Thanks to the Reviewers: 

Lady Light:  You were sick and still stayed up late to read my fic?  How sweet of you!  Anyway, get well soon and come back for more!

Roos:  yeah, I got the email.  Where exactly is Holland?  Is it in Europe?  If that was a really dumb question, just ignore it. lol.  Oh, and right after I replied to the email, I got all these great ideas for this chapter.  Hmm. . . Maybe you really are my muse.  But if you're my muse, that would make me your charge, right?  Just a thought. 

Salem:  yes, back again I see.  Yes, it was innocence.  This will be a slightly gory chapter, but this chapter is very important too.  Interested yet?  Then skip all my endless drivel and proceed to the story!  Oh!  You also asked when the Fellowship was gonna find out about Angel's powers in one of your reviews.  It's going to be a very gradual thing. 

ElvenWitch13:  Hey, you got the question right.  Yes, it was innocence but looks around and holds a finger to her mouth shhhhh!  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this about your last review.  WHAT THE HECK DO YOU MEAN LEGOLAS IS ALL YOURS?!?!?!  If I had Leggy all to myself, I'd SHARE at least!  crosses her fingers behind her back   Midterms are over with, thank God.  I have all my grades back already, and I am very satisfied with all of them except for English. 

Songbreeze1125:  I was afraid that the recollection was a bit sappy, but I'm glad you thought it was sweet.  And yes, you got the innocence thing right too.  The Source is called what he is because he is The Source of All Evil.  He is the most evilest guy and has dominion over all the demons in the Underworld.  I looked up rapier in the dictionary and it seems to be the word I was looking for.

Nikki:  I see that there's a part of you I never knew about.  That's okay, I have a voice in my head too.  But I don't listen to it.  Oh wait. . . Maybe it's my conscience.  Whoops.  shrugs  But like I said, block out the voice and all will be fine (unless you did something really bad and it's screaming for you to own up to it.  Then I'll know that you have a conscience too).

Ch. 6

A New Enemy From the Rowe Coven

Necron

A skeletal being who hovers between life and death, Necron has the ability to incinerate any creature and feed on their life force. Be careful when pursuing him; the only two witches able to vanquish a skeletal being were incinerated in the process.

Kendall's light honey-brown eyes scanned the brief paragraph.  She was in the attic, and the Book lay open on its podium before her.  Kendall expelled a sigh and reprimanded herself from getting sidetracked.  'I'm supposed to be making a charm.'

 

She flipped through the Book, skimming each page briefly for the charm she was looking for.  It was not the first time this had happened.  There had been other occasions too when she was flipping aimlessly through the Book, only to find herself reading that passage on Necron.  It was almost as if some outside force was influencing her. 

"I've got the mortar and pestle," said Adrian as he entered the room.  He set it down on the table next to a small black cauldron and walked over to Kendall.  "Found it?"

"Yeah," she answered as she stopped on one particular page.  "This is a pretty complicated potion, but I think we have all the ingredients we need."  Kendall picked up the Book and placed it next to the cauldron, and put her hands on her hips.  "All right then, let's get started."

Angel couldn't believe what had happened.  They were out of the mines now,  but she was barely aware of this.  Looking around at the scenes of grief around her, the witch hung her head in despair.  Why hadn't she been able to prevent Gandalf's fall?  And why hadn't she been able to prevent Frodo getting stabbed by the spear?  Already one of her charges was dead, and another would have died if it hadn't been for the mitril coat he had been wearing. 'I made a big mistake in volunteering for this.'

"Legolas, Gimli, get them up," ordered Aragorn as he cleaned his sword of blood. 

"Give them a moment, for pity's sake!" cried Boromir as he watched the grieving hobbits and Angel. 

Aragorn was adamant.  "This hill will be swarming with orcs by nightfall."  He sighed and looked over at the plains before them.  "We must make for the woods of Lothlorien."

The Fellowship walked for hours over the flatlands under the blazing sun.  The scenery remained the same for a long while: pale blue-green grass, with the occasional heather and dry furze dotting the terrain. 

