FUTURE PERFECT
CHAPTER 10
Cole manifested in the conference room without a sound. He glanced down. His feet stood planted in the center of the pentagram drawn within the circle on the concrete floor. "Looks like that entryway spell works," he muttered when he looked up and found four witches, a whitelighter and an Elder eye him expectantly. "I was aiming for that corner of the room." He indicated the corner furthest from the circle with a nod.
Elayne's features smoothed with pleasure.
"It is done," Cole continued while cautiously stepping over the chalk lines. "The underworld is buzzing with the news of the restoration of the Power of Three."
"So. Now we wait." Phoebe idly twirled a white crystal between her fingers.
Four similar stones were placed at even distances on the edge of the circle, each on a point of the pentacle. When completed, the circle of crystals would create a magical cage to restrain the wielder of the Hollow. Phoebe held the fifth crystal; she would put it on the last point of the star as soon as the demon appeared. The cage was strong enough to contain any but the most potent magic. Cole had tested it and found he could fight free from the cage if he exerted himself but nobody expected the wielder of the Hollow to be that powerful. Not yet, at least. Cole hoped they were right.
"Yes. We wait."
* * *
Joren stood at the window, staring out into the night. "How much longer is this going to take? It'll be morning soon." A strong wind had blown away the clouds and the night sky was clear. The stars, however, were invisible. They vanished before the glare from millions and millions of windows that made up the sprawling city below. The full moon was a pale round disk far to the south. "How do we know he's telling the truth? Maybe he's been behind it all along."
Cole didn't need Joren to elaborate to know who the 'he' was that the witch was talking about. The man had been suspicious of him from the first moment Leo explained his role.
"It takes time," Leo said, "for word to travel along the grapevine to the far reaches of the underworld. Be patient."
Joren snorted.
Paulina sat on a chair near the southern edge of the circle. Her right foot jumped as she dangled one leg across the other. She looked at Leo. "If this thing eats magic, what happens when it's all gone?"
"Then no creature of magic could live. Faeries, goblins, mermaids, they would cease to exist."
"Those aren't real! Are they?"
Leo chuckled. "Did you believe witches were real, before today?"
"Uhm, no." Paulina's brow creased. "You mean, Joren and I would--die?" Her tone held the incredulity of any sixteen-year-old with a strong sense of their own immortality.
"No," Leo assured her. "You would be fine. A witch is a human being with magical powers. Without them, you would still be a human."
"But all those evil things that you told us about, those demons and warlocks, they would be gone, too, right? They couldn't hurt anyone ever again. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Whitelighters are magical, like demons. Without magic, we can't exist," Ania said softly. "Leo and I would be gone."
"Oh..." Paulina fell silent for a while. "What if the demon doesn't come? Maybe that Hollow-thing knows it's a trap."
"He'll be here," Cole mumbled. "The Power of Three is too alluring to withstand. The Hollow will force him to come."
Phoebe peered at Cole, watching him with a pensive expression on her face. "This is the worst part," she whispered. "The waiting. Knowing something's coming, but having no idea when or how or what it will look like. Once the action starts, you have no more time to be afraid. You just do what must be done. It's the waiting that will kill you."
She hopped from her chair, walked down past the table and started browsing the Book of Shadows. "There has to be a faster way," she muttered below her breath. "We didn't sit around to wait last time."
She turned another page. "Ha! I thought I remembered something." She tapped a finger on the Book. "We can use this spell. It'll call whatever witch powers the Hollow already consumed. Whoever has it, will come along with it." She glanced up at Cole. "It's how we got the Source to come to us."
Leo contemplated for a moment. "Let's do it."
Phoebe held out her hands to Joren and Paulina and they went to stand beside her. They squinted down and read from the Book:
"Powers of the witches;
Rise;
Course unseen across the skies;
Come to us who call you near;
Come to us and settle here."
For a few seconds nothing happened. Paulina opened her mouth to say something when the world exploded into a flare of bright light.
"Watch out!" Cole shouted.
Out of nowhere a yellow globe shot forward and, trailing flames, streaked across the room to hit Phoebe's shoulder. She cried out in pain, dropping the crystal from a suddenly useless hand. The stone skittered across the room and disappeared beneath the conference table.
A shape began to form in the middle of the magic circle. It quickly gained substance until a tall, good-looking man, with broad shoulders and a shock of wavy brown hair stood in the room. White teeth were bared in a smirk.
"That's him." Ania was rooted to the floor.
The stranger flicked a finger at Paulina and green lighting struck out for her.
She instantly raised her left hand to defend herself.
"No!" Phoebe yelled a warning, but it was too late.
