A Charmed Story - Part Three:
Double Demons
Chapter 3
"Damn it!" Chris swore and started to walk around, while Leo was browsing through the book again.
"Take a rest son, I think the solution of that riddle is easy... We might just be thinking too hard." Chris nodded, but was still a little angry.
"That's interesting," Leo remarked, then.
"What?" Chris asked, and went closer again.
"I found four more entries like that little one. Each of them seems to be a little riddle."
"Could they help us to solve the first one?"
"I don't think so... I believe your brother wanted to give us some hints to solve some future problems, but he must have also thought that it could change too much, if he simply told us... That's why he made those riddles, I think. Everyone is dealing with another problem."
Chris nodded. He only wished the riddles were much easier to understand.
After a while of hard-thinking, Chris frowned: "And what if they're not exactly 'riddles' as such, dad?"
"Well, I don't know what else they can be, son, unless your brother speaks another language or uses symbols..." Leo joked.
"No..." Chris interrupted him, impatient: "I mean... well, if he knows all those things he wrote there, it's because in his future we solved them... Without any help, I mean..."
Leo followed his speech thoughtful: "Yeah... "
"If he just tells us how to defeat them, he'd change the moment in which it happened, or the way..."
"Yeah, well, that's exactly what I told you, I don't know what you want to..."
"Wait, wait..." Chris hushed him, as he approached the book, and looked for the page in which the first 'riddle' was. "If he just wrote a riddle that we need to solve he would be changing things anyway... Just delaying the moment we would realise, but the solution would give us enough clues about how to change something before it meant to be changed."
This time, Leo raised his eyebrow, not following his reasoning anymore.
"Just think about this, dad!" Chris continued, "A shirt dirty with ice-cream, and grass? Is that a riddle? Or a clue? Well, ok... it's a clue... but not in the way we thought."
"Please, Chris, just go to the point..." Leo said, sighing.
"I think, that Wyatt was telling us ex-act-ly the moment in which it'd happen. There must be a shirt dirty with ice cream and grass involved in the vanquishing of Belthazor, or some 'double' demon."
Leo frowned: "And he was telling that it was easy for us to vanquish him?"
"Yeah, he was mixing those elements just for us to pay attention to them when they came. To be 'prepared'."
Leo shook his head. "But I still believe that this shirt will play a bigger part in the vanquishing."
Chris shrugged: "Yes, probably. But that's not what Wyatt said. Wyatt is saying: 'When you see, hear or whatever you do, something related to a shirt dirty with ice-cream and grass, pay attention. It'll be easy to vanquish a double-demon. But... YOU have to find the way'."
"Are you sure?"
"Almost... Look, what I think is that whatever this shirt is, it, the shirt itself, is gonna give us the true clue, what we need to kill the demon. Belthazor. I guess Wyatt was just making sure that we pay attention to the elements he knew would help us in the future."
"And the future consequences? Because I think they're still involved."
Chris sighed, desperate: "No, don't you see it? Dad... this is exactly what we 'did' in his future. We took into account that shirt, or whatever it is. I'm sure we'll discover all in good time. He just wanted us not to worry, and well, I'm sure he didn't want us to take the wrong decisions this time. He didn't mean to change his future... What he was trying was just the contrary, dad... He wanted it to be exactly the same! Maybe he was afraid his visit could already have changed something... That's why he made sure that we DO what we actually DID in his future."
Leo nodded pensive. "Yes, it makes sense, after all..." Chris smiled, relieved.
"Can I help you?" it was Nicki's voice.
None of them had realised she was there, observing and listening to their conversation.
°°°°°°°°°°
Paige held her head in her hands... She was thinking hard about their situation, but there was no clue in it... None of that made sense... nothing of it. Why were they imprisoned in that cave? It was large, maybe 15 x 15 meters... Paige had talked to everyone she could find on her way through the cave. Now she was again sitting next to Nicki. "There are only witches here," she remarked, but more to herself.
"What do you mean?" Nicki asked.
"There are 29 witches disappeared, including you and me. But there are also 3, or maybe more by now, missing whitelighters" she explained to the girl.
