Chapter Thirty-six

No sooner had the words left Prue's lips than she heard scamperings and rattlings coming from her closet. "Oh my Gods!" she thought. "The Woogeyman's coming! Mother warned me not to touch the Book! She said something bad would happen! He's coming to get me!" Her voice was getting hysterical, and her heart pounded even more at the snickering laughter that came from her closet. "STAY AWAY FROM ME, WOOGEYMAN!" she yelled at the closet even as her trembling fingers turned the pages of the Book frantically, hoping to find something to help Piper and Brendan before the Woogeyman got her.

The Book seemed to want to turn the pages by itself, and Prue sat there with a dumb look on her face as the pages rustled by until coming to a sudden stop. She did not know what divine intervention was helping her, but she was very appreciative of it. The spell the Book lay open to looked like it would be helpful to Piper, if she could only change the right words. She began to read it, weaving a new spell as she spoke:

"Locked in, boxed in, full of fear
Piper's panic grows manic till she can't hear
In need of a reprieve so she can breath
Remove her blindness, please make it leave.
"

She hoped that that would work for Piper and was about to start trying to find something for Brendan when she heard the closet cracking and beings came rolling out of it. She quickly shoved the Book between the mattresses and turned to face her attackers only to find Carl on top of a Goblin, beating him mercilessly. "CARL, WHAT IS GOING ON!" she yelled at him. "I thought they were the Woogeyman!"

"They attacked me!" Carl was going to say more when he was suddenly jumped from behind by two more of the creatures.

Prue reached on her bed and grabbed a pillow as she could not see any other weapons around. She began to hit Goblins with the pillow. She hit them so hard that the pillow busted apart and the feathers went everywhere. She could find no other weapons to fight them with, and as they charged toward her, she slapped her hands out blindly toward them. To her amazement, the Goblins her hands flung out at appeared to be lifted by an invisible force as they were slammed backwards into the wall.

Carl stopped, his fist raised in another punch, to stare up at Prue and the Goblins she'd just knocked out in amazement. "How in the world did you do that!"

"I don't know!" Prue exclaimed. "I merely flung my hands out," she did it again to demonstrate, and three more Goblins flew backwards into the wall, knocking them out cold and allowing them to slide down the wall to join their companions in a heap.

Between Prue and Carl, there soon were no more conscious Goblins. "What is going on with you and the Goblins today, Carl? Why did they jump you?"

"That's what I'd like to know!" Carl returned heatedly, dusting his hands off. "They were in my tunnel when I came across them, and they attacked me! They captured me, but Julian . . . " His eyes shot wide. "Oh no! The children!" He ran back toward the closet.

"The children are in there?" Prue asked him. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Carl persisted as he leapt into the tunnel. "Julian untied me!" he called the explanation back to her and then was out of sight.

Prue ran out of her room. Standing on the top of the landing, she looked down into the living room, hoping to see the children. When she could see no one, she walked down to the living room, but still there appeared to be no one around. Maybe Carl was right? Maybe they were still in the tunnel? she thought.

She had to get help. Where best to go? Who to get? Carl was the only one small enough to go in the tunnels. She'd have to wait till she heard from him again.


Piper had been sitting quietly, only partially listening to the conversation going on around her, when the darkness that surrounded her was pierced by tiny particles of light. She'd frowned in confusion and was about to ask what was happening when a yipping dog and a yowling cat had raced into the room. She'd recognized Kit's voice immediately, but even as she went to call out to her family cat, Kit sprang into the air.

Growls and yells rang through the room, and Piper felt Kit jump onto her. She tried to reach out to her to still her, but Kit had left her lap as abruptly as she'd arrived there, jumping off of her with such force that Piper felt herself falling. She screeched even as Chong's and Lorne's voices raised. She could hear a clattering of pots and pans and exclamations of "ouch"es even as her hands flung outwards and her chair was caught from behind.

It was then that Piper's vision returned, and she found herself looking up at Cole's worried face. He was not moving, however, and everything had grown eerily quiet. "Cole?" she asked. "Cole!" she repeated, her voice growing panicky. She waved a hand in front of him, but he did not even so much as blink. "What's going on!" Piper demanded, trying to calm her rapidly increasing fear.

When she received no answer, Piper began to look around the kitchen. Gonk and Kit appeared frozen in mid-run, Gonk's gnashing mouth a mere inch from Kit's tail, but Cindy was just behind the poodle and the lioness' paw was still raised to swat him. Chong and Lorne were by the oven, each holding their hands. Crystal was beside Lorne, her hands hanging in mid-air where they had been reaching for him. Pots, pans, and their contents were strewn across the table, the floor, and -- Piper had to blink several more times before ascertaining that she truly was seeing what she was -- hanging in the air mid-way between the two.

