SEVEN

Phoebe moved to help Alister as Prue and Piper turned to face the Dark Lighter. Prue raised her hand and the Dark Lighter was thrown back against the wall. He fell to the floor, dropping his crossbow.

"Nice try, witch," said the Dark Lighter, retrieving his crossbow. "But you won't be fast enough to save the other one, either."

Suddenly, the Dark Lighter vanished from the entryway.

"Go," called Phoebe, "protect Leo. I'll look after Alister."

The two sisters ran up the stairs to Prue's bedroom. As they reached the bedroom they saw the Dark Lighter standing next to Prue's bed. Leo stood in the closet. In his hand was a piece of wood with a bolt stuck in it. Piper immediately froze the entire room.

"Get Leo out of here," said Prue. "I'll handle our visitor."

Piper moved in and grabbed Leo, breaking the freeze on him.

"What the?" began Leo.

"No time to explain," said Piper. "We have to get you out of here."

After Leo and Piper had left the room, Prue looked around. She saw a pile of sawdust created by Leo when he had cut the wood for the new shoe rack. With a wave of her hand, the sawdust flew up into the Dark Lighters' face.

The freeze broken on him, he dropped his crossbow and grabbed his face. Prue used her power to slide the crossbow away from him. The Dark Lighter wiped the sawdust out of his eyes and looked at Prue.

"Let's see how tough you are without your weapon," said Prue.

The Dark Lighter didn't wait. He immediately vanished from the room. Prue turned and headed back downstairs.

Phoebe had pulled the bolt out of Alister and it lay on the floor next to them. Leo reached down to pick it up.

"No," screamed Piper, pushing his hand away, "don't touch it. It's dangerous to you."

"What are we going to do?" asked Phoebe. "Alister is dying and there's no way for us to stop it."

"Get him up on the sofa," said Leo. "Make him as comfortable as possible. Prue, call an ambulance."

Leo reached down and grabbed Alister's shoulders. As he did, a soft yellow glow covered Alister. Within seconds, his wound was completely healed. Suddenly the Dark Lighter reappeared in the entryway, crossbow in hand.

"You won't save him this time, witch," said the Dark Lighter.

As the Dark Lighter fired the crossbow, Piper froze the room. Everyone but the sisters froze. The bolt also froze in midair, aimed directly at Leo. Prue used her telekinetic power to send the bolt plunging into the Dark Lighter, vanquishing him. Piper unfroze the room and moved over to Alister.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Fine," said Alister, "thanks to Leo. I guess subconsciously he still knew what to do. Good thing for me. If it wasn't for him, I'd be dead."

"I didn't know I could do that," said Leo. "None of you had ever mentioned it to me."

"That's my fault, I'm afraid," said Alister. "I felt it best if we didn't say too much too soon. I may have made an error in that."

"Well," said Piper, "this is awkward. I guess you have a lot of questions."

"No, not really," said Leo, smiling.

"You're not even a little curious about how you were able to heal Alister?" asked Phoebe.

"Why should I be curious?" asked Leo. "As a White Lighter, I know how my powers work."

Everyone stared at Leo in surprise.