THE CRESCENT MOON PROPHECY

by AlisonGorlier

Piper comes across an old artefact which makes her have power she doesn't normally possess. Paige tries to help her new charge and helps herself along the way. Phoebe, by helping her sisters, improves her columnist work. But at the end of the day, there's always a demon to defeat, yet this time it's not any demon, and there might not be just one...

The Crescent Moon Prophecy

Chapter 1

Paige was waiting at the foot of the Tower Bridge. Her new charge was a British woman, living in London and was having a hard time controlling her magic. But Paige knew no more than that. The Elders, as usual, let her discover on her own who her protégée really was. Paige was pacing up and down with impatience. She hasn't seen any suspect activity yet and was already tired of the damp weather which started ruining her hair.

A group of people walked near her, followed a few yards behind by a young woman who looked like a student, and an old man with a dog came from the other way. The group was chatting loudly and laughing hard. They seemed to be people coming out of work and going to a bar to relax after a Monday at work. Paige's look, without her knowing why, was attracted by the student – a tall blond girl, who seemed nervous as though troubled with some thoughts. She came down the bridge while the man with the dog walked up. As she was passing near the dog, it started to bark at her. She jumped with fright as if she had just woken up from dream. The old man tried to calm down his dog and apologized distractively to the girl because he was having difficulty to maintain the beast.

However, Paige noticed something: the hand of the girl has caught on fire and the young woman was shaking it to try and extinguish it. But the flames were growing bigger and bigger. Paige recognized her charge at once. The poor girl couldn't stop her hand from burning even though she tried to conceal it from anyone who could have seen it. It was time for Paige to intervene.

"Blanket!" Paige summoned. A black blanket appeared in her hands and she ran towards the fire girl. She enveloped the burning hand. "Don't worry," she whispered. "Don't worry. Just calm down, I'm here to help you. Don't panic."

"Who are you? Stop! You'll hurt yourself. Leave me alone!" The girl was trying to set herself free from Paige's hands but the latter managed to keep her arms around the witch while whispering in her ears "Shh… Relax, calm down. It's okay, I'm here to help. Don't worry, relax..."

"Wha… what?! Who're you?

"My name is Paige, I'm here to help you"

"Why? Are you a witch too?"

"Yes I am and I'm also your withelighter"

"My what? Has anyone seen me?" asked the girl frenetically looking right and left.

"No, no one saw you. You're okay now. What's your name?" enquired Paige.

"I'm Maggie, Maggie Carter," replied the girl still shaking a little.

"Nice to meet you Maggie," said Paige with a warm smile. "Now where do you live so we can talk?"

"Knock-knock," said cheerfully a pretty red-haired woman pushing the door open and entering Phoebe's office. "That's today's mail." She was carrying a blue box with a lot of letters in it. Some looked big and heavy, others rather light and others colourful. "People dare everything in order to catch your attention, Phoebe," laughed Miranda, the assistant, picking up a big purple envelop with a photo of the columnist and letters spelling "PLEASE HELP ME".

"Thank you Miranda," answered Phoebe. "Can you also print the e-mails? It would help me so much. My eyes get tired of looking at a screen."

"Sure."

Oh, I could do with a break; I'm exhausted, thought Phoebe. She looked at the clock on her desk. It displayed 6:15 p.m. She decided that she will go home. She packed some letters, took her laptop and her purse. She locked her office and went to see Miranda.

"Here Phoebe, your e-mails,' said Miranda handing out the files.

"Thanks, darling. I'm going home now. See you tomorrow"

"See ya."

Taking the e-mails, she headed towards the lift, and when she was in she pressed the ground-floor button. When the lift's doors opened, she almost ran to her car. Once inside, she took a deep breath and exhaled. It had been a long day: she had lacked inspiration to answer her reader's problem. It frustrated her not to find the solution! The problem had seemed so interesting at first but each time she had come up with something, it had felt ridiculous. She was losing her touch and that was not a good sign. She needed to resource herself: take a good hot bath and have a good night sleep.

Phoebe opened the door of the Manor, put down her bags, and hung her coat and purse. She took back her laptop and mails in her hands and headed to the kitchen. "Anybody home?" she called.

"We're in the kitchen," cried Piper. She was cooking dinner and it smelt divinely good.

"How was London?" Phoebe asked Paige who was sipping a glass of white wine.

"Not bad, except for the jetlag. Even by orbing, it's still tiring to live five more hours in a day than usual. But the city was great! Apart from the weather, that's rather wet over-there. Look at my hair!" she exclaimed. "They are awful!"

"Did you go shopping in Oxford Street?" questioned Piper.

"Yes, I did. I bought a nice pair of shoes. I orbed them here before I went to see my charge."

"How is she?" inquired Phoebe.

"She's a nice girl, her name's Maggie. She's a student in economy and politics. Poor girl though, she lost her mom just after she came into her powers. She had a depression and her powers overgrew due to her state. And now, she has big difficulties to control them. She almost burnt a dog this afternoon because it barked at her. She tried to conceal her hand on fire but she was completely freaked out. I had to help her before she harmed herself or anyone else. We talked in her flat where I could calm her and so that she could tell me her story. I promised her I would be back tomorrow to help her but I think I will need your help Phoebs. You're the doctor in psychology!"

"Does she have any friends? Hey, can I have a glass of wine too, Piper?" she asked turning her head towards her older sister.

"Yes, she has," answered Paige. "But just one, Savi. But she avoids her lately because she's afraid Savi will reject her or panic."

"Understandable," commented Piper while handing over her glass to Phoebe. "That's why we don't tell the whole world who we are. But maybe this Savi will be open-minded enough."

"Hope so," breathed Paige.

Chapter 2

The following morning, Piper went to the grocery to buy some apples and strawberries. After dropping them to the Manor, she went to P3 to prepare the nightclub for the upcoming event of that Saturday: U2 in concert. Being the most high-ranked club in San Francisco was no easy task and this concert would surely bring loads and loads of people. Beers must be ordered quickly to arrive on time, as well as fruits for cocktails and alcohol to make them. All Piper's employees would be required and she had to organise their timetables. At noon, she decided to call Victor, her father.

"Hi Dad! How are you? And how are my boys?... OK fine, just don't give too much ice cream to Wyatt or he'll have bad stomach ache... Oh, you're going to the park today, that's great! Did I give you Chris's cap? I don't remember... Oh, I did. Great then! I'll pick them up tonight. Leo will be home, normally. You should come Friday night to have dinner with us. Phoebe will be glad to see you... Perfect! Come around seven... In any case, we'll see each other tonight. I will tell you if that's still ok."

She put the phone down and seeing there was nothing more to do in P3, decided to have lunch with Phoebe at Avalon, a restaurant near her sister's office. She called Phoebe on her way there to make sure she could make it and drove towards the restaurant.

"How was your morning?" Piper asked, before biting in her burritos.

"T'was ok..." answered Phoebe playing with her fork in her salad. "But the newspaper's deadline is near and I haven't finished my article yet. I've tried so hard to find a solution for this reader and I didn't want to let it go but now it's too late to pick another one. I'm due to four this afternoon."

"What is it about? I may not be a specialist but I can help. Perhaps, you're too close to the problem to see the solution," suggested Piper.

