Okay, I really don't have time to do replies right now as my internet has been screwing around and I don't know how long it will stay up, but a BIG thank you to everyone who reviewed and I hope you enjoy this one!
Power Of Three's A Crowd
Pamela sat in her room with a cold expression on her face as she swung a crystal over the map of San Francisco, she clutched to another object as she spun the amethyst around. A gold chain dropped from her fist, the witch cursed as she dropped the necklace on the map. She looked at it before putting it back in her hand, the name "Prue" made out of gold hung from a chain.
The teen bobbed her head as Simple Plan's "Me Against The World" pounded into her ears through the headphones of her MP3 player; she felt the song was appropriate considering her mood. Her eyes widened as the crystal began to tug downwards, she was about to find her…
"PAMELA WALKER!"
Her aunt's shriek made Pamela jump and she dropped the crystal and personal item, she took out her headphones and gaped at Piper standing in the doorway.
"Did you not see the "Go to Hell" sign on the door? What's your problem, woman?"
"C'mon, I want you to meet someone,"
"I'm busy," Pamela replied, putting her headphones back in and discreetly pushing the scrying tools behind her.
The eldest witch rolled her eyes; her niece had been like this ever since the twins were born, "Fine…" She admitted defeat before spinning round and stomping to the attic…
Emma yet out a yelp as she was thrown into the changing table of the twins room in Paige's apartment, "Paige!" She called out to her friend, who had left her children for two seconds to get a bottle. Both of the girls were screaming in their cribs, one twin had a shield of orbs up while the other was protected by a giant bubble of impenetrable water.
The demon that had the attacked the empath began to advance on the girl with the water shield, conjuring an energy ball and preparing to fire while the other advanced on the dome of orbs,
"NO!" Paige screamed as she ran in with a bottle of heated milk. She unscrewed the lid and threw it at the evil being's face, he screamed in agony as the liquid hit his face, "Oh, I guess I left it in the microwave for too long," She smirked before using one of her Judo moves and sent both demons to the ground with a spinning kick, "Emma, the potions!"
"Oh… oh!" She suddenly remembered, scrambling for her purse that had been knocked from her hand. Emma quickly delved in and felt the glass vials in her palm, she pulled them out and threw them, vanquishing the two demons and leaving only smoke behind.
Both of the twins' shields dropped and Paige went to comfort them, "There, there…" She held them both closely as she sat in the chair next to the window of the bedroom, "Its okay… I know, I'm going to let everything hurt you, my little angels…" She began to sing softly as Emma looked on.
Hush little baby, don't say a word,
Mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird,
And if that mocking bird don't sing,
Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring…
After a couple more lines, the babies fell silent and began to coo softly. Paige smiled wearily as she put them down in their cribs and turned on the mobiles above, one crib had a mobile of clouds while the other had a mobile of bubbles. The weary witch then pulled the blind down gently and gestured to Emma to leave the room. They walked out silently and managed to make it to the couch before Paige broke down, sobbing into her hands. Emma sat there silently and pulled her best friend into a tight hug, letting her get all the pain out, it wasn't long before the witchlighter pulled away with a sniff and raking her hand through her hair, "I can't do this Emma…" She whispered, hiccupping.
"Honey…" The psinoic rubbed her back, "You gave birth three months before you were supposed to, you're a single mother, and you have demons constantly attacking. Even with all that I still think you're doing a fantastic job! It'll just be a while before you adjust, you've only been the a mother for two weeks, you'll get the hang of it,"
"But what if I don't?" She argued before shaking head, "I just wish that he was…"
Emma's eyes began to shine with tears; it pained her to see Paige like this, "I know… I wish that for you too,"
Paige sighed, "I just… I just hope that I'm enough,"
The psionic sighed and pulled her into another hug, before looking upwards and tutting, "Damn elders…" She cursed as she pulled back.
"It's okay, you can go," Paige nodded, more to convince herself than Emma, "I'll be fine, I'll call Phoebe or something…"
"Are you sure? Because I can stay if you want me to,"
"No, your duties are important,"
"My friends are more so," Emma came back with.
The weary new mother let out a chuckle, "I'm going to or you myself if you don't get a move on!"
