"Piper, we have to go back for her!" Phoebe said.
"We can't, they'll kill us!" Piper told her. She looked at the frightened look in the eyes of both Phoebe and Darryl. Suddenly, a blue light filled the car.
"Leo!" said Piper. "What do you know? What have you heard? They're going to kill us!"
"I know, sweetie. This one is beyond their control!" Leo said. Darryl looked nervously around the road to see if anybody had seen Leo appear. Fortunately, there weren't any cars.
"What do you mean, Leo. What are you not telling us?" Phoebe pressed.
"This is a group of mortals who have had their minds screwed with by demons. The demons are actually helping them with this one." Leo explained. "They can't get a clear read on the situation."
"Is somebody blocking their radar-thingie?" Phoebe asked.
"I guess. For now, they've instructed me to tell you that you need to try to free the witches. They are going to allow me to heal you no matter what even if you die." He smiled faintly, "like when Piper died."
"Alright." Darryl said. "I'll drop you off where you need to be."
"No need." Leo took each of their hands. "This is where we will be, Darryl, you might want to bring backup. I mean, mortal backup." He handed Darryl a strip of paper. "Pull over."
Darryl pulled into an abandoned parking lot. He watched in awe as Leo, Piper, and Phoebe disappeared in a bluish-white light. "I'll never get used to that," he whispered to himself.
~
"You are the who?" Prue asked again.
"The condemned. They are going to burn us at the stake," one of the other women answered.
"Why can't you do something about this?" Prue asked frantically.
"Honey, look around," the same woman said. "There is nothing we can do. I can't transport, Lena can't morph, and Wendy can't deflect. We are basically useless." She sighed. "We tried, honey, believe me. We fought. We were supposed to stay together as a pack and teach the younger witches that they sent to us. Now we're stuck here." She motioned around the room. "And our students are going to arrive in the next bunch."
"Who are you? I don't want to be rude, but this would work better with names." Prue said.
"Doesn't matter honey, I'm going to be dead anyway, but for your record book, I'm Ariel." The woman was tall and practical looking with long, fluffy brown hair and brown eyes.
"I'm Prue. Prue Halliwell." Prue said.
"Nice to meet you Prue. What are your powers?" Ariel asked her. The other witches looked in interest towards the conversation. Lena stood up and walked towards the group. Wendy followed behind. They sat in a circle.
"Astral-projection and telekinesis. Well, that so far. My two sisters each just received a new power, so I'm hoping for one soon." Prue said. She had never really admitted this to anybody.
"Sister?" Lena asked.
"Sist-ers." Prue stressed. "I have two of them."
"By any chance, are they named Phoebe and Piper?" she pressed on. Prue fell back.
"Yeah. How do you know?" she asked.
"You three are the charmed ones. They were next on the list that I saw of witches to catch. I mean, after the four of us." Lena said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, we are the charmed ones." Prue told her. She looked proudly around the room, but Wendy just sat there glaring at her.
"If you're the charmed ones, how come you couldn't save us? Huh? You've cost us our lives, witch." She taunted.
"It's not my fault. I didn't expect this." Prue said, falling back again.
"You couldn't save us. We have three students in training to be powerful witches. And you are responsible for their deaths. Those people are sitting in our kitchen right now and waiting for the to come to their lesson tomorrow so that they can take them and kill them. Jody, Jenny, and Jamie are going to die because of you."
"Who are they?" Prue asked, trying to calm Wendy down. She obviously cared greatly for these witches.
"They are triplets, their powers are linked among them. Their father was a demon and their mother was a witch. The mother didn't know about the father until after he tried to kill her and steal the babies to raise in evil. They have to be raised in good by us so that they won't turn. Now they'll not only die, but they'll rot in hell." Wendy said bitterly.
"Wendy, don't say that." Lena told her.
"Prue, this situation is grave. We need your help." Ariel said. "Honey, the fate on everybody in this room and millions outside of it rests on your sisters."
"They're not going to come. They're going to escape well they still can." Prue said. "Why would they come back for me? They hate me!"
Wendy, Lena, and Ariel exchanged a look. "They can't do that. The power of three will be severed forever if they do."
"You're right." Prue heard Piper's voice from somewhere. She looked up at the viewing screen that had come down again.
"Piper?"
"Prue, we're coming. We took over this awhile ago. Hold on. Love you." Piper said. The screen went black.
"See?" said Ariel. "They'll be here soon, Honey, then everything will be alright."
"Not by a long shot," a male voice came up beside Prue. He circled the witches and grabbed Lena's arm.
"Lena!" screamed Wendy. Lena kicked and screamed as the man dragged her down the hall.
"We are the condemned…" Ariel said again. "Prue, your sisters. We need them. Now."
"I know." Prue said. "I know."
