A Charmed Generation

by HarryPotter21

Fourteen years have passed since Anakin saved the world from the Magical Apocalypse. The Charmed Ones have retired from their Wiccan duties, and their children are grown up with their own lives. With magic no longer a secret the Halliwells face new challenges as new forces both magical and mortal work against them. Follow Zach and Matt Halliwell as they transverse this new reality.

5. Pursuit of Happiness

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
Part 1

Wyatt, Chris, and Prue stood in front of a closed Book of Shadows. All three siblings had similar looks of apprehension plastered on their faces. A thin layer of dust covered every surface of the attic. Even their famed Book of Shadows showed clear signs of disuse. The sole functioning light flickered briefly before dying entirely. Wyatt waved his hand and glowing blue and white orbs encircled the roof.

"Why are we even up here?" questioned Prue testily.

Chris shrugged. "It's what we did we were attacked in the past."

Prue huffed and crossed her arms. "That Book is nothing but trouble. Ever since Aunt Phoebe read that damn incantation we've been cursed."

"Prue, we've got to do something," reasoned Wyatt.

"So we take the attack to the Department of Magical Affairs. Let them deal with it," argued Prue.

Wyatt shook his head. "It's not the same anymore. You know that. The administration is just jumping at a reason to lock us all up. No, we've got to deal with this alone."

Prue clenched her fists. "What can we even do? Wraiths were nearly impossible to vanquish, and if this one could survive a blow from Excalibur. What's left? We don't have angelic help this time. We've got shit!"

Chris hugged his sister with one arm and looked over at Wyatt. This was difficult for all of them, but being back in front of the Book was particularly hard on Prue. Anakin's death struck her the worst. She blamed herself for putting their brother in the situation that fateful night. They were there to rescue her from Glyndwr's clutches. After the funeral, Prue had wanted to strip her powers. Someone, she refused to say who, had convinced her not to go through with her plans. She had distanced herself from the family, and when Kyle was offered a consulting job with a British company she had convinced him to take it. There was a time that if Kyle had not kept them informed of what was going on Wyatt and Chris would have been completely in the dark concerning their sister and nephews.

"I've always speculated that without active members of the Powers in this plane Excalibur would lose some of its potency and power," said Chris intellectually.

Prue gave him a fake smile. "That makes it all better, Chris; we knew that Excalibur was going to be useless, just fucking brilliant."

She pulled away and walked over to the ancient couch, which had been repaired time and again. Arms folded she plopped down releasing a small cloud of dust into the air. Magically she vanished the dust and stared back at her brothers.

"My kids will not go through what we went through. They don't even know they ever had powers."

Wyatt sighed. "What do you suggest then? If there is some asshole gathering power in the Underworld they will come after us eventually. They'll come after our kids regardless of if they know they're magical or not. We pose too great a threat to them."

Prue pulled a face and sulked. "Why can't some other family have to deal with this uprising? We're not the only witches in the world."

"But we are the only ones with the power to take on someone capable of giving a wraith physical form," said Chris softly. "Do you have any idea how much power that would require?"

"No," said Prue simply.

Chris dragged his finger through his slightly thinning hair. "It should be impossible for anyone but a Power to condense raw magic into physical form."

"Alchemists do it," disputed Wyatt.

Chris shook his head. "No. They form a physical vessel and then trap an essence in it. Wraiths are so much more than that. It'd be like the difference between trapping steam and trapping nuclear radiation."

"So then you're saying that a Power is still around?" asked Prue, defeated.

Chris frowned. "There is a Power still, Uriel, but I don't think he's messing around with wraiths. I think that it's one of the first demons."

Wyatt cocked an eyebrow. "First demons?"

Prue threw her hands in the air. "Why can't it just be easy? Brew a vanquishing potion and vanquish their sorry asses. Mom and the aunts had it easy with Cole, the Source, and Zankou."

Chris chuckled. "Actually I think Zankou was one of the first demons."

"What?"

Wyatt waved his hand to calm his sister. "Let's let him finish."

Chris opened the Book to the page on Zankou and motioned for the other two Halliwells to join him. "He was capable of threatening the Source, and there is no known vanquishing potion. That should be improbable for any demon or warlock, especially when the Source was at his peak of his powers. He controls evil, which means his mere presence amplifies the darker powers, but he can control the effect."

"You mean he could strip a demon of his or her powers?" asked Wyatt.

