Scratching The Surface

Chapter 14

Piper sat in the corner of the basement with her girls on her lap, Jason wrapping a blanket around them. They had a couple cereal boxes and water bottles at their feet, but nothing else to keep them occupied as the thunder rolled out. Jason kept an eye on his phone, waiting for the tornado warning to lift.

"Piper..." Jason suddenly looked up at her, having been lighting another candle.

"Yeah?" she looked over at him, currently trying to calm a terrified Maddie. "What's wrong?"

He gestured to the wall Nico had put back up. "Did you do that?"

She shook her head. "I've been too busy with the girls."

"Then who did?" he accused, before realizing what it meant. "The...the ghost did? That's...that's impossible...ghosts can't...touch things..."

"He could pick up a coffee cup," Piper contradicted. "And drink from it, and pick up Maddie, and scare Leo to death. I'm sure he could have put a wall back up."

"He-...scare Leo?" Jason questioned. "Am I missing something?"

Katie burst out laughing at the memory. "That was funny!"

Piper smiled at her, laughing a little herself. "It was, wasn't it? Leo looked like he was going to wet his pants."

Jason started to smile at the thought. "What'd he do, show himself?"

Piper shook her head. "Katie, how about you tell daddy what happened?"

Katie ran to Jason and jumped on his lap. "Every time Leo went to get something, he'd get Maddie out of her eating chair and put her on the ground. He thought she was climbing out."

"Is that so?" Jason ruffled her hair. "Sounds like fun."

"It was!" she agreed. "Nico's fun!"

"Okay, but he still shouldn't have put that wall back up," Jason argued, looking back to Piper. "It's my basement now and I want it down."

"There's a reason he wants it up." Piper tried. "There's obviously a reason."

"Then he can come to me about it." Jason crossed his arms. "Until then it's coming right down-"

"Okay, I came to you about it." Nico's sarcastic voice rang out. He stood behind Jason, leaning against the wall they currently fought over. "Now can you shut up about it?"

Jason snapped his head up to face Nico, his face paling. He looked him over once, saw his neck, looked to Piper, and walked upstairs. Nico watched with a slightly amused smirk, but Piper stared after him worriedly.

"He'll be fine." Nico walked over to Piper and sat beside the kids, his form looking more solid than usual. He closed his eyes before looking up at her. "Are you okay?" His neck looked worse than usual, the purple skin raw and bleeding. He looked sick and worn, he looked...dead. The poor boy looked as if his death was painful and gruesome, like he had suffered and suffered until his last breath. Piper saw him for what he truly was━dead━and wished she could go back to the late night talks over coffee. That Nico had been so much more inviting.

"I'm okay," she managed, giving him a small smile. "Just worried about the storm and all, hoping that Jason will get back down here soon. It sounds really bad out."

"He isn't stupid. If he needs to be down here, he will." Nico promised. He rubbed at his neck uncomfortably, closing his eyes a little while doing so.

"Are you okay?" Piper asked after a minute. "You look...different."

Nico let out a soft laugh. "That's a way to put it. Yeah, I'm fine. Storms seem to...heighten the paranormal, you could say. They give me more substance. I don't know why, and I don't really like it. But it is how it is."

"I think it would have been better for Jason to see you some other time, when it isn't storming," Piper admitted. "I'm not trying to be rude, but I think it scared him a little, to be honest."

"I was planning for that, but you two were fighting." Nico looked down at his feet as he tapped them against the floor. "I don't like seeing you two fight, and neither do the girls."

Piper leaned her head on his shoulder, smiling when he felt as solid as anyone else. "You're a good kid, Nico. Not like how I pictured a hundreds-year-old ghost."

"Thanks?" Nico looked to the girls, finding Maddie asleep again and Katie playing with a doll.

Piper also looked at the girls, her smile faltering. "Maddie's been sleeping a lot lately..."

"I'm sure she's fine." Nico brushed it off quickly. "She seems healthy to me."

"Yeah..." Piper didn't seem to believe him.

"Do you want me to go talk to Jason?" Nico asked. "Because I can. I can check up on him and clear the air."

Piper moved her head off his shoulder so he could get up. "Yeah, that'd be good. Thank you, Nico."

He winked at her before disappearing from her sight, leaving her alone in the dimly lit basement with only her two daughters for company.

"Momma?" Katie looked up at Piper, wrapped in a blanket. "Why does Nico look so hurt?"

Piper looked down at Katie, sighing a little at the question. "He...he was hurt, Katie, and it still shows. But he's okay, don't worry. It's just going to show for a while."

"Who hurt him?" Katie asked, her lip trembling. "They hurt him really really bad..."

Piper pulled Katie close and kissed the top of her head. "I don't know who hurt him, Katie. He hasn't told me. Maybe you can ask him, hm?"

Katie nodded. "Is he okay upstairs with the storm?"

"He's bringing your dad back down so we're all safe," Piper explained. "So don't worry. Try to take a nap or something, okay?"

Katie laid her head on Piper's shoulder, her blue eyes watching the staircase. She waited for her father, no doubt terrified that the storm would take him. Piper waited also but made sure Katie didn't notice.