Paige was back in the cellar by the time Leo and Piper orbed back to the manor. Piper seemed more relaxed than she had been when they had left. Apparently their day on the town had taken a lot of the tension out of her that had built up over the past few weeks. She and Leo were joking and laughing as they orbed in. They had no sooner arrived at the manor than Darryl showed up.
"Hey, Darryl," said Piper, answering the door, "to what do we owe the honor of this visit?"
"Just thought I'd stop by and say hi," said Darryl. "I'm investigating a series of arsons in the city and had to interview a witness not far from here. Figured as long as I was in the neighborhood, I'd stop by and say hi."
"Well, we're glad you did," said Phoebe. "Usually when you stop by it's because of trouble."
"Don't remind me," said Darryl. "It's kind of nice to stop by just to say hi. Besides, I needed a break. There have been seven arsons so far and the arson squad is sure it's the work of the same person. Only we don't seem to have any tangible clues in the case. It's beginning to look like we're never going to solve this case."
"You don't have any clues at all?" asked Leo. "That's kind of unusual, isn't it?"
"Oh, we have clues," said Darryl. "Just none of them seem to add up. We can't even find a pattern to why those particular places were selected. If we could discover that maybe we could get a handle on this."
"Want us to give you a hand?" asked Phoebe. "Maybe we could scry for the arsonist or something. "
"No," said Darryl suddenly, "no, no magic. Every time you use magic things always seem to go wrong. And I'm usually caught in the middle of it. I'll figure this thing out on my own, thank you."
"Okay," said Phoebe, "just offering."
"I appreciate the offer," said Darryl, "really I do. I just don't think I should use magic to solve my cases."
"I agree," said Piper. "Magic is for fighting demons."
"Okay, okay," said Phoebe. "Sheesh, don't get all bent out of shape. I was just trying to help."
"We know, sweetie," said Piper.
"Well," said Darryl, "I'd better get going. I still have a ton of paperwork to fill out."
"Glad you stopped by," said Leo. "Why not come by for dinner some night. No demons, no magic, just one of Piper's fabulous meals."
"That's a good idea," said Piper. "I don't think we've ever had you over to dinner."
"I just might," said Darryl. "I'll give you a call."
"You do that," said Piper. "We'll set up a night to do it when we can all be here."
Darryl left and Piper went into the kitchen to begin dinner. Phoebe and Cole sat on the sofa as they had for most of the afternoon. Suddenly Paige kicked the door to the cellar open and came stumbling out carrying a small metal chest. Cole jumped up from the sofa and hurriedly took the chest from her since it was apparent she was about to drop it.
"Thanks," said Paige, rubbing her arm. "It didn't seem that heavy when I started up the stairs with it."
"What is this? Asked Cole. "It feels like it's filled with gold bars."
"I don't know," said Paige. "I found it buried on a back shelf in the cellar. I thought maybe Piper or Phoebe knew what it was."
"Never saw it before," said Phoebe, looking at the chest.
"Well," said Cole, straining under the weight, "let's find some place to put it down. This thing weighs a ton."
"Kitchen," said Phoebe. "Piper might know what it is."
"I have no idea," said Piper, looking the chest over.
It wasn't very big. Only about a foot wide, a foot deep, and two feet long. There was a small latch on the front of it that appeared to be partially rusted shut. It seemed to be made of iron. The five stood looking at it sitting on the countertop.
"Maybe it belonged to grams," said Leo. "You guys don't spend very much time down there. Maybe it's something she put down there. This was her house for quite a number of years, after all."
"That makes sense," said Piper. "Any idea what's inside this thing?"
"I don't know," said Cole, "but I'm surprised Paige was able to carry it up here. It was all I could do to carry it in here."
"There's one way to find out," suggested Phoebe. "Let's open it. If it's in the house I say it belongs to us now."
"Okay," said Piper. "Leo, honey, get me a hammer will you?"
Leo went to his toolbox under one of the cabinets. He got his hammer out and walked over and handed it to Piper. Piper took the hammer and swung at the latch. She hit it forcefully and the hammer just bounced off the latch. She hit it again with the same results.
"That's strange," she said. "It's not even scratched. It should have broken considering all the rust on it."
"Here, let me try," said Cole taking the hammer. "Even as a mortal I still possess a portion of my former demonic strength. Watch your eyes."
Everyone turned their head as Cole struck at the latch with all his strength. As with Piper, the hammer simply glanced off the latch, not even leaving a mark. He struck it a couple of more times with no better results.
"Okay, that's different," said Paige. "Maybe it's enchanted. If it belonged to grams, maybe she hexed it to protect it."
"If that's the case," said Piper, "no physical force will harm it. Any other ideas about getting it open?"
"I have one," said Phoebe.
Phoebe reached down and took the latch in her fingers. With less trouble than it took to think about it, she flipped the latch open.
"I'll be," said Cole. "Maybe your grandmother enchanted it so one of your could open it."
"Or the charm might just protect it from harm," said Phoebe. "It didn't appear to be locked so I figured maybe I could open it."
"It seems you were right, honey," said Piper. "Go on. Open the lid. Let's see what grams was hiding in the cellar all these years."
Phoebe took hold of the lid and pulled it open. As with the latch, it silently swung up to reveal the chests' contents. Everyone just stared at the inside of the chest.
"I was only kidding when I said it felt like it was filled with gold," said Cole.
Staring down into the chest, the five people saw that it was filled to capacity. Filled with strange gold coins.