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Chapter 4
Chris orbed them into Lizzie's back yard.
"How do you know where I live?"
"I've been following you for a week,"
Lizzie blushed brilliantly.
"Yes, I saw you fall down the stairs, now come on." He said tugging her by the hand.
"You saw Kate trip me."
"Whatever. Kate? Isn't she that mountain of a girl that always wears those tiny tops?"
"Yeah that's thebitch,"
"She may be a bitch but what a rack, I mean you're rack is nice too–"
Lizzie hit him hard on the arm cutting him off.
"Ow. Domestic abuse,"
"Come on," She said opening the sliding glass door and steeping into the kitchen.
Chris tripped over laundry in the floor, "Jesus! Lizzie do you ever clean around here?"
Lizzie glanced around noticing the mess too.
Chris stepped over the laundry basket and stared into the kitchen just as Lizzie was doing. It looked like Lizzie's mom had just started on dinner something was boiling over in a pot on the stove.
"Something isn't right," Lizzie said running into the other room.
Chris bit his lip to keep from making a snide comment.
He remembered a day not long ago when he had walked in to find his house nearly destroyed and his mom and his aunts dead.
Chris went to turn off the pot and then he followed.
The family room looked much worse than the kitchen, the coffee table was smashed in and the TV was totally busted.
Lamps and decorative accent around the room were demolished. It looked like a war zone. Chris knew exactly what had happened. Hell had happened.
"Lizzie, we have to go now." Chris said grabbing Lizzie by the arm.
"No!" Lizzie shouted pulling out of his grasp and making a mad dash for the stairs.
"Mom! Dad!"
"Matt!"
"Anybody!" Lizzie called.
Chris sighed he wanted to give her a few minutes to realize what happened before he started up the stairs.
"Lizzie…" He started when he reached the top of the stairs and Lizzie was nowhere in sight.
"Where are they?" Lizzie asked emerging from one of the rooms.
"I don't know, the Grocks must need them for the ritual or they might just be screwing with you." Chris said.
"Screwing with me?"
"The Grocks probably assume that you'd do something stupid like offer yourself to them in exchange for you family's safe return." Chris said.
Tears coursed down Lizzie's cheeks, "This is just great either I offer myself up to some demons or I lose my family."
"We've gotta get back to the Manor." Chris said.
"Did you know this was going to happen?" Lizzie asked.
"I didn't. Contrary to popular belief I have no control over what does or doesn't happen in this time. And I'm tired of being accused of manipulating situations for my own future."
"It was a simple yes or no question. No need to get all defensive."
"We'll lesson the first, nothing is ever simple,"
"Is that with magic in general or just you?" Lizzie asked.
"Lizzie, we don't have time of quips and games. We need to get out of here, we don't want the Grocks to find us." Chris said.
Lizzie stepped into the hallway just as two Grocks shimmered in behind her.
"Too late…" a voice sneered from behind him.
Chris quickly turned around to face the speaker, he got hit in the head by a rather large object for his trouble. The last thing he heard before fading into unconsciousness was Lizzie screaming.
"Let me go!" Lizzie screamed as she was grabbed by the two Grocks.
She watched helplessly as they disappeared taking Chris with them.
She struggled and kicked her feet when she saw that Chris had gotten himself knocked unconscious.
The demons were much too strong for her and she only succeeded in breaking one of the heels on her shoe before the demons did their disappeary thing taking her with them. If she got through this she was definitely going to learn the right word for that.
Once they got where they were going the demons threw her too the ground she was still a little disoriented from their method of travel. It took her a few minutes before the room stopped spinning.
"You guys really need to learn how to treat a lady." She muttered.
"Chatty wench isn't she?" one of the demons asked.
"She won't be so chatty when The Master is feeding on her flesh." The other smirked.
"What did you do with Chris? And where are my parents? And that little runt Matt?" Lizzie demanded.
"They'll be at the ceremony. They are all required for the ritual." One demon replied throwing her a dress that looked like a potato sack and followed the other demon to heavy lead door.
"I am so not wearing that." She told them.
The demon pivoted around and stalked forward pointing a knife at her throat.
"What was that wench?" he demanded.
"Nothing, beige is a lovely color this season." She choked out.
The demons turned to leave.
"The ritual begins at sunset; The Master shall rise by nightfall." One demon said reverently.
Lizzie was left alone in a small cavern with that ugly dress, wondering how she was going to spend her last hour on Earth.
Chris woke with a started. Someone was holding a damp cloth to his forehead.
