Mel met up with Natalie at the bike racks about 10 minutes later.

"Hey Mel. How'd your trig test go?" Mel's cousin asked as she put on her helmet.

Mel shrugged. "Horrible." She winced. "I don't understand the point. It's not like I'm ever going to use trig again. Ugh. I hate math." Mel added, getting onto her bike.

Natalie followed suit. "I'm sorry. Ready?" Mel nodded. "Let's go."

"See this is why I'm so glad I'm only in Geometry A. None of that Algebra 2/Trig H stuff for me." Natalie gloated. "Even if I don't get honors credit for math, at least I don't have to deal with trigonometry until senior year."

Mel just smiled and sighed. The intricate math department at their school was a common discussion topic.

It took Mel and Natalie fifteen minutes to ride back to the manor. By the time they had pulled their bikes up to the driveway, both girls were sweating in the warm sun. After parking their bikes in the backyard, Mel and Natalie went into the house through the back door.

Coming from the living room Mel could hear a huge thump and then her Aunt Paige calling out.

"Piper! Watch out!"

Mel ran into the dining room and instantaneously took in the surrounding disarray. Aunt Phoebe was unconscious, sprawled across the stairs, her arm sticking out at a grotesque angle. Paige was crouched behind the living room couch, and Piper was ducking an energy ball thrown by a demon. Although lamps and other various furniture scattered the floor, it was the demon who really stood out.

He wore only a loincloth of twisted sections of white deerskin, and his body was blue, with a pattern of white vines twining around his arms and face. His eyes were the purest blue, and they lacked a pupil.

Mel, slightly awed, had her thoughts collapse when she heard Natalie's gasp from behind her. Sensing an impending failure, Mel reached down deep inside of her for the constant force that was the defining characteristic of Mel. Within moments of entering it she was in a quiet haven that stretched before her farther than she could see. Knowing her purpose, Mel carefully counted to herself as she walked until the correct amount of time had passed and then left the sanctuary.

When the tunnel of time subsided a second later, Mel was once again in the dining room. Only now the living room was not in chaos, and there was no demon attacking her family. Her aunt came down the stairs, absentmindedly looking over a copy of her advice column. So when the demon appeared in a shower of blue fire, Phoebe didn't even glance up. She did notice, however, when she was thrown over the staircase banister and against the window frame.

Mel immediately went into the kitchen where Piper was putting away groceries. Piper, hearing footsteps, turned. "Mel?" She said, with a puzzled look on her face. "Why are you home from school so early?"

"I'm not- yet." Mel explained perfunctorily. "C'mon Mom, there's a demon attacking Aunt Phoebe in the living room right now."

A frown appeared, marring Piper's smooth forehead. She bolted for the door.

Mel, right beside her, heard her mom gasp when she saw her sister slumped across the stairs. Instinctively, her hands went up.

The demon promptly froze.

"Why didn't you just explode him?" Mel asked. Freezing was a defensive option; in this case, it was illogical. Why freeze when you could just explode and be done with the matter? Piper, following Mel's line of thinking, answered her question.

"That would be easier, but he wouldn't have exploded. See the patterns on his face? Those are tribal markings. It means he's an upper level demon. We can only vanquish him with a power of three spell." Piper explained, taking the time to teach her eldest daughter despite the urgency of the situation.

"Pa-aige!" Piper called, looking upwards. "Leo!"

Swirls of blue and white lights appeared on either side of Mel. When the lights subsided, her father stood on her left and Paige was to the right of her.

"Dad- Aunt Phoebe's hurt!"

Leo looked confused for a moment, then scrambled over to Phoebe.

"Hurry Dad! He's not gonna stay frozen for long."

"She was badly hurt Mel." Leo chided, both hands above Phoebe's still form. With a gasp Phoebe convulsed and sat up.

"What happened?" She asked, her voice a mixture of annoyance and confusion.

"You nearly died, that's what happened." Leo raised his eyebrows at Phoebe.

