The first thing I noticed about the house was that it had become a castle. "Now what?" I groaned and skipped up to the house. "Hello? What the heck is up with the house? Whoa!"
A woman wearing a cloak and holding a walking stick came over to me. "It's me, Paige."
"You look… different. Is this a permanent thing? Why has the house become a castle?"
"Long story," Paige said. "We're still trying to sort out what happened."
"Where's Piper?"
"This way." She led me down the hall. Piper was sitting on a cushioned throne. She was wearing a long dress and a crown of stars. "Hi," Piper said. "I'm the empress, apparently."
"Empress?" I repeated.
"Yeah. Paige is the hermit."
"Are you talking about tarot cards?"
"That's correct. Paige brought home a bewitched clock. It had a set of tarot cards in it. Paige used them and now…." She trailed off.
"Has anything else been affected?"
"We haven't checked yet," Paige said.
"Well, let's do that then."
We went down another long hallway.
"I was waiting for you." We had located Phoebe. She was wearing a grown and a headdress. She was holding the Torah. Behind her there was a banner and two pillars. At her feet there was a crescent moon. "Is it just me, or am I the high priestess?"
"It's just you," I said. "So you've turned into the tarot cards?"
"Apparently," Piper said.
"Okay then. Where's everyone else?"
"Let's look. We'd better keep together."
"Yeah. Who knows what could be waiting for us."
I was just about to go down another hallway when I was yanked off to another place. A blindfold appeared around my head. I could feel loose cloth winding its way around my body. A few clangs sounded. Blindfold and swords… wait, this must be the eight of swords.
A few minutes later, I heard my name being called. "I'm right here!"
"The eight of swords." The blindfold was slipped off, and I saw Piper. "Come on. Let's go find everyone else."
"Right." We went back up to the house.
"Girls, what's going on?" Grams was wearing a long white gown with a garland wrapped around it. A lion was sitting next to her.
"Um… You've become the tarot card, strength," Paige said.
"I see."
"You stay here. We're going to find everyone else."
We went up the stairs. A horse was at the end of the hallway. Harry was on it. He was dressed in a suit of armor.
"Knight of swords," I concluded.
Piper opened one of the many doors. "I've found the magician."
We looked into the room. Sirius was standing there. He was dressed in robes. The table in front of him had a sword, a cup, a pentacle, and a staff on it. "What—"
"We'll explain in a moment," I interrupted.
Phoebe opened another door. "Hey, Chris. You must be justice."
He came out of the room. He was carrying a sword and balance, and he was wearing a cape and robes. There was a crown on his head. "I assume you have an explanation."
"In a moment."
"Here's the sun," Paige said. Wyatt came out riding on horse. A sun was following him closely.
"And now for door number four…" I opened the door. "I'll assume that that's Remus."
"What do you mean by that?" Piper asked and came over.
A crab, a dog, and a wolf were sitting near a pool of water, looking up at a moon.
"Okay, everyone downstairs." Piper picked up Wyatt and we went downstairs.
"Where did this clock come from?" Grams asked, eyeing Paige suspiciously. "Because it has an interesting aura."
"Look, it was the cards, not the clock," Paige said.
"You found the cards in the clock," Piper pointed out. She prepared to blow up the clock.
"No! I love this clock!" Paige squeaked.
"It's obviously evil," Grams said.
"Obviously?" Paige scoffed. Then she sought a different method. "Well, you shouldn't just go and blow it up. Who knows what might happen. Besides, there's something about the inner compartment of it."
"We're not going to open it," Piper argued.
"We have to," Paige said. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Use your imagination."
"Stand back," Phoebe said. "You're all being to indecisive."
"Get away from there." I yanked her back.
"I'll open it," Grams said. "I'm already dead. Nothing can happen to me."
We stood back as she opened the clock door.
A misty form appeared. We all attacked it, but nothing happened to it. It disappeared back into the clock.
"What the hell was that?" I asked.
"I don't know," Piper said. "All we know is that Paige used some cards that she found in the clock. This whole situation must've been caused by whatever's in the clock."
"Do you think the attic's where we should be?" Phoebe asked.
"Only one way to find out."
