A/N: October27- hey! Yay, thank you for the kind words! Reviews like yours really inspire me to writeJ im glad that you're enjoying this fic.
WyaRose- again, you're making me blush! J and im so honored that you think that I channel the real Charmed writers through my fic. This fic is dedicated to readers like you! Oh, and I got the name "Triumvirate" from one of the Buffy novels ive read way back. The name's the same, but the demons I have in this fic are totally mine. :-D
Afw- yeah, I inserted a little Charmed humor here. I missed the humor of the show!
TigersEye- me thinks I should be dubbed as the mighty cliffhangerQueen hehehe J I am so happy that you're loving this fic J
Thank you for the kind words, my dear readers. For you- Chapter 19! Chapter 19 is kinda long, but I do hope that you enjoy reading it! I love you guys and gals!
also, i want to clarify something. Arachne's Rope only binds the active powers of witches. the reason Paige was able to send the Witch Message is that her telepathy is part of her passive powers. :)
Chapter 19
"Okay, so it's settled then," Piper said, adding hemlock and salt in her cauldron. Her eyes shifted from cauldron to Phoebe, mixing up a vanquishing potion. "We cast the spell that would bring us to Magic School, find this classroom number 17, and then we split up. And…"
"Since we have the element of surprise," Phoebe continued, "you freeze the entire room while I untie Paige with this." Phoebe had recalled hearing the cloaked figure mention a certain Arachne's Rope that had bound Paige; following her intuition, she had searched the Book of Shadows for it, and had found the solution. She had found an entry in the Book about the artifact, detailing how it boundthe active powers of witchesand how to undo its binding properties. Now, she was holding a small sheet of paper, a spell written in small handwriting in the center. "Then, while the entire room is still frozen, we look for and rescue Leo."
"Alrighty then," Piper said, walking over to Phoebe, two vials of vanquishing potion in hand, and began to shift through it to look for the spell that would take them to Paige. Placing her right hand on top of the yellowed pages, she pictured Paige and Leo, mentally asking the Book to help them. After a heartbeat, the Book began to magically open, its pages turning by themselves. Finally, the pages stopped moving, the page in front of them containing the exact spell that they needed. Thank you, she mouthed to the ancestress that helped them. Then, turning to Phoebe, "Shall we?"
Phoebe and Piper studied the Book and, taking each other's hands, began to chant. They chanted in unison, their voices weaving magic and invoking their power.
"Hear these words, hear the rhyme,
I invoke our magic in this time,
Take us to where our sister dwells,
Heed now the power of this spell."
Light swirled around the two Charmed Ones, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone.
…
"Miss Halliwell," a tiny voice whined behind Paige, calling her, slowly bringing her back to consciousness. "Miss Halliwell, please wake up."
Clyde? Paige thought groggily, clearly disoriented and dizzy. Colors swam in front of her, shapes indistinguishable. Clyde? Paige woke with a start, and felt jolts of pain rushing coursing through her entire body.
"Miss Halliwell, please," the tone pleaded.
Hearing the desperation in the voice's tone, Paige suppressed the pain she was feeling, and forced herself to sit upright. She opened her eyes and gave out a yelp of surprise- she was sitting face-to-face the cloaked figure. She felt her heart literally skip a beat.
"Boo!" The cloaked figure laughed once more, its maniacal sound echoing throughout the entire room. "Finally, the witch has awakened; the fun can now begin!" She pulled the hood of her cloak down, and the stare of Regina's icy blue eyes pierced Paige- her gaze penetrating deep into her skull.
"My sisters will come for me," Paige managed, despite her dry throat. "And when they d…"
Regina thrust her foot forward before Paige could continue, her foot connecting with Paige's jaw. She crouched in front of Paige and lunged forward, grabbing a handful of Paige's hair and yanking it forward. "You don't get it, do you, Paige?" She gritted her teeth and growled, "This is bigger than you or your sisters. This is bigger than what your little mind can understand." She pushed Paige's head forward, and laughed as it hit the floor with a thud.
"Ugh," Paige winced in pain, as her head hit the cold marble floor.
"This is even bigger than me, my plans. Did you know that they offered me great power? Me. They chose me." She whispered, her voice low with barely contained anticipation. "Magic beyond your charmed powers, magic that you can't even begin to imagine. First, Magic School, and then, your Book, and then, the world." Regina rubbed her hands furiously, her eyes vacant and preoccupied, retreating into her own world. She was completely taken in by her ambitions and delusions of power, unaware of the small swirling lights magically forming in the center of the room.
"Care to bet on that one?"
"Who goe…" Regina's eyes widened in shock, but could do nothing more as her entire body froze. She stood there like a malevolent statue, a mixture of anger and bewilderment burning in her eyes, caught in the power of Piper's freeze.
