"Piper! Phoebe!"
Piper started when she heard Paige's frantic voice followed by the sound of the front door slamming closed. She dropped her book onto her bed, frowning as she ran from her room and headed downstairs. Paige only hollered like that when she was very worried or upset. "Paige, what's the matter?"
Paige was panting so hard that she couldn't answer. Her breath was coming out in ragged gasps and as soon as Piper saw the tears in her sister's eyes, she rushed over to her, wrapping her arm around her tightly. She had never seen Paige so close to panicking. "What's wrong?"
"Mindy hasn't been at the park in three days," she said between shallow breaths, "and I can't shake the feeling that something's really wrong--"
"Shh," Piper said, gently running her hand down Piper's cheek, "come here. It'll be okay."
She led Paige into the parlor and sat her down just as Phoebe came running down the stairs. "Paige, honey, what's the matter?"
"Where were you?" Piper asked, nestling closely next to Paige.
Phoebe settled herself in the chair. "Up in the attic checking supplies, but then I heard Paige yelling. What's going on?"
"Mindy hasn't been at the park in three days," Paige said again, though a little more calmly than before. "I haven't seen her since the day she told me about her power. I went to her house today to see if she was okay, but no one answered the door."
"Well, sweetie, maybe she's sick," Piper said gently.
"She was perfectly fine three days ago, though," Paige reminded her.
"Maybe her parents are cracking down on her," Phoebe offered. "Like, maybe they're finally starting to pay attention to her and they're restricting her or something."
"Yeah, maybe," Paige said, staring down at her hands. She gently pulled away from Piper and stood up, running her fingers through her hair. "I'm, uh, going upstairs, if you need me."
"Okay, hon." Piper watched her youngest sister retreat up the stairs, and after a moment, she thought she heard music start coming from the radio in Paige's room. Sighing, she leaned back against the sofa. "Phoebe, she's really worried."
Phoebe gazed up the stairs and sighed as well. "I know, and I wish I knew what to say to her." She turned her attention back to Piper and tried to read her sister's face. "Do you think she has reason to be worried?"
"I guess all that matters is she is worried, whether we think she has reason to be or not," Piper said. She stood up and grabbed Phoebe's hand, tugging her off the chair. "Come on, let's just make sure she's okay."
Piper and Phoebe both tiptoed up the stairs and then down the hall to Paige's room. The door was closed and Paige did indeed have soft music playing on her stereo. Piper slowly opened the door and peeked into the room. Paige was sitting up on her bed, leaning back against the headboard with her eyes closed. Piper smiled and quietly waved Phoebe into the room. Piper sat down on one side of the bed as Phoebe settled on the other. Paige started at the pressure on the mattress and opened her eyes. "Sorry, Paige, we didn't mean to scare you," Piper said with a smile. "We just wanted to make sure you're okay."
"I'm fine," she said, shrugging. "I'm just sitting here listening to my music."
Piper nodded and nudged Paige over a little so that she could sit next to her. Paige complied and pushed over, closing her eyes again. Piper settled down next to her sister and just listened to the music. "Hey, who is this?" she asked after a moment.
"Savage Garden," Paige answered without opening her eyes.
"They're good. You think I could get them to play the club?"
Paige smirked. Leave it to Piper to be thinking of something that could drum up business. "That might be a little difficult."
"Why?"
She opened her eyes, turning her head to face Piper. "Well, for one, they're based in Australia, and for another, they broke up last year."
"Really?" she asked with a slight whine. Paige nodded, giggling. "Yeah, you're right, that makes things a little difficult." Paige laughed and faced forward, but her happy expression soon dropped to one clouded with concern. Piper looked her over quickly before speaking up. "Paige, you're not the sulking in your room type. What's the matter?"
Paige sighed and slouched a little, dropping her gaze to her hands. "I'm just really worried about her. I did think at first that she was sick, but not for three days. I tried to call the school just to see if she'd been in class, but they wouldn't tell me anything because I'm not her family." She finally looked up, locking eyes with Phoebe. "And what you said about her parents keeping her home would make sense in any other situation, but not this one."
