Okay, I'm done sounding desperate; let's get on with the story!
The Vacation's Over
Phoebe was silently floating over the large boulder in the haven that she'd found in the forest. Ever since she had discovered it, she would come down here before sunrise and meditate until the sum came up between the two large hills in the distance. This little ritual of hers was beginning to annoy Brennan, as he would wake up to an empty bed each morning, but she figured it was better this way because if they wanted to stay a secret, it was better that she was out of his room before anyone else realised she had been there. A thin smile played on Phoebe's lips, as she sensed a familiar presence approaching.
'How many times do I have to tell you,' she opened her eyes to look at Brennan 'You can never sneak up on me,'
Brennan stopped and grinned at her 'You won't admit it, but I almost got you that time,'
'I you had, I would have lost my concentration and fell into the water,' she retorted with a saucy smile.
'I would enjoy that, because not only would I have proven that you can be sneaked up on, you'd be all wet and you'd have to cuddle up to me for warmth,'
'Hmm… the second part sound nice…' she slowly descended to stand next to him, only stumbling slightly when she landed.
'Hey,' she whispered and planted a kiss on his lips.
'Mmm… as much as I'm enjoying this, Jesse called, he said he needed us back. Now.'
'Wow, Lexa drove him insane this quickly? I would have thought he would hold out for at least another week,' Phoebe joked.
'Well, we only had two days left anyway, so what's the difference?' he put his arms around her waist.
'I guess so,' Phoebe rested her head on his chest as he pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair.
'C'mon, we need to go back to the house and pack,' they walked back hand in hand, enjoying the beautiful scenery of the forest, until Phoebe began to feel sick.
'You okay?' Brennan asked her, his voice filled with concern
'Uh… yeah, I just moved too fast, go on, I'll catch up,' she assured him.
Brennan nodded and began to walk again. Once she was sure he was out of sight, Phoebe ran behind a tree and threw up her breakfast. She had been feeling nauseous since yesterday, that had been the main reason she couldn't stand the smell of the delicious spread that Julie Mulwray had prepared for dinner last night.
She decided that she shouldn't move about so much, as she had felt better when she was meditating and staying still. Phoebe made a mental note for Jesse to check her out when they got home, and hoped it was nothing serious.
Nelle was helping pack, out of all the Mulwray sisters, Nelle had been the one Phoebe had bonded with the most. She allowed Phoebe to use her forest haven and she had also been a good person to talk to. Phoebe had spent many a night on the porch with all three sisters just chatting about anything!
Phoebe was sitting down on the bed folding everything, as getting up and emptying drawers would qualify as moving and could make her ill.
'You okay?' Nelle asked her, noticing that she was a little off today
'What? Oh… yeah! I'm fine!' Phoebe went back to folding the last of her tops.
Brennan walked in, with his bag slung over his shoulder, knowing, he had probably just threw everything into a bag and called that packing. He told them that he would be waiting in the car and left the room.
'Pheebs, are you sure you're okay?' Nelle asked again
'Nelle, trust me, I'm fine,' Phoebe replied with a weak smile.
Phoebe was saying her goodbyes to all the family members, she had already said farewell to all the children, who were sad to see her go.
She moved towards Ally, who greeted her with a hug.
'Thanks for looking after my wreck of a brother!' she said jokingly
'No problem!' Phoebe laughed back.
Sandra was next, she had helped Phoebe when they had been working on the farm and with the horses 'If you're ever bored, we could always use more help!' she replied
'I'll that in mind!' Phoebe laughed
'Hope you have a safe trip,' Nelle said as she hugged Phoebe.
'Thanks, for everything,' Phoebe replied
She went over to Brennan's mom, who greeted her with a smile and wrapped her arms around Phoebe.
'If he breaks your heart, you me know and I'll kick his ass,' Julie whispered into her ear.
Phoebe's eyes widened 'How did you…'
'Mother's know,' she tapped her nose with her index finger.
