Power of Four chapter 2

In fact, it was very early the next morning before they returned; Phoebe was still up, having just finished her vanquishing spell, but Piper and Leo had admitted defeat and gone to bed.

"Hey." she murmured. "Have fun?"

Paige started to say something, caught Kaia's eye, and thought better of it. "It was…different."

"Is he yours?" Phoebe asked, turning to look at Kaia. "The Champion?"

"He's mine." Kaia smiled. "Is that the vanquish spell?"

"This is it. Seven hours of work summarized in two lines."

"Will it work?"

"It always has before."

"Do we need a potion?" Paige asked, scanning the sheet of paper.

"Piper has it brewed…here." She handed Paige a tiny bottle and then tossed one to Kaia as well. "It won't hurt him coming from you, but it'll disorient him and give you a chance to get away, if you have to."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Kaia carefully placed the bottle on the coffee table. "If I used it, you never know what might happen. My magic tends to react oddly with other magicks."

"You have magic?" Phoebe asked in surprise.

"Hi, I'm an Elf."

"Yeah, but…"

"She has magic all right." Paige muttered. "Trust me on that."

"I did warn you first, Paige." Kaia said serenely.

"Yeah, but…"

"And you promised."

"I know." Paige sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"What happened?" Phoebe asked, looking from one to the other.

"Paige's worldview got widened. May I go sit in your garden?"

"Uh, sure."

"Thank you." Kaia wandered out and settled herself cross-legged on the lawn.

"So what really happened?" Phoebe asked.

"Her Champion's…from an interesting family. Sort of…unconventional."

"More unconventional than us?" Phoebe asked. "Come on, Paige, one of your brothers-in-law is dead, and the other was a demon who once ruled the Underworld."

Paige flinched slightly at the word 'demon' but Phoebe missed it. "They're…different. I'm gonna go shower."

"Um, Ok." Phoebe blinked as Paige practically ran from the room.

"Phoebe?" Leo came in from the living room. "What's going on?"

"I think Kaia's Champion freaked Paige out a bit."

"Why?"

"She didn't say. And all Kaia said was that Paige's worldview got widened."

"Kaia may not tell us. It probably won't occur to her. She's not…quite used to how people react."

"Why not?" Phoebe asked interestedly. They'd all read the two pages on Kaia…or Thariin…in the Book of Shadows, but there was little actual information there.

"Firstly because she's an Elf, and she'd have had little interaction with humans. Secondly because she just doesn't get involved with people, as a rule."

"Not true." Kaia said from directly behind him. "Not true anymore, anyway."

"Will you stop doing that?" Phoebe asked, lunging for the potion bottle she'd knocked over in her surprise. Leo caught it, handing it back to her before turning to look at Kaia.

"It used to be true."

"It did." Kaia agreed. "More years than I can number, and I never got involved with anything."

"What changed?" Phoebe asked quietly.

"I fell in love. And then…some other things. And I have friends, now." She smiled faintly. "Even when I was married, I didn't have friends. But now I do."

"Friends or Champions?" Paige asked from behind Kaia.

"OK, people, you're gonna have to stop doing that." Phoebe said firmly.

"Both." Kaia said at the same time, turning to look at Paige. "It's not an either/or deal, Paige."

"That's not what I…do you have friends who aren't Champions?"

"I guess I have you." Kaia said, a little tentatively.

Phoebe tugged on Leo's sleeve. "I thought we were champions."

"You are. Just not hers." Leo explained, looking back at Paige. "You two all done?"

"I am." Kaia edged around Paige and slid into a seat.

"Yeah." Paige said slowly. "I was just…wondering."

"Normal people get to have friends." Kaia said, apparently out of nowhere. "We get to protect the normal people so they can keep their friends. And they'll probably never know about it, but we do it anyway." She looked back up at Paige. "It's not fair, but it's how it is."

"It doesn't mean you can't have friends." Paige said quietly.

"I do have…" Kaia trailed off, staring past Paige towards the conservatory.

"Do have what?" Paige prompted her. Kaia ignored her, rising to her feet and drifting towards the windows.

"Phoebe, go get Piper." Leo said quietly.

