I know this chapter looks long, but the preview for the next fic is at the bottom! I don't have time for replies again, I know, this is a nasty habit, but I'll get on track soon, I promise.
A Prayer For The Magical
Pamela quickly tied her hair back into a tight ponytail, moving her bangs away from her face and tucking them behind her ears. She looked down at her hands, which were shaking violently. She had never been so scared in her life, and she had been in a lot of frightening situations. Turning to her aunt for advice, she flattened out the creases in her ankle length skirt and gave Phoebe a toothy grin.
"Okay, how do I look?" She asked, pulling the grey cardigan around her top half and smiling.
Phoebe cringed and covered her mouth to suppress her laughter, "Erm… You look a little like a nun." She admitted, pursing her lips, "Look, go upstairs, let your hair down, and put on a pair of jeans." Pamela sighed and began to walk back up the stairs, "And burn those clothes!" Phoebe shouted after her.
"With pleasure!" The teen hollered back, making a saluting gesture and disappearing up the staircase.
Phoebe was about to flop back on the couch, when crying suddenly sounded from the solarium and Wyatt's voice saying, "Chris! Give it back!" The middle Charmed One groaned and walked through to see her youngest nephew sitting on the floor pouting, while Lorna screamed on the play mat that was set on the floor.
"What happened?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips. Neither Wyatt nor Chris answered, "Someone better start talking," Phoebe warned.
Her blonde nephew suddenly pointed to his little brother, "Chris took that out of Lorna's mouth! When you told us 'no powers'!" Wyatt confessed, earning a searing look of betrayal from his sibling.
Phoebe frowned, "Took what?" She asked, before noticing a pink pacifier in Chris's little clenched fist. The witch sighed, bending down and hoisting Lorna to her hip before holding her hand out to her nephew, "Chris, give me that. Now." She used a firm tone when scolding him.
Scowling at his aunt, Chris threw the pacifier at her with all the force he could muster, before turning away and being devoured by a swirl of white lights that took him through the ceiling and to his and Wyatt's room. Phoebe groaned again as she picked up the object that had been thrown at her, "We better go wash this before we put it back in your mouth." She said to Lorna in a baby voice, making her giggle. "Wyatt, could you go and get Pam to talk to Chris, please?"
"Okay, Aunt Phoebe." The boy nodded, ready to be enveloped in a swathe of orbs before she stopped him.
"Wyatt, I said no magic. Go up the stairs," Phoebe ordered, making her nephew hang his head in shame as he walked across the living room, "And knock the door, she's changing her clothes!"
Phoebe walked through into the kitchen, jiggling Lorna on her hip to keep her calm. This had been happening a lot recently. Without Piper and Leo here, Chris had begun acting out in the strangest of ways; one of those was his extreme jealousy of Lorna. He had been the baby of the house for four years, and now, he had suddenly become the middle child.
Wyatt had seemed to fit into his role as the eldest well. Instead of being in a constant war with his little brother, the little witchlighter seemed to be the voice of reason between the children. Phoebe was actually amazed how well her eldest nephew had adjusted, having to govern at such a young age, but she also wondered that it was developing such at attitude at an early age was the thing that made him turn evil. But then again, she still found it hard to believe that the tantrum throwing, relative insulting five year old was going to become the docile, quiet and neurotic nephew that had come from the future to save his big brother.
Times weren't the only things that changed, people changed with them.
Pamela let out a sigh of relief when her hair fell from its ponytail and back into its usual position of flowing past her shoulders and down her back. This was more like what she usually wore. A deep blue halter that was slightly see-through around her abdomen, and black jeans that were ripped in the knees and in the calves.
There was a knock on her door, "Come in," She replied, turning from her mirror to see Wyatt's face peeping around the door with his scrunched shut.
"Are you naked?" He shouted, keeping his eyes closed as tight as he could.
Pamela smirked and raised an eyebrow, "No, I'm not." The little boy opened his eyes and grinned sheepishly, "What do you need?"
"Aunt Phoebe wants to talk to Chris because he stole Lorna's binkie and then threw it at her and then orbed to his room and then-,"
"Okay, I get it." She put her hand up as a way of telling Wyatt he could stop, "I'll talk to him in a minute, why don't you go and help Aunt Phoebe with Lorna until I come down?"
The six year old nodded, before disappearing back into the hall and shutting the door behind him. Pamela turned back to the mirror, staring at the silver pair of wings that hung down her chest. The item just didn't seem to fit with the heart shaped locket that accompanied it around her neck. She was torn about parting with it, as she felt so connected to it, and since Prudence had managed to take her over without wearing the necklace, there no real danger in wearing it.
Quickly deciding on something, she unclipped the necklace, taking the pendant off the chain and putting it on her bed. She walked across to her vanity, where she opened a small wooden box which contained an assortment of jewelry. The witch frowned as she rummaged around, before grinning triumphantly when she found heavy looking bracelet, a different shaped charm on each link. Finding a space between a small silver 'P' shaped charm, and one that showed two hands holding one another, Pamela quickly summoned the chaos wing to her hand and maneuvered it onto the bracelet, smiling at her own handiwork before swinging it around her wrist and walking out of the door.
As she made her way to Wyatt and Chris's room, the teen frowned as she heard voices coming from the room. If she wasn't mistaken, they were the voices of her younger cousin and her father. Pamela was about to enter the boys room, when curiosity got the better of her and she hung back in the hallway, listening intently.