Phoebe smiled 'Thank you for opening your home to me,'
She clambered into the truck and waved at the Mulwrays before they disappeared from sight and they left the ranch. Phoebe huddled closer to Brennan as they were leaving, he put his arm around her and continued to drive along the dirt path to reach the long, straight road was took them home.
They stopped at the same gas station that they had stopped at on the way, Phoebe had been staying completely still, so it was only natural that she ended up falling asleep. Brennan gently shook her from her sleep to ask her if she wanted anything from the small shop.
'Uh… could you get me a bottle of water? And I think I have some anti-acid in my bag in the back, could you get that for me? My stomach's still not right,'
'You feeling okay?' he put his hand to her forehead
'I'm fine, just got an upset stomach, don't worry,' she smiled and gave him a light kiss on the lips.
He nodded, but was still unsure if she was telling the truth as he walked away. Phoebe sat up in the seat of the car with the packet of anti-acid in her hand, she didn't want to worry Brennan, but ever since she had had that premonition, she constantly felt light headed.
Brennan came back, after paying for the water and the gas. He climbed back into the truck and gave her an unsure look.
'You would tell me if something was wrong, wouldn't you?' he asked her
Phoebe sighed 'Of course I would, can I have that water?' she outstretched her hand, taking the plastic bottle from him.
They were back on the road, Phoebe had been silent for the rest of the trip, she was curled up in a ball and had her head leaning on the side window. Brennan would give her side-glances now and again; she was hiding something from him, but what?
Phoebe was silently trying to fight off the headache that had grown even worse, but thankfully, the nausea had lessened and all she had was a throbbing migraine. She had tried of sleep it off, but when she awoke it was still there and it was getting worse. Suddenly, the migraine disappeared, Phoebe an escalating feeling in her heart and she recognised this as the start of a premonition. She closed her eyes, preparing for the vision, but it never came, and the thing that was even stranger was that even though she didn't see anything, she knew what was going to happen.
'Brace yourself,' she said.
'What?' Brennan turned to look at her, but just as he did, there was an impact on his side of the car, which caused the engine to catch fire. Brennan was knocked out by the blast and Phoebe quickly pulled him out of the car to avoid the explosion. Brennan was bleeding badly from his head as Phoebe set him down on the desolate road. She looked around for their attacker, and was shocked when she revealed herself. It was a woman, same height as Phoebe, same hair colour as Phoebe, actually this was Phoebe!
'Don't you hate when a pyrokinetic evil witch attacks you on the road?' she smirked and played with the fire in her hand.
'Who are you?' Phoebe demanded
'Oh, haven't you guessed yet? I'm you! Well… the opposite of you, a better version of you,' the counterpart charged up a psionic blast and fired. Phoebe retaliated with the same power and both attacks met in the middle of the battleground, which caused a shockwave and sent both women to the ground.
'We may draw when it comes to our psionic blasts, but since your premonitions are the opposite of my fire power, I doubt they'll help against this!' the woman threw a large shot of fire at Phoebe, who rolled out the way. She instantly regretted her dodge as her nausea came back and she began to sway.
'Heh… this is gonna be easier then I thought,' the counterpart threw another barrage of flames, intending to finish Phoebe off. Phoebe realised that she was finished at closed her eyes and waited for the burning sensation to begin, but it never did.
She opened her eyes to find that some sort of electrical shield was impeding the fire! She could tell that her counterpart was just as surprised as she was. Phoebe looked over to Brennan, to see if he had caused it, but he was still unconscious. The fire subsided and the shield slowly shrank into nothing, leaving Phoebe open to attack. The woman prepared to fire again, but Phoebe took the initiative and ran at the woman, levitating and delivering a lethal front turn kick to her face.
'I'm not done yet…' the woman groaned, she fired another psi blast, which sent Phoebe flying. The counterpart kept her distance from Phoebe as she blasted more fire at her.
'That shield may have protected you the first time! But I bet you don't know how to use it again!' she shouted over the crackle of the flames.
