Hey guys, this chapter is long and I could have divided it up into two chapters, but this way you all get to keep reading! Enjoy.
"Well, we got our butts handed to us" Blake said as he sat on the couch defeated.
"Maybe we should try talk to everyone, then we can go after Andras after we get everyone back together" Bianca suggested.
"But they won't listen to each other, they just start yelling" Blake responded back.
"Well, what if we just talk to one set of siblings first. We can go talk to H.J., and the twins first then the girls, then come back here and talk to Wyatt, Chris and Mel" Warren said.
"Why not just talk to Wyatt, Chris and Mel first, since we are here?" Blake asked.
"Statistically speaking we have a better chance of getting though to H.J., Hope and Faith, then Peyton, Parker, and Portia. In case you haven't noticed Wyatt, Chris and Mel inherited the majority of the stubborn genes" Warren answered.
"Alright how about this, Blake you go over to the Matthews-Mitchell house and talk with them, Warren you go over to the girl's place and talk to them, I'll stay here and talk with Wyatt, Chris and Mel. Just get them to make up with each other first, we will worry about all the cousin's after. If Andras attacks call for each other, since they are all powerless" Bianca directed at the two guys.
Blake shimmered out and Warren orbed to Peyton, Parker and Portia's house.
"Warren hi" Portia said as Warren finished materializing in her bedroom.
"Hey Portia, how are things with you and your sisters?" Warren asked.
"If you came over to talk about them, then you can just orb yourself back out" Portia spat.
"Portia" Warren said as he sat on the bed, "why are you three so mad at each other?"
"Because they think I don't do anything, and that I could stand more responsibility in my life" Portia stated.
"Uh huh, and did this just come up tonight?" Warren asked
"No they have always thought that about me" Portia said not really thinking. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Mel messed up a part of the ritual allowing the demon of rage, Andras, to cross over the veil and he has been following around you, your sisters, and cousins to break up a prophesized power of 3x3 that will make sure the battle of good and evil is always won by good and if he succeeds he will become the new source of all evil and your family will be dead" Warren said all in one breath.
Portia sat and stared at her friend. "Ok. Um anything else you would like to add?"
"Did I mention that you all are powerless and he plans on attacking very soon?" Warren said sheepishly.
"What are you talking about we still have our powers, watch" she said as she tried to heart out. When nothing happened she looked at Warren. "Oh my god, we don't have any powers."
"Yea, and right now I need you to go make up with your sisters so we have a chance at getting you and your cousins to make up as well if you guys want to get your powers back and help us defeat Andras" Warren said as he lead Portia out of her room in search of Peyton and Parker.
At the Matthews-Mitchell residence Blake shimmered into the living room. He walked up to Faith's bedroom door which was right next to Hope's bedroom door. Blake took a deep breath and knocked on both doors at the same time, then he shimmered out.
The door on the left opened up to reveal a room with yellow walls and a mini basketball hoop against the far wall, the door on the right opened to reveal a room with soft pink walls and a large make-up vanity against the wall.
"Well you knocked, what do you want?" Hope asked her twin.
"I knocked? You knocked on my door" Faith responded.
"I did not, I'm still mad at you" Hope said.
"What are you made at her for?" Blake said as he shimmered in, scaring the twins.
"What are you doing here?" Faith asked.
"Trying to help you guys, what are you mad at her for?" Blake asked again.
"Well, um… she, I'm just mad ok" Hope said.
"You guys were targeted by the demon of rage. Also you will notice that you don't have any powers right now because you all used them against each other" Blake stated.
"No powers, what do you mean? Watch." Faith said as she tried to orb.
"Why can't you orb?" Hope asked as she tried to orb "Why can't I orb?
"That's what I was telling you guys. Look something went wrong during the ritual we all did. It brought the demon of rage, Andras, across the veil and he has been causing you all rage ever since then. That's why you all got mad at each other. Right now though Andras is planning on attacking and killing you all, so unless you two and your brother work out your issues we're all screwed" Blake told the twins.
Bianca knocked on the door that led to Chris Halliwell's bedroom. "Chris it's me, can I come in?" she asked. After she got no answer Bianca turned the door knob which to her surprise turned easily as the door was unlocked. She walked into the green bedroom. Everything was tidy, clothes in the hamper, papers on the desk stacked, and in the corner sitting in a black canvas chair was Chris.
