'We can make believe
That every thing makes sense
There's no need to worry now
Cause you're not like all the rest'
Prue sat on her bed trying to fix a broken camera. She had her stereo on and was enjoying herself, aside from having to fix the camera. She had been under a lot of stress lately and was glad it was all over. After finding out, months ago, that Cole was still alive her relationship with Phoebe was back to normal. She even thought she might have been a little hard on her lovesick sister. Things were good. She was dating a terrific guy, Logan. Things with Justin hadn't turned out the way she had planned. He asked for a 'break' and she gave it to him. But in the course of that 'break' she met Logan at one of her photo shoots. He was the man the magazine was doing a piece on, and she was supposed to take his picture. He was being interviewed about his business. He ran a place called "House of the Innocent"; it was where orphans and homeless people could go to for help, or anyone else for that matter. He gave them food, a place to sleep, found them jobs, tried to help them get back on their feet, and even had counselors for the troubled teens, in case they needed that kind of help.
'Leading with only your heart
A new day arrives
And it's only the start
Of something already here
The skies open up
And it's perfectly clear'
Prue's head snapped up at the sound of a slight tapping on her door. She pushed the camera aside and said, "Come in."
Phoebe pushed open the door and peeked in before coming in all the way. Prue smiled at her, but she didn't return the smile. She turned her back to Prue and slowly shut the door and stood there staring at the door for a few moments.
"Phoebe?" Prue asked wondering what was wrong.
She slowly turned around with a look of dread on her face. She crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to Prue.
And I thought this was going to be a good day. Prue thought.
"What's wrong, Pheebs?" Prue asked softly putting an arm around her.
"I need to ask you a question. It's been bothering me for a while."
"Well, okay, so ask." Prue urged.
"When I told you that I hadn't killed Cole did you think that…"
"Did I think what?"
"This is such a dumb question, but did you think I was stupid for letting him go? I mean, am I so dumb that I make such a mistake for the wrong reasons?" Phoebe asked looking into Prue's big blue eyes.
Prue pulled Phoebe in a hug. "You're not stupid. You had reasons for doing what you did, and everyone makes mistakes because of their reasons sometimes. If that makes any sense to you. I know you're not stupid, you were just in love."
"I'm still sorry, Prue." Phoebe said with her head down.
"I know, but it doesn't matter. Our lives are perfect right now, we've got everything we could ever need, and most importantly we've got each other. Now, go get dressed, and tell Piper to do the same. We're going out for lunch." Prue hopped off her bed and started putting the camera and it's pieces into a box.
Phoebe looked at her moment before leaving to give Piper Prue's message. Prue put a lid on the box and sat it in a chair by her desk. She took some clothes out of her closet and went to get ready for lunch.
'It's all waiting for you
You can take the world
And give it your own name
It's all there waiting for you
No matter what you find
You will never be the same'
Prue took her sisters to a nice outdoors café. It was a beautiful, sunny day and she wanted to take advantage of that. Surprisingly there weren't even any flies around. Piper wasn't at all surprised by Prue's good mood. Things were perfect, Prue had the perfect man, so it seemed, she still thought it too early to be sure, Phoebe was nearly done with school, and Piper was officially engaged to Leo. She glanced down at their mother's ring, which sat on her finger. She was going to be married; it was still an amazing thought.
"Piper?" Phoebe brought her out of her daze. She looked up at her sisters who were grinning at her.
"What?" She asked.
"It's not going to change, you know." Prue said idly playing with a breadstick waiting on the waiter.
"What isn't?" Piper felt she had missed out on their conversation and they thought maybe she had been paying attention enough to know what they were talking about now.
"Mom's ring." Prue stated.
"Oh," Piper laughed, they had been watching her stare at the ring. "I know that, but it looks so much better on my finger with a significance behind it."
"00oo," Prue started waving her hand in the air. She saw a waiter looking in their direction and she was trying to get his attention. He just ignored her and walked off.
"Nice try," Phoebe credited.
"What? You think you can do any better?" Prue challenged.
"As a matter of fact…" Phoebe unbuttoned the top button of her shirt and pushed her chair a little ways from the table. She sat up straight and a waiter looked in their direction again. She winked at him and he nearly dropped his tray trying to get to her.
"Can I help you, ma'am?" He asked politely.
"We'd like to order now." Phoebe said sweetly.
"Very well." He pulled a little note pad out of his pocket and handed his tray to a passing waiter. The waiter got mad and threw the tray back at him, it hit him in the back but he acted like he didn't feel it, or maybe he really didn't. His eyes and his attention were attached to Phoebe.
"We'll be having the Roasted Fingerling Potatoes as our appetizer." Piper said and waited for him to write it down. He didn't take his eyes off of Phoebe.
Prue shot Phoebe a 'look' and Phoebe gave her a 'what?' look.
"Hi," Piper tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped. He turned around and looked at her. "Yeah, we are the customers, you serve us, we're not dogs in a dog show that you can sit and gawk at. Now write down the roasted fingerling potatoes as our appetizer in your little notepad there."
He look shocked, but quickly began scribbling something in his notepad. Piper took her seat once more looking quite smug. Prue grinned at her.
"Now, my sister would like the Falafel (fried chickpea patties served on pita bread with a cucumber relish)." Piper said holding her hand out to indicate she was talking about Prue.
"Right, and I will have the Gardener's Salad." Phoebe told him.
"I'll have the Grilled Chicken Breast Sandwich." Piper told him and watched him write in his pad. "Got all that?" She asked.
"Yes, ma'am." He hesitantly replied. "What would you ladies like to drink?"
"We'll all have iced tea." Prue said.
"I'll return shortly." He said, he turned to leave and tripped over his own foot falling to his face. He quickly got to his feet looking back at Phoebe. When he saw her looking he turned red and ran off.
"Poor guy," Prue laughed.
"Just proves I can get a waiter faster than you can." Phoebe joked.
"Well, if I did that I'm sure I could get some service a little faster. I was kinda gonna try the conventional way, you know, ask?" Prue joked.
"I don't care how she did it, as long as he gets our food to us without dropping it in our laps." Piper said glancing over her shoulder in the direction he left.
"This has been a great day." Phoebe said. "I'm glad things are back the way they're supposed to be."
Prue smiled thinking back on the hell they'd all been through together. "Me too."
'Smile for the picture man, dear
It's another day
It's another dream
It's another new year
And who knows what you'll find
But it's all coming around
All in good time'
"What are we going to do after lunch?" Piper asked.
"I don't know, but I know that I am calling in sick to work, and we're gonna spend the whole day together." Prue said. "We can do anything we want. Let's take advantage of this peace and quiet we have. It's a beautiful spring day, there has to be something we can do."
"But Prue, you have a date with Logan today." Phoebe reminded her.
"I'll cancel. He'll understand, when do I ever get to spend quality time with my sisters?"
"Are you sure?" Phoebe asked.
"I'm positive, Pheebs."
"Let's go to an amusement park." Piper suggested out of the blue.
"That's a great idea." Phoebe said.
"Great, then that's what we'll do after we eat out lunch." Prue said.
A waitress comes out to their table with a tray and begins giving them their food.
"Speaking of lunch," Piper commented.
"Hey, what happened to that waiter that was helping us?" Phoebe asked the waitress.
"He's being a typical guy, he said he humiliated himself in front of you." She answered. She laid Phoebe's salad down in front of her and then left.
They finished eating their lunch and left the tip. They walked to Prue's Beamer and jumped in. They headed to the amusement park with the stereo on. Prue had heard the same song earlier before they left the house. She was starting to like it. They drove on, unaware they were being followed, and unaware that their perfect day was about to become imperfect.
