Timeless Mistakes

by lordtrayus

After the awful events of the future, Chris and the Charmed Ones are focused on finding the threat against Wyatt before its too late. However, Neena, the First Witch, had taken bold action in order to try and save the future herself, starting a chain reaction of events that will decide the fate of existence itself and result in the Charmed Ones lives being changed forever...

7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed

Timeless Mistakes

The fireball bounced off the reflective forcefield, making both Barbas and Katya duck as it soared over their heads, just narrowly missing them, and both exchanged a dark look before they looked at the demon who was standing behind the protective field, looking supremely smug as she watched them.

"Hello, forcefield?" Kyra asked, looking at them mockingly, and Katya glared up at her.

"We're on the same side!" she spat angrily, they had had no luck tracking Nomed at all, and now the damn seer was being even more obstinate about lending a hand than her young male counterpart, and Kyra gave her a pitying glance.

"Oh sweetie, no we're not. Why do you think I've sealed myself in? You want to use me as a pawn in you little attempted silent coup. Yes, I now know that the Triad are back, but as the weird little green dude in those mortal films says, the future's always in motion. So far, there's no clear victor in the coming fight between the Triad and the Charmed Ones, but I for one don't intend to get caught in their crossfire, and if you're smart, you won't either! I don't know where Nomed is either, and I can't quite see why you want him either, but if he's smart, and I know he is, he'll be hiding somewhere and keeping his head down. Now do you want to get out of here? Having the Demon of Fear here is kind of bad for business, people think you're kind of creepy." She told Barbas, who glowered at her before he and Katya both flamed out, leaving Kyra standing inside her lair, quite thankful that her prophetic vision had allowed her to offset their attempts to barge into her lair.

"Thanks for that love." Nomed muttered from the shadows behind her as she stared at where the two demons had disappeared, and she turned and favoured him with a smile.

"You're welcome. Look sweetie, whatever's happening down here, it's about to get ugly. The Triad is back, and the fact that I didn't have a clue about it is what worries me most, and combined with the rumours you've been hearing…let's just say the smart bet is to keep our heads down. I know we're both fond of future boy, but if he keeps going the way he is, the only thing he's going to accomplish is getting the two of us very, very dead." She told him, and Nomed had to admit, she had a point.

He had heard rumours that Barbas had been looking for him, and figuring that it was his temporary alliance with Chris that had attracted the attention of the current de facto head of the underworld, he had fled to Kyra in order to enlist her help, and fearing the same potentially happening to her, she had agreed to help him, and had sealed them both inside of her lair. But now Barbas even had Katya helping him, and with the Triad out there, and with Nomed and Kyra unable to warn Chris, it meant that the witchlighter was on his own.

"So what do you reckon, just stay here until the heat is off?" he asked her, and she frowned worriedly as she looked into her scrying pool.

"That's the thing, I don't know how long that will last. The underworld isn't the place it used to be, it's gotten…scary. Might as well get comfortable. You could be here a while." She advised him worriedly as she began to scry again, trying to identify what exactly was going on down here.

The return of the Triad had caught her off-guard. Anyone else, fair enough, but she was a seer, and she'd had no idea whatsoever that the Triad had returned, which meant, wherever they had been, they had accelerated their plans in order to come back sooner than anticipated.

"Are you alright?" Nomed asked, looking her over, his eyes lingering a little on her scantily clad form, and while he was rather a young demon, there was no denying there was something attractive about him.

However, she had principles, and other things on her mind at the moment.

"No, I didn't have a clue about the Triad being back, and that's what worries me." She told him, trying to get some peek into the future, something to let her know where best to place her bets, but nothing was coming.

Typical, that meant the Triad were blocking visions (which made sense considering Phoebe's powers, which likely would have developed now all four sisters were together). Understandable, and from a purely demonic point of view, she could respect them for it. From a seer's point of view, it was incredibly annoying, not to mention a tad insulting that they didn't want her peering in.

"So what? Yeah, believe me I know the Triad being back isn't great, my friends and I are less than happy about it, but there's nothing we can do about it now, it's whatever changed the timeline to allow all four Charmed Ones to exist at the same time that's to blame." He reasoned, and she sent him a pitying glance.

"Oh sweetcheeks, if only that were true. If the Triad's return was due to the change in the timeline that allowed for all four sisters to coexist, that wouldn't bother me, I could understand that. But, there are two problems with that scenario. Problem number one, the Triad was far too entrenched already, they were quite eager to work with whoever's behind all this, and were already there to work with Barbas, which means…"

Nomed groaned, kneading his temples tiredly.

"Which means they were already back. Brilliant. And the other point?" he asked, and she pursed her lips.

"Well since I discovered the Triad was back on the scene, I've been trying to locate Xar, you know, the one they kicked out." She told him and he nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Yeah, I heard of him, he didn't toe the party line, but he was a golfing buddy or something of the Source's, so they couldn't kill him. What's he got to do with it?" he asked curiously, and she tapped her lips with her finger.

