The Hour of Darkness
Author's Note: I don't own Charmed…
I.
The morning broke softly in a haze of fog, gray skies and chilling rain as the lone SUV made its way down the deserted country road. Thick patches of fog and mist shrouded everything in a cold, wet dew, obscuring the road and the surrounding countryside as the headlights of the SUV winked out while night slowly gave way to a gray November morning.
The wet morning chill cut right through Piper Halliwell's down-filled jacket as she absently gazed at the barren landscape that passed by in an endless stream of barren trees, thick woods and snow-packed fields. The rental SUV's heater took off some of the chill from her legs as she glanced over at her older sister, Prudence, who hummed softly in time with the music that played on the radio. The music faded out as Prue guided the vehicle along the icy road up one hill and then down into a small valley.
Phoebe was in the back seat packed tightly between suitcases and thick cardboard boxes which were sealed with duct tape. Phoebe seemed to feel Piper looking back at her as Phoebe glanced up at her older sister and smiled while she listened to her CD player. Piper offered a warm smile in return as she faced forward once more to stare out her window at the alien landscape.
"Piper," Prue suddenly spoke, which caused Piper to start involuntarily, "get out the roadmap and see where the heck we're headed. I don't recognize this stretch of road at all."
"How can you tell, Prue?" Piper joked as she fetched the roadmap from the glove compartment, "This whole road looks the same to me. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that we've been traveling in circles."
"Don't say that," Prue smiled, "you'll jinx us."
Piper just grinned as she unfolded the map and carefully read each landmark and twists in the road. After several minutes, Piper frowned.
"I hate to say this, guys," Piper mumbled, as she glanced up from the roadmap to the road ahead, "but I think we're lost."
"Oh, great," Prue grumbled, as Phoebe removed her headset and leaned forward between her two older sisters.
"Hey," Phoebe chimed in cheerfully, "what's going on?"
"We are so-o lost," Piper declared as she fumbled with the map, "if I'm reading the map correctly, we should have seen the highway an hour ago."
"Well," Prudence snipped as she checked the rental car's gas gauge, "we had better find a gas station soon, otherwise we'll be walking to Alberta."
"We can't be very far from the highway, Piper," Phoebe replied as she ignored Prue's comment and pointed at the map, "we past through this town here on the way to dig up those black roots. The highway wasn't more than twenty miles further on down the road."
"I still can't believe we had to come all the way to Canada just to get some spell components," Piper said, as she folded the map and handed it back to Phoebe. Phoebe unfolded the map in her lap as she put on her headset once more, tapping her foot in time with the beat of the music as she silently sang along.
"We didn't have any choice, Piper," Prue reminded her younger sibling, "the black roots are very important to some of our more powerful vanquishing spells. They can only be harvested at certain times of the year and since our regular supplier was out of them we had to come to Canada ourselves."
"Couldn't we have just back ordered them?" Piper joked dryly.
"And what if some powerful demon showed up?" Prue asked, "Besides, we found enough black root to restock our spell supplies for nearly a year, and it was free. What we saved on the cost of the black roots more than paid for this trip to Canada."
"What about the fact that you had to take time off from Buckland's, Prue?" Piper argued, "And I certainly can't take any more time off from Quake's."
"Just think of it as a vacation, Piper," Phoebe urged as she leaned forward between Prue and Piper, "it gives us a chance to get out of San Francisco for a while."
"Phoebe," Piper said as she looked at her younger sister, "my idea of a vacation is a warm beach on some tropical island, not Canada in the fall."
Piper turned back to face forward when she noticed a small, dark shape move onto the road in front of them, not more than fifty feet ahead through the fog. It took the shape of a small child; a young blonde-haired girl, who simply stood in the middle of the road and watched the vehicle bare down on her.
"Prue, look out!" Piper screamed. Prue's dark eyes focused on the young girl as Prue slammed on the breaks and turned the steering wheel sharply to the right. The SUV skidded off the road and crashed into the ditch on the right hand side, tossing the Halliwell sisters about. After a few seconds the SUV came to a halt.