"… wasn't a very nice thing to do, was it?" Andy said, Pamela hearing the end of his sentence. She assumed Chris had given a non-verbal response as her father continued, "Chris, lemme ask you something. How do you feel about your Mom not being here?"
There was a pause of hesitation, "Sad. Mom makes the baddies under the bed go away, now they scare me at nighttime. I miss her…" The youngest Halliwell in the house said, so quietly that Pamela had to take a cautious step forward to hear.
"Well, your Mom's gonna come back, she'll make the baddies go away. But Lorna…" She heard Andy sigh, "Lorna's Mom isn't coming back to see her, and that's making her very sad."
Pamela ventured closer to see what into the room. Chris was sitting on his bed, holding to a teddy bear and covering his mouth while Andy knelt down in front of him, "But she's just a baby!" Chris argued with a whiny tone.
Andy smiled weakly, "She may not understand it up here…" He tapped his head with his index finger, "But she feels it in here." The former detective put his hand over his heart, "Can you imagine you Mom not coming back to you? She is though, I can guarantee it, but Emma's not going to be here for Lorna. You need to be there for her, she's going to need a big brother to love her and look out for her. Just like Wyatt does with you."
"And like Pam with me and Wyatt and Lorna and Connor and Melinda and Emma?" The boy questioned, a glint in his eyes as he brought the bear away from his face.
Andy grinned, "Exactly like Pam with all you guys. You think you can do that?"
Chris nodded vigorously and returned his genetic uncle's grin, "Yeah, I'm gonna be strong like Pam!" The five year old outstretched his arms, "Thanks Uncle Andy!"
Andy smiled warmly and hugged his nephew, "Your welcome, big guy…" He ruffled Chris shaggy brown locks, "Although I think you should just call me Andy. Pam might not like it if you call me the other thing,"
The child frowned, "But you're her Dad. That means you're my uncle. Why can't I call you my uncle?"
The mortal sighed in response, putting his hands in his back pockets, "It's all very-,"
"Fine." Pamela finally spoke, leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded, "I mean, he is my Dad that makes him your Uncle,"She kept eye contact with her father before turning to Chris, "Why don't you go say sorry to Aunt Phoebe and Lorna? If you're good for the rest of the afternoon, I'll take you guys out for dinner." She turned to Andy with a smirk, "Uncle Andy's buying."
"Okay!" The five year old replied, almost bouncing off the bed and heading for the door, after stopping in front of his big cousin, "I'm gonna look out for everyone, Pam! Don't worry!"
She smirked, "Now, when have you ever known me to worry about anything? Go on, go tell your big brother about my deal, but don't tell Aunt Phoebe or she'll get at me about healthy eating again!" Pamela shouted back, cringing at the memory. "What?" She asked, noticing her father giving her a look.
"Nothing. It's just… you're nothing like Prue described." Andy sighed, remembering his conversations with his deceased true love when he orbed up to the afterlife now and again as a whitelighter.
"Really? How did she describe me?"
"Extremely strong headed, quick to judge, a venomous tongue-,"
Pamela raised an eyebrow, "So basically all of her bad qualities in a nutshell? Did she just forget you made up half my DNA or was she, yet again, making the situation all about her? And she wonders why we don't get along…"
"She didn't mean it like that. Which brings me to why, after such a stellar review from your mother, am I getting treated so nicely? Bar the fact that you blew me up before you even said a word to me."
The witch looked down at her feet, clenching her mouth shut as if she was embarrassed of the answer, "I guess… because you didn't know about me, so you're not really responsible for anything. You weren't part of the decision that got me landed on the steps of Social Services. So… where I'm concerned, you have a clean slate. And you're here now, righting a wrong which isn't even yours to correct. That's good enough for me."
The two them stood in silence, before the high pitched ding of the doorbell sounded. Pamela turned around and took a deep breath, preparing herself for what was to come. She walked out into the hallway, only for the sound of something smashing to reach her. The witch's heart sunk as she realized what that sound usually entailed in this house.
"PAM!"
"Wyatt!" Phoebe shouted to her nephew, who instantly raised his neon blue force field around his brother and foster sister. The seven year old grabbed the sides of the bassinet Lorna was in and pushed it away from the demons, who were now advancing on his aunt, who had taken up her stance in the middle of the solarium and was ready to fight. The middle Charmed One cringed at the sight of the five demons. Each of them were Leech Demons, and their appearance always made her stomach churn as the muscles of their face and rest of their body were completely on show, as if their skin had been removed.
Phoebe hesitated before swinging a punch at the closest one to her, cringing as she realized what her fist had connected with, before throwing herself into the air for a levitating spin kick. Her heels connected with the demon's face, who growled in pain as a crunching noise tore through the air.
"Oh crap… These are my favourite Manolos!" Phoebe cried, looking at the heel that was lying on the floor after being snapped off, "I shouldn't attempt martial arts in heels…" She groaned to herself, before realizing the demons had their attention on whoever was coming down the stairs.
An arrow came whizzing into the conservatory, striking a Leech Demon in the shoulder and causing a roar of fury and pain. The next one was suddenly sent through the fragile window from an unseen telekinetic force, before wisps of blue light consumed another, causing a fiery explosion of red sparks as the demon was vanquished.
