Piper jerked awake and lifted her head from the tabletop where she had fallen asleep. She heard the telltale jingle of Prue's keys and the click of her designer heels on the floorboards and she watched the doorway expectantly.
"I got it!" Her elder sister brandished a large, gaudy medallion in the air. "You didn't run into any problems while I was gone, did you?" she asked, noting the odd look of double-relief in Piper's expression.
"Problems? No. Although… Patty and I have an interesting tale to tell. Oh, and I think I found a spell that will work, at least I hope it will work."
Prue allowed a small smile. "Spell first, story after."
Piper flashed a smile unlike any that had graced her face since Phoebe's disappearance. "My thoughts on the matter exactly."
"Leo!"
They sprinted up the stairs toward the attic, Leo joining them on the second floor landing. The attic door flew open under their rushed entrance and Prue held the amulet out for Piper to grasp as well. There was no time to spare and they all three took their positions in hurried preparation.
"A sister lost
to foreign hells,
lead us to
where evil dwells."
Prue quirked an eyebrow and Piper shrugged in reply. Sometimes the most complex problems had the simplest solutions. After they had said the spell thrice, a flash of light blinded them as a vortex opened in the center of the room, a window into the hellish dimension where Phoebe had been held for so long.
Once inside the cavern, they peered into the dim recesses of the room, searching for any sign that would point them in the right direction. At the rear of the room, Piper could just make out the shape of a figure on the floor.
"Phoebe?" She rushed across the floor and dropped to her knees, laying a hand on her baby sister's cheek. The sharp intake of breath at Piper's touch was music to their ears. "Leo, orb us the hell out of here."
Piper and Prue watched the deep shadows for any sign of attack but after two years it seemed the Source had relaxed his guard of his prized Charmed One. Leo lifted Phoebe and quickly studied her grime-covered face, letting out a soft gasp as she opened her eyes.
"I knew… if I could just… wait long enough… I knew you'd come," she rasped and lapsed into silence as she and Leo were joined by her sisters and the blue glimmering lights of Leo's power surrounded them.
~~~
"Piper? Honey, are you okay?"
"I can't believe you just let her wander off up here by herself," Phoebe growled.
"Like you tried to stop her," Prudence remarked snidely. "You were right there with me, Phoebe. I didn't hear you try to talk her out of it."
Phoebe chose to ignore the barb and climbed the last of the steps to the second floor. "Piper?" Her voice caught when she spied the open door to her sister's bedroom.
The room was dark and when Prudence tried the light switch, they were greeted by a bright flash and pop. "It's burned out," she stated needlessly. "Doesn't she have a lamp in here somewhere?"
"Yeah, on the bedside table." Phoebe had already crossed the room to locate the lamp when her foot connected with something. "What in the…" She knelt down and gingerly drug her fingertips across the floor until they brushed against something that felt frighteningly like Piper's hand. "Oh my God. Prudence, help me." Phoebe felt for the rest of her sister's body and drug her closer so that she could cradle Piper's head in her lap.
Frantically, Phoebe pressed her fingers to Piper's throat, desperately searching for a pulse as Prudence managed to maneuver to the lamp and switch it on. Soft radiance filled the room, chasing the worst of the shadows back into their hiding places and casting unrelenting light on the scene.
"Piper?" Phoebe's voice shook as her fingers pressed deeper into the soft skin of Piper's neck. "Call 911, now!" she shouted to Prudence who stood as if entranced by the scene that was unfolding before her eyes.
Phoebe brushed the lank hair back from Piper's eyes and stared down into the face she had come to depend upon in innumerable ways. How would she be able to go on without Piper to confide in? Then again, she couldn't remember the last time she had allowed her sister to play anything more than a walk on role in her life. Phoebe had told herself that by distancing herself from Piper, she had been sparing her beloved sister from pain. The truth of the matter was that her very isolation had been far more devastating.
"The ambulance is on its way."
Phoebe hadn't even noticed that Prudence had left the room. Her eldest sister's voice was flat, emotionless from the shock of what was occurring. She knelt next to Piper and lifted her lifeless hand to press it between her own warm palms.
"We did this to her."
Phoebe's eyes brimmed with tears and she slowly nodded in agreement. "I never meant…"
Prudence closed her eyes against the raw pain in Phoebe's voice.
"They're too late," Phoebe choked out when she heard the trill of the ambulance siren muffled and displaced by the sudden downpour of rain outside. "She's… she's already…"
"Yeah." Prue marveled at how quickly the heat seeped from Piper's skin and she pushed away the glimmering feeling of relief that flooded through her mind quickly followed by devastating guilt and grief. There would be no more phone calls to San Francisco; no more internet time spent researching anorexia rather than spending time on her job.
Phoebe had been right to blame her, she had been all too aware of the extent of Piper's illness and she had abandoned her anyway. She hadn't wanted to be burdened by it any longer. Hadn't she been responsible for her family for long enough? She had been frightened by the implication of Piper's deterioration, haunted by the knowledge that she had failed to protect even the most levelheaded of her sisters. She had run away just as Phoebe had. Now she was faced with the undeniable truth that Piper was lost to them forever.
