Sisters Bound

Part 7 – The Power of Three

By: Silverstar

I spent the next few hours sifting through the Book of Shadows trying to figure out what I could do.

"This is crazy!" I said to myself as I slammed the Book shut and sat back in one of the attic chairs. "I don't even know what to look for…and even if I did, how would I vanquish the demons that Grams couldn't…" Thinking of Grams and my sisters made me even more frustrated, and before I knew it tears were spilling down my cheeks. "No…this isn't going to help…" I said to myself, but they wouldn't stop. Just as I was about to get up to go downstairs, I noticed a page on the book flip. As I focused on it, the pages started flipping more rapidly, and I rushed over to see it stop on the Pyronium page. As I looked down at it, I heard a noise in front of me. Afraid, I shot my head up to see two of them…standing there and staring at me in triumph.

"We finally have you now, witch!" one of them spat as I starred at them, clutching my bag of potions and frozen in terror. I watched as the one on the left advanced, and, trembling with fear, I reached into my bag and backed away. "We had almost given up on you," the stationary one, and leader, said as I continued to back away. What was I going to do? I could vanquish them…but then I wouldn't find my sisters…I had to find out if they were still alive. If not, then I'd pull out my potions. Stall…I have to stall…

"Why…why now?" I asked, now almost at the large attic windows, the demon only four feet in front of me.

"Why now?" the leader mimicked, and started to laugh as I placed my hand around a potion bottle for comfort. "You were the one with some sort of protection shield around you. We couldn't even sense you!" I looked at him in confusion for a moment as I started backing away to my left and around the edge of the room. The demons just laughed at my effort, knowing that my escape was useless. Protection shield….and then my eyes widened as I thought of Grams' amulet. I hadn't taken it off…and it glowed periodically…probably when the demons were trying to sense me.

"What do you want with me!" I yelled, adrenalin starting to pump through my body as I eyed the exit. "Where are my sisters!"

"Now, now, there's no need to yell," the leader said calmly as he put his hand up to stop the other from approaching me. "We need you and your sisters together to get your powers. If you come willingly, we will take you to them." I looked at the disgusting creature before me and wondered if he was lying. To my knowledge, Prue, Phoebe, and I didn't have any powers…And then I remembered the first page of the Book…The Power of Three. Was that us? I stared at the demons for another few seconds, and then stopped my futile inching towards the exit. I had to at least try…and I always had the potions in case anything went wrong…Desperation welled up in side of me as I thought of my sisters and I finally gave in.

"Okay," I finally said as I put the bag up over my shoulder, three potion bottles now concealed in my pocket, and stepped forward. "Take me to them."

I winced as the lackey grabbed my shoulder violently, and in a second I felt my stomach turn as everything went black.

The ground was cold…I shivered as I felt pain sear through my head. What…what had happened? In a moment I remembered the demons, and I opened my eyes and sat up quickly. Bad idea. Bringing my hand up to the side of my head, I felt something wet. It was blood. Wincing, I looked around, but everything was dark. The most I could make out was that I was in some sort of cell. I had to get out of here. As I reached around to find my bag, I realized that it was gone. They…they had taken it….Trying not to panic, I put my hand into my sweatshirt pocket to feel the three potion bottles I had managed to smuggle. They were unbroken – a miracle. As I tried to push down my panic I heard something…someone's voice. Afraid, I dropped to the ground quickly and listened.

"P….Piper?" What? Slowly getting up, I walked to the edge of my cell and looked across the room. There, in a cell across the room…"Piper? Is that you?"

"Phoebe?"

"Piper! It is you!"

"Phoebe? Oh my God…" I again dropped to the floor, but this time from surprise and joy. "Phoebe…" I said again, and started to cry. I could tell that she was doing the same thing. "Phoebe…"I finally said as I was able to pull myself together. "Tell me everything." Looking over, I could just make her out sitting on the floor of her cell with her hands around the metal bars. She looked weak…and hurt.

"Piper…" I heard her whisper, and I waited. "Prue said you'd come…but…but not like this. Now you're trapped too."

"Prue? She's alive too!" I said with excitement. I hadn't really believed my captors when they told me my sisters were okay…now it was real.

"Yeah…but she…she always tried to fight off the guards…and get away…they took her into another room…She was in your cell before…and when they came in – I guess with you – I heard her yelling. I heard her say your name. There was some sort of struggle. Don't you remember?"

"No…But…but I do have a cut on my head," I said to her, wincing as I remembered the pain.

"Piper, we have to get out of here," I heard Phoebe whisper. "They…they say they want our powers…they're going to do some sort of ritual…something about when the three of us are together…they'll be able to do some sort of…spell to get them from us…Piper, do you know what they're talking about? They say that it will work since…since our guardian is…dead….Piper?" I thought of Grams and wanted to spare Phoebe any more pain, but I knew it was useless.