"Where did he get that?" Phoebe screeched, pointing at the crossbow that was laid in Andy's hands as he and Pamela arrived from the staircase. The mortal reloaded his weapon quickly with an arrow from his pocket, before shooting his previous victim in between the eyes and making him drop to the floor dead, oozing a blue liquid from his forehead.
"Demon leftovers." Pamela replied, "Can we get back to this please?" She gestured wildly to the three demons still alive in the room, and the other that was recovering from being thrown out of the window.
"Oh… right!" Phoebe blinked, before a Leech Demon struck her across the face, sending her flying into the living room and throwing her against the wall underneath the staircase, "Ow…" She groaned weakly, trying to pick herself up from the floor.
A neon blue energy ball appeared in one of the evil being's hands. He bounced it in his palm for a few seconds before hurling it in Andy's direction. The ex cop, knowing from his experience of death that he wouldn't survive the attack, threw the crossbow out in front of him, making it meet the energy ball in between and destroying both.
"Too close…" Andy breathed to himself, before he saw a flicker out of the corner of his eye and ducked just in time to avoid a passing energy ball, which went sailing into the living room, blowing up the sofa and sending any remnants of it up in flames.
Pamela's head swung around to the door, where the bell had gone once again. She could see the two shadows of the social workers behind the misted glass. The witch turned around, grabbing a demon's wrist before he could hit her across the room, her body glowed a ghostly blue before releasing a powerful astral pulse that rippled through the conservatory, sending her father to the floor and vanquishing the demons in a scorching plume of fire, while shattering all the windows with a piercing crash.
Unfortunately, the astral pulse didn't stop there. It ripped through the entire ground floor. Sending the large oak dining room table crashing into the mantelpiece as it toppled against the wall, while every other piece of furniture was thrown into the air, landing a about foot from where it once stood in an obscure position. There was a loud series of clangs and smashes at the windows shattered along with every ornament, and all the pots and pans in the kitchen hit the floor.
"Oh my God!" Someone shrieked. Pamela spun around as she regained consciousness from using her power, only to see two paled faced social workers standing in the foyer, looking as if they were going to pass out. The teen looked around to see the extent of her damage; Andy was helping Phoebe nurse a bleeding head, while the whole ground floor looked as if a bomb had hit it. Windows were smashed, furniture was destroyed, and there were small fires where misdirected energy balls had landed.
"I'll call the police." The male social worker said to his female partner, taking his cell phone from the inside of his jacket and hastily dialing, leaving Pamela to gawk at her mess.
Pamela remained silent as she was cuffed by an officer, she really didn't know what to do anymore. Her aunt was being stitched up and handcuffed at the same time. If it had been in a better situation, she probably would have come up with a joke to that, but not right now. She something smashing in the front room and smirked, that was the forth time she had heard it, the kids must have been putting up the fight with the social workers.
"You really are the scourge of the humanity, to raise three children in this environment." Payne sneered, glaring fiercely at Pamela, who retaliated by laughing.
"Is that really the best 'I've taken you down' look you've got? I'm waiting for you to slap me hard across the cheek for being a disgusting criminal. You need to watch more cop movies, my friend." She said in a patronizing voice.
"Pam… That's not help-Ow!" Phoebe snapped as the paramedic finished stitching up her head and she was forced to stand up from the stairs, where an officer led her towards the door.
Pamela sighed and looked across to her father, who was being questioned by the remaining officers. Why hadn't they thought of getting him out of the house before Social Services came? "Another mistake…" Pamela thought to herself, hoping that they wouldn't figure out Andy was supposed to be dead.
"That's us got the kids in the van…" The female social worker came in. She was slightly and her glasses were askew, "We'll take them to the hospital. Who knows what they could have picked up from living here." She said with a hint of disdain.
"We'll take these guys to join the other two at the precinct." Payne replied, before nodding towards Andy, "He's coming for questioning. Take her away with her aunt." He spat to the officer that had detained Pamela. The cop obeyed, pushing the teen slightly and making her walk towards the door.
As she walked down the steps, she gave a determined look to Wyatt, who was currently thrashing and kicking as he was put into the car. The sever year old caught his older cousin's glance and instantly stopped thrashing, knowing that Pamela would save them, she always did. Chris, who had put up an equally impressive fight against the social workers, began to calm after seeing his older brother stop suddenly.
Pamela stared at the car as it drove away, Wyatt and Chris looked out the back window as Lorna's screams echoed out of the open window of the car. It hit all of a sudden. What if the kids were put in a home? Demons would attack, that would put innocents in danger, not to mention children. She had to do something.
Even when she looked back on this moment later, Pamela never understood why she did this. Without any warning, she spiraled around, raising her leg and hitting the cop in the face with a powerful roundhouse kick, before shoving her foot into his stomach and throwing him to the ground.
"Phoebe!" Pamela yelled, glaring at her aunt's handcuffs and causing them to break apart from the telekinetic force she applied to the metal. The middle Charmed One didn't hesitate, as soon as her hands were free, she delivered a solid punch to the officer's temple then suddenly ducked down, sweeping his legs out from underneath him and making him fall to the ground.
"I can't believe we're doing this!" Phoebe exclaimed, quickly frisking the downed officer next to Pamela for the key that would unlock her handcuffs, "Got it." She announced, pulling out a small key from his shirt pocket.
"We need to get keys to Piper's car." The teen demanded, letting out a sigh and rubbing her wrists as they were freed from their shackles.
