Post by StoryGirl83 on Jan 26, 2010 14:23:48 GMT -5
Chapter Six – Piper’s Three
Chris shut the door to the apartment behind him and headed straight for his room, wanting to get out of his work clothes, wanting to put Emily’s question behind him, knowing it would come up the very next time he saw her. He was almost to his room when a knock on the door stopped him. He sighed and turned around.
The door to Wyatt’s room opened and his brother exited. He looked at Chris surprised. “You’re home early.”
Chris sighed and ignored him. He pulled open the apartment door and stared in surprise at their sister.
Melinda Wyatt was no more used to having brothers than they were to having a sister, but she was getting better at remembering that she now had two brothers. They on the other hand had almost forgotten her.
“You don’t call, write, email, anything,” Chris commented. “Where have you been?”
“Around,” she replied. “I’ve been trying to figure out how I fit into this world. I’m discovering that if I’m going to do that I’ll need to adjust a lot of things about me. It’s not precisely easy, but it’s not why I’m here. May I come in?”
Chris glanced back at Wyatt, who just shrugged. Chris looked back at her and moved out of the way, opening the door wider. “Sure come on in. Do Mom and Dad know you’re in town?”
She shook her head as she entered the apartment. “Not yet. I‘m not staying, but I thought I’d best pass on some information I came across. Until I either get more powers or learn better how to use magic without them, it’s smarter to either avoid magical battles or to get aid on them.” She looked around and grinned as she peeked into Wyatt’s open door. “Someone is clearly not a neat freak.”
“And someone clearly is,” Wyatt retorted, “if you look at the other room. You?”
“Neither really.” She found the living room and went inside, finding a seat. She waited until they had followed her in and started speaking. “I was in a Concord restaurant earlier today when I accidentally overhear a conversation. It was clear that at least one of those talking was from the underworld, possibly both, though I think the second one was a warlock.”
“A warlock?” Chris looked at Wyatt. “Didn’t Seth mention one of those earlier?”
Wyatt nodded. “I think so, but I doubt it’s the same one.”
Chris’ head bobbed in agreement. “True enough.” Looking back at Melinda he asked, “What were they talking about?”
“Some demon that’s coming soon,” she told them. “I got the idea this demon has killed a lot of people in the past, but they never mentioned a name. Who’s Seth?”
“A friend,” Wyatt informed her. “He was here earlier with a similar story. I’m wondering how close to his yours is.”
“Are you accusing me of lying?” She asked, looking a little annoyed.
He shook his head. “Not even close. I’m just wondering if we have two demons or one to deal with.”
She calmed down and nodded. “Good point.” She sighed. “Sorry for jumping to conclusions.”
“Did they say anything that might help identify the demon?” Chris asked, feeling uncomfortable.
“Maybe,” she thought back to the conversation she had heard and frowned. “There was one thing that struck me as odd. One of them, the one I think was a warlock, was complaining that someone who’s only been around for a few centuries should make such a stir. The other one reminded her that that it was well deserved, because didn’t thousands die because of this demon.”
Chris gulped, stunned. “Thousands of deaths. That’s a lot for anyone, but for someone who’s only been around for a few centuries only shows up only once every one hundred years, that’s . . . horrible.”
She nodded. “Sounds like when he attacks, he means business.”
“Sounds horrific,” Wyatt agreed. “Seth said we have at least a week. Did you hear anything like that?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so, but their conversation was cut short when someone else . . . entered the women’s room.”
Chris snorted. “You overheard this in the bathroom.”
“And why not?” she wanted to know a bit indignant. “Woman like to talk and if they think they’re alone, all the better.” She eyed them and flexed her fingers. “A lesson they need learn, my brothers . . .”
Chris clamped his hand over her mouth. “Let’s not cast not spells on each other.”
“It’s all I’ve got,” she informed him when he let her go. “I don’t have powers, but I do have spells.”
“That’s good,” Chris informed her. “That’s good right. You didn’t before. You couldn’t cast spells.”
