Piper gently nudged the dog out of her path as she moved down the hallway towards Prue's room. It was time to have a serious talk with her sisters about the rules of Wicca. Somehow the words personal gain had slipped from Prue's mind. Along with just about everything else, Piper thought.
She loved her sister, even in her younger and slightly obnoxious form. Prue really was trying to do what was right. She had, after all, saved Piper the previous evening. But still, it was time to lay down the law. At the very least, Piper would save herself the later annoyance and at the most she might return the favor by saving her sister. Prue just didn't seem to realize what she was up against.
Knocking on her sister's bedroom door, Piper stood there a moment, steeling herself. Prue could be stubborn and her power made everything worse. Piper wasn't sure how to handle someone who had sent their younger sister flying into a table. And that was the sister she likes right now, Piper reminded herself. She highly doubted that she herself had stayed on Prue's good side. She was the adult, the person who Prue was supposed to rebel against. Time to embrace my authority, Piper thought with a smile. I'm the boss.
"Prue!" She knocked on her sister's door again, failing to get a response. Finally she let herself in, but the room was empty except for the large pile of toys that Piper had pushed to the corner. She groaned and moved down towards the bathroom. Throwing open the unlocked door, she glanced around, her eyes widening as she saw the bathtub's new occupant.
"Piper." Leo came up behind her. "Don't you think we should talk about.."
"Would you look at this?" Piper gestured wildly in the direction of the bathtub. Floating in the nearly overflowing water was the duck her sisters had conjured up the previous day. "As if demons and ghosts weren't bad enough I now have a feathery friend to share my house with." She shook her head and pushed Leo back out the door. "Have you seen Prue?"
"Yeah, as soon as you went up the stairs she went back down."
"I can't believe it," Piper said. "She's avoiding me. I'm the big mean adult that nobody likes. How come you aren't the disciplinarian?"
"Because you're their-" Leo stopped suddenly and Piper's eyes widened. She already knew what he'd been getting at and she watched as he frantically searched for another word. He brightened a little, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Sister."
"You were going to say mother, weren't you?"
"No."
"Yes ,you were." Piper pointed an accusing finger at him. "That is exactly what you were going to say." She stepped around Leo and headed back for the stairs before he could protest. "I can't believe this. The older child is supposed to be the parent. How come I got stuck with the job?"
"Piper, you're just feeling a little stressed right now," Leo said calmly. He tried to grab Piper's arm, but she wriggled out of his grasp as she reached the first floor. She was nearing the kitchen when she heard him yell. Piper spun around just in time to see Leo go flying as he tripped over the Book of Shadows. He landed hard on the floor and lay there for a moment, a little dazed.
"Oh god. " She brought her hands up to her face as she rushed back towards him. The book, she'd left it there on the stairs. "I'm sorry. I completely forgot..."
"It's okay."
"No, it's so not," she insisted. "I'm so sorry, that must have-"
"Piper, I'm fine," he groaned as she reached down to help him up.
Piper could feel herself falling apart. Leo was right, she was definitely feeling the stress of the situation. That Porsche ride across the Golden Gate was looking better and better every minute. Maybe if she ever found Prue, she would ask for the keys.
"Leo," she said finally. "We have got to change them back, now, I mean right now, as in no waiting, no stalling, no demonic interruptions. Whatever we have to do to get Prue and Phoebe back, let's just do it."
"Piper, don't you think we should be a little more worried about that thing that came bursting in here last night?" He gave her a pointed look. "Or how about the ghost that, according to Phoebe's premonition, is trying to kill you?"
"No, not even gonna go there right now." Piper shook her head. She'd take evil beings any day of the week. Well, maybe not, but if her sisters stayed this way insanity would prevail. At this point, if it came down to her mental health or safety from the demons and ghosts, she'd have to call it a toss up.
"Faith is out for blood," Leo said quickly, grabbing her by the shoulders. "And Phoebe's premonitions are real, you know that better than anyone."
"We need them to fight her, I already told you." Piper was trying so hard to ease his worries, but nothing was working. With Prue down for the count and Piper scrambling to keep the family in one place, Leo had suddenly taken on the protective role.