"Freeze!" Payne bellowed as he ran down the steps of the Manor, pulling his gun out of its holster and preparing to fire at the two Halliwells as two other officers ran towards him for backup, all of them aiming their weapons.
Pamela turned to them with a stern look, her head suddenly falling to her chest before her body began to glow a ghostly blue. Astral energy threw itself from her body, a large cloud of blue light flying towards the police. The attack blasted the three law enforcers back, Payne was thrown against the front steps, while the other two were thrown into the bushes at either side of the front door.
"Did you really have to use such a strong astral pulse?" Phoebe's eyes widened as they darted from one unconscious officer to the next, unable to believe that they were the reason five people were now knocked out.
Pamela rolled her eyes, "Hey, it could have been worse, I could have sent off another like I did in the house. Besides, I'm still working out the kinks. And it's activated by fear! What do you expect from me when I've got three guns in my face? C'mon, car keys." She repeated, before walking up the steps and back into the Manor, with a slightly dazed aunt in tow.
"Shh… baby," The social worker whispered to a screeching Lorna in her arms as she tried to calm her down. The baby redhead had been crying her eyes out ever since the police had come to the Manor, oddly enough; she had stayed completely silent during the demon attack.
"Let me see my sister!" Chris spat, holding his arms out along with a glare that made look so like his future self is was frightening. The woman sighed, convincing herself that if she couldn't calm the child down, maybe someone who was closer to her could. The brown haired boy balanced Lorna on his lap, before pulling her close his chest, "It's okay Lorna, I'm gonna look after you, just like Uncle Andy told me."
"Uncle?" The woman frowned, not remembering any male relation in the file apart from the father and Brennan Mulwray. She marveled at how the infant calmed down in Chris's care. Perhaps they were doing the wrong thing? The social worker then made a promise to herself that she would see to it that the three children were not separated then they were sent to their new homes.
Her train of thought was broken by the car coming to a screeching halt. Chris's hold on his foster sister tightened, keeping her safe, while Wyatt laid a hand on his little brother's shoulder, smiling with a devilish grin when he recognized the car that had skidded out in front.
"Isn't that the three people Payne just arrested?" The driver exclaimed, peering out the windshield.
Sure enough, Andy was sitting at the wheel of Piper's Jeep, glaring at the driver of the other car, while Pamela and Phoebe got out the back. Both stormed towards the car with furious expressions etched on their faces. Pamela put her hand in her pocket, scaring the three social workers even more by making them wonder what she was going to pull out.
"What are you waiting for? Drive around it!" The panicky man shouted at his driving partner.
"Wyatt! Now!" Pamela bellowed, locking eyes with her oldest little cousin and nodded her head vigorously.
The blonde nodded back, before disappearing from the car with Chris and Lorna in a swirl of blue and white lights and leaving only air for their seatbelts to float in for a second before dropping to the chair. The three of them reappeared in a swathe of orbs next to their cousin and aunt.
Pamela took a deep breath, before blowing out a large cloud of freezing mist. It engulfed the car in a matter of seconds, trapping it in a thick layer of sparkling ice that the teen only smirked at. Her triumph was interrupted by Phoebe smacking her on the arm and gaping.
"Pam, those were innocents! We can't just trap them like that!" She exclaimed.
"Hmm… Well, I did, so we can." She replied in a 'matter of fact' tone, "Besides, even in San Francisco, someone is bound to notice a car-cicle in the middle of the road. They'll be fine." The teen began to guide the three children towards the car while Phoebe took in everything her niece had just said.
The middle Charmed One narrowed her eyes and turned around, "Alright then, missy, what's you next plan to get our asses thrown in jail?" She snapped, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow.
"Well, we're not going to get our asses thrown in jail. We're going to walk our asses into jail." Pamela said with a smirk as she piled Wyatt and Chris into the back seat of the car and took Lorna. "Come on, we're busting Piper and Leo out," She replied with an almost giddy tone, before climbing in the back and shutting the door.
Phoebe sighed and raked a hand through her dark brown hair, before limping with her broken heel around the car and going into the passenger seat. Andy remained silent as he sped off, thinking deeply about what it would be like to be back in the place where he had most of is adult life as a mortal.
Katrina fought as the tornado of white lights engulfed her. She bared her teeth, grasping the side of her cauldron so hard that her knuckles turned white. She hated being summoned, but even more so, she hated when she had to resist. It left her with a feeling of being in two places at once.
"Fine… Have it your way…" She grumbled, taking her hands off the large pewter pot and letting herself be swallowed by the lights.
The Seer put off opening her eyes, knowing what she would be faced with as if she did. As Katrina felt her presence solidify again, she bowed her head, "I apologize, your-," She cut herself off when all she saw was a large grey demon with a tooth necklace and large, destructive looking claw like nails.
"Greetings…" The demon said hoarsely staring at his visitor.
Katrina looked around the white hall that seemed to stretch for miles with a sneer of disdain. She had always hated this place, it was always too bright for her liking, as the walls seemed to blind her with white light. She adored the starry sky though, smiling as she looked up fondly, before looking at the demon with a thunderous impression.
"What gives you the right to summon me?" She growled, seething as she folded her arms across her chest.
The demon didn't even blink, "I would be careful of how you speak to me. They have given me the power to destroy you if I'm not pleased."
