Another big thanks goes out again to all my great readers/reviewers:
IDontBreakBonesJustHearts, Farah A., charmingbrenda, PrUe AnD AnDy, cancer-chris, Welshcanuck, charmedgirl-alyssaphoebe, and LadybugHalliwell.
Thanks for the reviews you guys. They are awesome as always and help contribute in making this story go on. It's how I know people are reading and into the story.
IDontBreakBonesJustHearts: lol, thanks so much for that high compliment. It made me laugh though because sometimes the fans do come up with better things, don't they?
Welshcanuck: yup, you betcha', the sisters are going to give her an earful. I'm glad you're still reading and enjoying the plot twists.
charmedgirl-alyssaphoebe: you're definitely going to get to see what it means for the sister powers coming up in this chapter.
Farah A, charmingbrenda, and PrUe AnD AnDy: Thank you so much for your continued interest and I'm very happy you enjoy the story so much. Makes me giddy, hehe.
LadybugHalliwell: Welcome onboard. Also, I answered some of your questions in more depth over at C-net. Hope you stick around and enjoy the rest. Thanks for reviewing.
cancer-cris: lol. Wow, you've really analyzed it, huh?
Next chapter begins now ...
Chapter 33: The Mistaken Identity
He orbed them both back into the dark dingy confines of Gideon's Underworld cavern.
Lana struggled within the darklighter's grasp until he deposited her, with a rough push, onto the hard ground found beneath her. She was lying flat on her stomach and brought her head up only to notice Gideon slowly advancing on her. Unfortunately, she hadn't had much time to react when she was grabbed so she was dismayed to discover that all of her powers were, in fact, useless after attempting to use them against her assailant moments ago. They wouldn't work now either.
Great. Gideon has this stupid place protected against me, she thought.
He knelt down in front of her. "Well, well. Hello there," Gideon openly mocked her. "Welcome back."
Without responding to the barb, Lana just proceeded to lift herself up from the ground and brushed herself off. She issued him a cold glare.
"Ah?" Gideon remarked. "I see someone has managed to learn the art of keeping their mouth closed," he sneered. "Good."
Lana narrowed her eyes back at him.
"Although," he nodded. "I must admit I didn't expect you to be found this easily. You've been cloaking yourself from the collective quite successfully for some time now." He paused for her reaction. "Then on the other hand, I must say it's not at all too surprising that it was only a matter of time before you slipped up and gave into your evil nature. No matter how hard you try to pretend to be normal, it's a part of you," he baited her. "It's like a festering wound that will never completely heal."
Lana just sneered back. "That's where you're wrong, Gideon," she finally spoke. "And I may have that dark side to me that I'll never be able to get rid of but the truth is I have more will-power to suppress it than you'll ever have. See, I have an excuse for being what I am. But what's yours? A former Elder who only knew serving the greater good?"
"I beg your pardon?" he drew out seethingly.
Lana watched with some satisfaction as the shades of color shifted on his face. She had hit a big nerve and she knew it. She hadn't allowed his reaction to deter her. "That's right, Gideon, I know about who you are," she continued on. "Billie and JD took the liberty of sharing the news with me. You're pathetic. A coward who didn't even have the courage or the strength to do what it took to serve the real greater good!"
The darklighter glanced between Lana and Gideon, watching as the Triad's anger grew by the second with each passing word that left her mouth.
"I tracked the whitelighter which led me to her," the darklighter opted to share, hoping it might help diffuse the growing anger that could lead to Lana's premature demise. They still needed her for the their plan to work.
Gideon's focus remained on Lana.
"How do you explain being that weak and giving into ..." Lana began shouting but was suddenly cut off by a strong slap across the face that sent her falling back to the ground. She caught her fall with her hands and landed back on her stomach.
"Silence!" Gideon's voice boomed. "Or I'll do it for you," his threat followed.
A giant flaming fireball was brought to life in the palm of Gideon's hand. Some of Lana's hair had moved across her face and she blew some away from her mouth. As she turned her head to observe his loss of control, she smirked in return. The darklighter immediately stepped forward in protest at the sight playing out before him.
"But we need her, my lord!" he reminded the enraged Triad member.
Gideon clenched his teeth together as he fought hard to regain his composure. The words had penetrated but in this moment he just wanted to be done with her even if she would resurrect later on down the line. He could always figure out a way to be done with her for good once the translation to the Ultimate Power was broken down. However, he quickly relented it could potentially ruin his plans to stop the Charmed Ones and the next generation. So he begrudgingly brought his hand back down and allowed the fire to extinguish in his hand.
"I'm afraid that your new friends will be the reason you meet your end!" Gideon spat at her in a lower tone of voice but with much venom laced inside of it. He turned around to retrieve one of the Vicarian stones that surrounded the box in the ground.
Lana got herself up off of the ground again, just in time to watch Gideon extend his hand with the stone. Then he chanted three lone words that ignited the power.
Bursts of energy spurted forth from the stone. At first, the crackling sparks of energy shot straight up into the air producing a heavy wind that surrounded all of them. Then it divided and headed in the direction of both Lana and the darklighter. A bright light flashed and Lana instantly found herself trapped inside of a small rectangular cage. Immediately grabbing onto the metal bars completely surrounding her, Lana's eyes widened as she witnessed what happened next. As the darklighter became engulfed with the white energy, she witnessed the transformation of his image. He had taken on a new form. Her form.
Gideon sneered at her. "Don't worry, my dear. This arrangement won't be permanent." Then he turned to address the darklighter disguised as Lana. "Move quickly," he informed him. "I've prepared the ritual."
"No!" Lana protested, pulling at the bars and shaking the cage.
Gideon stepped forward. "Here, take these." He handed the darklighter three Vicarian stones. "They've been charged with the right magic to make you undetectable to the others. Use these stones on the children and you'll temporarily shield yourself against their powers. But return them here as fast as you can."
The darklighter nodded at Gideon, turned to sneer at Lana one last time, and then disappeared amidst the dark orbs.
