A New Life in San Francisco
A/N; Important! I noticed a flaw in the uploading of Chapter 5; Retribution. The end had been cut off and ironically that was vital for explaining Chris' behaviour. If you haven't reread it please do. It finishes with a conversation between Wyatt and Chris but at least a third of the chapter was missing.
Chapter 8; A New Life unravelling.
San Luis Reservoir
James was spending his first night at the camp in the office. His laptop constantly scanning through the files that Paige had given to him. He was searching through everything he could on the children so that he didn't have to spend so much time just learning about them. Also if he could learn their names in advance then they were more likely to realise that for once someone was taking a serious interest in them and therefore they would be more likely to open up to him.
He was interrupted at about 3am when a sleepy Chris staggered into the room blinking his eyes at the sudden brightness. James barely glanced up at him.
"It's a tad early to be getting up, Chris." He pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"I was about to say that it's too late to be working." Chris countered before explaining, "I noticed the light on and came to check you were ok."
"I fine," James assured him looking up and realising that Chris was only wearing his underwear and a quickly thrown on t-shirt. He ducked his head back to his laptop to hide his slight blush. "I'm just trying to get a head start."
"You really should sleep, James." Chris told him as he dragged one of the spare chair to the side of the desk and slumped into it less than gracefully. "We've got Michael back tomorrow and you'll need all your energy to help him and then there's all my cousins and siblings and they can be quite the handful at times."
James glanced up at him and smiled gratefully at his concern. "Don't worry about that. I don't need much sleep. I'd rather work tonight so that tomorrow is easier for both me and the children to cope with."
Chris sighed but nodded all the same. "Do you want some help then?"
James smiled at him before shaking his head. "It's not really something you can help with."
"How about a hot drink then?" Chris offered.
"I wouldn't say no to a hot chocolate." James caved.
"Sure thing. Be back in a bit." Chris told him before strolling out of the door back into the bunkroom. A short while later, as James assumed he was getting more clothes on, he heard the inside door and then the corridor exit open and then close.
He grinned happily for a second before opening a new file and starting to read it. Thanking his good memory as he began to memorise all the important bits.
XOXOXOXOX
Chris strolled out of the pantry building less than five minutes after he had left James in his office. He had two cups of chocolate in his hands as he crossed the small courtyard when he noticed a flash of movement from the treeline between the pantry building and the boys hut. He tensed immediately as his mind tore through endless possibilities. It was a tribute to his upbringing that almost all of the things that popped into his head had to do with demons.
He set the mugs down quietly on the outside sill of one of the boy's huts windows before slipping flush up against the corner of the wooden building. There was a crack of a twig then silence as he stared intently into the shadows created by the dense pine trees.
His eyes widened slightly as something moved in the trees at least five metres to the side of the first glimpse and he realised that there was more than just one thing in there. As he waited two more shapes appeared to join the first and then a glimpse of white flashed at about head height but further into the darkness.
Before he could ponder over the white shape six figures stepped out of the trees. It took all of two seconds for the six men to notice him even hidden in shadow like he was.
"Shit!" He muttered before concentrating to call for help. "Please anyone, I've got six demons here. Help!"
He ran from the building knowing that even if he dodged the fireballs that were sure to come they would just end up hitting the hut and possibly getting the boys inside. He dove towards the hut flinging his wrist out towards the demons. His telekinesis kicked in and four of the six human looking demons went flying backwards into several trees. The other two managed to dodge and fireballs formed in their palms before being flung towards him. He dropped to the ground with an oomph as the wind was knocked from him.
A flicker of light appeared from behind the hut where the Demons couldn't see and Chris swung around to face it from his position on the ground. Wyatt stood there smirking at him before he lost sight of his older brother as he rolled into the alcove beneath the pantry hut. As soon as he was in position he sent the last to demons flying backwards across the dirt wishing that he had his brother's ability to blow things up like his mother could. Said brother jumped out of his position and turned one of the demons into a cloud of ash as it exploded.
Chris took the opportunity to run across the gap to his brother just as Paige orbed his mum and his aunt Phoebe next to them.
"One down, five to go." Chris told them as he peaked around the corner just as Wyatt sent another to his death. "Make that four."