"Phoebe, hurry," Piper said, her body appearing in a swirl of light. She hurriedly strode forward, her hands outstretched, focusing her power to freeze the entire room. "I can feel her fighting her way through my hold." As her eyes adapted to the dim lighting of the room, she focused her concentration on holding the woman who was standing ominously standing a few feet in front of Paige, making sure that her freeze stayed. "Get Paige, now!"
As soon as her body materialized completely, Phoebe glared at the frozen woman and rushed to Paige, who was still lying where she had seen her from her enhanced premonition. "Paige," she whispered as she knelt beside her unconscious sister, "Paige, we're here, everything's going to be all right." Spell in hand, she touched Paige's hands and began to chant, the words rolling out of her tongue smoothly.
"From this rope, its magic we drain,
Free now, my sister, from her pain.
Magic that has been bound,
Run free inside the circle round."
A handful of blue orbs appeared in Phoebe's hands as she finished her chant. Instinctively knowing what to do, she flung the orbs at the rope that bound Paige. She heard a short hiss, and then, Arachne's Rope fell, releasing its grip on Paige. "Piper! She's free!"
Piper looked a few feet across the room at Phoebe, who was helping Paige sit up. She noticed cuts and bruises on her youngest sister's face, and a fresh wound on her neck. Oh Goddess, please let her be all right. Piper uttered a silent prayer. Worry broke Piper's concentration for a second; and Regina grabbed the opportunity to break free of Piper's hold on her.
"Witch!" Regina screamed in anger, feeling her plans starting to fall apart. She flung her hand out, telekinetically sending Piper flying backwards.
"Phoebe!" She called out as she sailed in an arc through the air,
Phoebe watched in horror as Piper flew across the room, and landed on a wooden desk. The impact of her fall caused the desk to break, sending pieces of wood everywhere. "Piper!" Instinctively, she thrust her foot out and swept it into a clean arc under the woman's feet, knocking her down.
"I'm fine!" She called back. "That bitch!" Piper winced in pain, as she felt the nails from the desk dig deep into her back and scrape against her bare arms. Ignoring the pain, she gritted her teeth and furiously shot her hands forward, freezing the room once more. She forced herself to her feet, even as pain washed over her. That is so gonna bruise in the morning, she thought angrily.
Out of the corner of her eye, Piper saw Phoebe purposely position herself in front of Paige, using her body as a shield to protect the unconscious Charmed One. She noticed that Phoebe's muscles were tense; ready to spring into action again once the woman broke free of her hold. Piper was about to take another step forward, when she heard someone call her name- a faint, weak whisper reaching out from behind her.
"Piper?" A weak, raspy voice called.
"Leo!" Piper cried out, recognizing her husband's voice instantly. She turned around, following Leo's voice, and almost doubled over in shock. She felt her heart skip a beat, and then, hammer relentlessly inside her chest. Just a few feet in front of her was her soul mate, tied to a marble post, pale and weak. His eyes were barely open, and Piper saw that he was slowly losing consciousness. "Leo, hang in there. I'm coming!"
Deciding not to take the risk of exhausting her magic as she kept the entire room frozen, Piper turned and directed her gaze back to the woman who had sent her flying only a couple of seconds ago, and decided to just focus her hold on her. Narrowing her eyes, she cast a simple binding spell, one that tripled her freezing power. She chanted the spell thrice, making sure that the spell had enough power to hold a dozen elephants. Then, scanning the room, she looked at Phoebe and told her to stay with Paige. "That bitch won't be going anywhere, not with that binding spell I cast on her." Then, she gestured toward Leo.
Phoebe nodded as she saw Piper limping toward her their Whitelighter. Even though she had already seen Paige and Leo through her enhanced premonition, it still shocked her to see her sister and brother-in-law terribly hurt like this. She stared at the frozen woman- who she realized was the hooded figure from her premonition- and glared. You're going to pay for this, whoever you are. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to Paige, who was still unconscious. Unbidden, a chant came into Phoebe's mind, and she recognized it instantly as a minor healing spell. Blessed Be the Goddess, she thanked the Deity for sending her the spell; and, without a moment's hesitation, she cast the spell on Paige, building her magical power as she chanted, and gasped as a warm amber light erupted in her palms. Without a moment's hesitation, she placed her palm above Paige, and asked the warm light to heal her sister.
Piper saw what Phoebe was doing and mentally gave her younger sister a pat in the back. She then returned her attention back to her husband, who was smiling weakly at her. "Hey there, stranger," she whispered as she drew closer to Leo. "Holding up okay?" She tried to joke, trying to maintain a face of courage, even though she was breaking up inside. It hurt her to see her husband like this. Leo was the epitome of good, and she could not understand how someone can do this to someone so pure. Piper felt tears welling in her eyes, sobs threatening to overwhelm her.
"Hey," Leo whispered, his voice husky. "You're looking good." He managed to smile weakly, attempting to lighten the situation, for both him and Piper. He tried to laugh; but, his throat was dry, and all that came out from him were jagged barks, followed by a fit of cough.
