A Charmed Story - Part Three:
Double Demons
Chapter 2

"Is there nothing that those witches have in common? I mean, apart from being witches?" Paige asked again.
"Darryl shook his head: "Nothing!"
Leo and Paige looked at each other helpless.
"Could you now tell me what you know about that?" Darryl asked.
Leo sighed: "Well, we don't know much more than you... Only that 27 witches and also 3 whitelighters have disappeared all of a sudden. And we can't sense them."
"That sounds bad," Darryl replied.
"That sounds really bad!" Paige added.
For a moment they kept silent. None of them knew what else to say.
"Sweetie, what about the meal?" that was Darryl's wife from the other room.
"O.k., we'll go now," Leo said, "please, call us if you find something out, o.k.?"
Darryl nodded and Leo and Paige orbed away.

°°°°°°°°°°

Phoebe and Chris looked up when they saw the blue orbing-lights entering the attic.
"Hey, have you found something?" Leo asked.
"Where is Paige?" Phoebe asked back.
Leo looked around. Then he looked at the others with a worried face: "She was next to me when we left Darryl!"
Chris's smile disappeared from his face suddenly: "What? I mean... She was with you... Orbing with you... How can she have just... vanished?" He was paler now.
Leo shook his head nervously. "She orbed at the same time but we were not touching each other... She might have orbed somewhere else..." he suggested, not convinced at all. Phoebe frowned: "Come on, Leo... Where would she go? And why? To freak us all out? And don't tell me she got lost in the middle of her orbs. When she started doing it, it was possible. Now, that doesn't make any sense, for God's Sake!"
Chris sat down on the floor, trembling and pale.
"Ok, it was just an idea... Phoebe, what can I do? She was with me, we didn't even step on the street! How the hell did this happen?" Leo yelled, defensive.
"Try to sense her dad..." Chris said, interrupting Phoebe's attempt to go on yelling. He had tried to sense his aunt, but couldn't. However, he didn't dare to tell them, before Leo himself made an attempt.
But his father shook his head, helplessly. Chris lowered his eyes.
"28... witches," Chris muttered.
"Or 4 whitelighters..." Leo remarked, tiredly.
All of them kept in silence for a while, until Phoebe broke out: "Ok... We're not gonna stay here, waiting for another witch to disappear... Whoever is doing this, even if it's not Belthazor, is going to regret having messed up with the Halliwells!"
Chris nodded, and stood up: "You're right... " He sighed: "Let's see what my brother meant with this... riddle."
"What?" Leo asked confused. "Your brother, Wyatt? What are you talking about?"

°°°°°°°°°°

"... and lived happily ever after," Cole closed the book with a strong thud, and left it on the tower of books that laid by him. His eyes wanted to close too, and his mouth was dry.
"Mo," Wyatt said, clapping his hands.
"More?" Cole smiled tiredly: "I think I've read all the fairy tales that have been written in the history of this world... Maybe your other self told you about those that still have to be invented..." He sighed, taking one of the books at the bottom of the tower.
"Look, we've read the Sleeping Beauty, the Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Little Red Hood, Peter Pan..." he enumerated all of them, as he was re-reading the titles, "Cinderella... Hamlet... Hamlet?" He frowned: "Oh... I don't think so."
Wyatt giggled.
"Have we?"
Wyatt clapped his hands again. Cole sighed and said in a loud voice: "Buddy, I guess you don't understand a word of what I read, I could be reading The Quixote, and you'd go on giggling..."
"Mo... "
"No, no more. Let's play with the teddy bear now, right?"
"Mo, mo, mo..." and he orbed away.
"Hey! Don't do..." But there was no Wyatt anymore, "...that. Oh, hell… Your mom is gonna kill me." He said this as he stood up, but he suddenly stopped: "Mo… mom? Damn it. He was saying Mom… I'll have to get used to this children language if I really want to be that favourite uncle of them." He went out of the library.

