After Vin and JD were rescued by Nathan and Ezra, then traveled with them, they arrived at the Potter house.
Vin let go of Ezra's hand when he found himself standing in a strange house. A moment ago, they'd been in the forest and suddenly they were in the house. Vin had never been orbed somewhere before and was amazed at how quick it was. Vin still hadn't tried orbing anywhere himself.
Vin wondered how long they'd have to stay somewhere else until his mother came to get the boys and take them home. He wasn't really sure that she was dead - his mother was really powerful and she might've just been wounded. Her Whitelighter would soon heal her, then she'd come and get the boys once she found out where they were.
"Where are we? Is this your house? Can we live here too for a while?" asked JD, asking too many questions at once like always. He'd stopped crying now, feeling safe with the brothers and feeling sure they'd take good care of him. Maybe his mom wasn't really dead - how could any of them know without seeing her? If she was okay, she'd soon find both the boys and take them home.
Nathan calmly answered all of the young boy's questions; "This is the Potter family's house. I don't live here, I'm their Whitelighter. As for you two living here, I don't know. It depends if the Potters can take you in or not." Nathan could sense that the two boys were unsure whether to believe the words of strangers - when innocents didn't see the dead bodies of their loved ones, they didn't always believe that the people were really dead.
"That's okay; we'll just find somewhere else to live," said Vin soberly, not wanting to cause any trouble for the men.
An older blond man walked into the room then and looked at the two young boys. "Hi, my name's Josiah Sanchez. You must be Vin and JD?" He smiled warmly at the boys.
"Hi, I'm Vin. Uh-oh," said Vin, before he disappeared in blue and white orbs. Then he reappeared in the same spot.
"He keeps doing that," complained JD, not thinking anything of it except that it was annoying.
"He must be half-Whitelighter and half-witch; I sense witch heritage in him," said Nathan, as he walked over to the boy and put his hand palm outward on the boy's forehead. Vin let the man do it, sensing that Nathan was a real Whitelighter, and he knew they were never evil.
"I've never met a young half-Whitelighter before - it's a pleasure to finally meet one," said Ezra, smiling at the younger boy.
"A lot of good I am, can't even control m' orbin'," complained Vin, clearly frustrated by his lack of control.
"I can sense a lot of power in him. If he can learn to control his powers, he will be very powerful," informed Nathan, as he took his hand off the boy's forehead. "I need to see the Elders; why don't you see if you can learn of their witch powers while I'm gone?"
A blond boy in his late teens walked into the room then. A girl of a similar age with long dark-brown hair walked beside him. They looked with interest at the two young boys, whom they'd never seen before.
"Those are the two from my premonition, Sarah," recognized Chris, the blond seventeen-year-old. "Mom and Dad are gonna be so surprised when they come home and find two more kids here!"
Chris walked closer to the two younger boys and smiled at them. "Hi, I'm Chris Larabee," he greeted.
JD answered for both of them. "I'm JD Dunne and he's Vin Tanner, we's are here to hide from the nasty mens who our mom and her friends were fightin' with. Can we sleep here tonight?"
Chris nodded. "Sure you can, Kid."
"Where are they going to sleep though?" asked Sarah, who was in the same high school year as Chris. She knew that the Potters didn't have any spare bedrooms, and Gloria and Terrence were due back the next day. Chris had told Sarah about his premonition and she was pretty certain that the boys would need to stay with them for more than one night.
"I'd be happy to give them my room once I've found my own home," said Josiah, who was already looking for his own house now he had enough money saved for a deposit on one.
"I could share with you in the meantime and they could have my room, Josiah," said Chris with a smile. "So, are you half-Whitelighter as well, Kid?" Chris had somehow sensed that Vin was part-Whitelighter and he was pretty sure that the two boys were brothers. Chris couldn't normally sense things like that, but his powers must be growing even more and now they enabled him to sense magic in people he met.
JD looked down at the ground. "No, I don't have no magic. My daddy was a human."