"Ok. I hate to cut short the fill-in-the-blank' portion of the program, but we've got a demon on our hands and we need a power of three spell so we can vanquish his sorry ass." Piper interjected when Phoebe opened her mouth for a glib retort.

"Uh........ok" Phoebe stammered " INSERT POWER OF THREE SPELL HERE"

iAN.: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I haven't written the spell yet. I figured you people would like to read the chapter. This way you get to read it sooner. When I write the spell I'll edit it in. Anyways, keep reading./i

"Wow. It's like a reflex for you now, isn't it?" Paige remarked.

"Ready?" Piper asked, ignoring Paige's comment. "On three......one, two, three."

The three women's voices joined together in harmony.

"INSERT POWER OF THREE SPELL HERE AGAIN."

In an explosion of bright lights the demon was vanquished, and in his wake nothing was left but a faint cloud of smoke which diminished rapidly. Mel felt an odd combination of satisfaction that she had helped and sadness that such a beautiful being was evil and had to die.

Lara came running down the stairs, and launched herself into Leo's arms with a giant leap. Once she was settled comfortably with her head on her father's shoulder, she asked "Mommy, did you, Aunt Paige, and Aunt Phoebe just get another bad guy?"

Piper looked into her 6-year-old daughter's questioning brown eyes with a smile. "Yes honey, we did."

Leo suddenly glanced up, and his eyes clouded over as he listened to the call of someone no one else in the room could hear. "They're calling." Leo stated, his tone of voice tinged with a sigh.

"No daddy stay!" Lara's tiny arms wrapped around her father's neck. "Don't go!"

Leo sadly unhooked his daughter's arms and set her down on her own feet. Lara's eyes consequently began to fill with tears when Leo orbed out after a pleading look at Piper. Mel watched her little sister's eyes reach to the filling point and spill over and roll down her cheeks.

"Oh honey, don't cry. You know Leo has to go when his bosses call. It means your brave dad has to go help someone who needs him a whole, whole bunch." Paige put her hands on Lara's shoulders and bent down to look her small niece in the eyes.

Lara looked back at her aunt, her face liberally streaked with tear stains. "But why can't I go with him then? I want to help too." She said, lifting her head and wiping away the tears, trying to look important.

"I know Lara. But your dad loves you sooo much, and he knows that you want to help. You wanna know how you can help him?" Paige said.

"How?" Lara asked, slightly indignant but very curious.

"By being the wonderful little girl that you are and helping him feel better when he's sad." Paige replied, taking Lara's hands into her own.

"I'm not a little; I'm a big girl." Lara answered. The rest of the room smiled, conscious of the danger of a temper tantrum having passed. Mel's second self suddenly disappeared into thin air as they heard the sound of the kitchen door close and Natalie and the other Mel walked in, both girls sweating slightly and looking somewhat disheveled.

"I have an idea. What do you say we all go out for ice cream?" Paige suggested.

"Yeah!!!!!" Lara's face lit up as she smiled and she literally dragged Paige towards the door.

"Well then; I guess we're going for ice cream." Piper replied with a grin. She was amazed at how wonderfully Paige had just sidestepped a minor crisis.

"Sure. Why not. Natalie? Mel? Want to come?" Phoebe asked.

"I'd love to." Natalie dropped her backpack down next to the stairs. "I'm starving!"

"I think I'll pass. I've got tons of homework to do." Mel answered.

"You sure?" Piper looked at her daughter imploringly. "Ok.." She settled, after seeing the willful set in Mel's eyes. "Let's go you guys." The entire bunch headed out the door.

"What's the occasion?" Natalie asked as they headed out.

"Oh, we just vanquished some demon about ten minutes ago." Paige said casually, obviously used to the routine of killing off demons on a daily basis.

"Oh. Ok then." Natalie responded, flabbergasted. She closed the front door behind her.

Mel, glad to be home alone for once, headed up to the attic to research the demon that had just attacked her family.