A New Life in San Francisco
Chapter 6; Golden Marina Orphanage
Chris's flat.
"What are we going to do?" Chris asked Wyatt once they were settled on his sofa with coffee to wake up after their late night.
"What do you mean?" Wyatt asked sleepily as he down half his coffee before spluttering at how hot it was.
"Aunt Paige wants us at the Manor at ten to help scry for the panther." Chris stammered.
"And…?" Wyatt questioned.
"We cant let them find him until we're sure what's happening." Chris pointed out.
"Why not?" Wyatt asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, if he's good then mum will understand."
"But you've heard the way Aunt Paige goes on about him. That he's hiding some nasty past or something." Chris objected. "What if confronting him like this only brings back something he is running from?"
"What if he's done something bad and that's what he's running from?" Wyatt asked sternly. "How do we know we're not just going to be helping a criminal?"
"We don't know that for sure, Wyatt." Chris sighed.
"And you want a chance to find out first before they confront him?" Wyatt sighed, already knowing the answer. "Fine. We'll need to get the shrouding spell from the Book of Shadows."
"Come on then!" Chris bolted upright, orbing out as soon as his cup was placed on the coffee table.
Wyatt shook his head before following his younger brother to the attic of their childhood home.
Halliwell Manor
"Being that's sought by good, by evil.
Let them be shrouded from sight by magic."
"That's it?" Chris asked astonished after they had chanted it three times.
"According to the book it only goes into effect if someone tries to find him. It uses our power and as long as our combined power is greater than that of the person seeking them it will work. If not it will just throw them off." Wyatt explained.
"So it should work then?" Chris asked. "As long as they don't use a spell calling on the Power of Three."
"What are you two doing up here?" Their mum's voice called as she opened the attic door.
"Just getting an early start." Wyatt smoothly lied as he flipped the page of the book as though it was the very thing he had been doing that morning.
"Any luck?" Piper queried.
"Not yet." Wyatt sighed, in all the years the only thing that mentions animals like that is with shape shifters.
"What about a sorcerer?" Piper asked, "We know they can turn people into animals."
Wyatt and Chris were interrupted as Paige arrived with Phoebe in a swirl of orbs. "What've we got so far?" Phoebe asked as soon as they were corporal.
"So far, only a sorcerer turning into an animal." Chris sighed. "But I never knew one to turn himself into one. Don't they normally use it as a curse?"
"Maybe this guy is cursed?" Paige suggested, "We have only ever seen the Panther in the night time. Maybe he did something to annoy the Sorcerer and is now cursed."
"Which would make him an innocent." Chris added.
"Well, he didn't seem to be wanting help." Piper pointed out. "But a Whitelighter did point us in that direction."
"Well lets find him then." Phoebe chirped getting up and grabbing the road map of San Francisco off the chair and unrolling it on the table. "Did you bring up the blood we got last night?"
"Sure." Piper pulled out a small vial with an even smaller amount of blood in the bottom. She grabbed the crystal off the table and dipped it into the vial.
Whilst the three sisters crowded around the map, Chris shared a concerned look with his older brother. "Why are we protecting him again?" Wyatt asked. "Even they think he is an innocent now."
"I don't know, its just a feeling." He whispered back just as quietly. "Just trust me would you?"
"Fine, but if this goes pear shaped its your fault." Wyatt whispered back fiercely.
"I don't believe this!" Paige cried. "It's not even trying to find anything."
"We'll just keep trying." Piper said.
"If he is a mortal cursed by a sorcerer it probably wouldn't track him during the day." Chris pointed out truthfully.
Paige dropped the crystal in a huff just as a crash sounded downstairs. They all span to the attic door but stopped dead when Piper's youngest Anna came stomping into the room.
"Mum!" Fourteen year old Anna whinnied, "Prue levitated with the phone again and I wanted to call Ashley."
Ashley was Paige and Henry's youngest actual daughter, her and Anna were quite close since Ashley was thirteen and they were the only two that took after their Aunt Prue in Astro-projecting.