X
It was in the early morning hours and Phoebe strolled into the kitchen of the manor in borrowed pajamas, yawning and stretching. As she entered, she encountered Prue, Piper, and Paige already awake and sitting at the table together.
"Morning sister witches," she announced, walking over to open the cabinet and retrieving a cup to pour her coffee in. "Or should I say Ultimate Power sisters," she teased, turning back around in their direction as she poured the hot steaming liquid into her cup.
"Hey. Morning yourself," Piper offered back. "Come. Sit!" she instructed playfully, using one hand to push at the extra chair still left unoccupied at the table. "You can join the anxious sister party express over here."
Phoebe walked over to the chair and sat down. "So I take it you guys couldn't sleep much either then, huh?" she said, taking a sip of her coffee.
Prue used one hand to rub against her eyes. "No, not really," she shared with a yawn of her own. "Definitely not with everything going on. Ever since last night I've felt like my emotions have short-circuited onto a complete overload or something. Kind of like that time I became an empath."
"You too?" Piper inquired, looking at Prue.
"Me three?" Paige confirmed raising her hand in the air. "I swear, every single time I closed my eyes to try and get some sleep I felt like I kept getting hit with these strong surges of emotions. I think one time of the month when the emotional hormones go on the fritz is more than enough," she cracked.
Smirks broke out across all of their faces.
"You know Paige, the Midol can still be found in the same exact place it was before you moved out?" Piper joked. "I mean, if you really need one that bad?"
Paige responded by playfully narrowing her eyes back at her sister. "Ha, can I get one for the headache no sleep is about to give me?" she teased back. "But at the risk of sounding serious here, really. Think it's just a side effect from last night?" she asked.
"Uh, maybe," Prue volunteered first. "I mean it is supposed to be a newer stronger power. So maybe it's heightened our senses or awareness somehow? To help with the different demon vanquishes or something."
Phoebe laughed. "Well please don't ask me if I feel anything different after last night because I get those kinds of feelings all the time. And believe me, the feelings that are coming from this table right now would be enough to short-circuit my own brain if I didn't already know how to control it."
Her statement garnered the immediate attention of the other three.
"Oh really. Mind sharing with the rest of the group?" Piper laughed lightly, slightly amused by the subtle accusation.
"Nothing," Phoebe shook her head. "Forget it," she tried to laugh off, realizing she probably said more than she should have.
"Phoebe?" Paige hitched her voice, narrowing her eyes at her sister. "Dish it out or we keep digging for it!" she warned in a teasing fashion.
"Besides, no hidden feelings of negativity, remember?" Prue grinned, taking the liberty of reiterating the words spoken by Melinda Warren the night before.
"I'm not hiding anything it's just that ..." Phoebe let her voice trail off, while shaking her head.
"What?" Piper pushed.
"Okay! In three little words? Avoidance," Phoebe pointed at Piper first. "Repression," she then pointed at Prue. "And resentment!" she finally pointed at Paige. "There, you happy? All of your marital issues are starting to drive me bonkers. The three of you. Seriously. Please deal with it already and then move on."
The sisters stared at her in dead silence.
"Avoidance?" Piper parroted, breaking the silence. "Hey, look, I don't know about these two over here," she used her thumb to point in their direction. "But Leo and I certainly aren't avoiding anything. We've already been down that road before and believe me we're in no hurry to go back there."
"Hey you!" Prue playfully swatted her sister's arm.
Piper smirked in return. "Hey you nothing," she bit back. "After you and Andy get to experience some magical married bliss of literally walking a mile in each others shoes a few times, then we can compare notes," she teased.
"And, hey, the only thing I'm resenting right about now is your accusation about resentment," Paige added, nodding her head at Phoebe in firm rebuttal. She folded her arms. "Henry and I are doing just fine, thank you very much!"
Piper smirked after catching sight of Paige's reaction.
Phoebe laughed lightly. "Okay, Prue? How about it? You gonna' deny it to?"
Prue folded her arms across the table and smirked back. "I'm not denying anything," she asserted. "But I am trying really hard to repress the urge to ask you to butt out," she found a way to maneuver in a dig in her own Prue-like way.
Phoebe grinned and then rolled her eyes. "Look, you guys, I'm not intruding on purpose or anything but it's like you just said a few minutes ago," she pointed out. "Maybe this new power fine tuned our senses and made us more alert to what we're feeling around us. It's probably what you three have been picking up on."
"Right," Paige stammered out, feeling unsure. "Our unresolved marital issues?"
Phoebe sighed. "Well, hey, it's not only you guys. I'm not married quite yet but I'm still dealing with some relationship issues of my own."
"Quite the contrary," Piper protested in good spirits. "Because I'm actually feeling alot better after last night," she admitted. She looked around the table at all her sisters as they listened. "This feels right," she reflected. "I mean, look at us? We're all sitting here together where we belong and a year ago we never would have even dreamt something like this could be possible." Slowly, she reached over and took Prue's hand in her own and squeezed. "We've really missed you and it's good to have you back home."
Prue's expression shifted into one of poutful affection. "Aw, sweet girl, you know I love you too," she reached across to hug her sister.
Phoebe and Paige watched and were touched by the moment.
"Don't ever leave us again. Promise me," Piper asserted strongly.
"Not ever!" Phoebe backed Piper up with strong emotion.
Prue pulled back. "I promise I'm not going anywhere." Then she caught sight of the time on the microwave clock. "Oh. Except going right now to get ready for my interview that's already in an hour," she pushed herself up from the chair and rounded the table.
"Early interview. At eight in the morning? Where?" Phoebe questioned.
"Fashionably Late. It's a fashion magazine," Prue bent over and hugged Phoebe quickly. "Love you too," she stated affectionately. Then she pointed over at Paige. "And you but please do hurry," she requested of her youngest sister before making a quick dash out of the kitchen.
Paige sighed. "It's settled then. She only loves me for my car!" she joked.
Piper and Phoebe shared a laugh together before Phoebe turned her head over her shoulder so she could throw out one last parting comment. A comment loud enough so her sister's retreating form would overhear.
