Chapter Three

Flames shot forth from a pile of debris, and out of the midst of it came Clark, holding Lex and dragging him out with him. Lex was unconscious, and Clark's eyes were shooting fire.

"HOLY GODS!" Wolverine hollered. "The boy's out of control! Somebody, stop him!"

Ororo whirled around to see what Logan was talking about only to see flames darting everywhere. She quickly pinpointed their origin as being Clark's eyes, and though the thought chilled her, she pushed it aside and set into quick motion. "Wolverine," she spoke, her voice now taking command, "get the others away from the debris." Without waiting for an answer, she flew into the sky.

Rain began to fall instantly, putting out the fire even as it began. Ororo flew straight to Clark and Lex and dropped behind them. "Clark, listen to me. Close your eyes."

Clark tilted his head to the side, listening and trying to pinpoint where 'Ro was. "'Ro?" he asked and then stood perfectly still, closing his eyes as she had told him to do.

Wolverine had moved every one away from the debris. By the time he had a chance to turn and look at 'Ro, Clark's eyes were not shooting flames, so he knew she had found something that worked. Still, he was wary of the boy getting turned a loose again.

"Now," she commanded gently, "breathe with me, Clark. I realize you might think it a bit . . . silly, but just do it. Trust me, please. Take a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. Focus on that. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In . . . " She continued to instruct him until he was breathing calmly again, "Now forget this place. Think back to the times you've been with Lex, together and happy, smiling and laughing. Even making love. Just any time you were happy and peaceful together."

She touched his shoulder gently from where she hovered in the air behind him, then closed her eyes and concentrated. She put the physical world aside for the moment, forcing herself to forget all else, and simply focused on Clark and his place in the Earth. She felt the change in him, and as he calmed completely, she finally told him, "Now . . . open your eyes . . . "

As Ororo spoke to him, Clark did as she instructed. Though he barely knew her, there was something about the woman that he trusted. He had seen more than one demonstration of her immense power, but she kept it in check and herself, as well, with a sort of regal bearing that he could not explain. Ororo Munroe was a lady unlike any other he'd ever known, and he trusted her even despite his fear.

As her words swirled around him and he continued to breathe in peaceful rhythm with her, his mind went back, remembering all the happy times he had spent with Lex on the Black Pearl and even before. Then his thoughts shifted, becoming more of a daydream as he imagined Lex and he cuddled together on their cot and watching the children. It seemed to be a celebration of sorts as Julian and Sarah smiled and giggled excitedly, their smiles growing ever more brilliant as they discovered the presents they had bought for them. Sarah opened another box and let out a squeal of delight. She looked at them and spoke, thanking them for everything, and Lex could not hold back his delight that she had finally spoken. He let out a whoop, hugged Sarah tightly, and then as Sarah and Julian turned back to their toys, he returned to Clark. As Lex's lips took his, Clark's eyelids began to lift.

Clark opened his eyes slowly, praying that he wouldn't begin to shoot fire again. The remaining tension left his body as he realized that both he and Lex were okay even though Lex was unconscious. "Thank you, 'Ro. When that happens, it scares me to death. I can't control it. I just knew I was going to hurt somebody." He looked to see where they were gathering the rescued people and headed that way with Lex, making sure that he was in as much shade as he could be. There was something about this place that sent off warning vibrations that Clark could feel. He tried to shake them off. As he looked around, he appeared to be the only one affected. Where were the kids? He noticed that no one was around the debris and recalled that Wolverine had been moving those that were in the way out of the way. He looked back toward 'Ro just in time to see her lifting her arms.

Once she was sure that Clark and Lex were safely out of the way, Ororo lifted back into the air. Closing her eyes, she concentrated, raising her arms and the wind with them. She opened her eyes again and focused on the debris. The wind began lifting the debris and carrying it to another section of the shore. In mere seconds, it was all gone, leaving bodies in its wake that she did not know if they were alive or dead. After dumping the debris, she lowered herself gently back to the ground.

Ororo had barely began to scan the area for her godchildren when a scream shattered the air. Several heads snapped up at the sound, but none reacted as fast as Elvira. Elvira had been scanning the newly-exposed bodies to see who had survived when her sister had screamed, and she knew instantly what had happened though not how. She ran over the shore, nearly falling on her way but managing to reach her sister and grab her just before Delvira could hit the ground.

"HE'S GONE!" Delvira wailed. "JARETH! HE'S -- "

Elvira didn't know what to say. What could she say to ease her sister's pain when she could not make her husband appear out of thin air? Instead, she only held to Delvira who clung to her in turn. Elvira could feel her twin's tears seeping onto her shoulder, and tears filled her own eyes. Oh Gods! Why Jareth, of all people?