Angel wiped her sweaty forehead with a hand.  It was stiflingly hot, and her long black hair was attracting even more heat.  It could be a real curse to have dark hair under a full sun.  Wearing her hoodie was out of the question so she had taken it off and tied around her waist.

She bit back a yelp of surprise as a grasshopper erupted out from the grass to her right.  And then there were the insects.  The grass was absolutely infested with bugs of every type, especially locusts and tiny midges.  There had never been a time when she had wanted her bug spray more.  'I HATE nature!' she thought angrily as she fought down the temptation to explode a two-inch long grasshopper that had tried to land on her arm. 

Legolas suppressed a laugh at Angel's frantic swapping of insects as she stepped into one particularly bug-ridden patch of grass.   It was strange that she should be so calm facing an attack by orcs, yet panic at the sight of creatures a hundred times smaller than her.  Angel ran up beside him, panting. 

"How is it that elves can stand living in the forests with all these – vermin?" she demanded. 

"I see that you are not accustomed to the wild," commented Legolas in an amused voice.

Angel shook her head.  "No, too much urban blood in me.  Whoever coined the term 'the Great Outdoors' must have been an elf.  Whatever happened to the Great Indoors?"  She fell silent and Legolas knew what was on her mind.  Ever since they had left the mines, she had an air of guilt about her.  Angel seemed to be taking Gandalf's death rather hard.

"I do not know why you seem to be blaming yourself for Gandalf's fall.  There is nothing that you could have done to prevent it, Angel."

Angel looked at him in amazement.  'This guy could pass for an Empath.'  "No, Legolas, you don't understand.  I should have been able to prevent it."

From the way she spoke, Legolas knew that she was keeping something from him.  He wondered if he should ask, but decided to do it subtly.  "You were not responsible for him, why do you feel that you were?"

"Because he was my innoce – "  Angel clamped down on her tongue when she realized the hidden meaning of that question.  How could she have been so careless?  Or perhaps it wasn't a subtle inquiry, maybe it was just an harmless question.  Either way, she had almost told him something that would make him suspicious.  Quickly, she scanned his face to see if he had picked anything up, but it betrayed nothing. 

Legolas knew that she had almost told him something important, but now he also knew that it was something she didn't want him to know.  He chose not to inquire any further and to let her tell him when she was ready and trusted him. 

Angel turned away so that he would not read anything more from her facial expressions.  'Gosh, he is becoming more and more like Kendall by the moment.  First the emotion reading, now the suspicious questions.'

The landscape was changing now, and a thin line of trees, the edge of the forest, could be seen over the monotonous grasslands.   Angel grew silent and did not speak as Aragorn led them into the trees.  She was slightly disconcerted by what had just happened.  Was Legolas already suspicious of her?  But he didn't seem like he was trying to expose her, just curious.  And even if he had been able to figure out the rest of her statement, it wouldn't make sense to him unless he knew that she was a witch and what an innocent was.  So no harm done, right?  Except that now chances were he knew she was hiding something. 

"Stay close, young hobbits," said Gimli in a hushed whisper.  "They say that an elf-witch dwells in these woods, of terrible power."  Then straightening up proudly, he said, "Well, here's one Dwarf she won't find so easy to ensnare.  I have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of a fox.  Oh!"  The Dwarf stopped abruptly as he found an arrow being pointed at him. 

Elves dropped down from their hiding places in the trees with taut bows, surrounding the Fellowship.

Angel felt a sharp jab against her back.  She turned and stood face to face with an elf pointing an arrow at her head.  He was wearing an expression of perplexity.  He lowered the bow slightly.

"A woman?  Why is there a woman with you?"

Angel rolled her eyes.  "Sexist," she mumbled under her breath. 

The elf flushed and relaxed the bow.  "I'm sorry, my Lady."  Apparently it was against their customs to point an arrow at a woman. 

