Wyatt sat atop the brick divide watching a tall girl in a sleeveless red shirt as she bounced the basketball a few times and threw it towards the net that hung over the top of the garage. She wore a white cap backwards on top of her head. Her medium length blonde hair was fastened back into a ponytail and poked out from underneath the hat. The two of them had been talking for a while, but Amanda seemed reluctant to do anything except play basketball all morning.

"You'd get along great with PJ," Wyatt commented. Amanda caught the ball, holding it in her hands as she looked over to him.

"PJ's your cousin, right?" Amanda asked. Wyatt nodded. Amanda turned her attention back towards the net and threw the ball. "Sure, I know her. Seen her around with that boyfriend of hers."

"Justin."

"No, Aleks," Amanda said, watching the ball as it bounced back towards her. She scooped it back into her hands, bouncing it until it was directly in front of her, lifting it back into her hands as she noticed Wyatt had suddenly gone silent. She looked over to him and saw the puzzled expression on his face. Amanda's own lit up as she casually returned to her game. "Oh, you don't know? Well no wonder she's hiding it from you all. He's like the resident bad boy – carries around darklighter arrows and stuff. I think she's going through that rebellious phase."

This time Amanda made a stylistic jump as she threw the ball towards the net, watching it arc perfectly through the air as it went straight through the hoop. She heard Wyatt chuckle softly in the background.

"Listen to you talking about phases," he said. Amanda caught the ball as it returned to her and looked over to him curiously. "You're really one to talk." She shrugged, returning to her game as if she wasn't listening to him at all. "Considering a career in psychology?"

"Maybe," Amanda replied indifferently.

"So what happened with Justin? It seems you know more about my cousins than I do these days."

"She dumped his ass," Amanda answered. She threw the ball again. It hit the backboard and bounced back to her. "Don't get me wrong, Justin's a great guy. All witch. Much better than a hybrid of any sorts." She glanced at Wyatt quickly. "No offence. But he was really torn up over it. He's moving to Santa Monica in June. Says he needs to be somewhere he can get his head right and not think about her."

"I see," Wyatt said, watching the ball as it sailed through the air again. Once more it hit the backboard and returned to her. "I don't suppose you're getting tired of that?"

"Nope."

"Want to take me on?" he queried.

"You?" she scoffed. "In those clothes? Didn't think you'd want to get your pristine gear dirty."

"Not really, but I can fix that," Wyatt said, jumping off the wall. He undid the buttons on his shirt, pulling it off and tucking it into the back of his belt. Amanda stared at the muscles that rippled across his body, her mouth almost dropping open at the sight. For the first time, the ball stayed glued to her hands for more than just a few seconds.

"You… you aren't allowed to do that, are you?" she stammered.

"What?"

"This," she waved her hand up and down his body. "Isn't that, like, breaking a rule in the codebook or something?"

Wyatt laughed, shaking his head. "We're just playing basketball." He knocked the ball out of her hands, running away with it as he bounced it across the concrete surface, finally leaping up just beneath the hoop and dunking it in. "You really should be keeping your eye on the ball. That's another problem of yours; you get too distracted with other things. You lack focus."

Amanda put her hands on her hips as she looked at him, watching him collect the ball as it bounced away. He brought it back, standing a little away from her, bouncing it steadily as he watched her reaction. He could see she was annoyed now. He hoped he was getting through to her.

"What gives you the right to say that?" she finally questioned.

"Need you ask?" he returned.

Her gaze dropped from him to the ball he was bouncing in his hands. She rushed forward, trying to grab it away from him, but he was too quick and circled around her, his back to her as he effectively blocked her from her snatching attempts. Again he was able to turn her right around so that he had an easy shot at the basket, leaping up and for the second time depositing it through the hoop.

"You're lagging," he said.

"You're pissing me off," she whinged.

"Now you know what kind of frustration you cause me," Wyatt said as he collected the ball once more.

