Hi all! Here's a nice long dramatic chapter! This one was fun to write, and all you Chris lovers will love it (I know there are a lot of you...) Chris is a lot of fun to play with because we all already know and love him so well.
I hope you enjoy, please leave a review so I can do my best! Much love :) -Joel
Chris Halliwell's knowing green eyes had a tendency to become dark and ominous when he was angry or hurt. Now, they shone mysteriously in the light of a fire, revealing the pain behind them to the demonic Seer he spoke with.
"What makes you think I'd help you?" the Seer retorted. Like many Seers, she had the young face and body of a seductress, draped in elegant red garments that hardly covered her shapely body. She leaned delicately against a huge cauldron, its contents swirling and producing a mystical haze custom to magical brews.
"Because if you don't," Chris explained with a monotone voice, "you'll deal with the full force of the Halliwell family. And that's a fate no demon would want to foresee."
The Seer scoffed and rolled her sharp blue eyes at the witch. "I wouldn't say full force. But, you're right. I'd prefer to stay alive a little while longer." Her better judgment warned her not to mess with a family of powerful witches. "Let me guess, it's about your brother?"
"Yes. Wyatt," Chris answered through his clenched jaw. "He's been missing for three days now, and no amount of good magic has been able to find him. I need to know if he's alive." The last time anyone had seen Wyatt was when he left Magic School to follow up on the information Henry found on Pengahl. In the attic of the manor, the Book of Shadows had been left open to the demon's entry and the scrying crystal was out. Besides that, there was no evidence as to where Wyatt could be. The Halliwells had spent countless hours scrying, sensing, calling for a lost witch, and even searching the Underworld as much as they could, but he was nowhere to be found. According to the Elders, they hadn't sensed his death, but Chris had little faith in them or their powers. They had failed his family more than once before.
"Well, I'll be honest," said the Seer. "Detecting good magic has never been my forte. But I'll see what I can sense." Standing up straight, she gestured her arm over the cauldron, causing the fog to settle, and a faint light emanated from the depths of the vessel. "I see you came from Magic School," the Seer observed, peering into something invisible to Chris. "Your brother was trying to protect it when he came down here…"
Chris's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait! What else can you tell me about Magic School?" With Wyatt missing, most of their attention had been focused on looking for him, and they had all but forgotten about the issue with the school. They hadn't found Ginger either, but no one else had gone missing, and things seemed more or less normal for the time being.
"I can see its magical barriers are starting to fade," the Seer answered, her eyes closed but seeing plenty. "And demons are trying to take advantage of it. That's what your brother came looking for, isn't it?"
"What demons?"Chris demanded.
"I'm no snitch, honey," she sneered, brushing her blonde hair behind her shoulder. "I am still a demon, I've got to stick up for my colleagues. You'll have to figure out all the details on your own."
Chris sighed and leaned against the giant cauldron, his hands on the lip. "Fine. Can you see anything else about Wyatt?"
The Seer pursed her lips and judged the witch for a moment before extending her hands back over the cauldron. This time, an image materialized on the surface of its contents, visible to both the Seer and Chris.
"Wyatt," Chris gasped. There lay his older brother, unconscious and bound to a wall, presumably somewhere in the Underworld. The man who had been his role model, the perfect picture of good magic and power, appeared so weak and defeated. "Where is he?!" he shouted, his eyes moist with angry and panicked tears.
"That, I don't know," said the Seer honestly. Her powers had their limits, and she was surprised she could even conjure up an image of the powerful witch.
Chris swore, throwing his face into his hands to hide his tears. Of course, there was no hiding anything from a demon that could see almost all. "I will find him," he muttered into his hands, and he orbed away.
"You're welcome!" the Seer shouted sarcastically towards the dissipating orbs. She almost thought she could hear a faint 'thank you' coming from above her, but she couldn't tell for sure.
Back at Magic School, the students had been placed on lockdown until Wyatt and Ginger could be located and the students' safety could be guaranteed. Classes went on as normal, and only teachers and the Halliwell kids could come and go as necessary. Still, the school's portal was temporarily closed so that no one could leave without other means, and the faculty kept a close eye on the students.
Headmaster Leo sat in his roomy office, studying Ginger's file for any information that could help in her search. Though she wasn't a particularly powerful witch, he figured that she was intelligent enough to cloak herself if she had decided to run away. This, however, seemed unlikely, as she was no longer the only one missing, as Leo was forced to remember painfully.
As the former Elder flipped through the papers at his desk, a gentle knock sounded through the door. "Come in," Leo responded.