"He couldn't strip them of their powers, but he certainly could reduce them to the point that they'd be inconsequential. Now, I read in a book back in Magic School that the Source only had dominion of those who came after him."

Prue rolled her eyes. "Really?"

Chris ignored Prue's disbelief. "Back when we were trying to find ways to vanquish Jonathan I came across an old mage's musings on magic's origins. Most of what he wrote was nonsense, but some of it lined up with what little information Raphael and Michael gave us. And we know that there was at least one demon who came before all the rest."

Prue frowned. "Who?"

Wyatt gasped. "Lilith!"

"Exactly! Lucifer formed Lilith first in mockery of the Judeo-Christian creation myth, but what if he did not stop with Lilith. There are legends of powerful evil beings throughout history; legends that don't line up with what we know about your average upper-level demon, beings capable of holding off an onslaught of Avatars. Or in the case of Zankou outside the dominion of the Source of All Evil."

Prue breathed out roughly. "So, this is once again your way of telling us that we're screwed?"

"It's something to go on," snapped Chris.

Wyatt stepped up and pointed at the Book. "Are there any description of demons in here that narrows our search?"

Chris glared at Prue. "I don't want Matt dragged into this fight anymore than you want Mike or Rich, Prue, but hiding our heads in the sand is not going to stop this."

"Why did Anakin die if we're stuck doing this crap still?"

"If he hadn't sacrificed himself we wouldn't be here to do this."

Prue pursed her lips. "Ok, whatever, let's just get this over with."

Chris turned the Book's pages until he reached two pages written in strange symbols. In the upper right-hand corner was a faded picture of a serpentine creature curled up on itself so that its mouth and tail were touching. "Anyone know Hebrew?"

"You're joking right? Which one of our ancestors was Hebrew?"

"You're guess is as good as mine, Wy, but I know enough to reason that this entry is about two very powerful demon princes. And I think that is the word for monster."

Prue leaned in closer. "Where'd you learn to read this?"

Chris blushed slightly. "I prefer to not discuss that."

"It was to impress a girl, wasn't it?" pressed Prue.

Wyatt cleared his throat. "Do you think you can translate it completely?"

Chris chewed his lip. "Greek, maybe, but Hebrew is nearly impossible without training."

"Kyle's friends with a couple former rabbis who work with him. I could ask him to get them to translate it," suggested Prue hesitantly.

"And risk exposure?"

"We've all been exposed already."

"But it's been a long time. I don't want us to be back on anyone's hot list," said Wyatt.

"It's our best bet. Kyle trusts these guys?"

Prue nodded. "Yeah, I think one of them is a practitioner actually."

Wyatt stared at the page. "How are we going to get the pages to them?"

"That is easy," said Chris. He orbed a potion vial into his hand from the small potion workstation in the attic's corner. "This is a modified version of the potion Mom and Anakin use to duplicate the Book for all of us."

"Alright, let's do this," consented Wyatt.

They back up and Chris threw the potion at the open Book. The vial shattered and the light blue potion fizzled as it run across the pages. A bright flash blinded all three siblings. Blinking, Chris stepped forward to inspect the damage and grinned.

"It worked!"

Wyatt rubbed his eyes and squinted in Chris's direction. "You didn't think it would?"

"Mom would've killed you if it damaged the Book," said Prue slowly blinking one eye and then the next.

Chris waved off the comments. He held up the duplicated pages. "Here you go."

Prue took the pages and folded them neatly before slipping them into her jacket's pocket. "Right, love to stay and chat, but I've got to get my house ready to host delegates from the French Ministry of Magic."

Wyatt and Chris waved as Prue vanished in a swirl of blue and white orbs. Wyatt snapped his fingers and the orbs dancing on the roof vanished. The two brothers felt their way back to the attic's door and down the stairs. As they passed Zach's closed bedroom door Chris spoke up.

"How was his little date?"

"They seemed to hit it off," whispered Wyatt, leading the way to the kitchen, downstairs.

"Nothing weird happened?"

"Nothing overt."

Chris's brows furrowed. "That's hedging."

They reached the kitchen, and Chris went to work brewing coffee.

Wyatt tried to sort his thoughts into a coherent sentence. "Well, they weren't attacked."

"I guessed as much," said Chris with his back turned.

"But I felt something—I don't know, off, I guess. It was like that tingling on the back of my neck just before the wraith appeared but less intense."