"Is everyone alright?" Prue asked, as she undid her safety belt. Piper looked back at her older sister and nodded briefly, then turned to face Phoebe, who was holding her head. A small trickle of blood seeped from beneath her fingers.
"Phoebe!" Piper cried, as she fought to undo her own restraints, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," Phoebe groaned, "just a nasty knock on the head. Are you guys okay?"
"I'm fine…Piper?" Prue asked, "What about you?"
"Just shaken, not stirred," Piper joked, "but what about that…girl?"
Prue and Phoebe looked towards the rear of the SUV where Piper stared, but the little girl was gone.
"Oh, no!" Piper gasped, "Do you think we hit her?"
"I know I didn't hit her!" Prue stammered, as she and Piper exited the SUV. Phoebe started to follow her sisters but Piper ordered her to stay put.
Piper jogged up to Prue, who was looking about frantically for any signs of the mysterious little girl. Piper's long hair flung around her face and shoulders as she looked to her left, then right, before grabbing Prue's jacket.
"You did see a little girl, right?" Piper asked worriedly.
"We both did, Piper," Prue said quietly, "although it would seem as though we both hallucinated the whole thing."
"Both of us?" Piper asked, "How is that possible? How could we both hallucinate about the same thing at the same time?"
"I don't know," Prue said, "but let's go check on Phoebe. There's no little girl out here that we can find. Maybe Phoebe's power can help…if the little girl was real."
Piper went back to the SUV, which was half way in a step ditch, as she struggled to open the passenger door, while Phoebe wrestled to remove several boxes from her lap, which had been tossed about when the vehicle had gone into the ditch.
"Let me see that head of yours," Piper demanded softly, "that was some nasty knock you took. Are you feeling sick to your stomach?"
"No," Phoebe replied, "unless you're talking about Prue's driving."
"Not really," Piper said softly, "if you're feeling sick to your stomach, it could mean that you have a mild concussion."
"Don't worry about me, Piper," Phoebe said with a quirky smile, "I'm tough--even when Prue's driving. What happened, anyway?"
"We thought we saw a little girl in the road, Phebes," Prue said, as she entered the driver's side door and pulled herself inside, "but we can't seem to find her."
"I didn't see anyone," Phoebe declared as Piper tended to her small wound, "what did she look like?"
"It all happened so fast," Piper said, her hands shaking, "it looked like a little blonde-haired girl dressed in black."
"Out here?" Phoebe asked, "In the middle of nowhere?--OUCH!"
"Sorry," Piper apologized.
"Maybe you saw an animal--you know, like a deer or something," Phoebe offered.
Prue nodded, "That's possible. The fog out here is pretty thick."
"We should make sure," Piper advised.
"Alright," Prue said, "you two stay here; I'll go and have a look around."
"Don't wander off too far, Prue," Piper said.
"Yes, mother."
Prue Halliwell emerged from the bushes a short distance from the SUV a while later as Piper and Phoebe came up to her. Prue brushed the snow from her jacket and sighed.
"How's your head?" Prue questioned.
"Nothing broken, I think," Phoebe grinned, "so, did you find your mysterious little girl?"
"Nothing," Prue announced, "there's definitely no little girl out here anywhere. I've been searching all through the woods, on both sides of the road….like I said. Nothing."
"Well, how about a little something to lower your spirits?" Phoebe said.
"Thrill me," Prue shot back.
"The rear axle on the SUV is busted clean in two," Phoebe jerked a thumb back at the vehicle, "even if you could push it out of the ditch, Prue, we won't be driving anywhere."
"Great," Prue shook her head, "we must be miles from the nearest town!"
"It's no problem," Phoebe said quickly, "I'll just give the rental agency a call and tell them that we ran off the road. They'll send a tow truck."
Phoebe fetched her cell phone from the SUV and walked off as Piper glanced over at Prue.
"Even if Phoebe gets a hold of someone," Piper reasoned, "it's going to take several hours before they can get to us…if they can even find us."
"Fortunately I brought some extra food and water," Prue announced.
"What would we do without you, Prue?" Piper teased.
"Simple," Prue answered, "you'd go hungry."