An orb later, we were up in the attic. The sword had been turned into the ace of swords.
"Anything in there about clock dwelling demons?"
"Not yet. Wait… I may have something." I scanned the page. "Pookas."
"Pookas? Mischievous spirits?" Paige said. "Is that what that was?"
"Well, it fits the profile. I think we might even have a clyotic pooka."
"Clyotic?"
"It's a pooka that likes to take advantage of denial," I read.
"What could we possibly be in denial about?" Phoebe wondered.
"I don't know. It might not even be all of us. Paige, I think you're in denial about love. That's why you became the hermit."
"Love? I'm not in denial about love. I merely see it for what it is. It's a pointless venture."
"Cynic," Phoebe said.
"Are you sure that the real reason why you're doing this is not that you're feeling lonely?" I asked.
"Are you analyzing me?" Paige said.
"Yes."
"I am not lonely."
"Then why are you feeling lonely?" Phoebe said.
"Okay, so maybe I am a little lonely… Or a lot." She morphed back into herself.
I looked at my sisters. "Are you two in denial?"
"No…" Phoebe said, avoiding my gaze.
"Yes, you are. Just admit it. It's the only way you'll change back to your usual self."
"Well…. I feel responsible for all the stuff that happened after we left." Phoebe became herself.
"Piper?"
She sighed. "I worry about the affect Melinda will have on Wyatt." She returned to her original form.
"And what about you, Prue?" Paige asked.
"Why would I be in denial?"
"You haven't changed."
"Okay, okay… I feel guilty because I helped to heap this destiny on Harry."
I changed back, as did the house and the sword. "Now for the pooka."
"Wait," said Paige. "We should check out the others."
"You go do that. I'll work on a spell." It didn't take me long to do that. It was the same with my sisters. They came back up with Harry. He was still the knight.
"We have a slight problem."
Jealousy, I heard Phoebe think. She looked into my eyes, knowing that I had heard.
I nodded. "You take care of the pooka." I was left alone with Harry.
Am I really in denial? Why would I be in denial?
"I know that this is a hard thing to do, but you have to admit what's bothering you, even if it's only to yourself."
It couldn't be Sirius and Phoebe. I don't have a problem with them.
Sirius and Phoebe? Of course. Sirius used to be all alone. Now he has Phoebe and their son. Harry probably feels out of place… and a little jealous. "Has anyone told you about Sirius and Phoebe's history?"
"No, but I guess that Sirius and Phoebe must have been pretty close at Hogwarts."
"No, they were actually worst enemies up until their last two years," I said.
"How did that happen?" he asked, surprised.
"They got into a fight on the Hogwarts Express. The Marauders decided to do something about her and cast a control spell on her."
"Control spell?"
"It limits a person's vocabulary. Phoebe was quite resistant, so Sirius couldn't cast the spell on her on his own. They worked together as a group. That's how the feud started. The war didn't begin until later. Sirius had a habit of charming every girl he met. He tried that on Phoebe and she was less than receptive. She cursed him, in fact. They officially became enemies. Then in her sixth year, she thought she was going to be expelled. On her last day of freedom, she admitted to Sirius that she liked him. She didn't get expelled and they hooked up. Hatred creates passion, and in their case, it led to sparks."
What about my parents? My mom hated my dad.
"Lily had a lot of problems with James. She started to like him in her sixth year, but she didn't do anything about it. Phoebe knew it and was determined to do something. However, she couldn't use any of her spells. On Phoebe's orders, Piper cast the bad girl spell on Lily, allowing her to claim James." I smiled at the memory. Phoebe's bad girl spell had always been entertaining.
He suddenly morphed back to his usual form.
Ah, the fun of being a Halliwell. "Let's hope that tomorrow is better than today."
"What's wrong with you two?" I asked Phoebe and Piper. They were sitting on the couch, watching the TV and crying. "It's Christmas! You should be happy."
"This is so sad. Stone is dead."
"And Robin has HIV. It's so tragic!"
"You're watching soaps?" I laughed.
"Hey, they have a lot of heart."
"They also have evil twins, people coming back from the dead, and other ridiculous things. Let's watch something better." I picked up the remote.
