"Hey, don't touch it. What's wrong with you?" I slapped Chris's hand away. "How do I do this, Leo?"
"You have to push the arrowhead out," Leo told me. "Then you have to break it off and pull out the arrow shaft."
"Oh, is that all?" I took a hold of the arrow and, wincing, pushed it through. Paige gasped and went tense. "Sorry," I whispered and broke off the arrowhead. Wincing even more, I pulled out the arrow shaft. "Okay. Now heal her."
The wound disappeared, but Paige still didn't look so hot.
"She doesn't look so good. What's happening to her?" I looked Paige over. She was shivering, but she was running a temperature. What was wrong with her? The wound from the darklighter arrow had healed, so why was she still ill?
"There was something else on the arrow." Leo frowned. "I can't figure out what it is."
"Phoebe, do you think you could see what it is?"
She nodded and picked up the arrowhead. I immediately noticed the beautiful diamond engagement ring. I looked at her quizzically. She pretended to not have noticed, though she turned her hand away so that I couldn't see the ring. I searched her neck for Sirius's ring, but she wasn't wearing it.
She breathed in sharply.
"What is it?"
"It's the essence of an assassin," Phoebe said. "It's taking away her whitelighter identity."
"But all her powers come from her whitelighter side. If she loses it…" Piper trailed off. We all knew what would happen.
I took Paige's clammy hand into my hand. "Leo, what can we do?" I asked.
"Try to use the power of sisterhood. If that doesn't work…"
"Then nothing will," Piper said. "I'd better postpone the wedding."
"No, Piper, don't do that," Paige said as she weakly sat up.
"Paige, lie back down. You're very ill."
"I feel fine. I'm going to be up and about tomorrow. I just need a good night's sleep. I'm… I…" Her eyes slipped out of focus and she passed out.
No… Can't let Piper postpone wedding… Must get better… Must get better… I will get better…
Paige's body flickered with light. It lingered for a moment, then struggled and disappeared. Paige's shivering stopped. Her eyes opened. "I told you." She smirked in satisfaction. "You won't be postponing the wedding now."
"What…" Piper started. "Oh, forget it. I'm still checking you over, though."
"You're such a mother," Paige said and rolled her eyes. She continued to protest as Piper looked her over. "What's your verdict?"
"You're the picture of health. However, you're to go straight to bed."
"But it's so early!" Paige exclaimed.
"You were shot with a darklighter arrow. You need to rest," I said.
"You didn't make Chris rest when he was shot," Paige pouted.
Piper and I pointed to the stairs.
"Oh, all right," she grumbled.
She noticed, Phoebe was thinking. Now she's going to ask. What should I tell them?
"Well, the truth would be a good place to start," I said.
Phoebe meekly looked down. "You heard that?"
"Loud and clear. You always broadcast your thoughts when you're troubled," I said. "I'm assuming that you accepted Jason's proposal."
A grin spread across her face. "Yes. I do love him."
"You do?" I softly asked.
Her smile became an angry scowl. "You know, I don't need this from you. Don't you think that I would make sure that I loved him before I accepted his proposal?" I had heard that tone many times before, mostly while we were at Hogwarts. If I said anything more, I knew that she would get angry and start yelling. I decided to take my chances.
"I only said that because you seemed so unsure before. If you're marrying him just because of your vision…"
"I'm marrying him because I love him! You all think that I can't love anyone else just because of what Sirius and I had. I love Sirius, but I love Jason too! Just get off my back!" she shouted.
"Phoebe, you haven't even told him the big bad secret," Piper pointed out.
"I will."
"When?"
She straightened up and crossed her arms. "That's my business."
"But Phoebe—"
"No. I'm going out." She disapparated.
"She had better be back tomorrow," Piper said through gritted teeth.
"Do you want me to go find her?" Leo asked.
"No. Just let her go."
"She might need you," Leo persisted.
"Phoebe's a grown woman," Piper said. "She can take care of herself."
"And she needs to," I put in. "She's going back to the old ways. I think she's smoking again. I wouldn't be surprised if she started hexing us again."
"Oh God. I cannot handle another teenage Phoebe."
"I doubt that she'll regress that far. As soon as she…" Leo abruptly stopped.
"As soon as she what?" I asked Leo sharply.
"I have to go." He orbed out.
"As usual, Leo knows more than we do," Piper said.
"And he's taken up the Elder's secrecy."
"Rise and shine! I'm getting married today!" Piper bounced onto my bed, waking me.
"I don't remember ordering a wake-up call," I said.
"Well, we have to get started. Get up!"
"How's Paige?"
"She's doing great."
"And Phoebe?"
Anger flittered across Piper's face. "She's still missing."
"What time is it?" I carefully asked.
