Legacy: Ghost of the Past

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Three: Getting Help

Bobby Connelly climbed out of the car without so much as glancing at the chaperone, who was just a demon who worked for his dad, and headed into Baker High, hoisting his bag higher onto his shoulder as he glanced back to make sure that the car was gone. Letting out a sigh of relief as he saw it round the corner, Bobby relaxed visibly.

Casting a quick glance around him to see if Parker was following him again—he'd taken to doing that for the past few weeks, something he was sure that his sister had something to do with—Bobby climbed up the steps into the school, joining the crowd as he pushed his way through the hectic school. A few people waved when they saw him and called their hellos, others simply nodded.

This was why he liked it better at school than he did at home; he didn't have to pretend to be someone that he wasn't. And his father wasn't there to mark his every move. Not to mention, he didn't have to dwell on the fact that his mother was still under the spell cast by his father.

Stopping by his locker, Bobby spun the dial and put in the combination just as a pretty brunette girl walked up next to him, leaning against the lockers. "Hey, Bobby," she said, smiling at him. "What's going on?"

Bobby smiled back. "Hey, Patty," he said to Parker's little sister. She was a nice girl, not to mention she was an awesome keyboard player. Her band sounded awesome until they lost their lead guitarist, who moved away to college.

"So, Parker said that you're friends with my cousin's new girlfriend?" Patty remarked as she held her books against her chest. Bobby nodded as he picked up some of his books, not really wanting to get into the subject of Susan at the moment. It was a really complicated situation. "What's she like?"

"Uh . . . Patty, I really don't know her very well," Bobby said uncomfortably, but groaned when he saw the look in her eyes. "She's pretty nice, I guess. Resourceful and really can back a good punch, if she puts her mind to it," he added dryly.

Patty laughed. "Sounds like you know her pretty well," she remarked. "A lot better than you're letting on." Bobby gulped, but said nothing. "So, anyway, Aunt Piper's gonna have us play at P3 on Saturday night. She's opening up the club for teens that night."

"Can she do that?" Bobby asked.

"Well, anybody over 21 has to wear a stupid bracelet so that they're legalised to drink, but other than that, it's legal," Patty answered. "Of course, without Quentin there, we're going to fall flat on our faces."

"I'm sorry," Bobby said, meaning it. "Really, I am. You guys sounded great when I heard you last summer." She smiled and he felt his heart skip a beat and his mind scrambled to find something else to say. "It's too bad that Quentin left, though."

"Parker said that you play guitar," Patty said as she straightened up to look at him directly in the eyes. "You got lessens when you were younger, didn't you? How come you stopped?"

"Well, my dad didn't really approve of it in the beginning and then last year—" What could he say to her? His dad decided that he should contribute to the household and become a demonic guard? There was no way he could say that. He didn't know how much the brothers and Parker had told the rest of the family and he liked Patty well enough not to jeopardise his relationship with her. "Well, he didn't want me doing it anymore."

"What if you were doing it to play in a band?" Patty asked him, turning around to face him directly. Bobby stared at her. "Come on, Bobby, I'm desperate here. If we go on that stage without a guitarist, then we're going to suck big time and I can never show my face at school again. So please, Bobby, do it for me."

"I don't know," Bobby admitted. He actually wasn't even scheduled to do any guard duty on Saturday and as long as his dad didn't find out about it, then he didn't really foresee a problem.

But the truth was, he was scared to death of his father. Especially after what happened a couple weeks ago. He had tried to kill his own daughter just to get rid of her, to end whatever threat she was supposed to bring. Bobby really wanted to keep an eye on things at the house, in case he tried something like that again.

Then again, Susan was a big girl and she could handle herself for one night, couldn't she? And he would love to play guitar again . . .

"I'm not promising anything, but I'll try and work it out," Bobby told her. She grinned triumphantly and threw her arms around him.

"Thank you!" she squealed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the best!" She kissed him on the cheek and Bobby felt his cheeks flame with embarrassment as the kids in the vicinity whistled and gave cat-calls to them. Patty only laughed as she released Bobby. "Did I say thank you?"

"Yeah, you did," Bobby said, still a bit embarrassed as he shut his locker. "But I did say that I'm not promising anything. Dad might have something planned that I don't know about or he'll just put his foot down or something." Then a thought occurred to him. "Uh . . . Patty, I don't have a guitar."

"That's okay, Parker's got one that you can borrow," Patty assured him. "I already asked him, don't worry."

"I don't know any of your guys' songs."

"Can you meet us tomorrow after school?"

"Yeah, until eight," Bobby answered. That was when he was scheduled to take over for one of the demons that were guarding something for his dad. He had never wondered what it was, but now the thought occurred to him that it might hold some answers to why his dad was so desperate to kill his sister.

"That'll do fine," Patty replied. "I'll give you the lyrics of the songs so that you can memorise them tonight and we'll meet tomorrow to try and blend in to a band, okay?"

Bobby grinned; this actually was starting to sound like fun, something he hadn't done for a long time. "All right, count me in."

--

While her (un-revealed) little brother was trying to get a sense of normality in his life, Susan was frantically trying to brew potions with Chris while his older brother was talking to his mother on the phone, getting the location of the Grimoire so they could try and get it before Peter did. The chance of accomplishing that was slim to none, but they were running out of options and time. Every second that passed, Peter was getting that much closer to the Grimoire with them lagging behind.

"All right, got it," Wyatt announced as he hung up the phone. "Dad was able to remember exactly where he'd hidden it in the West Andes. So we should probably get going if we want to have a chance to beat Peter there." Susan nodded as she bottled up another potion.

