Hey there . I should totally be working on one of my PLL fics, but when it comes to that fandom I have a slight writer's block so I've been getting nowhere with that . I seem to have lot of ideas and inspiration when it comes to this fic, though, so I've decided to strike while the iron is hot and try to piece together this 4th chapter ;) . Disclaimer; I still don't own WoWP or Charmed, but I do own a few original characters .
The Key
Chapter 4.
Under ordinary circumstances Priscilla would probably have been more alert to the possibility of trap, but she knew what was a stake and carelessly jumped in with both feet, unaware of the dangers of it all.
The Source is torturing us. Help now.That was the message. Priscilla was the sister with the least common sense, but under different circumstances she'd have had enough of it to put two and two together. She couldn't just stand by when the possibility of the message being true was there.
Justin had walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulder to show his support, hoping that it would also comfort her a little bit. Despite the fact that Priscilla had only been hostile with him so far, he did care about her in some weird way because he could tell how much she cared about her sisters.
She hadn't said anything hurtful or hostile to him, and they had been standing there for awhile now. It was like Priscilla had been paralyzed by the message from Ouija board, like she had forgotten all about Justin's presence and just stood there in utter, complete shock.
"Are you..." Justin attempted to find some words to ease the situation a little, but he never got to finish his thought as Priscilla finally started to have a more noticable reaction to what had just happened.
"Peter!" She shrieked as loud as she could, the desperation clear in her voice. The power of her voice caused Justin to react by letting go of her shoulders and covering his ears with his hands, and then she yelled again; "PETER!"
She turned around so she was face to face with Justin, and he had never seen horror like that in her eyes. He could tell she was done yelling so he let his hands fall to his sides. It worried him, though, that she just continued to stand there withholding their eye contact, the horror still so very clear in her eyes.
Justin reached out one of his hands and grabbed one of Priscilla's in his, simply holding it to show that he was there for her, and hopefully it comforted her a little although it didn't seem like it. They stood there for awhile, and he didn't let go of her hand, and then finally he could slowly see the painful look in her eyes disappear slightly.
She smiled at him. It was a small, barely noticable one, but yet so full of appreciation. It was almost like a sensation. She had never smiled at him or done anything nice to him before, but maybe she was starting to warm up to him. Either way, Justin opted not to smile back as he felt it would be inappropriate for him to do so in that particular situation, instead he squeezed her hand reassuringly.
They were having a nice moment, but then blue and white orbs formed behind Priscilla, and Peter appeared which caused Priscilla to let go of Justin's hand and turn around.
She saw the look in Peter's eyes. He was confused. He didn't know why she'd called him down there when they'd had a clear agenda of what needed to be done. Interrupting Peter, while he tried to figure out what was what, wasn't one of them.
He looked at his girlfriend expectantly, and then she finally just burst out crying and ran into his arms. He wrapped them around his girlfriend, not understanding why she needed comfort, but giving it to her nonetheless.
Justin was surprised by what he was seeing to say the least. He had seen Priscilla be a lot of things, but he had never seen her be that vulnerable, and he'd certainly never seen her cry before. It was a whole new experience.
Peter and Priscilla stood there in each other's arms for awhile until Priscilla had finally cried out, and then she moved away from his embrace so she was standing exactly as far away from him as she was from Justin.
"What's going on, Priss?" Peter spoke, breaking the silence that had been there for awhile. His voice was stern, but his eyes were caring. Justin could tell from afar that Peter really loved Priscilla.
"I got a message from Pen." She said as she pointed in the direction of the table at which she had been seated not long ago, and Peter walked over the table and found the piece of paper that Priscilla had written the message on. "Via the Ouija board."
Peter studied the piece of paper closely, putting bits and pieces together in his mind to figure out a way how he could guide Priscilla the best, and what it all in fact meant.
"And how do you know the message comes from Penelope and not Patricia?" He questioned after he'd studied the message more than ten times, and then he looked up and met Priscilla's eyes.
Priscilla's brown eyes shifted away from Peter's eye contact, and she briefly met Justin's eyes with hers. She wasn't sure if she should reveal why she knew the message was from Penelope in front of him. She should trust him. The book did, but she'd had people far closer to her than Justin burn her ass.
He had honest eyes, she couldn't deny that, and why shouldn't she trust him? The book did, and he was the best bet as to who was the key. All he had to do was help get her sisters back, and then she'd probably never see him again. Hopefully that wouldn't take long, at least not long enough to learn something about her that he could use against her. He did seem good and eager to help.
With a sigh she looked back at Peter and regained eye contact. "Because Penelope is the one with the psychic abilities. It would be easier for her to make a connection and send the message."
"But what if it's a trap?" Peter wanted to know, and it wasn't as much a question as it was him wanting Priscilla to come to a conclusion on her own.
Justin was watching their interaction. They were very professional, despite there being feelings involved. He couldn't imagine ever being like that with Juliet, but they were able to put their feelings aside and do it so easily. Peter was trying to guide Priscilla in a subtle way, he could tell, but she seemed sceptic to his words.