"Almost seven. I don't think Phoebe's going to get here on time."
"Piper, I'm so sorry."
"It's Phoebe who should be sorry."
"She'll be here," I attempted to assure her, even though I didn't believe that Phoebe would come back. "She wouldn't miss your wedding."
"We both know that she would," Piper flatly said. "But I'm not going to let it bother me. If Phoebe wants to be a bitch, she can do that. I'm just glad I didn't pick her as my maid of honor."
"I could kick her butt when she comes home," I offered. "It's been a while, but I think I could do it."
Piper smiled. "It's not going to bother me."
I knew Piper. It would bother her and it did. But who was I to point that out? "Good. Well, we should probably get started."
"Yes." She jumped up excitedly. "Magic time."
I jumped into the shower, appreciating the fact that I didn't have to compete for a shower. A half an hour later, I pulled on a tank top and shorts and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. It was a relaxed look, but I would be changing out of it soon. The doorbell sounded, and I jogged down the stairs.
"No!" Paige cried and threw herself in front of the door.
I stared at her. "Throwing yourself on the bomb?"
"No. I mean, I'll get it."
"Really, it's no trouble." I telekinetically opened the door. "Hello, Anwen, Fae."
"Hey, Prue." They went off to the kitchen.
"Oh, it was just them." I noted the relief in her voice.
"And who were you expecting?"
"No one," Paige said quickly. "How about you go summon Mom and Grams and do the protection spells? I'll answer the door."
"Actually, I was thinking that you would do the spells. Unless you have a problem with that, of course."
"Well, you are more familiar with those spells…" Paige said.
"Why do you want me away from the door?" I inquired.
"I don't."
I was getting nowhere fast. "Fine. I'll do the spells."
"Thanks." She would kill me if she knew. She'll find out eventually, but I'd like that to happen later.
I ignored the thought and went around the house, casting protection spells.
"Welcome. Just go through there," I heard Paige say. "Prue, the team is here!"
"Good!"
The door opened again.
They're early.
"We wanted to help out. We heard that you lost your sister." I recognized that voice. But no… Why would the dwarves be back?
"We didn't lose her," Paige said. "We just don't know where she is."
"Ah. That's a big difference."
"Well, we kind of know where she is. She's not in danger."
"And you're sure of that?"
"Yes, we are," I announced coolly. "Paige, I believe you owe me an explanation." The leprechauns, dwarves, and fairies were back.
"Um, you see…"
"No, I don't see."
"They got us out of a tough spot," Paige said in a rush. "They saved my life. I figured that the least we could do was invite them to the wedding."
"It's Piper's wedding, Paige. Please tell me you told her."
"Well… Not exactly."
"Not exactly?"
"Well, I kind of hinted."
"You gave her hints?" I said.
"Yes. Piper's smart…"
I sighed. "Fine."
"Huh?"
"I don't care. It's not the end of the world. It's better than what Phoebe is doing."
"Okay. I—"
"Shh." I listened carefully. I could have sworn I had heard a giggle.
"What is it?" she whispered.
"I believe she's talking about them," the dwarf said and pointed.
"Hi!" a twelve-year-old me said cheerfully.
"Wow, Prue, she looks just like you," an eleven-year-old Piper said.
"Looks like that spell went right," a ten-year-old Phoebe said.
"What spell?" past me asked sharply. "You're not even allowed to use spells. Mom said…"
"Mom says a lot of things," past Phoebe said. "They're more guidelines than actual rules, Prue. So, are you a future Prue?"
I couldn't tell them anything. But I didn't have the energy to try to make up something. "Yes. How did you three get here?"
"I found a great spell in that book that Mom and Grams keep in the attic. I didn't think that it would work."
"You shouldn't have tried it," Piper reprimanded.
"Too late now," Phoebe flippantly said. "Hey, what's going on here? It seems like someone's getting married."
"You'll have to modify their memories," I murmured to Paige. "Yes, someone is getting married. Piper."
"Piper's getting married?" Phoebe gasped. "I can't believe it. She's so shy."
"I'm not that shy," Piper said.
"You are too. I'll bet that the future you is super nervous," past Phoebe teased.
"No," I found myself saying. "This is her second wedding."
"Second wedding? My gosh, Piper," Phoebe giggled.
"Can we watch?" past me asked.
"No, you can't watch. We have to send you home. Paige, watch them."
"Paige? Who are you?" Phoebe questioned.
"Never mind," Paige told her. "I can't watch them. I have to direct the team. I'm holding them up."
"Well, um…"
"We can watch ourselves," the past me said. "Rather, I can watch them."
"Please. I know myself." I turned to our guests. "Would you keep them in here?"
"Sure."
