Thank you Paige fan, for your review. I'm so glad, that you like it.

Charmed Snow: I'm busy at the moment, too.

Therefore I'm a little bit late with the next chapter, sorry.

46. Chapter

Imprisoned in a thunder stone, Cole and Prue didn't notice the time passing by. The time seemed to be standing still, because they were busy with themselves. Danny's sacrifice when Belva would conjure up Ayida, took a back seat, because after they allayed their doubts, they dedicated themselves to the fascination to get to know the other completely.

They were one and didn't want to be separated ever again. First they groped their way forward carefully but then confidently and curiously to explore every corner of the other.

When suddenly an indescribable suction separated them against their will and pulled them out of the stone. They wondered, how it was possible to separate them again, but they had no choice to escape this power. They ended up on a wooden floor completely unprepared and didn't know where they were going.

It was in the middle of the night. The sky was starlit and only the pale moon light and numerous torches lighted up the place. Cole and Prue looked around rather confused. It was strange and scaring to face each other, after they had looked deep down inside the other. But they had no chance to think about this any longer, because something else pressed into their heads extremely unexpected. Embarrassed they struggled to their feet and tried to sort out every noise. Even the crackle of the fire was loud, after the complete silence inside of the thunder stone, but the drum beats and the singing were earsplitting.

Cole felt the urge to walk to a ritual knife lying on a wooden pedestal in the middle of the place. He suppressed this wish with all his might and forced himself not to budge but trying to get an idea what was going on. They were standing on a wooden gangplank in the middle of a lake, Cole looked around surprised and noticed that it was the lake on Wingrove's plantation. The one Prue and himself had seen while their first visit on the plantation, but at that time, there hadn't been a wooden floor on it.Torches were burning in a semicircle and a woman spun around in circles. Her splendid decorated, circular cape built a huge circle and glittered colourful in the light of flames. Some other figures were dressed in simple white vestures and moved slowly in the rythm of the drums and rattles. Their dresses were covered with blood and Cole saw some death chickens on the place. He shuddered with cold, when he suddenly remembered again, why they were here. Nervously he looked for Danny, when he noticed that Prue walked slowly towards the pedestal with the knife.

"Prue!" he tried to reach her in a low voice, when suddenly one of the white dressed women pulled a knife out of her vesture and rushed at Cole.

But just before she reached him, a woman in a splendid vesture walked to her and stopped her. "No!" she ordered in an awe-inspiring voice and Cole noticed immediately, that the woman was Belva.

"But I want to see him dead. He shall die now." The other woman hissed.

"You won't disturb my ceremony, Isabell." Belva snapped back und sent her back into the circle. "He'll suffer, don't worry. I'll make sure of that." Belva turned to Cole. "As I see you managed to end up in only one stone. But so what." She raised her hand and a transparent wall turned up in front of Cole. "Then you'll watch her killing your son." She said in a sneering voice and turned back. "A lot of fun."

"We'll see." Cole murmured, when Belva walked back into the circle. Prue would never hurt Danny, never, there was no need to worry, he knew that she would be able to resist this curse, as he was able to do it. He watched Prue attentively, she walked at a snail's pace to the pedestal, while Belva started to declare strange ancient magic formula.

Meanwhile Prue tried to stop her feet to move on, but she didn't have them within her power. They acted on Belva's order and Prue couldn't find a way to stop them. She was getting closer to the pedestal and she noticed that her hand reached out for the knife. Oh my God, now she even didn't have control over her arms anymore! She walked to the knife with stiff legs and picked up the knife, then she turned around.

A huge altar appeared in front of her and a wooden snake statue reached into the night sky on both sides. They nearly looked alive in the golden shine of the torches and Prue wouldn't have been surprised, if they had started to move. The women in the circle started to scream hysterically and Prue noticed a bowl made of silver in the middle of the altar, where a tied up cluster was lying. It couldn't budge, but Prue saw dark hair and knew instinctively that it was Danny. At this moment, she wanted to rush to him, but she couldn't control her legs, desperately she looked at Cole, who looked at her encouraging. Oh my God, he thought that she just put an act on Belva, but that was wrong. 'I can't.' She tried to tell him soundless.

Cole's face clouded over, what did she mean by that? Did Belva's curse work on her? He wondered, but no, she would never hurt Danny, or would she? Desperately he tried to pass the transparent wall, but it was impossible. He bounced off and noticed, that every time he tried it, the wooden planks he was standing on, were slowly moving down. Angrily he stopped trying and noticed Isabell's satisfied look.

But he had no time to care about Isabell. Prue and Danny were more important.He looked at them again and noticed, that Prue walked slowly to the altar and held the knife tightly in her hand. His heart nearly stopped beating, but she wouldn't do it, he tried to convince himself, never! And besides Danny wasn't a worthy sacrifice, Cole remembered in relief and put his hand to his jacket pocket, but there wasn't anything.

