A/N. Thank you for the reviews. I'm sorry this has to happen, but there is no room in the story for the person who dies anymore.
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Chapter 4 – Four days laterPiper sat in the shadowy attic, her only source of light a flickering candle. Before her, on a low table, rested the Book Of Shadows along with an assortment of spices. She was desperate.
Piper began to chant, her voice scratchy and strained. Her blood shot and brimming eyes veered in and out of focus as she stared at the candle – a gateway to the Elders.
In this night and at this hour,
I call upon the ancient power.
Bring back my grandmother,
Bring back our matriarch
Despite the spell, the distraught witch was alone. There was nothing out of place in the attic. Just cast – off furniture, pictures and toys.
Piper glared at the magical tome in front of her. It was the first time it had failed her. Failed Grams. In the five years Piper had spent in the Manor, fighting demons, the book had always provided the information they needed. But then, they usually defeated all the demons the source threw at them. Until it had all gone wrong four days earlier.
- - When Piper had came to, she found the sweet, handsome face of Leo hovering over her. His face lit up with relief as he noticed his wife's eyes open. However he wasted no time showing it. The whitelighter jumped to his feet and ran into the garden, straight over the rubble of the wall that used to stand there.
Strong hands gripped Piper's arms and Prue and Phoebe pulled her to her feet. Both wore saddened expressions.
"Where's Grams?" Piper demanded, her heart beating with panic as she remembered the evenets before she had passed out.
"G – garden," Phoebe managed to choke out. "Kate d – didn't survive."
Piper wrapped her arms around Phoebe, her heart heavy. They had lost an innocent. An innocent woman they were supposed to protect.
"No!"
Piper and Phoebe broke apart instantly, startled by Prue's wail. The oldest Charmed One was flying to where Leo stood and Penny lay motionless.
Motionless? But Leo had healed her? Hadn't he?
"Leo..?" Piper cast her confused eyes to Leo, whose own eyes were grief stricken.
"I'm so sorry Piper." Leo strode over to his wife and pulled her into his arms.
Beside them Phoebe let out a sob and sunk to the floor.
But Piper couldn't cry. She wouldn't believe Penny was never coming back. - -
She still couldn't think that. A lifetime without her Grams' guidance seemed too much to bear. Unfortunately it was a feeling Piper knew too well, having lost her parents at a very young age.
She gritted her teeth and continued flipping through the book, refusing to give into her despair. She had to get Grams back, for her sisters mainly. Penny had raised them, been like a mother to them.
Her hand hovered over a page when she spotted a spell. "To call a lost witch." The family had used it before, to bring Prue back from the underworld at Caitlyn's birth. Again Piper began the spell, pouring all her power and desire into the words.
Powers of the witches rise,
Course unseen across the skies,
Come to me who call you near,
Come to me and settle here.
Nothing. No mystic wind, no spectre like image of Grams. Piper bit back her disappointment and a new flood of tears, deciding to focus on the next incantation. She stuck out her hand and pricked her finger with an athame. The drop of crimson red blood dripped into a copper bowl of prepared herbs.
Blood to blood I summon thee,
Penelope Halliwell return to me
Piper felt a soft breeze lift her silky hair from her shoulders. But it was barely enough magic to conjure a petal, let alone a deceased witch. She squeezed her tired eyes shut, the last remnants of hope fading.
"Piper…"
Piper's eyes shot open and her head whipped towards the door. "Grams?"
"Sweetie…"
"Phoebe," Piper breathed.
The youngest sister was dressed in sweatpants and a tank top, but it was clear she hadn't slept. Her pretty eyes were shadowed with grief and fatigue. She crossed over to Piper.
"It's four o'clock in the morning." Phoebe's voice was weak, like she couldn't quite muster the energy to speak. "What are you doing?"
"T-trying to get Grams back."
Phoebe shook her head sadly, worried for her sister. Although the whole family were devastated, Piper seemed to have taken the loss of their matriarch the hardest. Possibly because of all that she had been through. "Sweetie, you can't…"
"I don't understand why magic can't fix this!" Piper cried in frustration. "It's as if the book's deserted us. Deserted Grams."
