EIGHT
"So she stopped a demon and was burned as a witch for it?" questioned
Paige. "That doesn't make any sense."
"It does when you know the specifics," said Leo. "You see, Craggen and
Melinda were mortal enemies. They were both the most powerful in the world.
They fought several times but neither could beat the other. Finally Melinda
came up with a spell to seal him in a prison instead of vanquishing him.
"But she made the mistake of trusting Michael Tate to help her. After
Tate got Melinda's powers he turned her in for imprisoning Craggen. Only he
made it sound like she had murdered him. Craggen had fooled the people where
they lived into believing he was this magnificent benefactor. When they found
out she had killed him and that she was a witch, that sealed her fate."
"Great," said Phoebe. "So she gets rid of a great evil and gets murdered
for it."
"Something like that," said Leo.
"Okay," said Paige, "but there's something I don't understand. You said
this spell was supposed to drain all the magic from an entire family of witches
at one time. If he used it on the oldest witch. So why didn't it work? He
used it on Piper but it consumed him."
"That it did," said Cole.
"Okay, I'm with Paige," said Piper. "Why?"
"Because of this," said Cole, picking up the spell from the table. He
indicated the first portion of the spell. "Corlin and his brother translated
the entire spell, as I said. According to their translations, this part calls
for the magic from the eldest sister. That was supposed to set up the chain
reaction that would have filtered down to the two of you."
"So why didn't it?" asked Leo.
"Corlin and his brother did a fair job at the translations," Cole said.
"So?" Paige asked. "What does that have to do with it?"
"They obviously were as bad at languages as Phoebe says she is," Cole
said. "Latin can be a tricky language. A letter in the wrong place, the wrong
inflection on a word, so many things can change the meaning of a word. In fact,
sometimes the same word means something totally different depending on the
context. This part that Corlin and his brother translated as 'eldest'.
Actually, that's not an accurate translation of the text. A more correct
translation would be 'first born', not 'eldest'."
"But I'm not the first born," said Piper. "Prue was the first born."
"Exactly," said Cole. "Once I had translated what I could remember about
the text I knew the spell wouldn't work. Piper is the oldest of the three of
you but she's not the first-born witch. So the power of the spell wouldn't
work."
"And that's what destroyed him?" asked Phoebe.
"That and destroying the crystal," said Leo. "The spell would have begun
the transfer of Piper's power. But since she wasn't the first born, it would
have quickly begun to recede back to her. By destroying the crystal the power
had no way to go. But it wouldn't have been transmuted so that Craggen could
use it. Your magic is good, his was evil. In order for him to utilize it, it
would have been necessary to transmute it into evil. When Piper destroyed the
crystal, the magic wasn't transmuted but was forced to take the only path open
to it. Back into Craggen."
"And he couldn't withstand it," said Cole. "That's why none of you were
in any danger. Craggen wouldn't have harmed any of you until he had stolen your
powers. And I knew he couldn't get you powers using that spell."
"Well, we almost didn't get your message," said Leo.
"What message?" Piper asked.
"Remember in the kitchen when Cole was looking at my book?" Paige asked.
"Yes," Piper said.
"He put a note in the book," Paige said. "It told us where you were and
that we needed to get there right away. He even told me where he had put it."
"The chapter he suggested," said Piper.
"That's right," said Cole. "I couldn't be sure if Craggen or Corlin were
watching me. So I couldn't say anything. That would have warned them. I had
to play along with them and wait for my opportunity. I knew he'd never give me
any power. If he had I would have become a threat to him. And more demons
would have followed me, even being half human, than would have followed him. He
was a warlock. If he had been able to complete his plan there would always have
been the danger that I would turn on him."
"So all this," said Phoebe, "bringing me here, allowing them to hold me
hostage, bringing Piper here so they drain her power, it had nothing to do with
getting your powers back?"
"Sweetheart," said Cole, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want my powers
back. But you have to believe that I'd rather die than put you in any danger.
And I would never, ever, exchange your powers for mine. If I thought you were
in any danger at any time I would have said something. But I thought it was the
only way to get this."
Cole picked up the Succession Spell and looked at it.
"As you saw, in the wrong hands this can be extremely dangerous," said
Cole.
"So, you weren't tempted to go along with Craggen?" Piper asked. "You
never once thought about getting your powers back?"
"I'll be honest with you, Piper," said Cole. "The idea was appealing to
me. But when I realized what the price would be to get them back, I just
couldn't go through with it. Leo," he handed the spell to Leo, "you need to get
this to the Elders. They can make sure it can never again be used by the wrong
people."
