Post by StoryGirl83 on Aug 27, 2008 23:08:13 GMT -5
Chapter Ten – The Other Kali
Five people had stuffed themselves into Mark’s small kitchen. Only Mark, himself, was absent. Supplies were spread out on the kitchen table as Chris sat, carefully adding ingredients to a cauldron. A second cauldron was bubbling by Beth, who was sitting across the table watching with interest. A third cauldron was sitting on the floor empty.
Mikelle was leaning in a corner of the room silently observing everything that was going on. Wyatt was standing next to Chris, looking through a handful of papers. Kali was standing behind Chris on his other side, watching.
“You look like you have done this a lot,” Beth comment suddenly.
Chris looked up. “I have.”
“But why?” Beth wanted to know. “Before the beginning of the year they weren’t attacking.”
Chris shook his head. “They were. Perhaps you were left alone, but there were attacks. Mostly though . . .”
When Chris trailed off Beth looked at him. “What?”
“Never mind,” Chris shook his head. “It is a long story and one I’d prefer not to discuss right now.”
Beth made a face.
“Why don’t we focus on protecting you and your brother?” Chris suggested. “And on figuring out how to get rid of these powers in Kali’s boyfriend?”
Kali grimaced at his words. “I have the worst ability to find a good date, don’t I.”
Chris turned in his chair enough to look at her and grinned.
“Na,” Wyatt denied as he looked up from the papers in his hands. “You’ll get it right. At least you have a boyfriend. My brother can’t even find the time to ask a girl out, much less maintain a girlfriend.”
“And you date when?” Chris teased.
All signs of a good mood and teasing fled Wyatt’s face in record speed as he said in a very serious and somber voice, “I had a girlfriend, Chris.”
Chris was suddenly very somber himself as he remembered. It had been six months, nearly seven, and with his memory fully restored he had no excuse for forgetting. “Amber.” The one name said it all.
Wyatt nodded. “I’m just not ready to risk that, again.”
Chris nodded back. “Consider the subject dropped.” It was odd to have a subject that Wyatt didn’t want to talk about, when it was usually Chris trying to change the subject.
Mark walked back into the room as Chris turned back to his potion.
Wyatt’s phone began ringing. Wyatt put the papers on the table and picked the phone out of his pocket. “Wyatt Halliwell here.”
On the other end, his mother was in the attic at the manor, standing in front of the podium with the Book of Shadows spread open. “How are things going?”
“Nothing much so far,” Wyatt admitted. “Chris is working on the potion. I’m kind of bored. I considered looking for Gary, but it’s kind of pointless until we have a way to stop him.”
“I thought of another possibility,” Piper told him, looking down at the entry in the book.
“Oh?” Just that fast, she had his full attention.
“Not too long after we got out power back we met a girl,” Piper told him, remembering. She was in her teens and had witch powers. She told us she was witch.”
“So?” Where is she going with this?
Piper looked down at the entry on the page the books was opened to. They hadn’t added it until years later, because when they had first encountered that young girl and the demon tricking her, they hadn’t really known they could add things to the book. “She wasn’t, Aviva was her name, as she had been given powers by a sorceress named . . .” Piper looked down at the Book to double check the name. “. . . Kali.”
Wyatt smirked at that. “Kali will just love that one.”
At the sound of her name, Kali looked at Wyatt, curious
Piper smiled. “Yes, well after we destroyed Kali the powers she gave Aviva were gone, too. Any chance this is a similar situation?”
“Could be,” Wyatt admitted. “I mean the powers are demonic, but they could have been passed on in such a way that they won’t make him crazy like a power broker would and could be removed if the source is destroyed.”
Next to him, Chris had stopped working on the potion and was looking at Wyatt. Across the table, Beth looked up at Wyatt. From the doorway, Mark was watching a listening.
“Question is,” Wyatt continued. “Is there a demonic force behind this? Is someone else pulling the strings?”
“Kali thinks there is,” Piper reminded him.
Wyatt nodded, thinking. “And he apparently apologized to Mark while trying to kill him.”
“Odd,” his mother admitted. “Call me if you need help. You father will be home soon and we were planning to have dinner out, but we’ll stay here until you have this fixed.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Wyatt told her before he hung up. As he put his phone back in his pocket he looked at Kali. “Got anything I can scry with?”
Kali nodded. “I have something you can use.” She left the room in search of that something.
With Kali dispatched for whatever it was she was after, Wyatt turned to Mark. “Do you have a map and a scrying crystal?”
“Yeah,” Mark admitted. “When everything started up Mom wanted to make sue Beth and I had everything we needed. I’ll go get them.” He left the room.
Wyatt walked over to stand behind Chris. “How is the potion coming along?”
“Almost done with the second one,” Chris told him without looking up.
“Second?” Wyatt raised his eyebrow in surprise.
“We don’t know what will work,” Chris reasoned, his eyes still staying down.
Kali returned to the room, carrying a wallet photo of Gary. Mark was right behind her with a map and a scrying crystal.
“Will this work?” Kali asked, holding out the photo to Wyatt.
Wyatt took the photo as Mark unfolded the map. Wyatt looked at it for a second. “Yeah, this should work.”
Mark handed the scrying crystal to Wyatt.
Finished with his second potion, Chris stood up. He picked up the cauldron and walked around the table to where Beth was sitting. He put it down next to the other finished potion and walked back to his seat. He picked up the third cauldron from the floor and put it on the table in front of him. Next, he picked up the papers Wyatt had been looking at and started looking through them. Picking one, he started adding ingredients to the new cauldron.
Next to him, Wyatt leaned over the table and started scrying.