Phoebe crossed her arms as Danny turned back to them. She knew that she should have let Prue keep the book, but a kid with a bunch of cheesy spells didn't seem like anything she should be worried about. He looked a little nervous now, as he waited for them to step aside. She and Prue were blocking the door and he wasn't about to push past them.
"Um, I should probably go get into my costume now."
"Um-hmm." Phoebe nodded. "Get Piper to pin your tail on."
Prue smacked her lightly and Phoebe tried to suppress a smile. Danny's face reddened and he made a mad dash for the exit as they stepped aside. She heard the door swing shut behind them, and counted the seconds before Prue turned to glare at her.
"Phoebe!"
"What?"
"First of all, you shouldn't have let him out of here with that book."
"It's harmless Prue." Phoebe sighed, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. That would only put her sister on the defensive. But Prue was getting all uptight again. "He's eleven, what's he going to do?"
"God only knows," Prue muttered. "And that thing about Piper? Probably shouldn't be encouraging him there."
"Well, she wants to have kids, might as well learn what they're really like."
"Whoa, Piper with kids? With Leo?" Prue's eyes widened and Phoebe couldn't help but laugh at the expression on her face. "Where did that come from?"
"You've just been missing out on these little family conversations, haven't you?" Phoebe opened the bathroom door for her sister. "Guess it's time to fill you in, but if and only if, you get into that gingham."
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"What are you doing here?" Danny caught sight of his cousin emerging from behind the bleachers. Flynt was almost sixteen, and Danny could already see his female classmates gazing in the other boy's direction. There was something about Flynt, something slick, maybe even a little dangerous. All the girls went for it. He looked a lot like his father, Danny's uncle, with the jet black hair and dark eyes. Danny with his blonde hair and blue eyes had never quite seemed to fit in. But he was still working on that. Sooner or later he would find his place in the family.
"Dad wanted me to help him with the set." Flynt shrugged, then smiled down at him. "He thought I might be able to pick out this new girl you're into."
"Oh shut up!" Danny swung his backpack at him, but Flynt deflected it easily with one hand. Danny scowled, then walked towards the corner where his uncle was constructing a frame for one of the dressing rooms. "It's not any of your business anyway."
"Oh come on, Danny." Flynt followed him. "I was just messing with you. Girls shouldn't be your thing anyway."
"What?" Danny narrowed his eyebrows as he glanced over at him.
"No, I didn't mean it like that!" Flynt protested and Danny felt rather relieved as they continued towards his uncle. "I just meant that, you know, you're almost ready to-"
"I know!" Danny said quickly, wishing his cousin would leave him alone. It was frustrating always having someone butt into your life. All he really wanted was to be alone, to test out how powerful he really was. But that obviously wasn't going to happen. Instead, Flynt was going to talk him to death. "I already know everything. You don't need to tell me again."
"Hey there." Edward was kneeling next to the half constructed frame and he turned towards them as they approached. Standing finally, he brushed himself off, then stepped back to survey his work. After a moment, he put his hand on Danny's shoulder, then glanced over at Flynt, a grin on his face. "So did you guys find the lucky girl?"
"Oh god." Danny put his hands over his face, groaning in embarrassment.
"Oh stop it." Flynt reached up to pull his hands away, then suddenly halted his efforts. Staring straight at Danny, he seemed to freeze for a moment. Then his face broke into a smile and he turned in the direction of the stage. "I know who it is."
Danny could feel his face growing warm as he followed Flynt's gaze. He'd gotten it right on his first try, because Flynt was looking directly at Piper. And now his uncle had seen her too. It was all over.
"Piper!"
Danny watched his uncle, as the mortification swept through him. He was waving her over, even as Flynt grinned at Danny. Just let me die now, Danny thought. It couldn't get any worse. He thought about running away, finding a good excuse to escape, but he stayed, if only to make sure his family didn't embarrass him further.
Piper smiled warmly at them as she headed their way. Glancing over at his uncle and cousin, Danny felt sick to his stomach. This could be very bad.
"Hey," Piper said. "Phoebe wanted me to thank you for all the help. She's a little busy right now."
"I can imagine." Uncle Edward nodded, then reached over and put his hand on Flynt's shoulder.
"This is my son, Flynt. He's just here helping me today."
"Oh, well, thanks to you too then." Piper held out her hand to him. "I'm Piper, Phoebe's sister, and occasional sucker. She kind of roped me into this at the last moment."
"So you're the Wicked Witch." Flynt gave her a sly smile as he shook her hand. Then he cast Danny a sideways glance. "My cousin's told us so much about you."
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Piper wasn't too thrilled about the way Flynt was staring at her. He'd been talking for a few minutes now, but she'd long since tuned him out. Instead she was trying to analyze his expression. Hopefully, it wasn't the googley eyes. She'd had enough of that already. But then Piper saw the look he shot Danny and she realized with horror just what had happened. Flynt knew about Danny and his feelings for her, and he was just trying to torment the poor boy.
Lovely, Piper thought to herself as the conversation finally ended. First Jason and now this kid. These are such nice children. She sighed, and smiled a little at Danny, hoping that it would make him feel better. As his family started to pack up their tools, she turned and wandered back towards the stage where she'd left the rest of her costume.
This is all Phoebe's fault. She got me, Piper thought as she pulled on her shoes. I had an easy out and I didn't even take it. Piper couldn't believe it. She'd always admired her sister's persuasion skills, but she'd vowed never to be the one who fell for the con game. But she'd fallen, and she'd fallen hard. Phoebe was good. She'd be sure to remember that next time.