Chris filled the coffee pot with water. "Do you think a wraith was at the mall?"

"No—uh—yes—no."

"You're filling me with confidence, here."

Wyatt leaned back against the kitchen counter. "It wasn't as slimy as a wraith, but someone evil was at the mall."

Chris folded his arms over his chest. "Could it have been just a demon or warlock lurking about?"

"Maybe, but it's been ages since I've run across a demon stalking a target above ground."

"Did you scry for evil when you got back?" asked Chris returning to the coffee making.

Wyatt nodded despite Chris's inability to see it. "Nothing. There was something going down in the park, but I checked it out."

"And?"

"It was just a bunch of kids mucking around with a summoning ritual."

The coffee percolating, Chris joined his brother. "We're going to have to talk to Matt and Zach."

"Sarah isn't going to be happy."

"Neither is Serena. She was ready to move back in with her father and drag Matt along."

Wyatt cringed. "That sucks."

Chris sighed. "I can't really blame her. Her brother died because of magic, and Annie was her best friend. She's petrified that it's going to take the life of our son too."

"But running away to England?"

"It's worked for Prue."

Wyatt yawned. "But like Grandma Patty says it's their destiny. We can't deny them the chance to fulfill it."

Chris scoffed. "If it means I get to see my son grow up and have a family of his own, you better believe I'll do everything in my power to keep it from him. And don't try and be all high and mighty, I know you'll do the same thing."

"It's got to be their choice."

Both men jumped at the new voice.

Wyatt recovered first and smiled. "Morning, honey, did we wake you?"

Sarah, dressed in a flowing satin blue robe, gave her husband a kiss. "Morning, Chris. Not at all. Did you get any sleep?"

Chris smiled and walked off to check on the coffee.

Wyatt pulled Sarah into an embrace. "A little. I didn't want to wake you so I camped on the couch."

Sarah lovingly stroked her husband's arms. "You'll be glad to know my mother has canceled her trip. The Council has advised against any of the tribes members go on extended trips with what is going on in Washington. She called to tell me that my brother and his family are going to visit her instead."

Wyatt kissed her on the forehead. "Do you want to go?"

Sarah pinched her eyes closed. "What do you think, mister?"

"I'm just suggesting that it might be nice for you and Zach to visit them."

Sarah nodded her head and gave him a knowing look. "And safer too, right? Sweetie, I love you, but we've gone over this a million times. I'm not going to run and hide every time some demon wants to kill you. We're a family, and families stick together."

"Coffee?" asked Chris softly. "No? Ok, I'll just leave it here." He quickly snuck out of the kitchen.

Wyatt tucked a few stray hairs behind Sarah's ear. "I'm not saying you go bunker down with your family, but it would be safer."

"Wyatt, enough. I'm not going to leave you alone in a fight. I did that once when you went off to save Prue, and I nearly lost you. I can't do that again." Sarah sucked in a shaky breath. "Never again."

"Ok, ok. Never again. We face this together," said Wyatt gently, pulling her into a hug.

Chris stuck his head back in the kitchen. "Mom wants to know if it's safe to enter."

Wyatt chuckled and kissed Sarah. "Yes, mother."

Piper walked into the kitchen with a smile. "So, pancakes?"

Zach remained seated on the back pew, while the rest of the congregation stood to sing the final song of the service. He had gotten to the church building late and was wondering if coming had been worth it. During the whole service his mind had been elsewhere. Even during the sermon he could not focus. It felt like his life was slowly falling apart.

That morning the President had held a press conference on the White House lawns. His parents seemed to have an inkling of what the announcement was about because neither was surprised by it. It seemed the wraith attack on his family had not been the only demonic assault over the past week. Only unlike the incident he was involved in the other confrontations did not have happy endings. A prominent businessman and his whole family were slaughtered by Celerity demons by the looks of the wounds. A small town in Vermont was in mourning; a pair of Grimlocks had kidnapped an entire classroom of pre-school children. Then in Texas, near where Aunt Paige and Uncle Henry lived, a vampire coven had gone a rampage. The death toll was estimated to be in the low hundreds.

The President had charged his Secretary of Magical Affairs to work alongside Congress and other agencies to come up with a solution. She had gone on to lightly touch on a few of the elements of good magic had provided over the last two decades, but Zach could tell her heart was not in it. The tentative relationship between the American public and magic had been irrevocably changed and not in magic's favor.