"Oh. My. Gods!" Piper breathed. She tried to get out of her chair to figure out what was happening but immediately realized that the only way to do so would be to fall. "Prue! Phoebe! Paige!"

It was then that Phoebe happened to reenter the kitchen, and her mouth flew open in a scream at the sight she was met with. "PIPER, WHAT IN THE HELL HAPPENED!"

For once, Piper didn't even think of warning her little sister to watch her language. Instead, she admitted in a stunned exclamation, "I don't know!"


Prue heard the commotion coming from the kitchen and ran, dreading what she'd find when she went through the doors. She was met by Paige on the way. She could not believe the chaos in the kitchen. "First thing we've got to do is get you down from there. It's going to take all three of us to help!"

It took them several attempts to get Piper loose, and just as she came loose, the spell let go. Food, pots, and pans all rained down, making a clattering sound even as Cindy's claw hit Gonk in the butt. She was just a split second faster than he and sent him sprawling into Kit who he had barely missed biting. She roared fiercely and jumped, pinning the poodle underneath her. How dare he mess with a feline!

Prue looked at Gonk. She hated to see the poor little fellow in such a mess, but he shouldn't have been messing with Kit. She looked at Crys for help.

Piper's first concern was Cole. She rushed to him immediately, her hands flying over him as she checked his vitals. "Are you okay!"

Crystal, meanwhile, was too concerned with Lorne to really notice the situation with Gonk. His green hands were burnt badly, but she leaned down, her bodice brushing against him, as she touched her crystal to his hands.

"Thank you, sweetheart," Lorne told Crys. "Looks like about half of lunch is ruined!"

Cole could not help but to stare at Piper. "Darling, you can see!" he asked even as his hands reached out, catching hers and pulling her to him.

Piper nodded fervently. "I can see," she told him. "I don't know how, but I can see again! Are you okay?" she repeated again.

Chong was shaking his head and muttering in Chinese as he, Lorne, and Crys surveyed the mess. It was while surveying that that Crystal finally realized Prue was looking at her. She looked up questioningly. "Yes?"

"Can you save Gonk? It looks like Cindy's going to eat him."

It only took Crystal a second to find the scene that had Prue so worried. "Well, he does deserve it, but . . . " She marched over to the trio and looked down at the trembling poodle. "Gonk, Cindy only attacked you because you attacked Kit first. Apologize to Kit, and she'll let you go . . . this time. If you chase a cat again, however," she sternly informed him, "you're on your own."

The shaking poodle slowly crawled out from under the lioness. He looked at Kit with eyes that were first apologetic but then began to darken.

"Gonk!" Crystal reprimanded even as Cindy growled a warning.

Gonk whimpered to Kit and slunk on out of the kitchen, his tail tucked far between his legs.

Cole was quick to reassure Piper that he was all right. He just could not get over the miracle that had healed Piper's eyes. "Does any one know anything about this . . . sudden miracle?" he asked, looking intently at Crys since it was her blue crystal that had healed Piper in the first place. "Has it ever had a delayed reaction before?" he asked her.

Crys shook her head, her long, blonde hair shimmering down her slender back. "No, but as I said before, it's never been used to heal an actual sense until Piper."

Piper, however, had noticed the look on Prue's face when Cole had asked if any one knew anything about her restored sight. "Cole," she asked softly, "could you take over for me for a few minutes? I think I need to have a talk with my sisters . . . " She still wasn't sure what was going on but was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Sure. I can," Cole was quick to reassure her. "Looks like we've got a big mess to clean up." He figured that they could save the meat and give it to the animals as it was not fit for humans now. He turned and was just beginning to look for a pan when he heard Blue cooing for attention. Looking up, he saw that the little dragon had already done what he'd just been thinking of doing as a dustpan was dangling from his talons.

Cole got a broom and began to sweep up the leftover meat onto the dustpan while Blue held it. Then he dumped it into an used pot that Chong held. He watched as, one by one, the Halliwells walked out of the kitchen, wishing that he could know what they would be talking about. Which one of those young ladies, he wondered, had pulled this off?


"Prue," Piper spoke, taking command of the situation, "let's all go up to your room."

Prue slowly led the way up to her room, opened the door, and walked inside. The room was a mess. Feathers were still floating around, and unconscious Goblins lay everywhere.

Paige was just turning back from shutting the door with one hand and was still stroking Kit and trying to calm the cat down with her other when Phoebe spoke up. "What in the world happened in here!"

"A Goblin war! They attacked Carl while he was in the wall, and they all ended up in here!"

"They attacked my baby!" Paige exclaimed. "Is he all right? Where is he?"

"He went back up in the wall to find Julian and Sarah. I had just gone downstairs to see if they had come out down there when I heard Phoebe's screaming. I don't want to have to go in there after them, but he should have been back by now." She looked worriedly down the dark tunnel.