"Okay… but you call me if you need anything!' Emma warned, "And I don't mean on my cell, just holler," She smiled before disappearing in pink orbs…
"Power of the witches rise,
Course unseen across the skies,
Come to us who call you near,
Come to us and settle here,"
Phoebe opened her eyes and looked around the Magic School Library with a hopeful glint to see if anything had happened, but when she tried to read the thoughts of a passing student and failed, she groaned and dropped head to the table. She had been trying all morning to find out what had happened to her powers, the only way she had got here was by hitching a ride with Leo when he was making his way here. "Okay, next attempt…" She said to herself, determined to get to the bottom of this. The witch began to sift through the piles of books and paper that Miss Donovan had collected for her.
"Phoebe, what are you doing?"
Phoebe jumped at the sound of Leo's voice; she smiled as she faced him, not wanting to give anything away about her powers being gone. But everyone who knew her well knew that Phoebe was a terrible liar. "Hey, I'm just… um… revising some spells,"
"Why? Are you planning on enrolling here?" He smirked as he sat down.
She laughed nervously, "No!" She laughed again, "You just… never know when you'll need a spell,"
Leo skimmed his eyes across the mound of paperwork, "So why are you looking at articles on powers?"
The colour of her face gave her away, "I just… I…"
"Phoebe, what's going on?" Leo clasped his hands and laid them on the table, knowing he had his sister in law cornered. Phoebe made a feeble attempt to hide the books that were closest to her, before sighing and deciding to tell the truth.
"My powers… are gone," She said simply, making an outwards gesture with her hands to get her point cross.
"Gone? You mean-,"
"I mean nothing! No levitating, no telepathy, no spell casting, no nothing!" She made the same hand gesture again. Leo gave her an amused expression; she took it offensively, "I'm glad someone finds this funny…" Phoebe scowled.
He raised his eyebrows, "What? No, I'm sorry. I'm just wondering why you're trying to cast a spell when you don't the power. Seems like a waste of breath." He let out a chuckle. Phoebe hit him on the arm lightly.
"It seems talking to you was the waste of breath!" She spat, but sighed immediately after, "Look, Leo, I need help. Everyone but you seems to be drowning in problems or issues. Piper would flip if I told her, Paige is on the verge of a meltdown, Emma's too busy with her empath duties, Brennan would go all protective on me and Pamela doesn't know what the hell's been going on for the past three months! This is when Ask Phoebe needs an Ask Phoebe of her own…" She groaned and let her head droop to the wood, hitting her forehead on the table.
Leo smiled sympathetically at her, "You're right. I'm sorry; you want me to check with the other elders?"
"Yes," He stood up and prepared to orb, but she grabbed the sleeve of his black robe, "Leo, do not mention a word of this to Piper or Paige, got it?"
He nodded, "No problem,"
Piper looked around the dark attic, only two white candles on the low table lit up the scene. The attic would usually be bathed in sunlight at this time of the day, but the wacky weather caused by Danielle being vanquished was making a fierce storm. Lightning illuminated the room brightly for a split second before letting the two small flames return to being the only source of light.
The eldest witch winced as she cut her hand with the silver athame, she then picked up a glass goblet and made a fist with her bleeding hand, letting her blood fall into the cup and creating the connection she needed. Piper proceeded to put the goblet into the steaming potion pot in front of her. The mixture made a low rumbling sound and steam flowed over the side. Piper waited until the clap of thunder had finished before chanting the spell,
"Melinda Warren,
My great-great-great-great-great grandmother,
I summon thee!"
The witch's hair blew into her face as a familiar gust of wind flew around the room. Mint green lights began to swirl around next to the Book of Shadows and after they vanished, a beaming blond haired woman stood in their place, her clothes were around three hundred years old and a pewter locket with a bright red ruby in the centre hung around the woman's neck.
She smiled again before taking her first breath of being in this realm, "Blessed be!" She said merrily as lightning turned her mage into a silhouette for a brief second before returning to her smiling self.
"Hi…" Piper beamed back. She was about to say more when pink orbs flowed down from the ceiling and formed Emma, startling both Piper and the summoned spirit.
"Piper, can I talk to-," She looked up, "Why is there a woman wearing out of date clothes on our attic?"
Melinda gave Emma a curious look, "You do not seem to be of Warren blood. Who are you?" She asked in a peaceful tone. The psionic gave a look to her friend, who was just smiling at the awkwardness of the situation.
"Uh… Emma, Melinda… Melinda, Emma," She smiled again, "I summoned her,"
Emma folded her arms, "I thought we agreed that we weren't going to force Paige's hand on the Wiccaning thing? Summoning the ancestor that made you who you are is a pretty big breach of that agreement,"
Piper groaned, "Come on, Emma. Paige was the one to convince me that Chris needed a Wiccaning when he was little, so I need to return the favour,"
"But this is the last thing she needs right now!" The normally calm witch snapped, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about!"