"Why not, hon?" Phoebe asked.
"Parents like that don't change that fast," she said quietly. "I mean, one day she's making her own dinner and putting herself to bed, and the next, she's not even allowed out of the house? It just doesn't track." She sighed again, trying to fight the lump that was rising in her throat. "I just really feel like she's in some kind of trouble--"
"Shh." Piper wrapped her arm around Paige's shoulders and gave her a light squeeze. "Tell you what. If she doesn't show up tomorrow, we'll call Darryl and see what he knows, okay?" Paige nodded, appeared to relax a little, and at Phoebe's invitation, rested her head on Phoebe's shoulder. Piper looked over at the two of them and tried to think of something else she could do for Paige. She had never seen Paige this tense, and she hated that she couldn't think of anything remotely helpful to say or do. After a few moments, she had a thought. She wasn't even sure that it was possible, but at least trying it would be better than doing nothing. "Do you think you could sense her?"
Paige sat up, her eyes immediately filling with uncertainty. "Could I? I mean, I've only really sensed Leo. If I stretch it, I can sort of sense you guys, but . . ."
"Well, she has a power," Phoebe said, grinning when she picked up on Piper's reasoning, "and you have a connection to her that we don't. Just try calling to her power and let her answer back."
Paige looked from one sister to the other, then shook her head. "What if I can't?"
"We'll be no worse off than we are now," Piper assured her.
"It's worth a shot, Paige," Phoebe said comfortingly. "It can't hurt anything."
After a moment of hesitation, Paige sighed. Wordlessly, she made herself a little more comfortable and closed her eyes, preparing to concentrate. "This might take a while."
"That's perfectly fine," Piper said. She stood up and turned the radio off, then sat back down at the foot of the bed, wanting to give Paige a little room. Phoebe joined her, and they both watched Paige closely to make sure she was okay. Paige's muscles relaxed as she began concentrating on finding Mindy. After a few minutes, nothing had happened, and Piper began wondering if they should tell Paige they'd try later. She glanced over at Phoebe, silently asking her what they should do. Phoebe just held up her hand, indicating that she wanted to give Paige a few more minutes to make the connection.
Just as Piper was getting ready to tell her they'd try again in a little bit, Paige gasped. "I can see her," she said softly, her eyes still closed. "She's with this guy . . . she thinks it's safe, but it's not. He's evil, Piper, he's evil--"
"Ohh, shh," Piper said quietly, gripping Paige's hand to relax her. "Is anyone else there?"
"A bunch of people," she answered. "Men and women of all ages. He's telling her that they're going to hurt her and that he's protecting her, but it's a lie. He's just using her."
"It'll be okay," Piper said. Paige let out a tense breath as Leo orbed into the room. Piper guessed that he had sensed the activity in the room and was a little confused. She held up her hand, cutting him off before he could ask what they were doing. She didn't want Paige to get distracted by Leo's voice and lose the connection. "How is he using her?"
She made a face and shifted uncomfortably. "I . . . I don't know. You guys, she's different."
"Different how?" Phoebe asked. She was starting to get a little scared both for Mindy and for Paige. "Different from how you know her?"
"No, different from everyone around her," she answered, making a face again. "I-I can't really put my finger on it, but I know she's different somehow."
Piper could tell that Paige was getting upset, so she tried to shift her focus from the people to the surroundings. "Can you see where they are? Can you see any trees, buildings, or anything that'll help us find her?"
Paige moaned softly, tightly squeezing her eyes shut. "It's too foggy. I can't see anything but the people."
Leo gasped, suddenly getting an idea of where they could be. "Is it light or dark?" he asked quietly so as not to disrupt the connection.
"Both. Some parts are really, really bright, but other parts are so dark it's like there's no light at all. He's keeping her in the dark places and won't let her go anywhere near the light places."
"Piper, we have to get her away from him," Leo whispered into her ear.
Piper whirled around, alarmed by the urgency in her husband's voice. What was going on? How were they going to get Mindy away from him if they didn't even know where she was? Their only hope was that Paige could somehow get through to her. "Paige, try to talk to her. Tell her it's not safe and she has to get away from him as soon as possible."
