Thanks for the reviews. Again, I appreciate you all. And again, thanks for your patience in waiting for new chapters.
PS You'll probably notice a little more traditional Wiccan things in this chapter. I tried to explain the significance of them as easily as possible without making it too boring. I've been so bored lately, I've started reading anything, anywhere… and one of the things I found was several books on Wicca, and even a Book of Shadows that complements Charmed!
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Reilly looked over at Chris quickly. "Thanks for trying. Sorry." His voice was thin as his body started to become transparent.
"REILLY! NO!" Raven screamed, as the wounds in her side magically healed.
"Love…you…kid" he whispered before disappearing completely.
"No! No! Reilly, come back! Please, please come back!" Raven cried desperately, reaching into the air where he had stood.
"Raven. Baby, shh…he 's gone honey. I'm so sorry." Wyatt soothed, taking the little girl in his arms, while glaring at his future self.
"Maybe not." Chris replied cryptically. He orbed out of the living room without any further conversation.
"Dad…" Wyatt called softly, not wanting to upset the already sobbing Raven. "Take her, ok? I'm going with Chris. If I can help him, then I will." Leo simply nodded at his oldest son, knowing it was pointless to argue. Wyatt closed his eyes, and started to follow his brother.
"Wyatt Halliwell, you wait right there! I'm going with you!" Phyra yelled, stopping Wyatt's orbs.
"Phyra, no. What are you even doing here anyway? I thought Chris told you to stay in the future, and he'd come and get you when it was safe." Wyatt ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly.
"Yeah, well, plans changed. I am going with you Wyatt. Whatever Chris is planning is going to be huge. You'll need my help." Phyra grinned at the look on her cousin's face. "Oh c'mon, Wy. You know I can help."
Future Wyatt snorted in sympathetic laughter. "You may as well let her go. She'll wear you down eventually anyway."
Wyatt's laser blue eyes rested on his future self's. "You don't talk to me. You don't look at me. As a matter of fact, you and your brother might as well just go the hell back where you came from. Chris and I will fix this, and we'll do it by ourselves. We wouldn't want to accept help from a true evil after all." His voice was harsh and frigid.
"You can't possibly blame us for this! And evil? Unbelievable! Are you serious?" Future Wyatt's face showed his shock.
"Of course they blame you! Duh, Wyatt! You and Chris ignored Reilly when he was little, which gave Maya the perfect chance to nurture his evil side, while suppressing his white magic. Then, when he finally broke free of the evil powers- on his own, I might add, you both accused him with full responsibility of Phiona's death, which really was Maya's doing, not Reilly's! Then it that isn't enough, you blew normal teenage pranks and missteps WAY out of proportion, labeling him evil. You kept it up until you finally accused him of killing his best friend! Keira was his cousin, and his friend, you should have known automatically that any burn marks were defensive ones, not murderous ones. Instead, you threatened to bind his powers, so he left, and in your minds, that branded him evil. Even now, after he came here with a completely selfless plan, you blamed him for the emotional distress that caused Raven's injuries. He committed suicide because he wanted to save Raven, and he knew that the two of you would never, ever help him heal his emotions. Well, congratulations, you've rid yourself of the evil presence in your lives. All it cost you, Wyatt, is a nephew. And all it cost Chris is a wife, a son and a daughter's innocence. Look at her! Really look- use your empathy and feel what she is feeling! She doesn't love you right now; even she thinks you're horrible. She probably won't ever be able to forgive you for this, because you killed someone that she loves. Just like you couldn't ever forgive Reilly, Wyatt, Raven will never forgive you. And even if she ever does, she will never, ever trust either of you again. She knows the truth of what happened today, just like all of us do. You may not have thrown the fire ball, but you are still responsible for Reilly's death." Phyra got into Future Wyatt's face, and kept her eyes locked on his as she spoke.
"It's easy for you to judge us, Phyra. You weren't there. You didn't see it unfold." Future Chris answered in a chilling voice.
"Hey- don't talk to her like that! I was there, and I tired to tell you both a hundred times that you were overreacting. But, heaven forbid either of you admit you were wrong. Both of you had top be right, because if you weren't, then you'd have no choice but to admit how horribly wrong, and how evilly you treated Reilly." Future Phyra answered.
"Reilly…"Future Chris started.
"Is dead, daddy." Raven's tear filled voice broke through the tension with the ferocity of a lioness.
"Sweetheart, come here." Future Chris knelt down, opening his arms to his daughter.
"No!" Raven yelled, but stopped at the look on his face. "I…I need to be alone right now." She orbed away before anyone could protest.
"Damn it! Look what you just did!" Future Wyatt yelled at Phyra in frustration.