Paulina deflected the lightning.
The Hollow consumed her power.
The man in the circle chortled. "Thank you, dear." He raised his hand once more.
"Hey!" Cole shouted while he pelted a blue fireball at the stranger. He knew the power would be lost to him the instant he turned it on the Hollow, but he couldn't allow the wielder of such magic to attack Phoebe again.
The stranger laughed, a cackling noise, while he turned Cole's energy ball aside with his newly acquired power of deflection. The sphere came tearing back across the room.
Cole ducked. Too slow. The bolt hit him square in the chest. Breath whooshed from his lungs on impact. He flew several feet through the air to crash into the wall and land in a heap at its bottom.
Phoebe scrambled back to her feet; her right arm dangled limply beside her body. Paulina stood stock still, staring open-mouthed at the stranger. He hadn't moved from the middle of the circle. He either thought himself invincible, or simply didn't realize what danger the magical symbol represented.
Cole struggled to draw a new breath. His ears were ringing. Good thing he was nearly invincible, he dimly thought while he shook his head to regain his bearings. Or he'd have been killed with his own fireball. He chuckled wryly.
One of Cole's familiar blue spheres appeared over the man's hand. It hovered while he smirked in Cole's direction. "I thank you, my friend. This is some power you gave me." He turned away and met Joren's gaze. "So, witch, what have you got to offer?" The ball zipped through the air.
The male witch flung up his hands in defense.
"Don't!" Phoebe warned. "The Hollow will take it."
"The crystal. Get the crystal!" Cole pointed beneath the table where the stone glistened in the shadows.
Understanding washed over Joren's face. Instead of warding off the fireball, he dove out its path. As he landed on the floor, he gestured with his fingers. The white crystal flew from beneath the table and landed on the fifth point of the star, completing the circle. Five beams of sizzling white light shot from the stones to connect over the stranger's head.
He threw a blue ball at the light. It bounced back and forth against the light bars, forcing the captive to duck until it sizzled out harmlessly. The man screamed in rage.
Cole took up his position at the northern tip of the pentagram. A white crystal pulsed brightly in front of him. Joren scrambled back onto his feet and joined Paulina and Phoebe at the southern edge. He looked shaken.
Leo hurried closer and opened the little box that was meant to contain the Hollow. It emitted a black light, ready to take back the power and lock it within.
"Let's do this," Phoebe muttered. With her left hand, she dug a piece of paper from her front pocket and gave it to Paulina. The girl unfolded it. Joren and Phoebe leaned closer as in one voice they read the spell that was written there.
"Prudence, Penelope, Patricia, Melinda;
Piper, Paige, Josephine, Elizabeth;
Astrid, Helena, Laura and Grace;
Halliwell witches, stand strong beside us;
Vanquish this evil;
From time and space!"
As soon as the last word left their mouths, Cole directed his massive power toward the cage to add it to theirs. His magic worked differently, he didn't need spells or rhymes to activate it.
For an eternal instant nothing happened. Then the man in the circle shrieked. The flesh seemed to melt from his bones, the pleasant human facade fading. What appeared beneath it--Cole had to look away. The creature was too ugly to behold with human eyes. It screeched, a sound so alien and shrill, Cole had never heard anything like it. He winced in sympathy. He had experienced the agony of being vanquished.
The shriek rose in pitch and Cole threw up his hands to cover his ears. An invisible fist shoved him back as hot air rushed out from the circle. Behind his closed eyes, he could still see the flash of lightning. Its afterimage faded slowly. Then all was still and dark. Cautiously, Cole peeked out from beneath his lashes.
Smoke drifted up from a scorch mark in the middle of the circle. The crystals were a grimy black and no longer pulsed. At other side of the circle, the three witches stood huddled.
"What the hell was that?" Joren seemed rattled.
"I have no idea," Cole answered. "I've never seen anything like it before. Probably came from another dimension."
Paulina's gaze remained focused on the spot on the floor and she was trembling. Phoebe reached for the girl and hugged her tight. Cole thought she looked rather satisfied with the outcome.
A soft click sounded loud in the silence and all heads turned in the direction of the noise. Leo held up the little black box. "The Hollow is gone," he announced. "It's been put back where it belongs. All magic it took has been returned to the world. All magic is safe from its influence now."
"What--what does that mean?" Paulina stammered, finding her voice at last.
Cole grinned. He tossed her a blue sphere the size of a ping-pong ball. She turned it away with ease. "It means that the world is returned to how it was supposed to be."
He caught Phoebe's dark eyes and she glanced away, the satisfied expression bleeding from her face. "Not all," she muttered.
