ELEVEN

When Tru woke up the next morning she nearly started to panic. She was in a strange room. Then she remembered the previous day. Relieved that this was not yet another reset day, she got up and started to get dressed.

Phoebe had graciously given up her room so that Tru could stay at the manor. At first, Piper had said something about putting an innocent in danger from the Dark Lighter's attack. She had insisted that, now that they knew what was going on, there was no reason for Tru to stay. She could return to New York as she had originally planned.

Then Tru had mentioned that something could go wrong. If the Dark Lighter was as dangerous as they all said he was, they might not be able to stop him before he hurt, or even killed someone. If that happened, she was the only one who had any chance of preventing that. Or rather, of getting the chance to relive the day and saving whomever was killed. Finally, Piper agreed.

Tru finished getting dressed and went downstairs. Everyone else was already up and breakfast had started. Tru took a seat at the table. Piper was feeding Wyatt and smiled at Tru as she came into the room.

"Wow," she said. "You certainly have a lot of choices at breakfast. It's almost like being in a restaurant."

"Piper's a chef," said Phoebe. "Well, she used to be. I think she gets off on fixing these huge breakfasts for us."

"No complaints from me," said Leo, smiling. "It beats a donut and a cup of coffee."

"It's still a lot to take in," said Tru. "I never imagined anything like what I learned yesterday. Witches, demons, Whitelighters. It's almost like an entire sub-culture going on right under out noses. And most people have no idea it all exists."

"In a way it is a sub-culture," said Chris. "And there's even more than you would imagine. A lot more."

"So, Paige," said Tru, "if you're half Whitelighter, does that mean you have their powers and abilities? This orb thing Piper mentioned, their ability to heal people, shape changing, all of that?"

"I have some of them," said Paige. "I can orb. And I can change my form when I need to. But I didn't seem to get the healing part. Or a couple of the other powers they have."

"It's because she's only half Whitelighter," said Leo. "Plus she has her witches powers."

"Some of those would certainly be handy for me," said Tru. "It might make helping people a lot easier if I could do some of those things."

"And you'd have to contend with demons, warlocks, and all sorts of other evil creatures," said Chris. "Part of the reason they don't bother you is because you aren't a threat to them. It's all part of the territory. Everything considered, it's probably best that you don't have any other powers. It would actually make your job that much harder."

"You said your mom had the same ability?" asked Piper.

"Apparently so," said Tru. "My boss, Davis, is the only one who knows what I can do. Well, him and my brother, Harrison. But he said my mom could do the same thing. No one seems to know how or why or what the purpose for it is. And like I said, I never know when it's going to happen."

"I'm sure there's a reason for it," said Leo. "It might be that you've been chosen to set things right. Prevent the deaths of people who aren't supposed to die. The Elders don't know that much about it. It's sort of like you're on a different network, so to speak. Not all magical abilities are connected to the same source."

"But I don't save everyone," said Tru. "There was this one time when the day reset several times, as it has with you. When it was over I found out I wasn't supposed to save the man who kept dying. I was just supposed to prevent him from dying in a way that would damage his heart that was used to save his daughter's life. It's like he was destined to die but he was also destined to give his heart to save his daughter."

"That's very possible," said Leo. "We don't always know what's going on. We just have to do the best we can and hope it's the right thing."

"Well," said Tru, "I'll be glad when this is over. I'm not sure I like contending with Dark Lighters and demons and such. It's hard enough just trying to save regular people without all the magical interference you guys seem to have."

"You get used to it," said Paige.

"What's the game plan for today?" asked Phoebe.

"Well," said Piper, "if Talent is going to attack at the manor, I think we all need to stick around here today. That way we'll all be ready when he gets here."

"What about having Leo go somewhere else?" asked Paige. "If he's not here, Talent can't attack him here."

"I don't think that will work," said Tru. "This Talent is after Leo. If Leo isn't here, Talent will just attack him wherever he is."

"She's right," said Leo. "And we won't have you guys around to help if that happens. Piper has the vanquishing potion. Phoebe, what did you learn about Talent from the Book of Shadows?"

"Like you said," said Phoebe, "he's a senior Dark Lighter. No one seems to know how old he is but there are indications that he's over three hundred years old. There wasn't a spell or potion in the book for vanquishing him, though. And he seems to have the ability to block certain magical powers."

"That explains why Paige couldn't orb the gun away from him," said Tru.

"It's also why he was probably hired to come after me," said Leo. "A regular Dark Lighter wouldn't be able to contend with the girl's powers. He'd at least stand a chance this way."

"Not for long," said Piper. "Once he shows up I'm going to vanquish his butt and we won't have to worry about him any more."

"So we just hang around here waiting for this Dark Lighter to attack?" asked Tru.

"Sometimes that's the way it is," said Paige. "I'd much rather be going after him but since we don't know where he is there's not much we can do until he shows himself."

"Okay," said Tru. "Would it be possible for me to use your phone? I need to call Davis and let him know what's going on."

"Sure," said Phoebe. "Tell him hello for us, too."

"I'll do that," said Tru.

"It might be better if you just tell him you're going to stay here and help us keep Leo from being killed," said Piper. "If you start talking about Dark Lighters and vanquishings your phone call could end up being several hours while you explain everything."

"To be honest," said Tru, "I'm not sure just how much I'll ever tell Davis. I'm not sure how much of it he's going to believe. I'm not sure how much of it I really believe."

"That's understandable," said Phoebe. "It does take some getting used to."

"Well, I'll go make that phone call now," said Tru. "Hopefully this will all be over some time today."

"Paige, would you take Wyatt upstairs?" Piper asked. "I don't want him in the way when Talent returns."

"Sure thing," said Paige.

"I'll go, too," said Phoebe. "I'll be back down in a few minutes."

"I have a couple of sources I can check to see if I can find out something about Talent," said Chris. "I shouldn't be gone long. Hopefully I can learn something that can help."

"Just don't be gone long," said Piper. "Talent could attack at any time and we might need all of you here in that event."

"Don't worry," said Phoebe. "Paige and I will be right upstairs."