A/N: Sorry for the shorter chapter this time, but I wanted to get something up ASAP. The next one will be longer, I promise!
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"Damn! Demon!" Chris called, ready with a fire ball as his and Peyton's orbs cleared.
"No! Wait, Chris. They're messengers. From the Source." Cole warned quickly.
"Messengers? What, the Source is too afraid to face us himself?" Chris scoffed.
"You'll pay for that arrogance!" the female demon sneered.
"Not as much as you'll pay for taking my sister!" Peyton retorted coldly, feeling the power start to rise inside her.
"Our orders are to deliver the following message to only you, Christopher. You are correct that the Source has your cousin. However, she is not the Halliwell that he wants. You killed his daughter, and he will kill you for that. If you do not come to him within 12 hours, he will begin to take his revenge on your family, one by one. And he will start with the little witch that has been such a trial these last few hours." The calmer demon issued the ultimatum steadily.
"So where do I find him? His lair is protected from magic. If I could find it, I would have, and this conversation would be unnecessary." Chris' voice was quiet and solemn.
The male demon conjured a stone baton to his hand. "This baton will transport you to the outer ridge of the lair. I will await you there to escort you to the Source. Simply turn the top of the baton, and it will instantly transport you. You come alone. If anyone comes with you, we will consider it an act of defiance and Phyra will be killed instantly." The demon handed Chris the baton. "Remember, you have twelve hours only. Your clock is ticking." Without another word, the duo flamed out.
Peyton looked between Chris and Wyatt. "I don't like it. They're not telling the truth."
"I know, Pey. They're demons. It's pretty much their standard operating procedure." Chris mused aloud. "We have to do something though, and I like this better than sending you in by yourself."
"Chris, we can't trust them to keep their word. How do we know they won't just kill Phyra when you get there? And besides, you can't destroy the Source by yourself. He's too powerful." Wyatt interrupted.
"Wy, if I don't do this, there's a very real possibility that we'll lose them both." Chris glanced at Peyton, then back at Wyatt. "We didn't have any other options before, so I was willing to risk it. But now that we have another choice, hell no, I'm not risking our cousin."
Peyton stared in shock as she watched Wyatt and Cole nod grudgingly.
"Oh, HELL, no! You don't want to lose a cousin, Chris? Well, guess what, genius. Neither do we." Peyton focused steadily on the stone baton before flicking her hands at it. It shattered, the pieces falling out of Chris' hand. "Back to square one, now, huh?"
"God damn it, Peyton! You just destroyed the best chance we had of getting your sister back! If you want her dead, that was a great way to make sure it happened." Chris yelled in fury.
"Phy wouldn't want to come back if it meant you weren't here Chris." Peyton answered simply.
"Peyton, Phyra can die! So can you. Why don't you see that?"
"I do see it, Wy. I understand what can and may happen to one or both of us. I'm sure Phyra does too. But it doesn't matter. Let's face it. In the grand scheme of things, if someone in this room has to die, no other option, then it's probably better that it's me…or Phyra. If it were you, Wy, or you, Chris, then not only does the family suffer, but all things good on earth. You're so powerful, that losing either of you would upset the balance between good and evil so radically, that evil would win. All the good that our mom's and the rest of us have done through the years would be washed away. It's just not an option to lose one of you."
"We aren't afraid of dying, Pey. Just of not doing anything to protect our family, and then having one of you die." Wyatt answered stubbornly.
"It's everyone's job to protect this family and themselves, Wy. We might not be all powerful, but we aren't powerless. Remember? You told me that yourself. Why can't you guys see that we can help too? You don't have to do it all yourselves?"
Because, Peyton. We're older and more powerful. We've got seniority. End of discussion."
"Wrong, Wy. Right now, Chris is older and more powerful, not you. You might be older, but I'm more powerful. And Chris wouldn't ever use his powers against me. So, we go with the original plan." Peyton smirked at the look on Wyatt's face as the realization that she was right sunk in.
"You don't get to choose, Munchkin." He recovered enough to answer.
"I already did, Wyatt. You can Chris have bullied me enough to learn all of these stupid power, no you're trying to tell me, I did it for nothing? And besides, you have no other options anyway, since I blew up the magical demonic teleportation stick."
"Uh, Pey? If I decide to go, then that won't stop me. I can always just zip back to the past five minutes and stop you from zapping it. Don't be so cocky."
"ARGH! You two are SO annoying! I'm going. I'm getting my sister back, without you dying to do it." She turned to Cole. "Tell me how to make that potion."
Cole stared at her for a moment, seeing the 'Charmed' determination shining in her blue eyes. "Okay. Start with the Murdock root."
"No! Peyton, I forbid this! I'm going not you, end of story!" Chris stated, his voice ringing with finality.
Peyton sighed then closed her eyes, determination lined in her face. A blue wavery shield appeared around her. She looked at Chris for a second, and then with a sharp motion of both hands, TK'd her shield away from her. "You can't stop me." She said quietly, moving her shield to encircle both Chris and Wyatt.
