After the meeting, Chris and Paige headed down to Brightest Blessings with a convenient restocking list. Paige insisted they drove there.
"I still don't see why we couldn't just orb" he said putting his feet up the dashboard just to have them slapped down by his aunt.
"Look, I'm not exactly thrilled about having to apologize even though we're right and… I wish I didn't have to feel this way about Wyatt but I do, so… keeping it as normal as possible might be the best move right now. We know they're abusing their powers and that that'd only get worse if we don't do something about it. We should remind them how perfectly ok it is to be the normal version of ourselves in our every move" Chris sighed.
"Hope that does any good"
"Well, we gotta start somewhere, right?" Chris nodded. Paige placed her hand on his forearm putting some empathizing pressure on it.
It didn't take long to get to Brightest Blessings. They were finding a parking spot just minutes after their conversation.
Wyatt and Sam were playing chess by the side of the register, far enough to allow customers some space for their purchases. Kai was resting on Wyatt's shoulder, wide awake at his surroundings. A couple customers were making grimaces and inaudible baby talk at him on and off as they went through the stock on the tables, which he answered with a hearty giggle, wiggling on his father's shoulder.
Paige and Chris waited by the door as they went in, seeing how they weren't on their own, smiling at passing customers who headed for the check-out counter carrying some candles and incense sticks they had just decided on. Once they were out the door, the sound of the chimes died slowly down into an uncomfortable silence. Wyatt and Sam exchanged looks before going back to the chess board, letting them know they had been spotted but weren't too keen to have this conversation themselves either.
"What can we do for you today?" asked Sam in a would-be-casual voice using the same question she had for any regular customer.
"Come to vanquish us again?" said Wyatt cynically placing his knight sideways on the board, finally turning to face them. "Cause if so, at least let me put down Kai" Sam couldn't help smiling at his dark display of humor.
"OK…" said Paige hesitantly.
"We deserved that" completed Chris eyeing their Aunt, who struggled to keep her mouth shut at the moment.
"Yes, you did" said Wyatt going to put Kai down in the pen behind the counter. Paige wouldn't be able to say anything pleasant with that attitude so she just smiled and turned to Chris instead. Unfortunately, Chris couldn't think of anything to say that they wouldn't interpret as going against them either.
"Doing some shopping, are you?" asked Sam as Wyatt stood by her side, holding her hand in a defensive sort of way, like getting ready to defend themselves again if the occasion called for it.
"Sort of" Paige answered in an attempt to cut through the palpable tension.
"We wanted to apologize" Chris came forward again. He was about to elaborate on that but Wyatt didn't give him the chance to.
"For throwing a potion at us?"
"In our own home too" Sam completed her husband's question.
"It was due. I mean… what was it… a week ago?"
"Give or take" Sam kept staring at Chris. She loved him very much and him wanting to attack them hurt her a lot more than any potion ever could, needless to say Wyatt was way past that point.
"Which tells us either you suddenly decided it was the wrong thing to do, both at the same time… or… mom asked you to come" Wyatt's words were cold, calculated.
"But…" Sam started as she felt Wyatt's anger rising. "We do… want you to understand that regardless of what you might think, we're not doing anything wrong… we're only trying to protect our family…"
"Yourselves included" Wyatt completed his wife's words in a much friendlier tone. "We are not trying to go against you… or anybody else for that matter" This time, silence between them felt lighter, healing even. Paige and Chris were very aware of what might happen to them later on, even if they still hadn't figured out just what would cause them to go astray yet, which made much more difficult to accept their words. They were being sincere as far as they could tell, which was in turn a lot more upsetting. How can they be turning evil and still be themselves? Nevertheless, some kind of common ground had been found for the time being.
"Come on. I got a box of our usual stock up in the apartment" Sam told Chris.
"How did you know we would need anything?" asked Paige smiling still awkwardly.
"Don't we always?" said Sam turning to leave.
"Honey, can you take Kai? I think he might need changing" Sam gave him a peck on the lips and went to pick up the baby. Then, climbed up the stairs, followed by Chris, who took one of the fabric bags from a hook on the wall.
"Play nice now" Sam told Wyatt, her voice echoing on the stairwell walls.
"So…?" said Paige still unable to start a normal conversation with her nephew after she saw what he would become.
"So… we're not buying it" Wyatt smiled and went to clear a couple teacups from a nearby table.
"What do you mean?"
"We know you're every bit as convinced that somehow we're turning evil" Wyatt said as he started to wash the cups in the tiny sink behind the counter. "But… we're still not even trying to convince you otherwise"
"Why's that?" Paige gulped, glad he was at least still being friendly.