"That's pushing her powers to the limit," Leo warned. Piper just nodded, silently indicating that she knew that, and continued to watch Paige very closely.
Paige allowed her muscles to relax once again, her breath becoming even and regular. After another minute or two, she quickly tensed up and drew in her breath, immediately becoming upset. "He won't let me talk to her! He's blocking me somehow . . . oh God, he's saying that she's his now and he won't ever let her go."
"It's okay," Piper said gently, shaking Paige's arm to try to break her concentration. She looked like she was on the verge of tears, but she was so deeply into the connection that Piper didn't know how to distract her. Thinking quickly, Phoebe jumped off the bed, ran over, and slammed the bedroom door shut, hoping the noise would be loud enough to cut through the connection.
It worked. Paige gasped, startled by the noise, and opened her eyes. Almost immediately, Piper wrapped her in a comforting hug. "Shh, it's okay, honey, it's okay. I know that had to have been so scary for you." Paige hugged her back, calming down after a moment or two. Once Paige had calmed down a little, Piper turned to Leo. "I know you know something. What is it?"
"Let's go up to the attic for this," he said softly. "You're going to need the Book of Shadows."
"You know where she is?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah, I do," he answered, eyeing Paige carefully, "and I don't think you guys are going to like what I have to say."
**********
Paige followed Piper and Leo up the attic stairs in a daze. The connection had both exhausted and terrified her. When she felt Phoebe comfortingly sling her arm around her shoulders, she gave her a grateful smile, but she was too worried to relax about anything. Mindy was in trouble, more trouble than she had even imagined, and she had no idea how to help her. She didn't know what the man who had the little girl wanted with her, but she did know that it wasn't going to be easy to get her back. She was beginning to wonder if it was even possible to rescue the little girl.
"Okay, Leo," Piper said, taking her place behind the Book's lectern, "what do you know?"
He met Paige's eyes for a moment as Phoebe sat her down on the old sofa and then sat down herself, keeping a tight, comforting grip on her younger sister. Clearing his throat, he looked back up at Piper, not wanting to watch Paige's reaction. "From what Paige described, it sounds like she's being held in a dimension between . . ." he trailed off, trying to think of how best to explain it without scaring them too much.
"What, between life and death?" Piper asked.
Leo shook his head and decided that there was no use sugarcoating it. "Between death and redemption."
Paige looked up at him, panicked at the implications of being stuck in such a dimension. "Wait, are you telling me she's--"
"No," Leo assured her. "She's very much alive. Remember how you were saying you felt she was different from everyone around her?" Paige nodded, not quite following Leo's train of thought. "It's because she's alive and everyone else in there is dead. You were sensing her life force."
Paige let out a sigh of relief. "So she's fine?"
"For now, yes."
"Wait, back up a second," Piper said, waving her hand to get Leo's attention. "What exactly is this dimension? Mindy told Paige that the ghosts stay here until the light comes."
"Mindy's so young she probably doesn't even know about it," Leo said. "When the ghosts stay here for a long time, and I'm talking decades upon decades, they get sent to this dimension called Twilight to force their hand. Sometimes they get distracted by all the things here on Earth, but all there is in Twilight is the light and the dark, which is how it gets its name. They can choose to remain lost in the dark or they can go into the light. Mostly, they don't remain in the dark for too long because there's nothing there but the darkness. Eventually, they become attracted to the light and all the promises it holds."
"Paige said he was using her," Phoebe said quietly, trying to think. "Is it possible he's using her as a distraction? Like, he's using her to keep the others away from the light?"
"I think that's exactly what he's doing," Leo answered. "The others are attracted to the one thing Mindy has that they don't and they want desperately: a life force. More than likely, he's keeping her in the darkness and not letting her go anywhere else so she can't lead the others to the light."
"Why would anyone do that?" Piper asked as she skimmed the pages of the Book of Shadows. "On both sides of the coin. Why would anyone keep a group of people from crossing over and why would anyone stay with someone trying to keep him or her from crossing over?"