"Piper-"
"No more school visits, I promise," she said. "It's not like I have some burning passion to return."
"Fine, but what about the demon?" Leo reminded her. "It could've killed all of you."
"I've read up on him," Piper explained. She'd spent the better part of the night learning about the big bad Vargo demons. "But we can't take the chance of fighting him without Prue and Phoebe, and I'm not talking the kid version."
"But they're strong now," Leo said. "You saw what happened last night. They're much more powerful."
"And uncontrollable," Piper said. She just wished he would listen to her. It was bad enough that her sisters had tuned her out. She didn't need Leo doing the same.
"Prue seemed to have it pretty well under control."
"Not the powers Leo, the kids!"
With a sigh, she headed for the living room, still determined to find Prue. But the room was empty. Then as she started to turn back towards the parlor she caught sight of a patch of brown hair, just visible over the couch.
Piper circled back around and spotted Phoebe there, sitting on the floor by the window. She had all the papers from the Faith Evans file spread out around her and an open bottle of glue sitting beside them. As soon as Phoebe realized that Piper was there, she turned and waved a gluey hand at her. Piper winced, trying not to think of all the furniture her sister would stick to now.
"Phoebe!"
Phoebe's smiled disappeared and she looked apprehensive. Piper pressed her lips together, and glanced down at the ground trying not to look angry. Prue was already mad at her. She certainly didn't want Phoebe to be scared of her too. Piper eyed Leo as he came around the other side of the couch.
"What happened here?" he asked.
"Oh nothing," Piper said under her breath. "You know, the usual, little kid, big mess."
She knelt down and started to sort through the clippings, putting the less gooey ones back in the file. But as she grabbed for more, she knocked over the bottle of glue and watched as it squirted all over the floor.
"Sorry,'' Phoebe mumbled.
"It's okay." Piper slowly got to feet and headed for the kitchen. She grabbed a wet rag then returned to the living room. Getting down on her hands and knees, she used some of the clippings to soak up the excess glue, then glanced over at her forlorn looking sister. Poor Phoebe, she was having an especially rough time of it.
"I just wanted to find a picture of the ghost to put on your picture," Phoebe said, looking down at the ground. She suddenly seemed to realize how sticky her palms were. She hastily picked up the article she'd been cutting, trying to wipe the mess off her hands. "My picture was ugly."
"It wasn't ugly, Phoebe..." Piper stopped and sat down next to her sister. Then she gently took her hands and cleaned them with the cloth from the kitchen. She smiled as she saw the gluey smears Phoebe had managed to leave on her cheeks. "It was great, really..."
"But you didn't like it," Phoebe said as Piper washed her face off, "Prue said you'd think it was stupid."
"Well then, Prue was wrong."
"Maybe…" Phoebe trailed off. "I'll clean it up, promise."
"Don't worry about it," Piper started, but already Phoebe was reaching for the file. She grabbed one of the photos then suddenly sucked in her breath. She closed her eyes for a moment, a newspaper clipping crumpling in her hand.
Piper watched and waited. She could usually tell when her sister was having a premonition, and now it was even more obvious. Phoebe wrinkled her nose and tensed in her childish excitement. Piper glanced up at Leo, who was staring at Phoebe intently. Piper wondered what she was seeing this time. What other bad thing could possibly happen?
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Phoebe bit her lip, trying to sort through the sudden mass of images that whirled through her brain. She thought she saw herself for a split second and then Prue was there. They were on the stage. And then... then she saw Danny sitting in a dressing room, candles all around him.
Phoebe opened her eyes, completely confused. Lately all of her premonitions had been scary or weird, and she was beginning to wish that they'd just go away. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. Usually she could understand her visions, but this one...
"What did you see?" Piper asked anxiously.
"Me and Prue on the stage," Phoebe said slowly, trying desperately to hold onto the image. But already it was starting to slip from her mind. "Danny was there too."
"Danny?"
"Uh-huh." Phoebe stared at Piper for a moment, trying even harder to remember. For some reason she knew it was important. Piper would want to know all of it. And more than anything she wanted to help her sister, to make Piper happy. "He looked like Prue did yesterday."
"Prue?" Leo stood over them now, looking more and more lost.
