Chapter 6

Piper had fallen asleep out of exhaustion on the armchair. "Piper?" came a voice. She jolted up. "Leo!"

"I got the athame, it took ages tracking down, I'm so sorry."

"Let's just heal Chris," she said. He passed her the athame and she blew it up. He ran to Chris. He'd lost a lot of blood and was deeply unconscious. He'd stopped replying to Lucy telepathically ages ago.

He held his hands over the wound and they glowed. The blood faded and his eyes opened slowly. "Close one dad," he murmured. "You could've lost me there."

Piper threw her arms round him. "Chris, I thought I'd lost you again…" she cried.

"Mom, I can't breathe!"

"I'm sorry," she said, sitting back.

"Lucy," Chris said. "Where is she?"

"I'm here." Piper and Leo moved to give them some room.

"Hey guess what," Piper nudged Leo. "Chris got telepathy."

"He did?" Leo smiled. "That's great." He turned to Paige. "Could you take Hannah and Lucy home?"

"Sure," she replied. She touched both Lucy and Hannah's arms and Orbed out.

When Paige came back Leo was quiet. "Hang on…"

"What?" Piper asked, concerned.

"It's too simple," he replied. "Watch Andrew…"

Andrew was by the window and then collapsed to his knees, clapping his hands over his ears as if an intense loud noise was blowing into his ears.

Piper wheeled round and saw Chris copy Andrew. He slid off the sofa and like him, clapped his hands over his ears, clenching his teeth as if to stop himself crying out in pain.

"Wyatt, get Hannah, Paige get Lucy!" Leo yelled. "Hurry!"

When they returned, it was clear it had effected them too.

"Chris," Piper said, "Can you hear me?"

"Piper I don't know what to do." Leo said behind her. He sounded close to tears. "I could lose our son, Chris and my charge's and your Whitelighter. We have to take them to the Elders." He told Wyatt. "I have to go. I'll be back soon." He kissed Piper and then taking hold of Hannah and Chris, Wyatt Lucy and Andrew, they Orbed out.

Piper sighed and sat down heavily on the couch. Phoebe and Paige went and hugged their older sister as she cried.

Up there, the Elders had surrounded them, but one pulled Leo aside. "Have you had any other attacks like this?" Leo asked.

The Elder sighed. "I'm afraid so. There is word of who is creating these… poisons. A human named Robbie Tozer. He's a scientist rumoured to be working alongside the demon Sykes."

"What?" Leo said, startled.

"Sykes," the Elder repeated. "I trust you've encountered him before?"

"Uh, yeah," Leo scratched his head. "We vanquished him. So this scientist… Tozer, he's making the poisons for evil? What does he want in return?"

"That's what we want to find out," he told Leo. "We were wondering if maybe you could persuade the Charmed Ones to help…"

Leo swallowed. "I've already risked my son's life twice. I don't want to put the sisters at risk too."

The Elder put his hand on Leo's shoulder. "I understand, Leo, but tracking Tozer down is absolutely compulsory. He may be the only one with an antidote."

Leo said, "Could I talk this through with them?"

The Elder nodded. "But time is of the essence."

Without another word Leo Orbed home to Piper's waiting arms as they cried on each other's shoulders.