Chapter 9:

Author's Note: I apologize for the second delay in a row, the winter has always been a hectic time for me. This was my birthday weekend, plus I had midterms last week. I really, really hope you like the new chapter, a lot of things are explained. Please review! I like long reviews but short ones are great too.

A.N.P.S. I made a slight error in chapter one, which I have fixed so please reread it.

ericafine101: you are the only one who has reviewed for every chapter, thank you!

Magic-Amethyst80: reread the first chapter, he's in a retirement home. I mean, he had grey hair even before any of the kids were born! He didn't help raise them because of the whole 'he's a mortal not capable of protecting wiccan children' thing, which is one of the few things I actually took from the show, lol!

Julia took the book from the table and sat down on the sofa, then settled both her hands gently on the cover and leaned back, sighing. Wyatt was leaning against the attic door frame and Desiree was sitting at the table on which the scrying crystal and map lay. Wyatt looked from one girl to the other. "Are you sure you guys want to do this?"

"Wyatt we can't just ignore what's been happening," Desiree said pointedly, rising to walk to a chest full of candles, incenses and assorted other magical items. Magical, the word made Wyatt shiver. Magic was for storybooks and kids movies, not real life, his life, but crossed the room and bent down over the chest with Desiree, gathering materials as Julia read out instructions for summoning the dead. Once the candles were in place and lit, and the table was set up, Julia stepped awkwardly into the circle to join her cousins at the table. Then three of them began to chant, in eerily perfect unison; "Unknown spirit we seek you guidance. We ask that you commune with us and move among us. Unknown spirit we seek you guidance. We ask that you commune with us and move among us. Unknown spirit we seek you guidance. We ask that you commune with us and move among us."

After the third chant they stopped, as though commanded by an invisible force. Desiree gulped. She didn't know why she'd stopped, or why her cousins had, she just knew she was finished. An ominous silence filled the room, chilling all three of them to the bone. Then, as though someone had just opened a window, a slight breeze blew over the table, brushing their faces like the furry tail of a cat, and someone seemed to sigh, though none of them were even breathing. A faint light glittered in the air over the table, then grew brighter and brighter and brighter still. Then the light faded, melting away to reveal the form a beautiful young woman dressed in a flowing white robe. She had long dark hair, a kind face, slender features . . . and their was a little dot above her lip.

"Prue," he breathed.

Julia glanced at him, "who?"

The woman, the ghost really, laughed lightly, "Prudence Halliwell," she extended her hand as thought to shake Wyatt's, "nice to meet you, finally." No one said or did anything in reply, so she withdrew her hand uncomfortably.

"Who are you?" Wyatt said at last. Prue frowned, "didn't you look at the photo album? Yeah, I saw you look through it," she eyed him carefully, puzzled.

"Yeah, we looked through it, but it kinda . . ." he trailed off looking at Desiree for support. "Left us with more questions then answers," she finished for him.

Then Wyatt gasped and glared at her, "wait, how'd you know we looked through it? Have you been spying on us?"

Prue grinned, "well what else did you expect me to do with my afterlife than watch over my family?"

"Look, no offense, but we don't know you," Julia said, looking up at Prue, "its kinda hard to think of it as a family thing when we've never met you."

Prue looked from one to the other, taking in all three of them, indeed as though seeing them for the first time. "Yeah, I guess it is kinda weird," she said at last, then bowed her head, looking at the hem of her long white robe, "but for this to work, you couldn't know about me, about any of this."

"Any of what?" Wyatt questioned. She glanced up at him, then back at her feet, and all four of them became silent for a long moment. Finally, Desiree voiced the question they were all dying to know; "What's going on?"

Prue took a deep breath, then looked up at them, "the three of you are witches," she began, but Wyatt cut her off, "yeah we figured that part out already," he interjected, stony faced, "now tell us what that means."

Prue once again looked at her feet, "that, unfortunately, is the one thing I can't tell you. Not because I don't want to, because I don't know myself. I can't tell you about the future, only the past."

Wyatt opened his mouth to snap at her, but Julia spoke first. "Then just start there," she said quietly, her face soft. Prue smiled at Julia, "and here I thought it would be Phoebe's kid yelling at me."

"How do you know Julia's mom?" Wyatt asked, distrust still in his voice. "Simple," Prue answered, "I'm her sister."

That shocked them into silence. All three of them gazed, open mouthed, at Prue. She could have said she was the Princess of Zanzibar and Phoebe had been her maid and it wouldn't have had quite this effect. After several minutes of silence Julia found her voice. "What," she stuttered, "but . . . but that's . . . that's just . . ." she trailed off, to stunned to complete the sentence.

