CHAPTER 4: Connections
"Halliwell, party of three?" the hostess requested.
"That's us," Prue said.
"Would you follow me please?" she instructed.
Prue, Penny, and Patti followed the hostess through the restaurant to their table. Prue had decided to celebrate their first month of being witches by taking her cousins out to dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant.
"Prue, this is really sweet of you," Penny said. "You didn't have to do this."
"I wanted to," Prue replied. "You guys are the only family I have left, and I want you to know how special you are to me."
"Oh, thanks, honey," Patti said, swallowing back her tears at the heartfelt statement.
"You know, it just occurred to me that between all the demons and warlocks that have come after us in the past month, we've barely had a chance to catch up on the last nine years," Prue mentioned.
"I can't believe it. You're right," Penny realized.
"I say we rectify that right now," Patti suggested.
"I guess I'll go first," Prue said. "After graduation, I went to CalTech to get my bachelor's degree in medicine, and then I went to this research facility in northern California called Biotech to do my doctorate work in microbiology. After that, I came back to San Francisco and started working at SFGH."
"No relationships to speak of?" Penny asked.
Prue shook her head. "Too much work to do," she answered, a tinge of sadness in her voice. "It doesn't mean I'm giving up though."
"Good," Penny said.
"Prue, just out of curiosity, how did you pay to go to CalTech?" Patti asked. "I mean, we barely had any money at all, and the State Care wouldn't pay for it."
"Full scholarship," Prue said proudly.
"Wow," Penny said, clearly impressed. "How did that happen?"
"Some foundation selected a student from the high school to get a full ride to the college of their choice, and they picked me," Prue said.
"What was the foundation called?" Patti asked curiously.
"Um, I think it was the Life-bearer Foundation," Prue said uncertainly. Noticing the shocked looks on her cousins' faces, she asked, "What is it?"
"That was the same foundation that paid for me to learn culinary arts in Paris," Penny said.
"They paid for me to go to NYU," Patti added.
"This is very, very interesting, that all three of us got scholarships from the same foundation," Prue mused. "How about tomorrow we go check into this?"
"I think I'm up for a little investigating," Penny said.
****
"Hello, and welcome to the San Francisco Public Library. How may I help you?"
"We're like to use a computer for a while," Prue said. "Can you tell us where we can find them?"
"Down the hall and to the left," the lady at the desk replied.
"Thanks," Prue remarked as she led her cousins to the computer lab. She walked into the computer lab and got online.
"Where are we going?" Patti wondered.
"Here," Prue announced as she brought up the IRS home page. "If this company is a charitable organization, I know the IRS has them on record. Let me just..." Prue began, and trailed off as she typed in a few things.
"Um, is this legal?" Penny whispered.
"Sort of," Prue mentioned, "See, I have this computer whiz friend who sort of taught me a back door to the IRS so I could...alter my taxes a little."
"Right..." Patti remarked with a grin.
"This is weird," Prue finally stated.
"What?" Penny demanded.
"The Life-bearer foundation never paid taxes...which means the IRS doesn't know they exist," Prue replied.
The cousins looked at each other with shock on their faces. "This is getting very, very weird," Prue said. "First, we find out that we all received scholarships from the same foundation, and now it appears that the foundation never existed. What the hell is going on here?"
"I don't know," Penny said. "How about we check down at the high school? They must have some kind of record of it there."
"Good idea, Pen," Patti said as they got in the car.
****
"Wow, this place feels so much smaller," Penny said as they walked through the halls of their old high school.
"It probably has to do with the fact that we're a little bit taller than we were back then," Prue said, grinning.
"Hey, Prue! Look up there!" Patti said, pointing.
Prue followed her arm to a picture on the wall. Prudence Halliwell, Valedictorian, Class of 2022, the plaque underneath the picture read. "I always did like that picture," Prue said.
"Ok, enough admiring yourself!" Penny chided. "Let's head down to the main office."