"What I did? You guys are the one's responsible, not me!" Phyra shot back heatedly.
"Phy, stop. Look; let's just go find Chris. Let everyone else deal with them." Wyatt grabbed her hand, and orbed to Chris at her silent nod.
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Wyatt and Phyra orbed into Chris and Maya's bedroom. Chris was hurriedly searching through a footlocker at the bottom of the bed. Phyra looked around in astonishment. Her neat, ultra-organized cousin had trashed the room! Papers littered the carpet, filled with cryptic drawings and foreign words. Notebooks sat open, their pages torn and wrinkled. Candles of all colors, lengths and widths were strewn in the back corner of the room beside a large picnic basket, tipped onto it's side with the lid gaped open. A collection of glassy, polished rocks, pebbles and stones spilled out of it's home on the middle shelf of the solid oak bookcase.
"Jesus, Chris, you planning a Wiccan revival or something?" Wyatt joked.
"Nope. More like a Wiccan reincarnation."
"Yes!" Phyra jumped up and pumped her fist in the air. " I knew you weren't going to let him erase himself!"
Chris grinned at her enthusiasm. "Never, Phy. Never."
"So why the magical frenzy? Why don't you just go back in time a few hours and stop the fire ball from hitting Maya?" Wyatt asked, moving a tangled knot of feathers and ribbons from the bed.
Chris' enthusiasm dimmed. "Maya's evil, Wy. I…I can't believe it, but I know it's true nonetheless. That being the case, I don't want to bring her back unless I absolutely have to. Reilly is a different thing, though. I want him back. I want my son."
Wyatt's answer was soft and somber. "Chris, Reilly doesn't exist without her. Not in this time anyway."
"Reilly's body didn't exist in this time. But his soul was six weeks old. Maya was pregnant, Wy. We didn't tell anyone because we didn't want to steal your thunder, with Abby being pregnant too. But anyway, when you revive someone, you revive their soul, not their body. Since his soul existed in his time, I should be able to bring it back to me, to bring it to life."
"You'll still need a body for that soul, Chris." Wyatt pointed out hesitantly.
"He has a body. It's mixed in with Maya's ashes. He had a body. We just never saw it!'
"Oh, I should go get the ashes then, before they get rid of them." Phyra offered earnestly.
"Thanks, but you don't have to. I already orbed them here myself. They're in that bowl." Chris motioned absently. He continued to rummage through the fool locker.
"What are you looking for?"
"A spell, Wy. What else? I made it when Patrick died. I was going to use it, but then he was made a white lighter and returned to us, so I didn't have to." He pushed aside a box of crystals, revealing a small, worn journal. "Here it is!" he crowed triumphantly.
Phyra took it from his hands and opened it. "How to Pass A Calculus Test." She read, cocking an eyebrow at Chris. "So this is how you were valedictorian, hmm?"
Chris laughed. "Not quite. That spell was the one and only school spell I ever cast. See I passed the calc test, but thanks to the personal gain clause, I failed every other test that week. I think the reincarnation spell is in the middle."
Phyra skipped a chunk of pages, then flipped one by one, reading aloud. "To Create a Time Loop. Making a Goblin into a Wood Nymph. To Control the Elements. The Lust Spell…Ewwww! Oh, here it is: To Reincarnate a Family Member." Phyra laid the book flat on the footlocker.
"Holy Shit! Chris, that is a more involved spell than any in the Book of Shadows!" Wyatt gaped at the long list of supplied ingredients need to make the spell strong enough to work correctly.
"Yeah, I know. But it's harder bringing someone back than getting rid of them, you know."
"OK, so let's get started. Ingredients: 1 red candle, 1 silver candle, 1 pink candle and 1 green candle." Wyatt looked up in curiosity. "Why the specified colors? Won't just plain old white work?"
"Well, if you follow the traditional practices of Wicca, the colors have meanings. For example, in this spell, red represents life, silver represents psychic energy, pink is for family and green for luck. Maybe it means nothing, but I figured it couldn't hurt, right?"
"Yeah, but mom and the aunts never bother with that."
"I'm not mom or the aunts, Wy. I don't know if I buy it or not, but either way, it's worth a shot."
"Definitely. It was good thinking, cuz. Let's see we need pink glass. Got it. Glass allows you to see through veils. In this case, it would be the veil between life and death, right Chris?" Phyra asked after placing a large piece of glass on the bed.
"Yeah. How do you know that?" Chris asked as he gathered an eagle's feather, a small vial of purified water and a jar of purple ink.
"Some of us actually pay attention in Magical Theories at Magic School. I don't spend all my time flirting with the hottie in the back row." Phyra grinned shamelessly at her cousins.
