Misplaced Magic (Book 8)

Chapter 9

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it." — Maya Angelou

--xxxxxx--

They had been home for about an hour when Lauren woke up. She sat up slowly and saw Christina on the sofa opposite her, still unconscious. She could hear mumbling voices coming from the kitchen. She made her way towards the voices, a little unsteadily, and turned the corner to see her sisters in the middle of a heated conversation. 'What's going on?' She asked wearily.

'Lauren!' Amy came to her side.

'How do you feel?' Katherine asked as Amy led her to a chair.

'Like I've got a hangover.' Lauren ignored Katherine's unimpressed look and lent her head in her hands. 'It's never been this bad.'

'You haven't ever used that much of Christina's power before.' Lisa reminded her.

'I guess.' Lauren sighed. 'What were you guys arguing about?'

'We weren't arguing.' Lisa said. 'We were debating.'

'Okay what were you debating?' Lauren asked.

'If we should call mum first or Wendy.' Dani said.

'Why do we need Wendy?' Lauren asked.

'She always comes through.' Katherine said. 'And she may be able to help us defeat this demon, whoever he is.'

'I think we need to talk to mum first.' Amy said firmly. 'Get the whole situation.'

'We need to find out why Christina's nose was bleeding too. That's only happened one other time. Remember Joe?' Lisa said.

'The demon from the park?' Lauren thought back.

'Yeah.' Lisa confirmed.

'But she was wearing the amulet then, when it was evil. That's why it gave her a nose bleed.' Lauren said. 'This has to be something different.'

 'Doesn't change the fact that we need to find out what.' Katherine said. 

'We also have to find Jonathan before this demon does. Who knows what he could do if he's even more powerful.' Lisa said.

'Yeah I do not want to see that guy with more powers.' Amy agreed. 'And I'm not sure how much time Jonathan has left. His body will just become more and more unstable.'

'I take it Chris isn't awake?' Dani asked Lauren.

'No, but we can start summoning mum without her.' Lauren said. 'Kath's right, and the sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better.' With that, they all made their way up to the attic.

xxxxxx

Christina was dreaming. She knew she was. It was a memory of something from long ago, something she had forgotten. She could see herself. She was about eleven. Michelle was holding her hand and they were walking somewhere. The movies maybe? Christina's eyes moved under their lids as she dreamt. 'When you're older, you're going to be a powerful witch.' Michelle said before smiling down at her.

'Why not now?' Christina asked, her voice a little gentler, a little higher pitched.

'Because, your powers aren't here yet.' Michelle said.

'I want them now.' Young Christina broke free from her mother and jumped up onto the wall they were walking past. Michelle laughed.

'I know, but you must be patient.' Michelle said. 'I didn't have any powers until I was sixteen.'

'That's so long away!' Christina jumped from the wall and landed in front of her mother.

'It'll come around sooner than you think. You'll see.' Michelle took her hand again and they carried on walking. Suddenly, a blast of energy hit them. Michelle kept a hold of Christina's hand and used her blue energy to cushion their landing. They hit the ground and Michelle looked up. There was a demon walking towards them. Michelle turned to Christina and whispered; 'Stay behind the wall. Wait for me.'

'Mum!' Christina was about to protest but Michelle interrupted.

'I mean it Chris, go now.' Michelle pushed her in the direction of safety and she hid out of sight. Christina watched as her mother stood up and faced the demon.

'This is getting old Michelle.' He said, casually cracking the bones in his fingers.

'Leave me alone then Bathin.'

'You know my real name, I'm flattered.' Bathin smiled and started pacing. 'I still have this little problem though.'

'Find another witch.' Michelle spat back venomously. Young Christina peeked out from behind the wall and Bathin waved to her. Michelle turned and saw that she was looking.

'How about the little one? I know she isn't a witch yet but she will be.' Bathing grinned. 'And from what I understand, you have more than enough daughters to give me one of them.'

'Not a chance.' Michelle said. Bathing sighed but nodded.

'Alright then.' He shot out a blast of energy and Christina was suddenly in their living room, clasping a hand to her chest. She looked around and couldn't see any of her sisters.