I think this may just be the longest of the chapters so far!
I just want to say a special thank you to: -0-charmed-freak-0- and Laura.
I've changed the title to Shifters, but if anyone has a better idea please do tell me!
Hope everyone likes this chapter. All feedback is appreciated and if you are reading this could you take a couple of seconds to review at the end? Thanks
:P
Chapter Three
Sebastiana was lying on her back in the bed that had been set out in Mel's bedroom. It was evening now and everyone in the house was asleep, except for Sebastiana, No matter what she tried she just couldn't fall asleep. She had been staring at the ceiling for the past hour and she was still wide awake. Thank god she had her pyjamas with her, because she didn't think she would have been comfortable borrowing Melinda's. She was wearing her black pyjama pants and a pink strappy pyjama top. Realising that staring at the ceiling wasn't helping at all, Sebastiana cautiously climbed out of bed, careful so as not to wake up Melinda who was sleeping soundly. Once out of bed she tiptoed out the room and made her way slowly downstairs. Maybe a nice warm drink would help her sleep.
Meanwhile upstairs Wyatt had just woken up and heard someone walk past his bedroom. It definitely wasn't his mom or dad, and the footsteps were too light to belong to Chris, so he assumed it was either Mel or Sebastiana. He got out of bed and went downstairs to see who it was.
When Sebastiana got downstairs she looked around in the fridge and the cupboards until she found some milk and honey. A pot was easily found, so all she had to do now was warm up the milk and then she'd add the honey. Fran had always made this for her when she was younger and couldn't sleep. As she was stirring the milk gently all the thoughts of Fran that she'd tried to keep blocked since that day two weeks ago came flooding out. These thoughts then led onto thoughts of her mother which only further overwhelmed her. For the first time in several years Sebastiana started to cry.
"Hey what's wrong?" A soft, gentle voice asked.
Sebastiana had not realised that anyone was down here and jumped slightly when she heard the voice.
"Don't do that again you scared-" Sebastiana began as she turned around to face Wyatt.
She didn't finish her sentence because she was momentarily shocked. He had obviously just gotten out of bed, but had neglected to put on a shirt of some sort, so he was wearing pyjama pants and that was it. Now Sebastiana wasn't blind and she had to appreciate the sight of a topless Wyatt in front of her.
"I scared what?" Wyatt asked as he saw her staring at him.
For a moment there he even thought that her mouth was gaping open slightly.
"Me. You scared me," Sebastiana replied.
"Were you crying?" Wyatt asked as he noted Sebastiana's slightly puffy eyes and a couple of tears that were still rolling down her cheeks.
Sebastiana tried to hurriedly wipe away her tears and deny that she was crying, but Wyatt wasn't buying any of it. He switched off the gas that was warming the milk and took hold of Sebastiana's hand so that he could gently lead her into the lounge. Once there he switched on the light and sat down on the large sofa and tugged on Sebastiana's arm so that she sat down next to him.
"Now how about you start by telling me what's wrong," Wyatt suggested gently.
"Well Fran's dead, my mom's dead, demons are out to kill us and I have to protect and look after two kids under 10 years old," Sebastiana started sarcastically, "so you know, nothing out of the ordinary."
"Okay, stupid question," Wyatt conceded, "What I actually wanted to know was why the tears now?"
"I don't know, I guess everything's just finally got on top of me. I mean these past two weeks, I've had to be strong for Fleur and Finley, and it's like now that we're here all these emotions I've kept bottled up have just spilled out," Sebastiana said honestly as her tears started up again and silently flowed down her cheeks.
Wyatt put his arm around her to comfort her, and wasn't expecting her to turn completely towards him and lean on his chest as she finally allowed her tears to flow. The stayed like that for almost half an hour, with Sebastiana crying and Wyatt talking to her gently as he slowly rubbed her back. Sebastiana's eyes then started to droop and within a few minutes her breathing was slower and shallower, and indication that she had finally gone to sleep. Not wanting to disturb her, but wanting to get her into her bed Wyatt waved his hand over her sleeping form.
"Bed," he whispered as she orbed out in a flurry of blue lights.
Upstairs Sebastiana appeared in her bed, still asleep and remained like that for the rest of the evening.
Downstairs Wyatt cleaned the pot with milk in, put the bottle of milk back in the fridge and put the honey back in the cupboard. He hated leaving things out; everyone said he got it from his mother who liked to make sure everything was tidy. Once everything was put away Wyatt went back upstairs to his room to go back to sleep, tomorrow was Monday and he had a class to teach.
Sebastiana woke up in the morning in her bed and was confused at how she got there. Then the events of last night came back to her and she smiled slightly, realising Wyatt must have put her back in bed. Looking around the room she realised that Melinda was already up, so she got dressed and then went to find Fleur and Finley.