His parents had wanted him to remain home after the broadcast ended. A part of him agreed with them, but he had never missed a Sunday service since eighth grade, provided they were in town. He also needed some time away from his family to process the new information. Demons were no longer in hiding, nor were they simply attacking witches. Innocents were being targeted. He was supposed to protect the innocent. It was his Wiccan duty.

Zach shook his head and buried it in his hands. The song had ended and the benediction read. He could hear everyone moving around him, but he remained seated. He was not a witch; it was not his fault that there was evil in the world. He was only a fifteen-year-old boy. No one in his or her right mind could expect him to take on the responsibility that came with being Charmed. He was only fifteen.

"Hey, Zach!"

Zach quickly rubbed his eyes to ensure there were no tears building up. "Hey, Sophie!"

Sophie sat down beside him and waved her parents away. Zach gave them half a smile.

"Five minutes, Sophie," said her mother. They left.

"What's up?" inquired Sophia happily.

Zach sighed. "Nothing, just family shi—er—stuff."

Sophia laughed. "God's not going to strike you down for saying shit."

A few grannies were near enough to hear Sophia and gave them dirty looks.

"No, but they might."

Sophia just smiled. "Oh, they'll get over it. Want to talk about it?"

Zach shook his head. "It's ok, Sophie. I'm fine."

"Your folks aren't trying to make you dump Rebecca, are they?"

The absurdity of the suggestion gave Zach pause. "Of course not! Why would they? Don't you like her?"

Sophie stood up and pulled him to his feet. "Course I do, but parents can be overly cautious about these things."

"It's not about Rebecca."

"Rebecca—Rebecca, you should call her 'becca or Becky. You guys need cute nicknames."

Zach held up his hands. "Wow, slow down there, Sophie. We've been on one date. I don't even know if we're dating, yet. Let's cross that bridge before you start coming up with a couple's name for us."

Sophia's eyes lit up. "Matt and I have a couple's name, you know."

"Yip, and no one is ever repeating it in my presence. EVER!"

Sophia laughed again. "Want to come to lunch with us?"

Zach spotted his dad's Jeep in the parking lot. "Thanks, but I think I need to talk with my folks."

Sophia nodded. "Damn, now I have to go to lunch with my parents and old man Wilson alone."

"Sorry," said Zach.

Sophia shrugged and hugged him. "Don't let them get you down. You've got a hot date for Homecoming, and you're bound to be chosen to be Arthur for the play. Things are looking up."

"See you tomorrow."

"Bye!"

Zach trod off, his momentary good cheer evaporating with each step. He was so caught up in the magical catastrophe racing toward him he had forgotten about the play tryouts. He had not even glanced at the scene script for the try-out. Then on Thursday he had the Comedy Sports finals. His skit for the finals was still lying on his desk half complete. He had too much going on in his life to add on Wiccan duties.

"How was church?" asked his dad.

Zach mumbled, "Good."

Either his dad knew him too well or was lost in thoughts of his own, but they did not say another word to each other on the drive back to the Manor. They pulled into the driveway, and Zach spotted his aunt Serena's car parked in front of the house. Eager to not have any form of discussion with his dad, Zach jumped out of the car before the engine switched off. He dashed across the yard and slipped upstairs without encountering anyone. Matt was seated at his desk when he made it to his room. Zach shut and locked the door.

"What's up?" asked Matt.

Zach threw himself onto his bed. "Did you not watch the news?"

Matt put down his phone. "Yeah, kinda scary how everything is starting back up."

"Scary? SCARY? That's all you've got to say?"

Matt's eyes widened. "Calm down, dude!"

Zach pulled his pillow over his head and screamed into it.

"Zach? Zach. Zach!"

Zach chucked his pillow to one side. "What?"

Matt frowned. "It's not the end of the world, ok?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

Matt rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, how are a few demon attacks the end of the world?"

Zach sat bolt upright. "I was attacked."

Matt's jaw dropped open. "WHAT!"

"Yeah, last Thursday. Dad, Mom, and I were attacked by a wraith."

Matt leaned forward. "And you didn't tell me?"

Zach groaned. "Matt! Did you hear what I said? We were attacked!"

"Yeah, but you guys survived. Why didn't you tell me?"

"My parents made me promise not to."

Matt leaned back in the chair. "Shit."

"Yeah, shit."