Piper sighed dramatically as she strolled out of the room towards the ground floor. Wyatt and Chris prepared themselves for the yell and weren't disappointed. "Oh, aren't we glad we don't live here any more." Wyatt laughed.
"Wyatt!" Phoebe reprimanded him. "That's not very nice."
"Well," Wyatt mock sighed. "Since our search has come out empty, me and Chris have things to do."
"Just wait one moment, Chris!" Paige interrupted. "We're going shopping remember."
"Oh, come on Auntie Paige!" Chris groaned. "I thought you were kidding."
"Good luck, lil' bro!" Wyatt laughed and then dodged Chris' hand by orbing out.
"I took your older brother when he graduated." Paige argued.
"He didn't already have a flat though." Chris protested even as he was dragged down the stairs with Phoebe quietly snickering behind him. "I have everything I need for my place."
"I'm sure we'll find something." Paige chirped. "Besides you promised."
Chris rolled his eyes but knew he didn't really have a choice. Beside it had been a while since he had spent any alone time with one of his aunts.
Social Service Centre
James smiled at Courtney as he strolled in. He'd got a call not half an hour ago and driven in.
"Paige should be in soon." Courtney told him.
"Do you know what this is about?" He asked conversationally as he leaned against the desk. Last nights scraps were still a bit on the sore side, though they weren't dangerous to him.
"Not a clue," She sighed. "Though I do know it was a report on one of the smaller orphanages. The police forwarded to us rather than do anything about it."
"Figures." James sighed. "I'm a bit tired, I'm going to grab a coffee."
"Ok, I'll send someone to get you when Paige arrives." She assured him.
James glanced through the stalls as he walked to the coffee machine looking for friendly faces. He was surprised that there were so few people around but then remembered that since it was a Sunday the only people that would be in were Courtney and somebody to work the phone. They'd only call someone in if they needed them.
He settled comfortably into his cushioned chair to wait, bringing up the reports screen on his computer. It was a system that allowed anyone with enough clearance to view each of the situations that the centre was dealing with. He read up on the current one, though it wasn't fully listed yet.
However was working the phone was quick to already have it up and running, though on a Sunday that wasn't surprising since there wasn't much to do. The orphanage was the Golden Marina Orphanage. One of the smaller centres in the city, designed to only hold thirty children with three members of staff. A local resident had reported screaming from the centre which wasn't surprising with so many children but they also reported an adult yelling and something breaking so called the police.
Under comments the report only had 'Awaiting visit,' and under report supervisor it only said 'Not yet assigned.'
That was probably all they were going to get apart from that the report was from that morning at eight o'clock. No surprise that it had taken nearly two and half hours for the police to assign the task to them.
"Hey, James." Came Paige's cheerful greeting. "How was your weekend going?"
"Hi, Paige. Weekend's been good." James responded with a smile and then seeing Chris behind her felt his smile get the slightest bit bigger. "Hi, Chris. What are you doing here?"
"We were shopping." Chris groaned with a mock roll of the eyes making James laugh.
"It's like that then is it?" James smirked at Paige.
"Oh, don't you start, I was being the perfect loving Auntie!" Paige stuck out her tongue. Neither her, nor Chris missed how fake James' smile became at the mention of her being a 'perfect loving Auntie.' "Did you read up on the Orphanage?"
"Yeah." James replied.
"Then you know as much as I do." Paige sighed. "I cant pull anyone else in to go with you. But I'm sure if we ask Chris here nicely he wouldn't mind pretending to be your assistant." She looked at Chris as she finished.
"Anything's better than shopping." Chris grinned before dodging his Aunt's playful swat.
"Does this mean I get an assistant?" James joked.
"Yeah, don't get used to it though." Paige smirked. "Even I don't get my own assistant. Do you have a cell?"
"No, never needed one." James pointed out.
"We can use mine if we need to." Chris offered waving his own to prove his point.
"We better go then." James said, "We'll call you as soon as I have something to report."
