Hi guys! I like this pace of a chapter each day; I had this chapter completed yesterday and it took a lot to resist posting it lol. Things are a little bit slow right now, but I promise the action will be here soon. I just really want to make this story about more than just the magic and fighting. These characters are really interesting and I hope you love them.
I kept this chapter shorter than I originally intended, simply because it's more of an informational one and I felt it start to become boring. Please let me know what you think :)
Deep inside the broad, endless hallway of Magic School, in a large, dimly lit conference room, thirteen people gathered around a table in official business. The great mahogany table stood directly in the center of the room, over an intricate pentagram design in the floor. The deep gold walls of the room stretched high beyond visibility, ending in darkness, ceiling unseen. Seated around the table were the nine Halliwell children (though some were definitely no longer children), along with two Elders and Ms. Donovan, a school administrator. Presiding over the impromptu meeting was Headmaster Leo Wyatt, dressed in a long black cloak befitting of a Headmaster. He stood at the head of the table, addressing his company about an issue he had only been aware of for a short time. Though he had been a mortal for nearly two decades now, Leo was extremely knowledgeable in all things magic, and performed his role flawlessly. After all, he had been a Whitelighter for sixty years, as well as an Elder and Avatar. The Elders sitting before him – two that he had come to know very well, Odin and Sandra – were at the moment very stern and attentive, as the issue at hand relied heavily on them. In fact, they did not care for the presence of students in the conference, but they went along with their former colleague's wishes out of respect. He had never failed Magic School before.
"As we've told Mr. Wyatt here, we Elders have recently detected an unusual shift in magic in the San Francisco area," Odin calmly explained to the group. "It is difficult to tell what exactly has caused this, or even to pinpoint what the shift is, but we do know that it is happening in a strangely rapid manner."
"Not only that," continued Sandra, the other Elder, "but it has also become apparent that the shift is in some sense negative. Typically we sense surges in power when something is occurring in the magical world, but this time it's more like magic is somehow disappearing."
"Meaning Magic School is…losing its magic?" Ms. Donovan offered cautiously. Her heavily ringed hand tugged absentmindedly at her short, graying hair.
"It's hard to say," replied Odin, addressing everyone. "It's unusual for magic such as ours to simply go away without an outside force doing something to remove it. However, the way the Elders thousands of years ago established the protective magic prevents anyone, even Elders, from removing it. They wanted this safe haven to exist eternally, so that it would always be available for future generations of good magic. Of course, it isn't difficult to believe that such ancient magic can begin to fail after so long, but it's the way the wards are slipping that concerns us the most."
Leo took a step closer to the table, looking over his children and their cousins. "If the magic continues to deteriorate at this rate," he explained, "it may be too difficult to fix. There are many layers of very powerful magic cloaking the school, and replicating the old Elders' magic would be near impossible at such short notice."
"But," asserted Sandra, "we cannot diagnose this problem and move on to fixing it until we determine whether it is by natural causes or external forces. That's where we need the help of you nine."
"Us?" questioned Tamora, a look of incredulity spread across her face. "What can we possibly do that the Elders can't?"
"Well, Tamora," Leo blurted, sensing the female Elder's annoyance with her response. "The Elders suspect that if a demonic or otherwise harmful force is behind this, then they are making sure to cloak their actions from them, and avoid being detected. That being said, we doubt that these perpetrators would bother hiding themselves from witches, especially ones as young as yourselves. We think that if there is anything to find, you can find it." The nine Halliwells each looked at one another in consideration, surprised by the Elders' willingness to put such a large task in their hands. To them, the Elders were hardly more than the detached "Powers That Be" looming above them and judging their use of magic. This interaction was hardly like them. After a few seconds of silence, Wyatt finally spoke up.
"I think I understand your point, but where would we even begin? Assuming that something demonic is responsible, there are so many possibilities." A few of his relatives nodded in agreement, but they all anticipated the Elders' response.
Odin smiled very gently and looked over the nine personifications of good. "You've done it before. You are all incredibly gifted, don't sell yourselves short. Every force of evil you've defeated, every innocent one of you has saved, is a testament to this family's capability of instilling goodness in this world. We have confidence in your powers, and," his eyes passed over Henry, "in your intelligence." This brought a proud smile to Leo's face, who was above all a father and uncle.
Chris, having been unusually silent for the duration of the meeting, posed a question. "What if the magic is after all failing from natural causes? Then what do we do? We'll have to find a way to put a stop to it before the whole school ends up exposed to the mortal world, or worse. We might end up wasting too much time looking for a source that doesn't even exist." Several murmurs arose around the table as people considered this point. Chris was rather pessimistic at times, but his points were often realistic enough to cause doubt.
"In that case, I think we should split up," Henry, Jr. proposed. Every head at the table turned to him, expecting something clever as usual. With his neatly-combed brown hair, metal framed glasses, and white shirt, he looked remarkably like a professor. "After all," he continued, not fazed under the pressure, "I won't be able to do much going after demons. And I'm sure Mel and Peyton would prefer to help me scour the library for more information that could help. That way we have one team searching the Underworld and other sources for a potential culprit, while the others try to find a way to repair the damage if it can't be stopped."
"That's excellent, Henry," Leo commended with a grin. His efforts to convince the Elders to entrust the children with this task had definitely been worth it.
After clearing up everyone's capabilities and jobs, the young generation of witches (and mortal) filed out of the conference room to gather their belongings from the library. Wyatt, Tamora, Kat, and Prue would head down to the Underworld as soon as possible to try and find information about demons targeting Magic School. Chris, Melinda, Henry, Parker, and Peyton would check every possible resource, inside and outside of the school, for ways to magically fix the barriers and stop their crumbling. The pairs of Elders and administrators followed behind them, ensuring each of them safely orbed or beamed out.
"I hope they know what they're doing," Odin said warningly to Leo as the last of them disappeared.
Leo stood staring resolutely out of the huge window and over the bay, to the bridge he spent many hours on meditating when he was an Elder himself. "I have complete faith in them. They're everything the Charmed Ones were and more."