"Pardon me…" Melinda raised her hand slightly, bringing an end to the war of words, "Even though I'm overjoyed to see you again, Piper. Can I ask why you summoned me at this time?"
Piper could only let out an ironic chuckle and smile. A lot had to be explained…
Pamela shook her jacket slightly as she walked into the dorm of Magic School. Students who were staying for the year would sleep in here and basically make this a second home, the Halliwell witch wasn't one of these people, her friends however, were.
"Pam? What are you doing here?" Zach asked, seeing his friend wrapped up in a jacket with a hood covering most of her head. He didn't get an answer straight away, as the first thing Pamela did was lunge at him and hug him, this was the first time she had seen him since she had got out of her coma and since she had found out how he felt.
Pamela pulled back quickly, "Where's your brother?"
Zach's face fell momentarily; anyone quick enough to see it would have thought that he was disappointed that she hadn't came to him, "Um… I don't know. Why aren't you taking your hood down?"
"Oh," She pulled on the tassels to make the hood tighten so that only her eyes and nose could be seen, "I got something done to my hair, I went to get it done after going three months without stylings and I sorta… went for something different," The witch said in a muffled voice behind the layer of material.
"Are you going to let me see?" He asked with a smirk, his question made her pull the tassels even more so that only her sparkling blue eyes could be seen. Zach stifled a laugh as he saw them roll.
"Fine… but you laugh, you die," She warned before unzipped her waterproof coat and pushing back the hood, waiting for the jibes that never came. Her dark brown hair had been replaced with a light chestnut colour, her fringe was gone and two thin bangs hung at the sides, framing her face. Small streaks of blonde ran through her long hair now, making it a lot more different than it was last time. Pamela stood with a nervous look on her face, "Remember, you laugh, you die!" She warmed again, twirling and making the blonde and brown colours in her hair mix for a second, "Well?"
"You look…" He was stunned by the feminine out of character twirl that she had just performed, "You look beautiful…" He smiled.
A giant grin spread across Pamela's face, "Really?"
"Really!" Zach nodded.
She laughed and jumped up, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him again before returning to serious composure. The witch tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, "Zach… this is important, your brother took my… Prue's soul," She couldn't bring herself to say the "M" word.
"What?"
"Look, I don't have time to explain. Where is Evan's dorm?"
"Uh… follow me," He began to walk down the hall way with Pamela at his heels. They took many twists and turns along the seemingly endless corridors of the dormitory. They finally stopped at a certain door and Zach closed his eyes, strings of orange light seeped from his forehead and went through the door, "He's in there." The psionic nodded, trying to open the door and pushing on the obstruction. Pamela sighed and shook her head; she didn't have time for this. She signaled for her friend to stand back and she scrunched up her face, making a violent gesture at the door and blasting it to the smithereens.
Pamela was the first to storm the room, but she was blasted back by an unknown force and flew into Zach sending them both of the ground. She growled as she quickly stood up, facing Evan and ready fight. He was different than usual. A glowing purple emblem was engraved in his forehead, made up of complicated lines, but the only line that Pamela was concerned with was the thin smile that he wore.
"You bastard…" She snarled, raising her hand to her mouth a blowing out a large cloud of frost. The sub zero energy flew towards the teen, who jumped to the side with supernatural speed and agility. Pamela tried to attack again, gesturing wildly and blowing up chunks of the dorm as he jumped around avoiding her. The Halliwell witch let the dust from the rubble settle, squinting her eyes to see through the denseness. Lightning flashed and gave away the ghost hunter's position, Pamela prepared to strike again. Taking a deep breath, she hoped that the power she had inherited from her mother would pull through. She thrust out her arms and pointed her fingers out as far as they would go; releasing streams of telekinetic energy at her assailant, slowly making him levitate into the air and pinning him forcefully against the wall. Pamela then wiggled her fingers slightly; summoning the sphere from Evan's pocket with her powers and making it float slowly towards her.
"No!" Evan groaned, feeling the pressure against his chest as the telekinesis kept him suspended on the wall.
As the sphere floated towards her, Pamela finally let arms drop along with Evan and grabbed the glowing sphere before it hit the ground.
"Finally…" She breathed, scowling at the sphere before throwing it to the ground. It smashed with a shattering sound, causing a bright flash of light as wisps of white light flew from the ground, streaming towards the sky and vanishing when they went through ceiling. One stopped midway and circled Pamela's head, she smiled.