Wyatt swallowed, with some difficulty, his mouth being very dry, and stammered, "but that would make you," but he was cut off again, this time by Prue. "Piper's and Paige's sister too. And your aunt."

Now Prue turned to Desiree, "Actually, I'm only Paige's half sister. In fact, Paige had a different father than Phoebe or Piper."

Desiree stared at her. "But that," she whispered, "that doesn't make any sense."

"Actually it does. You see Paige didn't grow up in the manner, and her last name wasn't Halliwell, legally anyway. I grew up here with Phoebe and Piper, not her. She was put up for adoption when she was small, so no one would know."

Desiree wasn't crying. She closed her eyes against the tears and bit her bottom lip to keep it still, then looked once again up at Prue. "Why couldn't anyone know about her?" Prue sighed deeply. They could tell it was hurting her, greatly, to have to tell Desiree this, but she continued. "Her parents, Patty and a man named Sam, weren't allowed to be together. They were afraid of what the elders might do to your mother if they found out."

"Then . . . then how did she meet you guys? Why was she here?"

"She needed to be. As I think you've already learned from those letters, the strength of the Halliwell coven comes from the unity of its members. Three members. That's the Halliwell thing, three. There were three charmed one, and now the three of you. I died a few years into my life as a witch. I guess I can really relate to your situation."At that Wyatt raised his eyebrows and Prue quickly added, "Not because I'm dead, but because last generation had their powers bound too. We only found out after Grams died. She was resurrected to take care of you. When I died the charmed circle was broken, and that's when Phoebe got the premonition about Shax, the demon that killed me, killing Paige. When she and Piper tried to protect her they wound up finding out who she was, so she reconstituted the power of three."

Desiree had been staring down throughout Prue's entire speech, and now she slowly looked up at her aunt. Wyatt and Julia waited with baited breath, expecting sobbing, screaming, an explosion of telekinetic energy, some kind of outburst, something that would show what she was feeling. But there was no crying or screaming or moving of objects, she simply looked at Prue, then asked, "the demon we faced today mentioned a He. A kind of all powerful He that could 'restore' demons that had already been vanquished. Any idea what that was about?"

"None. The elders thought Phoebe, Piper and Paige had vanquished all the demons, and they hadn't sensed any until this afternoon during Alec's attack. He must have been vanquished by another witch, because I don't remember him."

"Well that puts us right back at square one," Wyatt said throwing up his hands, "powers we can't control, a family we don't understand and an ultra-demon we know absolutely nothing about."

"We do know one thing," Julia said, "he can bring back any number of demons to send after us, and he won't stop until we stop him." no one asked how Julia knew. They were all thinking the same thing. They knew nothing would be the same now, nothing would be easy. But they would have to learn to live with.

A sudden jingling sound sent Prue's gaze skyward. "Oh no," she murmured, "the elders want me back up."

"Wait!" cried Julia, "you can't leave! What about . . ." but Prue couldn't wait. "I'm sorry," she said as the lights that had brought her there returned, swirling around her feet and moving slowly upward, "I can't stay! Don't worry, you'll be fine, as long as you have each other!"

They stepped back as the lights swirled up her body and she began to fade. Just before she vanished Wyatt said quietly, "so it was your camera stuff." Prue's eyes locked on Wyatt's, and for a moment he saw himself reflected there, a young dreamer, struggling to find himself and be strong for his family all at once. Just for a moment, he wasn't afraid. She nodded slowly and then disappeared completely.

They all stood, and for a moment none of them moved. No words passed between them, just a silent, mutual understanding. "Come on," Wyatt said at last, "lets get some sleep."

Wyatt and Desiree walked through the attic door and down the stairs, but Julia lingered. She blew out the candles, the walked to the table picked up the book and replaced it upon the pedestal. For a moment she flipped idly through the pages, eyes flicking passed demon after demon, and she found herself filled, not with fear, but with confidence, determination, even, she realized, a little excitement. She could do this, no matter what it took. As long as she had her cousins she had everything she needed. Suddenly a page that seemed thicker than the others pushed passed her thumb. She returned to it and held it, trying to figure out what was different. It seem almost as though two pages were stuck together. On one side was a picture of banshee, pale skin and grey rags, coupled with a descriptive paragraph, but when she tried to turn the page it stuck fast, refusing to separate from the next one. Oh well, she thought, it was probably nothing. She would try to steam them apart tomorrow. Tonight it was best just to get some shut eye. She had a feeling she was going to need it. Julia closed the book and followed her cousins down the steps, then went into her room and climbed into bed, but the page kept nagging at her. She tossed and turned, thinking about what could be on those hidden pages, until sleep finally claimed her.

Author's Note: who remembers what's one the back of the Banshee page?!