Post by StoryGirl83 on Aug 27, 2008 21:02:52 GMT -5
Chapter Four – Demonic Rent-a-Spy
At the Halliwell manor some time later, Leo and Piper arrived home. Leo unlocked the front door and opened the door. He walked in and held the door for his wife as she headed in behind him.
“How long has this been going on?” Piper asked as Leo closed the front door.
“Think Piper,” Leo cautioned. “They’ve only been able to use their powers for nine days.”
Piper hung up her coat and turned back to her husband, annoyance in her voice. “Are you sure? It’s not like I check to see if my powers work. Besides both of them could orb, and potions and spells have always been an option. What makes you believe they haven’t been doing this for a lot longer?”
As they walked into the front room, Leo replied, “Well, Wyatt has trouble keeping a secret. As for Chris he’s half the boy we raised and half the young man who came to the past to save Wyatt. He’s sure they haven’t done anything before now and I trust him.”
“Quite a switch considering how much he lied to us,” Piper replied sarcastically.
“But not in the end,” Leo reminded her. “I am sure that he told me the truth.”
“I’m glad you’re sure,” Piper responded still annoyed, “but I’m not and you should have told me.”
“And I would have,” Leo told her with a sigh, “but I thought I’d give you a little more time and give the boys a chance to tell you themselves.”
“More time for what?” Piper asked, confused.
“You’ve enjoyed the relative lack of underworld activity all these years,” Leo reminded her. “Chris . . .”
“This was Chris’ idea?” Piper asked catching on to what he was about to say.
Since he had been uncomfortable with the idea, Leo couldn’t really say it was his, but he felt the need to defend his son’s idea. “He only mentioned that you liked having a normal life and maybe we should worry you.”
That only annoyed Piper more. “You deferred to our son rather than what I actually thought?”
Oddly, this brought a smile to Leo’s lips. “Are you denying that you want a normal life?”
“No,” Piper replied, trapped, “but you had . . .”
At that moment Wyatt orbed in, stopping whatever Piper was going to say.
Piper looked at him. She gave Leo a look that said, “We’ll talk later,” and turned back to Wyatt. “So I understand you and your brother have been sneaking behind my back and fighting demons.”
“Uh . . .” Wyatt began trying to think how to answer. “It was only one demon.”
“This family does not keep secrets,” Piper reminded him. “Understand?” When Wyatt nodded Piper’s expression changed to one of caution. “Is the demon gone?”
“She’s gone,” Wyatt informed her with a slight bit of pride. Trae had been his first demon vanquish in his memory, after all. “She’s well and truly vanquished. You aren’t going to say we can’t fight the next demon that comes along, are you?”
Piper shook her head. “Fighting demons is your choice. As long as you have the powers, it is your obligation to defend innocents when you see them needing help. I will not be stopping you from protecting innocents. It’s the lying and the secrets I have a problem with. Don’t try to protect me from what’s going on.”
“Mom,” Wyatt protested, “we can handle it.”
“Fine,” Piper agreed. “Handle it, but if I ask, don’t lie to me. Don’t pretend nothing it going on.”
“But, Mom,” Wyatt protested, once more, “you would only worry.”
Piper gave her older son a mother look. “Then, let me worry. It’s my job as a mother and my right.”
“Why would you want to worry?” Wyatt asked, confused.
“I don’t,” Piper assured him, “but I’m a mom. It’s inevitable. In other words, when I ask, spill. And if you need help, admit it and ask. And don’t go off on your own. You are a powerful witch, Wyatt, but no one is invincible.”
“Why is it that I seem to be the one getting yelled at the most,” Wyatt asked, slightly dejected.
“Because your brother isn’t here,” Piper reasoned, her voice promising that Chris would not be speared in any way.
Wyatt slumped down in a chair and scowled. This promised to be a long wait.
A couple of minutes after six, Chris orbed into his bedroom in the brother’s empty apartment with the papers he had been working on earlier in his arms. He put the papers on his desk and orbed out.
Wyatt was standing by the window in the front room of the manor, looking out.
Piper and Leo were sitting on the couch. “Anything odd happen with your powers today or this week, Wyatt?” Piper asked suddenly.
Wyatt turned around to answer as Chris orbed in. Wyatt shook his head. “Not that I noticed, but memories of using them are a bit limited. Chris?”
Chris looked at him confused, not having heard the question. “Huh? What’ the question?”
“Any power boosts or odd happenings with your powers?” Wyatt asked, paraphrasing Piper’s question.
“Other than gaining a new one?” Chris queried, seeing as that was odd.
“Yes,” Wyatt confirmed.
“You didn’t tell me that,” Piper commented, sounding hurt.
“I’ve only used it once,” Chris said, shrugging off the importance of his new power. “I haven’t figured out how to reactivate it so maybe it was just a fluke.”
“It wasn’t a fluke,” Wyatt argued. “It was because of Dad’s being an elder.”
“You have an elder power?” Piper asked surprised and with a tiny bit of pride in her voice. “What is it?”
“Invisibility,” Chris informed her, not wanting them to make a big deal out of it. “Can we focus on the demon you saw?”
“First,” Piper requested, “have you had any power boosts?”
Chris looked at them skeptically, but using his index finger he waved at an object on the other side of the room. He waved his arm slowly and a chair moved backward. He waved it forward and back into place before turning to look at his family. “No. All other abilities can’t grow like that. I suppose I could try orbing someone or something from Asia, but the concept is the same.”
“Fine,” Piper allowed. “Then, why did my power freeze half the town?”
“That’s it?” Wyatt protested. “You aren’t going to yell at him. Not fair.”
“That’s right,” Piper replied thoughtfully. “Chris, I understand it was your idea not to tell me. What do you have to say about that?”
Chris frowned and thinks about this. After a moment he looked up and with a mischievous look on his face responded, “Future consequences?”
Wyatt looked at Chris with a confused look on his face.
Leo looked at him surprised and chuckled escaped.
Piper’s eyes narrowed.
Chris smiled at her nervously, “Obviously it was a poor idea. I just thought you’d rather not know.”
“I’d rather it not be,” Piper corrected, “but it is, so I want to know.”
“All right, Mom,” Chris said with a sheepish look on his face.
There was something adorable about him that reminded Piper of the first time he had called her mom, back a few months before he was born. He had looked so surprised and so sweet and it had touched her then. The memory brought a smile to Piper’s lips. “Since we have that established, we need to check and see if the demon that was watching your father and I is in the Book of Shadows.”
Wyatt looked at the coffee table. He blinked and the Book of Shadows appeared on the coffee table.
Chris looked at the book and grinned as he began to chant. “My mother’s mind I do not know. Open this book and let it show, a king of demon that likes to spy and today my mother did fry.”
“Personal . . .” Piper began, her voice trailed off at the book opened and pages started to turn. After a moment the book stopped on a page entitled, “Demonic Rent-a-Spy.” The page began by saying, “I simply could not believe such a thing existed, but there it was . . .” and on the bottom of the page it was signed, “P. Baxter Johnson.”