A Charmed Story - Part Four:
Marriage with Obstacles
Chapter 10
Belthazor had been following the sequence of all the events that took place in Zankou's lair thanks to the computers and the camera installed in that cave. He had been clenching his fist when he saw how the demon was about to achieve his purpose; and he had even started to shimmer when the bottle exploded... They had arrived... and he sighed, relieved. But then, something else happened: when they were telling the spell, Zankou just disappeared.
"Damn it!" he roared.
He kept pensive for a while... what should he do? Just wait? But how would he control the situation now, without Julian? Something was clear... he couldn't show himself. He had done enough by telling Cole.
°°°°°°°°°°
"So..." Phoebe was saying, minutes after the others went back to the school, and still trying to assimilate what Julian had just explained, "according to you... we only have to... find the hidden door, which seems to be invisible somewhere down here... then cross a very dangerous bridge that hangs over a lava river... afterwards, getting along a wild rainforest in which only God knows what we'll find, and finally.. There we are, the temple!"
Julian nodded slowly and Piper just muttered: "A true cliche... Indiana Jones cliche, actually..."
"And..., well, Julian... I was wondering... maybe this is a stupid question, but... Can't we just orb right there?" Paige asked, rolling her eyes impatient.
The man shook his head: " Guess what would happen if they just sense us orbing? That'd be suicidal!"
"Well... what about shimmering? I shimmer..." a very proud Tom suggested.
"Yeah, he's right..." Nicki supported the idea.
"No he's not. Look... I said it was difficult. They're like a cult. O.k., they're demons, but theirs is a cult, and it has all the inconveniences that cults show... I mean, for strangers: Which includes a system of alarms whenever a stranger demon shimmers in, let alone a stranger whitelighter orbing, or a stranger witch/demon... whatever he or she is doing."
Phoebe sighed impatient: "So what do we do, then? You only said what we can't do, hell! And we've got a wedding to celebrate..."
Julian swallowed: "O.k., sorry... I'm doing as much as I can... And I actually said what you need to do..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Piper said tiredly, "the bridge, the doors, the rainforest... But it'll take us a long time, won't it?"
"I am still for shimmering," Tom insisted.
They all kept silent for a while. Finally Nicki asked: "Isn't there any way to stop those alarms, to... cheat them?"
Piper nodded: "Hey... Paige can glamour and you can turn invisible... You two could go there, I guess. Paige would turn into one of those demons; moreover, you saw them, didn't you?"
Paige nodded: "Yes, but..."
"You'd glamour as one of those bastards... Julian would go with you, invisible."
"And what do they do, orb right there?" a very pissed off Phoebe intervened.
"No..." Tom was now grinning widely, "they'll shimmer." All the faces turned to him. Man, the boy was persistent.
But Julian frowned: "Well, I'm not sure, the alarms... But maybe it could work."
"What?" Paige asked, completely lost. "He CAN'T come, he'll be caught! And we will, too!"
"Not exactly..." Tom and Julian crossed their looks and winked at each other. "He's been already caught... so he'll be able to enter."
Nicki smiled: "If no one has a better idea, I vote for that."
Paige and Phoebe weren't so sure yet.
°°°°°°°°°°
Leo rose when Bianca, Steve and Chris shimmered in, same as the others.
"Is he alright?" Victor asked while Leo went close to him and put his hands over his body.
"I think he is just exhausted... mostly," Bianca answered. She knelt down next to Chris and took his hand while Leo was healing him.
When he felt her hand in his, he turned his face to her and smiled a little: "I promised I'll be there."
Bianca began to sob. Tears ran over her face.
"No," Chris whispered, "don't cry, please." Chris could feel how life returned to his body. He felt better every second. When Leo finished healing, he took a deep breath.
"Thanks, dad," he said while he sat up.
"How do you feel?" Leo asked still worried. Chris could see that he had cried too.
"Good, I'm alright," he answered with a little smile. Leo nodded.
Chris turned to Bianca and kissed her. "I've seen you, down there," he said then.
Bianca frowned: "How could you do it? I was here all the time." Also the other men looked surprised.
Chris nodded: "I know... But Hope..."
"Hope?" asked she, without understanding. "You whispered that also when you were broken down."
Chris smiled and his eyes were shining. "Yeah," he said with a lot of joy in his voice. Then he touched softly her womb: "She was there, too. I think it was her who let me see you both."
Bianca just looked at him, then at her womb and then at him again with her mouth wide open.
"You mean your child visited you down there?" Cole asked.