'It's all waiting for you
You can take the world
And give it your own name
It's all there waiting for you
No matter what you find
You will never be the same'
(2)
When they got to the park Phoebe was the first one out of the car. She hadn't been here with her sisters since she was a little girl. She was definitely going to enjoy the day. Piper walked up beside her and put her arm through Phoebe's and led her to the entrance. At the ticket booth they bought their entrance tickets and a ride pass. The ride pass would let them ride anything without buying more tickets. They walked up to the gate and handed the man their tickets. He took them and raised the gate.
"What are we gonna do first?" Piper asked walking along with Prue and Phoebe staring up at roller coasters and rides that were spinning really fast. Piper had never really like the spinning things, she always got a bit queasy on them.
"Let's go on a few rides." Phoebe said grabbing her sister's hands and pulling them behind her. "Starting with this one."
Piper looked up at the ride Phoebe was dragging her to and it was the largest roller coaster in the entire park. Piper felt the blood leave her cheeks.
"You sure you wanna ride it, Piper?" Phoebe asked. "You look kinda pale."
"I um…"
"Come on, Piper, you have to conquer your fears." Prue said pushing her into the cart.
Prue and Phoebe climbed in on each side of her. Piper grabbed one of Phoebe's hands and then grabbed at Prue's, clutching them tightly. Phoebe and Prue smiled at each other. Piper had her eyes glued to the front of the track.
A man climbed into the seat behind the Halliwells seat and slammed his door shut. Prue glanced back at him and he glared at her.
Prue turned around and whispered to Piper. "Someone had a bad day."
Piper nodded, and Phoebe leaned over so Prue could hear her. "Who is that guy?" Prue shrugged. "Well, I'm getting a very bad feeling from him."
Phoebe jerked back to her seat as the cart lurched forward. Piper's grip on her sisters' hands tightened.
"Oh god, oh god, I can't do this. I have to get off." Piper said. "I can't."
"Looks like you're gonna have to." Phoebe said putting an arm around her as the cart clicked and started on along its track. It was moving slowly at first climbing to the top of the first drop. When the roller coaster launched forward then downward as it went down the slope Piper felt hands wrap around her throat. She let out a scream before her windpipe was closed off.
Prue looked back to see the angry man trying to strangle her sister. She used her power to remove his hands and then she flung him out of the coaster. Phoebe heard people below screaming in terror as they watched the man fall to the ground.
"Prue!" Phoebe shouted. "What if he wasn't…"
"I…" Prue started a little shocked.
"He was." Piper interrupted in a scream as the coaster lurched down another hump in the track. "He was using magic on me. I could feel it."
"How?" Prue asked.
"I was going blind." Piper answered.
A few minutes later the roller coaster stopped and the girls climbed out. They pretended to be in shock about the accident. They didn't have to pretend very hard because they were surprised. Not about the accident but about the attack.
The three were witnesses though and had to remain for questioning. A detective soon questioned them. He took Piper off to the side first to ask. He asked them what had happened and how the man had fallen out and they hadn't.
"Well, we were in out seats and that man grabbed me around the throat." Piper told him. "He was strangling me, and then my sisters started slapping and pulling at his hands until they came off. Then the next thing I knew he was screaming and falling to the ground."
The detective was writing everything down in a small palm-sized, black book. He asked Phoebe and Prue their version and they told basically the exact same thing Piper had. He knew they hadn't had enough time to make up a story so they were telling the truth. And they really hadn't had time to make up a story, they just told the truth leaving out the magical details.
They were then permitted to leave. They went back to the Manor and were in the attic checking out the book. There was nothing about a guy that looked like the one at the park.
"Maybe he was in a disguise." Piper suggested.
"Yeah, you know, a human form like…" Phoebe's words trailed off.
Prue just nodded her understanding. "Well what do we do now? We don't know if that fall killed him or not. What if he was mortal?"
"Prue, we didn't kill a mortal. And if we did he was a magical mortal." Piper said reminding her sister. "He had magic, I can assure you of that."
"I guess we just go on with our lives then, huh? I mean what can we do? We had to move on while Marcus and his brother's were after us. We didn't let their threat rule our lives, right?" Prue said.
"Right." Phoebe finalized. "And speaking of Marcus, I have a date." With that she smiled and ran out of the attic to get ready.
Prue and Piper smiled as Phoebe was in her room getting ready. She was looking at two different outfits when Marcus orbed into her room.
"Hey, beautiful." He said.
She turned around ready for a kiss and instead saw a head in her window. She shoved a puckered up Marcus aside, and ran to the window.
"Well, I was expecting something a little less physical but if you insist." Marcus said.
Phoebe searched the window but the face was gone. She pushed it out of her mind, she must have been imagining things and turned to see what Marcus was talking about. She couldn't suppress a smile when she saw she had shoved him onto the bed. He started laughing at her when she blushed. He picked himself off the bed and started for the door.
"I'll be in the attic with your sisters, come in there when you're done." He told her.
"How did you know they…?"
"Okay, I admit it, I was spying. Now, get ready." He turned and shut the door behind him.
(3)
Phoebe and Marcus went out to dinner and a movie and the usual date thing. They had only been together for about a month now. Phoebe was happy things were going so well.
Prue and Piper were back home at the Manor. Piper was cooking breakfast while Prue sat at the bar and watched her. Prue was still talking about the man at the park. She was very interested in what he did to Piper.
"I don't know exactly. It's just, I mean, he put his hands around my throat and everything started fading away, kind of like when someone starts dimming the lights in a room. I couldn't breathe, but I could feel this air or energy filling my lungs, and moving throughout my body. When you broke his grip it all stopped, and I felt normal again." Piper explained.
"Well, maybe if we look in the book for a description of his power instead of a description of him, we'll find out who he is." Prue suggested.
"It's worth a try I guess." Piper said stirring something on the stove.
"So, how do you like Marcus?" Prue asked leaning forward putting her chin in her hands.
"He's a nice guy. At least he's a force of good, and he's not…"
"Cole." Prue finished.
Piper looked up from the stove at her sister. "That's not what I meant."
"Come on, Piper. You know as well as I do that he is no good for her no matter how much she thinks she loves him."
"Prue, she didn't think she loved him, she did love him. And he loved her; you know that from being an empath. Maybe I do feel that way, but she's our sister, and I'm going to support her in whatever she does as long as she's sure it doesn't threaten her life."
"But Cole did, Piper. He tried to kill her, he tried to kill us all."
"I know, Prue, but maybe…" Piper didn't finish her sentence. She wasn't able to find the words.
"Look, no matter what Cole does, he is still a bad guy. He can't change that, and I don't think he can make up for all the bad he has done."
"Prue, you do realize that the man she is with now has done things just as bad? Marcus killed just as many innocents."
"But he didn't want to, his brothers made him do it." Prue said shifting on the stool.
"But he never tried to stop them. He went along with it; he even did some of the killing. I believe that Marcus is completely good now, but back then…?"
"He came to us for help, though. He wanted to be good again." Prue reminded her. "Marcus is good, and Cole isn't. That's how I see it."
"I do too, I just think that Phoebe wasn't completely wrong in what she did. She thought she could help Cole, and maybe she did. We haven't seen him for a long time. If he was really still that evil wouldn't he have come to kill us by now?" Piper said stirring the dinner again. She tore her eyes away from Prue's gaze and looked down at the stove. "But we were talking about Marcus, not Cole, so what do you think about him?"
"I think I'm happy that Phoebe is moving on with her life. She's not living in guilt or dwelling on her mistake. I think Marcus is the perfect man to help her see that mistakes are forgivable."