"The Dwarf breaths so loud we could have shot him in the dark," said another elf who seemed to be in charge of the others.  The faint traces of a smile hovered on his lips. 

Gimli glared at him contemptuously.  "Humph!  Aragorn, these woods are perilous.  We should turn back!"

The elf smiled and replied calmly, "You have entered the realm of the Lady of the Wood.  You cannot turn back." 

Aragorn turned to the elf.  "Haldir en' Lorien, lye anta baralle."

Haldir beckoned for them to follow.  "Come.  The Lady and Lord await."

It was a quiet afternoon in the Halliwell manor, something that Adrian, Wyatt, and Kendall hadn't counted on getting anytime soon.  Yet it came as a welcome time off.  Kendall came down from the attic, holding three objects in her hands.  She strolled into the living room where Adrian and Wyatt were lounging on the couches, watching football. 

The two men looked up from the TV.  Kendall tossed them both small packages, keeping one for herself.  "Here's the charms," she said, sitting down on the floor and helping herself to some popcorn.  

Wyatt looked over the charm.  It was wrapped in a thin black leather covering, and smelling faintly of vanilla.  "Will this work?"

"They should, but if they don't the Cleaners are going to have a hell of a job cleaning up after us if demons attack at the college."  Kendall put hers safely in her jeans pocket.  "Just don't lose them, because I'm not going to make a second batch." 

Adrian picked up the remote control and began flipping the channels when the football game went on commercial break.  Just then the phone rang.  Wyatt orbed the phone to himself and answered it.  "Hello?"  He heard the voice on the other end.  It was Darryl, a family friend who lived in San Francisco and the only person other than relatives who knew the Halliwell secret.  Darryl worked for the San Francisco Police Department and he used to cover up for them when it came to matters involving the police before they moved to New York. 

(A/N: BTW, I'm talking about Darryl Jr. here, the son of the Darryl that Piper, Phoebe, and Paige knew.)

"Wyatt, is that you?"  Darryl sounded distinctly breathless. 

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Well, I've got a little problem."

Wyatt instantly became alert at the tone that Darryl was using.  "Problem?  What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing big," said Darryl, forcing a calm voice.  "Just that demons are blowing up a mall." 

"Do you have an address?" asked Wyatt as he orbed a pencil and piece of paper.  He scribbled down an address, then said, "Okay, we'll be right there."

After he hanged up, Kendall looked at him anxiously.  "What was that all about?"

Wyatt turned off the TV.  "It was Darryl.  He said that demons are blowing up a shopping center."

"What?"

"Demons are blowing up a shopping center in public?" asked Kendall incredulously.  "Do they not care anymore if magic becomes exposed?"

"Apparently not," said Wyatt before orbing up to the attic.  When he reappeared again, he was holding the Book of Shadows and handed it to Kendall.  "Come on, let's go."

Wyatt held onto Kendall's wrist with one hand and Adrian's with his other and transported them to San Francisco on the other side of the country.  They found themselves in the back driveway of a large shopping complex.  They were facing a brick wall of the building with several large boxes of merchandise nearby that had just been shipped in.  Not far off in the distance they could hear the wail of sirens.

Adrian looked around their surroundings with a look of reminiscence on his face.  "I remember this place.  This is where Angel dragged us every Saturday for the special weekend deal."

Wyatt laughed.  "Oh yeah.  Remember that time when we got here late and all the good stuff was taken because you took forever getting up, and Angel held a grudge against you for a week?"

Adrian had on a look of indignation.  "If I remember correctly, that was because you –"

Kendall gave an exasperated sigh and cut across him, "Guys, we are here for a reason."

Wyatt smiled impishly.  "Sorry."

"Well, let's find Darryl and –" Kendall was cut off by a sudden earthshaking blast.

The brick wall a few feet to their left exploded and a column of dust and debris wafted through the air.  When it cleared, there was a hole about ten feet across.  Kendall cocked her head and said calmly as if this was nothing startling, "That would be our demon.  Let's go."

