Warning: Minor swearword (the 'D' one again) used later in this chapter.
In a small dark cave in the Underworld, Angelica, who was really a warlock, was meeting with her warlock superior. He was to give her further instructions for her latest mission. She'd found out that Buck would be out of school for science, so he wouldn't miss her if she was also away from the lesson.
"On your date with the boy tonight, you'll slip this into his drink when he's not looking," instructed Angelica's warlock boss. "It is a new potion that will unbind his powers and turn him into a warlock." While he spoke, he kept eye-contact with the female and handed her a small corked vial containing a dark blue liquid. In truth, the potion wouldn't unbind the witch's powers, but Angelica wasn't to know that. If the male warlock told her that it wouldn't turn Buck into a warlock until his powers were unbound, Angelica might refuse to have a part in the plan, as it wasn't a plan the Underworld would approve of.
The male warlock's plot was breaking two of the Underworld's rules - punishable by death if the Source found out, unless the boy was turned into a warlock before the law-breaking was discovered. The first rule was that bound witches weren't to be touched by evil, as they would be of more use to the Underworld when their powers were unbound. The second rule was that no potion was to be used against a witch unless it was guaranteed that it would affect the witch at least one day after it was drunk. As Buck's powers wouldn't be unbound until his father said the reversal spell, and the Underworld didn't know when that would be, the potion might not have any effect on the boy for years. As far as the Underworld was aware, the boy's powers could only be unbound by his father saying the reversal spell. So Renard had chosen his unlawful plan in the hope that the boy's powers would be unbound before too long.
Angelica was in the male warlock's employ to turn the prophesied witch evil for him. Anyone who succeeded to prevent a prophesied witch from achieving their destiny would gain higher favor with the present Source.
The female warlock wouldn't get anything in reward for her service, but her boss would; of course, he had lied to his servant to keep her on his side. Angelica's warlock boss had told her that she'd get a promotion in the Underworld, and she had believed him, not knowing yet that male warlocks often lied to their servants just to keep them loyal. Before her current superior, Angelica hadn't been a servant to a higher ranking warlock, so didn't know much about what they were like as masters.
"That's a very clever potion. I wish I could make such brilliant potions myself, Truman."
The warlock looked at her angrily. "I told you never to call me by that name - that was my Earth name when I was a good witch. You'd better not fail on this mission, or I will personally ensure you are sent to the Demonic Wastelands."
Angelica looked apologetically at her boss. "I'm sorry for forgetting your Underworld name - it won't happen again, Renard. I will not fail my mission providing this potion really works. Janette was less experienced than I, so I knew that she would be unable to turn the witch."
Renard laughed loudly, as he remembered what had happened to Janette.
CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P
Back when Buck had just turned thirteen, he met a short, blue-eyed girl with long blonde hair that hung in a single plait down her back. Her beautiful entrancing eyes were the first things Buck noticed when he saw her standing outside a store in the local mall.
"Hi, I'm Buck Wilmington," the boy greeted, as he stood beside the shorter girl.
"I'm Janette Walker, but you can call me Jan," said the girl.
"You're real beautiful - did it hurt?"
The girl looked puzzled at Buck's question, so the boy explained. "When you fell from Heaven, I mean."
Janette giggled at the pick-up line - Buck must've learnt that from his father. The adult male witch, Charles Wilmington, had a reputation for flirting with females - sometimes doing it with his female enemies to distract them. "Would you believe me if I told you I came from below rather than above?"
"Only bad people go there, but no-one ever comes back," said Buck, remembering when his father had told him about Hell.
"I'm really not good enough for Heaven. You wanna go in the toy store with me? There's a cool game I want."
"I was waiting for Mom - I'm helping her with the shopping."
"Come on," said Janette, as she grabbed Buck's hand. She pulled him behind her to the large toy store and they went inside. The girl walked to the games section and picked up a small boxed game. Slipping it inside her large purse, she began to walk out of the store, pulling Buck behind her.
"Hey," said Buck, shocked by the girl's shop-lifting.
"They ain't gonna miss it; don't worry, Kid."
"I guess," said Buck, not wanting to let the offense stop him being friends with possibly the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. "You wanna come back to my place? It's not far from here. I'll have to help Mom finish shopping first though."
The girl nodded, and the two walked back to find Buck's mom. Bianca was just coming out of the store and never even knew Buck had been away for a short time.