TBC
CHAPTER 10
Cole manifested in the conference room without a sound. He glanced down. His feet stood planted in the center of the pentagram drawn within the circle on the concrete floor. "Looks like that entryway spell works," he muttered when he looked up and found four witches, a whitelighter and an Elder eye him expectantly. "I was aiming for that corner of the room." He indicated the corner furthest from the circle with a nod.
Elayne's features smoothed with pleasure.
"It is done," Cole continued while cautiously stepping over the chalk lines. "The underworld is buzzing with the news of the restoration of the Power of Three."
"So. Now we wait." Phoebe idly twirled a white crystal between her fingers.
Four similar stones were placed at even distances on the edge of the circle, each on a point of the pentacle. When completed, the circle of crystals would create a magical cage to restrain the wielder of the Hollow. Phoebe held the fifth crystal; she would put it on the last point of the star as soon as the demon appeared. The cage was strong enough to contain any but the most potent magic. Cole had tested it and found he could fight free from the cage if he exerted himself but nobody expected the wielder of the Hollow to be that powerful. Not yet, at least. Cole hoped they were right.
"Yes. We wait."
* * *
Joren stood at the window, staring out into the night. "How much longer is this going to take? It'll be morning soon." A strong wind had blown away the clouds and the night sky was clear. The stars, however, were invisible. They vanished before the glare from millions and millions of windows that made up the sprawling city below. The full moon was a pale round disk far to the south. "How do we know he's telling the truth? Maybe he's been behind it all along."
Cole didn't need Joren to elaborate to know who the 'he' was that the witch was talking about. The man had been suspicious of him from the first moment Leo explained his role.
"It takes time," Leo said, "for word to travel along the grapevine to the far reaches of the underworld. Be patient."
Joren snorted.
Paulina sat on a chair near the southern edge of the circle. Her right foot jumped as she dangled one leg across the other. She looked at Leo. "If this thing eats magic, what happens when it's all gone?"
"Then no creature of magic could live. Faeries, goblins, mermaids, they would cease to exist."
"Those aren't real! Are they?"
Leo chuckled. "Did you believe witches were real, before today?"
"Uhm, no." Paulina's brow creased. "You mean, Joren and I would--die?" Her tone held the incredulity of any sixteen-year-old with a strong sense of their own immortality.
"No," Leo assured her. "You would be fine. A witch is a human being with magical powers. Without them, you would still be a human."
"But all those evil things that you told us about, those demons and warlocks, they would be gone, too, right? They couldn't hurt anyone ever again. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Whitelighters are magical, like demons. Without magic, we can't exist," Ania said softly. "Leo and I would be gone."
"Oh..." Paulina fell silent for a while. "What if the demon doesn't come? Maybe that Hollow-thing knows it's a trap."
"He'll be here," Cole mumbled. "The Power of Three is too alluring to withstand. The Hollow will force him to come."
Phoebe peered at Cole, watching him with a pensive expression on her face. "This is the worst part," she whispered. "The waiting. Knowing something's coming, but having no idea when or how or what it will look like. Once the action starts, you have no more time to be afraid. You just do what must be done. It's the waiting that will kill you."
She hopped from her chair, walked down past the table and started browsing the Book of Shadows. "There has to be a faster way," she muttered below her breath. "We didn't sit around to wait last time."
She turned another page. "Ha! I thought I remembered something." She tapped a finger on the Book. "We can use this spell. It'll call whatever witch powers the Hollow already consumed. Whoever has it, will come along with it." She glanced up at Cole. "It's how we got the Source to come to us."
Leo contemplated for a moment. "Let's do it."
Phoebe held out her hands to Joren and Paulina and they went to stand beside her. They squinted down and read from the Book:
"Powers of the witches;
Rise;
Course unseen across the skies;
Come to us who call you near;
Come to us and settle here."
For a few seconds nothing happened. Paulina opened her mouth to say something when the world exploded into a flare of bright light.
"Watch out!" Cole shouted.
Out of nowhere a yellow globe shot forward and, trailing flames, streaked across the room to hit Phoebe's shoulder. She cried out in pain, dropping the crystal from a suddenly useless hand. The stone skittered across the room and disappeared beneath the conference table.
A shape began to form in the middle of the magic circle. It quickly gained substance until a tall, good-looking man, with broad shoulders and a shock of wavy brown hair stood in the room. White teeth were bared in a smirk.
"That's him." Ania was rooted to the floor.
The stranger flicked a finger at Paulina and green lighting struck out for her.
She instantly raised her left hand to defend herself.
"No!" Phoebe yelled a warning, but it was too late.
