Disorder of the Phoenix
October 28th 2005
Phoebe walked into the manor, shutting the door behind her. Walking through the foyer, she called out: "Hello? Anybody home? Sister witches?" As Phoebe peered into the living room, a wide eyed Piper stood up from the sofa, where she had been deep in discussion with a man who Phoebe thought looked very familiar.
"Are you crazy?" Piper said to Phoebe.
"What's going on?" Phoebe asked.
"Hi," the familiar-looking man said to Phoebe.
Phoebe threw a smile and a pleasant "hi" in his direction before waiting for an explanation from Piper.
Piper froze the familiar-looking man and wandered over to Phoebe, ushering her back into the foyer.
"Hi," Phoebe said to Piper, completely confused at what she had said that was so wrong.
"Sister witches?" Piper emphasised. "I can't believe you said that! Are you really that immature? It's not like we just became witches the other day."
"Oohh," Phoebe said, realising her mistake. "I wasn't exactly expecting us to have any visitors here and I feel really good about something I just did and this is the best I've felt in three days, so I'm in a bit of a good mood." Phoebe peered over at the frozen man on the sofa again. "Who's he?"
"You've met him once before," Piper said, sighing. "It's Rob. The banker. The banker that denied my loan when I was first looking at buying the club."
"Oh," said Phoebe as she put the name and the face to the memory. Then Phoebe realised something else about this whole situation: "Wow, déjà vu!" She laughed it off. "What's he doing here now?"
Piper sighed. "It just so happens that Rob is sorting out the loan for the buyer that is interested in buying P3. Stephanie – the buyer – was supposed to come here today too to discuss the paperwork and finances, but she backed out and said she'd be here later."
"Does Leo know Rob is here? I mean you and him did –"
"Nothing ever happened. We mixed business with personal last time, but thank goodness that did not go all the way to the bedroom,' Piper exclaimed. "Yes, Leo does know Rob is here. Like me, Rob is now happily married. Is that okay with you?" Piper finished this with a disgruntled eye roll.
The two were interrupted by the front door opening. Paige walked in, holding her phone to her ear. "Will it be ready to pick up in the next couple of hours?"
"Paige, out," Phoebe ushered.
"Hang on," Paige said to the person on the phone before covering the receiver end and saying, "Why?"
"We have a frozen mortal in the living room," Phoebe explained.
"Gotcha," Paige said, walking back out of the house and putting the phone back to her ear.
Piper walked back into the living room and returned to her standing spot next to Rob. The scene unfroze and Rob stood up, and walked with Piper over to Phoebe in the foyer.
"It's Phoebe, isn't it?" Rob said.
"Good memory," said Phoebe, nodding. Phoebe pointed in the direction of the front door. "And that…"
The front door opened again and Paige walked in, the phone to her ear still. "Great, I'll be there in an hour. Thanks. Bye." She put the phone down and looked from Rob to Piper to Phoebe.
"…is our sister, Paige. You didn't meet her last time."
"Hi," said Paige.
"Rob," Rob introduced himself.
Smiling at Rob, Piper said, "So we'll meet at P3 in an hour or so to sign the paperwork?"
Rob nodded. "Yes. Stephanie did say she should be able to make it through the traffic to P3 for that time."
"Okay, thanks," Piper said. The two walked over to the door and Piper let him out. "See you later."
Turning back to her sisters in the foyer, Piper looked quizzically at Phoebe.
"What now?" Phoebe asked.
"It's ten o'clock in the morning," Piper pointed out.
"I can read the time, Piper," Phoebe said.
Ignoring Phoebe's retort, Piper continued: "I don't need to be at P3 for another hour to sort out the paperwork with Rob and the lady buying the club. Paige has today off from volunteering at the station because she has an interview to prepare for this afternoon. You, you're supposed to be at the Bay Mirror all day today."
Phoebe made no reply. She stared sheepishly at her sisters.
Paige furrowed her brow. "You're right. Phoebe left an hour and a half ago for work. I know because I left at the same time to go and run some errands in preparation for my interview."
"Well, I did go to work," Phoebe began a little reluctantly.
"And when you came in just now, you said you were already in a good mood because you felt like you had done something good," Piper said. "What happened at the Bay Mirror in such a short space of time?"
Phoebe gulped, perhaps unsure of how she was going to phrase it or of the response that Piper would come back with.
"Phoebe?" Piper persisted.
"I…" Phoebe paused. "I quit my job at the Bay Mirror."
…
The three sisters were sat in the kitchen, each with a steaming mug of coffee in front of them.
"So why did you quit?" Paige asked.
"And why's that such a good thing?" Piper asked. "If it makes you happy to have quit, then I'm happy for you, but I thought you loved being Ask Phoebe."
"I am happy I quit. It's the best thing I could have done for myself," Phoebe said.
"The money was good, you were oddly somehow famous by all of it," Paige began, pausing when she noticed Phoebe fidget uncomfortably at those words. "Most of all, being an advice columnist was perfect for you. You put your all into that column."
Phoebe shook her head. "Quitting was a choice I had to make." Before her sisters could interject again, she added, "And it was the right choice."
The doorbell rang and before Piper could stand up, Phoebe was already halfway out of the kitchen.
"I'll get it," Phoebe said. "Seeing as the person at the door has saved me from this interrogation, the least I can do is thank them."
Phoebe made her way out of the kitchen. Piper and Paige exchanged concerned looks before following their sister into the foyer.
Phoebe opened the front door and her smile disappeared the moment she saw who it was: David Sanders.
"You're not getting a thank you from me," she said, beginning to shut the door on him.
"Phoebe! Wait!" he said, stopping the door from shutting completely.
"Let go of the door," Phoebe said. "Or –"
"Or what? Piper can't freeze me. And I doubt you're going to have Paige orb me away in full view of the street," David said.
Phoebe sighed, not lessening her grip on the front door. "What do you want?"
"We need to talk. You know that that's what I want," David said.
"Fine," Phoebe said, a little irritably. She looked back at her considerably confused sisters and said, "I'm just going to go and get this cop to leave us alone. I'll be back as soon as possible."
Piper nodded. "Be back soon. We need to talk too."
Phoebe sighed, but agreed.
...
Not long later, Phoebe and David were sat in a small diner. A waitress walked over to their booth and placed a coffee in front of each of them.
"Thanks," David said as the waitress walked off.
"I don't see what we need to talk about," Phoebe said. "You ruined what I thought was my career. You can't fix that with a coffee."
"I didn't ruin your career. You still had a career this morning until you decided to quit," David defended.
"Oh, you can't say that," Phoebe said angrily. "I quit because my career was a lie. And from the moment I marched into Elise's office and handed in my resignation, I felt better than I have in a long time."
"You loved your career up until two days ago," David argued.
"And whose fault was that?" Phoebe put forward, staring accusingly at David.
...
"What is going on between Phoebe and that inspector?" Paige wondered aloud, back at the manor.
"Who knows?" Piper replied. "She better tell us the moment she gets back though."
Paige agreed, but then she frowned. "She might have to tell you and I'll just have to catch up later."
"What's up?" Piper asked.
"I've got a charge calling," Paige explained. She looked imploringly at Piper. "Could you do me a favour?"
Piper nodded slowly.