"Let's just call this even," She whispered, before it flew away…
"Come on, Paige. You can't stay mad at me forever,"
"Oh yeah? Summoning the beginning of our line doesn't seem like a pretty big breach of my "no Wiccaning" rule to you?"
Piper rolled her eyes at her little sister as they sat in the living room of the Manor,
"Excuse me, but weren't you the one, Missy Paige, who convinced me to have a Wiccaning for your nephew?"
Paige got up and stared at one of her daughters that was sleeping on one of two bassinets. She savoured the moments when they were peaceful, because demons would hardly ever attack at this time, "That was different… it was your heritage,"
Her older sister gaped, "And it's not yours?"
"No… I don't really feel like it is. I see you and Phoebe, and you're both so happy! You have passion, purpose, and I have…" One of her children gurgled before disappearing from her bassinet in a swirl of orbs and reappearing in Paige's arms the same way. The other child followed suit and was consumed by water, before reappearing with a splash of magical water, "Kids…" She smiled and held them both tightly to her breast as she sat down.
Piper smiled at her nieces behaviour, "Paige, you are the reason that this line can continue, you are the reason my heritage, your heritage, still exists! If we had never found you, we would be dead by now!"
"Actually you two were still alive in a reality were I was dead," She butted in, remembering her accidental trip to Cole's twisted reality.
"The point being…" Piper narrowed her eyes, "Is that we never would have got this far without you. So please rethink the whole Wiccaning thing!" She pleaded before putting up her hands, "That's all I'll say,"
Paige let out a snort of laughter before it was interrupted by pink orbs beginning to take the forms of Emma and Melinda. They both had urgent looks on their faces and were covered on soot and ash.
"You need to escape with the young ones!" Melinda blurted out, "A powerful evil was expecting our presence! Leave for your own safety!"
Emma said it more simply, "Macreaus followed us. We barely got out of there alive, he set a trap,"
Only Piper and her sisters knew the outcomes of the simulations they had set. Macreaus would kill them all if everyone didn't leave. But even though she was aware of the danger, Piper couldn't bare to be run out of her own house. Melinda spoke, seeing the confliction on her descendant's face.
"Flee with Paige…" She said calmly, "Emma and I shall take care of this threat,"
Emma nodded wildly at that suggestion, "Trust me, we've taken on countless demons today," She smirked, "What's one more?" Piper sighed and put her hands on her hips, not convinced, "What's more important, you house or your nieces?"
"That is not fair!" She objected, "Alright, but you call us if you're in trouble…" She warned, before guiding Paige to the bassinets and letting them orb out. As they disappeared, the front door creaked open and Pamela ran in, shaking her golden brown hair around to try and dry off.
"Hey, who's the blonde?" She asked, gesturing to Melinda.
"I could ask the same question!" Emma exclaimed, pointing at the teen's hair, "I thought you hated blonde,"
"No, I hate blondes, not the colour," She turned to Melinda again, "No offense!"
She frowned, not really understanding, "None taken,"
Pamela was about to say more, when she was suddenly sent flying upwards and went crashing through the banister. The smashing of wood making a loud noise and drowning out the noise of Pamela rolled down the stairs and stopping at the landing. The young witch struggled to pick herself up.
The blue scaled demon grinned at the two remaining witches, lightning flashing to match his bright teeth. Melinda stepped forward, ready to face Macreaus with everything she had, "Leave now!" She boomed, Emma was convinced she had felt telekinetic energy ripple from her voice.
He chuckled, "Do you really think you can stop me? Your time has past, Melinda. It took most of your strength to bind me to the earth with Brendan all those years ago…"
"You're right," She smirked, "My time is past, and so has yours!" She flung her arms out then to the side, making the demon fly into the living room and crash into the fireplace, marble falling down on him. Emma could only watch, until she saw Melinda being thrown out of the living room and into the alcove at the front door. Macreaus moved on Emma at amazing speed. She was able to anticipate his coming and prepared a powerful attack, making her eyes turn dark and sending a black shockwave from her forehead. The demon stumbled and blinked a couple of times as the mental attack hit him, but he got his balance back and grinned again.
"Stupid witch. It'll take a lot more than what you've got to kill me!" His claw glowed red and Emma was hurled forcefully into the sunroom, skidding across the floor and knocking her out.
"Son… of a bitch!" Pamela snarled as she scrambled to her feet on the landing, throwing her hands out and blasting the demon into the sunroom before he exploded into thousands of particles. The teen witch ran through to where the rain was beating down on the windows in all directions. Emma was slowly getting to her feet, rubbing the back of her head before eyes widened. Macreaus stood behind Pamela, his sharp tail raised and ready to strike her in the back.
