SIXTEEN

"Okay, so what happened?" Prue asked as they orbed back into the manor.

"It appears," said McDonald, "that Gray picked my pocket. He got the tracking stone. Now I have no way to trace him. Of course, now that I have the information I was after there really is no need for me to track him any longer."

"Yeah, but we came up empty handed," said Prue. "And we have no way to find Gray. He can hide anywhere he wants and there's no way for us to find out where."

"I don't understand how he just disappeared like that," said Phoebe. "Without his rings he shouldn't have been able to do that. Unless transferring his soul into that portrait gave him other abilities."

"Probably not," said Leo. "Transferring ones soul into a portrait is very complex. It's highly unlikely that whomever did it would complicate the process by trying to include additional powers as well."

"I'll tell you how he did it," said Cole, holding up the rings he had taken from Gray. "These are fakes. They don't have any powers in them at all. They're just normal rings."

"How can you tell that?" Piper asked.

"There are no inscriptions on the rings," said Cole. "When an alchemist creates rings like the ones Gray has they inscribe the rings with special glyphs and runes. It's those glyphs and runes that give the rings their power. These have no glyphs in them. That means they don't have any special powers."

"But he was wearing them," said Prue. "Why would he be wearing these rings if he had rings with powers in them?"

"To distract you," said Cole. "He wouldn't necessarily need to be wearing the rings to have access to their powers. He could just as easily have had them in his pocket. As long as they were physically on him he would be able to use whatever powers are in them."

"He suckered us," said Piper. "He knew we would be coming after him and he used the fake rings to make us thing he was powerless."

"He did say he got what he was after," said McDonald. "It sounds to me like he had it planned."

"He probably did," said Cole. "Gray has always been extremely intelligent. I'll lay odds he arranged everything. To get you guys involved in this from the very beginning."

"So he could get the tracking stone," said Leo.

"Exactly," said Cole. "McDonald has been tracking him for several years. He probably got tired of him showing up all the time. So he came up with this elaborate plan to distract everyone so he could get his hands on the stone."

"That's devious," said Piper. "He gets us to believe that McDonald is a demon knowing that we'll go after him to protect an 'innocent'. Then when we're all distracted he just grabs what he wanted all along. He played us."

"All of us," said McDonald. "I should have known he was capable of doing something like this. I've been following him for nearly four years. I probably know him better than any of you."

"Don't beat yourself up over it," said Cole. "He obviously put a lot of thought and planning into this. And he had plenty of time cover all his bases. I don't think any of us can be blamed for what happened. He outsmarted us, plain and simple."

"Well, McDonald kept his end of the bargain," said Prue. "It's not his fault if Gray tricked us. And since he's not a demon then I guess it's time we try to solve his little problem. We're going to need a Power of Three spell for this to work."

"All ready started on it," said Phoebe. "I should be able to finish it pretty quickly. It's not like a regular Power of Three spell. Normally we need it to vanquish a demon not make someone mortal."

"What about the spell we used on Inspector Todd?" Prue asked. "That internal affairs officer who came by after Andy died. He was a demon. We used a spell to make him mortal. Couldn't we just use that one?"

"No, not really," said Phoebe. "I don't' think it would work. Todd was a demon. McDonald was born human and made immortal. I don't think it would affect him the same way it did Todd."

"Besides," said Leo, "Power of Three spells are specifically geared to a specific creature or situation. There's no telling what affect it would have if you try to use one for something other than it was designed for."

"Okay," said Prue. "It was just a thought."

"Well, while Phoebe finishes the spell I'll make dinner," said Piper. "Gray got away and I think it's safe to say we won't be seeing him again any time soon. Might as well get over it and move on."

"That sounds like a good idea," said McDonald. "I do appreciate everything you've done for me. And if this spell doesn't work I want you to know that I do appreciate the attempt."

"Well, it is what we do," said Prue. "Now, let's see if we can help Piper with dinner."