"But I wanted to see Piper's husband!" Phoebe protested.
"You're going to have your memories erased anyways."
"Then there would be no harm," Phoebe concluded.
"She does have a point," past Piper said.
"Just stay here." I cannot let Piper see them. Enough has gone wrong.
"Piper? Piper, we have to get ready." Another empty room. Where was she? "Have you seen Piper?" I asked Paige.
"No, but she has to be around here somewhere."
"Yeah." I went upstairs, where I supposed Piper was. "Piper?" I opened the door to her room. It was empty.
"Over here, Prue," I heard her say.
"Where are you? I can't see you anywhere."
"I've turned invisible. I'm so nervous!"
So the past Phoebe was right. "Why are you nervous? You've been through all this before." I bumped into her. She clamped her hand around mine.
"I know, but I'm still so nervous. I mean, what if everything goes wrong? It always does."
"Piper, you have to get out there soon," I said. "You can't get married while you're invisible. Take a deep breath and calm down. Nothing is going to go wrong."
She slowly began to appear before my eyes.
"Now just relax. Paige will help you get ready. I'm going to make sure that nothing goes wrong." I squeezed her hand and kissed the top of her head. "You're going to be fine."
"Thanks, Prue."
I smiled and went back downstairs. A wolf was sitting in the living room. I jumped. "Not another magical creature!" I groaned. "What is it with Piper and magical creatures?"
The wolf wagged its tail, then became a man.
"Remus? But—"
"Piper cured me. I'm no longer a werewolf. I'm just an animagus."
"Well, go upstairs and get ready." I checked the spells. They were still going strong. "Good. The backyard's all set up, Piper's getting ready, and—Grams!" I threw my arms around her.
"Did you doubt that I would come?"
"But…" I shrugged. "I didn't know that anyone had done the spell yet."
"No one had to," Grams said, smirking.
"What do you mean?"
"I've been granted temporary life. The Elders screwed up."
"What about mom?"
"I'll go summon her. You look frazzled, dear."
"I've been making sure that everything will go right," I said.
"Of course. Well, you should go to your sisters. I'll take over from here."
"Thanks, Grams. Oh, our past selves are in the family room. Could you take care of them?"
"Easily."
I went up the stairs and into Piper's room. Paige was helping Piper get into her dress.
"Hey, Prue," Paige said. "Everything is going pretty well."
"Yeah."
A while later, we were outside, all ready to go. Phoebe still hadn't arrived. We had given up on her.
"She's not coming," I whispered to Paige. "Give the signal. We'll have to do this without her." I was so angry. How could Phoebe do this to Piper?
The music began and Piper emerged with dad. She looked so beautiful. Her eyes searched the front. They clouded a little as she realized that Phoebe was missing. Her smile became a bit forced. Victor noticed and squeezed her hand.
So she didn't show up. Too busy with Jason, I suppose. Well, there's nothing I can do about her. Still… she just didn't care enough to show up.
She was trying so hard to not be hurt, but she was. They reached us and Victor lifted her veil. Then I saw Phoebe in the back. She was putting on her shoe, almost falling over in the process. I had a great desire to knock her over. But I didn't. She carefully made her way to us, being as discreet as possible. We all ignored her. Suddenly, I heard someone's thoughts.
I can't believe that I get to see mom's wedding!
I froze. Mom's wedding? What? Were powers just going wacky again?
This is great. Why does Aunt Prue keep giving Aunt Phoebe looks? Oh, now I remember. Aunt Phoebe showed up at the last minute after a long visit with Jason. Mom looks so beautiful! Dad looks great. It's hard to believe that this is the day after Aunt Paige was shot. She looks fine. Wait, where's Uncle… Oh, right. He wasn't here yet. That must be the Chris Perry that mom told me about. He does look like his father. Uh-oh. I think Aunt Prue has spotted me. Better disappear.
I glanced towards the crowd and caught a glimpse of a young woman.
"I do."
I looked back to my sister. When I glanced back at the crowd, the woman was gone. I shook off the thoughts I had heard. Just my powers going wacky.
Piper
"Finally, we're together. I love you so much, Remus."
He smiled and kissed me.
There was no way to express what I felt. My heart sang with such joy. I had never felt love quite like this before. "I can't believe that they were able to do this." Dumbledore and the other professors had given us an interesting wedding present. We had been given a trip to ancient Greece. It was amazing. "We actually get to see ancient Greece. Shall we go sightseeing?"
"Sure. We can do anything you want."
I giggled giddily. "Let's go then."
"Spells first."
"Right." We cast the translator spells on ourselves. We could now speak and understand Greek.
Greece was beautiful. I could hardly believe my luck. "I wish I had a camera. Too bad we couldn't bring one."