"But who can catch a whitelighter?"
"I don't know," Paige answered with a helpless voice.
Suddenly there was a green light in the middle of the cave.
"What's that?" Paige asked surprised.
"Seems another witch is joining us," Nicki answered.
Seconds later they saw a girl in the light, then everything was dark again, they only heard a noise of a body falling down.
"That was Sarah, from one of my classes," Nicki remarked, "I'll bring her here. Don't move." Paige felt that she was going away.
A few minutes later, her voice was back next to her: "I have her."
"Is she alright?" Paige asked.
"I think so."
"Nicki?" the girl asked gaining back her conscious.
"Yeah, I'm here, and Paige Matthews, too," she answered.
"But how can you be here? I've seen you just a few minutes ago."
"Where have you seen her?" Paige asked.
"At the school, just before you sent us all home," the girl answered.
°°°°°°°°°°
Leo and Chris were discussing something with Nicki when Phoebe returned.
"Where have you been?" Chris asked.
"I was looking after Piper," she answered. She looked very worried so Leo and Chris went closer.
"Is everything alright?" Leo asked.
It took a moment until she realised that he was speaking to her. She was frowning. Her mind was turning around Bianca.
But then she looked up and smiled: "Oh... Oh yes, she's already feeling better... She only needed a little rest." As she noticed that the two men were looking at her with suspicion, she added: "Have you found something?"
"Phoebe..." Chris started to say.
But Leo cut him off, after he saw the weird look that Phoebe gave him: "Yes... Well, not exactly... But we were discussing about the riddle. And we think we need to pay attention to what happens. Chris says that Wyatt must have tried to warn us that when something related to a shirt dirty with ice-cream and grass happens, we'll find the solution."
"...as we probably did in Wyatt's future," finished Chris.
Nicki nodded pensive.
"Well, it seems we'll have to wait," she said, with a smile.
Tom and Steve were completely absorbed by the riddles they've been given and the other books.
°°°°°°°°°°
Nicki looked shocked: "Really? I mean... That's not possible... I didn't even know that you all had been send home... well I thought that... and, I know now... But I wasn't there when they did."
Paige nodded, pensive: "Something's wrong here..."
Sarah didn't understand a single thing: "Nicki, it was... it was you. I'd swear it was you! Well, actually you had left before to get a book from the library, but you didn't have it when..." she frowned.
"When I was back?"
Sarah nodded: "Yeah..."
"Well, right after getting it, I... the next thing I remember is that I was here!" she explained.
"Someone is pretending to be you, and that someone is doing this to be near us, surely... But how was this person able to enter the magic school? It's protected against every demonic thing..."
"What about a witch?" Nicki suggested.
"What?" Paige thought she hadn't heard well.
"A witch... Someone who can actually enter the school without being noticed. And of course, someone willing to betray any of us..." Nicki concluded.
°°°°°°°°°°
Cole walked to the library thoughtful, carrying little Wyatt on his arms. There was something very weird about Nicki...
When he was getting to the door, he spotted the green and brown book opened on the floor, a few steps away from the entrance, on the other direction.
He approached and took it with a hand, holding Wyatt with his other arm. He read the title: 'The Magical History of a Very Special School', by Gideon. Cole frowned as he read the name of the author. But his worries were others. What the hell had happened there? He thought he should keep it and give it to Phoebe when Nicki wasn't around. Perhaps, she could have a premonition...
Wyatt yawned.
"Hey, little warrior... Are you tired?" he asked, smiling, but still pensive. "Good..." he went on in a low voice, "Let's have a rest now..."
He went to the sofa and placed the boy there. Then he covered him with his own jacket, and sat near him, watching how he fell asleep, and at the same time thinking about the book, which rested on his lap. He scratched his chin... Then, he decided to open the book before giving it to Phoebe. The fact that it was Gideon's distressed him a lot...
°°°°°°°°°°
"O.k. I think I'll go to the underworld," Chris said suddenly.
"What?" the others exclaimed surprised.