"I think I totally agree with you." Piper leaned down towards the pot and took a deep breath. She leaned back and smiled at Prue. "Dinner's done."
The two were just finishing up dinner and putting the dishes away when the phone rang. Prue dropped her towel and told Piper she'd get the phone. She walked across to the cabinet and picked up the phone.
"Prue speaking." She answered.
Piper went back to cleaning the dishes and the kitchen. A few minutes later Prue rejoined her. She glanced over her shoulder at Prue.
"Who was that?"
"Oh, that was just Logan. He wanted to know when I was going to make the cancelled date up to him. I told him he could come over for dinner tomorrow." Prue glanced up at Piper. "That's okay, right?"
"Sure, we could have Marcus and Leo over and have a big dinner thing." Piper suggested.
"And watch a good movie." Prue added to the plans.
When they finished cleaning up the kitchen and restoring it to its perfection Prue turned to Piper.
"What do we do now?"
"I don't know." She glanced around the kitchen but it was in perfect order there was nothing left to do. "I guess we could check the book for that guy again."
"Okie dokie," Prue smiled and she and Piper headed towards the attic.
Prue and Piper were in the attic till after midnight. It was around two o'clock when Piper checked her watch. She and Prue still hadn't found anything about the man or his powers. She decided to give up when Piper told Prue what time it was.
"Are you serious? I have to wake up early in the morning!" Prue groaned.
"I can't believe time flies by like that." Piper commented.
"I'll bet that's what a lot of people think after being around you awhile." Prue joked.
"I don't use my powers like that." Piper argued.
"Okay," Prue said. "But I'm going to bed. So, Goodnight?"
"Goodnight." Piper said and Prue headed towards the door. "Love you."
"Love you too." Prue called back from the hall. Piper just smiled and looked back down at the book. She closed the book and then headed to her room. She got ready for bed then climbed under the covers and fell asleep.
The next morning Piper woke up and was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. She decided on something easy and was making toast when Leo and Michael orbed in.
"Leo, and…Marcus?" Piper guessed.
"No, Michael actually." Michael corrected her.
"Oh sorry. So, what's up?" She glanced back down at the toaster.
"We were wondering if you'd seen Marcus or Phoebe yet. He promised to be back by midnight last night and he never showed." Michael told her.
Piper gave a slightly corny smile. "I'm guessing Phoebe is up in her room. Would you like me to go see if maybe Marcus decided to stay for a visit?"
"Would you?" Michael asked.
"I'll be back in a second." Piper answered and headed for her sister's room.
Once outside her room she knocked on Phoebe's door. No answer came. That's strange. Piper thought. She knocked again and there was still no answer. Piper turned the knob and hesitantly peeked in. There was no one there. The bed was perfectly made up.
Leo and Michael were sitting in the solarium when Piper came back. She looked slightly concerned.
"Leo," She started.
"What is it?" He asked standing up.
"Do the little radar thing." She ordered twirling her finger at him.
"Why? Is Phoebe not…"
"Radar thing." She prompted him with a finger in the face.
He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to sense Phoebe. His brow creased with the effort. He couldn't find her.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at Piper. No words were needed. She immediately ran to the phone to call Phoebe's cell. She dialed the number as fast as she could, worry growing with each number she punched. The phone rang several times and there was no answer. Piper hung up and called Prue.
"Hello?" Prue answered.
"Prue, where's Phoebe?" She asked jumping right in. For some reason the conversation that she and Prue had the night before stuck out in her mind.
"What? What do you mean 'where's Phoebe'? She's not at home?" Prue asked.
"No, she's not here."
"Well, call Leo and have him…"
"I did, well they came to me."
"They who?" Prue asked.
"Leo and Michael. They didn't know where Marcus was, so I went to Phoebe's room to get her, and she wasn't there. The bed hadn't even been slept in."
"Okay, Piper, slow down. Did Leo do his little sense us thing?"
"Yeah, and he doesn't know where she is."
"Okay, I'm on my way home." Prue replied.
Prue hung up her phone and went to find her boss.
"I have to go home." She told him.
"Is there any particular reason?"
"My sister just called to tell me that our other sister is missing. She's called everyone and she's really worried." Prue explained.
Her boss frowned, "I hope everything is all right. You may leave."
Prue nodded and thanked him before rushing out to her car.
(4)
"Phoebe, where are you?" Marcus whispered loudly.
He looked around and saw that he was in a cave. He tried orbing and did, he orbed to the other side of the cave. Whoever took us must think I'm some ordinary Joe, otherwise they would have made sure this cave was orb proof. He thought.
"Phoebe? Are you there?" He whispered again, louder.
He heard a groan come from deeper inside the cave. He rushed forward hoping that it was Phoebe. It was.
He ran to her and helped her up off the cold, wet ground.
"Are you okay?" He immediately asked.
"Uh-huh." She muttered rubbing her head. "Where are we?"
"I don't know." He said regretting that it was true. "But we have to get out of here."
"How?" She asked.
"I can still orb, Phoebe. Whoever brought us here evidently didn't know about me." Marcus answered.
"Well, shouldn't we at least find out who brought us here?" Phoebe asked quietly looking around the cave.
"What we should do is get you back home so you can discuss this with your sisters."
"I guess you're right." Phoebe wrapped her arms around his neck as he slipped his arms around her waist and orbed them out.
"Piper, I'm sure Marcus just took her to some secret place or something. He wouldn't let anything happen to her." Prue reassured her frantic sister.
Phoebe and Marcus had been missing for a whole day now, and sure… Prue was just as worried as Piper but she wasn't going to give up. She had searching for Phoebe for hours upon hours coming up with nothing each time. Leo and Michael had gone back up There and were looking for them. Michael informed his other brothers of Marcus's disappearance and they were out searching as well. Prue knew, though, that she had to keep Piper calm.
"Prue, she's been gone long enough. Can't we make a spell to find her or something?" Piper asked in exasperation. "I can't sit here and do nothing."
"Piper, we have to wait. Just a little longer; I'm sure she'll come home." Prue said, not sure how much she believed herself.
"If she isn't home in the next five minutes then I'm going to the book and I'm going to do something! If that involves going back in time to keep her from going out, then I'll do it." Piper threatened.
About that time blue orbs of light began forming into two people in front of Piper and Prue. When the lights faded Piper launched out of her seat at Phoebe. She pulled her into the tightest hug that Phoebe could hardly breathe. Marcus walked to the side a bit. Prue jumped in on the hug and Phoebe was soon begging for breathing space. Piper pulled away and then glared at her sister.
"Where have you been?" Piper demanded to know. "You had me worried sick!"
"Piper, calm down. I'm fine." Phoebe took one of Piper's hands and one of Prue's and led them back to the couch and sat them down to the sides of her. "I wasn't sure where I was. I'm still not sure."
"What do you mean?" Prue asked.
"Marcus and I were on our way back here last night and all I remember was making it to the parking lot." Phoebe explained.
"Last night?" Piper asked. "Phoebe, you've been missing since Tuesday afternoon before you left on your date. It's Thursday today."
"Boy, I must've been hit on the head harder than I thought." Phoebe commented.
"So, you don't know where you were?" Prue asked bringing them back to the topic in question.
"No, I woke up in a dark cave and Marcus was helping me off the ground. He said we had to get out of there and we orbed, so here I am." Phoebe finished.
Prue and Piper turned to look at Marcus who was still standing to the side.
"Thank you for bringing her home safely, Marcus." Piper said.
"I wouldn't do any less. Besides, she was way past curfew." Marcus joked.
