Piper and opened the front door to the manor and entered, followed by her sisters.
"Okay, I think we made it. I'm sure we made it. Do you think we made it?" she asked, turning to Phoebe.
"I don't know," Prue answered closing the door behind her.
"I think he would have attacked by now if we hadn't," Phoebe said hopefully, turning to Paige for comfort who followed closely behind.
"Well we're safe now that we're at the manor." Paige said trying to remain optimistic.
"Are we?" Piper snapped, stopping by the stairway. "Paige, we're in just as much danger here as we are in the underworld. Shax is back, what don't you get about that?"
"Piper, we vanquished Shax before," Paige remarked, "it can't be that difficult to do it again. We have the spell, we have four of us this time, what can go wrong?"
"Paige, Shax the only demon that has ever truly killed the power of three. You fortunately came along just in time to reconstitute it. But now that he's back, it's a little hard not worry that one of us could be killed again. For real." Piper stared Paige directly in the eyes.
Prue walked next to Piper and put her arm around her shoulder. "Piper, it's okay. I'm here now. You aren't going to lose me again. Our Charmed power has been stronger than ever now that all four of us are together. We can handle one demon."
"Prue," Piper said turning to face her, "it's Shax. And now, we're running for our lives, because Phoebe did not give us enough time to figure it out." Piper felt as though she needed to blame someone.
"Well I didn't have a lot of time," said Phoebe. "I mean I can't control how far into the future my premonitions take place. I saw the attack, we kicked butt. What more do you want?"
"I would like to know more about who we are up against," Piper said wittily.
"What else is there to know?" Phoebe asked angrily. "Shax is a demon of wind and the Source's assassin, which is…kinda strange considering there is no Source."
"Exactly!" Piper exclaimed snapping in Phoebe's face. "He's been brought back by God knows what, he's stronger than ever, and now we're back to where we were five years ago. Figure it out."
Prue interjected. "Okay Phoebe maybe you should check the Book of Shadows. See if you can find anything else on Shax and how to stop him."
Phoebe turned and briskly walked up the stairs. "Paige," she called, "follow me."
Paige crossed in front of Piper and Prue and followed Phoebe to the attic.
"Okay, Piper, it's me and you. We can figure this out. And I think I might have an idea of what's going on here."
"I sure hope you do." Piper said sarcastically.
"Piper when you saw Shax didn't he seem…different to you?" Prue looked worried.
"What do you mean?"
"Physically speaking. We saw him from a distance. But he looked…different. I can't describe it."
"Well gee, Prue, you're on a roll here." Piper brushed her hair away from her eyes.
"Piper, I'm serious. Something is different this time, which makes sense considering he's been resurrected. After being brought back from the demonic wasteland, he couldn't still be the same, especially if he's managed to stay alive for five years down there."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that the Shax we fought five years ago is different now. He may have the same powers, but he's changed in some way, which could mean that he has more powers than when we last fought him."
Piper turned away from Prue. "Haha. Great. Just great." She began to laugh.
"Piper, listen to me this is anything but – " Prue stared blankly at the floor. The hair stood up on her neck.
Piper stopped laughing and turned to Prue. "What?"
"Uh…I don't know I just felt a chill. Paige!" she called.
Piper called for Phoebe, who answered from the attic, "Alright, alright, we're coming!"
"Paige!" Prue called again, nervously. She quickly turned to face the door.
The front doors to the manor burst open and a rush of wind flooded through the foyer, knocking Piper and Prue to the ground. A rush of leaves propelled through the door, and debris filled the air as the wind swirled about the manor. Standing beneath the threshold was a woman, whom neither sister recognized. She stood still as the wind blew around her, throughout the main hall.
Prue stood up, and helped Piper. "Who the hell are you?" Piper asked sarcastically.
"You don't remember?" the woman asked gently. She stared silently for a moment at Prue and Phoebe, who managed to remain standing as the wind tried to knock them back down. "You're witches. Just like me, just like I am. The day you were famous, I saw you. I was the only one who understood you. I tried to help." She stepped forward and stared intently at Prue. "And you used your powers to throw me out. Mean witches."
