Thanks to my first fourthree reviewers! I appreciate the comments.
Enjoy this extra long chapter!
Chris angrily shoved his athame into the built in sheath on the inside of his jeans. He then hooked his potions sack-formerly his mother's-onto his belt.
They were ready. Chris was still fuming about how he could have let his cousin walk into a trap! He had even begun yelling at Andrea for not seeing the trap even though there was no way she could have. The fact is, they should have been more prepared. They were sloppy with this. No backup or anything. This cat and mouse game of survival has really gotten to them all.
Planning ahead, Chris knew their empathic witch would have to master her power fast; they'll need her on every mission to avoid situations like these.
"Let's go," Chris told his team.
"How're we getting there?" Brian asked.
"We're walking there," Chris replied.
Everyone looked at each other. "You mean . . . on the surface? Where Wyatt can find us? In plain sight?" Another witch asked slowly, making sure she'd heard their leader right.
Chris nodded. "Brian, you're going to protect us. We should draw Wyatt out in the open . . . where his powers aren't as strong, being near the Manor and Excalibur. If not . . . we'll have to do it by force."
Brian raised his hand. "Are we losing the stealth thing we've been doing? 'Cause I really liked that plan." Brian. He always joked before they walked into a deathtrap.
He also always did that whenever Chris was driving him insane with a pep talk.
"Listen . . . we have to get Pen out. You guys get that, right? If you think it's too dangerous, you can back out now." Chris glared at the group. But he knew none of them would. They've been fighting together for a long time.
Chris smiled, seeing no objections. He nodded to Brian. Brian threw a potion at his feet and he was gone. The others went after him, while Chris orbed to the surface.
Bianca tapped her fingernails on the wood of the chair she was sitting in, impatient for her results.
What is taking so long? Don't they realize that their precious Halliwell is missing? She thought angrily.
Bianca was high up on Wyatt's good list, at least enough to get an audience with his sadistic cousin. Not that Wyatt wasn't sadistic. He was, in his own way. Bianca scowled bitterly as she thought of the incidents she's had to endure.
Wyatt was her bounty. He still remains her bounty, to this day. Except now the hunter is working for the bounty. I am a disgrace. It's so pathetic that I'm under the servitude of my prey.
Now she calls him "master", "sir", and is forced to call the Halliwell girl with haunting eyes "mistress". At least the witch gets the job done.
Except now, Melinda was busy with the prisoner, so Bianca is now waiting on a scared, novice witch, newly acquired while begging for his life.
Bianca's tapping became increasingly frequent.
"What is taking so long?" she snapped.
His lips quivered anxiously at Bianca's fierce eyes, looking down nervously while stuttering, "I-I-I don't kn-know! Th-Th-They haven't s-s-surfaced y-yet!" Suddenly, crystal touched paper.
Bianca shimmered behind him, causing him to jump.
"Stop fidgeting." she ordered coldly.
He tried, but not hard enough.
Bianca took one glance at the Halliwell's position, frowning. Why would the Halliwell boy go out in the open? It's a perfect set up for an ambush.
But there won't be any ambushing today, at least not on him. Bianca thought, her mood suddenly spirited at the thought of what she could accomplish with her plan. Freedom.
She's been waiting for a heck of a long time for this opportunity, for Wyatt to trust her with the task of catching the ultimate bounty. Except now, with the younger Halliwell's help, the tables will be turned, and Bianca will become the hunter once again.
Chris and the rest of his team walked on. Perhaps Wyatt was going to wait for them. Either way, they're getting Pen out. He was sure Wyatt wouldn't kill him . . . after all, he is Wyatt's kid brother. Chris was counting on distracting Wyatt, trying to get him to sweet talk Chris to see his side of things. Everyone else can take care of demons. They'll get Pen and get out, with or without Chris. He trusted them.
Suddenly, one lone female demon shimmered right in front of them.
"What? No hello?" she asked sarcastically.
Clad in leather, shimmering, bad jokes . . . definitely one of Wyatt's. Chris thought, amused. He waited.
"I'm not here to kill you, if that's what you're thinking."