"Lizzie?" he asked trying to open his eyes.
His vision was blurred he could see a woman with blonde hair but he couldn't make out her features.
"No. I'm Jo. Lizzie's mother."
"Oh," Chris replied trying to sit up, but the woman pushed him back down.
"Are you the young man we caught lurking in the backyard?" A brown haired man with broken glasses demanded.
"I was supposed to protect her." Chris muttered ignoring the man.
"You're her Whitelighter?" Jo asked.
"Yeah, but probably not for long."
"Oh, we thought not telling Lizzie about all this stuff would protect her, but I guess we were wrong." Jo sighed.
Chris rolled his eyes, and he thought his family was crazy for letting five kids with magical powers tear through the house every day. It was a lot better than not knowing at all.
"You were wrong. And I was stupid to even agree to this." Chris said coldly.
"But there isn't a damn thing we can do about it now can we but try to get out of here." Chris asked finally managing to sit up.
They were in a large metal cage, it was probably magic protected. There was a small boy about twelve whom Chris already knew was Lizzie's little brother, Matt.
Matt had his face pressed up against the bars and he was staring at the chanting demons.
"Has the ritual begun yet?" Chris asked.
"No. It has to begin at sunset." Jo told him.
"We haven't got long then." Chris said.
"Is Lizzie going to die?" Matt asked finally turning around.
"If I can't save her she will,"
"Cool, I mean not that Lizzie might die but you get to save people are you like a hero or something?" Matt asked talking at this rapid pace that reminded Chris of his cousin Mel.
"Those men that took us gave him candy," Lizzie's father tried to explain.
"That explains so much." Chris said.
"Why does Lizzie get to have powers and I don't?" Matt asked his mother.
"Your sister is a very special girl." Jo told him.
"You always say that, and I always thought you meant special like special ed. Special." Matt said.
"You guys don't have powers." Chris asked.
"I wish." Jo said.
"How'd she get them?" Chris asked.
"Well, about 400 hundred years ago give or take a decade, one of my ancestors was witch," Jo said.
"What happened to her was she burnt at the stake?" Matt asked excitedly.
"Her name was…. what was her name I always forget…" Jo said.
"It was Elizabeth!" Jo's husband shouted.
"Oh right. Maybe you were right Sam; we shouldn't have named Lizzie after her."
Jo's husband Sam shook his head, "Now you listen to me,"
"She disappeared along with her mother, father, her little sister and her husband." Jo said ominously.
Chris rolled his eyes, he knew all too well about disappearing ancestors.
"Anyway, Elizabeth had a daughter, Marie who was only two and she was playing with some other girls from the community and she wasn't taken. She moved into with the reverends family."
"Did Marie practice magic or have an active power?" Chris asked.
"They really never said much about great-great-great grandmother Marie. After Elizabeth disappeared it seemed the magic went with her." Jo explained.
"Leo!" Chris shouted looking up at the top of the cage.
"Damn it. We must be down in the Underworld. He can't fucking hear me."
"That isn't fair you guys always come down on me whenever I drop an F-bomb." Matt said.
Jo gave Matt a look which he returned with one of his own, "Can you please try not to swear in front of our son, he's impressionable." Jo told Chris.
"I'll try ma'am." He said.
Chris tried to orb out but just as he thought the cage was magic protected.
He hit the floor of the cave orbs and all.
"Cool! How'd you do that?" Matt asked once Chris rematerialized.
"Magic." He said.
This day was one bad cliché after another.
"Can you do a spell?" Matt asked.
Chris started to nod but stopped himself this could cause problems for him if he revealed his half witch status now.
"No,"
"Our best bet is my other charges." Chris said.
"Are they powerful she witches?" Matt asked.
"Yes. Extremely powerful, they are the Charmed Ones." Chris said, unable to hide his pride.
As much as he disliked being apart of the Charmed Dynasty at times, he couldn't help like the feeling it gave him to say that he knew them or better still that he was one of them.
Back at the Manor, Phoebe watched as Piper nearly paced a hole in the floor. Paige was putting the cork in the last bottle of potion.Chris had taken Lizzie home forty five minutes eariler.
"I wonder what is taking them so long?" Paige asked handing Phoebe the potion.
"I don't know but I wish they'd get back soon it's nearly sunset," Piper said.
Phoebe took the proffered potion and was immediately pulled into a premonition.
She saw the inside of dark cavern lit only by torchlight, she could hear a girl screaming and demons chanting.
