Chapter 5: Life Saving Attempts

"Andy!" Piper yelled. She hadn't been fully healed, so she was still in awful pain. She grabbed a pillow near her and placed it under Andy's head.

"Don't worry about me, Piper," Andy said weakly. "You need to protect yourself and your sisters. I'm as good as dead already."

"Don't say that," Piper said, with tears coming to her eyes.

"I failed to protect you," he continued.

"You didn't fail," Piper said. "You weren't meant to protect us. You didn't fail. And you're not going to die. Paige and Phoebe will be here any minute and Paige can orb you to get healed."

"She can't," Andy said. "The Elders won't do it. They've forbidden it."

"Well, then I'll just switch powers with you," Piper said, clutching her stomach to get up. She walked over to the Book.

"Piper, don't worry about me. You need to get your sisters together and protect yourselves."

"I'm not going to let you die," Piper said as Paige and Phoebe orbed in.

"Let who die?" Phoebe asked. Then she saw Andy on the floor. "Andy!" She ran over and crouched next to him.

"What happened?" Paige asked.

"A demon injured me so that I'd call for Andy," Piper explained. "Then a darklighter shot him with an arrow."

"We have to get him healed," Phoebe said.

"We can't," Piper said. "The Elders won't do it." She started flipping through the Book. "I'm going to switch my powers with him."

"No," Andy protested. "You'll be too vulnerable."

"He's right," Phoebe said. "You can't do it with all these demons attacking. It's just the thing they'd be waiting for."

"I have an idea," Paige said, orbing away.

"Our plan failed," a demon said to Rindo, who was watching the Charmed Ones through a crystal ball with a seer.

"It didn't fail, it's just taken a different turn," Rindo said. "We'll be ready when they switch powers. Without Piper's powers, the sisters will be almost defenseless. We can easily stop them."

"Smart plan," the demon said.

"You're right, it is. Now go gather up some available demons to go in with you."

"Me? I don't want to go!"

"Either you go, or you die," Rindo said threateningly

"Right, master," he said, shimmering away.

What's mine is yours,

What's yours is mine,

Let our powers cross the line,

I offer up this gift to share,

Pass our powers through the air

Shimmering, bright, white lights floated through the air and passed to one another. Right after the spell was said, seven demons shimmered in, bearing energy balls.

"Ready!" Darlene yelled. Piper, Paige, and Phoebe orbed in. Darlene ran over to Andy to heal him. The demons looked shocked. Piper held her hands up to blast a demon, which sent him smack into a wall.

"Energy ball!" Paige yelled, orbing one of the energy balls from a demon's hand and throwing at him. "Energy ball!" She did it once more.

"Throw the energy ball at yourself," Phoebe said to a demon, with a mysterious, orange glow around her iris. Against his will, he put the energy ball up to his chest. After a few minutes, each of the demons were vanquished.

"You're getting good at that," Paige said to Phoebe.

"Thanks," Phoebe said back.

"Um, how do you do this?" Darlene asked. She had her hands over Andy, waiting for them to heal, but nothing was happening. "Am I holding my hands right?"

"You have to do more than just that," Piper said. "It takes love and compassion to trigger it."

"Can she do it?" Phoebe asked. "The only reason you actually healed Leo was because you loved him."

"You don't necessarily need to love the one you're healing," Piper said. "You need to feel the love in your heart." Darlene closed her eyes.

"You need to hurry," Paige said. Andy was slipping away.

"Good way to lower the pressure, Paige," Phoebe said sarcastically.

"Will you two shut up," Piper said. Suddenly, a golden glow appeared from Darlene hands and shone down on Andy's wound. It eventually healed up.

"Thank god," Phoebe said, rushing over to Andy.

"Are you okay?" Piper asked.

"Yeah," Andy said, examining his wound. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me," Piper said. "Thank her." Darlene was backed up in a corner blushing. Andy smiled at her.

"Thanks." She smiled back at him. Phoebe saw this and got close to Andy's ear.

"Prue," she coughed. Piper rolled her eyes at Phoebe.

"Come on," she said, standing up. "We need to get focused. Paige, you try scrying for whoever's after us. Darlene, get home. It's not safe for you here. Andy, go talk to the Elders about this. Oh, and tell them how pissed I am at them. Phoebe, go do something."

Paige got a crystal and a map out, Darlene walked outside, Andy orbed away, and Phoebe sat there and scowled at Piper. Piper went over to look through the Book of Shadows.

"Isn't there anything that I can do?" Phoebe asked.

"Make some potions," Piper said. Phoebe went over to a small table and started making some potions.

"How will I find him scrying when he's most likely in the Underworld?" Paige asked. "We don't have any maps of the Underworld on hand." Piper smiled at the hint of her sarcasm.

"I think I know someone that can help," Phoebe said

"You know someone that has a map of the Underworld?" Paige asked.

"No, but I know someone that can certainly go down there and find something out." She walked over to her bag to grab her cell phone. Her sisters watched her wonderingly.

"Who?" they asked.

"Cole," Phoebe said once Cole had answered. "I need a favor."

Cole faded-in to the dark and dreary Underworld he once knew so well. He started to walk around to find a source of information. He saw a measly demon and grabbed it by the throat.

"I need to ask you something," he said.

"What?" the demon spat out through his blocked windpipes.

"I need to know of a demon that's after the Charmed Ones," Cole said. "Do you know of such a demon?"

"How bout every demon in the Underworld?" Cole squeeze tighter. "Alright, alright. I'll tell you. There's a powerful demon named Rindo that's been pretty keen on killing them."

"Last I knew, Rindo was a pathetic little demon," Cole said. "He couldn't be powerful enough."

"He has gotten quite powerful. He has gotten that way through deals and stealing other demons' powers."

"Thanks," Cole said, turning away. "Oh and by the way." He held his hands up and released bolts of lighting, vanquishing the demon. He then faded-in to the manor.

"What did you find out?" Phoebe asked. Her sisters weren't happy in her turning to Cole for help.

"I think Rindo's after you," he said.

"That's impossible," Piper said. "We vanquished him."

"Well, you vanquished me too," Cole said.

"Shut up, Cole," Piper said. Andy then orbed in.

"What did you find out?" Paige asked.

"They told me to ask Leo," he answered.

"Why ask Leo?" Piper asked. "He wouldn't know anything."

"How do you know?" Cole asked. Piper crossed her arms and turned to him.

"Once again, shut up Cole." She then turned back to Andy. "Orb me to him. I'll see what they're talking about." She and Andy orbed to magic school.

"No!" Rindo yelled. "Not only did they outsmart my prior plan, now they'll know who I am!" He turned to some of his minion. "Go! Go! Go! Kill the other two sisters! Now!" Several demons shimmered/smoked-out. They reappeared in the manor.

"Look out!" Phoebe yelled, pushing Cole out of the way of whizzing energy ball.

"You know that wouldn't have killed me," Cole said to Phoebe, who was on top him.

"I didn't want to risk it," she said.

"Will you two get up?" Paige asked. Phoebe, red with embarrassment, and Cole stood up.

"I'll take care of this," Cole said. He held his hands out. A massive energy force emitted from his hands. Each of the demons were vanquished on the spot.

"Wow," Phoebe said. "You really do have the power to kill us. You could've killed us at anytime."

"I didn't because I love you," Cole said.

"Shut up!" Paige yelled. Another demon shimmered in. They turned to face it and found that it wasn't just any demon. It was Rindo himself. "Why don't you make that power useful." Cole used the same energy that vanquished the other demons on Rindo. It barely fazed him.

"Nice try," he said. "But not good enough."