They ran around to the front of the complex where they met a chaotic melee.  There was rubble and chunks of concrete piled up at the entrance.  Police and firefighters were pulling out bleeding and dust-coated people from the wreckage.  Paramedics rushed to and fro carrying injured shoppers away on stretchers into waiting ambulances.  Kendall shifted the Book in her arms and searched the crowd for Darryl, trying to block out the pain of the wounded.  It was Adrian who found him first, talking into a walkie-talkie a few feet from an ambulance.  

"There, I see him."  

"Where?" asked Kendall, following his gaze.

Wyatt grabbed her arm and followed Adrian.  They weaved in and out of the crowd until they came face-to-face with Darryl.

He had not changed much since they had seen him last.  Darryl was tall and well built, with a light brown complexion like his father.  He returned the walkie-talkie to his belt and grinned despite the situation.  "God, it's so good to see you guys."  Then he realized who was missing.  "Where's Angel?" 

"Oh, that's a long story," said Kendall.  "So, what's going on?"

It was a pretty useless question.  Darryl waved expressively toward the half-collapsed shopping center.  "Do you need to ask?  That's what." 

"I see."

Darryl looked around to make sure that no one was within hearing range.  "A couple of cops went in, to find survivors.  I was one of them.  We got out most of the people, but the building collapsed before we could save everyone.  The demons – there's three of them."

Wyatt crossed his arms, and asked, "How do you know that they're demons and not lunatics with dynamite?"

"Because if they were lunatics with dynamites they wouldn't have blasted me against a collapsible wall."

Kendall stared at him.  "Oh, my God, are you okay?"

 "Yeah, it's just my back."

Wyatt placed a hand over Darryl's back and began healing him.  "So, where are the demons?"

"First floor, in a Bath & Body Works store was where I last saw them."

Kendall handed Darryl the Book of Shadows.  "Okay, we're onto it."

Darryl stared at the Book.  "What do I do with this?"

"Take it for safekeeping," said Wyatt.  "You don't expect us to hold onto it while we're fighting, do you?"

Before Darryl could reply, the three disappeared in a swirl of blue-white light. 

Once they were inside, Wyatt looked around and said, "Okay, here's what we'll do.  Split up and find anyone still trapped in here, orb them out, then we'll look for the demons.  Got it?"

Kendall and Adrian nodded. 

"If one of us find the demons first, call the others to him."  Wyatt contemplated for a while before saying, "I'll take the first floor, you and Kendall take the second floor.  If you need me, I'm just one call away."

Wyatt wiped his sweating forehead once his cousins orbed out.  Then he broke into a light run, looking in every separate shop, always alert for signs of an innocent in danger.  

Most of the shops were essentially demolished: ceilings caved in, shelves overturned, and rubble covering the floor.  In each one he entered, the Whitelighter called to see if anyone who might be buried beneath the ruins would respond.  In the first few minutes, Wyatt did not find anyone, but in the seventh shop he searched, instead of the dead silence that usually followed his call, there came a husky strangled cry in reply.

"Help!  Is anyone there?  Oh God, please. . ."

Wyatt's heart skipped a beat.  He licked his dry lips and said, "I'm coming.  Hold on."  He skipped over shattered glass and an upturned cart, making his way over to where he thought he had heard the voice coming from.  "Where are you?"

"Over here!  I'm in the next aisle."

The Whitelighter nearly sprinted around the shelf, and when he finally found who he was looking for, he nearly threw up everything he had eaten for lunch. 

A woman in her early twenties was sitting with her back against the wall, her hands soaked in blood and a metal pole impaled through her midsection.  A pool of blood had collected on the wooden floor beside her, staining the boards scarlet.  Her strawberry blonde hair was disheveled and covered in dust, and she was very pale.