She felt like she was being stabbed, she clutched her middle and pulled herself out of the premonition.
"Phoebe are you okay?" She heard both her sisters ask over the harsh sound of her own erratic breathing.
"I know where they are."
Five minutes later they were stomping around the bleakest part of the underworld.
"Phoebe I thought you said you knew where they were." Piper grouched.
"I didn't say I knew specifically, now if we don't hurry up and fine them The Master will rise and the book didn't have a vanquishing potion for him." Phoebe said as the threesome stomped onward in their ridiculous shoes.
Ten minutes later they found the right cavern, hidden by a boulder they watched as two Grocks led a squirming Lizzie over to the alter.
"Is that Chris?" Piper asked pointing to a cage that held four people.
Chris didn't see them he was looking at Lizzie who was looking at him pleading with her eyes.
Even at that distance Phoebe could feel everyone's fear and she couldn't just stand there and do nothing.
"Let the girl go." She said stepping out from behind the boulder, and seeing that there were more Grocks than she thought.
"Phoebe what are you doing?" Paige and Piper demanded.
Phoebe threw two vials of potion and she managed to vanquish two demons before the others retaliated by throwing a fire balls at her. She concentrated and sent them flying back into the demons.
"Four down, eighty to go." Phoebe said as she and her sisters jumped up to fight the demons.
Chris was trying to get out of the cage, he'd tried everything. He and Sam had taking turns ramming into with his shoulder and he only succeed in dislocating his shoulder. He tried his TK but nothing seemed to be working. He saw the pain in Lizzie's eyes when the Grocks escorted her to the altar.
He had learned more than he wanted about Matt's collection of strange things.
Chris had no other choice but to watch her get sacrificed, knowing that he himself would probably be The Master's next meal.
Then a shout rang out across the cavern and he knew exactly who it was, the Charmed Ones.
He watched as Phoebe vanquished four of the demons before her sisters came out of hiding.
The demons that once were chanting around Lizzie had to go help with the fight; the Charmed Ones were making short work of the demons.
Lizzie ran over to the cage.
"Lizzie, you're alright," Jo said,
"Yeah Mom I'm fine. I see you all have met Chris. I hope he was being nice to you guys." Lizzie said.
"I was on my best damn behavior." Chris said.
"He was very nice." Jo agreed.
"Yeah you're a real angel." Lizzie remarked.
"Whatever."
She started to mess with the lock on the cage.
"What are you doing?" Chris asked.
"While those dudes were escorting me out I picked their pockets, I got the key to this magic proof cage you're sitting in." Lizzie said showing them the key.
"Who would have thought that you would have managed to get us into one of the most awesome hostage situations ever." Matt said.
"Oh shut up," Lizzie said throwing open the door once she had unlocked the cage.
"I always knew I had a resourceful daughter," Sam said hugging Lizzie.
"She's stronger than we thought," Jo said, her eyes already misty.
"Gag me with a spoon," Chris said rolling his eyes.
"Oh Chris why don't you go stick your finger in dike." Lizzie said.
"Maybe later if your friend Miranda is feeling up to it."
Lizzie whacked him on the shoulder.
"Shit!"
"I didn't hit you that hard." Lizzie said.
"I dislocated my shoulder trying to get out of here." Chris explained.
"Oh poor baby," Lizzie said pouting.
Chris eyed her curiously he couldn't tell if she genuinely felt sorry for him or if she was playing with him.
"Chris a little help here." Paige asked from where she was being over powered by a demon.
"Excuse me," he said sliding past Lizzie and over into the fray.
When the battle was done, Chris wasn't quite sure who won the remaining Grock shimmered away.
"They can't just shimmer off into the sunset! I'm not finished! They lock me in the cage and I had to listen to Matt's strange stories about the strange things he collects." Chris said.
"Let's just be glad we're still alive." Piper pointed out.
Leave it to his mother to totally put things into perspective.
"I guess your right." he admitted grudgingly.
"You guess I'm right?" Piper asked.
"Lesson the first young Whitelighter, Piper is always right even if she's wrong. Didn't Leo tell you that?" Paige asked.
"No. That's one of many things that man didn't tell me." Chris said.
"I need a drink," Sam said.
"We can go back to the Manor for a little healing and a little alcohol." Piper said.
"Yes!" Matt said.
"The only kind of alcohol you will be getting will be used to clean that cut." Jo told her son.
"Chris, I can orb Lizzie's parents and Matt, can you take the other three?" Paige asked.
"Yeah," Chris said and with a flash of blue light they were gone.