"Why would it be a trap?" Priscilla asked, instead of anwering Peter's question. She didn't just look sceptic. She sounded it, too.
Admittedly, Priscilla almost never thought things through or had a game plan before going in, and hadn't it been for her sisters she would probably have gotten killed already. She needed Patricia's calm nature to help her slow down and think it over once or twice to come up with a good stragedy, and she needed Penelope's cautious and clever nature to actually come up with the good stragedy after she'd reminded them of the dangers of it all if it wasn't properly thought through, just like Penelope needed Patricia to remind her how valuable she was (that she could do it). Priscilla hadn't been much help on that part, but hopefully that would change once she got them back. She had been mean and probably reminded Penelope of how needed she wasn't, instead of how needed she was.
Despite all of that, Priscilla really believed that she had figured everything out. Justin was the key, and this was an actual message from Penelope. End of story.
"Think about it." Peter walked over to Priscilla and handed her the piece of paper with the message so she could look at it properly, and then she'd hopefully start to understand things as he started to explain them. "We know for a fact that he has them in a magic resistant cage, otherwise all of your attempts to call on them with magic would have succeeded. Let's say they got out, don't you think they'd be in the hurry to get out of there and not waste time sending you a message? And if they did in fact get out and wanted to send you a message to let you know what was going on, don't you think Penelope would have been smart enough to make it shorter so they wouldn't get caught by the Source?"
"I guess..." Priscilla spoke with insecurity because she had once again been caught in not contemplating things over hard enough. None of those things had even crossed her mind.
"You've always underestimated Penelope, Priss, and now is not the time to do that." Peter said while he made sure he had eye contact with Priscilla. He had stopped guiding her at this point, and now he was instructing her instead. "What I need you to do is trust that Penelope and Patricia are safe, and this is all the Source's attempt to try and lure you out in to the open, but you can't let him do that! Do you understand?"
He had learned long ago to use a tough tone of voice when he wanted to get through to Priscilla, and that was what he was doing now. She kinda felt like a little kid when he did that, but on some level she knew it was necessary. He was her Whitelighter, and in the end he always seemed to know best, though she didn't listen half the time and followed her own beat.
Her eyes flickered. She wanted to object. She wanted to do it her way and ignore his words, but when he was like that she always decided to humor him. It wasn't lying, technically, because she hadn't even decided what to do yet.
She locked her eyes with his again, and then she let out a sigh of defeat. "Fine."
"And what does that mean?" He asked her, his eyebrows raised in a way that let her know that he knew what she was playing at and was trying to get her to co-operate. It was weird how well he knew her, considering Priscilla's nature.
She sighed again. "It means I stay right here, behind the crystals' safety, until you get all the information you need from the Elders and come back here with a definite game plan."
"And can I trust you to do that?" His expression remained suspicious until Priscilla finally nodded, caving in. He kissed her, and then he disappeared into blue and white orbs in the middle of it.
Priscilla groaned out with annoyance as she turned around to face Justin. "Why does he always do that?" She exclaimed in frustration, completely flustering Justin.
"I... I don't know." He quickly defended himself, although he knew he didn't need to, but Priscilla could seriously be scary sometimes.
"I mean, seriously. Don't kiss me if you're going to orb out!" She continued her rant of complaining while turned around to 'clean up' after herself, but she stopped in her track as soon as she had spun around. With an alerted tone in her voice, she said; "Vampire!"
"Excuse me, what?" Justin was confused to say the least, but that's what Priscilla did to him. Confused him as well as intrigued him.
"Your vampire girlfriend is standing outside the door, waiting for you." Priscilla said. She went over to the table in the middle and picked up the Book of Shadows in a quick motion to protect it.
"How do you know that?" Justin had to ask. He knew she hated when he asked questions, but he was still confused. She had covered over all the windows so how could she possible know that? "You've draped over all the windows."
Priscilla didn't answer right away. She clinched on tighter to the Book as she managed to place her index fingers on top of each, one facing up and one down, not even an inch apart. A small ball of light formed between her fingers, and the rest of the magical objects on the table disappeared, and she was left with just the Book in her arms.
She spun around to face Justin again. She looked at him without any sort of resentment or disgust which relieved him a bit, but just slightly. He couldn't read her expression, and that worried him a little. Priscilla had proven to be very unpredictable.
Justin could tell that she was trying to read him, just as well as he was trying to read her. He knew he was trustworthy, now she needed to know it. After awhile it seemed like that dawned on her, and she decided to get a little more personal with him.
"I know magic isn't all black and white. Witches have turned into evil, Whitelighters have fallen from grace, and Elders have betrayed all that is good." She paused to inhale a deep breath to prepare herself. She wasn't good at things like that, but she was trying. "I know good isn't always good, and evil isn't always evil, and all vampires are probably not evil. What I know about magic comes from the Book and from the Elders through Peter. That's how I get my information, and what I know from the Book and from experience is that vampires are evil." She paused again, and she could see Justin's strong urge to object and defend his girlfriend clearly in his eyes, but that would soon disappear when she dropped the next part of her speech on him. It was a bombshell. "I was bitten once."