As the walked in the office, the secretary looked up and said, "May I...well, I'll be damned. If it isn't Prue Halliwell herself!"
"Hello, Mrs. Lamont," Prue said. "I'm surprised you still remember me after all these years."
"How could I not remember the best assistant in the world?" Mrs. Lamont countered. Prue blushed. "So, what can I help you girls with?"
"Um, we were actually wondering about the scholarship that I got," Prue said. "You still have records about that, don't you?"
"Of course," Mrs. Lamont said, moving over to her computer. "The district has to be meticulous about these things. Let me just get you a print-out." A few moments later, Mrs. Lamont handed Prue a couple of sheets of paper. "Here you go."
"Thanks, Mrs. Lamont," Prue said as they turned to go.
"Always a pleasure to see you, Prue," Mrs. Lamont said.
****
"Well, let's see what we've got," Prue said as they walked back outside. "A scholarship in the amount of $50,000/year is awarded to Prudence Halliwell on behalf of the Life-bearer Foundation, a nonprofit organization owned by...Thomas Victor Smith."
"Smith?" Penny repeated. "Do you think he's a relative of yours?"
"I don't know," Prue said. "The name sounds so familiar, though."
"Is there an address on there?" Patti questioned.
"Not for the Foundation, but there is an address for him," Prue said. "I think it's about time we paid Mr. Smith a visit."
****
As the car pulled up to the address, Penny said, "Would you take a look at that..."
The cousins were awestruck as they looked at the house – or mansion, for that matter. It was huge, and was tasteful in design. They knew the man had to be rich, but they hadn't pictured something that big.
"Let's go," Prue said. The cousins got out of the car and walked up the sloping driveway to the front door. Just as Prue was about to ring the bell, the doors opened of their own accord. She swallowed. "Ok, doors opening on their own means magic."
"Uh, not necessarily," Patti said, pointing at a video camera mounted above them to the left.
"How do we know he's not a demon or a warlock, for that matter?" Penny asked.
"We don't, but we'll never know if we don't go in," Prue said. "Besides, we have the Power of Three if we have to fight." The cousins joined hands and walked into the foyer. As they moved across the threshold, the doors closed behind them.
The cousins looked around the huge hall, unsure of where to go. Patti caught a flicker of light off the passageway to the left. "Let's try this way," she suggested.
The cousins moved down the corridor and into a very large living room. A piano stood at the near end of the room. Couches circled a glass table at the center of the room, and an oak desk was positioned at the far end. The high back chair at the desk was facing the back of the room. As the cousins approached the desk, a man's voice said, "Well, I was wondering when you three would show up." They jumped slightly as the chair turned around to reveal a man of about thirty with black hair and deep brown eyes. He looked at Prue, and a warm smile lit his face. "Hello, sis, it's been a while."
As though those words were a key, Prue felt the memories she'd been trying to unlock earlier slam into her. "Oh my God...Tom..." she breathed.
Thomas Victor Smith nodded and rose from his chair. He walked around the desk and wrapped his younger sister in a tight hug while Penny and Patti stared at him in utter shock. "It's so good to see you," Tom said. "I've been looking forward to this for fifteen years."
"I can't believe I almost forgot about you, when it seems you never forgot me," Prue said as she pulled back. "I mean, you're my brother, and I didn't even remember that you existed..." She looked down, ashamed.
"Hey, it's ok," he said, gently wiping a tear off her cheek. "You remember me now, and that's what's important."
"Hey, I remember too!" Patti blurted. "There was a boy who was picking on me when I was seven, and you threatened to kick his ass if he didn't stop."
"Hey, I wasn't about to let a cousin down, was I?" Tom said with a grin.
Prue fidgeted for a moment before asking, "So...what's been happening with you in the last fifteen years?"
Tom gestured at the couches at the center of the room and they sat down. "Well, I don't know if you remember or not, but Dad...well, he always wanted me to take over the business when I got older, so he put me into private school. When I graduated, two years early, by the way, I went to Oxford, same as Dad, to study computer science and business. When I was done, I came back and he took a year to train me to run the business, and then he left. That was seven years ago."
