Piper's POV.
Chapter 6 - A Legacy We Never Knew
When I woke, I thought it was morning, but the room was still dark, and I could hear the heavy breathing that told me everyone else was still sleeping.
Great. I'm pretty much alone in this old big house.
"Prue?" I called. Nothing. "Phoebe? Paige?"
They didn't answer, but I heard a faint banging noise ... From upstairs, I think.
"Prue?" I said again, but this time, when she didn't answer, I got up. Time to explore my new house.
"Hello?" I called when I reached the top landing. "Is someone up here?" It had been to dark downstairs to see if all of the others were still down there. Maybe one of them had gotten lost on the way to the bathroom?
But the only sound was the gently banging noise.
The bedrooms and bathroom were all empty, but as I left the room I've just decided is mine, I cuaght sight of another flight of stairs. Were they even there before? Causiously, I moved to the bottom of the stairs, and listened, as another bang reached my ears.
"Hello?" I climped to the second step, and tried to see what was at the top. A door. That's what's making the noise - It's banging again the frame. There must be a draught. Strange.
I looked arouund for an open window, but there wasn't one.
I wonder what's up there ...
Slowly I climbed to the top, and stepped through the door. A large dusty room stretched before me. This must go over the entire house. Wow. It's filled with stuff - old boxes, trunks, a couple of sofas and a bed. Generations of stuff ...
Right at the end, by the big stained glass windows, a shaft of moonlight is filtering through, illuminating a big trunk. Weird. Everything else is pretty much tucked away round the edges, but this isn't ... Curiosity got the better of me and I walked over to it. It wasn't locked, and the lid, though heavy, lifted easily. Loads of things are cramed into it, candles and little bottles and bags, but what cuaght my eyes was the big book. I mean, it really has to be the biggest book I've ever seen. Lifting it was hard, it's about the same weight as a box of bricks. Sitting down on the floor, in order not to drop the book, I opened it to the first page.
"The Book Of Shadows?" Sounds weird. Is it some horror book?
The next page has a ... poem or something on it. It doesn't make much sense though.
"Hear the words of the witches, the secrets we hid in the night." I should stop. This is bad, this sounds bad. But I can't ... "The Oldest of Gods are invoked her, the great work of magic is sought." Magic? What is this? "So in this night, and in this hour, I call upon the anceint power, bring your power to we sisters four, we want the power, give us the power."
Lightening struck and I screamed, dropping the book.
"Piper?" Prue's voice called seconds later. Suddenly scared, I grabbed the book and ran down the stairs.
"IthinkIdidsomethingreallyreallybadbutIdon'tknowwhatshappened!" I cried, when I reached the ground floor.
"What? Slow down." Phoebe siad, and, breathless, I sat heavily on the stairs. Prue sat next to me, and Phoebe and Paige sat on the step below us, looking at me weirdly.
Great. Now they think they're related to a phsyco.
"I heard a noise." I said, deciding to start from the begining. "So I went upstairs. There's another flight of stairs, leading up to an attic. And I found this." I held out the book, and Phoebe took it, opening it interestedly.
"I read that." I said, when she reached the page.
The others skimmed through it, looking confused.
"I don't get it." Paige said.
"You read it aloud?" Phoebe asked. I nodded.
"Then lightening struck, and I guess I was scared. I think I've done something ... really, really bad."
"This isn't bad." Phoebe beamed. "It's great."
"What do you mean?"
"We're witches." She announced, smiling.
"I turned us in to witches?" I muttered faintly.
"No. We already were - it's our birthright." Paige told me. "You just ... unlocked it."
"Our birthright?" Prue repeated.
"Yep. The leagacy we never knew." Phoebe told her. "Look at this. Melinda Warren. One of our anncesters. She was betrated by a warlock, she loved. She cursed him -" This sounds way to weird. Impossably weird. Warlocks? Curses? "But as she burned at the stake she made a prophecy, saying that ... "Each generation of Warren witches would get stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of four sisters."
"What a coincedence." Paige said sarcastically.
"Oh, no. No way." I said quickly. "You don't - you think we are those sisters?"
"You tell me, Piper. You read the spell."
"Oh, no. No, no, no."
"Piper, calm down." Prue told me. "This isn't real. It's just some ... story book."
"Yeah, looks like a story book to me." Phoebe said, her voice dripping with sacrasm as she flipped the pages. "Demons ... warlocks ... spells, potions and curses. Yep. Story book."
"Ok ... so maybe it's just some one's idea of a joke? You know, to freak little kids out?"
"Well we're not little kids and I'm freaked out." I told her.
"This can't be real." Prue stated.
"We'll see." Phoebe smiled.
"What - what exactly are we supposed to do?" I asked "I mean - you know - hyperthetically, if we were witches, what would we have to do?"
Phoebe smiled at me. "Proctect the innocent from evil." She said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"And how would we do that?" Prue asked, half-mocking, half-curious. Uh-oh. I think the two of us are starting to believe ...
"With magic. We get powers." Paige told us.
"Powers? What kind of powers?" I asked interested. Can you blame me?
"A lot of them." Phoebe siad, her eyebrows raised. "Telekenesis and astro-projection, moleculor immobilization and moleculor combustion, premonitions and levitation, telicenetic orbing and ... whitelighter powers." She frowned at the last few words. "Whatever that means. So, can anybody do anything?" She asked brightly.
"Not that I know of." Prue muttered, taking the book and leafing through it.
"But you admit that it's real?" Paige asked quickly.
"No. But I know a way we could prove it ... one way, or the other." She turned the book around to face us, indicating a spell ... to summon the dead.