"The suit I dropped off at the dry cleaners yesterday is supposed to be ready today and I told them on the phone just before that I'd be there in –" Paige paused to look at her watch to check the time. "– twenty minutes time. I need it for my interview this afternoon and –"
"Say no more," Piper said. "Go and help your charge. I'll pick up your outfit on my way to P3. When you finish helping your charge, you can drop by the club to get it."
Paige looked reluctant.
"Paige, what's wrong with going to P3?" Piper enquired.
"Will Leo be there?" Paige asked as a reply.
Piper sighed. "Of course. He's setting the club up for tonight's function. You can't avoid him forever."
"Yeah… I know… but ever since I got my whitelighter abilities back…" Paige began.
"I realise it's awkward for you, but maybe we should discuss this later?" Piper hinted. "You've got a charge to help, right?"
"Right," Paige agreed. "Thanks for the favour. The dry cleaning ticket is in my car!" she added as she orbed out.
...
"This conversation is going nowhere," David finally said.
"I know. I don't understand the point of us even having this conversation other than for me to reiterate that you need to leave me and my sisters alone," Phoebe said. "Go and find some other witches to bug in another city, state, country, dimension or plane, whatever. I'm not fussy where you go as long as you leave my family alone."
"No. That's not what I meant," David said. "This conversation is going nowhere, because we're going in circles. I admit that what I did to your career was wrong, but that did not mean that you had to quit. That's what this conversation is supposed to address."
"Supposed to?" Phoebe scoffed. "You can't control everything around you. I'll take this conversation where I want to take it. And I want to take it to the part where we say goodbye and then part ways for good."
David sighed. "I already have my transfer papers signed and am ready to move on to a new town to help other witches. My tenancy at my apartment is up in two days time. Then I'll be out of your life for good. I knew I was leaving and that's why I thought I'd let you know the full truth before I left town. I thought I owed you the truth. So could you please hear me out one last time?"
"Fine," Phoebe said.
"Thank you," said David. "Magical creatures and magical innocents needed to have a way to find the Charmed Ones back in the day. They're all far too scared of Piper to go to her club asking for help. Back then, not enough people knew about Paige being the new Charmed One. That's why I had to provide a way for them to find you, Phoebe."
Phoebe shook her head slowly. "So let me get this straight: Back in two-thousand-and-two, you came to San Francisco. You saw that I was at the beginning of my career as an advice columnist –"
"I think you'd been there for several months by then," David intervened. "It was just after your stint as the Source's Queen."
Phoebe stiffened in her seat a little at that memory, but then continued. "And you saw that I was doing fairly okay, but because you wanted magical creatures –"
"And innocents that wouldn't be able to find you any other way," David added.
"Yes, because you wanted them to know where to find the Charmed Ones," Phoebe finished. "The way that you decided to do that was to cast a charm on my colleagues and my boss so as they would be able to build up my name as an advice columnist. Does that not sound wrong to you? That was over three years ago! Yet only now do you decide that you should come clean to me about it! And not that it's wrong and maybe you should undo it or should never have done it in the first place!"
"Do you know how getting your name out there in the real non-magical world helped let so many innocents find you and your sisters? Attempting that with Piper's club or Paige's social work would never have had the same effect," David said.
"Now we go from trying to get people finding me at my work place to just having my name out in the world?" Phoebe said. "Which is it?"
David shrugged guiltily. "More of the latter." He gulped before becoming defensive: "And I didn't cast a charm on your colleagues. I just cast a charm on your writing so that whoever read it would be magically mesmerised by it. That's why you suddenly found yourself being interviewed by celebrity magazines and with a billboard and everything else that ensued."
Phoebe glared. "And that is still wrong. All that I've worked towards over the years has been for nothing because none of it was ever real. None of the feedback, none of the advice I tried giving to people. None of it. Not one word."
"You got the job all on your own. As I said, I didn't do anything until after you'd been there for a while," David reiterated.
"That doesn't help one little bit, considering that still leaves the majority of my career being a complete and utter lie," Phoebe pointed out.
"Yes, it was wrong, but –" he continued, but stopped.
For the first time since receiving their coffees, Phoebe had taken hold of her cup and the moment she touched it, she gasped:
There was a flash. An unseen figure was sitting at a booth, watching as David and an annoyed looking Phoebe entered the diner. There was another flash. Phoebe and David sat down at their booth as the unseen figure continued to watch them. After another flash, the unseen figure's hand came into view. On the back of their hand was a birthmark the shape of a phoenix.
The moment Phoebe came out of her premonition, she began to cautiously scan the diner with her eyes.
"Demon?" David asked, having realised that she had just had a premonition.
"If you classify them as that," she whispered. "We're being watched."
"By who?" he asked.
"I can't say it here. We can't let them know we're onto them," Phoebe said.
"If there is a magical being after one of us, we don't want anything to go down here," David said.
Phoebe agreed. "Not with so many mortals around. We should go back to the manor. We don't know whether they are watching me or you. If they are after you, I can't just leave you to fight them by yourself."
"I can manage a demon," David said.
"I never said it was just a demon," Phoebe pointed out. "However much I dislike you at the moment, as a Charmed One, I can't let you fight something this dangerous by yourself if they're after you." Then she added, "Also as a Charmed One, it's more likely that they're after me. You're only coming with just in case they are after you."
David nodded. "Okay. I guess I'll ask for the bill."
...
Piper walked into P3 and slumped Paige's plastic-wrapped freshly dry cleaned outfit on the bar. She smiled over at Leo who was standing on the stage, lengthening a mike stand.
"Hey. Is the club in new hands yet?" Leo asked, jumping down from the stage to greet his wife properly.
"Not yet," Piper said and before she had time to explain, Rob and the soon-to-be new owner entered the club. "Hi Rob. Stephanie."
"Hi!" said Stephanie, walking straight over to Piper and shaking her hand energetically. "I am so sorry about earlier! I left my house early, but my car broke down, and then I had to wait for the road recovery service to get there!"
"It's okay," said Piper. "It seems more fitting to sign the papers here."
Stephanie smiled. "It does, doesn't it?"
Piper, Stephanie and Rob went over to a table and Rob brought out the legal documents. Leo followed them and stood behind where Piper was sat.
"So once you've both signed these documents, Stephanie will have legal ownership of this building commencing from next Wednesday," Rob stated.
"That gives me time to clear the place up after this weekend's Halloween events," Piper said.
Stephanie nodded. "It all seems fine with me." She pulled out a pen and signed her name on the paperwork and then pushed it towards Piper. "Would you like to meet here on Tuesday to hand over the keys?"
Piper took the document and signed on the line. "That's probably the best option," she said. "It's been nice doing business with you."
The two women and Rob stood up from their seats and began to walk towards the stairs.
"So what are your plans for the club?" Piper asked.
"I'm definitely keeping your current staff on, but I'll probably close this place for a few weeks to refurbish it first," Stephanie said. "It will be open again before Thanksgiving. I don't want to lose out on too much business over busy holiday periods –" Stephanie's phone began to beep. She took a look at the phone's display and said: "Oops. Sorry, that's my alarm. It's reminding me of an appointment I have with the insurance company in half an hour. I'm so sorry, but I can't miss this meeting."
"That's okay. I remember how much I had to sort out when I first got this place," said Piper. "I'll see you Tuesday."
"Thank you! Bye!" Stephanie said, running up the stairs and leaving.