"Oh, and Prue? Try not to trip and kill yourself on the way to getting dressed," Phoebe teased her. "It really was a beautiful speech Piper just made, let's not make it for nothing," she poked fun at her big sister's hasty departure.
Paige snorted.
Phoebe turned to the other sisters. "I don't remember her being that showy, was she ever that showy?" she addressed Piper about Prue's very open display of affection. "I remember a time where we could barely get an 'I love you.'"
Piper smiled. "What? Don't tell me you're going to blame that on the Ultimate Power too?" she laughed.
"Nope. It's hormones. Gotta' be the hormones," Phoebe settled on.
Paige abruptly stood up. "Okay, ladies. As much as I'd love to stay and chat some more, that definitely was my cue to leave."
"What? Your hormones?" Piper teased. "You don't get that excuse. I get that excuse, I'm the one pregnant over here."
This time Paige reached out and swatted her sister lightly. "No! I'm lending Prue my car for the interview so she's dropping me off at work. Which means I'm off to get ready myself. Ta-ta!" she waved playfully and left the kitchen.
Piper and Phoebe were left to exchange amused expressions with each other.
X
Billie forced herself to get up out of bed and answer the knocking at her door.
Groggily, she approached the door, rubbing at her eyes and dragging her feet. At the moment, she really didn't care all that much about her disheveled appearance as she opened the door and was greeted by the last person she ever expected to see.
"Lana?" she declared, trying to shake herself completely awake. Then she looked down the hall. "What are you doing here? Are you by yourself?"
"Billie? I need your help!" the other girl pleaded in what appeared to be a panic stricken state. "I can't stay at the shelter anymore. It's the Triad! They found me."
Billie interjected. "Whoa, whoa. Slow down a minute, okay? What do you mean they've found you?" she sought more clarification. Now she felt awake.
"I mean they found me. Someone showed up while I was sleeping and took me back to the Underworld. He was dressed in black and then he disappeared into his dark lights but luckily I was able to get away before he got me to the Triad. And I swear I didn't use magic for them to find me," she explained. "I didn't! Billie? What am I going to do? There's no way I can go back there. Not now. What if they come back after me?"
Billie tried to process all the information as fast as she could.
"Did you say dark lights?" she questioned Lana. She nodded her head in response. "The darklighter," Billie mumbled. "Okay, look, we need to get JD and go ..."
"No!" Billie was cut off by Lana's desperate plea. "I mean," she made an effort to regain some composure. "I just think that we should leave him out of it this time. That darklighter, I heard him. He mentioned going after him. And you. JD's a whitelighter and what if he gets hurt?"
A strange feeling about this entire encounter was suddenly overtaking Billie's senses but she couldn't explain why that was. Just that something didn't feel right here. After the other girl's initial protest against involving JD, she had sent Lana a bewildered expression. The other girl had never been opposed to his involvement, in fact, she was the one who had insisted on it from the very beginning when she had requested his help in finding her mortal family. However, Billie quickly brushed those initial feelings aside because concern for JD's safety made perfect sense.
"Alright, look, first off you need to get in here so you're not making a scene inside the hall," Billie quickly ushered her inside.
Lana entered the dorm room and Billie closed the door hoping that what she decided to do next would be the right thing.
X
Phoebe used her keys to unlock the door and stepped into her apartment. However, she really didn't have much time to get settled inside because she was instantly greeted by the sight of Coop flashing into the living room.
"Coop, not now!" she stated with determination, careful to avoid eye contact with him.
Coop shot his arms up in the air. "Okay, well then, when?" he shot back. "Because we can't pretend that this issue can be avoided forever." His eyes followed her as she removed her jacket and threw it onto the couch alongside her purse.
"Who said anything about pretending?" she challenged him, making a move for the bedroom as he followed her inside. "I'm more than aware of what the issue is and I just don't like it. And nothing you say will change my mind!"
Phoebe went straight for her closet and began pulling at her wardrobe, undecided about what she wanted to wear to work.
"Nothing I say will change your mind?" he repeated. "Well how about the fact that we're not just talking about anybody here. We're talking about someone who might be family."
Phoebe released a sardonic laugh. "Family? Please. You died and were given a new life," she stressed. "The past is the past. So why can't you just leave it where it belongs and let me and my sisters do our job!"
Phoebe's movements became more frantic as she pulled clothing from off of the hangers and then deposited the pieces onto the bed. She felt herself becoming more agitated with each passing word that left Coop's mouth.
Coop crossed his arms. "You mean let you and your sisters kill her?"
Her back was facing him, until Phoebe had spun around on him.
"She's a demon!" she let out. "And yes, in case you've forgotten, that is exactly what we do! Vanquish evil. This girl is a part of the Triad which means sooner or later she's coming after us. And I'm sorry Coop, but if it comes down to a choice between me or my sisters, or Billie, or one of my other nieces or nephews, yes, you better believe I'm picking them!"
Coop shook his head, clearly disappointed. Phoebe turned back around.
"So that's it?" he challenged. "You've made up your mind just like that? You're not even going to give it a chance even for me? Despite the fact that this girl hasn't even made a single move against you or your sisters since Billie and JD have been keeping a watch over her?"
"We don't know for sure that she hasn't," she countered. "And Billie is a naive kid who is still learning the ropes," she argued back at him.
"Well you were willing to give Cole the same chance once?"
Phoebe's movements stopped at the mention of Cole's name. She shook her head back and forth, releasing what sounded like a sigh mixed with a laugh. "How dare you throw Cole, of all people, in my face. He's exactly the reason I won't go down that road again. I've already learnt the hard way. And it looks like your intent on doing the same, so if you'll now excuse me now, I need to be getting ready for work."
She kept her back facing him as she made a selection in a distracted manner.
"Phoebe, that's a total cop out!" he accused.
"Just drop it!"
"There was a lot more to the history shared between you and Cole and you know that."