There were many snorts and laughs.
The demon tried to approach them, starting to say, "I have a proposition for you . . ." but was suddenly thrown backwards as she stepped to about five feet away from them.
Brian couldn't help but crack a smile. His ability to make energy force fields was extremely useful.
"What the hell?" she muttered, getting back to her feet. "I'm trying to help you get the Halliwell girl back!"
"And why would you help us?" Chris asked. He seriously considered just blowing the demon up, but his curiosity was peaked. What was Wyatt trying to pull?
She sighed. "Look, I'm not just a regular demon. I'm a Phoenix . . ."
"An assassin witch," Jane hissed, poison laced in her voice. Her entire family was murdered by several Phoenixes. She only escaped by using her power, invisibility.
"Yes," the Phoenix nodded, "Wyatt was my bounty, but I have to work for him now. Not a great situation is it? I want to help you take him down. I can give you inside information so you guys can stop him."
Chris couldn't help but roll his eyes. So this was Wyatt's plan. How obvious a trap could Wyatt set? He had no use in listening to this demon anymore; she was merely in their way.
With a flick of his hands, Chris reduced the demon to black molecules in the atmosphere. When he began to resume walking on his way, he received an unpleasant shock.
The molecules paused and lingered in the air for a moment before circling around and reforming the demon.
She shook her dark hair out of her face. "That's never easy."
Chris gestured to the others. Potions were brought out.
The demon held her hands up. "We can help each other."
Something in her voice made Chris pause. Her voice wasn't desperate. It was sincere, but seductive. There was a cool, nonchalant quality to it that made him believe her.
But what if he was wrong? He'd already made a mistake today . . .
"We don't need your help," Jane replied coldly.
"Oh, I think you do." The Phoenix replied.
Jane took a few angry steps forward, but Brian grabbed her arm, shaking his head. She glared at him for a moment before yanking her arm out of his grasp. Her fierce gaze matched the Phoenix's, although all she did was stare at the witch back.
Impatient now, Chris blew her up again, gesturing to the others to move on.
"Wyatt will be expecting us now!" A witch hissed.
"We'll just have to go in the other way," Chris said aloud, keeping one sharp eye on the black molecules.
Once reformed, the Phoenix shrugged and said, "Your loss," before shimmering away.
Chris scowled. They had just been delayed for a few good minutes, and Wyatt knows for sure now that they're coming.
"Let's keep going,"
Penelope Halliwell gritted her teeth in pain. She's had to endure torture from her own cousin. But what hurt more than her physical injuries were the hatred and pleasure in Melinda's eyes. It pained Pen to know that the little rosy cheeked girl who loved trying on pink dresses, imagining she was a princess, turned out to be a cold, hard, and sadistic person who couldn't possibly resemble a true human being.
Wyatt had turned her somehow, and Pen could only cringe at the possibilities of what her older cousin could have done to break such a free and loving spirit. Melinda's cheeks, no longer rosy, were pale, paler than she should be. It looked like she hasn't been in the sun for a long time.
Probably all that time in the Underworld.
"Does this remind you of anything?" Melinda sneered, swiftly kicking the downtrodden Penelope. She groaned in pain as Melinda nailed the exact spot where there was a huge bruise already.
"W-" Pen paused for a moment to spit out the blood foaming in her mouth, "Why should it remind me of something?"
Melinda's face contorted into a scowl. "What you did to me!"
Penelope laughed, almost maniacally. Her mind and body felt numb now; Pen was afraid she was going insane. "D-Did to you?" she laughed again, harshly, for her throat was parched from thirst and coughing up blood.
Suddenly, Melinda took out a dagger, hovering it a few inches from Pen's eye. She titled the point so that it almost touched with the cornea.
But Pen was beyond the point of fear. How could she fear such a lost and misguided person, someone who, despite enjoying this torture, had some hidden doubt in her eyes? She felt all to numb to care anymore.
Melinda hesitated, seeing Pen's fearlessness of her. Then, taking it swiftly away from her blue eye, turned to her hand.
"You ruined my life," she hissed in Pen's ear.
