"Nancy, how are you feeling?"
After jumping from the sound of Prue's voice, she looked around and saw that not only was Prue sinning in her bed, but Phoebe and Piper were also there watching as she woke up.
"Fine, but what are all of you doing in here? Have you guys been watching me sleep? Cause if you have, it's kind of creepy."
"We know, but we thought you might want to talk about what happened last night."
Nancy was still confused, giving the girls a questioning look as she searched her memory from the night before. Her eyes grew big as she remembered what they were talking about. Turning away from the girls she silently groaned to herself as she realized that what she thought had just been a dream, or her imagination playing tricks on her, bad been a reality.
"I don't know what your talking about. I took my medication and forgot to eat something. It was no big deal. So I got a little sick to my stomach, it won't happen again. Now will you leave me alone."
"Well we would, but you know as well as we do this is not what we are talking about. You have to tell us what that dream was all about."
Phoebe knew that Nancy was trying to hide something from them, and they had to get it out of her.
"Nancy, we're family. You need us, and we need you. Please…"
"You don't NEED me. Trust me. What happened in the dream was a tame version of what the reality is like. I refuse to watch more of my family die at the hands of those people. Now let me sleep, when Jamie comes tomorrow to talk, I'm going to tell her that I don't want to live here anymore. They don't always listen to the kids, but she will, I know it. Besides if she doesn't I'll leave on my own. I lo.. Never mind, just go."
She rolled over trying to wipe the tears that were beginning to fall from her eyes. She refused to say the word love. She knew that loving someone was bad enough, but to admit that you did love them would only cause a disaster to happen. She couldn't let it happen again.
"Nancy we don't turn our back on family. Tell us what happened. We can handle it. I Promise."
Prue almost chocked on her own words. She knew that promising something like that was dangerous. All three of the ladies knew that they never really knew what was going to happen. In their 'Line Of Work', they had learned to expect the unexpected.
"Really, you think you can handle about twenty, or thirty dangerous beings at one time. My parents even knew they couldn't. That's why they ran for so long. Unfortunately just when they thought they were safe, and in the clear, that's when they would pop up again. Finally they had no where to run, and they died."
"Tell us what happened."
Piper was scared, but she knew that she didn't want to loose Nancy. She had become a very important part of their lives, and wouldn't let her fear get in the way of her family.
"You mean you don't know? I thought Phoebe saw it in her premonition that brought you to me?"
"I saw some of it, but it didn't make much sense to me. You'll need to fill in the blanks for us. All we know is that people attacked, and you were there, sort of. I saw a could of you there. That's the best way of explaining it. How did you get away?"
"Fine alright, I'll tell you, but remember this changes nothing."
Nancy took a deep breath and pulled her knees up to her chest. Putting her head down for a moment, she closed her eyes and began to tell the story that to her seemed like it just happened yesterday.
"I was almost ten and a half when it happened. Mom and Dad thought we had finally found a place safe from them."
"Them?"
"You know the Powers For Life. Dad joined long before Mom did. He loved learning about his powers, and the leaders did help them to advance. That's all Dad ever really wanted. He really wanted his powers to grow so that he could come home and help protect Grandma, and your Mom. For some reason Dad always thought that Grandma loved your Mom more then him, because she had more power. So he thought that if he had stronger powers, she would love him just as much."
"Grams loved your Dad…"
"Don't interrupt. This is hard enough. Dad always had a strange feeling that joining the group wasn't a good idea, but he figured he would stay just long enough to learn what he could, and then leave. The founders asked him about his family, since they only took natural born witches, Dad lied. He didn't want Grandma, or your Mom involved. He made up a make believe family, and told them this big long story about how they died, and he was the last witch in his family."
"They bought that?"
"Must have, because they let him stay. What Dad didn't know was once a member, you're a member for life. He finally figured it out in time, before he tried to leave. He knew several people who tried to leave, people he called really good friends. When he tried to get in touch with them, he found out they died, or disappeared without a word. He even tried to find them with his power, with no success."
"Wow, the book never told us any of that."
