Part 4
Children ran to and fro amongst the picnic tables full of delicious food and drink. Piper wouldn't have anything less for her employees and friends. Closing all of her eating and entertainment establishments, Piper had assembled one glorious family activity. Besides the food that she had cooked or supervised personally, there were games and activities for the kids and softball and volleyball for the adults. And the great rain god stayed away too.
"Patti, wait for Daddy. Patti, Daddy will take you over to the face painter," called out Piper to her youngest. Patti turned away, crossed her arms and fumed.
"Mommy, I can do it. I can take Patti," cried Melinda.
Piper shook her head as she also pulled the watermelon out of the cooler to cut. "No, sweetie. You're still too young to watch your sister in this big crowd."
"Please, Mommy, please. I can do it!" pleaded Melinda.
"I wanna pony wite here," cried Patti pointing to her cheek.
"I said.." Piper started to say when she looked down at the two sweet pleading faces. Besides, the artist was within Piper's sight. And Melinda did enjoy watching them work.
"OK. But hurry back here when you're done girls. Love ya!" She cried after the girls who ran together hand in hand.
Piper thought for a moment what enchanting kids they were until Paul broke in. "Piper. We're almost out of the diet cola!" called out her P3 manager.
"What? Oh right. There are two cases in the truck. I'll go get the ice after my kids are done," said Piper pointing toward her old Cherokee.
"Thanks, chief. The natives were getting restless," grinned Paul.
"All right, T onto. Go and fix up the old watering hole," replied Piper. She was pretty fond of her friend and cohort from her earliest business days.
"Piper, we need you over here!" called out the head waitress at Piper's newest venture in Napa Valley, Patticake's.
Huddled around the volleyball court were scores of people and families all dependent upon Piper for a livelihood. Piper stood up on an ice chest and surveyed the happy tired multitudes. Ten years and six businesses later, Piper was doing very well along with all her staff and friends too.
Piper stood in front. Looking a bit nervous she started to address the crowd. "Whoa. Look at all of you. Never seen so many in one place before. Welcome to the first Wyatt Company picnic. I see Jack out there enjoying himself. Save some of those chicken wings for us. I want to thank Paul Drummond for all his hard work and keeping me from forgetting anything. And Judy from Patticake's. She did a great job with the entertainment. And my own family. I thank them for all their love and support. Now where are those trophies? Um, that a big one. For the potato sack race, Mike Conover. Come on up here. Mike."
A little commotion started in the back of the audience. A path parted in the sea of people heading straight for Piper. A short to medium height middle-aged man came literally scampering straight to Piper.
"Please, please. You must help me. You must help me! I am desperately in the need for a good witch and I've heard you're one of the best!" he pleaded nervously shifting from one foot to the other.
"Um, ha-ha!" Piper quickly let out and then threw her fingers out toward the audience forgetting long ago she had vanquished her powers. "Blasted!" she cursed under her breathe.
"Can you help me?" asked the nervous man.
"Piper, do you want me to help you here?" asked Paul who was wondering about this whole scenario.
"No, everything's fine. Look I don't really what you're talking about sir. If you're in trouble, um, go sit over there and when I'm done here I'll see what I can do. OK?" asked Piper smiling though looking a little nervous herself.
"Thank you, thank you, your highness," he replied bowing and backing away.
"And it's PIPER!" she called out to him.
Jack Marshall who was standing directly Piper asked, "Did he call you a witch?"
"A what?" asked Paul.
Piper's eyes opened very wide and shouted, "Stop it! If someone else says 'Not a what, a witch!' I'll scream and this story will be over now! You have my word I AM NOT A WITCH. Unless someone really pisses me off! Now let's finish with the festivities and then I'll see about Mr. Spooky."
"You'd help a stranger just like that? Piper you have such a warm kind heart," said an admiring employee.
Piper picked up the next trophy and muttered under her breath, "And a soft head. Helping people used to get us in all sorts of trouble. Now for the ring toss.."
After many helpful' inquiries from her friends and finishing up the business at hand, Piper sat down with the stranger.
"Your highness, I desperately seek thy help," he started bowing his head.