"We couldn't fit down there any way," Phoebe observed.

"No, but I know who can."

"Who?" Piper questioned, looking at Paige.

"Kit," Paige replied, stroking the cat again. She gave her a few more reassuring pats before sitting her in Prue's closet. "Kit, go find Carl."

"She's not going to -- " Phoebe broke off in amazement when Kit actually did head into the closet, sniffing the air for Gnome. "I thought only dogs did that!"

Prue gazed in amazement as Kit disappeared slowly down the closet. "Good luck finding Carl! Try to hurry before these things wake up!" Prue called after Kit.

"What we should do," Phoebe said, "is go find Delvira and tell her what her subjects are doing."

Piper nodded in agreement but turned her eyes to Prue instead. "Prue . . . Is there something you'd like to tell us?"

"Huh . . . Not really," Prue said, still looking at the floor, "but maybe I should. I opened the Book." All three of her sisters' mouths fell open. Prue reached under the mattress and pulled the Book out. "The very first page was a spell I read out loud, and then I went to find a spell to help Piper regain her vision. I thought the Woogeyman was coming out of the closet, but it turned out to be Carl and the Goblins."

Piper gazed at her sister in awed gratitude. She knew how hard Prue always tried to do what their mother told them, yet Prue had went against everything they'd ever been told and opened the forbidden Book to return her vision to her. "Prue, I don't believe you did that!" Before her sister could even reply, Piper wrapped Prue in a sideways hug. "Thank you!" Tears sparkled in her eyes.

"You're welcome," Prue told her. "I know I wasn't supposed to, but I just couldn't bare the thought of you being blind! I thought if I could only find something in there, it'd be worth any punishment for you to be able to see again! I wanted to find something for Brendan in there, but I didn't have time. When Carl came rolling out of the closet with the Goblins, I almost had a heart attack, because I just knew it was my time!"

"I wonder," Paige piped up quietly, "if the Woogeyman could have been killed with Mother and Grandmother?"

Phoebe didn't want to think about that, so instead she made to take the Book from Prue. "I want to see that first spell."

"The Book's got a mind all its own," Prue told her. "It turns the pages by itself!" She lifted the cover to show the others the spell she had first used.

Phoebe's eyes darted over the spell, growing wider with each new word. "This sounds like it's giving us powers!" she breathed excitedly.

Paige pointed to the part about the four sisters. "We sisters four," she read aloud. Her excited eyes lifted to Prue and Piper, seeking advisement. "That has to be us," she commented, "doesn't it?"

"That would explain what happened with Piper and the kitchen. Her power must be freezing. I think my power must be knocking people out. I helped Carl knock those Goblins out without ever hitting them!"

"How?" Piper asked. "What happened? I mean, with mine, all heck broke loose, and the next thing I knew, I could see and everybody and everything was frozen. But did you do anything . . . special?"

"I was fighting with my pillow, knocking them. It was the only weapon I could find, and it burst. Feathers went everywhere. They came jumping at me, and I waved my hands toward them, trying to fend them off. Something picked them up and threw them against the wall very hard, knocking them out instantly! They're still out."

"Thank Gods for that!" Paige exclaimed.

"You know, I think I waved my hands, too," Piper recollected. "Kit knocked my chair. I was falling, and my hands flew out. I felt Cole catch my chair, and then . . . Well, you know what happened then."

Prue looked expectantly at her other two sisters. "Well? Wave your hands! Do something! Let's find out what your power is!"

Phoebe and Paige began waving their hands, but nothing happened. They frowned. "It figures!" Phoebe sighed.

"Maybe it would kick in if . . . " Paige looked around the room for something to cause her to panic but could only find the unconscious Goblins. " . . . if I only had a Goblin coming at me." No sooner had she said the words than one of the creatures' unconscious bodies lifted and shot toward her. She screeched and hit the floor, narrowly avoiding being knocked into by it.

Prue stared at the Goblin. It still had not awakened. "Your power must be asking for things! Ask for a ship!"

"I . . . want a ship?" Paige tried. Nothing happened.

"That's no good!" Prue told her. "Ask for my hairbrush."

As this was an object she could actually see, Paige reached out a hand toward it. "Prue's hair brush." The brush flew straight into her hand.

"Oh my Gods!" Prue exclaimed. "Your turn, Phoebe! Your turn! Do something!"

Phoebe was already pouting. "Like what?" she cried out. "I've been waving my hands around like an idiot and haven't gotten anywhere!"

"Try it like I did," Paige advised.

"Book," Phoebe said simply, holding her hands out toward the Book that Prue was still holding on to. "Book of Shadows. Halliwell Book of Shadows. Family Book of Shadows." She sighed. "See? Nothing!"

