Thanks so much for the fantastic response, everyone! I just hope you'll still feel the same way after this one! I'll explain why I'm doing it the way I'm doing it next time; I just don't want to spoil it this time.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Once they took the Paige Express back to the Manor, Phoebe set the Book of Shadows down while Piper and Grams passed out bottles of potion. Piper looked determined. "Now all we need to do is find Billie and Christy."

"You don't have to look far," and Billie Jenkins stepped cautiously into the room. "Can we talk?"

Piper growled and started to throw her vial, but Phoebe grabbed her arm. "I want to hear her out."

"Please let me talk," Billie begged.

Grams nodded. Piper crossed her arms, still clutching her vials of potion, her face closed and cold. "Start talking. Make it snappy."

"Oh, you guys!" Billie wailed. "I'm so very sorry for everything I did! But I was so very glad to have Christy back that I never dreamed we were being manipulated!"

Both Paige and Phoebe sighed in sympathy, but Piper remained unmoved. "And how do we know that this isn't a trap?"

Billie hung her head. "You don't, but it isn't! I swear it! You gotta believe me! Christy always talked about her friends, but she never said who they were. She finally did. It's the Triad! I never dreamed that the ones who kidnapped her are the ones she called her friends! I remember reading about them in the Book of Shadows. They're bad! Real bad! Servants of the Source! And even though that Cole guy vanquished them, somehow they came back. They wanted to use our powers to destroy you and destroy us, I'm sure! Once Christy let it slip who they were, I tried to convince her that they're bad news, but she refused to believe me. She really thinks that they're good and what they want is for the best! They've brainwashed her, you guys, they really have! I'm so, so sorry! I should've known better! I really should've! But I was just so very glad to have my sister back!"

Looking at her own sisters, remembering the way she felt when she thought they were dead, Paige understood.

Piper and Phoebe didn't. "Where's Christy now?" Phoebe demanded, still clutching her own vials of potion.

"Probably still at Magic School, looking for a better way to kill you guys, her and Dumain both."

"Who's Dumain?" Piper asked.

"A demon who will stop at nothing. He's the one who wanted to use our powers to bring the Triad back for good. He pretended to be our invisible friend when we were kids and told Christy that the Triad were her friends. That's why Christy trusts him and trusted the Triad."

"Mom! Mom! We're back!"

At the sound of Melinda's voice, they all walked back into the conservatory to find Piper's three future children waiting, along with Coop.

Phoebe looked around for Patty. "Where's Mom?" she asked.

"She stayed behind with Grandpa," Wyatt told them, a sparkle of humor in his eyes. "They wanted to talk."

Phoebe and Paige had noticed that sparkle and exchanged glances. "So what was that reunion like?" Paige wanted to know.

Now Melinda burst out laughing. "Grandmother Patty jumped him! Oh, was Grandpa surprised!" and now Coop nodded, his eyes twinkling, as he, Phoebe and Paige joined the laughter, while Chris and Piper both rolled their eyes at all of them.

"Later! All of you!" Piper barked. She turned on Wyatt. "Did you find out when you lost your powers?"

Wyatt sobered up and nodded.

Chris told them. "Grandpa told us that someone took little Wyatt before five yesterday. And Wyatt didn't come back. Little Chris," and he stood a bit taller as he realized the only thing he'd done with his own powers was save his brother. "I orbed out and brought him back."

Melinda nodded. "Grandpa also told us that Wyatt used his powers to cheat at cards just a short time before that."

Piper rolled her eyes at the card-cheating, but nodded. "That must've been when you lost your powers, Wyatt."

"Who took him?" Phoebe asked.

"It was Dumain," Billie quietly told them.

Piper's eyes blazed. "Why did Dumain take my son?"

Billie ducked her head in shame, but admitted it. "He had to. We needed his powers in order to summon the Hollow."

"Is that when you took his powers?" Paige asked.

"We had no choice!" Billie tried to defend herself and her sister, but it was too late.