"He's their leader," Phoebe said with a shrug. "They followed him in life and they're continuing to do so in the afterlife."
"Great, so we're dealing with a dead cult leader now?"
"Leo, what's happening to her there?" Paige asked, quietly speaking up for the first time in a while. "You said she was fine for now. What about a little later?"
Leo bit his lip, not wanting to tell Paige what could happen. He didn't want her to panic and he couldn't think of any way to make the information any easier to hear. "Twilight isn't a place meant for people who are alive, Paige. When people who are alive get stuck in there, they get physically weaker by the day and their will to hold onto their life force lessens."
"But she'll be fine, right? She's not going to die or anything?"
Leo hesitated again. "If you guys work quickly and consistently, nothing will happen to her."
Paige gave him a cautionary sideways glance, trying to keep the tears that were gathering in her eyes from spilling over. "How much time do we have?"
"Well, if we assume she's been there as long as she's been gone, you have a little less than a week before the point of no return. It usually corresponds with the person's age, a day for each year."
Paige took a deep breath and straightened, setting her shoulders. She was determined not to panic. Mindy needed her to be strong and decisive. "So what do we do?"
"First we have to figure out exactly what happened to her," Phoebe said, comfortingly tightening her grip on Paige. "We have to go to her parents."
"We'll be exposing ourselves," Piper started.
"It doesn't matter," Paige interrupted, shaking her head. "If Mindy's clairvoyant, her mother is, too. I somehow don't think the leap from clairvoyance to witches is a large one. I'm more worried about how I'm going to explain to them how I know her in the first place. I mean, what am I going to say, 'Your daughter was craving attention and I decided to keep her company'?"
"We'll think of something on the way, sweetie," Piper said, crossing the room and gently taking Paige's hands. "Come on, we don't have a lot of time."
Paige stood up and allowed her sisters to lead her downstairs, all the while trying to think of what to say to Mindy's parents. She was not looking forward to this meeting with Mindy's parents at all. She just didn't know how she could tell two people that unless they all worked quickly, their little girl wouldn't be coming home ever again.
Piper started when she heard Paige's frantic voice followed by the sound of the front door slamming closed. She dropped her book onto her bed, frowning as she ran from her room and headed downstairs. Paige only hollered like that when she was very worried or upset. "Paige, what's the matter?"
Paige was panting so hard that she couldn't answer. Her breath was coming out in ragged gasps and as soon as Piper saw the tears in her sister's eyes, she rushed over to her, wrapping her arm around her tightly. She had never seen Paige so close to panicking. "What's wrong?"
"Mindy hasn't been at the park in three days," she said between shallow breaths, "and I can't shake the feeling that something's really wrong--"
"Shh," Piper said, gently running her hand down Piper's cheek, "come here. It'll be okay."
She led Paige into the parlor and sat her down just as Phoebe came running down the stairs. "Paige, honey, what's the matter?"
"Where were you?" Piper asked, nestling closely next to Paige.
Phoebe settled herself in the chair. "Up in the attic checking supplies, but then I heard Paige yelling. What's going on?"
"Mindy hasn't been at the park in three days," Paige said again, though a little more calmly than before. "I haven't seen her since the day she told me about her power. I went to her house today to see if she was okay, but no one answered the door."
"Well, sweetie, maybe she's sick," Piper said gently.
"She was perfectly fine three days ago, though," Paige reminded her.
"Maybe her parents are cracking down on her," Phoebe offered. "Like, maybe they're finally starting to pay attention to her and they're restricting her or something."
"Yeah, maybe," Paige said, staring down at her hands. She gently pulled away from Piper and stood up, running her fingers through her hair. "I'm, uh, going upstairs, if you need me."
"Okay, hon." Piper watched her youngest sister retreat up the stairs, and after a moment, she thought she heard music start coming from the radio in Paige's room. Sighing, she leaned back against the sofa. "Phoebe, she's really worried."
Phoebe gazed up the stairs and sighed as well. "I know, and I wish I knew what to say to her." She turned her attention back to Piper and tried to read her sister's face. "Do you think she has reason to be worried?"