Vin walked over to JD and put his arms around his brother comfortingly, sensing that JD was upset that he wasn't half-Whitelighter as well. "Maybe you do have some magic though, Mom was a witch, remember?"
"I don't have no magic, Vin. You's are better than me." JD began to cry and buried his head in his brother's chest.
"I wish Mrs. Potter was here to make some cookies," said Ezra, feeling hungry.
"Cookies? Can we have some?" asked JD, excitedly turning back from his brother's embrace; then he began jumping up and down on the spot. "I love cookies, so does Vin. I likes chocolate chip ones - they's are the bestest."
"Mom makes the most delicious cookies. It's a shame she's not here to meet you two - she loves children. Josiah makes pretty good cookies though," said Chris. Then he went to JD and picked him up and gave him a hug - he could sense that the little boy felt sad, thanks to his empathic power that he'd developed recently. That power was the one that must be growing to help him sense if people were magical.
"Mr. Siah can you make us some cookies?" shouted JD excitedly, squirming in Chris's arms.
Chris put the little boy down - it seemed he wasn't too keen on being hugged by anyone he didn't know very well. The blond hadn't had much experience with children, as Ezra, his only younger brother, had been quite mature throughout his childhood since the Potters had rescued him. Chris would love to have kids of his own one day and really needed the practice - if they could keep Vin and JD, that would give him the practice he needed. He had been taught how to handle children a little bit by Terrence and Gloria, but he hadn't taken in much of what they'd told him.
"I'll make some cookies for you both, if you'll do something for me first," said Josiah with a smile.
"Anythin' for cookies, 'specially chocolate chip ones," answered JD happily.
"You'll work on finding out your magic power for me?"
JD nodded with a smile - having magic powers would be fun, he thought.
Josiah turned to Vin. "Vin, you must have a witch power as you and JD share the same witch blood," said Josiah.
"I guess. All I know I have is healin' an' orbin', but I can't make 'em work 'cept by ac-cident," answered Vin.
"You must have a witch power as well, Son," said Josiah. "You just need to work on finding out what. JD, I'd like you to find out your witch power and learn to control it. We'll work on Vin's Whitelighter ones later."
"Okay, Mr. Siah."
"Are you gonna make us chocolate chip cookies now?" asked JD, jumping up and down excitedly. "With lots an' lots an' lots an' lots..."
"Of chocolate chips?" asked Ezra, stopping the boy from never ending his sentence. JD certainly talked a lot.
"I was goin' to say that. Are we goin' to stay here an' get our own room, an' have our own beds, an' have to eat vegit'balls 'coz I hates vegit'balls..."
Chris chuckled at the little boy's words - eating vegetables wasn't such a big deal to him, but the little kid was at an age where he didn't have so much to worry about like the brothers did. Chris's empathic power was coming in handy because he could feel that JD didn't feel sad about the loss of his mother. Chances were that neither of the younger boys really believed that their mother was dead - they'd never seen her body to confirm it, so were probably waiting for her to come and collect them.
"Breathe, Son. You don't need to say so much in one go; there'll be plenty of time for talking later," said Josiah - JD was starting to wear him out with all his talking. "You can stay here for now and we'll find you somewhere to sleep."
"I'll help them with their powers," offered Chris, then took charge as Josiah made his escape before JD wore him down further - the young man wasn't used to such energetic children. "They can sleep in Mom and Dad's bed tonight. Ezra, you go and get the bed ready for them."
"Are you certain you can handle them by yourself?" asked Ezra, not wanting to do any work.
"Sarah, you'll help, won't you?"
"I can stay for a little while, Chris," said Sarah, happy to help the two cute boys discover their magic powers.
Ezra begrudgingly left to go and prepare the Potters' bed, while Sarah and Chris moved some furniture to make space in the middle of the living room.
"JD, you need to try to concentrate and see if you can make something special happen," instructed Chris, kneeling down so that he could look into the boy's eyes. "I have no idea what you can do, so we'll just have to try different things."
