I told you I don't own Ben 10. so stop asking.

Opposing Sides

Chapter 7

"what do you mean "Lay lines"" Max said as he stared concernedly at his grandson.

Ben sat for a moment, eyes wide with fear of the unknown. "I have absolutely no idea...what it is I mean. When I looked at the map its like I could see... a second image over it. Something that tells me this is an important place." he said gesturing to the screen.

" Are you alright... maybe I should have let you stay a couple more days in the hospital, so the doctors could do some more tests." Ben's grandfather said as he placed a hand on the younger boys shoulder.

"i know its weird, but I just know... things. Or at least I think I know them. It almost feels like I have a second brain or something." Ben said looking up to meet his elders eyes. "when I see something it thinks things at the same time I do... but its hard to understand." he said going slightly cross eyed. "trying to describe this is hurting my head." he reached up and pressed his palms into his temples.

"I don't like the sound of that... maybe that Gwen girl did something else to you when she put you to sleep, like left a hypnotic suggestion or something. It could be to lure us into a trap." Max said weighing the possibility. " Or maybe its something designed to keep you off of there trail. You know get rid of you for a while." the older gentlemen made a shooing gesture with his hand.

"Well whatever it is... Its really, really annoying. It almost....." Ben faltered in the middle of his sentence. "Hey it stopped." he said as his hands fell to his sides. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, as he regained his composure.

" In any case we might as well go check it out. Even if it is a trap we could use that to our advantage. Like turn it against them or maybe find a clue as to what there up to." the rambunctious preteen said, using the rarely seen common sense he possessed.

His grandfather sat for a long while his face scrunched up in concentration. After sitting for what felt like hours he stood up and let out a long breath.

"Well theres no way we can make it to the location of the dagger, before they get to it... its worth a shot." Max said making his way to the drivers seat. "However...if I find an alternate solution to our problem then well be abandoning this plan." he said with finality. "and if you start feeling strange again I want you to tell me. I managed to salvage a couple pieces of equipment that might be able to give us an Idea of whats wrong." the older man said looking to his grandson for confirmation.

"Sounds good to me the faster we get those weird thoughts out of my head the better." Ben said as he hopped up into the passengers seat.

"What did you think you were doing, using a large scale astral projection when your just a novice. It takes years to control the flow of your energy so you don't wipe yourself out. On top of that we will soon be carrying out the next phase of our plan and I cant have you collapsing on me in the middle of the job!" Charmcaster raged. "of all the.... if you were any less useful I would destroy you myself." the elder sorceress clenched her jaw.

Gwen tried to look as apologetic as she could. Which was actually hard. She had finished her conversation with Ben, but when she tried to make it back to body she found that she had become a little lost. It had taken a few hours before she was able to make her way back.

When she had finally awoke from her trance she found Charmcaster inches away from her face glaring daggers at her. If looks could kill she was sure she would be dead by now.

"But it was really important. I had something that I had to check up on." Gwen said defensively. "Besides I feel much better now." it was true. She had almost immediately fainted after she had exited her trance.

"What could be so important that you would risk our entire operation." The older girl started to pace back and forth in front of her young apprentice. "what could be so important that you would go behind my back to do a spell way beyond what your capabilities...well answer me!"

Gwen wasn't quite sure what to tell her stepsister. If she told her the truth she would surely be chastised for a few more hours, and she really wasn't looking forward to something like that. She had felt bad that she had miscalculated the power that the amulet of Bizel gave to her spells. The main reason she had worn it, was that it had made her spells on par with Charmcaster's. She had been worrying about Ben constantly for the past week or so. When she didn't feel the spell on him breaking she wasn't sure what to do. She almost fell down with relief when last night the spell had finally broken, and she had to admit he had looked cute in his little hospital gown.

However something still bothered her. When the spell broke all the magic that had made its effects last should have dissipated, but she could still sense some semblance of the magic within him. Since the magic was a part of herself she would be able to feel it no matter where it was.

"IM WAITING!" Charmcaster shrieked as she stopped pacing and turned to face the young witch.

"You remember when I put that Tennyson kid to sleep." she said using Ben's last name, since her stepsister despised the boy it was best to tread lightly when he was involved.

"well last night I finally felt that spell on him break, and I wanted to make sure he was..." she was going to say ok... but she couldn't say that, it would just get her yelled at. " to see if the little brat was going to come after us. But I miscalculated the difficulty of the astral projection spell and ended up in the complete wrong spot." she said lying through her teeth.

"Argg, that little snot...i can feel it he's going to be a pain in my side for the rest of my life." Charmcaster said all the anger leaving her, however it was only replaced with annoyance. Gwen however had dodged a bullet now that she was no longer Charmcaster's target.

"In any case don't do something like that without my permission, if you do it again I wont be so forgiving." here eyes locked onto Gwen's. " Are we clear." she said deadly serious.

"Crystal." Gwen said without any hesitation.

"Good now go change, we have to meet uncl.....i mean the "master." Charmcaster said her voice dripping with disdain. "since he grew up, he has been even more strict than usual." she mumbled to herself, as she turned to leave Gwen's room. Well it wasn't exactly Gwen's but it was a old room in an abandoned apartment complex that she happened to be staying in.

When the door closed behind her stepsister Gwen moved to the old closet and pulled her black sorceresses outfit from inside. She breathed a sigh of relief that she hadnt been caught lying to Charmcaster. You'd think that for someone as distrusting as her she would be better at telling when people were lying to her.

As she lay her outfit out on the bed and began changing she suddenly remembered a thought she had earlier, and couldn't help but chastise herself.

"He sooo did not look cute in that hospital gown." she said quietly to herself.