Chapter Seven

"Phoebe, what do you think you're doing?"

Piper's shrill voice rang out through the living room. Phoebe was sitting at the coffee table, looking through the Book. Her hands crept over the pages as her eyes wandered carefully over its contents. Cole was sat beside her, bent over the book to offer his advice. But so far, it had been hopeless; there had been nothing of his robed visitor in the Book of Shadows. Paige was in the kitchen with Leo, making coffee. That just left Piper to pace around the living room ranting as she went.

Phoebe sighed, and leant back into the sofa. She rested her head against the top rim and closed her eyes.

"Piper, I have to fix this," she said, not opening her eyes. "You heard what Leo said. Our destinies are at risk."

"Phoebe, our destinies are always at risk. And it isn't your job to fix them; look what happened the last time somebody tried to do that!"

She pointed to Cole, and then realised that Phoebe couldn't see. So instead, she walked over and jabbed him in the arm.

"Ow!" he said, giving her a sharp look. She cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. Her expression very easily said, If you've got a problem, take it up with my hands.

Phoebe looked up from her restful position on the couch.

"I need to do something. I can't just sit around and wait."

Cole, surprisingly, sided with Piper, despite her momentary attack on him. He supposed he was still suffering the lingering effects of the truth potion.

"Your sister's right, Phoebe. As much as I want to know what's going on, this isn't the time for personal vendettas."

"Thank you…" Piper said slowly, eyeing Cole with suspicion. She was still half expecting him to get up and start hurling fireballs at them.

Phoebe snorted at the complete irony of the situation. Two years of wondering what it would be like to see him again, of wondering how it would feel to be in his arms, to feel him on her side again, and he sided with Piper.

"Unbelievable," she said quietly She then sat up, avoiding Cole's look. If he didn't want to help her, that was fine. She didn't need him. Phoebe arose from the couch, scooping up the Book as she went. She felt an odd, warm glow from her fingertips, but ignored it.

"If none of you will help me, I'll do it myself," she stated bitterly.

This was the last straw. Piper marched around the table, over to Phoebe, and blocked her exit from the sitting room.

"I've had enough," she snapped, snatching the book away from Phoebe and dropping it onto the table. Cole, who even without his demonic powers could sense a fight, stood up awkwardly. "You can't run around like Paige and I are here to do your bidding, Phoebe. I've had it up to here," Piper signalled to her throat, "with your attitude. You know I love you, but this has got to stop!"

Phoebe's eyes narrowed, and she pushed herself past her eldest sister. She didn't have to listen to this.

"Hey!" Piper protested sharply. She reached out a rough hand to catch Phoebe by the arm.

"Get off me!" Phoebe yelled, and swung around to glare at her sister. Her voice was loud, and strong, and hateful. She yanked her arm out of Piper's reach, and lowered her voice to a deadly hush. "Don't you dare touch me again."

"Phoebe..."

"NO!" she screamed, avoiding Piper's grasp for a second time. She stood, panting heavily, as though she had just finished running a marathon. Glitters of sweat were appearing on her forehead, and she was shaking terribly. But it was her eyes that Piper was worriedly looking at. Where there had been cool, calm green, there was now an electrifying bright blue, as if someone had taken slices of a summer sky and put them in Phoebe's eyes. And then, suddenly, her eyes literally flashed a very thick, deep black.

"Phoebe..." Piper repeated, her voice broken and full of worry. Cole, who up until now had been averting his gaze, glanced over at the pair. The expression on his face transformed from mild annoyance to a look of pure fear. He rushed over to Phoebe and stood in front of her; taking her by the arms he shook her, hard.

"What are you doing?" Piper cried, too upset by the sight of Phoebe to really know what was going on. But Cole couldn't hear her. All he knew, all he felt, all he thought, was Phoebe. He had to save her. No, he thought violently, shaking her still. I've been through too much to lose you again.

"Don't give in," he pleaded, his voice no more than a growl. "Phoebe, don't let it take you."

He shook her again, desperately trying to release her from her darkened state. For a brief second, her eyes cleared, and she looked up into his face.

"Help me," she begged. And then, her eyes clouded over for a final time, and she dissolved out of Cole's grip.


Paige rushed into the living room just as Cole let out a loud cry of dismay. He threw his arms up, and swore so badly that Piper had to hush him. She was too upset to do anything other than show her feelings with anger.

"Why didn't she tell us!" she exclaimed, sitting down on the sofa and putting her head in her hands.

"What's going on?" Paige asked, cup of coffee in hand. Then, seeing Piper's condition, adopted a more serious and worried tone in her voice. "Piper, what's happened?"

"I don't know," she cried from behind her hands.

Cole frowned, and blinked back the overwhelming urge to punch something.

"I do," he said grimly. All eyes turned to him. "Or at the very least, I can guess."

Leo paced in, and from one look around the room, already guessed that something bad had happened. Piper was collapsed into a chair. Cole was leaning heavily against the woodwork frame next to the grandfather clock, shaking his head. Paige had put her mug on the table, and was barely moving.