"Good idea," said Leo, taking the spell. "They can also start looking for
the rest of the Grimoire. If this exists, the rest of it must really exist,
too."
"What do you mean 'look for the rest'?" Paige asked.
"According to legend," said Leo, "when the race of warlocks was destroyed,
there was a Grimoire found that contained all their magic. It was soon
discovered that the Grimoire couldn't be destroyed so it was disassembled and
the various parts were hidden in various locations. If this exists the rest of
it might exist, too."
"Craggen really only made one mistake," said Cole. "He left the
translation up to Corlin. Someone who wasn't qualified to make the translation.
He forgot one important thing. It's all in the details. Everything went
perfect until he used the spell. One small mistake like that and he lost
everything."
"I can't say I'm crazy about what happened," said Piper, "but I guess I
can understand the position you were in. And you did let Leo and Paige know we
were in trouble. Besides, the spell didn't work so I guess everything worked
out okay."
"Not to mention we got this spell," said Leo. "The Elders are going to
love it when I show up with this."
"Just make sure you let them know I'm the one who got it," said Cole.
"Can't hurt to make a few brownie points with the Elders, especially now that I
have no powers."
"I'll do that," said Leo, smiling. "I'll be back in a bit. Cole, they
may want to know what else you know about the Grimoire. I might have some
questions when I get back."
"No problem," said Cole. "I probably don't know any more than they do but
I'll be glad to tell them what I know."
"Cole Turner," said Piper, "things worked out okay this time. But next
time I expect you to tell us exactly what's going on. Even if someone may be
watching you we have the right to know. And we can handle one warlock. You
could have saved us all a lot of trouble if you had just said something."
"Yes, ma'am," said Cole. "Next time I promise to tell you what's going
on."
"Fine," said Piper.
"Well," said Phoebe, "you may not have your demonic powers any longer, but
you still have one power."
"What's that?" Cole asked.
"Why don't you come upstairs and I'll show you," said Phoebe, smiling
coyly.
"I could have gone all night without that," said Paige, rolling her eyes.
The End
If you've enjoyed this story, you can find more "Charmed" stories at my
website, You can also post your own "Charmed"
stories if you like to write fan fiction.
"So she stopped a demon and was burned as a witch for it?" questioned
Paige. "That doesn't make any sense."
"It does when you know the specifics," said Leo. "You see, Craggen and
Melinda were mortal enemies. They were both the most powerful in the world.
They fought several times but neither could beat the other. Finally Melinda
came up with a spell to seal him in a prison instead of vanquishing him.
"But she made the mistake of trusting Michael Tate to help her. After
Tate got Melinda's powers he turned her in for imprisoning Craggen. Only he
made it sound like she had murdered him. Craggen had fooled the people where
they lived into believing he was this magnificent benefactor. When they found
out she had killed him and that she was a witch, that sealed her fate."
"Great," said Phoebe. "So she gets rid of a great evil and gets murdered
for it."
"Something like that," said Leo.
"Okay," said Paige, "but there's something I don't understand. You said
this spell was supposed to drain all the magic from an entire family of witches
at one time. If he used it on the oldest witch. So why didn't it work? He
used it on Piper but it consumed him."
"That it did," said Cole.
"Okay, I'm with Paige," said Piper. "Why?"
"Because of this," said Cole, picking up the spell from the table. He
indicated the first portion of the spell. "Corlin and his brother translated
the entire spell, as I said. According to their translations, this part calls
for the magic from the eldest sister. That was supposed to set up the chain
reaction that would have filtered down to the two of you."
"So why didn't it?" asked Leo.
"Corlin and his brother did a fair job at the translations," Cole said.
"So?" Paige asked. "What does that have to do with it?"
"They obviously were as bad at languages as Phoebe says she is," Cole
said. "Latin can be a tricky language. A letter in the wrong place, the wrong
inflection on a word, so many things can change the meaning of a word. In fact,
sometimes the same word means something totally different depending on the
context. This part that Corlin and his brother translated as 'eldest'.
Actually, that's not an accurate translation of the text. A more correct
translation would be 'first born', not 'eldest'."
"But I'm not the first born," said Piper. "Prue was the first born."
"Exactly," said Cole. "Once I had translated what I could remember about
the text I knew the spell wouldn't work. Piper is the oldest of the three of
you but she's not the first-born witch. So the power of the spell wouldn't
work."
"And that's what destroyed him?" asked Phoebe.
