"She has been reduced to the demons pet." Spat the First Voice.

"At least the youngest outwitted them." Gloated the Third Voice.

"Barely, and now the eldest goes to risk herself." Sighed the Second Voice.

"Do they never learn from past mistakes?" Questioned the Third Voice.

"Not all as is it seems." Stated the Fourth Voice.

"Watch on." They spoke together.

* * *

Prue's astral form appeared in the battle-scarred bedroom of Cole and Phoebe's house. She took a step forward and trod in the mixture of broken crystal and spittle, left by Cole.

"Ok, ew!" She exclaimed to herself, as she disgustedly wiped her foot on a cushion. She kicked the dirty cushion away and gingerly stepped around the shards of crystal. If she wasn't careful their crunching would give her away. With a tentative breath, she pushed the door open and crept into the hallway.

* * *

Piper was trying to relax, but was failing miserably. She paced up and down the kitchen, grabbing random herbs and spell ingredients from cupboards and pots. She threw them into a bubbling saucepan and coughed as a large cloud of white smoke mushroomed up. She squinted and fanned at the smoke, rapidly blinking her smarting eyes. With a scream she stepped back and bumped into a table.

Cole and Phoebe had shimmered into the kitchen and were standing amidst the slowly spreading smoke. Cole brought a fireball into his hand and leisurely tossed it up and down. He looked down at Piper and held her gaze. "Where is Paige?" He asked slowly, the anger seething and bubbling within him.

Piper's lip curled with disgust and she stepped forward, holding both hands up. "Don't you question me. How dare you break into my home and then expect me to tell you where my sister is." Her hands were shaking with fury.

"Just tell me where Paige is and I'll leave this damnable place." He stopped tossing the fireball and held it steady, ready to aim at Piper.

She breathed deeply and a red flush appeared on her cheeks. "Take your slut and get out. Next time you come back I'll blow you up so fast…" She spat and then trailed off as Cole began to laugh.

"You can't vanquish me! No one can! Now tell me where she is or I will kill you." His eyes widened and bulged outwards, creating an inhuman look on his otherwise normal face.

Phoebe winced and backed away from him, shooting Piper a scared look. Her sister seemed to be deliberately ignoring her.

"No dice." She darted forwards and picked up the saucepan, which was still bubbling on the stove. She paused for a second before throwing it at the pair of intruders in her home.

The steaming liquid streamed out and flew towards Cole and Phoebe. With a quick gesture Cole slowed the liquid till it was barely moving. It hung in the air, a mixture of rotund droplets, amid a cloud of white steam. He dashed his hand through it with a smirk.

To Piper's, and Cole's, surprise, his hand began to sizzle and char as it connected with Piper's haphazard mixture. He cried out in pain and fell backwards, grasping his singed hand.

With his concentration gone, the rest of the potion began to move freely and splattered to the floor in front of him. He winced, as droplets sprayed onto his leg and began to sizzle their way into his flesh.

The saucepan abruptly continued moving and arced through the air. With a loud 'clang' it connected with Phoebe's head and she fell senseless to the floor.

"Well... I did warn you to get out of my house." Piper said hesitantly, not entirely sure what to do.

There was a sudden burst of light as Paige orbed in, she rushed over to Piper and began to tell her what had happened. She paused and sniffed the air, her noise crinkling in disgust. "What is that smell? I thought you were meant to be a good chef." She quipped with a sardonic smile.

Piper pouted and pointed to Cole's still smoking burns. "They tried to threaten me into saying where you were."

"Bastards! Where's Prue? This is the perfect opportunity to do the spell." Paige exclaimed, looking around for her eldest sister.

"She… she's not here." Piper told her, tentatively. She grabbed Paige's arm and began to steer her out of the kitchen. "She astralled to you when they had you. We'll try and get her back, and besides, I don't want to stay in here with them."

Paige cursed as she looked at the unconscious form of Prue. "What are we going to do now? Phoebe won't stay unconscious forever and Cole will start to heal… Its hopeless Piper!" She whimpered and threw herself down next to Prue.

With a sad look Piper knelt next to her and gathered Paige into a hug, softly stroking her hair. "Its ok now. I won't let them take you again. Shh."

Paige buried her head in Piper's shoulder and sobbed. "I was so scared… Cole was going to kill me. And Phoebe wasn't even going to stop him." She sniffed and her shoulders shook.

Piper's choked back her own tears and gently rocked Paige.

* * *

"Damn it. Damn it all!" Astral Prue stamped around her sister's house with a furious look on her face. She walked over to a vase and knocked it onto the floor. It landed and smashed, the broken shards flying amongst the other household items she'd broken in a fit of rage earlier.