Piper rolled her eyes and exclaimed, "Please, call me Piper."
"Witches have always held high esteem in on our family. Any protector of the good and worker of great magic deserves such honor," he said humbly.
"Yea, and there lies the problem. I check out of the magic castle years ago. I don't do the save the innocent thing anymore. I'm sorry, but you'll have to find another witch," said Piper shaking her head.
"My oh my. My family is lost and Fautex is after us. We are doomed!" he said woefully with his head in his hands.
"Fautex? Wooo. We vanquished him years ago. What's he doing back? Sounds like that's one job the Charmed Ones bungled. I DO HATE to leave business unfinished. All right, I'll see what I can do. But we do need some help and a trip to the Manor. And like I said, my name's Piper Wyatt. And your?" she asked smiling just a bit.
"Portina, king of the wood nymphs," he replied as Piper's eyes opened wide and her smile disappeared.
Walking up the old steps of Halliwell Manor, Piper coughed from the dust and pushed the cobwebs from her path. "Warlocks, demons, wendigoes, grimlocks, fairies, trolls, wood nymphs," Piper mumbled to herself. "What next leprechauns? I hope this doesn't turn into a grim fairy tail!"
Opening the ancient attic door, Piper crossed the attic floor and pulled the Book of Shadows from its resting place in the trunk that Phoebe had originally found it in a decade before. Placing it on the bookstand, Piper flipped almost immediately to the page. "You're in luck. Fautex is a minor level demon that can be vanquished with a potion. No heavy-duty magic needed here. And to make sure we or rather the remaining I do it right this time, we'll double the dosage. I think we should have everything here in our witchy cabinet."
"Gracious, thank you your high…Piper," exclaimed a very happy Portnia. Nervously shifting from side to side.
"Yep, I was born to it. Let's she grated hemming spice, sassafras root..LEO?" yipped a startled Piper as her husband appeared behind her.
"Piper, this could be very dangerous, you're kind of out of practice," replied Leo in his ominous white lighter tone.
Piper shook her head. "Helping Portnia here sounds like the right thing to do. Besides Fautex is just a minor demon anyway. One magic grenade and poof! He's demon crispy critters. Now let the witch work her magic. Where is our cauldron?"
"Piper, something about this doesn't feel right," retorted Leo following Piper around.
"If I'm doing the old witch thing, then you help too. What do you know about wood nymphs?" asked Piper as she started measuring out her ingredients.
"They're mystical creatures that live in the woods and forests helping the balance of nature between the plant and animal kingdom. Very shy and secretive when it comes to being observed the human world," reported Leo.
Portnia shook his head in agreement. "That is correct, Mr. Leo. And it's been very hard the last 150 years with all the encroaching you humans have done on the forest. It's from the plants and trees of our homelands that we get our life essences, our energy. We help out Mother Nature and she gives us life. But my wife and daughter were kidnapped by this demon and unless we can return them to the Black Forest in Germany by the next full moon, they will die."
"Sounds like innocents that need help to me. So we find them, vanquish him and then what?" asked Piper stirring her noxious mixture.
"We can journey back to our homeland ourselves. The cursed beast keeps them in a box lined with copper that they cannot penetrate. And they grow weaker with every passing day. My poor Detter and Muvnex. My heart will truly stop if we can not save them."
"Don't worry. Spells R Us is on the job.." replied a chipper Piper.
Walking down a dark alley Portnia, Piper and Leo came to a locked door in an old warehouse. Piper had a strange bit of déjà vu having done this many times with her sisters. Now was when Prue would force the door open and they would charge in.
"Anyone bring a key? Let's find another entrance, Portnia," suggested Piper as she put her potion loaded satchel down.
"That would be wise," replied Leo.
"None to worry, none to worry. Here I can help us all," remarked Portnia as he spun his finger in the air and magical sparks surrounded him. Piper found herself encircled too. Looking all around her the building began to rise above her until it was towering over her. Behind her was a large black object that she thought was a car.
"WHOA! That's my satchel and it's so big. That's because I'm so small?" Piper said in a weak little voice. "Leo!" she cried up to the giant next to her.