Again he was trying to turn her around, but this time she caught on to what he was doing and managed to slip her arm under his, effectively stealing the ball away.

"How do you like that?" she teased as she backed away from him. "You don't get to be in control anymore."

"You think I have control issues?"

"When you're in charge of someone, there's always a control issue," Amanda replied smartly.

"Speaking from experience?"

"Knowledge," Amanda said, rushing forward as she tried to get past him. Leaping for the basket he pulled her back down. She grumbled as he set her back on the ground. "You're not allowed to do that! You have to play fair!"

"And you have to listen, Amanda. I'm trying to help you here."

She threw the ball roughly at him, hitting him squarely in the chest. "Your ball."

This time she decided to stand idly by and see what he was doing. Noticing her reluctance to participate now, Wyatt stood before her bouncing the ball from one hand to the other, taunting her, trying to get her involved again. He was making it simple for her. He wanted her to take the bait. She still didn't move.

"I thought you weren't tired," he teased.

"I'm not," she replied defiantly.

"Well you're starting to look it."

"I just feel like doing something else."

"Scared of losing?"

"No."

"Well what do you want to do?" Wyatt asked, turning around and pausing for a moment as he aimed for the basket. He crouched down a little, preparing to jump, when he felt a foot in his back. The next thing he knew the ball was gone from his hands and he was on the ground. He lay there for a minute, reconstructing what had happened, and then slowly pushed himself up from the ground, turning his hands and seeing the grazes on them from where he'd stopped his fall.

"How about martial arts?" he remembered hearing Amanda say on his way down. Now she was collecting the basketball as it rolled away.

Gently brushing his hands he stood up, watching as she came back to him, a smirk on her face. He shook his head at her, wrenching the ball from out of her hands. He'd had enough of being patient with her, if she was going to resort to such tactics as these he wasn't going to try anymore.

"Is none of this sinking in?" he shouted at her. She looked at him surprised, if not a little scared that he had asked with such force in his tone. "I spend day after day trying to help you out, and you have so little respect for me that you'd just kick me to the ground? You don't care about any of this? Well guess what, Amanda, you don't get a choice. This is the way things are. You have to start compromising. You can't play by your own rules anymore."

"Why not? You do!" she retorted. He drew back, his eyes darkening as he looked down at her.

"You have to be an adult when it comes to this. Being an adult means you have to accept responsibility. You don't even want to accept it for yourself let alone for anyone else." Remembering his father's advice, Wyatt tried to restrain his temper before he said or did something he shouldn't. "I'm being easy on you. If anyone else was looking after you you would have had much worse by now. A lot of people aren't as considerate or understanding as I am. Just think about that." He looked at his watch. "Now I'm going to give you an hour, and then I'm coming back."

"Where are you going?" she asked, taking the ball as he handed it back to her.

"I'm going to lunch, and to visit someone a little more pleasant than you," Wyatt answered.

She waited until he was a safe distance away before she said anything. Wyatt stopped at the end of the driveway as she called out to him, the ball still safely gripped in her hands.

"Don't get too frisky," she teased. He looked at her curiously, wondering how she knew who he'd meant. "I know I'm too time-consuming for you. She must be getting jealous by now."

Wyatt left without saying a word. He wasn't going to indulge her with any kind of talk about Bianca. His body was tense enough after trying to deal with her in that short amount of time, and he wasn't going to stay any longer to involve himself in more frustrated arguments with her.

Bianca sat on the banks of Golden Gate Bay, her knees drawn up as she looked out across the water. The sun was quite high in the sky, signifying that they were part-way through the day, and the heat was stilled by the cool breeze that blew softly across her shoulders and through her hair. She watched as various birds flew by, some ducking down into the water to capture their next meal, or just to splash about. She smiled as she watched them, wishing she could enjoy the same amount of fun and freedom that they seemed to have. Turning her wrist slowly she looked at the Phoenix symbol on her left arm. Another bird, but this image meant she was chained to her past, to the legacy of her kind. There was no freedom in that. And even though she had tried to escape them, she knew they would always be looking for her, watching her, trying to bring her back into the fold.

