AN: Okay, I WILL update more often! I'm so sorry, guys.

POTIONS II: TIME CHASER

CHAPTER THREE

THE OTHERS

The girl tucked her guns into her belt, and then held out her hand to Chris. "Welcome to St. Burg," She said.

Chris tentatively took the girl's hand and shook it lightly. "Uhh … who are you?" He asked.

"Leah Jeany. This is Keighlee Marcus, Archimedes Joseph Pantangalo, Dante Crestin, and A.J. Tucker," She said, gesturing to the other kids behind her.

Keighlee Marcus had short yellow hair billowing gently in the wind. She wore brown slacks and a loose black shirt. A beige trench coat, old black leather boots, and a cowboy hat wrapped around her neck added to the old west look. A small smile was playing on her light skinned face, and her bright blue eyes drew quick attention. Her hands were thrust into her coat's pocket, and she rocked back and forth on her heels with boredom. At an estimated look, she seemed to be around fourteen or fifteen. She was the one who had been captured by the demon.

Archimedes Joseph Pantangalo - the boy with the lasso - was evaluating Chris with a calculated look. He had perfectly strait black hair; drooping just a little past his ears. He was light skinned, and had a slightly darker eye color than Keighlee. He was dressed in a brown poncho with dark brown pants and old boots, his lasso now lying aside at his feet. He seemed to be sixteen or seventeen.

The two other boys Leah had mentioned were the red head who had filled up the container - A.J. - and the dark haired boy who had appeared out of nowhere – Dante. A.J. was probably ten, and Dante was eleven. A.J. had fiery red curls surrounding his face, and he seemed to be in need of a hair cut. Much to Chris's surprise, he was wearing jeans and sneakers, a bright red t-shirt under a blue jean jacket. Dante was dressed in black slacks, with a buttoned up grey trench coat. He had wavy dark brown hair with a cowboy hat on his head, and – unlike the others – had a tanned skin tone. The two boys were whispering to each other, and gesturing at either Chris or Archimedes every now and then.

Leah was dressed quite similar to Keighlee, only she was dressed all in brown. She didn't try to conceal the guns on her belt, like the others did. Her cowboy hat was tipped to shield her eyes from the harsh sun. She had tumbling oak-brown curls falling halfway down her back.

"I'm confused," Chris finally said.

"Of course you are," Leah replied as if it were obvious.

"It's you kids again!" A voice snapped from behind them. Everyone looked with panic at Joe on his horseback. Once they realized it was Joe, though, scowls filled every face but Chris's.

"Yeah, it's us," Keighlee snapped. "What cha gonna try and put us away for this time?"

"How about disrupting the peace? I told y'all to stay away from these parts. Yer causin' too much trouble here," Joe replied.

Leah narrowed her eyes. "Trouble? Us?" She turned to Chris. "Were we causing any trouble, sir?"

"Uh …" Chris grinned when he saw Leah wink. "No, Joe. There were some coyotes around and these kids were chasing them away."

Joe shielded his eyes. "Chris? That you? Come here." Chris did as he was asked and stepped forward. "Boy, how did you get over here so quickly?"

"I ran. I'm a very good runner," Chris lied quickly. "Hey listen, I was supposed to meet up with these guys before I could move on, and since I found them, I'm going to be heading out."

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Chris. These kids have been causing all sorts of trouble since they got here three weeks ago. Maybe you shouldn't be mixing with them," Joe advised.

"Nah, I think they're okay," Chris said, glancing back at them.

"Well, alright. Be careful, then," Joe warned.

"I will," Chris promised.

Joe took one more hesitating glance back at the group in front of him, and then rode off to inform the citizens of what had happened. Chris walked back to the little group.

"I don't know who you guys are, but please tell me you can help me get back home," Chris said.

"Listen here, buddy," Keighlee started.

Leah held up her head to silence her. It was obvious she was the leader of the group. "Of course we can take you back. At a price."

Chris narrowed his eyes. "What sort of price?"

"You have to promise you won't be doing any more time travel. You've been overthrowing the balance in every time, and everything's getting hectic."

"What!?" Chris demanded. He looked at the cold stares from the others.

"You heard me," Leah said. Then she pulled off her coat and hat and stuffed them into a bag before climbing up on a horse. Then she helped Keighlee on, as well. She brought the horse back around. "Now here's how things are going to work. We can't open up the gates until two nights from now."

"What gates?" Chris demanded while A.J. and Dante jumped up on another horse, and Archimedes got his own. "Who are you people?"

"If you would stop interrupting me," Leah snapped. "Maybe I could tell you. You'll be sharing horses with Archimedes."

"Why can't we just orb? You do know what orbing is, don't you?"

"That thing you did when you showed up?" A.J. asked.

Leah glared at him, seeming to tell him to shut up. "You know very well what orbing is, Aaron-Jacob Tucker," She scolded.

"You said you were going to stop calling me that!" A.J. cried.

"Could you not start an argument? For once?" Keighlee demanded with annoyance.

"Yeah, you guys are annoying. Leah, could we please take the orbing? Wouldn't it be a lot quicker?" Dante whined.

"We are not orbing. Master Halliwell has to learn his lesson – he can't use magic. It was the same reason … Never mind that. Let's head out," Leah said, now tight lipped.

Chris blinked. "Wait, how did you know my name!?" He demanded, his mind too stuck on everything that had just happened, to ask himself why his power of orbing had worked, and TK hadn't when he was in the future.

"Chris, get on the horse," Leah snapped.

Chris stared at her for a minute, and then shuffled towards the horse where Archimedes was with a scowl. She had seemed so nice before. The other boy hauled him up without a word, and they began to ride off.