POTIONS II: TIME CHASER

CHAPTER FIVE

COMPLICATIONS

"Only a few more hours," Leah acknowledged, staring out into the horizon. Chris nodded as he stretched out.

"I can't wait to go home," He said.

"I can't wait to make sure you stay home," A.J. muttered. Dante hit him gently on the arm.

"Could you not be so rude?" He said, though his voice was light.

"You have learned your lesson about mixing potions, haven't you?" Leah asked, turning to Chris. It was the day the Gates would open again, and almost every minutes Leah was pounding things into Chris's head on how to behave like a much better witch.

"Of course I have. I don't want to risk losing my way of life ever again," Chris said.

"When you return home, your powers will return to you. You must be prepared for that shock," Leah warned.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey – my powers!"

"What about them?" Dante asked.

"I was able to orb, wasn't I?" Chris asked.

"Because I let you," Leah snapped.

Chris stared at her. "Since when can you control my powers?"

"Oh, Leah could always control whether your powers worked or not. As long as you two were in the same time slots, she has a bend over the laws of time. It's her gift for being the first Keeper," Keighlee explained.

"Okay," Chris said, trying to figure out if that made sense. It sort of did, so he decided to go along with it. "So, you never did tell me what was going on with that demon."

"What do you think was going on? To take a Keepers' powers is very rare. They had taken Keighlee and were going to steal hers. Demons are always after us for that," Leah said. Then she shook her head. "Of course we knew their weakness was water, though. Idiots. It was very fortunate that Keighlee insisted upon bringing those silly water holders."

Keighlee rolled her eyes. "Leah, they're called super soakers. I've told you that a gazillion times."

"And you'll need to tell me a few more, sister dear. I suppose we should probably make sure we are ready to open the gate when the time comes. It there anything we may need from this time before we move on?"

"Could I grab some souvenirs?" Chris asked.

Leah's look was an obvious 'no', and Chris frowned.

"I still don't understand why my spell to take me back wouldn't work," Chris said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Leah closed her eyes to rub them with great irritation. "At the moment, I refuse to even let you get close to a time portal without an escort, much less open a portal yourself. Its bad enough we're still going to have to send evil Leo off to his correct time line," She growled.

"Um, Leah! I think you spoke too soon," Dante said.

"Now what?" Leah asked. She turned around and peered out, surprise registering on her face when she realized that Evil Leo was just below on a horse.

"How the hell did he catch up with us, already!?" She demanded.

"Oh, that's not all," Keighlee said. She pointed a nervous finger to the side where a whole swarm of demons were descending upon the little town below them.

"This isn't our business!" Archimedes snapped. "Leah, we aren't supposed to become involved with the demons, and ever since this menace has been here, we've gone through hell and back again. Can we just get rid of him?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"Chris!" A dark voice called. Chris looked over to see evil Leo watching him. "There you are. Thought you could get away, did you? Do you like my friends?"

"Do you have the backpack!?" Chris asked.

"Of course," Leo replied.

"No he doesn't," A.J. whispered hastily to Chris. "He's lying. He got lost, and ended up following you to this time."

"How do we get rid of him?!" Chris snapped.

"Uh … I'm not at liberty to discuss that," A.J. said. Then he flashed Chris an innocent smile.

"Oh, you're hopeless!" Chris cried, pushing past him.

"Don't do anything rash, Chris," Leah warned, stepping in front of him.

"Out of my way. This is my fault, and I'm going to fix this," Chris replied.

"Your fault? No, this is your and Wyatt's fault," Leah said.

"Who?" Chris asked.

"Wyatt, your brother," Dante said. "The one you couldn't stop talking about."

Chris pulled away. "I don't have a brother," He said. "It's just me and my parents."

"So it's begun. Sooner than I thought it would," Leah said wisely.

"What are you talking about?" Chris asked.

"Wyatt vanished from time. Now he's vanishing from your mind," Archimedes explained.

"I don't remember anyone named Wyatt," Chris cried.

"Of course not! No one does, anymore. Except for us." Leah sighed, looking thoughtful. "Keighlee, open the portal and take care of Chris. The rest of you, follow me. We're going to take care of these demons."

"Leah, it's not our business!" Archimedes exclaimed.

"We'll take care of the demons," Leah growled.

The group quickly split up as Keighlee hastily began to chant. Several seconds later a large gateway appeared. Keighlee put her hand gently on Chris' arm.

"We need to go," She said softly, pushing it open.

"Keeper," a voice said threateningly behind them. Chris and Keighlee spun around to come face to face with a grotesque face.

"Oh boy," Keighlee squeaked. She leaned in closer to Chris. "Go in to the door," She whispered, "and get that back pack."

"What about you?" Chris asked.

"Uh, I don't think I can come right now," Keighlee said. The demon reached out and pulled her to him. "Go!"

Chris nodded his head frantically, and then ran through the gateway, causing it to disappear as it carried him away.

Leah ran up to Keighlee and pushed the demon off. "You let him get away!?" She cried.

"Well what else was I going to do!?" She snapped.

"I don't know, jump in with him!?"

"The demon had me!" Keighlee exclaimed.

Leah spun around and snapped a demon in the face, before turning back to Keighlee. "If you've messed this mission up …" She let the threat hang in the air as she turned back to the battle at hand. Shoulders slumped, Keighlee jumped back into the battle.

AN: And there you go, the next chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!!!