The door opened, and in came Mr. Hoffman, the Advanced Telekinesis professor. "Headmaster Leo," he greeted, closing the wooden door behind him. "Something's come up, and I thought you should know about it."
"What is it?" Leo asked absently, not looking up from his papers.
"Well, you closed the portal a few days ago, and so the faculty has mostly been using potions or spells to get in and out of the school, but…" Mr. Hoffman paused, unsure how to continue. "Well, you see, it appears that we're…trapped."
"Trapped?" Leo repeated, his full attention now on his employee.
"Th-that's right," Hoffman stuttered. "Since about noon, no one has been able to get out. I've tried several potions and spells myself, but each time it's a dud."
Leo rose from his desk chair, his developing wrinkles prominent on his worried face. "Has anyone tried orbing, or beaming? Do the students know about this?"
"No one has been notified yet," Hoffman explained. "I would suggest—"
Leo rushed past the professor before he had a chance to finish, disappearing into the hallway without waiting for Hoffman. Leo nearly ran to the large main room of the school, where we found his daughter Melinda, along with Prue, Henry, and Kat. The four students were surprised to see him in such a rush.
"Dad, what's going on? Is everything okay?" Melinda asked, putting down her book and walking towards her dad. "Mel, have you tried orbing today?" her father asked, catching his breath.
"Not since this morning when I orbed here, no," she replied, raising a questioning eyebrow.
"Well, do me a favor," Leo requested. "Try orbing home, see if you can."
Melinda exchanged a confused glance with her cousins. "Okay…" she agreed, and she disappeared in a veil of orbs. The four others stood in anticipation for just a few moments before the cloud of orbs suddenly appeared above them, rushing back to the floor. With a yelp, Melinda landed on her back on the marble floor, apparently knocked back down by something. "What the heck was that?" she groaned, sitting up with her hand rubbing the back of her head.
Her father took her hand and helped her up. "I hoped that wouldn't happen," he lamented. "For some reason, no one can get out of Magic School."
"What?" exclaimed Tamora. "What do you mean? How?!"
"I don't know," Leo replied. "I only just found this out too. But sometime today, people stopped being able to magic themselves out of here."
"Can people still get in?" asked Henry.
Leo frowned, unsure of the answer. "I'm not sure."
"Chris left a couple of hours ago. I don't know where he went," said Henry, worried for his cousin. "What if he's stuck outside the school? He'll have no idea what's going on inside."
"That might be okay," consoled Leo. "At least we know there's someone on the outside who will figure out what's going on. And he'll be able to keep looking for Wyatt." A glint of unease flashed in Leo's eyes as he mentioned his missing son. Still, he would act as the stable rock in a time of such unsureness and anxiety.
"What do you mean you can't get into Magic School?!"
Chris stood in the conservatory of his home, the Halliwell manor. Sitting in front of him was his mother, her face flushed with panic. "I mean I tried orbing there, but something blocked me. It was like I just bounced right off."
"Well did you try again?" Piper snapped.
"Of course, Mom. I failed every time. I don't know what's going on." Chris sighed and sat in an armchair, running his hand anxiously through his hair. "Everyone is still there. What if something is happening to them? I'm already failing at finding Wyatt, now them—"
"Chris, stop," Piper said gently. She, too, had joined in the desperate search for her son, leaving her restaurant in the hands of her manager, and had hardly slept the past three nights. "Don't you dare blame yourself for any of this. Wyatt is the most resilient and powerful source of good there is – he's going to be okay."
"Are you sure?" Chris said, his voice a hoarse whisper. Tears began to well up again behind his eyes. "I just saw a demonic Seer, and she showed me Wyatt. He's somewhere down there mom, and he's not doing well."
"What?" Piper exclaimed. "Chris, you could have gotten killed! You know better than to deal with demons! For all you know, everything she told you and showed you could have been a bunch of lies."
"No, Mom," Chris muttered. He sat up and wiped his eye roughly with the back of his hand. "It was definitely him. I felt it. We have to help him, we have to do something." His green eyes were dark with concern and exhaustion. Piper wasn't the only one who hadn't been sleeping.
Piper sighed and stood up, taking her son's hand to bring him with him. "Come on, let's go check the Book of Shadows. There has to be something we're missing, something we can do."
"Mom, I've checked the Book at least—"
"Well then, dammit, we'll look again." When his mother's voice rose to a certain tone, Chris knew not to go against her. Besides, he had just about run out of motivation to do anything. Dropping Piper's hand, he stood and followed her to the attic.