"Cause we've been there before" Wyatt leaned behind the counter, his hands gripping the edge to relieve pressure off his chest. "Every time we make decisions out of the collective this happens"
"We're just trying to protect…"
"Who? Me? My kids? The world? Tell me exactly what it is you think we'll do?" Paige's head was swarming with all she saw in their last insight magical trip. She took a deep breath and swallowed a few times, biding her time, trying to choose her words wisely and stay on Wyatt's good side.
"I know we don't see eye to eye on some things…but… I want you to know I do want us to be ok"
"By doing what exactly? You are restocking on vials" Wyatt said cynically. He couldn't take his mind off the mental image of his brother throwing a vial at him and Sam. It hurt a lot more every time his mind went back to it.
"Might have been what you called a failed attempt… but we genuinely want things to get better between us… regardless of what we believe might or might not be going on…"
"Which is…"
"The fear of you turning away from what's good and right" Paige finally said upfront.
"I can understand that. It's a long-traveled road…" Wyatt acknowledged how they had saved him in the past. "And… I'm sure I can respect it too… if you keep the potion throwing and spell casting at us at a bare minimum" he tried to smile unsuccessfully, which left nothing but a sad faint frown between them.
"I think we can manage that" added Paige without being able to smile herself. "In our defense, it was just the one time" she tried to joke. Wyatt faintly chuckled, knowing perfectly well it hadn't been an isolated incident, but going back to it just felt exhausting. Paige went to give him a hug. She had worried about him all his life, longer than she had even worried about her own children. She would be damned if she allowed anything to turn his good heart into darkness.
On his part, the demon Vizkaroth set off to do what was needed for the next step in bringing their majesties up to full power.
"Now they've agreed, how many mortal souls would we need to collect for the ritual to bring back the Nexus?" said a demon business-like. Other demons in the room, nodded along, thirst filling every set of eyes and ears. Not many demons had agreed to follow Vizkaroth's plan, since they distrusted where his loyalties really lied… and they weren't mistaken. Little did they know, Viz had already offered their majesties to dispose of his kind if it pleased them. Nonetheless, the demons who had decided to play along had had it with the constant back and forth between good and evil themselves and were willing to take the risk if that could mean a definite change in the game.
"Not so fast, my friends" Viz said in a fake mellow voice. "I promise you. Innocent lives will be taken… so rest assured the transition would be… pleasant to say the least" he smiled at the pleased crowd. "However, to resurrect such a powerful being as the Nexus, we need specific souls. Innocents who've had a particular kind of connection with the Charmed ones themselves" demons started to frown in discontent; others, couldn't help but smile at the beauty of it.
"Who's the first mark?" said a she-demon twirling her dagger in the air eagerly. The room went quiet as they waited for their first instruction.
"Ah… before I tell you, let's make it perfectly clear that if the Charmed ones realize what we're trying to do, our plan will surely fail"
"Won't their majesties be able to defeat them if they get in the way?"
"Could. But won't" Viz explained. "See, they're still biased by their good side. It won't be until they are drunk with power that they'll be willing to reach their full potential… and that won't happen without the Nexus. So you see…" he walked closer to the demon who had asked the question. "Our first steps need to be very carefully calculated"
"I volunteer to get the first mark" said the same demon with the dagger.
"I admire your persistence, dear" he stared. "Alright. I'm willing to give you a chance, but know this… if you fail, I'll haunt your very existence for eternity" the demon kept her stare, unable to shake off the shivers running down her spine, which she managed to hide from everyone present, except Viz, who could see it reflected in her mind. His teeth were showing in a hungry expression as he stepped towards her and walked right past. "The souls we need to collect" he addressed them all back to his own agenda. "Are to be collected thru this" he shimmered a double edged athame floating in front of him. "A life taken with this will be trapped inside, giving us time to collect all we need" he offered the blade to the volunteering demon, who took it solemnly.
"The first victim, must be the very first innocent the Charmed ones saved after they came into their powers. Her name's Brittany Reynolds. This is where she lives" he put his hands on either side of her head, palms facing each other and showed her in her own mind where she could find Brittany. "You will go tonight, after her family's asleep. She likes to go for a run around the block"
"How do you know she…?"
"Like I've told you all… over and over, I've been working on this for a really long time… biding my time, till the moment was right… all you'll have to do" he raised his voice, echoing throughout the cavern. "Is follow my instructions"
"Why don't you do it yourself?" a random comment flew out from an anonymous demon among the crowd.
"If the attacks are done by, as far as they know, random demons with no connection between them, the attacks have a bigger change of going unnoticed, so even if they do figure it all out, it would be too late to do anything about it" he said knowledgeably. "I will be the direct liaison with their majesties during the process" some annoyed stares followed that last remark, but then again nobody really wanted to volunteer to be in direct contact with Wyatt and Sam at least till they had irrevocably turned away from good, when the chance of being vanquished would be down to a rare occurrence. "And I will continue… guiding them… in the right direction" to this, wicked smiles filled the room.