Phoebe felt the anger well up inside her. She didn't want to talk about this. Cole was dead and buried. Period.
Why couldn't he leave well enough alone?
"Ugh!" she screeched in frustration, bringing her hands up into the air, with her back still to him. "What don't you understand about just drop it?" she yelled. "Cole's history! He's all the proof I needed to show me that it didn't matter how hard he tried, in the end he was a prisoner to who he really was. A demon. He couldn't be changed and neither can this girl. I really don't know how to make it any clearer for you than that."
However, when her rant was met with complete silence, Phoebe finally turned around only to be startled by the sight standing before her.
She jumped a little.
There standing before her was Coop, frozen in place. Phoebe's eyes widened and then she looked down at her hands in surprise. Had she just frozen her fiance by using Piper's power? How was it even possible? It had to have happened in the moment she felt the anger and frustration reach its peak, during the moment she had lifted up her hands.
"Oh, no way," she uttered in disbelief. She slowly stepped in front of him, waving her hands back and forth in front of his face. "Coop?" He didn't budge. "Okay, Phoebe, think," she instructed herself. "How does Piper undo it? Right, with her hands."
She rolled her eyes at herself for how dumb she felt for even questioning it and tried once again to use her hands to unfreeze him. But, still, she had no luck.
"Oh, this isn't good."
Phoebe resumed in the direction of the living room to access her cell phone. Reaching for it in her purse, she grabbed it and dialed Piper. After hearing the ring-tone repeat in the background for several seconds, someone finally answered.
"Piper? It's Phoebe." She laughed before giving her question. "Remember this morning when we thought our new power may have some how awakened our senses? Well it turns out that I think it did a little more than that."
She paused, closed her eyes, and then gritted her teeth.
"I need your help over here. I think I just froze Coop and I can't fix it!"
X
Piper finished walking through the living room and into the conservatory area just in time to catch both Wyatt and Molly in the beginning stages of another argument.
"No, give it to me!" Molly's voice traveled. She was kneeling on the floor across from Wyatt who protested in return.
"It's mine!"
Piper stopped to observe the scene before intervening.
"Hey! No fighting you two. Or I take the toys away," came her warning.
She bent down to pick up Chris when suddenly she heard the phone ring. Piper headed for the cordless phone in the kitchen, Chris still in her arms, and picked it up only to discover Phoebe's frantic voice coming from the other end.
"Hello?"
"Piper? It's Phoebe." She laughed before giving her question. "Remember this morning when we thought our new power somehow awakened our senses? Well it turns out that I think it did a little more than that."
Piper took on a look of confusion. She shifted the phone to the other ear so that she could steady Chris better. "Okay," she stammered. "So what else do you think it did?"
However, she became distracted as soon as she heard the raised voices of Wyatt and Molly once again, who were now embroiled in a full blown tantrum. She marched out of the kitchen, making her way back into the conservatory.
"I need your help over here. I think I just froze Coop and I can't fix it!"
"Phoebe, uh, can you hold on a second, we've got a small problem over here that needs some fixing," she vented over the phone.
She took it away from her ear and placed it down onto the small table. However, a quick second later, the words registered and she threw the phone back up against her ear as her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Wait! Did you just say you froze him?"
"Uh yeah! I think I've established that already in addition to the sound of me obviously freaking out over here," Phoebe's voice rose a notch.
"Phoebe, how is that even possible? Freezing is my power," she countered.
Molly and Wyatt were now standing on their feet, playing tug of war with a giant-sized stuffed teddy bear. Piper watched and felt torn between listening to Phoebe and intervening on the small fight which had broken out only seconds ago. She placed Chris back onto the floor.
"Well, get over here and help me figure it out!"
"Phoebe, I can't, I've got the kids," Piper protested. "HEY!"
"WHAT?"
"Not you, the kids!"
"Oh!"
Suddenly, Piper felt her head dip and her astral form left her body relocating itself across the room near Wyatt and Molly. Both children looked between the two Pipers while Piper's astral form looked on in surprise. Then her astral form quickly faded, returning back to her body. Piper gasped in surprise.
"Whoa! What was that?" came her rhetorical question, while looking herself over. Her attention turned back to the kids. "Uh, okay, hand it over. Now!" she instructed to them, referring to the teddy bear. As she waved her hand, the bear suddenly lifted up from out of the children's arms and landed with Piper.
"Okay, now that's definitely not something that happens everyday. I guess you weren't kidding," she said to herself in mere disbelief, referring to Phoebe's revelation. She was completely taken aback.
"Piper?"
She heard the pleading sound of her name coming from the other end of the phone and quickly placed the phone closer to her ear, shock registering.
"Uh, yeah. Look, I'll see if I can get Dad to watch the kids. I'll be right there."
She instantly clicked the phone off trying to piece together what all this meant. Somehow and someway, she had just managed to astrally project herself and use telekinesis. Powers that were distinctly Prue's.
What was going on?
X
Prue sat in traffic with her head resting against the back of the seat and her fingers drumming on the steering wheel.
Her impatience was growing.
She glanced at the time which now read 7:55 am. She was so not making this interview on time and all because of some idiot holding up early rush hour traffic. The jerk had stopped to get out of his car and made his way over to the car behind him. The second man proceeded to exit his own vehicle and the two of them were now engaged in a full-blown shouting match over whether the first car was driving to slow or the other one was driving too close behind, resulting in a bumper being hit. Unfortunately, she had the distinct pleasure of being the person following behind both cars.
"You have got to be kidding me," she groaned.
All she could do was watch the scene play itself out. Prue closed her eyes and tried using some breathing exercises to clear the mounting frustration that was building up quite rapidly. However, just as quickly, she gave up and pounded against the horn which sent the loud sound blaring at the two men.
"Move it!" she shouted. "Some of us have places to be!"
The men turned to stare at her through her windshield. "Lady, shut-up," one of them shouted back at her.
Prue considered getting out of the car but just as quickly reconsidered it. She could not believe her luck. The first job interview she lands in weeks and she had to miss out on it because of two jerks who couldn't reach an agreement and needed to engage in some pointless macho stand-off? She needed this job dammit.
