Chapter 2: Half Breeds

A/N: Well, here's my update. I have a few chapters written out, so I'll update again when I've gotten enough reviews. I do not own Charmed. Thanks to those who reviewed.

Nynth: Glad you like it! I'm afraid you don't know the things you're wondering until a little later. Everything in my story is connected, so you might eventually be able to figure it out for yourself.

Oracle85: Here's your update!

TVCrazed: I love it too! You don't have to wait anymore.

Not for the first time, Paige and her 11 year old daughter Penny were arguing. It seemed like argue was all they did anymore. Penny was only 11, yet she was already behaving like a rebellious teen. As recently as last week, Paige had caught her trying to sneak out at midnight. Today, the argument was because Penny was not in class, although she was supposed to be. Penny was skipping class again. Normally no one was home to catch her. Today, she forgot her mom had taken off work. When she opened the door her mother was waiting for her. Penny was in big trouble now.

"Penelope Prudence Ruth Brody, what are you doing home?" her mother shouted the moment she opened the door.

Penny cringed. It was never a good sign when her mother used her full name. Sometimes she felt that her mother had given her two middle names just to yell at her. The again, her little sister Prue had two middle names and Prue was rarely yelled at. Her baby sister could do no wrong. So, she supposed that it was just her that her mother yelled at, middle names or not.

Penny was about to offer a rebuttal, when she was cut short by the sight of orbs in the room.

Her cousins Grace and Patty orbed into the room. They too were supposed to be at school. Her mother could not ignore this piece of evidence and yell at only her. Her mother noticed Patty and Grace too. Patty began to tell Paige about the premonition she had. When she reached the part about the darklighters, Penny felt her blood run cold. They all saw dark orbs form around them.

Dark orbs only meant one thing, darklighters. Out of all the fearsome beasts that she had ever faced, darklighters frightened Penny the most. Darklighters had a specifically designed poison to cause a slow and painful death for whitelighters. Being ¾ whitelighter, they weren't her best pals. There were at least half a dozen forming a menacing line behind her mother.

The one in front fired, the arrows aimed at her, her mother and Grace. Penny felt a sharp pain in her arm as the arrow hit. She felt the poison immediately begin to take effect. The wooziness and weakness seeped throughout her whole body. Penny felt the blackness creep to the edges of her consciousness. Her vision was going fuzzy. She was falling into the gathering darkness…

Patty rushed from one victim to the next. She had already pulled the arrows from her aunt and her cousins. They lay snapped in half along the walls. For the first few minutes, she tried calling for help. No one came, and she couldn't get to the phone. She was trapped in that room. Patty was panicking now. There seemed to be nothing she could do. Patty couldn't even get to the Book of Shadows to research an antidote.

Deprived of magical methods of healing, she tried more mortal means. Patty found an old blanket, and ripped off a portion. She pressed it on each of the wounds, doing her best to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. What she really needed was the first aid supplies. But those were kept in the first floor washroom. She had once tried to leave the room. She was thrown backwards by an invisible force field the moment she reached the threshold of the door. She was trapped. She was stuck in this room.

Now Patty was really panicking. She had to do something, and she had to do it now. Penny's breathing was swallowed and labored, Grace had lost consciousness, and her aunt Paige was sweating profusely. Patty knew she didn't have much time to save them. Soon they would be dead. She needed to think of a spell or something. In a flash, she got it. Her mother had told her about a time, many years ago, when her aunt Piper had healed her uncle Leo by switching their powers. The day after she heard the story, she had looked up the spell in the Book of Shadows.

Patty was almost smiling now. She had an excellent memory for spells, and she happened to remember that particular spell word for word. She walked to her aunt's side, since Paige was the only one with the ability to heal. Her aunt was in pretty bad shape.

"Hey", said Paige weakly, "how's Penny? Is she okay?" A faint crease of worry appeared above Paige's sweating brow. Even with her own life in danger, Paige was only thinking of her daughter's safety.

"Not really", Patty replied sadly. As much as it hurt her to say it, her aunt needed to hear the truth. Patty said, "There is hope. The only way to heal you is for us to switch powers." Paige looked grim, but she understood that there was no other way. Paige nodded her head, which told Patty it was ok to say the spell. She cleared her throat nervously. After a deep breath, she began the spell.

"What's mine is yours,

What's yours is mine,

Let our powers cross the line.

I offer up my gift to share,

Switch our powers through the air."

There was a white glow over her and her aunt Paige. She looked at the wound in her aunt's side and shuddered. It really looked bad. Patty placed her hands over the wound, flinching slightly. "Come on, heal! Work, damn you!" Patty muttered, looking at her hands. Nothing was happening. Tears burned in the corner of Patty's eyes.

"Please help me", Patty said to no one in particular. She looked to her aunt Paige for guidance on what to do, but Paige was in no condition to help. Her aunt's breathing became shallow and much more labored. "I love you Aunt Paige", she whispered, "Please don't leave me." A tear fell onto her hand and both her hands began to glow a dazzling gold.

Without hesitating, she put her hands over her aunt's wound. Patty didn't dare think about what was happening to her cousins. As soon as her aunt was healed she would heal her cousins. She felt the healing power wash through her. The wound began to close and then the blood began to disappear. As soon as the power began working, she knew something was wrong.

The wound was slowly closing, and Paige was slowly getting better. That was to be expected. The strange thing was that as Paige grew stronger, Patty grew weaker. As the healing power poured out of her, weakness seeped through her body. Patty would've liked nothing more than to fall into the darkness at the edge of her brain.

The wound in Paige's chest closed up, and all of the blood disappeared. At that moment she braced herself. The world began to spin around her. Her arms and legs felt like lead and her head spun. In one sickening second, everything went black…

TBC…

Up next… Chapter 3: Hero's Journey