That left Piper, Leo and Rob in P3. Rob shook Leo's hand.
"I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting," Rob said. "I'm Rob."
"Leo, Piper's husband," Leo introduced himself.
Rob smiled. "Piper told me all about you earlier this morning."
"Really?" Leo said, smirking.
Before the conversation could continue, a male figure shimmered in behind Rob and hit him in the back of his head, knocking him unconscious before Piper or Leo had the chance to react.
Piper flicked her wrists at the figure. He exploded into countless buzzing fragments.
"Leo, get Rob out of here," Piper said, her eyes trained on the swarming fragments.
Leo quickly bent down, hoisted the unconscious Rob onto his back, and began to make his way towards the stairs.
The swarm reconstituted into the figure between Leo and the stairs. Leo let Rob fall back onto the floor as he braced himself for the figure's attack. The figure threw Leo across the room, knocking him unconscious as his head collided with a table.
"Leo!" Piper cried out in distress.
…
"Ouch," Paige said, rubbing her forehead.
Bob, her witch charge, looked up from stirring a potion on his kitchen stove. "Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah… No, actually," Paige admitted. "I think a friend just got hurt."
"Another charge?" Bob asked.
Paige looked uncomfortable at the use of the word. "Sort of, I guess. You're fine if I go, aren't you?"
"Yeah, this vanquishing potion is almost done," Bob said. "Thanks for your help. I never could have made this potion without you."
"No problem," said Paige.
Just then, an energy ball came smashing through the window, knocking the potion pot off the floor. Paige and Bob both dove behind the counter for cover and peered towards the window to see if there were any more energy balls coming. There was not.
"The demon you needed that potion to vanquish doesn't have the power to throw energy balls," Paige said.
Bob shook his head. "No, he doesn't. Do you think he's got friends that do?"
Paige stood up from behind the counter, wondering why the demon had not attacked again yet. At that precise moment, a female figure shimmered in, pointing an athame directly at Paige's throat.
"I'm faster than you are, so there's no point orbing," the woman threatened.
Paige's eyes widened, but she did not move an inch. Her eyes travelled from the woman's athame, along to her hand, down to her wrist and along onto her arm, and that is when Paige saw it.
"You're a Phoenix," Paige whispered, recognising the identifying birthmark on her attacker's arm.
"Yes, I am," said the Phoenix. "And you, you're dead."
The Phoenix and her athame were suddenly pushed backwards, away from Paige, by a sudden force field. Paige put her hand forward, touching the force field. Paige looked down to notice the crystals that surrounded her and Bob.
"You got those crystals around us fast," Paige said.
"That's the great thing about telekinesis," Bob said, relieved that the Phoenix could not currently penetrate the force field provided by the crystal cage.
The Phoenix circled the cage and its inhabitants. "You two can't stay in there forever," she said. "And I can be very patient."
...
Phoebe and David walked into the foyer of Halliwell manor.
"Now that we're in the manor, can you tell me what was watching us?" David asked.
"A Phoenix," Phoebe said. "They're more likely to attack us here now that we're alone."
David's eyes widened. "A Phoenix? As in the assassin witches? Why did we go here? To an empty house? There's no way the two of us could face a Phoenix. You're going to need your sisters. The Power of Three."
"I couldn't go to P3. Piper has mortals there. Few enough that a Phoenix wouldn't mind attacking us there. And Paige, she could be anywhere right now," Phoebe explained. "Don't worry though. I'll phone my sisters and make them get here as fast as possible."
David nodded. "Where do you keep your potion supplies? I might go and whip up some potions that may at least slow the Phoenix down while we wait for your sisters to get here."
"In the kitchen. The potion cupboard is to your left when you enter," Phoebe said.
"Okay," said David and he walked off into the kitchen.
Phoebe went over to the foyer phone, but before she had the chance to dial, she heard a crash from the kitchen. Phoebe dropped the phone and ran towards the source of the noise.
Entering the kitchen, she found an unconscious – but definitely alive and breathing – David lying on the kitchen floor. His head was bleeding. No one else was present.
"Show yourself. I know you're a Phoenix and I know I'm your target. If I wasn't, you would have killed him already," Phoebe called out to the kitchen.
A male Phoenix shimmered in directly behind Phoebe, holding an athame to the back of her neck.
"Good deduction," he said.
Phoebe's eyes widened. She rammed her elbow into his chest, ducking as she did so to avoid his athame plunging into the back of her neck. Turning around to face the assassin, Phoebe prepared her fighting stance. The athame disappeared from the Phoenix's hand as he also got into a fighting stance, more amused by the challenge than angered by Phoebe's defensive move.
The assassin and the Charmed One began to fight with hand to hand combat. Phoebe was mostly fighting defensively as the Phoenix continued to fight on the offensive.
...
The female Phoenix stared pitifully at Paige and her charge who were still within the protection of their crystal cage.
"How is it that a mighty Charmed One is spineless enough to hide from a challenge?" the Phoenix said nastily.
Paige glared. "I'm not spineless. If I remove just one crystal, I'd be putting my charge in harm's way."
The female Phoenix rolled her eyes. "Really? You're going to make the 'protecting the innocent' excuse. If that's the case, you'll be happy to know, I'm not after your charge. I won't hurt him as long as he doesn't get in my way."
"I'm your target?" Paige asked.
"Yes," the Phoenix confirmed.
Paige looked from her charge to the Phoenix. "I have your word that he'll be safe."
"Yes," the Phoenix said. "You have my word."
"Paige, don't do it," Bob warned. "She's an assassin. She'll kill you."
"She's right, though. We can't stay in here forever," Paige said. "And it's my turn to make a move – Crystal!"
In response to her command, one of the crystals disappeared in a blur of blue orbs. As soon as the crystal circle was broken, Paige began to orb out, but not before the Phoenix rushed toward her. The two women disappeared into the swirling blue and white orbs, leaving Bob alone in his house, wide eyed at what he had just witnessed and concerned for his whitelighter's safety.
...
Phoebe continued to block each hit that the male Phoenix threw her way. She was quickly reaching the point of exhaustion. This was the hardest hand-to-hand fight she had ever fought.
Phoebe was too slow to block a punch and found herself being thrown out of the kitchen, landing on her back on the floor in the foyer. The Phoenix slowly walked towards her, conjuring his athame back into his hand.
His attention was diverted as a haze of blue orbs appeared. The orbs smashed into the lamp on the foyer table. Paige and the female Phoenix rolled out of the orbs onto the floor, grazed by the contact they had both made with the lamp. Paige was struggling, attempting to kick the female Phoenix off of her.
Phoebe used this distraction to send a kick flying at the male Phoenix, knocking the athame from his hand. The athame slid across the floor.
Phoebe turned to see where the athame had gone – it had slid across the floor to just beside Paige who continued to struggle with the other Phoenix.
"Paige!" Phoebe called.
"Phoebe, help!" Paige said through her struggles.
"Hey, get off my sister!" Phoebe yelled, marching towards the female Phoenix.
The female Phoenix looked up and, on noticing Phoebe, she shimmered away from Paige over to the male Phoenix.
"Two Charmed Ones," the female Phoenix said to her male colleague. "Which means they're not far from rejoining with the third."
The male Phoenix seemed to follow her train of thought. "We should go," he said before the two of them shimmered out.