"Alright: it's a girl that has a boyfriend. She's getting really well with her in-laws except for her boyfriend's sister. This one treats her very badly, in front of everyone. She doesn't care to sound rude or anything. The poor girl doesn't want to react in front of her step-family because she likes them and doesn't want to start a fight but the sister really gets on her nerves and she's afraid she might say something out-of-bound. She tries to help the sister when she can and all and she is always nice to her even though she wants to punch her in the face. That's basically the problem. It's very delicate but I thought I could relate to that since it might happen to me, you know, to have a personal point of view inside the situation. But I can't seem to find a solution that wouldn't be a problem for anyone of the family or her."

"I see. I suppose that you thought of her for solving the problem, right?"

"Yes, indeed. What's your point?"

"My point is: why doesn't she convince her boyfriend to talk for her? You know, maybe the sister will listen more to her own brother than a girl she despises. I'm sure the boy will stand for a girlfriend, especially if she is getting so well with his family. He must say something to stop his sister. For how long have they been together?"

"For six years," replied Phoebe.

"Six years, gosh! I'm sure the boy will stand up for his girl. He can tell his sister that now is enough; she has to calm down, to talk more nicely. I'm sure the sister is only jealous of his girlfriend, she can't have her brother for herself anymore and that's what bothers her. How about that? Am I good?"

"Yes, you are. Thank you so much Piper. That's such a relief, you're absolutely right. I hadn't thought at all about the boyfriend as an intermediary."

"You're welcome. Oh, by the way, I've invited Dad on Friday to have dinner with us."

"Oh great, good idea! I miss him."

"Have you got any news about Paige?" inquired Piper.

"Yes, she called me this morning. Her charge is completely shut to anyone. She wouldn't let anyone in her flat anymore even though she had invited Paige yesterday. Paige tried to enter but Maggie wouldn't open the door. So she orbed in and Maggie took fright. She set her sofa on fire. Fortunately, there was a fire extinguisher in the corridor. Paige grabbed it and saved the rest of the furniture."

"Wow, her magic is a big risk if that Maggie doesn't control it quickly!" exclaimed Piper.

"Absolutely!" agreed Phoebe. "Paige asked me if she can take me after work to London to use my empathy to reach the poor girl. You know, to try and understand what she's feeling right now to best help her –"

"To best help her?!" laughed Piper.

"That's how Paige put it!" Phoebe laughed back. "I don't know, it might work, if she's not utterly shut, even to my power."

"Is that possible?"

"It might. I don't know her powers. There could be a blockage."

"Hush!" The waitress of the restaurant was approaching. If she had heard what the sisters were talking about, there could have been awkward questions they didn't want to answer.

"Will you have desert?" she asked.

"Sure," answered Piper. "I'll have a cup of red fruits and a cup of tea. Green please."

"As for me, I'll take a tiramisu, please," added Phoebe.

"No problem," smiled the waitress. "I bring you that in a short while."

"Would you come with me this afternoon? I'd like to go shopping. I need new outfits," asked Piper.

"Sure," said Phoebe enthusiastically. She loved going shopping with her sister. They would always come back with tones of new clothes and it would always be a moment of complicity between them. "Just let me tell Elise that I'm taking my afternoon off."

They were walking down the commercial streets. It was a sunny day, a lot of people were also shopping and the cafes' terraces were full. Piper and Phoebe had already gone into a shop of shoes, of lingerie, of suits for work when Piper wanted to buy some herbs and phials for their potion-making. They crossed the street; passed through another and walked towards a Wiccan shop which was not to obvious from the outside and passed unnoticed if you didn't know it was there.

They entered the shop; the bell above their heads rang to announce there were some costumers.

"Phoebe, can you find me some asphodel, some fungi, and some bird's blood please. I'm taking care of the rest," asked Piper.

"Sure," answered her sister.

Piper was looking for some phials when she saw on the stall behind her a pretty little bracelet. It was in chiselled copper with a sole pendant. The pendant was in the shape of a crescent moon. Somehow this bracelet attracted her; she couldn't tear her eyes off of it. It could go well with my golden necklace with a sun, she thought and decided to buy it. Phoebe met her at the cash desk with the ingredients Piper had required. They paid and went home.

Chapter 3

Once at the Manor, Piper put what they had bought away and Phoebe went in the conservatory to work a little. She had to finish her article and send it before the deadline was over. She wrote what Piper told her earlier in the restaurant. Piper was right: she had been too involved in the problem to see the solution. She knew it was a common mistake and despite her efforts to avoid it, she fell right into it this time and, in addition, without noticing it. She had to be more careful: she hadn't done three years of college and got her diploma to make a beginner's mistake. Adding the final full stop, she attached the article to her e-mail and pressed "send".

Right when she got the acknowledgement of receipt, a blue halo appeared in the sitting room. Then, Paige came. She was completely socked. Apparently, it had been raining hard in London and the poor girl seemed utterly exhausted.

"Oh, there you are Phoebs! I need you. Maggie won't talk to me and I can't figure out what the problem is. She was talking fine to me yesterday and today she said she doesn't want to see anybody and ran away. I followed her but she panicked and threw a fireball at me. I escaped but I didn't dare come too close to her again in case she hurt herself with her power. I could hear her crying through the door of her flat but I was scared to orb into her room and that she put her home on fire. When she calmed down, I came here straight away."

"Okay, calm down little sister," Phoebe tried to appease. "I'll come with you. Just don't get your hopes high; it could take time before I can reach her".

"Thank you Phoebe. I'll just go upstairs and change. I'll be back in a second."

She hurried to her room, grabbed a pair of jeans, new socks, and a warm sweater. She put them on quickly and ran downstairs.

"Now come, I'm worried about her".

Phoebe turned off her laptop, stood up and took Paige's hand. This latter closed her eyes to concentrate and the blue halo started to take form around them. At last, they disappeared.

In London, it was still raining. Paige made them appear directly in front of Maggie's apartment. They could see the storm through the windows of the building.

"Maggie?" asked Paige knocking on the door. There was no answer.

"Let's orb inside," suggested Phoebe. "If her magic gets out of control we're two now to handle it."

Paige transported the two of them inside the flat. Maggie's place was in an utter mess. Clothes were everywhere: on the floor, on the sofa, on the chairs. Her office chair was knocked down; a looking-glass was smashed; books and notebooks were spilled all over the floor – proofs of Maggie's recent crises. Her bedroom was at the end of the place, behind a red door. They could hear her breathing heavily and sobbing. They crossed the flat, pushed the door open and saw her sitting on the floor; her knees under her chin; her hands gripping her hair and she was rocking backward and forward shaking her head from right to left murmuring "I can't! I can't! Leave me alone! I can't do this anymore."

"Maggie, it's okay," started Phoebe. "We're here to help you. You don't have to be afraid of us." And then she murmured turning to Paige: "Oh dear God, this girl is a mess, I mean psychologically. She thinks herself a freak!"

"Leave me alone. I can't do it!" Maggie was still muttering.

Phoebe knelt down to be at Maggie's height. The latter raised her head surprised by Phoebe's move. Very slowly, so that the young girl wouldn't be afraid, Phoebe reached for her hand and took it into her own hands.

"Hi, my name is Phoebe," she said softly. "I'm Paige's sister. You don't have to be afraid. You know that, right?"

After considering for some time, Maggie nodded slightly. Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks were pink and her nose was running a little. Paige rummaged through her handbag and pulled out a handkerchief which she handed over to Maggie.

"Thanks," she said with a small voice and a faint smile.

"Maggie," started Phoebe again. "We're witches, just like you are. I know you're facing difficult times right now but you're not alone anymore." She said this last sentence stroking Maggie's cheek. "I know this is all new to you but you know you can trust us, don't you?"

