In the darkness of the underworld, flames lit the earthen passageways, the demon slowly moved through the shadows towards the cavernous room. Flanked by guards on either side, he dared not to shimmer out, make a run for it. Besides, he had a message to deliver.
He moved into the vast opening, the torches flickering around the sides, leading towards the two thrones. The thrones were ancient; each Source in living memory had once been seated on the main throne, the second usually belonging to his Seer.
The thrones were empty as the demon entered the room; he breathed a sigh of relief. The message he was bearing was not good news, it would understandably make the Source angry, and the demon was not looking forward to the delivery.
The guards who were surrounding the demon receded; one by one they shimmered out, leaving the demon alone in the room.
The demon watched as a light shone in front of the throne, as he watched, the light turned into a flame, the flame grew larger and the demon fell to his knees and bowed his head as the Source materialised.
Dominic regarded the tracer demon in his presence; the demon was alone, which already did not please him.
"Where are they?" Dominic growled.
"Please my liege, they had help, we could not capture them as you wished." The demon remained on his knees, he dared not raise his face towards the Source.
"Help?"
"An Elder helped them. He had a message." The tracer demon cowered at Dominics feet. He shook with fear, he desperately didn't want to deliver the message, but he had no other choice.
"What message?" Dominic was quickly losing his patience.
The demon paused, he looked up at Dominic trying to delay the moment of revelation. He took a moment to consider his options, he knew that if he relayed the message, the chances of him leaving this cavern alive were minimal. If he didn't relay the message, he would almost certainly be killed for failing.
He wondered if he could shimmer out before the first fireball struck.
"He said that the kids were under his protection, and if you want to go after them, you will have to go through him first."
Dominic took a moment to process the information. Rage surged through every pore of his body, he focused the rage into a ball of fire in the palm of his hand.
The demon hesitated, he watched the fireball form in Dominics hand, he knew if he shimmered too quickly, he would be hunted and killed, if he waited for the right moment, he might actually be able to escape.
Dominic hurled the ball at the demon, still bowed at his feet. The demon screamed as he combusted.
"Leo!" Dominic howled.
Wyatt glared at Leo, "What are you expecting?" He demanded, "Hugs and kisses? For us to run to you and say things like 'but daddy we've missed you so much!'?" Wyatt mocked.
Leo shook his head, he couldn't bring himself to look his son in the eye, but he couldn't look away either.
"I don't know why you're here, I don't know what you are and I don't care!" Wyatt was yelling, "We haven't needed you before and we don't need you know! You weren't even at moms' funeral!"
Tears were streaming from Wyatt's eyes. He breathed slowly as he struggled to calm himself down.
"I want you to go now." He spoke quietly, but his voice cracked with emotion.
"I can't." Leo told his son, "There are things you need to know."
Wyatt folded his arms and turned his back on his father.
"You're in danger!" Leo said, "I can help."
Wyatt turned back to face Leo, fury burning him up inside, "We don't need anything from you. We can look after ourselves- we've had fifteen years of practice."
"You've had fifteen years of protection." Desperation was leaking into Leo's voice. "Your mother bound your powers and I was able to cloak you from evil, keep you invisible. But your mom died and your powers were released. You read the spell in the book of shadows and now you are back on evils radar. I can't cloak you now, I can't protect you. But I can help you fight."
"Wyatt," Chris said softly, "we can't fight those things alone, we need all the help we can get."
Wyatt glared at his little brother, "He left us once Chris, don't get attached because he will do it again."
Wyatt fled upstairs towards the sanctuary of his bedroom; Leo stared after him, feeling desperately helpless.
"Can you really help us?" Pia asked Leo, "I mean fighting those…"
"demons," Leo supplied, "Yes, I can help. I can help you learn about your powers, help you gain control over them."
"This is all so crazy!" Chris ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, "I mean one day we finally find out what's in the attic, and we leave the attic witches!" Chris shook his head, falling back on the sofa.
Leo laughed, "It was a similar shock for your mom!" He said.
"See that's the bit I just don't get!" Pia exclaimed, "If our moms were witches, how come we didn't know, how come they didn't tell us what we were!"
Leo shook his head, "Something bad happened when you were younger, it destroyed both your moms, they never got over it, and they refused to fight evil anymore. They bound your powers, bound their own powers, put the book of shadows in a trunk and locked the attic door, refusing point blank to ever go back inside."
"What was so bad? What happened?" Chris asked.
"We had powers when we were younger?" Pia questioned at the same time.
