Post by StoryGirl83 on Nov 9, 2011 12:32:01 GMT -5
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Potions
“Done,” Piper announced as she held up a potion bottle. The liquid inside was a pale yellow. “Now all we have to do is get my son here.”
“Done,” Paige commented ironically as she watched Brianna blink in with her arms around Chris.
Chris wobbled in Brianna’s arms. His face turned green and he ran toward the door of the attic. He almost made it to the door before he started spewing liquid and chunks of food.
Piper watched her son stunned for a moment and then turned to look at Brianna. “What did you do to my son?!”
“Nothing,” Brianna exclaimed quickly. This was not the way she wanted to me a Charmed One, again. It was probably enough to have her out for Brianna’s blood. “He just reacts badly to blinking.”
Three sets of eyes looked at her with mixtures of disbelief and confusion.
Chris slipped down the stairs to clean up.
“He reacts badly to blinking?” Prue asked, skepticism lacing her voice. “I can understand that, if it was orbing and he wasn’t half whitelighter or maybe if it was shimmering, but blinking? That’s the most gentle form of magical travel I’ve experienced.”
Brianna smiled a little at that. “Yeah, it’s a mystery all right. I have a friend who reacts in a similar fashion.” She chuckled. “It’s rather amusing to see him humbled like that, but since it causes him physical pain and not just disorientation, I’ve decided it’s not worth it unless absolutely necessary.”
“Yeah, well it’s absolutely not necessary to do that to my son,” Piper insisted, placing the potion vial back on the table, none too gently.
“Actually,” Brianna commented as she held up the bag with the ingredients they had collected, “it is, if you wanted to get these faster.”
Piper looked at the bag, questioningly. “What’s in there?”
“The ingredients to a potion that will help your other son,” she informed her as she walked over to them and placed the bag on the table next to potion Piper had been working on. “We need at least seven doses. That should be plenty for at least a dozen, probably two dozen or even more.”
“Where on earth did you find a cure?” Piper asked, amazed. “I couldn’t even find mention of one.”
“I followed some demons around for hours this morning,” she announced. “And then I search through some old books, really old books, so old I had to borrow diving equipment to breathe, because it’s kind of buried.”
“You went into a buried library?” Paige asked, a touch of concern in her voice. “Are you okay?”
Brianna nodded. “Oh, I’m fine. I go down there from time to time for research, though usually one of my friends joins me. It was something my friend Toby found years ago.”
Chris reentered the attic with a wash rag and a basin, grimaced at the sight of the throw up and bent down to clean it.
“Leave it,” Piper directed. “We have bigger issues right now.”
Chris nodded as he put down the stuff in his hands. He stood up and moved around the throw up. “So you said, you have good news,” he commented. “I hope it includes getting my powers back, because no offence to Brianna, but I don’t think I can stand more blinking. That was a very unpleasant experience.”
Brianna chuckled at that. “You and CT.” She chuckled a little more.
Chris frowned and looked at her. “What about him?”
She shrugged. “He reacts in a similar manor, that’s all. We try to make sure that someone other than me is around to transport him somewhere if needed.”
“That’s the friend you mentioned earlier?” Piper asked.
Brianna nodded once more. “We’ve got some ingredients for a potion you need to make for your older son. What have you found?”
Piper allowed for the change in subject. “Chris, your friend, Emily. . .”
“She’s not my friend,” he protested. “I just work with her.”
“She knows your secret, Chris,” Piper reminded him. “That builds a bond, and I’ve seen that between the two of you to work.”
Chris frowned. “She’s not magical, Mom. Being my friend is dangerous. Do you have any idea how many people have died because they were my friend?”
Silence met that statement.
Chris didn’t even notice. “Miles was beaten so badly he was in a coma for three weeks before he died. We found Brian’s bloody broken body in out headquarters. Gen found him. I’m not sure which was worse for her. Watching her brother killed or finding her boyfriend’s body. And then Gen. She had a blast of electricity shot through her head.” Chris appeared to be seeing things no one else could see. “And I can never tell Wyatt about Amber. I can’t hurt him like that. He stopped and looked at Piper. “Don’t you understand, Mom? It’s too dangerous for her to be my friend.”
Brianna watched him curiously. She could understand where he was coming from, but she had very different reasons for avoiding friendships with the nonmagical. She couldn’t accept anyone who couldn’t accept her closest friends and accepting her friends was hard enough for the magical community. Oh, she had friendships with some people who weren’t magical, but none of them were close. . . not like those four idiots she called her best friends.