Piper shivered as she stepped out of the relative warmth of the SUV and into the chilling dampness of the early morning. Prue walked around to the passenger's side of the vehicle and inspected the damage while Phoebe stood a short distance from them as she tried to place a call. After another moment, Phoebe gave up in frustration, walked over to her two sisters, and smiled grimly.
"Bad news, guys," Phoebe said.
"Let me guess," Prue said with a quirky smile, "they won't be able to get a tow truck out here for a couple of hours, right?"
"Not exactly," Phoebe said slowly, "I can't even get a signal. I think we're in a dead zone."
"You can't even call someone to tell them where we are?" Piper asked stunned.
"The radio was working not more than a few minutes before we went in the ditch," Phoebe reasoned quickly, "so if we backtrack to where it was working, I might be able to get a signal there."
"Wonderful," Prue grumbled again, her hands on her hips, "we're stranded in the middle of the Canadian wilderness and we can't even call for help. So much for our magical powers helping us this time."
"I guess we'll just have to rely on the magic of AT&T," Piper grinned.
"You guys stay with the car," Phoebe offered, "and I'll backtrack until I can get a signal and call for help."
"You shouldn't go alone, Phoebe," Piper fretted, "there's no telling what out there in those woods."
Prue walked over and snatched the phone from Phoebe.
"I'll go and call for help," Prue announced, "while you guys stay here with the car."
"Prue, I don't think it's a good idea--" Piper began, but Prue interrupted her.
"I'm the one with the offensive power, Piper," Prue pointed out, "and if I run into any bears or mooses, I'll just--"
"Mooses?" Phoebe repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Mooses…Moose," Prue fumbled about for the proper plural form then gave up in disgust, "You know what I mean."
"Well, what ever we decide to do, we'd better get a move on," Piper said, "there's supposed to be a snow storm coming this way."
"Right," Prue went back to the car and fetched some candy bars and a compass from her duffle bag, "you girls stay with the car and I'll be back with help as soon as I can."
"Watch out for the mooses," Phoebe called out, as Prue looked back at her baby sister with a grin.
To Be Continued…
Author's Note: I don't own Charmed…
I.
The morning broke softly in a haze of fog, gray skies and chilling rain as the lone SUV made its way down the deserted country road. Thick patches of fog and mist shrouded everything in a cold, wet dew, obscuring the road and the surrounding countryside as the headlights of the SUV winked out while night slowly gave way to a gray November morning.
The wet morning chill cut right through Piper Halliwell's down-filled jacket as she absently gazed at the barren landscape that passed by in an endless stream of barren trees, thick woods and snow-packed fields. The rental SUV's heater took off some of the chill from her legs as she glanced over at her older sister, Prudence, who hummed softly in time with the music that played on the radio. The music faded out as Prue guided the vehicle along the icy road up one hill and then down into a small valley.
Phoebe was in the back seat packed tightly between suitcases and thick cardboard boxes which were sealed with duct tape. Phoebe seemed to feel Piper looking back at her as Phoebe glanced up at her older sister and smiled while she listened to her CD player. Piper offered a warm smile in return as she faced forward once more to stare out her window at the alien landscape.
"Piper," Prue suddenly spoke, which caused Piper to start involuntarily, "get out the roadmap and see where the heck we're headed. I don't recognize this stretch of road at all."
"How can you tell, Prue?" Piper joked as she fetched the roadmap from the glove compartment, "This whole road looks the same to me. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that we've been traveling in circles."
"Don't say that," Prue smiled, "you'll jinx us."
Piper just grinned as she unfolded the map and carefully read each landmark and twists in the road. After several minutes, Piper frowned.
"I hate to say this, guys," Piper mumbled, as she glanced up from the roadmap to the road ahead, "but I think we're lost."
"Oh, great," Prue grumbled, as Phoebe removed her headset and leaned forward between her two older sisters.
"Hey," Phoebe chimed in cheerfully, "what's going on?"
"We are so-o lost," Piper declared as she fumbled with the map, "if I'm reading the map correctly, we should have seen the highway an hour ago."
