Chapter 7- The Dry Tears

Piper was in her bedroom and Leo was holding her as she cried. She had been feeling distraught and defeated the entire night and still can't get over the fact that she has lost another sister. "Leo, tell me how this is at all fair. I don't get it, we've stopped death tons of times and now her daughters are going to grow up without a mother and I won't have Phoebe to grow old with," Piper said. "It isn't right."

"Piper, you need to be strong, just as you told Coop," Leo replied. "You're familiar with loss and I know that this is another sister gone that you grew up with, but you can't let this get the best of you. Your strong and you won't feel any better about Phoebe's death until you handle her death the way you handled Prue's; by killing the demon that killed her," Leo said as he held onto his crying wife even tighter. A knock on the door caused him and Piper to look up.

"Come in," Piper said.

Paige walked in and judging by her eyes, it looked as if she had just finished crying. "Hey, Piper. I'm going to summon Grams and ask her about Phoebe. Wanna join me?" Paige asked, choking at Phoebe's name.

"Sure, sis," Piper answered as Leo released her from his grip. She walked over to Paige and Paige tossed an arm around Piper's shoulder and together they walked out of Piper's bedroom and into the attic.

Paige held out her hand and called out to the candles and commanded them to orb into a circle. Paige grabbed a lighter and lit all the candles. Paige then closed her eyes as she remembered her modified, but faster spell to summon the dead.

Hear me now, Hear my cries,

Spirit from the other side,

Cross now the Great Divide

A swirl of glistening white lights then swarmed around and formed the transparent spirit of Grams, who didn't look the least bit cheerful. "Hello, my darlings," Grams greeted them. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"How are we doing?" Piper mocked. "Phoebe's gone, Grams. I'm sure you got the memo," Piper said coldly. "We tried everything we could and nothing worked. I tried spells to bring her back to us and a spell to call a lost witch and I swear, Grams, that if some lost sister or relative shows up, I'm going to be even more pissed off!" Piper shouted.

"Piper, cool it." Paige told her older and only living sister now. "Grams, how is Phoebe doing?" Paige asked her grandmother.

As Grams was about to answer, Piper cut her off and shouted, "Can you tell us or do you have to keep it a secret like with Prue?"

"Piper, I'll answer this, despite consequences. She's having a hard time leaving you both, her husband and most importantly, her three daughters behind. Your mother is with her right now and they are talking," Grams replied. "She's telling her about how she felt when she died battling the Water Demon and she left Prue, Phoebe and you," Grams said as she pointed at Piper and looked over at Paige. "She felt bad leaving this life without you knowing who you really were as well, but she trusted the parents that you were left with," Grams added and saw Paige feeling better.

"I have to say, that's actually somewhat comforting," Piper admitted.

"Piper, I can also tell you this. Phoebe's speaking with Prue and Prue is helping her ease into the transition as well," Grams assured them.

Piper began to fight back tears at the idea of her sister with Prue. She wasn't mad at Phoebe, but it's an opportunity she always wanted for herself as well—a chance to talk things out with her big sister and how she felt by leaving her and Phoebe behind to handle everything that was to come. Piper always wanted the chance to speak with her sister and it seemed as if that was only going to happen if she died.

"Grams, I have to ask you about something else. Phoebe was killed by a Poison Bearer, Miasma and in the Book of Shadows, it said that you created a healing remedy that would be able to save her and it required dry tears," Paige stated. "What are those? We could've really used them to at least try and save Phoebe's life," Paige added.

"I could've sworn I placed an entry on it. I'm so sorry," Grams apologized. "That was terribly irresponsible of me. As for the dry tears, they are crystallized tears, tears of a shaman. The shaman was an expert at many healing remedies and some say that she is 'one with her magic' and the connection between her body and magic was amazing. I've heard stories of this shaman and the one with the dry tears is amazing as well. Basically, when she was on her deathbed, ready to move into the afterlife, her family and the villagers all gathered around her with candles, ready to send her into the afterlife and this made her very emotional. Naturally, she cried and told everyone around her to collect her tears as they would not only amplify all healing spells, but all magic in general," Grams explained.

"Hold on, so this chick cries and magic gets stronger?" Paige asked. "You're going to have to explain why."

