A/N: A long one this time.
Disclaimer: If I owned Charmed it wouldn't be so Phreebie, erm Pheeble based. Oops I mean Phoebe based.
*House of Fears*
Meanwhile Prue and Phoebe were exploring the rest of the house. Unknown to Piper and Paige, there was another wing of the house, which the woman hadn't shown them.
'Okay, you know this is what, the ninth room we've come across? And there are no kids.' Phoebe said, beginning to get frustrated.
As there were muffled voices on the other end of the phone, Phoebe glared at it. 'Cole.' She hissed. 'Will you lot shut up? You'll give us away!' She said, annoyed.
The voices grew softer, and stopped. Phoebe rolled her eyes.
'Okay, so where were we-' Phoebe asked, turning to Prue. The space where Prue had been standing was empty. 'Hey you gotta wait for me Prue!' Phoebe complained. 'You can't just walk off - Prue?' The room in which they'd been about to go in was empty. 'Prue?' There was no reply. 'Okay this isn't funny anymore. Remember? No doubts? Well you're making me doubtful here. Get your ass over here Prue!'
As Prue didn't answer, Phoebe headed back to the room where they'd been before. Only, it wasn't the same room. 'Crap.' Phoebe muttered. 'Ooh crap.' As she turned to the door, she discovered it wasn't there. 'Oh. God. No.' Phoebe said, beginning to feel afraid. She turned in a full 360-degree circle. There was not a door anywhere.
'Okay Cole you can send Leo to get me.' She said aloud to her phone, taking it out of her pocket. 'Hello? Cole?' There was no reply, only the tone, which meant the call had ended. Phoebe frowned and called Cole back. Nothing happened.
'Hey?' Phoebe shook her phone, and then stared at the screen. It was off. She tried turning it on again, but it didn't work. 'Damn it! LEO! LEO!' Phoebe began to scream. 'Leo where are you?' Phoebe looked at the ceiling as she called for him. To her horror, the beautiful chandelier seemed to be moving down.
'Please don't let the ceiling close in on me.' Phoebe whimpered, crouching on the floor. 'Please?' The ceiling continued its descent. 'Help me! Leo! Prue! Piper! Phoebe! Cole even! Help!'
Phoebe felt the ground began to shake. Or maybe she was shaking and the ground was staying still?
* *
Prue sighed. She must have lost Phoebe back somewhere. 'Phoebe, where the heck are you?' She asked, walking back to the room where Phoebe had been talking on the phone. Phoebe was crouched on the floor, whimpering and screaming for help.
'Phoebe? Are you all right? PHOEBE?' Prue shook her sister, who screamed louder. 'Phoebe it's me Prue! It's okay! Everything's all right! Phoebe snap out of it!' Prue had an idea. Kneeling next to Phoebe, she held her hands above her eyes and healed them. Technically they hadn't been harmed, but Prue figured Phoebe must have been seeing illusions. It was worth a try anyway.
Phoebe shuddered, and blinked. 'Prue? Oh Prue, why did you leave me?' Phoebe started to cry. 'The ceiling started coming down and my phone didn't work. And then the ground began shaking.' She sobbed. 'Oh god it was so horrible!'
'Phoebe it was just an illusion.' Prue soothed. 'It was nothing. You're seeing things. There must be a spell or something and you must've stepped into the web of it.'
'Oh wonderful. There are booby traps all around the house.' Phoebe muttered, as she pulled herself together.
'That's better.' Prue said, nodding. 'Are you all right now? Cos if you're worried. it isn't good.'
'Maybe because I'm already worried about Grace the web affected me, and not you.' Phoebe suggested, as Prue helped her stand - rather wobbly but still standing.
'Maybe.' Prue quickly called Piper. 'Hi Piper? Where are you guys?'
'Was about to ask you the same thing. We've been through every room in the house. Oh and we knocked out a woman.' Piper added. 'We're about to orb into the storage room.' Piper explained.
