Sisters Bound

Part 8 – The Journey Home

By: Silverstar03

I couldn't believe it…the whole clan was gone. Prue looked over at Phoebe and me, and in seconds she rushed over and wrapped her arms around us.

"You guys saved my life…" she whispered, and I winced as she squeezed my hurt shoulder. "Piper…" Backing away slightly, she looked me over before frowning. "We have to get you to the hospital…that looks really bad." Smiling at my older sister, I just shook my head.

"I'll be fine," I told her as Phoebe slipped her arms around my waist to give me a hug. "Thanks," I told her, referring not only to her hug, but to her potion aiming skills. She smiled, knowing what I was referring to, and then looked over at Prue.

"Can we get out of here?" she asked her. Prue nodded, but I knew she had no idea how we were going to get out.

"Let's just keep moving," I said suddenly, wanting very badly to get my sisters out of there and to safety. After all, I had promised Paige I'd be back, and I intended on keeping my promise. Thinking of her made me smile, but as Prue nodded at this plan and took the lead, I couldn't help thinking about what would happen next…when we got back…if we got back. I followed Prue, Phoebe's hand in mine, but only after gathering the two remaining potions from the floor. I wanted to make sure that we all returned in one piece.

As we made our way down the dark corridor, I looked at Prue and noticed her holding her right arm very stiff and close to her body. She must have hurt it…I frowned at the sight and then looked over at Phoebe to my right. She seemed okay considering the situation. She looked over at me after a moment and smiled. It wasn't the naïve happy-go-lucky smile that I had once known…but it was a smile nonetheless and I would take anything I could get. After at least ten minutes of walking, Prue stopped. Phoebe and I walked up to her seconds later and saw that the corridor split into two different hallways.

"Which way should we take?" Phoebe whispered, and I looked down both corridors. Both were dark and it was impossible to tell which way we should go. As I stepped up closer to Prue I could see her clutching her arm more tightly and there was sweat dripping down her face. I then started wondering if she had internal damage. My sister wasn't looking too good.

"We need to take a break," I said quickly, placing my free hand gently in Prue's shoulder and pushing her to the floor. Phoebe's hand was still in mine, but she let go as she sat down in the shadows as well, leaning her back against the cold rock wall. I sat between them and stared at Prue. She was breathing heavily and hunching over slightly. "Prue, what's wrong?" I asked her in the calmest voice I could muster.

"Nothing, I'm fine," she managed to grunt out, but I saw her now holding her stomach and her right arm was shaking as she winced in pain. Slowly, I reached forward and pulled up what little shirt Prue had left as gently as possible. The bruise on her flat stomach was massive and I could see her stomach muscles heaving. "Stop," she said as she tried to brush me away. I gently laid her shirt back down and then put my arm around her, tears in my eyes.

"You're hurt pretty bad Prue," I whispered, trying to keep Phoebe from hearing and trying to keep our location a secret. Phoebe was now leaning on my left shoulder right above my scorched flesh from the fire ball. I winced as her head fell on my shoulder, but when I looked over and saw her eyes closed, I knew she was asleep. I couldn't wake her. When I looked back at Prue I saw tears in her eyes, but they weren't falling. She was holding them back.

"One of the demons did this to me," she whispered. "When they brought you into the room before, I saw that it was you. I tried to get to you…" I held my hand up to stop Prue from wheezing out any more of her story.

"Shhhh, it's okay. Just don't talk," I whispered while I put my hand over hers. Prue smiled and gently squeezed my hand back with her bruised and bony one.

"But…we can't stay here long," Prue whispered, and I knew she was right.

"Prue…we have no idea how to get out. Can we even get out? I haven't seen a window or anything…I think we're under ground."

"If there's a way down, there's a way up too," Prue answered, but I just shook my head.

