COUPLE DAYS LATER, AT BIANCA'S (PHOEBE'S DAUGHTER)…
"Wyatt, Sam" Bianca called out a couple times before they showed up. "Thank you for coming"
"How are you holding up?" asked Wyatt.
"I'm not"
"We understand" said Sam empathetically, holding Wyatt's arm just a little tighter.
"I know. That's why I… wanted to talk to you"
"What about?" Wyatt asked his cousin.
"That night at the restaurant… my mother and the aunts told us about how you guys were working with an upper-level demon and had taken over the Nexus"
"Interesting dinner" Sam said sarcastically.
"It was bound to come out sooner or later I guess" Sam nodded.
"I don't… completely understand what it is you're trying to do, but I do know it's gotta be better than this"
"We want nothing more or less than our children as well as all of you having a chance to have a full and happy life, before we all become some kind of collateral in some pointless battle between good and evil" Wyatt stared into her eyes as he explained.
"I wanna help you" she gulped, thinking of the life she would have had with Jackson and their baby.
"With?"
"With whatever you need me to do" Wyatt and Sam exchanged looks. They didn't need to be empaths themselves to know she was being dead serious. "How could I help? You can trust me" Wyatt and Sam smiled, pleased. It was nice to see at least one at a time would come to understand this was their best choice.
"We know we can" Wyatt smiled.
"Actually, there is something we need help with right about now" Sam went on.
"Name it"
"It's rather simple, really. We need someone to help guard our kids at home when we're not around" she explained. "As things change, we will have to deal with those who are still getting used to the new order"
"You can always bring them here, you know that?"
"We do. However, we feel they should be safe in their own home" Wyatt completed their thought.
"And they are while we're there. That's why the SWAT team didn't get very far" Wyatt could taste the sourness of that night. He rolled his eyes without even noticing he had.
"They were in your house?" Bianca asked shocked. "Is everyone alright?"
"They certainly aren't" said Sam quite proud of how they had handled the situation.
"We wouldn't want anything like that to happen again, so we would prefer if at least a couple of people guard them for us when we need to step out. Bianca… the other Bianca has been doing a wonderful job, but we think with us taking over both the Nexus and the Source's powers that our ally list has decreased quite exponentially" Wyatt continued.
"And we worry the ones who… disagree with us might be somewhat difficult to handle when we're not around. Particularly if there are demons involved" that hit Bianca hard and she swallowed her sorrow like the bitter pill that it was, and tried with all her might to keep focused on something else. "At least till after the coronation, which should take care of most of them being against us" Bianca couldn't help but stare at her cousin. They had been taught all their lives about the seriousness of the Source, so it wasn't easy to imagine it would be used for anything else than evil.
"It'd be basically keeping an eye out for unwanted visitors… sort of like our family spying on us from across the street, only this time you'll actually be invited to do it" Sam got her attention back.
"Wait. You knew?"
"Of course, we knew. That glamour is so unbecoming, might as well go back to plain old disguises"
AT THE MANOR…
"How's Bianca?" Piper asked Phoebe as she went over the restaurant's invoices.
"I don't know. She hasn't been answering our calls"
"Has she talked to Praline at all?" she put the papers down.
"No. Been telling her she needs time to process, but I'm not sure how helpful I'm being with that"
"Honey, you really can't do much more for now"
"I know. I wish there was though" Phoebe set her head on her arms, folded on the table in front of her. Paige orbed in right then.
"Oh, it looks I'm just in time. Here. Brought bagels" she set a white paper bag on the table and went to get the cream cheese from the fridge.
"Aren't you supposed to be home, lady?" said Piper, picking the invoices from the table and putting them safely away from the food.
"No. I'm supposed to be right here with my sisters eating fresh bagels, why?" she said smearing cream on a bagel which she gave to Phoebe.
"Does Henry know where you are?"
"He doesn't need to know where I am every second of every day. Plus, if he can't understand I need to be with you guys right now, maybe we got bigger problems that we thought" she sighed and bit on a bagel, passing the bag to Piper.
"Well, we will need you here when we try and talk to the Norms" Piper took the last bagel in the bag.
"How can you still be considering that?" Phoebe said still chewing.
"OK. First, don't talk with your mouth full. Second, how could I not? Who else can we talk to? Elders made it pretty clear they're considering between stripping my grandchildren from their powers for good or God knows what else" Piper explained frustrated. Phoebe stared at her eldest sister, having a silent argument which made the room tenser and tenser by the second.
"I know. Why don't we go see Carol?" Paige suggested, making them go back to their respective corners. "Been thinking and maybe she could help us somehow. After all, Sam is her niece"
"Good thinking. She is the only living liaison we are in contact with, so why not try?" said Piper, picking after their bagel session, not having had her own.
"I didn't mean now!" said Paige still chewing on hers.
"Well, no time like the present, come on" she hurried them both. "I'll let Leo know where we're going. I'll be right back" Piper left the kitchen and headed upstairs to find Leo.
"Do you really think Carol would be able to help us?"
