The moment David, Paige, Cole and Leo orb in King's Canyon National Park, Cole and Leo immediately let go of David's hands, grimacing.

"What. The hell. Was that?" says Cole, taking a few faltering steps away from David and stooping over with his hands on his thighs, gagging.

"Oh, shut up." mutters Leo, who's clearly having a lot of trouble keeping his dinner down, too.

"It wasn't that bad." says David. He looks down at Paige, who still has her arms around his neck. "Was it?"

"Of course it wasn't, Dave," she says, giving him a reassuring smile, "they're just cranky because they had to follow our plan."

She is feeling a little sick herself, but pigs will fly before she tells him that. She gives him one last 'you are my hero' look, then turns to Leo and Cole.

"Come on, you two, we have some serious evil ass kicking to do here."

"Okay, here's what I know about this cave," says David, as Leo and Cole join them next to the entrance of the cave, "it's a maze of gazillions of corridors and crawlways, many of them still unexplored, set in three layers. There are almost 17 miles of passages in there. Experienced cavers can get lost in places like this. As for us, we're never gonna get out without magic. Which means that we need to stay together. Always. If anyone gets lost, don't try to find the others: just stay where you are and wait for the others to find you.

Cole shifts his weight from one foot to the other, uneasy. Physical barriers were never a problem to him; now, the idea of being trapped under the ground, unable to shimmer out, makes him shiver.

"Are you sure, beyond any doubt, that Piper and Phoebe are in there?" Cole asks Paige.

"For the tenth time, Cole, yes." she says, slightly impatient.

"Okay," he says, taking a deep breath, "let's do it, then."

"Yeah," says Leo, staring at the ten-foot-deep shaft and the ladder that leads downwards, "let's go."

"I'm already dead," he thinks, "if I get lost down there, I won't die: I will wander around in the darkness forever, like a lost soul. Great." he bitterly adds to himself, snapping the thought away.

Cole turns on his flashlight and points it towards the bottom of the shaft. They see nothing but rocks and dust. Still, he says:

"Let me go first. If there's anything wrong, I can freeze it."

He clips his flashlight to his belt and starts to climb down, followed by Leo, David and Paige.

"Paige," says David as they wait for Cole and Leo to make their way down, "again, why can't you just use that spell you found in the Book of Shadows to light our way?"

"Because it's not a lamp that we can carry around, David. I can -- and will -- use it to light up the places we have to stop at, but I can't cast a spell to light the bottom of this shaft and expect the light to follow us down the corridors. I'd have to stop and cast the spell again at every step of the way." she explains, preparing to follow him down the shaft.

As Paige joins the three men at the bottom of the shaft, they all look at her in expectation.

"Paige, you'll have to lead us now." says Leo.

"Right." she says, looking at the dark path ahead of her with a hint of apprehension. She concentrates for a while, then says, pointing out: "This way."

Paige takes a deep breath, turns on her flashlight and heads to the passage. Cole takes a step forward, preparing to follow her, but then he feels Leo's hand resting on his shoulder.

"What?"

"Stay behind us, you and David," says Leo, walking past him, "it's bad enough that I have to throw those damned energy balls; the last thing I need is to worry about you being caught in the cross fire."

"Stay b... I am not staying behind you!" says Cole, indignant.

"Yes, you are." says Leo. "You don't need to aim, I do."

He turns on his flashlight and walks in, catching up with Paige.

David opens his mouth, then thinks again and just turns on his own flashlight and joins Cole as he follows Leo. Although Cole knows that Leo's reasoning is correct, the idea of hiding behind a Whitelighter is enough to keep him fuming as they follow Paige through the slightly descending path, slowly leaving the cave's entrance behind until the only light comes from the four flashlights they carry. He can't hear Leo muttering to himself: "Triggered by anger, just aim and shoot them, it's not evil, you're just protecting your charges..."

David's mind is filled with images of colorful beasts and merciless warlocks watching them from the darkness, ready to jump on them. Images from all the horror movies he's seen in his life haunt him, and he can't help but wonder what other kinds of magical evil beings there are. He nervously swings the flashlight beam from side to side, and repeats the words in his mind like a mantra: "Whatever happens, don't orb out, just don't orb out..."

At the head of the line, Paige keeps a slow but steady rhythm, ocasionally taking her eyes off the path lighted by her flashlight just long enough to make sure Leo's still by her side, focusing her mind on not losing her sisters' track and refusing to let any other thoughts in -- thoughts of being buried alive, of being attacked by hungry wolves, of losing her sisters... stop it! She angrily snaps the thoughts away.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Phoebe moans and tries to open her eyes, but her eyelids feel so incredibly heavy. She's barely aware of the stone floor she's sitting on, and of the moist wall against which her back leans. She tries to put her hands on the ground to help her stand up, only to find out she can't lower her arms. There's something cold around her wrists, and it makes a metallic sound when she tugs with it. A thought crosses her dozy mind, that she should beware of wolves, but she has no idea where it came from and what it means, so she just drops it with a sigh.

A scratching noise makes her turn her head, and she manages to open her eyes enough to catch a blurred glimpse of Piper sitting on the ground a few steps beside her, her wrists chained to the wall in the same manner and struggling to get to her feet.

"Piper?" Phoebe mumbles.

"Who said you could wake up?" -- a blond woman waves her hand angrily towards the two sisters and they immediately fall asleep again.

"I'm bored," whines the blonde, addressing the dark haired woman sitting across the room, "it's taking too long, you never said it was gonna take that long."

Getting no response from her companion, she pursues:

"Can't we kill one of them while we wait?"

"Morgawse," says the dark haired woman, without raising her eyes from the white wolf whose head is resting on her knees, "you have no self control. They'll be here any minute," she adds, fondling the head of the wolf, "be patient."

"I hate being patient." says Morgawse, jumping to her feet and startling one of the other few wolves that wander around the chamber.

She paces back and forth the large cave they're in for a few minutes, not paying much attention to the wolves that quickly get out of her way as she walks past them.

"Besides," she adds, spinning around and looking at her sister with bright yellow eyes, "how can you be so sure this is gonna work, Argante? Engres said his plan would work, and now...

"It will work." says Argante, returning her sister's stare for a moment before turning her attention back to the white wolf. "And then you'll get to kill as many witches as you want, I promise you. Just make sure you save something for the kids." -- the wolves raise their heads, as if they knew she's referring to them.

"All right..." sighs Morgawse, sitting next to her older sister.

She stretches her right arm and says, watching a beautiful hand with long, polished nails:

"You know, Engres was mother's cousin. Shouldn't we, how do they call it, mourn for him?"

"Boo hoo." says Argante, nonchalantly.