"Leo, what's…"

"Pyralis is coming. Go get Piper now!" Phoebe blinked and then ran, dodging Paige on the way.

"How can you tell?" Paige asked nervously, palming her bottle of potion.

"Because there isn't anything else that could distract Kaia like that." Leo said grimly. "Kaia?"

Kaia shuddered, turning to look at him. "Leo…"

"Focus." Leo said quickly. "When?"

"Soon. Very soon." Paige blinked; Kaia's voice had gone singsong.

"Where?" Leo went on.

"Dancing and singing. Lights and music…" Kaia trailed off, looking away again. "Where the happy people are."

"Kaia!" Leo said loudly. Kaia shuddered, swaying slightly. Paige almost dropped her bottle trying to catch her in time.

"Are you OK? What happened?" Piper and Phoebe appeared in the doorway but neither spoke.

"I'm fine. It's…fine. I'm fine."

"You said that already." Paige let go and backed away a little bit.

"Where, Kaia?" Leo asked.

"I don't…I'm not sure. What did I say?"

"Dancing and singing. Lights and music. Where the happy people are." Leo repeated.

"Really? Huh. So I'm having a cryptic day, then." She looked up suddenly. "Piper? Don't you own a club? Like with music, and dancing, and happy people?"

"He's going to rise in P3?" Piper said. "Great. Just great. That's all we need."

"I guess…" Kaia's attention was going again.

"Kaia." Leo said quickly. "When?"

"An hour, maybe. I can't…Leo, I thought I could handle this but I can't. I have to start trying to fix what he's doing."

"What can we do?" Paige asked quietly.

"Nothing. Well, I mean, you can scry to be sure, and go and vanquish him…but you can't help me. I just…I have to go outside."

"Why?" Piper asked.

"I can't do anything from in here. This is…it's all man-made. I can't use it, not the way I need. Just…" She reached out towards the window: Leo intercepted her quickly.

"We'll use the door, huh?"

"Sure." Kaia shook her head, following Leo to the sunroom and out into the garden. Almost immediately she veered off the path and settled herself crosslegged on the grass; Leo hunkered next to her for a minute before coming back in.

"What's going on?" Piper asked. Leo crossed to stand beside her.

"She's trying to limit what Pyralis can do before you vanquish him."

"By sitting in the garden?" Phoebe asked.

"By blocking anything he tries to do. It's very tiring and she needs to concentrate totally on it." He glanced out the window. "She won't be able to do it for very long. A day at the most."

"I'll go get the scrying stuff." Phoebe offered, heading for the stairs.

"Paige, can you set up wards around Kaia? We'll have to go to wherever Pryalis is." Piper said.

"I thought…" Paige looked at Leo. "She said her magic and our magic sometimes react with each other."

"Don't cast the wards on her. Cast them on the piece of ground she's sitting on. She won't be moving, so you're safe."

"Oh. OK." Paige headed into the kitchen to find the herbs she needed.

"She be OK?" Piper asked. Leo shrugged.

"The wards should protect her. We just need to hurry."

"Why? I thought we had a day."

"She can't…if we wait too long she'll pour so much into stopping Pyralis there'll be nothing left for her."

"That could happen?" Paige asked, coming back in.

"Yeah. A few thousand years ago she had to walk away from her home rather than protect it, because she couldn't have saved it in time. But she's not doing that now, so we need to hurry. Paige, the wards?"

"I'm going." Paige went out to the garden. Phoebe came back in with the map just then.

"It's P3 isn't it." Piper said flatly. Phoebe nodded, carefully not meeting her sister's eyes.

"But it's really weak, so maybe if we hurry it won't be destroyed…" she trailed off as Paige came back in.

"Wards're up. Kaia…seems like she's asleep, only she's awake."

"What?" Piper asked.

"Her eyes are open, but I don't think she knew I was there."

"She knew. She just didn't have time to do anything about it." Leo said. "Look, we need to get to P3. We can talk about this later, ok?" He held out his hand to Piper, who took it. The pair vanished into blue sparkles.

"Someone's cranky." Paige muttered.

"Let's go." Phoebe came to put a hand on her arm and they followed Leo and Piper.