Maggie pondered Phoebe's sentence for a moment. It was difficult to explain why, but the feeling of being understood, accepted and helped pleased her.

"I think I do."

Phoebe and Paige smiled encouragingly.

"Are you a whitelighter too?" Maggie asked to Phoebe.

"No, I'm not. I'm just a witch. Paige is half and half thanks to her father."

Phoebe felt that Maggie was slowly opening up to them. Knowing other people having magical powers, made the fact of being magical less bad than Maggie believed at first.

"Can you show me your power? I know that Paige can orb, but what can you do?" Maggie asked with a light of curiosity in her eyes.

"Me?" replied Phoebe. "I have especially passive powers. I have premonitions that is to say I can see in the future what will happen but also in the past, what happened. They are generally triggered when I touch something or someone. I am an empath too, in other words I can feel other people's emotions or states of mind. Like right now, I'm sensing that you're nervous and tired but that you're very curious about my powers and witchcraft in general. Am I right?"

"Yes, you are. I guess," said Maggie timidly.

"Nevertheless, I have one active power: levitation. Do you want me to show you?"

"Absolutely," answered Maggie enthusiastically.

Phoebe stood up, placed herself in the middle of the room and stretched her arms, palms up. Then, she bent her knees a little and took off, stabilising herself at two inches of the ceiling.

"Whoa," exclaimed Maggie.

"Impressed?" asked Phoebe from up there.

"Very," she smiled. Paige and Phoebe laughed.

Phoebe landed softly on the carpet, trying to gain balance on her heels while Paige helped Maggie stand up and together they went in the living room and took seat around the dining table.

"Now, why don't you talk a little bit about yourself," suggested Phoebe.

Maggie looked down before starting talking, fidgeting. "My mother died five months ago, just before I entered college, in a car accident. My mother and I were super close; she was like my best friend. I remember every Saturday we used to go shopping together. When she died, I was so sad. Once, I spent the day crying on my bed under my blanket and then suddenly, my blanket took fire. I screamed, completely freaked out. My father came into my room. He first saw the fire on my bed and then my hand on fire. But my hand was not burning as though touched by the flames, it was flaming purple. He understood something was wrong with me; his face turned into a mask of terror and horror mixed up. And then he fainted. I had just managed to blow out my hand when the neighbour entered. He fetched a bucket of water, splashed it over my bed, and called 911 for my father. My father was taken to the hospital. I remained at the house all summer until my classes started. And then, I went to college, I found this flat and I settled in."

"What about your father? Haven't you visited him at the hospital?" inquired Paige.

"Of course, I have. Once he woke up, I stopped by. When he looked at me, there was disgust on his face. And the only thing he said to me while I was standing on the doorway of his chamber was: 'You're a freak! I'm sure it's your fault your mother died!' I was so shocked that I ran out and I never saw him again and I never will!" she exploded.

"Don't say that Maggie," said Phoebe. "Your father just doesn't understand what you are. He freaked out just like you. He loves you, you just have to help him understand."

"How can you be so sure?" asked the young girl taken aback.

"Trust me, you'll have the same experience with boyfriends. Your dad probable didn't know that your mother was a witch. So either she concealed it very well from him or her powers were passive like mine and he never knew."

"No, my father doesn't love me. He hates me! He has abandoned me! I've lost my mother and my father just left me all alone. I can never forgive him!" she exclaimed.

As she got angry her hands caught on fire. Phoebe immediately stepped back. Maggie was overwhelmed and distressed. Paige grabbed at once a dishcloth and covered Maggie's burning hands and extinguished them.

"Okay, calm down," soothed Phoebe. "You're okay, you're with us. We are here now, you're not alone anymore. Just breathe. Relax. See, you've controlled the situation."

Once she was no longer shaking, Paige took her to her bed. Seeing what hour it was already, the sisters decided to leave. Phoebe made Maggie a cup of tea while Paige was neatly placing the blanket over her protégée. Phoebe brought the tea fuming in the mug, wished Maggie good night and promised her to be back the next day with Paige. Then, they orbed back to the Manor.

"There you are!" exclaimed Piper. "Where have you been?"

"Piper!" cried Phoebe. "I told you Paige called me this morning and that I had to help her with her charge."

"Oh, right. I forgot," Piper said with a guilty expression on her face. "Sorry."

"That's okay. What do you want with us?" asked her sister.

"Leo will be here in any minute and we'd like to go to the restaurant with the boys but I have not the time to prepare them and myself. Can you take care of the boys while I dress? Their clothes are in the nursery."

"Sure, no problem, miss panic," laughed Paige. "You take Wyatt, I take Chris," she said to Phoebe.

"When did you get the boys?" questioned Phoebe.

"Right after you left. Dad needs a break; he's had them for 3 days. He deserves a rest."

All three of them went upstairs. Paige and Phoebe entered the nursery while Piper turned towards her room to put on the dress she had bought earlier with Phoebe. It was a black satin dress with a low cleavage and a gold plaited belt. It fell down to her knees and it was sleeveless. She slipped into her black shoes she bought with the dress: they were stilettos with strings that had to be tied in mid-calf. Then, she sat up at her dressing table to put on some makeup: a fine touch of black eyeliner, a slight brush of mascara and a bit of golden eye-shadow. She added some red gloss and a little bit of pink powder on each cheek. She next plaited her long dark hair, put on her copper bracelet and her golden necklace. When she looked up in the mirror, she saw the reflection of Leo standing in the doorway. He was as handsome as ever. Piper hadn't seen him for a week because he had to help one of his charges, a whitelighter-to-be, in some remote part of the world. Piper was smiling broadly: it felt good to see him here. She stood up, went into his arms and they exchanged a kiss. Next moment, Phoebe and Paige came in with Wyatt and Chris, both of them beautiful in their small costumes Piper had also bought earlier.

"You're all perfect," said Leo. "Hi you," he whispered taking Wyatt into his arms and planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Hi Daddy,' the little boy answered. Leo put him down and then took Chris in his arms.

"I've missed you my boys. How are you, you two?" he asked turning towards Paige and Phoebe.

"Oh, you know," answered Paige. "Same old, same old. I have a new charge, a young witch. Phoebe's helping me. Nothing bad has happened... yet," she said smiling.

All four of them laughed. Phoebe was thinking exactly the same thing: nothing bad has happened yet. Each time their lives seemed quiet, quite ordinary and everything went on well except from minor worries at work or at home, they had learned that a magical catastrophe wasn't very far away. It could be a demon's attack, a demoniac faction trying to take over the underworld, an innocent to save in extremis, a world-saving mission organised by the Elders... Therefore, they were always on their guards. It was not an easy job to be a witch, especially a Halliwell.

"Okay," Piper said. "We'd better get going. I've booked for eight o'clock."

That night, Piper and Leo went dinning to a fine restaurant, Paige took a warm bath and Phoebe worked on her new column for the Bay Mirror.

Piper's sleep was agitated. She was running, she didn't know from what but she was really scared. Something or someone was pursuing her. It was at night, in an almost pitch dark place. The moon was only a crescent so it didn't provide a lot of light. She was running through some woods, there were huge trees everywhere around her. She ran as fast as she could looking over her shoulders every now and then to catch a look at her pursuer but she saw no-one. Why was she so afraid? What exactly was she afraid of? Where was she running to? She didn't have the answers of these questions; all she knew was that if she stopped running she'll be dead.

