Chapter three conjuring the unexpected
Simone walked round deep in thoughts ever since her conversation with her mother the day before. About dating someone non magical and how that can work out. Even so Simone did avoid Murphy since he had asked her out. Truthfully she didn't know what to do or think. She walked past the hallway noticing a new cupboard. "New?" She asked out loud, to nobody in particular. Simone shrugged and walked on.
Lucy had been on a second date with Connor yesterday night. As wonderful the first date had been, the second one was even better. Dare she say she was finally happy with her life? Something had been bugging her though. Her father, Cole Turner; the source of all evil. Lucy had a lot of questions that remained unanswered as long as she would life unless...
Simone bumped into her sister that afternoon. "I have an idea, but I need your help!" Lucy took her sister by her arm and dragged her up to the attic. "What are you on about?" Simone asked pulling her self from her sister's tight grasp. "About our father. I have so many questions I need to ask him." "Yes so do I, but those will remain unanswered." Simone said sitting down on the sofa. "Yes unless we conjure him." Lucy said excited. "Excuse you?" "We can conjure him and ask him the questions." Simone looked at her sister thinking she might have gone slightly of her rocker. "Are you serious?" "Hell yeah I am! Why shouldn't we? Maybe he has some pointers on how to vanquish the source since he once was the source." Lucy said matter of factly while lighting the candles; which formed a huge circle. "I don't know Lucy." Simone said walking over to the book. "Come on! What could go wrong? We've got our powers! Besides if he tries anything funny we will send him back to kingdom come." Lucy said smiling widely. "Or hell." Simone said smiling sarcastically.
Lucy dismissed her sisters remark with a wave of her hand then took her hand and stood behind the book. "This is the incantation." Lucy said pointing it out.
Together they chanted. "Hear these words, hear my cry, Spirits from the other side, Come to me, I summon thee, Cross now the great divide." A whirl of wind surrounded them and started to settle down in the circle's centre. "It's working!" Lucy said smiling. The person formed in front of them but it wasn't their father standing there. "Blessed be my nieces." "Prudence Halliwell?" Simone asked with her mouth wide open. "Aunt Prue?" Lucy added walking over to her. Prue smiled as she stepped out of the circle causing her to become solid. She opened her arms to Lucy and hugged her. Then turned to Simone to hug her. "Oh how I have waited to meet you two. I have been watching over you for so long now." "That's great... wait... all the time?" Lucy asked thinking about some happenings that might have been a bit embarrassing. "Ha! Don't worry. I usually go away by then." Prue said with a smile. She was wearing a white dress and her hair was long and black. "Why did you come? We were trying to conjure our father." Simone said somewhat disappointed. "The elders sent me instead. It's not safe to conjure your father. Cole... he's okay where he is now and he should not be brought back. But I can help you with your questions." Prue said sitting down on the sofa. "Do you ever talk to our father... up there?" Lucy asked joining her on the sofa. "Yes I do and he is so very proud of you girls. All his life he has been trying to be good, but unfortunally for him it didn't work out." Simone had to smile at those words. "So he can see us then?" "He can." Prue answered. "But after all he did, why didn't he go to hell?" Lucy asked finally. "Cole Turner is in heaven, his human half. Where as Belthazor is in hell." Prue explained standing up. "Let's go downstairs for a moment. They gave me a month to help you and I need to see my sisters." Prue started walking out. "Wait! What about the guys?" Simone said thinking about Connor and Murphy. "What about them?" Lucy said crossing her arms. "Don't they know she's ... well dead? No offence aunt Prue." "None taken." "Well this will be our niece then." Lucy said smiling a satisfied smile. At that moment Chris orbed in. "Hey I want ... Prue?" Chris noticed Prue and raised both eyebrows. "What are you doing here?"
"The elders sent me to help the girls." Prue answered. Chris smiled while nodding. "Well I found out who the athame belongs to." "No need to tell us, we already know." Simone said with a smile. "Kandrake demon." Lucy added. "What? Why didn't you tell me? I went through blistering colds and attacks by the fleet to find this out!" Chris said whipping the stray hairs out of his face. "Sorry Chris, he came to us and then we were kind of busy." Chris glared at his two charges. "One day your going to get me killed you know that?" "Chris, no offence... but you are dead." Simone said putting her hand on his shoulder. "Well figure of speech." "Let's go downstairs, mum's going to freak when she sees you!" "Chris could you go get Aunt Paige, I am sure she would want to meet aunt Prue as well." Simone said walking out. "Great, I go from white lighter to cab orber!" Chris said orbing out.