"Well, I'm sure you have a power," Piper tried to comfort her. "Maybe it just has to be used a different way."

"Like what?"

Piper shrugged. "I don't know."

Prue looked at Phoebe. "Maybe you should touch things? See if that does anything."

At this point, Phoebe was willing to try anything. "All right," she agreed. "I'm touching . . . touching . . . touching . . . " As she spoke, she walked around Prue's room, touching the things that lay around it. She tried the Book Prue held, the brush Paige held, the bed, the closet, the dresser, and various items on it. She was working with the items on Prue's dresser when a scarf moved. Phoebe reached out, touched the moving scarf, and started to holler when she realized that it was a Goblin instead. Her scream came out as a sharp gasp, however.

Phoebe did not hear her sisters' calling to her in concern as an image formed in her mind. She saw a man wrapped in chains and hanging upside down from a tree by his booted feet. His black clothes were torn all to shreds, revealing his fine, muscular body, but there was something familiar about the way his blonde locks hung around his head and his piercing eyes. She was trying to figure out who he was, and then, without warning, she found herself looking back at the room.

"Phoebe?"

"I saw something . . . I saw . . . " She frowned. "I think I saw Jareth." The Goblin snickered, and she snatched her hand away from it as though she'd been burnt.

"We must get to Delvira at once and let the rest of the Sorceresses know what's going on! Auntie 'Ro's going to be upset with us for reading the Book, but what's done is done," Prue told the others. "Now we must get help."

"Aunt Ororo won't be mad at us, Prue," Piper reassured her sister, "not when you explain to her that you did it to heal me."

"What do we do about the Goblins?" Paige queried. She looked around at the things that were beginning to wake up before turning back to Prue. "Maybe you should knock them out again?"

"Good idea," Prue said as she flung her hands outward again, knocking them all back out. "We'll tell Delvira they're up here and let her deal with them."

"Phoebe," Piper asked worriedly, having noticed that she had fallen quiet, "what was Jareth doing when you saw him?"

"He was hanging from a tree," Phoebe replied, her fearful eyes turning towards her sisters, "and he was wrapped in chains!"

"Maybe Delvira can make some sense out of it," Prue said even as she headed out the door, going to Delvira's room.

As they neared the Sorceress' room, they saw a tiger pacing up and down outside the room. Prue had not noticed the tiger being there before and paused to look at it. "Are they finished?" she asked the tiger, expecting to get a nod or a shake of the head. She had heard the tiger being talked to earlier and it actually answering in English.

Zora paused in stalking up and down just outside Delvira's room to look at the four women. Her glare and growl spoke volumes, and she turned her back to them, dismissing them with a flick of her tail and resuming her pacing.

A second tiger spoke from the shadows. "No," he told them in a soft, rumbling voice, "they are not yet finished, and they must not be interrupted."

"Zora, girl," warned a crab from his perch on the talking tiger's back, "I wish you'd settle down! You're gonna make a hole in the floor, ma fille!"

Prue looked from one tiger to the other and then down to the crab. "Do you have any idea how long they're going to be in there?"

Zora growled again, but Vang shook his head calmly. "They will be out when they are finished."

"We have important news and need to see Delvira as soon as she comes out."

"We can tell her for you if you like or you can wait."

"Will you call us when she gets finished?" Prue knew Piper wanted to go back to the kitchen now that she could see and actually be of help. Prue also had duty in the kitchen.

Vang nodded. "Yes." His tail swished. "What are your names?"

Piper, Phoebe, and Paige had been staring at each other and the animals in shock and decided to let Prue finish the communication with the tiger. "I'm Prue Halliwell. My sisters are," she indicated each as she called their names, "Piper, Paige, and Phoebe. It's very urgent that we see Delvira as soon as she comes out."

Vang nodded. "I am Vang. This is Sebastian," he nodded to the crab who grinned and waved a claw up at them, "and she is Zora. I'll call you the very second we know them to be done."

"Thank you, and it's nice to meet all of you. I'll be in my room, waiting for Carl to come back. Hopefully he won't be gone long."

"I'll go with you," Paige volunteered.

When they returned to Prue's room, they were surprised to find that Carl had returned and that Julian and Sarah were on the bed, cuddling Kit, and Carl had tied up the Goblins, including the one that looked like a scarf, with the same rope that they had tied him up with. He sat, surveying his domain with a big grin on his face.

Paige paused just inside the doorway, a smile creeping over her face until she declared proudly, "That's my man!"

He ran forward and grabbed Paige in a bearhug. Julian looked up at Prue. "Carl saved us! We got lost in there!"

"Thank you, Carl," Prue told him and smiled, but Carl was too lost in Paige's embrace and kiss to answer.

To Be Continued . . .