Across the corridor, Phoebe woke up with a start. Hardly had she opened her eyes that she had a premonition. She was standing in a park, at the edge of a wood. She heard someone running and panting. A twig cracked somewhere in the wood. And then, Piper was approaching running fast, she seemed afraid. When she saw Phoebe, she marked a pause. She seemed surprised to see her there. How could she be seen? Was it really her that Piper was seeing or something behind her? Phoebe turned around to see if there was something in the park but she saw nothing. She turned again towards Piper and it happened, really quickly. Piper had started to run again when an energy ball hit her in the back. In one second she was disintegrated. Phoebe's premonition ended. Back in Piper's room, the young woman woke up confused and afraid.

Phoebe got up and knocked on Piper's bedroom door. "Piper," she whispered. "Piper... I need to talk to you. Piper..." She knocked again.

Piper pushed her cover aside. She stood up weakly, her hands were shaking hard and sweat had appeared in her forehead. She took her robe and went to her door. Phoebe let her pass and together they went to the kitchen. The rest of the house was fast asleep. Phoebe noticed her sister's state. Why is she shaking? she wondered. What happened while I was having my premonition?

"Piper, are you alright?" she asked. "You look ill."

"I just had a bad dream, Phoebe. And in that dream, I was running away from something or someone, I don't know," Piper said to her sister. She related the flight, the race, the fear and the strange sensation that Phoebe was more real than anything else in the dream. "And then, I felt something touching my back. But after that... nothing except a floating sensation. And I woke up," she finished.

"Oh... Well Piper," Phoebe said cautiously, twitching her hands. "I just had a premonition. That's why I came to your room. And, in my premonition you were exactly like in your dream: running in a wood and stopping when you saw me. I didn't think that you saw me because usually, in my visions, I'm invisible. I just see things happening. When you were running again to me, an energy ball hit you in the back and you... you were... hum... you were gone."

She did not say that she had seen her sister being completely destroyed by that energy ball. She didn't want to horrify her sister more than she was. Seeing her own death must have been quite traumatising. But there is one thing she couldn't explain: how could her sister have a premonition? Piper's power had always been to freeze time and make things explode by a wave of her hand. Premonition and empathy were Phoebe's powers, not her sister's.

"Piper, I think you had a premonition. I don't know why it was in your dream but I think that's what triggered mine: because you had one, I had it too," Phoebe resonated.

"What?" Piper exclaimed. "Phoebe I don't have premonitions. That's your power."

"I know but it's the only explanation I can find and it's the only reason for me having that premonition without touching you or anything."

"But why did I have a vision? I don't understand..." she sighed. She took her head in her hands trying to avoid the headache that was throbbing. Her moon-shaped bracelet sparkled in the light of the real moon outside shining through the kitchen window.

"There must be a reason, sweetie. We'll figure it out and we'll change the outcome of the premonition." She took Piper into her arms and hugged her. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do. That dream felt so real," she shuddered again. "And, Phoebe?" she called.

"Yes?" answered the other.

"Don't tell Paige or Leo. I don't want them to worry just yet. They've got their charges to worry about. If we need the power of three we'll tell them but not before, okay?"

"Fine, if you want to. Now you must go to sleep. Try and have some rest."

"I'll try."

Both of them went back to bed. They didn't fall asleep until a long time after coming to their rooms and they slept nervously.

Chapter 4

Wednesday morning, everyone was reunited around the breakfast table. Piper had cooked beagles, apple turnovers, and croissants. There were also fruits and porridge on the table as well as jugs of coffee and milk. Wyatt and Chris were also taking breakfast with the grown-ups but they were eating some colourful cereals. Paige and Phoebe were talking about Maggie and Piper and Leo were planning their day together.

Paige was thinking about paying a visit to Maggie's father. She knew he was at the Queen Mary's Hospitals in London. She would try to convince him to talk to his daughter again and explain to him what magic consisted about. Plus, she had done some magical researches last night. In fact, Maggie's mother, Lawrence, was a witch and she had the power to ignite her fingers. Lawrence had managed to keep her witchcraft secret from her husband but hadn't had the time to tell her daughter about the gift she'd receive when she would lift the binding spell she had put on her.

"Because, you see," Paige explained. "Lawrence didn't want her husband to find out about the magic and all. So she would have told her daughter when she would have been old enough to control her powers. Unfortunately she died before she could do anything."

"And like us when Grams died, she received her power automatically," understood Phoebe.

"Exactly! So, it's entirely new to Maggie and to her father."

"But how do you know all this?" Phoebe inquired.

"I summoned Lawrence last night while you were working downstairs and Piper was at the restaurant. I figured that Maggie's father wouldn't tell me anything about his wife or his daughter so I gathered enough knowledge of their situation to go and speak to him."

"You're damn good at your job, aren't you?" said Phoebe, impressed.

"Thank you," answered Paige, blushing and smiling.

Meanwhile, Piper and Leo had decided to go at the zoo with the kids and then grab a pizza at their favourite Italian restaurant in the city. Leo had suggested a walk in a park, but Piper, still haunted by her dream or premonition (she didn't know which yet), had turned it down. She would not risk a demon's attack while the boys were with her. Of course, nothing said that there wouldn't be any attack at the zoo but she felt it less risky. The afternoon, they would go to Magic School to let Wyatt and Chris be at ease with other children doing magic. That was something they had agreed on, even if Piper would have preferred a normal education for her children, growing around magical children would help Wyatt and Chris to control their powers and use them with caution. Piper thought she could use the time at the school to look in books for premonitory dreams.

Paige orbed into an alleyway near the hospital previously checking that nobody would see her. She headed towards the entrance of the huge white curved building. At the reception desk, she asked for Mr Carter. She was indicated fourth floor, west side, room 452. The west side of the hospital was dedicated to the patients who had psychosomatic problems like depression, anorexia, or bulimia. Paige was almost running in the corridors. Hospitals always made her feel uneasy, but this part was somehow creepier than the others, maybe because it was mental disorder. Thankfully, Maggie's father hadn't been placed in a specialised institute. She quickly found the room 452 and knocked vigorously.

"Come in," she heard through the door.

She pushed the door open and came slowly in view of the man who was resting on the bed. He was tall, blond with long hair, a severe look on his face. But he looked emaciated, tired and troubled. Paige approached carefully waiting for the eyes of the man to cross hers.

"Hello, Mr Carter. My name is Paige Matthews. I'm a sort of a social worker (which wasn't entirely wrong since she had been one and she was kind of assisting magical people in need). I'm here about your daughter, Maggie?"

Paige carefully chose her words. She knew that Mr Carter wasn't in good terms with his daughter and she would not risk making that man angry. She needed to help him to help Maggie.

"I don't have any daughter. I don't know what you're talking. Now please leave." He turned his gaze away.

"Mr Carter, please, she needs your help. It's about your wife too".

At these words, he sharply turned his face to Paige. His eyes glittered at the mention of his wife.

"What d'you know about my wife? Who are you people?" he snapped.

"I've told you, Mr Carter. I'm a special social worker. Look," she said. "I'm really, really sorry about what happened to your wife and to your family but you need to discuss her... hmm... legacy."

"Her legacy? What the hell are you talking about?" The poor man seemed completely lost. Paige saw he didn't have clue of what she was insinuating. Lawrence had told the truth: she hadn't spoken to her husband about her magic.

"Okay, Mr Carter, do you believe in supernatural forces?" articulated Paige.

"Of course not!" he answered angrily. "Are you trying to extort me money?"

"NO! No, not at all Mr Carter. Please, listen to me: I know this is hard to understand and it seems unbelievable but can you answer honestly another question?"

