Chapter Seventeen
Phoebe, Cole, and Leo appeared in the attic and Phoebe immediately sagged against Cole.
He frowned at the way she cradled her abdomen and quickly put his arm around her. "Contraction?"
"I'm not in labor," she emphatically stated. "I've been through this before and you know it," she added as she pushed his arm away. "It's only stress and the strain from all this shimmering and fading in and out." As she spoke, she looked around the attic. As in her premonition, all the junk was gone. And, as she had seen, her sisters were both on their knees, arms raised and chained to the wall behind them. She instinctively grabbed Cole and gasped and hurried to Paige's side while Leo ran towards Piper. "Cole, the sword," she told him as she carefully lowered herself and knelt next to her sister.
Paige weakly responded to her sister's touch and lifted her head. In addition to the slash wounds on her chest, she had cuts along her forehead and left cheek and her left eye was bruised. "Ph, Phoebe?"
"It's me, sweetie," Phoebe confirmed as she lightly touched her sister's right cheek, "Leo's here and he's healing Piper."
"She fought so hard" Paige slowly opened her eyes but shrank back when she noticed Cole holding the sword. "No!"
Phoebe tried to calm her, "It's okay, sweetie, it's Cole. It's really Cole."
"Close your eyes," he suggested to Paige before he swung the sword at her chains. The links snapped apart and Paige collapsed into Phoebe's arms. He spun around and did the same for Piper's chains.
Leo caught Piper and lowered her to the floor where he began healing her slash wounds.
Cole knelt next to Paige, "Put your arms around my neck, I'm getting you out of here."
"But Hasoaf" Paige began with a nervous glance to Phoebe.
"Will have to wait until we're at full-strength," Phoebe assured her. She looked towards Leo, "How is she?" Leo didn't answer and continued to concentrate on Piper. "Leo?" she nervously asked.
"She was almost gone," Leo tersely answered. "I need more time."
"We don't have more time," Cole cautioned as he held Paige in his arms.
"Time for what?" a new voice asked from behind them.
Before anyone could react, the stranger in a black cloak pulled out a crossbow and shot an arrow at Leo who fell to the floor next to his wife.
"Darklighter!" Phoebe shouted just as Cole fired an energy ball at the demon.
The Darklighter ducked and rolled and still managed to shoot an arrow towards Paige but Cole destroyed the it in mid-flight.
Cole stepped in front of Phoebe and fired at the invader again. This time, Cole successfully hit him and the demon was instantly reduced to a spot of ash on the floor. He turned around and asked Phoebe if she was okay.
Phoebe nodded and crept along the floor toward Leo. The arrow had hit him squarely in the chest and he gasped when she grabbed the arrow. But she couldn't pull on it and looked helplessly to Cole.
"You have to pull it out," he told her. "Paige is weak but she might be able to heal him enou--"
"No," Paige interrupted with a slight moan, "someone elseSam! Sam!"
No sooner had she called a second time than her biological father orbed into the attic. "Paige!"
"Not me," she weakly indicated. "Leo."
"Don't touch it!" Phoebe warned when Sam came to her side. "It's a Darklighter's arrow. You've got to take him back to Dad. Dad can pull it out and then you can heal Leo."
Sam caught sight of Piper, "But what about --"
"Don't worry about us, just go," she urged before she suddenly asked, "What happened to your eye?"
As he reached for Leo, he told her, "Don't worry about it."
"Sam, please," she fearfully requested, "this is hard enough as it is. You and Dad have to find some way to put your differences behind you and work together. We're all counting on you."
"And we won't let you down," he assured her as he orbed out. "Call me," his voice echoed.
Phoebe caressed Piper's cheek and urged her sister to open her eyes.
"We have to go," Cole told her. "Can you manage Piper or do you want me to come back for her?"
"What d'you mean?" Paige asked in confusion.
Phoebe ignored her sister's question, took a deep breath and assured Cole, "I can manage."
"Lemme try," Paige requested as she feebly struggled in Cole's arms. "Whitelighter half's protected me this fargotta help Piper"
Phoebe looked up to Cole who set Paige down next to her sisters. "We need Piper awake for the spell," she told him as Paige's hands shook over Piper's chest wounds.
"As if some spell will save you," Hasoaf gloated when he suddenly appeared in a cloud of smoke.
Cole instantly fired consecutive energy balls at Hasoaf who easily deflected each shot.
With a wave of his hand, Hasoaf sent Cole flying across the room.
Cole hit the wall and fell to the floor, stunned. Suddenly, his arms flew up behind his head and he found himself shackled to the wall.
Phoebe pulled a small bottle from her pocket and got to her knees. While Hasoaf was watching Cole, she threw her potion at Hasoaf.
Hasoaf angrily spun and faced the sisters but, before he could react further, he was engulfed in purple smoke and flames.
"Hurry, Paige," Phoebe anxiously urged as she watched Hasoaf twist in pain, "we don't have much time."
As if on cue, Piper groaned and Phoebe told her, "Piper, wake up, we need you." She realized the flames were dying out and Hasoaf was still standing so she grabbed the sword and awkwardly stood.
"Phoebe, no!" Cole shouted as Phoebe ran at Hasoaf.
Hasoaf easily knocked aside the sword and sent her flying across the room where she landed in a heap near Cole. Phoebe moaned and he leered, "I'd prefer nature take its course but, make no mistake, I don't need you alive to take your son."
"If you've --" Cole began when he helplessly watched Phoebe hold herself in pain, "Phoebe?"
"You'll what?" Hasoaf taunted. "You're in no position to do anything, Belthazor. In fact," he added as he glanced back at the other two witches, "None of you are."
Paige looked up and saw the quick movement of his hand but, even in fear, she didn't have the strength to orb out of the room. And, in the next instant, she found herself chained once again to the wall.
Hasoaf gave them all one more look of satisfaction and commented, "Some final preparations are all I need. It won't be much longer."
Phoebe struggled to pull herself up from the floor and muttered, "You're dead, you son of a bitch."
"No," he laughed as she collapsed on Cole, "you are." And he vanished in a cloud of smoke.
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