"Well," Prudence snipped as she checked the rental car's gas gauge, "we had better find a gas station soon, otherwise we'll be walking to Alberta."
"We can't be very far from the highway, Piper," Phoebe replied as she ignored Prue's comment and pointed at the map, "we past through this town here on the way to dig up those black roots. The highway wasn't more than twenty miles further on down the road."
"I still can't believe we had to come all the way to Canada just to get some spell components," Piper said, as she folded the map and handed it back to Phoebe. Phoebe unfolded the map in her lap as she put on her headset once more, tapping her foot in time with the beat of the music as she silently sang along.
"We didn't have any choice, Piper," Prue reminded her younger sibling, "the black roots are very important to some of our more powerful vanquishing spells. They can only be harvested at certain times of the year and since our regular supplier was out of them we had to come to Canada ourselves."
"Couldn't we have just back ordered them?" Piper joked dryly.
"And what if some powerful demon showed up?" Prue asked, "Besides, we found enough black root to restock our spell supplies for nearly a year, and it was free. What we saved on the cost of the black roots more than paid for this trip to Canada."
"What about the fact that you had to take time off from Buckland's, Prue?" Piper argued, "And I certainly can't take any more time off from Quake's."
"Just think of it as a vacation, Piper," Phoebe urged as she leaned forward between Prue and Piper, "it gives us a chance to get out of San Francisco for a while."
"Phoebe," Piper said as she looked at her younger sister, "my idea of a vacation is a warm beach on some tropical island, not Canada in the fall."
Piper turned back to face forward when she noticed a small, dark shape move onto the road in front of them, not more than fifty feet ahead through the fog. It took the shape of a small child; a young blonde-haired girl, who simply stood in the middle of the road and watched the vehicle bare down on her.
"Prue, look out!" Piper screamed. Prue's dark eyes focused on the young girl as Prue slammed on the breaks and turned the steering wheel sharply to the right. The SUV skidded off the road and crashed into the ditch on the right hand side, tossing the Halliwell sisters about. After a few seconds the SUV came to a halt.
"Is everyone alright?" Prue asked, as she undid her safety belt. Piper looked back at her older sister and nodded briefly, then turned to face Phoebe, who was holding her head. A small trickle of blood seeped from beneath her fingers.
"Phoebe!" Piper cried, as she fought to undo her own restraints, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," Phoebe groaned, "just a nasty knock on the head. Are you guys okay?"
"I'm fine…Piper?" Prue asked, "What about you?"
"Just shaken, not stirred," Piper joked, "but what about that…girl?"
Prue and Phoebe looked towards the rear of the SUV where Piper stared, but the little girl was gone.
"Oh, no!" Piper gasped, "Do you think we hit her?"
"I know I didn't hit her!" Prue stammered, as she and Piper exited the SUV. Phoebe started to follow her sisters but Piper ordered her to stay put.
Piper jogged up to Prue, who was looking about frantically for any signs of the mysterious little girl. Piper's long hair flung around her face and shoulders as she looked to her left, then right, before grabbing Prue's jacket.
"You did see a little girl, right?" Piper asked worriedly.
"We both did, Piper," Prue said quietly, "although it would seem as though we both hallucinated the whole thing."
"Both of us?" Piper asked, "How is that possible? How could we both hallucinate about the same thing at the same time?"
"I don't know," Prue said, "but let's go check on Phoebe. There's no little girl out here that we can find. Maybe Phoebe's power can help…if the little girl was real."
Piper went back to the SUV, which was half way in a step ditch, as she struggled to open the passenger door, while Phoebe wrestled to remove several boxes from her lap, which had been tossed about when the vehicle had gone into the ditch.
"Let me see that head of yours," Piper demanded softly, "that was some nasty knock you took. Are you feeling sick to your stomach?"
"No," Phoebe replied, "unless you're talking about Prue's driving."
"Not really," Piper said softly, "if you're feeling sick to your stomach, it could mean that you have a mild concussion."
"Don't worry about me, Piper," Phoebe said with a quirky smile, "I'm tough--even when Prue's driving. What happened, anyway?"