Prue and Piper laughed a bit and then Prue remembered the search she had going on.
"Marcus, you might want to go find your brothers and Leo. They've been looking all over for you." Prue told him.
"Oh, thanks." He walked over to Phoebe and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I'll come back when I can." He then turned to the other two and nodded a goodbye, then orbed out.
"I can't believe the luck I have." Prue said out of frustration.
"What do you mean?" Piper asked.
"Well, both of my sisters have fallen in love with angels." Prue said with a smile.
"But you have Logan." Phoebe reminded her.
"Ah, that I do…that I do." She smiled and patted her sister's hand. "I'm glad you're back, Phoebe."
"I'm glad to be home, but I still can't help wondering if my attempted kidnapping had anything to do with the head I saw in my window before Marcus showed up."
"Head? What head?" Piper asked.
"I think it was a man, he was right outside my window looking in, but when I went to see he wasn't there." Phoebe explained.
"I think we should check the book. It might be the man from the roller coaster." Prue said standing up. She headed for the attic and her sisters followed behind.
(5)
Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were in the attic looking through the book. Piper was obviously getting irritated.
"Prue, we went through the book for hours looking for that man. There was nothing!" Piper said after an hour of searching.
"Well, Piper, what do you suggest we do then?" Prue asked getting a little aggravated herself.
"Guys, no, come on, calm down. We don't want to fight." Phoebe reminded them.
Prue sighed and rubbed her forehead. "You're right, Pheebs. I'm sorry, Piper. I don't know what else to do. The book is all we have."
"I know, Prue. I'm sorry too. I guess I'm still a little worked up, that's all."
"Okay, so why don't we call Leo down and ask him what he knows? If anything, and Prue why don't you call Darryl and see if that body disappeared?" Phoebe suggested.
"Will do." Prue headed downstairs to get the phone.
Piper called Leo and he orbed in a few moments later with Tomas. Piper looked at him questioningly.
"Why is Tomas here?" Piper asked.
"Hello, Tomas." Phoebe smiled before turning to Leo with the same curious expression her sister wore.
"I came before you called. This is business." Leo stated.
"There is a young witch who is in great danger. She is one of my charges. There is a warlock after her and she doesn't know enough and isn't strong enough to defeat him. She needs your help." Tomas told Piper and Phoebe.
"What warlock is after her?" Phoebe asked.
"We're not sure. But he's already kill three witched." Tomas replied.
"What did you call for?" Leo asked.
"Haven't you talked to Marcus?" Piper asked.
"Yes, but we had to leave before we could hear what happened." Leo answered.
"Someone kidnapped Marcus and I. I don't know where that person took us, but we think it might be tied in with the man at the amusement park." Phoebe explained, yet again.
"What man?" Leo asked.
"Oh boy," Phoebe sighed.
Prue hung up the phone with Darryl only for it to ring again. She quickly picked it up and answered.
"Logan?" Prue wasn't expecting him to call after she cancelled their date for the second time, this time without explaining.
"Prue, I just want to know if you cancelled our date because of something I did." Logan said.
"No, Logan, I'm sorry I didn't explain but we had a big problem. Phoebe had turned up missing and we couldn't find her. She just came home today. I promise it wasn't you, I just had to be there for Piper, she was worried sick about Phoebe."
"Was she okay? Phoebe I mean." Logan asked.
"Yeah, she was fine. Look, I really want to make our date up to you, but we're still having a few problems here so, I'll have to get back to you."
"Prue, you're sure it's not me?"
"I'm positive. You're great, Logan."
"All right, well, for you then, I'll wait forever." He said before hanging up the phone.
Prue smiled and hung up the phone as the doorbell rang.
"Sure, wait till we're busy to start making visits." She grumbled as she headed to the door.
There was a young man standing there with a bouquet of roses for her. Prue's eyes widened at the flowers. The young man held up a pen and a clipboard. She took the pen and signed before taking the flowers inside to read the card. They were from Logan. Her smile was renewed as she put them in a vase. Then she turned to get back to the attic.
Piper and Phoebe were explaining everything to Leo and Tomas about the man and the roller coaster. Prue came running into the room before she noticed Leo and Tomas she said, "The body is gone. It has to be the man from the park." Then she stopped took a deep breath and noticed Leo and Tomas. "Oh, hi, Leo. Hey there, Tomas." She said sheepishly feeling a little foolish about her screaming.
"It's gone?" Phoebe asked.
"Yep, gone the same day it was brought it." Prue told her.
"Well, does Darryl have anything that was on the body?" Phoebe asked.
"They still have the things that he had in his pockets. Why?" Prue told her.
"Well, if Darryl will let us borrow them I could probably write up a spell to track him by using his things." Phoebe replied.
"Well, all right then, how bout we pay Detective Morris a little visit?" Piper asked leading the way down the stairs.
(6)
Darryl was in his office when a rookie cop came in and announced that he had visitors. He told the young man to show them in as he was putting away a few files he was going over. He sighed when he saw Prue, Piper, and Phoebe walk in.
"What can I do for you ladies now?" He asked.
They spend the most part of the next hour talking about the man that had fallen from the roller coaster. Darryl explained how they went in to get some finger printings to identify him and his body was gone.
He handed Prue all the things they had taken from the man's pockets. They thanked Darryl but told him they had to hurry home and solve their problem. He told them to be careful and showed them out.
Once back at the Manor Phoebe wrote a spell to track the man using the items he had previously had in his possession. Once they had located him they devised a plan and decided to go after him.
They found him in a park just wandering around. He seemed to be looking for something, but they weren't sure what. Prue pulled her sisters down behind a bush to watch.
"We stick to the plan, got it?"
"We got it, Prue, we went over this a hundred times at the house." Phoebe said.
"Right, well, let's go then." Prue jumped up from behind the bushes and started running toward the man. She glanced to make sure no one was around before using her power to fling him into a tree. He tried shooting lightning out of his hands at her, but Piper froze it. He got angry and blinked away. He blinked behind Phoebe, but she was ready she jumped up stopping in the air above him, using her levitation, and flipped around him. She gave him one hard kick in the back sending him to the ground. Piper pulled out a bottle with a cork stopped and threw it at the ground by his head. It burst with a cloud of smoke and when the smoke was gone he was sitting on his knees howling in pain as his flesh melted away. When there was nothing but a pile of dust left Phoebe turned to her sisters.
"That was way too easy. Something's not right." She pointed out.
"I think you're right, Pheebs. That was too easy." Prue agreed.
"So, what do we do about it?" Piper asked.
"I don't guess there is anything we can do. He's gone…and unless his ashes jump up to get us, we've done our done." Prue answered.
"Hmm, so we just go home?" Phoebe asked.
"Guess so," Prue replied.
The three got back into the Jeep and headed for the manor. They were being very cautious and watchful. They knew that vanquish had been too easy, and they were waiting for the bad part to hit them. Something had to be attached to that, it couldn't be that easy. Could it?
When they made it back to the manor they were sitting together in the solarium watching Piper water the flowers. Phoebe wasn't sure this time, if it was because she was nervous or because they really were dying, the flowers that is. They were going over possible causes the warlock had been so easy to vanquish when Leo orbed it.
"What?" Phoebe asked.
"The Elders told me to inform you that you really did vanquish that warlock." Leo said.
"Are you serious?" Prue asked unbelieving.
"Dead serious."
Piper let out a little laugh. "Okay, so why was it so easy then?"
"He was just a very weak and very stupid warlock. He was causing all types of problems both for the Source and the Elders. I think this time you've done both sides a favor by killing him."
"I guess this really was the perfect day I was looking forward too." Prue laughed.