Chris rolled his eyes: "We're not going any further, right? And I still have some friends down there, so maybe I can find something out."
"No son, that's a really bad idea!" Leo yelled.
"But dad..."
"No, it's too dangerous to orb."
"I'll shimmer... or better Bianca will... she..."
"No!" Phoebe interrupted him a bit too loud, "she will not shimmer you!"
Chris looked at his aunt with narrowed eyes: "Phoebe what the hell is going on here?" He felt that there was something she wouldn't tell him.
"I can't explain that to you... I..."
"O.k., so I'll go to my love now and ask her to shimmer me," Chris said with a smile but Phoebe grasped his arm.
"Please, don't ask her this," she said nearly pleading.
Chris sighed: "O.k., aunt Phoebe, what's going on here... And no 'I can't'... and no lies!"
Phoebe looked to Leo, who was observing her. She felt helpless. Damn it... Why did she always have to stick her nose into other people's business? Damn it!
Chris tried to look her in the eyes, but she looked down to the ground.
She knew she wouldn't be able to stand his look. She needed a way out of this. But then, she had an idea.
"I had a premonition, that's why I'm begging you to stay," she said slowly.
Chris sighed: "O.k... I don't believe you at all... but... o.k."
He went to the table, grasped another book and sat down frustrated.
Phoebe sighed too. Leo went a little closer to her. "What's going on here, Phoebe?" he whispered.
She looked at him with sad eyes: "Don't ask me, please. Just believe me that it has nothing to do with our current problem, o.k.?"
Leo nodded: "O.k."
Meanwhile Steve whispered to Nicki: "What do you think is going on there?"
But she didn't answer, she just observed the scene.
"Nicki?" he asked again.
Slowly she turned her face to him, she had a weird look for a moment, but then, she smiled again: "What?"
Steve frowned. "Nothing, nothing important," he said and turned his head to the book on his lab again, thinking hard about that weird behaviour of his friend.
"Phoebe!" That was Cole's voice. Seconds later he entered the room.
"What's going on?" Leo asked.
"Ah... nothing," he replied and turned to Phoebe, "I need your help... if you have a little moment."
She nodded, then turned to Leo: "You don't need me this moment, right?... So I'll be back in a few minutes." Then she followed Cole down the hallway.
Leo turned back to Chris: "Hey come on, I think she didn't lie..."
"She did, dad," Chris answered and stood up again.
"What makes you so sure?"
Chris smiled, but it was a sad smile: "I don't know... I only feel that there is something going on, between mom and Bianca and now her... I don't know what, but... there is something wrong."
Leo hugged his son: "I'm sure there is nothing, we all are just a bit overworked... and don't forget Paige... That's all a little too much for your mom, and Phoebe felt that, you know that..."
Chris nodded: "Maybe..."
°°°°°°°°°°
"I'm... sorry, Piper," Bianca muttered as she sipped from the cup of lime.
"Why?" the alluded one turned in surprise.
Bianca sighed and leaned her head on a cushion: "For worrying you about my own problems when you have more important things to deal with."
Piper smiled at her. "Sweetie... These are also my problems, remember?" she replied, touching her own womb. "That little child you're bearing is also the child of the one I bear - in a way, so... it is my problem."
Bianca smiled grateful: "Yeah, but... your sister's missing, and that's worrying enough for your... state."
Piper rolled her eyes: "Of course it is... But don't forget that if I'm here it's just because my husband and THIS child," she pointed to her womb, "wouldn't let me do anything else. Even if you hadn't needed somebody... I would have had to stay back, with Cole, and Wyatt... So look at this in a different way. You are helping me to forget my own worries."
Bianca looked away. Then she said: "She's fine, Piper. I know she is... Paige is a wonderful woman, very strong and brave. I... I think that it's even good that she's there, wherever she is, with the others. She'll keep their hopes up and won't let anything happen to any of those witches and whitelighters..."
Piper smiled weakly: "She's just my little child, you know?" Her eyes turned glassy, and at that point Bianca regretted having talked to her about Paige.
"But she's the best of us when things turn bad..."