Justin was stunned to say the least. He didn't know what to say, except; "So you're a vampire, too?"
"If I was I wouldn't be able to touch the Book." Priscilla explained. She couldn't help smiling at the fact that she was finally able to pass her magical knowledge on to someone. It was new to her. She shook her head at herself and got back on track. "But I used to be. We were new to our powers, and the Vampire Queen of some vampire hive had heard that a new generation of Charmed witches had come to their powers, and she thought that if she bit one of us she'd be able to take over the Underworld. So she sent one of her 'children', and he bit me." She paused, mostly for dramatic effect, but also because this story wasn't easy to tell. "It only took me two hours to turn, and I was brought to the Vampire Queen and her hive. I know 'hive' is probably not the right word, but it was kinda like that if you think about it. Anyways, the Vampire Queen wanted to initiate me. She wanted me to bite someone so I would become a full vampire, preferably one of my sisters."
"I'm..."
"I'm not finished." Priscilla cut Justin off mid-sentence. She knew what he was gonna say anyway. He was a somewhat predictable, but very nice guy. "I've been a vampire, that's my point. I remember the evil feeling, and I remember how determined I actually was to bite one of my sisters, but they saved me. They found the vampire cave before I even got the chance to find them. I fought along side the vampires, but they managed to fight them all and get to the Vampire Queen. They stuck a wooden cross through her heart, and she burst into flames and was vanguished. All of her 'children' burst into flames as well."
"But how?"
"You mean, how didn't I?" She said, translating Justin's question. He nodded, intrigued by her story. "I never bit anyone. You have to bite someone to become a full vampire. My sisters knew that the only way to turn me back was to kill the Queen and hope that I hadn't bitten anyone. When a Vampire Queen of a hive is killed, all of her 'children' die too... Unless they haven't bitten anyone yet. So when she died, I became me again." She paused as she glanced at the entrance to the sandwich shop behind which she knew Juliet was standing, waiting. "My point is that ever since that day, I get this weird feeling inside when I'm near a vampire. It's kinda hard to explain, but it's like this gloom feeling, and right now I can tell that a vampire is standing on the other side of that door. Unless you have a bunch of vampire friends, it can only be your girlfriend."
Priscilla walked over to door and ripped down the fabrics she had used to cover it, and then she proceeded to do the same with the windows. She was done performing magic for now so there was nothing to hide, and soon as she had taken it all down Justin could see she had been right. There on the other side of the door stood Juliet.
"Do not cross the crystals." Priscilla instructed Justin as she turned her back to the windows, still a firm grip around the large Book of Shadows. "The Book may trust you, but I have no idea what happens if you cross the crystals and try to go back inside, so just don't."
She brushed past Justin and hesitated a little before she walked up the stairs, and as soon as she was out of sight Justin rushed to the door, practically ripping it open so he could finally talk to Juliet for the first time in days.
"Hi Justin." Juliet smiled at Justin. It was a small one with closed mouth, but her fangs still showed, going over her lower lip. It was clear that she was happy to see him. "I've missed you. I haven't seen in what feels like forever, and trust me, I know what that feels like."
Justin should be touched by Juliet's words, but he was left feeling rather iffy after what Priscilla had just shared with him. It was fresh on his mind, and he was only half listening to his girlfriend, but he had to make it seem like he was right there with her and nowhere else.
"I've missed you, too." Was all he managed to say, and he could hear how half-hearted it sounded as soon as those words had left his lips. He tried with a smile as he continued. "Really, I have. I've just been really busy."
"With the witch..." Juliet sounded upset with him somehow. There definitely was a hint of blame in her voice and a glint in her eyes, like she was about to cry. Like she believed that Justin had picked a stranger over her, but it wasn't like that. As far as Justin remembered, she had said so herself.
"Priscilla, yeah..." Justin merely said instead of adressing the vibe he was getting from Juliet. It did upset him, sorta, that she was feeling indifferent somehow, but oddly not enough for him to attempt to make her feel better.
It was strange because it had always been Justin and Juliet against all odds, against everyone and everything around them not wanting them together, but they had stayed strong together and gotten through all the obsticles, and there he was slightly not caring.
It shouldn't matter to him what Priscilla had said about vampires, about how she was bitten, turned and eventually saved. It shouldn't matter that the evidence of that story pointed to vampires being evil. What should matter was that the time that he had known Juliet, she had been the most caring person in the world, and that didn't add up to evil. Still, it did matter. He felt himself filling up with doubts about everything he knew to be true.
"Look, can I just come in so we can talk about it and..." Juliet almost begged him to come in. It was evident in both her voice and eyes, and she was about to walk over the threshold and enter the sandwich shop, but Justin placed his hand on her chest and pushed her away.
She looked at him with a hurt look in her eyes, but he had to do it. She was about to cross the crystals, and Justin had to stop her as he didn't know what the crystals would do to if she crossed. Despite his sudden doubts about everything, Justin loved his vampire girlfriend deeply, and he didn't want to see her zapped by crystals or whatever would have happened. He did it to save her.