At this, she let out an echoing laugh, "Oh please, my powers may not be heightened on this plane, but I can tell you're lying. They and only they can kill me; they can't pass that power onto you, even if they wanted to…" Katrina looked the demon up and down with an amused smirk.
"Perhaps not," The creature said, taking a step forward, "But I report to them and if they are unpleased with what I report, then it shall be you who pays the price, not me."
"You see, that's where demons are smarter, they always shoot the messenger, no matter how dull skinned, slow witted and badly manicured they are. Although, their merciful way did save my ass when I had your job." She sniped.
"Although I would love to trade jibes with you, I can't. They want to know why you didn't fix the Charmed Ones' current situation. You are charged to protect the sisters, yet this could very well destroy them." The demon narrowed his eyes.
Katrina took a step forward, "I saw no threat in the laws of mortals. Besides, if they had foresaw a problem, they should have contacted me before now, not when it's all taking place as we speak."
"They assumed you would have been able to foresee it, you are, after all, one of the most revered prerogatives to ever exist on the higher plane. And with your abilities heightened on Earth, you should have seen it months before it happened." The demon retaliated, also taking a step forward.
She sighed, "For some odd reason, while my other powers are heightened, foresight is extremely hard to come by. I had to cast ritual after ritual for it to even occur randomly. For some reason, the power to see into the future is muffled on earth."
"Hmm… I shall report this interesting flux in your powers. Nonetheless, you are still to right the wrong, on top of a new mission."
Katrina narrowed her eyes, "You've got to be kidding me! Since they cast down to that… scourge, I have had to ally myself with Satanos, orchestrate Emma DeLauro's death, and being her child into the world. What else do they need before the Charmed Ones are ready to ascend?"
"You need to set in motion the destruction of the Book of Shadows." The demon replied simply, folding his arms across his broad chest.
Katrina's eyes widened, "Did all that muscle finally crush your brain? If the book is destroyed, the sister's powers are destroyed. Besides, that thing's untouchable, there's no way I can pull it off."
"If the Charmed Ones are to ascend, they must be purged of their powers completely, destroyed the book does that. You could destroy it. You are good after all; it wouldn't sense you as a threat."
"True, but then I break my charge of having an indirect influence over the events." Katrina argued back.
The demon raised an eyebrow, "Then I suggest you manipulate Satanos to be your puppet, he is powerful in his own realm, I'm sure you could find a way. After all, from hearing you listing all your feats, this will probably be no problem to the likes of you."
"But, wait, I-," The redhead was cut off by the white lights that now swirled around body, quickly transporting her back to her underworld. She looked around her cave, frowning, "DAMMIT!" She bellowed, grabbing the side of her cauldron and throwing it across the room effortlessly and into wall, causing a crack in the cave and for the pewter to shatter on contact.
Piper sighed as she tried to make the course blanket cover her entire body. The witch had been passing the hours by mainly sleeping for the past week, but ever since they had given her a cellmate, Piper was cautious to sleep. The man suddenly leapt down from the top bunk. He had to be in his early fifties, his teeth were yellowed and for some reason, he was wearing fingerless gloves.
"C'mon baby! Just one little kiss!" He insisted, puckering his lips and twitching his fingers in a way that made the eldest Charmed want to vomit.
"Kiss this." She snapped, throwing out her hands and setting her freezing power on the pervert, stalling him in suspended motion and pulling the blanket up over her body, which was curled up into the fetal position and she searched for warmth in the cold cell.
"You okay sweetie?" Leo's voice came from the other side of the wall, knowing that the man in his wife's cell had been harassing her.
Piper rolled her eyes, "Yeah…" She answered, curling up even more and completely covering herself with the blanket. She remained that way for a few minutes, before something made her throw the blanket off and scan the room. Piper frowned, not seeing anything except from the frozen man and was ready to go back to the bed, before someone hissed her name.
"Piper!" They whispered.
The eldest Halliwell looked around again, seeing nothing, until there was a soft glow out in the corridor. She stood up, putting her hands on the bars and peering out through the metal with a confused expression on her face. She saw Leo peering out of the bars of his cell, doing the same thing.
"Was that you?" She asked, frowning.
"No…" Leo narrowed his eyes, "It sounded like-,"
"Me!" The voice said again. There was a soft glow in the corridor as the heads of Pamela and Phoebe appeared out of nowhere. Slowly, the rest of their bodies began to piece together and the two of them stood grinning, "Me!" Phoebe repeated, "Pretty cool spell, huh?"
"And for our next trick…" Pamela murmured, pulling a piece of paper from her back pocket and holding it out in front of her aunt, before glancing up at Piper and Leo, "You might want to stand stack from the bars. We don't want this affecting you guys."
With an eyebrow raised, the couple stepped away from the bars to allow the two witches to work their craft.
"Time shall ravish, what used to stand, make the bars crumble, as if they were sand…" Phoebe and Pamela chanted with an eerie tone as their eyes wondered up towards the bar to see their spell take effect.
A low groaning sound broke through the silence as the bars suddenly began to be become a tangy red colour as rust consumed the metal. There was a screeching as the metal bars began to collapse, letting out of a clang as they all fell to the floor and disintegrated into a grainy dust.
"Okay, that wasn't as silent as I would have liked!" Pamela cringed at the orange dust that was now on the floor.
"We don't have time, let's just get to Magic School and sort this mess out." Phoebe urged, holding out her hand and helping Piper out of her cell while Leo joined the three of them, taking his wife's hand and putting the other on Pamela's shoulder. He was out to orb out when two wardens came around the corner with their guns raised.