"What are they after?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know. It could be me, or any of the children here." Chris muttered. He grabbed his mothers arm and orbed the both of them back to behind the pantry so that she could get a proper aim on them. He glanced around the corner and saw the white flash again. This time though he could see what it was. A black cloaked man with a bone white skull mask over his face. "Who is that?"
"Who?" His mum asked him just as she and Wyatt took out another Demon each. The last two looked at each other before glancing back at the cloaked figure. Piper saw this. "I've never seen anyone like that before."
Before he could respond, the last two Demons blew up into ashes to join their comrades. Piper, followed by the others stepped out of cover to confront the cloaked man still by the trees.
"Who are you?" Piper demanded, her hands held in front of her in a mimic of Wyatt's, whilst Chris and Paige's hands were ready to move if needed. Phoebe waited to the side to get involved if it came to a physical fight whilst she monitored the feelings of hatred coming from the unknown attacker.
The attacker didn't reply. "I'm not here for you. Leave and you wont get hurt." The man said instead.
They didn't move for a while wondering how cocky this man could be to not run and who this man was that he didn't seem to know who the Charmed One's were. Before Piper could ask another question the mans hand came up and they noticed the piece of wood that was held in it.
"Crucio!" The man intoned and a red beam like a laser shot from it and towards Wyatt who in an instant flashed a shield up to protect himself. The red light struck the shield and spread across it like a spider as it put pressure against in. Chris could see Wyatt struggling to hold his shield up against the onslaught.
The attack as Piper flicked her wrists to blow the man up. He cried out as the attack struck his lower right arm; the arm that held the stick, but it barely did any damage. They couldn't see the mans face but they could tell by his stance, or in Phoebe's case by his feelings, that he was confused and shocked at the attacks.
"Demons!" He spat before aiming at Chris. "Avada Kadavra!"
A horrible green light spat from the wand as it bucked slightly in his hand and Chris dove sideways as the light struck the pantry hut behind him. It splattered across the wood but other than a slightly burnt patch it didn't do any real damage. Piper and Wyatt both struck out sending the man backwards against a tree with small explosions that only ripped his robes. "Paige! Get him out of here!" Piper yelled at her sister as she attacked.
"China!" She called out as she gestured with her hand in a dismissive way.
White orbs formed around the man but they seemed to struggle as he concentrated and then suddenly with a crack the orbs vanished and he flickered as he somehow overcame her magic.
"Abscindo!" The man said again as he slashed his wand towards Phoebe. The group, expecting another laser were shocked when a cut appeared across Phoebes shoulder, spraying blood across the side of her face. She cried out in pain as she grabbed at it trying to stem the pain. Chris lashed out with his hands as the fury of seeing his aunt in pain increased his magic, sending the man crashing backwards into a tree. They heard a crack and the man cried out in pain before pulling himself to his feet. With a wave of his stick a whip of fire sprung from it, this time without a word.
The dodged as the flames sprung towards them striking Paige in the shoulder because she was slower than the rest to duck. A nasty welt appeared on her upper arm as it burned. "Give up!" The man told them pompously as he lashed out and this time struck Piper in the thigh sending her to the ground. "You pitiful spells are useless against me."
Chris was shocked. It had been a long time since the Charmed Ones had been bested in a fight and right now they were being soundly beaten, even played with by this one man. And this was with himself and Wyatt to help them as well. Piper seemed to see the sense in the mans words but she wasn't about to run from a fight. She lashed out from her kneeling position but instead of aiming for the man she aimed for the stick in his hands since that was where his attacks seemed to originate.
The stick shattered into hundreds of pieces with a small explosion and the man stepped back in shock and looked down at his empty hand in horror as if it was his whole arm that had been turned into sawdust. He growled out before another sharp crack echoed through their ears and they were facing empty space.
"Oh my God!" Phoebe muttered as she sank down next to Piper. "What was that?"
"I have no idea." The eldest of them said as she inspected her thigh. Chris stepped up to her and held his hand over her cut. It was seriously deep, almost down to the bone. He glanced at Wyatt to see that he was tending to Phoebe's whose wound looked almost identical in length and depth just in her shoulder instead of her leg.
