"Okay, everyone out, unless you all want different power too." Wyatt announced as Peyton stepped next to him beside the book. He waited until the family had left him and Peyton alone. "Okay, kiddo. We just read the spell, and then that's it."

Peyton nodded nervously. Wyatt stopped and pulled her into a hug. "It's going to work out fine, I promise. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Alright then. We have to say the spell together." At Peyton's nod, they started.

'What's mine is yours,

What's yours is mine.

Let our powers

Cross the line.

I offer up

This gift to share.

Switch our powers

Through the air.'

Instantly, white lights rose from each of them, and then settled into the opposite person. Seconds later, two dark lighters appeared.

"Shit! CHRIS!" Wyatt yelled. He raised his palm instinctively to throw an energy ball, but nothing happened. "Pey, quick! Put your hand palm up and focus on an energy ball!"

Peyton did, and a water ball appeared instead. She stared at Wyatt for a second.

"Uhh…that's new, but throw it!" He gasped, grabbing Excalibur to deflect the dark lighter arrows.

"Oh, yeah!" she yelled, throwing the water ball, hitting the nearest dark lighter, as the door swung open and Chris blasted the other one with an elder bolt.

"Whoa. You guys okay?" He asked staring at the wreckage of the attack.

"Yeah. Crap!" Peyton yelled in frustration as she moved her hand and a nearby lamp exploded.

"Wyatt, Chris? What's going on? What was that?" Piper walked in quickly expecting tons of demon ash. She looked at the broken lamp, then at Chris with a suspicious glare. "Chris? How did the lamp break?"

"What? How come I get accused of everything?" he asked in a fake-defensive tone.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you were the one who went through the manor, room by room, practicing elder bolts on any furniture you thought was ugly."

"Mom, give it up, already. I was seven years old!"

"Yeah, Piper, at least he was a kid. When you blew up Paige's red chair, you were an adult who'd already mastered your power. So what's your excuse?" Phoebe asked with a grin.

"I don't need an excuse. I'm the oldest." Piper answered primly, and then ruined the snotty tone with a huge grin. "But seriously, what happened to my lamp?"

"I blew it up. At least, I think I did. Sorry, Aunt Piper." Peyton said miserably.

"Oh, sweetie, its okay. You're just learning."

"Thanks, Aunt…Aah!" she screamed at Chris shot a low voltage energy ball at her. She threw up an arm, not sure what power she was calling on, just hoping something worked. It didn't and the energy ball stung her shoulder.

"Ow! Chris, I can't believe you did that! That hurt!" Peyton huffed, bringing up a hand to cup her stinging shoulder. Instead, she TK'd Wyatt into the wall. "Damn it! That's it! Wyatt, give me back my powers. I don't like yours!"

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Peyton, you've barely even tried. Let Chris and I explain it."

"No! I don't like this. I want to switch back." Suddenly, she gasped, and whirled on Chris. "You take that back! I am not a drama queen!"

Chris' jaw dropped slightly. "You heard that?" he asked incredulously. He turned to Wyatt, who was still on the floor. "Did you hear me?"

Wyatt nodded. "Must be the link between us was stretched to include her when we swapped powers."

"Yeah, so no more snotty comments, you jerk!" Peyton added hotly, still stung by the accusation.

"Pey, I wouldn't make any comment at all if you'd just try, and not be such a spoiled brat. Just work with me, okay?"

"Easy for you to say. I'm not the one slinging energy balls at you!"

"I just wanted to see what your instincts were. And it's a good thing I did. Pey, when you've got as many powers as we do, you have to focus on what power you're going to use. Otherwise, nothing will happen. And as far as slinging energy balls, I want you to throw them at me. But you have to learn how first. So, are you ready to try? Or do you just want to let Phy take her chances and swap back with Wyatt?"

Peyton's chin fell. For a few minutes, she'd forgotten about Phyra. "Okay, let's try. But is there someplace else that we don't have to worry about blasting all of Aunt Piper's furniture?"

Chris grinned. "Yeah, come on, Pey. I'm going to bring you 'Up There'. You won't be able to hurt anything except a few clouds." He turned to Wyatt. "Can you get all of the potion stuff together, and also the stuff for the GPS spell? Us, call for me, and we'll orb down. Are you still getting the heat blasts from Phy?"

"Yeah, must be her connection to us is magical as much as spiritual. But, yeah, I just got one."

"Okay, me too. If they stop, call for me immediately. I'm not sure if her blasts will reach Up There or not. If she stops, it means we need to get to her pronto. "At Wyatt's nod of agreement, Chris grabbed Peyton's hand and orbed out.