"Mom!" Simone yelled as she walked down the stairs. "What is it? Where's the demon?" Phoebe said running into the hallway armed with a kitchen knife. "Well I can certainly see who the paranoid one is now." Prue said smiling a small smile. "We had this conversation before Prue... Prue?" Phoebe dropped the knife as she saw her sister standing besides her two daughters. "PRUE! Oh I am so happy to see you!" Phoebe flung herself on top of her and hugged her tight. "I missed you too Phoebes. Now let me look at you. All successful career woman slash charmed one slash mother." Prue said putting her hands on the side of Phoebe's face. "I am so proud of you, you did a great job." "Thank you Prue, I needed to hear that from you." "Well I mean it." Prue said wrapping her arms round her younger sister again." Simone and Lucy smiled at each other. "So cute." Simone mumbled. A swirl of bright orbs settled into Paige and Chris. "Wow." Paige said walking over to Prue. "Hello Paige, nice to meet my youngest sister." Prue said opening her arms to her. "It's great to finally meet you." Paige said while hugging her. "Wait, not that I am not happy to see you Prue but... how did you get here?" Phoebe asked now looking at her daughters. "Well uhm... you see..." Simone started looking for words while Lucy looked at the ceiling. Their mother would have a complete fit. "They conjured me to help them and you three with the source." Prue said winking at the twins. Simone couldn't believe how cool her Aunt was, she actually lied for them. "Where's Piper?" Prue now asked looking from one to the other. "Hello?" Piper walked in carrying two large grocery bags blocking her view from anything in front of her. "Some help please." Paige and Prue walked over to Piper and each took a grocery bag. "Finally, those bags are.... Heavy." Piper finished her sentence slowly as she looked upon Prue. "Let's give them a moment okay?" Paige said looking at her family. All of them retreated to the kitchen. Simone took the grocery bag from Prue and followed them.
"But how..." Piper looked her deceased sister in her eyes. "Your nieces, they conjured me to help with the source." Prue said opening her arms to hug Piper, but she backed away. "But your leaving again aren't you?" "I have to Piper, technically I'm dead. I know how hard it was for you when I died, it was hard for me too, to let you guys go." Piper had tears in her eyes. It had taken a long time for Piper to accept Prue's death and now, now she was here as if she had never gone away. "Give me a hug Piper, I missed you." Again Prue opened her arms and Piper carefully walked into them. She felt her sister's arms close round her and she couldn't hold back the tears.
"I wonder how Piper is taking this." Phoebe said peeking round the corner to see if she could see them. "What do you mean?" Lucy asked also peering round the corner. "Your aunt Piper was really devastated, I mean we both were but Piper actually turned into a demon over it." Phoebe said not turning round. "Which one?" Simone asked looking up. "A Fury demon, and don't remind me." Paige handed all of them some coffee. "What happened?" "Well she tried to kill me, and Phoebe." Paige said as if it were an every day thing to happen. "She did?" "Well not because of us, she was mad at Prue for leaving her. It tore her up inside and she couldn't accept it. She thought Leo should've saved Prue instead of her." Phoebe said with a sad face as she thought back to that day. "And on top of that we met Paige as our sister and I think it just was too much for her." Phoebe continued with a sigh. "Yeah well at least now I know what they mean with Hell hath no fury." Paige said smiling slightly. "Was it that bad?" Simone asked looking at her aunt. Paige just nodded. Piper and Prue entered the kitchen both with a smile on their face. "So could anybody please tell me what this is all about?" Chris looked round at them all. "Don't get your knickers in a twist Chris, Lucy will fill you in." Paige said smiling sweetly.
Lucy had told Chris everything in a nutshell and Chris frowned at them. "You struck a deal with the Kandrake demon?" "Or you can call him Steve." Lucy said and Simone laughed out loud. Chris gave her a death stare. "Sorry Chris, you had to be there!"
"Fuck you Murphy!" Connor's screaming voice was heard from the hall way just after the door burst open. Simone and Lucy were the first to arrive in the hallway.
