A Charmed Story - Part Five:
20 Weddings And A Funeral?
Chapter 6
Darryl sighed tiredly, leaning his body heavily on the back of the chair and placing his feet on the desk. "Coincidences? Only the ones we know... All of them were couples, husband-and-wife-to-be, officially disappeared, 'vanished' in the very same year and at the very same moment of the ceremony..."
Paige exhaled heavily, disappointed: "Is that all? Didn't you find any more coincidences?"
Darryl shook his head and shrugged, resigned. He was about to say something, when the door opened.
"Inspector Morris, I wanted to ask... Oh... I'm so sorry... I didn't know you had visit..."
Paige turned to look at the man who had just entered, to find herself facing Kyle Turner, the cute officer she had had the chance to meet in her previous visit.
"Maybe you should knock on the door before..."
"It's ok, it's ok... " intervened Paige, trying to help the man who had just blushed. "I don't mind, really. We have already met."
She smiled at Kyle, who looked at her in surprise.
"Oh, yes! I'm sorry, I had my mind so busy I didn't realise... Your name was, Miss..."
"Matthews, but you can call me Paige. That's ok."
"Alright Miss.. Oh, sorry... Paige," he grinned.
Darryl rolled his eyes in desperation: "Well, officer Turner, now, if you don't mind..."
He nodded quickly: "Yes, I'll come later... Sorry." He was about to close the door, when he spotted the profiles on Darryl's desk: "Wait..."
The two heads in the office turned to him.
"Is that the case of those disappeared couples? Is it opened again?" He had approached them, frowning.
Paige nodded: "Yes, well... I had some clues and questions, and..."
"Why didn't you tell me when you came the first time?" he insisted, reading one of them.
"Why? Well, I don't know... I guess I had enough with inspector Morris..."
Darryl smirked. "Thanks, Paige..." he said ironically. Then he stared at the man narrowing his eyes: "So... can you help us?"
Kyle shrugged. "I'm not sure... Did you look at the dates?" he asked.
Both nodded at the same time. "All this happened the same year, but on different days..." said Darryl tiredly.
"Yeah but... the dates... Didn't you realise? All these couples were going to marry on a very significant date."
Darryl looked at him in disbelief, taking a glance at the profiles: "August, 19; July, 19; June, 10... Nothing special... Except the repetition of the number 19, does that mean something?"
Paige turned to Kyle, wonderingly, but the officer shook his head.
"No, no, no... Look, June, 10; July, 19; August, 19; September, 18 and September 20... The Salem trials, for God's Sake!"
Darryl felt his heart stop beating and Paige opened her mouth widely, in shock.
"But this might be a simple coincidence, this doesn't make any sense... There are other dates, too..." the detective said.
Kyle took all the profiles rudely, impatient, and showed them to the two people in the room. "Ok... The Salem ones is a thing. But these other dates... April, 14, for instance, some witches were burnt in Italy..."
"Oh..." Paige was paler and paler every minute. "That might be something..."
°°°°°°°°°°
Steve had already told the whole story to Phoebe and Nicki. The girl had been very accurate, in fact.
"So this boy, Peter, was kidnapped and sold to the circus, and then mistreated and obliged to work... Until he escaped and came to the school..." Phoebe was looking at the files with Peter's information, as she spoke. "And then, the story of the clown started?"
"That's it.." Steve nodded, sipping a bit of the tea he had prepared. "The boy wasn't in his mind, but he didn't hurt anyone. Actually, people hurt him by inventing all those stories..."
"But there was a clown..." Phoebe insisted.
Steve shrugged: "That was never confirmed. There was also a story of a child that said he had seen the clown, and he had told him that he hated those who had mistreated him, because they hated witches. That they were always praising the people who killed the Salem witches and all... The child said the clown wanted to get revenge, and do something great. Something big... To remember those days, like a tribute to the dead witches."
Nicki shuddered: "So there's a testimony..."
Steve shook his head: "This child had spent several weeks in bed, with high fevers. Whitelighters weren't able to heal him, but that's another story. The thing is that he must have hallucinated... Maybe he was talking his own mind, because it seems this child, Jake, was actually a descendant of one of those murdered witches in Salem."
Phoebe kept pensive for a moment... "What if... it is not Peter the clown we're looking for, but this Jake? Maybe he was so shocked and scared by the clown story that he turned into the clown itself?. Perhaps Peter never did... As you said, Nicki, it was just a legend..."
The two teens shrugged. "Maybe, or maybe not... We should keep looking for information," Steve said. "I'd suggest to take a look at both students' powers, just in case... to be prepared to save Chris."
°°°°°°°°°°
Leo and Odin orbed in, right in the moment the shadow disappeared again.