"Well, we'll always have our memories."
"Yes, and I plan to remember this for a long time. Oh, the Parthenon!" The Parthenon was amazing. "The statue of Athena! This is incredible!"
We went all over Athens that day, seeing more incredible things. It was an indescribable experience. I wouldn't have traded it for the world.
The next morning, we went out mostly to watch the people.
"I never thought that I could feel like this… But now I know that I can." I kissed him. What if this doesn't work out? I tried to push the worry away, but I couldn't.
Then something happened. Something very… unusual happened. I metamorphosed physically. My hair became darker and longer. I looked down and found that I was wearing a black velvet dress. "This is interesting," I murmured and stretched out my hand. I was glowing slightly.
"Gods above!"
I looked to the side and saw a young woman. My body became normal, likely because of my surprise.
The woman looked me up and down and began to speak rapidly. I caught a few words: "goddess", "Demeter", and "great blessings."
Remus and I exchanged looks. She thinks that I'm the goddess Demeter. It could be worse.
"You must come in. Come," she said and led us into her home. We were given quite the royal treatment.
"A girl could get used to this," I said to Remus in English. "I feel rather like Phoebe did when we were goddesses. But I have much more control."
"Why do they think you're Demeter? And why did you change?"
"We found out a while ago that we might be related to the mortal Greek deities. As for the change… That must have something to do with our new powers. It seems to be triggered by our emotions. Maybe that's why Phoebe…"
"Are you sure you want to think about her?" Remus said carefully.
"Might as well. I just don't understand why Phoebe is acting this way. It's not Sirius or Jason. I don't know what it could be."
"Well, this is Phoebe we're talking about. It's impossible to understand her."
"Yeah, but I thought we were past all this. She turned her life around. I didn't think she would revert to her old ways. She's so stubborn. There are very few things that could make her change her mind." I shook my head. "I guess I kind of want to believe that she wouldn't want to hurt me."
"I'm sure that she didn't want to hurt you. She just didn't think."
"That's the problem with Phoebe. She gets caught up in things and doesn't stop to think… But this is our honeymoon. I shouldn't be talking about my sisters. In fact… I shouldn't be talking at all…" I smiled mischievously. "Io, we have to be going now."
"Of course," Io said. "I hope I have pleased you."
"Very much. Thank you." I turned to Remus and whispered, "I do hope that the werewolf's song didn't take out all the wild wolf in you."
"Only one way to find out…"
My eyes opened. It was early in the morning. I had been awoken by a dream. I couldn't quite remember it, but I was sure that it was about Chris. He was in some sort of danger… Well, Phoebe's the precognitive one.
"What is that?" I muttered and got out of bed. There was a bit of light shining from somewhere in the corner. I went over to it and looked closely at it. "It's a time rift," I gasped. As I watched, my sisters appeared.
"We're going to do meditation. I think it would do us some good," Prue said as she sat on the attic floor. She positioned herself in the lotus position and closed her eyes.
"Prue, meditation is so dull. It always puts me to sleep," Paige said.
"Uh huh," Prue said, not really paying attention to her.
Phoebe bit her lip. "Maybe we should concentrate on our new abilities. Leo says that they concentrate on one emotion, the emotion that we feel strongest."
"For me, it's frustration," Prue said. "What about you two?"
"Phoebe, I think your emotion is anger," Paige said.
"Thanks," she said dryly.
"That's another thing," Paige said. "What's up with this attitude?"
"You're one to talk," she shot back.
"Both of you have been acting like brats," Prue said.
"Oh yeah?"
They started to argue. It wasn't long before they drew their wands.
"I think we should settle this now," Prue said viciously.
"Yes," Phoebe said. "Talk is cheap."
"Hey! All of you cut it out!" I said.
They looked around. "Piper?" They were taken aback when they saw my face in the ceiling.
"Yes, it's Piper. What the heck do you think you're doing?" My voice echoed through the room. They winced.
"You're in ancient Greece. How can this be happening?"
"I found a time rift."
Paige's face lit up. "Time rift? I found a time rift right before I was shot."
"Interesting. Voldemort probably sent a darklighter to stop you from finding the truth about the past. But that's not the issue. Why are you fighting?"
"It's those two," Prue said.
"What? You're the one who's—"
"Enough. You're obviously under some sort of spell. Take care of it because I'm not coming home early. This is my honeymoon and I am going to enjoy it. Understand?"
"Yes."
"Now do your meditation and work things out. Goodbye." I slipped back into bed. "Do they always have to do this?" My eyes lingered on the time rift. I really should close that thing. Although, I could also use that to look into the past, rather, future. I got up again and went over to the time rift. "Show me what Voldemort did." I gaped as I watched. "So that's what happened."