She had searched the house from top to bottom and found no sign of Paige at all. There just weren't any clues to her whereabouts and it was making her angry. It just seemed like a typical house, apart from the scorch marks and the broken glass in the bedroom, everything was normal.

She stomped back up the stairs towards the bedroom, secretly hoping she'd find something previously missed. She got to the top of the stairs when something strange happened. She cocked her head to one side and listened. There was a sound of crying… but where was it coming from?

"Its Paige!" She breathed and jumped into the bedroom, ready to protect her little sister. It was still empty… yet the crying remained. Prue ran out of the room and into the bathroom. It was empty. The crying still sounded close. With a frantic look on her face she ran throughout all the rooms in the house, yet all were empty.

She stopped near the front door and paused, trying to get her breath back. Her chest heaved, partly from exertion but mostly from fear. She shut her eyes and tried to calm herself down. The crying had faded out… but there were now strange pictures in her mind. A… ceiling? The back of a couch… Piper and Paige! Paige was crying and Piper was comforting her. But wait! In the kitchen door way! It was Cole, about to throw a fireball!

"Piper! Paige, he's there! Behind you!" She shouted out. Her panicked voice echoing in the emptiness of Phoebe and Cole's hallway. She screamed again and began to sob when neither of them noticed the silent attacker or heard her.

There was nothing she could do. There had been few times in her life when she'd felt this useless and so worthless. She was about to see her sisters get killed, and there was nothing she could do. A thought struck her. *How* was she actually able to see them in the first place?

"Think Prue! Think! This might be the only way to help them!" She commanded herself to think. She replayed the images over in her mind again. The ceiling, the back of the couch… that's it! She was seeing through the eyes of her actual body.

Almost at once she tried to astral project back into her body… but it didn't work. She began to sob and again. "Work! Work damn it!" She tried to focus again and strained to return. Still nothing. She could see Cole raising his arm to throw the fireball. Time seemed to slow as she watched it sail through the air, streamers of heat and faint circles of smoke left in its wake.

Prue screamed a soundless scream and held her arm out, as if trying to knock it away. Suddenly she felt a dizzying rush and her conscious mind flowed back into her flesh body.

* * *

Prue bolted upright and swung her arm upwards. The fireball was struck with a powerful telekinetic blast and reversed its deadly course, veering straight back towards Cole.

His mouth opened with a wordless horror as the fireball struck him in the chest, propelling him back and into the kitchen and through the window. The shattered glass shot outwards and glinted like a thousand knives in the pale moonlight. He landed with a thud and immediately shimmered, reappearing next to Phoebe. He coughed weakly and reached out, barely managing to touch her arm before they shimmered away.

Piper and Paige sprang to their feet and turned to look at Prue, a look of shock on their faces. "Prue… how did you… how did you know?"

Prue tried to sit up but fell back, her head reeling. "I… my… my Astral Projection. I began to hear Paige crying and then I started to see… ugh my head is killing me." She winced and rubbed her temples before starting again. "I started to hear Paige crying and then I began to see what was happening in here. I think I was seeing through the eyes of myself. Meh, through my *real* eyes. This is confusing. Then I tried to astral back here but I couldn't. And then." She stopped and tilted her head to one side, a bemused look on her face.

Paige leant over took Prue's hand. "What is it? What's happened now?" She held Prue's hand tighter, scared to let go of it.

Prue's mouth widened in surprise. "Oh… Oh! My Astral body. Its still out there! I can see through its eyes as well. I can control both of… my selves… at once." She shakily sat up and tried to get to her feet.

"Woah, steady on there. This is obviously overwhelming. Just call… yourself… back here." Said Piper, an amused look on her face.

"If you knew what it felt like to be two people at once then you would not find this so funny, missy." Prue replied with a mock stern look on her face.

Paige suddenly ran to the kitchen door and she looked through. She turned back with a bland expression on her face. "They've gone. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, though."

"I wish I knew, Paige, really I do. The main thing is we are all ok and will be able to fight them next time." Piper said, with an uncharacteristic hardness to her voice and glint in her eye.

"Speak… for yourself. Whoa! Ok, I'm back. I mean, I got myself back… oh you know what I mean." Prue spoke, a look of confusion on her face.

Paige and Piper laughed and helped Prue to her feet. "Come on. You may have got a new power growth, but that doesn't excuse you from cleaning up the kitchen." Piper said as she gently pushed Prue towards the kitchen.

Prue groaned and dragged her feet on the ground, leaning back onto Piper. "How can you be so mean? Especially after I just saved your butts!" A look of mock indignation plastered on her face.

"Yeah, that was nice. Now move it or loose it, sister." She strained against Prue's back and laughed. "Paige! Some help here!"

Paige looked at her sisters and smiled gleefully, before running to help Piper.