The steady silence was soon interrupted by the whir of loud machinery across the bay. Not far from the base of the Golden Gate Bridge she could make out the shapes of cranes and bobcats burrowing into the ground. Turning her head away as the breeze whipped her hair into her face, she saw movement somewhere off to the side behind her. Wyatt eventually emerged, a basket in hand, climbing steadily down the incline and dropping the basket down beside her. She looked from the basket back up to him curiously.

"You had time to make lunch?" she queried.

"Wish I did," he responded. "Let's just call this my collection from the shop nearby."

Bianca turned her head back towards the water, brushing her hands up to her shoulders and resting her chin on her arms.

"We should come here more often. It's quiet," she said absently. Glancing back towards the noisy machinery she added: "Well, almost."

She could feel him reach out towards her, his hand stroking gently down her hair from the back of her head to between her shoulder blades. It was comforting, and a warm reminder to why she liked having him around.

"Something wrong, baby?" he queried.

"No," she replied, lifting her head.

"Want to see what I brought you?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, dropping her knees and turning herself to face him as he rustled through the basket and began pulling things out.

"On today's menu we have fruit, fruit, fruit, and in case you thought I'd forgotten, a wide selection of fruit."

Bianca grinned, watching him pull out an assortment of peaches, oranges, strawberries, grapes, just about every fruit imaginable from their secluded positions in the basket, laying them on the blanket he'd set out upon arrival.

"Well at least we're being healthy," she said jovially.

"I couldn't actually find anything other than a greengrocer on the way here," Wyatt explained.

She touched his face lightly. "Baby, it's fine. You know I'll eat it."

"I wouldn't want it to go to waste, that's all," he said, looking down at the assortment he'd brought.

"Watch me," she said, winking. She picked a grape from the bunch and popped it into her mouth. She chewed briefly and swallowed quickly. "See, that's gone, but you have to share with me."

"I can do that," he said. He picked up one of the strawberries, holding it out to her, pulling back slightly so that she only was able to bite the very end. "A little for you, a little for me."

He ate the rest quickly. She watched him enviously, taking another and eating it herself. As she looked across what was spread there she decided to try getting a little revenge for herself. She picked up another strawberry, holding it out to him teasingly.

"I'm sure you want this," she goaded.

He moved forward a little and she pulled her hand back. He stopped, looking at her roguishly, turning his attention back to the strawberry and moving forward again. This time she pulled her hand right back to her shoulder, Wyatt leaning so far forward that she had very little choice but to lie back down on the ground if she was going to continue to play this game. She smiled up at him as he leant on his hands over her, looking down on her once again.

"I don't think I want that anymore," he said.

"Can't I even tempt you?"

"Not really," he answered, his eyes not leaving hers.

Lovingly he brushed the hair from her face. She squinted up at him, his head barely blocking the glare of the sunlight as it beat down on them. Gently lowering himself he kissed her, the rest of the world fading away in her immersion. Her fingers slowly opened, letting the strawberry roll away as she lifted her hand almost subconsciously to place it against the back of his head, the other snaking around to the mid-section of his back as she held him closer. Her hand slid down his neck, her fingers trailing along his shoulder as he pulled back slightly giving them enough room to breathe. Bianca turned her head quickly as a sound carried across the breeze to her ears, one which she found rather disturbing, and Wyatt's next kiss fell on her cheek.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Don't know. Ignore it," Wyatt responded hastily, nuzzling into her neck.

"Wyatt, no, seriously," she said, pushing against him. "That sounded like someone screaming. We can't just leave it alone."

Wyatt lifted his head. Looking back out in that direction he spied a stream of blue orbs depositing themselves at the top of the bridge.

"Looks like someone's already up there," Wyatt said to Bianca, tossing his head in the bridge's direction.