"Phoebe…" Pamela whispered, nodding at her aunt to signal something they had planned earlier.
The middle Charmed One turned the two intruders with a stern look, she opened up her empathic ability as far as it would go, immediately feeling the fear of the unknown that the wardens felt as they faced intruders. Concentrating, she narrowed her eyes and used another branch of her power to escalate their fear to an unbearable level. The wardens' hair turned shock white; they gasped for air before slumping down the wall, completely motionless. Dead.
"Phoebe… I've have never seen you do that." Piper breathed, staring at her sister with shock and fear, "You killed them." She finally said, wide eyed and jaw dropped.
"What haven't I done today?" Phoebe replied darkly, before motioning for Leo to orb them out.
"Here." Phoebe announced as she threw clothes at Piper, "Although felon orange may be your colour, it's hurting my eyes." She threw a pair of jeans at Leo and a t-shirt, "Sorry if you don't like them. I didn't much time to prepare for our niece's insanity." The witch said casually, strolling back to her lounger and clasping her hands, crossing her legs over one another and staring at the ground.
"And we didn't have time to prepare for yours, apparently." Piper spat back, taking a quick look at the clothes in her hands before glaring at her sister, "You killed them, Phoebe. Innocents, I might add."
The middle Charmed One sighed and cocked her head, "I saved us in the process, and I didn't mean to kill him, I've never used my power like that before, it shouldn't have been that strong."
"Well it was and it was a lethal weapon. How could you? I'm not even seeing any remorse in what you did right now." Piper retorted, rising to her feet to glower over her younger sibling, who retaliated with a smoldering glare.
"Well, maybe because I don't time to reflect and wallow in self pity. Or have you not noticed that I have been the last sister standing for some time now?" She spat back, also standing up to face off against her sister. "You have no idea what I have gone through ever since this all kicked off, from what I can see all you've done is sleep in a jail cell."
Leo decided to intervene, "Enough!" He said in a slightly raised voice, "We can't fight amongst ourselves right now; we've still got to sort this mess out."
"And how are we supposed to that? Leo, let's face it, it's over! We are completely screwed! We might as well just orb down to the underworld and ask the Nameless One to just shove a fireball in our chests and end it."
"How can you think like that?" Piper exclaimed.
"You've only seen a small part of what's happened today. Trust me, we're finished." Phoebe growled, as Pamela walked into the hall with Brennan and Connor at her heels.
"I wasn't able to summon Paige, but I was able to summon these two." She pointed to her uncle and cousin. Brennan looked as if he had been summoned from his work, as he was still wearing blue scrubs and a white coat over it, while Connor frowned around the room, knowing something was wrong. "I should probably take him to the nursery…" Pamela whispered, hoisting her little cousin out of his father's arms and walking back down the corridor.
"Hey, honey, what's going on? I had the police at the hospital asking me when I had last seen you." Brennan asked as he made his way towards Phoebe, who immediately lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him. She felt as if she hadn't seen her husband in months.
She moved closer to his body, burying her face in his neck, "Um… I think we should just talk later." Phoebe pulled away, but kept one arm around Brennan's back, almost holding onto him for support, "We're all exhausted."
"Amen to that!" Pamela blurted out as she came back into the hall holding the Book of Shadows and smiling triumphantly, "I thought I would summon this out of the house so they don't get completely onto us." She smiled, "Dad's with the kids. He's keeping them calm."
"Good." Piper replied, "We're staying here tonight." She added.
Pamela rolled her eyes in response, "I sorta figured."
Piper stared out through a crack in the curtain, she watched as a tree in the courtyard sway in the gentle night breeze as moonlight illuminated her face. For some reason, she just couldn't sleep, the bed was the comfiest thing she had lay in all week, yet there was something that kept her alert. The witch smiled when Leo's snoring reached her ears. It didn't surprise her that her husband had fallen asleep right away. So what was her problem?
Pushing the covers back gently, she swung her legs over the side of bed and put her hands together to cover her mouth as she yawn. She ran a hand through her hair and let out a small sigh, pondering just what was going to happen to her, to her family, to everyone she cared about. Piper looked back over her shoulder, Leo was lying on his stomach with his head turned away from her, snoring like there was no tomorrow. Even with the elder's snoring, Piper always managed to get to sleep, but not tonight.
"Why can't it all end…?" She whispered to herself, her eyes beginning to shine slightly as tears sprouted, "Just stop… Please… what did we do deserve this…?" She pleaded in a hushed tone, a tear tricking down her face as she bowed her head, "Someone… please… just fix it…" Piper looked up, swallowing and repressing the sob that was threatening to be released, "I can't live like this… My kids… can't live like this…" She sniffed, "Just make it all go away…"
Piper lied back down, tears streaming from her face silently as she cried herself to sleep. She hadn't even known who she was pleading to, the one who would make everything stop and go back to normal. But unbeknownst to the eldest Halliwell, her prayer for a clean slate had been answered…
By the most unlikely of sources.
"Piper, wake up! Where the hell is my laptop?"
"Hmm… What?" Piper asked groggily, keeping her eyes shut. And turning over in the bed, wanting just five more minutes.
There was a sigh, "Don't think rolling over's gonna shut me up, you tidied my room and moved my laptop! I need it for school!"
