Chapter 9
Back at the Potter house, Gloria had decided to run a bath for Vin in an attempt to take his mind off his missing brother. While Gloria prepared the bath, Vin stayed in his room watching cartoons on his small TV. Events on the screen he normally found funny, weren't anymore - he usually watched the cartoons with JD, and without the younger boy to laugh with him, Vin didn't find anything funny. JD had such an infectious laugh, and hearing it always made Vin laugh even more. As Vin was a half-Whitelighter, he found it hard to express outwardly negative emotions, so he remained calm on the outside while he watched TV.
CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P
Having seen the chance to talk to his father alone, Josiah had asked Terrence to go with him to the Magic Room for a private talk. Terrence had agreed and followed his son there. Once inside the room, Josiah closed the door so Vin and Gloria wouldn't hear their discussion.
Seeing his son close the door, Terrence knew that Josiah wanted to talk about something very serious. "Josiah, son? Is there something the matter - besides the loss of our youngest?"
"Dad," began Josiah, surprising Terrence, as he'd only ever called him 'Father' before. "I think there's more to this evil plot than just destroying the powerful Potter witches' sons."
"Why would there need to be more reason behind an evil plot than that, Son?" asked Terrence, seeming shocked by Josiah's theory.
'Stop acting like you don't know what I'm talking about,' thought Josiah, hating when his father kept secrets from him. 'I can always tell when Whitelighters or half-Whitelighters are trying to cover something up - you're all terrible liars.'
All of a sudden, Terrence felt bad about keeping the prophecy a secret from his oldest adopted son - in essence, he was lying to Josiah by not telling him the truth about his and his brothers' special destiny. Terrence had to tell his oldest son straight away, as though the huge secret would kill the adult half-Whitelighter witch if he didn't instantly divulge it to at least his first adopted son. He hadn't heard Josiah's thoughts, so wasn't at that moment able to link his eldest son's thoughts to his own strong urge to disclose what he'd kept secret for so long.
"You're right, Son - there is more to it. You and your brothers have been prophesied to eventually become the most powerful group of witches the world has ever seen. No other witches except Gloria and me know of the prophecy, but unfortunately, the Underworld does and has made many attempts to kill you and your brothers to stop the prophecy being fulfilled. Nathan is included in the prophecy as your Whitelighter, and, when complete, your group will be called 'The Charmed Seven.' Your magical destiny was created in the period that Chris has been receiving premonitions of from that history book. Your ancestors back then were secretly given inactive magic powers that would grow stronger and more active in each generation of their descendants until you were all born. The magic of the destiny inside your parents made them give you all the same names as those ancestors.
"There is a sixth male witch who will one day join the group. Only the Elders and a few Whitelighters know his identity. I believe that he will be forced to join your group when his own life is in danger, like when your brothers had to be rescued by us. All of those rescues were from evils that were sent after the boys to stop the prophecy being fulfilled one day. I don't think the Underworld was aware of the prophecy when you were in danger, and you were just in danger because of the evil people who ran that school.
"We only learnt of the prophecy after we adopted Vin and JD. Before that we only knew that we were rescuing children, magical or otherwise, as we were asked if we would as we couldn't have children of our own." Terrence snapped his mouth shut in horror - he'd just revealed to Josiah what the Elders had told him he mustn't, and he had no idea why he'd told his oldest son.
Josiah's mouth opened wide in shock - his father had just told him a huge secret that he suspected wasn't supposed to be revealed to him until the prophecy could be fulfilled. "Why did you just tell me all that?" Josiah was confused about why Terrence had just revealed the secret to him that he'd kept so well up to that point.
"I don't know - can you forget I told you? The Elders will punish me if they find out."
Josiah smiled at his father. "I can't forget, but I promise I won't tell anyone. I can understand that my brothers are too young to understand about their special destiny yet. I'm sure the Elders wouldn't punish you, Dad - you realized you had to tell me because of what's happened."
"I didn't though - I wasn't going to tell you at all," said Terrence, sounding very shocked by the whole incident. "I can't understand what made me confess."
Suddenly a horrible thought came into Josiah's head; 'If someone killed Ezra, then perhaps I got his powers - including mind-control. Maybe a witch's powers never die with the witch and are passed on to another witch instead. My thoughts about Father keeping something from me must've ordered him to tell me about the prophecy without him realizing.' Josiah knew that when Ezra commanded someone through his mind, the victim never heard the instructions in their head so didn't know they had been ordered to do something by the boy.
"Son? I can hear your thoughts all of a sudden - I was never able to before. I hate to admit it, but your theory of how you made me confess makes perfect sense. But it means..." Terrence hung his head.
"NO! It can't be true that someone's killed Ezra as well!" fumed Josiah angrily. The room began to shake, triggered by the anger Josiah felt at the thought that someone had murdered, or wiped from existence, his middle brother. "When I get my hands on the demon responsible..."
