J. B. Tilton/Page 8
THIRTEEN
Paige sat up and looked around. She appeared to be unhurt. She looked around and Piper and Phoebe were also just sitting up looking around. They all noticed immediately that they were lying on the kitchen floor in the manor.
"Are you three okay?" asked Leo, rushing over to them.
A scorched mark still smoldered on the front of his shirt. The girls could see through the hole in his shirt that he was uninjured. His White Lighter powers had healed any damage the fireball had given him.
"Yeah, I think so," Piper said as Leo helped her to her feet.
"What happened?" Leo asked as they all took seats at the table. "You vanished into that vortex the demon created."
"I think we vanquished it," Paige said. "Although it's hard to be sure. One minute we were casting the spell and the next minute we're back here."
"Cast the spell?" Leo questioned. "You haven't been gone long enough to cast a spell."
"Leo," Phoebe said, "we must have been on the Enterprise for more than a day."
'What are you talking about?" Leo asked. "You only disappeared here a few seconds ago."
"Time travel gives me a headache," Piper said, rubbing her temples.
"Time travel?" questioned Leo. "Okay, just what happened to the three of you?"
Quietly, Piper and her sisters explained to Leo about their trip into the future. Leo sat listening with his brow furrowed as he usually did when the girls explained something to him. When they finished, he just stared at them.
"That's quite a story," he said finally. "And you say I didn't answer when you called me?"
"Nope," Paige said. "Maybe because we were sixty some odd light years from Earth."
"It doesn't work that way," Leo said. "I should have been able to hear you no matter where you were. Unless you were in the underworld."
"Or if we weren't your charges any more," Phoebe said. "Remember, it was one hundred fifty years in the future. For all you and the Elders knew, we were dead."
"That makes sense," Leo said. "But I don't understand how you got back. You didn't cast a time travel spell. How did you get back here?"
"Maybe that transporter thing had something to do with it," Phoebe offered. "They were trying to beam it into space or something. Maybe it reacted with our spell pulling us back."
"That might explain it," Leo said. "Anyway, I'm glad you three are all right. When I saw you disappear into the vortex, I was afraid I had lost you."
"Everything is fine now," Piper said hugging her husband. "The demon is vanquished and we're home safe and sound."
"I just wonder if this Klang will send another demon after us," Phoebe said. "From what that T'Pol said, he's not likely to give up very easily."
"Well, if he does," Paige said, "we still have the spell. Next time we'll know what kind of demon we're fighting. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go to my room for a minute."
"Tired?" Piper asked.
"Sort of," Paige said. "But that's not why I want to go there. I had taken the triquetra off of Kitt's collar. I had planned to keep it as sort of a memento but didn't think the collar was of any use so I threw it in the trash. I'm thinking I'd better put the triquetra back on the collar."
Piper and Phoebe just smiled as Paige went to her room to retrieve the small leather strap.
EPILOGUE
"Captain," T'Pol said, stepping into Archer's ready room. "We have performed a thorough search of the ship. There are no signs of the Klingon or our guests."
"Thanks, T'Pol," Archer said absentmindedly. "Did your search of the data base reveal any information on the Klingon?"
"According to Klingon legend," T'Pol said, "it was considered a demon centuries ago. It was called an honor demon. Normally someone who was suffering disgrace by the dishonor of another family member summoned it. This 'demon' would then remove that dishonor thereby restoring the honor of the person who summoned it."
"Another family member?" Archer questioned. "That doesn't sound like something Klang would do."
"Probably not," T'Pol said. "It is more likely that one of Klangs relatives would have summoned the demon to restore his honor. Of course, that is all superstition. Not even the Klingons subscribe to such ideas today."
"Of course," Archer said. "It's just interesting that so many pieces of this puzzle seem to fit together even if they are scientific nonsense."
"I was curious," T'Pol said. "What will your report to Star Fleet Command be?"
"I've been thinking about that myself," Archer said. "Frankly, I'm not sure how to make a report about this. If I report that one of my ancestors came from the past to stop a demon, they may reconsider the command structure of the Enterprise."
"That would be a logical assumption," T'Pol said.
"You don't believe it, do you, Sub-Commander?" Archer asked.
"That three witches came from the past to combat a demon?" questioned T'Pol. "No, sir, I don't. As I have stated on many occasions, time travel is not possible. And there is no empirical evidence to support the contention of the existence of demons.
"I do not believe the three women were a threat to the ship, however. Their actions would suggest some sort of rivalry between them and this so-called demon. Perhaps we simply stumbled into the middle of some sort of conflict between these two factions."
"Factions?" questioned Archer.
"This part of the galaxy is largely unexplored," T'Pol said. "Theoretically, it is possible that some form of life exists here that is dissimilar to humanoid life. Perhaps a form of life that we have yet to encounter."
"So your saying," said Archer, "that they took on the appearance of the women and the Klingon to continue their fight?"
"I suppose," said T'Pol, "it is possible that their form is different from our own. Perhaps entities of energy with the ability to change their form. It would account for the powers they seemed to possess. Certainly a more logical conclusion than witches and demons."
"Thank you, T'Pol," Archer said.
"I do not understand, Captain," T'Pol said.
"You've just helped me with my report to Star Fleet Command," Archer said. "Unknown alien life forms with unexplained abilities. That will certainly sit better with Admiral Forrest and Star Fleet Command than witches, demons, and time travel."
"I'm glad to have been of assistance," T'Pol responded.
As T'Pol returned to her duty station on the bridge, Archer thought about his report to Star Fleet Command. It would be all nice and scientific. But, personally, he wasn't so sure it was the right explanation.
He turned back to his computer and thought about some of the oral traditions that had been handed down through the generations of his family. One in particular struck him as too coincidental. How his ancestor, Paige Matthews, had one day suddenly decided not to throw away the old, worn out, ratty collar the cat had worn. A decision she had made after a short trip to the future while fighting a demon.
The End
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