"Like I said, Paige, she was one with her magic," Grams said. "The magic she taught herself and the magical knowledge and power that she used was magnificent, my darlings. She realized her tears would help the world and that is why people captured her tears and when she died, they dried up into crystals. Some say that she performed a spell to make this happen and some say she made a potion, but the point is that these tears have magnificent powers. If you could've gotten your hands on one, it may have been able to save Phoebe," Grams said, regretting actually forgetting to place an entry on the dry tears. She was a responsible witch in her time and she had no idea what came over her that day. She began to blame herself for being the reason that Phoebe died.

"This is just coming to us too late, Grams," Piper said as she made her way over to the Book of Shadows to slam it close. "We have no need for these dry tears now," Piper said, obviously frustrated.

"Not true, Piper," Paige cut in. "You know how we realized that we may not be able to take on Miasma because we don't have the power of three?" Paige asked.

"Yeah and we don't. What are you expecting?" Piper asked.

"Maybe if we get these dry tears, we can use it's magic to amplify our potion or spell or even both," Paige said, feeling accomplished coming up with this idea. "What do you think?" Paige asked.

"I think it should work out, my darling," Grams replied.

"Why just wait?" a voice said.

Piper, Paige and Grams turned towards the attic door to see Billie standing there with a potion pouch hanging from her shoulder.

"Billie. It's nice to see you here with us," Paige said softly.

"No need to condone my feelings," Billie said. "This death is more important to you guys and I can only imagine since I feel so strong about Phoebe dying. I want to go after Miasma with you guys," Billie said with determination in her voice.

"Billie, hold your horses. The plan I just came up with was to find the dry tears to amplify the vanquish. What are you getting at?" Paige questioned.

"I say that we are three powerful witches. Definitely not the power of three, but it should work out against Miasma. I say we give it a try before we go on some wild goose chase for these dry tears and end up with nothing and only lost time in trying to figure out where Miasma is and how to defeat her," Billie said, eager to move on with the search.

"Billie, we just lost Phoebe," Piper reminded. "We cannot, I repeat, cannot afford to be reckless right now! We have to have strategy and I'll agree with you on one thing; I do want to get Miasma, but if we are going to go after her without the dry tears, I want to have some potions and spells backing us up," Piper said.

"Wait, so are we ignoring the dry tears?" Paige asked.

"Only for now, until we realize that we truly need it. If this ingredient is so rare, I prefer not to use it unless it's completely necessary," Piper said as she opened the Book of Shadows, searching for the strongest potions she had listed in the back of the Book.

"I can see that you three are going to try and make the most of this on your own," Grams said. "In case this backfires, I'm going to go and have a chat with the Elders on what they think would be the best plan to gain possession of the dry tears. Does that sound fine?" Grams asked, knowing this wasn't the time to force upon a decision upon the girls and be her regular pushy self.

"That's fine, but tell Phoebe we love her and miss her already," Piper said, fighting back an old familiar feeling of holding her tears back.

Paige nodded as Grams spoke her famous exiting words, "Blessed be," and she vanished in glistening white lights.

"Hey, Piper, I have a question." Paige said. "How come we always summon our grandmother and never our mother?" Paige asked.

"Maybe because Grams raised us and by "us" I mean, Phoebe, Prue and myself and we were used to having her act the role of the parent and also she's also a Halliwell Matriarch, so if we are going to get away with summoning the dead, she's a wise choice. I agree with you though, it's hardly fair for Mom. I hope our kids don't inherit that trait," Piper added as she made her way over to a cauldron and began her potion. She tossed in dragonroot and she looked up to see Billie looking through her potions pouch.

Paige walked over to a drawer and began to write the spell. Moments later, she ripped up a piece of paper after scribbling and crossing out on it several times and she tossed it onto the floor. "This sucks, I'm so used to writing power of three spells and what we have is not the power of three and it completely changes our game plan around," Paige said.

"Keep focused, Paige, this is for Phoebe and Billie, I need you to start working on a tracking spell as I finish this potion," Piper said.

Billie took a seat besides Paige and began to write her spell and all three women, were overcome with great determination to avenge Phoebe's death.