'Well there's another wing to the house.' Prue replied, glancing at Phoebe. 'Phoebe just got hit by a bout of illusions. She's okay now, but she was in hysterics when I found her. Stick together and be alert. Maybe you should cast a spell so you can see any booby trap spells or something.'
'Okay, will do.' Piper agreed. 'How come you didn't get harmed? I mean if you were with her at the time.'
'I think it's because she's really worried about Grace. So she'd be an easy target for something like that. You be careful okay? Tell Paige that I healed Phoebe's eyes to get her out of it.' Prue hung up, and turned to Phoebe.
'You ready?' Phoebe nodded, and grabbed the sleeve of Prue's jacket. Prue didn't object - it was a pretty good idea considering what had just happened.
* *
The orb, which contained Paige and Piper, landed inside the storage room. 'Storage room indeed.' Paige murmured.
'Well it does store things.' Piper pointed out, as she turned to look at the large room, which held hundreds of adults in chains.
'Who are you?' A woman asked, terrified. 'And what've you done to by little boy?'
'Calm down, we're not here to hurt you. You might see some strange things, but we're the good guys.' Paige assured them in her best social worker voice.
'Leo!' Piper called. 'Get over here!' A few moments later Leo orbed into the room. 'You may need re-enforcements.' Piper added, glancing at the many people.
'Andy's coming.' Leo said. As he finished, Andy orbed in.
'Hi Andy. Can you orb these people back to the manor?' Piper asked. Andy and Leo nodded.
'Okay, hold on.' Piper froze them all. 'That should hold for now. Just in case, lock 'em in a room. Give me a call if they unfreeze. We'll deal with them later.' She continued, looking at the adults. 'Right now it's the kids we have to find.'
Leo and Andy began grabbing people and orbing them out. 'That ought to do it.' Piper said, satisfied.
The two left the room. In the hall the woman was still lying out cold. Piper froze her just for good measure and dragged her into the empty storage room.
'Should I blow her up?' Piper asked. 'Cos I blew up that Korinne guy without a vanquish.'
'Nah. She might be stronger than Korinne. But lets vanquish him just in case.' Piper said. 'Can you think of a spell?' Piper asked.
'Uh.
Rithrow demon, misery on which you feed
We vanquish you now, so the innocents may be freed.' Paige said quickly.
'Uh wait.' Piper called Phoebe. 'Get over here.' Prue and Phoebe orbed in a minute later, and repeated the spell. Piper threw hers at the demon-woman, who was vanquished.
'We're going to go now.' Prue grabbed Phoebe and they orbed out.
'So now what?' Piper asked. 'We keep looking? Because we've been through every room and-'
Paige cut her short and pointed to the hallway ceiling. There was a wooden frame, painted white to match itself to the ceiling. 'Ladder.' Paige ordered. A moment later a ladder orbed in front of her. Paige and Piper climbed up and Paige pressed on the ceiling inside the frame. As predicted it went up.
'Let's go.' Paige said, pushing it up more then climbing through. Piper followed her and her jaw dropped.
'Mellie are you alright?' She rushed towards her daughter in a panic. Melinda was sprawled on the floor of the room, which was directly under the ceiling. The only light filtered in through a dirty window.
'She's been drugged.' Paige whispered. 'And I think there must be something about this house. I mean we could orb in. And Prue could orb into the next room. But can you orb out is the question.' Paige tried to orb, and couldn't get past the ceiling. Her orb bounced around the room, till she formed herself.
'So why didn't Melinda just orb herself to the lobby and run?' Piper asked.
'She's drugged remember? And I'll bet Wyatt and Grace are too or they would have orbed out. Well Wyatt would have. Grace might have had a chance, as these Rithrow demons have to shimmer out themselves.'
'Okay, less talk more rescuing.' Piper picked up her daughter. 'Can you heal her or something?'