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"Pey, concentrate! Just focus on freezing the ball before it hits you."

"Ugh! Chris, we've been doing this forever! I'm never going to get this!"

Chris felt his temper snap. "Fine. Then we'll orb home and you can tell Aunt Paige that your sister is going to die. Not because you can't do it, but because it's hard."

Peyton knew tears had formed, but refused to cry. "Phyra can't die, Chris."

"Then what are you going to do about it?" Chris' voice was firm, with an edge. He didn't let the truth of his emotions show. In reality, he didn't blame her for feeling overwhelmed and scared. In any other circumstances, he'd give Peyton all the time she asked for, but time was the one thing they didn't have enough of.

Peyton sighed. "All right, throw the ball again."

Chris grinned and gently TK'd the soft ball at her. She blew out a steady breath then threw her hands up like she'd seen Piper, Wyatt and Chris all do thousands of times. When she failed again, she immediately repeated it, this time forcefully adding the word, "Stop!"

She jumped in her place and twirled in a little circle. "I did it Chris! Look, I froze it!"

"Great job! Okay, sweetheart. Now focus and send it as hard as you can back at me using the TK."

Peyton nodded and took a deep breath. She waved her right arm in a quick, sharp movement. The ball sailed back to Chris quickly.

"Whoa! Good arm. You're not so bad at this when you really try."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... okay, so let's try energy balls, ok? When I did it at the manor, it turned into a water ball."

"Well, actually, hon, that makes sense. You've had a oneness with water. It's a part of your spiritual base. Was the water ball as powerful as Wy's energy balls?"

"Yeah, I think so. They toasted that dark lighter anyway."

Chris considered that for a minute. "Well, I guess we'll go with a water ball defense then. Use what works, right? So, hit me with one. We'll test the water ball and the healing in one shot."

"But…but what if it kills you? I can't heal you if you croak, Chris. Not even Wyatt could."

Chris laughed at the look on her face. "I won't croak, Pey. Just aim for my leg or something."

"Alright. But if you do croak, I'm gonna make Wy show me that spell he taught Phy to show a memory. That way Aunt Piper can't kill me!"

"Mom wouldn't ever hurt you Pey."

"Hah! She made us go to school with hooves for feet. Trust me that was painful."

"Oh, quit whining. It was Magic School, and you and Patience had completely trashed the attic trying to conjure a pony. Now, quit stalling. Throw the water ball."

Peyton wrinkled her nose at Chris, then flipped her hand palm up and focused on a water ball. One formed, and she hurled it at Chris as hard as she could. She screamed as she noticed her aim was way off and it was inches from Chris' face. With a quick motion of her hands, the ball froze in the air. With another slow flick of her fingers, she moved the water ball until it was directly in front of his kneecap. With a final motion, she unfroze the ball, and it connected with a hissing sound on Chris' knee.

Chris sucked in a quick, pain-filled gasp. "Pey…"

"Coming!" She orbed to him, laying her palms over Chris' bleeding knee. She started to grin proudly as the familiar healing glow enveloped his knee.

"Awesome, Pey! That was perfect! You even added a couple of unexpected powers when things didn't as planned. That was great! Wy couldn't have done better."

Peyton snorted. "Don't go crazy, Chris. Wy's aim wouldn't have been so far off to start with."

"True, but that was more to do with that fact that he was drafted for the Major Leagues in pitching than it does with magic."

Peyton turned thoughtful. "Can we take a five minute break, Chris?"

"Yeah, but no more. We've still got a lot of work to do."

"Okay." Peyton grabbed a nearby bottle of water and took a long drink. "Hey, Chris?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Wy regrets not going to play pro ball?"

"He regrets having the choice taken away from him by something he couldn't control. No one could have predicted that he'd break his elbow in a car wreck."

"I never understood why Uncle Leo didn't just heal it."

"Because the police and the ER doctors had already seen the break. If we'd healed it then, people would have been suspicious. Besides, Mom doesn't really like the use of magic for magic's sake."

"Yeah, I know, but it was Wyatt's dream on the line."

Chris smiled. "Not really, hon. He was good at it, and it would have been an amazing opportunity for him to bring a lot of money to the family. But it was never his passion. Wy's passion is and always has been magic and taking care of the family. He loves being a witch and he adores Abby. His real dream was and still is to have a family of his own, and to be able to stop bad stuff from happening. Wyatt's happy, Pey. What brought this up, anyway?"