"What's going on here?" Leo asked. "We heard a scream."
Piper sighed: "We had just a little visit... by Jessica's bridegroom as it seems."
Leo and Odin looked at the girl. She nodded weakly.
"How?" Odin asked.
"It was like a shadow," Piper explained, "it was waving around Jessica and then it went away..."
"After you scared him," Cole remarked.
Piper looked at him with narrowed eyes: "Didn't you tell me to do something?" Cole nodded with a sigh.
"Alright, that didn't help us," Bianca said suddenly and sat up. "Could you sense him?" she asked Leo. He shook his head.
Bianca nodded, suddenly hit by an idea: "Ok. I'll go back to the park. I'll..."
"WHAT?" the others exclaimed at the same time.
"You can't go!" Cole remarked
"It's too dangerous," Leo said.
And Piper added: "You have to think about Hope, too. You're not alone."
Bianca sighed: "But that's the point. She saved me! And I'm sure she will do it again."
Piper looked at Leo who shrugged. Then she shook her head: "NO!"
"But..."
"No, you'll stay..." Piper said determined. "Maybe we'll use that option later, but now you'll stay... We have to find out more before we take such a risk."
°°°°°°°°°°
Chris and Michael were walking around in silence. It was only a small place around the carrousel, where they could go. And to leave that place was absolutely forbidden, as Michael had explained. It seemed that this time the two men were alone in that space.
"How many witches are there, outside in the world... Do you know that?" Michael couldn't stop thinking about that topic.
Chris smiled. Of course he knew the exact number, he was an Elder... But that was something he planned to keep as a secret. So he answered: "A lot... More then you think, of course."
"And... do you have any kind of magical powers, or are you using spells, or..."
Chris began to laugh. Even if he felt like shit, this laugh was really good, it helped him, it lightened his soul. "You're really curious about that witch-stuff, right?" he asked after he had calmed down a little.
Michael blushed again. "Sorry," he muttered.
"Never mind..." Chris said with a smile. "You know... Usually I shouldn't talk about that, but... here..."
"So then better say nothing, 'cause I still hope to get out of here, with your help."
Chris sighed: "I'm not sure if I can help... I mean... I have powers, yes... but they don't work here... They are unreal like me." Michael turned pale... well, if you could say that about a hologram. Chris felt sorry. He knew that the man hoped that he would get out of that place, that he was his hope. But should he lie?
"Hey, don't worry. I have a big family out there... and a wife who will never stop searching for me. I'm sure they will find a way," Chris said then.
Michael looked him in the eyes. And smiled. He knew that... he could see that, his new friend really believed that. 'So there was still hope,' Michael thought. He smiled: "But now you told me a lot about you..."
Chris smiled again: "Well... for the worst case we have something called memory-dust." Michael frowned, unsure what to think about that; then nodded.
The men moved on in silence, but then Michael stopped again.
"What?" Chris asked.
"You said your powers don't work here... but..."
"But what?"
"What if it's like the touching?" Michael tried to explain. "Like... that you couldn't beat the clown... or touch the trees... I told you; that's only a matter of habit... maybe you could find a way to use your powers again..."
Chris frowned. But before he could answer, they both heard the crashing of wood. They turned around to the carrousel where a little cloud of smoke and dust was waving through the air.
Both ran over to that place. When they reached it, Chris saw that there was a hole in the ceiling of the carrousel which was about to close itself.
Also the ground of the carrousel was broken.
Michael went a little closer. Then he put his hand down to that hole and seconds later he pulled another man out of it.
"Jason?" he asked surprised and happy at the same time. The man was covered with dust, but Chris could see that he was also dressed as a bridegroom.
"Hey, you know what?" Michael went on, "Jessica is free... she got out of here, she..."
"I know," the man said.
"You know?" Chris and Michael exclaimed at the same time. Meanwhile the carrousel was nearly completely repaired.
Jason nodded: "I saw her when she was being taken away... and I tried to follow her..."
"You've seen it?" Chris said.
Now the man noticed him for the first time. He looked a little angry and went closer to Chris.
"Yeah... what have you done to her," he yelled, and pushed Chris making him fall to the ground.
"Hey," Michael held him back, "he's on our side... he..."
"He's a witch... I heard his family talk about him... and they said this clown is a witch, too. And even one of his family tried to blow me up."
Chris looked at the man with eyes wide open. Then he shook his head: "Surely they didn't know who you are!" Jason kept silent.
Michael sighed: "Whatever, I'm sure he's on our side... And you trust me, don't you? So trust him, too, 'cause I do!"
Jason freed himself from his grip and went away.
Michael went over to Chris, offering him his hand to pull him up.
Chris grinned: "I can't touch you."