"I'm sorry, but we've protected this place with crystals, and I don't know what will happen if you try to enter." Justin explained, but it seemed to do more harm than good as the hurt expression on Juliet's face worsened.
"She's getting to you, isn't she?" Juliet's voice broke as she spoke those words, and she let the tears she had seemed to be holding back fall.
Justin wanted to cross the crystals and comfort her, but he couldn't. All he could do was stand behind the crystals and try with words. "What, no? Look, Juliet, I know you don't have an evil bone in your body, but right now it's not about what I think. I don't know what the crystals might do to you if you enter. They might not care about who you are, but what you are."
"Then why don't you come out here?" It was more of demand than a suggestion, a desperate one at that. Juliet loved Justin, but right now she couldn't tell where she had him, and it scared her a little. "Please?"
"I can't." Justin said as he watched his words break Juliet even more. She backed a few steps away, but continued to stare at him with those hurt eyes of hers. "I don't know what the crystals might do to me either if I go outside and try to go back in. I can't risk it."
"I knew it. She has gotten to you." The expression on Juliet's face changed slightly. She looked more betrayed now than she did hurt, and when she continued to stare at Justin like that it broke his heart. "Justin, this hurts me so much. I love you, and I need to know if you still love me." It was an act of desperation, but she had to do it, and when she saw Justin nod his head she saw a glimmer of hope. "Prove it. Cross the crystals. Come out here and be with me."
"I..."
"Fine!" Juliet said, anger streaming through her voice. She turned her back to Justin and got ready to leave, but hesitated for awhile just to see if Justin would change his mind. He didn't, and she began to run away.
"Wait, Juliet!" He yelled out after her and attempted to run after her, but caught himself and stopped before he ran past the crystals. He was standing on his toes and was almost leaning out of the door, and he stood as still as he could until he had regained balance.
He eventually did, and then he closed the door to the sandwich shop and locked it, feeling defeated after that encounter with Juliet. That wasn't how it was meant to turn out. He couldn't believe how hurt Juliet had looked, and that he was the reason for that.
He wanted to blame Priscilla for that story about vampires and everything else about magic she had told him, but at the same time he knew she had no control over his actions. She hadn't forced him to be that way with his girlfriend. All she had done was make him think about everything.
It had never been an issue to him that Juliet was a vampire, and as far as he knew it still wasn't, but somehow he was still having some doubts. He didn't know precisely what they were about. He had thought they were about Juliet and the whole vampire story, but if he had been doubting whether Juliet was good or evil then he wouldn't have opened the door. He just didn't know what it was.
It did bother him, though, how the whole conversation he'd just had with Juliet had played out. He loved her, and it upset him that he was the reason she was now hurt, and he hated the fact that he couldn't run after her because of the stupid crystals in every opening of the house.
He wanted to kick the one right next to him and throw everything off balance, but the good guy in him prohibited it. Instead he turned around and ran upstairs to ponder the previous events over.
The Key
Alex had slept all day, and when she finally woke up it was 2:30 in the middle of the night. She was still tired, probably because she'd slept so much, but she didn't feel as sad anymore. She wasn't over wanting her magic back, but at least she wasn't upset about the failed attempt to get it back anymore.
She sat up straight in her bed and turned on the nightlight. She let her eyes wander the room, and they eventually found her old wand lying on the floor of her room. She was gonna leave it there for now until she had the courage to pick it up again.
It was so calm and quiet at night, and sometimes Alex would sit up at night and just enjoy it because once the sun awoke, so did the chaos. In the old days she had often been the cause of said chaos, but these days she enjoyed the quietness once in awhile.
She was still the troublemaker she'd always been deep down, but those moments were further and further apart now, and she was sure everyone appreciated that, especially her father. She didn't scare as many customers away anymore, not even when both her parents were away and unable to supervise, like now.
Being without her magic had allowed her to grow as a person, and now she felt ready to have her magic back. She felt like this time she had grown so much that she wouldn't misuse the magic.
Maybe she hadn't done enough to prove herself worthy to have her magic back, but hopefully someone out there would see it soon. All she could do now was continue the great progress, and then it would happen sooner or later.
Alex heard a bump in the hallway and was ripped out of her thoughts. She tried to peek into the hall from the seat on her bed, but she couldn't see anyone. She heard another bump.
"Who's there?" She called out into the hallway, her eyes portraying a small ounce of fear. She usually wasn't scared of anything, but ever since they had been introduced to this new great, big world of magic... well...
There was no answer except for another bump and the sound of glass breaking, and then there was silence. It wasn't content silence of being all by yourself, but a silence of something else being out there.
"Hello?" Alex tried again. Her eyes had grown big with worry, and she could feel fear rushing through her body. It was there for a short second, and then Priscilla stuck head into Alex's room. "Oh, it's just you. You nearly scared the crap out of me!"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Priscilla said as she stepped into Alex's room, her arms full of tiny glass vials. She walked over to the bed and sat down, and then she let the vials drop out of her arms onto the mattress. She might have over done it a little bit. "I thought you were asleep. I didn't wake you, did I?"