It suddenly stuck to him, that he had given the phial with Danny's hair to Prue. He had supposed, that she would defend Danny with all her might, so that it would be safer in her hands, but then she had to put her stupid plan into action. She had wanted everything and had to get into his thunder stone and now she had outwitted herself.

Prue looked at Cole again and noticed, that he looked for something in his jacket pocket and she knew immediately, what he was searching for. Danny's curl, oh no, she had it. She put her left hand into her trousers pocket with all her might and there it was, the phial, but what should she do now? It shouldn't be nearby Danny, otherwise he could become a worthy sacrifice. She summoned up all her energy and pulled the phial out of her pocket to throw it into the lake in a high arc.

Cole and Belva followed the small object with their eyes until it fell with a splash into the water and disappeared. Just Cole knew, what it had been. Danny's hair. He forced himself not to look too relieved, but to look at Belva with a poker face.

Belva shook her head and turned to Prue again, she was standing in front of the altar now and no matter, what the young lady had thrown again, it was nothing important.

Suddenly Prue didn't feel the pressure anymore, she could control her body again. She found outiIn relief, that the spell had just worked as long as Belva's order to sacrifice Danny Ayida, had been possible. But after Danny's hair was far away from him, he wasn't a worthy sacrifice anymore. Prue easily imitated to drag her feet and walked to Danny. When she was standing over him, she saw his tear-stained face, his forehead was covered with crosses of a stodgy redbrown mush. She had to pull herself together, because she'd like to pick him up and hold him in her arms. But she raised the knife in her hand and held it over her head.

Cole watched her in tension and even stopped breathing, she'd know, what to do, she had to!

Prue shivered, but she held the knife in her hand tightly. She pushed away all her gloomy thoughts, that she could lose the control over her hand again. Slowly she looked down, Danny had stopped crying and looked at her with his eyes wide open. Prue saw a small pipe beside his neck and a golden pot was standing under it. Prue knew exactly, which liquid should flow through the pipe into the pot: Danny's blood. She shuddered in horror.

"Don't worry, my dear." She whispered to him and plunged the knife down. But it didn't hit Danny's throat, as Belva had planned, no, it cut the ropes Danny was tied with into two. He freed himself wriggling and reached his arms out for Prue.

Without thinking twice, Prue threw the knife into Belva's direction and picked up Danny. "Everything is alright, I am there." She tried to calm him down and wiped away the awful crosses from his forehead.

A furious screaming grew louder behind her. The knife didn't hit Belva, but she was beside herself with rage. She rushed at Prue, before she got a chance to escape. "What did you throw into the water? Out with it." Belva urged her and held the knife against her throat.

"A curl of Danny's hair." Prue explained and looked at Belva fearless. "In Voodoo a baby needs all his hair, otherwise it can't die, doesn't it?" She wanted to know triumphantly. "I think you'll have to look for another sacrifice for Ayida."

Belva looked at her furiously. "And I could take you, but unfortunately Ayida prefers babies."

"What a pity." Prue said and looked at Cole, there wasn't a transparent wall anymore, it was gone. Belva had lost control over her bulwark and Cole seized the opportunity to get closer. When he was standing in a good position he threw an energy ball at Belva.

The Voodoo priestess let Prue go reluctantly, but she managed to repulse the energy ball easily. Just when Cole wanted to try it again, somebody attacked him from the other side. Isabell screamed with rage and rushed at him. She tried to plunge a knife into his heart. They fell on the ground and rolled over the floor. Cole tried hard not to come off worst, but Isabell was incredibly strong, her loss had made her superior in strength.

Meanwhile Belva turned to Prue again, who held Danny in her arms and walked back to the far end of the platform. She looked to the lakeshore searching for Zadie or Amy, but unfortunately Prue couldn't make out anyone.

"You believe that you are so clever, but you are wrong, if you think, that you can outwit me." Belva told her in a cold voice. She pointed on the water with her rattle and let out a strange word. Suddenly numerous snakes splashed around in the water. They swam to the place where Belva and Prue were standing and straightened their heads to the Voodoo priestess in a subordinate gesture.

"Bring me the phial." She ordered them and the snakes disappeared in the deep water immediately. Belva turned back to Prue with a satisfied smile on her face. "Nobody is as nearly as powerful as I am." She stretched out her hand and something pushed Prue back. It was as if an invisible iron hand pushed her to the water.

Prue had no choice to fight against Belva with Danny on her arms. It was impossible for her to stay her balance. She stumbled aside and Belva used this opportunity to catch Danny. She took the boy away from Prue and stepped back smiling satisfied. The iron pressure was getting more and more powerful and threw Prue back, she lost foothold and fell into the lake.