Paige picked up the athame as Phoebe helped her to her feet.
"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked.
Paige wiped some blood from her cheek. "I've been better," she said, shrugging. "We should get to Piper. If there were Phoenixes after us, then –"
"Orb. Now," Phoebe said, not waiting for her sister to finish.
...
Piper made continued attempts to blow up the Phoenix. Each time she did so, he reconstituted. Piper did not want to give him the chance to make an attack. Not after what she had seen of the Phoenix's abilities last time she, her sisters and her future son had faced them.
As the Phoenix reconstituted for the umpteenth time, Piper blew him up again. This time his swarm did not reconstitute straight away. Instead it went flying into the office area.
Piper was deciding whether or not to follow when Paige orbed in with Phoebe.
"You're just in time," Piper proclaimed. "There's a Phoenix here and –" Piper stopped when she saw the exhausted and wounded state of her two younger sisters. "And I guess I'm not the only one that's had a visit from these delightful assassins."
Phoebe nodded. "It looks like the Phoenix clan have us on their hit list."
"Well, if we can get the one that's here to talk, we can find out why they're after us," Piper began, but Paige shook her head.
"Your assassin is probably long gone. The moment my assassin realised I'd orbed to Phoebe in the manor, she decided to leave with Phoebe's Phoenix," Paige explained.
"Why would they do that?" Piper asked.
"They knew our next move would be to find you," Phoebe said. "Phoenix witches are smart. They know that separately we cannot stop them, but together, with the Power of Three on our side, we can."
Piper nodded.
Paige looked over at Leo who lay unconscious amongst the debris of a table. "Is Leo alright?"
"I hope so," Piper said. "Did you –?"
Paige nodded before Piper could finish asking her question.
Phoebe looked from Piper to Paige. "You felt it when Leo got hurt?" Phoebe asked.
Paige nodded. "Ever since I got my powers back, I've been able to sense his whereabouts and feel if he's been hurt… I may have inadvertently accepted the Elders' request to guide him, but I never wanted them to officially make him a charge of mine. It's… weird."
"I think we have a more pressing matter to discuss right now," Piper said, bringing the sisters back to the issue at hand. "How are we going to stop the Phoenixes?"
"I don't know. We need to check the Book. Remind ourselves of what we found out about Phoenixes last time," Phoebe said.
"And we should stick together," Paige added. "As long as we remain together, they won't attack us."
Piper shook her head, her eyes wandering over to Rob who lay unconscious by the stairs. "I need to stay here and call for an ambulance. It would look suspicious if people knew you two showed up before I called for medical help."
"That makes sense, but…" Phoebe hesitated.
"Look, I'll be fine," Piper said. "A Phoenix wouldn't dare attack here knowing that more mortals are on their way. And they won't attack you two while you're together, because they know that you're just one orb away from the three of us reuniting."
Phoebe and Paige looked reluctant, but agreed.
"The moment the ambulance crew shows up, Phoebe and I are coming back for you," Paige insisted.
Piper nodded. "Fine." She picked up the phone. "I'll see you in a bit."
Paige orbed out with Phoebe.
As she dialled 911 on the phone and waited for an operator to pick up, Piper wandered over to Leo and put her palm to his cheek.
"Leo? Leo?" she said softly.
Leo opened his eyes warily and smiled tenderly when he saw Piper.
"Hi," he said, trying to sit himself up.
"Hi," Piper said. Just then, an operator responded to her call on the other end of the line, so Piper said into the phone: "I need an ambulance to come to P3 as soon as possible…"
...
In the attic, Paige was quickly flipping through the Book of Shadows, looking for the Phoenix entry. Phoebe, meanwhile, was digging through an old chest full of ritual items.
"What are you looking for?" Paige asked.
"Something that saved my life once that we can use to keep us safe," Phoebe said.
Paige came to a stop at the Phoenix entry in the Book. "Elite, powerful witches… Rose from ashes in Salem… they're vengeful… and will kill anyone they're hired to kill…" she paraphrased.
"Is that all it says?" Phoebe asked, continuing her search through the chest. "No ways to vanquish them?"
"Of course it wouldn't say that," Paige said. "Despite the fact that they're evil, they are people too. We can't vanquish them."
Phoebe looked away from the chest to look straight at her sister. "I don't see any other way that we could get out of this alive. They're assassins and since we've done nothing to make them seek vengeance against us, someone must have hired them to kill us. They won't stop until we're dead. So it's either a case of kill or be killed."
"Phoebe! I can't believe you're suggesting this!" Paige said.
Phoebe smiled. "I'm glad you said that."
"Huh?"
Phoebe stood up from the chest. "It was a test. I had to check that I had at least one sister agreeing with me that we're best off being on the defensive."
"Oh okay… You think Piper might have a slightly different plan in mind?" Paige said. Not wanting to hear the answer, Paige quickly changed the path of their conversation: "The only problem is I don't know how we are going to defend ourselves. We barely got away from them earlier and that wasn't without injuries."
Phoebe had made her way over to Paige and the Book. She dropped a small object onto the Book for Paige to see.
"This is how we will protect ourselves until we think of a way to stop them from coming after us," Phoebe said.
The object was a small amulet. The thin chain and the pendant were both gold. The pendant was a rectangular shape with loose dangling golden threads beneath it. On the upper half of the pendant was a small dark red circle.
"This is a protection amulet," Phoebe explained. "It protects the wearer and those with the wearer against witchcraft."
David walked into the attic, holding his hand against the back of his head. "How long was I out for?" he asked, a little bleary eyed.
"Oh my… I'd forgotten you were downstairs," Phoebe said apologetically. "I got so wrapped up in all the Phoenix stuff that…"
"It's okay," David said. "I guess they weren't after me after all."
"No, they weren't," Phoebe said. "You should go home. You and me have hashed our issues out. There's no reason for you to stay now. It's too dangerous here."
"I can't leave you and your sisters to face Phoenix witches by yourselves," David said.
"You said it yourself earlier, David," Phoebe said. "If anyone can stop them, it's the Power of Three. Now go home and get some rest. You could have concussion."
David sighed. "Fine, I will, but if I don't hear from you by tomorrow morning, I'm coming straight back here."
Phoebe nodded. "Fine."
"Okay," David said, about to turn to leave the attic. "We're good, right? About what I did. You understand why I did it. And you know that I've undone the enchantment."
Phoebe sighed. "We're good, but I'm still not happy about what you did. Now go."
As David left the attic, Phoebe turned back to Paige.
"Do I get to know what happened between you and David yet?" Paige asked, but noticing Phoebe's expression, she added, "Right, we've got something more urgent to focus on. So this amulet will protect us against witches' magic. So that includes spells and charms, but what about energy balls? Those are more of a demonic power than a witch's power."
"The Phoenixes are witches, so since it's their power, it should all still work the same," Phoebe said. "The only thing that this can't protect us from is the threat of athames and the Phoenixes' agility."
Paige nodded. "Okay, but hopefully having that to keep us safe will buy us some time. How does it work?"
"One of us wears it. The other two need to be close by," Phoebe said. "Or if two are together, the one that is alone can wear it to protect themselves until the other two arrive."
"Okay," Paige said. She looked at her watch. "I think we've given Piper enough time. Let's get back to P3."
