Part 4
Later that afternoon, Paige sat at her desk sifting through her newest case file
"Hey, you."
Paige looked up from her file to see Prue standing there. She glanced over at the wall clock. 5:45pm. Already, Paige thought sadly. She felt as if she had done no work.
She began to pick up her desk.
"What's up?" she asked quietly, knowing that she was still treading on thin ice because of last night.
Prue pulled up a chair to her sister's desk. Paige stopped packing up, but didn't meet her sister's eyes.
"I thought I might check in to see what you found out last night," Prue said simply.
Paige looked up from her work. She saw something different in her sister's eyes that she had never seen before in all the years that she knew her sister.
"What changed your mind?"
Paige decided not to add, "after all these years."
"I don't know," Prue responded looking at her reflection in the dark window. "My gut."
"Prue! Paige!" Piper yelled as she came through the doors of the Manor.
She dropped the groceries in the kitchen and began up the stairs. She had felt like the house wife taking care of her sisters and then sometimes she felt like a soccer mom, mediating between her sisters. The house was quiet.
She peaked inside the bedrooms. No one. Oh, no, Piper thought as she headed up to the attic in frustration. And of course, there they were, standing around the book.
"What happened?" Piper asked as she approached her sisters.
"Nothing," Prue said casually as she continued to skim through the book.
"—Yet," Paige finished.
"Well, what are you doing?" Piper asked starting to get irritateds.
"We're checking to see if that man was legit," Paige said casually.
Piper eyed her sisters. This is a change, she thought. However, she did not say anything. Prue caught her eye and gave a weak smile. Piper stared at the page that was open.
"Wait, who exactly are you summoning?" she asked. "You are not seriously going to ask demon after demon, are you?"
"Yes," they replied in a matter of fact way.
They had been witches for barely three years, Piper thought at the frantically. It didn't make them experts or certainly not good enough to go up against any demon she finds in the Book of Shadows. And with that, before Piper could say anything in protest, her sisters were chanting a spell. She felt an arm pull her back as a mist began to swirl. Piper began to mutter in frantic worry, but noticed the crystals placed strategically around the room. As the demon materialized into the room, Prue stepped forward, or she and Paige stepped a little further back. Piper could not tell which.
"What do you know about Phoebe Halliwell?"
"What? What is going on?" he asked as he looked around in shock.
"What do you know about Phoebe Halliwell?" Prue scolded more loudly this time.
"Who? Damn witches!"
"Wrong answer," Prue said as she threw a vanquishing potion at his chest.
This was exactly how it went for about a dozen more demons.
"Prue, you need to stop," Paige said taking her arm.
Prue had ignored the subject of her sister for over 17 years. Now she was saying her name over and over without any ease. It is as if Prue opened feelings within her and now they were out of her control. Prue did not turn to see her sisters, but rather she said the spell again.
"Prue, stop---'' Piper yelled.
However, before Prue finished the spell another, lighter mist filled the room.
"Yes, Prudence, stop."
Grams stood before. They had not seen her since they had become witches, more specifically they haven't seen her since she died.
"What---''
"Am I doing here?" Grams finished. " I came here with some answers."
However, the tone in her voice was soft, unusual for a buoyant Grams.
"So . . ." Piper asked as she took Paige's hand and they stepped closer to Prue.
They were all afraid to hear what Grams had to say, but no one said a word. They waited for Grams to continue. Finally, she broke the silence.
"Whoever you heard it from had no right.---'' Grams began.
"To what, Grams?" Piper asked, more harshly than she intended; she too had emotions she had yet to deal with.
"He had no right to tell you things." Grams paused for a moment. "Her death wasn't an accident."
Paige stepped up to them. She had not said a word for awhile.
"What do you mean? Who was he?"
"Phoebe's death is more complicated than you ever thought."
"Wait a minute. Hold on just one second," Piper scolded unintentionally pointing an accusatory finger at Grams. "You never would have told us this is that man hadn't---''
"No, I guess not." Grams said without taking long to think.
Prue lost it then.
"It was an ACCIDENT. You have no idea how many years I've told myself that. You have no idea how many years it took me to believe it! Now you are here telling us, me that it wasn't an accident. I spent years blaming myself. It took so long for me . . . How dare you!"
Prue paced in the room's silence.
"Who did it? What happened?" Paige finally asked.
"I did." There it was.
