Chapter 11

Underworld

Cole and Phoebe appear in a dark, damp cavern somewhere in the Underworld. "Where are we?" Cole put is finger to his mouth to signal for Phoebe to be quiet as he looked around for something or someone but Phoebe was not sure what so she stayed close to Cole. They slowly moved into one of the many tunnels, staying as close to the wall as possible, making their way toward what sounded like voices. Phoebe had not realized that they were moving toward the old coronation room where the baby had been stolen from her womb and then destroyed the Seer and most of the upper hierarchy of evil. As they stood outside the room they could hear the voices coming from inside.

"Is she sure that they have been taken care of," asked the first voice. "Yes, she said that she has a very powerful alley that has neutralize any threat they may have imposed," came the response from the other. "Well, I wish I knew what she was planning, we have been over this place a hundred times and the Grimore is no where to be found." "I know, but it can not be destroyed and I don't want to be the one to tell her that it is gone, she will kill us on the one spot." The two demons had not seen Cole approach them from; he quickly took out one of the demons before turning toward the other and stopping him from shimmer out. Phoebe watched as Cole through the demon again the wall of the cavern and used one of his newly acquired powers to pin him there. Cole looked around for Phoebe and noticed that she was standing where he left her, she was pale and shivering and her eyes were focused on what was left of the cage she and her sisters had been held in. Cole approached her, "this is where it happened Cole', she said without moving her eyes, "this is where our baby was….". She was fighting back the tears, she knew she had to be strong and had promised herself that she would not allow the horrible memories of that time to get to her but she was having a difficult time. Cole pulled her into his embrace and lowering his head to her ear, he whispered, "its okay, you did everything you could to protect him, but you are not alone now, we are in this together." She turned to meet his gazed and nodded, they then turned their attention at the demon who was "magically" hanging on a near by wall. "Tell me what you and your, "friend" were doing here and who you are working for?" "Balthazar, you traitor, I will not tell you anything." "Well, we will just see about that wont we", Cole said with a smug look on his face, he formed an energy ball in his hand and held it up, "now, you can either tell us what we wont to know or you will find yourself on the receiving end of my wrath, and it will be very slow and very painful."

The demon thought for several moments. "I was sent here to retrieve the Grimore; she thought that perhaps it was hidden here since no one had been able to locate it, but as you can see I have not been able to locate it either." "Well, now that is a start. Who are you working for?" The demon looked from Cole to Phoebe and back again before realizing that they had not idea what had happened after the Seer was vanquished, and he started to snicker. "You think that dying is funny?" "No, what I think is amusing are you being too stupid to see that your own mo….." with that the demon went up in flames before their eyes. "Okay, I've seen that before, but why", Phoebe asked. "My guess is that whoever he was working for thought he was talking too much." "He said 'too stupid to see that you own', what do you think was referring too, you or me." "Well, he was looking at me but 'my own' what, it doesn't make any sense." "He was saying something when he went up in flames, mo, your own mo, what is your own mo?" Cole's face took on an expression she was not familiar with seeing nor did it make her comfortable, the look of FEAR. "Cole, you scaring me, what is it." "Phoebe, I think he was saying my own mother."

Back at the Manor

The group was still in the attic trying to piece together what they each knew in an attempt to figure out what Gideon's motives were in having Cole vanquished. "This just doesn't make any sense, why would he want Cole vanquished, not only vanquished but separating his soul and body – we didn't even do to such extremes to get rid of the Source", Piper stated. Paige add, "well who knew you could do such a thing, speaking of which (she turns toward Leo) why didn't they give us this type of information before, it would have saved both time and lives." Leo shrugged, "because it is not their jobs, they guide, they do not determine punishment which is what made me suspicious when Gideon provided them to me". Prue was at a loss for how they would get information without Gideon getting suspicious which is when Piper had an idea. "Well why not go to the 'source', no pun intended, and ask him ourselves". Leo wasn't following his wife's thinking, "what do you mean, go ask Gideon?" Paige snorted, "I can hear it now, 'well girls of course I will tell you the truth' – I really don't think that will happen, Piper"? "Well that is not exactly what I was thinking more along the lines of Leo telling him that we won't comply with his directions without more information, basically force Gideon to come to us on our own turf and see what we can get from him". After reviewing her idea, Prue thought it had potential except that Gideon would be expecting to see all three sisters and they were short a Phoebe". Paige grew a smile on her face, "I think we can cover that base with a simple spell to transform you into Phoebe, he wont be expecting you to say much, kind of stay in the background but still 'present' and since he can not track you as Prue we should be able to pull it off." Piper and Prue looked at each other, the plan could work then they both pulled Paige into a group hug. Prue, "Paige, that is a great idea, I would never have thought of that myself. We are really lucky to have you as our sister." Paige was speak less, for the past year she had felt like she was living in the shadow of "super witch", and for once she felt that she was standing on her own, like she had finally earned the approval of the one person she always compared herself too and it felt great.

Leo orbed off to tell Gideon that the girls what answers that he could not give them and was going to make it clear that the girls would not be swayed by Leo himself and perhaps he could talk to them. Leo knew Gideon was more of a 'hands on' Elder then any of the others and would not shy away from meeting directly with the girls. Prue was easily transformed into the image of Phoebe but did not gain the voice so she would play 'low key', which would play well into the sister's plan. The only addition was one that Patty thought of and that was her following Gideon when he left the attic after their little conference. She had a good assumption that he would go directly to the person he was working with and perhaps she would be able to gain valuable information. Patty assured them that Gideon would not be able to detect her because of the spell that Prue and she had put on themselves to cloak and provide corporal form. The stage was set and all it awaited was the appearance of the star, Gideon.

TBC

Cole and Phoebe now have an idea that the his mother is involved in the capture of their child's soul, but what is her plan? The girls have put a plan in motion to get to Gideon, will he suspect anything?

Hope you enjoy – until next time – and please review and let me know what you think.