"Chris tell me what's bothering you" Bianca said.
"What's bothering me? Well for starters my sister thinks I went to the past to give myself a power boost, and my brother is, um, he's… he's just infuriating" Chris said crossing his arms.
"Chris that's just it, you don't even know what you're mad at Wyatt about. You and your cousins don't fight like this, it was a demon" Bianca said as Chris looked up at her.
"What do you mean a demon?" Chris asked.
"The demon of rage crossed over after something went wrong during the ritual. But he apparently wants to take out some sort of revenge on the Charmed Ones by killing their children, if he does that he thinks he will become the new source" Bianca explained.
"How does he think that he is going to take out us?" Chris asked with a confident look.
"Oh well when you all used your powers against each other, it caused your bond to break as a family, thus breaking your magical bond" she said.
"Wait, are you telling me that we are powerless?" Chris asked his ex-girlfriend.
Bianca just nodded. "Look you have to smooth everything over with your brother and sister if you want to talk with your cousins and get your powers back."
"Peyton, Parker, look, I'm sorry about everything, but we all get on each other's nerves it's not just me. I know that we will always have issues but we're sisters, deep down I know we could never hate each other" Portia had been talking to her sisters as they worked through their rage issues.
"Portia, you know that I never wanted to make you feel bad, I just can't believe we didn't realize sooner that a demon was behind this" Peyton said.
"Look you two, there were clearly issues there before if the demon was able to target them. We just need to learn to let each other know when we are getting irritated with each other" Parker said as the three girls embraced in a hug.
"See I told you girls that you could work through this" Warren said.
"Ah how sweet, looks like you three made up, too bad it will be too late" Vicus said as he materialized in the house.
"Bianca, Blake we need you" Warren shouted as Vicus shot an energy ball at him. He orbed out just in time.
"We need to get out of here" Parker said to her sisters as she pushed them towards the door. An energy ball passed right in front of them causing the half-cupids to stop and take cover.
"Bianca, Blake" Warren called again. Once again not seeing his half-demon friends Warren orbed to the girls who were behind the counter in the kitchen.
"Grab hands" Warren said as he orbed the three half cupids out.
"You poured water on her!" Henry shouted at Hope.
"Yea I know and I'm sorry, but at least now you know how it feels when you and Chris and Wyatt scare away all my dates" Hope responded back.
"What my lovely twin sister is trying to say is that she understands what you three think now when you see her with a guy" Faith said trying to keep things cool.
"Hope, you're my little sister, I'm only trying to look out for you" H.J. said.
"And Henry, you may be older than me, but I only want to best for you" Hope responded.
"We just need to be more respectful of each other's private lives, whether it's relationships or charges, even school. I know you and I are twins but we don't have to share everything. And Henry, you may always want to keep tabs on us, but you have to trust us more" Faith said to the siblings.
"Ok, deal, we need to learn to give each other some space" Henry said as he hugged his sisters.
"Great, now let's get back to the Manor before something bad happens" Blake said.
"Something like this" Gith said as he shimmered into the house. Upon entering he immediately opened up a vortex that started sucking everything into it. Henry and Blake grabbed onto the door frame, and Hope and Faith grabbed onto to the banister.
"Warren, Bianca" Blake yelled as he tried to hang on.
"Blake, do something" Faith yelled.
Blake fired an energy dart at the demon, but because he was trying to hang on to the door frame the dart only hit the demon in the arm, temporarily causing the vortex to disappear. Once the vortex was gone, Hope and Faith ran over to H.J. and Blake, but just as they got there, Gith reopened the portal causing H.J. and Blake to have to grab Hope and Faith so they wouldn't get sucked in.
"Grab each other's hand" Blake told the twins who were being pulled toward the center of the room. Hope reached out and found Faith's hand, once Blake saw that they were holding on to each other he shimmered the four out of the house.
"Do I have to do this?" Chris said as he turned away from Wyatt's door.
"Yes, you have to. It's the only way you all are going to live. Oh and let's not forget they are your brother and sister after all. That should be enough for you to want to make up with them" Bianca said as she turned Chris back around and knocked on Wyatt's door. A moment later the door opened to a baby blue room with piles of clothes all over the floor and Wyatt appearing in the door way.
