Post by StoryGirl83 on May 4, 2010 17:22:32 GMT -5
Chapter One – In Time of Need
Piper Halliwell was in the kitchen working on dinner when a knock on the front door caught her attention. She put down the knife she was holding and walked to the front door. Before she could get there, there was a second knock. She pulled opened the door and looked at the three people on her front porch. “Tyler?”
Tyler nodded as he shifted Halli in his arms. “May we come in, please?”
“It’s been a long time,” Piper commented as she stepped out of the way to let him in. “What brings you here?”
Tyler hugged his daughter to him as he headed into the manor with Miranda close behind him. Once the door was closed he turned around and faced her. “This is my wife, Miranda. Miranda, this is Piper Halliwell. I told you about her.”
“Piper?” Halli piped up. “I have a sister named Piper.”
Piper looked at her surprised. “Really?”
Halli nodded. “Yep. And a sister named Leah. And we have a brother named Matthew. I’m Halli.”
“You certainly are the chatty one, aren’t you?” Piper commented as she looked at Tyler. “Did you . . ?”
“Our oldest daughter is named after you,” Tyler informed her.
“If I remember correctly,” Miranda commented blandly, “our son was named after your youngest sister, our middle daughter was named after your husband, and Halli was named after your family in general, but sort of to honor your other sister.”
Piper blinked and stared at her. Then, she looked at Tyler. “You named all your children after my family?”
Tyler shrugged. “I wouldn’t be here if not for you and your family. And now, I need your help, again.”
“What happened?”
“My kids are missing?”
Piper frowned at him. “Have you called the police?”
“I was out of the room for less than half a minute and in that time someone took both of my older daughters without making a sound,” Tyler informed her. “The police can’t help me. I need your help. Please. I didn’t know where to find your sisters, but I figured someone would be here.”
Piper nodded. “All right. I will find someone who can help.”
“Your sisters,” Tyler insisted.
“That might be difficult,” Piper hedged.
“But not impossible.” He looked at her imploringly. “I trust you. My kids need your help, Piper.”
“Why don’t you three take a seat on the couch in there,” she suggested waving her hand at the next room. “I’ll make some phone calls and see if I can at least find Paige.”
“And Phoebe?”
Piper bit down on her lip. “That’s the difficult part.” Without explaining she walked over to the phone and started dialing.
Feeling dismissed, Tyler took his family to the couch and sat down, fright plain on his face.
The phone stopped ringing on the other end and Piper listened impatiently as the answering machine picked up. “Hi, Paige. This is Piper. I need you to head over here as soon as you get this message. Tyler is here and he’s a bit panicked. His kids are missing and he thinks it’s . . . well, you know what he thinks. From what he said, I’m inclined to agree with him.”
She hung up the phone and dialed a second number. After several seconds the phone was picked up. “Hi. Mom or Dad?” Wyatt asked.
“You really have to quit relying on that photo ID system of yours,” Piper scolded.
“And you really ought to get one,” Wyatt returned. “What’s up, Mom?”
“One our old innocents has just shown up asking for help. I need you and your brother to get here as soon as you can.”
“Chris isn’t here,” Wyatt informed her. “I thought you made the schedules at The Manor.”
“Oh,” Piper said remembering. “I had forgotten. I’ll call him there than. Just get her as soon as you can.”
“Will do, Mom.”
Piper hung up without waiting for a longer conversation and dialed in a third number. This time it was picked up after only one ring.
“The Manor, how may I help you?” the cheery voice of Emily Colson greeted over the phone.
“Emily, this is Piper,” Piper said by way of greeting. “I need to talk to Chris.”
“The kitchen is kind of busy right now,” Emily informed her. “I wouldn’t even be free, except I just delivered the food to my last table. The first one will be wanting me for drink refills in a few seconds, I think. Can I pass on a message?”
Piper groaned. “I need to speak to Chris.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Halliwell,” Emily replied apologetically, “but there is no way he can get away from the kitchen for a few minutes at least. I promise to deliver any message you have at once, though, word for word.”
Piper exhaled deeply. “I was informed that you know about . . . my other job. That is correct, right?”
There was silence for a few seconds and then, “Well, sort of. You didn’t really come up much in the conversation, but assuming it’s more or less the same as the one your sons do, then I guess I do. I did gather that you can’t do the whole bright light moving thing, though.”
“Orbing,” Piper said, dripping with sarcasm.
“You think I can say that with a dining room full of people?” Emily asked softly. “What if one of them knew what that meant?”
“Then, I’m sure ‘bright light moving thing’ will tip them off just as fast,” Piper retorted. “Didn’t you have a table to get to?”
“I do,” Emily agreed. “They are looking at me, kind of annoyed right now, too. I figure that this message is important, so why don’t you tell me what to tell Chris?”
Piper sighed. “Fine. Tell Chris that he is going to orb himself back to the manor as soon as absolutely possible and that I am calling in Callie to cook for him.”
“Do I tell him why?” Emily asked, curious.
“An innocent needs help,” Piper informed him. “That’s all he’ll need to know before he gets here. I’ll explain the rest when he gets here.”
“All right,” Emily agreed. “I don’t think I’m going to get much of a tip on that table, but they’ll just have to wait.”
“Chris can’t really leave until Callie gets there, unless you have someone else in mind who can mind the kitchen while it’s busy, so go to your table on the way to the kitchen, grab their glasses, and tell them your boss called. And then go straight to the kitchen and tell Chris what I said.”
“Will do,” Emily agreed. “I hope you save them, Mrs. Halliwell.”
“Your guests?”
“Your innocents.”