With a swift slice, Pen's ring finger was cut off.
Pen screamed, allowing all the pent up pain to erupt in that moment. The pain was so excruciating that it broke her out of her numbness. Suddenly, shock took over and Pen began trembling, aware that she couldn't feel her finger. It was gone.
She didn't want to look, but Melinda cruelly turned her head around, allowing her to see the unattached finger lying near her right hand. Pen could see the blood flowing freely from the wound.
"You . . . bitch!" Pen screeched, rage and agony now flaming in her eyes. How could she have felt sorry for this monster just a few moments ago?!
Penelope somehow found the courage and strength to use her free her left hand to slap Melinda's face. Her cousin recoiled with shock. Pen used this opportunity to push Melinda off her, kicking her chin, snapping her head back.
Search for the darkness and refine
Bind the traitor of the Halliwell line!
Penelope didn't have any hopes that it would work, butmaybe it would work, and thespell would somehow stop Melinda. And it did.
Melinda suddenly stiffened, as if bound by invisible cords. Pen didn't have time to celebrate the fact that her spell worked; her mind was only on escaping. She shoved Melinda into the closet, knocked her out with a coat hanger, tore off the fabric off an extremely old shirt lying in closet and wrapped her right hand in it.
She slid down against the wall, suddenly exhausted by her efforts. She had done it. Pen really wanted to escape now, but she couldn't summon the energy.
That's when she realized the full force of it. My spell worked!
Pen was possibly the worst witch compared to the other Halliwells. Everyone was at least half witch, with another powerful being as their father, but Pen was only a fourth witch. Not that she blamed her father; she loved him, and the fact that at least she could see him from time to time, unlike Chris, whose mother died and father is the object of utter loathing.
Finally, Pen hoisted herself up carefully, ignoring the pain from her various bruises and her hand.
She opened the door and came face to face with the same Phoenix bounty hunter that had brought her there in the first place.
Shit.
Penelope kicked out, but the Phoenix shimmered out behind her, grabbing her from behind and shutting the door. She put her hand over Pen's mouth, hushing her.
"Quiet! Do you want people to come and investigate?" she hissed, sounding thoroughly annoyed.
Finally, when Pen quieted down, the Phoenix took her hand off of Pen.
"Who are you?" Pen asked suspiciously.
"My name's Bianca. I'm here to help you."
Pen's eyes narrowed. "Why the hell would you do that?"
Bianca explained about Wyatt being her bounty and becoming his servant instead.
"I want out." Bianca finished, "And helping you resistance fighters is my only way. Do you want my help or not?"
"I don't need your help." Pen scowled. There was no way she was working with an assassin witch.
Bianca sighed irritably. "That's the second time someone's told me that today! Well, do you know where all the guards are at?"
"No . . ."
"Then you need my help." Bianca said simply.
Pen was skeptical. "How are you getting me out?"
"Simple," Bianca replied before smashing a potion on the floor and shimmering out.
Pen coughed from the explosion and cursed her.
God! She's probably getting Wyatt or his cronies right now . . .
But then, once the smoke faded, Bianca shimmered in again. "Get my plan yet?"
Penelope was about to answer no, she didn't, but then she saw that her body had completely disappeared.
"Snatched it from the Halliwell girl's private stash," Bianca added.
"Melinda?"
Bianca nodded. Now, come on, and follow me.
"Can't you just shimmer me out? Or let me outside so I can orb?" Pen said.
The Phoenix shook her head. "No, because there are sensors here, operated by Melinda's cauldron, that has a red light to anyone shimmering or orbing in here besides demons and Wyatt. We'll have to get you outside the Manor, then you can orb out."
Pen nodded, then realized she was invisible. "Ok, but how do I get un-invisible?"
"Antidote," Bianca replied, shaking the potion vial in where she thought Penelope's face was.
Bianca opened the door and walked out, followed closely by Penelope.
Chris just blew another demon up as they made their charge into the Manor.
"This is suicide; you do know that, right?" Brian shouted.
"And you mention this now?" Chris asked, laughing. He knew this was serious, but vanquishing demons always helped him take off the stress.