They fell into a deep silence.

"But they let you go on your date," said Matt after a few minutes.

"My dad stayed at the mall in case something happened."

Matt ran a hand through his hair. "So was it real just shitty luck or was the wraith targeting you guy?"

Zach shrugged. "How the fuck should I know? Beyond telling me to still go on the date, they haven't told me anything."

"Right, so maybe we—or what if…"

Zach collected his pillow and hugged it against his chest. "Matt, I don't—I can't be a witch."

"You're already a witch, dude."

"No, not really. I don't have any powers. I couldn't tell you the difference between a harpy and a furie. The Elders do not call me up every other week to protect some innocent. I'm not a witch."

Matt once again rolled his eyes. "Say what you like, but you're a Halliwell. You're a witch. Protecting the innocent, vanquishing demons, being all round badass is in our blood."

"I can't do that. I've got too much on my plate already."

"Yeah, so did our parents. Having a magical destiny is part of being a member of this family. Besides you can't say you don't want to know your powers," argued Matt.

Zach closed his eyes. "Being a witch is not rainbows and butterflies."

"No, its pots of golden luck and fairies. Zach, I love being a kid; I really do. I love having time to hang out with my girlfriend and playing on the baseball team. But don't you feel like there is something missing?"

"And magic is what is missing? It killed Anakin, Aunt Prue, and Grandpa Leo. Let's not forget that Grandma Piper had to be brought up by Grams; because, a demon killed Grandma P."

"Don't you think it's weird we call her Grandma P when all the girls in our family have names that start with a 'P?'"

"Not the point!"

Matt picked up his phone, not meeting Zach's eyes. "Magic is a part of us. We can't just ignore that."

Zach dropped the pillow. "And what happens if we do get our powers back? Didn't you get what the President was hinting at?"

"She's not going to bring back the Witch Hunters."

"I don't want to be a freak, Matt. I want to go to school, act in the play, and take Rebecca to the dance."

Matt shrugged again. "Ok. Pointless arguing over it, now. My dad and your dad aren't going to unbind our powers anytime soon. Not if my mom has anything to say about it."

"But it's going to come up, isn't it?"

"Probably. Eventually," said Matt quietly.

The two cousins again lapsed into silence. Matt unlocked his phone and started texting Sophie. Zach climbed off his bed and retrieved his phone. In the rush to get to church he had forgotten it at home. He powered it on and was surprised to see a bunch of text messages waiting his reply. The first few were from Andrew asking about homework; he quickly answered them. Kenny had texted him about needing a ride to school on Monday. The next text message informed him that Kenny did not need a lift any longer. Zach sent a reply saying maybe he could help the next time. Finally a long message from Rebecca spelled out the reason she had not spoken to him the day before.

"What do you think of Danny?" asked Matt.

"Huh? What?" Zach looked up from his phone.

"Danny? He and Andrew seemed to be getting really close. What do you think of him?"

Zach shrugged his mind still focused on Rebecca's text. "He's fine."

Matt drummed his fingers on the desk. "You know he's gay, right."

Zach nearly dropped his phone. "Who?"

"Danny, obviously."

"Oh, yeah. Of course, I know he's gay."

Matt bobbed his head. "I've heard he's quite a player."

"You jealous?"

Matt pulled a face. "NO! Why'd you say that?"

"You sound jealous."

Matt narrowed his eyes. "I can assure you that I'm not jealous of Danny Beck."

"Good to know," said Zach still going over the text.

"Rebecca send you nudes or something?"

"Shove off, Matt," snapped Zach.

Matt slid onto the bed. "Then what's so engrossing?"

Zach hesitated before handing his phone over to Matt. He eyed his cousin closely as the younger teen read over the message. Taking a deep breath he waited for the brown-haired boy to declare his opinion, but Matt did not say anything. He handed back the phone and stared at him.

"So?"

Matt shrugged. "So what?"

Zach held up the phone. "This. What do you think?"

"She was busy yesterday. It's no big deal. She texted you now. If I were you I'd text her back, so this doesn't become a thing," said Matt as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Zach's mom's yell of "BOYS LUNCH!" interrupted further discussion. He let Matt go ahead of him. Before nerves could stop him he quickly sent back a text expressing his understanding of her situation the day before and that he was about to have a family meal. Still unsure he pocketed his phone and dragged himself down to the dinning room.