~~~
"Slow down, girl," Phoebe chuckled. "There's plenty more. Besides, if you keep shoveling it in like that, you're going to be sick."
"I don't care," Piper said, her words muffled by a mouthful of lo mein. "I don't know what I missed more, eating or you guys." She grinned at the chorus of feigned outrage her comment had elicited.
"Ha, ha," Prue replied, resting her chin on her fist and watching Piper continue to eat. "Very funny." She couldn't tear her eyes away from her sister and it appeared, from Leo's constant and unwavering attention, their whitelighter was experiencing the same problem.
The kitchen was bright and warm, filled with the sounds of talking and laughter as the Charmed Ones caught up on the events that had occurred during their separation and tried to return their topsy-turvy lives to at least a semblance of normalcy, at least to their own special brand of normalcy.
"Hey, you said you had some stories for me," Piper reminded Phoebe, reaching for another pot sticker.
"Oh yeah, but I'm warning you, it sounds like a bad science fiction show."
Piper listened as Phoebe told about the alternate reality, about the other Piper's assistance and the existence of little Patty. When Phoebe had finished, Piper gazed thoughtfully at the tabletop. "It's frightening to think of all that could have happened," Piper said, her voice whisper-soft. "To think we could have ever grown so far apart as we were in the place I was…"
"I wish there was something we could do for the other you… she… you were so sick," Phoebe lamented softly after listening to Piper's own story. She idly picked up a fortune cookie and tore open the plastic package it was wrapped in.
"No, there's nothing," Piper whispered.
Prue cocked her head and reached out to brush a lock of hair behind Piper's ear. "Why do you say that? The other you helped us get to where you were, maybe there's something…"
Piper shook her head. "It's too late. I knew it when I was there, I could feel it. My heart was, I don't know how to explain it… I'm just glad we didn't end up like they did."
"Never," Phoebe said as she squeezed Piper's arm and gave her a dazzling smile. "We know the truth about what can happen now and there's no way we'll ever let it get that far."
~~~
The memorial service ended and the last of the attendees departed the manor. The rains had begun on the night Piper had died and had not ceased in their onslaught, bringing a heavy dampness to even the deepest corners of the house.
Phoebe slowly climbed the stairs while Prudence sat at the kitchen table, the phone clutched in a white-knuckled fist, while she explained to her husband what she felt she needed to do before she left San Francisco. Phoebe couldn't take anymore of Prudence's deepening guilt-filled depression and had fled upstairs. She listened with half an ear as she neared the second floor.
"I know, but this is my family too. Piper was my sister and I lost her and I'll be damned if I'm going to lose Phoebe… I don't care, she's the only sister I have left… Tell them to shove their deadline and their job if that's what it takes for me to stay here… And I had a responsibility to Piper that I just ignored. I'm not willing to risk doing that again."
She let her feet guide her away from Prue's aching conversation and to the door to Piper's room. She had avoided entering since the night they had found Piper crumpled on the floor, letting Prudence choose the burial clothes alone. But now… Something drew her to open the door. She could picture her sister sitting on the bed, her long hair cascading down her back as she wrote in her journal. How many times had she barged into Piper's room as she wrote? How many arguments had begun with her failure to knock before opening the door?
Phoebe saw the old familiar journal resting on the table at the bedside but for the first time she noticed the book beneath it, large and old and looking curiously out of place among Piper's things. She sat down on the bed and took both books from the table to lay them in front of her.
It was several hours later when Prudence leaned against the doorway. She cleared her throat to draw Phoebe's attention. "What's that?" she asked quietly.
Phoebe's head jerked up. "I don't know really. Piper found it in the attic. It's called," she flipped back a few pages in the journal, "the Book of Shadows. Listen to this…"
Phoebe lifted the journal and began to read aloud. "It's so quiet here now with Prue gone too. I thought I would try to straighten up in the attic a little and I found some of Grams' old things. There's this book, The Book of Shadows. I can't help but feel that there's something Prue and Pheebs and I were supposed to do with that book, something very important. I guess it doesn't matter though, I'm the only one left here." Phoebe rifled through the journal and stopped at a later entry. "I think the book is filled with spells and demons and potions. I don't know what it all means but I still can't shake that weird feeling. It talks about killing demons and warlocks and something called the Charmed Ones and the Power of Three. I wonder if I should tell Prue about it the next time she calls… Probably she'd just think I was trying to get her to come back here to the manor. And I don't even know how to call Pheebs. I guess that if I am supposed to understand, I'll figure it out sooner or later. Sooner would be a lot better than later though, just in case anyone 'up there' was wondering."
"What do you think it means?" Prudence asked, leafing through the first pages of the musty old book.
"I dunno, maybe nothing… maybe everything."
Prudence caught Phoebe's gaze and smiled slightly. "Come on, let's get out of here and get something to eat."
"Okay, how about that restaurant over in Chinatown, the one Piper liked so much."
Prudence nodded and rose to follow Phoebe out the door. She paused on the threshold for a moment, turning to look around the room once more. "I hope that wherever you are, you're happy now, Piper. You deserve your peace."
"You coming, Prue?"
She closed the door and cut her eyes at Phoebe. "Sure, Pheebs… I'm coming."
the end… finally