"I know. He never told Grandma everything. One night, by accident, he found out what he was going to be asked to do to become a full fledged member, and how they would do it. One night we was walking to the office, he noticed a light on in a cabin that was off limits. Dads curiosity got the better of him, and he peaked in through a crack, and saw tat it was a guy he knew pretty well. He was taking his final test. Dad watched as this man, who always seemed so nice, kill a totally innocent and unarmed man."
"Wow."
"Wow doesn't cover it. Dad tried to connect with the guy, and he couldn't. The founders entered the guys mind, and forced him to believe whatever they were telling him. Dad knew that he could never hurt and innocent person, so he trained his mind to not believe what the founders would try to put in his head. When Dad's day of the test came, his power would fail. In reality, his power, my power is a passive power, but it can be used to cause harm to people. Anytime you mess with someone's mind it's dangerous, he had to be real careful who he used it on."
"Have you ever hurt anyone with your power. On accident I mean."
"Sure, when I was first learning. Nothing to bad, just would end up giving Mom and Dad a headache by staying in to long, or entering their minds wrong. Nothing more then that. Even though Dad couldn't pass the test, the Founders let him stay. They always needed dedicated members to help collect money, run errands, and get food, that kind of thing. Dad was put in charge of collecting, and selling new member's personal belonging for money. Dad was smart though, he would get fifty dollars for an item, and keep ten for himself."
"The Founders never found out?"
"No. Dad went to pawn brokers or people on the streets. No receipts, no proof of how much they got for the items. Dad was building a fund so when the opportunity came, he would have enough money to run with. That day came sooner then Dad thought when Mom arrived. Dad feel in love at first sight, but feared the worst when he noticed how fast her powers were growing. She was working her way up to the final test faster then most."
"Didn't the members know what they had to do?"
"No. They never told them, and they aren't called the Controllers for no reason. During the final test they put thoughts into your head that tell you what your doing is for the greater good. They can even make you see things that are not real. Once you make the kill, you are under their control forever. You mind is never your own again. The night before Mom was to be tested, Dad took her to see what the final test was. Mom too knew she couldn't go through with it, but didn't know if she would have time to train her brain like Dad did. The next night, Dad projected into her mind, as the controllers tried to make her kill, it failed, and they decided to give her more time."
"How did your Dad figure all this out? With the controllers in their head and all."
"Dad always says it takes not just a strong mind, but a strong heart to withstand the Controllers. Dad's power gave him an extra boost, but it still took a lot to stop his subconscious from believing what his mind was seeing. He also said that it helped to know what they were trying to do. It's harder to trick the brain if you know it's going to happen."
"Your Dad was a very smart man."
"Not to smart. He joined didn't he….Sorry I didn't mean that. Anyway, a few weeks later when Dad was out on one of his selling missions, he snuck Mom out with him, and they just kept on going. The Controllers would find them, but Dad used his power to try to keep track of where they were, so they could be long gone whey they arrived."
"So he could get into their minds?"
"Not really in their minds. Demons and Warlocks don't have minds like regular people. He could get in just enough to see where they were, but that's about it. They would run for another two years before they realized they had been in the same place for over six months, with no trace of the Controllers. They decided to settle down, they found a nice house that in the middle of nowhere. It was nice and hidden from the rest of the world, and with some charms and incantations, nobody could find it without their permission."
"Then you were born?"
"Yea, almost exactly nine months after they moved in. They quickly realized that I wasn't a normal child. Of course I had powers, but when I could balance their check book at the age of four they knew I wasn't just magically talented."
"Wow, I was lucky if I could tie my shoes at that age."
"Well they decided to have me tested, and were told I had a I.Q. of over two hundred. They were told I would probably be in college by the time I was thirteen."
"They were wrong about that."
"Not because I didn't want to. Mom and Dad decided to keep me out of school for as long as possible."
"Why?"
"Several reasons. First they didn't want me to grow up to fast. They didn't want me to be with kids three times my age. They also didn't want to draw attention to ourselves. Put a six year old in Junior High, a few people might notice. They decided to teach me at home. Of course the things they taught me, you couldn't learn in any school. Mom taught me to play the piano, and Dad taught me about astronomy. Then they would teach me about magic, and all that kind of stuff. When I was nine I decided I had enough, and wanted to go to school. I begged and pleaded with them to have me tested again, so they did. I was put in High school, and I was so happy. Most of the kids hated school, but I loved it, I finally got to be around other kids, even if they were eight and nine years older then me."