Bianca nodded.
°°°°°°°°°°
"What's wrong, Cole?" asked Phoebe.
"I'm not sure..." he scratched his hair. Wyatt was deeply asleep on the sofa, and he had been taking a glance at the book. Gideon had written it, but there was no mention to that prison and all the traps and enigmas they had found when Belthazor attacked them the last time.
However, he couldn't find anything really important on it, so he decided to go to Phoebe for the premonition.
The witch looked at the book wonderingly. "Do you want now a whole lesson on the history of this place, Cole?" she raised an eyebrow, a little bit annoyed.
"Come on, Phoebe, don't be mean..." He looked really serious: "I've got a bad feeling. This book... Before we sent all the children to their homes, Nicki came here to get this book. But then, when I was looking for Wyatt, and saw Nicki, she didn't remember the book at all. What is more... I gave her the wrong topic, and she just admitted that this was the book she had finally taken! But then, I come here, and I find the book, the one that she really took, on the floor... She didn't mention having lost it, or something. She behaves in a weird way, Phoebe... I think there's some spell involved, some kind of magic... I don't know."
"And what do you want me to do?" Phoebe asked not sure if she really got his point.
"Just try to have a premonition."
"I can't force premonitions, if they don't come on their own, I..."
"Just place your hand on the book. And let's see if it works!"
Phoebe sighed, and did what she was told.
°°°°°°°°°°
Chris had sat down with the teens, helpless.
"Can I take a look at those books, please, Tom?" he asked.
"Yeah, of course," he handed the book to him.
Chris started to flip through the pages, not really reading or looking at them, just thinking. "Have any of you... solved something about those riddles?"
Nicki shook her head, slowly, and Steve said: "They're not the typical riddles Mr. Halliwell. They're more like... jokes." He blushed. "Not that I mean that your brother would just be playing or something..."
Chris sighed: "Hey, don't worry... It's the same I thought when I saw the first one... But my brother is like that. I think he's somehow playing with us..."
"Look at this one," said Tom, "this was next to the entry about the Phoenixes." Chris frowned and read.
"Not all birds are reborn, but one is. And one is, that is not bird at all."
Chris chuckled. These were all jokes... At that moment he realised he shouldn't be worrying about that anymore. Wyatt was just... leaving some souvenirs from his visit to the past. Nothing relevant at that moment. He decided to forget all his previous theories, because this time, this riddle or joke, was very clear.
The bird who is reborn, the Phoenix, was Bianca, of course. Two Biancas in the same timeline... So she was reborn, technically. And the one who is reborn, but not bird at all, well... That was himself, Chris.
"Dad... I guess we'd better forget about the riddles...We should focus on other things, like... trying to find aunt Paige. If we find her we'll find the others. By the way... someone tried to scry for her?" he asked, looking at the teens.
"Yeah, I tried to," Steve said, "but I can't find her."
Chris nodded. He already knew his answer. If he, an Elder, wasn't able to locate her, how would a young witch around 18 be able to do so.
"Suddenly he had to smile about that... A young witch around 18... and he the Elder, even he was only a few years older.
It was still not easy for him to be an Elder, but it was getting better and better, day by day. He began to get used to it... slowly. But he had still some problems to deal with that great responsibility.
"O.k." he sighed again and went over to Leo, "Dad, we're still not getting any further... we have to do something!"
Leo nodded: "But what?"
Chris frowned; then, he looked up to him: "I think we..."
"Hey, boys!" that was Phoebe who was just entering again. Her voice sounded weird in a way.
"Everything alright with Cole and Wyatt?" Leo asked.
"Yes, yes," she answered smiling. She went over to them and had a short look on the book. Meanwhile she put a little sheet of paper next to it and winked to Leo.
Then she turned around to the kids: "Hey, have you tried to scry for her?"
Steve nodded: "But without result."
"Have you tried to do it all together?"...
While Phoebe was taking over the attention of the young witches, Chris opened secretly the little folded paper. Both men read it.
"Don't trust THIS Nicki!"
(Chapter 3 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)