"We thought we saw a little girl in the road, Phebes," Prue said, as she entered the driver's side door and pulled herself inside, "but we can't seem to find her."
"I didn't see anyone," Phoebe declared as Piper tended to her small wound, "what did she look like?"
"It all happened so fast," Piper said, her hands shaking, "it looked like a little blonde-haired girl dressed in black."
"Out here?" Phoebe asked, "In the middle of nowhere?--OUCH!"
"Sorry," Piper apologized.
"Maybe you saw an animal--you know, like a deer or something," Phoebe offered.
Prue nodded, "That's possible. The fog out here is pretty thick."
"We should make sure," Piper advised.
"Alright," Prue said, "you two stay here; I'll go and have a look around."
"Don't wander off too far, Prue," Piper said.
"Yes, mother."
Prue Halliwell emerged from the bushes a short distance from the SUV a while later as Piper and Phoebe came up to her. Prue brushed the snow from her jacket and sighed.
"How's your head?" Prue questioned.
"Nothing broken, I think," Phoebe grinned, "so, did you find your mysterious little girl?"
"Nothing," Prue announced, "there's definitely no little girl out here anywhere. I've been searching all through the woods, on both sides of the road….like I said. Nothing."
"Well, how about a little something to lower your spirits?" Phoebe said.
"Thrill me," Prue shot back.
"The rear axle on the SUV is busted clean in two," Phoebe jerked a thumb back at the vehicle, "even if you could push it out of the ditch, Prue, we won't be driving anywhere."
"Great," Prue shook her head, "we must be miles from the nearest town!"
"It's no problem," Phoebe said quickly, "I'll just give the rental agency a call and tell them that we ran off the road. They'll send a tow truck."
Phoebe fetched her cell phone from the SUV and walked off as Piper glanced over at Prue.
"Even if Phoebe gets a hold of someone," Piper reasoned, "it's going to take several hours before they can get to us…if they can even find us."
"Fortunately I brought some extra food and water," Prue announced.
"What would we do without you, Prue?" Piper teased.
"Simple," Prue answered, "you'd go hungry."
Piper shivered as she stepped out of the relative warmth of the SUV and into the chilling dampness of the early morning. Prue walked around to the passenger's side of the vehicle and inspected the damage while Phoebe stood a short distance from them as she tried to place a call. After another moment, Phoebe gave up in frustration, walked over to her two sisters, and smiled grimly.
"Bad news, guys," Phoebe said.
"Let me guess," Prue said with a quirky smile, "they won't be able to get a tow truck out here for a couple of hours, right?"
"Not exactly," Phoebe said slowly, "I can't even get a signal. I think we're in a dead zone."
"You can't even call someone to tell them where we are?" Piper asked stunned.
"The radio was working not more than a few minutes before we went in the ditch," Phoebe reasoned quickly, "so if we backtrack to where it was working, I might be able to get a signal there."
"Wonderful," Prue grumbled again, her hands on her hips, "we're stranded in the middle of the Canadian wilderness and we can't even call for help. So much for our magical powers helping us this time."
"I guess we'll just have to rely on the magic of AT&T," Piper grinned.
"You guys stay with the car," Phoebe offered, "and I'll backtrack until I can get a signal and call for help."
"You shouldn't go alone, Phoebe," Piper fretted, "there's no telling what out there in those woods."
Prue walked over and snatched the phone from Phoebe.
"I'll go and call for help," Prue announced, "while you guys stay here with the car."
"Prue, I don't think it's a good idea--" Piper began, but Prue interrupted her.
"I'm the one with the offensive power, Piper," Prue pointed out, "and if I run into any bears or mooses, I'll just--"
"Mooses?" Phoebe repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Mooses…Moose," Prue fumbled about for the proper plural form then gave up in disgust, "You know what I mean."
"Well, what ever we decide to do, we'd better get a move on," Piper said, "there's supposed to be a snow storm coming this way."
"Right," Prue went back to the car and fetched some candy bars and a compass from her duffle bag, "you girls stay with the car and I'll be back with help as soon as I can."
"Watch out for the mooses," Phoebe called out, as Prue looked back at her baby sister with a grin.
To Be Continued…