°°°°°°°°°°

"I don't know, honey..." Piper said. "Your mother loves you... even if she is... who she is. But look. That's the reason why it could be dangerous. She loves YOU, that includes your little self, too. If this child represents a danger for her… for you. You'll be putting your mother in a serious problem, and yourself. I think we can handle this, don't worry. For now, stay here, we're safe in the school until all the mess out there is wiped. Then, we'll take charge of this stuff."
Then she smiled at Bianca, and she gave her own smile back at her future mother-in-law.
"Ok..." she muttered.
After that, they both spent a long time talking about other lighter things, nothing that brought their worries back. Suddenly, white-blue orbs filled the room...
"Wyatt!" both women exclaimed, surprised.
"I thought I had told you not to orb! Unless we tell you to do so!" Piper hugged the boy, "your uncle must be really worried now, man... You're a naughty boy."
They laughed.
"Oh..." she went on. "Or was it him that told you to use your powers? Because if it was him... grrr..." she said playfully as Wyatt giggled.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Wyatt? Wyatt?" Cole cried out for him, walking through the hallway.
A door opened and Piper appeared with her son in her arms.
"Looking for him?" She asked with a big smile on her face.
Cole rushed to the boy and kissed him.
"Thank God! He shouldn't orb... I mean witches and whitelighters are missing... He shouldn't do that. Stop him ok?" he asked, now really worried.
Piper grew pale. She hadn't thought about that at all. "We have to tell Leo."
She wanted to call him but then stopped. "Maybe I shouldn't call him like that... I mean that could be dangerous too... "
"Well we have to do it in the old-fashioned way." Bianca interrupted them both.
Cole and Piper looked at her. "Sending a letter?"
"No Piper. An E-mail."
The Phoenix laughed. "Electronic age huh? No. I'll shimmer," she said and disappeared.
"You didn't tell him, to use his powers, did you?" Piper said now, while a giggling Wyatt reached out his small arms for Cole.
He carried him into the library while Piper went on talking. "I have to go to the teachers and tell them that the pupils might be in danger. You, Cole, stay with Wyatt."
She was nearly out of the door when she turned around: "Wyatt? Don't scare mommy or uncle Cole anymore ok? No orbing or using your powers. Understand Wyatt Matthew Halliwell?" She used his full name to make sure that he wouldn't do that again.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Wyatt left a note...we saw it after we went through the index because of Belthazor's entry and there... well, I think he wrote it in the future to help us." Chris said, showing Leo the entry in the book.
"Ah... the index. In the future!"
"Hell, I don't know, but it wasn't there before." Chris answered him.
"Wait, we knew we had an index?" Phoebe asked suspicious.
"Yeah. Of course every book has an index." Leo had his "speech"-voice.
But Chris interrupted: "Guys! Aunt Paige?"
"Yeah, right. Let me see."

°°°°°°°°°°

"Ouch... Damn it. Leo?" Paige woke up. Everything around her was dark. "Oh, not again. I swear that if I'm in that stupid cellar again..."
"Hello?" Paige jolted.
The tiny voice said again a shy "Hello? Mrs. Matthews?"
"Who's there?"
"It's me. Nicki." The voice cried.
"Nicki?" Paige tried to see something but it was too dark. "Where are you?"
Suddenly someone touched her hand: "I'm here, next to you, Mrs. Matthews!"
"Are you o.k., Nicki? Do you know where we are?" Paige asked trying to find out if she herself was hurt in anyway. But she was alright, as it seemed.
"I don't know where we are," the girl answered and sighed. "But here are a lot more witches," she went on explaining, "no power seems to work, no spell, no telepathical thing, nothing."
"Do you know if anybody was here, a demon or someone else... Someone who is responsible for all this?"
"No, there was nobody," another voice, a deep one, appeared next to Paige.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Derrick Anderson, I was the first one imprisoned here," he said. Paige guessed, that he must be around 50 or 60, judged by his voice. Quite an old age for a witch.
"I'm Paige Matthews," she answered kindly.
The man next to her sighed: "You shouldn't tell that too loud... If even one of the Charmed Ones is caught in here... someone might start to panic... even I'm on the way to do so..."
"Me too," Paige said.
"I have to tell you something which will make you worry a little more," Nicki remarked with a low voice.
"And what?" Paige asked.
"I was at the magic school when I got caught!"

°°°°°°°°°°

"Wait Chris... step by step... that doesn't make sense... Your brother can't have send you a message from the future through this book," Leo said trying to understand everything that his son was telling him.
"But the message is written by him, it's his handwriting," Chris remarked.
Leo nodded: "And? He was here, you remember... He could have written it while he was here in the attic... he surely had more then one chance to do it..."
Chris frowned, then nodded: "Yeah... that's true..."
"O.k., doesn't matter when he wrote this, what does it mean?" Phoebe said, pointing at the small lines again.
Leo read the text. Then he rose an eyebrow: "No idea!" Chris sighed.
At that moment Bianca shimmered in. "Hey," she said.
Chris went over and hugged her. Then he looked very angryly at her: "What are you doing here? This is too dangerous, someone is..."
She put her finger on his lips to stop him: "I'm not a witch honey."
Chris sighed: "Yes, but who knows if witches and whitelighters are all what they wanna catch..."
He made a pause and looked at her with love and sorrow. Then, he whispered: "I'm just afraid of losing you."
Bianca felt so sick, but she knew she couldn't tell him, not at that moment. There were bigger problems than hers. But she was afraid that he could notice her feelings. So she freed herself from his hug and went over to Leo.
"Leo, Piper is afraid because of Wyatt. He has just orbed inside the magic school. What if he orbs home to his toys or to you? He could be caught then," she explained.
Leo nodded, then he said: "Whatever it is, it has Paige."
"What?" the Phoenix yelled, half surprised, half full of fear.
"I think the best we can do is taking the book and go all to the school, there we should be safe," Phoebe suggested.
Bianca nodded: "I'll shimmer us all."