'She's drugged, not injured.' Paige objected. Piper gave her a pleading look. Sighing, Paige wondered where she should heal.
'Try her head. Maybe you can wake her up.' Piper suggested. Paige tried to heal Melinda on the head. Melinda stirred, and then woke up.
'Mommy!' She cried. 'Mommy I'm scared!'
'Don't worry sweetie we'll get you home. And don't be scared okay? Be brave. In this house, you'll have to be.' Piper murmured, as she put Melinda down so they could leave the small room. 'Do you know where Wyatt or Grace are?'
Melinda shook her head. 'One minute I was at home. I woke up a bit and there was something on my mouth. And then everything was fuzzy and they put me in here. And then I woke up.'
'Okay.' They climbed back into the hallway.
'And where do you think you're going?' An icy cold voice asked. Piper turned, and there was a man, smirking at them.
'Uh. we examine paintings. We were just checking for any.' Piper said. 'My baby sitter cancelled so I bought my daughter with me.'
'I'm not stupid; you're obviously a Charmed one. Hello there little girl.' The man grinned, then pointed at Melinda. A silvery, filmy looking fog went from Melinda to him. Melinda began to cry hysterically, and collapsed on the floor.
'What'd you do to her?' Piper cried.
'It wouldn't matter, your little girl is a mess now. She's never going to be the same again.' The man began to laugh coldly. 'And you'll be next!'
'Melinda! Melinda?' Piper screamed, shaking Melinda.
Melinda cried more, and didn't look at her.
'Seems to work differently with children.' The man added, looking at Melinda. 'Instead of a depression they get hysterical. Seem to think there are monsters everywhere. Same thing happened to your son.'
'Wyatt?' Piper cried. Suddenly she was jolted, and found herself curled up in a ball in the hallway. Paige and Melinda were looking at her.
'You all right Piper? You were screaming and crying. I had to heal your eyes or something.' Paige said, looking concerned.
'It was just an illusion. Let's go. I think I know how the fear feeding thing works too.'
Disclaimer: If I owned Charmed it wouldn't be so Phreebie, erm Pheeble based. Oops I mean Phoebe based.
*House of Fears*
Meanwhile Prue and Phoebe were exploring the rest of the house. Unknown to Piper and Paige, there was another wing of the house, which the woman hadn't shown them.
'Okay, you know this is what, the ninth room we've come across? And there are no kids.' Phoebe said, beginning to get frustrated.
As there were muffled voices on the other end of the phone, Phoebe glared at it. 'Cole.' She hissed. 'Will you lot shut up? You'll give us away!' She said, annoyed.
The voices grew softer, and stopped. Phoebe rolled her eyes.
'Okay, so where were we-' Phoebe asked, turning to Prue. The space where Prue had been standing was empty. 'Hey you gotta wait for me Prue!' Phoebe complained. 'You can't just walk off - Prue?' The room in which they'd been about to go in was empty. 'Prue?' There was no reply. 'Okay this isn't funny anymore. Remember? No doubts? Well you're making me doubtful here. Get your ass over here Prue!'
As Prue didn't answer, Phoebe headed back to the room where they'd been before. Only, it wasn't the same room. 'Crap.' Phoebe muttered. 'Ooh crap.' As she turned to the door, she discovered it wasn't there. 'Oh. God. No.' Phoebe said, beginning to feel afraid. She turned in a full 360-degree circle. There was not a door anywhere.
'Okay Cole you can send Leo to get me.' She said aloud to her phone, taking it out of her pocket. 'Hello? Cole?' There was no reply, only the tone, which meant the call had ended. Phoebe frowned and called Cole back. Nothing happened.
'Hey?' Phoebe shook her phone, and then stared at the screen. It was off. She tried turning it on again, but it didn't work. 'Damn it! LEO! LEO!' Phoebe began to scream. 'Leo where are you?' Phoebe looked at the ceiling as she called for him. To her horror, the beautiful chandelier seemed to be moving down.