That every thing makes sense
There's no need to worry now
Cause you're not like all the rest'
Prue sat on her bed trying to fix a broken camera. She had her stereo on and was enjoying herself, aside from having to fix the camera. She had been under a lot of stress lately and was glad it was all over. After finding out, months ago, that Cole was still alive her relationship with Phoebe was back to normal. She even thought she might have been a little hard on her lovesick sister. Things were good. She was dating a terrific guy, Logan. Things with Justin hadn't turned out the way she had planned. He asked for a 'break' and she gave it to him. But in the course of that 'break' she met Logan at one of her photo shoots. He was the man the magazine was doing a piece on, and she was supposed to take his picture. He was being interviewed about his business. He ran a place called "House of the Innocent"; it was where orphans and homeless people could go to for help, or anyone else for that matter. He gave them food, a place to sleep, found them jobs, tried to help them get back on their feet, and even had counselors for the troubled teens, in case they needed that kind of help.
'Leading with only your heart
A new day arrives
And it's only the start
Of something already here
The skies open up
And it's perfectly clear'
Prue's head snapped up at the sound of a slight tapping on her door. She pushed the camera aside and said, "Come in."
Phoebe pushed open the door and peeked in before coming in all the way. Prue smiled at her, but she didn't return the smile. She turned her back to Prue and slowly shut the door and stood there staring at the door for a few moments.
"Phoebe?" Prue asked wondering what was wrong.
She slowly turned around with a look of dread on her face. She crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to Prue.
And I thought this was going to be a good day. Prue thought.
"What's wrong, Pheebs?" Prue asked softly putting an arm around her.
"I need to ask you a question. It's been bothering me for a while."
"Well, okay, so ask." Prue urged.
"When I told you that I hadn't killed Cole did you think that…"
"Did I think what?"
"This is such a dumb question, but did you think I was stupid for letting him go? I mean, am I so dumb that I make such a mistake for the wrong reasons?" Phoebe asked looking into Prue's big blue eyes.
Prue pulled Phoebe in a hug. "You're not stupid. You had reasons for doing what you did, and everyone makes mistakes because of their reasons sometimes. If that makes any sense to you. I know you're not stupid, you were just in love."
"I'm still sorry, Prue." Phoebe said with her head down.
"I know, but it doesn't matter. Our lives are perfect right now, we've got everything we could ever need, and most importantly we've got each other. Now, go get dressed, and tell Piper to do the same. We're going out for lunch." Prue hopped off her bed and started putting the camera and it's pieces into a box.
Phoebe looked at her moment before leaving to give Piper Prue's message. Prue put a lid on the box and sat it in a chair by her desk. She took some clothes out of her closet and went to get ready for lunch.
'It's all waiting for you
You can take the world
And give it your own name
It's all there waiting for you
No matter what you find
You will never be the same'
Prue took her sisters to a nice outdoors café. It was a beautiful, sunny day and she wanted to take advantage of that. Surprisingly there weren't even any flies around. Piper wasn't at all surprised by Prue's good mood. Things were perfect, Prue had the perfect man, so it seemed, she still thought it too early to be sure, Phoebe was nearly done with school, and Piper was officially engaged to Leo. She glanced down at their mother's ring, which sat on her finger. She was going to be married; it was still an amazing thought.
"Piper?" Phoebe brought her out of her daze. She looked up at her sisters who were grinning at her.
"What?" She asked.
"It's not going to change, you know." Prue said idly playing with a breadstick waiting on the waiter.
"What isn't?" Piper felt she had missed out on their conversation and they thought maybe she had been paying attention enough to know what they were talking about now.
"Mom's ring." Prue stated.
"Oh," Piper laughed, they had been watching her stare at the ring. "I know that, but it looks so much better on my finger with a significance behind it."
"00oo," Prue started waving her hand in the air. She saw a waiter looking in their direction and she was trying to get his attention. He just ignored her and walked off.
"Nice try," Phoebe credited.
"What? You think you can do any better?" Prue challenged.
"As a matter of fact…" Phoebe unbuttoned the top button of her shirt and pushed her chair a little ways from the table. She sat up straight and a waiter looked in their direction again. She winked at him and he nearly dropped his tray trying to get to her.
"Can I help you, ma'am?" He asked politely.
"We'd like to order now." Phoebe said sweetly.
"Very well." He pulled a little note pad out of his pocket and handed his tray to a passing waiter. The waiter got mad and threw the tray back at him, it hit him in the back but he acted like he didn't feel it, or maybe he really didn't. His eyes and his attention were attached to Phoebe.
"We'll be having the Roasted Fingerling Potatoes as our appetizer." Piper said and waited for him to write it down. He didn't take his eyes off of Phoebe.
Prue shot Phoebe a 'look' and Phoebe gave her a 'what?' look.
"Hi," Piper tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped. He turned around and looked at her. "Yeah, we are the customers, you serve us, we're not dogs in a dog show that you can sit and gawk at. Now write down the roasted fingerling potatoes as our appetizer in your little notepad there."
He look shocked, but quickly began scribbling something in his notepad. Piper took her seat once more looking quite smug. Prue grinned at her.
"Now, my sister would like the Falafel (fried chickpea patties served on pita bread with a cucumber relish)." Piper said holding her hand out to indicate she was talking about Prue.
"Right, and I will have the Gardener's Salad." Phoebe told him.
"I'll have the Grilled Chicken Breast Sandwich." Piper told him and watched him write in his pad. "Got all that?" She asked.
"Yes, ma'am." He hesitantly replied. "What would you ladies like to drink?"
"We'll all have iced tea." Prue said.
"I'll return shortly." He said, he turned to leave and tripped over his own foot falling to his face. He quickly got to his feet looking back at Phoebe. When he saw her looking he turned red and ran off.
"Poor guy," Prue laughed.
"Just proves I can get a waiter faster than you can." Phoebe joked.
"Well, if I did that I'm sure I could get some service a little faster. I was kinda gonna try the conventional way, you know, ask?" Prue joked.
"I don't care how she did it, as long as he gets our food to us without dropping it in our laps." Piper said glancing over her shoulder in the direction he left.
"This has been a great day." Phoebe said. "I'm glad things are back the way they're supposed to be."
Prue smiled thinking back on the hell they'd all been through together. "Me too."
'Smile for the picture man, dear
It's another day
It's another dream
It's another new year
And who knows what you'll find
But it's all coming around
All in good time'
"What are we going to do after lunch?" Piper asked.
"I don't know, but I know that I am calling in sick to work, and we're gonna spend the whole day together." Prue said. "We can do anything we want. Let's take advantage of this peace and quiet we have. It's a beautiful spring day, there has to be something we can do."
"But Prue, you have a date with Logan today." Phoebe reminded her.
"I'll cancel. He'll understand, when do I ever get to spend quality time with my sisters?"
"Are you sure?" Phoebe asked.
"I'm positive, Pheebs."
"Let's go to an amusement park." Piper suggested out of the blue.
"That's a great idea." Phoebe said.
"Great, then that's what we'll do after we eat out lunch." Prue said.
A waitress comes out to their table with a tray and begins giving them their food.
"Speaking of lunch," Piper commented.
"Hey, what happened to that waiter that was helping us?" Phoebe asked the waitress.
"He's being a typical guy, he said he humiliated himself in front of you." She answered. She laid Phoebe's salad down in front of her and then left.
They finished eating their lunch and left the tip. They walked to Prue's Beamer and jumped in. They headed to the amusement park with the stereo on. Prue had heard the same song earlier before they left the house. She was starting to like it. They drove on, unaware they were being followed, and unaware that their perfect day was about to become imperfect.
