A/N. Thank you for the reviews, and sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I was on holiday. Enjoy the chapter!
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Chapter 4Piper gripped the rolling pin and pressed down hard, taking out all her hurt and fears on the dough beneath the wooden cooking appliance. Piper had always loved cooking, which was strange as both her parents found it a chore. Piper enjoyed it so much she was planning on studying cookery at college and becoming a chef. Not that that was going to happen anytime soon, seeing as how her baby would need full time care; but there was always when it was older.
She had never wondered where her cooking love or skills came from, but now she thought about it, she must have inherited them from her birth family.
Speaking of her birth family, Piper should really start looking for them. But not yet. She couldn't stand more questions, more sympathy. Piper had heard more 'how are you?'s in the past two weeks than she had in her whole life. She knew people meant well, but there was only so much she could take.
"Turn around, witch."
Piper's blood ran cold. Her breathing grew shallow and an overwhelming sense to run kicked in. The pregnant witch would know that voice anywhere. It haunted all her dreams and all her waking moments.
"I said turn around."
Piper did as the voice instructed, staring straight into the cold grey eyes of the demon that had killed her parents.
--- A ripple in the air caused the family of three's conversation to cease, and they all jumped to their feet, preparing for the assault that was to come.
Sure enough, a demon appeared from the shadows, conjuring a crackling blue energy ball and grinning sinisterly. Something in his cold grey eyes told the witches that this encounter would end in disaster.
Sarah and Nathan stepped in front of their teenage daughter; there was no way they would let her or their grandchild get harmed.
"You think that will stop me from getting to the girl?" He demon snarled his voice gravely, as if he'd gargled with glass. He thrust out a hand and sent the parents spiralling to different ends of the room, leaving Piper exposed. The demon's grin widened, and he launched a crackling blue energy ball towards the pregnant witch.
The energy ball sailed towards Piper, put she couldn't move. Her brain was telling her to duck or dodge, but her body wouldn't listen. She had faced demons before, on rare occasions, but not while she had another life growing in side her. She was scared to death of what the demon could do to her unborn child, so why couldn't she move? It was like she was paralysed in body, but capable in mind.
The energy ball struck her square in the chest, and she flew backwards, hitting the wall with a sickening thud. The last thing Piper heard was her mother screaming "No!" before everything went black.
Sarah and Nathan charged for the demon, meeting in the middle before him. With a simple wave of the hand, two energy balls zoomed towards them, and the Jones family knew no more. ---
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"Prue, please come out," Phoebe pleaded to her older sister's bedroom door.
"No."
"Prudence, get out here this instant," Penny ordered sternly.
"No."
Phoebe sighed and rolled her eyes. "Now what do we do?" She hissed.
"This." Penny pointed two fingers at the door and turned her wrist sharply, imitating the motion of turning a key in a lock. A click followed and Prue's door swung open.
"How dare you!" Prue screeched, jumping of her bed as Phoebe and Penny marched in. "You have no…"
"We have to talk," Phoebe interrupted, not really caring about violating rights.
"You can't stay locked in your room forever," Penny pointed out.
"Watch me." Prue raised a hand, preparing to send her grandmother and sister out of her room.
"No powers!" Phoebe cried. "Personal gain."
"Since when did you care about personal gain?" Prue asked, lowering her arm.
"Since it got you to not use your powers."
Despite herself Prue laughed. That was the amazing thing about sisters; you could hate each other one minute, and be best friends the next. 'I wonder if us and our other sister will be this close?' Prue thought, surprising herself by wanting to get to know her. She tried to tell herself that this other girl, whose name she didn't know, didn't matter, that she would only arrange to meet for the sake of the Charmed Ones. But the truth was, the more she thought about it, Prue did care, and found she wanted to know her younger, long-lost sister.
"I'm sure we will be one day," Phoebe said suddenly, coming up to Prue and putting an arm around her. "It'll just take a while to get to know her."
"How did you know I was thinking about her?"
"Coz I was thinking exactly the same thing."
"Oh," Prue said, not knowing what else to say. "What's her name? Our sister, I mean?"
"I think her adoptive parents called her Piper," Penny replied.
"Hah. Another P," Phoebe said.
"And how old is she?" Prue asked.
"Three years younger than you. Seventeen."
"Damn," Phoebe muttered.
Prue and Penny both stared at her curiously.
"What? I've always wanted a younger sister."
Prue smirked. "Well unfortunately, you've got another older one. And I know just how to find her."
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As she struggled to breathe, Piper wanted to run. She wanted to run and protect her baby. But, yet again, she couldn't move. It was as if her first power had turned against her and frozen her. Panic had completely taken over. She couldn't get enough oxygen to her lungs. She was going to die. Her baby was going to die.
"Aww, you're not scared of me, are you?" The demon known as Krill mocked. "That's too bad." He conjured an electric blue energy ball and launched it at his target.
Piper screamed and ducked, the energy ball zooming over her head. Okay, she had movement. Movement was good.