Piper sighed as a wave of exhaustion swept through her. She finally fell back into a chair by the stage, trying to sort things out in her mind. But there was just so much going on. Danny was the least of her problems. That episode with Faith earlier in the day hadn't done much to help the situation. She hadn't been able to sleep in the last few nights, and the play was pushing her work at the club later and later into the evening. To top it all off there was a ghost harassing her, probably trying to kill her. And she was going to have to figure out some way to tell her sisters about it.
That's gonna be fun, Piper thought. For the past few hours, she'd been debating whether or not to tell them the whole truth. Should she mention the little picture? There was really no reason to, except that it might explain why the ghost was so angry. Of course just the fact that I killed her in cold blood, that might make her angry enough, Piper reminded herself. But there had to be something, some way to stop the flashbacks.
"Piper!"
"What?" She looked up to the stage. There stood Phoebe, holding the harness in one hand. An older man wearing a dirty pair of overalls stood next to her and both of them were smiling. That only made Piper feel worse. She closed her eyes for a moment and made a silent wish to disappear.
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"Is she ready?" Phoebe grabbed the rope that was attached to her harness and yanked up on it, testing its strength. Piper winced as the harness pulled tighter around her body, squeezing the air out of her lungs. She twisted a little to glare at her sister. Iiiii "Ooh, sorry."
"Well, that's it." Mr. Beckert came around to the front of the stage so that Piper could see him. He was the school's janitor. Phoebe had assured her that the man knew every aspect of the harness system, and that the school had used it a thousand times under his watchful eyes. But as he stood back to look Piper over, she didn't feel so sure. "Like I said, just don't move around too much and you should be fine."
"Should be?" Piper cast Phoebe a sideways glance. "Should be, Phoebe?"
"He's kidding," Phoebe insisted as the man disappeared through the wings. She scooped up the witch hat that Piper had left on the floor, and placed it on her sister's head, slipping the strap under her chin. "It's just a little theater humor."
"Sure." Piper adjusted her costume, trying to make it feel comfortable under the harness. She certainly wasn't finding this funny. She was dressed as a witch and was about to be hoisted up into the air. Nope, nothing about this seemed funny to her. She rubbed her eyes with one hand, then turned to see if Mr. Beckert had reappeared. The harness was beginning to feel a little bit tight.
"Mr. Beckert!" She started towards the wings, then suddenly felt a jerk from the harness. "Oh, okay, going up now." Piper swung a little as she was lifted off the ground. Somewhere back there, Mr. Beckert had decided that it was time to pull her up off the stage. But a little warning might have been nice. Piper stared down at her sister who was watching her in silent fascination.
"How do I look?" Piper asked finally. "Does it give me that wicked edge?"
"You look great." Phoebe said with a little nod of encouragement. But then a puzzled expression came over her face. "Hey, where's your broom?"
"You think of these things now?"
Piper was about twenty feet off the stage when Mr. Beckert stopped pulling. Now she was just hanging there, still swinging slightly, a few feet in front of the rainbow. She watched as Prue came out from behind the curtain. She was dressed in her Dorothy costume, a blue and white checkered dress, and she was carrying a furry brown dog. Piper blinked. It was a real dog.
"One of the kids brought him in," Prue explained, seeing Piper's obvious interest. "I guess we're going for a realistic portrayal. You know dog..." She glanced over at Phoebe. "Tornado..."
"Oh that's nice." Piper called down. "You get a cute little animal and I get flying lessons."
Hearing her voice the dog looked up and started barking immediately. Oh back off Fido, Piper thought. His lip curled up and he growled at the flying witch. Then he barked again and wriggled out of Prue's hands. She jumped back as the dog took off across the stage.
"Okay," Prue said. "That was not a cute little animal."
Piper nodded in agreement as she hung there. It was a strange sensation, almost like she was floating, and Piper had a nagging feeling of déjà vu. Suddenly it came to her. Christmas, when the witch had grabbed her and held her there with her power. Piper closed her eyes, feeling suddenly ill. She could see Faith staring up at her with that cold angry expression, all that hate directed at Piper. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and Piper took a deep breath. But she felt like she was suffocating. She was just so tired, she couldn't push those feelings, those memories, away anymore.
"Piper?" She could hear Prue below her.
"Get me down," Piper said as she opened her eyes. Now, even as she glanced around the stage all she could see was the priest who lay dying and the manger scene with all the wooden animals. Piper blinked, trying to focus on her sisters. Phoebe was staring up at her in confusion.
"But we just need you to-"
"Phoebe, get me down now!" Piper yelled.
"Okay." Phoebe nodded quickly, trying to stay calm. "Uh- Mr. Beckert! I think we're going to need her to come down!"
"What?"
Piper could hear the old man's muffled voice from behind the curtain. Why couldn't she get Faith out of her mind? It was like she was there almost, right there in the gym. Piper could feel it.
"Mr. Beckert, any time now," she heard Phoebe say.
"Piper, are you okay?" Prue asked.
Piper shook her head. She really wasn't. She waited for Mr. Beckert to do something, but nothing was happening. She stared down at her sisters, watching as Phoebe scrambled back towards the curtain, trying to get the man to hurry up. And then just like that Piper saw someone else on the stage. Her eyes widened. It was Faith.
"Phoebe-"
Piper felt herself drop. But it wasn't the slow steady drop that she had expected. Mr. Beckert wasn't lowering her. She was falling.
Piper screamed as the stage rushed up to meet her. She threw her hands up to cover her face as she hit hard on her stomach. Then she lay there, completely still.