Chris chuckled lightly. "Pey…the shield is a great idea, but it's only a protective power, not a defensive one. I can take it down any time I want."
Wyatt wasn't laughing. "You're wrong. It's a recent power boost I got. My shields will protect or capture now. I haven't figured out yet how to remove it." He stared at Peyton. "How'd you know you could do this?"
"I didn't, not really. I just…once I'd been given another choice, I really wanted to do this. I was like once I fully accepted the powers; I automatically knew how to use them all."
"Really? You completely sure about that?" Chris asked suspiciously, motioning at Cole with two fingers.
Cole immediately picked up on the signal, and threw a low voltage energy ball silently at her back. Peyton whirled, hearing it whistle through the air, and blasting it to bits with her left hand as she threw a water ball with the right. As Cole dodged, she instantly sung with her arm, twisting her wrist as Cole went flying through the air. Cole fell to the floor, hands at his throat, choking.
Peyton grinned as she loosened her fist. "So, did I pass, Cole?"
"He is not an adequate test, little girl." A female Pirah demon sneered, as she spit a stream of purple acid at Peyton.
"Whoa!" Peyton yelled, bringing both palms up, Tk'ing the acid back into the demon. Wyatt yelled as three more Pirah demons shimmered in behind Peyton. As she pivoted, she formed a water ball and tossed it with one hand, TK'ing another into the wall. A stream of acid landed just short of her feet, a drop hitting her shin, burning a deep hole into it. Peyton roared angrily and made a pushing motion with both hands, sending the remaining demon hard into a box of weapons, impaling him on a sword.
The demon didn't vanquish immediately. Phyra took a couple of limping steps forward. "Give my regards to Hell, kay?" She gave an impish smile. "Cuz I just pass the test." Peyton flicked her fingers and the demon exploded into thousands of pieces.
Peyton knelt down and tried to heal herself. "Crap! Who make the dumb ass rule that you can't heal yourself, Wy?"
"Apparently, the Elders, hon." Wyatt drawled. "Lower the shield, Pey, we'll heal you."
"No. Not unless you both swear that we use the original plan instead of playing with demons."
Chris sighed heavily. "Okay. We'll try it first. If it doesn't work, or something goes wrong…"
"Something always goes wrong, Chris. How 'bout you just go with this. If one of us dies, then you do your time travel thing then, and use your plan, k?" Peyton offered.
Chris thought for a second. "Okay. Deal."
"Yeah, Pey, me too. Hell, I think you do better with my powers than I do!"
Peyton grinned. "Thanks, Wy!" She concentrated on lowering the shield. It slowly lowered until it was gone. "Now…Heal!" She swung her leg up onto Chris' shoulder, putting it at eye level for healing. "Pretty nasty, huh?"
"Yeah. Those were Pirah demons. The acid can eat a hold right through your body. You were lucky only a drop got on you."
"It wasn't too hard to deflect."
"Don't let that get you overconfident. Acid, energy balls and energy beams are the easiest stuff to react to. You need to be completely on your A game when it comes to fire streams, thorn spitters, demon TK, and especially dark lighter arrows." Wyatt warned. After all these years, he'd dealt with all of those and more. Voluntarily entering the Underworld meant that Peyton would probably run into them too.
"Okay, but I do have the power to deflect all of those, right?"
"Yeah, they just take a lot more concentration and a ton more energy."
"Okay, good as new, kid. We've got to get to work on the potion and the GPS spell." Chris swung her leg off this shoulder, secretly impressed with her gymnast like flexibility. "I'll go round everyone up." He orbed away without another word.
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"Alright… all that's left if the feather. Remember, you've got to focus on Phy, or it won't work."
"Wyatt! Geez, would you stop? You're worse than Aunt Piper!" Peyton complained.
"Hey!" Piper inserted.
"Sorry, Aunt Piper, but really, have you been listening to him?"
"I have, and he sounds far more like Phoebe, not me." Piper teased.
"Okay, Chris, can you bring me the book so I can do the spell before the potion is done?"
Chris carried the Book of Shadows over to Peyton, tilting it so that she could easily read the words.
"Powers of good,
Powers of light.
See us through this eternal night.
Show them now the weary travel,
To start immediately with a magic gavel."
A floating gavel appeared out of thin air, and Peyton grabbed it, banging it against the book with a hard rap. As a large movie-like screen appeared, Peyton took a large steady breath and closed her eyes as she picked up the feather. She blew it out slowly, and dropped the feather into the potion pot.
A small wispy steam of smoke appeared, gathering into a cloud above her head. As it grew larger, Peyton turned to Chris. "If I can't get out, what do I do?"
A huge gust of wind swept through the attic, covering Chris' answer.
"WHAT?" Peyton screamed, seeing the cloud start to descend over her.
Chris yelled an answer, but the wind was too violent, and again she didn't hear as the cloud sent her swirling up and away, out of the attic.