"What? What day? Famous?" Piper exclaimed.
"I don't remember, I don't know what she's talking about," Prue remarked, looking from the woman to Piper. Her hair blew everywhere, into her face. She brushed it out of the way and turned to the woman, speaking over the roar of the wind, "what do you want from us?"
She stared menacingly at Prue and Piper, who continued to remain clueless as to what was going on. "I want to finish what I started," she said, raising a gun.
"Whoa!" Prue yelled, backing away. Piper did the same.
Phoebe and Paige quickly ran downstairs, and were instantly startled by the woman, who turned to point her gun at the two of them.
"Oh!" Phoebe exclaimed, "Who is she?"
"We don't know," Prue said, still staring intently at the woman. "She's here to finish what she started."
"And what would that be?" Phoebe asked nervously.
"Who cares, I'll finish it," said Paige. "Gun!" she called, reaching out for the gun to orb into her hands.
The woman smiled as Paige's call was rejected and her power was absorbed.
"What the - " Paige began, and tried once again to call for the gun. Her power was gone.
"Stupid witches," she chuckled. She lifted her gun toward Piper, and without hesitation, pulled the trigger. The bang from the gun startled all four sisters, three of whom quickly looked around for the effects.
Piper slowly lowered her head as blood began to emerge from beneath her shirt.
"Piper," Prue mumbled, as she caught Piper who fell helplessly to the floor. Prue held Piper in her arms, who began to shake from the pain.
"It's Alice Hicks. You'll remember me now," the woman said, as she disappeared in a gust of wind, closing the manor doors behind her.
"Oh god," Phoebe whispered, as she ran down the stairs. Paige followed close behind, in a state of panic.
"Piper," Prue said as she began to cry. Piper gasped for air, as Prue brought her head closer to hers. Phoebe and Paige were left speechless, and all three sisters were frozen in fear as Piper began taking what seemed to be her final breaths.
"Paige, orb us to the hospital," Phoebe suggested.
"I can't. My powers are gone."
"How are they gone?" Phoebe asked, worried.
"I don't know. But we have to get Piper to the hospital."
"I'll take her," Prue interrupted, helping Piper stand up. "You guys stay here. We need to find a way to fix this. If you see Shax, say the spell to fend him off. If you see Alice – feel free to kill her."
"How?" Paige asked.
"I don't know," Prue mumbled. "But I trust you. And Phoebe."
With a final glance, Prue led helped Piper out of the manor and into her car, and Paige and Phoebe hurried up to the attic. "You're going to be okay, Piper. Just stay with me."
Piper continued to gasp for air, as she layed down in the backseat of the vehicle. Prue quickly drove off, leaving a trail of dust in her path.
Paige paced back and forth around the attic, as Phoebe flipped quickly through the Book of Shadows.
"Will you please stop?" Phoebe asked, agitated. "You're making me paranoid."
"Well I'm sorry but I don't know what else to do," Paige said sarcastically. "I feel like this is all my fault. If I wouldn't have used my powers then I could've healed - "
"It's not your fault, Paige. You couldn't have known that your power would be taken away. Although I still have no idea how that even happened."
"Neither do I. That's why I'm worried. And it's not like we can have Leo heal Piper."
"We'll get Leo back. But right now we can't worry or even think about that. We need to focus on finding Shax, and Alice."
"And vanquishing both of their sorry asses."
"I'm not about to lose a sister again," Phoebe said as her eyes began to tear up.
"We'll be okay. No one is going to die. We just need to think this through. We'll figure it out. We always do."
"Maybe." Phoebe mumbled. She returned to the book, flipping through the pages, and Paige continued to pace.
After reaching the hospital, Prue cautiously but quickly led Piper into the emergency room, where they were greeted by a group of doctors. Without hesitation, Piper was helped onto a bed.
"How did this happen?" One of the doctors asked quickly.
"A woman," Prue started, "she shot her at our house."
The doctors wheeled Piper away into the operation room. Prue followed close behind.
As Piper continued to struggle for breath, Prue grasped her hand and held it tightly. Piper looked over to Prue, who stared her intently in the eyes.
"Piper, don't you dare die on me."