Brian chuckled as he vanquished another demon by driving it into a coat rack with his energy shield.
Chris was still wondering why Wyatt hasn't shown his face yet. He was still on the lookout for anything slightly suspicious.
"I'm going up," Chris announced, "Get out if it gets ugly,"
Brian nodded and threw a potion at another demon, causing it to die in agonizing flames.
He ran up the familiar staircase and came face to face with the Phoenix.
"You!" he accused, almost plunging the athame into her. But she was ready. She shimmered out behind Chris, and grabbed the athame out of his hand.
"It's okay, Chris!" A voice called out.
Chris looked around, completely confused. "Pen?"
"Yeah. Bianca helped me escape."
"Who's Bi-" Chris asked, but then it dawned on him, "You. I guess you weren't lying?"
"No," Bianca said, glaring at him.
Bianca gestured to the door. "Let's get her and your group out before the real trouble gets here. She took a potion vial out and handed it to Chris, "This should make her visible again."
"Good luck," Bianca also handed Chris's athame back, "This'll glow black if I have any information for you. Go to the Golden Gate Bridge Park."
"Wait!" Chris said, but she had already shimmered out. "Damn . . ."
Chris looked around for Pen. "I guess we should go,"
He looked down at his fellow resistance fighters. "Get out now!" he shouted.
Suddenly, there were cracking sounds of broken vials as they were all gone in a loud explosion. Chris himself took out his own potion and was about to throw it down when it was zoomed from his hand into his brother's.
"So this is the key to your hiding pace, huh?" Wyatt smirked.
But Chris used his telekinesis to throw the vial into the wall, causing it to shatter and be no use to either of them.
"And I know Penelope is there too, though I can't see her," Wyatt smiled eerily at the exact place where Pen was.
"Orb out," Penelope hissed into Chris's ear.
But, as if Wyatt could read her mind, he stopped Chris, choking him without actually touching his younger brother.
"Come on, dear brother; don't tell me you haven't thought about the possibilities of you ruling alongside me? The power, the peace we could bring?"
"No peace comes with-with working with demons!" Chris gasped.
Wyatt's sweet façade crumbled. His face became hard, the lines of his mouth cruel. "Then I guess I can't have you opposing me," he said.
But Pen grabbed onto part of Chris, orbing both of them out of there, just narrowing escaping the grasps of Wyatt.
Chris and Penelope orbed back onto the hard floor of their home. Jane breathed a sigh of relief when she saw them.
"We were about to go back to get you! We thought Wyatt had gotten you!" she exclaimed.
Chris grinned. "Never."
But Pen saw the weariness in Chris's eyes, the pain of seeing his brother again, his enemy.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Chris groped in the air for Pen. She lightly grabbed onto his hand. Feeling his foot around to find where exactly she was, Chris threw the vial down, and everyone could see Penelope.
There were hugs and shouts of victory as the group became relaxed.
They deserve it, thought Chris, they stuck with us and fought hard.
He took out the athame, which shinned silver and newly cleansed of the blood of many demons vanquished with it. Chris stared at it for a moment, wondering if that woman was for real, if she truly meant to help them, even if it would achieve her own means.
But something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. There was a white cloth wrapped around his cousin's hand, and he could now see the various bruises and scrapes on her face.
"God, what did Wyatt do to you?" Chris asked, horrified.
Pen looked down, whispering quietly, "It was Melinda."
Chris nodded numbly. Melinda, Pen, and Prudence were very close when they were younger.
"You'd better get that fixed up," Chris suggested.
"I was just going now," Penelope responded.
Chris hesitated, then enveloped his cousin into a tight hug. "You can talk to me, you know that, right?"
Pen smiled at her cousin, who had always taken care of her with the love of a brother. "Thanks," she said before orbing out.
Though Pen had already left, Chris was still worrying about her. He stared at the athame, his thoughts once again on Bianca, and her request to help them defeat Wyatt.
Chris clenched the athame tightly in his hand.
Wyatt, I am getting you back . . . no matter what I have to do.