"Try," Michael said.
Chris did, but it didn't work. His hand was floating through Michael's. He sighed: "As I said."
"Try it again, come on. Try to concentrate. Forget what you're looking like, it's all in your head."
Chris smiled weakly and tried it again. And this time, he could feel him, he could catch him.
"Yeah," Michael said, and pulled him to his feet, "that was lesson one!"
Chris smiled. Then he turned serious again: "I have to talk to that Jason... I have to know what he has seen... maybe that could answer some things."
Michael sighed: "That will be a difficult task."
Chris nodded.
°°°°°°°°°°
Paige looked at the young officer and frowned: "How come that you know so much about those dates, Mr. Turner?"
He blushed: "Oh... please, call me Kyle... Well, it's ... it's just a kind of hobby... I'm reading a lot."
"Oh, really?" Paige nodded and winked to Darryl.
At the same moment they heard a voice from outside: "TURNER!"
Kyle sighed: "Excuse me... I have to go." Then he went out and closed the door.
"Who is that?" Paige asked Darryl as soon as the officer was gone.
He smiled: "He is fresh from the academy... He should work with Mason... but he's more like his footboy, you know..."
"Why isn't he working with you?" Paige asked with an innocent smile.
Darryl laughed: "Because of that one big family which is always crossing my way and making my life more complicate!"
Paige smiled: "I will tell that new information to the others... See you later."
Then, she orbed away.
°°°°°°°°°°
Paige orbed directly to the attic, where the others were still discussing about that shadow. "Anything new?" Leo asked after she had materialised.
"Yes," she said with a smile, "Mr. Turner!" At this, Cole looked up frowning.
"Mr. Turner? I hope you're not talking about Cole..." her sister said. Paige shook her head and Cole relaxed. "So Who the hell is this Mr. Turner?" Piper asked.
"An officer..." Paige explained, "he saw the files on Darryl's desk and noticed something about the dates, when the couples disappeared."
"And?" Odin asked curious.
"The Salem Trials... and other days on which witches died." Everyone was looking at her in disbelief. How could they all, even Odin and Leo, have forgotten about that?
"So maybe that clown is a witch who wants to have a kind of revenge... But why those couples?" Piper asked after a moment of silence.
Cole looked at Jessica, then suggested: "Maybe because there is one ancestor of them also involved in that witch-murder."
Jessica looked shocked: "I... I don't..."
"Don't worry, Jessica," Piper said. "Even if it had been so... that's not your fault."
She nodded.
"So... what are we going to do now?" Bianca asked impatient.
"Find out who the clown is, what he wants exactly, and try to save everyone trapped in that place..." Piper answered tiredly.
Paige narrowed her eyes, pensive: "Do you guys think that the clown knows Chris is a witch, then? I mean... Probably he doesn't... And that's why he took him too. Because if he's really trying to avenge his ancestors, Chris is definitely one of the goodies for him."
Bianca stared at her, anxious. "Do you mean that if Chris tells him that he's a witch, he won't be in danger?" she asked.
Jessica nodded, feeling that she started to understand all the stuff going on around her: "Maybe your husband could pretend to be on his side..."
Odin, however, frowned not very convinced: "I wouldn't bet that the clown doesn't know who he is. Actually, Chris will have already tried to use his powers, don't you think so?" He shook his head as trying to convince himself that the others were wrong: "No... The clown, the witch-clown, knows for sure that Chris is a witch. And perhaps this endangers him more. He'll see him as a traitor."
Bianca gasped for air, she felt her heart beating strongly, and the womb was hurting so much.
Jessica and Paige ran towards her. "Are you ok, honey? Don't worry... Chris will be ok..."
Piper gave a furious glare to Odin, who shrugged. He was there to help them with his knowledge, and to make sure that Chris himself was not the danger he thought he was. He couldn't just pay attention all the time to what he did or said.
°°°°°°°°°°
"Ok..." Phoebe sighed, "Peter had no active powers... He was a telepathic and had premonitions. I wonder what they got from him in that circus..."
"He probably read the minds of the audience or something..." Nicki suggested. "But look at Jake... He was also a telepathic. It seems that when he got that fever he started to read the minds uncontrollably. This could have also driven him crazy..."
Steve frowned: "He had also premonitions, Nicki... If all his powers were augmented when he had the fever, he probably saw many things he didn't want to see."
"Did he keep those powers after the fever?" Phoebe asked, very interested.
Steve shook his head: "No idea."
"He probably did," Nicki answered, "you know, when we develop our powers, we keep them like that. The fever made him develop his enormously... That doesn't mean that the fever gave him the powers actually."
"That makes sense," Steve replied.