"PIPER!" he shouted, as his voice seemed to echo off the walls. Leo got down on one knee as he inspected his wife who was not more than eight inches tall.
Looking down Piper was dressed in a fine material of reds, oranges, browns and greens that looked like a collection of summer and autumn leaves. Her shoes curled up at the toes and Piper's ears and nose appeared to be pointed. Portia stood beside her similarly dressed.
"Piper. It is best we blend in to get this beast. Do not fear. Ye just now be a wood nymph," he smiled proudly. "Entrance now be easy as ye asked."
"Now listen you ..you ..you twisted little elf. I didn't asked to be thrown into the washing machine and shrunk! Return me to my former stature immediately!" cried Piper wagging her finger at the king.
"Alas, me powers are limited. We both can rise on the winds and enter the lair. Ye can bring thy bag with us too! The powers of the woods ye now have, Piper," exclaimed the king.
"So I can fly? Great, now I'm Tinkerbell. OK, lets give it a go. Going up!" said a still very peeved Piper. She felt almost weightless as the ground fell from beneath her feet. "This is weird, but not unpleasant. I'm flying!" She rose past Leo's knees and then floated in front of his face.
"PIPER, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING?" asked Leo in a booming voice. He reached out for his wife, but was afraid to touch her.
Piper covered her ears, but kept hovering in front of him. "Hey, not so hard on these little ears! Nope, I'm making it up as I go along. Now that I'm in this little predicament, I'll make the best of it. We'll fly back shortly," sighed Piper. "Bye, dear," waved Piper as she blew him a kiss.
And Portnia and Piper continued to rise along with the satchel and flew into an open window as a shocked Leo barely waved at them.
Up and up and up spiraled Piper. The fifteen feet she had climbed felt like 1000 feet from her diminutive point of view. Was it the altitude or experience that had Piper giggling and laughing as they entered the opened window high above Leo? She was on a big rush like the three sisters had finished off an exceptionally dangerous demon.
"Whhheeee!" she cried out as flew up higher and then successfully attempted a double loop. "This is the ultimate amusement park ride. Whhhhhhheeeee! Phoebe you were riiiight about flying! Whaaa- hoooooooo!" she shouted out in a voice so shrill and light that few could hear.
"Piper, please! Others must not hear. Take my path!" he insisted as he headed toward a lit doorframe. Drifting down to peer through the crack in the door, Piper saw a large indoor green house extending to the horizon. Plants hung from racks, sat on counters and grew from pots in the floor. All types of flora and fauna along with a massive amount of scientific equipment. No sign of the demon or the two captured wood nymphs.
"All right let's make this jail break happen. Where the prisoners?" asked Piper gliding up to the king.
"Ye must first deal with the beastie or they may be captured again. Over there on the high shelf be me poor family. In the copper strongbox, Piper," sighed the king. "What do ye propose to do first, me fine little witch?"
"Can the little bit. Put down the satchel. Easy does it. Good. Now open it up and get out that ugly blue vial. Yes, be careful. It smells like a spoiled swamp in Florida on a hot day in August. We'll just pour it on him and he should dissolve like an ice cube on a hot beach or so I remember," remarked Piper.
The vial floated up with the two wood nymphs as they crossed the long greenhouse and hid on a top shelf near the copper strong box. Without a decent place to sit Piper plopped down on the cold metal shelf that was very rough due to her size. Accepting the new size of inanimate objects and the king was not difficult, but the gargantuan size of the other humans was hard to comprehend. Larger than King Kong, the man or demon that entered the greenhouse was fifteen times Piper's size. He was humming some Wagnerian operatic piece as he walked in checking both plants and water indicators. Again his footsteps echoed in Piper's ears. Laying down a metallic bucket rang so hard that Piper covered her ears tightly while also feeling the vibrations that rattled every nerve in her body. Piper tried to say something, but the king put his fingers to his lips. The demon busied himself with all his plants caring for them in a most kindly non-demonic manner.
"There my little fuchsia you are looking most well today. A handsome price you will bring me. And all those lilies. Such colors they have," he exclaimed praising them.