"They used no doors or ladders to get us here…they teleported somehow…"

"Are you saying we can't get out?" Prue asked. I remained silent and we sat there for a few more minutes. "We have to keep moving," she finally said, and I knew she was right. After gently waking Phoebe I helped Prue to her feet and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. Phoebe walked to the other side of Prue and put her arm around Prue's back, trying to support her as well since we weren't able to get Prue to move her right arm.

"Right or left?" Phoebe then asked, and I looked down both corridors again.

"I say right," I told her, so we headed right and into the darkness. About ten more minutes passed by and we came across nothing. No demons, no doorways, and no lights. I started to worry, but I bottled my panic up inside of me, if only for my sisters. Prue was getting worse and I knew now that she was definitely injured internally. Phoebe was exhausted, but she kept staggering along, a look of determination on her face. All of her strength was being used to help keep Prue moving and to just keep walking. Some time later I stopped suddenly and motioned to my sisters to keep quiet. We listened intently, and I heard footsteps echoing behind us. There was someone, or something, back there. After giving a look to my sisters we rushed forward as quickly and quietly as we could. Seeing a door to our right, I headed in that direction and my sisters saw it as well. Stumbling into the lit room, we shut the door behind us and slid to the floor. The room was empty, but was lit with six torches. Our eyes closed immediately upon seeing the light while we waited for them to adjust. As we sat there breathing heavily I again heard the footsteps. I nudged my sisters instantly and we all held our breaths as the footsteps came closer, and then passed by the door.

"Thank God," I heard Phoebe whisper as we regained normal breathing again, and I silently seconded the motion. When I could finally open my eyes I was able to see that we were in some sort of bed chamber. A large wooden bed with dark red sheets was in the corner and chests lined the walls. There also seemed to be some sort of altar or worshiping area in the center of the room. The demon was out…but who knew how long it would stay that way? Phoebe was now looking around the room as well, but Prue was just sitting beside me breathing heavily with her eyes closed. She was worrying me.

"We have to keep moving," I said quickly, looking at Phoebe as I said it. She got up tiredly, but instead of helping me get Prue up, she walked over towards the altar. "Phoebe, what are you doing?" I asked, picking Prue's arm up from around my shoulder and putting it by her side as I stood up. I quickly walked closer to Phoebe and saw her staring at a bin on the floor near the altar.

"Piper…what if there's something here that can send us home?" she asked, and my eyes widened at the thought. Kneeling beside the altar, I started going through everything I could find. There were a lot of potion ingredients, but without the Book I didn't know what I could do.

"Phoebe…I wouldn't know how to use any of this even if I could," I told her, and she bowed her head in disappointment as I said this. "I'm sorry Phoebs," I then whispered, bringing her into a hug as I did so. She hugged me back as tightly as she could and we then looked over at Prue.

"Is Prue going to die?" Phoebe asked timidly and I tightened my grasp on her as she did so.

"Of course not!" I told her. "We just have to get her to a doctor."

"How?" Phoebe then asked, and I looked down at her. "We…we can't even find our way out-"

"Stop it!" I told her sternly as I made my way over to Prue and she followed me. "We're going to get out. Now help me get Prue up. We have to keep moving." Phoebe mutely followed me, and in a few minutes we were on our way again. I prayed as we made our way down the corridor, and maybe it worked. We encountered no other demons on our way. Something told me that the demons who had captured us didn't want anyone else to know that we were there. Because of that, we were being kept deep within these caves. Good at a safety standpoint, but bad for escape purposes. I didn't know how long it had been since our escape, but I was exhausted. Phoebe was stumbling forward, barely helping me support Prue now since she could barely support herself. But I didn't hear one complaint from her. She was pressing forward. Prue hadn't spoken a word since before the chamber we had stopped in, and her feet were barely moving now. Progress was slow, and I knew we needed somewhere to rest. But where was it safe to rest? Nowhere. That's what my brain was telling me.

"Piper…?" I heard Phoebe whisper, and I stopped and looked at her. She was staring behind us with an expression of fear on her face. When I listened I knew what she was afraid of. I heard voices not ten yards back, and they were advancing quickly.