"No!" The psionic screamed. She run across the room and threw Pamela to the floor. The needle like tail shot into her stomach instantly, poking out the back, before he roughly pulled it out. Emma fell to the ground instantly while Pamela sat on the ground shocked.
"Now it's your turn…" He growled and advanced on the startled witch. She once even more startled when Macreaus began to move extremely slowly, she turned her head to see Melinda with her hands outstretched. The late ancestor rushed to Pamela's aid and helped her to her feet.
"He's fighting through my power, that's why he didn't stop completely," She explained.
"You have the power to freeze?"
Melinda nodded, "I also have the power that your mother gave to you. Let us take care of the threat together." Pamela eyed her warily before grinning.
"Lets!"
Macreaus finally fought off the freeze and went back to moving normally. Pamela and Melinda raised their arms; the air around them was distorted by the energy created from their powers. They suddenly jutted out their hands, everything around them flew forwards. Lamps, sofas, pictures, but what moved the most was Macreaus. The was sent through the wall of the sunroom at great speed, but he didn't stop there, as the telekinetic energy carried him through and made him sail into the wall that was at the stairs. The two witches looked at the damage they had caused to the house before grinning as Macreaus retreated in a flurry of particles. Their victory was short lived, as they their attention was brought back to a dying Emma on the floor, but they knew she would be okay.
"Leo! Paige!"
Paige walked into the attic smiling. Rain battered down on the windows and lightning flashed now and again, making the glow from sixty two candles seem feeble. She had to hand to Piper; she really did go all out for Wiccanings.
The entire room was bathed in a golden light coming from all the little flames dotted around the place. Paige found this the perfect atmosphere. It was calm inside, while a storm raged outside. She looked around, seeing her family and numerous additions. Piper and Leo stood together with Wyatt and Chris standing awkwardly in front of them, this was probably quite boring for them! Phoebe and Brennan stood together; Connor was in his mother's arms as Phoebe pointed out all the interesting things in the attic. His little eyes took in the sights hungrily. Pamela and Emma stood at either side of the couples, smiling at Paige as she walked in; Pamela kept on fidgeting with her hair while Emma kept giving her looks to make her cut it out. Melinda Warren stood in front of the Book of Shadows, along with two bassinets that held two gargling infants; she beamed at the ancestor before walking over
"Let us begin…" Melinda said kindly as she turned around.
"Grant says sorry about the weather. They're still looking for a new Fire Elemental." Emma whispered into her best friend's ear.
Paige smiled at her, "Are you kidding? I couldn't have asked for a more perfect setting,"
"I now call forth, from space and time,
Matriarchs from the Halliwell line,
Mothers, daughters, sisters, friends,
Our family spirit, without end,
To gather now, in this scared place,
And help us bring, these children to grace,"
Everyone looked at the ceiling and watched as long streams of light fall from the heavens. Each one blossomed into a different Matriarch as it hit the floor, they smiled warmly at their leader, who was holding the two girls in her arms now, "The next generation has been born into our family… our legacy…" She began the ceremony.
"We pledge to be with these children… these beautiful girls, always. Free but never separate… apart but never alone… they are part of us… and because of that, we shall bless them in all the goodness that we are. Welcome to the family…" She turned to Paige, as she was the only one who knew the names of her children.
"The one in your right arm is Melinda Parker Matthews, and the one in your left arm is Emma Parker Matthews…"
Emma was at a loss for words at the tribute her best friend had just performed. Not only was she the children's godmother, but she was also a namesake too! Melinda too, smiled at the tribute before turning back to her ghostly family, gushing with pride, "Welcome to the family, Melinda Parker Matthews and Emma Parker Matthews! Blessed be!"
"Blessed be…" The Matriarchs chorused.
"Blessed be…" Paige whispered.
"Blessed be…" Everyone hummed in the room.
Melinda smiled as she passed Melinda and Emma to their mother before joining her family in the spirit life. She blew them all a kiss, and everyone smiled. Pamela kept a lingering eye on her mother, who smiled at her as she disappeared through the ceiling…
NEXT TIME: Paige's new power is revealed when an unknown force is hunting a group of friends and she's the only one who can see the assailant. Pamela makes a drastic move on Zach, and when Phoebe finds her powers under the bed, how will the feelings of anger and betrayal warp her mind and powers?
Chapter 17 "Final Destiny" should be up soon!