He nodded although sceptically.

"Had your wife ever acted strangely, secretly? Did she lock herself up in a room where she asked you not to enter?"

"Well I thought she had a weird hobby she didn't want me to know." He frowned when he tried to remember his wife's habits.

"Well... during those times, Lawrence was practicing magic. Don't look so shocked," she implored, seeing Mr Carter's face twisted in a horror grimace. "It's not bad at all. There is good magic in this world –"

"There is no such thing as magic!" he snapped at her. "You're being ridiculous! What this has to do with my daughter?"

"Maggie has inherited her mother's gifts," she replied simply. "Let me show you magic exists because your daughter needs your help. She needs to know you're there to support her. She has come to her powers because the spell your wife put her under had broken when she died. Therefore, Maggie is completely unprepared for witchcraft and her powers have grown dangerously."

In front of Mr Carter's silence, Paige held out her right hand and called the book on the bed table. It was surrounded for a few seconds by an aura of white and blue stars and then disappeared, to reappear seconds later in Paige's hand.

"Wh... What... How did you do that?" screamed the father.

"Please Mr Carter, don't panic. I'm just proving to you that magic does exist."

"Don't panic! DON'T PANIC! You're a freak doing God knows what in front of me, speaking of my dead wife as a witch and you expect me not to freak out? Are you out of your mind?" he exploded.

"I'm begging you, Mr Carter. It's for the wellbeing of your daughter that I'm explaining this to you. Lawrence told me that she couldn't tell you because she was afraid you'd reject her –"

"Lawrence told you?" he choked. "How could she have told you this? She's dead for God's sake!"

"I summoned her last night," explained Paige feeling that telling the truth was the best policy.

"You what?!"

"I summoned her, Mr Carter. I called her and her ghost appeared to me. She explained me everything I needed to know to help your daughter. Now, please, calm down. I'll tell everything you want to know on magic and how to deal with it if you wish; but the sooner you accept to talk to Maggie again the faster she'll get better."

Mr Carter was having a hard time processing all what the young woman had just told him. What?! His wife was a witch, his daughter too, magic existed? What the hell was happening?

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, anything," replied Paige, hoping it would help then man to understand.

"If... If my wife was a witch, how could she have died? Why couldn't she have saved herself?"

"She couldn't have saved herself because her power was fire. She could ignite her fingertips, like matches if you want. She didn't have the power to orb or to teleport herself out of the car. Witches are powerful, sir, but we're not that strong as to save the entire world or sometimes ourselves. I lost my sister in a battle and, believe me, she was a pretty strong witch."

That was the first time she talked about Prue like that, as though she knew her. True, she was her sister just like Piper and Phoebe were, but she had never met her. She first met her family at Prue's funerals four years ago.

The man closed his eyes. This was a lot of information to absorb. Could he really trust this woman? Could his wife and his daughter really be witches? How could he cope with that? Somehow, he didn't know why, he believed Paige. In his heart, he was feeling this was the only reasonable explanation to what happened to his daughter five months ago: the fire in her bedroom, her hand on fire, purple fire. And also this explained his wife's strange behaviour, that she did keep secrets from him. He sighed heavily.

"I'll come another time, Mr Carter. I have to meet your daughter," said Paige.

"Please, call me Isaac. And, Paige, bring my daughter here some time. I'd like to see her if she wants to."

"I will."

Chapter 5

Phoebe's phone buzzed. She just received a text from Piper:

*Meet me M School. 4p.m*

Phoebe checked her watch: 3.30. She had half an hour to get to Magic School. She took her purse and laptop and left the Bay Mirror. In the attic of the Manor, she opened the Book of Shadows and she chanted a spell that created a portal which would take her to the school. She stepped into it and in a fraction of seconds she was walking in Great Hall of the school where Piper was sitting at a big table reading a heavy book. Students walked past the new comer, not even flicking at the arrival from nowhere. They were chatting lightly or buried in books or going to their next classroom.

Phoebe walked towards Piper, took a seat next to her and looked at the page where Piper had opened the book.

"What are you looking for?"

"Premonitory dreams for witches who don't have the power of premonition," answered Piper.

"Any results?"

"Not really... it's a bit disappointing actually. You have interpretation of dreams, what they mean... But I already know what mine means. I want to know why I had it and how to know what I was running from. I've taken some notes anyway, but they're not very helpful."

Phoebe took Piper's wrist to set it aside in order to read the notes. When her fingers made contact with Piper's bracelet she had a flash.

She seemed to recognise Melinda Warren, her ancestor, for having summoned her seven years ago. But the woman next to her was someone Phoebe didn't know. They were talking over the Book of Shadows, the other woman seemed agitated. Melinda was trying to calm her down and grabbed a quill and an inkpot to write into the book. Phoebe just had the time to see the title of the entry before her premonition ended: Cassandra.

"Okay, what did you see Phoebs?" urged Piper recognising when her sister had a premonition.

"I saw Melinda Warren with another witch. Melinda was writing into the Book of Shadows something entitled Cassandra. We need to go home and look at the Book."

"Agreed. Leo, honey?" she called louder. Leo appeared next to her. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Fine," she answered. "Phoebe and I are going home. Can you watch over the kids?"

"Sure, no problem. What's the matter?"

"Hmm... Paige asked us to look for something to help with her charge in the Book of Shadows," she lied. As they had agreed upon, they wouldn't talk to Leo about the premonition.

"Okay, see you tonight." Then he kissed her and went to the room when the boys were playing.

They created a new portal to go back to the Manor.

They landed in the attic. Phoebe went straight to the Book and opened it towards the beginning where she saw Melinda writing. Piper was pacing while Phoebe was looking.

"Okay. Found it," said Phoebe. Piper ran to her side.

"What does it say?" asked the latter.

"Well, here it goes: Cassandra. She was a powerful good witch with a divinatory power. She was a dear friend of mine and helped me fight the forces of evil that were acting around Salem. She vanquished on her own an extremely dangerous demon which was partly responsible for the witch hunt. It started the rebellion of the people here and their fear carried on its work. I don't know how it did it but we might have to run to protect ourselves even if the demon is dead. Cassandra gave me a little book with all her spells, potions and incantations in it, though I don't why. I hid it with my favourite dress in blue linen. I don't want it lying around. One can never be too careful. Cassandra's gone now for Oakland in the next state. I hope she is fine. And look, there is a picture of her."

Piper took the top of the Book of Shadows to turn it towards her; her bracelet resting on the page.

"Wow, that's some hair. Bright red. She must not have passed unnoticed in those days," commented Piper.

"Piper, look at her wrist. It's your bracelet!" noticed Phoebe.

"How is that possible? Wait... she had the power of divination, it's her bracelet. Is it possible that I had a premonition because it was hers and I'm wearing it?"

"I don't think so," frowned Phoebe. "I mean, what's the link between you two? An object cannot have power; I mean no human power because you need eyes, or at least a mind to see premonitions. Moreover, you inherit your power; you don't pass them through something. Even the Book of Shadows doesn't hold such a powerful power. No, there must be something else, but what is it?"

"Okay... why not try to find that spell book, Cassandra's?"

"Yeah, it might help. I think Grams put all the family belongings in a chest. I just hope that this book, or the dress it was in, weren't thrown away."