"What? Going to through another lamp at me?" he asked.
"No. Look Wy, we need to talk ok. Using our powers against each other like that, well, it kind of left us powerless and there is a demon out there that apparently wants revenge against the Charmed Ones and plans on making us the revenge!" Chris practically shouted. "Plus, I miss my brother and sister."
"You miss us? We didn't go anywhere Chris" Wyatt stated.
"I know, but once Bianca told me that we lost our powers, it made me notice that I couldn't feel you and Mel anymore. Even when we are apart we can still feel each other" Chris said as he looked to the ground.
"Maybe you two should talk this over with Mel" Bianca pointed out.
The two brothers walked down the hall and stood outside of their sister's room. Chris raised his hand to knock on the door. He paused for a minute and looked at Wyatt who gave an encouraging nod. Chris knocked on the door.
"Go away, I don't want to talk to you" Mel's voice could be heard coming from the other side.
"Come on Mellie, we need to talk" Wyatt said.
"No we don't. I understand that I'm apparently a huge disappointment to you two. The power of two Wyatt and Chris" Mel said.
"Bianca, do you have a hair pin?" Chris whispered.
"Um, yea, why?" she asked as she pulled one out of her hair.
"You'll see" Chris said as he knelt in front of the door and put the hair pin in the lock, a second later there was click and the two brothers walked into their sister's room. The room was a dark shade of purple, with croquis drawings pinned to various cork boards.
"Mel you used the anti-orbing spell enough when we were kids that I figured out how to get into your room with out magic" Chris said with a grin on his face.
"Great now you're in and I'm leaving" Mel stood to orb out and then realized she didn't go anywhere.
"What happened to my powers? I can't sense anyone's powers" She said frantically.
"That's kind of what we need to talk to you about. When we all got mad at each other and used our powers against each other, it broke us up, and left us all powerless" Wyatt explained.
"All of us, like the girls and the twins, and H.J.?" Mel asked.
"Yea, all of you guys" Bianca replied.
"Well how do we fix this?" Mel asked.
"You and your brothers make amends, then you talk with your cousins" Bianca told her.
"Fine, all is forgiven now let's go get our powers back" Mel said as she started toward the door.
Wyatt reached out and grabbed his sister's arm and pulled her back around next to him and Chris.
"It's not that easy Mel, we were arguing for a reason, now we need to talk about this before we can get our powers back" Wyatt said.
"Well, talk" She said as she crossed her arms.
"You know you're real infuriating, like all the time, you think you know everything" Wyatt said as he walked over to Mel's bed and sat down.
"I don't know everything, I'm just confident. Life isn't any fun if you don't try new things" Mel stated.
"Yea but Mel what I think he is talking about is how you parade around with this arrogance about you, like nothing can touch you. I think part of it has to do with your telepathy. You can read everyone's mind, and use all of our powers, but that doesn't make you indestructible" Chris said walking toward Mel.
"I know that. I don't think I'm indestructible guys, I just feel like I am the only one who has a sense of adventure. It's like pulling teeth to get you two to try new things. And it's not like you guys are begging to have me around, you always want it to just be 'the guys'. Maybe if I would have been a boy you two would want to be around me more" Mel said as she looked down.
"No Mellie, we love having a little sister. And as far as little sisters go, you're the best we could ask for. Remember when we were younger and you and Chris would always hang out together. I mean Chris is the lucky one he is in the middle age wise, he understands both sides" Wyatt explained.
"Yea but that was different Wy. Chris and I hung out together because you were too good for us, you had friends and were always off with them. I, once again was second best when it comes to you two" Mel said.
"Mel. Wyatt and I are brothers, and yes that makes us closer, but we are close because of you. You make us want to be close so we can help you and protect you and be there for you" Chris said as he grabbed Mel's hands.
"Do you really mean that Chrissy?" Mel asked as she looked up into her brother's green eyes.
"Yes Mel, we love you and yea I'm not going to deny it sometimes you are a huge pain in the ass, but that's just one reason that we love you" Chris said meeting Mel's gaze.