"No!" they both shrieked and tore the remote out of my hands. "We can't switch to something else in the middle of the episode!"
"Okay."
"You know, if you would just watch one episode, you would understand," Phoebe said.
"I will not watch this junk."
"Junk? Sit down!" Piper yanked me down. Phoebe explained what was going on. By the end of the episode, I was crying too. The boys walked in.
"What happened here?" Sirius asked.
"Tragedy! I can't believe that I ever thought that soaps are junk."
"Soaps? That—"
"Don't even go there!"
"Right…"
Harry froze. He had had a vision.
"What did you see?"
"Just Phoebe."
Piper thoughtfully said, "It seems like the world is screaming, 'look at Phoebe!', don't you think?"
We all looked at Phoebe.
"Cut that out," Phoebe said. "It's creepy. And what makes you say that?"
"Piper's baby took us all to the past where we saw your finest moments. Plus there are the tabloids."
"The people at the tabloids just hate me. And why would they be guided by supernatural forces?"
"It's not that they're being guided. Why do you think someone sent those tabloids to us?"
She shrugged. "It's probably nothing."
"But it could be something," I said. "So what are we supposed to be seeing?"
We contemplated this.
"Maybe we're not supposed to be looking at Phoebe," Piper said slowly. "Maybe we're supposed to be looking here." She placed her hand on the slight bulge in Phoebe's stomach.
"The baby just kicked," Phoebe said. "Is that just a coincidence?"
"There are rarely ever coincidences in this family."
"Piper, I think you may be onto something."
Piper
"Wait, they're saying that we can't see Leo anymore?" I asked incredulously.
"Yeah," Sirius said.
We were speechless, but only for a moment. "But why?"
"The Elders think that he should concentrate on his duties."
"But he has a son down here. Even though Piper isn't married to him anymore, we're still connected to him," Paige said.
"That's just it," Sirius said.
"Huh?"
"Think about it."
"Do they want us to concentrate on defeating Voldemort?" I asked.
"Yes. They screwed up and they don't want to admit it. They're working on damage control now and they need your help. They don't want you to get distracted by Leo."
"That's ridiculous," Phoebe said. "You go up there and tell them that we want to see Leo."
"Or we might have to take a little break from this," I added.
He orbed out.
"The Elders never cease to surprise me. They're some kind of bag of tricks, aren't they?"
"Unfortunately. Hey, have you noticed that we haven't been attacked since the pooka appeared?" Paige said.
"Of course we have," I responded. "We shouldn't talk about it. Whenever we think things are calm, some demon shows up. It's the power of words."
"The power of words?" Paige scoffed. "Coincidence."
"You know the coincidence doesn't work in this situation. Words do have a lot of power. Just look at spells."
"Spells are used in conjunction with a wand," Paige replied.
"We use spells without wands," Phoebe said.
"But we're much more powerful than most people."
"Still, the wrong words in a spell make it fail," Prue said. "Words are powerful and you should be careful with them."
Paige realized that she had been beaten. "Well… Let's talk about something else."
"Could you believe today's episode?" Phoebe asked.
"Not that!" Paige covered her ears. "I hate soap operas."
"Why?"
"Because they're so out there."
"You know, our life is like a soap opera. We have people coming back to life, constant drama, and tons of secrets. Our life would make a good television show," Phoebe said.
"Who'd want to watch our life?" Paige asked.
"Everyone. We have a fascinating life. We could make one of those reality shows…"
"You do know that you're weird, don't you?"
"Me weird? Ridiculous."
Chris walked in. Paige turned to him and said, "Chris, isn't Phoebe weird?"
"Um…"
"See?"
She hit her on the arm. "What kind of a sister are you?"
"Hey, this is what sisters are for."
Sirius orbed back in. "They say that you can see Leo again."
"Now that's more like it. Why isn't he with you?"
"They're trying to figure out what Voldemort is up to. His plans have apparently changed." He paused. "They're calling for me. I'll be back."
Chris waited until Sirius was gone to say, "Look, I don't think you four should really see Leo anymore."
"God, not you too," I said. "What's your problem with him?"
"Well, he… he just needs to concentrate on a few things," Chris said.