For the first time Bianca noticed that the machinery had gone quiet. She looked uncertainly in that direction. There didn't seem to be any movement across the bay.

Wyatt slid back from her, climbing to his feet and offering her a hand to help her up. She felt the roughness of his palm against her hand as she took it and, once standing, she turned his hand over, reaching out to lift up and turn the other as well. His palms were marked with grazes.

"What happened to your hands?" she asked, looking up into his eyes with concern.

"It's nothing. She just got a little rough with me," he explained. She let go of his hands, stepping in closer and peeling away the collar of his shirt. He ignored her inspection, instead putting his arms around her. "C'mon, let's go see who's up there."

Orbing out they reappeared on top of the Golden Gate Bridge, Wyatt glancing up to see his brother seated on one of the pylons, staring out at the sky as the wind whipped his hair about. He let go of Bianca and walked over to him.

"Why am I not surprised?" Wyatt questioned. "What are you doing here, Chris?"

"Thinking," Chris answered, remaining as stationary as he had been on their arrival.

"About Sam?" Wyatt queried. A smile broke onto Chris' face.

"That would be a nice thought, but no." He turned his head down to look at Wyatt. "Money issues again."

"Well if you stopped spending so much on her, you wouldn't have so little funds," Wyatt reprimanded. "Look at Bianca, I don't need to spend anything on her, and she's still with me."

Wyatt waved his hand back towards Bianca. Speedily she moved up to him, hitting him with the back of her hand. Wyatt feigned injury from the blow. Chris smirked at the both of them before returning his attention to the bay.

"You better be joking about that," Bianca said to Wyatt. He smiled, pulling her in close to him.

"You're just low maintenance, aren't you baby?" he said teasingly. She looked at him bitterly. He rested his forehead against hers, tightening his hold on her. "You know I spoil you less to surprise you more."

Her eyes downcast she nodded, Wyatt lifting his head back to look up at Chris again. "See anything weird from up there?"

"Yeah the construction seems to have stalled down there. Kinda odd," Chris answered.

"That's what I thought," Bianca agreed. "They didn't start all that long ago, they wouldn't be taking another break already."

"Well, I don't know about that," Chris said, smiling down at her. "Some crews can be kind of lazy."

"Even so…" Wyatt said slowly, turning away from Bianca to look out over the edge. Bianca raced forward to the base of where Chris was, placing her hands against the foundation as she stared up at him.

"I heard something just seconds ago," she said. "There was a scream coming from down there. Now it's all quiet. We should go check it out."

"Well it did get a little silent when I arrived," Chris pondered aloud. He looked over to Wyatt. "Think we should go down?"

"If you're both in agreement, then I'll come with you," Wyatt said. Bianca nodded quickly, walking back to him and taking his hand.

They orbed down just inside the mesh barrier that surrounded the construction site, sealing the worksite off from the prying eyes of passer-bys. They had indeed been working hard, unearthing a great deal from the ground. The hole was quite large. Chris shifted his way down the sharp incline, trying to keep his balance by placing a hand against the dirt path. Wyatt took to wandering curiously between the empty machinery, peering in through open windows and doors to see that most of the machinery was still running with a low hum, but that the place was completely empty. Bianca stood where she was, her arms folded as she watched Wyatt pass from one machine to another. She heard Chris cry out as he stumbled down the last of the incline.

"Chris, be careful!" she shouted after him.

"I'm down here now," Chris called back up. "You don't have to warn me."

"This is getting weirder and weirder," Wyatt commented, shaking his head as he came back to Bianca. He walked up to the edge looking down at Chris. "Anything unusual down there?"

Chris shrugged. "Looks like an archaeological site. It's a dump – stuff lying about everywhere. It's like they didn't care, they just dropped everything and ran off."

"Or disappeared," Bianca added quietly.

