Chapter Two: Do You Believe in Magic?

Synopsis:
Amos discovers a horrible truth that has befallen him. Will he put his troubles aside to help the woman who has stopped to help him?

"You're blind!" The words echoed in his mind endlessly, repeatedly, adding to the headache and nausea he already was victim to.

"Wha'? I'm no' blind, yeh idiot!" He opened his eyes. Yet except for the silhouette hovering before him, he could not make out the weary traits, the hurt brown eyes, and the sweating brown hair of Phoebe Halliwell.

"Nooo!" he pleaded, bringing his still-damp hands over his face.

"No, listen to me!" Phoebe said, grabbing and parting his hands again. The warm and sticky fluid dripped on his neck once more. "We can't stay here. There's something in the mountains that wants to kill me, and they're gonna kill you too if they know that you met me."

Amos could sense her frightened tone; he didn't know how, but he could make so much more out of her words than what the words themselves conveyed. He fright, her pain, the heavy burden on her shoulders all came crashing down on him as though his mind had opened a floodgate and the woman's distress and terror were rushing into him. He decided his loss was nothing compared to the life of this sensitive, caring person who, despite her own misery, had stopped to check on him. After all, he didn't need his eyes to fish. He straightened up and said in his coarse voice, "Then yeh'll come with me to me place. It's no' much but yeh'll have somethin' ter eat an' drink an' rest an' rec–"

"Haven't you listened to what I just said?" she cut him off, harsh and panic-stricken. "This thing, they'll not mind whether they need to kill a man or burn down a house to get to me – they'll do it right away!"

"Ugh! Mafia guys can be tough but me grandma's charms as well – if yeh believe enough in 'em, tha' is. D'yeh believe in magic, miss –?"

Phoebe was dumbstruck. Charms … magic … did she believe in magic? What kind of joke was Destiny playing on her?

"Miss?"

Phoebe jerked out of her reverie and looked down at the blind man. She knew there weren't such things as coincidences in the life of a Charmed One, but still, this one was a miracle, if a suspicious one. She smiled slightly. "Excuse me, I'm Phoebe, Phoebe Halliwell, and I do believe in magic – I'm a witch actually."

What was making her spill it all out to a stranger's face she had no idea, but this was her only chance to know what this all meant … and maybe even to survive. She saw the stranger's face light up as he responded, "Amos, Amos Hosea, yours truly."

She put an arm under his armpit to help him up. "Nice to meet you, Amos Hosea."

"Pleasure's mine."

Together they stood up and Amos, leaning with his arms around Phoebe's shoulders, led the way. He had lived here his whole life, he had come here to the lake ever since he could walk, he knew the route by heart and his blindness would not prevent him to find the village.

A/N: There you go with the second chapter. So, real coincidence, or Destiny's greater scheme, huh? Review! And come back to read and find out ^^