SEVENTEEN

Prue called everyone into the living room. Piper had finished the power-
stripping potion but Prue had insisted they wait until Phoebe had finished the Power of Three spell before they went to Jessica's place. Even then she had spent an unusually long time in the attic going through the Book of Shadows. She had been mysteriously quiet about her reasons. Now, everyone sat in the living room waiting for her.

"Okay," said Prue, "let's make sure we have everything. Piper, you said you finished the power-stripping potion."

"Yes," said Piper, holding up a small vial. "It should do the trick."

"Okay," said Prue. "Phoebe should carry that. She doesn't have an active power and she can't orb like Leo and George. Now, Phoebe, have you finished the spell yet?"

"Just now, you know that," said Phoebe holding up three sheets of paper. She hand one sheet to each sister. "It should work. I tried to combine a power-stripping spell with a vanquishing spell. Hopefully at least one of them will work."

"Great," said Prue, looking the paper over and then putting in her pocket.

"Prue," said Piper, "what's going on? Not even you are usually this anal when we're facing a demon. What did you find in the Book of Shadows?"

Prue pulled out several sheets of paper from her pocket. She looked them over before saying anything.

"The Book of Shadows had quite an extensive entry on Dark Priestesses," said Prue. "While it's most common for a high priestess to be converted to evil, it's not uncommon for a lower level witch to convert as well. Apparently, there are a number of examples where the witch just below a high priestess is the one that actually converted. It's theorized that one cause is this second-
in-command, so to speak, becomes jealous of the high priestesses' position and authority. And this jealousy eventually leads to them turning evil."

"Well, Jessica was one step below Penny in their coven hierarchy," said George. "But she never seemed to be jealous. In fact she did everything she could to help Penny lead the coven."

"I said that was one cause," said Prue. "There can be others. Such as anger over some wrong done that the witch has no means to correct."

"Like the Salem witch trials," said Leo.

"Like the Salem witch trials," repeated Prue. "George, you said that Jessica was even more fanatical of her hatred over the prosecutors than Grams was."

"Yes, that's true," said George. "But she also said it was so long ago there wasn't anything anyone could do about it. She rarely spoke of it unless someone else brought it up."

"Prue, what are you telling us?" Piper asked. "That Jessica became this Dark Priestess?"

"Yes," said Prue. "I think her hatred over the witch trials and being second to Grams in the coven pushed her over the edge. Helped turn her evil. I think Jessica impersonated Grams and hired that warlock to kill the descendents of those prosecutors. And I don't think her clairvoyant vision was an accident. I think she was watching the whole thing using her power. When she saw us defeat her hired hand she decided to get involved herself."

"Then why are the Dark Priestesses items in your attic?" George asked. "Penny wouldn't have kept them. She would have destroyed them as soon as she found them."

"What was it you said to me in my room?" Prue asked. "You don't have all the answers? Well, I don't either. But you said if I had any idea to explain what we had discovered that you would listen to me. That's all I'm doing. Presenting a different scenario."

"Yes, I did say that," said George. "And I meant it. But so far you haven't presented any evidence. Just your suspicions. We don't have anything that might suggest you're right."

"That's not necessarily true," said Leo. "I didn't think about it at the time. But when I gave the athame to Jessica, she said when she was done the athame would never again be used to steal a mortal's soul."

"So?" questioned Piper. "That's what Stuart said it was enchanted to do."

"Yes," said Leo, "only I never told Jessica that. I only asked her if she was sure she could remove the enchantment on it?"

"So how did she know what it was enchanted to do?" Phoebe said. "She told us herself it was used to kill mortals but how did she know it was enchanted to steal their souls?"

"That's what I've been wondering since it occurred to me," said Leo.

"Not only that," said Prue, "Piper and Phoebe said that Stuart thought our powers were still bound. He knew Grams was dead. He should have been ready for their powers. But he wasn't. He was surprised they had any. So that means he believed the witch who bound our powers was still alive, meaning it couldn't have been Grams if she was all ready dead, or..."

"Or," continued George, "he knew the binding was connected to the Book of Shadows. And as far as I know only Penny and I knew that."

"If they were such good friends," said Phoebe, "Grams might have told Jessica. I know when I was in high school my friends and I use to tell each other everything. Even things we wouldn't tell our families."

"Exactly," said Prue. "Now, I'm pretty sure a Whitelighter isn't going to give a warlock that kind of information. Which leaves only one person he could have learned it from."

"Jessica," said Phoebe.

"Yes," said Prue. "If Grams and Jessica were as close as everyone says they were, Jessica would never have betrayed us like that. She would have thought of us almost as her own daughters. I've seen people who were that close before. I used to envy them because dad had left us. Betraying us would have been the same as betraying Grams. And someone that close to her would never had done that."

"Unless she had turned evil," said Piper.

"Precisely," said Prue.

"Okay, if that's true," said Phoebe, "what does the date of the murders have to do with it? They don't correspond to any of the dates the witches in Salem were executed. If Jessica was avenging the murder of those witches, I'd think she be using one of the dates of those execution. More precisely she'd probably use the date of the execution of her ancestor."

"That makes sense," said Piper. "But her ancestor was hanged on June 10th, not September 19th."

"No he wasn't," said George.

"He?" questioned Prue.

"Yes," said George. "Bishop was her married named. Her maiden name was Corey. Her ancestor was Giles Corey. He wasn't executed. He was pressed to death trying to get him to submit to the court."

"Giles Corey?" Phoebe questioned. "She said her ancestor was Bridget Bishop."

"I guess that depends on your point of view," said George. "Her husband, Robert Corey, was descended from Bridget Bishop so in one way you could say her ancestor was Bridget Bishop. But she herself was descended from Giles Corey."

"That's the connection," said Phoebe. "Giles Corey was pressed to death on September 19th. The same date as the victims in the present."

"One more point that indicates that Jessica is this Dark Priestess and it wasn't Grams," said Prue. "You asked for an alternate explanation. I've given you one. One that is at least as plausible as Grams being a Dark Priestess. Only I know it's impossible for Grams to have turned. So it has to be Jessica."

"Prue," said Piper, "what you say makes sense. But it still doesn't explain why you're being so mysterious about our visiting Jessica."

"The Book of Shadows also said that when a witch becomes a Dark Priestess," said Jessica, "her power can increase. It can as much as double. If that's true Jessica may be more powerful that we've been led to believe. If she's working with Stuart, there's no telling what we'll be facing. Stuart is also more powerful than we first thought. But Jessica will be the one we need to watch out for."

"Double?" questioned Piper. "That's not good."

"Now you know why I'm so anal, as you put it," said Prue. "If she was one level below Grams in the coven, and if her power has doubled since she turned, she may be even more powerful than an upper level demon. I just wanted everyone to be prepared before we went there."

"We appreciate that," said Leo. "If you're right and Jessica has become a Dark Priestess going to visit her could be very dangerous. Maybe we should think of something else instead of going to see her."

"No," said Prue. "I want to find out why she's trying to convince us that Grams was a Dark Priestess. Why she doesn't have the guts to confront us herself without sending her warlock lackey."

"Okay," said George. "If something goes wrong Leo and I can always orb you out of there."

"Fine," said Prue. "Now, let's go get some answers from Jessica. And maybe put an end to a Dark Priestess in the process."

Together the group orbed out of the manor heading for Salem, Massachusetts.