"Chris was getting really good at controlling his telekinesis, and Wyatt was forever freezing the room to get what he wanted." Leo laughed at the memory. "Pia, you weren't born when your powers were bound, but you gave your mom her first ever premonition."
"So how come we don't remember?" Chris shook his head, trying to think back to his childhood.
"The last thing your mom asked me to do before I left was to erase your memories, it was the hardest thing I have ever done, aside from actually leaving you. I erased your memories of your powers, and of your heritage. I'm sorry, but your mom begged me to do it,"
"So what Power did mom have?" Pia asked excitedly. Leo looked at her and smiled.
"Paige was a half witch half white lighter, one of a kind. Her witch power was telekinesis, but because of her white lighter genes, objects moved by orbing. Your mom could orb herself as well, and carry people with her."
"What do you mean 'orb'?" Pia asked.
Bright blue and white lights surrounded Leo as he disappeared, re-materialising moments later behind Pia.
"That's so cool!" Pia giggled. "So if mom was half white lighter; that means I'm quarter white lighter right? Will I be able to do that?"
"We're not sure right now, Paige was the first half white lighter that we know of, and so you are one of a kind too, we don't know what you will be able to do yet."
Leo looked at Chris, who looked slightly bewildered.
"So if you're my dad, and you're a white lighter, that would make me and Wyatt both…"
"Half white lighters, yeah." Leo said, "Before your mom bound your powers, you and Wyatt were both learning to orb, I'm sure you'll soon rediscover the ability."
Leo looked at the two youngsters in front of him, both looked dazed and confused, there was so much information to tell them, so much for them to learn. He didn't know where to start, telling them about Dominic.
Leo decided that he should leave Dominic for another day, today they had come face to face with two lower level demons and barely survived.
"Today's been an enormous day for both of you," Leo said, "I'm going to go and leave you with your thoughts, I'll come back tomorrow, there's still so much to tell you." Leo looked at Pia, "You look so much like your mom." He turned to Chris, "Whatever Wyatt believes, I've missed you both so much."
The circling lights illuminated Leos face as he vanished from the room.
"That's so cool!" Pia rushed, "I hope I get to orb!"
"He's gone then?" Wyatt joined Chris and Pia in the living room.
"He'll be back tomorrow he said," Pia told him. Wyatt snorted and shook his head.
"Give him a chance!" Chris urged Wyatt, "He can help us!"
"He had a chance," Wyatt growled at his younger brother, "He had his chance fifteen years ago and he turned his back and walked out on us. He left me, at ten years old, to be the man of the house!"
"He had his reasons!" Chris stood up facing Wyatt.
"Did he tell you his reasons?" Wyatt asked, "Did he tell you why he left us?" Wyatt shook his head, trying to keep from spilling more tears down his cheeks, "Don't you even remember how it broke mom? Don't you remember night after night laying awake listening to our mother sobbing? Don't you remember anything?"
Chris shook his head; his memory of that period in his life was vague and cloudy. He wondered how much of that was down to his dad altering his memory, and how much of that was natural.
Pia walked up and put her arm around Wyatt, "It was a shock," she said, "seeing him again after all these years,"
Wyatt didn't respond.
"We aren't asking you to forgive him." Pia said, "You don't have to talk to him, you don't even have to be around when he comes. But he can help us."
Wyatt shook his head, "We can look after ourselves." He said determinedly.
"No, Wyatt, we can't!" Pia urged him, "Those demons that attacked, the book said they were lower level demons. That means there are bigger and stronger things out there after us. If we can fight off two lower level demons, we don't stand a chance against anything stronger."
"This is crazy!" Wyatt moaned. "Have you heard yourself?" He asked Pia, "All this talk about Demons and Witches… Its madness! It's fantasy! It's not real!" He yelled holding his head, "I don't want to be a freak!"
Pia and Chris moved in and hugged Wyatt as he let himself collapse in a heap on the floor; sobs coursing through his body.
"Its not madness," Chris whispered, "its real. Like the demons who attacked us. It's real. We've been given this amazing gift..."
"NO," Wyatt roared through his tears, "A gift can be returned. We're freaks, and we'll always be freaks."
Chris released Wyatt and held his face to make eye contact, "We've always been witches, but we've just never known it before. We had these powers and more when we were children."
Wyatt looked at Chris, "What are you talking about?"
"We had these powers in our childhood, but mom bound our powers. They were released when she died. We're not freaks, this is just who we really are."
"So he's blaming mom for all this is he?" Wyatt asked angrily, "Sure, of course, it's all moms fault!"
Pia and Chris exchanged glances.
