A/N: This chapter marks the introduction of two of what seems to be Charmed's least liked regular characters: Dan and Jenny. Quite honestly, I preferred Dan and Jenny to the disastrous new regular of season eight called Billie. Anyway, everyone has their own opinion.
Chapter Two: Witch Trial (And The Or Word)
Piper had left Phoebe and Paige to clear up the attic – the gust of wind had caused a big mess, sending the attic's contents and Paige's stuff everywhere – while Piper went downstairs to set the manor up for the wedding.
'What do you think that demon was?' Phoebe asked Paige as she picked up a pile of papers and put them in a cabinet drawer.
'I don't know. I have never seen it before,' said Paige.
'That's odd. I always thought you were a walking-talking Book of Shadows,' laughed Phoebe.
Paige threw a sock at Phoebe.
'I wish you, Prue, and Piper would stop assuming that about me,' said Paige.
'Okay. So we have no idea what that demon was… What do you think he wants with the Book?' asked Phoebe.
'What do you think?' asked Paige.
'I don't know. A demon cannot cast spells, can they?' said Phoebe. 'What could a demon possibly do with a witches' spell book?'
'The Book of Shadows is more than just a spell book, isn't it?' asked Paige.
Phoebe went pale. 'The Book has been written in by many Warren and Halliwell witches. The things he could learn about our heritage from the Book… Do you think he could learn how to defeat us? Learn our weaknesses?'
'I think our biggest weakness is not having the Book at hand,' said Paige.
'Do you think Leo could help us out?' Phoebe asked Paige.
'I guess asking him will not hurt,' said Paige. 'Do we call him now or wait until when he shows up later for the wedding?'
'Now. We don't want Prue getting suspicious if Leo disappears during her wedding to check something with the Elders,' said Phoebe.
'Good point,' said Paige. 'Leo!'
'Shush, you don't want Prue to hear you calling for Leo,' said Phoebe.
Paige nodded. At a slightly lower volume, Paige said, 'Leo!'
Leo orbed into the attic. He was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans.
'I hope you won't be turning up wearing that later today. Prue and Piper would go nuts,' laughed Phoebe.
'Phoebe, it is seven o'clock in the morning. It will not take me four hours to change,' said Leo. 'Did you call me for wedding reasons or..?' Leo trailed off, obviously not wanting to jinx anything.
'Unfortunately, Leo, the answer is or,' said Phoebe.
Leo sighed. 'Today of all days. Have you used the Book of Shadows to identify the demon yet?'
'It's not possible,' said Phoebe.
'What do you mean by not possible?' asked Leo. 'Is the demon not in the Book?'
'No, the demon took the Book,' said Phoebe. 'Paige, do you mind if I leave you to explain? I am supposed to be helping downstairs and Prue knows Piper's schedule for the morning, so if I am not downstairs, Prue will probably get suspicious.'
Paige nodded. Phoebe left the attic.
'So I guess that Prue does not know about the demon attack?' said Leo.
'I would not say attack. I would say burglary,' said Paige. 'And we thought it would be best for Prue not to know. We don't want to ruin her big day.'
Leo nodded. He furrowed his brow. 'The demon stole the Book? I cannot think of a specific demon that would do that. Most demons have their eyes on the claiming the Book, but I cannot understand how a demon could successfully steal the Book. That should not be possible.'
'It obviously is,' said Paige. 'So you don't have a clue which demon it could be either?'
Leo shook his head. 'I will have to check with the Elders.'
Paige nodded. 'Can you make sure to be back in time for Prue's wedding?'
Leo smiled. 'Of course.'
Paige waited for Leo to orb out, but he did not.
'What are you waiting for?' Paige asked Leo.
'I was thinking,' said Leo.
'Thinking what?' asked Paige.
'You are so close to your sisters now. I could tell you missed them throughout the whole month that you were away training. You seem happy to be back here,' said Leo.
'What are you getting at?' asked Paige.
'Your sisters should know that you are my adopted daughter,' said Leo.
'No,' said Paige decisively.
'Paige, I do not understand why you do not want to tell them,' said Leo. 'We are no longer undercover. They know that I am their white lighter. They know that you are my apprentice. Why can they not know that you are my adopted daughter?'
'The question is: When are you suggesting we tell them?' asked Paige.
'As soon as possible…' said Leo.
'See, there is your problem,' said Paige. 'When you said 'as soon as possible', you were thinking today. We cannot tell them today. Prue does not want anything to take the spotlight off her and Andy and I agree with her that it should be their day. Prue would not even allow the fact that today is their first anniversary of becoming witches to take the spotlight. Imagine if you told them today. How do you think she would react?'
