Post by StoryGirl83 on Mar 23, 2011 15:27:16 GMT -5
Chapter Five – Choices to Make, Promises to Keep
Wyatt Halliwell pulled the popcorn out of the microwave and plunked the bag on the kitchen table. He grabbed a plate out of the cupboard and picked up a pan from the stove, pouring the contents onto the plate. He put the plate on the table next to the popcorn and took the pan over to the sink. Rinsing it out, he stuck it in with the rest of the dirty dishes. He picked up the popcorn and the plate and headed into the living room. He stuck both on the coffee table and groaned. He ran back into the kitchen and grabbed a fork.
Once back in the living room Wyatt glanced at the clock, ten til. Seth should be arriving any minute. It was good to have his best friend back. He sat down on the couch and reached down to pick up his plate.
That’s when the sound of orbs reached his ears. Wyatt looked up surprised, his eyes widening as he saw not just his younger brother, but also an oddly familiar stranger. “Chris?”
Chris turned around to look at him. He looked at the food on the table with a raised eyebrow. He shrugged and indicated toward Toby. “Wy, this is Toby. He’s . . . well, he claims there was a demon in The Manor and wants us to deal with it. I asked Mom and the people he described left shortly after I did, so they aren’t an immediate threat, so far as I know.”
From the look on Chris’ face, Wyatt could tell that Chris didn’t really believe this guy’s story, whatever it was. He got up from the couch. “I’m going to go get your friend something to eat.”
“His girlfriend was the mysterious girl who knew what an anti-orb zone was,” Chris commented to his brother.
Wyatt stopped and turned around.
Toby glared at Chris. “How about we get something clear before we go any further? Aka is not my girlfriend.”
“You sure acted like it,” Chris informed him.
“How?” Toby wanted to know. “We were just talking.”
“You stopped the instant she said to.”
“I trust her,” Toby admitted with a shrug. “I would have stopped just as quick if . . . CT or Brianna had told me to stop. Had it been Max, maybe not.”
“Why not Max?”
“Because Max and CT can both be volatile, but unlike CT, Max is not my best friend.” Toby shrugged. “If Max is in a bad mood, I’m not always so inclined to follow his instructions.”
“I suppose you’re the diplomat among your friends,” Chris retorted.
“Perhaps among my friends, especially with Max and Brianna fighting right now.” Toby groaned. “Those two can be just exhausting right now and frankly I’m not sure Aka knows that there is a fight going on.”
Wyatt raised an eyebrow and decided to head into the kitchen. His movie plans were likely spoiled, so he might as well deal with it.
In the living room, Toby was getting very frustrated. “You still aren’t taking this serious. What is it going to take to get your attention? A dead body?” He sat down across from Chris and glared.
“You really think these demons your friend saw are that bad?” Chris glared at him. He had no reason to trust this demon. He wasn’t even sure it wasn’t this demon he should be fighting.
“Look,” Toby glared at him, “Aka said that Max’s aura was good and their auras weren’t. Max is my friend, but his aura is not all that good. So far as I know it’s never crossed the line into evil since we’ve known him, but it’s always been a sort of darker side of light the way Aka tells it.” Toby sighed and looked at Chris soberly. “And if Aka said Max was good compared to them, then these are some really bad demons. I don’t want to know what they might be up to, but I know I want to stop it.”
Chris felt the fight go out of him as he looked at the serious expression on Toby’s face. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
Toby nodded. “We don’t know what Aka saw. She didn’t have enough time to tell me, but she was concerned and more so when she realized they couldn’t possibly be after us, since they didn’t know we were there to start with.”
“I still don’t get why demons would be after you. You are one after all.”
Toby shrugged. “Just because I am a demon doesn’t make me evil. None of us are, but most cannot accept that.” Most weren’t really given the chance, because they liked the ambiguity.
Shimmering caused both young men to look up startled. Toby looked unsure. Chris waited. When it formed into Wyatt’s best friend, Seth Silberman, Chris breathed a sigh of relief. “How many times do I have to tell you, don’t do that to me, Seth?”
Toby watched them warily. “You trust him, I take it?” Toby asked with a slight frown.
Chris nodded. “He’s Wyatt’s best friend, but I take your point. Demonic blood doesn’t make you evil, though I’m not sure how you can be a darklighter and not be evil.”
“I can be a darklighter and not be evil,” Toby commented, “because like you didn’t become a whitelighter the normal way, neither did I become a darklighter the normal way. I was born this way. I don’t see how you or anyone else proposes to change that.”
It was to those words that a far more unusual form of transportations, swirled hearts, appeared in the room and deposited the teenage form of one of Chris’ cousins. Ladybug Halliwell looked around the slightly crowded room. “Chris, do you mind if we talk?” Concern filled her eyes.
“Sure, what’s the matter?” Chris asked as he stood.
Ladybug looked at the two others in the room. She sighed.
Seth scrunched his nose in thought. “Hey, why don’t I give you the grand tour, Mr. . ?”
Toby chuckled. “Edmunds. My name is Toby Edmunds.”
Seth turned to Chris in question. “That’s okay, right?”
Chris nodded. “I haven’t decided how much to trust him, so I might as well warn you, he is half some sort of demon and half darklighter.
Seth’s dark eyebrows rose as he looked at Toby. “That’s some odd combo there.”
“Aka’s the same, more or less,” Toby informed him. “Demon/darklighter, that is, though a different demon.”
Seth shrugged, not really caring who Aka was, and led the way out of the room. “Now this . . .” Seth said, before Chris tuned him out and looked at his cousin. “Now, what is the matter, Ladybug?”