Phoebe nodded: "Did he only have those powers? Because he can't actually do all these things to these couples only with that... Believe me."
"Well, actually..." Steve kept on reading, "it seems Jake had another power... He could canalise other witches' powers and reproduce them, but only for some minutes..."
"Before or after the fever?" Nicki asked anxiously.
"Before... I guess. This profile was made before."
"So... this power can also have been developed?" Phoebe asked, starting to feel uneasy. Steve nodded slowly: "Yeah... And he might be able now to actually steal the powers, and keep them forever, why not..."
"These are only theories and deductions, guys... We should try to do something else..." Nicki said worriedly.
Phoebe nodded as she stood up and dusted her trousers: "She's right. I suggest going to find where Peter and Jake live now. If we find any of them, we might be able to discard them, or one of them, and we could get more information."
"That's an idea..." Steve stood up too. "Maybe any of the Elders or teachers here was their friend or something and can help. And if not... We should try to find who can turn people into holograms, or something related to that, and sending people to other dimensions. If they met Jake in the past, maybe our theory is true, and Jake stole his powers, or copied them, or something."
"Yeah," Phoebe nodded. "But first I should go home and tell the others about that! And who knows... maybe they have found something new by now!" The others nodded.
"Tom is still at the manor, I think... I'll contact him." Steve said.
Phoebe wanted to answer something, but just a second later Tom shimmered in. "You need a taxi?" he asked.
Phoebe smiled. "I also could use the door..." she said looking at Steve, who shrugged. Then she took Tom's arm and he shimmered her to the attic.
°°°°°°°°°°
Chris looked at Jason and Michael. They were sitting under a tree. The latter was trying to calm his friend down and to make him talk to Chris, but it seemed he wasn't successful. Chris stood a few steps away. He couldn't understand what they were talking about, but Jason looked still angry. Then Michael stood up and went over to him, while Jason disappeared to wherever...
And?" Chris asked.
Michael shook his head: "He doesn't want to talk to you. But he told me about an orange light which was surrounding you and your girl and which touched Jessica."
Chris raised his eyebrows in surprise. "So that wasn't me. I think... I think I would know if I produced such a light."
"What about your girl?" Michael asked. "Is she a witch too?"
Chris shook his head: "Not exactly."
Michael frowned but before he could answer something he saw another person standing behind Chris. "Who is that?" he asked surprised.
Chris turned around. And when he saw the person, his heart stopped beating for a second. He looked into the green eyes of an about five-year-old girl.
"Chris?" Michael asked when he noticed the confused look of his new found friend. He was a little scared about that, whatever was going on at that moment.
Chris was shocked, his mind was spinning. He talked a lot with Bianca about what he had seen in this cave. And he had already begun to believe that all this had been a dream... a dream because he had been so hurt, and so out of energy. But now...?
Slowly he went over to that girl, his girl. He knelt down in front of her, looking her into the eyes.
"Hope?" he asked with a little fear in his voice. The girl nodded.
Michael watched that scene, a little confused about Chris's behaviour and curious, but with no idea what was going on there exactly.
With a shivering hand Chris tried to touch her cheek. He could feel her, she was really there.
"How can this be true?" he asked.
"Don't worry Daddy," she said. She spoke to him. Chris couldn't believe that.
Michael had heard the words too. Now he was completely confused. That couldn't be...
"Are you ok, Daddy?" she asked.
Chris had tears in his eyes, but smiled. "Yes I am... now I am."
The little girl nodded. Then she went on talking: "Mommy is afraid. She thinks the clown could hurt you if he finds out who you really are."
Chris was speechless for a moment. That was all so unbelievable, so amazing. Then he asked: "Is Mommy ok? Did the clown hurt her?"
Hope shook her head: "She's alright Daddy."
Chris sighed relieved.
"I have to go now," Hope said with a sad smile. "And don't be angry because I wanted to play with that girl..." she said and looked down.
Chris frowned, but then he understood: "So you freed that girl?" She nodded.
A tear ran over his cheek, but Chris still smiled and kissed her forehead: "No I'm not angry, my sweetie... I love you and I'm very proud of you."
Suddenly Hope hugged him tightly with her little arms. "I love you too, Daddy," she said; then she disappeared with an orange light.
Chris sat down on the grass, his face hidden in his hands, crying in silence.
Michael walked slowly over to him "What was that?" he asked when he reached him.
Chris dried his tears and stood up. "My daughter," he said.
"Yeah, I heard that, but... is she trapped here, too?"
Chris smiled weakly: "No... believe me, I have no idea how this was possible, but she can't be... My wife has been pregnant only for three months... and that girl isn't even born yet!"
(Chapter 6 written by Belén and Chrissy.W.x)