Leo sighed. 'You are right. We have to tell them soon though.'
'Yes, I agree with that,' said Paige. 'However today is not possible.'
Leo nodded. He orbed out.
Paige orbed into the kitchen. She was immediately yelled at to leave the kitchen by Piper, who was busy.
Paige ran into the corridor. She found Phoebe in the foyer. Phoebe was smiling.
'Did you get yelled at for entering the kitchen too?' asked Phoebe.
Paige nodded.
'Piper really gets into the mindset when she gets cooking,' said Phoebe.
'I noticed,' said Paige. 'Where's Prue?'
'In the shower,' said Phoebe.
'So it is safe to talk?' said Paige.
Phoebe nodded.
'Leo has no idea what demon could have stolen the Book. The issue is that so many demons want the Book, so it is hard to narrow it down,' said Paige. 'He has gone to check with the Elders.'
'He has to be back in time for the wedding,' said Phoebe.
'I reminded him of that,' said Paige. 'So I guess we are at a standstill on all of this Book stealing stuff?'
'Not exactly,' said Phoebe. 'I wonder if that Power of One thing is any use.'
'It is hardly any use considering you never had the chance to finish reading it,' said Paige.
'Maybe. Maybe not,' said Phoebe. 'Who do you think the Power of One is? I would have thought Prue. She is the eldest. She is the strongest out of the four of us.'
'You are probably onto something there,' said Paige. 'If you are right and this demon can only be vanquished by the Power of One, then the demon vanquish will have to wait a few weeks and we would have to hope we don't get killed in that time.'
'Why?' said Phoebe.
'If Prue is the Power of One, we cannot tell her today as it would ruin her wedding. Then straight after the wedding, Prue and Andy will be off on their honeymoon for two weeks. I doubt Piper would let us ruin that either.'
Phoebe sighed. 'I think we could fend off a demon for two weeks… I mean, we would still have the Power of Three. Surely the Power of Three is three times as strong as the Power of One?'
Paige shrugged.
Prue came walking down the stairs wearing a dressing gown.
'Morning Prue,' said Paige.
'Morning Paige,' said Prue. 'Did I hear you say something about the Power of Three, Phoebe?'
'No…' said Phoebe. 'I was saying to Paige that I was hoping that the shower would be free. I need a shower.'
'Oh. It is free,' said Prue.
Phoebe nodded. She ran upstairs. Paige smiled. Phoebe had thought extremely fast to get away with that one.
'Paige, do we have time to talk?' Prue asked.
Paige shook her head. 'Not according to Piper's insane schedule. It is eight o'clock, so you should be due to have a makeover any moment now. Go up to your room and I will be there in a second with whichever sister I can find first.'
'Can I at least have my morning coffee first?' said Prue, edging her way towards the kitchen.
'I would not go in there if I was you,' said Paige.
'Why not?' asked Prue stopping.
'Piper will bite your head off,' said Paige.
Prue smiled. 'Thanks for the warning, Paige, but I will risk decapitation just to get my morning dose of coffee.'
'It's your funeral,' laughed Paige.
Prue laughed. Paige watched as Prue disappeared into the kitchen.
A couple of hours later, Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige were all in Prue's bedroom, getting ready.
The doorbell rang.
Piper frowned when she saw the time. 'It is ten o'clock. No one is scheduled to turn up at ten o'clock.'
'I will go and see who it is,' said Paige.
Paige went down to the foyer by foot – she did not orb everywhere, she was not that lazy. Paige opened the front door. A little girl stood at the door.
'Could I use your phone please?' asked the little girl.
'We are a little busy,' said Paige.
'Please? It's an emergency. Please?' said the little girl.
Paige sighed. 'Okay, but be quick.'
The little girl ran in and picked up the phone. She started dialling.
Prue, Piper, and Phoebe came down the stairs. They looked inquisitively at the little girl.
'Who's that?' Piper asked Paige.
'I have no idea,' said Paige. 'She said it was important that she used our phone.'
Piper sighed. 'What if someone phones about the wedding? It will be engaged!'
'I am sure this little girl's problem is more important than Prue's wedding,' said Paige.
Paige received two piercing looks when she said this. One from Prue and one from Piper.
'Jenny! Jenny!'
Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige turned around to see a man in his late twenties standing at the porch, peering in. When he noticed them looking at him, he smiled apologetically.
'I am sorry. We are moving in next door, or at least trying to,' said their new neighbour.
