A Rising Power
Sixteenth episode in the Fourth Sister Series
Piper and Price came home from P3 after a busy night to find that the Manor had experienced a busy night as well. Toys, clothing and various other things were strewn all over the floor…and that was just the foyer. They walked through the mess into the parlor to see an even more cluttered mess. Tara was asleep on the sofa; one of Melinda's teddy bears was sitting on the arm of the sofa above Tara's head, seemingly staring down at her. Price laughed, finding the scene comical. Piper managed a smile, slightly taken aback by the chaos of the Manor.
"Hey Tara," Price said. The exhausted young witch jolted awake and looked around, trying to get a bearing on her surroundings. She finally found her bearings and shot a sheepish grin at the sisters.
"I'm sorry," Tara said. "I meant to clean this up once I got her to bed, but I guess I just kind of fell asleep when I sat down for a minute. She just kept summoning stuff. At first it-it was just stuff in the same room. But then it started coming from other rooms and I couldn't figure out where it came from."
"That's all right," Piper said. "Trust me. We know how it is."
"Well, I'll help you clean…" Tara began, standing to start picking up toys.
"Don't worry about it," Price said. "We'll get it in the morning."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yeah, it'll go faster for us," Piper said with a smile. "We know where it all goes."
"Go ahead back to campus," Price said. "You've got an early class, right?"
"Yeah, I do," she replied. "Okay, I guess I'll go then."
"I really appreciate you doing this, Tara," Piper said as the two of them walked to the door. "I only have so many options when it comes to babysitters."
"Oh, I understand," Tara said with a smile. "Although, I had the misconception that I would get some studying done."
"Studying in this house is almost impossible," Piper said. "Ask Phoebe. She's tried."
The two of them laughed and said their goodbyes. Then Piper and Price went to survey the rest of the house together.
"So what are you going to do if nobody who knows our little secret is available to babysit?" Price asked. "What if you have to get a normal babysitter?"
"I don't know," Piper said. "I guess I'll think of something."
"Like what?" Price asked.
"I don't know," Piper said. "Leo and I have been discussing binding Melinda's powers, but I'm not sure about that yet. I just don't know what we should do. I mean, Grams bound our powers and we got them thrown at us when we weren't prepared for it. But at the same time we've got the problem that we can't really teach Melinda to control her powers right away."
"I just kinda think that it's dangerous to keep Melinda's powers unbound," Price commented. "I mean, what are you going to do when someone at the supermarket sees her summon a lollipop or something?"
"That's actually kind of helpful. She gets stuff off the top shelf," Piper joked.
"Piper, I'm serious," Price said.
"I know," Piper said. "So far I've been grocery shopping late at night when I have to take Melinda with me." She noticed the expression on Price's face. "Look, we're working on it. Leo and I will come to a decision before she exposes us."
"I'm just saying that I grew up with my powers, and I remember how hard it was for me to fit in. And it was hard for me to not use them for personal gain," Price said. "I mean, imagine a 16-year-old girl getting flack from a cheerleader and then having to restrain herself from knocking over the human pyramid during a pep rally."
Piper snickered. "Okay, I get your point." She looked around at the chaos of toys and clothing. "And it is starting to seem like a really good point."
Darryl stared down at the case files on his desk. They had been sent over from the 9th Precinct when a connection was made to some of his old cases—the ones involving the psycho-surgeons. After five murders, he didn't know how the 9th Precinct had kept the information out of the media, but he did know the five deaths meant serious trouble. The Halliwell sisters had told him five deaths completed the ritual to raise a powerful evil that they weren't even sure they could beat.
He picked up the phone and dialed the Manor, knowing the sisters had to know about this.
Leo took the chocolate syrup away from his daughter and put it back on the counter.
"So, what are we going to do about it?" he asked. Piper looked up from the lunch she was preparing for herself and Leo.
"I don't know," she replied. "Part of me wants to avoid what happened to Prue, Phoebe, and me. I want to be able to teach her how to use her powers, but…"
"But until she's at least three we can't even begin to teach her control," Leo said. "Piper, I understand your apprehension about binding her powers, but Melinda's situation is very different than yours was."
Leo walked around behind Piper, wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Melinda has both parents and two aunts here to protect her," he said. "And we can unbind her powers when we think she's ready."
"But Grams could've done that, too."
"You said she kept your powers bound to protect you from the warlock, Nicholas," Leo said.
"Yeah, but she could've unbound them and taught us how to defend ourselves," Piper argued. "Instead she left us to receive our powers with no preparation."
Piper sighed and watched Melinda summon a wooden spoon. The baby banged the spoon on her high chair tray. Piper pulled out of Leo's arms to retrieve the spoon, but was side-tracked when the phone rang.