Tuesday afternoon found Zach fidgeting in his seat on the bleachers by the half Olympic-sized swimming pool at Baker High. He was well aware that he was deep in the heart of Peter's territory, and he was not in the mood to face the short-tempered swimming captain. Unfortunately his supposed best friend had dragged him along to discuss their history project. Only Andrew was too enthralled with watching Danny swim to do much coherent talking. This left Zach free to let his mind wander.

"Come on, Drew! I've got half-an-hour before auditions start. We need to at least pick a topic," whined Zach after twenty minutes of unease.

Andrew, grinning, turned around. "Right, sorry, man. But isn't he amazing."

"What? Oh, sure," said Zach wishing he had run into Sophia after Health class. At least that way he would have had an excuse to not be seated on cold bleachers.

"Don't be a spoilsport. I don't get a lot of time with Danny. You know that."

Zach resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, I know, but we do need to get this done."

Andrew stared out longingly at the pool one more time and turned his back on it completely, leaning against the guardrail. "Fine, what do you want to do? We got recent history, so what's happened in recent history?"

Zach sighed and pulled out their massive textbook for the class. "We can talk about the demise of the Euro and its impact on American trade."

Andrew exaggerated a yawn. "Snoozefest, come on! There's got to be something exciting that's happened in the last twenty years."

"What about the ripple effect on American international policy following its ratification of the ICC?"

"ICC? What are you talking about?"

Zach balled his hands into fists. "The International Criminal Court."

Andrew's frown deepened. "That's the genocide court, right?"

"Yip."

"No, man, that's way too esoteric."

"Working on your SAT vocab?"

Andrew punched him. "Laugh all you want, but I'm the one making an 'A' in English."

Zach opened his mouth to argue and shut it. He had bombed the last essay on poetry. "Ok, good point, but what are we going to do about history?"

"Why not talk about the formation of the Department of Magical Affairs? Your uncle was the first Secretary of Magical Affairs, wasn't he?"

Zach nodded begrudgingly. "Yeah, but he quit after a year."

Andrew eagerly sat up and pulled out his phone. "Then it's perfect. You can get all the low-down from him."

"I don't know, Drew. My uncle doesn't like talking about all that."

"Tell him it's for school, and it's not like you need all the backdoor dealings. Just some of his thoughts on like why the department was started. It'd be awesome."

Zach bit his lip hard. He could not think of a reason to not do their essay on the topic. There was a reason, of course, he did not want to remind anyone of his connection to magic, but he could hardly tell Andrew that. None of his friends knew his family was actually the Halliwells from the old news reports.

"Fine, but we can't do anything dramatic. Just the essay."

Andrew pumped his fist in triumph. "Fine by me. Who needs the extra credit?"

Zach forced a smile already imagining the intense conversation his dad would undoubtedly have with him about picking this topic.

"You ready for the audition?"

Zach shook his head automatically. "Ms. Quinn chose the most awkward scene for it. I'm just—I don't know how I let Sophie talk me into this."

Andrew chuckled. "Of course you don't. It's not like you're not the best student in drama at this school or anything. Could you imagine if someone else got the part? The play would be a disaster."

"It wouldn't be a disaster. There are plenty of talented students."

"Whatever, dude, you're born to play King Arthur. You've got that whole knight-in-shinning-armor thing going on."

Zach heaved a long sigh and started packing up. "I'm going to head to the auditorium."

Andrew stood up. "Cool. Good luck—or—break a leg."

Zach laughed. "Thanks! I'll text you to let you know."

The hallways at school were eerily quite without the usual stampede of students rushing from class to class. Zach strode briskly down the corridor, nodding to greet the few students he did come across. As he got closer to the auditorium the activity picked up. Ms. Quinn and the school district had opted to give some of the background characters parts to students from the three middle schools that fueled into Baker High. The corridor just outside was filled with young teens, shoving their way into a spot in line. Zach weaved his way through the crowd and reached the auditorium's double doors.

"Hey! Back of the line!" yelled one of the kids.

Zach waved his hand over his head, knocked, squeezed through the open sliver into the auditorium. One of his fellow classmates from health was on the other side and shoved the door shut against the half dozen students who tried to follow him into the room.

"They're monsters!" complained the freshman boy, Jeremy.

Zach nodded in agreement. "Thanks."

Jeremy shrugged. "Good luck."