Alex shook her head. "Of course not."After that subject had been brushed off there was a long silence. It lasted until curiosity finally got the better of Alex, having watched the vials on her bed for a few minutes. "So what's in those vials?"
Alex had studied those vials and quickly noticed that they all contained some sort of liquid, but almost all them were diffent from each other. There was one that looked just like water, a light pink one, a blue one, a green one and so on. She hadn't counted them all, but there was so many.
"The most powerful potions in the Book." Priscilla explained while picking up one of the tiny vials. Alex watched her hand move and saw the one Priscilla had picked up contained a dark liquid. "I'm preparing for our battle with the Source. It's coming up sooner than you think."
Priscilla was acting suspicious, at least Alex thought so. A lot must have happened while she had been asleep. Priscilla was acting weird, making potions and speaking cryptically.
Alex watched as Priscilla played with the small vial between her fingers for a few seconds, and then she asked the next question on her mind. "What are they for?"
"This one..." Priscilla said as she stopped playing with the vial in her hand and held it up in front of her face so Alex could get a better view, and then she let the vial drop out of her hand and crash onto the floor. The vial broke, and the potion spread onto the floor as a form of smoke rose from it. The smoke got up through Alex's nose and knocked her unconscious. "... wouldn't have worked on the Source anyway."
Priscilla got up from Alex's bed and began searching the former wizard's room until she had found the most convenient bag in there. She quickly found one that was very efficient. Easy to get the potion into, easy to get them out of.
She went back to the bed and almost threw the potions into the bag. She was in a hurry after all. When she had ensured every single potion was in there, she placed the bag on the floor and turned her focus to the very unconscious Alex lying in the bed.
"I'm so sorry." She said quietly, although she knew Alex probably wouldn't be able to hear it. She removed the covers from Alex's bed, and then she helped the girl she had knocked out into a comfortable lying position on the bed, and then pulled the covers over Alex so it looked like the former wizard was just sleeping. "You'll probably have a headache in the morning. Some Billing's Root... Sorry, some ginger should help."
As soon as she had tucked Alex in, she grabbed the bag and hurried out of the room and down the hallway towards Justin's room. When she reached it she didn't bother knocking and just barged it, slamming the door behind her and woke up Justin in the process.
"Oh good, you're up." She said, tossing the potion bag onto Justin's bed. He sat up in his bed and looked at Priscilla with a very confused expression in his eyes. "Get dressed!"
"Wha... Why do I need to get dressed?" Justin wanted to know, still drowsy from being ripped so suddenly out of his sleep and still very confused.
Priscilla smirked at him, sitting there in his Jim Bob Sherwood PJs. "Well, if you prefer that as your battle outfit then be my guest."
Justin didn't reply to that remark, instead he got up from his bed and walked over to his dresser to find something to wear. He found a pair of jeans and one of his many t-shirts.
He stripped out of his pajamas, and Priscilla automatically turned around. Justin in his undies was one thing she didn't wish to see.
"What's really going on, Priscilla?" Justin asked as he put on his jeans and zipped them up. "Why do I need to put on a 'battle outfit'?"
"Peter came." She lied, which was much easier to do with her back towards Justin. Somehow you just couldn't lie to him face to face. "Turns out you're the key after all. I made a bunch of potions to help us, and we need to go now as soon as you're dressed."
"What about Alex?" Justin continued to question Priscilla while he put on his t-shirt. He was fully dressed now. "You can turn around now."
Priscilla did as she was told and faced Justin again. "She is still sleeping, and I decided to let her keep sleeping. I don't wanna put her life in danger by letting her come along. She doesn't have any powers, and the Source is as dangerous as it gets."
Justin found the shoes he had kicked of before he had gotten into bed next to his dresser and put them on. He turned around to face Priscilla again and stood there eyeing her. Something seemed off, but he couldn't put his finger on it so he decided to 'trust' her.
"But you don't mind putting me in danger?" Justin asked, trying to get his questions answered before he joined this risky mission. He wanted to know just how dangerous it was.
"I don't have a choice." Priscilla hissed instead of yelling. It was stupid if she thought about it because Alex was knocked out from a sleeping potion and wouldn't wake up if she yelled. Why did she even wanna yell? His questions were legit. She continued in a calmer manner; "I'm sorry, but it will more dangerous if you don't go. The Charmed Ones are the only ones with the power to ever vanguish the Source, and if we don't go now he'll have smooth sailing forever."
Justin still had a lot of questions. "But..."
"Justin, demons can literally live for thousands of years, and the Source even longer because, like I said, only me and my sisters can vanguish him." Priscilla cut him off. She knew he had a lot of questions, and that he wanted them all answered because he was that kind of person, but right now wasn't the time. "The only other way is if all the demons in the Underworld uproar against the Source, but do you really think that will happen if he's the reason that the Charmed Ones are no more? No."