"Like an astral-projection?" Leo added. Victor just looked at him, this was all a little too much for him.
But Chris just nodded. "Don't know how, but... Yeah, I really believe our little daughter has saved me!"
"Unbelievable," Cole muttered.
Then, Chris turned to Bianca again and whispered to her womb: "Thanks, little girl... I love you so much..." Bianca smiled about that, even if she didn't understand it at all.
"So it will be a girl?" Victor asked again. Chris just nodded smiling.
Steve had taken a seat a little offside from them. He was trying to stay connected to Tom. Now he suddenly jumped up. "I've lost them!" he yelled in panic.
°°°°°°°°°°
"So I'll have to glamour and enter with the boy as a prisoner, and Julian will also come invisible? But the alarms will go off when they perceive a strange shimmering..."
"Yeah, they'll do, but they'll see you, Paige. Just convince them... It might be a problem or something, with the alarms failing..." Tom insisted. "Come on, that's the only chance, unless you wanna cross that river and the rainforest and all..."
"And even so... then we'd have to enter the temple, so... the alarm problem would still be there. Or the guards," Piper muttered, thoughtful.
Julian nodded: "Look, I can't assure you this will work, but when I'm inside, I will try to make the alarms stop working. Then you would all be given the go-ahead to entering."
"O.k..." Phoebe sighed, "Do it. But be careful... And don't do stupid things until we all get there." The three of them nodded.
Immediately after that, Paige had taken the shape of the demon that had faked Prue... Gabriel. Julian turned invisible, and Tom placed himself in the middle, letting Paige grab his arm strongly. "O.k..." he said, "let's go."
Julian made him stop suddenly: "Wait! One more thing, Tom... Once we are there, the telepatic connection you have with Steve might not work..."
°°°°°°°°°°
Belthazor was still watching the screen... He mumbled something. 'How could Julian be so stupid?' he thought, 'going to the Sorix temple means suicide!'
Again he started to pace around. Then he went back to his cave to give some orders to one of his followers. He knew it was risky to use his influence as the source in that case... If they found out... But he had no other choice.
"Belthazor, my lord, you source of all evil," the demons made a bow when he returned a few minutes later.
But the red demon interrupted him: "Get to the point!"
"We have made a count... if our information is right, there are only two of the Sorix left."
Belthazor grinned evilly: "That's good..."
"But even if it's so... we registrated a lot of activities around the hidden door. Maybe also other demons know what's going on and want to end with them..."
A yell of the source interrupted him.
"Call them!" he yelled. "Stop them! We have to hold those creatures back! That's my job..." The small demon nodded and went away again.
'It'll be the end, if these demons find the witches inside, instead of the Sorix!' he thought. 'Good that the boys are outside... But what about Julian?' Then he went over to the computer again.
°°°°°°°°°°
Chris and Leo looked at Steve, who was pale.
"What?" Cole asked, worried.
"I've lost him... He was there," Steve tried to explain, "He was thinking about going to a temple I think... It wasn't so clear, 'cause the distance... you know... But... Then he was away, all of a sudden he was away!" His voice was trembling.
"The temple of the Sorix," Cole muttered.
"What?" Leo asked.
Cole shrugged: "That's the only real temple down there."
"O.k, I'll go there, too," Chris said determined.
"But the Sorix are the ones that want to see you dead, Chris!" Steve remarked.
Chris sighed: "Yeah... But... What if they have mom?"
Victor looked up, worried: "Can I help in some..."
"NO!" The others exclaimed.
Victor sighed and leaned back watching little Wyatt who had already fallen asleep.
Cole smiled at the man next to him: "Now you know how I feel everyday." Victor grinned.
"I come with you," Bianca said, meanwhile.
But Chris held her back: "No, you're pregnant and I..."
"Chris," she whispered and put her finger on his lips to stop him. Then she touched softly her womb: "Hope will protect me, as she has done before."
Chris smiled, and then nodded.
"Alright, can we go?" Leo asked looking at the three of them.
"Stop!" Cole exclaimed. All heads turned to him. "Before you go, I'll go and check the mails," he explained and rose from the sofa to leave the room, "I'll be right back."
"I'm still wondering who this person is, who sends us those messages and who sent us that Julian," Leo muttered while Cole had left the room.
Chris looked at him: "So that is the name of that witch who helped me down there?" Leo nodded. Steve sighed. "Did you have a look on the files of the old students of the school?" Chris asked then.
Leo looked at him a little confused: "You mean...?"
"... maybe he's in there," Chris answered.