She sighed and nodded. “Yeah.”
“So maybe that means powers are coming.”
“Maybe,” she replied hesitantly. “Or maybe this reality is just starting to accept me as real.”
“It’s been over a month,” he reminded her. “On the other hand, it’s only been just over a month. Don’t rush it.”
She sighed. “I don’t like this. What if an innocent needs my immediate help?”
“Then cast a spell.”
She looked at them in turn and a smile tugged at her lips. “You make it sound so easy.”
“A lot easier than resenting it,” Chris retorted.
Wyatt sat down on the couch next to her. “When I was younger, when magic wasn’t really an option, because magical powers just stopped, I was pretty annoyed. I’d been working on writing a spell and it wasn’t working. I was so frustrated, because these things always seemed to come easy to Chris.” He looked at his little brother and chuckled. “How little I knew. Dad showed up when I was pretty much about to give up and calmed me down. He reminded me of some things I’d forgotten in my frustration.”
Melinda watched him curious, wanting to know more about what her dad was like in this reality. She’d been avoiding them, there was no other way to put it, ever since she’d found out that she was going to be able to stay, but it was doing no good. She wanted to make a life here and how could she do that if she avoided even her own family.
“He reminded me that I wasn’t Chris and I wasn’t Aunt Phoebe and I didn’t need to pretend that I was.” He looked at his two siblings, clearly different, and yet there was something in their eyes that made him think they had more in common than he knew. “We all have our own strengths. Sure Chris and I have magical powers, but I didn’t grow up with them. I’m only just learning anything about them. It’s all new to me. I’ve had spells and potions taught to me all my life, but you’d better believe you don’t want me making the potion anymore than you want me working as a chef at Mom’s restaurant. Chris though, he’s good at that stuff, especially the potions I can’t manage. And he remembers how to use his powers. And I think the guy actually likes hunting demons,” he teased, “which seems kind of creepy to me.”
Chris shrugged, but he smiled a little. “I don’t hunt demons unless they’re after an innocent. If I did that, I know one demon that would be in serious trouble.”
Wyatt smacked him in the shoulder. “You know what I mean.”
Chris shook his head. “I don’t think I hunt them any more or less than you. Remember Trae?”
“She had my innocent’s mind captive.”
“I believe the word is soul,” Chris retorted. “She had little Hannah’s soul captive.”
Melinda watched them both with interest.
Wyatt turned back to look at Melinda. “I don’t know you that well yet, but I do remember that you told me you didn’t use your powers that much, so you know what, you don’t have a lot of room to talk.”
A smile tugged hard at her lips as she replied. “I didn’t exactly fight too many demons either. Mom always tried to keep me out of their way and out of Pratt’s spotlight.”
“Who’s Pratt?” Chris asked curious. Two sets of memories and the name was unfamiliar.
She shrugged. “Someone who’s ire that I never want to be directed at me. Thankfully, I have been told that he never made any sort of news, so I doubt he’s going to cause any sort of trouble.”
Wyatt nodded in concession. “Fair enough. But even if you didn’t fight that many demons, surely you learned ways to protect yourself.”
Melinda was silent as she thought about this. It was true that she had learned how to fight, how to defend, but not so much against magical creatures. “I know how to shoot a gun. It’s of no use against most magical beings, so little use in this conversation, but I do know that and I am good enough to usually hit my target.”
Wyatt considered this. “It’s certainly a start. And I bet even if Mom didn’t want you to fight demons she didn’t want you defenseless when they came to call.”
“Mom?” she chuckled and shook her head. “No. Mom didn’t want me to stick around if a demon showed. I was to use my orbing when needed, but that was it. Aunt Prue though.” She smiled. “She taught me hand to hand fighting. When Aunt Phoebe needed a sparring partner, it always ended up being Aunt Prue, so when Aunt Phoebe was killed, she was well versed in it and she taught me and both of her girls.” She smiled. “It’s something to think about, but right now, I think we need to figure out an ID on a demon.”