"It's true, we love you regardless of how much you irritate us" Wyatt chimed in as he went to hug his siblings.
"Wait before that hug, I still have some issues with you two" Mel said as she pushed Wyatt away.
"What? We just had the movie magic moment, and now you want to ruin it" Wyatt said with a hurt look on his face.
"No, just add to it. Look guys, I know you want to protect me, and I understand that you are older than me and think you know more, but seriously, I'm not naïve. I really get it I do, but I can take care of myself. You boys aren't always going to be around to help me, but you have to trust my judgment in situations, whether they be demonic problems, work problems, or boy problems. I love being close with you, I do. It's just, you need to have more faith in me" Mel said to her brothers.
"Alright Mel, it's probably not going to happen over night, but Wyatt and I will try and trust you more, maybe not with guys, but with the other stuff" Chris said with a grin.
"That's all I ask. Now, where is that hug" Mel said as she was engulfed in two bear hugs from her brothers. Mel wasn't that short, she stood 5'8, but both her brothers were over 6' making double hugs, a bit smothering.
Out of the darkness came clapping, the demon Andras stepped out into the light. "Touching, truly touching, to bad it's not enough to save you" he said as a fire ball formed in his hand.
"I would think this through before you attack" Bianca said as she charged up an energy ball.
"Oh I did" Andras said as two drone demons shimmered in and grabbed Bianca's arms.
"Guys get out of here now! Blake, Warren help" Bianca said as she tried to free herself from the demons' grasps.
"Oh they can't hear you, they have their own situations to deal with" Andras said as he waved his hand and a dark lighter appeared.
"This is not good. Wyatt, Chris, get out of here" Mel commanded her brothers.
"Not without you Mellie" Chris said.
"I said go, I can take care of them" Mel said as she rolled out of the way of Andras' fire ball "trust me."
The dark lighter took aim on the witch lighters in the room and fired his arrow. Chris pushed Wyatt out into the hall and narrowly missed being hit with the arrow himself. He tried to crawl to door, as he heard the click again from the crossbow being reloaded. Expecting to get hit with the poison arrow Chris closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, only to hear the dark lighter scream in pain as he went up into flames. Chris looked up to see that Bianca had freed herself from the demons and conjured an athame and hit the dark lighter.
"Go to the attic, I'll help Mel" Bianca said as Chris ran out of the room to find his brother.
"Bring it on Andras, I don't need my powers to fight you" Mel said as her and Andras circled each other, waiting for one to make a move.
"We'll see about that" he said as he threw another fireball at her. Mel dived out of the way just in time.
"How about you pick on someone with powers" Bianca said as she threw an energy ball at Andras. The energy ball hit him, but wasn't strong enough to vanquish him.
"You bitch, you're going to pay for that" Andras said as he shimmered out holding his arm.
"Yea, I'm sure" Bianca said as she went over to help Mel up. "You ok?"
"Yea I'm fine. What about Wyatt and Chris?" Mel asked.
"They made it out ok, let's go up to the attic and find them" Bianca said.
The two young witches walked up to the attic to see Wyatt and Chris looking at the Book of Shadows.
"Mel you're ok" Wyatt said.
"Yea, told you to trust me" Mel replied with a grin.
"The triquetra is still broken. We need to talk with our cousins if we want to get out powers back" Chris said looking at the cover.
A moment later Warren orbed in with Peyton, Parker, and Portia. Shortly after that, Blake shimmered in with H.J. Hope, and Faith. The nine cousins looked at each other for a minute and then all at once started talking. I'm sorry could be heard coming from every corner of the room. Bianca let out a high pitched whistle.
"Alright guys, maybe a few at a time" she suggested.
"We all need to learn to trust each other more" Portia said. "You all need to trust that I know what I'm doing, and I need to trust that you guys know more than me."
"And we need to not be so over protective, we may be the oldest, but you guys aren't kids" Chris said as he pointed to him and Wyatt.
"But we still need to be there for each other, just like we always have" Hope said as she walked over to Parker and gave her a hug.
"And always will be" Faith said as she joined her twin.
"We're family guys, it's in our blood to get pissed at each other. But this little experience has proved that we need to be more open with our annoyances. Stop stepping on each other's toes a little bit" H.J. said.