Phoebe shook her head. "You go. I'll be here, trying to come up with a plan."
Paige was about to argue, but Phoebe interrupted her.
"I've got the amulet with me and you won't be gone for too long," Phoebe said. "I'll be fine. Now go and get Piper."
As Paige orbed out, Phoebe put on the amulet. The circle on it glowed red as it made contact with her.
"I never thought I'd have to wear this again," she mumbled to herself.
...
At P3, Rob was being placed onto a stretcher by a couple of paramedics. Leo sat at a table, refusing treatment from the paramedics.
"I'm fine, honestly," Leo was saying to the paramedic who was trying to clean a cut on his forehead. "It's just a little graze."
Piper who had just finished giving a statement about what had happened to an officer, walked over to Leo.
"Honey, go with them. Get yourself checked out at the hospital," Piper said. "You're not immortal. You can't heal yourself." Ignoring the funny look the paramedic gave her, Piper added, "Could you give me a moment with my husband?"
The paramedic nodded and walked off.
"Piper, you have Phoenixes after you," Leo said. "I can't just leave you."
"Leo, you have to," Piper argued. "Phoebe, Paige and I will figure something out. If you get out of hospital early, go straight to my Dad's. The boys are there, and you'll be safe there. The Phoenixes are only after us."
"But…" Leo tried to argue.
"No," Piper said sternly. "You will go there and wait there until I show up once all of this is over. I am not bringing you, Dad, or the boys into the crossfire of this fight. It's too dangerous."
The paramedic reapproached Leo and Piper. Leo stood up with some support from the paramedic. Piper went over to Rob who was now on the stretcher which was being lifted by some paramedics.
"Did you see the attacker?" Rob asked her.
Piper shook her head sheepishly.
"How is it possible that you didn't see them?" Rob asked.
"I have no idea," Piper replied. "I guess he was too fast and got out before I saw him."
"And you're sure this place isn't still a big crime spot like when you first bought it?" Rob asked.
"I'm sure," Piper said. "This was a rare occurrence. And Stephanie has already signed the contract. You can't deny her the loan now."
"I won't, but I think I'll be looking into the crime in this area again," said Rob.
"Excuse me," one of the paramedics said as they began to follow Leo and the other paramedic up the stairs with Rob on the stretcher.
Paige walked down the stairs, passing Rob on the stretcher on her way down.
"Hi there," Rob said sarcastically as Paige paused to look at him.
The two sisters waited to hear the door of P3 close behind the paramedics before talking.
"Are you ready to go?" Paige asked.
"Yeah," said Piper. "We've got a vanquish to deal with."
…
Phoebe was sat in the attic with a map open on the table in front of her. She was dangling a crystal over the map.
Piper and Paige walked into the attic.
"Hi," said Piper. "Are you scrying for them?"
Phoebe nodded. "I'm hoping that some of the blood left in the foyer was from one of them. I thought I'd try to find out their location."
"Even if we do find them, we don't have a plan of attack yet," said Piper.
"Yes, but knowing their location is a good start to defending ourselves," Phoebe said.
"And the best way to defend ourselves is to attack them first," Piper said.
"No, it's not," Paige said, taking Phoebe's side. "We need to have a plan first. A plan of how to stop them."
"And what plan would that be?" Piper asked. "If we wait, the moment one of us is unprotected, a Phoenix will attack that sister. I can't let that happen. I won't let that happen."
"We agree, but attacking isn't our best option," said Phoebe. "We need to find out who sent them after us."
"We need to know more about them too," Paige added. "I don't know about you, but despite the fact that we've faced a future Phoenix and her mother, we know hardly anything about them."
"Her mother…" Piper repeated. "Phoebe stop scrying for those particular Phoenixes. We need to find out where Bianca's mother lives now. I wouldn't put it past her if she moved after the last time we tracked her down."
…
Lynn was walking out of a building with her seven year old little girl in tow.
"Bianca, you can't keep picking fights with kids at school," Lynn was telling her. "I can't keep being called in because you've been sent home early for such behaviour."
They walked out onto a busy public street hand-in-hand.
"But Mummy, a mean nasty boy said my birthmark made me look ugly," Bianca moaned.
"That's no reason to start a fight," Lynn said. "Next time, just go and tell the teacher, okay?"
"But that's not what Uncle Mike said to do if someone was mean to me," Bianca whinged.
"No more 'but's, Bianca," Lynn said. "And don't ever take advice from your uncle again. He and the rest of our family are no longer a part of our lives. They were a bad influence. One that I don't want you to be affected by, okay?"
"But why?" Bianca whined.
"Was that another 'but', Bianca?" Lynn asked.
Bianca was about to make another attempt to moan again when her mother stopped in the middle of the street, staring straight ahead. Bianca looked forward to see what her mother was staring at. Three women were walking towards them: the Charmed Ones.
"Bianca, go back to your school now," Lynn said.
"But they sent me home for being bad," Bianca said.
"I know. Go and wait in the reception area of your school. I'll be back for you in a few minutes, okay?" Lynn explained, not taking her eyes off the three women.
Bianca nodded and ran off.
Lynn stood her ground as Piper, Phoebe and Paige approached her.
"What are you doing here?" Lynn asked as the sisters stopped in front of her.
"It's a public street," Phoebe said. "There's nothing wrong with us walking down it."
"This isn't coincidence. You came here looking for me," Lynn said. "State your business."
"Don't act like you don't know what we've come to discuss with you," Piper said.
"I clearly have no idea," Lynn said. "I've done nothing that requires the attention of the Charmed Ones."
Paige rolled her eyes. "You may personally not have, but your work buddies have."
"I wouldn't know," Lynn said, not breaking her resolve.
"Someone sets a bounty on the Charmed Ones, sending Phoenix witches after us, yet you don't know?" Piper said. "Why don't I believe that?"
"Maybe because you don't know one thing about my life," Lynn said.
"We don't need to know anything other than that you are a Phoenix witch," Phoebe said.
"I may be a Phoenix witch by birth right, but that doesn't mean I still am one," Lynn said.
Piper let out a disbelieving laugh. "Oh what? Are we supposed to believe that within the past two years you've decided to change your entire lifestyle? Yeah, right."
Lynn let out a very uncharacteristic sigh, dropping her guardedness very slightly. "Meeting an adult version of your daughter and seeing what the Phoenix lifestyle has done to her can change a mother's view on her current lifestyle."
Piper frowned, also losing a bit of her suspicion. "The future version of my son helped to change that future. If what you say is true, then keeping yourself and Bianca away from the Phoenix lifestyle can only help to make your personal future a better place."
"We only came here for information. To see what you could tell us about Phoenixes," Phoebe said. Any tone of bitterness towards Lynn had now left her words. "We need your help."
"How do we stop the Phoenix witches from coming after us?" Paige asked.
Lynn made no reply. She stood there very still, staring the three sisters.
"Please. I realise that despite keeping away from their influence, they're still family to you, and giving information to us may make you feel like you've betrayed them, but…" Paige trailed off.
Lynn still said nothing.
Piper decided to start with a new negotiation tactic. "I'm sure the Phoenix clan were not happy when you decided to leave them. I'm sure that you've managed to stay off their radar. And I'm also sure that when Bianca comes of age, they'll come looking for her to join them. It is her birth right and her choice after all. If you help us now, we'll promise to help you when that day comes."