Wolf's skin crawled when Delvira screamed. He had turned to look to see what the problem was. He realized that others were missing, as well. Not even their carcasses had been left behind. He stood beside Brendan, not giving him a chance to get away as he realized that Brendan was in full wolf morph and couldn't help himself. "There are others missing, Delvira. What about that weird dog that calls rocks?" It was then he realized that Brendan was sniffing one of the dead Pirates and that he would soon be trying to eat him. Wolf would not stand for that. He wolfed out and knocked Brendan cold before he knew what had hit him. He looked around for Wolverine to see what he was taking care of or if he could come and take care of Brendan and realized that Wolverine had found Jack and Will and was bending down over them.

Delvira was so lost in her grief that she did not even hear Wolf, but Elvira did. She was surprised but glad to suddenly find him at her side again, but she focused on the situation with her sister instead. Scanning the area from over Delvira's shoulder, she realized not only that Wolf was right and that there was no sign of Ludo, but there were several others missing, as well. "Delvira," she forced her words to come out slowly and calmly, "Wolf's right. Jareth's nowhere to be seen, but he's not alone. Ludo . . . Hoggle . . . Sir Didymus . . . All of them are gone, and even the Fieries and Goblins don't seem to be as many."

Delvira tried to force herself to calm down, but her heart was hammering so hard that she could scarcely hear her sister for it. She turned, with Elvira supporting her, to see for herself and realized that they were right. "I don't . . . " she started to say but Elvira, knowing that her twin was clearly not thinking as well as she normally would, cut her off.

"Could he have been called?"

"Called . . . ? I guess . . . TRELY!" she called. "WORM!" No answer came.

Wolf looked at Delvira as though she'd lost her mind. "Worm?" He wondered what a worm had to do with anything.

Elvira nodded. "Yeah, Worm. A little, talky chap. Purple with a scarf. Always wants everybody to go into his little hole and see his missus."

"Sounds like a charming chap." Wolf peered eagerly around but did not see a worm. "What do you mean he might have been called?" he asked Delvira.

"To the labyrinth," she answered. "To do his damn duty."

Elvira rolled her eyes in an attempt to ease some of the tension out of the moment. "I always have hated that word."

Delvira did not appear to hear her, however, as she marched calmly over to one of the Goblins. Elvira glanced at the fireball forming in her twin's hand, then rather nervously at Wolf. Before she could say anything, though, she heard Delvira commanding the poor thing. "You! Tell me now. Have you seen Trely, and how many of you are there here? Actually, screw that," she said, sounding a lot like Elvira. "How many of you aren't here?"

Elvira could not hear the Goblin's reply, but she did note her sister's reaction as the fireball fizzled and disappeared. She let out a breath of relief, then nodded. "Yup. He had to go deal with another bitch."

"Bitch?" Wolf asked. He wondered what exactly Jareth did do for a living besides being King. Every King he'd ever met had had their fingers in every pie they could get them in and then were constantly looking for other pies to get into.

"Yeah. Long story short, he gets thrown a stupid girl every now and again that he has to force to grow up and realize that her little brother actually is important to her and she doesn't want to just throw him away to the Goblins."

Wolf shook his head. "So you're saying Jareth has to . . . deal with these girls? What does he get out of it?"

Elvira thought about that for a moment. She well knew Jareth's situation as the sisters did not keep anything from each other. Turning back to Wolf, she finally answered, "He gets to live."

"You're not making sense, Elvira. They would kill him if he didn't deal with them? But he's the King! And who are they?"

"Wolf," she glanced around, "I'm not sure this is the best time for this story, but Jareth got mixed in with Salem's bunch a long time ago. He never wanted to be the King of the Goblins. He just got stuck with the job -- both parts of it."

"That's his punishment, huh? Who was the one that punished everybody?" All he kept getting was bits and pieces of the story, and he would like to hear the whole thing. He thought to himself that there had to be more people involved. He knew two, but he knew there had to be a lot more. "So how many people were involved?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know, but there was a lot of them. Jareth was one of Salem's top men, though."

"When does their punishment end?"

Sadness crossed through her dark eyes as she answered quietly, "It doesn't."

"That's not fair for them to be punished for all eternity when all they did was to try to take over the world! Something should be done to break their punishment."

"Like what?" Elvira returned, not realizing how snappy she sounded even as she placed one hand on her hip. "Don't you think Delvira and I have both dug through the books? There's a lot in this world that isn't fair, Wolf, but there's not always something that can be done about it! You really think that's not fair, and I agree with you but it's just one of the thousands of things in this damned world we live in, like people getting thrown out of places because of the way they look or being killed because of their religion or even getting their man pissed off at them for trying to take care of a situation that he wasn't having any luck with!" She shut up suddenly, a wild look in her eyes. Oh crap! Girl, when are you ever gonna learn to shut that mouth of yours!