"Hello," she answered. "Yeah, Darryl…What?…There's been five?…How are you just now hearing about this?…Right, different precinct…No, we'll do what we can. I think you can be pretty sure there won't be any more cases…Could you call Phoebe while I call Price?…Thanks. Bye."
Leo looked at Piper curiously as she hung up the phone. Piper's expression was a mask of fear and almost panic.
"Ramshan is going to rise."
Piper paced while Price and Phoebe looked through the Book of Shadows. Leo sat in an armchair with Melinda.
"You won't find anything in the Book. The Source isn't in there and he defeated Ramashan," Piper said in an agitated tone.
Phoebe turned to Leo. "Any idea how the Source beat Ramashan?"
"Well, none of our information is certain, but it's believed the Source somehow created a volcanic eruption and Ramashan was buried."
"How big is Ramashan exactly?" Price asked.
"Small dinosaur," Leo said quickly. "And since the Source's powers were apparently ineffective against Ramashan, it's unlikely that yours will work against him."
"So what do we do?" Piper asked. "How do we vanquish Ramashan?"
"You have to stop the ritual," Leo said.
"Been there, failed that," Phoebe said sarcastically. "These people keep coming back. They won't give up."
"They won't give up till they're all dead," Piper added.
"So we either cause a volcano to erupt or kill all the psycho-surgeons," Price said sarcastically. "Piece of cake."
Phoebe chuckled, but then she noticed the thoughtful look on Piper's face. "What are you thinking, sis?"
"If I blew up the right thing with my power, I could level a sky scraper."
"You're thinking we can simulate a volcanic eruption with your power," Price said.
"Maybe," Piper said. "Maybe." She turned to Leo. "Any ideas on how to do that?"
"Well, the right household chemicals mixed together can make a pretty powerful bomb," he replied.
"So if we get enough of those chemicals, I set it to blow…" Piper said.
"And we've got a volcano," Phoebe finished.
"Price, you and Darryl work on finding the psycho-surgeons. Try to figure out where they'll raise Ramashan," Piper began doling out the assignments. "Pheebs, you and Cole take my car and get the empty beer kegs from the stock room at the club. Leo and I are going to work on our volcano."
"We've got first names to go on. That's it," Darryl said. "How are we supposed to find these people?"
"You're an inspector. I'm a reporter," Price said. "We're bound to come up with something."
"You said their leader's name was Malek."
"Not exactly a common name," Price said. "How about you check out criminal records and I'll search public registers."
Price stood, ready to head off to work on her research when Darryl grabbed her arm. "What about that theater? Do you think they owned it?"
"Definitely a possiblity to check out," Price said. She continued on her way out.
"Are six kegs going to be enough?" Phoebe asked.
"We don't know," Piper said as she carefully poured the chemicals into the last keg. "We'll have to hope."
Price entered the kitchen and it was obvious she had found something.
"I've got a list of property owned by Malek Blasovich," Price said. "He's the lead psycho-surgeon. He owns a four-story warehouse on Pier 19."
"Sounds like a good place to raise a dinosaur-sized demon," Phoebe said. "We should check it out."
"Darryl and I already did," Price said. "Malek and the others were there. It looked like they were ready to complete the ritual. And a little plus, the building has a gas heating system. We create a gas leak and our little volcano will be a lot more effective."
"Sounds even better," Phoebe said. "Are we ready for this?"
"Ready as we'll ever be," Piper said. She turned to Leo. "Sweetie, stay here with Melinda. We'll call you."
"I thought I'd go with you," he said.
"It's too dangerous. You need to stay with Melinda," Piper repeated. She kissed Leo. "I love you." There was a look of sadness on her face as she backed away, and then she kissed her daughter. Finally the three sisters started loading the car.
While Piper and Phoebe placed the kegs, Price created the gas leak she had mentioned earlier. The three of them watched the psycho-surgeons perform the ritual. At the end of Malek's chanting there was a bright flash of light and the sisters backed away from the window.
They looked back inside and saw Ramashan standing there. He looked like a man with black skin and a tail. His head touched the ceiling, and his white hair trailed down his back. The sisters gasped at his gigantic presence, but their shock didn't last long as they knew they had to put their plan into action. They returned to Piper's Jeep which was a safe distance down the pier. They crouched behind it with Piper peeking over the hood of the car. They all heard Ramashan's booming voice as he spoke to the mortals before him.
"Who are you and where am I?" he asked. Phoebe nudged Piper to ignite their volcano. Piper waved her hands but nothing happened. Price and Phoebe looked at her expectantly and they noticed that Piper wasn't confused at all. She looked as if she knew this was going to happen.
"Piper, what's going on?" Price asked.