"Well, we're all set," Susan said as Chris plucked up a few more bottles, tossing some to Wyatt and pocketing the others. "But I still don't understand why he's so obsessed with me. As far as I know, I didn't even do anything to this guy."

"Which is exactly why you're not going," Chris responded, turning to look at her. She opened her mouth to retort. "Look, Susan, Wy and I can go and track down the Grimoire. You need to stay here and go down to Baker High and talk to Bobby, see if he knows anything about what Peter wants the Grimoire for. Because that is a more pressing problem if he gets it. All three of us don't have to go to stop him from getting it, not if we're already too late."

Susan stared at him, not looking happy at the current situation. "Fine," she said softly, standing up and kissing him. "But you had better come back, otherwise I'm going to bring you both back from the dead just so I can kill you myself. Okay?" she said with a bright smile.

Turning around, she grabbed her purse off the table and headed out the door, shutting it behind her. Climbing down the steps, Susan climbed into her beat-up 2000 blue Cavalier, shutting it behind her. Backing out of the parking lot of the apartment complex, she navigated her way through traffic as she drove towards Baker High.

It wasn't hard to find; she drove past it every day on the way to work and with classes dismissing, she found the building pretty easily, pulling into an empty space next to the sidewalk. Letting out a deep sigh, she unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out, keeping a careful glance around to make sure that she didn't accidentally miss Bobby. Of course, the way that boy was, he might just slip away on purpose, not wanting to be seen with her.

Then again, the way that he had been lately, he might be willing to take that risk. He did promise her that he'd come to her for help if he ever needed it. She wasn't sure what it was about that kid, but there was just something about that kid . . . she just couldn't help liking him. He reminded her so much of herself, willing to risk his own safety to help the ones he loved. She would've done the same thing for her own mother or Ryan, if they were in the situation that his mother was in. And she would do it for Brooke or Chris or even Wyatt.

Luckily, though, Bobby came out of school with some girl that reminded her of Chris. She wasn't sure what it was, but she guessed that this was another one of his cousins, probably Parker's sister. She was talking to him as Susan walked over to them.

"Bobby!" she called and he looked around at her, a flicker of fear crossing his face. "Hey, we need to talk."

"What are you doing here?" Bobby asked her before glancing towards the girl, who was regarding her curiously. Susan looked towards the girl, giving her a warm smile.

"Hi, I'm Susan Dawson," she said, extending a hand, to which the girl returned it warmly.

"I'm Patty Matthews-Mitchell," she said with a grin. She glanced at Bobby, then towards Susan again. "So, are you Chris's Susan?"

Susan laughed, a bit startled by her bluntness, but she had a genuine likeability about her. "Uh . . . I wasn't aware that people were calling me that, but yeah, I guess I am," she said, a bit embarrassed. "So, um . . . are you Parker's sister?" She nodded. "All right, well, it's nice to meet you. Normally, I wouldn't be just brushing you off like this, but I need to talk to Bobby about something." Looking at Bobby, she added, "It's important."

He regarded her warily, then glanced at Patty and sighed. "What do you guys need my help with this time?"

"The Elders think that your dad is after the Grimoire," Susan told him. "And he's going to use its power against us for some reason. Do you know what he could be planning to use it for?"

Something of shock flitted across Bobby's face; clearly this was the last thing that he had expected her to say. "Whoa, wait a minute, Susan," he said sharply, "did you just say the Grimoire?"

She nodded. "Yeah, apparently They've felt a big shift in the balance of power, too, which means that your dad's up to something. And considering that he's done nothing but try and kill me the past few months, I don't think that it's anything good."

"Hold on a second, that's not possible," Patty interrupted. Her blue eyes were wide with shock. "Mom, Aunt Piper, and Aunt Phoebe got rid of the Grimoire years ago, before Wyatt was born."

"No, they hid it," Susan corrected, glancing at her. "That's not the same as destroying it. Anyone, Peter's apparently found out where its been hidden at. Chris and Wyatt are on their way there now, to try and cut him off, but in case that they don't get there in time—"

"I don't know anything about this," Bobby told her. He was telling the truth, she knew, just by looking at him. "Dad never told me anything about any of this." Panic was flying across his face. "But from past experience, I'd say that he's given up trying to kill you directly. So he'd probably do something that would try and weaken you somehow."

"Yeah, that's what the Elders figured, fast forward please," Susan requested. He made a face at her. "Sorry, I'm a little irritated today."

"Tell me about it," Bobby sighed. "I don't know what he would use, because I've never seen him in this situation before. Nobody's ever managed to outwit his plans before. At least, not this long and survived. Probably why he views you as such as threat," he added with a wry smile.

Susan shook her head. "At this point, I think I'd prefer to be thought of as someone who's not worth his time," she told him. Bobby grinned. "You don't have the slightest idea what he might be up to?"

"If I knew anything, then I would tell you," Bobby said honestly. "And I guess it's my fault for not paying as much attention to Dad's work as I should have." He looked guilty. "The last few weeks, I've been trying to figure out a way to help Mom. I know," he added quickly, "that shouldn't have been my first priority, but—"

Susan reached out and touched his shoulder gently. "Of course it should've," she told him. She couldn't help but wonder how familiar this felt, as though she had been doing it all of her life. If she had been asked before this, she would have thought it would feel strange and alien, but it didn't. No, it was strange, but not in an unfamiliar way. It was like she had been doing it forever. But how could that be? she thought.

Realising Bobby had said something, she asked, "What?"

"I said," Bobby said, looking up at her, "that I think I know where Dad might be going with it."