"When she had the Book and the candles, and we made the doggy," Phoebe said quickly. "Danny looked like that."
"Like he was casting a spell?" Piper's eyebrows went up, even as Phoebe nodded vigorously. Piper stood and crossed her arms, then turned to face Leo. "Oh, this day just gets better and better."
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"Piper, what are you doing?"
She could feel Leo staring at her as she grabbed for her jacket. She flipped her hair back with her hands, pulling it out of the collar as she raced down the stairs. She hadn't been able to find Danny's phone number, but his address had been on Phoebe's class list.
"I've got to go talk to him," she said as she made her way towards the door. If Danny could resolve this, then she certainly wasn't going to waste any time. She knew it would be hard seeing him now after everything she'd discovered, but it didn't matter. Getting her sisters back to their normal selves had rocketed to the top of the priority list. Ghosts, demons, and her guilty conscience would just have to wait. "Maybe he knows how to reverse this."
"What are you going to say?" Leo asked. Piper pressed her lips together as she realized his point. How could she explain what she knew, without revealing her own secret?
"I'll think of something," she said finally as she buttoned her coat. She could hear the rain pouring down outside, and she readied herself for the run to her car. "You think you can handle the Wiccan children for awhile?"
"Me?" Leo's eyes widened, and Piper knew that she'd scared him. It figured. Leo had seen just as many demons and warlocks as she had. And he had faced them without fear. But her sisters, they frightened him. "Piper, I can't take them."
"Leo, you're a whitelighter. You're basically a glorified babysitter anyway." She caught the glare he shot her way, but tried to ignore it. "Please," she pleaded. "I'll just be gone for a few minutes. You're the one who wanted a practice run."
"Piper, I really don't think-"
"You did just fine with them last night."
"But-"
"Leo, please?" Piper asked. "I have to go. There's no way to tell how long this spell might last. We'll all be a lot better off when they're back to normal."
"You're going to see Danny?" Phoebe leaned into the room, a concerned expression on her face. Piper rolled her eyes. Now, she was facing a bitter whitelighter and her gluey younger sister. Someone, somewhere, was having a great laugh at her expense. "The ghost'll be mad at you, Piper. She'll try and kill you!"
"Let's not forget about the demon," Leo added, throwing up his hands in exasperation.
"Leo!" Piper hissed at him as Phoebe's expression moved from worried to frightened. She looked over at her sister, trying to think of something that would reassure her. "Phoebe, I'll be fine. I can freeze her, remember?"
"Ghosts don't freeze," Phoebe said. "You know that, Piper."
"All right, fine," Piper said. "But in your premonition I was at the school right? And I'm not going to the school now."
"Still," Leo said. "She's right. You shouldn't be alone."
Now it was Piper's turn to glare at him. But Leo didn't seem to notice. He was already looking up towards the ceiling. He tilted his head, as if listening to someone that they couldn't quite hear. Then he glanced over at Piper.
"Oh no." Piper shook her head as she realized what he was doing. "Leo, you can't leave." She leaned in towards him as she lowered her voice, ever conscious of Phoebe's watchful eyes. "I've got Porsches stacked up in the driveway, furniture that looks like it's been barbecued on, and a duck in my bathtub. I need to figure out why this is happening, and I can't do that unless you're here."
"And I've got a demon and a ghost who found you guys on their hit lists. And I can't figure out how to stop them, unless I'm not here," he said, backing away from her slowly. He looked sympathetic, but she could hear the determination in his voice. "I'm sorry. I'll try and get back soon."
"Fine..." Piper scowled at him, pressing her lips together. But she knew he was only doing his job. "Just do something for me in the meantime..." She glanced around, looking for the dog. "Fido? Spot, whatever your name is." The dog suddenly padded into the room. Piper smiled and grabbed his collar, gently pulling him towards Leo. "Take our doggy friend down the block. There's a little girl who wants a dog on 1360 Prescott Street."
"But Piper-" Phoebe protested.
"You can visit."
"I don't know..." Leo glanced down at the dog. "Orbing with animals-"
"Leo." Piper grabbed his hands and pulled him away from Phoebe. "I am about to go over to a little boy's house to ask him about a spell that turned my sisters into children, thereby destroying my house, my car and my cooking supplies. Just please, please, take the dog."