Zach silently thanked him. The auditorium was also full of people, but it was a more organized crowd. He spotted Sophia standing by the front of the stage and headed in her direction. She was yelling at the group of guys on stage; she was the associate director for the play.

"How are you liking the power now?" he asked as soon as he reached her.

Sophia spun around and hugged him. "Oh, thank God! I don't know how Jia did this all by herself last year."

"I'll leave you to it."

"Only Corey signed up to audition for Arthur besides you."

Corey Smithson was the sole senior in their section of drama class. With bronze skin and sparkling green eyes he was the second most talked about guy at school after Danny Beck, but that could have something to do with the fact that Danny was on the swim team. He also happened to be the current captain of their Comedy Sports team and had taken Zach under his wing during Zach's freshman year.

Zach climbed up on stage and vanished backstage in search of Ms. Quinn. He found her talking to Corey and laughed at the irony.

"Afternoon, Jia. Corey," greeted Zach pleasantly.

Ms. Quinn patted him on the back. "Glad you chose to audition. I know with the finals in two days you must be very nervous, the both of you. I'll call you out one at a time to perform the scene with our Guinevere after Sophia is done auditioning the knights. There's nothing to worry about. Just have fun."

She left.

Corey smiled down at him. "How's life treating you, Zach, my man?"

"Not bad, and you?"

"Can't complain. I've got college applications to send out, and my parents are freaking out about it. But life goes on," said Corey easily.

The butterflies in Zach's stomach settled. Corey just had that effect on people.

"So they've chosen a Guinevere already?"

Corey raised both of his well-defined shoulders up. "I just got here, and Jia wouldn't let me see the sign up sheet."

"What about Merlin and Mordred?"

Again Corey did not answer in the affirmative. "I think we're the next major character. Although, I thought Merlin was supposed to be before us."

A tiny freshman girl passed them and stopped. "Jeremy Knoll got Merlin from what I've heard."

Zach grinned. "He'll be brilliant."

The girl blushed. "I think so too." She scampered off deeper backstage.

"Jeremy's the freshman at the door?" asked Corey.

Zach nodded. "He's great. We should try and get him to join Comedy Sports."

"You'll have to do the recruiting. This is my last season, remember."

"Damn, you're right." Zach hit his forehead. "It won't be the same without you. You've been an amazing captain."

Corey squeezed his shoulder. "Thanks, but we wouldn't be where we are without you. Your sole routine at the last tournament saved our asses."

Zach suddenly found his feet very interesting. "It was a team effort."

"I hope you've got something up your sleeve for Thursday. Jia said you're working on something."

"It's nothing special. Just an improv."

"About?"

"The dentist and what can go wrong," said Zach quickly. He was eternally thankful to whatever muse had decided to visit him the night before.

Corey clapped him on the back. "It'll be great."

"COREY!" called out Sophia.

Corey laughed nervously. "Wish me luck."

Zach shook his head. "Like you need it."

Alone the familiar fluttering in his stomach returned. Zach paid the feeling no mind and went over his lines in his head. He practiced some of the gestures and forced himself to stand up straight like a solider. He was going to be King Arthur he had to exude confidence and a royal aloofness. At the same time he needed to be relatable to his audience. This was not a King Arthur at the height of his power, but one still coming into his own.

In no time at all Corey returned and Sophia was calling his name. Zach stepped out of the stage, slightly blinded by the spotlights. He reached center stage and looked around for his co-star. Out of the shadows from the other side of the stage ran Rebecca still carrying a fresh bottle of water.

"Sorry. Sorry. Oh! Hey, Zach."

Zach gawked at Rebecca." You're Guinevere?"

"Yeah, Sophie convinced me to try out." Rebecca placed the water bottle down.

Ms. Quinn cleared her throat. "Are we ready?"

Zach coughed and swallowed his surprised. "Yes, sorry, Jia."

The scene they were to act out was where Arthur first meets Guinevere, a lowly maidservant. Zach went through the scene with only half his mind on what he was saying. He thought he pulled off Arthur's slight clumsiness in his flirting. The playful banter was harder. When Sophia called the scene to a close Zach's throat was very dry.

"Great! We'll let you know tomorrow whom we chose. You're all free to go," said Ms. Quinn.

Zach walked off stage just behind Rebecca.

"How'd it go?" asked Corey.

Zach blinked still in a daze. "What?"

Corey chuckled. "I'm sure you did great! And you were amazing, Rebecca, right?"