'Please don't let the ceiling close in on me.' Phoebe whimpered, crouching on the floor. 'Please?' The ceiling continued its descent. 'Help me! Leo! Prue! Piper! Phoebe! Cole even! Help!'
Phoebe felt the ground began to shake. Or maybe she was shaking and the ground was staying still?
* *
Prue sighed. She must have lost Phoebe back somewhere. 'Phoebe, where the heck are you?' She asked, walking back to the room where Phoebe had been talking on the phone. Phoebe was crouched on the floor, whimpering and screaming for help.
'Phoebe? Are you all right? PHOEBE?' Prue shook her sister, who screamed louder. 'Phoebe it's me Prue! It's okay! Everything's all right! Phoebe snap out of it!' Prue had an idea. Kneeling next to Phoebe, she held her hands above her eyes and healed them. Technically they hadn't been harmed, but Prue figured Phoebe must have been seeing illusions. It was worth a try anyway.
Phoebe shuddered, and blinked. 'Prue? Oh Prue, why did you leave me?' Phoebe started to cry. 'The ceiling started coming down and my phone didn't work. And then the ground began shaking.' She sobbed. 'Oh god it was so horrible!'
'Phoebe it was just an illusion.' Prue soothed. 'It was nothing. You're seeing things. There must be a spell or something and you must've stepped into the web of it.'
'Oh wonderful. There are booby traps all around the house.' Phoebe muttered, as she pulled herself together.
'That's better.' Prue said, nodding. 'Are you all right now? Cos if you're worried. it isn't good.'
'Maybe because I'm already worried about Grace the web affected me, and not you.' Phoebe suggested, as Prue helped her stand - rather wobbly but still standing.
'Maybe.' Prue quickly called Piper. 'Hi Piper? Where are you guys?'
'Was about to ask you the same thing. We've been through every room in the house. Oh and we knocked out a woman.' Piper added. 'We're about to orb into the storage room.' Piper explained.
'Well there's another wing to the house.' Prue replied, glancing at Phoebe. 'Phoebe just got hit by a bout of illusions. She's okay now, but she was in hysterics when I found her. Stick together and be alert. Maybe you should cast a spell so you can see any booby trap spells or something.'
'Okay, will do.' Piper agreed. 'How come you didn't get harmed? I mean if you were with her at the time.'
'I think it's because she's really worried about Grace. So she'd be an easy target for something like that. You be careful okay? Tell Paige that I healed Phoebe's eyes to get her out of it.' Prue hung up, and turned to Phoebe.
'You ready?' Phoebe nodded, and grabbed the sleeve of Prue's jacket. Prue didn't object - it was a pretty good idea considering what had just happened.
* *
The orb, which contained Paige and Piper, landed inside the storage room. 'Storage room indeed.' Paige murmured.
'Well it does store things.' Piper pointed out, as she turned to look at the large room, which held hundreds of adults in chains.
'Who are you?' A woman asked, terrified. 'And what've you done to by little boy?'
'Calm down, we're not here to hurt you. You might see some strange things, but we're the good guys.' Paige assured them in her best social worker voice.
'Leo!' Piper called. 'Get over here!' A few moments later Leo orbed into the room. 'You may need re-enforcements.' Piper added, glancing at the many people.
'Andy's coming.' Leo said. As he finished, Andy orbed in.
'Hi Andy. Can you orb these people back to the manor?' Piper asked. Andy and Leo nodded.
'Okay, hold on.' Piper froze them all. 'That should hold for now. Just in case, lock 'em in a room. Give me a call if they unfreeze. We'll deal with them later.' She continued, looking at the adults. 'Right now it's the kids we have to find.'
Leo and Andy began grabbing people and orbing them out. 'That ought to do it.' Piper said, satisfied.
The two left the room. In the hall the woman was still lying out cold. Piper froze her just for good measure and dragged her into the empty storage room.