"It figures he turns up when all this craziness happens, it was probably him that started it all. Waiting until mom died to do this to us, and then blame her so she cant argue back!"
"Wyatt," Chris shook his brother, "Dad didn't do this to us, we did it when we read that spell."
"So it's 'Dad' now is it?" Wyatt spat, "He hasn't been any sort of Dad to us; don't you go forgiving him!"
"I'm not forgiving him, Wyatt," Chris gently told his brother, "But if he can help us learn about our powers, if he can help us fight those demons, then I'm not going to turn my back on that help." Chris brushed his fingers through his hair, "Without his help today, we would all be dead right now, and I'm not going to refuse that kind of help."
Wyatt looked from Pia to Chris and then held his head in his hands.
"Just think about it guys," Wyatt said, "he comes back just when we discover we're frea- witches. What makes you think he's not just another thing trying to kill us, or trying to steal the book of shadows? Why has he turned up now?"
"He saved us," Chris said simply, "If he had been trying to kill us he could have just sat back and watched those demons do it for him. And it would also have been the perfect opportunity to get the book."
Wyatt frowned. "Fine, I guess I can't tell you not to see him. But I don't have to like it." Wyatt sighed and got to his feet. "When he comes back tomorrow I'll be in my room, I'll be staying in my room. I don't want anything from him."
Chris and Pia looked on in awe as the bright white and blue lights circled the room and Leo took form.
"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to seeing that!" Pia laughed.
"You'll be surprised at how quickly all this comes second nature to you." Leo said.
He looked from Chris to Pia and then surreptitiously glanced in the direction of the stairs.
"Give him time," Chris said, "Everything's happening so fast. He just has to come to terms with the whole thing."
Leo nodded, saddened but understanding.
"There's so much to ask!" Pia said, enthusing.
"I can't promise I'll have the answer to all your questions." Leo said, a thought occurred to him. "I've got something to show you."
Leo started ascending the stairs, Pia and Chris followed. As they passed Wyatt's room, he appeared in the doorway.
"Where do you think you're going?" Wyatt asked.
"We need your help." Leo told him, "In the attic."
"The Attic?" Wyatt asked, "I don't think so. You're not going anywhere near the book."
"Fine!" Leo said, holding his hands up, "I won't touch the book, but just come with me please."
Wyatt looked stubbornly at Leo, but then saw the pleading looks on the faces of Chris and Pia. "Fine!"
Wyatt, Chris and Pia followed Leo to the attic. As he entered the room he hadn't stepped foot in for fifteen years, a smile crossed Leo's face. So many memories triggered by one simple smell. Such a large part of his life had taken place in this room, so many events.
He looked at the tatty old sofa in the corner, he remembered the first time Piper had told him that she loved him, and then saved his life. He remembered Prue leafing through the book, always searching for the latest danger, and he remembered Paige, pouring over the book, adding spells and potions. When Paige was around, there was always a different colour potion vial in her hand. Only she ever knew what all her potions did.
Not all of Leo's memories of the attic were fond. He pushed the unhappier memories aside and concentrated on the good ones.
"Leo?" Pia brought Leo back to the present with her voice, urging him onward. Leo shook his head, clearing it of the intrusive memories.
"Chris, I need Five white candles and incense." Chris went to gather the candles, returning minutes later with his hands full. "Spread them in a circle, and light the incense." Leo instructed.
"What are we doing?" Wyatt asked.
"Answering all your questions." Leo told him. He approached the book of shadows, with a flick of his fingers, The book fell open, Leo hadn't even touched it.
The pages flipped over and came to a rest. Leo motioned Chris, Pia and Wyatt behind the book.
"If you think I'm saying this spell, you are out of your mind." Wyatt said, folding his arms.
"Wyatt, please?" Chris begged his brother, imploring him with his eyes. Wyatt frowned.
The three read the rhyme in unison, exchanging a quick glance, each raising their eyebrows.
"Hear these words, hear my cry,
Spirit from the other side.
Come to me, I summon thee,
Cross now the great divide."
"Spirit?" Wyatt asked, "What have you asked us to do?"
Leo pointed to the circle of candles. White and yellow lights circled the candles, a gust of wind blew through the attic, making the flames flicker, but they somehow managed to keep burning.
The lights looped in ever decreasing circles, forming a tall shape, which began to profile a human silhouette, the silhouette took a more distinct form.
Pia, Chris and Wyatt looked on, their jaws hanging open as the woman inside the candles looked around the attic, her gaze settling on the teenagers.
"Mom?" Chris whispered.