Ames orbed into a darkened cavern, unsure of what to expect. He was the type of person who took pride in meticulously planning every single detail down to the ground. He was well known among Darklighters for his ability to plan for every possible outcome. He hated leaving anything to chance, believing even the slightest margin of error to be unacceptable. If anything he was a perfectionist. What he was doing now went against everything that he held true but he just didn't have a choice any more, he was running out of time. Ames had expected the Warlock to be nothing more than a means to an end. As much as he hated to admit it there was no way that he could have done the preparations by himself. The Warlock had actually proved more useful than Ames had anticipated; the conjuring power had been an unexpected bonus and the idea of using fear to control it hadn't even occurred to Ames. That led to the current problem. The Demon of Fear was one of the most powerful in existence. Ames had no idea how to approach him. His usual approach would be to find out everything that he could before beginning but there just wasn't enough time anymore. So here he was, unprepared, unsure of what to expect, unready should things go wrong
"That's funny, I don't remember sending out invitations" A voice spoke to Ames' left. He spun sharply, aiming his crossbow at the sound.
"Try again" The voice taunted from directly behind Ames. Keeping a grip on the crossbow with one hand he conjured a dagger and slashed out in the direction the voice had come from. There was nothing there.
"No more games, Demon, show yourself!" Ames called out. Flames filled the centre of the cave, and then disappeared just as quickly to reveal the figure of Barbas, the Demon of Fear.
"A Darklighter with guts. Mind explaining why you're snooping around in my lair?" he asked casually. Ames did the one thing then that he hated. Without his plans to fall back on he didn't know what else to do. He hesitated. Barbas laughed.
"You do know? Don't you? You look like the type who always knows what they are doing, so what makes now so different?" Barbas wove his hand over Ames face and smirked slightly at what he saw.
"My lord, I come to you…" Ames began.
"Because you're greatest fear is failure. And don't call me a lord, I hate suck ups"
"Then you know of my plan?" the Darklighter asked
"Of course I do! And you need my help to pull the strings on your little puppet because you can't do it yourself and you don't dare go back to the other Darklighters and say you failed" Barbas taunted. He sat down on a nearby rock. Ames watched him warily.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Convince me!" The Demon challenged him.
-
Phoebe lit the last candle and sat down in the circle she had cast on the attic floor. Her sisters would not be happy about her using a spell like this, especially after she had lost her active powers through personal gain, but the first line of the spell she had written stated clearly that it wasn't meant for her. At least, that was the theory, if people wanted to do things like give her a little more time then she couldn't exactly refuse, could she? Phoebe relaxed then read the spell.
"I cast this spell not for myself,
But for those in need of reprieve.
Where patience is sought
Let peace be wrought
Giving all the time to breathe"
The candles glowed with a faint blue light that rose and spun around the room before spreading out through the manor. After a while the glow faded. Phoebe went downstairs to see what had happened. Everything looked all right. She picked up the phone.
"Donna? Hello, I'm calling about my article. You see, I need a little more time and I was wondering if I could possibly get an extension. Please?" She winced, expecting the worst.
"Of course Phoebe, take as long as you need. There's no need to rush" Donna's voice came down the phone line. Phoebe almost dropped the phone in surprise.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! That's fantastic, thank you" said Phoebe. Donna didn't answer so Phoebe hung up. She laughed, and then did a little dance on the spot, before going back to the kitchen to get back to work.
-
Paige pulled the car into the parking lot behind P3. As she stood up a feeling of complete relaxation filled her up like a warm drink on a cold day. She had been silly to snap at Phoebe like that, and Phoebe had been right, she could orb so why all the fuss over a car? Paige smiled happily and sauntered casually into the club.
-
All over the city people were experiencing the same relaxing sensation that Paige had felt. Suddenly troubles just melted away and people felt happy. Nobody seemed bothered by anything that happened; they all just smiled happily and carried on.
-
Not at the Magic School, there were too many protection spells over it for Phoebe's spell to affect it. So life there went on as normal. Ames had done an incredible job of covering his tracks. Had the books he had stolen been discovered lost before now his plan would have been found out and stopped. The Darklighter had prepared for this and as a result, when Sigmund came to look for the one book Ames had managed to steal from the Magic School it had been gone for months and nobody had suspected a thing. Sigmund was confused; he checked the records in case it had been checked out. According to the librarian it should have still been on its shelf. He checked again in case he had missed it. Finally, having searched the library from top to bottom, he went to Gideon.