'It's all waiting for you
You can take the world
And give it your own name
It's all there waiting for you
No matter what you find
You will never be the same'
(2)
When they got to the park Phoebe was the first one out of the car. She hadn't been here with her sisters since she was a little girl. She was definitely going to enjoy the day. Piper walked up beside her and put her arm through Phoebe's and led her to the entrance. At the ticket booth they bought their entrance tickets and a ride pass. The ride pass would let them ride anything without buying more tickets. They walked up to the gate and handed the man their tickets. He took them and raised the gate.
"What are we gonna do first?" Piper asked walking along with Prue and Phoebe staring up at roller coasters and rides that were spinning really fast. Piper had never really like the spinning things, she always got a bit queasy on them.
"Let's go on a few rides." Phoebe said grabbing her sister's hands and pulling them behind her. "Starting with this one."
Piper looked up at the ride Phoebe was dragging her to and it was the largest roller coaster in the entire park. Piper felt the blood leave her cheeks.
"You sure you wanna ride it, Piper?" Phoebe asked. "You look kinda pale."
"I um…"
"Come on, Piper, you have to conquer your fears." Prue said pushing her into the cart.
Prue and Phoebe climbed in on each side of her. Piper grabbed one of Phoebe's hands and then grabbed at Prue's, clutching them tightly. Phoebe and Prue smiled at each other. Piper had her eyes glued to the front of the track.
A man climbed into the seat behind the Halliwells seat and slammed his door shut. Prue glanced back at him and he glared at her.
Prue turned around and whispered to Piper. "Someone had a bad day."
Piper nodded, and Phoebe leaned over so Prue could hear her. "Who is that guy?" Prue shrugged. "Well, I'm getting a very bad feeling from him."
Phoebe jerked back to her seat as the cart lurched forward. Piper's grip on her sisters' hands tightened.
"Oh god, oh god, I can't do this. I have to get off." Piper said. "I can't."
"Looks like you're gonna have to." Phoebe said putting an arm around her as the cart clicked and started on along its track. It was moving slowly at first climbing to the top of the first drop. When the roller coaster launched forward then downward as it went down the slope Piper felt hands wrap around her throat. She let out a scream before her windpipe was closed off.
Prue looked back to see the angry man trying to strangle her sister. She used her power to remove his hands and then she flung him out of the coaster. Phoebe heard people below screaming in terror as they watched the man fall to the ground.
"Prue!" Phoebe shouted. "What if he wasn't…"
"I…" Prue started a little shocked.
"He was." Piper interrupted in a scream as the coaster lurched down another hump in the track. "He was using magic on me. I could feel it."
"How?" Prue asked.
"I was going blind." Piper answered.
A few minutes later the roller coaster stopped and the girls climbed out. They pretended to be in shock about the accident. They didn't have to pretend very hard because they were surprised. Not about the accident but about the attack.
The three were witnesses though and had to remain for questioning. A detective soon questioned them. He took Piper off to the side first to ask. He asked them what had happened and how the man had fallen out and they hadn't.
"Well, we were in out seats and that man grabbed me around the throat." Piper told him. "He was strangling me, and then my sisters started slapping and pulling at his hands until they came off. Then the next thing I knew he was screaming and falling to the ground."
The detective was writing everything down in a small palm-sized, black book. He asked Phoebe and Prue their version and they told basically the exact same thing Piper had. He knew they hadn't had enough time to make up a story so they were telling the truth. And they really hadn't had time to make up a story, they just told the truth leaving out the magical details.
They were then permitted to leave. They went back to the Manor and were in the attic checking out the book. There was nothing about a guy that looked like the one at the park.
"Maybe he was in a disguise." Piper suggested.
"Yeah, you know, a human form like…" Phoebe's words trailed off.
Prue just nodded her understanding. "Well what do we do now? We don't know if that fall killed him or not. What if he was mortal?"
"Prue, we didn't kill a mortal. And if we did he was a magical mortal." Piper said reminding her sister. "He had magic, I can assure you of that."
"I guess we just go on with our lives then, huh? I mean what can we do? We had to move on while Marcus and his brother's were after us. We didn't let their threat rule our lives, right?" Prue said.
"Right." Phoebe finalized. "And speaking of Marcus, I have a date." With that she smiled and ran out of the attic to get ready.
Prue and Piper smiled as Phoebe was in her room getting ready. She was looking at two different outfits when Marcus orbed into her room.
"Hey, beautiful." He said.
She turned around ready for a kiss and instead saw a head in her window. She shoved a puckered up Marcus aside, and ran to the window.
"Well, I was expecting something a little less physical but if you insist." Marcus said.
Phoebe searched the window but the face was gone. She pushed it out of her mind, she must have been imagining things and turned to see what Marcus was talking about. She couldn't suppress a smile when she saw she had shoved him onto the bed. He started laughing at her when she blushed. He picked himself off the bed and started for the door.
"I'll be in the attic with your sisters, come in there when you're done." He told her.
"How did you know they…?"
"Okay, I admit it, I was spying. Now, get ready." He turned and shut the door behind him.
(3)
Phoebe and Marcus went out to dinner and a movie and the usual date thing. They had only been together for about a month now. Phoebe was happy things were going so well.
Prue and Piper were back home at the Manor. Piper was cooking breakfast while Prue sat at the bar and watched her. Prue was still talking about the man at the park. She was very interested in what he did to Piper.
"I don't know exactly. It's just, I mean, he put his hands around my throat and everything started fading away, kind of like when someone starts dimming the lights in a room. I couldn't breathe, but I could feel this air or energy filling my lungs, and moving throughout my body. When you broke his grip it all stopped, and I felt normal again." Piper explained.
"Well, maybe if we look in the book for a description of his power instead of a description of him, we'll find out who he is." Prue suggested.
"It's worth a try I guess." Piper said stirring something on the stove.
"So, how do you like Marcus?" Prue asked leaning forward putting her chin in her hands.
"He's a nice guy. At least he's a force of good, and he's not…"
"Cole." Prue finished.
Piper looked up from the stove at her sister. "That's not what I meant."
"Come on, Piper. You know as well as I do that he is no good for her no matter how much she thinks she loves him."
"Prue, she didn't think she loved him, she did love him. And he loved her; you know that from being an empath. Maybe I do feel that way, but she's our sister, and I'm going to support her in whatever she does as long as she's sure it doesn't threaten her life."
"But Cole did, Piper. He tried to kill her, he tried to kill us all."
"I know, Prue, but maybe…" Piper didn't finish her sentence. She wasn't able to find the words.
"Look, no matter what Cole does, he is still a bad guy. He can't change that, and I don't think he can make up for all the bad he has done."
"Prue, you do realize that the man she is with now has done things just as bad? Marcus killed just as many innocents."
"But he didn't want to, his brothers made him do it." Prue said shifting on the stool.
"But he never tried to stop them. He went along with it; he even did some of the killing. I believe that Marcus is completely good now, but back then…?"
"He came to us for help, though. He wanted to be good again." Prue reminded her. "Marcus is good, and Cole isn't. That's how I see it."
"I do too, I just think that Phoebe wasn't completely wrong in what she did. She thought she could help Cole, and maybe she did. We haven't seen him for a long time. If he was really still that evil wouldn't he have come to kill us by now?" Piper said stirring the dinner again. She tore her eyes away from Prue's gaze and looked down at the stove. "But we were talking about Marcus, not Cole, so what do you think about him?"
"I think I'm happy that Phoebe is moving on with her life. She's not living in guilt or dwelling on her mistake. I think Marcus is the perfect man to help her see that mistakes are forgivable."
