Chapter Seven: Well That Went Well
"What the hell are you doing here Adam?" Penny Halliwell said as she raised her hands ready to attack.
"Well let's just say when opportunity presents itself you got to strike when the irons hot." The young man said as he walked towards the girls. "Now if you ladies don't mind following me we have an appointment to keep, after you." he said as he held his hand towards the door.
"You're stupid if you think we're following you to our deaths, I'm not going anywhere and neither is she."
"Now, now Penny we don't want to cause a scene now do we?"
"What is this all about, I thought you were on our side, does Prue even know that you're here working with them." Grace asked.
"No and she'll never find out since the two of you won't last for very much longer." He turned towards the two demons standing behind him and nodded towards the girls, as soon as they got near Penny she jumped in the air and kicked both of them in their heads sending them into the wall. "I guess it's the hard way then." Adam formed and fireball and threw it at Penny, but it bounced off of Grace's shield and sent flying back at him. Adam dove to the ground as the fireball hit a demon running into the room, he jumped to his feet and shimmered behind Grace hitting her in the back of her head. "Now will you come willingly or are we going to have to fight some more."
"So where exactly are we going?" Wyatt Halliwell asked as he knocked down another cob web.
"The south side of nowhere now shush before you lead more demons towards us again." His brother said as he looked around the room.
"Well at least were not in that weird chamber room, I mean how many pictures of death can you have."
"I think it was an alchemist's room, but I don't understand why we ended up in here."
"Well how bout you boys try sensing for the girls now since we're in the clear." Their aunt said.
Both boys closed their eyes and concentrated, it took a second for both of their eyes to shoot open, "Did you?"
"Yeah, and they're getting close." Chris said.
"What are you two talking about?", but before they could answer all of their heads turned towards the sound of screams coming from in front of them.
"They're here, let's go." Wyatt said as he ran towards the screams.
"Wait shouldn't we be running away from the screams not towards them." Billie said as she tried to keep up with the boys. As she turned the corner a demon was flown in front of feet, she quickly grabbed the athame in her boot and stabbed him. "What the hell is going on?"
"Good question?" she turned at the sound of the voice, "what are you guys doing here, are the kids alright?"
"Yeah, we just thought you could use a little help." Piper Halliwell said as she walked towards the younger woman.
"Well you got perfect timing, because I think we just attracted more demons." Wyatt said as he readied himself for a fight. Ten demons appeared around the room all with fireballs in their hands, "Okay now would be a good time to run."
"Wait, why are they just standing there?" Paige Matthews said.
"Because, they're waiting for my order" A woman said as she walked into view.
"Who the hell are you?" Piper asked.
"That's not important, what's important here is that I have trophies for my mistress and she'll be impressed, more so than Alastair." The girl sneered.
"Well hate to burst your bubble cupcake, but we can't stay." Piper said as she grabbed her sister's hand. The woman smirked and raised her hand throwing the Charmed Ones into the cavern walls, Phoebe and Paige tried to stand, but Piper wasn't moving.
"MOM!" Wyatt and Chris yelled as they ran to their mother's side. Wyatt held his hands over Piper still body, but nothing happened. "No, come on mom wake up." Wyatt said as he tried to heal her.
Chris stood and charged at the woman causing both of them to crash to the ground. He began choking her while his aunts fought the demons running at him. "Chris STOP!" Phoebe said as she grabbed her nephew's arms trying effortlessly to pull him off the girl. "Come on Chris, you're going to kill her, or get yourself killed." Phoebe managed to pull him off of the girl, but as soon as they backed away a surge of energy came rushing into the room. Everyone was knocked to the ground except Wyatt who put up his force field to protect Piper.
The young woman's hand was still in the air as she fell to her knees. "Next time maybe." She whispered as she shimmered away.
"Who the hell was that?" Paige asked.
"I don't care, but I need your help." Wyatt said as he pulled Paige next to him .A couple seconds passed as they both continued to heal Piper. Her body jerked as she began to open her eyes. "Whoa easy there" Wyatt said as he helped his mother sit up.
"What happened?"
"Ah the million dollar question." Paige said as she shook her head.
"Anything?" Prue Halliwell asked as she paced back in forth.
"No and will you please stop pacing, you know this family's downfall is too much worrying." Melinda said as she rubbed her temples.