Penelope orbed into an underground sanctuary, golden orbs floating around, protecting the whitelighters and a couple of elders. Other remaining whitelighters and elders were scattered around various places, so if Wyatt ever found one, he wouldn't be able to get all of them.
"Penelope," Leo greeted curtly. He'd gotten past the point of hoping that either Penelope or Chris would ever have a conversation willingly unless absolutely necessary. Chris had never forgiven him for not being there for him before, which Leo personally thought was rather selfish of him; if he still remained to be a whitelighter after Chris was born, he would have been able to spend more time with him. But since he got promoted to elder, he couldn't find the time. Leo knew Chris resented him for taking Wyatt's side when he turned evil as well. But who could blame him? This was his son he was talking about. Of course he'd defend him.
Penelope had always been close to Chris; no doubt he and his opinions of Leo rubbed off on her.
"Uncle Leo," Pen said coldly. She looked around and couldn't find who she was looking for. Sighing, she asked distantly but politely, "Where my dad?"
"Right here,"
Penelope turned around and couldn't help but smile at the sight of her father.
Kyle Brody stood there with his arms open, which Penelope ran into eagerly like she did as a child.
Leo smiled to himself at the happy reunion, but then those feelings were replaced with sadness that none of his sons would ever do that. One was evil; the other hated him and always would. His heart ached as he felt again how much he missed Piper. He also knew it was partially his fault that Chris hated him. Leo would give anything to change that, change the fact that his youngest son loathed him with all his heart. Sighing sadly, Leo walked away and let the only happy relationship in this family play itself out.
"Hey Pen," Kyle said, "You and your cousin really had us worried there, you know that?"
"I know," Pen said, snuggling herself against her dad.
Kyle pulled her further away and saw the extent of the damage. "Who did this to you?" he demanded angrily.
Pen didn't look at him. "It doesn't matter."
"Yes it does! I know that it's risky and I can't do anything about it, but I have a right to know!"
His eyes softened as he saw his daughter cringe. Kyle felt immediately horrible. His daughter had gone through so much, and he wasn't helping.
"I'm sorry," he apologized softly, "I overreacted; it's just that when I died and became a whitelighter . . ."
Penelope smiled, "It's okay Dad. But something good did happen . . ."
"What good could possibly come from this?" he asked, surprised.
"I cast a spell and it worked!" she told him.
He hugged her again. "That's great."
"Now I just wish my healing powers would work," she said, her eyes suddenly distant.
Kyle shook his head. "These powers mature with time. That's what your Mom was always saying. Besides, you're three fourths whitelighter; you definitely have it in you. Now, let's heal you up,"
A strong golden glow emitted from Kyle's hands as he hovered it around his daughter. Soon, all the bruises and cuts were magically gone, and Pen felt immediately better. Except for her hand.
She unwrapped the linen off her right hand and showed her father her four fingers.
Anger flared in Kyle's eyes, but all he said was, "You never told me who did this."
"Melinda," Pen admitted.
Kyle looked like he was going to say something, but stopped himself. Instead, he concentrated on healing his daughter's hand. The bleeding stump healed over with a patch of skin, but the actual finger did not grow back.
Frowning, Kyle tried again. Nothing happened.
Pen's heart skipped a beat. Was her finger gone forever?
"Hey Leo?" Kyle called.
Leo excused himself from a conversation with a whitelighter and strode over.
"Can you bring back Pen's finger?" he asked. He prayed that his brother-in-law could.
Leo hesitated and met Pen's eyes, silently asking for permission. Pen eyed him coldly for a moment, but nodded her consent. Leo waved his hand over the wound but still nothing happened.
He locked eyes with Pen. "I'm sorry," he said, feelings genuinely sorry, "We can't re grow a body part that's been separated from the body. Maybe with the finger itself we could reattach it but . . ."
Pen could have kicked herself. Why didn't she bring the finger with her?!
"Thanks," she muttered, "I'll see you later Dad," With that, Pen orbed away.
A few days after that, Chris winced as he felt a hot burning sensation in his leg. When he pulled up his jeans' pant leg, he saw that his athame was chalked black.
What the hell does that Phoenix want?