"Help me with Prue!" I whispered in urgency, and we stumbled forward at a slightly quicker pace. It wasn't quick enough. When I saw a doorway on my left I held my breath, motioned at Phoebe, and we rushed towards it and out of the way of the advancing demons. Throwing ourselves through the doorway and to the ground, I held my breath and kept my head down. Prue had fallen on my right and Phoebe was on my left. Upon hearing a noise, I slowly lifted my head and saw something that terrified me. Three tall demons stood at the table in front of us. All had dark hair, red glowing eyes, and different markings on their foreheads. Phoebe squeezed my hand with hers a second later, and I knew she had seen them too. To make matters worse, I heard the demons that had been coming up behind us in the hallway come in through the door a second later.

"Well…what do we have here?" I heard one of the creatures behind us ask, and I looked around quickly to see four standing behind us.

"They stumbled in a second ago," another one said. "Seems like you scared them in."

"Escapees?" a female asked.

"Seems like…I guess we have a few more sacrifices for this week's ceremony…"

As the conversation continued I nudged Phoebe with my elbow and got her slowing crawling towards the wall on our left. The demons were arguing over whose we were and how we might have a bounty…and if so, who would get it. I started to inch behind Phoebe, but then remembered Prue. She couldn't crawl…she could barely move. When I looked at her I saw that her eyes were still closed. I couldn't just leave her behind.

"Hey!" Looking up, I saw that the demons had noticed our movement. One grabbed onto my right arm and Prue's left. Before I knew it, we were being hurled across the remainder of the room and towards Phoebe, who had made it to the wall. I hit the wall hard, and closed my eyes as I heard a crack and pain seared up my left arm. I hit the ground with a thud and remained still, white flashing under my eyelids as the pain escalated. I then heard the demons laughing as they resumed their conversation. When I finally opened my eyes I saw Prue lying in front of me. She hadn't been thrown against the wall, Thank God. Phoebe was on my right clinging to the wall in fear and staring at Prue and me. I saw her let out a breath when I opened my eyes, but she made no move towards me. She was terrified. Shaking my head slightly, I forced myself to think. What could we do to get out? I then remembered the two potion vials that I still had. Using my right hand, I reached into my pocket and felt around. My spirits fell as I realized that one of the vials had broken…But, miraculously, one of them had remained intact. I slowly pulled it out, catching Phoebe's eye as I did so, and saw a flash of hope. That's all I needed to motivate me. Wincing silently, I pulled myself up into a sitting position and steadied myself against the wall. At my movement the demons looked over and then started advancing.

"It was decided that you're coming with me little miss," one of them said maliciously as he looked at me. Once they were in range, I let my potion fly and watched as they all staggered backwards and flames appeared before me. But…in seconds the flames were gone and all seven demons were staring angrily at me.

"Witches," the female spat, and I grabbed for Phoebe's hand with mine. I did the same for Prue, and as I looked down to find her hand, I noticed the angle of my arm from my elbow. It wasn't right…it wasn't right at all. I forced back my cries upon moving my arm and still reached for Prue's hand. Hers didn't grip mine back, and that scared me more than my broken arm. She was unconscious. My mind raced, trying to think of something as the whole pack advanced towards us. Then, I thought of the Spirit Board. The inscription on the back….

"The power of three will set us free," I whispered and Phoebe looked at me quickly. "The power of three will set us free," I said again, and then saw recognition in Phoebe's eyes.

"The power of three will set us free," we both said at the same time. As we continued to chant, I looked down and saw Prue open her eyes slightly. "The power of three will set us free." As the demons advanced warily Prue squeezed my hand.

"The power of three will set us free," we all said together, and as the demons came up in front of us, white lights surrounded me and my sisters. As Prue collapsed again into unconsciousness, light blinded my vision and we were pulled from our hell as hope filled my soul. In the distance I heard a voice calling my name.

To Be Continued…