FRUSTRATION

"Wyatt is that you?" Chris called.

"Yeah," Wyatt answered, heading up the stairs.

"Hurry up, there's a paintbrush with your name on it," Chris warned with a laugh.

Wyatt entered the bedroom, empty except for paint cans and four young men. He saw that Chris was using telekinesis to paint with two separate paint rollers; Pace was fast forwarding his own wall, unknown to his mother. Palmer and Parker, however, were painting the last two walls the old fashioned way.

"You're welcome to share my wall, Wyatt," Parker said in greeting, "Those two decided to be competitive…" he shook his head in the way that Wyatt interpreted to mean 'brothers!' and Wyatt grinned in agreement and accepted the proffered brush. He joined eagerly into the camaraderie.

"Have they been at it all day?" Wyatt asked Parker with a grin.

"Yeah," Parker nodded, his soft hair falling forward to cover one eye. "I don't want to be the party pooper. It's nice to see my brothers having fun with magic for a change."

Wyatt tried to behave as though nothing were going on. "It was pretty much fight fight fight for all of you wasn't it?"

Palmer overheard this last, "Yep, all demon, all the time." The statement was so at odds with the look of lightheartedness on his face that Wyatt laughed.

(X)

"Finally!" Pace breathed, "All painted."

Wyatt gathered up the paintbrushes, "I'll go wash these out." He headed out the door and down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs he heard Priscilla and Drew talking. He hadn't intended to eavesdrop but he didn't want to intrude and since he didn't know exactly where they were he opted to stay where he was.

"Do you think I'm a coward?" Priscilla asked softly.

"No, of course I don't." Drew answered, "I've never known anyone braver than you."

"But, you do think I'm wrong?"

Drew sighed tiredly, "Honey, I'm just a mortal man. Do I think you should tell them? Absolutely." He answered his own question, "But I understand why you don't. It took me a long time to be alright with magic."

"It's taken a lot from you."

"It's taken more from you," he countered. "You shouldn't let it take your family."

"It already did," she reminded him.

"Wyatt, what's taking…" Parker came down the stairs towards Wyatt with a frown.

"I'm sorry. They sounded like they were deep in discussion and I didn't want to intrude…" Wyatt started to say.

"And since you can't see where they are, you were afraid to take a step?" Parker grinned. "Don't worry, just follow me. They're in that room," he nodded over his shoulder indicating a wall on the way to the kitchen.

"What room?" Wyatt asked.

Parker laughed, "Mom has a secret room in the house. It's where she keeps all the supplies."

"I wasn't trying to eavesdrop…"

"But you heard some of that?" Parker finished.

"Yeah," Wyatt confirmed looking sheepishly at his new friend.

"Look, Wyatt. Don't let it bother you. We have been trying to talk Mom into doing something since we moved. You just overheard Dad working on her again."

"It sounded serious," Wyatt opined.

"It is." Parker confirmed without elaborating.

(X)

Later, Wyatt called his sister on his cell phone. He wanted to apologize for last night in person, but after painting all day on top of sleeping restlessly the night before, he didn't have the energy to drag himself to the manor.

He had gladly considered the episode earlier in the day to be some weird fluke and was glad that everything was back on track. He vowed to keep an eye on events, even though he didn't have visions, this morning's news of the Bennetts demise and Chris' extreme reaction still weighed on him as did the partial conversation he'd overheard.

"Mel," he said into her voice mail when it picked up, "I wanted to apologize for last night. I overreacted. Forgive me?" He hung up and started to drive to the loft he shared with Chris.

A few moments later his phone rang and he answered.

"I'm sorry too, Wyatt," came the tones of his baby sister, "For, everything," she continued, "Are you sure you're not angry with me? Maybe you should come to the manor so I can reverse the spell."

"Spell?" Wyatt asked, confused, "What spell, Mel?"

"You don't know?" Mel gasped, "I did a power switching spell. I have to tell you," she continued peevishly, "I like my own powers, thank you very much. Yours take some serious getting used to… and I'd rather not, so please come over? Now!"

"I'm on my way," Wyatt said tersely as he hung up the phone. 'How could she be so selfish?' he thought angrily. 'What if he'd needed his powers?' he continued ranting in his head. He pushed his foot harder on the gas pedal. He screeched to a halt outside the manor. Quickly he hurried out of his car and…into Aunt Phoebe's parlor.

"Mel, if I ever get my hands on you…" he threatened out loud to the air.

(X)

A/N Poor poor Wyatt, I gotta admit screwing with his head is kinda fun!