Terrence looked up, with surprise clear on his face. "You've never made a room shake before - maybe it's Ezra's demonic powers mixed with your witch powers causing it. His powers combined with yours could be useful in helping to bring him and JD back." He had to try to remain positive, despite it being quite clear now that he'd lost two sons. "One thing you should know is that only special witches pass their powers on when they die. Usually, witches take all their powers with them to the Spirit Plane. Remember that when great-grandmother visits as a ghost, she still has all her powers?"
Josiah nodded, having calmed down slightly. "When you say 'special witches' do you mean like the ones who have a special destiny?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I meant." Terrence smiled at his son, silently praising him for his correct guess. "If anyone within the prophesied 'Charmed Seven' dies, their powers will be passed to a random surviving member. If only one member survived, he would have all the powers of the others - even Whitelighter and demonic powers, as the prophecy said that there would be demon and Whitelighter powers within the group. You should now have all of Ezra's powers no matter if they are witch or demon ones."
"If Ezra has really gone, it means Chris is alone in the Old West now - I have to go back and help him. With mine and Ezra's active powers I can help him a lot." Josiah wished he had a time-travel spell to use.
Suddenly the words of a time-travel spell started to be said in Terrence's head - in Ezra's voice. Terrence grabbed the pen and notebook that were lying forgotten on the floor and began to write quickly as Ezra told him the spell's words. No sign had been left of the spell Chris and Ezra had used to go back in time and their magic book was closed. Before Ezra had started to speak, they didn't have a time-travel spell for Josiah to use. 'I wish to visit a time long past, where guns ruled the towns and horses were fast, take me to the date of my request, and carry me straight to the Old West.' Then Ezra told Terrence which date to write below the spell and then the father did so.
"Father, are you writing a time-travel spell? I still can't hear your thoughts." The son noticed his father was busily writing something and hoped it was relevant to their conversation. As Josiah didn't know how to make Ezra's mind-reading power work for him, he couldn't read his father's mind to find out what the man was writing.
"I can hear Ezra's voice in my head telling me the spell he must've used to travel back!" exclaimed Terrence, glad to hear his son's voice, even if was from beyond the grave. "Perhaps, Ezra kept his telepathy power which is why you can't read my mind but can control it. I can read yours though, because I have my own telepathy power that suddenly turned on just now without my telling it to." Terrence's telepathy sometimes worked when it sensed it was needed, even if Terrence didn't realize the need for it. "Maybe getting some of Ezra's powers stopped your mind always being closed to me - you know I've never been able to read your thoughts at all before."
"Maybe he's not really dead?" suggested Josiah hopefully. If his brother was still alive, that would mean the demon hadn't managed to kill him after all - but it wouldn't explain why Josiah suddenly had Ezra's powers.
"I think he's sending me the message from the plane he's now on - his power must be growing so he has multi-plane telepathy now. Here, the spell's all written, but don't say it until you're ready to go." Terrence tore the page from the notebook and handed it to his oldest son.
"Thanks, Dad. I think I'll try Ezra's glamour so I look like my ancestor from this book." Josiah picked up the library book that Chris had told him all about. He flicked through the pages until he found his ancestor. "Hard to see any resemblance between us."
"You don't have to look much like someone to be related to them, Son."
"Here goes!" Josiah closed his eyes and pictured his ancestor. Then he felt himself changing.
"It worked!" shouted Terrence triumphantly.
Josiah re-opened his eyes and saw his reflection in the nearby mirror. "That's scary! I better find out how to vanquish the demon before I travel back."
"Ezra's just told me the spell and recipe. Here it is." Terrence handed another piece of paper to his son; having just written all the vanquishing details down while Josiah had been changing. It was certainly handy that his second deceased son could still communicate with him.
"Thanks, Dad. Thank you, Ezra." Josiah said the 'Thank you' to Ezra softly, as he looked up at the sky where he reckoned his brother would now be in Heaven. Despite being a half-demon, Ezra had always worked on the side of good, meaning he had earned a place in Heaven for when he died. Josiah knew all about Ezra's secret solo missions against evil - the oldest brother kept a closer eye on him than Ezra realized.
"Give me a hug before you go, Son. I'm scared I might never see you again after what happened to Ezra." Terrence was then hugged tightly by the Old West adult version of Josiah. It didn't feel strange to Terrence, as he knew the older man was really his son magically disguised.
Then Josiah stepped back and read the time-travel spell out loud.
CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P
Meanwhile, in the Underworld, Nathan, Chris and Michael, who was still invisible, had watched on the screen as the demon grabbed Ezra and vanished with the boy. Then the screen had gone blank to spare them from witnessing Ezra's fate. There was nothing anyone could do, so they just hoped the boy would be able to be brought back somehow. After both warlocks began to laugh loudly, Nathan froze them again, annoyed by their success so far.
