The girls stared at one another in fear, what were they going to do? Phoebe had them all hold hands, and she concentrated on being invisible again, but nothing happened.
"I hate getting new powers, it takes too long to get used to them." She said, letting go of their hands.
"Well we have a few minutes anyway, it'll take them that long to figure out which room we're in." Prue said, checking the doors, one was a bathroom, and the others were closets.
Paige began to moan and stir on the bed.
"Oh, Piper, get me some water." Phoebe said, helping Paige sit up on the bed.
A few seconds later, she came back with the glass, which Phoebe promptly put to Paige's lips. "Here, honey, drink this. Do you think you can orb?"
"She needs a whitelighter, but we don't have access to one right now." Prue said, listening at the door for sounds of the demonic sisters drawing closer.
"Yeah, well she's half whitelighter, it sucks they can't heal themselves." Piper said, and then got a look like she'd thought of something. "Prue, any chance you remember that spell, the one to transfer powers? If one of us could swap powers with her long enough, we could heal her."
"I might remember it, you listen at the door and I'll be right back." Prue said and went into the bathroom.
"Why is it she was always better at remembering things in the bathroom?" Phoebe asked, laying Paige back down on the bed.
"I have no idea, but I hope she remembers it quick, or we're in trouble. I think they're on this floor." Piper said, walking away from the door and back over to the bed.
"I've got it!" Prue said, coming out of the bathroom, and crossed to the desk opposite the bed, and used the pencil there to quickly scribble something down, "Which one of us will switch with her?"
"I'll do it, since I remember the exact trigger to make it work." Piper said, as Phoebe got up and stood next to Prue, so she could have the seat.
Prue handed her the piece of paper, and stood back with Phoebe.
"Here goes. What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine, let our powers cross the line, I offer up this gift to share, switch our powers through the air." She intoned, as they watched balls of light flow out of each sister and into the other one.
"Did it work?" Phoebe asked.
Piper then placed her hand over a cut on Paige's arm, a golden light emanated from her hand and healed the wound.
"I'd say so, hurry it up Piper. They are liable to be here any second." Prue said, keeping her ear at the door.
It took her a couple minutes, but she healed all the cuts that Nicholas had put on her. She was rewarded with Paige opening her eyes and sitting up in the bed.
"What happened?" Paige asked, putting a hand to her head.
"You were a mess, that's what happened." Piper said, helping her up off the bed.
"We have to stop Nicholas before he kills Laura." Paige said, and threw up her hands, accidently exploding a painting on the wall.
"Oops, how did that happen?" She asked, looking confused.
"You and I swapped powers temporarily, which I need to give back to you." Piper said, grabbing her hand and preparing to recite the spell again.
"I don't think we have time." Prue shouted, as the bedroom door began to shake.
"I remember how to do this, get over here and we'll get the hell out of here." Piper said, and took Phoebe's hand with her other one, Phoebe reaching over and taking Prue's.
They orbed out of the room just as the bedroom door exploded inward.
A few seconds later they found themselves on the roof of the mansion, they quickly checked over the side to see if they could see Nicholas and their great grandmother coming up the driveway.
"Ok, do you want your power back?" Piper said, looking at Paige.
"Please, yours is a little too destructive for my taste." She said, standing next to her.
Piper repeated the spell and their powers returned to each of them.
"We might as well camp out here till he comes back, in the meantime we can figure out what to do." Prue said, looking away from the drive.
Downstairs, the remaining demon women were ransacking the house hoping to find the Charmed Ones. Serena stopped Susan in the upstairs hallway and listened intently.
"What do you hear?" Susan asked, her anger evident on her face.
"They're on the roof." She said, and they both shimmered out.
"How long ago did he leave?" Prue asked Paige.
"Like I have a concept of time when I'm being sliced up like a thanksgiving turkey, a few hours maybe." She replied.
"Wait, did you hear that?" Piper said, looking around them.
"I didn't hear anything." Phoebe responded, then spotted the demon sisters coming around a corner.
"Duck!" She shouted, then they all hit the floor just missing a fireball that left a scorch mark on the chimney behind them.
They quickly recovered, and Prue threw up her hand, knocking both women back into a door. The evil sisters then began shooting fireballs from their hands, like cannons. Prue was able to deflect most of them, while Piper froze the remaining ones in place.
"We can't hold them off much longer." Piper said, continuing to freeze the fireballs that Prue was missing, one of them only a few inches from Paige's head.
Then the two demon women stopped their attack abruptly, the frozen fireballs disappearing. They had pained looks on their faces. After a few seconds, they both disappeared from sight.
"What happened to them?" Paige asked.
"Tempus got them, which means we don't have long before he completes his ritual." Piper said, looking back over the side of the house.
She then saw it, an old model car coming up the driveway. She motioned the others over as well. The man driving it though didn't look like Nicholas at all.
"That's them, we better get downstairs and give him a welcome home he'll never forget." Prue said, leading them away from the edge and over to a door in the roof.