"Ouch!" Danny Holden's eyes widened as Phoebe jabbed him with a pin. She grimaced, trying to adjust it so that the sharp point was no longer poking him. Danny looked back over his shoulder, watching her progress with wary eyes. Phoebe chose to ignore him as she checked out her handiwork. She really wasn't doing so badly. Finally, she grabbed the last of the pins from between her teeth and used it to secure his tail to the back of his shirt.
"What's Piper doing?"
Phoebe rolled her eyes upward and saw that Danny's focus had shifted. He was now gazing intently at the long line of dressing rooms, a confused expression on his face. Phoebe stood, steadying herself against the edge of the stage as she stretched her tired legs. She'd kneeled more in the last two days than she had in the last two months put together. But that was the drawback of working with kids, that and their intense curiosity.
"Who's that other girl?"
"That's Prue, my older sister," Phoebe said, trying to get Danny to turn back around. He was still missing some vital elements of his costume. But he no longer seemed to care as he watched her sisters.
"Should they be doing that?"
"Doing what?" Phoebe turned and finally saw what he'd been staring at. Prue was chasing Piper around the dressing rooms, grabbing for the ruby slippers. Piper laughed as Prue almost caught up with her, and then dashed into the next room, pulling the sheet down behind her. Great, Phoebe thought two more kids to take care of.
"It's a sister thing," Phoebe said quickly. "They're just that excited to be here."
"Piper didn't seem too excited earlier."
"Well, she certainly looks excited now." Phoebe smiled as Piper came running out of the room with Prue hot on her heels. "She was just having a bad morning before. She's actually pretty cool."
"Yeah," Danny said, his eyes still glued to the two older girls. "She seemed nice earlier."
"She has that way about her." Phoebe nodded. "She just needs a chance to get into her character."
"She seems to be doing a pretty good job of it, yelling at everyone," the scarecrow said from the stage. "A witch playing a witch."
"What?" Phoebe's head shot up, before she realized what he was getting at. She felt a wave of relief wash over her, but then she narrowed her eyes. As her relief gave way to defensiveness, she glared at the boy. "All right, let's not forget who you're talking about there. And you can keep your comments to yourself thank you."
"Yeah, shut up Jason!" Danny jumped in. Phoebe was actually a little impressed. Jason was the biggest kid in the class and few of his peers would ever speak up against him.
"Aw, Danny has a crush on her." Jason pursed his lips together, kissing the air. "You should have seen him earlier, Phoebe. He's been watching her all afternoon."
"I said shut up!" Danny gritted his teeth, his hands balling up at his sides.
"Too bad she's too old for him!" Jason backed away as Danny started to leap onto the stage. Phoebe latched onto his shirt with one hand, pulling him back to the floor. She couldn't blame Danny for defending Piper, but she also couldn't let him get pummeled by Jason.
"Whoa, hold on there guys." Phoebe said. "She's taken." Phoebe tried not to smile when she saw the look of disappointment on Danny's face. She bent over a little so that they were at eye level. "But I bet Piper would be flattered," she whispered. Danny's eyes widened in horror.
"You're not going to tell her, are you?"
"Don't worry," she said. "Your secret's safe with me."
"Yeah, and it'll be extra safe with me!" Jason yelled from the stage. This time Phoebe was unable to stop Danny from going after him. The two disappeared behind the curtain. Phoebe just sighed and shook her head.
"Why do they all go for Piper?"
It was true. Her sister was a magnet when it came to men. She'd fallen for that ghost guy two years earlier, just after they'd gotten their powers. Then of course there had been Leo, their whitelighter. He was supposed to protect all of them, but he had a special affinity for Piper. When that hadn't worked out, there had been the grad student Josh, then Dan, their friendly next door neighbor. And now she was back to Leo again. Phoebe was beginning to wonder if she would ever get a shot at any of the cute guys, or if they would all pursue Piper instead. Of course in this case, she'd rather Danny go after her sister. Phoebe liked young guys, but not that young.
Phoebe couldn't help but laugh as Jason came running back through the curtain. Danny was a good ten feet behind him when Jason let out a yell. Phoebe's eyes widened as the boy tripped, then flew across the floor. He slid to a halt next to the forest of plywood trees, groaning as he rolled over onto his back. Jumping onto the stage, Phoebe ran over to check on him.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," he mumbled as she helped him to his feet. "I'm fine." He rubbed his shin where a dark bruise was forming.
"What happened?"
"I tripped on something." He glanced around the stage as he stepped gingerly back towards the wings.
"Yeah, well maybe it's a sign telling you to slow down." Phoebe said as she helped him over to a chair. She knelt down to get a better look at his leg. The bruise was an odd shape and as she touched it gently, he winced. "Sorry." She glanced up at him. "Something got you good." She turned to look back at the stage. It was clear. "I just wish I knew what it was," she mumbled under her breath.
"What?"
Phoebe shook her head and let it go.