"I've never seen someone travel like that." Chris told his mum quietly as the wound closed off and her jeans did the same.
"Why do you think they were here?" Paige asked him.
"I have no idea." Chris sighed as he watched Wyatt finish healing one aunt and moved to help heal the others burn since they couldn't heal themselves. "The Demon acted like they were just hired help. That guy with the skull mask was definitely the leader but I've never seen anything like it in the Book of Shadows."
Piper nodded to show that she agreed. "Could it be one of the children they were after?" She asked Paige.
"Could be." Paige nodded wincing as her nephew prodded her arm in confusion. "I don't know any of them."
"Umm. . .Aunt Paige? I cant heal this. It wont do anything." They all frowned and Chris and Piper got up to walk over to their still injured relation. "Chris, could you help me? I'm a bit tired."
Chris joined his brother in trying to heal the wound but still nothing happened. They gave up after a minute of trying. "It'll probably heal in time like a normal wound. Maybe that is part of the spell he used against us." Piper offered and the others all agreed. Paige prodded her arm and winced. "Don't poke it Paige."
"I'm worried about those spells though. He only needed a single word to cast them." Phoebe pointed out. "I know Latin, Abscindo basically means cut."
"And that spell he used on me was really powerful." Wyatt swallowed as he remembered it. "Another few seconds and he would have broken through."
"The one against me came close enough that I could feel it. It felt like death." Chris told them plainly and at their questioning looks he continued. "That's just what I felt, I cant explain it."
"I could feel those two spells. I don't think they were just made out of magic but out of emotion as well." Phoebe added. "The one that Wyatt blocked was full of anger whilst the one that Chris dodged was filled with hate."
"I hope nobody heard the fight. These children have been through enough." Paige sighed whilst she glanced around.
"Oh shit! The chocolate!" Chris cried as he grabbed for the mugs. The others looked at him like he was mad. "I was bringing James some hot chocolate when I was attacked."
"Hot chocolate? At 3am?" Wyatt raised his eyebrow suggestively.
Chris sent him a withering look. "I woke up and he was still working. Can you heat these for me?" He asked Wyatt who had practiced with his powers enough to be able to heat things instead of just exploding them.
"God. He's going to be asking for a raise soon." Paige smirked. "We'll see you tomorrow. Come on guys, some of us have an early start." She said grabbing Phoebe by the arm and then all four of them disappeared in a swirl of orbs leaving Chris to gather his breath and return to James still working in the office.
"Wow." James smirked at him as he entered the office before continuing sarcastically, "Fifteen minutes for a hot drink. Don't ever let me doubt your culinary skills again."
"I couldn't get the kettle to work." Chris apologised before smoothly setting James' drink next to the laptop. James took a sip.
"Ouch!" He yelped as he choked on it. "That's scalding!"
"Sorry." Chris apologised again forgoing his own drink for a while. James just waved away his apology. "Are you planning on sleeping at all tonight?"
James gave him a look before getting the courage to speak out like he hadn't in ages. "Why? You miss me?" He smirked with a grin.
XOXOXOXOX
James woke Kevin and Chris up at quarter to seven so that they could get into the bathroom before the children were woken at half seven. He trotted across to the other hut and slipped in. It was a laid out in the same sort of pattern as the boys hut except it was slightly shorted since it didn't have an office. He knocked on Lucy's door and heard a fumbling behind it for half a second before the door cracked open.
"Hi, James." Lucy smiled looking like she had been up for hours already since there wasn't a single blond hair out of place.
"Good morning. Could you wake the girls at half seven?" James asked, "We're going to walk to breakfast since it isn't that far."
"Do you want them to wait here once their ready?" Lucy asked knowing that James knew best how to deal with the children since they weren't exactly the same as the normal children she dealt with. Sure she had seen a couple of the summer children come and go who had problems, but never in such numbers and with such a history.
"Open door policy, Lucy." James explained patiently having already discussed the plan with Chris and Kevin before they went to bed the night before. "As long as they are in bed after curfew then they have free reign as long as they don't leave the confines of the camp unless with permission from anyone of us."
"Sure thing, James." Lucy said before her head disappeared again.
