The Dreams of Paige Matthews

Drakna

"Piper! You aren't going to like this!" Phoebe called from down from the attic. "In fact, I'm terrified just looking at it."

Piper rushed upstairs. Phoebe had the book open to a page with a detailed picture of the demon who stole Chris and Wyatt.

"His name is Drakna. He's a demon who captures young magical children and sucks out their souls to turn them evil. He then makes them do his bidding. Without souls, the children don't care about right or wrong, they just do whatever he asks. It also says that Drakna can absorb the magic of children and use it for himself if he so wishes it."

"Oh no." Piper began to cry. "No it can't be. They're my sons. They can't be turned evil."

"Piper, we can't assume the worst." Phoebe hugged Piper to comfort her. "It does mention how to vanquish the demon. It's a potion. It looks very complicated though. It requires twenty-seven herbs and spices—several we don't have—plus the feather of a crow, the shed skin of a snake, and a mixture of the blood of the charmed ones. It says if the ingredients aren't added precisely right, it may vanquish Drakna, but the souls of the children will die with him."

Piper pulled away from Phoebe and wiped her tears with her hand. "We can go to the 24 hour thrift store around the corner. They have a spice section where We can pick up the ingredients we don't have. Phoebe, do you still have that feather collection from when you were little?"

"Yeah, I love that thing. I keep in a box under my bed."

"Good, see if you have a crow's feather. We can get the blood from Paige no problem and we can mix all of our blood in a small vial. That just leaves the snakeskin. Where are we going to find a snakeskin?"

"Hey, doesn't our neighbor have a pet snake?"

"Yeah, Phoebes. We're going to call up Martin in the middle of the night and say 'Hey has your snake shed his scales recently and if you haven't thrown them out yet can we have the snakeskin?' Don't you think that will be a little suspicious, not to mention rude for waking someone up in the middle of the night?"

"Well, you got any better ideas?"

"There is a pet store, two blocks from here. We could break in and steal a snakeskin from one of the snake tanks."

"That would be against the law."

"Well it's better than calling up Martin for a snakeskin," Piper argued. "I'll blow up the back door that leads to the animal supply room. I'll immediately freeze everything so that the alarm doesn't go off. We'll then head into the area where they keep the animals and I will freeze that room. We'll steal the snakeskin and hightail it out of there. But at the risk of getting caught, let's do that last. Now let's get to work."

"Piper, we're going to save them."

"It's strange. I can feel the boys' fear like it's mine. I think they're crying out for me through some sort of telepathy or something."

"It's a mother's sixth sense, Piper. It's going to be okay."

"I'm not so sure, Phoebe. If you could only feel what I'm feeling right now—it's like I'm losing them. They're drifting away from me Phoebe. I'm so scared."

"I am too, but we can't give up. We have not yet begun to fight."

The girls got to work gathering ingredients. Phoebe found the crow's feather pressed in a scrapbook. They went down to the thrift store and bought eleven herbs and spices. They then headed off to the pet store. Going through the back door didn't set of the alarm so Piper didn't need to freeze that room. There were no security cameras in the supply room. They walked into the pet room and Piper froze everything. They looked at the snake tanks. Only one of the snakes had shed its scales. Now the tricky part—getting the snakeskin out without touching the immobile snake and doing it before the room unfroze. Phoebe opened the top of the tank and carefully reached her hand in. She grabbed the snake's used skin and lifted it out of the tank. She then placed the lid back on the tank with her other hand. She put the snakeskin in a bag and the two of drove away in Piper's minivan.

"Okay, so we have the crow's feather, the herbs and the snakeskin," Phoebe said. "Now all we need is to mix the—Piper look out!"

Piper was veering of the road and heading towards a pole. Phoebe grabbed the wheel and moved the car back onto the main road.

"Piper what's the matter with you?"

Piper pulled over. "What's the matter with me! I'll tell you what's the matter with me!" She started to cry hysterically. "I can't feel Wyatt anymore. He's lost to me and Chris is next!"

"Piper, I know it's hard right now, but you can't break down. Wyatt and Chris need you and who knows how many countless other magical children Drakna has with him. We have to get home and finish this potion. We don't have much time."

"You're right. Let's go."