"Tut tut. Not what I expected from a Charmed One." Krill formed another energy ball and bounced it up and down in his palm.
Charmed One? What was he talking about? Piper didn't have time to dwell on the question as the energy ball sailed closer. She outstretched a hand, preparing to blow it up. But instead of the object of her power exploding, as it was supposed to, a violet bolt of electricity shot from her palm and collided with the ball of energy, exploding it.
Piper stared at her hands, wondering how on Earth she had created electricity. And then the answer came to her. The baby. The baby had the power of electrokinesis, which it could activate, from the womb. Piper looked up at Krill. He too was gaping at Piper in shock.
"I bet that was something else you weren't expecting, huh?" Piper asked, now full of new-found strength and courage. But there was something else. Now the fear for her baby, who was apparently pretty powerful, was gone, Piper felt enraged. Furious. And vengeful. How dare he come into her home and threaten her and her baby, after all he had taken from her? She was going to make him pay. And the best way to do that would be to vanquish him as slowly as possible, but before she did that, she was going to get answers. Piper flicked her wrists and Krill froze from the neck down.
"What did you do to me?" Krill demanded, struggling to break free.
"I froze you," Piper answered simply. "Now why have you attacked me twice? And what's a Charmed One?"
"You think I'm going to tell you?"
Piper shrugged. "It's your choice." She spread out her fingers and Krill's arm shattered, causing him to howl in pain. "But I suggest you do. Or that might happen again."
"I'll never tell you anything."
"Suit yourself." Piper curled a finger and Krill's other arm blew up. "Now we can keep going all night coz God knows I've got nothing better to do."
"Okay! Okay!" Krill cried, wincing. "A Charmed One is one third of the Charmed Ones; the most powerful witches in the world."
"And what has that got to do with me?"
"You're a Charmed One."
"You're lying." Piper couldn't have sisters, could she?
Krill shook his head vigorously. "No, I'm not. You have sisters. And I intend to stop you from joining them." With a roar and a lunge, Krill was finally free of the freeze spell.
Instinctively, Piper threw up her hands and Krill exploded in a burst of flames.
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"How?" Phoebe asked in response to Prue's revelation.
"Andy," Prue replied simply.
"Sweetie, I know you love him but this is hardly the time," Penny said.
"No! Well, I do love him. But he's a police officer, so he should have details about Piper." (A/N. I don't know how old you have to be to become a police officer, but in this story it's 20)
"But I don't think he's allowed to give out that kind of information," Phoebe said.
"He'll give it to me," Prue said with more confidence than she felt. "Now you two scat while I ring him."
Penny and Phoebe left the room while Prue grabbed the phone.
"Hello? Andrew Trudeau," Andy answered.
"Andy, hi. It's me."
"Hello me. Mind if I know your name?" Andy asked teasingly.
"Ha ha. Very funny."
"I thought so too," Andy joked.
"Honey, I need a pretty big favour."
"Name it."
"Could you please give me the phone number and address of Piper Jones? Daughter of Sarah and Nathan Jones, the couple who were killed a few weeks ago?"
"I'm sorry Prue, but I can't," Andy told her apologetically.
"Please," Prue begged. "It's really important."
"Yeah, and so is my job."
"I know, and I wouldn't ask unless I was desperate."
"Fine." Andy's voice lowered to a whisper as he gave Prue what she wanted to know.
"I've got it!" Prue announced triumphantly, emerging from her bedroom with a slip of paper.
"Great!" Phoebe cried happily. Then her face fell. "Who will ring it?"
"I will," Prue offered automatically.
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Piper sat in the dark; huddled into a corner with a dozen un-packed boxes surrounding her. In the bottom of one of these boxes was her switched off mobile phone.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried to process what Krill had told her. She had sisters. Piper couldn't quite believe it. She wondered if they knew about the Charmed Ones, wondered if they knew they were witches. She wondered if she looked like them. She wondered if they were older, younger. She wanted to know about her real parents. She wondered if she had her father's eyes or her mother's nose. She wanted to know so many things.
But she felt so guilty. She felt like she was betraying her parents by wanting to know her real family. They had only just died, and here she was, thinking about her birth family as if her parents meant nothing to her. But that was far from the truth.
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Prue's hand shook so much she could barely hold the phone as she dialled her little sister's phone number.
'Why did I offer?' She asked her self. 'What if she hangs up? Or laughs in my face?' Prue glanced back at Phoebe and Penny, who both gave her encouraging smiles and thumbs up. 'I can't do this!'
But it was too late. The voice mail had already picked up with "Hi this is Piper. If you leave a message I'll get back to you" in a cheery voice.
"Err. Hi Piper, this is Prue. This is going to sound, um, strange, but I'm your sister. If you could ring me back on 01867 458474, I'd really appreciate it."
Prue ended the call and turned around. "So how did I sound?"
"Nervous," Penny replied honestly.
"Great! So I sounded like an idiot, and now she'll never ring me back."