Author's Notes: Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming! To Tony, yes it's because they both have the name Wyatt, cursing kid Wyatt was just an unintentional consequence. Why the spell was written that way will be revealed later. To bunn2007, great comments. Yeah, they shouldn't be making so many mistakes, but eh, it's funner that way, right:) And yes, I'll be doing my best to avoid any cliched scenarios.

This is a rather shoort update but a more substantial one should be out in the next day or so.

Chapter 8: Traps

The Halliwells orbed in to a shadow dappled forest. It hardly looked like it housed a portal to the underworld, but that was probably the point. "This way," said Paige, taking the lead. "Remember. Badass, kindness-hating, puppy kicking demons for hire," she reminded them as she ducked through low lying branches. They reached a clearing about fifty yards from where they had landed. A pair of leather clad demons stood, arms crossed, next to a gnarled old oak tree.

"We demand entrance to the Market," said Phoebe, coldly. Hey younger self glanced for a split second her way, surprised by how well she could bring this demonic tone out of her voice.

"Password," stated the larger of the two demons. Chris immediately flung the demon back into a tree trunk, careful not to knock him out but not kill him. The adjacent guard merely nodded his head at this and waved his arm. "Enter." A portal opened up, revealing the wavy image of a bustling open-air marketplace. The group of disguised witches passed through, younger Phoebe giving the unconscious demon a small kick to the ribs as she passed, in an effort to appear tough. Prue just rolled her eyes.

When everyone was through the more experienced Piper grabbed the first warlock within arm's reached. She pulled him up by his collar within inches of her nose, and sneered at him, "Hawker. Where is he? Now." The last word was came out as almost a growl.

Looking shocked, then annoyed, he replied, "After the crook in the road. Fourth tent down, on the left."

Piper's eyes met Prue's for just a second before she tossed the warlock back. Just as she let him go, Prue squinted. He flew twenty feet back, landing in a pile of various freshly harvested organs. "Thanks," Piper said to Prue in a hushed tone. "Makes the natives less inclined to approach us." At the look on her younger self's face, Piper's demeanor reverted to her usual friendly self, and she shrugged. "You turn evil enough times, have a mischievous kid or two, and the menacing act gets pretty easy to fake." She smiled.

"Oh, that's reassuring," replied the younger Piper half-jokingly.

The group pressed forward in as cocky a fashion each could muster, reaching the Hawker's tent in shirt order. He appeared to be finishing up a transaction, which apparently involved somebody's shrunken head, when they approached. "Tell your allies!" he finished.

"You!" said Piper, slamming a hand on his table.

"Got a problem, little lady?" he asked mockingly.

"You've got a problem," added Prue.

Piper cocked her head in a no nonsense posture. "You tried to screw us over, and," she said, now raising her voice, "unless you want all your 'neighbors' to hear about it I suggest you take this in private."

"Who sent you?" He eyed them suspiciously.

"Inside!" growled Phoebe.

"Fine. Follow me." He slipped through a leather flap in the tent behind his stand. The younger Phoebe tried not to look too surprised as the room they entered appeared to not be so much a tent as a cavern. "It's magically sealed, so no unexpected eavesdroppers," explained the Hawker. "Now, who sent you?"

As the flap door shut, Paige immediately waved her hand at the Hawker shouting, "Crystals!" He jumped back, but only in time to slam against the magical barrier created by the crystals.

He hissed in pain. "Who are you?!" he demanded. With swirls of sparkling golden lights, their true identities were revealed. "The Charmed Ones?" he said, glancing back and forth in confusion.

Younger Phoebe smiled. "Double your pleasure."

"Double your fun," finished the older.

""What do you want? I'm but a simple merchant!"

"HA!" blurted both Pipers.

Prue threw a truth potion at the Hawker's feet. "Now - who hired you to go after\us?" demanded Prue.

"You? I was told not to go after you – only your Whitelighter. You have no quarrel with me!" His eyes widened as he realized what the potion was compelling him to say.

"Yeah. Right," replied the older Piper. "Like you can just go after family-" she stopped herself. "-uh, people in our lives and not piss us off? So names. NOW!"

His eyes flicked to a medallion which had tumbled to the floor when he had fallen. "Uh, Kaalaya was the last name your kind gave him."

"Our kind?" asked Chris.

"Mankind!" growled the demon.

Paige narrowed her eyes. "What can you tell us about him?"

"Just that he exists outside time. Outside the Underworld, the Elder World. But he can't enter our own plane, he was banished many millennia ago. He can only manipulate it from the outside." He looked panicked, yet still calculating.

"You're holding something back. Hiding," said Phoebe as she sensed his feelings.

A sly grin slid across his face. "Animus!" he suddenly shouted.

A hulk of a man clad in black rags appeared behind the younger Phoebe and Prue. Piper flicked her fingers but only sparks flew off his chest. "Ooh."

Paige's eyes darted about the room for something to call as Piper backed away from the intruder. The demon twisted his hand behind his back before bringing it forward again. Beams of light now shot from his hand, heading toward the sisters from the future. "No!" shouted both Phoebes in unison. The older Phoebe locked eyes with the demon as the younger leapt forward, pushing her older self out of the line of fire, but was caught in the beam herself, along with Paige, Chris, and the older Piper. The four Halliwells were frozen mid-step before being engulfed by a white light. As the elder Phoebe recovered from her roll across the floor she channeled the demon's power, redirecting it back into him, just moments too late.

"NO!" cried this present's Piper as she dived toward the scene, but her hands only met thin air. Her future son, future self, Paige, and present sister Phoebe had dematerialized, along with the demon, and compressed into a small, blood-red crystal.

Phoebe sat on the ground, elbows on her knees, and hands over her eyes. She sighed and looked up to see two young sisters, crushed, but also frozen in panic. They stared at her, their eyes pleading for direction. Phoebe turned to the Hawker. "Okay, you son of a bitch!" She pulled herself to her feet. "How do we undo this?!" She cocked her head as a thought occurred to her. She turned, tilting her face to the sky and began to chant a spell off the top of her head. "Protect this place, as if our space, let no demon, have entrance!" A blue light briefly engulfed the room before fading. "No more tricks or traps. Now, tell me how."

The Hawker had lost all bravado by now, realizing he was out of options. "He was merely a bodyguard. I don't know how his powers work. But if you know your history, as I think you do, he should be in your Book of Shadows."

"And what about this Kaalaya?" He shook his head, not opening his mouth. "You do realize that if you don't spill I'll hurt you so bad you'd wish you'd never been spawned, right?" threatened Phoebe angrily.

"Perhaps. But it won't be as bad as what he'll do to me."

Phoebe reached her hands out to her past sisters. "The spell to cover our tracks." They joined hands and began to chant.

Memories wiped away will be

From this demon that we see

Instead of the Charmed Ones meeting he

Remembers only things ordinary

The Hawker slumped to the floor and Phoebe picked up the crystals from the trap. Prue retrieved the red crystal that held her family. The older Phoebe snapped her fingers to replace their disguises. "Let's get out of here." When they were back in the woods and safely behind a tree she called for Leo.

He quickly orbed in, glancing around as he realized most of the party was missing. "What happened?"

"Later," answered Prue briskly. He nodded, putting a hand on each sister and they orbed back to the manor.


Next Time: The sisters work to free their family and discover their next step will lead them to Grams.