Rebecca nodded politely. "Thank you, Corey."

"I'll see you tomorrow for the meeting, dude. Later, Rebecca."

Zach waved absentmindedly. "How?"

Rebecca linked her arm with his and pulled him to a pair of white plastic picnic chairs. "What do you mean 'how?"

Zach rubbed his eyes. "No, sorry, just—you…"

"Yeah, me."

"Sophie asked you to try out? When?"

Rebecca giggled. "We text."

"Right," said Zach glumly not sure how he felt about his best friend and Rebecca texting. They were not officially in a relationship yet.

"Is this not ok?"

"Huh? No, no, no! It's fine." Zach quickly reassured. "It was just a surprise."

Rebecca beamed. "Good, 'cause I actually liked it, being on stage. It's freeing."

Zach rubbed his nose, thoughts racing. "Why didn't you tell me you were auditioning?"

"Oh—well, Sophie thought it'd be better if you didn't find out until I made it or not. She thought that it'd be too distracting if you knew. Something about you sacrificing yourself for your friends or something."

Zach laughed hollowly. "I'm going to kill her."

Rebecca stood back up. "Don't be silly. She's just looking out for you."

"And you don't need to know all my bad habits."

Rebecca ignored him. "Come on, walk me to my locker."

Matt shuffled sideways down a row of fellow students, apologizing profusely as he went. After stepping on a third person's toes he reached the open seat between Sophia and Kenny. The whole school had congregated in the gymnasium for the annual Homecoming pep rally. It was a tight fit; the freshman class was almost twice the size of the previous classes.

"Howzit?" greeted Kenny.

Sophia gave him a confused look.

"Hey, Kenny!" returned Matt, yelling to be heard over the echoing murmurs of other conversations.

"This is my first—uh—pep rally?"

Matt nodded. "Oh it's not a big deal. Dr. Ianos will talk to us a bit about how great and wonderful the school is and then the cheerleaders will come out and do a few tricks. Then the football team will come out and try and get us into the spirit."

"I take it you don't like football."

"It's fine, but I prefer baseball and basketball. Hey, Soph."

Sophia smiled. "How were classes?"

"Boring as usual. Have you posted the list, yet?"

"Ms. Quinn is still making a few adjustments, but she said she'd have it posted by the end of lunch. I hope that this thing is quick. I need to study for my English quiz."

Matt shook his head. "Sophia is a perfectionist. Anything less than an 'A+' is a failure."

Sophia huffed. "So, not true!"

Feedback from the microphone brought the room to an anticipatory silence. Matt looked down to where their principal was sitting, talking to a woman with a lot of curly golden hair. The president of ASB, some very chipper girl who Matt recognized as being friends with Angela, stood up and walked up to the microphone.

"Welcome fellow students to the Homecoming Prep Rally!" she said excitedly. It gained a loud cheer from the section of jocks and popular kids.

She smiled widely. "It has been my pleasure to serve all of you as your ASB President, and it is my honor to introduce our wonderful principal, Dr. Ianos!"

More cheering followed her introduction, but not as enthusiastic as the prior round. Dr. Ianos strode over to her and shook her hand and whispered something in her ear. He turned to face the students. Today he sported a neon green tie and a navy sports jacket. The man had no sense of fashion.

"That tie hurts my eyes," murmured Matt, earning a giggle from both Sophia and Kenny.

"Good morning, students! I hope you have all been working hard in all of your classes, but I know you are not here to discuss your academic achievements. Before we get to the festivities I would like to take a few moments to introduce all of you to the newest addition to our administration team. After a lot of discussion the School District decided to hire an additional vice-principal to help keep this school's superb record both inside and outside the classroom."

People looked around with quizzical looks on their faces. Something as big as getting another vice-principal to police the school usually reached the rumor mill long before the official announcement. Matt and Sophia shared a confused look. Neither of them had any inkling of the announcement. This furthered Matt's bewilderment as Sophia's mother was a member of the School Board.

Dr. Ianos raised his hand and motioned for silence. "A second vice-principal will open up an number of avenues for the school and its students to become more involved in the community. I could think of no one better to fill this role and aid our school to rise to new heights than Ruth Ianos."

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AN: So what did you all think? Let me know. I love hearing from readers. That being said an apology for the shortish chapter without any action scenes. I promise the actions is coming...perhaps even in part deuce ;-).