." After finishing talking, Buck's mother started to turn increasingly transparent until she had completely disappeared, leaving her son alone to come to terms with what she had told him - her exit was completely different from the way she'd entered the room.
Buck stared at where his mother had stood, shocked by what he'd just been told. He was finding things hard to believe, but maybe this was all real after all.
CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7
At the Potter house, Ezra had just driven home and walked in the front door, and had been greeted by a sombre Chris and Josiah. He wasn't usually greeted by both of them - so he knew something must be up. He followed the two men into the lounge to hear what they had to tell him.
"Son, we need to tell you of what we have learned today," started Josiah, putting his arm supportively on the younger man's shoulder. He had the feeling that being told that Buck's mom was probably going to die by the hands of good would disturb the younger brother.
"Ezra, we've found out that Mr. Wilmington Senior was killed because he was a witch and the demon that killed him did it to steal his powers," blurted out Chris, not wanting to slowly ease Ezra into the startling truth.
Ezra's mouth opened in shock, he had thought that Buck's father was an innocent human without any magic, so hearing that he had actually been a witch was a big shock to him. "Are you certain that your information is from a reliable source?" Maybe they were mistaken - Buck didn't look like he had been fathered by a magical being.
"The information came from our mother. Chris and Nathan were visited by her ghost when they were re-examining the murder scene at the campsite," answered Josiah. He realized that his younger brother had obviously not had any suspicions about why Wilmington Senior in particular had been targeted out of the whole group on the law-firm's camping trip. Josiah wondered why they'd never thought about why Wilmington Senior had been targeted - they might've learnt the truth sooner if they'd thought about it more.
"That would make Buck a...a..." stuttered Ezra in disbelief. He thought that he couldn't use his mind-control power on magical beings - especially not witches. Ezra walked over to a recliner and sunk down into it - he couldn't stand steady, listening to all these shocking revelations about his seemingly normal friend.
"A witch," said Chris, looking into Ezra's sparkling green-eyes - they always sparkled when the man was overcome with emotion. "Buck isn't a witch until he gets his powers though. If his mom dies, Buck will get his powers unbound and then the demon will be interested in him. The demon can only be vanquished by a magical relative of one of his victims. So Buck HAS to get his powers to vanquish him; but the only way for him to get his powers..."
Ezra interrupted, realizing what Chris was about to say, "...is for his mother to die. When his powers were bound, the only methods for them to become available for him were either if his father manually unbound them or his non-magical mother became deceased. Of course if a person is given magical powers they are destined to have them sooner or later and cannot deny their true destiny. So Buck must have his powers and if necessary, sooner rather than later."
"Well put, Son," complimented Josiah. The thing he most liked about Ezra, was how clever he was, often working out things faster than any of them could. The other brothers didn't give the young man enough credit.
"If his mother is already deceased it would rationalize why she wasn't reachable by her son earlier today," said Ezra. Without any explanation, Ezra stood up from his chair and rushed over to the wall-phone. He picked it up and started dialling.
"Who are you phoning?" demanded Chris, annoyed that Ezra had finished their conversation prematurely without an explanation.
Ezra ignored his older brother and waited for someone to answer on the number he had dialled. Finally a man's voice answered and Ezra spoke; "Hi Buck, is everything all right?"
"Eddie, he was right," came the shaky reply, partly answering Ezra's question - because Buck certainly didn't sound all right.
Ezra frowned in confusion. "Who was right and about what?"
"My mom's dead and your blond brother warned me that someone was going to kill a woman with long, brown hair related to me," explained Buck, trying to keep himself from crying at the loss of his mother.
"Chris?" asked Ezra, turning to face his brother. "You were in receipt of a premonition when you confronted Buck at the office and you failed to disclose it?"
"Oh, yeah - I forgot about that," said Chris, sounding embarrassed that he had forgotten to tell Ezra - he had meant to tell him the previous night, but he'd completely forgotten.
"Brother, failing to share your premonitions with us is dangerous; this time she was meant to die, but next time it could be someone we're supposed to protect," said Josiah sternly.
Ezra turned back to the phone, "Buck, are you still there?"
"Yes, just about," came the weak reply. "Something weird happened. I wouldn't just tell anyone about it, but I get the idea it's okay to tell you - I changed."
"Changed?" asked Ezra puzzled. "How did you change exactly?"