James walked back into his bunk room and quickly changed just before Chris walked in. James went bright red at the sight of the well muscled man in nothing but a towel. When he got the courage back to look up it was to see that Chris was just as red as he was. "I'm going to wake up the children." He blurted out before running from the room, passing an amused Kevin on the way.
Kevin watched him slip into the main bunkroom before walking in to see a very embarrassed Chris standing staring at the door. He laughed at the two younger men.
XOXOXOXOX
Paige arrived later that afternoon and James walked up to the gate to meet her leaving the others to supervise the children whilst they played in the reservoir. He had already talked briefly with all of the older children but hadn't discussed the orphanage with any of them apart from Jazz and Alan who had both brought up the topic themselves wanting to know what would happen to all of them.
Paige arrived with her own a Social Service minivan. Paige pulled up next to him whilst the minivan pulled passed to pull up just in front of them. Paige got out followed by Piper and left the three children, who James guessed were some of Paige's, in the back. James smiled at them before turning to Paige.
"Hi, James." She greeted him, "How are things going?"
"Well, you know how these things are, Paige." James replied, "It takes time, but they have a very strong bond with each other, not a single loner in the group."
"That's good to hear." Paige agreed, "Oh, sorry, this is Joshua, Ashley and Matt. My eldest and two youngest."
"It's nice to meet you all." He smiled at the children having an easier time around children than he did with unknown adults. "Where's Michael?"
"He's with the others in the minivan." Paige explained.
"Can he walk?" James asked
"He can, but only for short distances." Paige explained. "Piper, do you mind going in the minivan so James can show me the way?" Piper quickly agreed clearing some rubbish out of the seat and only Joshua's lap in the back, who cried out in annoyance, before she headed for the minivan. James hoped in and they were on their way.
The reunion between Michael and the other orphanage children was heartrending for the others. Alan and Jazz were both in tears and even through that they only just managed to prevent the younger children from piling up on him and making his injuries worse. James felt tears welling in his eyes from where he lurked at the side of the compound watching the scene as it took him back to his own friends betrayal. The only ones that had believed him were Charlie and Bill Weasley and possibly the twins as well as Remus and Hermione but Remus had died from the loss.
He looked at the close ties between the thirty children and then across to the family that had now joined the celebrations as the children took to the water. James couldn't take it any longer, he fled.
Harry walked into the office as he stubbornly refused to allow his tears to fall. He settled down behind his desk and opened a bottle of coke that he had brought with him to give him something to do whilst he got his emotions in order.
XOXOXOXOX
Outside in the compound Paige and Piper chatted to each other as they waited with Chris, Kevin and the camp's nurse, Lucy, whilst they watched the children play in the water of the reservoir or crowd around Michael. Joshua also hung around with them since he was a Firestarter and they were famous for their dislike of large masses of water. It was he who noticed something first, he had been watching as Pennie, his own younger sister, and Anna, his Aunt Piper's youngest as they played together in the water and he was the first to see as they both tensed up.
"Mum," He grabbed at his mother's sleeve interrupting her conversation, Paige glanced around at him, having to lift her head slightly since Joshua at 17 was already taller than her. "Pennie and Anna have tensed up." He pointed at the two whilst keeping an eye on the two mortals near them.
Paige, Chris and Piper spun to look at them. Pennie and Anna both took after their aunt when it came to sensing emotions. They weren't as practiced at it but they were still good enough at it to know what they were feeling.
They both came running up to them and Paige and Chris took them aside whilst Piper enlisted Joshua's help in distracting the mortals so that they didn't over hear. "What's the matter girls?"
"We can feel a really bad emotion." Pennie told her mother as Anna left her slightly older cousin do all the speaking.
"Bad? Do you mean fear or hate?" Paige questioned them worried over the fact that maybe last nights attacker had returned.
They both shook the heads slowly. "More like sad." Pennie explained.
Paige sighed slowly, "You're going to have to get used to that feeling around this group. They've been through a lot and they are all unhappy."
This time it was Anna that spoke up. "It's not them, I mean, they are sad but there is relief with them as well." She explained. "This one is worse, it echoes over the others like a huge cloud of sadness."
"And betrayal." Pennie added in helpfully before shuddering slightly before continuing apologetically, "But we cant pinpoint the location."