Unfortunately, she was right, the shield never erected again, Phoebe put up her hands in a futile attempt of defence, but as she put her hands up, two massive bolts of electricity flew from her hands and diffused the oncoming fire and delivered serious damage to the woman.
Evil Phoebe decided she had had enough punishment for one day; she drank a potion and disappeared from sight. Phoebe looked down at her now shaky hands, where had that power surge come from? She realised she didn't have time to ponder as Brennan was still hurt.
She run over to him, it was like this was a bad dream, he was dying and she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't use the revival spell again, as one person could only use it once. There was a haze of bright lights, they began forming in front of her and becoming the shape of a person, Phoebe was convinced that it was orbs, which could only mean a white lighter! Phoebe couldn't make out the persons face because of the darkness, but as the healing took effect, the glow from his hands illuminated his face, Phoebe gasped.
'Andy!?' she exclaimed
The white lighter looked up and his eyes widened 'Phoebe!? What are you doing here!?'
Before she could speak, there was a gasp from Brennan, indicating that he was awake.
The three stood around each other next to the burning wreck on Brennan's truck as questions began to fly.
'Phoebe, why are you here? Shouldn't you be with your sisters?'
'I took a break from the Charmed destiny, what about you? You shouldn't even be alive!' Phoebe exclaimed
'Isn't it obvious? They made me a white lighter! Something to do with sacrificing myself to save you and your sisters, and the reason I'm here is because they give me 4 new charges and told me that one of the them needed my help,'
'4? Oh… wait a minute, do you think the other two are…' Phoebe looked to Brennan
'Lexa and Jesse. No doubt about it,' Brennan replied
'But that doesn't make any sense! How did they find them?' Phoebe turned to Andy now
'Actually, the Elders didn't know about their existence until a couple of days ago, there was a surge of power which is usually caused by a spell,'
'But Lex and Jess can't cast spells! That's the main reason they've managed to stay under the radar for so long!' Phoebe replied 'You know, let's settle this now, orb us home,'
'I don't think that will work, I cloaked Sanctuary, remember? He won't be able to find it,' Brennan spoke up
'But we know where it is! We'll guide him, c'mon!' she took Andy's and Brennan's hands and encouraged him to orb faster.
'When are Pheebs and Bren supposed to get back?' Lexa asked her teammate, she had barely left Jesse's side after losing Marty and was afraid of losing another person close to her heart.
'They should be here in the early hours of the morning. Relax! They'll be fine!' Jesse assured her. Both were sitting around the computers, after finding out that Gabriel Ashlocke was alive, they had been researching the internet, magical books that were lying around, they were even using their new spell power to help.
'Oh! I think I found something! There was a witch 300 years ago named Melinda Warren, she could move objects with her mind, see the future and stop time. Before Melinda was burned at the stake, she vowed that each generation of Warren witches would become stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of three sisters. These sisters would be the most powerful witches the world has ever known and would be known and feared by evil as the Charmed Ones…' Lexa trailed off as she looked up from the book.
'What's wrong?' Jesse enquired
'It's just that… I've seen this symbol before, on the front of Phoebe's dairy,' Lexa pointed to the symbol of a circle and three points meeting in the middle if the circle.
'That's all? Maybe Phoebe's just a fan of the Charmed Ones,' Jesse mocked
'And there's something that Brennan said…' She replied
'What are you doing?' Lexa asked
'I'm updating the powers section on Phoebe's file,'
'I think we have everything, let's see, levitation, telepathy, empathy, and the ability to create and use a psionic blast, what do you think we're missing?'
'Telekinesis, Temporal Stasis or Clairvoyance, she has one of these powers, I'm just trying to figure out what one,'
'What makes you think she has one of them?'
Brennan looked at her; he looked as if he was going to tell her something, but then stopped 'Nothing, never mind…' he shut down the program and walked away.
'Oh my God…' Lexa breathed 'That would explain why she's so powerful…'
'I'm trying to catch on here, Lex, but I'm having a bit of trouble,'
'Don't you see? She's Charmed! Phoebe is a Charmed One!'