"Sorry, your head still hurts?"
"Yes and no aspirin in the world is helping, I've down damn near three bottles already, but nada, I swear I'm going to bind my powers so I don't have to deal with the stress anymore, or at least join a mental institute."
"Well the asylum sounds way better, I hear you get free cable and junk food out of this world."
"Seriously" Melinda said as she glared at her sister.
"Sorry, just trying to help." Prue said raising her hands in defense.
"Yeah well I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I think we need to get back to work."
"Or maybe you should just go lay down sweetie." Prue said as she laid her hand on Melinda's shoulder.
Melinda shrugged Prue's hand off her shoulder as she stood up and walked over to the table where Junior was stirring a potion. "No Prue I need to keep helping, mom and the others are going to need all of us to help."
"Mel you need to rest, honey you're exhausted and that's not going to help anyone if you're going to collapse."
"No Prue, just leave me be okay."
"No, I'm not going to leave you be. What the hell is going on with you?"
"Nothing, now can you go find Eric and see if he's found the book on Kroogan demons."
"No, not until you tell me what's going on."
"Prue not now can you just do as I ask." Prue just stood there with her arms folding across her chest.
"No."
Melinda just sighed, "Fine you want to know what's going on, I'll tell you. It's my fault that she got taken in the first place."
"What are you talking about?"
"Penny the only reason why she got taken in the first place is because I wasn't paying attention, I was supposed to be watching her, I was supposed to take care of her and Chris, but I couldn't, I-I didn't even notice her run away from us."
"Melinda honey it's not your fault, a lot was happening that night, none of could have known that she would get taken, and if you want to blame anyone it should be me, they were there for me in the first place."
"But why do I feel like I've failed, like I was there and I could have stopped the demons from taking her in the first place."
"Well like you said you're an empath." Prue answered as she pointed towards to Junior who was cursing at the exploding potion. "Maybe you're feeling Junior's grief too, not just your owns, or mine or everyone else who was there and felt like they could have stopped the kidnapping, but honey beating yourself up is not the way to go about this, I mean sure it helps to keep you motivated, but it's not healthy. Now I want you to find a room and go lay down, I can take over for you and help spaz-o-mastic over there."
"But-."
"Ah go. Now." Prue said as she pushed Melinda towards the double wooden doors. "We will call if we need you, now get." Melinda stuck her tongue out as she walked out of the room. Prue sighed and placed her head in her hand. "DAMMIT!" she jumped as she heard Junior scream. "What the hell is going on over there?" Prue asked as she walked towards him.
"Stupid tracking potion, but I can't seem to get it right, because the stupid thing keeps blowing up in my face."
"Let me." Prue bumped Junior with her hip and read the ingredients. "Dude you know that it only requires 1/4 of mustard seed, not 3/4."
"What, I could have sworn the book said 3/4."
"Sorry kid its only1/4. Now let's see what this does." Prue said as she threw the mustard seed and some toad stool into the cauldron. The liquid turned from black to a light green. "There, now it has to sit for at least ten minutes before you can use it."
"Wow, you know you're kind of amazing."
"Yeah I know." Prue grinned as she punched Junior in the arm. "So what exactly are you tracking?"
"Wyatt asked me to track them, you know in case we can find them if they get into too much trouble, but since our moms left I haven't been able to stay in contact with Wy."
"Wait how were keeping in touch with him in the first place, he's in the underworld he can't here you."
"Ah but that is where you are wrong young grasshopper, watch and learn from the master." Junior pulled a red crystal from his pocket and placed it on the table. "Marha Tavah Imagin Sur'Rah." He whispered into the crystal which started to glow a low pulse which grew until an image appeared above it like a projection.
"Where the hell did you get this?"
"Mom, she said that before Chris was born, some demons were having some type of reality show and this is how they were watching the school and the manor."
"Oh yeah, the Witch Wars, I remember Chris saying something about your mom stabbing Aunt Phoebe."
"Yeah she still get squeamish whenever she tells the story, anyways Wyatt found these when he was helping your dad with the big spring cleaning, I've been playing with these for a couple of weeks now and I think I figured out the basics."
"So how long before this thing finds them"
"It shouldn't be long now, ah there we go." The smoky image of the underworld appeared in front of them; Prue looked closer and saw Chris fighting a demon and Wyatt crouched on the ground healing someone. "Wyatt? Who is that he's trying to heal?"
