Post by StoryGirl83 on Mar 14, 2010 16:50:25 GMT -5
Chapter Fourteen – Family Meeting
Melinda put the phone back into its slot and shot an uneasy look at Seth who stood by the window looking out. The fear was no longer there and the annoyance had faded, but she still wasn’t comfortable with his presence. Then, she glanced at Emily. Chris’ questions had eased her fears about Emily’s intensions, but not about her ability to keep a secret.
Emily saw her looking and offered her a smile. “Who was that?”
“That was my mom,” Melinda informed them. “She was, not surprisingly, looking for my brothers. She certainly didn’t expect to talk to me.”
“I guess that means she hasn’t talked to them.”
“She’s in Boston,” Melinda informed them. “Aunt Prue has everyone gathered there trying to look for Aunt Phoebe and . . . her husband. I’m not sure of his name.”
“His name is Cooper Hart,” Seth informed them both. “Most people call him Coop. Why are they looking for them?”
“I don’t know the whole story,” Melinda admitted, “but shortly before we arrived they went on vacation and over a month later they still haven’t returned, even though they were only supposed to be gone a month. I hardly remember her and the Aunt Phoebe I remember isn’t the Aunt Phoebe who is here, if she even is any more. I told Mom that Wyatt and Chris are looking for her and Dad and that I will have them call when they return.”
“Why did you say “if she is here any more”?” Emily asked concerned. “Do you think she’s not coming back? Maybe she’s lost track of time.”
Melinda shook her head. “No. She didn’t just lose track of time. And it’s almost been a month since they were supposed to return. You don’t just forget to call if you are that late.”
A sound somewhere between a cough and a laugh emitted from Seth’s mouth. When both girls looked at him, he shrugged apologetically. “I did.”
Melinda frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve been gone for almost four months and I didn’t call my dad or little brother once.” He flicked out his tongue and shrugged. “I still haven’t called them.”
“Demons have little brothers?” Melinda asked frowning at him.
Seth scowled at her, his voice rising with every word he said. “I’m only part demon, thank you very much. I did not ask to be even that much and yes, I have a little brother. As far as I know he’s one hundred percent human even if his mother is a . . . well, I guess I’m not supposed to use that word in a derogatory context, so let’s just say there is not lost love between me and the woman who gave birth to my little brother.”
Melinda attempted to back even farther away from him and hit the doorway. “Okay.”
Emily gave him a funny looked and informed him that, “That is no reason to yell at her.”
He sighed. “I’ll put up with what she has to say about me to some degree. . .”
“Not that I’ve noticed,” Emily retorted.
He ignored her and continued, “but I won’t put up with anything even remotely rude about Peter.” He glared at Melinda. “He has nothing to do with any of this.”
Behind Seth orbs filled the air. Both girls looked toward Wyatt and Chris as they orbed in. Seth turned around and looked at them.
“Took you long enough,” Melinda retorted as she moved away from Seth.
Wyatt looked at her curious and over at his best friend.
Chris raised an eyebrow. “Did something happen?”
“Mom just called,” she informed them, ignoring the most recent conversation entirely. “So I figured you’d be back.”
Chris looked over at his brother. “I guess that’s why the phone was busy.”
“Sounds like,” Wyatt laughed and nodded. He looked between his best friend and his sister and then turned to Emily.
Emily shook her head quickly.
Wyatt shrugged and looked back at Melinda. “So where is she? We checked the manor and Aunt Paige’s. We even called Aunt Phoebe’s.”
“You forgot a sister,” Melinda reminded them. “Everyone, except the three of us, is at Aunt Prue and Uncle Andy’s. I told Mom I’d have you call when you got back.” She picked the phone out of its slot. “So who’s going to call?”
Wyatt reached out his hand. “Why’s everyone there?”
“I’ll let Mom tell you,” Melinda decided as she handed the phone to him.
Wyatt shrugged and punched in the number instead of using the autodial. He waited as the phone rang.
“Wyatt?”
Wyatt smiled at the sound of his mom’s voice. “Hi, Mom. I’ve been looking for you.”
“So Melinda told me,” Piper returned. “She wouldn’t say what’s going on, so let’s have it.”
“Seth showed up this afternoon with a story about the underworld expecting something big to go down,” Wyatt began as he headed into the kitchen away from the prying ears of his brother and their guests. “Then, Melinda showed up with a similar story, though she heard hers at a restaurant. So we’ve been trying to find out if we can find this demon, but the Book didn’t have anything, so we were hoping to see if you or Dad had heard anything useful.”
“You’ll have to tell me more than that.”
Wyatt pulled open the fridge and pulled out the red punch. As he poured some into a tumbler he tried to tell her what he knew. “According to Seth, this demon only attacks one day every one hundred years and is expected to do a lot of damage, and when we mentioned that to Melinda she didn’t protest the information, so it seems that she’d heard the same, though she didn’t say for sure.”
“Please tell me you have more than that,” Piper requested.
“Not much,” Wyatt admitted. “Melinda mentioned that he’s only been around for a few centuries and has caused thousands of deaths. Combine that with only one day every one hundred years and this demon is busy on that one day. Any of this sound familiar?”
Piper sighed. “No, not really.”
“Can you put Dad on then, maybe he heard something. I know he wouldn’t have been around magic the last time this guy showed up, but it was less than twenty years later that he died, so there could be something.”
“I’ll go get him.” There was silence on the other end for several seconds before Piper spoke again. “Wyatt?”
“Yeah, Mom.”
“Be careful.”
Wyatt smiled. “I will. Besides, this demon isn’t expected for at least a week, so we’ve got a little bit of time to find out who he is before he attacks.”
“A week isn’t a lot of time with what info you have,” Piper commented before saying, “Here’s your dad.”
“Hello?” Leo’s voice said a moment later.
“Hi, Dad, it’s Wyatt.”
“Are you and Chris coming here?”
Wyatt shook his head, even if his dad couldn’t see it. “No, probably not. No one’s actually explained why you are all in Boston in the first place. And Chris and I are trying to identify a demon that is planning on attacking soon. Seth suggested that maybe you might have heard something about this demon some time in the past.”
“What do you know about this demon?” Leo asked, concern in his voice.
“We know that he’s only a few centuries old and during that time he only shows up once a century,” Wyatt started. “I also know that he does a lot of damage during that one day. I don’t know if it is an exaggeration of fact, but the conversation Melinda overheard about him attributed thousands of deaths to him. Unfortunately, we have nothing more than that.”
There was silence on the other end for several seconds as Leo considered his answer. With a sigh, Leo broke the silence. “It sounds vaguely familiar, but I’m not coming up with something specific. And if this only happens once every one hundred years than I would have been three the last time this demon attacked. I am going to see if I can get someone can get me over to your apartment, so I can talk to you and whomever has info on this in person.”
“I’ll come get you, Dad,” Wyatt offer. “I’ll just let Chris know where I’m going. He can handle Melinda, Seth, and Emily for a while. After all, they managed to not kill each other while Chris and I were both gone.”
“Emily?”
“Er . . . I’ll let Chris explain that one when you get here,” Wyatt offered.
“And this Emily knows about magic?”
“She does now,” Wyatt admitted, glancing through the doorway into the living room where Emily was talking to Melinda.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Leo replied.
Wyatt sighed. “Yeah, neither did I, but it might be okay. We’ll see. Let me go check in with Chris and I’ll be right there.”