Chapter Four – Isn't he an Elder?
Deafening silence reigned in Piper's room. "No! No way, absolutely not!" Piper was the first to break it. She suddenly seemed very vigorous when she jumped out of bed, only to take a nose dive to the ground.
Fortunately, Appylus caught her. "I'm afraid so, Piper. You have to face it. As much as you dislike Elders, you are now one. One of three, the only three. You three have to take over!"
Piper seemed to still want to protest, despite of her lack of energy. "Why do you think you feel so drained, Piper? You did an extremely difficult thing, which took a lot of energy. Even the most powerful of Elders have never been able to turn back time like you just have, Piper!"
On the one hand, Appylus understood the eldest Charmed One's almost downright hatred. The Council had treated both her and Leo very unfairly, even Appylus had opposed against some of the policies of the Council considering the Charmed Ones and Leo.
But he couldn't understand why she opposed her own advancement so much. Very few souls had ever experienced an event such as this, and though the circumstances were grim, Appylus was sure he wouldn't have had to even think about it.
He hadn't when he was in almost the same position 1500 years ago. When he had been offered the opportunity, he had grabbed it immediately and had opted to become an Elder.
But what Appylus didn't understand, Phoebe did. She wasn't too keen on the idea that the future of all which is Good in the world rested in their hands either, and she understood why Piper shied away from the huge responsibility.
But she knew herself, and she knew her sister. If this had to be done, she knew she had no choice but to do it and that she would. And she knew Piper would too. She walked up to her older sister and smiled at her, though she felt the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Look, honey, I know what's bothering you. I don't like it either, but you know we have too," she said softly, and Piper nodded. "Look at it this way: at least we won't have to follow some lame old cockamamie rules anymore," she joked, and drew a tiny smile from Piper.
"Okay, now that we have that settled…We have to think up a plan of action," Appylus said, suddenly sounding like a general. Phoebe put Piper back in bed and turned around to face Paige and Appylus.
"So I'm guessing that we all have different areas of expertise. Let's see, Piper has always been the muscle and the voice of reason. I think she has more of a supervising role in this," she said pensively.
Paige looked at her sister in amazement, finding she agreed with Phoebe. "I think I'm supposed to be more of an Oracle kind of person. I see the past and the future, and I seem to suddenly 'know' a lot," Phoebe continued while Appylus wondered at the speed with which the Charmed One was learning.
"So that leaves Paige to guide and protect witches all over the world. Which makes sense, since she is part whitelighter." That was a little too much for Paige. "What? I'm supposed to guide and protect all the witches in the world all by myself?"
Phoebe smiled tiredly. "No, you're supposed to lead the whitelighters to guide and protect the witches for you. Speaking of, I think one of us should go up there and calm them down. They must be worried by now."
"Can't we just jingle and let them all come here?" Piper suddenly spoke up. "No, we can't have that much good in the house. It would be too easy for any demon or darklighter to attack and wipe out half of them."
Appylus all but glowed with pride at the way the girls were reasoning. "Piper's right, we can't summon them here. This is what we do," Phoebe said. "You go up there and summon all the whitelighters. Explain to them what's going on. I'm going to magic school, to take care of a few things there."
"Why magic school?" Phoebe, who had been holding Chris the whole time, walked over to the chair she was sitting in and took Wyatt's hand. "Because I need to look up a few things about the lines of the Elementani and the boys need to be somewhere safe. Besides, I think my powers give me a natural inclination to teach. Come on, Wyatt, orb auntie to magic school."
And like that, Phoebe orbed out. Paige shrugged, and did the same.
Phoebe had just explained what was going on to the teaching staff at magic school and had left the boys with Mrs. Willis, who ran the day-care department. Phoebe sighed as she walked into what was once Gideon's office.
She wondered if the Elder had any books on the lines of the Elementani. That was what she had come here to look for, since she herself knew only what Appylus had told her and her sisters.
Phoebe sat down behind Gideon's desk, as she started to remember all that the rogue Elder had tried in order to kill Wyatt. Phoebe shivered as she felt that traces of Gideon's magic still hung in the room, even this long after he had been vanquished.
Hastily, Phoebe got up and started looking through Gideon's books. For some reason, Phoebe guessed it was due to her advancement in power, she found a book pretty soon.
She exited Gideon's office and sat down in one of the unoccupied classrooms. She started reading the book, which told the story of the Summoning of Spirit. After having read several pages of the book, Phoebe stopped.
All she had read so far was stuff Appylus had already told her, and she wasn't getting anywhere. Suddenly she got an idea, and put the book down on the table. She held her hands above it, palms down, and focused.
The pages of the book rapidly started turning all by themselves, and when all the pages had turned Phoebe could remember every single word and every single phrase. Including the part where it was said that every single Elder had to be vanquished for the powers of the Elementani to return to their kin again.
Phoebe started, realizing that she had left Appylus alone with the weakened Piper. Before Phoebe herself realized what was going on, she disappeared in a flash of light.
She reappeared at the manor, expecting the worst. All was quiet, and she ran upstairs to Piper's room. She burst in, and found her sister and the last remaining Elder sitting there.
Piper recognized the look on Phoebe's face. "What's wrong?" Phoebe sighed as she sat down. "I just read in a book that all the Elders have to be vanquished for the powers of the Elementani to return to their offspring. I was afraid the Council of High Priests had taken advantage of the fact that you two were alone to attack and kill Appylus."
Suddenly Piper's face fell. "All the Elders have to be vanquished?" It was then that it struck Phoebe. Appylus wasn't the last of the Elders, but he was the only one that was safe. There was another Elder out there, down there, in the lion's den. Piper's husband, Leo.
T.B.C.
Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update. I've just been really busy….