Paige thought for a second looking around at everyone there before turning back to the two girls. "Just be on the look out."
"Sure, Auntie Paige." Anna nodded, "We'll let you know if something happens."
The two ran off to play some more in the water and Paige looked up a Chris with a questioning look. "I don't think it's the attacker." She started quietly, "Phoebe said that she just felt anger and hate, nothing about betrayal or sorrow."
"I agree." Chris shut his eyes briefly trying to think over the last few days. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he looked at his Aunt in horror. One name escaped his lips in a whisper. "James."
"We don't know that." Paige countered more hopefully than anything else.
"You told us that you had gotten that vibe from him like he had had a bad childhood." Chris argued whilst looking over the compound looking for the young Child Psychologist. "And he admitted to me and Kevin yesterday that his family had been killed and he hadn't anyone else."
Paige looked at him sharply, probing her nephew. "How did you get that out of him?" She demanded.
"We didn't force it out. We were just talking and it just came up." Chris tried to placate her. "I wouldn't do that to him." He promised and she gave him a sharp look for a second before she spoke.
"We still don't know it's him." Paige pointed out.
"But he isn't here." Chris gestured around them expansively to prove his point. "That's why Anna and Pennie couldn't pinpoint the emotion."
"Betrayal though?" Paige thought out loud, "How could he have been betrayed?"
"Maybe by his friends, he never talks about them or anything." Chris suggested.
"Even so, he is an adult, not to mention one of my specialists." Paige said sternly. "It isn't our place and we shouldn't stick our noses in where they don't belong."
"You cant say that we're not all drawn to him." Chris commented, Paige gave him a knowing look. "You know what I mean, Aunt Paige, like he's an innocent we're supposed to help."
"We don't get mortals as innocents." Paige pointed out but it was obvious that she was still thinking of it as a possibility. "What if he isn't mortal then?"
Both looked up quickly and toward the boys hut and the man now walking out of the office door. James looked rather pale but apart from that he was looking every part the leader of the camp as he glanced around everyone there to check nobody had run off. He spotted Paige and Chris looking at him and nodded at them before turning to head towards where Piper, Joshua, Kevin and Lucy were still chatting not far from them.
"What if he isn't, what are you going to do?" Chris said, not quite managing to keep a slight bit of protectiveness out of his voice. Paige used to dealing with people in these situations noticed it all the same.
"You should know better than that, Chris." She told him reassuringly. "If he isn't mortal then we'll deal with that later. And we can find out for sure right now."
Before Chris could say anything Paige yelled out for her youngest, and adopted, son. Matthew came running out of the water towards them. "What's up, mum?"
Paige and Chris crouched down in front of the shorter than normal ten year old and lowered their voices. "I need you to check something for me." Paige explained.
Chris took over. "Do you see that man over there?" Matthew looked over he shoulder at James who Chris was pointing at and he nodded. "What can you sense off of him?"
Matt looked around again and frowned as he concentrated, trying to block out everything from his surroundings. This went on for almost half an minute before he looked back around and looked surprised at his findings. "Nothing."
Chris frowned as well having been sure that the Panther and James were at least related in some way. Paige looked confused before glancing at James and then back to her son. "Nothing, don't you normally sense at least something?" She asked, "Even from mortals?"
"Yeah, mum." Matthew nodded before looking back around at James. This time after a few seconds James turned and looked straight at Matthew and Paige and Chris were sure that for a second he had had a surprised look on his face.
XOXOXOXOX
Once James had eventually calmed himself down he left the office and walked out into the open air again hearing the sudden blast of noise coming from the forty children playing around him. He glanced around the area to check everyone was where they should be. He noticed with satisfaction that Michael seemed to be happily relaxing with three or four of the other children including Jazz and Alan. He looked into the water to see some of Paige's family playing with some of the younger children from the orphanage.
He noticed that two of them were staring at him quite intently but brushed it off as them just being intrigued as to who he was. He felt eyes on him and turned to see Chris and his boss watching him he nodded at them before looking at the slightly larger group consisting of Kevin, Lucy, Piper and the older boy that James remembered from the car as Joshua.