"Grams…" I finally whispered. "They killed her that night." I heard Phoebe take in a large breath, but if she was crying, she was doing it silently. I couldn't see her. "Phoebe…I've looked through Grams' things…and found out that we're from a family…of witches." At this point I don't think Phoebe had it in her to protest. She'd already seen too much. "Grams must have taken away our powers…now that she's gone…"

"Piper…how long has it been?" I heard Phoebe ask quietly. How…how could I answer that?

"How long do you think?"

"I…I don't know. There are times when they do something to our food…and we black out for days…maybe longer, I'm not sure. All the days swirl together, because there's no day here. It's always dark."

"Phoebe…you know that those monsters are…demons, right?" Phoebe didn't answer and I continued. "You…you've been gone for…six months now." As I said this I heard Phoebe start to cry and my heart broke. "Phoebe, we're going to get out of here," I told her and she started to quiet down. "I have three potions that I made…they should destroy them. They're the same ones Grams used."

"But…there are more than three Piper…"

"We can't give up!" I then told her. "They have my backpack, and that has a lot more potions in it. We just need to find it. We…we can't…" As I said this I started to feel a little woozy.

"Piper…Piper, are you okay?" I heard Phoebe ask.

"Yeah…just dizzy," I whispered back as I laid my head on the cold hard floor. "My head…"

"Piper, we don't have much time," I heard Phoebe say as I closed my eyes. "After the ritual they'll kill us…We have to find Prue."

"Yeah," I answered back. "We do." Sitting up, I looked around the cell until I found the front and the lock. "Phoebe, will a guard come if we call?"

"Yeah…but, I don't think you want to Piper…they'll…" Phoebe went silent and I didn't want to think about what they'd done to her or to Prue.

"Then you stay quiet," I replied. "I'll get one over here and then when it opens the door I can throw my potion on it. Then I can come get you out." Phoebe didn't say anything, but I could see her lie on the ground with her head facing my cell so she could watch. Grabbing one bottle of potion, I pulled off the cork, stopped the bottle with my thumb, and kneeled down on the floor. Opening my mouth, I let out a blood curdling scream.

Fifteen seconds later two of them entered the room. I saw them look at Phoebe, who was pretending to be passed out, and then over at me.

"Shut up!" I heard one of them say, but I continued. Both of them looked at each other, and then advanced towards my cell. As soon as one of them pulled out the keys and unlocked the door I let my potion fly. They both were engulfed in flames and had disintegrated before they could even scream. Surprised at how well my potion had worked, I stared at the scorch marks for a few seconds before coming to my senses. We had to hurry. Grabbing the keys, I rushed out of the cell as fast as I could with my hurt head, and over to Phoebe. I almost gasped when I got closer to her, but stopped myself. She was so thin and had dark bruises on her face.

"Phoebe…" I whispered, and then quickly opened up her cell. She immediately flew into my arms, and we stood there hugging each other and crying. "I…thought you were dead," I whispered.

"I thought I'd never see you again," she whispered back, and I hugged her close to me. "We didn't know where you were." After a minute I knew we had to hurry. Pulling away from my little sister, I looked around the room.

"Do you know where they took Prue?" I asked.

"I heard them take her out into the hallway and to the right," she answered, and I nodded.

"Let's go." And with that, we sneaked silently over to the door. I guess there had been only two guards, because there was no one else in the hallway.

"They're probably off preparing for the ritual," Phoebe whispered and I nodded. Taking Phoebe's hand, I squeezed it gently and lead her down the corridor to the right. We soon came upon two doors, one on the right and one on the left. After sending up a prayer, I placed my ear on the left door and listened. Nothing. Phoebe was doing the same on the right. "I hear some of them in here," she whispered. "This must be the ritual room."

"Then let's try this one," I replied. Phoebe hesitantly nodded and came up behind me. "Ready?" I pushed open the heavy door to a dark quiet room. Phoebe slipped in after me and we quickly shut the door behind us. All was quiet and I felt relief that none of the demons were in here. As we stood there catching our breaths, I heard a rustle from across the room. Grabbing Phoebe's hand for comfort, I walked forward with her behind me. Finally, we came to the end of the room and found another cell. I could make out someone on the ground 10 feet back…

"Prue!" Phoebe immediately said, throwing herself at the cell and clutching to the bars. "Prue, are you okay?" I just starred at the almost lifeless form with unbelief.