"Yea, and maybe to appreciate how close we all are, even though it annoys the hell out of us at times" Mel said as she went to hug H.J.
"Bianca, Blake, Warren, you guys really helped us, and I'm not just talking about the attack, but you at least got us to talk" Wyatt said to the three friends.
"Wait you were attacked to, that's why we came here, we almost got sucked into a vortex of some sort" Blake said to Bianca.
"That must have been why you two didn't hear me when I called. We were attacked at too, but nothing with vortexes" Warren said.
"Andras must have wanted us too distracted to help each other" Bianca pointed out.
"We may not have any powers, but we can still make a vanquishing potion" Peyton said.
"We made one already, it didn't work, Andras was too powerful already" Warren said.
"What about a spell, we could write a spell for Bianca and Warren" Hope said.
"I don't think it would be strong enough" Mel said "no offense you guys, it's not like your magic isn't powerful, but if a potion didn't work, it would have to be a power of three spell I think."
"Or the power of 3x3" Blake said with a grin on his face.
"What, what the hell is the power of 3x3?" Wyatt asked.
"Supposedly, it's us. That's one of the reasons the demon is after us. We apparently are going to do so much good that in the battle of good versus evil, evil will never win again" Portia said.
"What? Why didn't we know about this" Mel questioned.
"I left that part out, I figured you three needed to work on your own problems first" Bianca said.
"Well right now we need to protect ourselves, at least the stuff during the ritual will keep us cloaked for a little bit" Mel said as she went over to the alter she had prepared earlier.
"I don't know about that Mel. See we figured out earlier that something went wrong during the ritual, that's why Andras was able to cross over. The mistake gave him power" Warren said.
"What mistake? I followed the information in the book, I mean yea I ad libed a little, but nothing major" Mel said.
"It was a small mistake Mellie, you swept the broom west to east instead of east to west. See look in the book, it says that you sweep east to west following the path of the sun to sweep evil from your path" Bianca showed the younger witch.
"Oh my god. This is all my fault" Mel said as she looked at the words on the page in front of her.
"No Mel, it's not all your fault. You put this whole ritual together by your self. Maybe if one of us hadn't been too busy to help you we would have caught the mistake. You did a lot of work for this ritual to occur" Parker said as she put an arm around her cousin.
"Yea, and obviously, we didn't know any better because none of us thought you did anything wrong" H.J. said.
"But if I had been paying better attention, I could have prevented all this. I always screw things up. Chris was right I don't know anything about magic" Mel said as she put her face in her hands.
"Mel that was the demon making me say that" Chris said.
"Doesn't make it any less true" she said.
"Mel, how did mom and our aunts vanquish the source" Chris asked.
"Which time?" she asked.
"See, that was a trick question. You do know about magic, Mel." Chris said.
"I don't see how that proved anything" Mel asked.
"You realized things a lot quicker than most people Mel, I would have said that they invoked the magic of our entire family line" Portia said.
"This isn't your fault Mel, accept it move on, we have a demon to deal with" Faith said to her older cousin. Mel gave her cousin a smile.
"I think she was right that we are protected in here though, otherwise they would have attacked already" Blake said.
"Unless he is building up his army again" Warren said.
"No I wounded him down stairs, he is just probably finding a way to heal himself" Bianca said.
"Do you guys think we have our powers back yet?" Peyton asked her cousins.
"What does the cover of the book look like?" Wyatt asked.
"The triquetra is still messed up" Faith said. "Maybe we should make some potions that duplicate our powers, someone can write a spell, then I say we get out of the Manor, if this battle is going to be as big as I think it is, best not destroy the place."
"Alright, Mel, Portia, and Faith get started on that spell" Bianca said. "Wyatt, Peyton, and H.J get started on potions up here, Chris, Parker, and Hope get started on potions down stairs. Warren you help the girls with the spell and keep and eye out for trouble. I'll stay up here and make sure there aren't any attacks, and Blake go with them downstairs just in case" Bianca gave the orders.
"Man, is she always this bossy?" Mel asked with a grin.
"Yep, why do you think we broke up" Chris said with a laugh.
"I heard that Chris, and if you had powers I would through an energy ball at you" Bianca said with a smirk.