Post by StoryGirl83 on Apr 5, 2009 15:55:17 GMT -5
Chapter Seventeen – Breakables
as
Chris headed back to Wyatt’s office with a smile on his face. His brother had some interesting friends. And it was clear that they were his brother’s friends, something he couldn’t really claim about his own co-workers. He’d been teased about working through lunch and he wondered where Wyatt was. His brother would have known when lunch was.
As he walked he didn’t notice shimmering behind him in the empty hall until he heard a crash. He swung around and a saw a pedestal coming at him. His eyes blinked closed and if he’d had his own powers, he would have panic orbed. There wasn’t time to think before the pedestal slammed into him, throwing him to the floor.
As he was trying to get up another crash was all the warning he got of a second pedestal slamming into him. Pain throbbed through him has he pushed himself against the wall and swung out his arm. Nothing happened.
Right. No powers. He winced in pain. But Dad had powers. Whitelighter powers. Another crash distracted him and he waved his hands in front of him trying to protect his face from the newest projectile. And nothing happened.
After several seconds his body started to relax. He opened his eyes and dropped his hands. His eyes widened as he saw the pedestal about a foot from his face, unmoving in mid-air.
He scrambled out of the way, almost screaming in pain as his right leg moved. He ignored it and tried to stand. Mom’s power. His leg buckled and the thought was lost.
The freeze broke and the pedestal hit the wall. Chris stumbled against the wall, his right leg refusing to support him as the demon raised a hand and another of the decorative vases that lined the hall crashed to the ground. The pedestal it was on came careening at Chris and he waved his hands. The scene in front of him froze.
Okay, Mom, if I have your powers then how do I blow something up? He looked down at his hands as memories flooded through his mind, memories of another life.
Chris orbed into the manor and started talking to the three women in front of him, not even noticing the three women at his side. “You wouldn’t happen to know any gremlins would you?”
In front of him the three blondes* postured. Next to him, though, the three women sighed in relief. “Ah, it’s about time!” exclaimed one with wavy shoulder length reddish-orange hair.
“Chris, thank God!” exclaimed a second one with sleek brown hair capping her head. “Look at them. Look at them. They’re imposters. They stole . . .”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!” Chris exclaimed, stopping the flow of words from her mouth. “Slow down. Who are you?”
“They’re witches,” said one of the women across from him, the one who he thought was Piper, his mother. “They’re the ones that killed that guy across the street.”
The brunette closest to Chris looked at her with disbelief. And the blonde next to Piper, his aunt Phoebe, to his mind, grinned before gasping as if the thought had just occurred to her.
“No, Chris,” said the third woman to his side, a woman with long, dark brown hair. “She’s lying. Remember this morning when you said something was going to happen to the book? Well, this is it. It’s happening now.”
Phoebe let out a sound of disgust. “Enough of this. Piper blast them.”
Chris stepped between the two groups of women and looked at the long haired brunette. “How do you know what I said to Piper?”
“Because she is Piper,” the red head told him. “And I’m Paige. And this is Phoebe.” She didn’t stop as the short haired brunette waved a hand in greeting. “And they cast an identity spell to make the entire world think they’re us.”
“That’s ridiculous,” said the third blonde, the one he thought was Paige, but was she? “Everyone knows the Charmed Ones are blonde.” She flipped her hair.
“If your Piper,” said the blonde Piper, “then show me your powers. Blast me.” She folded her hands in front of her, confident that nothing would happen.
“I can’t,” the brunette Piper said, reluctantly. “You stole them.”
Chris looked at her in disbelief.
“Okay, so we stole your identities and your powers,” the blonde Piper restated, bragging in her voice. “Wow, we must be good.” And then she said something very odd. “Definitely worth more than a paragraph.”
“Oh, yeah,” agreed the blonde Paige.
“It’s time to take care of you witches and your delusions,” the blonde Piper stated, her voice starting to sound menacing.
“Wait!” the redheaded Paige called out. “Wait. I can prove that we’re telling the truth. I can still orb. I’m half whitelighter.”
“Okay,” Chris agreed easily. “Go for it.
The redheaded Paige inhaled sharply and closed her eyes, but nothing happened. She tried it a second time, but still nothing.
“What do you think of my anti-orb spell?” Chris could barely make out one of the blonde sisters whisper.
“Oh you,” came the whispered reply even softer than the first.
And it made Chris wonder. He shook the thoughts filling his head away and turned back to the blonde sisters. “Go ahead, Piper, blast away.”
The blonde Piper held out her hand with a flick of her wrist the stained glass windows behind the dark haired sisters shattered.
“She missed!” the dark haired Phoebe exclaimed. “Chris, when have you ever known Piper to miss?”
“Even I’m entitled to a bad day,” the blonde Piper offered with a worried shrug when Chris turned to look at her.
A sound of agreement came out of the blonde Phoebe’s mouth and the blonde Paige looked at her sister urgently. “Come on. Try again.”
The blonde Piper flicked her wrist, again and a potted plant exploded behind the dark haired sisters.
“Uh, Chris, a little help here,” the redheaded Paige requested urgently.
Chris looked back and forth between the two sets of sisters, no longer sure which one to believe.
“Oh you know what,” the dark haired Piper said, taunting, “she’s getting angry and our powers don’t work so good when we’re angry.”
“We got them now,” the blonde Phoebe encouraged.
“Yeah,” agreed the dark haired Piper, still taunting, “you got us now, so why don’t you blow us up?”
“Piper,” the dark haired Phoebe cringed as she looked at her sister, “death bad, life good.”
“Don’t worry,” the redheaded Paige assured her, sounding more confident. “This bimbo couldn’t hit the broadside of a beauty parlor. Check out that dye job.
The three blonde sisters exclaimed in different degrees of affront, but it was the blonde Piper who replied, “How dare you!”and with both hands blasted them, causing a bigger explosion than before and the three dark haired sisters to duck and cover.
Chris stared back and forth between the two sets of sisters, trying to decide what was going on.
“Run,” the dark haired Piper ordered her sisters and they used the confusion and the smoke to exit the room.
Chris had a lot to think about.
Chris’ eyes brightened as he recalled just how the warlock masquerading as his mom had used her power. He flicked his wrists at the scene frozen in front of him. The pedestal headed at him exploded into thousands of pieces as the demon started moving, again.
“You picked the wrong witch to mess with,” Chris informed the demon with more bravado then he felt as he flicked his wrists. Annoyance flickered on his face as the demon only flinched. He flicked his wrists, again and again, certain if the demon didn’t leave very soon he wouldn’t be able to remain standing.
The demon flinched each time and finally scowled at Chris. He said nothing as he shimmered away.
Chris relaxed and slid down the wall to a sitting position. He surveyed the mess in front of him and moaned. He closed his eyes and in whispered words he chanted, “Let the object of my objection become but a dream as I cause the scene to become unseen."
Around him the scene shimmered and changed, but Chris didn’t notice. He’d lost consciousness.
*For those of you who want to keep them straight, the Stillman sisters are Mabel, Mitzy, and Margo impersonating Piper, Phoebe, and Paige respectively.