He pulled himself up from his chair trying to ignore the slight pain in his side and not noticing the look he was getting from Chris.
"We'll take my car." James said as they left the building.
"That's good, because I let Paige drive into town." Chris grinned as they got into James' car.
They chatted on the brief journey through the city centre to a residential area on the Northern side where they came across an old looking three story building. They parked in the small three bay private car park between a minibus and another private car.
"Remember, you're my assistant." James told Chris.
"Yes, mum." Chris winked at him as James spluttered.
"God, you're horrid!" James slapped him lightly on the arm before grinning. "At least I know you take after you Aunt Paige. Do you enjoy spending your weekends shopping?"
"I got tricked into making a promise!" Chris stammered as the table was turned.
"Yeah, yeah. So you say." James winked back and then went serious as he rang the door bell. Fishing for his wallet with his other hand.
The door was opened by a small eight year old girl. James' eyes shot up in surprise. James went down onto a knee to bring himself down to the girls height. "Can you please tell your warden that there is a man from Social Services here to see him?"
The girl just stared at him and then at Chris who was still stood behind him. After a few long seconds she just ran off down the hallway and through a side door. James looked back at Chris with not a little bit of confusion. He shrugged to point out that he didn't have a clue.
James walked into the building slowly, taking in everything from the dirt scuffed skirting board to the cracked window of one of the doors off the hallway. He waved Chris in behind him just as a woman came down the stairs at the other end of the hallway. She looked like a very motherly woman. As she came into proper view James got very concerned. The woman was not looking at her best. She had a bandage around her right forearm. A scarf around her neck regardless of the fact that it was mid-summer and lastly a rather bad looking black eye.
"Who are you?" She cried when she eventually saw them and the open door behind them.
"You didn't here the doorbell ring?" James asked bluntly, ignoring her question.
"I'm sorry." She said politely. "How did you get in?"
"One of your children opened the door and ran off down there." James replied pointing towards one of the six door off the hallway. "Are you the warden?"
She paused, trying to assess who he was. "I'm just a helper, the warden isn't in."
"Who else is here?" James asked.
She seemed to realise then that she shouldn't be telling a stranger so much. "Just wait one second, young man." She dropped the basket of clothing she was carrying and James raised his eyebrows at being spoken to so bluntly. "Who are you?"
"My name is James Evans. A Child Psychologist with Social Services. This is my assistant Chris Halliwell." James said handing her his ID to look at. "Now, please answer my question."
She went very pale all of a sudden. "Just me."
"Just you?" James queried. "Correct me if I'm wrong. There are currently thirty children residing here."
She didn't say anything. "So there should be at least three qualified adults here at all times." She nodded. "Yet only you are here."
"Yes." She muttered. James lightened up instantly.
"Ok. Enough of that." James told her. "Where are the children? Surely it is mid day, we should be able to hear thirty children."
"They're in their rooms." She told them. "Mr. Gellam doesn't like them walking around the building when he isn't in."
"Mr. Gellam is the Warden?" James asked, having not had the time to pull the file from records before leaving. She nodded, "What's your name?"
"Mary Coleman." She whispered.
"Does anyone else work here?" Chris asked, joining the conversation.
"No. It's just me and Mr. Gellam." She sighed, before collapsing against the wall.
"Who did that to you?" Chris asked moving to her side as James looked up the stairs in shock. He could've sworn he had just heard something.
"He did." She muttered.
"Mr. Gellam?" Chris asked guessing right as she nodded. James snapped around to face the stairs again as he heard something with his Panther enhanced hearing. "What is it, James?"
"I heard something upstairs. It sounded like someone trying to open a door." James said.
"How can you hear that from here?" Chris asked in confusion. James ignored him as he started up the stairs with Chris on his heels. They ignored the first floor and went straight to the top floor where he could hear someone trying to get through a door.