'I… was gonna tell you guys…'
Lexa and Jesse spun round to see Phoebe standing with Brennan and another man. Phoebe walked over to them and looked at the book.
'By the way, my power is to see into the future,' she said simply.
Lexa shook herself 'We'll talk about this later, but right now, we have a problem,'
'And a white lighter,' Brennan mumbled
'Bren,' Jesse began 'I've got two words for you, Gabriel, Ashlocke,'
Brennan's eyes widened as he heard the super mutants name 'Who's he?' Phoebe asked.
'Patient Zero,' Lexa informed her 'The first child of Genomex, they were still experimenting with witch genes at the time and they made him too powerful, and add super powers to a sociopath and it's not a good mix,'
'We killed him once before, but he's somehow alive again,' Jesse finished
Phoebe turned round to look at Andy 'Do you think evil me had anything to do with this?'
Andy folded his arms 'Maybe, but reviving evil beings is a lot harder than reviving good beings. If your counterpart was behind it, she would need more power…' his voice trailed off and he looked into space.
'What?' Phoebe asked.
'I was just thinking… if you have a counterpart, maybe your sisters do too,'
Phoebe nodded and was about to say something when her nausea hit her again, but she tried to cover up and ask her question, until Lexa cracked.
'Okay! This is too much to handle in one night! Why don't we talk about everything tomorrow? But first, who the hell are you?' she stared at Andy.
'Uh… I'm a white lighter; I'm like… a guardian angel for witches. A higher power located you and Jesse when you started to cast spells,'
Jesse gave him a confused look 'How do we now we can trust you?'
Phoebe stepped in 'Because not only did he save Brennan's life, but I know him, and I trust him completely… wait a minute, you guys cast a spell!?'
Lexa sighed 'See? This is what I mean! There's too much to talk about in one night! I think we should discuss this in the morning when we're not all tired,'
'I think you're right,' Brennan spoke 'There's so many things that need explaining, we need to rest if we're gonna take it all in,'
'Okay then, Good night!' Lexa stormed off to her room and slammed the door.
'What's up with her?' Phoebe asked
Jesse sighed 'I'll explain tomorrow,'
The sounds of a toilet flushing could be heard form the adjoining bathroom of Phoebe's bedroom. She had felt like this all yesterday and today and she didn't feel any better even though she was home. She kept thinking about the powers she used when fighting her counterpart, they had definitely been electricity based. She reminded herself that she had electric power in the future, but she doubted that it would be that powerful if she just got it, and then there was the feeling. She had had a feeling as soon as the shield appeared and she shot the lightning bolts, she felt like the powers weren't hers and the only time she had had this feeling before was when she had been pregnant. She put her hand over her stomach and decided it was time to find out for certain………
'Jess? Wake up!' Phoebe shook the tired molecular awake.
His eyes slowly opened 'Phoebe? It's 4 in the morning, what is it?' he rubbed his eyes.
'I think there's something wrong with me, could you do some tests?' Phoebe pleaded.
'At this time? Pheebs, what's wrong?'
'I don't know, which is why I'm asking for your help, I don't want Lexa and especially Brennan to know about this,'
'Umm… alright, meet me in the lab, okay?' He clambered out of his bed and pulled on his shirt.
'Thanks,' she walked out the room and walked over to the lab.
After about five minutes, Jesse appeared at the lab door, fully dressed but still a little groggy.
'Okay,' he rubbed his eyes 'I can't perform every test so you'll to narrow it down,'
'There's only one I want,' she answered 'A pregnancy test,'
Okay! What did you think? I thought I'd give Mutant X a white lighter seen as how they're full witches now. If you like my work, please check out my new story called 'What If' it's a 'what if Prue hadn't died' fiction, so please review if you're interested! I won't be updating as fast as usual as I have two stories going at the moment! Please review!
Chapter 17 'Power Struggle' will be up soon!