"I guess all that matters is she is worried, whether we think she has reason to be or not," Piper said. She stood up and grabbed Phoebe's hand, tugging her off the chair. "Come on, let's just make sure she's okay."
Piper and Phoebe both tiptoed up the stairs and then down the hall to Paige's room. The door was closed and Paige did indeed have soft music playing on her stereo. Piper slowly opened the door and peeked into the room. Paige was sitting up on her bed, leaning back against the headboard with her eyes closed. Piper smiled and quietly waved Phoebe into the room. Piper sat down on one side of the bed as Phoebe settled on the other. Paige started at the pressure on the mattress and opened her eyes. "Sorry, Paige, we didn't mean to scare you," Piper said with a smile. "We just wanted to make sure you're okay."
"I'm fine," she said, shrugging. "I'm just sitting here listening to my music."
Piper nodded and nudged Paige over a little so that she could sit next to her. Paige complied and pushed over, closing her eyes again. Piper settled down next to her sister and just listened to the music. "Hey, who is this?" she asked after a moment.
"Savage Garden," Paige answered without opening her eyes.
"They're good. You think I could get them to play the club?"
Paige smirked. Leave it to Piper to be thinking of something that could drum up business. "That might be a little difficult."
"Why?"
She opened her eyes, turning her head to face Piper. "Well, for one, they're based in Australia, and for another, they broke up last year."
"Really?" she asked with a slight whine. Paige nodded, giggling. "Yeah, you're right, that makes things a little difficult." Paige laughed and faced forward, but her happy expression soon dropped to one clouded with concern. Piper looked her over quickly before speaking up. "Paige, you're not the sulking in your room type. What's the matter?"
Paige sighed and slouched a little, dropping her gaze to her hands. "I'm just really worried about her. I did think at first that she was sick, but not for three days. I tried to call the school just to see if she'd been in class, but they wouldn't tell me anything because I'm not her family." She finally looked up, locking eyes with Phoebe. "And what you said about her parents keeping her home would make sense in any other situation, but not this one."
"Why not, hon?" Phoebe asked.
"Parents like that don't change that fast," she said quietly. "I mean, one day she's making her own dinner and putting herself to bed, and the next, she's not even allowed out of the house? It just doesn't track." She sighed again, trying to fight the lump that was rising in her throat. "I just really feel like she's in some kind of trouble--"
"Shh." Piper wrapped her arm around Paige's shoulders and gave her a light squeeze. "Tell you what. If she doesn't show up tomorrow, we'll call Darryl and see what he knows, okay?" Paige nodded, appeared to relax a little, and at Phoebe's invitation, rested her head on Phoebe's shoulder. Piper looked over at the two of them and tried to think of something else she could do for Paige. She had never seen Paige this tense, and she hated that she couldn't think of anything remotely helpful to say or do. After a few moments, she had a thought. She wasn't even sure that it was possible, but at least trying it would be better than doing nothing. "Do you think you could sense her?"
Paige sat up, her eyes immediately filling with uncertainty. "Could I? I mean, I've only really sensed Leo. If I stretch it, I can sort of sense you guys, but . . ."
"Well, she has a power," Phoebe said, grinning when she picked up on Piper's reasoning, "and you have a connection to her that we don't. Just try calling to her power and let her answer back."
Paige looked from one sister to the other, then shook her head. "What if I can't?"
"We'll be no worse off than we are now," Piper assured her.
"It's worth a shot, Paige," Phoebe said comfortingly. "It can't hurt anything."
After a moment of hesitation, Paige sighed. Wordlessly, she made herself a little more comfortable and closed her eyes, preparing to concentrate. "This might take a while."
"That's perfectly fine," Piper said. She stood up and turned the radio off, then sat back down at the foot of the bed, wanting to give Paige a little room. Phoebe joined her, and they both watched Paige closely to make sure she was okay. Paige's muscles relaxed as she began concentrating on finding Mindy. After a few minutes, nothing had happened, and Piper began wondering if they should tell Paige they'd try later. She glanced over at Phoebe, silently asking her what they should do. Phoebe just held up her hand, indicating that she wanted to give Paige a few more minutes to make the connection.