He head for them and spoke to them for a few minutes. It was during Piper's questioning of how his job was going when he felt something tugging at the corner of his mind. He ignored it for a while and after a short time it faded. Shrugging it off as a latent memory of his past he continued his conversation with Piper asking her about how the club was doing.
Not a minute later that presence was back, he frowned and realised with a jolt of what it reminded him of. Legillimency. The art of intruding into a victims mind. He frowned slightly whilst automatically agreeing to come visit P3 in the near future and concentrating on throwing up a wall to block the intrusion. He felt a brief sense of shock from the presence before it was hurtled away from him. He traced it and turned his head to see who had been watching him and was surprised to see that it was a tiny waif of a boy standing before a crouched Chris and Paige.
He wiped the look of surprise off of his face in an instant as he saw all three of them watching him and turned back to break off his conversation with the four in front of him excusing himself by claiming to need to talk to Paige about work business. He walked towards the three or in fact two since the small boy had run back to play with his family in the water again.
"Hi Paige," he greeted cheerfully as he cast a quick glance across the assembly of playful children to cover his awkwardness.
"Hello, James." Paige nodded at him, "How are they all settling in?"
"Oh, they are doing fine." James waved a hand to show that there hadn't been any problems. "It'll be a shame when we have to split them up between orphanages after this week."
Paige nodded in agreement. "I don't see an alternative though, they still haven't found the Warden yet, someone got word to him that the police were in the orphanage and he took off so we cant send them all back there even if we had somebody capable of running the place."
James smiled warmly at a nervous looking Chris assuming that the nervousness was to do with the business talk. "Was that you adopted son that Chris told me about?" He asked turning back to talk to Paige again.
"Yeah, that's Matt." Paige glanced at the aforementioned son before continuing, "I adopted him after his parents beat him into hospital and then disappeared."
James flinched before Chris pointed out that it was almost six years ago now so he was just as much a member of the family as anyone. "He seems to be a very upbeat boy." James smiled but couldn't shake the feeling off but looking at the ten year old he started to doubt his own thoughts. A ten year old couldn't possibly by-pass his Azkaban built natural shields. He banished the whole matter into the back of his mind before discussing what to do with the children that evening.
XOXOXOXOX
That evening they all went to a play put on by one of the summer camps and although without exception all of his group were wary with the other children, James was proud to see them trying to overcome their phobia of people they didn't know. They sat around the fire again until it got dark and then split off to sleep again. Michael used the offered bed that Alan had saved for him near to the door to the corridor whilst the Halliwell and Mitchell children took beds together separate from the other children but not with a large gap since they had made friends with a lot of them without really trying.
That evening saw James sitting by the dying fire long after the rest of the adults had gone to bed. He was pondering over the day, things that he had seen but had been explained away by one plausible reason after another. Fire marks that were from vandals in the night that Chris had scared off when he crossed the court to get drinks last night, A nasty burn on Paige's shoulder that she had gotten when he cooker had exploded a few days passed but that James hadn't seen at the orphanage the day before.
That was without mentioning the odd looks he had been receiving from all of Chris' siblings and cousins, especially the two girls, Anna and Pennie who never seemed to want to be near him. And then there was Joshua who seemed to stare at him for minutes on end.
He was because he was looking over his shields that he had been forced to build in Azkaban that he was snuck up on whilst his focus was inside rather than out. His first hint that something was wrong was when he felt magic crackling through the air feeling like a lightning storm about to break. He recognised the wards from his charms lessons in his six year at Hogwarts. Anti-apparition and anti-Animagus. He was rolling forwards even as he realised that those wards meant only one thing, an ambush.
A red spell shot over his head just missing his hair but before he could dodge again he heard a voice from behind him and to the right. He spun to face the opponent but the Cruciatus curse had already hit him. He fell to his knees but he managed to keep his voice from screaming out. He regretted not having his wand that would let him fight against these Witches and Wizards, whoever they were. The few things that he could do with his magic were useless against armed magic users. His whole arsenal consisted of energy balls made of his magic but he had been lucky to even start a cave in with it. He hadn't wanted to be able to do more afraid that it would lead the others to him and because he wanted to leave that life behind him forever.
He didn't know how long they kept him under the curse but in the end he felt it lift and he forced himself onto his knees glaring at the man he recognised as being the one and only Lucius Malfoy. He spat at him before a stunning spell smacked him in the back of the head with enough forced to throw him into the sand.