"Why would you do this for me?" Lynn had finally broken her silence.
"Not for you. For your daughter," Piper said.
"Why?" Lynn repeated.
"Despite betrayals in that now non-existent future, my son trusted your daughter. They had more than that. Despite the fact that she betrayed him, I'm pretty sure she was the reason that he managed to come back here alive and save his brother and their future. I'm doing this for your daughter… and for my son," Piper said.
Lynn bit her lip, contemplating Piper's words. "Okay."
"You're going to help us?" Paige asked hopefully.
"You better be listening, because I'm only going to say this once," Lynn said. "Individuals Phoenixes are offered bounties to target individuals. Therefore, there's probably only five at most Phoenix witches that you have to worry about coming after you. Phoenix witches don't tend to work in bigger groups than that, since splitting a bounty between multiple assassins isn't simple."
"What does a bounty consist of?" Phoebe interjected.
"Could be powers, weapons or even souls," Lynn answered. "You've got to find a way to stop the group of Phoenix witches that have been sent after you. If I were you, I'd go for the kill, but then again, the three of you could probably only manage that with a Power of Three spell. A Phoenix would never let you get close enough to them with a potion or an athame."
"Killing isn't an option," Paige said sternly.
Lynn nodded slowly. "Then tell me, what option does that leave you with? This small group of Phoenixes won't stop until they get their bounty and while they're alive, they have the power they need to get what they want."
"Power…" Phoebe echoed.
"What about power?" Piper asked her sister.
"Don't you see?" Phoebe asked. "That's how we stop them."
"I don't follow you, Pheebs," Piper said.
"We take away their powers," Phoebe expanded.
"A power-stripping potion," Paige realised.
Phoebe shook her head. "We'd never managed to successfully throw one of those at a Phoenix. They'd shimmer away too fast."
"So, a power-stripping spell," Piper said.
"One cast by the Power of Three," Phoebe finished.
"I don't think you need me anymore," Lynn said, turning to walk away.
Piper looked at her. "Thank you," she said.
"I'll be in touch when it's time for you to return the favour," Lynn said nonchalantly as she walked away, back towards her daughter's school.
…
The three sisters entered the foyer through the front doors of the manor.
"Have you managed to come up with that spell yet?" Piper asked, taking off her jacket.
Phoebe – who was holding a notepad in her hands – gave Piper a stressed look. "I need to get the wording just right and I've only had the length of the car ride back to here so far to come up with a spell."
"How much more time do you think you'll need?" Piper asked.
"I don't know, but I could do with some peace and quiet. I'm going to my room," Phoebe said, making her way up the stairs.
Piper turned to look at Paige who looked deep in thought.
"Are you okay?" Piper asked.
"Yeah… I'm just thinking," Paige said. "The Phoenix assassins that are after us are smart. They won't attack whilst the three of us are within the same vicinity. They know to keep away from the Power of Three. So –"
"How are we going to get them all in the same room as the three of us so as we can strip their powers with a Power of Three spell?" Piper finished.
"Exactly," Paige agreed.
"We'll figure something out," Piper said. "It's our only option."
Paige looked a little relieved. "I'm glad that you consider that our only option."
"What do you mean?" Piper asked.
"Nothing," Paige said sheepishly.
"Spill," Piper said stubbornly.
"Phoebe and I were concerned that you'd considering vanquishing them an option," Paige said almost apologetically.
Piper's expression softened. "Why would you think that?"
Paige looked at her older sister warily. "Do you want me to be honest? And when I say honest, I do mean blunt."
"Yes," Piper said, tensing up. "Say it."
Paige hesitated before saying: "Sometimes you like to vanquish first and ask questions later."
"Is that what you think?" Piper asked, saddened by the comment.
"Yes…" Paige said. "Don't get me wrong, Piper. Your quick decisions and offensive reactions to demon attacks has constantly come to our rescue over all of these years, but…"
"Sometimes I can get a little ahead of myself," Piper realised. "Sometimes I attack before I even take note of what's going on around me."
"I'm sorry," Paige said.
"No… Don't be," Piper said. Returning to the matter at hand, she said, "So Lynn said it's probably a group of at most five Phoenixes after us. It's not normally much bigger than that."
"We've only seen three," Paige said. "One for each of us."
"If there were more than three in the group that are coming after us, more than one would have come after each of us while we were separated," Piper assumed.
"So we've got three Phoenix witches to find and disempower," Paige stated.
Piper nodded. "Then I guess while Phoebe sorts out the Power of Three spell, we should come up with a spell to summon our three Phoenixes here."
"Yeah. That's our only option since there's no way we're going to separate just to lure them out of hiding," Paige said just as the grandfather clock began to strike three times. Paige's eyes widened. "It's three o'clock? Already?"
"Yeah," Piper said. "Why?"
"My interview's in forty-five minutes!" Paige said. She let out a sigh of defeat. "I can't exactly go when there are assassins after us. Besides I wouldn't make the best first impressions showing up looking like I've been in a fight," she said, referring to the injuries she'd obtained from her earlier fight with the Phoenix. Paige picked up the phone. "I guess I should call them now to cancel it."
Piper nodded. "I'm going to see how Phoebe's doing. That's where you'll find us after you've finished cancelling."
Paige nodded as Piper walked up the stairs.
…
Phoebe was sitting on her bed, tapping a pen against the notepad as she continued to brainstorm the spell's wording.
There was a gentle knock on the door.
"Come in," said Phoebe.
Piper opened the door and sat down on the edge of Phoebe's bed.
"How are you doing?" Piper asked softly.
"Just two more lines and one last couplet to come up with," Phoebe replied.
"That's good, but that's not what I was asking," said Piper.
Phoebe looked over at Piper. "Is this about my job?"
"It doesn't have to be. I fully support your decision to quit. I just want to know what that inspector did," Piper said.
Phoebe sighed heavily. "I guess he was doing what he thought was the best way to let innocents find the Charmed Ones."
Piper raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with you being an advice columnist?"
Phoebe frowned. "Nothing. What it affected was my sudden fame and success."
"That was down to magic?" Piper asked, overwhelmed.
"Yes," Phoebe said regretfully. "It explains why my career skyrocketed out of nowhere."
"So I gather you quit when you found out," Piper said.
Phoebe nodded. "I can't bear to continue a career that has been a sham all these years."
"Aaww, Pheebs, I'm so sorry," Piper said. "Do you want me to go and kick David's butt for doing this to you?"
Phoebe let out a small chuckle. "An offer to beat up the jerk that upset me? Wasn't that always Prue's role when we were little?"
Piper smiled.
"I think I've got it," Phoebe suddenly said and began to scribble some words onto the notepad.
"You've finished the spell?" Piper asked.
Phoebe smiled. "The words just came to me."
Piper nodded. "Okay. So I guess our next problem is how we're going to get them all into the same room… How can we get those three Phoenixes to attack the three of us at once?"
Phoebe shook her head. "I don't know. I have a feeling they won't let us summon them here."
"Nope," Piper said. "I guess the only way to get them out into the open is for one of us to go out into the open."
"Even then, the moment the other two of us show up, the Phoenixes will leave," Phoebe countered.
Piper sighed, shaking her head. "This is impossible, but the sooner we sort this out, the sooner we can get back to our lives and I can see my family again."