"Maybe, maybe not. Worth the shot" Paige shrugged. Piper came back a minute later.
"OK. Let's do this" she reached for Paige's hand. Phoebe took hers, still convinced this might not be the best idea. Piper knew Phoebe had a lot going on at the moment, and felt for her, but also knew the only way they were gonna find any kind of answer, it would be by working all three together.
AT CAROL'S (SAM'S AUNT)…
They orbed in just beyond the front door to find Carol playing a game of Monopoly with her children, who looked utterly terrified after the last visitor.
"I would invite you in, but you already did so yourselves" Carol put the dice down on the board. "Go upstairs, children" she instructed them sweetly.
"We don't mean to intrude" Phoebe tried to apologize.
"You already did, so why don't you just tell me what it is you want from me?" she stood up, arms crossed.
"Umh… these are my…" Paige started only to be interrupted.
"I know perfectly well who you all are"
"My son, Wyatt, and your niece, Sam, have…" Carol raised a hand to stop her.
"Them, I can't help you with"
"Let us explain the situation"
"I'm well aware of the situation, but I cannot help you"
"Can't or won't?" Carol smiled at Paige.
"Won't" she said flatly.
"How can you stand there fully aware she's doing the wrong thing and not do anything about it?" Piper said irritated.
"And I ask you all, how much are you willing to sacrifice to stand in their way?"
"Everything" Piper answered in a heartbeat.
"Good. Cause it just might cost you that" Carol went back to sit on the couch. "Anything else?"
"Please, I understand you're just protecting your family, so am I. I just wanna save my son and I'm sure you wanna save your niece…"
"I did. I tried, ok? She threatened my children. I already lost everything fighting for the just cause once… I'm sorry if I'm not willing to do it again."
"I can't believe Sam would do that" Phoebe said not believing her ears.
"I would, if she was under the impression it would keep hers safe" Piper tried to walk in her shoes.
"We can't ask you to put your children at risk, but… isn't there any way you can help us?" Paige implored.
"I can't risk getting involved" They held hands again in defeat, ready to orb back, when Carol stood back up.
"Wait. I… can't tell you what to do, but I can make a suggestion… Go to the house in DC. My sister's house? Maybe something in her library could help you"
"We appreciate the advice, but we've been up and down the library in Magic School and I don't think…" Piper did appreciate her trying, knowing that fear for her children perfectly well herself.
"They don't have as many experiences with magical beings as my family has. It's all there. It used to be our family home… once upon a time" Carol added sadly.
"Can't hurt to look" said Phoebe feeling her jumping from fear to sudden sorrow.
"Now please leave before she finds out you were here at all"
They orbed to DC immediately after…
"Are we in the right place?" Phoebe's voice echoed through the empty house.
"Hope so. Otherwise, we're just trespassing" Paige looked around.
"I think we're doing that anyway. Just because it's Sam's doesn't give us the right to be here without her knowing" Piper stated the obvious.
"Where shall we start?" A door creaked open.
"There?" Paige hesitated.
"It's as good a place as any" Piper led the way and sure enough found the library which wasn't a really big room in itself, but it was jam packed with books and sheets crammed in every little nook and cranny in between books, which seemed to have sheets that didn't quite belong there in the first place between their pages.
"It's magic school all over again, just… a lot tinier" said Paige. A book dropped from a shelf and started shuffling.
"A lot more similar than you might think" said Piper going to pick up the book.
"That's a…"
"A spell to get to the Norms and back" said Piper in awe. "They actually found a way to come back from there"
"Caution. To get back from their reality, one must be allowed back" Phoebe read. "At least it's consistent with what we already knew"
"So, all we need to do is not piss them off. Sounds easy enough" said Paige.
"Well, we do have a certain quality to us" Phoebe interjected.
"Unless you justify why the world would benefit from your return, they will keep you for themselves and devour your soul" Piper read on.
"Yikes" Paige interjected.
"Erasing any trace that you ever existed"
"So much for easy" Phoebe said bitterly.
"There's a potion with the spell"
"To get there or come back?" Phoebe asked her eldest sister.
"Both"
"Let's just take the book and go before someone notices we're trespassing" Paige tried orbing out but didn't work.
"What are you waiting for?" Piper said, holding the book to her chest.
"It's not working"
"What?" Phoebe panicked for a moment.
"I'm trying, but it won't work"
"Let me try" said Phoebe levitating up to the top shelf and then hovering back down.
"Weird" the house seemed to groan.
"Wait a second" said Piper. "Try orbing home and back" Piper let go off Paige's hand. She did so successfully and came right back.
"What the hell?"
"It's the book. I don't think the house wants us to take the book" Piper put two and two together.
"The house?" Phoebe eyeballed the room.
"Any better theories? No. Good. Let's find something to write the spells on" they started searching for a blank sheet of paper and something to write with.
For the next couple days, the sisters worked on a few potion batches to contact the Norms. Some ingredients needed a lot of preparing and some even needed to be bathed in moonlight overnight so it took quite a while.