"You think we're distracting him," Prue said.
Chris shook his head. "Never mind. forget I said anything."
"Chris…"
"Shoot, I think I left my curling iron on," Paige said.
"Why would you use a curling iron? They have great hair spells, you know."
"Those always look so artificial. I like the real thing." She went upstairs.
A strange sensation went through my body. "Did you feel that?"
"Feel what?"
I started to answer, but a man appeared, cutting my words short. I immediately knew that he was a warlock. Before we could react, he stabbed Phoebe's stomach and knocked us down with a spell. Phoebe fell to the floor… So did Chris. I hadn't seen the warlock stab him. I flicked my fingers, and the warlock imploded. "Paige! Sirius!" They appeared. "Heal them!" They quickly healed them.
"Voldemort wants the third child dead," Phoebe said, her eyes full of fear. "I'm not going to let him."
"We will never let him hurt your son." Everything had changed. Strange how often that happened with us.
Spring came soon. The first day of spring was filled with a sudden bout of nausea for Phoebe.
"Phoebe, are you okay?" I asked from the other side of the bathroom door.
"No!" she said from within the bathroom. "I only have two more months to go, yet I still have to endure this."
Needless to say, it was a bad day. Paige just made it more complicated.
We were sitting in the living room when Paige came in. "Spring has sprung!" she said and giggled like crazy. She then tried to stand on her head. "Watch this!" She fell over.
"Paige, what is up with you?" I asked, my eyebrow raised. This was definitely not characteristic of Paige.
"Nothing! I just feel great!"
"Do you have sillinsusa?" I could really not stand another bout of sillinsusa.
"Nope!"
"Don't tell me that you've been eating…"
"Madame Perkin's Pixie Sticks!" we all groaned.
"Maybe." She grinned. "They are the most pixielicious sticks around."
"The last time you ate those, you went streaking through Diagon Alley," Prue said. "Everyone saw you. I still can't believe that James gave you that stuff."
"Ah yes, I remember that," Phoebe said. "She ate one pixie stick and screamed, 'I am the gypsy queen!' Then she orbed out of her clothes and started to run around. As I recall, we spent a good two hours trying to catch her. Of course, time had stopped, so I can't be sure."
"Hey, that sounds like fun!"
"Don't even think of it!"
"You guys should try this. Really, it's great." She handed Prue a stick.
"Well, I've always wondered what they're like…"
"Don't!" Phoebe and I cried in vain.
She took a tiny taste. "Wow! That's the most amazing thing ever!" She gulped down the rest of the stick. "I'm so energized! Let's go hunt some demons!"
"Yeah!"
They left.
"Should we go after them?"
"No. They'll come back eventually." I shook my head. "Pixie sticks. I thought she had learned her lesson last time."
"Apparently not. Oh no." She ran out of the room.
Poor Phoebe. I know exactly how she feels. I was worried about her, but it wasn't because of her problem. It was because of the fact that Voldemort wanted her child dead. But he should know that he can't kill the baby. What is he up to? I just didn't know.
"I'm bored. Let's go out," Paige said.
"I don't want to go out. I feel like I'm about to pop. Just look at me!" I said. I was into my ninth month and I felt so… round.
"You look beautiful."
"Come on, Piper. You're turning into a recluse." Prue dragged me off the couch.
"I'm too pregnant to go out."
"There's no such thing."
"All right. I'll go." I begrudgingly apparated to Diagon Alley with them. "Where do you want to go?"
"Well, we could go to a magical pawnshop…" Paige said.
"No!"
"Just kidding."
"I need a new cloak," Phoebe spoke.
"Need or want?" I asked.
"Can't it be both?"
The owner of the shop was an Italian man. Phoebe, who was now multilingual, chatted with him in Italian while I wondered why had gone out. I really was too pregnant. Pregnancy was great, but I wanted to see my baby, hold her in my arms.
"Thanks, Lorenzo. Come on, sisters. Piper, would you stop looking so miserable? It's a beautiful day. The fresh air is doing you good."
"Bah," I replied. We walked on to the next shop. I stopped suddenly something broke within me and water began to run down my legs.
"What is it?" Prue asked.
"My water just broke."
"Oh."