He picked up a large pot of strawberry bushes and brought them over directly under Piper and the Portnia's hiding place. Placing another pot on the counter he pulled out the plant and began to divide it up between the two pots. Piper motioned to the king who caused the cap to unscrew. It fell onto the metal shelf with a clang that the demon did not hear. The vial flew out above him, lowered to just above his head and then turned upside down. The bluish muck ran out of the bottle one glob at a time landing on his baldhead.
The demon sniffed the air with a sour look on his face then putting his hand on top of his head. Bringing the glob toward his nose he reeled back from the stench grabbing a towel to wipe his head.
"What is this mess?" he said softly looking at the mess on the towel and then up at the ceiling. He did not see the vial fly back to the shelf.
"I may be a little rusty, but that was a perfectly good potion and he didn't even get a sunburn from it. Besides he doesn't even look like the demon Fautnex that we vanquished back in 1999," squeaked Piper.
"Be not ye deceived by looks. Demons are tricky," replied the king.
"Yea, but they're not usually invulnerable to our Book of Shadows recipes. I'm going down for a closer look," remarked Piper as she headed down.
"No, I beg of thee," shouted the king, but his voice did not carry at the speed that Piper was flying.
Piper hovered two feet over his head. The demon looked up.
"What another elf? Get away," he screamed a little demonically. Throwing his hand toward Piper she flew back faster than she had ever flown landing in a tomato bush.
Shaking her head Piper thought, Fautnex was a mind controller, not telekinetic. The clues continue, but what do they mean Sherlock?"
Piper looked around and spied a dandelion puller that had two sharp prongs. While the demon was looking for Piper working his way through the plants, Piper concentrated real hard on the tool and it flew toward the demon. Raising faster and faster it plunged deep into his heart as Fautex let out a very human scream of pain tumbling back on to the floor. Piper brushed herself off and cautiously flew over to the still body as Portnia joined her.
"He's dead no doubt, but why is he still here? All our vanquished demons vanished leaving only some muck. The fates never allowed the rest of the world to learn of the existence of demons," said Piper floating over the body.
Portnia shook his head. "Strange it is, my witchy friend."
The two twin wood nymphs were than joined by Leo who orbed in. He leaned over and placed his hand on the body. "This is no demon. He's human," remarked Leo.
"A real p-p-person? " stuttered Piper. "I just murdered another human being? Nooooooo!" screamed Piper as her eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted falling from the sky.
Strange swirls were everywhere around Piper. The smoke of many colors had sensations of taste and sound. Piper was floating somewhere. Was it heavens, hell, or somewhere else? A bright light appeared and Piper reached up for it. It became brighter and brighter. Piper quickly sat up in bed letting out a typical Piper yip. She had only been dreaming except things still didn't seem real. Floating over her was the huge head of her daughter Melinda.
"Daddy! Mommy's awake!" she shouted as Piper covered her ears.
"Sweetie! That noise is too big for your little Mother. Whisper to me, please," Piper called up to her daughter.
"Mommy you sound so funny like a mouse," giggled Melinda.
"Eek, eek," cried out an annoyed Piper as she threw back the covers of the doll bed she was in. Even the doll bed was two sizes too big for the tiny wood nymph. Piper walked across her daughter's dresser and looked her straight in the eye. "I guess seeing your Mother so small is confusing, Melinda."
"No, Mommy. Daddy told me you always wanted to be a fairy. You're so cute," exclaimed Melinda giggling at her mother.
"Fairy? Cute? Leo!" Piper called out in her little squeaky voice.
In ran Leo following by three small floating creatures. "Piper, you're awake. Darling, I was so worried after I caught you. We brought you home and.."
"Home? This place looks more like a cathedral! You caught me after I fell and ..my God. That poor man! I killed him! He was no demon. I MURDERED him! I have to be punished! Oh God, my children, my husband. Who will take care of them? I'm going to prison for the REST OF MY LIFE? LEO!" cried out a panicky Piper as she jumped up and down crying.
Leo leaned forward to comfort his wife, but all he could do is take her in his hands as she rolled up in a ball. "Piper, it's not like that."
"I killed someone who had a life and maybe a family. And I'm going to lose mine, too," cried Piper wrapping her arms around Leo's finger.