"I can't get range," she replied, not surprised at all. "I have to get closer."
"Piper, you get any closer and you'll be killed," Phoebe said. She noticed the look on Piper's face and realization hit her. "You knew that, though. You knew you wouldn't be able to get to a safe distance within the range of your power."
"I had a feeling," Piper said. "I didn't know for sure."
"Wait a minute, what are you saying?" Price asked.
"My power is the only way we have to set this thing off. We have to stop Ramashan. We don't have time for anything else," Piper said.
They all looked up when they heard screams coming from within the warehouse. Ramashan growled. They all were pretty sure that he was killing the psycho-surgeons.
"Why didn't you tell us you didn't think you would have range?" Phoebe asked. "We could have found another way."
"I wasn't sure, and we didn't have time," Piper said. "We have to do this now."
She started to walk away, but Phoebe grabbed her arm. "Piper…"
"I know Phoebe, but it has to be done. Stopping Ramashan is more important than anything," she said. She sighed as she felt her own emotions rising within her and her sisters' emotions passing through their connection. "I love you guys." She pulled away from Phoebe and walked closer to the warehouse. The younger witches watched in fear as Piper moved within range of the building. They listened as the screams within the building stopped. Piper took a deep breath, held her fists momentarily at her shoulders and then shot her power toward the kegs of chemicals they had placed near the front of the warehouse.
The explosion shook the entire pier. Phoebe and Price were forced to duck behind the Jeep and they didn't see as Piper was thrown backward across the pier and over the rail into the water below. They managed to look up as the flames shot into the sky. The building was nearly demolished with the combination of Piper's power, the chemicals and the gas leak. Ramashan's cry of rage pierced the night air. He sounded like a dinosaur to Price and Phoebe as they watched him burn in the rubble of the warehouse. They feared the fire wouldn't take him out and that all of this had been for nothing. But the flames continued to eat through his skin and flesh and his cries disappeared as he did the same. All that was left before them was the burning remnants of the warehouse.
With the defeat of Ramashan, the two of them were suddenly brought back to Piper. They looked around the pier for any sign of their sister.
"Piper!" Phoebe screamed.
"Where is she?" Price asked. She followed Phoebe's gaze to the rail of the pier. Neither of them had to say a word as they ran over to the rail and looked down into the dark waters below them. "Piper!"
"Oh God," Phoebe said. She didn't even think about anything as she climbed the rail and jumped down into the water, hoping she would be able to find her sister in the darkness. Price watched helplessly as Phoebe dove below the surface to find Piper. Phoebe came up once without Piper and Price's fears intensified. The second time Phoebe came up, however, Piper was in her arms. Phoebe started levitating and Price knew that Phoebe would need help. So she started using her power to lift both her sisters back up to the pier.
Phoebe laid Piper on the ground and moved her hair out of her face. She leaned forward to check for breathing.
"Piper," Price said pleadingly. She had been in this family only a short time and she could not imagine losing one of them already. But her fears were suddenly relieved as Piper choked up some water and spit it out. She coughed and gasped for air. Price and Phoebe laughed with relief, thankful that their sister was okay.
"Okay, Piper," Price said with a tearful laugh. "That's the second time you've almost died since we met. You need to stop that."
The three of them laughed and Piper sat up slowly so they could all embrace.
Darryl, the master of cover up, made sure that the arson investigators found no connection to the Halliwell sisters. They had managed to get out of there long before the first fire trucks showed up, and they were all sitting in the parlor. Piper sat on the sofa next to Leo, holding Melinda in her arms. Price sat in an arm chair while Phoebe and Cole were squeezed in another.
"Why didn't you tell us you thought you wouldn't have safe range on the place?" Cole asked.
"I knew you all would waste time arguing with me," Piper said. "There wasn't enough time to figure out another way."
"You could've told us," Phoebe said.
"I know, Pheebs, and in retrospect, I kinda wish I did," Piper said. "I was worried things wouldn't work out, and I didn't want anyone else to get hurt." She looked down at Melinda. "I hate keeping stuff from you guys."
"So let's make sure we don't do it anymore," Price said. "All plans out in the open."
"Sounds good to me," Phoebe said.
"Now, what about other plans?" Leo asked, looking at Piper and his daughter. "What about our daughter's plans?"
Piper looked down at Melinda and smiled. The baby slept peacefully in her arms, oblivious of all the power in herself and in the room.
"We should bind her powers," Piper said. She looked up at Leo. "It's too risky not to do so. And with that prophecy involving the Source, binding her powers may be the best precaution against him coming after her again." Leo leaned closer and wrapped his arm around Piper's shoulders.
The future of the Warren line and the force of good on earth rested quietly in Piper's arms. Her importance was not fully known, but it would be soon.
THE END