He took in her words, and he got her point. He understood what was at risk now, and he felt like he didn't have much of a choice when she put it like that. He just needed to know the plan so he didn't go down there unprepared.
"What's the plan?" He finally said, agreeing with her. He watched a smile form on Priscilla's lips, and in the second you could be fooled into believing that she wasn't as complicated as she really was.
"You're wizard, and in the old days they belonged in the Underworld until their trickster nature was exposed, and they were able to touch the Grimoir as well as the rest of the demons. They weren't allowed, but that's besides the point. My hope is that you'll be able to as well." She explained, and then she walked over to the bed and grabbed the bag of potions. She was standing right in front of Justin now as she explained her plan further; "You're the decoy. You're gonna grab the Grimoir, thus unevening the playingfield to our advantage. While the Source or whomever try to protect the Grimoir, I'll free my sisters. You're probably wondering how you're supposed to protect yourself against some as powerful as the Source, and that why I made these for you." She handed him the bag with the potions in it, and he peaked inside, discovering just how many there were. "They are the most powerful ones in the Book of Shadows, and I suggest you throw them first and ask questions later."
Justin, who was still studying all the potions one by one, looked up. "What do they do?"
Priscilla smiled in way Justin hoped he would never see her smile again. She didn't answer right away, instead she took off her 'earthquake ring' and placed it on Justin's nightstand. She looked Justin right in eyes, and then she mercilessly said; "Hopefully they'll inflict a lot of pain on the Source, and if we're lucky; injure him greatly. Either it will be to our benefit."
"That seems ruthless." Justin understood the plan, and he wanted to help, but that kind of talk made him feel uncomfortable. Priscilla was talking about inflicting someone pain so casually. "There has to be..."
Priscilla cut him off in the middle of a sentence again. It seemed to have become a habit of hers. "The Source is ruthless, and if we wanna stand a fighting chance we have to be too." She looked Justin straight in the eyes, searching for a sign to see if there was still doubt in him. She couldn't tell. He mostly seemed scared. "We need to do this, Justin. Now grab my arm."
She extended out her arm for him to take. She was gonna use her powers where she did the thing with her fingers and project them down to the Underworld. She had only ever projected herself different places. She had never had any passengers with her before, but this was crunch time.
Justin looked at her extended arm, still being hesitant. He had no idea that this was what he had signed up for. Priscilla's world of magic was entirely different from his. His world of magic almost seemed like fun and games compared to hers. The Charmed Ones had to eliminate all kinds of evil and save the world on a daily/weekly basis. His life had to seem like a playground to Priscilla. He wasn't sure he was ready to be part of her magical world, especially not the intensity and danger that came with it. However, he had to become ready right now. It appeared he had no choice if there had to be a future for good magic.
"What about your ring, are you just gonna leave it behind?" He knew he was stalling, and he could tell by the look Priscilla sent him that she was beginning to get really annoyed with him. They needed to go, he knew, but he was still scared. "If it's magical, aren't you going to need it?"
"It's not that kind of magic, Justin. It controls my magic until I know how to control it myself, but good magic isn't as powerful as it normally is in the Underworld so I'm taking it off to be as powerful as possible." She explained, raising a lot of question in Justin that he had to withhold at this pressing time. "Now grab my arm, Justin!"
He reluctantly did as he was told and reached, grabbing Priscilla's arm. She held out her hands, stretching out her index finger on each hand. She placed them on top of each other, one facing up and one down, not even an inch apart. A small ball of light formed between her fingers, and with that they disappeared from Justin's room.
They soon reappeared, this time in the Underworld. It was creepier than Justin had imagined, but at the same time he wasn't surprised. It was all one big, scary looking cave under ground, only being lit by stone pillars with fire on them, but still very dark and creepy.
Priscilla adjusted to being down there faster than he did, and she had quickly located where they were. "There's the Grimoir." She said and pointed towards what seemed like a big pile of rocks with a book on top to Justin. "Get it, I'll find my sisters."
"Don't you think it's an awfully big coincidence that we arrive in the Underworld exactly where we need to be?" Justin had to ask this because something seemed off about this whole predicament, almost like it was a trap, and he was beginning to have this strange feeling that Peter never contacted Priscilla, and that she had lied to him.
"Are you questioning my magic?" Priscilla said in a very low voice so no unwanted evil would hear them. Justin shook his head, scared and out of his element. "Good, now get the book. Remember, throw first and ask later."
She was refering to the bag of potions that Justin still had on him. He nodded at her instructions and ran over to the Grimoir. She turned around to go look for her sisters which turned out to be easier than she thought. There, in the same room as the Book of Shadows' counterpart, were her sisters trapped in a cage like predicted.
It didn't occur to her to think of any of this as a bad omen, instead she thought how dumb the Source was to have his precious book and her sisters in the same 'room'. She rushed over to the back of the cage as far away from the opening to this particular cave as possible so she wouldn't be immediately spotted by the Source if he were to enter.
