Three years later, Chris had settled into the Potter house and was starting to learn about the magical world into which he'd been born. The Potters had enrolled Chris into a local school, hoping that he wouldn't use his powers there, although the Potters still didn't know what his powers could do.
When Josiah had first attended elementary school he'd been eight years old; before that he'd been at boarding school that was far from what was considered normal. The tutors had all been very strict monks who had disciplined the boys far too severely and frequently. Josiah had been rescued by the Potters when he was eight, then sent to a far nicer Elementary school. Unfortunately, the boy had used his telekinesis and exposed himself to many of the pupils and teachers there. The Elders had erased all magical memories from the entire school after the event, and Josiah had been pulled from the school to instead be taught at home by Gloria, who had plenty of training as she had planned to be a teacher before she'd had to give that up for her destiny, which was to rescue and protect children innocents.
Josiah had now started at high school although he was the grand age of fifteen, after persuading his parents that he would be responsible and never use his magic there. He wanted to learn along with other children, so he'd decided he'd rather go there than be taught at home by Gloria. After learning which school some of his local friends attended, Terrence and Gloria had enrolled Josiah in the same school.
"Chris, dear, we still don't know of your power - you must have one," said Gloria, as they sat eating breakfast exactly three years after Chris had been rescued.
"I don't got one," said Chris with a mouthful of cereal.
His adoptive mother gave him a stern look; "Don't speak with a mouthful. You HAVE got a power, you just haven't found out what it is yet."
Chris finished his mouthful then apologized; "Sorry, Mom."
Josiah walked into the room whistling. "Mom, can Sandy come over tonight?" he asked, with hope in his voice.
"Sandy? Who's Sandy?" asked Terrence, from where he sat reading the newspaper.
Gloria gave him a despairing look. "Sandy is one of Josiah's friends from school and she also lives a few doors down," she explained to her husband - the man needed to take his head out of the clouds more often.
"Have I met her?" Terrence was very bad at remembering names and often had to ask his wife or adopted son to remind him of a person's name.
"I like Sandy, she's funny," said Chris, grinning at Josiah.
"Oh, I think I remember her now. She's the pretty girl with long legs who had Chris in fits."
"Terrence," snapped Gloria, glaring at the man.
"She has got long legs though, Mom," said Josiah innocently.
"Okay, you can have her over tonight, but only until nine, okay?" Gloria hated to think what might go on between the fifteen-year-old and Sandy if they were both in the house after Gloria and Terrence had gone to bed.
"Fine. I'm going over there to tell her right now, then we'll walk to school. See you later." Josiah gave his mom a quick peck on the cheek, then waved good-bye to Chris and Terrence.
Gloria watched Josiah leaving through the back door. The boy had already got himself ready for school; he didn't need to be told to get ready as he was very obedient and conscientious.
"Sandy's the only girl I like," said Chris, as he tried to open the small clear plastic bag containing the toy from the cereal.
"Let me open that for you, Son," said Terrence helpfully. "Please place it down on the table and stand back a little."
Chris placed the plastic bag on the table then backed away, ready for his father to open the bag for him.
Terrence pointed with one finger at the bag, and his second witch-power, particle-manipulation, sped up enough molecules in the plastic to split the bag open. Terrence knew that Chris was entertained by the trick, so he reasoned that it wasn't for personal gain; it was done for Chris more than him anyway. If witches used their magic for personal gain, there'd be bad side-effects, as it was one of the witch rules that they mustn't use magic for personal gain.
"Thanks, Daddy." Chris picked up the split bag and took out a small, blue toy car. He studied the car then exclaimed, "Cool!"
"We have to go to the magic room now, we still need to know your power," said Gloria, looking across at her husband who was now studying the paper with great interest.
"Is Daddy coming too?"
"I hope so, but he has to finish reading his paper first," answered Gloria sarcastically. She hated it when her husband seemed more interested in his paper than his family.
"Someone thinks they saw a man throwing fireballs in the cemetery," said Terrence, looking up from his paper and not failing to notice Gloria's tone of voice.
"That's nothing new. It's a pity we don't have anyone on the police force. They could help cover up any magical happenings if they were in the know," said Gloria thoughtfully.
"I think Josiah wants to be a policeman," informed Terrence, suddenly remembering what their oldest adopted son had been trying to tell him a few nights ago.
"Good. We'll have to discuss it with him sometime. We have to discover Chris's power soon or he might use it by accident and end up getting hurt."
Chris stood up from his chair and excitedly ran up the stairs, leaving the two adults staring after him. Chris was eager to discover his power that hadn't revealed itself yet.
"I'm glad he's so enthusiastic," commented Terrence happily.
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Chris looked around the magic room - it was full of magic things and various items of furniture, including a table for mixing magic potions on. The room had dark curtains on the windows that were used to conceal happenings inside from the outside world. This was the room that contained the magical book of the Potters, called "The Book".
"What magic can I do?" Chris asked himself, he was frustrated that he'd never used his power by accident, so had no idea what it was. He often had dreams about when the demons had attacked his real parents at their ranch, and how the demons hadn't touched him as though they were scared of the boy. Chris still didn't know that his mother had turned him invisible so the demons couldn't see him; the demons couldn't even sense the boy when he had been invisible.
Gloria and Terrence walked up the stairs and joined their youngest son in the magic room.
"Son, we need to find out what the trigger for your power is. At first you will only have one power, but others will become available when you have more experience," explained Terrence.