'So you are our new neighbour?' asked Prue. 'Nice to meet you. I am Prue Halliwell.'
'Piper Halliwell,' added Piper.
'Phoebe Halliwell,' said Phoebe.
'Paige Matthews,' said Paige. Paige was not too sure where they stood on telling people that she was their sister. To be quite frank, it was getting confusing trying to figure out who knew what.
The man nodded. 'Dan Gordon.' Dan looked at the four sisters' outfits. 'I suddenly feel very underdressed in jeans and a shirt.'
Phoebe giggled. 'Oh. Our outfits? Prue here is about to get married today. That does not matter though because I am single. Are you single?'
Prue, Piper, and Paige rolled their eyes at Phoebe's decision to flirt with the new neighbour.
Jenny hung up the phone and wandered sulkily over to Dan.
'The operator would not patch me through to Saudi Arabia,' said Jenny.
'Saudi Arabia?' said Prue.
'This is my niece, Jenny. I am looking after her while her parents are in Saudi Arabia,' said Dan.
'She seems a good kid,' said Prue, trying to hide her annoyance at the girl who had used their phone for a long distance call.
Dan smiled. 'Yeah, but she does not seem to enjoy my company. Anyway, it's nice meeting you.'
'You too,' said Phoebe smiling.
Dan added, specifically to Prue, 'Have a lovely wedding.'
'Thank you,' said Prue.
'Bye,' said Piper, rather rudely ushering Dan out away from the porch so as she could close the door.
When the door was shut, Phoebe scowled at Piper. 'Piper! Why did you have to be so rude to him?'
'He was making us run behind on schedule. That's why,' said Piper.
At half past ten, Paige opened the front door to reveal Leo dressed in a suit.
'Are you here as a wedding guest or..?' asked Paige, not wanting to finish the sentence in case Prue was within ear shot.
'A bit of both,' said Leo. 'Piper wanted me here for half ten to help her with a few things. However I had a chance to speak to the… about the…'
'What did the… say about the..?' asked Paige. She and Leo were obviously leaving out specific words so as not to arouse any prying ears, but they still understood what each other were referring to.
'The… said that they do not know which… it could have been. It could have been any… Any… is likely to have the motive of stealing the…' said Leo.
Paige sighed. 'Yes, but not any… can steal the… that easily.'
'Paige, you and your sisters will figure this out soon,' said Leo. 'I trust the four of you.'
'Three,' corrected Paige glumly. 'Prue is not to know, remember?'
'Right,' said Leo.
Leo made his way further into the manor, searching for Piper.
Paige loitered in the foyer. It was getting close to eleven o'clock and, according to Piper's insane schedule, Paige's role was to open the door when Andy and Darryl got there.
Paige heard a sudden commotion from the kitchen. Leo orbed into the foyer hurriedly.
'Kitchen! Now!' said Leo to Paige. 'Hurry!'
'Is this a wedding glitch or…?' started Paige.
'It's or!' said Leo. 'Hurry! I will get Phoebe!'
'Okay, but don't alert Prue to whatever is going on,' said Paige.
'Why do you think Piper has not left the kitchen? She is staying in there so as he will stay in there too. Now go!' said Leo.
Paige ran into the kitchen. Piper kept flicking her wrists at a warlock. However the warlock kept unfreezing. Paige picked up a knife and threw it at the warlock. The knife hardly scathed the warlock.
'Paige, the only way to beat him is with the Power of Three spell,' said Piper, who was obviously running out of energy as she continually tried to refreeze the warlock.
'We can hold him off until Phoebe gets here,' said Paige.
The warlock laughed. 'You cannot hold me off. I am going to kill all of you.'
Phoebe ran into the kitchen. She stopped when she saw the warlock.
'Jeremy?' said Phoebe in shock.
'I already recognised him, Pheebs,' said Piper. 'Now let's say the spell.'
Phoebe nodded.
'The Power of Three will set us free,' began Piper.
'Can we say it quieter? Prue might hear. She is already suspicious about Leo deciding to drag me out of the room to talk to me,' said Phoebe.
Piper and Paige nodded.
'The Power of Three will set us free. The Power of Three will set us free. The Power of Three will set us free,' said Piper, Phoebe, and Paige.
Jeremy burst into flames.
Phoebe sighed. 'Could you be a little quieter, Jeremy? Thanks.'
'And could you also try not to make a mess of our kitchen?' said Piper. 'Thanks.'