Just as Piper was getting ready to tell her they'd try again in a little bit, Paige gasped. "I can see her," she said softly, her eyes still closed. "She's with this guy . . . she thinks it's safe, but it's not. He's evil, Piper, he's evil--"
"Ohh, shh," Piper said quietly, gripping Paige's hand to relax her. "Is anyone else there?"
"A bunch of people," she answered. "Men and women of all ages. He's telling her that they're going to hurt her and that he's protecting her, but it's a lie. He's just using her."
"It'll be okay," Piper said. Paige let out a tense breath as Leo orbed into the room. Piper guessed that he had sensed the activity in the room and was a little confused. She held up her hand, cutting him off before he could ask what they were doing. She didn't want Paige to get distracted by Leo's voice and lose the connection. "How is he using her?"
She made a face and shifted uncomfortably. "I . . . I don't know. You guys, she's different."
"Different how?" Phoebe asked. She was starting to get a little scared both for Mindy and for Paige. "Different from how you know her?"
"No, different from everyone around her," she answered, making a face again. "I-I can't really put my finger on it, but I know she's different somehow."
Piper could tell that Paige was getting upset, so she tried to shift her focus from the people to the surroundings. "Can you see where they are? Can you see any trees, buildings, or anything that'll help us find her?"
Paige moaned softly, tightly squeezing her eyes shut. "It's too foggy. I can't see anything but the people."
Leo gasped, suddenly getting an idea of where they could be. "Is it light or dark?" he asked quietly so as not to disrupt the connection.
"Both. Some parts are really, really bright, but other parts are so dark it's like there's no light at all. He's keeping her in the dark places and won't let her go anywhere near the light places."
"Piper, we have to get her away from him," Leo whispered into her ear.
Piper whirled around, alarmed by the urgency in her husband's voice. What was going on? How were they going to get Mindy away from him if they didn't even know where she was? Their only hope was that Paige could somehow get through to her. "Paige, try to talk to her. Tell her it's not safe and she has to get away from him as soon as possible."
"That's pushing her powers to the limit," Leo warned. Piper just nodded, silently indicating that she knew that, and continued to watch Paige very closely.
Paige allowed her muscles to relax once again, her breath becoming even and regular. After another minute or two, she quickly tensed up and drew in her breath, immediately becoming upset. "He won't let me talk to her! He's blocking me somehow . . . oh God, he's saying that she's his now and he won't ever let her go."
"It's okay," Piper said gently, shaking Paige's arm to try to break her concentration. She looked like she was on the verge of tears, but she was so deeply into the connection that Piper didn't know how to distract her. Thinking quickly, Phoebe jumped off the bed, ran over, and slammed the bedroom door shut, hoping the noise would be loud enough to cut through the connection.
It worked. Paige gasped, startled by the noise, and opened her eyes. Almost immediately, Piper wrapped her in a comforting hug. "Shh, it's okay, honey, it's okay. I know that had to have been so scary for you." Paige hugged her back, calming down after a moment or two. Once Paige had calmed down a little, Piper turned to Leo. "I know you know something. What is it?"
"Let's go up to the attic for this," he said softly. "You're going to need the Book of Shadows."
"You know where she is?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah, I do," he answered, eyeing Paige carefully, "and I don't think you guys are going to like what I have to say."
**********
Paige followed Piper and Leo up the attic stairs in a daze. The connection had both exhausted and terrified her. When she felt Phoebe comfortingly sling her arm around her shoulders, she gave her a grateful smile, but she was too worried to relax about anything. Mindy was in trouble, more trouble than she had even imagined, and she had no idea how to help her. She didn't know what the man who had the little girl wanted with her, but she did know that it wasn't going to be easy to get her back. She was beginning to wonder if it was even possible to rescue the little girl.
"Okay, Leo," Piper said, taking her place behind the Book's lectern, "what do you know?"