Leo jumped up and left the room, too. 'I hadn't thought about that on my own,' he thought.
Chris followed his father with his eyes, smiling. But then he sighed again.
Bianca was caressing his cheek: "They are fine, I'm sure."
Chris looked at her and nodded.
°°°°°°°°°°
Cole went to the office. When he had opened the door and looked at the empty room, he sighed. Then he went over to the desk and switched the computer on. After a few moments he found a new message there. He opened it.
"Family - three pieces there - One at home, one at the cave, one at the temple - one piece safe, two in danger."
Cole sighed. He printed out the message and wrote an answer.
"Thanks"
He hit the send button. Then he shut down the computer again and left the room.
°°°°°°°°°°
When Cole returned to the library, the others were looking into a big folder.
"What's that?" he asked.
"The folder of Julian Marsh," Leo answered.
"You mean...? That guy was a student here?"
Chris nodded, then he read: "...can turn himself invisible, can feel if someone is good or evil, no active power."
"He's good in computer-stuff," Leo remarked.
"By the way," Cole interrupted them, "we got an e-mail." He handed the print over to Chris, who read it.
Then the Elder-witch looked up and handed it over to Leo: "So we should go first to the cave again!"
"I'll go too..." Steve said.
"No... I won't risk any more lives..." Chris answered.
"Chris is right," Leo nodded. "Besides, you're our only connection with them and you should stay here, safe."
"Precisely! Leo... if I stay here, and get the connection again, and something happens... I can't even orb there to warn you! I'm useless here..." the boy insisted.
Cole and Victor just listened to their conversation, keeping silent not to disturb them, but at the same time trying to figure out how to help their family. Wyatt was asleep by their side, completely oblivious of what was taking place around them.
"Leo will orb you wherever you..." Chris started to say, but he was interrupted by Leo's laugh.
"What, you're kidding, aren't you? I'm going there too... Your mother is there, and we all have powers that can be useful." Chris wanted to say something but he was cut off. "I'm sorry, son. I'll go..."
Steve smiled. "And I'm on it, too. You know that I can't stay here... Besides..." he almost begged this time, "I've got someone there, too... Nicki might be in danger, and..."
Chris and Leo exchanged looks of understanding as Bianca pressed his boyfriend's arm, beggingly. "Sweetie, look at him..." she whispered, "he's just like you..."
Chris looked at her and then turned to Steve, and sighed: "O.k... But as soon as they're safe, you'll all come back here... The less people in danger, the best for us all..."
"Look who's talking now," Cole mocked, grinning, which gained him a disgusted glare from Chris.
"O.k., let's go... Cole, Victor... Please... take a look at the computer from time to time... If there's any news, just call the Elders. They'll find us. We'll be right here."
And after Leo's words, they orbed and shimmered away to Zankou's lair...
°°°°°°°°°°
Phoebe, Nicki and Piper saw how the others shimmered away.
"And where do we go now?" the youngest of the sisters asked.
Piper shrugged: "Maybe we should look for that hidden door? Just in case..."
"What? I won't be the new Indiana Jones, girl... Someone's better coming here and getting me to that stupid temple..."
Meanwhile, Nicki went to the entrance of the cave: "First of all, why don't we just get outtta here? I don't like this place I've got a bad feel... wow!" She had crashed against some kind of forcefield and fallen down several meters away from the entrance.
"Shoot!" she exclaimed, standing up in pain.
"What the hell was that?" Phoebe asked, staring at the entrance suspiciously.
"Oh, no..." Piper muttered, as she helped Nicki up, "I guess someone forgot to mention it..."
"What do you mean, Piper?" Nicki asked, getting scared.
"I mean that... if Chris and Paige were trapped here... it's because they couldn't orb."
"But that's nonsense, we came orbing and shimmering, and Tom has just left shimmering, and Bianca did before..." Phoebe remarked, going towards the entrance and suddenly crashing against the invisible electric wall. "Damn it!"
"They couldn't orb out, Phoebe, nor run away... It's clear that shimmering is allowed... but not orbing. They forgot to tell us... I can't believe it!" Piper was now really angry.
"Oh, so... that means we're trapped," Phoebe said. "Great... Just great!"
"Well..." Nicki muttered, turning pale and taking some steps back. "If that was the only problem..."
The sisters turn to look at the point in which Nicki had her eyes fixed. One after another, several demons were shimmering inside the lair, ugly demons, smirking at their prey...
(Chapter 10 written by Belén and Chrissy.W.x)