She wrapped her hands around the bars, trying to get her sisters attention. They were so worn out by whatever the Source had put them through that they hadn't noticed their own sister being there to rescue them.
Priscilla tried to make quiet noises to alert them to her presence which she eventually succeeded at. The middle Charmed sister looked up from her knees, her blue eyes meeting her younger sister's brown ones. There were no emotion whatsoever in her eyes, no sign that she was happy to get rescued.
"What are you doing here, Priscilla?" Penelope spoke with a voice that her little sister couldn't recognise. It was that broken. She gave Patricia who was sitting next to her a little shove so that she would look up. When she did, Penelope continued speaking; "Priscilla is here."
Patricia, whom Priscilla had a very special relationship with and could talk to for hours, only had two words to say; "Oh no!"
"What 'oh no'? I'm here to rescue you." Priscilla said, hoping that an announcement like that would cause her sisters to show some sort of emotion, but no such luck.
Patricia shook her head at her little sister. "This is a trap, Priss, and you're walking right into it!"
Priscilla had a long history of being reckless when it came to magic and rushing into danger without thinking about it twice, but this had to be the stupidest thing she had ever done. The Source had set up the most obvious trap ever, and she was jumping right into it.
What was even more dumb was the fact that she wasn't on a look out. She wasn't looking over her shoulder, and she definitely wasn't looking out for Justin which she should be. She was only focussed on her sisters, and that was under any other circumstances sweet, but at this pressing time it was very, very dangerous.
"Who cares what this is? I'm getting you out of here." Priscilla completely let her sister's warning fly over her head, and instead started searching her mind for a way to get them out of the cage. She was desperate so any method would do.
She didn't have time to think, and the pressure of it caused her mind to go blank, and therefore she became even more desperate. Desperate and upset, and upset led anger, and anger trickered a few of her powers. That's when she got the idea to channel her anger to a specific power of hers.
Her hands were still firmly wrapped around two bars of the cage, and she let the anger flow through her body down to her hands, tightening the grip around the bars. It only took a fews seconds, and the bars she had been holding were completely melted away, creating an exit for Patricia and Penelope.
"Quick, get out of there!" Priscilla whisper-yelled that order at her sisters, moving away from the whole she had created in the cage so her sisters had the room to get out.
They slowly, but surely got out of the cage. They were still weak from being held hostage by the Source, especially since time seemed to move a lot slower in the Underworld than it did on Earth.
As soon as they were out of the cage, Priscilla threw her arms around her sisters and cried into the hug. Right then and there she never wanted to let go, but their location and what was about to go down forced her to.
Meanwhile Justin was standing by the Grimoir, nervously contemplating how he was supposed to attack this dangerous task of his. He was about as scared of touching the Grimoir as he'd been to touch the Book of Shadows, maybe even more. The Grimoir was evil after all, and that had to mean that the zap would be even worse if it rejected him. If it would even zap him? Maybe he'd get vaporized instead?
It was a lot to ask of him to take the Grimoir, but if he was infact the key then he'd be the only one able to do it, and he he couldn't let down the Charmed Ones. Not now.
He stretched out his arms and reached out to grab the Grimoir, and right as he was about to touch it, it rejected him. It knocked him back, and then it flew across the floor in the opposite direction.
Justin quickly got up from the ground, but before he had collected himself completely, he stood face to face with the Source who had retrieved the Grimoir into his arms by magic.
The Source didn't attack right away. He let the Grimoir disappear from his arms to an unknown place, and his skeleton looking hands were now free, and it didn't take long for the Source to make his move.
A fireball formed in between the Source's hands, and in an attempt to show how little he thought of wizards, it wasn't one of full voltage. The Source took his aim, and Justin got out his wand, foolishly thinking it would do any good against the powers of the Source.
From behind the cage Priscilla could see the situation that had formed between the wizard boy she had started to care about and the Source of all evil, and she rushed out into the open, expanding the battlefield.
"Justin!" She shrieked, her eyes full of terror of what might happen to Justin. Instinctively she tried to freeze the Source, but because he was such a powerful evil being it only lasted for a few seconds. She turned to her drained sisters as an act of desperation. "Do something!"
Although the Source's black cloack was up, and they couldn't see his hollow eyes from that far away, they could almost see how satisfied he was. The situation had turned out exactly the way he had wanted it to.
Because the Charmed Ones were now watching, and Justin was an ally of theirs, the Source increased the voltage on his fireball. He threw it before Justin had the chance to raise his wand and cast a spell, and it came close to striking.
It came so close that Justin had prepared himself with the thought that it was his dying moment, but then he heard it;
"Fireball!"
It was yelled with as much power as that particular person could muster, and then the fireball disappeared into blue and white orbs, and in the same way it almost reappeared in Penelope's hand. Before it could fully reform she threw it back at the Source while it was still orbs, and on the way towards the Source it turned back to a fireball.
It struck the Source, but didn't do as much damage as they'd hoped. They knew a fireball would never kill him, but if they were lucky it could have maimed him. It didn't.
