2
The attic door swung open gently, as if a gentle breeze pushed it open. A cool chill ran through the three's spines.
"Woah." Elliot shook his shoulders. "That's crazy."
"Did you feel that?" Adele whispered, eyes closed. She felt something growing in her chest.
Prue, clearly affected and aware, tried to appear unnerved and entered the room first. "Yeah, it must be a drafty attic."
A beautiful set of stained glass windows adorned the walls across the room. It was like no attic any of them have ever seen. There weren't boxes stacked to the ceiling or crates full of junk set haphazardly everywhere. Everything there looked like it had its place. An antique dollhouse with beautiful figurines with just a sprinkling of dust was on one table, while an aged map of San Francisco on another. A beautiful crystal attached to a chain was nearby.
"That's a quartz. I use one to—" Adele started, then quickly stopped. She knew Prue got a bit uncomfortable when she discussed witchcraft or any type of aspect of any religion. "It makes a pretty necklace."
"What fell and made those noises?" Prue asked out loud. "Let's figure that out."
Elliot made his way to the bookshelves on the other side of the room. The light from the stained windows made his lavender hair shine even more. For someone who's had nearly fifty different dye jobs, his hair looked marvelously healthy. He trailed his hands along the edge of each shelf.
"Herbs, History of the Craft…Runes. Adele, this is like a witch's attic isn't it?" he asked. "It's all…witchy stuff here."
Adele had stopped as she found three books on the ground. They were old, but very well kept. One was leatherbound with the name "Warren" painted in gold on the cover. The second one was bound in wood, cornered with jade accents and had Chinese characters burnt in. The last one she immediately opened after recognizing the familiar dark green cover with a symbol stitched in the front. The symbol was a veve, what she knew to be a voodoo symbol important to the Gardets. Everyone know what it was, whether the Gardet practiced witchcraft or not. It looked like a sister book to the book of shadows her grandmother gave her, but much older and much thicker.
She flipped through the pages quickly. Unlike her personal book full of recipes for a new moon and good luck tonics, hers was full of demons and spells with detailed illustrations. As her eyes flickered, she thought the words were written in Creole French but she thought it a trick of the eye. Her hands felt warm, knowing that the book belonged to her. She looked up at Prue and Elliot who were staring at her. She knew the others were theirs. They were Books of Shadows. Witch's tomes.
"Found the culprits?" Prue asked, coming closer with Elliot trailing behind her.
"What was Grams' mom's last name again, Prue?" Adele asked, passing Elliot the wooden book.
"Warren," she answered, grabbing the book Adele was holding out. "Why?"
"I thought so," Adele said. "Just wanted to hear you say it."
"Is this supposed to be mine?" Elliot asked, looking at the wooden book. He flipped through the pages, knowingly seeing the Chinese characters he couldn't read. Or at least he thought he couldn't read them until he could understand them. "Is it because I'm Asian?"
"You're the only one who's half Chinese," Adele remarked.
"Or it has the Hsiao name right on the front?" Elliot asked, showing his book cover to them.
"Since when could you read Chinese?" Prue asked indignantly.
"…Since now I guess," his voice dropped into a whisper.
Adele flipped to the front, to try and make sense of things. A million thoughts were running through her head.
"This book is saying that three witches born on the same day…" Prue started.
"Us," Elliot added. They were all born on October 28th. "There's only one witch here—"
"…were destined to become the Charmed ones? This must be some kind of joke," Prue continued, trying to hold back nervous laughter. "Witches that are to fight for the side of good. I mean there's paragraphs, but this is some elaborate joke."
"Is there some spell or something in your books. I have the same thing about the Charmed ones in mine, but there's some incantation in mine," Elliot said.
"Yes…it's as if these books correspond to each other," Adele said. "And if I'm going to guess…ours are pretty much he same at least with this part."
She glanced at the other two. Elliot nodded. Prue glared at her and then finally rolled her eyes. The three began to chant.
Hear now the words of the witches,
The secrets we hid in the night.
The oldest of Gods are invoked here.
The great work of Magic is sought.
In this night and in this hour,
We call upon the Ancient Power.
Bless us Charmed, we witches three
And bind our destiny, So Mote It Be!
"It's not even night ti—" Prue started before the book in her hand began to float and emit a brilliant white light.