"What the fuck is going on?" Simone asked seeing Murph lying on the floor, blood tripling from his eyebrow. "I don't know he just attacked me!" Connor pulled out a gun from his jeans and pointed it at Murphy. "You're a traitor!" suddenly the room was frozen, Simone had her hands up. "What's wrong with this picture?" Simone asked looking round. "Where did Connor get a gun?" Lucy walked over to him and took it out of his hands. "Yeah and why are they fighting like that, or rather why is Connor so aggressive?" Paige walked over to Simone who still looked from one to the other. "Demon of Illusion." Both Simone and Steve said it at the same time as he shimmered in. "He's here."
"Where?" Lucy turned round to look for it but didn't find him. "The source gave him an extra power as Shape Shifter."
"So what do you mean?" Simone asked turning round. "He can be anyone and everything. Is the room still frozen?" "Yeah and it stays that way till we figure this out!" Simone replied a bit harshly. "Is there anything around here that doesn't fit?" Everyone turned their heads to look at him. "Besides me." Steve sighed. "That cupboard, I thought you bought it so I never asked, but did you?" Lucy directed the question to her mother. "No I didn't, Piper?" "Not me." Simone and Lucy both held out their hands and formed an Energy ball and Fire ball in their hands. As soon as the balls hit the cupboard it turned back into the demon, the freeze was lifted and the demon still stood there. Simone turned to check if Connor and Murphy were still frozen and looked back at the demon. "Quickly." Simone walked over to the rest and all of them said these words as one.
"Evil
that has traveled near,
I call on you to
disappear,
elementals hear my cry's,
remove this
creature from our sight."
The demon screamed in agony as he was swallowed by the fire surrounding him. One poof of smoke and he was gone.
Simone turned round and lifted the freeze. "What happened?" Connor asked looking confused and missing his weapon. He looked to his right and noticed the whole Halliwell family plus one he didn't know standing there watching him. "You went mad man!" Murphy stood up to look at him and pointed to his eyebrow. "Look what you did idiot!" Simone walked over and took his hand, leaving the others to explain to Connor what just happened. "Let's fix your face.""What did I do?" Connor faced the rest of them. Phoebe didn't know what to say, she looked at her sisters who were trying to think of an explanation but it was Lucy who finally spoke. "Where did you get this?" She held up the gun. "I don't know I..." Connor seemed confused. How did his gun end up in her hands? He thought walking over. "It's mine. I have it for protection." Connor finally admitted.
Simone was walking round in the kitchen gathering stuff to dress Murphy's wound with. She walked over to him and pressed a cold wet cloth against his left eyebrow. "What happened?" Simone asked locking eyes with him. It took Murph some time to answer. "We were back in the house and the second we we're inside he went mental on me. He grabbed his gun and pointed it at me." "His gun?" Simone looked confused. "Since when does Connor own a gun?" "We both do, for our protection. The men that are after us... We need to be able to protect ourselves." Murphy twitched as Simone pulled of the cloth. "Well this needs a band-aid." Simone said smiling as she reached back for one. She put it on his wound and admired her handy work. "Well that looks okay now." She backed away but Murphy grabbed her wrist pulling her back and kissed her. After a moment or two Simone pulled back. "I... I need to check on the others. Sorry." Simone walked of leaving Murphy alone wondering what he had done wrong.