Peyton shrugged. "Just…he said a bunch of stuff about how it sucked to be magical. I guess I was just wondering if he…or you…ever wanted to be normal."

"We're not normal, Pey. We're witches- Halliwell witches, at that. Sure, it sucks sometimes, like now with what's going on with Phy, but on the other hand, we have the ability to go anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye. We can speak to and feel our loved ones even after they pass away. We can go back in time, and rewrite history. And we get to kick evil's ass every day. When you think about it, it beats any normal 9-5 shift any day."

"Yeah, at least our lives aren't boring, I guess."

"There is that." Chris stood up. "Okay, break's over. Let's get back to work."

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"Cole, where'd you put that Murdock root? Pey's gonna need it, and I want everything together."

"Wyatt, don't have a stroke. Relax its right behind you."

Wyatt turned and flushed a little. "Oh. Sorry."

Cole chuckled. "Getting anxious?"

"I just…want everything to be normal again."

"You mean you having your powers, and having Phyra back home?"

"Yeah. Losing both at the same time makes me feel…"

"Like you're naked in church?"

Wyatt snorted. "Something like that I guess."

"It's not like you're powerless, you know." Cole pointed out dryly.

"No, I know, but I'm use dot controlling all of the strong powers at once. Right now, I've only got one. I can't use it even."

"What do you mean, you can't use it? What's wrong?" Alarm flared in Cole's voice.

"Calm down. Nothing is wrong. I just…forgot to ask Pey how she uses her power." A dull red coloring crept up Wyatt's neck as he fought embarrassment.

"Don't you know?" Cole asked incredulously.

"Of course not! What, you think just cause I'm Twice Blessed, that I'm an all-knowing Super Witch? I don't know how to control other people's powers, only my own!"

"Great. Just great. So, basically, we've got me for protection of the entire family. Wonderful."

"Hey! Mom and the Aunts are here. They might be getting older, but they're still the Charmed Ones."

"True, but Paige's emotions are all over the place. Who knows if her powers are going to be 'on' or not? Then there's Jax, who's in the same boat as Paige. None of the girls have a strong defensive power other than Pey and Phy, and we obviously can't use their powers. Chris and Leo are both 'Up There'. That leaves just me. Peyton did get her healing power already, right? Chances are you're going to need to use it."

"Quit bitching, Cole. Besides, I'm not exactly helpless even without Pey's power. I've still got Excalibur you know."

Cole paused in his tirade. "Yeah, how'd that happen anyway?"

"I think it's become an extension of me, my essence that is. Pey and I switched power, not bodies. It makes sense that out personalities and destinies stay where our souls are. And since Excalibur is my destiny…" His voice trailed off, leaving Cole to draw his own conclusions.

Sole was silent for a few minutes. "Can you still feel Phyra?"

Wyatt grinned. "Yeah, the blasts are getting hotter and more painful. I think she's pissed we aren't there yet."

"She does have a fiery little temper, huh?

"Nah. Fiery big temper." Wyatt chuckled. "Course, I guess all of us Halliwell's do on occasion."

"Wyatt! Behind you!" Cole yelled, seeing a duo of demons flame in. Wyatt whirled, settling into a crouched fight stance. One demon grinned widely, as he held an energy call in his palm threateningly.

"Stop!" the demon yelled, as he saw Cole's own energy ball waiting. "We have a message for the Thrice Blessed Witch."

"He's not here. Give me your message." Wyatt demanded in a growl.

"No! We have orders. Only Christopher...the murderous Thrice Blessed bastard." The skinny pointy faced female demon growled angrily.

"Hey! If you're going to swear about my brother, at least use the correct vocabulary! My parents were married when Chris was born. He's no bastard." Wyatt laughingly corrected the irate demon.

"Get him now, or we'll fry you, witch." The cocky demon called up a large fire ball.

"Extinguish those weapons, or Excalibur will take your heads as trophies." Wyatt growled menacingly, all laughter gone from his voice.

The anger in Wyatt's voice echoed through the attic. The original demon held back the second. "Get Christopher. Now." The demon held up a hand to prevent Wyatt from interrupting. "Listen to me. I am a messenger. My…boss has something you want returned. I have the authority to guarantee isn't safe return, but I can only speak to Christopher."

Wyatt held the demon's gaze steadily. "CHRIS!" He looked back at the demon. "You had better be for real." His voice was calm and cold as he issued the threat.

The demon looked up as orbs sounded. "I can assure you, no one will be harmed. Yet."