°°°°°°°°°°

Piper had a talk with the other teachers and staff of the magic school. There were not many, but the Elders had sent them some helpers.
After a discussion whether the danger was big enough and whether they should send the pupils back home or not, they decided to bring the pupils home. The Magic School was always protected but Belthazor, if it was him, knew a lot about it. Too much. They had to send the students home and hope that they didn't get caught. Everyone had the order of not using magic or orbing or something else.
All the teachers and students except Tom, Steve and Nicki were brought home through the secret hallways of the school.
The three friends, who fought with the Charmed Ones side by side, decided to stay. Nicki sat down in the big hall, while Tom was talking to Piper, trying to convince her that they could help.
Steve stared at Nicki. She was absorbed by her thoughts, staring at the floor. Her brown hair fell on her face and covered her brown eyes. Steve was just fascinated by her. After the big fight a few months before, he and Nicki had become closer. He was always by her side, trying to protect her. Even his friend Tom made fun about his "obsessive" behaviour, but he knew that Steve was in love.
Steve stepped next to her, touching her shoulder. "Are you ok?"
She raised her head.
He saw her eyes, her expression, and shivered deep down inside. This feeling, this moment was there just for a tiny second.
Then she smiled and said. "Yeah."
'What the hell was that?' He asked himself. 'Her eyes seemed so empty, so frozen and... abandoned. Just as if she wasn't herself. What did that mean? She was not o.k... No, not at all...'
He wondered about this "look" but was interrupted by Piper.
"God damn it! TOM!" The accosted one jerked. "You can help, but please, please shut up!" Tom grinned and saluted. "Yes ma'am."
Piper smiled then again. She and Tom stood closely to Steve and Nicki, but didn't notice any of them.
Suddenly they saw the air around them shivering. "What is that?" Piper asked, her hands ready to blow the 'incoming whatever' up. She pushed Tom to Steve and Nicki and stood in front of them. Ready to shoot.
After some seconds Phoebe, Leo, Bianca and Chris appeared.
"What the hell...?" Tom began but was interrupted by Chris.
"Bianca, are you ok!"
"Yeah... It's just a little too much." She looked to Piper, who knew what was going on. Chris watched her closely, questioningly. "I'm o.k., honey. Just too many people to shimmer."
"But it never was a problem before."
"It's just, I was careful that we didn't get caught o.k.? Don't worry," she avoided.
"Where's Paige?" Piper asked, fearing the answer.
"Away," Phoebe replied seriously.
"Away?"
"Away like the other 27... That's why we came here."
Piper didn't know what to say. Then she noticed that Bianca was still pale. She frowned, she had to do something... something for her.
Phoebe had noticed the Phoenix too... She felt that there was something wrong, but then Piper took over her mind.
The oldest sister touched her womb and closed her eyes: "Oho... I think I need a little rest. Come on, Bianca, sweetie. Could you take me to your room? I just want to lie down a little." She nodded.
Chris jumped to his mother: "Are you o.k.?"
"Yes, don't worry I'm only a little tired," she lied to him. "Come on guys... While I sleep a moment with the girl watching over me, you all go on and try to find something... I want results when I'm back," she ordered then, and walked out with the Phoenix.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Are you o.k.?" Bianca asked after she closed the door.
"Yes I am, but I thought you're not, right?" Piper answered sitting down on a chair.
The Phoenix nodded and lay down on the sofa, looking really bad now.
"How far... I mean, in which week...?"
"Third or fourth week, I'm not sure," Bianca added.
Piper frowned, that was very early: "But you are sure that you are pregnant?... I mean..."
"Yes," the Phoenix interrupted her, "I can feel it... We feel the unborn when we are pregnant."
Piper nodded. Then she added: "Take a little rest honey. You have to take care of yourself now." Bianca started to cry again.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris started to wander along and across the hall: "This is not good. Mom is feeling ill, and it's for me. My fault. And this is not the best time for this!"
Leo went to his son and stopped him, placing his kind hand on his shoulder: "Don't worry, son. She's o.k... Believe me, I was there when she was pregnant with Wyatt... That's what happens to women when they're pregnant." He smiled: "I know it's scary sometimes, but she's o.k.. Only a bit sick. O.k.?"
Chris nodded, not completely convinced.

