Post by StoryGirl83 on Aug 27, 2008 21:42:01 GMT -5
Chapter Eight – Know Thy Enemy
Flashback
Wyatt’s blue Mustang pulled up to the manor and parked. Wyatt got out of the driver seat and started for the manor.
Chris and Victor climbed out of the back seat.
As they approached the door, it opened and Piper stepped out. “Chris, are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” Chris hedged.
“But are you now?” Piper pushed.
Chris sighed. He nodded slightly, “Just a little overwhelmed.”
“What did the demon do to you exactly?” Piper asked looking at the weary faces of her two sons and the concerned one of her father.
Wyatt looked at Chris, surprised. “You didn’t tell her?”
Chris looked at Wyatt. He visibly shrank back just a little. “I’d rather not waste the time. Once we are looking in the Book of Shadows, I’ll explain.”
“How are you doing, Piper?” Victor asked, trying to cut the tension. “The boys said you had a power boost, too.”
“Too?” Piper asked confused.
Leo appeared at the door, behind Piper.
Victor nodded. “Phoebe’s premonitions are stronger and more controllable.
“Are they coming in or not?” Leo asked from behind his wife.
Piper moved out of the way. “Yes, of course.”
Wyatt, Chris, and Victor entered the manor.
Sometime later Chris was sitting on the couch between Leo and Piper.
Victor was sitting in an arm chair near the entry to the hall.
Wyatt was sitting on a second arm chair looking through the Book of Shadows.
Chris had just finished telling what happened to his memory.
The look on Piper’s face was one full of motherly concern. “You remember everything?”
“Unfortunately,” Chris admitted. “A lot of it is stuff I wish I didn’t recall and I don’t need to know since that time line no longer exists, but I also now have more memories from this time line. It gave me an awful head ache at first and it incapacitated me and yet somehow I don’t think that’s what he wanted.”
Wyatt looked up from the Book of Shadows. “It wasn’t.”
Chris looked at Wyatt. “You found him?”
Wyatt nodded.
“What does it say about him?” Leo asked.
“He’s called Archemneme,” Wyatt said as he looked at the entry. “He controls memories. Generally he causes amnesia in his victims. Then, he convinces his victim to come with him some place where he has time to give them a completely new set of memories.”
“Could that have happened here?” Victor asked looking at his grandson, concerned.
“Dad!” Piper exclaimed shocked.
“I don’t think so, but . . .” Wyatt trailed off and looked at Chris. “Who was my first girlfriend in high school? How and why did we break up?”
Chris rolled his eyes.
Chris rounded the corner and saw Wyatt, his girlfriend, Aimee Knighton, and a boy he recognized as Gage Lillard. He stopped as he realized Aimee was leaning into Gage as she gave Wyatt a pitying look.
“I’m sorry, Wyatt,” Aimee told him. “We didn’t mean for it. Really we didn’t. It just sort of happened. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.” Aimee turned around and walked off with Gage.
Wyatt turned around and looked at Chris. “I see you, little brother.”
Chris cocked his eyebrows and looked off in the direction Aimee and Gage had left.
Wyatt sighed. “Cilly.”
Chris grimaced. “I’ll spare you the ‘You’re better off speech then’. You alright?”
Wyatt nodded. “I really liked her, but Cilly is annoyingly never wrong.”
Chris laughed. “Too true.”
“She did warn me before she did anything, at least.”
Chris smiled at the memory. It was really nice to have memory to draw from. “Aimee Knighton. Cilly found out that she was more interested in Gage Lillard. She checked into it and learned the feeling was mutual and she helped them realize it, but not before she warned you. Any more stupid questions?” He also remembered that Aimee had married Gage right out of high school and they had two small children.
Wyatt turned to Victor. His look was something between a glare and a look that only a protective older brother could achieve. “His memories are legitimate. No reason to keep a memory like that if you are replacing memories.”
Piper gave her father and son wry looks as she stated dryly. “Now, that we have established that Chris is still Chris, how do we vanquished the demon who hurt him?”
Wyatt looked down at the entry in the book. After reading it through twice he looked up. “It doesn’t say,” Wyatt told them disappointed. “I guess they never vanquished him. Makes sense seeing as he’s still around to plague us.”
Falling back on her first line of defense, Piper said, “Then, I’ll make a potion to . . .”
Wyatt shook his head. “No potions, Mom. He doesn’t even notice them.”
“A spell then,” Chris said a grin growing on his face. “And I think I have just the right one to use.