She dived into the deep, black, cold water and felt the slimy bodies of the snakes at her arms and feet, but there was no need to worry, because the snakes were busy with something else. They searched for the phial with Danny's hair on the bottom of the lake.

Prue tried to get up as soon as possible, but again an iron hand pushed her down into the depths of the lake. She fought desperately against this power and tried everything to get to the surface of the lake, but the hand pushed her deeper and deeper. She was beginning to lose all her strength, she felt that she was getting weaker, her lungs seemed to burst, she needed air, but the pressure of the hand didn't weaken.

She'd drown, she'd die again, no that couldn't be true. She writhed desperately and suddenly she noticed that the power of the iron hand let up. With her last effort Prue fight her way back to the surface of the lake. She took a deep breath of the sweet night air and hesitated a bit to look around. It was teeming with snakes around her and one of them held the phial with Danny's curl in it's mouth. Horrified Prue looked up and saw Belva standing on the platform with Danny on her arm.

"Great, what did I tell you?" She asked Prue in a sneering voice. "I just wanted to inform you, that the snakes are poisonous. I thought that it would be a nice death for you, much better than a simple death by drowning." She leaned forward to take the phial from the snake.

Danny, who had admired the colorful rattle, hanging on Belva's belt all the time, was slowly coming closer to his every wish. He reached out for his new toy enthusiastically and finally he got hold of it. He held the rattle in his hands proudly and waved it over the lake, so that the bell sounded and the wooden pearls hit each other. Rather satisfied with himself he looked at Prue.

"Danny!" she shouted and looked at him begging. "Think about your favourite toy, my dear, do it for me."

Danny frowned, while Belva turned to him angrily. "Give it to me." She hissed at him, but Danny had no intention to do it, he loved this game and he wouldn't make it easy for this old cow. Angrily he stretched his arm and thought about the thing, Prue had asked him, his favourite toy.

The snakes around Prue suddenly turned into pink plushy bunnies. They were swimming on the water and the phial with Danny's hair fell down into the water from a bunny. Belva cried out in anger and leaned forward to reach the phial in the last moment, but it was useless. It disappeared in the depths of the lake again.

Meanwhile Cole managed to get the upper hand over Isabell. He pushed her on the ground and got hold of the knife, so that she couldn't try to plunge anymore. He tried to wriggle it out of her hand, but she resisted desperately. She spited and screamed and slowly Cole had enough of her. There were more important things for him to do, he didn't want to have a hard time with this mad woman any longer. With all his might, he managed to plunge the knife into her leg.

Relieved he jumped up again, while Isabell pulled out the knife in pain, before she also tried to stand up. But Cole didn't let it happen. He pushed her back into the crowd of white dressed figures, who had watched everything motionless and didn't dare to budge. Isabell screamed, but an even more furious scream of Belva focused his attention. She stood at the edge of the platform and leaned forward as if she was searching for something in the depths of the lake. Without thinking twice Cole rushed at her back and pushed her into dark water.

Belva fell into the water with a loud splash and Cole watched her rather satisfied, until he saw Prue's face fell. "She had Danny!" she screamed at him and disappeared under an ocean of bunnies, swimming on the sea.

Cole felt dreadful, why had he acted without thinking, he wondered and jumped into the water. He tried to make something out in the deep black darkness of the lake.

Meanwhile Belva arrived on the surface of the lake again. She gasped for air and lashed her arms out in all directions. While she had tried to get up again, she had let Danny go, because her vesture had become saturated with water and had been as heavy, that it had pulled her down. Therefore she couldn't care about the boy anymore and she decided, that she'd find another sacrifice. She swam to the platform and tried to get onto it again, but it was impossible. "Isabell!" She screamed angrily.

Meanwhile Cole finally saw his son, he floated in deep water and Cole couldn't make out, if he was still moving. He had to, Cole thought desperately, it couldn't be too late. He tried to get hold of him in panic and with his third attempt, he finally succeeded. He hurried to get to the surface of the lake and held Danny's head over the water as good as possible. Much to his relief he saw that the boy coughed up water.

"Everything will be alright." He whispered in a calming voice and looked for Prue. He supposed that she was still diving for Danny, because he couldn't see her. "Prue!" He shouted and hoped, that she would hear him even under the water.

Seconds later Prue came up again and looked around in hectic. When she saw Cole and Danny, she relaxed again and pointed with her head to the lakeshore. "Come on, let's vanish here."