°°°°°°°°°°

At the same time, Phoebe was talking lively to the teens, cheering them up: "Well, it seems the x-men get into action again!" she laughed.
Tom smiled broadly: "Yeah... Let's get rid of that Magnetozor forever and ever." Steve laughed, but Nicki just grinned in a weird way.
"Well," said Phoebe, seeing how his nephew and Leo came to join them again, and started to go through the pages of the book, "let's try to guess what your nice brother meant by this, right?"
The two men sighed and nodded at the same time, as Phoebe rolled her eyes: "Like father like son..."
At that moment, little Wyatt orbed in again.
"What the hell are you doing here, little man?" Phoebe asked, terrified: "You shouldn't be orbing that way! Didn't your mommy told you?"
Chris knelt down, next to his brother, as they heard a voice.
"Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, what did Piper tell you?" it was Cole, who had come running, out of air.
All the heads turned to him.
"I'm sorry..." he gasped, "I... I tried that thing of the whole name but it seems little warrior wants to take part in the action..."
Chris chuckled: "Listen to me, brother... You have to be a good boy now. Good boy. You won't orb, right? NO orb..." he remarked kindly, before Leo's proud look.
"No ob." Wyatt repeated.
Cole turned to the teens when he noticed they were there. "Hey, it seems you didn't get that break, after all," he smiled at Nicki.
She frowned, but the ex-demon didn't notice: "Was the book useful for you?"
"That's it..." continued Chris, "no orb. Because the bad guys will come and take you, and you won't see me, or mom, or dad, or the aunts, and uncle Cole, anymore. Right?"
Wyatt nodded seriously.
"So what I said? No...?"
"What book?" Nicki asked.
"Well... The... book. The one you were looking for. That for... explaining the history..." he stopped, "the spells about turning days into night."
"No ob..." Wyatt repeated.
Chris nodded and smiled: "Very good, brother."
He stroked his hair as he giggled: "And now, go with uncle Cole, and obey him."
"Oh!" Nicki seemed to realise: "Yeah... That book. Yes it was useful. Thanks."
Cole raised an eyebrow: "Yeah, I hope it was..." 'Because that wasn't the book you took,' he added in his mind. That was very weird.
But at that very moment, Wyatt was taking his hand, and pulling it to him: "Unke Co, C'mon"
Cole turned to him: "Ok..." He sighed: "Let's go... It seems the big guys don't need us!"
He winked at Nicki, but she didn't realise. It was as if she had forgotten everything about the previous conversation. Weird... very weird.
Then, they went out: "And sorry for the interruption!"
Leo was submerged in the book, and Wyatt's note, and now Chris had joined him.
Phoebe took a pile of books and placed them next to the teens: "well, I guess we could start with this. And... Steve? Do you know how to scry? With a map? Please, do it with this pen. It's Paige's. Maybe if we find her, we'll find the others."

°°°°°°°°°°

"So, Nicki... Why don't you illustrate us about what happened at the school? How did it take you?" asked Paige.
"Did you feel or see anything before getting here?" the girl asked.
"No, I didn't," the Charmed One shook her head.
"Well, then you know exactly the same thing as I know... Sorry. I was just going from the library to the class, with the book I had just picked up, and the next thing I remember is I was here..."
Paige sighed. "So we're here..." she murmured, "and we don't have much to begin with." ... "But it cannot be Belthazor if he got to the school," she realised suddenly, "Your spell banned him from there."
Nicki nodded: "Yeah, that's a point. But I wouldn't forget about him, anyway... Who knows what he can have done to get there. To get to you..."
Paige made a short break, again trying to see something. But it seems there was no light, not even a little one... It was completely dark.
"Are there any other ones from the school?" Paige asked the girl then.
"No, not that I know," Nicki answered.
"That's mysterious... There are so many witches... why don't they take more from there?"
"Maybe the others already noticed that I'm missing... And so they sent the kids home?" Nicki suggested.
"Yeah, that's possible."
"Anyway, we are here," Derrick remarked, "any idea how we can get out?"
Paige and Nicki sighed.

°°°°°°°°°°

Phoebe walked to Bianca's room. The men were busy understanding Wyatt's hints, and the kids were looking up the other books, so she thought it was time to have a serious talk with her sister.
She knocked.
It took a moment till Piper answered.
When Phoebe went in, her sister was lying on the sofa. Bianca wasn't at sight.
"How do you feel," Phoebe asked.
"Better... thank you."
Phoebe grinned evilly: "Oh, come on girl, you never felt that bad today... Forgotten? I'm an empath." She was focusing on her sister angrily.
Piper sighed: "Believe me, it is not what it seems, it's..."
"Not what it seems, ha?" Phoebe yelled. "You scared your son, and Leo too. So why the hell..."
She stopped. At that moment Bianca went in from the bathroom. Her face was still covered with tears. And all of a sudden Phoebe felt again that something was wrong with her. And then she knew what was going on, that the Phoenix was pregnant, too... and she felt her fear.
Even though she didn't understand why she was afraid, she knew what she had to do right away. So she went over and hugged her silently.


(Chapter 2 written by Chrissy.W.x, Belén and Dark Angel)