He met Paige's eyes for a moment as Phoebe sat her down on the old sofa and then sat down herself, keeping a tight, comforting grip on her younger sister. Clearing his throat, he looked back up at Piper, not wanting to watch Paige's reaction. "From what Paige described, it sounds like she's being held in a dimension between . . ." he trailed off, trying to think of how best to explain it without scaring them too much.
"What, between life and death?" Piper asked.
Leo shook his head and decided that there was no use sugarcoating it. "Between death and redemption."
Paige looked up at him, panicked at the implications of being stuck in such a dimension. "Wait, are you telling me she's--"
"No," Leo assured her. "She's very much alive. Remember how you were saying you felt she was different from everyone around her?" Paige nodded, not quite following Leo's train of thought. "It's because she's alive and everyone else in there is dead. You were sensing her life force."
Paige let out a sigh of relief. "So she's fine?"
"For now, yes."
"Wait, back up a second," Piper said, waving her hand to get Leo's attention. "What exactly is this dimension? Mindy told Paige that the ghosts stay here until the light comes."
"Mindy's so young she probably doesn't even know about it," Leo said. "When the ghosts stay here for a long time, and I'm talking decades upon decades, they get sent to this dimension called Twilight to force their hand. Sometimes they get distracted by all the things here on Earth, but all there is in Twilight is the light and the dark, which is how it gets its name. They can choose to remain lost in the dark or they can go into the light. Mostly, they don't remain in the dark for too long because there's nothing there but the darkness. Eventually, they become attracted to the light and all the promises it holds."
"Paige said he was using her," Phoebe said quietly, trying to think. "Is it possible he's using her as a distraction? Like, he's using her to keep the others away from the light?"
"I think that's exactly what he's doing," Leo answered. "The others are attracted to the one thing Mindy has that they don't and they want desperately: a life force. More than likely, he's keeping her in the darkness and not letting her go anywhere else so she can't lead the others to the light."
"Why would anyone do that?" Piper asked as she skimmed the pages of the Book of Shadows. "On both sides of the coin. Why would anyone keep a group of people from crossing over and why would anyone stay with someone trying to keep him or her from crossing over?"
"He's their leader," Phoebe said with a shrug. "They followed him in life and they're continuing to do so in the afterlife."
"Great, so we're dealing with a dead cult leader now?"
"Leo, what's happening to her there?" Paige asked, quietly speaking up for the first time in a while. "You said she was fine for now. What about a little later?"
Leo bit his lip, not wanting to tell Paige what could happen. He didn't want her to panic and he couldn't think of any way to make the information any easier to hear. "Twilight isn't a place meant for people who are alive, Paige. When people who are alive get stuck in there, they get physically weaker by the day and their will to hold onto their life force lessens."
"But she'll be fine, right? She's not going to die or anything?"
Leo hesitated again. "If you guys work quickly and consistently, nothing will happen to her."
Paige gave him a cautionary sideways glance, trying to keep the tears that were gathering in her eyes from spilling over. "How much time do we have?"
"Well, if we assume she's been there as long as she's been gone, you have a little less than a week before the point of no return. It usually corresponds with the person's age, a day for each year."
Paige took a deep breath and straightened, setting her shoulders. She was determined not to panic. Mindy needed her to be strong and decisive. "So what do we do?"
"First we have to figure out exactly what happened to her," Phoebe said, comfortingly tightening her grip on Paige. "We have to go to her parents."
"We'll be exposing ourselves," Piper started.
"It doesn't matter," Paige interrupted, shaking her head. "If Mindy's clairvoyant, her mother is, too. I somehow don't think the leap from clairvoyance to witches is a large one. I'm more worried about how I'm going to explain to them how I know her in the first place. I mean, what am I going to say, 'Your daughter was craving attention and I decided to keep her company'?"
"We'll think of something on the way, sweetie," Piper said, crossing the room and gently taking Paige's hands. "Come on, we don't have a lot of time."
Paige stood up and allowed her sisters to lead her downstairs, all the while trying to think of what to say to Mindy's parents. She was not looking forward to this meeting with Mindy's parents at all. She just didn't know how she could tell two people that unless they all worked quickly, their little girl wouldn't be coming home ever again.