"Trigger, like on a gun?" asked Chris in confusion.
"Terrence meant that we need to find out what you have to do to make your power work. For my premonitions to happen, I have to touch something or someone related to the innocent I'll see in my vision - or even the innocent themselves," explained Gloria, wishing that Terrence would explain things a bit better so he didn't confuse the boy.
Chris suddenly closed his eyes and started trembling.
"What is it?" asked Terrence with a shaky voice. His son looked in pain.
"Two boys being hurt by demons," was the scared reply from the blond boy.
"Oh dear," said Gloria with sadness in her voice. She loved children and hated for any to get hurt.
"In a forest. I see deaded people laying on the ground," said the boy; then the vision ended and the boy re-opened his eyes and began crying loudly.
Gloria rushed over to the boy and picked him up. She rubbed his back comfortingly.
"Their mama was killed just like my mama," said Chris, with his sentence broken up by his sobs.
"We'll save them, dear," said Gloria, as she took a hanky out of a pocket and wiped Chris's eyes. It was clear now that Chris had the power of premonitions, just like she had. Gloria was surprised that Chris had got the premonition without touching anything or anyone that was linked to the boys or their family. Gloria usually only got premonitions from touching people or objects relating to the main person in the vision. She'd received one of Josiah by brushing against a monk who'd been in the diner where she had been working then. The monk had had physical contact with Josiah at the boarding school where he'd been sent by his cruel father. The vision Gloria had received had showed Josiah's mother being pushed down the stairs by his father - a vision of Josiah's past. Most premonitions that witches had were of innocents they were meant to save, but witches could receive visions of anything, sometimes if something was going to happen in relation to what they had touched.
"Perhaps someone gave Chris that premonition on purpose," suggested Terrence, also realizing what Chris's power was, but surprised about the sudden vision that didn't seem to have been triggered by anything. Chris hadn't touched anything before he'd received the premonition.
"If we haven't even met anyone relating to the premonition, how are we supposed to find them?" asked Gloria, worried that they might not be able to find the innocents in time and save them.
"They had strange clothes on, Mom," recalled Chris, trying to help. "Not like mine or 'Siah's."
"That could mean Chris got the premonition too soon - those clothes might not even be designed yet," deduced Terrence, lifting up Chris and giving him a hug to congratulate him for discovering his power. "You did very good work, Son, and we're proud of you."
"Thanks, Daddy. Do I got to go to school now?"
"How about I help you get there quicker?" suggested Terrence.
"You gonna orb me, Daddy?" squealed Chris excitedly.
"Yes, go and get ready then we'll go." Terrence watched with pride as his little boy ran out of the room to prepare for school.
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Two days later, Gloria went to the stores with Chris. He should've been at school, but he wasn't feeling very well and couldn't stay home alone while Terrence was working at the garage.
"How are you feeling, dear?" Gloria asked Chris, as she held his hand while they walked to the stores.
"Not too bad, Mom," answered the boy as they approached a bus-stop. A blonde woman with a baby in a stroller was waiting there for a bus.
Chris accidentally brushed against the stroller and his eyes automatically closed, ready to see the premonition he knew was coming. Then he saw the woman, a little older and a little boy with medium brown hair, surrounded by demons of different colors. Then the vision was over as quickly as it had begun.
"I'm so sorry, Ma'am," said Gloria, as she quickly pulled Chris away, not wanting to risk exposing Chris's magic to the woman.
"That's quite all right - children aren't always able to control their own directions," answered the woman, shooting a stern look at the boy.
Gloria pulled Chris away from the bus-stop. When they were quite far from the blonde woman, she gently pulled Chris to one side and looked at him with concern. "What did you see?"
"I think that baby is going to be in danger when he's older. I saw a boy and the woman s'rounded by demons," answered the boy, looking back at the blonde woman rocking the stroller, while the baby inside howled loudly.
"Another early premonition unless she has an older son," commented Gloria regretfully. If Chris really had seen the baby in danger when he was older, they wouldn't be allowed to protect mother or child until they looked similar to how they did in Chris's premonition.
"Let me check," said Chris and ran back to the bus-stop where the mother was still waiting with the stroller. She now held a crying baby, dressed in a pale green, long-sleeved and long-legged onesie. Chris reached up and touched the child.
Gloria ran back to the bus-stop; "Chris, it is wrong to run off like that."
"It IS him!"
"What?" asked the blonde woman, looking startled and angry.
"I had another one, Mommy. This time it was just him and he was little like me and a demon nearly taked him but then his mama came with an old man and they grabbed him and they all went away," blurted out Chris, forgetting that they weren't meant to reveal premonitions to people unless they were sure the people believed in magic.
"No - they can't find us," shouted the woman in fear. Then she quickly placed the baby back in the stroller and swiftly pushed it as she hurried to safety. Walking was probably quicker than waiting for the already late bus, she reckoned. The baby began to cry, sensing that something was wrong.
"Uh-oh," muttered Chris, as he watched their innocents leaving.
"Don't worry, we'll track them down in time," reassured Gloria, as she picked up the boy and hugged him tight.
"Mommy? Do you think she was a witch?" asked Chris. He thought there was something magical-looking about the blonde woman.
"Perhaps. Come on - before the stores are closed," urged Gloria holding her hand out to the blond boy. Chris took her hand and they continued to walk to the stores.
To be continued in Part 4: The Third (Unofficial) Son.