XOXOXOXOX
A few minutes before
"Chris! Wake up. Something's out there!"
Chris bolted awake as a loud voice screeched in his head. He looked around even as it yelled out again. "Yes, I heard you the first time, Matt. Wake up Joshua, Patience and Prue and get them to wait for me." He thought back sensing Matt's distress at whatever he could sense. "Call my mum and the others too if you can and tell them what's happening."
By the time he had finished he was up and he had already thrown on a shirt and trousers. He could see movement out by the camp fire and stood the check on James and Kevin. "Shit!" He cursed quietly as he realised that once again James' bed was untouched. When he left the room to make for the exit in the corridor he was met by a sleepy looking Joshua and Matt. "Matt, go back to bed, and wake the others so they can keep an eye on the others."
"I just wanted to warn you that they feel really powerful." Matt started to sob, "I've never felt anyone like that."
Chris gave him a quick hug before sending him back in with the others. Him and Joshua slipped out of the exit and crept along the back of the hut to meet with the two girls. Patience, Phoebe and Coup's eldest, spoke first. "Anna and Pennie can feel a lot of pain. What ever is out there, it's hurting someone."
"Damn. James is missing too." Chris told them realising who must be the one in pain. He went to walk around the pantry building by Joshua's hand on his arm stopped him.
"If that thing out there is the same thing that attacked you yesterday then we need to wait from mum and the others to get here." The younger boy told him bluntly. Chris yanked his arm out of grip before cursing again quietly.
It felt like an eternity before his their mothers appeared with Wyatt in tow. They had obviously been running. "Our orbing was blocked by something, we appeared almost a quarter of a mile away." Wyatt explained hastily as Chris sent them an annoyed look.
"We think it's the same thing that attacked us before and James is missing." He said looking directly at his Aunt Paige.
"Let's go." Piper announce as they walked around the corner and unknowingly straight through the edge of a magical ward. They all shivered and ran quietly across the camp to the beach and up behind three cloaked figures like the night before. The man who had attacked them seemed to have brought reinforcements this time. They were just in time to see a red light strike the back of James' head and his kneeling form fell to the ground evidently unconscious. "Hey!" Piper shouted as she and Wyatt blasted the nearest man with duel explosions. Chris just growled and sent all three of the distracted figures flying forwards across the campfire. One landed in the outskirts of the dying fire and shrieked in pain.
Joshua saw the opportunity and turned the once dying fire into a furious blaze that half consumed one of the figures forms. They felt another shiver as whatever magic was in the area fell with a faint tinkling sound.
With the addition of Joshua's fire abilities, Patience's disillusionment for distractions, and Prue's levitation and weaker telekinesis they were able to create enough confusion that they enemy was forced to disappear rather than face the eight of them.
Chris ran to James' side and shook him with desperation, calling for him to wake up all the time but he didn't.
The others watched as James didn't wake and Wyatt knelt on the other side and the two tried to heal whatever damage there was. The white glow surrounded their hands as they focused and they were all taken by surprise when as soon as the glow spread and touched James' body a blast rippled through the air throwing Wyatt and Chris straight backwards against the sand and making the six others stagger.
Wyatt groaned along with Chris as they struggled up. "He'll be fine as far as I can tell." He told the others as he struggled to his feet.
"What happened?" Piper asked her two sons concerned for them.
"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with what Matt sensed earlier." Chris suggested but they were interrupted as a light flickered on in the girls hut. Lucy's room. "The rest of you get home. I'll call you later when he wakes up."
"When he wakes up just tell him that you found him out here unconscious and could wake him." Piper told him sternly before she disappeared along with the others in a flurry of orbs. Wyatt took the other children to return them to their beds just as Lucy stepped out of the girls hut and Chris waved at her frantically hoping that she would be able to do something since he obviously couldn't.
The question spinning around in his mind was whether those powerful wizards wanted James or whether James had just got in their way like Chris had the night before. It still span through his mind as he settled beside James in their bunkroom with Kevin on the other side and Lucy checking him over for injuries and then on into the morning as Kevin and Chris took it in turns to watch over their mutual new friend.