"Prue…?" I finally whispered. Running up next to Phoebe, I fumbled with the keys until I had unlocked the door. We both ran in and dropped down next to Prue. I sighed in relief when I saw that she was still breathing, but winced at the new and painful looking black eye that she bore. She was also very skinny and sickly looking…pale. Leaning down, I gently shook her shoulder as Phoebe brushed her dark and dirty hair out of her face and away from a small gash just above her black left eye. "Prue!" I said again, wanting so badly for her to open her eyes. A minute later, I felt her stir and she slowly opened her eyes. As they focused on me, I saw her smile and I smiled back. "Prue!" Leaning down, I wrapped my arms around her and held her in a hug.

"Piper…" was all she could get out before tears spilled from her eyes and she hugged me as strong as she could. "Where's Phoebe?" she then asked, and I pulled her slowly up off the ground so that she was kneeling. Phoebe hugged her from behind, and I watched her turn to see her better and hug her back. "I told you, didn't I?" she then said, and Phoebe smiled slightly and nodded. "But…how did you guys get out?" she asked.

"There's no time for that," I replied. "I only have two more potions to destroy those monsters. They took my bag with the rest."

"Potions?" Prue said slowly with confusion, and I nodded. I quickly explained about the Book and everything I knew about the demons as we helped Prue up and out of the cell. "But…what about Grams?" she asked, and I starred at her for a moment before lowering my head. I didn't have to answer her. My actions were enough, and I knew that Prue understood. "Now that you mention it, I did see them with your bag. They took it into the room across the hall."

"So, do we want to try to escape…or get rid of them?" I asked Prue. It was weird how quickly we had fallen back into our routine. Prue was the oldest, the leader.

"You said you already got 2?" she asked, and I nodded. "Well…if we don't try, then they'll come after us again…we'll be hunted for the rest of our lives..."

"We're going after them?" Phoebe asked. She looked scared. To me it seemed that while Prue had been fighting this whole time, Phoebe had given up.

"We're going after them," Prue responded as she reached forward and gave Phoebe a hug. I watched them with tears in my eyes, and then leant forward to join them.

"I love you guys," I said quietly.

"We love you," they responded, and I laughed at their simultaneous response. They were thin, dirty, and injured, but they still made me smile.

"Piper, you said you still have two potions?" I nodded, and pulled them out, handing one to Prue and one to Phoebe.

"It doesn't take much for a vanquish, so don't throw the whole thing at them," I said, and they nodded.

"We'll lure them over and use the potions," Prue then said, "while you get the bag. If anything happens, and you guys can get out, get out. Just keep running." Phoebe and I nodded, but I knew very well that I'd never leave either of my sisters behind. I'd gone through too much to find them. Prue then reached forward and took my hand with hers. She did the same with Phoebe. I was amazed at how strong she was even though she was hurt the worst. "Let's go." I nodded, and Phoebe and I followed Prue over to the exit. After listening for a moment we opened the heavy door and walked out into the hallway. I was scared, but took comfort in the fact that I wasn't the only one. I could see the fear in Phoebe and Prue's eyes as well.

Taking a deep breath, I let my sisters walk up to the door first and was surprised to see that it was partially open. Prue and Phoebe slipped in and in the dark I couldn't see them anymore. However, the few candles that were there allowed me see the whole clan surrounding a table. After looking frantically, I saw my bag on the floor to the right of their round table and I slipped into the shadows and waited quietly. In seconds I heard a crash and looked over to my left along with the demons. Prue and Phoebe had knocked over some ceremonial weapons. Not wanting to watch, I dashed over to my bag as the demons were distracted. Seconds later I heard screams…but they were demon screams. Prue and Phoebe had used their potions. My hand clutching the bag, I turned to see the leader standing behind me, and the angry expression on his face didn't look good to me. With no time to loose, I reached in, grabbed a handful of potions, and threw them over towards Prue and Phoebe. A few hit unsuspecting demons on the head, and in the chaos I saw my sisters picking up the bottles that hadn't broken. The leader had backed away at the sight of the potions, giving me time to run and roll some more bottles over to my sisters. It was in our advantage that the demons wanted us alive, and therefore were afraid of using their powers on us. As I ran, the bag in my hand, I felt a sharp burning pain on my left shoulder. Falling to the ground, I screamed, and reached back, realizing that the leader had hit me with a fire ball. I guess my theory was wrong. Turning, I saw him approach. In the fall my bag had fallen away to my left and I now had no potions. Just as he walked up and was leaning over me I saw Phoebe grab the bag out of the corner of my eyes. A potion came flying and as it hit the leader in the back he started screaming. Seconds later he was gone. Looking over, I saw Prue surrounded by the remaining demons, oblivious to their leader's death. Holding my shoulder with my hand, I got up and rushed over to Phoebe. In seconds we let the remaining potions fly, and the clan was destroyed.

To Be Continued…