Leo orbed into the kitchen and found the girls setting the table for dinner. Wyatt was playing with some rubber toys in his high chair. He smiled at the scene, he hadn’t been able to come since Chris left the day before but Piper seemed to have gotten what she wanted, the family life was back to normal, or almost. He grimaced. They would not like the news.

“Hi,” he said.

Piper saw him and smiled, oh, how he missed that smile. He had an odd feeling, as though he had seen that smile somewhere else. He shook the feeling away and inhaled deeply.

“There is a problem.”

“What now?” Paige whined. “When it’s not Chris ridding us to the bone it’s the Elders,” she quickly stopped at the glare she received from Piper at the mention of Chris.

“What’s the problem?” Phoebe quickly tried to diffuse the situation. That whole “we decided” hadn’t been true. Paige and Phoebe had been all for giving their Whitelighter a chance to explain himself better, but in the end Piper and Leo were the parents and they were set on a warpath against Chris.

“Well, there is a very strong magical source acting out lately. Since yesterday afternoon to be more exact,” he explained.

“And that is bad because…” Paige made a motion as if to say “get to the point already!”

“Well, according to the Elders they felt this strong magical presence a few months ago but it wasn’t active and they were waiting to see which way it went. Especially since something was blocking them of finding out who this is and where he or she is.”

“How much power?” Piper asked.

“They’ve equated it to how much they expect Wyatt to have once he has reached adulthood,” he answered and the girls nodded in appreciation to what they were up against.

“And this power isn’t lying low anymore?” Phoebe asked.

“Not since yesterday,” Leo shook his head. “There’s been a spree of demon vanquishing. Just to give you an idea the amount of demons vanquished in the last 24 hours equals a little over half of what the Charmed Ones, both sets, have vanquished until today.”

“More than half of what we vanquished in six years in one day!” Piper was floored.

“But if whoever this is vanquishing demons isn’t that good for us. Why stop them?” Paige asked confused.

“Not at this rate,” Leo shook his head. “For there to be good there needs to be evil and vice versa. There is a balance to be kept. That is why we don’t just send you after demons randomly. We send you after the ones that threaten that balance.”

“So we have to find whoever this is, who I might add is as powerful as the most powerful being around, and what? Vanquish them, convince them to stop?” Piper asked.

“Well,” Leo winced, “The Elders would like you to convince them to stop since they are obviously on our side and could be a great asset.”

“And no idea who “they” are?” Paige asked.

“Nope.”

“I bet “they” are not in the book either,” Phoebe huffed.

“Probably not,” Leo shook his head.

“You’re of great help,” Piper glared at him and Leo smiled sheepishly.

“Lost which spell?” she asked.

“Our best bet,” Paige said. “Want me to orb Wyatt to your dad’s?”

“Please,” Piper said.

“Be right back,” Paige said picking Wyatt up and orbing out. Phoebe and Piper went to the attic followed by Leo to get everything ready. Soon Paige was back and they were casting the spell, nothing happened. They tried changing the spell, nada, they tried writing a new spell, and guess what? Exactly, nothing.

After a couple of hours of trying every summoning and locating means they knew Phoebe bit her lip and glanced wearily at Piper and Leo. They would not take her suggestion well.

“You know who might know something?” she asked trying a light tone.

Piper’s eyes narrowed and she snapped, “No,” and Phoebe could tell she was saying no to her idea and not answering her question but she plunged on:

“This might have happened and he’d-“

“No!” Piper said more firmly.

“Yes,” Paige snapped at her. “He might know and we’re not condemning the world just because you and Leo don’t want to hear that you might not be the perfect parents! No, Piper,” Paige held her own in front of her oldest sister glare, “I don’t like thinking I might have let my nephew get hurt but other than that there is no reason not to trust Chris.”

“He sent me to Valhalla,” Leo said firmly.

“We don’t know that for sure. And has it occurred to you that maybe there was a good reason for it. It’s not like you could have been killed there. There were many other ways to permanently get rid of you if he wanted, more efficient ways. Valhalla seems quite a stupid choice and if there is one thing Chris isn’t is stupid. Do you really want to let the world go to hell because of your pride Leo?”

Leo’s cheeks puffed and for a while Phoebe and Paige thought he’d explode but after a moment of silence he shook his head jerkily. Half the battle was won and both sisters turned to Piper.

“Fine!” she snapped. “Call him.”

Phoebe smiled and promptly called, “CHRIS!” They waited. “CHRIS!” Nothing.

“Would you come?” Paige shrugged, she turned to Piper. “You call him.”

“Why me?” Piper asked outraged.

“He never ignores you,” Paige said simply.

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Phoebe asked. “I think we should be offended.”

“Chris,” Piper called but she had no luck. “Apparently he started ignoring me now. CHRIS, I’m hurt!” she cried and instantly orbs started forming. Chris materialized in front of them and glancing at Piper he scowled.

“You lied! I was busy!”

“What happened to you?” Piper asked worried. He looked awful, his clothes were dirty and singed, he was completely bloodied up and there were gashes and burns everywhere she could see. On top of that he looked exhausted, ready to drop at any moment. They were all so shocked at his state that none of the stopped to think that a Whitelighter should not be able to stay hurt like that.

“None of your business,” he snapped and when Leo automatically came forward to heal him he took a step back and cried “Stay back!”

Leo was stung; Chris had acted as if he was afraid of him.

“What do you want?” he hissed again.

“Let me heal you and then you can help-“

“You don’t need to touch me to get my help, what do you want with evil me? I thought you paragon of goodness didn’t mix with riffraff like me,” he snapped angrily.

Leo inhaled deeply, “Look, we get that you’re offended and maybe even a little angry-“

“Maybe,” Chris sneered, “A little.”

“There is this strong magical presence that has been around for a few months and has been acting out since yesterday,” Phoebe said soothingly as if trying to coax a scared animal. “The Elders are worried. Do you know anything about it?”

Chris snorted derisively, “You wouldn’t figure it out even if it smacked you right in the face,” he shook his head and glared at them. “Figure out by yourselves I’ve got stuff to do!” With that he orbed out.

“What did he mean by that?” Piper asked angrily.

“I don’t know, but he clearly knows who we’re after,“ Paige said.

“Well, then we have to get him back,” Piper snapped and turned to Leo, “Can you sense him?”

“I’ve never put him on my radar, sorry,” Leo shook his head.

“Paige, orb to P3 and find something of his so we can scry for him,” Phoebe told Paige and she and Piper waited for her to come back. Another two hours later and they had no luck. Paige had only found some of his clothes, Chris obviously kept his stuff hidden and they couldn’t scry or summon him no matter what they did.

“Finding Chris is just as hard as finding that new power,” Phoebe huffed.

“Maybe he is blocking us,” Leo mused.

“What?” Piper asked.

“Whitelighters can put their charges on mute if they need to,” he went on. “But a Whitelighter can’t block scrying,” he frowned.

“Well, this one can,” Paige huffed but Leo took no notice and went on, “An Elder could but not a White- AH!” he doubled up in pain and the girls ran to him.

“Leo!” Piper cried.

Leo raised his head and there were tears streaming down his face, he orbed out without noticing that they had all been touching him.