The spell had made them confess, to themselves even, that what they were doing was undoubtedly not the right thing, no matter how much they wanted it to be, but were also still every bit as convinced there was no other way to affect the future of the world, enough to spare their children from becoming the worst version of themselves.
That night, the sisters conjured Edward's spirit back into a more translucent version of himself to fill them in on what they'd said.
"How the hell did that scumbag's spirit get conjured as well?" Paige cursed.
"Bits me, but he was no help at all" Edward was filling them in.
"That might have been my doing" Piper said pinching the bridge of her nose. "When we… were chanting the spell… somehow his name came to my mind. I couldn't figure out why"
"By the looks of it, whoever is influencing them… or helping them change things as they say, was also very aware you're trying to reach them" explained Edward.
"Which makes them all the more dangerous" Piper muttered, worried sick about her son.
"If they are choosing to ignore some of the things going on is because they know why they've been done for" he went on.
"But how can we even begin to know which is done for what reason?" Phoebe asked frustrated.
"The proverbial magical needle in the hate-stack" Paige joked just as frustrated.
"I know it won't help much but know this" Edward said. "I believe their hearts, even now, are still in the right place" the sisters were somewhat relieved to hear this. "Whatever ill fate is coming from what they're doing, doesn't come from them directly"
"They're being used" Phoebe stared at Piper, who didn't seem to acknowledge her at all, or anything else in the room for that matter. "They're using their love for their children to get to them" she closed her eyes and shook her head. They had to stop this, they had to.
"Bastards" Piper muttered, suddenly back into the room. "Whoever's doing this… better pray we don't find him"
"Oh, but we will" Paige came to her side.
"I swear to you that we will" they hugged their eldest sister, letting her know they were in one hundred percent.
Piper couldn't sleep that night, not that she had been getting a good night sleep for a while now, but she decided to go down to the kitchen and bake something. At least her mind would be occupied on something other than her son being manipulated into becoming the evil dictator of the future she had unfortunately got to meet.
"Piper, you need to rest" said Leo coming to meet her down in the kitchen, unable to sleep himself. He knew better than to stand in her way though, so he took a seat in one of the kitchen stools.
"How can I?"
"I know" Leo started mixing some batter just to get his own hands busy. "But we won't get anywhere by obsessing day and night about it. Not like this"
"How could we not?"
"Piper, he's my son too. I'm every bit as worried about him and I keep looking through books in Magic School to see if there's any kind of scheme that includes such a powerful being as they are, so far I've gotten nothing" Piper stopped and held his hand for a minute before fuzzing over another bowl of batter again.
"Who is powerful enough to affect them this much?"
"I don't think it's a powerful demon per se. Otherwise why would they be trying to get Wyatt and Sam to actually affect the world that much, if they could potentially do it themselves. Just getting them out of their way would be enough"
"Maybe this is the way to get them out of the way, by making them think they're the ones changing the world"
"Come on, Piper. You saw they were the ones leading all… that"
"I know. Wishful thinking" she sighed, reaching for his touch once again. "OK. So maybe we're not looking for a mighty powerful demon but one with just the right kind of power. Enough to get through to them" she said pulling a tray of bagels out of the oven onto a cooling rack.
"We need to remember that the right kind of manipulation doesn't have to be magical at all. It might have nothing to do with the actual demonic power"
"Just a very smart ass one" Piper said annoyed.
"One that has been watching them for a long time too"
"How do you figure?" Piper agreed, but it was good hearing it all out loud. Like taking some of the poison outta the wound.
"How else would he know exactly what to tell them or show them to get them to do whatever it is he wants?"
"Wait. Back it up" said Piper taking the oven mitts off. "Show them. What if, whoever it is, is showing them exactly what they fear could happen?"
"That could be it, but I still haven't found anything on demons who could show them such things, except maybe Barbas and…"
"And even he wasn't this smart. What if… they're asleep?"
"If he gets them to subconsciously see their every fear come true, that could affect their every move in waking life" Leo agreed with her moment of clarity.
"They think they're in control, but…"
"Somebody is leading them right down the rabbit hole" Piper bit her lip. They had gotten a lot more out of this midnight baking session, than all the spells and interviews they had tried so far.
"Maybe we can focus on whispering demons" Piper turned off the oven. "That would easily explain why I thought of that son of a bitch's name out of the blue"
"It's a lead"
UPSTAIRS…
Chris wasn't sleeping either, but for slightly different reasons. He knew his parents were awake too, but he couldn't gather up the courage to face them yet. Would he tell them what Wyatt had done? Or will he try and get Wyatt himself to tell them? But then again, how could he? There was no reasoning with him at the moment and then again this hadn't happened recently either, so he'd decided to keep them in the dark for the time being. Had his brother been lost for some time now and they just hadn't picked up on it till now? Was Bianca right? To be perfectly honest, he couldn't say he wouldn't have done exactly the same if it had been his and her first child, but no, he couldn't think that way, he wouldn't have gone that far, would he?
