Chapter 3-Attic-evening
BOOM. A loud noise echoed throughout the attic, but Phoebe hardly even flinched. Her nerves, her heart, her soul was numb with pain and sorrow. Her sister, her baby sister, was gone and they still had to go on and fight demons as if nothing had ever happened.
Phoebe had been up here all night, making potion after potion for Zankou's little friends. She didn't want to go against them, but she loved her sister and she wanted to keep her safe. Without the Power of Three, they were seriously weakened and Phoebe knew that as many vials of extra power she could make, the more chances they had of getting out alive.
"Pheebs?" Phoebe turned around at the sound of her only remaining sister's voice. Piper held baby Wyatt in her arms and a bunch of feverfew in her outstretched hand. "This is supposed to increase the potency of a potion." Phoebe looked at Piper, really looked at her, and wasn't happy with what she saw. Piper had lost too much, so soon…first Leo, and now Paige. She looked empty, but Phoebe felt so helpless and empty herself she felt like there was nothing she could do to help her sister. That feeling was almost as bad as losing Paige…knowing that she and Piper were lost and there was nothing either of them could do about it. Not without Paige.
"Ok!" Phoebe exclaimed in a fake voice, trying to sound stronger and more stable than she was. While Piper had been the one who collapsed after Prue's death, Phoebe had always been closer to Paige than any of her sisters and she felt the loss the strongest. It took everything she has not to stay in bed crying all of the time, but she knew what she had to do. For both of her sisters. "We have over a hundred randomly strong potions, any of which should be able to vanquish a badass." Piper shook her head and turned a potion over in her hand, examining it, but not really looking at it.
"Zankou is going to try and send us after the strongest ones he can find, just to eliminate us." Piper's voice was firm, but hollow and Phoebe's heart ached for her sister. But her heart also ached for Paige, and she knew that they had to stay as strong as they could if they ever wanted to see her again. They would see her again; they just had to find a way to get to her.
All of a sudden, Zankou appeared in the attic, shimmering in between the sisters and the vials of potions.
"Hello, ladies. Pleasant evening, I hope." He grinned at them with yellow teeth and Phoebe shot him a murderous glare. She missed Paige so much it hurt, and he had the guts to show up here and act all…happy?
Piper raised her blasting arms but Zankou held a piece of parchment in front of him as a barrier. Piper had seen a list like that before, when she worked for the Angel of Death, and her better senses told her that if she destroyed that list she probably would end up making Zankou take out his anger on Paige.
"I am here strictly for business. Here is the list of demons I would like you to take care of," Piper took the list from him hesitantly, with one eye peeled and watching at all times. He had taken away her baby sister, and she would never get over that. She would give anything to make him pay…but she also knew that she had to do what he said, at least for her sister's life. At least for now. The whole mechanics of this endeavor was lost on Piper, she didn't want to lose Paige, she loved her sister dearly, but she knew the risks of giving so many upper level powers to one demon. But she could deal with that later; right now she would focus on getting Paige to life throughout the night.
Phoebe turned around to ask him, plead with him, to let them just know if Paige was alive but he had vanished as quickly as he had came. Her head dropped and she sank to the floor. Now that he had contacted them, Zankou would have no need to speak to them again and she might never find out if her sister was even alive.
Piper look at the list in her hand, filled purely with very strong, upper level demons. They were in for a hell of a ride, but they couldn't jump off or their sister would die.
Paige woke up, feeling almost revived, except for the fact that she was in a cage in what had to be the Underworld. Her head hurt, but she was no longer bleeding. She looked around, down at her many wounds, and was shocked to find that they were all gone. She was…healed. But how? Demons do not have the ability to heal, Leo was long gone, and if she was dead she wouldn't be here.
"Hello, Paige." Paige's eyes widened and her heart rose to her throat. She knew that voice. She knew that voice all too well. She had been longing to hear that voice for months, it seemed like she had been longing to hear that voice for a lifetime.
"Kyle?" She squeaked. Paige spun around and found herself in the arms of her former boyfriend, who she still saw as the love of her life. "But how…you were dead. I watched you die." Her voice choked and Kyle wiped a tear from her eye. She buried her head in his shirt and let the tears fall, all of the tears that she had shed in his dead for pain she now shed with joy. It would have been the perfect reunion, had they not been in a cage in, well, hell.
"I was turned in to a Whitelighter, because I saved the world and all. The Elders seemed to think that balanced out how many times I screwed it up. I was on my way to tell you actually, when Zankou found me. Next thing I know I'm in here, been in here for months, and I can't get out." Kyle sounded very frustrated, but Paige was secretly glad that he was in here. If he wasn't, she would have died. She knew that, and he must know that too. Paige's eyes widened and she pulled away from her, looking around desperately for a means of escape.
"My sisters! They think I'm dead…or worse, they are dead!" Paige's voice was filled with panic, and Kyle took her in his arms and held her close.
"They didn't come with you, Paige. When Zankou brought you down here, he wanted me to heal you. He put you in the cage with me, when he had hundreds of other places in the Underworld for each of us. I think he's plotting a plan, Paige, a huge one." Paige's eyes filled immediately with fear.
"He's going to use me as bait. He is going to draw my sister's here, to they're doom, and kill them. And we are going to be in this cage, and there's going to be nothing we can do about it."
14