"Okay, Chris," answered JD. Then he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate; it was difficult for the boy, because he still had tons of questions buzzing around inside his head, such as when his mother would come for them.
"Try bringing your arms up. Some witches do things by moving their arms."
JD raised both arms, but he was desperate to talk and ask more questions and wasn't concentrating properly.
Chris frowned when nothing happened, not realizing that JD wasn't concentrating enough. There was a chance that JD's powers had been bound, meaning that he wouldn't be able to use them unless someone unbound them first. It was what some parents did to stop children using their powers until they were old enough to use them responsibly.
"Maybe we need to try a different approach," suggested Sarah. "Some powers are triggered by their users looking at objects, maybe JD's are also."
"JD, open your eyes and look at an object, concentrate on only the object and see if your power does something to it."
JD looked at a book lying on a chair and willed his magic to do something to it, but nothing happened.
"This isn't working, damn it," said Chris, already frustrated because he was anxious to quickly find out the little boy's power.
JD turned to Chris, who was at the side of him, and gestured with his arms at him in disgust. "That's a bad word, Mr. Chris."
Chris didn't reply, but stayed still, staring at the boy.
Vin walked to Chris and waved a hand in front of Chris's face, but the blond stayed very still. "What did you do, JD? You've made him stay still."
"Cool! I can make things still!" shouted the boy happily, jumping up and down. Any magic power would've impressed the little boy; just knowing he had one made him happy.
"Calm down, JD," ordered Sarah sternly. She was worried that JD wouldn't be able to unfreeze her boyfriend and he'd be stuck like that forever.
"You better unfreeze him, JD," said Vin, concerned that JD might not know how to undo his magic.
"I guess I wave my arms at him again, then," said JD, as he gestured with his arms at Chris again. Much to everyone's relief, the blond unfroze.
"Very good, Kid. That power is called freezing. You can freeze demons with it, but it might not work on the more powerful ones," explained Chris, as he was hugged by Sarah, who was so relieved JD had been able to unfreeze her boyfriend.
"Can I go and see Mr. Siah now, please?" asked JD, feeling even hungrier now. "I'm hungry."
"Okay, just go through that door," instructed Chris, pointing to the kitchen door. "I'll try and help Vin discover his power now."
JD ran to the door and opened it.
CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7
"Mr. Siah! Mr. Siah! We founded my power!" shouted the little boy, as he nearly ran into the man holding a baking tray of hot cookies.
Josiah placed the tray down on the counter then looked at the little boy. "Rule number one - no running in the kitchen. Rule two - always LOOK where you're going. Understand? Disobeying the rules could cause an accident," he said sternly.
"I's sorry, Mr. Siah. I don't want to cause no ac-cidents."
"Any accidents, JD," corrected Josiah. If they didn't correct the boy's words, he'd never learn.
"No, there's no ac'cidents," said JD, thinking Josiah was asking him.
Josiah stifled a chuckle at JD's misunderstanding. "I suppose you're wondering if the cookies are ready." When he received an over-enthusiastic nod from the little boy, he replied, "They're too hot at the moment, they'll have to cool down a while. Let's see how Vin's getting on in the meantime." Josiah offered the boy his hand, which JD gladly accepted and they walked into the lounge to see how JD's brother was doing with learning his power.
CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7 - CH7
"This isn't working," said Chris in despair. Nothing they tried would work to reveal Vin's power.
"Maybe it's a power that's a lot harder ta use," suggested Vin, trying to cheer Chris up.
"Try directing your power at the book again."
Vin stared at the book which JD had looked at earlier, but nothing happened. "The book..." Vin was about to say it wouldn't do anything, when the book appeared in his hand. Vin smiled.
"Wow, he called the book and it went to him," shouted JD happily, having witnessed Vin's power in action.
"It looks that way, Son," agreed Josiah, from beside the youngest boy.
The men helped the boys practice their newly found powers for a while. Sarah had gone home, as she needed to finish a school assignment for the next day.
To be continued...