"That and destroying the crystal," said Leo. "The spell would have begun
the transfer of Piper's power. But since she wasn't the first born, it would
have quickly begun to recede back to her. By destroying the crystal the power
had no way to go. But it wouldn't have been transmuted so that Craggen could
use it. Your magic is good, his was evil. In order for him to utilize it, it
would have been necessary to transmute it into evil. When Piper destroyed the
crystal, the magic wasn't transmuted but was forced to take the only path open
to it. Back into Craggen."
"And he couldn't withstand it," said Cole. "That's why none of you were
in any danger. Craggen wouldn't have harmed any of you until he had stolen your
powers. And I knew he couldn't get you powers using that spell."
"Well, we almost didn't get your message," said Leo.
"What message?" Piper asked.
"Remember in the kitchen when Cole was looking at my book?" Paige asked.
"Yes," Piper said.
"He put a note in the book," Paige said. "It told us where you were and
that we needed to get there right away. He even told me where he had put it."
"The chapter he suggested," said Piper.
"That's right," said Cole. "I couldn't be sure if Craggen or Corlin were
watching me. So I couldn't say anything. That would have warned them. I had
to play along with them and wait for my opportunity. I knew he'd never give me
any power. If he had I would have become a threat to him. And more demons
would have followed me, even being half human, than would have followed him. He
was a warlock. If he had been able to complete his plan there would always have
been the danger that I would turn on him."
"So all this," said Phoebe, "bringing me here, allowing them to hold me
hostage, bringing Piper here so they drain her power, it had nothing to do with
getting your powers back?"
"Sweetheart," said Cole, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want my powers
back. But you have to believe that I'd rather die than put you in any danger.
And I would never, ever, exchange your powers for mine. If I thought you were
in any danger at any time I would have said something. But I thought it was the
only way to get this."
Cole picked up the Succession Spell and looked at it.
"As you saw, in the wrong hands this can be extremely dangerous," said
Cole.
"So, you weren't tempted to go along with Craggen?" Piper asked. "You
never once thought about getting your powers back?"
"I'll be honest with you, Piper," said Cole. "The idea was appealing to
me. But when I realized what the price would be to get them back, I just
couldn't go through with it. Leo," he handed the spell to Leo, "you need to get
this to the Elders. They can make sure it can never again be used by the wrong
people."
"Good idea," said Leo, taking the spell. "They can also start looking for
the rest of the Grimoire. If this exists, the rest of it must really exist,
too."
"What do you mean 'look for the rest'?" Paige asked.
"According to legend," said Leo, "when the race of warlocks was destroyed,
there was a Grimoire found that contained all their magic. It was soon
discovered that the Grimoire couldn't be destroyed so it was disassembled and
the various parts were hidden in various locations. If this exists the rest of
it might exist, too."
"Craggen really only made one mistake," said Cole. "He left the
translation up to Corlin. Someone who wasn't qualified to make the translation.
He forgot one important thing. It's all in the details. Everything went
perfect until he used the spell. One small mistake like that and he lost
everything."
"I can't say I'm crazy about what happened," said Piper, "but I guess I
can understand the position you were in. And you did let Leo and Paige know we
were in trouble. Besides, the spell didn't work so I guess everything worked
out okay."
"Not to mention we got this spell," said Leo. "The Elders are going to
love it when I show up with this."
"Just make sure you let them know I'm the one who got it," said Cole.
"Can't hurt to make a few brownie points with the Elders, especially now that I
have no powers."
"I'll do that," said Leo, smiling. "I'll be back in a bit. Cole, they
may want to know what else you know about the Grimoire. I might have some
questions when I get back."
"No problem," said Cole. "I probably don't know any more than they do but
I'll be glad to tell them what I know."
"Cole Turner," said Piper, "things worked out okay this time. But next
time I expect you to tell us exactly what's going on. Even if someone may be
watching you we have the right to know. And we can handle one warlock. You
could have saved us all a lot of trouble if you had just said something."
"Yes, ma'am," said Cole. "Next time I promise to tell you what's going
on."
"Fine," said Piper.
"Well," said Phoebe, "you may not have your demonic powers any longer, but
you still have one power."
"What's that?" Cole asked.
"Why don't you come upstairs and I'll show you," said Phoebe, smiling
coyly.
"I could have gone all night without that," said Paige, rolling her eyes.
The End
If you've enjoyed this story, you can find more "Charmed" stories at my
website, You can also post your own "Charmed"
stories if you like to write fan fiction.