The two sisters looked around the attic until they spotted a heavy dark wooden chest. When they tried to opened, it remained locked. They thought it must have been magically sealed. Phoebe went pick up a pen and paper and sat at the small table. She came back some minutes later near the chest. Piper had been trying to see if there wasn't a sort of mechanic lock that might have opened the chest. Finding none, she let Phoebe cast her spell:

Treasure chest that's sealed from us,

We want to see what's in your core,

Let us see what you possess,

So we may find what we look for

The chest glowed white and then, it creaked open. They rummaged inside, being careful of everything their ancestors had collected. And then, at the bottom of the chest, they found it, the blue cotton dress that belonged to Melinda Warren, the first witch of their line. They took it out very carefully as to not damage it and they searched for the little notebook. They found it in a pocket. It was covered in black velvet and the symbol on its cover was a triple crescent: the symbol of another powerful coven based in San Francisco. Turning the pages, they came across an entry entitled A Warning to the Warrens.

Intrigued, the witches read it avidly. Cassandra mentioned a descendant of Melinda Warren, about three centuries after her lifetime. She wrote that she foresaw a young woman around thirty, dark-haired, rather petite being attacked by a demon exceptionally powerful which would hit her with an energy ball. Even though she was sure that the woman was a descendant of Melinda, her last name had changed. She saw an H in the surname and a P as initial of her first name. Then, she added some precious information for the would-be victim to anticipate what would happen. She knew it would be a Thursday around nine in the evening. It would be in a park with golden gates near the sea. The witch she saw in her vision was alone and was struck by the energy ball near the edge of the park. It seemed the demon she would deal with was highly respected in the underworld and even feared by his peers.

"That's all she says?" asked Piper alarmed.

"What? What do you want more? It's rather a clear premonition. I wonder if I'll be that powerful one day. Okay we know she's talking about you –"

"How do you know?"

"Piper! P.H. as initials, dark-haired, petite, three centuries after Melinda, around her thirties, who else could it be? And in addition, we both saw, we are even three to have seen you in that wood running from a demon! Now we have elements that can help us save you."

"Huh, like what?" retorted Piper, completely freaked out. "I know where I'm gonna die, when I'm gonna die, how I'm gonna die and I know I'll be alone. But I don't know why nor by which stupid demon! I've always known I'll die young."

"Don't be ridiculous Piper. If we had that premonition and if Cassandra had it too, to alert Melinda, it means that you are meant to be saved. The demon is feared even by his peers... Wait a minute! Wouldn't it be our dear friend Zanku?"

"NO WAY! You think?" Piper asked with a nervous grin on her face.

"Look, it makes sense."

"Does it?" Piper said sarcastically.

"Listen to me," reasoned Phoebe. "Zanku was imprisoned by the Source because he was too powerful and threatened it. Zanku is now the leader of the underworld and I think for good reasons."

"Phoebe! We haven't been able to vanquish him yet. How am I going to survive his attack?"

"You will! We have fought him off each time. And this time, we've been warned. We have a step ahead of him. Okay, today's Wednesday and I think you didn't come across that bracelet at the beginning of the week by chance. I think that tomorrow is the fatidic day."

"What! Tomorrow? I might die tomorrow?" cried Piper.

"Don't panic Piper, you're not gonna die. First of all, I don't want you to go near the park till the end of the week, agreed?

"Of course. I won't run into the lion's den, I'm not crazy."

"I know, sweetie," Phoebe tried to calm Piper down. She tucked her sister's hair behind her ear. "Don't bark at me, I'm trying to protect you."

Piper exhaled. "I know, I'm sorry. It's just that I'm afraid, you know. It's Zanku we're talking about!"

"Yes it is, so we have to warn Paige, we'll surely need the Power of Three. And we'll warn Leo too. He has the right to know, now that we know everything. His advice may help us."

"Yeah, sure. You're right. He can take care of the kids that way too."

"Okay. Let's call a family meeting."

Back in London, Paige and Maggie stood in front of the Queen Mary's Hospital. Paige had come to pick Maggie up after her school day and had announced the latter that her father had finally agreed to see her. Maggie was feeling nervous.

"What if he has changed his mind? What if he still sees the freak in me?"

"No, Maggie. He doesn't think like that anymore. I've seen him; I told him what you are. I explained to him what happened five months ago. Now it's time for reconciliation. You can do it, Maggie. You're ready and he's ready to see you."

Together they entered the hospital. They asked to see Mr. Carter and were shown to his room. Maggie took a deep breath before stepping into the ward of her father. Paige, following her, noticed that he looked in better shape than he had the day before. Apparently, finally knowing the truth about his wife and his daughter; about the car accident that really was an accident; and about his daughter coming to see him, had done him the greater good.

As he saw Maggie, a tear came running down his cheek. It was the first time Maggie had ever seen her father crying and it gripped her heart. She ran in his arms, bursting into tears and asking forgiveness with a choking voice.

"You've nothing to be sorry for, darling," said Mr. Carter. "It's okay now, everything's going to be fine."

"Dad... I'm so sorry!" said Maggie anyway.

"Don't worry my sweet girl," soothed her father stroking her hair. "I... I just have to get used to that fact that you have magical powers."

"I guess we have to learn that together, Dad. I wish Mum were still here to explain it all to us – to both of us. I wish she had told me sooner, I wish she had told you the truth."

"Maggie," intervened Paige. "You can't change the past. Lawrence had her reasons for not telling you both that she was a witch and she would have told you that you were one if she hadn't... Anyway, you have each other now to understand and handle the situation. But I want to offer you an opportunity. It exists a Magic School where young witches and wizards go to study the craft. It could be very beneficial for you to attend the classes there. You'll be able to master you powers and even develop them in a safe and secure way. What do you think?"

"This is great," answered Maggie enthusiastically. "But isn't there way I could finish my degree here in London? I've worked so hard to get it and I'm in final year."

"I'm sure Magic School will find a way for you to combine both your "classic" studies and your magical studies."

Maggie turned towards her father. They hugged for a long a time. They both had bright smile on their faces.

"Now there is one more step that you both need to do together. Mr. Carter, would you mind to go outside for a little while. I'll bring you here after it's done."

After Mr Carter had put some civil clothes on, they headed to the parking lot. By cab, Paige drove them to the cemetery in the outskirt of the city. She led them to Lawrence Carter's grave. Since the burial, neither Maggie nor her father had visited it. The headstone was in white granite. On it was written: To our beloved mother and wife, May you find peace. There, daughter and father finally said goodbye to mother and wife. Paige, standing a little aside, felt a warm feeling in her heart. She did it. She helped a young witch; she helped bring peace in a family destroyed by loss; she was proud to be a whitelighter.

However, seeing that man hugging his daughter tightly reminded her of her own father, Sam. And sadness came blackening the picture. She would have loved that her father were part of her life. She had amazing foster parents of course, she would always love them but not having her real parents by her side brought a feeling of emptiness. She was still looking for her place as witch, as a sister and as a whitelighter. Her quest for self identity had still a long way to go although she sensed she was making progress.

Suddenly, her phone rang: "Hullo?" she answered.

"Paige? It's Phoebe," she heard through the device. "We need you at home. Piper is... in some kind of trouble. Can you come home quickly?"

"Sure. I'm on my way." She hung up.

"Hmm, Maggie?" she called. "Would it be okay if you take your father back to the hospital alone? My sisters need me right now."

"Of course, Paige. Go and help your sisters. Thank you so much for all you have done for us. I'm very grateful to you."

"So am I, Paige," said Mr. Carter. "Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome. It was my pleasure."

Paige made her goodbye, stepped back a little and orbed out under the astonished eyes of Mr. Carter and the envious smile of Maggie.