"Ugh! Jerks!" she groaned, lifting her hands up into the air and releasing all the built-up energy that came from behind those words.
BOOM!
Prue jumped. Her mouth was left agape as she heard the sound and then watched the tires on the car in front of her pop and explode, sending the car toppling to its side. Both men took deep dives over to the opposite side of the tumbling car, startled expressions in place. Luckily, neither one of them managed to get hurt but everyone was completely confused by what had just happened.
"Oh oh oh" Prue began to chant frantically, looking between her own hands and the displaced vehicle. "I didn't."
In truth, she had felt the energy release itself from her but she had never anticipated the disastrous result that was now sprawled out before her. Besides, wasn't blowing things up supposed to be Piper's whole deal? However, she was startled out of her rambling thoughts by the sudden knocking against her door window.
"Lady, you okay?"
Prue turned to look. One of the passengers from another car from behind had obviously taken the initiative to get out and see if she was alright, being that she was so close to the unexplainable explosion. She rolled down the window.
"I'm fine," she assured him. "I think," she mumbled more to herself than the man.
As soon as the man stepped back, Prue exited the car, running over in the direction of the same two men who had been arguing moments ago. They were sitting on the ground, staring at the wreckage and trying to figure out what had happened. She offered to help them up.
"Are you okay?" she extended a hand.
"What the hell was that?" one of the men exclaimed. "It came out of nowhere."
Prue released a nervous laugh. "I'm not sure."
She watched as both men lifted themselves off the ground and then turned her head only to hear sirens approaching from the distance. Slowly, she headed back to the car to retrieve her cell phone. Then, dialing the number to the fashion magazine she waited for someone to answer. She leaned against the roof of the car, closing her eyes and shaking her head. What exactly it meant to be one of the Charmed Ones was definitely coming back full force. She rolled her eyes after thinking it.
"Fashionably Late Magazine, this is Judy, how may I help you?"
Prue immediately straightened her posture.
"Uh, hi. This is Prue Halliwell. I had an interview that was scheduled for eight this morning but unfortunately it looks like I won't be able to make it. Really really bad accident," she stressed, a small laugh following as she thought about how those words applied to what she had caused. "Would it be at all possible to reschedule?"
X
Paige sat in her office, using the keyboard, and entering the new data to the new case file that had just crossed her desk. She was feeling extremely anxious and preoccupied after realizing she had fallen behind on her work. Then to top it off, her assistant had called out sick the past week so she needed to cover everything.
Between dealing with all the family revelations, Piper's accident, Henry being taken by demons, and coming to terms with this whole Ultimate Power situation, her normal life had started taking a backseat to magic. Again.
Suddenly, she was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. "Paige Matthews?"
"Paige? It's me, Billie."
"Billie? Hey, you do know this is a work extension not a private line," she scolded gently.
"I know, I'm really sorry, but I needed to talk to you and you weren't picking up your cell phone," she informed her.
"Uh, that's because I'd be busy doing a little something called work?" Paige retorted in good humor. "And speaking of which, shouldn't you be in class right about now?"
While speaking, she continued to type and click away.
"Yeah, but I'm going to have to skip it. Meet me back at the manor as soon as you can. It's important," responded Billie as she abruptly ended the call.
"Billie, wait, what ..." Paige stammered out but it was already too late. Billie had hung up. She shook her head, looking down at the phone. "Great. What's that girl gotten herself into now?" she mumbled with a roll of the eyes.
However, just as she went to place the phone back onto the receiver, Paige was suddenly gripped by a painful jolt to the head as an image started to play out in her mind's eye:
It's an image of Billie standing in the attic of the manor. She appears to be talking with somebody; however, Paige can not see who it is. Billie turns around, with her back to whoever it is and remains talking, her hands waving around in the air. But as she turns back around, she witnesses the shock registering on Billie's face as an arrow is released. It hits Billie right in the stomach and she falls to the ground.
Paige heaves and releases a heavy breath. "Whoa, what was that?"
Did she just receive a premonition?
However, her concerns now lying with what she saw happening to Billie, she was on her feet in a flash. There would be time to reflect on the hows and whys later. Paige went over and locked her office door before disappearing within the usual flurry of bright orbs.
X
Piper opened the door leading into Phoebe's apartment.
"Hello?" she called out before walking inside, peeking her head inside first, and looking for any sign of her sister and a frozen Coop. "Sister here? I've come to help unfreeze the tall, dark, and cupid man!" she cracked.
Phoebe raced out of the bedroom at the sound of her sister's voice. Waving Piper over, she indicated to her that the problem was standing in the bedroom.
"Hurry! In here."
Piper followed her sister into the bedroom as the two of them stopped in front of Coop. Piper arched her brows, clearly amused, as she caught the facial expression along with the rest of the body language being displayed by him.
"He looks really pissed," Piper bluntly commented. "Sure you want me to unfreeze him for you?" she joked.
"Yes," Phoebe began wailing her hands in front of herself.
"What, were you two like in the middle of fighting when it happened?" Piper laughed through her words. "How did it happen anyway?"
"Uh, short version. I yelled, he yelled, I froze. Now just do it!" Phoebe returned.
Piper smiled, looking down at her watch. "Wow. You mean to tell me he's been standing like that, frozen, for over thirty minutes?" she asked incredulously. She lifted her hands, ending the freezing spell, and stood with a smile plastered on her face, a smile directed at Coop.
Coop was about to expound upon his argument but he was suddenly alerted to the fact that he and Phoebe were no longer alone. A confused expression took root as he looked around him, trying to figure out what had happened.
"Piper? Uh, when did you get here? Or should I ask how did you get here?"
"Yeah. That's a very good question, isn't it?" she responded, nodding her head and looking to Phoebe to take over.
Coop looked between the two.
Phoebe kept her gaze down while responding to him. "Um, yeah, look can we finish this later, please? Something else sorta' came up."
