Piper and Paige sat at the table, looking over magazines about babies, looking at clothes.
"Doesn't this look nice?" Paige asked, holding up a picture of a pink, fuzzy outfit.
"Yeah, if you think pink and fuzzy are ultimate weapons for white-lighters," Piper replied sarcastically. Paige glared at her sister
"If you're going to cut down all of these, your girl is going to be a naked white- lighter," Paige returned. "I don't see what's so wrong about all of the one's I've mentioned."
"They're all fuzzy, and all pink!" Piper explained. "I don't know if I want to stare at the kid all day, every day if she's wearing the same thing."
When they returned to browsing, millions of small blue and white spheres floated
down, and materialized into Leo. He didn't look happy.
"Hi, honey," Piper greeted him. When she saw his face, she asked," What's wrong now?"
"The Elders have found a new threat. There's a demon by the name of Melphuis that is after a new witch. If he gets those powers, there's no telling how many deaths there will be." Leo stopped, and looked down. "The Elders wants the Charmed Ones to stop him."
"They are always wanting something. Okay. Paige, let's go scry for the demon," Piper started planning. "I'll look in the Book of Shadows for some kind of vanquishing spell or potion, and get it ready. After you're done scrying, we can go take him out."
The three went upstairs to the attic—Piper retrieved the Book of Shadows; Paige, a map of San Francisco and the crystal pendant on a chain; Leo, standing in the middle of the room. As the crystal, dangling from Paige's hand, swung in a circle, Piper found a page in the book titled "Melphius." Out loud she read:
"Demon of shadows, his power includes the ability to mimic or steal another being's power. Hmm…ah, here's a spell." Piper wrote it down.
The crystal fell to the map, in a downtown area. "Downtown, near 45th and Neimer," Paige said.
Leo nodded. "You two go ahead. I'll get Phoebe. You'll need the power of three to defeat this one." As soon as he finished, he orbed, turning back into many blue and white spheres and flowing upwards. Piper and Paige watched him go, and took hold of each other. Exercising her power, Paige orbed as well, transporting her and Piper to the area.
They arrived to see a man in ragged clothing standing over a boy with his hand raised. In it, he held a ball of orange energy, ready to throw it. That must have been Melphius.
"Freeze!" Piper yelled, and shook her hands at the demon. A crate nearby exploded to splinters, getting the demon's attention.
"Witch," he uttered, and threw his energy ball at her. Paige summoned the energy ball from its course, and threw it back at him. Stinging him, he stood dumbfounded.
Quickly, Paige and Piper looked together at the spell Piper had copied. Together they chanted:
"Demon thief you be
Your powers are taken
Go to the grave
By the powers that be!"
Melphius grunted from pain, but he was too strong for the spell to work with two witches. Instead, knowing he couldn't defeat them, he shimmered, teleporting far from the area.
Piper and Paige rushed to the boy, to make sure he was okay. Blood was running down his head and arm, but it wasn't too bad. After a combined effort to staunch the blood, they tried to wake him up.
Slowly, his eyes opened. "Who…are you? What happened?" Then, as if he realized what had happened, crawled back as quickly as he could. Paige tried to follow, but with a quick motion of the boy's hands, she was stopped suddenly, as if running to a wall. Helped up by Piper, the youngest sister looked at the boy in awe.
"He…he has powers."
The boy looked scared. "I have what?"