When Paige orbed in the Manor, she found Piper, Phoebe and Leo sitting in the living room. Phoebe caught sight of her little sister and stood up. She led her to the sofa and both sat down. Then, Piper started relating her story: the dream, Phoebe's premonition, the writing in the Book of Shadows by Melinda Warren, Cassandra's little spell book.

"And now, we need a plan to fight Zanku in case I'm in trouble anyway. I'll try as possible tomorrow to be as far away as possible from the Golden Gate Park, but in case we come across him, you must have a battle plan."

Leo looked worried. He wasn't pleased at all that his wife was the target of powerful super-demon with no way of vanquishing it. Since some months now, after having helped the sisters and Leo to put an end to the machinations of the Avatars, Zanku seemed to want the witches' heads on a plate. His schemes were becoming more and more difficult to decipher and the whole house was in constant vigilance for his attacks.

Chapter 6

Thursday evening Piper went out in a restaurant with her friend Mindy. She had promised her sisters she would be home at eight thirty before the time of Cassandra's prophecy. She had a great time in that fancy place, talking about trivial things such as baby showers of other friends or new clothes shops that had opened downtown. It was everything Piper had always wanted – a normal life without magic interfering in the way. She was with a mortal friend in a fine restaurant making silly jokes and really enjoying herself.

After desert (chocolate pie for Piper and a crème brulee for Mindy), they walked in the fresh air still talking pleasantly. Mindy was telling Piper about her husband's new job in a bank company when Piper spotted a red glow on the opposite sidewalk – a fireball had been thrown to a young woman who had barely dodged it. There were many scratches and burnt marks all over her body and her clothes were torn apart in many places. The girl ran away but the demon followed. The instinct of a Charmed One took the upper-hand – the call of saving an innocent was too strong for Piper to ignore it. She ran off after the two magical beings.

In the Halliwell Manor, Phoebe and Paige were wondering where Piper could be since she wasn't home yet and they had heard nothing from her either. The house phone suddenly rang, making both of them jump in surprise. On the other end was Mindy. She sounded annoyed because Piper, after going out of the restaurant, had left her alone to run after some people without saying goodbye. She thought Piper had been very rude to do that because they were having a great time. Paige apologised in Piper's name but cut the conversation short.

"Who was Piper running after?" wondered Paige aloud.

"I don't know," answered Phoebe. "She might have seen something, or Zanku. But now we have no idea where she is and it's already eight forty."

She was starting to panic. As she paced in the living room, she picked up Cassandra's book and had a flash. She had the same premonition she'd had before – Piper being killed by an energy ball.

"Paige!" she cried. "She's in the Golden Gate Park. We've got to hurry."

Paige rushed at Phoebe's side, took her sister's hand and focused on orbing. They appeared at the edge of the woods. They first saw a scared woman diving behind the trees, then a demon running some yards off looking for her and going in the woods himself and finally they saw Piper racing as fast she could. Phoebe and Paige ran towards her, grabbed each other's hands and in a second they were off, just in time before Zanku appeared throwing an energy ball at them. Paige's presence changed the situation. Piper was safe. A few moments later, they were back in the Manor.

"I saw Zanku," panted Piper. "And loads of demons. It looked like a gathering. We must get back in that park quickly; there is an innocent on a demon's death list."

"Was it the girl in ruined clothes?"

"Yes, that would be her," she confirmed. "I was just coming out of the restaurant with Mindy when I saw a demon throwing a fireball at her. She was nearly killed and then she ran way. I had to help her so I chased after her. And then I realised we were heading towards the Golden Gate Park, but it didn't matter, I had to try and save that girl. She was screaming and she must have alerted Zanku because he appeared a little behind coming from the trees. I turned around and we both realised something was wrong. I started running as fast as I could. I said to myself this is it – but then I saw you guys and... Thank you. You saved my life. Again."

Phoebe hugged Piper. She reassured her that nine o'clock had passed and gone, the race in the park was over – she was saved. There was no more death threat weighing on her.

All three of them hurried upstairs to the Book of Shadows. They had to find a way to destroy the demon after the innocent girl before going to fight Zanku. Leo appeared in the attic.

"Piper you're hurt!" he exclaimed. He raised his hand over Piper bleeding cut on her arm. She hadn't even noticed it.

"I must have brushed past a branch." Then Leo hugged her, relieved that she was still alive. He had been up with the Elders to have an overview of what would happen to intervene rapidly. Fortunately, Paige had controlled the situation and saved his wife.

"Here!" Piper stopped Paige flipping through the pages. "It's him. That was the demon chasing the girl. What does the book say about him?"

"Er – he's part of a demoniac faction, ruling over the west side of the underworld. Pretty strong faction, it seems, but still a lower level demon. I think you can blow him up," she added turning to Piper.

"Okay. What about Zanku now?"

"I might have an idea, actually," said Paige. "You said that this demon threw a fireball to the girl and that Zanku was already in the woods. I think he might be building up an army. What if we make a bit of havoc within their ranks," she said maliciously.

"OK, explain your idea," Phoebe encouraged her.

"I was thinking that I could go and fetch Maggie since she has the power of throwing fire too; we could spread confusion by making them think they're fighting each other. Zanku will have half his army destroyed by the time he realises what's going on."

"Yeah, that could work," agreed Phoebe.

"But are you sure Maggie is ready for this? I mean, we're going up against Zanku. Even we are not strong enough to vanquish him," Piper looked concerned.

"I think she can do it. She's much stronger now and she won't be in the front. I'll watch over her."

They all agreed. On this, Paige disappeared to pick up Maggie while Leo orbed the two other sisters in the woods. They landed not far from the witch who was scared to death. They also saw several demons looking for her a few yards away. Leo came quietly towards the poor woman and orbed her out of the park. Piper and Phoebe walked noiselessly towards the place where a lot of demons seemed to have gathered around a fire. There looked like several factions were there. Phoebe showed to Piper that Paige and Maggie had just appeared on the opposite side of the camp.

In front of Phoebe, a demon was playing with a fireball he had conjured. At Paige's sign, Phoebe approach quietly the demon from behind and kicked him hard in the back. The fireball in his hand flew across the camp and hit another demon. Meanwhile, Maggie had shot fire at another demon and she and Paige had disappeared straight after her attack.

The demons didn't understand what was happening. Piper blew up one of them a few seconds later. Fights started to break in their ranks, each faction thinking that another was attacking its troops. Many demons died during this feud, and more at the hands of the Charmed Ones.

They saw Zanku near the central fire. He was trying to calm down his soldiers without success. Getting suddenly angry, he killed at once every demon that stood around him. Not one was left alive.

"What the hell is going on?" he shouted.

The Halliwell sisters and Maggie were back together and walking out of the shadow moved towards Zanku. He turned around and rage could be seen on his face which had gone red.

"Just a little spring cleaning," answered Phoebe with a grim. "And as you could have seen an army of demons is not what's going to finish us off. What a pity, isn't it?" And before he could unleash his wrath on them, they all took each other's hands and disappeared.

Chapter 7

"Aargh, I need a hot bath, my muscles are hurting me," moaned Piper.

They had arrived at the Manor, safe and sound – without even a scratch. Another successful mission for the Charmed Ones, it would take time for Zanku to find another plan to beat them.

Paige took Maggie back to London and Phoebe went directly to bed. Piper climbed the stairs up to her bedroom and entered quietly. Leo was humming a lullaby to Chris who was sleeping in his arm. Wyatt was already fast asleep in his cradle.

"Are you okay?" whispered Leo to Piper. "How did it go?"