"We've lost our grandmother in the most sickening way possible. How are we ever supposed to understand that?" Phoebe dragged Piper to her feet. "We've tried every magical way possible to bring her back. But we can't." Phoebe paused as if the next words caused her physical pain. "She's gone."
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Prue pressed down a bit harder, digging a fingernail into her soft fleshy cuticle. Pain seared through her hand and for a moment the constant ache in her chest lessened. But then the pain eased, and the feeling of not being able to breathe returned.
Why? Why had this happened to her family? They'd been through so much: losing Patty, Victor leaving and discovering Piper. Penny had been with them every step of the way. But she had been ripped away, leaving a huge hole in their lives.
"Prue?"
Prue ignored the gentle voice of her husband and focused intently on her cuticle. If she peeled the tag of skin off, maybe all the hurt would go away.
"Prue."
Firm hands gripped hers and held them still. Prue tried to wrench her palms away, but Andy wouldn't let go. With a frustrated sigh, Prue stopped struggling. It wasn't enough hurt anyway.
"Honey the cars are here."
So soon? Prue felt a stab of panic. Penny's funeral couldn't be upon them. "I – I'm not going." It hurt to talk.
"What?" Andy bent low so he was almost level with Prue as she sat on the edge of their bed. "Why?"
"Because if – if I go it means Grams really isn't coming back," Prue croaked. "And I don't think I can handle that."
"We'll handle it together."
"She's always been there. She's always supported me, helped me. How am I supposed to carry on without her?"
"I'll help you," Andy promised her, his voice cracking a little. It broke his heart to see Prue in so much pain. "You will get through this."
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'How are we going to get through this?' Phoebe wondered.
She was sandwiched between Jake and Prue in a sun lit mausoleum. On the other side of Prue was Andy, then Piper and finally Leo. Behind them was a crowd of mourners, including Victor. Phoebe was grateful for his support. In front of them was an ivory casket that held Penny's body.
As she glanced at the white robed priestess preparing her ceremonial tools on an altar Phoebe wondered if they'd made the right choice in giving Penny a Wiccan funeral. She was worried it might cause exposure, but Piper had insisted it wouldn't, reminding them of her parents' Wiccan send off. They lived in California after all.
Phoebe's pearly tears dripped onto the programme in her hands and her eyes slid down to read it. Below the triquetra were the words 'Penelope Halliwell 1930 – 2006. Never forgotten.'
The priestess began speaking, her tone soft. "That which has come from the earth has returned to the earth."
Phoebe stared at the woman through the three candles in front of Penny's casket. A hush fell, punctuated by many stifled sobs.
"That which belonged to the spirit has returned to the ancient ones. As life is a day, so our sister has passed into the night."
Phoebe grabbed Jake's hand at the last sentence, feeling as if she would burst from the pain consuming her. A lifetime without her Grams was too much to bear.
The priestess continued, but Phoebe didn't hear a word. She was encased in a bubble of grief that was unbreakable. Before she knew it, the youngest Charmed One was being hauled to her feet by Jake and soon they were in a receiving line.
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Prue wandered through the downstairs rooms of Halliwell Manor, gazing at unfamiliar faces and envying their carefree talk. It was her grandmother's wake and her killer, Shax, was still out there somewhere.
"Sweetie I need to talk to you." Andy slid his arms around his wife's shoulders and steered her towards the foyer.
"What is it?"
"Something important."
They reached the foyer. Phoebe and Darryl Morris were there, along with a young man Prue didn't recognise. He was small and wiry, with beady black eyes that seemed to read right into her soul.
"Prue, Phoebe I'm sorry about this but Inspector Thompson insisted on seeing you today," Darryl, who had became a firm family friend, told them.
Even though Andy had explained that there would be a police case concerning Penny and Kate's deaths, Prue had expected them to hold back a few days. She wished the case would just disappear, but that was impossible.
"I just wanted to offer my deepest sympathies," Thompson said, shaking Phoebe's, then Prue's hands.