As soon as they ran into the long corridor two older children threw themselves away from a door just down the hall. They curled up against the wall as if expecting punishment. James ran to them and crouched down gently turning one of their faces to them. The child was a sixteen year old boy. Chris was already with the girl of the same age. Neither seemed hurt in any way, just extremely frightened.
"It's alright you two. My name is James. This is Chris. We work for Social Services." James told the two children. "Why are you trying to get through that door?"
"It's Michael," started the boy but he was interrupted by the girl.
"Alan. Quiet, you know we cant say anything." She whispered viciously.
"Don't worry, we wont let anything happen to you." Chris told the girl.
"Who's Michael?" James asked. "Is he another child here?"
Alan nodded desperately. "Please help him."
James stood in an instant, seeing the frightened look that both children had, and span to the door just as Mary Coleman got to the top of the stairs. "Do you have the key to this door?" He asked the woman.
"Mr. Gellam keeps the keys on him." She said as she shook her head, tears in her eyes as she went to the two older children.
"Chris, help me. On three. 1 - 2 - 3." With that they both kicked the door near the lock. The door buckled and the lock came free sending the door skittering inwards. James rushed in and saw one of the worst sights he had ever seen. A seventeen year old boy, lying on his bed in a mass of bloodied sheets. James ran to his side and, placing his fingers on the boy's throat, felt and received a slow but steady pulse. "Chris, give me your phone. Mary, get all the other children out of their rooms and into one room downstairs."
James grabbed the offered phone and called 911 to get an ambulance and the police. After that was done he called Paige at the office where he knew she would be waiting.
"What's the matter, James?"
"Hey, Paige, you better get other here on the double. I've already notified the police and the ambulance service." James said quickly with the phone pinned between cheek and shoulder as he checked over the boy's body for life threatening cuts and broken bones. "You had better find somewhere for thirty scared children to go to as well."
"What's happening?" Paige asked, James could here scuffing as she was obviously leaving the office.
"I'm kinda busy right now. Just get here like five minutes ago." With that James hung up and went back to checking the boy over.
Five minutes later an ambulance arrived along with a detective and two patrol cars from the police. Paige was there not soon after along with a couple of the assistants, including Kevin who immediately went to check the children off against the rosters held in the records database.
When Paige found James he was talking to the Detective. "Hey, James."
"Paige, good you're here." James introduced her to the Detective before filling her in. "As far as I have managed to discern from the children. The warden has been abusing them on a regular basis. This morning it reached a climax when the oldest child, Michael Rainer, stood up to him to protect one of the younger ones. Gellam, the warden, beat Michael before locking him into his room, ordering the children into theirs. That's how I found them. Gellam is still unaccounted for but the police are looking for him and hopefully will find him before he realises what is happening and goes into hiding."
"Where are the other staff members?" Paige asked.
"The only one here was Mary Coleman, she was beat into keeping quiet. He doesn't have any others that work here." James sighed.
"Though there is another six on the payroll." Paige muttered referring to the file in her hands.
"I think we can add forgery to the list then." The Detective added. "Where are you going to place the children?"
"I don't want them in another Orphanage yet." James told both of them. "It would be better if they had some time away from this environment to recover."
"I thought you might say that." Paige told him, "There is a camp outside the city that we use. It would be perfect for them. They'll need three staff members but only one needs to be qualified since the camp has the people needed. James, I'd like you to go. I'll send Kevin too and anyone else you want."
"Does it need to be a member of staff?" James asked.
"Technically no, but I need to be able to vouch for them." Paige pointed out.
"How about Chris then?" Paige gave him a strange, yet knowing look.
"The two older children will be the hardest to help through this and they already know Chris from earlier." James explained. "Besides, his classes aren't on at the moment and he hasn't got anything to do."
"Ok then." The Detective agreed. "Just make sure I have an address and an contact number for who ever is in charge of the children."
"Ok, James." Paige decided. "I'll give the detective your details and Chris and Kevin's cell numbers. Could you go ask Chris if he's ok to go?"
"Sure." James agreed, and everything was set for James' first holiday of his life.