"Mom, this is Janette," introduced Buck. He wouldn't forget what he'd witnessed his new friend do in the toy store and should really try to talk the girl into taking the toy back. Shop-lifting was bad; but if he did talk to her about it she might not like him anymore, and he didn't like girls not liking him - he liked being very popular with them. Besides, it wasn't like she'd killed anyone or anything terrible like that.
"Hello, Janette. Are you here alone?" Although the girl looked old enough to Bianca to be there alone, children usually preferred to go to the mall with friends.
"Yes, Mrs. Wilmington," answered Janette, remembering her manners with adults. "I'm kinda new in town and I'm finding my way around on my own until I make some new friends."
"Would you like to come to our house for some lemonade? I just made some this morning - Buck loves my Lemonade."
'Lemonade, who drinks that?' thought Janette. "Sure, that would be great, Mrs. Wilmington, thanks."
After accepting a light bag of shopping from his mom, Buck walked with Janette out of the mall, while Bianca trailed behind with two heavy shopping bags.
CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P
As Buck stood in front of the stereo in his bedroom, putting a tape into the player, Janette crept up behind him with a long sharp dagger in her hand. Despite her mission being to turn Buck to evil, Janette would rather end the boy's life - she hated his good wholesome family, and especially him. Once she'd killed him, she'd kill his parents as well.
Just when the girl had almost reached her target, Andrew, Charles' Whitelighter orbed into the room behind her. As the girl went to plunge the dagger into Buck, it was orbed out of her hands. Then Andrew disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.
Buck sensed something and turned around to find his new friend standing directly behind him, looking surprised and angry. "Jan?"
A sweet smile suddenly appeared on the girl's face and she suddenly moved her face closer to Buck's and kissed the boy on the lips.
The boy pulled away from her, shocked by what his new friend had done. "What was that for?"
"Because I like you of course, you wanna be my boyfriend?"
"NO! You'd better leave before I tell Mom what you did."
A new dagger, just as long and sharp as the first, appeared in the girl's hand; one of her warlock powers was creating objects in her hands. She threw the dagger toward Buck, but the boy had fast reflexes, so he moved aside. It flew against the wall behind the boy and after impacting, it fell to the floor. Janette quickly ran out of the room, suddenly realizing she had exposed her magic to the boy - something she had been forbidden from doing.
"It's not real, it's not real," chanted the boy, as he sat on the floor, with his head resting on his lap. Tears fell from his eyes as he tried to come to grips with what had just happened.
CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P
One minute Janette was running along the street, the next she was summoned to a wooded area where she faced two angry men, both looked to be in their early to mid-thirties.
"You tried to kill my son?" shouted the dark-haired man. "How dare you!"
Janette changed back into her true self: a middle-aged, balding woman. "I was only carrying out my orders."
"To break the Underworld's rule of letting alone a child with bound powers and no damn knowledge of magic?" questioned Andrew, actually letting anger show in his voice - not something Whitelighters were meant to do.
"Evil doesn't always have to abide by the rules. I had to get the boy so that..." Before Janette could finish talking, she was engulfed by the flames that suddenly appeared. She disappeared, screaming in pain.
"Hey!" shouted Charles in annoyance. "I didn't get to vanquish her."
"At least she's gone back where she came from - away from innocents for now," consoled Andrew. "I bet her superiors won't be happy with what she did - almost exposing herself and most likely going against her orders."
"Why would she want to hurt my son? He's not a threat to anyone," wondered Charles, hoping that his son was okay.
"Never mind that now - you have to make sure he hasn't been badly affected by her," said Andrew, evasively. He was forbidden from telling anyone on the Earth plane why anyone evil and magical would want the little boy who had no magic (for a while at least) or knowledge of it. Although evil sometimes harmed or captured un-magical children, there was always a good reason, and eventually it would be revealed to the side of good. It wasn't surprising that Charles wanted to know why evil would want to harm his son, but Andrew had been ordered by the Elders to keep quiet and hope Charles would forget about the attack. It would shock the father to find out that his son had a special destiny - it was likely that Charles would disbelieve anyone if they revealed the truth about Buck to him anyway.
"Take me to a quiet place near the house and I'll go check on Buck," requested Charles, as he gently gripped Andrew's wrist, so that the Whitelighter could orb them both.
Then they orbed into an alley not far from the Wilmington house.
To be continued...