Mornings in the Halliwell house were generally chaotic, and today was no exception. Sebastiana had made it clear the night before that she didn't want any of the Halliwells to have to worry about Fleur or Finley. She said that she'd be the one to organise them in the mornings and sort anything out. On the subject of meals Piper and Sebastiana reached an agreement that Sebastiana would help in the preparation so that she wouldn't feel like she was taking advantage of Piper and her family. So this morning Sebastiana had roused Finley and Fleur from their sleep got them dressed and brought them downstairs, only to find a scene of utter chaos.
"Mom, have you seen my bag?" Mel asked as she searched around for her school bag in the kitchen.
"It's by the front door honey," Piper said from her position at the stove where she was currently cooking breakfast.
"Chris where did you put my robe?" Wyatt asked his brother as Chris walked into the kitchen.
"Robe," Chris called with his hand open.
The black robe orbed into Chris' hand and he handed it to Wyatt.
"Morning Mom," Chris said as he walked up to Piper and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Why don't you two sit down at the table, and I'll just help Piper with the breakfast," Sebastiana told Fleur and Finley as she nudged them towards the kitchen table.
"Wyatt honey, could you start laying the table please?" Piper asked Wyatt.
Wyatt went about collecting all the plates, cutlery etc and took them into the dining room.
"What can I do to help?" Sebastiana asked as she came up to Piper.
"You could start putting some toast on, and then cut them in half," Piper suggested.
Sebastiana started with the toast, using about half the loaf because Piper said that was how much they'd get through for breakfast.
"Where's everyone headed then this morning?" Sebastiana queried as she was toasting and cutting the toast.
"Well you remember we were telling you about Magic School last night?" Piper asked.
Sebastiana nodded as a response.
"Leo's the headmaster there, Melinda goes to school there and Wyatt and Chris teach there. So once they've had their breakfast they'll head over. Me, on the other hand, will be going to my restaurant in a couple of hours to get everything sorted for the day and deal with anything that crops up," Piper explained.
"Alright, so what do Wyatt and Chris teach?"
"I teach a mixture of classes and so does Chris," Wyatt answered as he walked into the kitchen.
Sebastiana looked up from what she was doing and turned towards Wyatt.
"How long have you been teaching?"
"This is my second year and Chris' first."
Once everything was finished in the kitchen everybody came in to help take the things into the next room. Even Finley and Fleur who had been sitting silently at the kitchen table watching the people around them helped take things in. Sebastiana hung back slightly so that she could speak to Wyatt before both went into the dining room.
"Umm, Wyatt could I just talk to you for a moment?" Sebastiana asked.
"Yeah sure, what's up?" Wyatt said as he stopped to talk to her.
"Just so you know, I don't do this often, and I probably won't do it again, but I just wanted to thank you for last night," Sebastiana apologised in a rush before leaving an amused Wyatt in the kitchen as she headed into the dining room.
Sitting at the dining room table was surprisingly less chaotic than the making of the breakfast. There seemed to be some sort of order at the table and everyone seemed much calmer.
"So how will you guys get to Magic School?" Sebastiana asked once everyone had started to eat their breakfast.
"There's a door that we make appear on the stairs, and we just walk right in," Leo explained as he helped himself to a large helping of egg.
"Sebastiana, you, Finley and Fleur will go to Magic School with the others today. If that's okay with you," Piper told Sebastiana.
"Sure that's fine, I'd like to see what this place is like anyway," Sebastiana responded.
"If you want, Finley and Fleur can go to some classes today," Leo proposed.
"Really? That would be great," Sebastiana answered and then turned to Finley and Fleur, "Would you like that guys? To go to classes at Magic School?"
"Is Jem gonna be there?" Fleur asked shyly.
"Yeah she'll be there and so will all the kids you met yesterday," Chris replied.
"Can I go Bastiana?" Fleur questioned, "Please?"
"Of course you can. Is that okay with you Fin?" Sebastiana said as she turned to Finley.
"Yeah, I guess it would be cool," Finley conceded.
Once breakfast had been finished and everything had been cleared away the door to Magic School was conjured.
"Have a good day guys, I'll see you back here later," Piper called as Leo, Melinda, Chris, Wyatt, Sebastiana, Finley and Fleur walked into Magic School.
"You know you look like such a dork in that robe," Sebastiana whispered to Wyatt as they walked further into Magic School.
"Thanks," Wyatt whispered back sarcastically.
Once inside Magic School Melinda ran off to find her friends, and both Finley and Fleur grabbed onto Sebastiana's hands.
"If you come with me to my office, I'll be able to find the classes that Fleur and Finley can attend and then Chris will be able to show you were they are," Leo explained as he led Sebastiana to his office.
When they reached Leo's office Wyatt excused himself to go and prepare for his first class, whilst Leo rifled through some papers on his desk.
"Alright, I've found the room numbers for the classes. Chris can you take them to room M19, for Fleur and H99 for Finley," Leo asked as he read the room numbers from a long piece of paper.
"Sure Dad. I'll see you later okay?" Chris replied.
Chris then exited Leo's office with Sebastiana, Finley and Fleur following behind him. All three were in awe as they walked through the seemingly endless corridors of Magic School.
"It's huge!" Finley commented in awe.
"It is quite big, but you get used to it eventually," Chris said with a smile.