He moved over to where he could stand beside her and looked down into her eyes. "I'm not pissed off, baby." He kissed her on the tip of her nose. "Just a little confused. So . . . There's really nothing we can do to help Jareth right now? We just have to wait for him to return?"

"Pretty much," Elvira answered, her tension having released a great deal, "but I'll have to keep an eye on Delvira. If she hasn't gone to be with him yet . . . Well, that's not a good sign. And I'd like to do something to help them. Believe me, I would. I can just imagine the Hell Delvira goes through, knowing that he has to act like he's in love with every one of those stupid bits though he loves her." She raised her eyes to gaze up into Wolf's. "And I'm sorry about earlier, but you misread me. That was just an act to get Brendan's butt going."

At the mention of Brendan's name, Wolf looked back to where Brendan lay on the ground. "Poor man. He really lost it, Elvira. I had to knock him out. Got to find Prue so that she can get with Brendan. He thinks she's gone, and he ain't taking it too good. Can't blame him. If I lost you, I'd go crazy!"

Elvira reached up and cupped Wolf's handsome face in her hands. "You're not going to lose me," she told him even as she leaned against him and pressed her lips to his.

His arms slid around her, and he hugged her close. "Gods, you smell good! I better go while I still can," he said, reluctantly releasing her. He began to sniff the air, trying to figure out where Prue might be, and his nose led him straight to the group. He could see she was now sitting up even though she was still looking lost. "Won't be gone long, babe. I'm just going to take Brendan over and wait till he wakes up. Might have to knock him out again. Why don't you bring Delvira over here and then we won't have to be apart?" Even as he talked, he reached down and picked Brendan up, slung him on his shoulder, and began to walk toward Prue.

"I'll see if I can talk her into it," Elvira called after Wolf. She couldn't resist then adding with a twitch of her nose, "Nice view, by the way!"

Wolf had to smile. One Hell of a woman, he thought, and I am so lucky she's mine! Once he reached Prue, he dropped Brendan down by her. It was then he realized that both he and Brendan were naked as he heard the shocked gasps of the Halliwell girls.

"I knew I should have kept my eyes shut a little longer," Piper managed weakly.

"Oh, speak for yourself!" Phoebe told her sister.

"Yeah!" Paige added, her eyes focused on Wolf's as she knew Brendan's already had her sister's claim on it. She glanced quickly at Carl to make sure he was still out, then turned her eyes back to Wolf. "Come to Momma, puppy!"

Katrina, who had just woke up, sat up, took one look at Wolf, and muttered some words. Instantly, Wolf was covered by a kilt. He looked down in disbelief. He didn't know who had given it to him, but why couldn't it be pants? He looked down at Brendan and saw that Brendan, too, had a kilt on. Before he could think of what to say, something black flew straight in front of him, and Paige let out a screech as a high heel ended barely an inch away from her womanly area.

Katrina busied herself taking care of Celina, Tom, and Meesy. She did not see Morph anywhere, and she was worried about him. She was soon rewarded with Celina's eyes flashing open although the boys continued to sleep a little longer.

Prue was relieved that some one had covered Brendan. She had blushed at the size of it and was too stunned to cover him if she had had something to cover him with. She hoped he would soon wake and knew that he, too, would be glad to have some cover. A small gasp escaped her lips as the high heel had come flying and barely missed Paige. "Paige, you better move it! He is claimed, and you know how Elvira can get about her men!"

"Damn! She moves in faster than a . . . Faster than a . . . "

"Rabbit?" Phoebe suggested.

"Well, she does more of that than a rabbit," Paige agreed.

Cole had to hide the smile the girls' words had caused him. He knew neither of them were very naive and that both of them had very active sexual lives even if Piper didn't know how active they were. He had seen and heard Paige and Carl all over the ship and knew that they could rival Elvira and Wolf. He had been extremely surprised Carl had had it in him.

Piper was still sitting with her eyes closed tightly while her mind whirled over her sisters' behavior. Dear Gods, just what was wrong with Phoebe and Paige! She knew very well that neither their mother nor their grandmother had taught them to behave like that! It was then that a wave of sadness hit her as she thought of how it was, after all, a good thing that they could not see them now for the shame her little sisters would bring them.