Wyatt knelt down beside her and took her wrist, and was startled when he found that he could barely feel a pulse.  "Oh man, we have to get you to a hospital."  But even as he was saying this, he wondered if he should just heal her instead.  She had lost a lot of blood, and he wasn't sure that she would last long enough to when she got medical attention.  But if he healed her, she would ask questions, questions that he could not answer.  Yet his job was to protect innocents, and what kind of a Whitelighter would he be if he just let this woman die?

Finally, he said, "Okay, I know how to save you, but I have to take out the rod first."

The woman looked at him in horror, but nodded.  "Do it fast."

Wyatt gripped the metal rod in both hands and got ready for a fast pull.  The woman closed her eyes tightly.  "After this comes out, I want you to keep your eyes closed until I tell you, all right?"

She nodded without questioning, and Wyatt realized that she trusted him.  The Whitelighter wrenched it out and winced at her gasp of pain.  Quickly, he laid his hands over the injury, saying quickly in case she should forget in her agony,  "Keep your eyes closed."

Then he started healing.  There was a golden glow around his hands and the wound began to close itself.  Her breathing came in deep smooth breaths instead of the short labored gasps as it had before.  He kept his gaze on her eyes to make sure that she was doing what he had told her.  He was ready to pull his hands away if she opened her eyes. 

"What are you doing?" she asked quietly.  "It doesn't hurt anymore."

Wyatt lifted his hands as soon as he saw that it was completely healed.  "You can open your eyes now."

Her eyes fluttered open, and the first thing she did was look at her midriff.  There was no sign that she had ever been hurt expect for her bloodstained clothes and her pale face.  She touched the place and drew a sharp intake of breath.  "Oh my God. . ." 

Wyatt helped her up.  "Please, don't tell anyone about that."  Now that his innocent was no longer at death's door, his fears of exposure returned.  He looked her straight in the eye.  "Don't breath a word to anyone.  I am risking a lot to save you."

She returned his gaze solemnly and said in a hushed voice, "You saved my life.  I swear I won't."

Her serious voice and grateful attitude allayed Wyatt's concerns somewhat.  "Let's find a way out of here then."

As they searched of a door out, the woman introduced herself.  "I'm Aleksa."

"Wyatt," said the Whitelighter.

Aleksa hesitated a moment before asking, "Are you an angel?"

"What?"  Wyatt tried to sound surprised, but was disturbed that she had come so close to the truth.  "Of course not."

They found the way to the back exit, and Wyatt held the door open for her.  Aleksa stood on the threshold and turned when she realized that Wyatt was not following.  "Aren't you coming too?"

Wyatt shook his head.  "No."

Aleksa's eyes widened.  "But it's too dangerous!  Those crazy bombers are still in there!"

Wyatt smiled reassuringly.  "Don't worry, I'll be fine.  Now, get yourself to a hospital, and remember your promise."

Adrian ducked a well-aimed energy ball, and hurled his own in response.  The demon  held up his hand, palm outwards.  Adrian's energy ball came flying back at him like a boomerang.  The witch barely had enough time to respond before catapulting himself sideways over a row of bicycles.  The energy ball hit the a shelf, and it exploded with tremendous force.  Kendall helped her brother up and said, "I think it's time to call Wyatt."

Adrian kept a wary gaze on the demon and called.  "Wyatt!"

A cloud of blue-white light appeared in front of them.  Wyatt locked gazes with Adrian.  "You've found the demons?"

His question was answered when a powerful energy blast knocked him, Adrian, and Kendall off their feet.  The blast swept through the room, blowing up everything in its path.  Wyatt instinctively formed his force field around all three of them to give them time to recover.  He stood up and brushed himself off, taking in their present situation.  Three demons, each looking like normal people and cloaked in black were circling them like vultures.  Wyatt didn't recognize them as any type of demon that they had ever encountered before.  Kendall moaned and got up.  Wyatt hissed out of the corner of his mouth, "Do you know what kind of demons these are?" 

"No.  I don't read the Book for fun."

Wyatt leaned over and whispered to Adrian and Kendall.  "I think I have a plan.  When those two demons over there walk under that big shelf, you two flip it over on them.  I'll take care of the third guy."