"Phoebe, we can't keep avoiding the issue," he answered.
"I'm not avoiding it, I just asked for a little time. Is that okay with you?" she shot back, her voice raised, an indication that she was still clearly agitated. She closed her eyes and sighed. "Look, there's just something else a little more pressing that I need to figure out first," she brought her voice back down.
Piper remained quiet in the background.
"Right," he relented, sounding a bit defeated. He looked up. "Someone is calling anyway. I gotta' go." And Coop left in a quick flash of pink.
A few more moments of silence was met before the sisters shared any words.
"That sounded pretty serious," Piper commented. "Maybe we're not the ones avoiding, repressing, and resenting after all?" she commented in reference to Phoebe's empathic analysis of them all earlier in the morning.
"Believe me, you don't want to know what that's about," Phoebe shook her head before turning around to face her sister. "But one problem at a time. What's going on with our powers? Clearly, it can't be a power switch. We still have our own otherwise you wouldn't have been able to unfreeze him."
Piper released a deep breath, contemplating what happened to her earlier. "I don't know," came her honest reply. "But I did have my own run in before I got here. Wyatt's teddy bear is the new mantle piece."
"Why, what happened?"
"Oh, I don't know, fighting kids, I guess I somehow managed to project myself across the room while I was on the phone with you."
"You used Prue's powers?" Phoebe confirmed.
"Yup! Don't ask me how."
Phoebe thought about it. "Okay, so what does this mean? That the power somehow allows us to tap into each others powers?" she speculated. "Which if it's already happened to us then it's probably bound to happen to Prue and Paige. If not already."
Piper's cell phone began to ring. She checked the caller ID to find that it was Prue calling from her new cell phone. She flashed a smile at Phoebe.
"Well, I guess we're about to find out," she informed her. "Hello?" she answered.
"Hey, Piper. You're not gonna' believe what happened to me on the way to this interview, which I never got to by the way," Prue stressed.
Piper looked at Phoebe. "Oh, I think I can take a pretty good guess."
"Why, did something happen on your end?"
"Yeah, you can say that. Phoebe and I are trying to figure it out as we speak."
"Okay, well whatever it is, it can't be as bad as what I did. I caused an accident this morning in the middle of downtown traffic and didn't even mean to do it. These two guys were backing up traffic and out of nowhere I just made the tires explode."
"What? Okay, Prue, talk about road rage?" Piper cracked. "Was anyone hurt?"
She had Phoebe's complete attention. "What happened?"
"No, thank god, but we need to figure out how to control this before it happens again."
Piper sighed. "Yeah, I agree. Uh, where are you now?"
"On my way back to the manor. You still there?"
"No, I'm over at Phoebe's. Dad dropped me off but we'll meet you back there. Bye." She hung up the phone and then turned to address Phoebe. "Um, Prue had an accident. She's not hurt but I did just tell her we'd meet her back at the manor."
Phoebe nodded. "Alright, to the manor it is."
Without expecting or intending do it, the directive created a swirl of blue and white orbs that took both sisters from out of the apartment and to the location they sought to be at.
The Manor.
X
Billie stood in the attic of the manor, pacing back and forth.
She was nervous. Nervous about how the sisters would react to it but it needed to be dealt with, there was no more waiting. Phoebe already knew but the others didn't and in the present moment it hadn't gone unnoticed by her how Lana appeared to be keeping her distance as well. Billie convinced herself that it probably just had to do with being nervous too so she pushed her feelings of uneasiness aside. After bringing Lana back to the manor with her, Billie had called Paige from her cell phone. Hopefully, she would show up soon.
"Listen, if they freak out at first, you have to promise me not to do anything stupid," Billie tried warning the other girl. "Of course, maybe it won't even come to that if they all just decide to kill me first," she cracked on herself.
"Yeah, sure, whatever," came the quick brush-off reply from the Lana impostor.
Billie walked over to the Book of Shadows, stopping behind the podium. However, she immediately caught sight of the cover and the different symbol with the four loops instead of the traditional three. She ran her fingers over it before opening it.
Lana, took a few steps back, not wanting to get too close.
"This is so cool!" Billie announced, flipping through the pages.
She quickly put it together that the sisters must have gained access to their new power. Which also had to mean that the Ultimate Power had probably changed the Book of Shadows too. She grabbed it and began scanning the pages in hand.
"Maybe now there's some way to help get rid of your powers without getting rid of you."
Billie had her back turned as Lana, the darklighter in disguise, considered the next move. He decided it would be better to just take her out now. That way, he could make his move to where ever it was that the children slept and hide the stones. After all, his use for her was over because she had already provided him access to the manor. He was preparing to summon his crossbow when they were suddenly greeted by orbs.
Billie turned around just in time to be greeted by Paige. "Paige!"
Paige looked to Billie and upon seeing the other unexpected face, reacted immediately. "Table!" she shouted, as the table disappeared in a flurry of orbs, only reappearing as it slammed straight into the disguised darklighter. It sent him crashing to the floor.
"No, Paige, wait. Don't!" Billie protested, stepping forward. "It's not what you think!"
"Not what I think?" Paige repeated. "What is the shape shifter demon doing in the manor?" She watched as Billie ran over to assist the other girl, who appeared to be Lana, trapped on the floor. "Billie? What are you crazy, what do you think you're doing?"
She walked over to where Billie was helping to remove the broken debris off the girl.
"She's not a shape shifter," Billie insisted. "She's someone else. That's what I needed to see you about."
As Billie helped the other girl to her feet, Paige began to look around the attic suspiciously. Something wasn't right. Had the vision she received been wrong? "Wait a second here," she announced. "Where's the darklighter?"
The darklighter in disguise narrowed his eyes at her while Billie refuted it.
"What darklighter?" she questioned Paige. "There is no darklighter."
"No, Billie, I saw it. You were being attacked by a darklighter," she rebutted. "I saw the arrow hit you in my vision thingy," she explained, waving her hands up in the air.
"Your vision?" Billie shot her a questioning look. "Um, isn't that what Phoebe gets?"