"Well, once I heard about the happy Halliwell reunion, I figured the Triad might come and look for him, and lo and behold, they recruited him, and if they had been brought back because of the changed timeline…" she said leadingly, and he deflated with a sigh.

"He'd have still been part of them in order to offset the Power of Four, but since they recruited him, he can't be. Meaning my generation is even further from our day in the sun than we were last week now the Triad's back among us! We worked for them for ages, we figured that once Belthazor took them out and with the Charmed Ones decimating the old guard, we'd be well placed to assume power in a generation or so, but now, it's going to be even longer!" he griped, and she rolled her eyes.

"That's your biggest concern right now? Someone is making a play for the Charmed One's baby, and is powerful and smart enough that Barbas and Katya have teamed up and are willing to go along with it, and what's worse, they're dangerous enough to have physically teamed up with the Triad! We're at ground zero for an all-out war between the Charmed Ones and the Triad, and Source help anyone caught in the crossfire, and you can bet if they all discover that we've been helping future boy, we'll be top of the casualty list! Now, if you're quiet, I can hopefully try and divine us a way out of this mess. Or at least a nice sunny tropical paradise where we can make a break for together." She said, favouring him with a wink, and despite his preoccupation, Nomed grinned as he started to watch her work.

XX

Prue made one last check to make sure the coast was clear as she left McCorrigans. The Irish pub was, as had been revealed in Sheridan's information, a primary location for the Mercer crime family and its allies. As such, Prue had chosen the bar to be her entry point into their murky world, using the glamouring spell that Paige had taught her in order to assume the identity of her cover, a woman by the name of Fiona. Transforming herself into a beautiful redhead, she had easily attracted the attention of the barman, who had taken her on quite happily, and had quickly laid the ground rules about working there: avoid eye contact, don't ask questions, and above all, do not interact with the owners.

For the last few days she had been working in the pub, and in the quiet periods, Prue had gently probed the bar manager, a man named McKinnery, and he had steadily revealed some information about their employers: that they were scary people, and that he didn't want a pretty girl like her getting herself into trouble asking questions about them that she shouldn't. With that source of information stymied, Prue had elected to watch and wait, and despite his reluctance to tell her anything, McKinnery did keep her informed of their celebrity guests whenever they arrived.

The information that Sheridan had given her had allowed Prue to build up her plan. Mercer controlled the largest crime family in the city, and had been an up and comer who likely would have challenged her old flame Bane Jessup for control before too long, and had also capitalised on the removal of Tony Wong in Chinatown which had allowed him to move in and advance his criminal empire in leaps and bounds. Ruthless, cunning and brutal, Mercer had easily filled the void left by the sister's reformation of Bane, had murdered Bane's second in command DJ and had assumed control of his criminal empire. Having his hand in everything, from weapons smuggling, to drugs, to people trafficking, he was ruthless, devious and mercurial and had kept himself in power for quite some time despite the violent death of his father and brother.

Now, Mercer was surrounded by three chief lieutenants, all of whom regularly met at the pub in order to discuss their business in the back room. The three of them reported to Mercer's surviving brother, who was Mercer's right hand man. There was also his bodyguard, who seemed to act as an advisor and retainer for Mercer, and also acted as a mentor to Mercer's teenage son, whom Prue had seen a couple of times in the bar, sporting a brand new tattoo which if Sheridan's information was correct, signified that he had killed someone already at the ripe old age of sixteen.

Yeah, she didn't feel all that bad about agreeing to help bring them down, they were really a charming family.

Her plan was fully formed, and she'd also cast a glamour on her side of the whiteboard in order to prevent her sisters or nephew from getting involved, she knew the glamour she was using should be enough to protect them all, but she didn't want to take the risk that any of them would stumble into whatever she was doing by accident or by trying to help her, especially if things did go south for any reason. The only thing was, she didn't have the remotest clue how long her plan would take, fair enough she was earning money by working behind the bar, and quite enjoying the work, she'd missed so many aspects of life by being dead, but she didn't want this to take too long, but people like Mercer didn't get as far as they had without being extraordinarily cautious, and any newcomer was bound to be treated with suspicion. As such, she knew she was in for a long, hard task, which further compounded the fact that there was someone after Wyatt, and that Piper had been temporarily relocated to Magic School for protection, but as she had told her, her first priority, as always, was the protection of her family.

As such, her plan to work her way into the inner circle of the family was looking rather a daunting one.

"Fiona, you still here?" McKinnery called, and Prue blanched, she had just been about to take her glamour off, that would have ruined everything.

A stocky, red headed and bearded man, McKinnery was nevertheless a decent boss and a good man, she could tell, despite his criminal employers. However had he came out a split second later…

"Yeah, what's up?" she asked, and he looked at her worriedly, and took her hand.