"Sounds like you were very happy."
"I was for a while. Then I started my sophomore year, and things went crazy. I was in my chemistry class, the second week of the first semester. I felt my Dad reaching out to me, I knew it had to be important, he normally didn't do that, so I raised my had to go to the bathroom, and left. When I got into the bathroom, I closed my eyes to talk with my Dad. He told me they needed to see me, next thing I knew, I was standing in the living room, or at least my mind was."
"Your Dad could do that?"
"No that was Mom's power. She could basically link up with a mind, and cause them to astral project to her location. Only thing is, the only one who could see me was her. I listened to my Dad tell me they had been found. He said that when teachers, or police came to the school to tell me, I needed to act surprised, and above all tell them I had no Grandparents, or family. The Controllers had never been in my mind, so they couldn't track me, or at least that's what I thought at the time, but we still had to be careful."
"What then?"
"What do you mean, what then? You want details of their death too? Fine, I watched as they were punched and kicked my Mom in the head until she was a bloody pulp. They wanted my Dad to tell them where I was. When he refused, I watched as they snapped my Mom's neck, then I saw nothing. I could only hear my Dad's voice, then that was gone too."
Nancy was yelling at them by this time. She couldn't control the emotion that was behind her words. The memory was still so fresh in her mind that it hurt to talk about it. The girls could say nothing, they just let their own tears fall as they waited for Nancy to calm down a little.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell."
"Don't ever be sorry for telling us how you feel."
"Anyway, I was worried at first that I would be found, but Dad made one last visit to my dreams. He told me that long before I was even born, Grandma had performed a spell, using my picture as a channel, and I was hidden from the Controllers radar. Once he was gone, I vowed to never use my powers again. It wasn't hard to do, It's not like there was anyone I wanted in my dreams to protect me. I just bounced from one foster home to the next."
"Can I ask why? I mean I'm not being bias because your our cousin, but you're a great kid."
"The bad homes didn't want a kid who was smarter then them, and the good homes wanted a kid they could teach things to. They thought high I.Q. meant that I already knew everything. They forgot that I was still just a kid. Please understand, I didn't want you guys in my dream last night. I lost control of my power, it's been a long time since I've used it, and I'm out of practice.
Nancy began to fidget in the bed, and every time she moved her face would contort in pain. Piper got up from the bed, and went downstairs without saying a word to anyone. Arriving back in Nancy's room fifteen minutes later she handed Nancy a tray with two eggs, some toast, and a glass of orange juice.
"Thanks Piper, but I'm not hungry."
"I know, but your in pain, and we can't help with that unless you eat. I don't think you want a repeat of last nights vomit fest."
Nancy quickly took the tray as the image entered her head. She ate most of her eggs, a few bites of the toast, and then took her pain killer with the orange juice. After handing the tray back to Piper she laid back down and pulled the covers up to her chin.
"We'll leave you alone for a while. Try to get some rest. Yell if you need anything."
"Thanks guys, and listen, I'm so happy that I finally was able to meet you. All my life I've wondered what you guys were like, and you are even better then I imaged. This just isn't the time for us to be together. When I tell Jamie I don't want to stay, don't take it personally, and don't fight it. It's for the best, you understand don't you?"
They said nothing, just kissed Nancy on the forehead, turned and exited her room closing the door behind them.
"I'm going to look on the internet for these people. Nancy said they have groups all over the place, they have to have some way of talking to each other."
"Remember to look for bother the Controllers, and The Powers for Life."
"I'll check the Book of Shadows, I'll bet there had to be something in there about them. No way could Grams come up with a spell to hide Nancy for that long without knowing something about them."
"Good idea. We have to find something. I'm not giving up Nancy without a huge fight. Unfortunately I have to go to work for a little while. I want you guys to call me the minute you find anything. I should be back in about three hours."
The girls went their separate ways, each of them determined to find everything, and anything the could about this group. None of them were going to give up on Nancy, no matter what she said.