Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or any of its characters

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or any of its characters. They all belong to Brad Kern and whoever. I do own Amarie, Melissa, Heather, and Grace. Please don't steal them.

Chapter 7

Chris orbed into the attic at the Manor, quickly checking to make sure no one was present. He and Wyatt had decided not to tell their parents about the ghost, at least not until it was vanquished. Their mom still hadn't quite acknowledged that they were capable of fighting evil without supervision. Hopefully, he could find what he was looking for and leave before anyone knew that he was there.

"Chris! What are you doing here?" Chris jumped, then raised his eyes to meet the curious gaze of his younger sister. Amarie hung back slightly, the slightest hint of wariness in her eyes. "Hey, Mari. I was just doing some research."

"What's wrong with the front door?"

"I'm kind of in a hurry, and you know Mom will want to talk forever…"

"Chris!" Grace launched herself into Chris' arms, caroling a high-pitched greeting.

"Hey, sweetie. How's school?"

"Fun, fun, lots of fun!" Grace loved magic school.

Amarie relaxed, slowly coming forward. Grace was an empathy; she would have known immediately if Chris wasn't really Chris.

"How come you're here?"

"I have to do some research, kiddo."

"Hey, munchkin, wanna play dinosaurs with me?" Amarie winked at Chris as he handed their little cousin to her. "Dinos, dinos, dino-saurs," Grace sang as Amarie teleported the two of them away. Chris shook his head, making a mental note to pay his little sister back later. Finding the spell he needed, he orbed back to his dorm room.

Wyatt looked up expectantly as Chris came back in. "You got it?" He set the scrying crystal down on the table.

"Yep. Who's the lucky sacrifice?"

He was only partially joking. Erica's body had never been found; the only spell they could use against her had to be read by a ghost.

"I'm doing it," Wyatt stated firmly. He gently tossed a knife from one hand to another.

Chris narrowed his eyes. "How 'bout we flip a coin?"

"Forget it."

"Why," Chris challenged.

"Because I'm older, I'm stronger, and I can kick your butt any day."

"Wyatt, I'm just as good a witch as you..."

Chris' words cut off as Wyatt cut off circulation to his younger brother's spinal cord just long enough to stab the knife through his own chest. Chris swore as he hit the ground, unable to break his fall. "I hate it when you do that!"

Ghost Wyatt grinned at him mischievously. "Ready to go?"

"I'm ready," Chris answered resignedly.

Chris could feel his brother's spirit, even though he couldn't see him.

"Won't Erica know you're there," he asked out loud.

"I'm veiled. You can sense me because you're my brother and you know I'm here, but even other ghosts will have trouble sensing me."

"How can you do that?"

"It's a trick I learned a couple years back."

Chris shivered, remembering the nightmarish three months when Wyatt had disappeared without a trace. His older brother had never said that much about that time, and sometimes Chris thought that it must have been worse than he let on.

"Summon Kacela. Let's get this over with."

Chris placed eight enchanted crystals in a circle and begin the summoning spell. Before he had even finished the first few lines, Kacela appeared. "Is this your idea of a hot date, Halliwell?"

"Hello, Erica," Chris answered calmly. "I generally prefer dinner and a movie, but hey, whatever works."

She shook her head mockingly. "The girls must love you. What do you want?"

"For you to stop possessing Kacela and move on to the next life."

"I was planning on hanging around for a while, actually."

"Even if it kills your sister?"

"I don't care about her," Erica laughed. "Every day I grow stronger and she grows weaker. She'll be out of my hair soon enough."

Chris felt sick at the spirit's callousness towards her sister.

"You want to protect her. How sweet. She's hardly an innocent, though. She's the one who summoned me here. Wanted to get revenge for her precious sister's death."

"You are her sister," Chris snapped.

"I used to be," she replied, shrugging carelessly. "I'm more than Erica ever was, though. The name's Erisen, by the way."

Erisen casually stretched her arms out, blasting the crystals away from her. Taking two steps towards the stunned witch-whitelighter, she waved a hand at him, drenching him with icy water. The water droplets instantly froze, encasing Chris in a cocoon of ice. "I learned a lot, trapped in that river for so long. There were others, imprisoned for centuries. We joined together to free ourselves. We fed on the weaker ones and waited for our chance. Now it's here. And you, Halliwell, will never stop us. ..What!"

Wyatt unveiled himself and began to chant the spell. Taking advantage of Erisen's distraction, Chris concentrated on freeing himself. The molecules of the ice could be induced to move apart, causing it to melt. Unlike many witches with telekinesis, Chris could use his ability on the molecular level. Even Wyatt couldn't do that. The water flowed down his body, soaking into the ground. He looked towards Erisen. Kacela's body was rigid, eyes fixed on something he couldn't see. She screamed, and then fell to the ground.

Erisen disappeared as soon as she was forced from Kacela's body, but her twin lingered a moment more. She looked down at Chris, then back at Wyatt. "Thanks for stopping her…for stopping us."

"It's not your fault."

"Yes it is. I'm the one who brought her back. I knew it was dangerous, and I did it anyway. I wanted the others to suffer for what they had done, for letting my sister die. I wanted Erica back, and I didn't care what the price was."

"But it wasn't really her."

"Not anymore. I'm sorry about Helen getting hurt, and Marcy's death. I'm even sorry about Todd and Rick." Her mouth quirked a little. "Maybe I'll look them up sometime, if we end up in the same place. Take care of your family, Wyatt." Her gaze moved to something beyond him. He turned around to look and saw nothing. When he turned back around, she was gone.

Chris knelt by Kacela's body, frantically trying to revive her.

"It's too late, Chris, she's gone."

"No, she isn't."

"Chris, she's already gone to the other side. I don't have much more time, so let's get back." Chris stared blankly at his brother's spirit, then remembered that they needed to put Wyatt's soul back in his body. "All right." With one last glance at Kacela, he headed for the door.

Chris restored Wyatt's soul to his body, then started getting ready for bed. It had been a long night. "Chris, talk to me," Wyatt urged him.

"Wyatt, I don't feel like going into the 'you're only human' lecture again. I've got it memorized, along with the 'it's for the Greater Good' and the 'magic can't solve all problems' lectures."

Wyatt ran his hand through his hair. "I'm not going to lecture you. You feel like a knife blade is buried in your chest. I know, I've been there. Just remember that I'm here, OK?

"If I say yes, will you quit trying to go all Aunt Phoebe on me?"

"Hey, at least I didn't call Mom and the aunts."

"They'd kill you for dying," Chris pointed out dryly. "Look, right now I just want to sleep. Good night."

"Don't let the bed-scorpions bite," Wyatt replied automatically.

"Sicko," Chris grumbled as he climbed into bed.

He felt the brush of Wyatt's mind across his, ensuring that his little brother wouldn't have nightmares. Chris was too tired to complain. He closed his eyes and let sleep come.