Piper sighed, opening her eyes and sitting up in her bed, "It was dusty, I left it on the dining room table, and you've probably passed it about a hundred times this morning!" She replied with a frown, grabbing a pillow and putting on her headboard. The witch looked around her room deciding it needed cleaned when she had free time today.
"Found it!" Andy announced, holding a slim computer in his hands and grinning as he walked into Piper's room to find his daughter harassing her aunt.
"Thanks!" She took it from his hands and smiled before turning back to Piper who was still looking around her room, "If you're looking for Lorna, Leo already fed her and bathed her." Pamela offered. "Thanks again, Dad!" She shouted as she left the room, "Leo! Orb us out of here! I need to meet Jenna in the courtyard soon!"
"Give me I minute, Pam!" The elder snapped as he came back into the room with Lorna on his hip. He grinned and sat next to Piper on the side, "Hey, sleep well?" He asked, setting down the baby redhead and letting her crawl around the bed.
"Yeah, when you going to be home tonight?"
"Same time as Pam. Although it's a Friday so probably earlier knowing how her weekends get!" He grinned, "I'll meet you at P3 tonight though,"
"Okay, I'll see you later." She smiled. Leo leaned in and gave his wife a peck on the cheek before their moment was interrupted by Pamela's shouting.
"Leo! Let's go already!" She shouted. With a sigh, Leo stood up and walked out of the room, following the shrieks of his niece as he went.
Andy sighed, "I would drive her if I could, but…" He bowed his head, silently chalking that up that up to another thing he wouldn't be able to do as her father without powers. It was really the only aspect of being a whitelighter that was appealing at the moment.
"Um… Andy, if you want to be helpful you could take Emma's old car and go for groceries. It's just that I'm swamped with inventory and a sound check today and it would really help out." Piper grinned.
"Sure, it's not like I'm doing anything else…" The man sighed, walking out of the room, "Where are Emma's keys?"
"They should be hanging up in the kitchen!" Piper shouted back.
The witch looked around her bedroom, nothing seemed out of place, but she had a strange feeling that something was amiss. Piper shook off the feeling with a sigh, cocking her eyebrow at Lorna who had crawled over to her, "Why don't we see what's for breakfast, eh?" She asked the redhead in a baby voice, who giggled as Piper scooped her up, walking out of the room with a smile on her face and with no idea that reality had been altered.
NEXT TIME: Paige and Aidan declare their love for one another, but decide to spend one last night together as they see no way for them to be a couple. Both or extremely torn what it's thought they've seen each other for the last time. But when both see sense, will love conquer all?
Chapter 35 "The King And Her" will be up soon!
And now, the "Their Cross To Bear" preview!
Shalimar knelt down and inhaled the heavenly aroma coming from the patch of light purple tulips in front of her. She brushed the rough wooden floor with her slender fingers, finding it amazing that, even in a slum like his, one of the mutants at the orphanage had still managed to make such beautiful flowers grow here, but that was to be expected of an elemental botanical. Taking the pitcher of water that she brought, the feral gently poured the cool liquid onto the soil, smiling when the earth seemed to absorb it right away. Shalimar hoped that it was the flowers thirst that made the water disappear so quickly, and not the searing heat from the sun evaporating it instantly.
She stood up, putting one hand on her hip and the other above her eyes to look through the gaping hole in the church roof. Shalimar found it hard to believe that the temperature could drop so violently at night, when she saw children suffering of heat stroke in the day. The holy building was really just a wreck now. The roof had completely deteriorated, only leaving rafters and large oak beams to show where the ceiling was once been. The interior was in a similar state, pews now shattered with moss devouring them while weeds had begun to grow through the wooden floor, cracking it and destroying the floorboards, but still Shalimar found peace in this ruin.
Her ears twitched at the sound of running feet, before she knew it, half a dozen children had snaked in through the many holes in the walls, some even just run in through the side where there was no wall at all, running to the feral with grins on their faces. All of the kids had dark skin, after living under the intense sunlight for so long and having to work outside most of the time just to live, but all that changed once they were took in by the orphanage.
It made Shalimar sick to think that so many people just abandoned their children just because they had abilities, especially when it had been their trust in Genomex that had poisoned their child's life. After all, Shalimar knew too well about the limited life span of her kind, the powers were not the only burden. They beamed up at her, making the feral's heart melt, this had been one of the reasons she had decided to set down roots here, so she could help out those in need and still be in her element.
"Shallie!" A small girl, no older than five with pigtails cooed, hugging Shalimar's leg, "We're really hot! Can you take us down to the river for a swim?" She asked, giving the blonde her best puppy dog eyes.
She grinned in response, "Sure, as long as Izzy says it's okay, then we'll go and have a cool down. Go check with her then get your swimming gear, I'll be back in a minute, okay?"
Izzy was the one who had started the mutant orphanage in the first place. They had met when Shalimar had helped one of the boys that had got lost in the woods, she had kept him safe and guided him back to his home, when Izzy had mistaken the feral for an intruder and had attacked. She was a molecular regenerative, which meant she could heal herself and others, but she could take life just as fast as she gave it, drawing on someone's life force killing them. Luckily, Shalimar had managed to dodge her 'hands of death' and they sorted out the misunderstanding.
"Mind if I come for a swim too?" A voice said.
