Chapter 4: In the Ghetto

"Now that we know the year that they went back to," Piper said. "We can use the same spell to take ourselves there."

"What?" Phoebe asked. "Can't we just say a spell to bring them back?"

"Not according to this book," Paige said, reading the time travel book. "We need to go back, find them, and say this exit spell."

"Well that's just great," Phoebe complained. "Can we just get this over with?"

"We need to say the spell together," Paige said. They stood next to each other and faced a wall in their attic.

Traveling through the rifts of time,

With the help of this ancient rhyme,

More power than the heat of the sun

Take us back to December, 1941

The same blue portal opened. The Charmed Ones hesitated. They grabbed each other's hand as they went through the portal, through time.

Paige woke up in a sunny room. She was laying on a hard floor, and she was really hungry. She got up and looked around. There were several adults and children lying around her. They all wore a star.

"Phoebe?" she called out. "Piper?" They weren't around though. The people looked at her as though she were insane. She looked out the window and saw a large metal fence with barbed wire at the top. Although all those people were around her, Paige felt more alone than she ever had before.

"Piper!" Phoebe yelled. "Paige!" A woman glared at her.

"Shut up!" she hissed. "They'll find us if you don't keep your mouth shut."

"Who will find us?" Phoebe asked.

"Who do you think?" the woman asked. "Are you stupid?"

"Where am I?" she asked. The woman looked at her as though she were insane.

"You're in the Tuliszkow ghetto," the woman replied. Phoebe thought back to her history books. Ghettos were the small living spaces that the Jews were forced to live in during the war.

"I need to find my sisters," Phoebe said.

"For all you know, they could be dead."

"Let go of me!" Piper demanded. An SS officer had a hold of her.

"Keep walking you stupid bitch," he said to her.

"Take off the 'b' and put on a 'w'," she said, flicking her hands at him. Nothing happened. "Damnit."

"Get going!" She was in some street, being forced into a cattle car. They pushed her in. Many other Jews were forced in after her. So many that there was no room to move. Piper could smell the sweat and body odor of all the other people. She felt as though she were going to puke. There were small vents at the top of the carts to let air in, but not much got in. The smell of the cart was rancid.

"Paige! Phoebe!" Piper continued calling her sister's names. She never heard an answer. She was so overwhelmed by fear, sorrow, and helplessness that she started to break into tears. She saw people around her relieving themselves right next to her. She couldn't take it. The smell, the sight, the feeling. She needed out. She needed Leo.

"Play along with it, Darryl," Leo said. He and Darryl were going through houses with other SS officers and finding Jews to be rounded up. "I know how difficult it is, but if we show any sympathy for these poor people, we'll be killed along with them."

"We can't do this to these people, Leo," Darryl said. "I'm an American cop, not a Nazi SS officer. I just can't do the very thing I try to stop."

"If we are going to make it out of here alive, we're going to need play this act. At least as long as the girls find a way to get us out of here." Darryl agreed, but he felt horrible for doing so. They continued to the next room of a house. There was a small girl standing there.

"She can't work," an SS officer said to Darryl. "Kill her."

"I…I can't," Darryl said.

"What? I gave you an order. Do it." Darryl still wouldn't do it. The SS officer took out his gun, aimed it at the small girl and pulled the trigger. Her lifeless body fell to the ground.

"No!" Darryl yelled. He punched the SS officer in the face.

"Darryl! Don't!" Leo yelled, but it was too late. Darryl was beating him. Leo finally got Darryl off of the man. Darryl felt more anger pulsing through him than he ever had before. "He's dead," Leo said, feeling for the man's pulse.

"What's going on here?" another SS officer asked, entering the room. Leo had to think fast.

"A dirty Jew killed him. He ran that way," Leo said, motioning towards the right. The SS officer ran off. "Come on, Darryl," Leo said. "Let's go before anyone gets suspicious."

Paige could here gun's firing in a different part of the building she was in. The shots were getting closer. The Nazi's would be to them soon.

"What do we do?" she asked. The Jews just stared at her. "We have to do something." No one moved. "Don't just sit there, we have to get out." The door broke down and several SS officers ran in. They grabbed them and started hauling them off. Paige backed off. She saw two familiar faces walk in. "Leo! Darryl!" They looked at her, shocked.

Piper rode in the wagon for several hours. It passed by slowly. She heard nothing but the sounds of all the people around her. They were breathing heavily and every now and then, she heard the sounds of puking.

Finally, she felt the cart stop. She heard men talking outside. The came over to the back door and opened it. Fresh air swept over them. Piper treasured each breath.

"Get out!" they ordered. They obediently got out of the cart and stood in a line. An officer started counting them. "If any one of you runs, the rest of you pay." Their guns were set, ready to fire at one wrong move. "All of them are there," the officer whispered to another one.

"Come on!" he yelled. They followed. Piper saw a sign that read Auschwitz. Her heart was struck with fear. Up ahead, she saw their line split into two separate lines. She knew one of them led to the furnace. The SS officers were telling them which way the people should go. Piper could hear the people shouting. The families being torn apart. Piper was next up. She was being pushed towards the right. She started walking that way. Up ahead, she could see the pillar of smoke.

A/N: The reason that I made it so Paige didn't know what Auschwitz was so that I could explain what it was in case anyone reading this didn't know what it was.