Phoebe leaned back into her desk chair that was situated in her office at The Bay Mirror Newspaper. Phoebe had worked there as an advice columnist for a while now, and she had become a bit of a local celebrity. 'Ask Phoebe' was very popular in the bay area. The letters that swamped Phoebe's desk was a sign of this popularity.
The only problem was, the column would not stay successful for very long if Phoebe gave bad advice, and at the moment she had a case of writer's block. Phoebe stared at the computer screen, her fingers hovering over the keyboard, willing the creative flow to come to her. 'Even a hint would be nice' Phoebe thought as she re-read the e-mail on her screen.
Dear Phoebe,
Help! My boyfriend and I are going through a rough patch at the moment. We have just had a baby, but my boyfriend shows no interest in him. He goes out every night, and when he comes back, he sits, staring at the T.V. What can I do?
From Desperate and Confused
Phoebe's mobile phone began ringing and vibrating in her handbag. Phoebe swung her chair around and reached down to retrieve her mobile. The screen flashed 'Piper' and Phoebe flicked the top up.
"Hello," she answered.
"Phebes, it's me," Piper said, her tone panicky and out-of-breath.
"What's wrong?" Phoebe asked, her heart pounding. Was something wrong with the baby?
"We've got an innocent on our hands. You need to get home. Now."
Before Phoebe could question why, Piper cut off. 'I guess Desperate and Confused will have to wait,' Phoebe thought as she rose from her chair. Grabbing her bag and turning off the computer, Phoebe made her way from her office.
"Phoebe!" A stern voice called.
Phoebe cringed inwardly and turned around. Her boss and editor of The Bay Mirror, Elise, was standing with her hand on her hips, waiting for an explanation.
"Hi Elise," Phoebe said.
"Just where do you think you're going?" Elise demanded, marching over to Phoebe.
"I, uh, thought I'd work from home today," Phoebe lied, knowing the cover usually worked.
"Fine," Elise huffed, and without another word stalked away to pray on some other poor, innocent worker.
Phoebe sighed with relief and rushed form the building.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Paige peeked over Piper's shoulder to look at the map of San Francisco that was lying on the table in front of her. Clutched in Piper's hand were a magical crystal and a lipstick. Piper intended to scry for the lost innocent by dangling the enchanted crystal over the map, and letting it drop to wherever the girl was in the city. The lipstick was essential, as it was the only thing that belonged to the woman, and they needed this to specifically locate her. The lipstick and been resting on the ground on P3's dance floor when Piper had returned inside, and she assumed the innocent had dropped it.
"So how can we find the innocent if she's not a witch?" Paige asked.
"Yeah, scrying only works with magical creatures, doesn't it?" Phoebe wondered from beside her. The middle sister had got home only moments earlier.
"I wrote a spell a little while ago to solve that problem," Piper answered, pointing to the open Book Of Shadows with her free hand. Under the entry for scrying was a spell written in Piper's neat writing. Piper then reached out and grabbed a candle igniter. As she was the best scryer, the eldest would be performing the spell.
"North," Piper said, lighting the candle that was situated at the North side of the map. She repeated this process with South, East and West. When all four candles were alight, Piper began to chant.
North, South, East, WestAid me in my quest
Whom I seek, reveal to me
I as I will, so mote it be
As the last word of the spell was uttered, the candles snuffed out in the reverse order of how Piper had lit them. Still clutching the lipstick, Piper dangled the crystal in the same hand over the map. For a second it was still, until it began to sway gently. It circled more quickly, before finally falling from Piper's hands onto the map.
All three sisters bent over the map to see the location of there innocent.
"The seafood place Grams used to take us to," Phoebe said. "By the bay."
"Paige do you know it?" Piper asked.
Paige nodded and grabbed her sisters' arms. Without hesitation, she orbed them all away.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Phoebe whispered as the sisters made their way around tables in the restaurant. Typical seafood smells; fish, crab and chowder wafted from the kitchen and anchors hung from nearly every available space on the walls. The space that was not taken up by them was occupied with round windows, creating the affect of being on a ship.
"Yes," Piper hissed back, though she was beginning to doubt that the scrying had worked.
"Look," Paige said quietly.
Her older sisters followed the direction of her out stretched arm. Their innocent was just escaping out the back door of the restaurant.
"Was that her?" Paige wondered, guessing the appearance of the girl from the description Piper had given.
"Yeah," Piper confirmed. She led her younger sister to the back door, and they all discretely slipped into the alleyway behind the restaurant.
Paige wrinkled her nose in disgust as she took in the alley. A stinking pile of rotting material stood near them, and Paige didn't even want to think about what it consisted of. At the other end of the alley was a heap of discarded furniture, presumably from the houses that lined the opposite side.
The innocent spun around, sensing someone behind her. "You!" she exclaimed recognising Piper instantly. The young woman dropped the bag of rubbish she was holding and wiped her dirty hands down the waitress's uniform she wore.
"Look out!" Phoebe cried.
The innocent whipped back around in time to see an energy ball sailing straight for her. She screamed and lifted her hands in front of her face. A beam of pure, white light shot from her palms and hit the neon blue sphere, immediately causing it to explode. The creator of the energy ball gave a shriek of rage.
"Oh, no," Piper muttered.
"What?" Paige demanded.
"That's the demon from the club," Piper answered.
"I thought you got him," Phoebe said.
Piper got no chance to reply, as their innocent crumbled to the ground in a dead faint. Before the sisters had time to rush to her side, the demon waved his arm and all three were sent flying towards the heap of furniture. Satisfied, the demon flamed out.
"Ow," Paige mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her head. Beside her Phoebe copied her actions and sat up.
"Piper!" Phoebe cried. She scrambled off the broken table she lay on to her older sister's side.
Piper lay slightly away from the others, with a deep gash right across her lower abdomen. Phoebe was in the midst of calling for Leo to heal the wound that threatened the baby, when it began to glow a warm gold. The gash closed up, and all traces of blood vanished.
"What was that?" Paige asked as she joined Piper and Phoebe.
"The...the baby," Piper stammered. "She takes after her daddy."
Convinced that both Piper and the baby were fine, Phoebe turned her attention to fallen innocent. She sprinted towards her and dropped down next to her.
"She's alive," Phoebe announced to Piper and Paige as they followed her at a slightly slower pace.
"She must have fainted in shock," Piper realised.
"I'll orb us home," Paige said, holding onto her sisters and their innocent. All four women dissolved in sparks of light.
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
A/N. Please review