'Should I blow her up?' Piper asked. 'Cos I blew up that Korinne guy without a vanquish.'
'Nah. She might be stronger than Korinne. But lets vanquish him just in case.' Piper said. 'Can you think of a spell?' Piper asked.
'Uh.
Rithrow demon, misery on which you feed
We vanquish you now, so the innocents may be freed.' Paige said quickly.
'Uh wait.' Piper called Phoebe. 'Get over here.' Prue and Phoebe orbed in a minute later, and repeated the spell. Piper threw hers at the demon-woman, who was vanquished.
'We're going to go now.' Prue grabbed Phoebe and they orbed out.
'So now what?' Piper asked. 'We keep looking? Because we've been through every room and-'
Paige cut her short and pointed to the hallway ceiling. There was a wooden frame, painted white to match itself to the ceiling. 'Ladder.' Paige ordered. A moment later a ladder orbed in front of her. Paige and Piper climbed up and Paige pressed on the ceiling inside the frame. As predicted it went up.
'Let's go.' Paige said, pushing it up more then climbing through. Piper followed her and her jaw dropped.
'Mellie are you alright?' She rushed towards her daughter in a panic. Melinda was sprawled on the floor of the room, which was directly under the ceiling. The only light filtered in through a dirty window.
'She's been drugged.' Paige whispered. 'And I think there must be something about this house. I mean we could orb in. And Prue could orb into the next room. But can you orb out is the question.' Paige tried to orb, and couldn't get past the ceiling. Her orb bounced around the room, till she formed herself.
'So why didn't Melinda just orb herself to the lobby and run?' Piper asked.
'She's drugged remember? And I'll bet Wyatt and Grace are too or they would have orbed out. Well Wyatt would have. Grace might have had a chance, as these Rithrow demons have to shimmer out themselves.'
'Okay, less talk more rescuing.' Piper picked up her daughter. 'Can you heal her or something?'
'She's drugged, not injured.' Paige objected. Piper gave her a pleading look. Sighing, Paige wondered where she should heal.
'Try her head. Maybe you can wake her up.' Piper suggested. Paige tried to heal Melinda on the head. Melinda stirred, and then woke up.
'Mommy!' She cried. 'Mommy I'm scared!'
'Don't worry sweetie we'll get you home. And don't be scared okay? Be brave. In this house, you'll have to be.' Piper murmured, as she put Melinda down so they could leave the small room. 'Do you know where Wyatt or Grace are?'
Melinda shook her head. 'One minute I was at home. I woke up a bit and there was something on my mouth. And then everything was fuzzy and they put me in here. And then I woke up.'
'Okay.' They climbed back into the hallway.
'And where do you think you're going?' An icy cold voice asked. Piper turned, and there was a man, smirking at them.
'Uh. we examine paintings. We were just checking for any.' Piper said. 'My baby sitter cancelled so I bought my daughter with me.'
'I'm not stupid; you're obviously a Charmed one. Hello there little girl.' The man grinned, then pointed at Melinda. A silvery, filmy looking fog went from Melinda to him. Melinda began to cry hysterically, and collapsed on the floor.
'What'd you do to her?' Piper cried.
'It wouldn't matter, your little girl is a mess now. She's never going to be the same again.' The man began to laugh coldly. 'And you'll be next!'
'Melinda! Melinda?' Piper screamed, shaking Melinda.
Melinda cried more, and didn't look at her.
'Seems to work differently with children.' The man added, looking at Melinda. 'Instead of a depression they get hysterical. Seem to think there are monsters everywhere. Same thing happened to your son.'
'Wyatt?' Piper cried. Suddenly she was jolted, and found herself curled up in a ball in the hallway. Paige and Melinda were looking at her.
'You all right Piper? You were screaming and crying. I had to heal your eyes or something.' Paige said, looking concerned.
'It was just an illusion. Let's go. I think I know how the fear feeding thing works too.'