"I think I totally agree with you." Piper leaned down towards the pot and took a deep breath. She leaned back and smiled at Prue. "Dinner's done."
The two were just finishing up dinner and putting the dishes away when the phone rang. Prue dropped her towel and told Piper she'd get the phone. She walked across to the cabinet and picked up the phone.
"Prue speaking." She answered.
Piper went back to cleaning the dishes and the kitchen. A few minutes later Prue rejoined her. She glanced over her shoulder at Prue.
"Who was that?"
"Oh, that was just Logan. He wanted to know when I was going to make the cancelled date up to him. I told him he could come over for dinner tomorrow." Prue glanced up at Piper. "That's okay, right?"
"Sure, we could have Marcus and Leo over and have a big dinner thing." Piper suggested.
"And watch a good movie." Prue added to the plans.
When they finished cleaning up the kitchen and restoring it to its perfection Prue turned to Piper.
"What do we do now?"
"I don't know." She glanced around the kitchen but it was in perfect order there was nothing left to do. "I guess we could check the book for that guy again."
"Okie dokie," Prue smiled and she and Piper headed towards the attic.
Prue and Piper were in the attic till after midnight. It was around two o'clock when Piper checked her watch. She and Prue still hadn't found anything about the man or his powers. She decided to give up when Piper told Prue what time it was.
"Are you serious? I have to wake up early in the morning!" Prue groaned.
"I can't believe time flies by like that." Piper commented.
"I'll bet that's what a lot of people think after being around you awhile." Prue joked.
"I don't use my powers like that." Piper argued.
"Okay," Prue said. "But I'm going to bed. So, Goodnight?"
"Goodnight." Piper said and Prue headed towards the door. "Love you."
"Love you too." Prue called back from the hall. Piper just smiled and looked back down at the book. She closed the book and then headed to her room. She got ready for bed then climbed under the covers and fell asleep.
The next morning Piper woke up and was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. She decided on something easy and was making toast when Leo and Michael orbed in.
"Leo, and…Marcus?" Piper guessed.
"No, Michael actually." Michael corrected her.
"Oh sorry. So, what's up?" She glanced back down at the toaster.
"We were wondering if you'd seen Marcus or Phoebe yet. He promised to be back by midnight last night and he never showed." Michael told her.
Piper gave a slightly corny smile. "I'm guessing Phoebe is up in her room. Would you like me to go see if maybe Marcus decided to stay for a visit?"
"Would you?" Michael asked.
"I'll be back in a second." Piper answered and headed for her sister's room.
Once outside her room she knocked on Phoebe's door. No answer came. That's strange. Piper thought. She knocked again and there was still no answer. Piper turned the knob and hesitantly peeked in. There was no one there. The bed was perfectly made up.
Leo and Michael were sitting in the solarium when Piper came back. She looked slightly concerned.
"Leo," She started.
"What is it?" He asked standing up.
"Do the little radar thing." She ordered twirling her finger at him.
"Why? Is Phoebe not…"
"Radar thing." She prompted him with a finger in the face.
He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to sense Phoebe. His brow creased with the effort. He couldn't find her.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at Piper. No words were needed. She immediately ran to the phone to call Phoebe's cell. She dialed the number as fast as she could, worry growing with each number she punched. The phone rang several times and there was no answer. Piper hung up and called Prue.
"Hello?" Prue answered.
"Prue, where's Phoebe?" She asked jumping right in. For some reason the conversation that she and Prue had the night before stuck out in her mind.
"What? What do you mean 'where's Phoebe'? She's not at home?" Prue asked.
"No, she's not here."
"Well, call Leo and have him…"
"I did, well they came to me."
"They who?" Prue asked.
"Leo and Michael. They didn't know where Marcus was, so I went to Phoebe's room to get her, and she wasn't there. The bed hadn't even been slept in."
"Okay, Piper, slow down. Did Leo do his little sense us thing?"
"Yeah, and he doesn't know where she is."
"Okay, I'm on my way home." Prue replied.
Prue hung up her phone and went to find her boss.
"I have to go home." She told him.
"Is there any particular reason?"
"My sister just called to tell me that our other sister is missing. She's called everyone and she's really worried." Prue explained.
Her boss frowned, "I hope everything is all right. You may leave."
Prue nodded and thanked him before rushing out to her car.
(4)
"Phoebe, where are you?" Marcus whispered loudly.
He looked around and saw that he was in a cave. He tried orbing and did, he orbed to the other side of the cave. Whoever took us must think I'm some ordinary Joe, otherwise they would have made sure this cave was orb proof. He thought.
"Phoebe? Are you there?" He whispered again, louder.
He heard a groan come from deeper inside the cave. He rushed forward hoping that it was Phoebe. It was.
He ran to her and helped her up off the cold, wet ground.
"Are you okay?" He immediately asked.
"Uh-huh." She muttered rubbing her head. "Where are we?"
"I don't know." He said regretting that it was true. "But we have to get out of here."
"How?" She asked.
"I can still orb, Phoebe. Whoever brought us here evidently didn't know about me." Marcus answered.
"Well, shouldn't we at least find out who brought us here?" Phoebe asked quietly looking around the cave.
"What we should do is get you back home so you can discuss this with your sisters."
"I guess you're right." Phoebe wrapped her arms around his neck as he slipped his arms around her waist and orbed them out.
"Piper, I'm sure Marcus just took her to some secret place or something. He wouldn't let anything happen to her." Prue reassured her frantic sister.
Phoebe and Marcus had been missing for a whole day now, and sure… Prue was just as worried as Piper but she wasn't going to give up. She had searching for Phoebe for hours upon hours coming up with nothing each time. Leo and Michael had gone back up There and were looking for them. Michael informed his other brothers of Marcus's disappearance and they were out searching as well. Prue knew, though, that she had to keep Piper calm.
"Prue, she's been gone long enough. Can't we make a spell to find her or something?" Piper asked in exasperation. "I can't sit here and do nothing."
"Piper, we have to wait. Just a little longer; I'm sure she'll come home." Prue said, not sure how much she believed herself.
"If she isn't home in the next five minutes then I'm going to the book and I'm going to do something! If that involves going back in time to keep her from going out, then I'll do it." Piper threatened.
About that time blue orbs of light began forming into two people in front of Piper and Prue. When the lights faded Piper launched out of her seat at Phoebe. She pulled her into the tightest hug that Phoebe could hardly breathe. Marcus walked to the side a bit. Prue jumped in on the hug and Phoebe was soon begging for breathing space. Piper pulled away and then glared at her sister.
"Where have you been?" Piper demanded to know. "You had me worried sick!"
"Piper, calm down. I'm fine." Phoebe took one of Piper's hands and one of Prue's and led them back to the couch and sat them down to the sides of her. "I wasn't sure where I was. I'm still not sure."
"What do you mean?" Prue asked.
"Marcus and I were on our way back here last night and all I remember was making it to the parking lot." Phoebe explained.
"Last night?" Piper asked. "Phoebe, you've been missing since Tuesday afternoon before you left on your date. It's Thursday today."
"Boy, I must've been hit on the head harder than I thought." Phoebe commented.
"So, you don't know where you were?" Prue asked bringing them back to the topic in question.
"No, I woke up in a dark cave and Marcus was helping me off the ground. He said we had to get out of there and we orbed, so here I am." Phoebe finished.
Prue and Piper turned to look at Marcus who was still standing to the side.
"Thank you for bringing her home safely, Marcus." Piper said.
"I wouldn't do any less. Besides, she was way past curfew." Marcus joked.