"Where's Phoebe?" Leo asked, noticing the missing. Piper shot him a look.

"If I know anything about demons, she's probably in the Underworld," Cole sighed. Leo did a double a take.

"What? Are you serious?"

"No, Leo, he made it up to tease you," Piper snapped sarcastically. When Prue had died, she had made a promise to herself that she would protect her younger sisters. And she had failed. Phoebe had been possessed - or something - and was God knows where in the Underworld. But something was still nagging at Piper's heart. There was something going on that was far too much to be a coincidence. If everything happened for a reason, what was the reason behind this? She suddenly had a thought. Maybe the Book could help them. She picked it up from the coffee table and started to search.

Leo came over and sat next to her, putting a comforting hand on her back. Pipe didn't stop looking, but she was glad that he was there. He could always keep a level head in desperate situations, and she loved him all the more for it.

"But what happened?"

Paige's eyes were darting around the room, from the sombre figure by the wall to the couple on the sofa. Piper, who was fighting urges to go down into the Underworld and start blowing everything that wasn't vaguely 'Phoebe shaped' into a mass of oblivion, kept quiet. So it was Cole who answered Paige's question.

"She was taken by evil," he said simply, not knowing a better way to phrase it.

"What?" Paige asked, appalled. "How did this happen?"

There was a long, stretched silence. Nobody knew.

"Well?" Paige pushed.

"Not helping, Paige!" Piper half shouted, not looking up. Her eyes were scanning the book desperately, and she didn't have time to deal with unanswerable questions.

"We can fix this, right?"

Paige's voice was tinted with worry, and shook with fear. This had to be connected with Cole's return. Too much pointed to him.

"All right, buster," she said severely, starting towards Cole. "What the hell have you done with her this time?"

He looked up, shocked.

"I didn't do anything," he growled slowly.

"Yeah, well, I don't believe you," Paige replied, coming to a halt just in front of him. "You turn up, and suddenly our sister's poofed off the to the Underworld, evil and all. You must have done something. This is another ploy to get Phoebe back. Make her evil, so she'll just - "

"Paige," Piper interrupted, standing up. Leo followed suit. "It wasn't Cole."

The youngest looked around, shaking her head.

"Yeah, and how do you know that?"

"Because she's been acting strange ever since Drake died. Whatever was in her to make her evil has been there for a while. And though I don't know how it got there, I do know that it probably wasn't anything to do with Cole."

"Yes, 'probably', Piper. We've assumed too much good about this guy to let him get away with this."

"Hey!" Cole protested, unable to help the defence in his voice. "I told you, I'm not a demon anymore. I'll be the first to admit it wouldn't have been beneath me to turn Phoebe evil in the past, but things have changed. I'm not evil anymore."

Paige swivelled back to Cole, determined not to let him win. He had to know something else. She could read it in his face.

"Yes, but - "

"No, Paige," Piper interrupted, for a second time. She laid a gentle hand on her sister's shoulder. "I know you need someone to blame, Paige. But right now, we don't have anyone. Cole's a mortal - an innocent."

"And he's not the source of our problems," Leo added. "It was probably him being here that sent Phoebe over the edge, but that doesn't mean it's his fault. Right now, we need to work together."

Paige looked from Cole to Piper and Leo. She wasn't going to win.

"All right," she backed off. But she wouldn't forget what she had said. And she was going to prove it eventually. He had been practically insane with power last time they had met, and Paige supposed that two years in a spiritual 'void' could not have helped at all. "I'm going to try scrying," she offered, and trotted up the stairs.

When Paige was out of earshot, Piper turned back to Cole.

"You should know, I love my sisters very dearly. If Paige is right, I will blow your sorry ass to kingdom come. Got it?"

"How many times do I have to explain that I'm not evil anymore?" Cole said, putting his face just inches away from Piper's. His tone was almost threatening. She cocked her head sharply, and then walked away. There wasn't an answer she could give that wouldn't have offended him, so she thought it better to keep quiet.

"Shall I go and check with the Elders?" Leo asked cautiously, avoiding looking at Cole. Piper looked up to him.

"I forget you can orb now..."

He looked at her expectantly.

"Fine, you may as well," she sighed. Leo didn't need telling twice, and was out of the manor in seconds. There was a part of Piper that was pleased he had his powers back. He could orb, and heal, and had so far not been given any other charges. But she was slightly disgruntled at how happy Leo seemed to be it, and she still couldn't understand why.

"What about me?" Cole asked, interrupting her thoughts. Piper cast a glance down the coffee table.

"Your robed man," she began, motioning towards the Book of Shadows. "You think he's in there?"

Cole shrugged, and put his hands in his pockets.

"Could be. But he's good. Why would he be in the Book?"

"He only told you he was good. Demons lie, you know," Piper said, giving him a very poignant look. Cole frowned, but other than that, ignored what she was implying.

"Can we put the past behind us? At least for now?"

Piper sighed loudly, and looked to the floor.