Shalimar had been so distracted with the children that she hadn't heard the footsteps of the approaching stranger. She turned around, seeing that he was entering to the side of the church with no wall. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the glimmer on his forearm; she narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better look of whatever it was. Shalimar's immediate thought was that it was some sort of weapon, her suspicions were confirmed when the gleam seemed to be a blade.
"Um… You guys, why don't you go back and tell Izzy we've got company." The blonde mutant suggested, knowing that Izzy would translate 'company' into 'trouble' and hopefully get the children to safety. Five of them nodded their heads and began to run out the church, ducking and weaving into the small crevices that allowed them an exit, but one boy, who was older than the rest, stood his ground.
"Shal, I can help." He argued, his eyes flashing a deep dark brown colour, signifying his feral canine abilities. Even though he was years younger, the feline in Shalimar was scared every time he flashed his eyes.
"Alexander." She said firmly, "Go back and tell Izzy, that's the best thing you can do for me right now. I'll need you to protect the others if something goes wrong, okay?" Shalimar hoped that being entrusted with the responsibility of protection would be enough for the child to flee. Thankfully, she got her wish, as Alexander bolted for the large oak doors that were hanging off their hinges.
"They didn't leave on my account, did they?" The stranger asked with a far too creepy grin for the feral's liking. She eyes darted up and down his body, seeing that he was dressed fairly normally, except that his t-shirt, jeans, and leather jacket were all black. Black? Wearing that colour in this sun was asking to pass out, yet there didn't seem to be a bead of sweat on the man, nor could Shalimar smell perspiration on him in the slightest.
"Who are you and what you do want?" She snapped, taking a territorial stance and cursing the sarong she wore, albeit it was tied tightly around her waist and flowed down the back of legs, but it would still make fighting difficult if it came to that.
The man laughed and shook his bald head, "You must be the feisty one that the people in the village at the bottom of the hill told me about. I mean, around these parts, you're dressed pretty uniquely to be a local." He chuckled.
Shalimar frowned and look down at her clothing, it consisting of a white bikini top and denim hot pants. Now that she thought, she probably did stick out like a sore thumb when she went down to the village for supplies, as most of the women were usually dressed very frumpy clothes and girls her age were scarce in the town.
"The town talks about us?" Shalimar narrowed her eyes at the man, still trying to figure out of he was an enemy.
"I believe they called you 'one of the women who live with the freaks'," He relayed, making Shalimar clench her fists in anger. If this guy didn't stop dodging her questions, she would hit him, friend or enemy. "But no matter how much you've moved around, I've found you, feral," He growled, his face twisting into one of malicious pleasure.
Without any warning, he ran at Shalimar with superhuman speed, slashing the air wildly with the weapon attached to his left arm. The blonde, even with her enhanced reflexes, barely managed to bend backwards to avoid the blade. Shalimar bent all the way back so she was standing on hands and feet, before throwing her legs at the man's chest, kicking him with ferocious power and throwing him into the air. Shalimar did a back flip from her position to get back to her feet. She expected to see the attacker, lying stunned on the cracked wooden floor, but was caught off guard when he appeared right in front of her.
"Nice move. No wonder you've earned the title of Genomex's most powerful feral." He grinned at her, obviously taking great pleasure in her astonishment that he had managed to recover so quickly from her attack.
Releasing a primal growl from her throat, Shalimar glared at him with threatening yellow eyes before releasing a slew of punches at his upper body. Stomach, chest, nose, neck, she continued her onslaught, her victim taking every punch as it came, moving in the direction it sent him in. She bared her teeth, before throwing herself up into the air and spinning her left leg up into his face. Her heel connected with his jaw, a bone chilling crack tore through the air, and when Shalimar landed back on her feet, the bald man's head was askew, with one large bone jutting out in his neck. She waited for him to topple, expecting the fight to be over, until he grinned at her, his head moving back into place along with the bone.
"That's not possible…!" The feral breathed, now looking into his grey toneless eyes with an expression of terror. Just what was she up against?
He shook a little and smirked at her, "Perfect. I've been looking for a girl with a little extra kick." He turned his neck, making it crack before beginning to walk towards her.
Not sure what else try, Shalimar ran towards a nearby wooden pillar, running at it with amazing speed before grabbing hold and spinning around it, throwing out her legs and attempting to hit the man square in the face. She wasn't even sure how he did it, but he somehow caught her calves and spun her around like an Olympian hammer thrower, making her collide with the pillar she had just used and sending her crashing right through it, landing to the floor with a cuts and scrapes all over her exposed flesh.
"Is this all you have to offer, Shalimar?" He taunted, picking her up by the throat and watching her squirm. "Perhaps the rest of Mutant X will be more of a challenge to me!" Her eyes widened at the thought of her former teammates in danger, all because she couldn't defeat an enemy.
He shook his head in disgust before hurling her towards the back wall like a weightless rag doll. She zipped past the flower bed of tulips, making the petals fly up into the air from the velocity she was traveling in, before crashing through the brittle wooden wall and landing in the sandy dirt outside.
Shalimar wasn't sure how long she lay there, seconds, minutes, maybe hours. Lilac petals were now floating in the air, coming out of the hole her attacker had created with her body. As she lay there, beaten, bruised, and bleeding, she followed one tulip petal as it passed her eyes, before following another, after the first had fled from her sight. The feral watched the sun travel across the sky, closing her eyes when it came into them directly. The last thing Shalimar saw, was the brightness of the sun, and a flurry of light purple petals passing by, before she blacked out.