"I can't tell, but where is everyone else, I only see Chris."
"Can they hear us?"
"They should be able; I mean the spell acts like a walkie talkie so they should hear us."
"CHRIS! WYATT! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?" Prue screamed into the crystal, but no one seemed to hear her. "Well that didn't work, what else you got?" she said as she sat down.
"What happened?" Piper Halliwell asked as she was helped off of the ground.
"Ah the million dollar question" Paige said as she shook her head.
"You got hit bad and almost died; it took me and Paige to heal you." Wyatt answered.
"Well let's get out of here before more demons find us, hey where did the chick go?"
"She made a quick exit." Phoebe said as she placed a hand on Piper's shoulder.
"Wuss" Piper mumbled. She took her sisters hands, while Billie grabbed the boy's hands. "Okay let's go."
"Wait." Wyatt said. "Do you hear that?" Everyone listened but they began to shake their heads.
"Uh honey, are you sure you didn't hit your head." Piper asked her son as she placed the back of her hand on his forehead. Wyatt pushed his mom's hand away and rolled his eyes, "No I'm fine, I just thought I heard Prue."
"Prue? How she's at the school, or at least she better be, start sensing people." She said as she looked at her sister and sons.
"She's not down here, unless she's being blocked somehow." Paige Matthews said.
"Well then how the hell is Wyatt hearing her?"
"The crystal!" Wyatt said as he slapped his forehead. He began to check his pockets, but he didn't find anything. "Look for a red crystal." Everyone began searching the ground.
"Found it." Phoebe yelled as she walked into the center of the room. "Hey is that Junior?" she said squinting at the stone.
"Yeah he has the other crystal so that we could communicate, kind of like magical walkie talkies." Wyatt said. "Can I see that please?" holding his hand out, Phoebe handed him the crystal. He waved his hand over the crystal mumbling something then a foggy image appeared on the cavern wall. "Junior can you hear me?" Chris chuckled as he saw his sister fall off of the chair and spin around to see where the voice was coming from. "Hey sis down here." Wyatt said. Prue walked over to the table and looked into the crystal, a smile broke on her face, "Hey Einstein your walkie talkie's calling?" she yelled over her shoulder. Junior appeared in the image, "cool hey Wyatt what took so long?"
"The crystal fell from my pocket when we got ambushed, so what's up?"
"Well we got worried, you guys have been gone for four hours now, we were actually about to come-." He stopped when Prue hit him in his gut.
"What he means is that we were going to find the others and see if they could sense you or something."
"Prudence Melinda Halliwell, don't you dare think about coming down here, I swear missy you'll regret it." Piper said as she pointed a finger at her daughter's image.
"Geez woman calm down I'm not that suicidal, but did you guys find anything out?"
"No, but I think we're getting close to something." Chris said as he pulled Wyatt aside and started talking to him.
"Well we'll call you when we figure out whatever Chris and Wyatt are fighting over okay." Piper said as she picked the crystal up making the image disappear. "Hey chatty Kathy's you wanna tell the rest of the class what you found out."
Wyatt turned and folded his arms across his chest, "Yeah Chris tell them our brilliant plan."
"I think I have a way of finding the girls, but it involves me being kidnapped."
"Well you're a lot stronger than you look, I thought by now you would have passed out like your sister." The woman said as she slid her finger across the girl's cheek. "Well I guess I'll just have to keep going until we find your breaking point." She grabbed Laura by the hair and began to cut her face with a blade.
"My liege, sorry for the interruption, but I have news on the others." A demon said as he fell to his knees.
"This had better be important or else your next. Speak."
"The Charmed Ones and their offspring are down here. The girl and a hoard of her demons fought them, but they were all killed."
"The girl, what happened to the girl?"
"She escaped, she's being healed as we speak, but the others are getting close."
"Who else knows about this?"
"No one my liege, I came to you straight away."
"Good, rise ." The demon stood and bowed his head. "Now no one must know of this or else all hell will break loose on them, and I just can't have that, am I clear?" The demon nodded. "Excellent." She placed her hand on his chest and smiled. A fireball appeared in her hand and burned shot through the demon's chest. "Now where were we?"