"Help us find Phoebe," was all she said. "After that, then we'll talk."

She turned around and left the sitting room, attempting to keep Paige company. When she was half way up the stairs, she called down to Cole, "Bring the Book up when you've finished looking!"

"I've been back barely an hour, and already I'm their slave," Cole muttered, bending down to pick up the book. The Book slammed itself shut, glowed orange for a moment, then jumped off the coffee table and slid under the couch. Cole groaned.

"Not you as well," he complained, bending down on all fours to search under the couch. He stretched his hand out, but the Book slid further out of his reach. "It's hard enough convincing the sisters that I'm good. Let alone the source of their powers."

He got up, and made his way around to the other side of the sofa. Crouching down beside the book, he put out a timid hand. Cole quelled the temptation to snatch at the book, but instead very gently reached out to it. Just a few more centimetres...

It shot across the floor into walkway by the kitchen. Cole let out a cry of frustration, and stood up to his feet. This didn't make sense. He assumed that the book could sense the old part of him, the part that had been with him for over a centuary, and that no amount of magic could probably really get rid of. But it wasn't in him anymore. It was his past. And he was beginning to wonder if he would ever stop being blamed for it.

A shuffle at the top of the stairs alerted him to a presence.

"Oh, hello Paige," he said turning around. She didn't move.

"Piper told me to see how you were doing with the book..." she said slowly, daring to descend down the stairs by a step. Cole made an apprehensive glance towards the Book of Shadows, now lying peacefully in the foyer.

"I, er..." Cole stumbled, not sure how much Paige had seen. She already didn't trust him. To know that the book didn't either would only add to his difficulty.

"Are coping just fine?" Paige offered, walking slowly down the rest of the stairs. She didn't take her eyes off Cole. Oh God, he thought, trying to hide his nervousness with a smile. She's seen the book's reaction. She walked past him, into the lobby, and bent down for the Book. It sprung across the floor and under a chair in the patio.

"Woah!" Paige shouted, falling backwards. She was stunned.

"Aha!" Cole exclaimed, only a little joy in his voice that he was not evil. But then he realised what had happened, and the significance of what it meant. He rushed over and offered Paige a hand up. She looked up at him for a moment, frowned, and then took his hand.

"What the hell was that?" she said, casting a dark look across to the Book.

"I don't know. But if it's avoiding you as well, it means you can trust me."

She looked at him sharply.

"For now," she replied.

"Oh don't give me that, Paige," Cole uttered, finding it difficult not to lose his patience. She was like a persistent child. "I'm just as confused as you are. Don't look at me like you expect me to blurt out the answer. I don't know. I don't know!"

His voice was a strained yell at the last bit. Paige backed off slightly, but narrowed her eyes. Had he done something to the book?

Cole read her expression like a picture book. He shook his head in frustration.

"I know you don't trust me. I'm not saying I haven't given you reasons to, either. But right now, Phoebe's been taken by evil. I'm stuck in a world I should have left behind. The Book of Shadows doesn't trust either of us. And still, nobody has the answer."

Footsteps thudded down the stairs. The disarrayed figure of Piper stood in the doorway.

"What the hell's going on down here?" she demanded, glancing from the standoffish Paige to the angered Cole. "Where's the book?"

Paige jerked her head towards the chair it was hidden under.

"It jumped away from me when I tried to pick it up."

"What...?" Piper asked, her voice less hard. "How could that be?"

"I don't know," Paige replied sweetly, keeping her eyes on the floor. "Maybe someone tampered with it."

Cole rolled his eyes.

"For the love of God..."

"Oi!" Piper barked, waving a finger. "I'll have no more fighting from either of you. Paige, fetch the book."

She rolled her eyes, but did as was commanded. Paige walked into the patio, with Piper and Cole closely in tow. She bent down and reached under the seat for the book. It shuffled out of her reach.

"Piper," she said worriedly. "I'm serious. It won't let me touch it."

"Here, let me."

Piper stepped forward, and pulled the chair away. There, in the corner, sat the book, with three bodies looking tensely at it. She leant down to get it. It glowed a fierce, fiery-red colour, and flew up to the window. There was a devastating crash as it burst through the doors and out onto the lawn, its spine and pages bedraggled.

"Oh no..." Piper said in a hushed tone. "That's not good."

"Got any more bright ideas?" Paige muttered.

"If you guys can't touch the Book, does that mean it's evil?" Cole suggested. Piper rounded on him, a fiery glint in her eye.

"No it does not!" she cried. "Leo!"

There was silence. The three looked at each other.

"Leo!" Piper shouted again, with more force.

Nothing.

"I bet he can hear me," she said irritably. Paige and Cole exchanged a worried look. For once, they agreed on the same decision.

"LEO!"

Again, their call was answered with silence. Something was wrong. Piper knew it. She could feel something foreboding wrapping itself around her heart. Paige and Cole both came to the same conclusion at once; but it was Cole who voiced the fear lurking in everyone's hearts.

"Piper, I don't think he's coming back."