Chapter 3

"PIPER!" Leo restricted himself from yelling as he ran to his wife. As he had called out to her, he couldn't help but wish he was still a Whitelighter with healing powers.

"Ow…" Piper mumbled as she put a hand on her back. She was in an awkward position on her side, her back facing the wall she had just hit.

Leo was relieved that she was conscious, at least. He kneeled beside her. "Are you alright? Where are you hurt?" he asked, worried.

The Charmed One used the hand that was free for support to sit against the wall. "Don't worry," she said a bit uncomfortably, "I am used to this stuff by now." She gave a little laugh. "It's my back."

"Are you able to stand up?"

"With a little help, I can," she said, trying to get up. Leo immediately got behind her to support her back. Piper continued, "The only thing that puzzles me is the zap. It was really powerful, which means that we're probably dealing with some upper-level demon here."

"Better keep our eyes peeled."

"That's right, Mortal," a new voice said. Neither Leo nor Piper had noticed the doorman slip quietly out the door of the theatre.

Piper froze him at that moment and returned one of her hands to her back. She was leaning slightly forward because of the pain. "What the heck does the doorman want?" she asked. "He seemed awfully suspicious when he opened the door for us."

"He is certainly not the ordinary doorman," Leo commented. "I'll bet that he works for our upper-level demon."

Piper thought for a moment. "Wait. If he can get through that door, it might mean that he was the one who made the barrier and now undid it. Too bad the door is closed so we can't get in right now."

"Let's see what he has to say first."

With another flick of her wrists, the doorman was unfrozen. He had a white shirt and black pants. His brown hair was gelled back and hehad an evil expression on his face. "At last we meet, Charmed One," he said, in a deep voice. He nearly spat out the words 'Charmed One', in disgust.

Piper decided to make him talk. "Who are you?"

"A servant to my master, Telazor, of course." The couple assumed that Telazor was the demon name for Taleet.

"How did you create that barrier on the door?" Leo asked, trying not to sound impatient.

"Oh." He laughed. "You underestimate my powers, Mortal." Leo tried to ignore how he was called, as he did not want to remember that he was indeed a Mortal. "I created a force-field on that door once you left the theatre because I knew that you would want to come back in. I had recognized you from the start. A simple 'trick', shall we say?"

This didn't seem right to Piper. "But there are people everywhere. How could you be sure that an ordinary Mortal wouldn't touch the door and sue the theatre?"

"Stupid witch. After I had created the shield, I made sure nobody else left the theatre. As for anybody entering it, if that had happened, I was pretty sure that you would help that person and erase his/her memory afterwards. But that did not happen and YOU, the one I wanted, were the one to fall in that trap." He felt proud of himself.

"What did Telazor do to the poor girl?" Piper asked, hoping the servant would answer.

"That," he said, then paused for a moment, searching for Piper's or Leo's gaze. At that point, Leo was looking at him directly in the eye. The servant looked into his eyes and concentrated. Leo felt like his thoughts were being taken over.

"That's right, Mortal. Now you know how it feels…"

"Leo, take your eyes off him, NOW!" Piper screamed. Realizing he was indifferent, she blew the servant up with the flick of her wrists. He went into flames and disappeared. Her husband put his hand on his forehead and stood there, breathing deeply.

"Mind penetrators," Phoebe Halliwell read. She was at Magic School, sitting at a wooden table topped with scattered books. After doing a bit of thinking, she thought that she might tackle a few books about mind and memory reading. After flipping through a reference, this title had caught her eye.

"Mind penetrators are those who possess the ability to 'read' another's thoughts through direct eye contact. When this is maintained, the mind penetrator can go through the other's mind and briefly have access to the other's immediate thoughts. Although there is no precise measurement of how long the eye contact is, it is known that once both gazes are met precisely, it is very difficult to break the connection…"

Phoebe looked at the illustration on the left-hand side of the text. It showed a diagram of exactly how the eye contact should be with two people. As she found it interesting, she touched it and instantly, a premonition kicked in.

She was looking straight at Piper, Paige, and Leo. They were all crowding in front of someone who was lying on the ground. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out that they were in a large room used for storage with lots of props and chairs. The person on the ground was hardly moving and seemed unconscious. As Leo, the one closest to the person's face moved a bit, she suddenly realized something.

The person lying on the ground was her.