When Jeremy was fully vanquished, Paige said, 'How did you know you needed the Power of Three spell? In fact, how did you know the warlock's name?'
'Piper can answer both of those,' said Phoebe. 'I better get back to Prue.'
Phoebe left the kitchen.
'I dated Jeremy. Prue, Phoebe, and I became witches. Jeremy revealed that he was a warlock and tried to kill us,' said Piper. 'We vanquished him with the Power of Three spell.'
'Oh! That Jeremy! Leo told me about that incident before I met the three of you!' said Paige. 'You obviously did not vanquish him, or he would not have come back today…'
'We definitely did vanquish him,' said Piper. 'Today… It was exactly a year ago today that we vanquished Jeremy. Do demons become unvanquished after a year?'
Paige laughed. 'No, thankfully, but there must be a reason that your warlock hubby came back.'
Piper sighed. 'Are you going to refer to him as that from now on?'
Paige smiled and nodded.
The doorbell rang.
'Paige! You are supposed to be on door duty! That is probably Andy and Darryl,' said Piper.
'Sorry, I thought leaving door duty to vanquish your warlock hubby was more important,' muttered Paige as she headed for the front door.
By the time Paige got to the foyer, Leo had already opened the front door and let Andy and Darryl in.
'Hi Andy. Hi Darryl,' said Paige. 'You can go and sit around in the living room for now. Prepare yourself for everything.'
'Hi Paige,' said Andy.
'Hi,' said Darryl.
Paige smiled. As Andy walked past her, Paige said, 'So Andy are you here on business or for personal reasons to see Prue?'
Darryl was confused by the question. Paige knew it was a silly question considering everyone knew Andy was there for his wedding, but Andy understood the joke.
'Paige, are you ever going to let that go?' asked Andy, smirking.
'Let what go? The fact that you so often came here to see Prue with the excuse that you were here on official work business?' laughed Paige.
Phoebe came walking into the foyer.
'Have you seen Kit?' asked Phoebe.
'No… I don't think Kit will mind missing the wedding though,' said Paige.
'Not funny, Paige,' said Phoebe.
'Why do you want to find Kit?' asked Paige.
'I was thinking about the Book incident and my instincts started telling me to go and find Kit,' said Phoebe. 'I sound crazy, don't I?'
Paige shook her head. 'You, Prue, and Piper were the ones telling me that I should trust my instincts a couple of months ago. So I say you should trust yours too. Go and find Kit.'
Phoebe nodded. 'If Piper asks where I am, tell her a demon got me.'
'That will settle her nerves,' said Paige sarcastically.
Phoebe laughed before leaving the manor.
It was almost twelve o'clock. Prue, Piper, and Paige were in the kitchen.
'Where is Phoebe?' Piper muttered to Paige.
'She told me that if you asked that to tell you that a demon got her,' said Paige.
Piper frowned. 'Don't even joke.'
'It definitely sounds like something Phoebe would say,' said Prue.
Piper and Paige turned to Prue.
'Nervous?' asked Paige, smiling.
'Me? Of course not,' said Prue.
'Oh, I am sorry. I forgot that the almighty Prue Halliwell does not get nervous,' laughed Paige.
'Exactly,' said Prue.
Piper had been looking at the kitchen clock.
'Okay, whether Phoebe is here or not, we are not delaying this wedding,' said Piper. 'Paige and I will go out there, leaving you here. Prue, when you hear the music start, that's your cue.'
'Got it,' said Prue.
Something caught the corner of Paige's eye. She turned to the basement door. Black smoke… not smoke… a shadow was protruding from the crack beneath the door. No, not just an ordinary shadow…
Paige tapped Piper on the shoulder, making her turn to see the shadow. From Piper's expression, Paige could tell that Piper had also figured out what it was.
Piper quickly turned back to Prue. 'On second thoughts, Prue, you are the bride. You should have the honour of going out there first.'
Piper pushed Prue out of the kitchen and locked the kitchen door. Piper and Paige turned to see the shadow making its way across the kitchen.
'If Prue was not suspicious before, I think you kicking her out of the kitchen would have made her suspicious now,' said Paige.
'That's better than her knowing the truth,' said Piper.
'Do you remember the spell?' asked Paige.
'Me? The Woogyman was Phoebe's demon, not mine,' said Piper. 'Which brings me back to: Where is Phoebe?'
'Shouldn't the question be: How did the Woogyman become unvanquished?' asked Paige.
Piper and Paige were backed up against the kitchen door. They had nowhere to run. They had no memory of the vanquishing spell's exact wording, and Phoebe was not present to help them.