-
After a while Gideon summoned Leo. He had been a little reluctant to call Piper because she was so close to giving birth but there was no keeping secrets from the eldest of the Charmed Ones. Chris was still watching Wyatt so he was absent. Sigmund watched the two Elders with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"Explain this to me in plain old English, what has happened?" Piper asked him.
"Well, there is a book in the library about old legends. I thought I remembered a story about a wizard that could bend time so I thought it would be helpful in finding a way to send Chris home"
"But…" Piper pressed. Sigmund felt a lump in his throat.
"The err… the book has, err… disappeared" he said
"The book has disappeared?" clearly Piper wasn't convinced that this was serious.
"Are you absolutely sure that a student didn't take it without permission?" Leo was asking. Gideon was shaking his head.
"Our Librarian is extremely thorough, and there are enchantments on the books to prevent that from happening. If the book is on the grounds it should return here immediately when called" Gideon explained.
"Have you tried it yet?" Leo asked. Gideon gave him a dumbfounded look. Then he held out his hands and called out "Reddere Librarius!" Nothing happened.
"It was the first thing I did when Sigmund came to me" said the Elder. Leo nodded apologetically.
"What are you saying? You think that someone stole a book from your library?" Piper jumped in.
"Piper, that's a pretty serious thing to be accusing someone of" said Leo
"And they would have had to find a way around all the protection spells in place" said Gideon.
"But it is possible?" Piper pressed them "Look, I'll call my sisters and I'm sure that we can get this sorted out. It's the least we can do to thank you for all your help"
"Thank you, you are most generous" Gideon said with a small smile. Part of him was glad that Wyatt wasn't present. He didn't think he could bear talking to Piper or Leo when their son was concerned. It made the knowledge of what he had to do all the more painful. Leo was already orbing to the manor.
-
The Underworld was also unaffected by Phoebe's spell. Barbas had agreed to help Ames but the Darklighter couldn't figure out why and it was making him very nervous. Upper level Demons usually had their own agenda. Ames knew that, he just couldn't figure out for the life of him what Barbas wanted. Not knowing was driving Ames insane, he didn't trust the Demon. At least if he knew why Barbas was helping him then he'd have some idea of how reliable he was.
Barbas, for his part, could see just how edgy Ames uncertainty was making him and found it amusing. Ames had obviously put a lot of work into making his plan a success and now that it was nearing completion the prospect of it failing was now more real than ever. It was funny watching the Darklighter tear himself apart rather than risk anything going wrong, and his insecurity over Barbas' involvement only made it more entertaining. He had his own reasons for getting involved but right now he decided to keep them to himself. It was more fun that way
-
Leo orbed into the kitchen to find Phoebe typing on her laptop. She had ditched the earmuffs in favour of a CD player and some headphones. Leo tapped her gently on the shoulder, making her jump.
"Ah! What's the big idea scaring me like that?" Phoebe cried out, spinning around to face Leo and pulling the headphones off.
"There's been a bit of a situation at the Magic School. Where's Paige?" said Leo
"A situation? Is Piper ok?"
"Piper's fine, and so are Chris and Wyatt before you ask. We think something's been stolen from the library. Piper wants you and Paige to come and help her find out what happened" Leo explained.
"Paige went to P3 a little while ago. She should be there by now. But Leo, I have to warn you, she may be in a bad mood"
-
Leo orbed himself and Phoebe to Piper's office at P3. In the bar itself they found Paige sitting on a bar stool and humming to herself. Apart from that the bar was empty. It was the middle of the day and the club wasn't open for business yet, but there were usually a few staff members here by this time.
"Paige, where is everybody?" Phoebe asked. Paige smiled
"They're not here yet, but don't worry about it. There's still plenty of time to get everything ready" she said. Leo and Phoebe exchanged glances.
"What happened to grouchy Paige from this morning?" Phoebe asked
"Yeah, I was being silly, wasn't I? You can have the car back now. I can orb" Paige was still smiling.
"Phoebe, I thought you said she was in a bad mood" Leo whispered in Phoebe's ear
"She was this morning. She was snapping and moody and if I didn't know better I'd say she had serious PMS".
"Anyway, we should get going. Piper wants to see everyone at Magic School" said Leo. He took Phoebe's hand and orbed. A few seconds later they orbed back to P3 where Paige was still sitting and smiling.
"Oh, you mean now?" she asked them