They watched the demons, waiting for the right moment.  Once two of them were right under the tall shelf, Kendall and Adrian telekinetically knocked over the shelf.  There was a nasty crack of bone as the heavy metal crashed on top of the hapless demons.  The third screamed with rage and ran over to them.  Wyatt didn't waste a moment.  He deactivated the shield and threw a blue-white energy ball at him.  What happened next totally startled him.  Instead of erupting into flames, the demon whipped around in a split second and held out his hand.  The ball sizzled out before it even reached him.  Then he turned and with a telekinetic flip he threw the metal shelf off the other two.  Then all three of them shot out their hands and generated a violent blast. 

Wyatt, Adrian, and Kendall were thrown back clear across the room before slamming into the far wall.  Wyatt struggled to his feet with a painful effort.  He ran over to Adrian who lay facedown a few yards away from him and patted his shoulder anxiously.  To his great relief, Adrian groaned and sat up. 

"Where's Kendall?" 

Wyatt scanned the surrounding area before spotting her.  "There." 

She was lying next to mangled shopping cart.  She didn't wake up when Wyatt shook her, but he was relieved when he felt a pulse.  Adrian limped over and asked, "How is she?" 

"She looks fine, but looks like she's knocked out."  Wyatt surveyed the place.  After their fight the store was barely recognizable as a store anymore.  It looked more like a land dump, with tires, metal, and an assortment of bicycle parts strewn over heaps of racks, shopping carts, and concrete.  The demons were nowhere in sight. 

"We'd best get going," said Adrian.  "No use staying here anymore."

"Is there something wrong with your foot?" Wyatt asked.  Adrian was limping. 

He winced and sat down.  "I landed on my ankle and twisted it." 

Wyatt knelt down and put his hand over the broken ankle.  Adrian looked at his unconscious sister as his cousin healed him.  Then Wyatt lifted Kendall up.  "Let's go."

One hour later, Wyatt, Adrian, and Kendall were back in the Halliwell Victorian manor where they had grown up.  After the three had saved everyone that they could from the wreckage, Darryl gave them a ride back to the house where they had used to live.  Kendall woke up on the ride with a dim memory of everything that happened after they orbed to San Francisco. 

She walked into the living room holding a pack of ice over her forehead in an attempt to assuage her headache.  Adrian and Wyatt were sitting with Darryl and several members of the Halliwell family.  Piper and Paige were there, and so were Leo and Paige's husband Allan.  Piper and Paige looked much the same as ever, but older and the tasks of demon-hunting seemed to be finally catching up to them.  Leo had remained unchanged as he was immortal.  Allan was a tall man in his late forties, a witch, with light golden brown hair and dark brown eyes.  

Piper looked at Kendall fondly as she entered the room.  Kendall was so much like Phoebe, the sister that she had lost and missed so much. 

"Feeling better, Kendall?"

Kendall sat down next to her aunt and nodded.  "Much better."

The family reunion had been a happy event for the most part, but the atmosphere was grave and serious now. 

"Tell us everything about what's happened so far," said Leo. 

Together, Wyatt and his cousins recounted the tale from the day that Angel had turned up missing, to the discovery of the Source's plan, and everything that had happened since.  When they reached the part when they found out that Belthazor had come back and was part of the Source's plot, Piper, Paige, and Leo shouted in unison, "Belthazor?!"

Adrian looked at them in confusion.  "Yeah, Belthazor.  He's back."

"But – but we vanquished him," stammered Paige.  "We got rid of him!  How could he have come back?"  She turned to Piper.  They both shared the same thoughts and worries.  Angel, Kendall, Adrian, and Wyatt never found out about Phoebe's relationship with the half-demon, half-human Belthazor.  They had no idea about what had happened and how big of a problem Belthazor had become before they were finally able to vanquish him. 

Kendall knew that they weren't telling them something.  But she could also sense that it was something very personal, so she decided not to push it.  "Well he's back and more powerful than before."