Prue and Piper laughed a bit and then Prue remembered the search she had going on.
"Marcus, you might want to go find your brothers and Leo. They've been looking all over for you." Prue told him.
"Oh, thanks." He walked over to Phoebe and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I'll come back when I can." He then turned to the other two and nodded a goodbye, then orbed out.
"I can't believe the luck I have." Prue said out of frustration.
"What do you mean?" Piper asked.
"Well, both of my sisters have fallen in love with angels." Prue said with a smile.
"But you have Logan." Phoebe reminded her.
"Ah, that I do…that I do." She smiled and patted her sister's hand. "I'm glad you're back, Phoebe."
"I'm glad to be home, but I still can't help wondering if my attempted kidnapping had anything to do with the head I saw in my window before Marcus showed up."
"Head? What head?" Piper asked.
"I think it was a man, he was right outside my window looking in, but when I went to see he wasn't there." Phoebe explained.
"I think we should check the book. It might be the man from the roller coaster." Prue said standing up. She headed for the attic and her sisters followed behind.
(5)
Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were in the attic looking through the book. Piper was obviously getting irritated.
"Prue, we went through the book for hours looking for that man. There was nothing!" Piper said after an hour of searching.
"Well, Piper, what do you suggest we do then?" Prue asked getting a little aggravated herself.
"Guys, no, come on, calm down. We don't want to fight." Phoebe reminded them.
Prue sighed and rubbed her forehead. "You're right, Pheebs. I'm sorry, Piper. I don't know what else to do. The book is all we have."
"I know, Prue. I'm sorry too. I guess I'm still a little worked up, that's all."
"Okay, so why don't we call Leo down and ask him what he knows? If anything, and Prue why don't you call Darryl and see if that body disappeared?" Phoebe suggested.
"Will do." Prue headed downstairs to get the phone.
Piper called Leo and he orbed in a few moments later with Tomas. Piper looked at him questioningly.
"Why is Tomas here?" Piper asked.
"Hello, Tomas." Phoebe smiled before turning to Leo with the same curious expression her sister wore.
"I came before you called. This is business." Leo stated.
"There is a young witch who is in great danger. She is one of my charges. There is a warlock after her and she doesn't know enough and isn't strong enough to defeat him. She needs your help." Tomas told Piper and Phoebe.
"What warlock is after her?" Phoebe asked.
"We're not sure. But he's already kill three witched." Tomas replied.
"What did you call for?" Leo asked.
"Haven't you talked to Marcus?" Piper asked.
"Yes, but we had to leave before we could hear what happened." Leo answered.
"Someone kidnapped Marcus and I. I don't know where that person took us, but we think it might be tied in with the man at the amusement park." Phoebe explained, yet again.
"What man?" Leo asked.
"Oh boy," Phoebe sighed.
Prue hung up the phone with Darryl only for it to ring again. She quickly picked it up and answered.
"Logan?" Prue wasn't expecting him to call after she cancelled their date for the second time, this time without explaining.
"Prue, I just want to know if you cancelled our date because of something I did." Logan said.
"No, Logan, I'm sorry I didn't explain but we had a big problem. Phoebe had turned up missing and we couldn't find her. She just came home today. I promise it wasn't you, I just had to be there for Piper, she was worried sick about Phoebe."
"Was she okay? Phoebe I mean." Logan asked.
"Yeah, she was fine. Look, I really want to make our date up to you, but we're still having a few problems here so, I'll have to get back to you."
"Prue, you're sure it's not me?"
"I'm positive. You're great, Logan."
"All right, well, for you then, I'll wait forever." He said before hanging up the phone.
Prue smiled and hung up the phone as the doorbell rang.
"Sure, wait till we're busy to start making visits." She grumbled as she headed to the door.
There was a young man standing there with a bouquet of roses for her. Prue's eyes widened at the flowers. The young man held up a pen and a clipboard. She took the pen and signed before taking the flowers inside to read the card. They were from Logan. Her smile was renewed as she put them in a vase. Then she turned to get back to the attic.
Piper and Phoebe were explaining everything to Leo and Tomas about the man and the roller coaster. Prue came running into the room before she noticed Leo and Tomas she said, "The body is gone. It has to be the man from the park." Then she stopped took a deep breath and noticed Leo and Tomas. "Oh, hi, Leo. Hey there, Tomas." She said sheepishly feeling a little foolish about her screaming.
"It's gone?" Phoebe asked.
"Yep, gone the same day it was brought it." Prue told her.
"Well, does Darryl have anything that was on the body?" Phoebe asked.
"They still have the things that he had in his pockets. Why?" Prue told her.
"Well, if Darryl will let us borrow them I could probably write up a spell to track him by using his things." Phoebe replied.
"Well, all right then, how bout we pay Detective Morris a little visit?" Piper asked leading the way down the stairs.
(6)
Darryl was in his office when a rookie cop came in and announced that he had visitors. He told the young man to show them in as he was putting away a few files he was going over. He sighed when he saw Prue, Piper, and Phoebe walk in.
"What can I do for you ladies now?" He asked.
They spend the most part of the next hour talking about the man that had fallen from the roller coaster. Darryl explained how they went in to get some finger printings to identify him and his body was gone.
He handed Prue all the things they had taken from the man's pockets. They thanked Darryl but told him they had to hurry home and solve their problem. He told them to be careful and showed them out.
Once back at the Manor Phoebe wrote a spell to track the man using the items he had previously had in his possession. Once they had located him they devised a plan and decided to go after him.
They found him in a park just wandering around. He seemed to be looking for something, but they weren't sure what. Prue pulled her sisters down behind a bush to watch.
"We stick to the plan, got it?"
"We got it, Prue, we went over this a hundred times at the house." Phoebe said.
"Right, well, let's go then." Prue jumped up from behind the bushes and started running toward the man. She glanced to make sure no one was around before using her power to fling him into a tree. He tried shooting lightning out of his hands at her, but Piper froze it. He got angry and blinked away. He blinked behind Phoebe, but she was ready she jumped up stopping in the air above him, using her levitation, and flipped around him. She gave him one hard kick in the back sending him to the ground. Piper pulled out a bottle with a cork stopped and threw it at the ground by his head. It burst with a cloud of smoke and when the smoke was gone he was sitting on his knees howling in pain as his flesh melted away. When there was nothing but a pile of dust left Phoebe turned to her sisters.
"That was way too easy. Something's not right." She pointed out.
"I think you're right, Pheebs. That was too easy." Prue agreed.
"So, what do we do about it?" Piper asked.
"I don't guess there is anything we can do. He's gone…and unless his ashes jump up to get us, we've done our done." Prue answered.
"Hmm, so we just go home?" Phoebe asked.
"Guess so," Prue replied.
The three got back into the Jeep and headed for the manor. They were being very cautious and watchful. They knew that vanquish had been too easy, and they were waiting for the bad part to hit them. Something had to be attached to that, it couldn't be that easy. Could it?
When they made it back to the manor they were sitting together in the solarium watching Piper water the flowers. Phoebe wasn't sure this time, if it was because she was nervous or because they really were dying, the flowers that is. They were going over possible causes the warlock had been so easy to vanquish when Leo orbed it.
"What?" Phoebe asked.
"The Elders told me to inform you that you really did vanquish that warlock." Leo said.
"Are you serious?" Prue asked unbelieving.
"Dead serious."
Piper let out a little laugh. "Okay, so why was it so easy then?"
"He was just a very weak and very stupid warlock. He was causing all types of problems both for the Source and the Elders. I think this time you've done both sides a favor by killing him."
"I guess this really was the perfect day I was looking forward too." Prue laughed.