While Belva's disciples pulled her up on the platform again, Prue and Cole swam through the crowd of bunnies to the lakeside. It seemed as if Danny was alright, because he tried to get one of the bunnies again, which was swimming beside him in the water. Finally he managed to get hold of a bunny and pulled the soaked cuddly toy along with him. At least they reached the edge of the lake and fell on the ground. Absolutely exhausted they gasped for air.

When Prue sat up a little bit and saw the bunny in Danny's hand, she shrank back and wanted to take it away from Danny at once. But Danny didn't allow it. "Come my dear, give me the bunny." She tried to convince him rather concerned. "It could transform into a snake again."

"What do you mean?" Cole, who was still lying on the ground looked at her asking. "Where did all the bunnies in the water come from?"

Prue grinned. "Your son has managed to transform Belva's snakes into his favorite toy." She explained and gave up taking the bunny away from Danny. She didn't want to see him crying again, smiling she stroke his wet hair, he had already been trough a lot. "Otherwise our bath wouldn't have been so pleasant."

"No." Cole looked back at the lake. "But at least you could finally enjoy night swimming once in your life."

At the same time Amy, Zadie and Josh weren't getting anywhere. They ran through the forest for hours and Amy didn't know, what on earth was going on. She had taken this way countless times, but today trees blocked her way in every direction.

"If I have to walk on, I'll opting out." Josh explained and sat down on a tree stump exhausted. "We already have tried out every way, but it doesn't go on."

"But it does!" Amy looked at the trees again. "It isn't the first time that I'm here and I know that actually it's easy to get to the lake."

"But we walk around for hours and we only find trees and no lake." Josh told her annoyed, he really had enough of it. It was terrible that this mad woman had kidnapped the boy and captured his parents, but they'd find another solution, it wasn't very useful to wander around the forest. "We should inform the police at last, I already told you two hours ago."

"And as I told you two hours ago, this isn't a police business." Zadie said plainly. "We talk about Voodoo and not about an unlawful act."

"As far as I know, kidnapping is a crime." Josh tried to explain.

"It's strange that you of all people always start talking about the police." Amy said thoughtfully and looked at him. "Do you really think, that they could help us?"

"Of course, I'm sure this mad lady isn't able to bribe everybody." He told her absolutely convinced.

In spite of the serious situation, Zadie couldn't help laughing. "Oh boy, even the police is afraid of Voodoo, I thought you were living in my district, so you should know, that most people stand in awe of Voodoo." She said shaking her head. "And besides my sister is stinking rich."

Josh sighed, this argument persuaded him and he stood up again. "Okay, then we'll just have to go round in circles for the thousandth time." he said resolutely, but Zadie stopped him.

"No." she explained firmly and looked at Amy forcefully. "Amy you are powerful, you have to find a way, think hard."

"Me?" Amy let out in surprise. "I'm not powerful enough, I'm only a little witch and I'm not able to do anything important."

"You are a witch?" Josh wondered, but Zadie cut him short.

"Later, okay!" She said angrily and turned to Amy again. "Amy you are powerful, I can feel it. You just have to believe in yourself."

Amy sighed, she'd like to do it, but what could she do? She had only vanquished a few demons with Prue's explosive potion and then she had achieved two little spells with Mrs. Turner's Book of Shadows, but that was all, and apart of that, she even didn't have taken any magical implement to this place. She didn't own magical powers, apart from her power to see hearts.

Thoughtfully she allowed her magical power to come to her, suddenly she saw Josh's heart, but she turned away quickly, she didn't want to see too much. She turned to Zadie, but she wouldn't get a nice picture of her heart, because she was a Zombie now. Therefore she turned away again and looked at the trees surrounding the place like a wall. But that was strange. Amy was confused and walked to one of the trees. She wanted to touch it, but there was no trunk, her hand ended up in nothing. Amy drew her hand back absolutely surprised and looked around, she could see a green floating energy in most of the trees. It got together in a kind of heart in the middle of the trees. But there were other trees, too and there she didn't see anything. She stepped at one of these trees again and didn't stop, when she reached it but walked on into it.

Josh and Zadie watched her with surprise and stopped breathing, when they thought, that she'd crash into the tree, but there was nothing, that stopped her.

With a broad smile on her face, Amy turned around again. "I know what's wrong!" She explained enthusiastically. "Some of the trees aren't real, they are just illusions only built to block our way."

Zadie nodded with satisfaction. "I've told you, that you'll find a way."

"Yes!" Amy said and looked into the jungle of trees and bushes. "So what are you waiting for? Come on and follow me." She motioned them to come nearer and passed by another phantom of a tree.

Zadie followed her at once, while Josh hesitated, before he walked through the tree. He stopped in surprise and looked at Amy. "Wow! How can you make out the wrong trees?" He asked her admiring.

Amy smiled. "They don't have a heart."