His pride seemed injured, though. Something in his eyes changed when 'the weakest link' in the Charmed Ones was able to hit him. He almost became more malicious than he was before if that was even possible. He became more eager to get rid of them.
The bag on Justin's shoulders started moving, almost like it felt uncomfortable being there and wanted to get off. It puzzled him, and he allowed himself to look around although it was dangerous times.
He saw that one of Priscilla's sisters, the one with the darkest hair and the green eyes, was using her powers to move his bag of potions. He was certain it was to alert him to the fact that he had them, seeing as he had forgotten all about them up until that point.
He nodded his head at her as a thank you, and she nodded her head back as a you're welcome.
In the mean time the Source had created another fireball. This time it wasn't aimed at Justin, instead the Source threw it at the sisters. Patricia quickly reacted, holding out her hand which she channelled her telekinesis through, sending the fireball right back at the Source.
It didn't hit because she hadn't been aiming for the Source like Penelope did previously. Hers had been a reflexed defence move, a succesful one at that.
Justin stuck his hand into the bag and grabbed a random potion. He was gonna throw first and ask question laters. This particular one had an orange color, and he got ready to throw it at the Source, but he wanted to wait an see if the sisters' current attack was succesful.
"You're not the only one who can play with fire!" Priscilla yelled, holding out her hand with a stretched out palm. She allowed the anger to channel through her again, and pure fire formed in her hand that she threw directly at the Source.
He deflected it somehow, sending it towards Justin who didn't have time to react. The fire hit him, and he burned into ashes. The Source had tricked Priscilla into using her powers on him that ultimately led to Justin's death. Whatever the outcome of this, Priscilla would forever have a tarnished soul from killing someone good, and that would turn out in the Source's favor in the end.
Priscilla broke down crying and wanted nothing more than to fall down and give up, but that wasn't an option. Penelope helped her stay on her feet despite the middle sister being more worn out than her little sister.
The Source took that as his cue to attack them again, and this time he wanted to take out the youngest of them. He charged another fireball and threw it at Priscilla.
Patricia saw the attack before her sisters. "Priscilla, look out!" She yelled out just in time as her sisters broke away from each other, and the youngest used her best defence magic.
A purple shield of energy formed around Priscilla, almost like a protecting forcefield. The fireball hit, and the energy shield worked the way it was supposed, but unfortunately the fireball hit Patricia right after bouncing off the protection shield.
She turned into ashes just like Justin had done moments before. The Source had won. No one could kill him now, but Penelope and Priscilla still kept fighting. They might still be able to get out of there, and maybe there was some magic out there to save the ones they had lost.
Priscilla bent down and placed her hand on the ground, preparing to use one of her powers. The most powerful one she had or at least the most dangerous. Hopefully that would have the desired effect on the Source.
"Don't do it. You don't know what you'd be making an opening to down here." Penelope's wise words stopped Priscilla before she used the power she had intented. However, she didn't get up, and her hand was still on the ground.
"Whatever it is, it's where he deserves to go." She said more careless than she had ever been before, but what did they have to lose at this point? What did she have to lose? Her powers had been the cause of Justin's and her oldest sister's death. She didn't care anymore.
Penelope shook her head. "No, get up!" She grabbed a hold of her little sister's arm, and then she dragged her up on her feet again. Despite everything they couldn't be that reckless.
They got back in defence position as the Source prepared another attack. What seemed like blue lightning came out from his hand, and he aimed it at Penelope who used her abilities to send it back at him.
He used one of his many powers of evil and made Priscilla disappear, and not even a second later she reappeared right in front of the Source, getting hit by the blue lightning. Unlike Justin and Patricia, she didn't turn into dust. She was completely vaporized with no remains left behind at all.
Penelope was paralyzed with shock and unable to defend herself from the Source's next attack. He had formed a massive fireball between his skeleton fingers, but he waited to fire it. He wanted to hurt Penelope, the witch he had greatly underestimated, further.
"Who would have thought it would be you against me at the end?" With that said he had deprived Penelope the privilege of the last words spoken to her to be from her sister. Instead they would always be from the Source of all evil, the most powerful magical being there ever was and would ever be.
He fired the last fireball at Penelope, the only one left. As it got closer Penelope became more and more prepared to die, and she tried her best to be filled with as much good as possible inches before evil struck her for the final time.
The Key
That's the end of chapter 4 . I hoped you enjoyed reading it, and that it kept you on the edge of your seat . I know this may not be your favorite chapter as I was kind of on a killing spree in it, but like the theme song of WoWp says; everything is not what it seems . I've dropped hints regarding that in the previous chapter along with this one, can you guess what it is ? One hint is dropped in the beginning of this chapter in a conversation between Peter and Priscilla, and one of the hints in chapter 3 was when I was describing the states Patricia and Penelope were in . That's all I'm gonna say, but you are welcome to leave me your theories . I would love to have some feedback, good or bad, with or without theories . I'm really interested in knowing what you think about everything . Anyway, thanks for reading . I really appreciate it ;) .
Laters,
AK-tutti :)