"Apparently it's not just her anymore."
Their attention was suddenly captured by something else entirely as Paige and Billie were greeted with another pair of orbs, delivering both Piper and Phoebe into the attic with them. Momentarily taken aback by the sight, Paige finally spoke.
"Okay, now there's something you don't see everyday."
Phoebe grabbed out for Piper, to help balance herself, and who was just as startled by the sudden mode of transportation that they had engaged in.
"Whoa. Head rush!" Phoebe reached for her head.
"Well, it beats getting through traffic. Just ask Prue," Piper cracked.
Paige scrunched up her face, trying to figure out what was happening. "Prue?" she questioned. "What's she got to do with it? And that's my power. Thieves!" she teased.
"Uh, yeah, and blowing things up is mine but apparently Prue became better acquainted with it this morning. She blew out some poor guy's tires on her way to that interview," shared Piper.
Phoebe laughed. "What?"
"Yeah, but thank god nobody was hurt," Piper reflected. "We all know that our powers are tied directly to our emotions and until we can get that under control."
"Wow. So it's happening to you guys too?" commented Paige.
"Yup. I got a taste of what it's like to have Piper's other power. At Coop's expense."
"You froze him?" Paige asserted.
"I froze him."
"Wow. I guess that kind of brings it back to me. I just had a premonition of Billie being attacked in this attic by a darklighter!" Paige informed them.
"A darklighter?" Phoebe voiced with concern.
Billie listened to the conversation going back and forth until the attention was turned to her. Piper and Phoebe directed their attention on her at the same time, immediately taking notice of the girl standing beside her. Phoebe made threatening moves forward.
"Billie, what the HELL is she doing here?" she asserted strongly.
Piper lifted her hands about to go on the attack when Billie stepped in front of the Lana impostor to ward it off.
"Piper don't!"
"Billie, are you nuts, move out of the way!" Piper demanded.
"You don't understand. Phoebe, look, I know you're mad at me for not telling you right away but please just hear me out," she pleaded.
"Billie, I don't want to hear it out. You've been helping a demon and you're just lucky that you haven't gotten yourself killed already because of it."
"But she's not just a demon. And what about Coop?" she inquired.
Piper darted her eyes between the two. "Okay. Confused. Am I blowing the attic demon up or not? And what is she talking about?" she inquired next regarding Billie's remarks. "Not telling what right away and what about helping a demon? Somebody better tell me what's going on here."
"That's no shape shifter. She's a part of the Triad!" came Phoebe's startling revelation.
X
Prue opened the front door to the manor, feeling very much on edge. A power failure freak-out hadn't been on the agenda today but on the bright side at least she had been successful in securing another interview for a later date and time.
"Hello?" she announced stepping into the foyer.
She removed her jacket; however, while coming into closer contact with the staircase she definitely thought she heard what sounded like a heated argument taking place upstairs. With a questioning look, she began the long ascent up the stairs until she reached the second floor. Yup, it was definitely arguing and it was coming from the attic. She made her move towards it.
After coming up the stairs and walking through the door, Prue entered the scene of an argument taking place between her sisters and Billie. Another strange girl, one she had never seen before and was surrounded by an electrical force-field generated from the crystals on the floor, appeared to be at the center of the heated debate.
"But she's the only reason JD even found me in the first place," Billie justified. "If she had really wanted to kill me she could have just done it then!"
"Billie save it!" Piper was heard scolding. "We've already been through this with you before. Keeping something like this from us is just completely unacceptable! No excuses!"
"Hey you guys, what's going on here?" Prue finally interjected with caution. She looked between everyone standing in the attic. "I could hear you all the way downstairs. What's the matter?"
"What's the matter?" Piper retorted. "Good question. Why don't you ask your daughter?" She placed extra emphasis on the last word, while looking pointedly at her niece.
Prue shifted her gaze towards Billie who briefly glanced back.
"Yeah, apparently, she still hasn't learned her lesson from the last time," Paige interjected, standing with her arms crossed, dismayed to discover what had been going on right under her nose. "How are we supposed to be able to trust you to do the bigger stuff if you can't even handle coming to us with what's important?"
"Not to mention today wasn't exactly the smartest day to piss us off," added Phoebe. "We're unpredictable," she cracked, referring to the the unexpected power boost.
"Phoebe!" Prue protested against what she perceived as a not so subtle threat.
"What?" Phoebe challenged her right back. "It's just a joke, but can you at least wait to hear what she did first before you go all mother hen on me? Besides you weren't even here last year when we had to deal with her being brainwashed by that one over there!" She pointed in the direction of the Lana impostor who only stared back.
It was Prue's turn to become defensive. "Okay well before you go and bite my head off, or hers, how about telling me why you're all so clearly pissed off?"
Billie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "I can tell her myself," she broke in, turning her attention on Prue. "I thought she was Christy last year. But it turns out she never was. Christy's dead and I found out who she was when JD found me in the Underworld. Her real name's Lana and ..." her voice trailed off.
"And what?" Prue pushed for the rest. She had a feeling she wasn't going to like this.
"She's part Triad."
Prue's eyes widened in disbelief and it took a moment for the information to register but when it finally did, she broke. Her eyes quickly darted to this Lana who was trapped inside of the demon cage, one she had actually concocted and tested out during her earlier years as a witch. When they had been trying to unmask Belthazor.
"What? And we're just finding out about this now?" Prue demanded.
"Look, I already know what you're probably going to say. And I've already been through it with them but she really hasn't been a threat. JD had to promise to help her find her mortal family and that's all we've been doing."
"Okay, Billie, first off we don't make deals with demons!" Prue argued.
Piper happened to glance at Phoebe and caught her uncomfortable reaction to that particular announcement made by Billie. She had shifted her gaze and then began to pace, with her arms crossed together.
"I've only known the real truth about her since I got away from Gideon."
"Billie? That's way over two months ago?" Prue raised her voice higher. "Why didn't you say something then?"