"Okay, all right." Leo nodded, slipping his finger under the dog's collar. "Consider it done."
Piper sighed and watched as the shimmery light engulfed him, then faded away. After a moment, she glanced over at Phoebe, who was smiling now. She knew she had won. Piper couldn't leave her anymore.
"All right," Piper said finally. "Go grab your sister. We're going for a ride."
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"I don't get it," Danny said, shaking his head again. His Uncle Edward was beginning to look impatient, and he was worried that at any moment the man might give up on him. And then that would be it. No new powers, no restoring the family honor, or whatever he called it. Danny could've cared less about the family honor. He just wanted to do what the rest of his family already could. "So we have to have some big ceremony?" He shrugged. "I don't really need a party. Unless we can bring people. Can I ask Piper and Phoebe if they want to come?"
His uncle looked horrified at the thought. Danny couldn't understand that. What was the big deal? It was like a graduation. That's what his uncle had told him. And his friend Caleb's brother had had a party for that. He'd also gotten a ton of presents. Danny smiled at the thought, wondering what Piper would get for him.
"Danny," Uncle Edward said abruptly. "This isn't that kind of a ceremony. It's only for our family, me, Flynt, Carson. It's got to be a secret."
"Like the powers I already have?"
"Yes, exactly."
"But that bites!" Danny protested. He had hoped that unlike his mother, his uncle wouldn't make him keep everything to himself. "Do you know what the kids at school would say if they knew? They'd never bother me again."
"After this you won't have to worry about school," his uncle explained. "Everything will be different. Besides, do the kids at school bother you that much?"
"Yes!" Danny said. It seemed pretty obvious. On the third day in a row he'd come home with a bloodied nose, he had thought his uncle would have figured it out. He hadn't destroyed the set because the kids were so friendly. "I hate them. They never leave me alone."
"You hate them and you hate your school?"
"I hate everything, okay?" Danny said quickly, hopping off of his bed. "Nobody likes me. The play was going to be fun, but then it got cancelled..." Danny trailed off as his uncle stared at him.
"Because of the spell you cast."
"I didn't mean to," he said with a shrug. Uncle Edward waited a moment and Danny rolled his eyes. "Okay, I did, but it was stupid and it didn't work."
"Danny, you have powers I don't have. And by tonight you'll have even more." He stood and rested his hand on Danny's shoulder. Danny could feel the excitement creep into him, as if his uncle's touch was feeding the power straight through his body. But it was a strange power, different from the one he already had. "You shouldn't be upset just because you haven't perfected your gifts yet."
"Carson and Flynt seem pretty good with theirs." Danny stared at the ground. He silently wondered what it would be like, to be able to do what they did. With powers like those... he was willing to bet Jason would think twice before messing with him.
"And by tomorrow you'll be twice as powerful as they are," his uncle said. "Carson and Flynt are different from you. And nothing we do will change that. But in the end you'll be better for it." He smiled, a hint of pride in his eyes. "Danny, you're going to lead us back to where we should be."
"Where's that?" Danny asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Sure, no pressure, he thought. His uncle was really hung up on this family thing. According to him, he, Carson and Flynt were the last ones in the line.
"You'll understand by tomorrow."
"So I'm going to be your boss?"
"In a way, you just might be," his uncle said. "If you prove up to the job."
"I will, I promise," Danny said. He was becoming more and more curious about his uncle and cousins, the way they kept slipping away and talking amongst themselves. He desperately wanted to know about his new family business, and how he was going to fit into it.
"You'll see," Uncle Edward said. "Maybe you'll get a chance to show those kids at school what you can do, especially that Jason boy."
Danny smiled. He didn't care what happened. He was going to join the rest of the family in something great, something wonderful. He would finally fit in again. And maybe, just maybe, that void his mother had left behind would finally be filled.
But for now, Danny had no one left to worry about except for himself. There was still Piper and Phoebe and the play. But as he got closer and closer to the transition they faded farther and farther into the back of his mind. He just wanted to prove to his family that he could do it, whatever they wanted. They were going to give him something very special, and Danny wasn't about to disappoint them.