Post by StoryGirl83 on Apr 22, 2018 19:13:14 GMT -5
Chapter Thirty-Four - Bunny
11:20 AM
"I'm fine, Mom," Chris assured his mom for the fifth time as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. "I just needed sleep. Yeah, Wyatt's here, too, though he closely resembles a caged wounded animal."
Wyatt shot his brother a glare.
"No, no, he's fine," more or less, Chris added silently. "Do you need us there?" He sighed and nodded as Paige orbed in. "Aunt Paige just got back. I'll tell her."
He flipped closed his phone and turned to look at Paige.
"Tell me what?" Paige asked confused.
"For the last hour people have been trying to get entrance into the hospital with no symptoms." He scowled. "As best they can tell two blonde women have been going around and holding them at gunpoint, forcing them to drink tap water. The people figure they had better chances with the water then the gun, but . . .
"It makes our victim pool grow even wider," Paige sighed. Noticing her children huddled together in front of a table loaded down with papers, she walked over to them. "How's everything with your dad's boss?"
"He's safe," Hank declared. "We took some precautions, but he's safe. We were able to get some potentially useful info off him. And Ladybug came back a few minutes ago with some more info."
"You have anything from this WitchFever person?" Alanna asked as she crossed something off the page in front of her.
Paige nodded. "The rather terrifying account of being sacrificed on an alter from the one person who was there in 1637 and would know."
Alanna grimaced.
"You said Ladybug's back," Paige commented as she glanced around. "Where is she?"
"Downstairs hopefully not waking Hope like she woke me," Chris interjected. "I was actually getting a decent amount of sleep and suddenly there was this large object landing on me."
"I'm not that large," Ladybug protested as she reentered the attic. "Oh, good you're back, Aunt Paige. I think something's wrong with Hope."
"Wrong?" Paige's eyes filled with concern as she started for the stairs.
Ladybug held up two pieces of paper. "She said a talking bunny gave this to her."
Paige skidded to a stop and stared at her niece. "A what?"
"You heard me right," Ladybug frowned. "I'm not sure what to make of it."
Paige took the papers from Ladybug and read the first aloud. "I was approached by someone yesterday who has more than a normal knowledge in what he calls 'Aunt Elisa's stupid revenge plan'. It took me a while to convince him to actually tell me something as he is somewhat delirious as a result of the tale I have related below. His name is Charles Chambers and at eight years of age he was among those who cast the spell that started this all.
"I'm sorry for the subterfuge, but I could see no other way to not waste time more than has already been wasted. By this point Charles is what is being referred to as stage four. He has another name for it that I won't repeat. I know that doesn't agree with what I previously said about him being one of those who cast this spell, but nearly two decades ago he chose to find a way to both get back his mortality and eliminate his magic all together. I guess he succeeded. He believed this made him harder to find for his family, but they found him and I have written out the story of what happened then based off what he told me.
"There is one more thing, but I think you need to read his story first. It is rather distasteful to me, but Charles is convinced that it is true."
Paige stopped reading to flip to the next page. She scanned it in silence, her eyes getting wider and her skin growing pale as each moment passed.
She turned it to the last page and read aloud the last paragraph. "I know this is a lot to take in and it will not answer all your questions or likely even most of them, but I believe it to be true and much as I dislike it, necessary. Please do not ignore it. -B"
Paige stared at the page for several seconds and then looked at Ladybug. "We all know this wasn't from some talking rabbit. I want all of you to start working on organizing everything we've got while I go see if I can get something out of Hope."
She didn't wait to find out if they listened to her. She just head straight down the stairs and down the hall to where Hope sat crossed legged on the bed.
"Bunny didn't work, huh?"
"You didn't really see a talking rabbit did you?" Paige gave her a stern look.
"Sure, I did," Hope argued. "I mean I know that wasn't a rabbit, but whomever it was seemed to really want me to believe that."
"So you have no idea who was in here?" Paige asked startled.
Hope shrugged. "I have an idea, but Bunny doesn't want me to know, so I play along."
"Wait!" Paige looked at her niece startled. "You have regular conversations with talking rabbits?"
"I wouldn't say regular," Hope hedged, "but this isn't the first. Bunny's really sad."
Paige groaned. "Pearl Hope Halliwell, you can't just talk to strange . . . animals."
"Dad said I was safe with Bunny," Hope protested.
Paige froze. "Coop said that?"
Hope nodded.
"When?"
"When Grandpa came to visit in January," Hope told her. "Bunny came over for the first time that day. We were talking in the yard."
January 18, 2027
"Cilly, have you seen your sisters?" Phoebe Halliwell asked her middle daughter as she let her dad in.