Prue reached out and stroked Brendan's hair out of his face. Her hand traced lovingly over his face. She wanted to lean forward and kiss him but could not bring herself to do it in front of others. Her younger sisters did not bother her at all for to tell the truth, she would like to be just as naughty with Brendan. She just hadn't managed to talk him into it yet. Her eyes were drawn to something that was moving out in the area where the ships had been cleared. She could not figure out what it was for it seemed to be something sticking straight up and waving. "What is that?" she asked, and all eyes save Piper's turned to look where she was talking about.

"Prue!" Piper admonished, blushing deeply.

Cole stared intently for a moment. "Well, I'll be damned!" he said. "I believe it's Donkey or, at least, Donkey's butt!" He shimmered over to where Donkey's butt was sticking out and he was trying to back up, dragging something with him. He leaned down to help him, and his hand connected with a human. For some reason, they had been under the sand and only Donkey's butt had managed to come out. He began to pull, and Donkey fell. He yelped in pain. Cole had pulled both children out of the hole and then realized something else was in there, as well. He pulled out a small, black, furry body. He expected it to be a cat, but it turned out to be a puppy, one he had never seen before.

Julian reached out his arms for the puppy. "We found him and were trying to rescue him when everything started crashing and Donkey saved us."

Cole turned to look at Donkey, who was laying on the ground unconscious. He shuddered when he saw Donkey's leg had been smashed and a bone was sticking out. He tried to keep a straight face. He knew where Clark was and was about to point him out when he realized that Clark and Lex were both naked. Well, he couldn't help thinking, guess that's why they weren't with the kids.

He looked around until he spotted Katrina. "Julian, take Sarah and the puppy and go stay with Miss Katrina. I'll find Lex and Clark for you."

"Yes, sir," Julian said and, holding Sarah by the hand, headed straight for Katrina. Cole then knelt down beside Donkey and stroked his neck gently. "I don't know what to do for you, old fella. I'm not a doctor or a healer. We've got several. I'll get one of them."


Though Piper's eyes were closed, she knew the instant Cole shimmered away from her. "Where's he going?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"You mean, besides you being the only one of us who's trying to be Little Miss Innocent?" Paige started only to be cut off by Phoebe.

Phoebe knew Piper was truly concerned and that something else was bothering her sister, as well. "Paige Halliwell! There's a time and a place for everything," she said, surprising all her sisters, "and that's enough of that!"

"You tell her, baby," Joxer started, having just come to.

He was reaching for Phoebe when she gently but firmly swatted his hand away. "Not now!"

"Huh?" he returned, looking at her in surprise.

"Piper," Phoebe asked, gently touching her sister's shoulder, "what is it?"

"Where'd Cole go?"

It was only then that Phoebe realized just how desperately Piper was trying to be a lady. "Piper, you can open your eyes. I don't know where in the Hell they got them from, but the guys are wearing some kind of skirts now."

Piper finally opened her eyes and immediately began to search for Cole. "Where'd Cole go?" she repeated even as she wondered who in the world had managed to get skirts, of all things, onto Wolf and Brendan.

"Those are not skirts. Those are kilts, and I wouldn't know it except that I once met a Scotchman. That's all those guys wear! Usually with a shirt of some kind but no underwear!" Prue whispered the last part. As soon as she was able, she would find a pair of pants for Brendan; she didn't want any one sneaking around and peeking underneath his skirt!

Paige and Joxer both burst out laughing, but Phoebe and Piper remained quiet. Phoebe had helped Piper locate Cole, and now they were both watching Donkey and he in concern. "That's not good," Phoebe whispered, eyeing Donkey's leg. She could see the bone sticking out even from that distance.

Piper grimaced and shook her head. "He'll find a way to help him," she stated.


Cole glanced helplessly around. He could shimmer Donkey to Katrina, but he didn't want the kids to see what kind of shape Donkey was in. He was surprised when he glanced back at his group to see Wolf and Brendan wearing kilts. He looked around and spotted several other kilts, as well. Clark and Lex were now wearing them and trying to figure out where they had come from. He could tell by the looks on their faces and the way they were tentatively touching the cloth.


Celina had been desperately fighting to keep control of herself ever since awakening to find Katrina and Tom all right but her beloved Morph nowhere in sight. Just where was her husband! she thought again, her panicky blue eyes once more sweeping the area. Still, she found no sign of him, but her eyes came to rest instead on Donkey and Cole. She knew that Donkey was one of the ones whose pain she had been fighting against even before seeing his leg. She began to hurry quickly over to them even while calling to Cole, "What happened?"

"I'm not sure what happened except that Donkey saved the kids and the puppy and something shattered his leg. Can you fix it for him?" he asked hopefully.