They reached Finley's classroom first. Chris knocked on the door and then walked into the room.
"Good morning Miss. Oliver, I have a new student for you," Chris greeted the teacher that was standing at the front of the class.
"And what's your name?" Miss. Oliver asked as she turned towards Finley.
"Finley Williams," Finely replied.
Miss. Oliver took hold of Finley's hand and had him stand next to her at the front of the class.
"Class, we have a new student with us today, this is Finley. Now I want you all to be nice to him and make him feel welcome okay?" Miss. Oliver told the class.
"Yes Miss. Oliver the class replied in unison.
"Finley if you go and sit in that seat next to Jake, he'll show you everything you need to do," Miss. Oliver told the nervous boy in front of her.
Finley cautiously walked up to the seat he was supposed to go to and nervously struck up conversation with the boy the teacher had called Jake. Miss. Oliver walked back over to Chris, Sebastiana and Fleur.
"What's his magical affilation?" Miss. Oliver asked.
"He's a Shifter," Sebastiana replied.
"A what?" Miss. Oliver questioned, confused.
"Don't worry Sally, my dad said he'd be explaining it to all the teachers later today," Chris told Miss. Oliver.
Sebastiana turned to look at Finley and was relieved to find him looking more relaxed as he talked to the boy sitting next to him. She waved at him before she left the room with Chris and Fleur.
It took almost ten minutes to reach the classroom where Fleur would be attending class. The same process was repeated here as in Finley's classroom, except as soon as Fleur saw Jemima she let go of Sebastiana's hand and ran over to play with her friend. Fleur's teacher, Mrs. Harrison, had responded the same way as Miss. Oliver when she found out that Fleur was a Shifter. Chris had to explain to her that Leo would speak to all the teachers later before he and Sebastiana left the classroom.
"What will I do?" Sebastiana asked Chris when the two began walking the corridors of Magic School again.
"Well you can wander round and do what you want really. We have a great library if you want to have a look. The only advice I have is to be careful when the bell rings because it could be chaos in the corridors," Chris explained.
They walked together for a bit longer and then Chris left Sebastiana all by herself, because he had a class that was about to begin. Now on her own Sebastiana wandered about the corridors of Magic School looking in on classes every now and then. After over fifteen minutes of wandering around aimlessly Sebastiana came across the nursery and quietly stepped in.
The nursery was a large room and was filled with children. There was only one teacher and she was starting to look a bit frazzled.
"Excuse me. Do you need any help?" Sebastiana called to the teacher.
It took the young blonde haired teacher a while to realise that it was Sebastiana who had called her. When she did realise she walked up to Sebastiana. The teacher was only an inch taller than Sebastiana and had gentle blue eyes that matched her gentle persona.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't realise you were there," the young teacher apologised.
"It's okay, I was just asking if you wanted any help here, because I could see you're looking a bit stressed," Sebastiana explained.
"I am a bit, I've only been working here for three weeks and there are just so many kids. I'm sorry who are you?"
"Sebastiana," Sebastiana replied as she extended her hand to the young teacher, "I'm staying with the Halliwells at the moment".
"Nice to meet you Sebastiana, my name's Ashleigh, but people just call me Ash," Ashleigh responded as she took Sebastiana's hand and shook it.
"Miss.Reynolds, Caitlyn stoled my crayon," a little girl wailed, with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to deal with this," Ashleigh apologised as she followed the little girl over to a table where apparently Caitlyn was drawing with a crayon.
Sebastiana felt a small tug on her shirt and looked down to find a little girl who was staring up at her sucking her thumb. Sebastiana bent down so she was eye level with the little girl.
"Do you wanna play wiv us?" The little girl asked as she took her thumb out her mouth and looked at Sebastiana expectantly.
"Sure, what are you guys playing?" Sebastiana responded as she followed the little girl to where she was playing with her friends.
Sebastiana ended up staying the whole day in the nursery helping Ashleigh out, and she decided that she would come and help out everyday, oblivious to what was happening in the underworld and the implications this would have on her and those she cared about.
Underworld
Leander was racing through the maze that was known as the underworld. He had news of utmost importance for Sophocles, they were reaching ever closer to the Crylien Crystal and he wanted to be the one to gain credit for this new bit of information.
"Sir, we have managed to decipher the location of the Crystal!" Leander shouted as he burst into the 'cave' where Sophocles resided.
Sophocles turned round instantly, his dark eyes lighting up in apprehension and a small smirk beginning to grace his features.
"Well Leander, where is it?" Sophocles demanded.
"It's definitely in the underworld, and we have demons digging for it in the area where it is said to be located because the Seers could only tell us that it was buried or encased in stone," Leander explained to his boss.
"Good, this is exactly the news that I've been waiting to hear. If we gain possession of the crystal than not just will all Shifters be less of a threat, but there may be a way to use it to our advantage. Well done Leander, I am pleased with this new development."
Both Leander and Sophocles looked at each other with equally evil grins and look in their eyes, because they each knew that they were inching ever closer to their victory.
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