"That is just a nasty thought. I'd rather think you have no idea what a hottie is." Chris remarked baldly with a slight shiver.
"All right, Miss Smarty Pants. So why do I need agate, amethyst, copper, garnet and gold?" Wyatt quizzed playfully as he sorted the stones onto the bed.
"Okay, big boy. Prepare to be shocked and amazed. Agate is for longevity, amethyst for balance and mental tranquility. Copper is for luck and love. Garnet equals commitment and gold is a masculine symbol. It's usually for self-awareness, but can also be a diviner of the male sex. In this case, it's most likely to find the male relative we're searching for- Reilly."
Chris stopped for a minute to look up at Phyra. "Phy, I'm glad you're here. I guess I shouldn't have brought you to the future. I should have trusted that you could keep yourself safe. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Aunt Piper is the reason I'm here. Future Aunt Piper anyway. Her and Aunt Phoebe and mom gave us a potion and cast a protection spell before they'd let us come. That way we'll be protected from Konix. Aunt Piper made the potion years ago with some of the flesh from Konix's attack. Besides, it I hadn't gone to the future, you wouldn't have known that Reilly wasn't a demon. So all in all, no biggie."
Chris swept her into a quick hug. "It is to me." He sighed. "Okay, so let's gather all this stuff and get it over to the manor. We need to cast this in the attic. By the way, I uh, could use your help. Both of you."
"Bro, don't you get it? You've already got it." Wyatt slung an arm around Chris' shoulders.
"Yeah, totally, cuz!" Phyra grabbed the toppled backet, and gathering in the assembled ingredients, include the bowl of ashes. "We're set."
The three dissolved in a wash of orbs.
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They reassembled in the attic. Phyra started to grab the chalk, but Chris grabbed her hand instead. "Phy, can you go do the potion instead? You're great at them, plus I really don't want to deal with Future Boy…Well, Future Boys right now. I just want my son."
Phyra grabbed the basket and notebook and orbed to the kitchen. She poked her head into the living room where the rest of the family stood, still arguing with Future Chris and Wyatt. "Aunt Piper? I need you in here for a minute, please."
Piper swung into the kitchen. "Ugh, thank you, Phy. How in the world I raised two sons like that is beyond me. If I didn't know better, I'd swear they were possessed. How can two people change that much? Anyway, so what's up?"
"I can't say much, but it involves a potion. Any idea where the sage is? It should be with the other fresh herbs, but its not there."
"It's in the basket over the sink. I hid it from Phoebe. She was muttering about making an anti-orbing spell. I didn't think she'd actually do it, but figured better safe." Piper leaned on the counter and peered into the bubbling pot. "So, what plan have my genius boys cooked up? I know Chris won't just let Reilly stay dead."
"Um…let's just say it's very intricate. And you're right, Chris won't let Reilly die for good." Phyra grabbed the safe and added it to the pot. Piper plucked the eagle feather from the basket, and handed it to her. Phyra carefully poured the purified water over the eagle feather before letting it drift carefully into the pot. She added the glass and the stones into the pot then followed them with six carefully measured drops of ink into the pot. Steam rose in large plumes from the pot. "Done."
"Um…not quite. Phy, this potion calls for a parent's blood. Its this a potion to revive Reilly?" Piper demanded.
"Yeah, All I need is Chris' blood and it'll be all set."
"It won't work. A potion alone can't revive the dead. If it could, everyone would do it."
"We also have the power of the triquetra, not to mention a spell that Phy, Chris and I are all going to cast. Most people don't have the power that the three of us have, nor the will." Wyatt answered from the stairway. "We're ready, Phy."
"Okay, Wy. Potion's done too, except for the six drops of Chris' blood."
"Ready?" Wyatt asked, holding out his hand. "Phyra grabbed the handle of the pot, and walked up to Wyatt. "Ready, Wy." Together they orbed back to the attic.
Piper sighed to the empty kitchen. "Good luck, you three."
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"Okay, Wy, you and Phy stand in those two corners, and I'll take this one. We've got the candles lit, in a circle around the ashes in the center.
"Chris, don't forget the blood." Phyra reminded him. With a nod, Chris cut his finger and squeezed out six drops of blood.
"Okay, we read the spell on three, then you throw the potion, Phy. Ready? One…two…three."
'Keeper of Eternal light,
Fix the wrong and make it right.
Bring us he, who's soul contains
In the ashes, begot through pains.
What came to past, bring anew to life.
We want the son, but not the wife.'
Phyra threw the potion and as it hit the ashes, plumes of smoke filled the attic until no one could see. A huge clap of thunder sounded and the candles blew out, plunging the attic into complete darkness.