"Piper, he may have been human, but he was using the name of a demon that you had vanquished. Um, if you hadn't stopped him, then some other demonic presence would have eventually killed him. You know they don't like the human world either knowing about them or encroaching on their world," Leo reminded Piper.
"That still doesn't make what I did right," sniffed Piper.
"And how are you going to explain it to the police? Isn't a mystery better for them than the truth like after you and your sisters vanquished those demons years ago?" asked Leo.
"And Piper," chirped in Portnia, "Ye save me family and the line of wood nymph kings. This be my wife Detter and my daughter Muvnex."
"Greetings to thee, your highness," they chirped in unison.
"Hi," sniffed Piper still worried about her fate as the woodsy family floated over her.
"Ye see, this human had a magical talisman that gave him limited magical powers. Using the name Fautnex he tricked us imprisoning me family. All he wanted of us was to use their woodsy powers in his greenhouse. Tis a very sad tale," lamented the king.
"He was an amateur botanist who had stumbled upon the legends of the wood nymphs and wanted to corrupt and exploit their powers. He didn't realize that toying with magical powers bring the wrath of evil onto him," explained Leo still holding his tiny wife.
"And the evil that did him in was me," whimpered Piper looking up at Leo with a tear stained face.
"No, Piper. You're wrong. He just got caught up in the battle for good and evil and nothing more. You've been the agent for a lot of good over the years. His death may weigh on your heart, but it's NOT your fault. He stepped into the battleground and has to take the consequences. I love you darling and we'll get through this together," said Leo looking t her lovingly.
Piper shook her head. "I love you, too, Leo darling. You're not the one who has to get me through this. I'm the one who did it and my punishment will to never be completely at peace with myself. I'll remember it every time I enter a plant shop, every time I see a report of another person's death and every time I'm lying awake at night thinking about and him not being able to sleep. I may not be going to prison for it, but I will be building my own within my own mind. Despite whatever the reasons, I took the life of that
poor misguided man. No matter how you sugarcoat it, I'm still a murderer!" said Piper flatly without a trace of emotion.
"Piper? I wish I could hold you," said Leo tenderly reaching for Piper but daring not to touch her.
"That's a good idea. Portnia, I'm ready to return to the human world," squeaked Piper throwing her hair back. "Do your hocus pocus so I can get my arms around this wonderful man!"
Leo looked nervously over at Portnia and then back at Piper.
"Ummm. You can do that can't you? Don't tell me you've condemned me to the size of a squirrel for life?" screeched Piper in a very high ear splitting tone.
Leo half smiled and half laughed nervously. "No, darling. Not permanently. Just until the magic wears off until the next full moon which is in eight days away."
"A week. I'm going to be TINKERBELL for another WEEK? Whoa. That's my penitence was helping the supernatural again. You're sure about this Portnia?" asked Piper.
"Yea, my dear. As I said, me powers are very limited. The magic will not last long," sighed the king.
"Long for who? What do I tell my friends and employees?" asked Piper glaring up at Leo.
Leo looked closer at Piper. "I told them you went on a little vacation."
"Cute, angel boy. And now I'm going to live in my daughter's dollhouse for a week?" asked Piper.
"You can spend the week playing with your daughters. That's not a bad thing to do," said Leo trying to sound positive.
"Playing with them is one thing, but being their plaything? Leo, you have to get me out of this. What do those bosses of yours say?" asked the diminutive Piper.
Leo shook his head. "We just have to let the magic run its course. I'm sorry sweetheart. I know the girls will be thrilled."
"As will I! If you don't mind, I'd like a little private time," sighed Piper as she floated down to Melinda's dollhouse and crawled into its bed. The mattress was hard and lumpy and the covers felt like sandpaper.
"Sleep well, Miss Piper and thank ye kindly," said Portnia as his wife and daughter waved and flew away.
"Goodnight sweetheart," waved Leo. "Come one girls. You can sleep with me tonight."
The lights went off as Piper snuggled down in her wee little bed. "At least we don't have a dog or cat. I do have some things to think about." And Piper drifted back to sleep as the swirls returned and she returned to floating in nothingness.