Wyatt took her hand and she walked over to the edge, gingerly stepping down onto the incline. Wyatt followed as they both climbed down, trying to help Bianca balance ahead of him, trying to keep his own balance so he wouldn't knock the both of them down. Chris watched them as they slid towards the bottom, taking a step forward to catch Bianca before she stumbled at the base. She turned to help Wyatt also, but he seemed to have things under control as he leapt down next to her. Chris turned his attention back to the ground before them, looking around briefly before spying something that caught his interest. Slowly he drifted away from the other two as he went to investigate.

Bianca took a few steps in, looking around. She noticed Wyatt leave her side as he traipsed through what had been left behind, inspecting them to see if there had been any damage – blood or scorch marks were two key signs that would have been easy to spot. She chewed on the tip of her thumb nervously as she watched him. She could see the bewilderment on his face as, yet again, everything he looked at was untouched, discarded, and without a trace of evidence to even remotely suggest what had happened. Glancing over to Chris she could see his attention was completely consumed by something on or in the ground as he made lazy circles around it, stopping every now and then to take a closer look. She followed him over, stopping by what looked to be some kind of dark leathery material that almost camouflaged into the dirt itself. Crouching down, she stretched out her hand and touched it, feeling the folds that were indeed as thick as leather. Something shifted under her hand and she pulled back quickly, holding it with the other as if she'd just been bitten. Watching closely and seeing nothing move she put it all down to simple imagination, her eyes simply playing tricks on her because she expected more than what was there.

Chris stopped again, kicking the dirt away with his foot to reveal more of the dark material. As Bianca joined him, Chris' foot suddenly uncovered more than dark material. Whatever it was it looked like some pale milk-white substance. Bianca knelt again, leaning forward on her hands to peer in without touching it so she could take a closer look. Chris kicked a little more away, turning to pick up a discarded pick and using it to prod the surface. The dirt shifted and the leathery parts rolled further away. Bianca suddenly found her hands on the milky surface. Standing quickly she backed up.

"What is that?" she asked.

Chris looked over what had been revealed. It was circular, and large, stretching approximately five metres in diameter.

"An eye," Chris determined.

"An eye?" Bianca shrieked. She glanced at her hands, immediately wiping them on her pants. "Oh gross and I touched it!"

Wyatt came over to see what all the commotion was about. He instantly wrapped an arm around Bianca, pulling her back towards him as he saw the ugly specimen that lay before them. The eye was fully open now.

"Chris," Wyatt warned as he saw his younger brother about to prod it again. Chris glanced up at him then slowly pulled his arm back. Bianca turned her head away and Wyatt brushed his free hand over her face. "I don't like the look of that."

"I want to know what it's here for. Or even what it is," Chris said as he looked at it. Again he turned his head up to look at Wyatt. "Do you think it has anything to do with what's happened here?"

"I wouldn't argue it," Wyatt said.

Bianca pulled her head away from Wyatt and looked at the eye again. "Whatever it is, it's giving me the creeps. I don't think we should hang around here much longer."

"Bianca's right," Wyatt agreed. "We don't know what it can do. It wouldn't be safe to toy with it any longer, I think we've disturbed the site enough as it is."

"I think I'm going to go look it up in the Book of Shadows," Chris said. He was staring at it again, captivated and fascinated by the ugly being.

"Do that," Wyatt instructed. "I have to get back anyway. My break's long over. And you…" He slid his hand around Bianca's waist as he circled her, stopping in front of her and looking down into her eyes. "You go do what you should be doing instead of waiting around for me all the time."

"Wyatt," Bianca complained.

"Bianca," he said sternly. She dropped her shoulders, giving in to him. He lifted her chin, looking in her eyes for a moment, and then gently kissed her forehead. "Let's go collect lunch. And Chris, don't hang around here too long, okay?"

Chris agreed. Wyatt orbed back to the bank of Golden Gate Bay with Bianca to gather what they'd left behind. Chris orbed out not long after, heading back to the house to find out what he could about the eye.