"Ladybug's in her darkroom," Cilly told her as she rushed to the door and hugged Victor. "Hi, Grandpa. It's great to see you."
Victor hugged her back. "I think you've groan an inch since I last saw you."
"Don't be silly, Grandpa," Cilly laughed. "I haven't grown any."
"Cilly? What about Hope?"
"Backyard, I think," Cilly told her absently as she led Victor toward the couch. "Well, was I right?"
"Pricilla, would you look at me?" Phoebe asked in frustration. A hand on her shoulder caused her to look up into the amused eyes of her husband.
"I'll get our daughter, love," Coop offered. "Venus, listen to your mother."
Cilly's eyes snapped to attention as Coop headed into the backyard and saw what appeared to be a six-foot rabbit talking to his youngest daughter. "Pearl!" he called out as he ran toward her.
Both Hope and the rabbit turned to look at him as he ran to them. The rabbit gave him a curious look and a nearly unnoticeable, but very human shrug.
Coop stopped in front of them and his empathy started working overtime. From his daughter he felt only surprise and a little bit of worry for him. From the rabbit, well, what he felt stunned him. "Pearl, who is this?"
"Bunny," Hope told him with a laugh. "Can't get any other name from him . . . or is it her?"
Coop chuckled as the annoyance emanating as a result of the question, but surprisingly there was no answer. "Bunny is it?"
"For now . . . sir," "Bunny" replied, resentment rolling off in waves.
"And why should I let you within a hundred miles of my daughter?" Coop wanted to know.
"I mean her no harm . . . sir," Bunny replied, the last word almost choked out as if he didn't like it applied to Coop.
Coop had no doubt of that statement, but considering Bunny's reaction to Coop, he needed more. "And do you always look like a rabbit?"
"Rarely," Bunny admitted wryly.
"Do you see why we have a problem here?"
"Dad!"
Bunny nodded. "I see it."
"You didn't plan on being seen by her mother or I, did you?" Coop pressed.
"I didn't plan. Period," Bunny informed him. In a whispered hiss too low for Hope to hear Bunny added. "If I planned this, do you really think I'd look like a . . . bunny rabbit?"
Coop chuckled. "That's easily remedied."
Bunny's head shook hard. "I shouldn't be here at all." Bunny made a move to leave.
"Wait!" Hope called out.
Once more the emotions rolling off Bunny stunned Coop and it was as if Coop's relief was a palpable thing. He didn't know who Bunny was, but he knew he could trust Bunny's rarely pawed hands with his daughter's safety.
"I have to go," Bunny told Hope. "Your dad wants me to leave."
"Only because her grandpa is here for dinner," Coop found himself saying.
Bunny's jaw dropped.
"Of course, I don't want you just dropping in without notice and taking her somewhere," Coop added. "And I'd prefer you didn't look like a rabbit. I want to see your face."
Bunny stood immobile for several seconds. "I . . . I don't know what to say."
"Unless you plan on coming inside to eat dinner, I suggest you say it tomorrow morning at nine o'clock sharp."
The sound of the back door opening could be heard and Bunny took off running. Bunny was almost to the tree line when Coop saw fir turn to clothes, skin, and hair and pawed legs turn to legs with feet and arms with hands.
Then, Phoebe's voice called them in for dinner.
11:24 AM
"I don't know what he and Dad talked about the next day," Hope admitted, "but I know they talked and later the next evening Dad told me I was free to talk with
Bunny on occasion."
"And you don't have the slightest clue who Bunny is?" Paige asked mystified.
Hope shrugged. "Dad knew."
"Your dad knew what?"
"Everything he needed to know." And that was enough for her.
Paige sighed. "Fine, we'll discuss this later. Right now, upstairs. I want all our minds working on this while we are awake."
Hope grinned and hopped off the bed.
Paige followed her upstairs knowing she wouldn't be able to so easily get the mysterious Bunny off her mind even if her brother-in-law could.
When they reached the attic Hope looked around and frowned. "Where are Seth and Cilly?"
“Seth wasn’t here when . . .”
“Actually, Seth has been in and out quite a bit,” Hank interrupted. “He was supposed to update Aunt Prue on what was going on and come right back.”
“Except traveling from the East Coast is time consuming as you no doubt noticed yourself,” Jani added. “Lanna just got off the phone with him.”
"I asked him to bring Aunt Prue back here and Cilly did show up while you were downstairs, so I sent her after Aunt Piper," Alanna told her. "I was going to send Wyatt, but Cilly made more sense at the time. We need Wyatt here. You're right, Mom. This ends now."