Chris looked at Nathan, surprised that the Whitelighter was able to freeze people as he'd never shown he had that power before. "Nathan, you never froze anyone before!"
Realizing he had just revealed he had a freezing power, Nathan had to think fast so he didn't have to tell Chris that he had JD's power because of the prophecy that had to be kept from the witch brothers. "It's a Whitelighter power I'm only allowed to use if I really need to. I don't normally need to use it because Terrence is usually there to use his freezing power instead."
"That makes sense," admitted Chris, who was disappointed that there wasn't a more interesting explanation behind the Whitelighter suddenly revealing he could freeze people.
"Chris, will you help me vanquish these two?" requested Nathan. "Without his masters, the demon won't receive any further orders. He will be far weaker then and won't be clever enough on his own to predict anyone's next move."
"Okay, I'm not too bad at writing vanquishing spells on the spot, but it might not work without a potion as well." Chris fell silent, and quickly worked out a spell in his head. Then he recited it. "Evil warlocks, Ivan and Ivor, be gone from here, and plague us no more."
Thick black smoke appeared around the warlocks before disappearing and taking the twin evil beings with it.
Nathan grinned at his blond charge. "I'd say that worked pretty well, Chris. Great work." It always helped for a Whitelighter to compliment their charges on a job well done.
The blond witch grinned. Then he wondered why Nathan had been sent to the Underworld alone. It always helped to have backup in dangerous places - especially in the Underworld that was full of enemies of witches and Whitelighters. "Nathan, did the Elders REALLY send you here without anyone to watch your back?"
"They didn't have anyone available at such short notice," answered Nathan, realizing he couldn't let the blond know that his adopted brother's real father was there but invisible. Vin's father Michael was no longer a Whitelighter to the Potters' and Vin's knowledge. As far as they knew, the angel had been killed by a Darklighter when Vin's mom was still pregnant with Vin. If anyone found out that Michael was a Whitelighter again, they'd suspect there was some really good reason why and perhaps discover the prophecy that wasn't allowed to be revealed to any witches, especially the ones named in the prophecy.
Michael Tanner remained invisible and quiet, observing how well things were going for the side of good in the Underworld. There was the worry that the Elders would know he had summoned one of the witches whom he was forbidden to go near, but remaining undetected by the witch should stop the Elders punishing him. They didn't want Michael near any of the prophesied witches because they didn't want him to reveal the prophecy to them, but remaining undetected meant that he wouldn't give away anything to Chris.
"I can't believe the Elders sent you here alone, Nate. They put you in danger by doing that. I won't let you stay here another minute on your own. Go back to the house and stay with Mom and Dad."
Nathan was about to protest, when he spotted something on the screen that didn't seem right. The Whitelighter walked over to the screen, looking intently at the peacekeepers that stood, looking like they were talking to the screen, outside the Old West town's saloon. "Now, there's something unexpected." Nathan had a large grin on his face.
"Do you mean the scar that shouldn't be on THEIR Josiah's face until years after THEIR JD's wedding?" asked Chris, his memory for detail coming in handy. Chris had always had a great memory and he guessed that the Elders had given him it so he could remember details of his premonitions to help him save and protect innocents better.
"Exactly. Looks like someone magical might've used a transformation spell, but copied the picture of Josiah from the library book."
Chris walked closer to the screen to examine the copy of the Old West Josiah closer. "It's got to be either Dad or OUR Josiah. Mom would never let Vin travel back in time, and she'd stay home to look after him. I better join them to help vanquish the Time-changer demon."
"Okay, close your eyes and I'll send you back with an incantation," agreed Nathan, planning that as soon as Chris's eyes were closed, Michael could chant the reverse incantation to send Chris back, without the blond witch realizing it wasn't Nathan saying it.
Chris stood still and closed his eyes, wondering why he needed to close his eyes for Nathan to send him back to the Old West. He knew that an incantation was like a spell, but entirely in Latin and usually more lengthy than a witch's spell.
When Chris's eyes were closed, Michael quietly said the incantation to send the witch back to the past, to the same time that the Time-changer demon was currently in.
Yellow orbs appeared all around Chris and took him to the same date where the magical clone of the Old West Josiah was.
"There they are!" growled out a large two-horned black demon as he and two other large black demons blinked into the cave. "Stay right where you are, Witches." Somehow, they must've sensed that Michael was there, despite the Whitelighter still being invisible. They couldn't have been including Chris in their order, as he had already completely disappeared from the cave.
"Guess that demon finally unfroze and raised the alarm," spoke Michael from where he invisibly stood.
Then, to avoid being caught by the demons and having accomplished what they'd traveled to the Underworld to achieve, Nathan and Michael orbed out of the Underworld.
To be continued...