Piper sighed. “Back to my point. Emily came over here with a package someone had delivered to her. It was address to me. Inside there were various items that allowed me to make a potion that should fix your powers.”
Chris frowned. “Are you sure?”
“I studied the potion enough to be certain of its origins,” Piper informed him. “You were given a modified stripping potion mixed with more of that gel that gave you and Wyatt so much trouble earlier this year.”
Chris frowned as he tried to figure out what she meant. His widened as realization hit him. “The gel that kept us from being able to orb?”
Piper nodded. “And I have a cure for that, too. I’ve mixed the two, together, but you’ll need to take them as soon as possible, so drink up.” She picked up the potion vial she had put down when he had arrived and handed it to him.
Chris took it and looked at the yellow liquid with distaste on his face. “Are you sure?”
“Drink it,” Piper instructed him.
Chris sighed and unstopped it. The odor did little to encourage him. Much to the amusement of the others in the room, he pinched his nose, put it up to his lips and swallowed it down in two gulps. He heaved in a deep breath and handed the vial back to his mom. “How long until it works?”
“It needs to get into your bloodstream,” she told him, “so why don’t you two tell me what you mean about a potion to help Wyatt.”
Chris inclined his head toward Brianna. “She’s the one who knows how to make the potion. All the ingredients are in the bag she has with her.” He frowned as he realized the bag was no longer with Brianna. “Or had. Where is it?”
“This one?” Piper asked, suddenly remembering the conversation they had started before Chris had reentered the attic.
Brianna nodded. “I wrote down the portions needed, but my hand writing . . .” she shrugged apologetically, “it’s never been all that great.”
“How do we know we can trust you?” Prue asked.
Brianna held her head up high as she looked Prue in the eye. “Trust me or not. You won’t find me defending who I am or my actions. I don’t particularly care what people think. The thing is, there are at least seven people in need of the potion right now, four of them quite desperately, including your nephew. You wait long and four of them might be dead.” She glanced over at Chris, before returning her attention to Prue. “He doesn’t know what I read. He only knows the testimonials of four friends, three of whom are infected, but dealing with it, and what little his brother might have told him, but it isn’t something you wish on your nephew or anyone else.”
“Prue, Piper should be able to tell if the potion is going to help or harm,” Paige reminded her. “She’s had a lot of practice with that.”
Prue ignored her. “What are you?” she asked Brianna.
“Depends on who you ask,” Brianna snorted. “Witch. Warlock. Who knows.” She turned away and looked at Piper. “Am I going to help? Or do I leave now?”
“You stay,” Chris surprised everyone by saying. “Aunt Prue, I trust her. Besides, she’s Wyatt’s only chance.”
Brianna afforded him a smile. “Thanks.”
He shrugged. “We need your help. I believe you are willing to give it.” He looked at his mother and aunts. “Come on, we need to get to work. Wyatt sounded quite desperate when last I talked to him. I don’t thing things are not going well for him.”
Piper opened the bag and began pulling jars, boxes, and other small containers.
Paige walked over to the table, looking at the contents with a wrinkled nose. “This is supposed to help?”
Brianna nodded. “There is one ingredient not in there.”
“What?!” Chris exclaimed. “You said we had everything.”
She gave him a look. “We do. I said it wasn’t in there. I didn’t say we didn’t have any. I should imagine you have a huge supply in this house.”
“A huge supply?” Chris asked skeptically.
She grinned. “A gallon or two ought to work, depends on the number of batches you wish to make.”
“A gallon or two?” Chris repeated, surprised.
Paige chuckled, having figured out what missing ingredient Brianna was teasing Chris about.
Prue watched with a slightly amused look on her face.
Piper was not so amused. “Just go get the water, Chris,” she ordered.
“Water?” Chris blinked and then laughed. “Right.” He headed toward the door.
“Try orbing,” Piper directed.
Chris looked at his mom, a half smile on his face. “Worth a try.” He focused on the kitchen downstairs and orbed out.
No one was paying attention to Brianna in that moment or they would have seen the grin on her face. Yes! Take that, Uncle Steve!
Piper sighed in relief. “One problem fixed; one much bigger one to deal with. Let’s get to work ladies.”
TO BE CONTINUED