"Thank you," the two witches replied simultaneously.
"Where's Piper?" Darryl asked, his eyes searching the throng of people.
"Upstairs," Phoebe answered. "She's not feeling well."
"We'll find the monster who did this," Thompson assured them, his jaw clenched resolutely.
An icy shiver ran down Prue's back and she glanced worriedly at Phoebe.
Thompson's eyes darted from Phoebe to Prue. "Something I said?"
"No," Prue replied. "Just the word 'monster'."
"How else do you describe someone so vicious?" Thompson asked. "He needs to be stopped before he strikes again."
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Leo watched helplessly as his wife stalked backwards and forwards across the attic's wooden floor, carrying tall white candles and placing them in a circle.
"Honey, what are you doing?"
Piper stayed silent, focusing intently on her task. She bent low and lit a candle before shuffling over to ignite the next. She repeated this with all the candles in the circle and then moved to the Book Of Shadows.
Now Leo understood. Piper was going to try and summon Penny. "Piper, you…" Leo was about to tell the Charmed One that her goal was impossible, but her chant cut him off.
Hear my call, hear my plea,
Spirit from the other side,
Come to me I summon thee,
Cross now the great divide.
Piper waited with baited breath as the customary swirl of golden orbs formed into the shape of a woman with a long white gown.
"Mom," Piper groaned, her mother's face becoming clear once the light disappeared.
"Hello darling," Patty greeted, her eyes clouded with sadness. "How are you?"
"How am I? Are you kidding? D'you not get the news up there?"
"I meant, how are you holding up?" Patty corrected.
"Actually, I'm a little confused," Piper admitted. "I wanted to speak to Grams."
"You can't see her," Patty informed her middle daughter. "At least not yet."
"Why not?"
"Because it would stop you moving on with your lives."
"But I saw Mom and Dad a few months after they died," Piper pointed out.
"That was a one off," Leo replied, joining in the conversation. "It helped you accept your Charmed Destiny."
"But seeing Grams may hinder you in the next stage of that destiny," Patty continued. "Her death will help you fight in the Great Battle."
"So Grams died because we need to fight?"
"No, but destiny has a way of ensuring things happen at the right time," Leo replied.
"Okay, so what is this 'Great Battle'?" Piper asked.
"A battle between the greatest power of good, and the greatest force of evil."
As her biological mother said those words, Piper felt a lead weight settle on her heart. She and her sisters were going to have to face the Source Of All Evil.
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A few hours later twilight was settling over San Francisco and the Halliwell sisters were sitting cuddled up on the couch. No one spoke. They just sat there, comforting each other and getting strength from one another. All were contemplating the up coming battle.
"What are we going to do with her stuff?" Piper asked suddenly.
"Sell it, I suppose," Phoebe replied.
"Some of it," Prue agreed. She stiffened suddenly and uncurled herself from her sisters.
"What is it?" Piper wondered.
"A chill."
The front doors burst open and a mini tornado sailed in, transforming into Shax. Piper and Phoebe joined Prue and they linked hands. Shax pushed his arm forward and the Charmed Ones were swept backwards, barely missing the fireplace. As they scrambled to their feet, Shax conjured a blast of energy at them. Piper and Phoebe dodged out the way, but the energy blast flew towards Prue. The eldest witch squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for impact. But none came. She opened her eyes when she heard a smash behind her. The blast had gone straight through her!
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Piper flicked her wrists and the demon froze mid snarl.
"You phased!" Phoebe cried.
"I did? How?"
"Maybe because you can move objects and yourself with your mind you can move yourself through objects?" Piper suggested.
"Thank you Dr Spock," Prue told her sarcastically.
Piper rolled her eyes in annoyance and Shax unfroze. The sisters joined hands again, unified in their want of revenge.
Evil wind that blows,
That which forms below,
No longer may you dwell,
Death takes you with this spell
Shax began to convulse, as if unseen pulses were travelling up and down his body. With a final scream of rage and pain, he exploded into a million tiny particles.
Penny's death had been avenged.