"I changed shape - into a bird."
"Oh. You HAVE received your powers then." Ezra realized that Buck's revelation verified that Mrs. Wilmington was really dead.
"That's not all though. My mom visited me as a ghost and told me that dad had magic powers and I do too. I can't believe it of course - it's like I'm in a nightmare and I can't wake up," said Buck, trying not to believe it.
"Stay where you are; I'll come and get you. It is best that you come here, and we will help you come to terms with your true destiny, now it has been revealed."
"What's going on?" asked JD curiously, as he walked into the room through the open door.
"I'll see you soon, Buck," said Ezra, finishing the call. Then he turned to JD.
"Is Buck okay?" asked JD, who'd been listening to Ezra's side of the phone-call from the stairs. It didn't make sense for Buck to be talking to Ezra on the phone when he was visiting them that evening, so something must be wrong.
"Has Master Dunne been notified of your acquired knowledge of the Wilmington heritage?" asked Ezra - it was bad enough that they hadn't explained about the Wilmington family to him until he arrived home. It might've made things better for Buck if Ezra had been aware of things earlier in the day.
"You mean that his father was a witch, and he's just received his powers because his mom's been killed, thus unbinding them for him?" asked JD with a smug smile.
"You already knew all that, Kid?" asked Chris in astonishment. JD wasn't psychic as far as he was aware.
"I did some research on the internet and made a few phone calls. I found out enough info. to piece things together," said JD with modesty, as usual showing off to the brothers how clever he was at working things out on his own.
"You could've told us." It was just like the kid to keep what he'd found out a secret until after they found things out the hard way.
"It could've made things more dangerous if I told you. Demons could've heard us talking, then they could've gone and killed his mom, then got him too. I had to keep it all a secret to protect him." It was hard to believe that he had been able to hack into top secret FBI records and find out enough to work out that the Wilmingtons were really witches.
"Ezra, I want you and Chris to blink to Buck's house and bring him straight back here; JD, you look in The Book for a demon that kills witches to steal their powers and find out how we can vanquish him. And I'll fill Nathan and Vin in on everything," said Josiah taking charge. As the oldest brother, he felt it was his job to organize things when there were innocents to protect and evil supernaturals to vanquish.
"There are a lot of demons who kill witches for that reason though," argued JD. "But if I can just write a spell..."
"Please be careful - I don't want you turning into a bug or something worse this time."
"I'll be extra careful - that was only because of the spell's wording."
Ezra cleared his throat loudly, to attract their attention. "I am perfectly capable of transporting to Mr. Wilmington's abode and retrieving him unaccompanied, Josiah," he said, not wishing to take a chaperone with him every time he blinked to somewhere.
"Ezra, if the demon is already there or appears after you get there, it will be safer if there are two capable witches against one capable demon," explained Josiah, angry at Ezra's defiance. He knew that the young man didn't like taking orders from anyone, but he had to co-operate otherwise someone could get hurt.
Ezra grabbed Chris's arm roughly, showing how annoyed he was at having to blink to Buck's house with his brother - HE could take care of himself if any demons tried to attack HIM.
"Brother, be gentle - I don't want you to cause harm to anyone you shouldn't because of your temper," commanded Josiah loudly; Ezra was really annoying him and it certainly wasn't a good time for that - they had work to do.
Ezra didn't answer Josiah; he just blinked out, taking Chris with him.
Josiah noticed that the youngest brother was still standing in the room, and had been watching Ezra and Chris before they left. "JD? There's no time to lose - we have to vanquish this demon before he has time to kill anyone else," instructed the oldest brother, trying to emphasize to the youngest how urgently they needed to get things sorted out.
"I'm sorry, Josiah. I'll go right now," apologized JD, before he walked out of the room towards the upstairs room where The Book was kept.
Josiah sighed 'Brothers - can't live with them, can't live without them.' he said to himself, before he walked to their garage where Vin and Nathan were talking while Vin was fixing up the motorcycle he'd recently bought for himself.
"Guys, I need to update you on our progress with Buck Wilmington," he started, then told them about the phone conversation Ezra just had with Buck and the plans for vanquishing the demon. Nathan had already told Vin about what Buck really was, so the two men only needed filling in on what further things had transpired since Ezra had arrived home from work.
To be continued...