She nodded in reply while dropping to her knees on the sand in front of Donkey. She very gently touched one hand to his leg and the other to the bone that was sticking out and began to whisper in an alien tongue. A warm, blue light pulsated from her hands and seeped into Donkey's body, pulling the bone back into place and then beginning to seal the wound. By the time the spell was through, not a single drop of blood remained, and he was perfectly well again.

Donkey's eyes fluttered open. "What happened?" he asked in wonderment as he stared at his leg. "I thought . . . I was a goner for sure!"

Celina leaned over and embraced him, her arms going around his neck in a hug. "What happened," she informed him gently, though her sadness crept into her voice, "is that you were extremely heroic."

"Aw, shucks! Nobody ever called me heroic before! I just did what anybody else would've done! I couldn't let the kids wash over board! That was one Hell of a storm we came through, and now we don't even have a ship!" he said in a very sad voice. "We're stuck here forever!"

"Maybe not, Donkey. Just until we find a way to fix the ships. You need to rest a little while, buddy. Come on and let's rejoin the group. They'll all be glad to see you. Thanks, Celina," Cole said. He noticed her eyes were very sad. "What's wrong?"

"Morph . . . " she answered him in a quiet whisper even as she got to her feet. "I haven't found him . . . "

"I'll find him for you. He's tough. He'll be around. Might be unconscious. Won't be gone long. Would you take Donkey over to the Halliwells?"

Celina was about to speak when Donkey interrupted them. "No!" Both looked at him in surprise. "I wanna go to Will!"

"I don't know where Will is right now," Cole answered him truthfully. "I haven't had a chance to find him or Jack. They've got to be around here somewhere. Go to Piper first, and then you and me can hunt for Jack and Will when I come back. Okay?"

Donkey looked at Cole forlornly. "You haven't seen them yet?"

"Nope, and I'm worried about them, too, but first I've got to find Morph."

Celina had fallen out of the conversation as she had closed her eyes and reached out. It was a dangerous thing for her to do at that time with all the others' emotions bearing down on her, and she had to struggle to keep from falling prey to them. "Jack and Will . . . are all right . . . They're here somewhere. One of them . . . Will, I think . . . is starting to come to . . . " She opened her eyes again. "I don't know where they're at, Donkey, but they are all right. Scared and confused, like the rest of us, but there's no pain coming off of them."

Donkey sighed with relief. "Hurry back, Cole! I'm waiting! We've got to find my boy!" he said, nodding his head vigorously.

Celina's eyes met Cole's, and in the silent gaze that passed between them, she tried to convey to him what she had not spoken aloud. She had also searched for Morph but was still not picking up on him. That could only mean one of two things, and she prayed to Bast that he was merely unconscious. "Thank you."

"Thank you," Cole said with a nod of his head. "I won't be gone long." He shimmered and was gone. Traveling as quickly as he could through the group, he saw Jack and Will. Jack was clinging to Will as though his very life depended on it. They were both beginning to wake up, and Wolverine was standing guard over them. Cole continued on, searching for Morph. Not finding him on the land, he headed out toward the sea.

He finally spied him clinging to a rock with waves still crashing over him, but he looked stranger than Cole had ever seen him. What was wrong with him? Cole stared at him and finally realized that Morph had been caught half in and half out of the octopus morph. The head was Morph, but the body was still that of an octopus. Cripes! he thought. This is a really bad situation! I don't know what to do to help him!

He quickly returned to where Celina was. "We have problems," he said, materializing where she could see him. "Morph is caught half-in and half-out of an octopus morph. Do you have any ideal how to help him? He is clinging to a rock and seems to be unconscious."

Celina's voice did not betray her emotions, but her eyes did. "Take me to him."

"We need to take something to carry him back with." He looked around but couldn't find anything.

"That won't be necessary," Celina told him. "I just need to be able to reach him."

"Don't let go of my hand," Cole said, and he shimmered both of them back to where he had last seen Morph. Materializing, they landed in the water beside Morph.

Celina's heart pounded so loudly that she thought her ears might burst from the sound, but nothing save her husband mattered to her at that time. She climbed up beside him, then laid down next to him. Placing a hand on him, she closed her eyes and concentrated. "I'm going to have to find him," she whispered to Cole, and her conscious mind was gone before he could speak.

Cole continued to watch over both of them to make sure that no harm would come to them. He was not really sure what Celina was doing but prayed that she'd be able to save her beloved husband. She appeared to be asleep, but he knew better than to try to wake her. He did not know how telepaths worked, but he did know that she was having to delve into Morph's mind in an attempt to find him. He could only pray that it would work and she would be able to reach him in time before he was lost forever.

To Be Continued . . .