A BLOCK AWAY…
Wyatt and Sam on the other hand, tucked the kids in after bringing them from Bianca's, who had had a wonderful time seeing how Jackson got along with magical babies around. After the kids were put to bed, they drank a cup of tea in the kitchen, holding hands over the counter.
"Penny for your thoughts" he stared into her vacant eyes.
"Oh… nothing" she snapped back with a trace of a smile.
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours" Wyatt smiled empathetically, tracing gentle circles on her hand with her thumb.
"I… they won't understand" she confessed sadly and somewhat frustrated. "None of them will"
"No, not at first" Wyatt held her hand in his now. "But… in time, they'll see there was no other choice"
"Isn't there?" she pleaded. "I just… wish we didn't have to do this" she dropped her gaze shaking her head. Wyatt went around the kitchen island and took her in his arms.
"If you changed your mind… we could…"
"No" she put her hand to his lips. "We have to"
"We do"
Vizkaroth, who had been listening in, felt a twinge of failure coming and paced around the cave.
"What's wrong?" asked a demon who had been standing close.
"Our Queen is having second thoughts"
"I thought the King was the one we needed"
"Haven't you morons been paying attention?" he asked exasperated. "We need them both. We need them together for this to work. Him alone won't have either the power nor the motivation to do the change"
"Then what do we do?"
"Let me think for a moment" he continued to pace, but stopped abruptly making the other demon, who had been moronically following him, almost bump into him. "Her mother"
"What about her?"
"She might be just the right trigger for her" he thought out loud. "She's a lower-level demon, is she not?"
"Yes, but as far as I know she wanted nothing to do with her after they took out Langdon… and half of the underworld with him"
"Maybe I can talk her into paying her a visit" Viz half ignored the other one's words.
"To what purpose?"
"Must I explain everything?" the demon looked away afraid to say yes. "If we could get the queen all riled up in fear again, maybe it could be the last big push we need"
"I thought all was left was to collect the child's soul"
"Not quite. Even if we get everything ready, we need to make sure the King and Queen are ready for the taking and that won't happen if their fear dies down in any way. Remember they've been both wired to do good for far too long and a little step back could be catastrophic for our whole agenda" Viz had to act quickly or all his work would be lost. "Get one of those Kracht demons to meet me, tell him I got a proposition for him"
"Where would you be?"
"I need to have a word with the stinger demon Teresa"
Teresa wasn't too hard to find, she had been kept close tabs on as well, just in case she came in handy, which in Vizkaroth's mind she just had. She and her demon gang kept to the surface, down by an abandoned train yard, where homeless and crack heads were a constant source of both entertainment and nourishment.
"Good evening" Vizkaroth wore his characteristic trench coat when approaching mortal grounds. Kept his appearance on the dodgy side, but still relatively human-like.
"Who are you?" A demon asked, while the others sat comfortably around the fire. "I asked you…" he poked Vizkaroth on the chest. "Who… are… you?" he laughed. He considered him for a moment and then spoke directly into Teresa's mind, sitting on his far right.
"You're much too great to be with these bozos, don't you think, Teresa dear?" Viz's voice echoed undetected by anyone else. The demon in front of Vizkaroth prepared a fireball to strike the newcomer, who even now seemed unbothered, which fascinated Teresa.
"Hold on" she said standing up. "That you?" she pointed to her own head. Vizkaroth nodded. "Let's hear him out" the demon snuffed the fireball, resigned. "Now's your chance. What is it that you want? Talk" she said going back to her seat, keeping her greedy eyes on him.
"Very well. I thought you might find it interesting what your daughter is up to at the moment"
"Why would I care?"
"Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn't. I just thought you should know she and… that husband of
hers, have decided to become the new rulers of the Underworld, along with everything else"
"Why would a goodie goodie like her decide something like that all of a sudden?"
"It wasn't sudden my dear, quite the opposite"
"How's that?'
"After Elak… you did hear about her, did you not?"
"I did, but she was much too erratic to be trusted, so we stayed out of it"
"Did you know, she turned out to be one of her future kids?" Teresa snorted.
"That'd show her some raw parenting!" she mocked her. Her gang laughed along with her.
"In response to that, they've decided to take over everything and will not let demon untouched let
me assure you"
"Why are you telling me this?" she asked suspiciously.
"I just thought if someone from your bloodline would to rule over the Underworld, it should be you" he appealed straight to her Achille's heel. Pride and loathing for her family which to her were only good to hold her back in the process of becoming the most powerful creature in their bloodline.
"Is that so?" she said apparently taking the bait.
"Of course, a witch from such a powerful lineage who willingly chose to turn to the evil side, sounds a lot more promising than a young girl on a whim" he stared with fake admiration. "Your family is legend, even in the Underworld" Teresa considered him for a moment. "Great victories have come on the side of evil because of your ancestors, those like yourself who chose to reach their full potential, but didn't measure up. You shall succeed where others have failed. You must stop her"