"That was close." Phoebe was in the kitchen later that day with her sisters and daughters Steve had shimmered off again and Chris was standing next to Prue looking at her as if he couldn't believe he met his aunt. "I know, their getting suspicious, and who can blame them?" Piper said handing the twins a cup of coffee. "You know what I think? The vanquishes are going way to easy!" Paige said looking at them all. "Aunt Paige, our vanquishes are always that easy." Simone said sipping her coffee. "Why weren't you around when we did all the fighting?" Paige asked with a smile. "Because mom and dad didn't hop on the good foot doing the bad thing soon enough?" Lucy asked smiling. "Eew oversharing!" Paige pretended to be grossed out, as Phoebe slapped her sister's arm. Simone stood up and drained her cup of coffee. "I am going to get some fresh air. I will see you later." Chris noticed the look on Simone's face and as a good white lighter does he followed her to the garden. "Do you want to talk about it?" He immediately asked sitting down on the sun bed next to her. Simone sighed before she spoke. "I am falling in love Chris, and I'm afraid to do anything about it." Chris nodded understandingly. "Why are you afraid?" "I'm afraid something bad will happen to him. I'm afraid of telling him I'm a witch." Simone looked at her feet as she spoke. "Why don't you try to have fun? Just see where it all ends and if you think this guy's the one... then you can start worrying about telling him." Simone took in Chris's words and on some level she knew he was right. But she couldn't let herself go. "It's to dangerous Chris, different scenarios on what could happen keep playing in my head. It's there when I go to bed and still there when I wake up. Sometimes I dream about him getting killed." Simone's face looked pale and sad. "If he's supposed to die then he will die. There won't be anything you can do about that. Look at your aunt Prue or me for that matter. It was my time too." Chris smiled. "But I don't want to get hurt like that." "Would you rather be unhappy for ever?" Chris was taking her appearance in. "If that's what it takes... yes." Chris looked at her and somehow remembered the time his own mother had given up on love. "You can't give up on love, Simone. Even you are meant to be loved and to love someone." "I can't Chris, don't you see? They all need me." "Lucy's in the same position but does find the time to explore love." "That's exactly why I can't. She's distracted so I need to be the one with a clear view on things." Simone answered blankly. "That's not true and you know it. You're afraid to get hurt but love is about taking chances. You're a very powerful witch, you can protect him." Chris was frowning now, what would happen if she really did say no to love. Simone nodded but didn't say anything. Chris stood up and left her alone with her thoughts. "Promise me," Chris said turning round. "Promise me you won't give up on love."
Murphy had caught Chris's last words as he looked into the garden from his room. His window was open. Did she really want to give up on love? But why would she want to? What was she hiding from him? Questions filled Murphy's head as he stared down.
Simone felt someone looking down at her and looked up, straight into Murphy's eyes. Her head immediately filled with questions. Overwhelmed by this she quickly looked down again. At least he didn't hear her complete conversation but now she had to worry about him actually asking her those questions.
Lucy had left the kitchen and went to find Connor. He wasn't doing so well when she last saw him and she wanted to check up on him. Lucy knocked on his door and the door opened revealing Connor in jeans without his shirt on. Lucy's heart stopped beating for a moment. 'God he looks gorgeous.' She thought smiling. "Can I come in?" Connor moved to the side and let her in. She sat down onto his bed and looked at him. "Are you okay? You seemed a bit shocked earlier." "Yeah, I think I'm okay now." Connor sat down next to her. Lucy felt his arm brushing against hers and had to suppress the urge to jump on him. "So... what have you been up to?" Connor looked at her with a smile. "Oh you know, saving the world." Lucy didn't exactly lie. "A my little super hero." He said putting his arm round her and giving her a quick kiss. He pulled back inches away from her face and they both looked at each other. Lucy felt his heart beating against her hand which was now against his chest. She wanted him more then ever. Connor held her look for a while; he wanted her so bad it was hurting him inside. Lucy kissed him roughly and Connor returned the kiss, while pushing her down onto the bed. Lucy smiled an inner smile. His hand moved along her side up to her chest. She felt as if she couldn't care about anything else in the world as long as she was with Connor everything would fall into place. Lucy pulled off his shirt and kissed his neck and shoulder. Lucy enjoyed feeling his weight upon her, feeling every inch of his and her body as if they were one. Her empath power did help loads with it. She was intoxicated by him, as he was with her.
Simone was still in the garden when Murphy walked outside towards her. "Hey." Murphy said sitting down on the same sun bed. "Hi, how's your head?" Simone asked pulling up her legs making room for him to sit down. "It's okay, I had a great nurse." Simone smiled at those words. "Oh well, you couldn't have expected anything less right?" "Right." Murphy answered looking at her. "Listen I..." Simone was distracted by a demon flaming in on her right. "What the hell!" Murphy jumped up and pulled out his gun. "Bullet's don't hurt me puny human!" He waved his hand sending Murphy flying. Simone looked at him while yelling 'Sun bed!' and it appeared below Murphy in a poof of pink smoke. Then she turned to the demon. "You came for the wrong Halliwell. She said as she formed an energy ball in her hand, and sent it flying towards the demon, who flamed out just in time.
"Are you okay?" Simone asked hurrying over. "What the hell are you?" Murphy asked shocked.