Paulina deflected the lightning.
The Hollow consumed her power.
The man in the circle chortled. "Thank you, dear." He raised his hand once more.
"Hey!" Cole shouted while he pelted a blue fireball at the stranger. He knew the power would be lost to him the instant he turned it on the Hollow, but he couldn't allow the wielder of such magic to attack Phoebe again.
The stranger laughed, a cackling noise, while he turned Cole's energy ball aside with his newly acquired power of deflection. The sphere came tearing back across the room.
Cole ducked. Too slow. The bolt hit him square in the chest. Breath whooshed from his lungs on impact. He flew several feet through the air to crash into the wall and land in a heap at its bottom.
Phoebe scrambled back to her feet; her right arm dangled limply beside her body. Paulina stood stock still, staring open-mouthed at the stranger. He hadn't moved from the middle of the circle. He either thought himself invincible, or simply didn't realize what danger the magical symbol represented.
Cole struggled to draw a new breath. His ears were ringing. Good thing he was nearly invincible, he dimly thought while he shook his head to regain his bearings. Or he'd have been killed with his own fireball. He chuckled wryly.
One of Cole's familiar blue spheres appeared over the man's hand. It hovered while he smirked in Cole's direction. "I thank you, my friend. This is some power you gave me." He turned away and met Joren's gaze. "So, witch, what have you got to offer?" The ball zipped through the air.
The male witch flung up his hands in defense.
"Don't!" Phoebe warned. "The Hollow will take it."
"The crystal. Get the crystal!" Cole pointed beneath the table where the stone glistened in the shadows.
Understanding washed over Joren's face. Instead of warding off the fireball, he dove out its path. As he landed on the floor, he gestured with his fingers. The white crystal flew from beneath the table and landed on the fifth point of the star, completing the circle. Five beams of sizzling white light shot from the stones to connect over the stranger's head.
He threw a blue ball at the light. It bounced back and forth against the light bars, forcing the captive to duck until it sizzled out harmlessly. The man screamed in rage.
Cole took up his position at the northern tip of the pentagram. A white crystal pulsed brightly in front of him. Joren scrambled back onto his feet and joined Paulina and Phoebe at the southern edge. He looked shaken.
Leo hurried closer and opened the little box that was meant to contain the Hollow. It emitted a black light, ready to take back the power and lock it within.
"Let's do this," Phoebe muttered. With her left hand, she dug a piece of paper from her front pocket and gave it to Paulina. The girl unfolded it. Joren and Phoebe leaned closer as in one voice they read the spell that was written there.
"Prudence, Penelope, Patricia, Melinda;
Piper, Paige, Josephine, Elizabeth;
Astrid, Helena, Laura and Grace;
Halliwell witches, stand strong beside us;
Vanquish this evil;
From time and space!"
As soon as the last word left their mouths, Cole directed his massive power toward the cage to add it to theirs. His magic worked differently, he didn't need spells or rhymes to activate it.
For an eternal instant nothing happened. Then the man in the circle shrieked. The flesh seemed to melt from his bones, the pleasant human facade fading. What appeared beneath it--Cole had to look away. The creature was too ugly to behold with human eyes. It screeched, a sound so alien and shrill, Cole had never heard anything like it. He winced in sympathy. He had experienced the agony of being vanquished.
The shriek rose in pitch and Cole threw up his hands to cover his ears. An invisible fist shoved him back as hot air rushed out from the circle. Behind his closed eyes, he could still see the flash of lightning. Its afterimage faded slowly. Then all was still and dark. Cautiously, Cole peeked out from beneath his lashes.
Smoke drifted up from a scorch mark in the middle of the circle. The crystals were a grimy black and no longer pulsed. At other side of the circle, the three witches stood huddled.
"What the hell was that?" Joren seemed rattled.
"I have no idea," Cole answered. "I've never seen anything like it before. Probably came from another dimension."
Paulina's gaze remained focused on the spot on the floor and she was trembling. Phoebe reached for the girl and hugged her tight. Cole thought she looked rather satisfied with the outcome.
A soft click sounded loud in the silence and all heads turned in the direction of the noise. Leo held up the little black box. "The Hollow is gone," he announced. "It's been put back where it belongs. All magic it took has been returned to the world. All magic is safe from its influence now."
"What--what does that mean?" Paulina stammered, finding her voice at last.
Cole grinned. He tossed her a blue sphere the size of a ping-pong ball. She turned it away with ease. "It means that the world is returned to how it was supposed to be."
He caught Phoebe's dark eyes and she glanced away, the satisfied expression bleeding from her face. "Not all," she muttered.
TBC