"Ha! Now who sounds pissed?" Piper couldn't help but pass the crack.
Billie huffed. "Well, maybe because things have gotten so crazy around here I just figured I could help out and handle it on my own. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time somebody in this family tried to help someone out of the mixed breed variety!"
Phoebe jumped in to defend the dig. "Whoa, hold up. Don't even go there. I learned from my mistake. Besides, is that what all that Q&A about Cole was for over a couple weeks back? To find a way to bind demonic powers?"
She interpreted Billie's silence as admission. Phoebe rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Great."
"It's better than killing her if we don't have to, right?" Billie countered.
Paige jumped in this time. "No Billie it's not. Because, uh, surprise surprise. Like a leopard, evil doesn't change its spots." It was the quickest analogy that popped into her mind.
"Well, gee," Billie became sarcastic. "Thanks so very much for the baby talk. Because without it, I don't think I would have ever mastered knowing that evil is a bad thing. Except that in this case we just so happen to be dealing with someone who's mortal too. Oh, and I almost forgot. Someone who Inspector Richardson happens to be looking for and thinks is Christy. So maybe we should think twice before vanquishing her?"
The facial reactions in response to her tart tongue made her cringe a bit on the inside; however, it wasn't enough to deter her altogether. She had become upset and on some level she had even expected them to be upset with her but she wasn't truly prepared for the full-blown attack. Why couldn't they see where she was coming from even a little bit?
Billie glanced over at Lana one final time before making her move to leave. "Sorry," she offered in the other girl's direction. "I'm outta' here."
As she hurried away, she brushed past Prue, who closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Billie? You get back here?" Piper yelled out but was ignored as Billie left the attic. "Well, it's so nice to see she has your knack for being stubborn?" she directed at Prue. "Ugh. I swear, that girl is going to drive us all up the wall with worry to the day we die."
"Okay, now, what's all that about Inspector Richardson?" Phoebe inquired.
"I don't know. It's the first I've heard of it," informed Prue.
"Better have a talk with Andy about that one," Piper threw in. "That's all we need is yet another Inspector to come nosing around with all the demon action going on around here." She was remembering their very unpleasant encounter with Inspector Sheridan from a couple years back. Then she turned her attention from Prue to Phoebe. "And, hey, what's up with you over there? Is there something you're not telling us either?"
"What?" Phoebe countered.
"Billie mentioned Coop," Paige clarified for her.
Phoebe sighed and looked to the floor. "Right, Coop. Well, let's see. Where do I begin. Oh, how about with the little twist on the story. Which is that the mortal family Billie was tracking down happens to lead back to him."
"What?" Piper exclaimed. "How?"
Phoebe took another deep breath before continuing. "Coop had a mortal life before his life as a Cupid. His name was Richard and he had a younger sister who was killed. But she also had a daughter that went missing. Kidnapped by demons."
"And that daughter just so happens to be her?" Piper stammered out, turning to look and point in the Lana imposter's direction.
"Unfortunately. That's what it looks like," Phoebe admitted.
"Okay," Paige emphasized. "I think I'm beginning to see the problem here," she commented, thinking how something like this could definitely put a strain on Phoebe's relationship with him. "So I take it Coop's not so hot with the idea of killing someone off who might be his niece."
"Well, right about now, I'd like to blow up ours!" Piper jested, still upset that Billie hadn't mentioned the whole situation to any of them before now.
"Understatement. And it's a sensitive topic. He was accused and went to prison for his sister's murder," Phoebe shared in response to Paige.
Prue made a face. "That's horrible."
Paige looked between her sisters. "So I guess this means vanquishing her is off the table?"
All the sisters shared a silence as they all turned to look in the Lana imposter's direction. The darklighter only stared right back, taking in all the bits and pieces of information he found useful to report back with to the Triad. He hated having to play along, he would have much preferred taking them out on the spot instead of letting them hold him captive in this way. But then that would ruin their plan. No, his patience would win out in the end.
Prue stepped forward. "I say she lives for right now. Until we figure out what to do. But we keep her right in there."
"No arguments here," Piper supplied.
The four sisters slowly departed from the attic, one followed by the next.
X
Underworld
The other three Triad members had surfaced in Gideon's hidden cavern.
"What do you mean we need some incantation to get to the power?" the SECOND Triad member snarled.
"Dumain never mentioned it when we sent Lana in with Billie to destroy The Charmed Ones?" the THIRD member added.
"With all due respect," Gideon countered in an even tone. "Dumain was an idiot."
"And why haven't you mentioned it until now?" the SECOND member accused.
"Because I had to make sure it was still out there for me to get my hands on, that's why. The Charmed Ones are the only ones capable of sustaining the power. It's the only way for us to gain access and if the incantation disappears, then so does the knowledge of what the language means."
The FIRST Triad listened. "Have the sisters awakened the power? What use is this to us if they haven't yet?" he inquired.
"If they haven't awakened it from their end, all the better," Gideon sneered. "It'll make us stronger then them when we tap into their power. But even if they have it already, it doesn't matter. We have the key to getting in."
Lana stood inside the cage, listening to the ongoing debate. They had arrived some time ago to learn of her capture and then moved on to discover that Gideon had recovered an incantation belonging to the Charmed Ones, the same missing page that would be responsible for igniting the Ultimate Power.
The Triad turned their attention in her direction.
"And what of her?" the THIRD member sneered, walking closer to the cage.
Lana shrunk backwards and curled herself up while taking a seat on the dirt ground.
Gideon chuckled. "Her time is coming my dear friend. Soon she'll meet her end. As soon as the darklighter completes his task, the Charmed Ones will be more than willing to make sure they rid themselves of her for good. And for us."
Lana slowly lifted her head up to meet Gideon's glare.
He laughed.
To Be Continued: Alrighty, another chapter done. Thanks for reading and I hope it kept you entertained. Of course, you all know the drill. Push that little purple button found down in the corner and please review.
Those of you waiting for A Witch Lost in Time, another chapter should be up in a couple days.
Stayed Tuned ...