"Shhh," Piper soothed him, running her fingers down his smooth chest. "We're gonna get you out in a jiffy." Tears were already flowing down the side of her face as she went behind Leo, and worked on untying the ropes that bound Leo. She fumbled around, tugging at the rope and looking for a loose knot- there weren't any. Frustration boiled inside her, and she felt her anger slowly taking control. I don't have time for this crap, Piper thought, her mind flaring with impatience. "This is going to hurt a bit, Leo," she warned as she focused all of her anger into a sphere of magic. Then, with a precise gesture, she channeled the sphere of magic into her hands, using her powers to blow the ropes up.
The ropes didn't physically explode as Piper expected; instead, the tightly knotted rope gave a small hiss and dropped to the ground, their magic drained. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hands, she ambled quickly to Leo's side and draped an arm around him. "Slowly now," she said, taking one step at a time, taking in Leo's weight and carefully guiding him to where Phoebe and Paige were. She sighed in relief, seeing Paige gaining consciousness, as they got closer to her two sisters. "Okay, we're almost there," she said, turning back to Leo, "Easy does it."
Once they were only a foot away from Phoebe and Paige, Piper could see that a bit of color had returned to Paige's cheeks. Thank Goddess, she whispered as she lowered Leo to the floor, motioning for him to lie down. She then removed her coat, bundled it into a ball, and eased it under Leo's head. "How are you holding up?" She managed, forcing back a sob.
"Fine, now that you're here," Leo whispered, his eyes opening momentarily, and then closing heavily. For a minute, he stopped breathing.
"Leo?" Piper began, panic rising. Slowly, she saw small light blue orbs circling around his body, and realized that Leo was using his healing powers on himself. Piper knew full well that as a self-preservation mechanism, the bodies of every full- blooded Whitelighter automatically shut down when they enter critical condition. She also knew that Whitelighters were not to be disturbed when they were in this state. Piper was about to run a hand across Leo's peaceful face when she saw Paige stir.
"Phoe…be?" Paige's called, her voice sounded strained and hollow. "Pi…per?"
"Paige!" Phoebe squealed as she saw Paige's eyes flutter open. In a rush of emotion, she swept her arms around Paige and wrapped her in a tight hug.
"Ow!" Paige screeched in pain. "Phoe…be, you're crushing my… ribs," she exhaled in between slow, jagged breaths. She licked her dry lips, and tasted something coppery and warm, realizing with a start that it was blood.
"What?" Phoebe quickly pulled back. "Oh! Oh, I am so sorry. It's just that it's so good to have you back, Paige! We thought… we thought that we were gonna lose you. We were afraid of losing another sister." She reached down and held one of Paige's hands in hers, giving it a tight squeeze.
Piper beamed at Paige's recovery. She stood and eased herself between Phoebe and Leo, taking in Paige's other hand. "It's great to have you back, sis."
"Right back at you," Paige said in a near-whisper. She inhaled deeply and tried to sit up, leaning on both Piper and Phoebe for support. She felt a wave of nausea rising, but refusing to give in, closed her eyes and pushed the wave of nausea down. Instead, she looked at her sisters, focused on them, and asked, "How… How did you know that I was in trouble?"
"I had a premonition," Phoebe answered, as she helped Paige into a sitting position. "It was actually kind'a weird, we were there in the living room, when suddenly, this voice called out to us. Then, a premonition hit me. It was like this voice sent the premonition to me."
"Yeah," Piper agreed, placing one hand behind Paige to support her. "It was weird, too. The voice sounded familiar. I could feel a strong connection with the voice- the bond I feel when Grams or Mom makes contact with us."
"You…got my… message then," Paige said, a small tingle of elation running through as her telepathic call actually worked. Paige explained that she had fooled Regina earlier into thinking that she had lost consciousness. Regina had not been aware that Paige had, in fact, entered a deep meditative state and projected her thoughts from Magic School to the Manor. "I figured that if you guys can call out to me, then that must mean that I could do the reverse somehow, through our connection as sisters, through the triquetra, and it…it actually worked."
"So it was you that we felt in the Manor?" Phoebe asked. Our powers are growing stronger. This Triumvirate threat must be so huge that we're having our own power boosts, she thought both gratefully and uneasily.
Paige gave Phoebe and Piper a wan smile.
"At'ta girl, Paige!" Piper gave Paige's hand a tight squeeze. She felt proud of Paige- she was continuously honing her powers as a witch.
The three sisters smiled at one another, reassured and thankful at being together once more.
Suddenly, without warning, a voice called out from behind. "How very sweet," a thick metallic voice floated from behind the sisters. All three of them turned back and gasped, as they saw Melissa- or rather, six Melissa's- standing near the circle of flames, glinting daggers in their hands. "Now, who shall we kill first?"