Chapter six

"Oh please, do you really think that get-up is gonna scare us?" Piper challenged, trying to keep her voice steady. She tried again to freeze time with a flick of her hand, but still her power seemed to be rendered useless. The creature leered menacingly, and then to Phoebe's horror, it raised a threatening hand…
Phoebe's body seemed to be as useless as Piper's powers. She wanted to launch herself into the air and knock out the creature. She wanted to leap in front of Piper and take the fireball herself. She wanted to yell a warning, anything that would save her sister. But she couldn't move. She was paralysed with fear.
All of a sudden, a hot beam of electricity shot from the demon's outstretched palm. Future Phoebe sprang from her position and with a leap through the air blocked the beam's path. She tumbled to the ground. Body trembling, she lifted a shaking hand, and through fuzzy vision, made out the red blood running slowly down her palm. The blood came from a huge wound in her stomach.
Another bolt pierced the air and Paige orbed out of its way. "Phoebe help us damnit! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Phoebe looked on helplessly. Her heart was beating a rhythm against her ribs as she willed her muscles to co-operate. Then, a sudden blaze of light caught her attention and her heart almost stopped beating altogether. A fireball burned in the demon's palm.
"NO!" Finally shocked out of her trance, Phoebe sprang into action. She launched herself into the air and kicked the slimy, scaly fist in which the fireball burned, re-directing the supernatural weapon into one of the brick walls.
She floored the creature with a kick to the stomach, dropped to the ground and shrank back. "Orb both Piper's, our Phoebe and our innocent outta here now!" Phoebe whirled round. She hadn't been aware that someone had called Leo.
Leo orbed the selected Witches out of harm without question.
Then, to the shock and bewilderment of the remaining three, the demon let out a howl of rage and disappeared in a burst of flame. "Where'd he go, why'd he go?" Paige remarked exasperated. "I don't know," Phoebe replied coldly. "But I don't like it."…

Piper jotted down the last few words of the to-do list onto a pad of paper, and ran through it with the others. "Oohhkay, the checklist." She began. "Look up the demon in the book of shadows?" Paige hauled herself up. "I'm on it."
"Right, check. Mix the vanquishing potion for the Anubi for when we go back to the present…er…past…oh you know what I mean. Any volunteers?"
"I'll do it." Future Piper offered. "Right, and I'll help with that. Check."
She checked off the chosen tasks with a pencil. "Next, write a spell to take us back to the past…present…If needs be." Both Phoebe's volunteered for this. "Right. Check. And so Paige," She turned to Future Paige. "That leaves you to stay here with Amber." Piper gestured to the young witch they had just protected.
Paige's charge was seated in the easy chair opposite under Piper's time freeze spell. Amber, who reminded Piper unpleasantly of Marcie Stedwell, (a young wiccan who had so little real magic in her blood it was beyond belief) had been so hyper-active with excitement, that Piper hadn't been able to take it any longer. With a flick of her hand, she had suspended time in desperation. "Magic for personal gain." Future Piper had scolded. To which Piper had retorted: "This is not personal gain! Shutting her up is an act of charity!"
"I'm not staying here!" Future Paige stated defiantly. "I'll go help…myself…look in the book." And before Piper could protest, Paige had vanished…

"This is him, it's got to be!" Paige jabbed the place in the book with her finger. There was no illustration of the demon, but the description written in looping text, painted a clear mental image in her brain.
Phoebe and future Phoebe put down their pens, and ambled over to Paige and future Paige stood flipping the yellowing pages of the book.
Phoebe's eyes ran over the text before her. "Osiris." She read aloud. "Brown skin, scales…" she clicked her tongue as she skip read the information. "Yep that's him." 'Okay, the vanquish must be on the next page.' She turned the page. She blinked. It was blank. She flipped a few more musty pages. The rest of the pages were blank too.
She turned back to the page on Osiris. Then, she noticed a sentence at the bottom of the page that she hadn't noticed before. "There is no known way to vanquish him." She threw the book closed angrily. "We'll find a way," Paige insisted determinedly. "And I have a way. I've got an idea…"

"Okay we need a small piece of…dragon skin? They really exist?" Piper looked up from the sheet of paper she was reading. Her clone looked confused for a moment, but then… "Oh yeah, you haven't fought it yet."
Piper's eyes widened, but a small explosion from the potion stopped her from questioning future Piper. Future Piper had picked up the dragon skin and tossed it into the bubbling mixture.
"Do you mind finishing this off while I see how the others are doing?" Future Piper suggested. "Sure." Piper agreed. "Thanks."
Future Piper turned on her heel and walked out of the kitchen. As she passed through the living room on her way to the stairs, she failed to notice that Amber was gone…

"So we just use the crystal cage, like before. If it was strong enough for the Source, it is strong enough for Osiris." Paige finished with a celebratory flourish. Future Piper came into the room as Paige bowed jokingly. "Okay what's the celebration?" She asked smiling. "Paige has come up with the perfect way to vanquish Osiris." Future Phoebe explained cheerfully. "Which one?" Future Piper enquired. "Past Paige…or…present..oh you know."
Paige hastened to explain her plan. "We write a power of three vanquish spell, and we use the crystal cage like we did with the Source."
Phoebe held up a piece of paper. "We've done the time travel spell, so we can work on the vanquish."
Future felt a flood of relief and happiness. Everything was under control.

Piper scanned the potion method for the next ingredient. "Okay a pinch of powdered bee sting." She turned to search the wooden cabinet behind her.
A sudden ear splitting scream startled her. "Amber?" She muttered. Piper sprinted through the dining room and into the living room. Amber wasn't their. "Amber!" she called. Oh no. This was all her fault. How could she have left Amber alone? She was bound to unfreeze. She bounded into the hallway. Glancing around she saw that the main door was slightly ajar. She jogged up to it and swung it all the way open. Stepping out onto the porch, she turned her head this way and that, scanning the deserted street. The deserted street. Where was Amber? Had the scream come from somewhere else? She hurried down the front steps to the pavement "Amber!" No answer. She must be somewhere inside. Piper turned to run back up the steps…and bumped straight into a hideous creature, with a brown and scaly body…Osiris. Piper yelled in surprise. "Where's Amber, what'd you do to her?" Piper demanded, trying to keep her terror from showing in her voice.
"Never mind about that. That won't matter where I'm gonna send you."
The fireball hit Piper with such force she was almost knocked off of her feet. The excruciating pain tore through her every nerve. She let out a hair raising scream as the flames burned her flesh…

A searing pain sliced through Future Piper's chest. She whimpered and sank to her knees, overcome. "Piper!" She felt Phoebe's arms around her, and she could make out the others crowding around her. "What's the matter?" She struggled to speak through the dull pain in her chest. "It's Piper." She choked. "She's dead."

Okay, that is the end of part one. Part two will be coming soon. Please review!