Piper bit her lip.  Should she tell them now about her sister's love for a demon?  She wasn't sure if Phoebe would have told them when the time came.  They would have to find out eventually, whether she told them or not.  "Okay, go on."

Wyatt went on.  He didn't stop until he got to when Darryl called them that afternoon.  After he had finished, he looked around at his mother and father and asked, "So, do you think we did the right thing in sending Angel to Middle-earth?"

Leo sighed and patted his son on the back.  "Well, you didn't have much of a choice." 

Kendall sat down the ice pack.  "First off, we need to find out about those demons who attacked the mall.  We have to know what we're dealing with here."

"I'd like to know why they attacked in the first place.  I mean, demons showing themselves in broad daylight and using their powers freely is a bit out of the ordinary," commented Allan.   

Leo, who was the most experienced with demons and warlocks out of the group put forth his opinion.  "But demons going on killing sprees is not unheard of.  They could have had a purpose, or they could have done it for fun."

"Well, whatever the case may be, they were upper-level demons," said Kendall.  "I've never seen anyone react so fast."

"What were their powers?" asked Allan.

"Throwing energy balls, reflecting attacks, telekinesis, generating blasts, and possibly shimmering," said Wyatt, ticking them off on his fingers.  "Do you know what kind of demons these might be?"

Paige shrugged and threw up her hands.  "Nope."

Kendall opened the Book of Shadows.  She laid it down on the carpet before her and waited. 

Darryl raised an eyebrow.  "What is she –"

Leo silenced him with a quick "Shhhh!"

Darryl watched in silence with the rest of the Halliwells.  Sometimes an ancestral Halliwell spirit would lend a helping hand in situations like this.  Sure enough, a strong breeze blew in from the open window.  The pages of the Book turned with the wind, fast at first, but as the breeze began to die away, it settled on one particular page.  Kendall lifted it up and read aloud, "The Rowe Coven."

Adrian sat up straighter.  "The Rowe Coven?  Read it out loud, Kendall."

"An ancient line of warlocks, each generation of the Rowe Coven has grown stronger since the tenth century. No one can find a spell or a weapon that can stop them. A prophecy foretells of three brothers, descendents of the Rowe Coven, who are destined to become the most powerful force of evil the world has ever known."

"Then they weren't demons," said Wyatt.  "They were warlocks."

Kendall looked up from the Book.  "Then could the three warlocks we fought be the three brothers in the prophecy?"

"Most likely, yes," answered Leo. 

"But then we'll need the Power of Three to fight them!" said Adrian.  Piper and Paige nodded.  "We'd have to call Angel back to help us."

Wyatt opened his mouth to protest, but Piper, knowing what he was about to say, answered his unasked question.  "Even though this would be risky, it's necessary.  These warlocks have been doing a great deal of damage, even before the shopping center incident.  Right now, these warlocks haven't completely come into their powers yet, but they are becoming more powerful.  We have to stop them before they become unstoppable."

Allan spoke up for the first time.  "Well, how do we know that the second we take Angel out of Middle-earth Belthazor won't attack Middle-earth?  He could be waiting for this chance."

"She only needs to be gone for a few days," said Adrian irritably.  He wanted Angel back to help them fight the Rowe brothers, true, but his ulterior motive was that he wanted his sister safe at home again.  He had been against her going from the very start, and his view had not changed since then. 

"A few days is ample time for Belthazor to do what he needs to."

Adrian was about to erupt into an argument with his uncle when Piper stepped in and suggested, "Why don't we vote on it?"

Adrian glared at Allan, but nodded curtly.  "Everyone in favor of bringing Angel back."

Adrian's hand was the first to go into the air.  Slowly, others rose.  Kendall, Piper, Leo, and Darryl all voted to reconstitute the Power of Three in order to fight the Rowe brothers.  Only Allan, Paige, and Wyatt had not. 

Kendall looked around her, counting the votes.  "Then it's settled.  We're calling Angel back tomorrow."