"How's Leo?" Phoebe asked.
"I made him go and get looked at in the hospital," Piper said. "The Phoenix knocked both him and Rob unconscious." Piper suddenly looked reminiscent. "It's not the first time that Rob's been knocked unconscious in P3."
Phoebe smiled. "So that's twice today that he's had a déjà vu moment whilst being back around the Halliwell family."
"Yeah…" said Piper. "That's weird. This morning it seemed a coincidence, but two different bouts of déjà vu in one day concerning the same person? That can't be a coincidence."
"Er, Piper, what are you trying to suggest?" Phoebe asked.
"As in, in our lives, everything happens for a reason," Piper said.
Phoebe looked puzzled. "So you're saying that it's Rob's fate to always get attacked by a demon at P3?"
"Of course not. What I'm saying is that fate's trying to tell us something… What else happened the day that we met Rob?" Piper said.
Phoebe looked at Piper blankly. "You expect me to remember the events of a day that took place over five years ago? Seriously? Short of having a vision of the past, it's not like I can watch the events of that entire day on rerun."
"Rob got knocked out at P3 that day… Why did he get knocked out…" Piper brainstormed. "Jeremy…"
"Jeremy? Didn't we vanquish him when we first became witches?" Phoebe continued. "Oh… but then he came back… Was that the same day as the bank loan stuff with Rob?"
Piper nodded, trying to remember what had happened more clearly. "I was in P3 with Rob… Jeremy appeared… Rob got knocked out…"
"You must have tried to freeze Jeremy," Phoebe said.
"Yes, I think I did, but… I don't think it worked," Piper said. She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the memory. "What happened next?"
"You phoned us… Me and Prue…" Phoebe remembered. "You put us on speaker and…"
Piper opened her eyes, realising the answer to their problems.
"We don't all have to be present in the room with the Phoenixes to cast the spell," Piper realised.
Paige entered Phoebe's bedroom at this point.
"Hey," Paige said. She placed an athame on Phoebe's bed. "I remembered that I'd gotten this from the fight with the Phoenixes earlier. Maybe we could use it for a summoning spell or something."
"Did you cancel your interview?" Piper asked.
Paige shook her head. "I kept trying to phone them, but the line's busy. I'll try again in a few minutes."
Phoebe reached over to take a closer look at the athame. As she picked it up, she was thrown into a premonition:
There was an empty reception area of an office. A clock on the wall suggested the time was 3.52. Dressed in a smart outfit, Paige entered the office area, her eyes scanning the room anxiously. The three Phoenixes shimmered in, surrounding Paige.
"Pheebs?" Piper asked as Phoebe seemed to become aware of her surroundings again.
"Premonition?" Paige asked.
Phoebe nodded, fiddling with the athame in her hands as she turned to Paige.
"Paige, how long until your interview starts?" Phoebe asked.
Paige looked at her watch. "Twenty minutes, but it doesn't matter because I can't go."
"Yes you can and you will," Phoebe said.
Paige furrowed her brow. "You just had a premonition from that athame… Am I supposed to expect Phoenix witches to show up at my interview?"
"Paige, I can't give you the details," Phoebe said. "Just go and get ready for your interview now. All I ask is that you take crystals with you and phone us when you are there."
Paige looked confused. "I don't like being left in the dark like this."
Phoebe sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just that this might be our only chance and if you look too prepared for them to show up, they may know we have a plan up our sleeves and get out of there before we put our plan into action."
"I don't even know what this plan is, but okay, I trust you," Paige said. She turned to leave the room. "I guess I'll go and get ready then. Just to clarify though, the actual interview's never going to happen, is it?"
Phoebe shook her head apologetically. "I doubt it."
Paige shrugged. "It's not like it will be my last interview anyway. I have a few more lined up."
"Make sure to head back in here before you leave. Phoebe's going to write you a copy of the spell we're going to use," Piper said.
"Oh, so I do get to know something about this plan then," Paige said.
Paige was about to leave again, when Phoebe stopped her.
"Wait, Paige," Phoebe said. She took the protection amulet off and handed it to her younger sister. "You're going to need this."
Paige nodded and left the room to go and get changed.
…
The office from Phoebe's premonition was occupied by one lone receptionist, sitting at a desk. A phone was continuously ringing, and the receptionist was constantly finding himself saying, "One moment please. Please hold."
He was not prepared for what happened next.
A Phoenix shimmered in behind him and punched him in the back of the head, knocking him out. The Phoenix moved the receptionist's unconscious body out of sight beneath the desk. The phone continued to ring, so the Phoenix cut the phone line to leave the room in complete silence.
The Phoenix then shimmered out.
The clock read 3.52 as Paige walked into the office. She scanned the room anxiously, not knowing what to expect. The office was empty and quiet.
"Hello? Anyone here?" said Paige.
As if in response to her question, the three Phoenix witches shimmered in, surrounding her.
"Uh, hi," Paige said to them.
"We don't need to tell you that there's no point orbing, right?" said one of the male Phoenixes.
"It's not hard to forget a threat that's constantly being repeated by you guys," Paige said, rolling her eyes. "Besides I have a little present for you too." Paige removed some crystals from her bag and shouted, "Crystals!"
The crystals orbed around the office, encasing herself and the three Phoenixes within a crystal cage.
"Is that it?" the female Phoenix said. "We may not be able to get out, but this doesn't protect you from us."
"You know what, I think I should call my sisters and ask for the next step in what to do," said Paige, pulling her phone out of her pocket.
One of the male Phoenixes laughed. "It's not like they'd get here in time. And even if they did, they could do nothing to help you from outside this crystal cage."
Paige ignored them and began to dial her phone.
The other male Phoenix threw an energy ball at Paige.
The pendant flashed red causing the energy ball to rebound off a very startled Paige. Her panic changed to relief as she smiled at the Phoenixes and continued to dial.
"Paige, is that you?" Phoebe said the moment Paige phoned. Paige had put it onto speaker so that the Phoenix witches could hear every word.
"Yeah, it's me and our good friends. They were kind enough to come and support me at my interview. I'd introduce them to you and Piper, but we haven't exchanged names yet," Paige said.
"I don't think we need to exchange names with them," Piper said through the phone. "All we need is to exchange some words. Now."
On that cue, Paige brought out a crumpled piece of paper that contained the spell and began to read in time with her sisters over the phone:
"Witches descended from Salem's ashes,
And witches of the Warren line amidst clashes.
We call upon the Power of Three to set apart our abilities,
We ask the spirits to remove your agility.
Demonic-based powers and witchcraft, we will also take away,
Leaving you powerless for the rest of your days."
Throughout the spellcasting, Paige had been dodging the Phoenixes attempts at trying to wrestle her to the ground to crush the phone. Now that the spell was complete, Paige shouted "Crystals!" taking their crystal cage confines apart.
With the cage no longer active, Paige orbed out of the Phoenix witches' grasps to the other side of the office.
The female Phoenix tried to form an energy ball, but nothing happened. She looked at her two colleagues.
"Can you shimmer?" she asked. "Can you do anything?"
The other two shook their head.
The three powerless Phoenixes turned to Paige, scowling at her.
"You took away our powers," one of them said.
"We had no other choice," Paige said emotionlessly. "Now, I think it's time you come with me."