"That was the last time you spoke to him?" Prue asked.
Tom nodded. "He...just vanished, right off the face of the earth," Tom said.
"Why did you give us the scholarships?" Penny asked.
"Dad wanted me to look out for you, he made that much clear to me," Tom said. "So, when I found out about how much difficulty you guys were going to have paying for college, I set up the Life-bearer Foundation to pay for it."
"Why did you do it indirectly?" Patti asked curiously.
"I think the more important question is why you didn't try to contact us," Prue said with more than a hint of anger in her voice.
"There weren't supposed to be any direct links back to me, and for good reason," Tom explained. "I do know about your powers, you know." The cousins' eyes widened. "The point is that at that point in time, no one on the side of Evil knew that you three even existed yet. As a living blood relative, and having had powers of my own, any interaction I had with you before your powers were unbound could have been disastrous if any demons had been tracking me." Tom sighed. "I was only trying to protect you."
"You have powers too?" Prue questioned in a softer tone. Tom's explanation had quenched the anger that had coursed through her.
"Of course," Tom said matter-of-factly. "They're not Charmed Ones' powers, though; those powers are only passed through women. Actually..." he trailed off.
"Dad," Prue blurted. "He had powers too, didn't he?"
Tom nodded. "Didn't Dad tell you about how he and Mom met originally?" Prue shook her head. "When Dad first met Mom, he was a witch himself...well, half-witch, technically."
"What was the other half?" Prue asked.
Tom hesitated a moment before answering, "Demon."
"What!?" Prue screeched.
"It didn't matter, though," Tom quickly explained. "Dad was raised up here, not in the Underworld, so his demonic powers became an extension of his total magical ability. He was always a good man."
"Does that mean I have some demon in me, too?" Prue asked. The thought actually gave her a chilling sensation, to think that a little of the enemy was in her.
"Actually no," Tom said. "At one point, Dad...had his demonic powers stripped, so when that happened, he wasn't a demon in any sense after that. You were born after that. I was born before that, so I'm one-quarter demon, three-quarters witch, but all of my powers are ones that Dad had, not Mom."
"What kinds of powers?" Penny asked.
"Fireballs, telekinesis, shimmering, orbing, healing, and time manipulation," Tom said, "although using that last one takes some definite skill."
Prue asked, "Did he train you at all?"
Tom shook his head. "He started to, right after..." Tom trailed off, and Prue could see the struggle in his eyes. "My powers started to fade," he continued. "After six months, I was as mortal as the next guy."
"Why?" Prue asked.
An ancient pain welled up in Tom's eyes as he answered, "I don't know. We never figured it out."
Prue hesitated before asking her next question. "Tom...what happened...to Mom?" Penny and Patti leaned in closer, for they, too, were also eager to hear about their mothers.
The pain in Tom's eyes intensified. "I don't know..." He looked down before saying quietly, "I wasn't there."
Prue took her brother's hand in hers. "It's ok...I just thought you might have remembered." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, we learned what we wanted to know...and I'm glad we found each other again."
Tom looked up and gave his sister a watery smile. "Me too, Prue," he said softly.
The two siblings stood up and embraced for a minute. "Will we see you again?" Prue asked as she pulled back.
"I guarantee it," Tom said.
He watched his sister and cousins as they left. As the front door shut closed, he sensed a flaming behind him.
"I knew Prue would find you," Michael said as he walked over to his son. "She's a smart girl."
"Good genes...from Mom's side," Tom commented with a slight smile.
Michael chuckled grimly. "It was wise of you not to tell them everything, as I'd suggested," he continued. "They're not ready yet."
Tom nodded, but added firmly, "Don't ask me to lie to my sister again. I won't do it."
Michael sighed in acquiescence as he flamed out.
TO BE CONTINUED...