T:T:T
Danny peeked out from behind the curtain, watching Phoebe's conversation with Jason. Oh, how he hated that kid. Jason had always made fun of him. He'd been the one to take Danny's lunch money when they had been younger. And Jason had certainly embarrassed him more than a few times. But today had been the worst. What he'd said about Piper... Danny's temperature rose at the thought. And now Phoebe knew. Actually anyone who had ears knew. He only hoped Piper hadn't heard.
Danny let the curtain slide out of his hands as he turned towards the backstage. The sight of Jason sliding across the floor played through his mind again and again. Danny couldn't help but smile at the image. That would teach Jason to humiliate him.
Picking up his backpack from under a table, Danny made his way down the back stairs. Then he circled around to the dressing rooms that sat near to the main stage. Once inside he pulled the sheets all around so that no one could see in. When he was sure he was alone, he opened his backpack and pulled out a book, running his fingers over the red embossed cover. He smiled then flipped to one of the pages he'd marked.
"Felling Your Foe..." he read the title of the spell quietly to himself. Taking out his pen, he slowly wrote a single word on the post-it he'd stuck on the page: Perfect.
"Danny?" The boy jumped as one of the sheets was pulled back. Relief swept over him though, when he recognized the man who'd stuck his head in. It was only his Uncle. The man glanced down at the book, a puzzled expression on his face. "What's that you're reading there?"
"Nothing, just some school stuff." Danny hastily slipped the book back into his bag. "What are you doing here?"
"I needed to check on our little construction project," he said. "When we built the dressing rooms, I wasn't picturing so many kids running around."
"I think they'll be okay," Danny said. "Jason knocked one down already, but Phoebe got it back up."
"So you guys just about done here?"
"Not even close." Danny stood and shouldered his backpack. "Phoebe had to replace Dorothy and the wicked witch with her sisters." He glanced over at Piper, who had made her way over to the stage. "I think we might be here awhile."
"You don't sound too disappointed."
"It's fun." He shrugged, trying not to smile as he thought about Jason. "Phoebe said I could switch to the lion part, but I kind of like being the head monkey."
"All right then, I'll let you get back to your play." His uncle patted him on the back, and then grinned. "Just don't let that witch get you."
Danny smiled a little, and then nodded. "I'll call you when we're done."
T:T:T
"Phoebe, are you sure about this?" Prue peaked out from behind the dressing room sheet as her sister passed by. Phoebe could only see her head and the expression on her face. Prue did not look pleased. "I mean do I really have to dress up? 'Cause I think I could be a pretty convincing Dorothy without the blue and white outfit."
"They call it a dress rehearsal for a reason," Phoebe reminded her.
"Yes and everyone else looks great. Okay, well maybe not Piper, but-"
"Well, you don't see her complaining-" Phoebe stopped as she saw the pointed look Prue shot her way. Okay, that hadn't really been the best example. Piper was her most disgruntled cast member to date. "All right, but she had good reason," Phoebe added. "All you have to do is put on a dress, get on that stage, and let the munchkins sing to you."
"They're going to sing to me?" Prue asked, obviously horrified at the thought. "Phoebe, I really do love you, but this might be pushing it."
"You know, the ten and eleven year olds have a better attitude than you and Piper."
"Well, the ten and eleven year olds have costumes that fit!"
Prue disappeared back behind the curtain and Phoebe shook her head. This whole thing was working up to be one big disaster. Perhaps throwing her sisters into the mix hadn't been the best idea.
"Phoebe!" the tin man suddenly yelled out. Phoebe whirled around just in time to see the poor child flailing, his costume caught on the edge of the large wooden rainbow.
"Oh no," she muttered as he struggled to detach himself from the support beam. Danny's uncle, who had also set-up the stage, had warned them to be careful of the rainbow. Now as she watched it lean, she knew why. "Whoa, Vincent, hold on a sec there!"
"Phoebe!" The child squirmed some more.
"Wait Vincent, stop-" Phoebe saw the rainbow sway again, then it abruptly pitched forward. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the crashing sound. But it never came. She opened her eyes slowly, squinting up at the stage. The rainbow was still in the air. Okay, disaster averted, Phoebe thought, sighing with relief.
Piper was standing in front of her, a cocky smile on her face. Everything and everyone else was frozen, including the falling rainbow. Phoebe grinned and put a thankful arm around Piper. "That, my dear sister, is a great little power you have there."
T:T:T
Faith Evans peered through the tiny window on the gym door. She knew she could get into the gym, having long since mastered the art of slipping through doors. But for now she just watched and waited. She couldn't do anything right then anyway. Her timing had to be perfect. Otherwise she would never be able to follow through with her plan.
Inside the gym she saw Phoebe and Piper struggling to secure the rainbow, before returning to their previous positions. A moment later, Piper waved her hands and suddenly the world came back into motion. Those witches were powerful, she knew. They were the ones she'd been searching for. They were the reason she'd come back.
"There you are..." Faith said slowly, her eyes glued to the sisters. "I knew I would find you."