"We're not going anywhere. You'll have to vanquish us here," the male Phoenix said.
"My sisters and I are not vanquishing you," Paige said. "We've got questions to ask you."
With those words in mind, Paige approached the three Phoenixes and orbed them all to the manor.
…
After a slight struggle with the three powerless Phoenixes (which was now no match to Piper's freezing power as it now worked on the now powerless ex-witches), the sisters had managed to get them sat down and tied to chairs in the attic.
"Why are we here?" one of the male Phoenixes asked. "We've already failed in our task. If you don't vanquish us, our higher ups will. And we're never going to receive our bounty from the client now."
"Your client? That's the person that hired you, right?" Phoebe asked.
The female Phoenix rolled her eyes. "Oh, of course. That's why you want to interrogate us. You want to know who sent us after you."
Piper nodded. "We do. And you are going to tell us."
"No, we're sworn to secrecy," said one of the Phoenixes.
"You're three Phoenix assassins that have lost your powers and failed an assignment," Piper said. "I'm pretty sure there's no point in caring about the rules anymore."
"She's right," said one of the males. "They'll never accept us back into the clan after this. They even said this was a mad assignment to accept, going after the Charmed Ones… We should have never accepted the bounty."
"Who offered the bounty? And what did they offer that was so enticing?" Paige asked.
The Phoenixes exchanged looks, contemplating whether or not to talk. It was the female Phoenix who decided to answer.
"We didn't ask for clarification on her identity," said the female Phoenix. "We don't know nor do we care who she was."
"She…" Paige pondered, exchanging a concerned glance with Piper and Phoebe.
"So what she offered must have been a really good incentive," Phoebe said. "What did she offer you?"
"A power, but not just any power," said one of the male Phoenixes. "The power of silence."
"Silence? That's a power?" Piper asked sceptically.
"Imagine a demon that you can't hear approaching you. Imagine a demon that envelopes you within the silence so as no one can hear you scream as it kills you," said the male Phoenix.
"It's a very rare power," said the other male Phoenix. "Though we couldn't use it for ourselves, it would sell at a very high price on the demonic market."
"What makes it so rare?" Paige asked. "Demons steal powers from each other all the time. Warlocks too."
"This one power could only be retrieved from a vanquished demon within the Wasteland," explained the Phoenix.
"So whoever your client is, she was powerful enough to get in and out of the Wasteland…" Phoebe said worryingly.
"Rope," Paige said, orbing the rope tying the Phoenixes to their chairs away.
"Paige!" Piper yelled, freezing the three powerless Phoenixes before they had the chance to move. "What are you doing?"
"They've told us all they know," Paige explained. "And if this client is the same woman that's been after us over the past few months so far, then we're in big trouble, because she must be powerful."
"Paige is right," Phoebe said. "We can't waste much more time interrogating these three. They don't know anything more about her."
Piper sighed and turned to the powerless Phoenixes, unfreezing them.
"You're free to walk out of the manor and start your newly powerless lives," Piper said. "However, are you sure there's nothing more you can tell us about your client? Did you see what she looked like?"
"No, we didn't," said the Phoenix. "We heard of the assignment from higher ups in our clan who were asking whether anyone would be willing to take it on. We never got to see the client, only our higher ups get to meet the clients. All we got to know about this client is that she's a she and what's she's offering as the bounty."
There was a brief silence in the attic as the sisters contemplated what they had been told. The three Phoenixes exchanged a look before simultaneously walking out of the attic.
…
Later that evening, P3 was brimming with people for the start of its weekend long Halloween event. Phoebe, Paige and Leo were sat at the bar.
Paige was looking awkwardly at Leo, Phoebe sitting between the two of them.
"So the doctor said I do have a concussion and I have to rest," Leo was saying. "It makes me miss the days when I was self-healing and didn't have to worry about getting hurt."
"Surely you don't miss feeling when your charges get hurt," Paige mumbled.
Leo looked concerned. "Is feeling when your charges are in pain affecting you?" he asked. "I always believed it helped me as a whitelighter, but some whitelighters do learn to numb that sense so as they know their charge is in trouble without the hindrance. I can teach you to numb that sense if you want."
"You could?" Paige asked. "That would be great."
Piper, having finished serving a customer, wandered over to her sisters and Leo.
"Hey," Piper said. "Sorry about the interruption. We're a little short staffed tonight so I might have to keep disappearing to do bar work."
"Piper, I can help out," Leo began, but Piper was already shaking her head.
"No you won't," Piper refused. "You're supposed to be resting."
"I can't rest. Especially knowing that someone powerful enough to get in and out of the Wasteland and take a power without absorbing it for their own use is after you," Leo said. "This is serious."
Phoebe frowned. "Yes, it is serious. This woman is dangerous and we don't know anything about her."
"If we could get the Elders on speaking terms with us again, would they be likely to know anything about demons strong enough to get in and out of the Wasteland?" Paige asked.
"No," Leo said. "They know next to nothing about the demonic afterlife."
"Then how can we find out more?" Phoebe asked.
"We did know a demon that escaped the Wasteland," Paige began.
"He's dead," Phoebe quickly put in.
"He may be dead, but he's reachable," Piper said. "I've told you what happened last year. I'm sure we could temporarily summon him from limbo so as we can get information about the Wasteland out of him."
Phoebe looked at Piper imploringly. "Please don't do this."
Piper frowned. "I'll try and find another option, but if we're going to find out more, he might be the person we have to turn to."
Phoebe sighed. "Fine, but please, let's see if we can find an alternative way first."
Piper nodded. "Of course, Pheebs."
"Hey… Uh, can I order a drink?"
The sisters and Leo looked up from their discussion to see a tentative David standing by the bar.
"Sure," Piper said, sending a bitter look in his direction. "What are you having?"
"Apparently sour grapes," he replied. "I guess Phoebe told you."
"I told them," Phoebe confirmed. "They're just as annoyed as I am, but there's nothing we can do to change the past. This might be the last time we see you, so I invited you here tonight so as we could have a proper goodbye."
David smiled. "Thanks for being willing to talk to me after what I did."
Phoebe stood up from her bar stool and turned to her sisters. "We're just going to go and find an empty table. Could you get David any drink on the house and then come join us at the table?"
Piper nodded and Phoebe left to find somewhere to sit with David.
"Well, I guess this evening has just turned into a farewell party," Piper said to Leo and Paige.
"It already was a farewell party," Paige said. "This is one of our last night's at P3 as it is."
"I just can't believe we've only got a few more days until we say goodbye to this place. No more loud music, no more bar work…" Leo said.
"Yeah, despite the many ups and downs at this club, it's been a good five and a bit years," Piper said as she began to pour out a drink.
"I'm going to miss this place," Paige said as she and Leo stood up and Piper came round to their side of the bar.
Piper nodded. "Me too."
Locating Phoebe and David at a table in the distance, Piper, Leo and Paige began to walk towards it.
"Anyone else realise that as of Tuesday, we'll be a household with no income now that you've sold P3, Phoebe's quit her job and I'm still unemployed?" Paige pointed out.
"Let's worry about that tomorrow," Leo said.
Piper concluded with: "Yeah, let's not ruin our evening by thinking about the demon that is after us or about how we're going to keep our bills paid. Leaving P3 behind is just the start of something new. Something good and I'm not going to let life ruin that."