"Fine. We're all fine and Maggie's back to London. Zanku's army is destroyed and he is enraged," she answered. "What about our young witch?" she asked.

Leo had taken care of her. Her name was Abigail and after having healed her burnings, Leo had brought her back to her home.

"She thanks you by the way. She said that you distracted the demon that was following her long enough for her to hide. She was also relieved when I took her home."

"Thank God, she's alright."

Leo put Chris in his own cradle, covered him with a warm blue blanket and lit the little lamp with animal drawings above Chris's head. Then, he turned to Piper and took her into her arms. They hugged for her while, each savouring one of the few moments they had together. What with Leo's work, Piper's and the Charmed Ones' job, these moments were pretty rare.

Piper, then, led Leo to the bathroom, lit up some candles, filled the tub with hot water and poured some sweet-smelling bath cream. They took a long bath, very relaxing. Piper thought that it was nice to share some couple moments with her husband. Then a dark thought came in her mind:

"What do think they're gonna do to you?" she murmured.

"I don't know," whispered Leo in her hair. "I think it'll be some sort of hearing."

The Elders had summoned Leo to come so that they could judge his acts concerning the Avatars. Leo had to see them the next Sunday.

Indeed, Leo had been an Avatar for some time. He had helped them create a utopia whereas the Elders had seen the Avatars as a threat. Leo, hoping to have a better life with his wife and children had joined them – the utopia consisted in removing all violence in the world which included demons but also bad people. The demons, which didn't want to die, had woken up Zanku who had been sealed into a cave by the Source of all evil himself. Zanku, then, sought for Leo to help him undermine the Avatars' plan. He took the whitelighter to Egypt and showed him that the Avatars had already tried to create their utopia in Ancient Egypt but the population revolted against them and their plan aborted.

Actually, the Avatars tried to kill all people who would disturb their order. They were killing human beings. But the utopia had already begun and people were acting weird. They weren't shocked by people's sudden death. Leo had tried to talk to the sisters but they didn't want to listen as they had been under the spell of the utopia. Then, thanks to Zanku, Leo had created a disturbance and the Avatars had killed him. Phoebe had been the first one to react, by touching the Book of Shadows to remind herself of all the losses and the pain they had caused. Then, she had opened the eyes of her sisters. They went to see the Avatars and reverse the utopia to bring Leo back and the world as it was before.

Nevertheless, Leo, having been part of the Avatars, had, in a way, betrayed the Elders. He had to face the consequences of his acts.

"They can't do you much harm," said hopefully Piper. "After all, you helped defeat them."

"I don't think they'll see it that way," he breathed.

"They have to! I can't leave without you!"

"Don't worry, honey. It's not in their nature to be vengeful."

Chapter 8

Friday evening, everyone was reunited around the table for a family dinner. Piper had spent all day cooking for this evening. Victor was chatting happily with Phoebe, Paige was playing with Chris and Wyatt and Leo was uncorking two bottles of wine.

Piper arrived in living room, carrying a large tray of appetising food.

"Dinner is served," she cried.

Paige put the two little boys in their playground and sat at the table. Leo and Piper sat down next to each other.

"So," asked Victor. "How was your week?"

"Oh you know," answered Piper. "Quiet as usual: I almost died; Phoebe and Paige saved me; we saved another with along the way; we destroyed an army of demons –"

"Ha! What do you want? We lead a peaceful life!" exclaimed Paige.

Everyone around the table burst into laughter.

"How's Maggie?" Phoebe asked her.

"Oh, she's fine," Paige explained. "She'll go to Magic School once a week to master her power and once she's finished her economy and politics studies she'll go full time."

"Oh that's great. What are you doing now?" asked Phoebe.

"I've been assigned a new charge in South-Africa. She's a teacher who is a whitelighter-to-be. But she's on the edge of losing faith in the good she does around her because one of student committed suicide. It has been a shock for her."

"Gosh, this sounds to be hard."

"I'm sure Paige will be great for the job," said Leo with a smile.

"I hope you're right, Leo. But I really wish that next time I'll have a charge in San Francisco. Travelling is a bit tiring," moaned Paige.

"Don't you dare complain," Piper scolded her playfully. "You have the opportunity to see the world, for God's sake!"

Paige pulled her tongue at Piper.

"Well, speaking of travelling I'm going to New York next week," announced Phoebe. "I'm going for the Bay Mirror, there is a social convention so as a columnist I have a VIP pass; there is also a banquet with cocktails and then I'll see Madonna in concert!"

She looked very excited. It would do her a lot of good to have this trip. Another landscape and new faces were always refreshing.

"Hey, could you slip a word for Madonna to go to P3? It would be great for the club,' said Piper hopefully.

"I'm not sure I'll have access to Madonna, you know," laughed Phoebe.

Everyone helped himself with the food; they ate and drank. Then, the conversation broke into small groups. Paige and Phoebe talked about shopping while Piper, after having put the boys to bed, expressed her bad feeling to Leo about his hearing with the Elders. Victor, overhearing their discussion, tried to appease her and told her that whatever might happen, their love was something no one could break apart; it was something they should believe in. He also said that they would always find a way to be together – they had so far. They were destined to be together. This speech cheered Piper up a little bit.

The dinner ended quite well. Everyone's stomach was full with roast beef, potatoes and treacle tart. The stock of wine had also diminished a good deal. Victor left around midnight and Piper and Leo went to bed right after that. Paige and Phoebe had offered to do the washing up so that their sister could rest.

In the club, Saturday night, the crowd was enjoying the band playing. U2 had brought a large number of people. The concert was a success for them and for Piper. P3 was still the place to be in San Francisco.

The three sisters were enjoying their night in their favourite alcove. Piper was wearing the clothes she had bought early that week – blue jeans, a red camisole and black boots. Paige was dressed in London fashion – a tight dress and flashy coloured-stilettos. As for Phoebe, she was wearing a pale blue top, a blue-jean skirt and mid-calves white boots.

Paige was rethinking about the night before.

"You know," she said to her sisters. "I'm thinking that I should talk to Sam more often."

"Sam? As in your dad?" asked Piper, surprised.

"Yes, my dad. Having brought together Maggie and her father and seeing you guys yesterday with Victor, I'm kind of missing my own father. I know he's not been often here for me, but I haven't given him a chance to be with me either. It could be cool to know him and he could tell me about mum to."

"Sure!" encouraged Phoebe. "It could be nice to talk to someone other than us. I know I'd like to have a boyfriend to whom I could confide in."

At the word boyfriend, Piper's face turned sad. This word had reminded her of her husband, whom she was not sure to see again after the following day.

"You're alright sweetie?" Phoebe had noticed the change in Piper's mood.

"I don't know," she sighed. "I'm having this pit in my stomach. It's probably nothing, I'm worrying as usual, but I can't seem to shake this bad feeling."

"About what, honey?" asked Paige.

"About Leo. I don't know why, but I'm almost sure something terrible will happen. They won't let him get away with the Avatar thing."

"Whatever they do, we're here for you, Piper. You know that, don't you?"

"Thank you girls, it means the world to me." And with that they hugged.

U2 had just begun another song about high hopes and love. Phoebe was scrutinising the crowd, still looking for Mr. Right. Then, finally, leaning on the bar was a good-looking man. He caught her eyes when he turned to her. She stood up and walked towards him. The week was ending better than it had started. She was back on work, next week she'd go to New York and a fine man was buying her a drink.

The Charmed Ones just had to wait for the sentence the Elders would put on Leo.

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