"Look, I've had a request. You've attracted the eye of one of the bosses." He told her, and while she arranged her features into a mask of shock (which wasn't entirely for show she had to admit), her heart leapt.

If she had attracted the attention of one of his criminal employers (provided she had attracted their gaze for the right reasons), it could greatly improve her chances and her plans to bring down the Mercers.

"Um, I thought you said that would be bad?" she asked, and McKinnery looked at her, his wizened gaze almost pitying.

"Yeah, it could be. Look, I told them I'd speak to you about it. I don't know why they're interested in you, but if you're lucky…I suppose," he admitted bitterly, "it's because one of them's taken an interest in you. If not, well I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do. But, they would like you to sit in on their poker game, act as a waitress, that sort of thing. This is big stuff lass, and I don't want you getting in too deep with them if I can help it, they're not nice people." He warned her, his eyes taut but kind, and she wrapped her hand in his.

"But wouldn't it put me in more danger if I refuse?" she asked hesitantly, and he let out a small, sad sigh.

"Yes that's probably true as well lass. I'll be there with you, but…" he said worriedly, but she patted his hand and gave him a sad smile.

"And I'm thankful, but if I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't, I might as well. You can tell them I'll accept their invitation." She told him, and he sighed and squeezed her hand.

"I figured you'd say that. See you in two days time, and just in case, don't wear white." He advised ominously, and she was briefly puzzled over that before the whole implication set in, and she chewed her lip worriedly as he went back into his pub.

While the fact that she had apparently attracted the eye of at least one member of the inner circle for whatever reason was good, she couldn't help but feel a growing sense of trepidation. As McKinnery had said, the Mercers were incredibly scary people, and to be mysteriously invited to sit in, even just as eye candy (which she would object to if she didn't need to get her life back) to their poker game, was progress she had to admit, and could help her bring them down all the faster now that she was a little closer to the leaders of their shady operation. But even then, there was still the mysterious nature of their summons that she didn't like.

Sighing, she turned to head home, deciding to leave her glamour on just a little longer than she usually would in case anyone was keeping an eye on her. She had to talk to Morris, and to Sheridan, get their opinion, see what they reckoned her next move should be. But she had to admit this was a step in the right direction.

But, she wondered as she headed to a busy district so she could lose her glamour and blend into the crowds lest anyone follow her, if this was a step in the right direction, why did she feel so worried?

XX

"Icky stuff!" Paige cried in alarm as one of the demons that they had thought to interrogate to see what they knew about what was going on in the underworld sprayed acidic vomit, for want of a better term, at them, and reflected it into one of the demons who had come to rescue him.

Chris snarled, ducking behind the table that he had been using to scry for potential leads just as a spray of acidic vomit landed on the table, melting an acrid smelling hole right through it, taking out the map and the scrying crystal in the process.

Phoebe saw this, an outraged expression on her face, and levitated into the air before kicking him in the face, sending the acidic vomit geysering into several of his comrades who screamed as they burned into oblivion. Chris then punctured right through the one she had kicked's chest with his electrokinesis, which he then used to eclipse the whole room in crackling electricity. Paige then closed her eyes, and using her projection power to amplify her orbing power, she orbed the remaining four into a cluster which allowed Chris to finish them off with his lightning.

"Well that was unpleasant! What the hell was that?" Phoebe demanded, looking at the detritus of battle which now littered the attic.

Chris picked up the twisted and melted scrying crystal, looking at it in distaste.

"Scabbar demons, nasty buggers." He replied, wincing at the state of the attic and the ruined crystal.

"And what exactly did we find out, may I ask? Oh man, it's a good thing Piper's at Magic School, if she saw this mess, we'd all be homeless." She lamented, looking around at the chaotic attic irritably.

"The same thing I've been trying to confirm for the last week," Chris said darkly, helping her clear up some of the mess, "that something is going on in the underworld, and that whatever it is, it's bad enough that even demons that are more then capable of taking care of themselves, like the Scabbar demons, are running scared. They're all getting antsy, and the fact that my two demonic contacts have vanished, meaning they're either dead or in hiding, and that the underworld is gearing up for something big. We just don't know what that might be." He complained bitterly, sweeping some debris into a pile to allow them to clear it up later.

Paige exchanged a worried look with Phoebe, if there was something so bad going on down there that all the demons were making a run for it, it was only a matter of time before it came and bit them in the ass. And what was the chances that these mysterious new occurrences had absolutely nothing to do with Wyatt?

They were distracted from their musings by the sudden arrival of Prue in the doorway, her green eyes widened in shock before she put her hands on her hips and looked at her two sisters and nephew expectantly.

"What the hell happened here?" she demanded, gesturing to the mess of the attic, and her sisters looked at Chris, who rolled his eyes.

"We were interrogating a Scabbar demon, unfortunately when he went missing, his friends came looking for him. How did you get on?" he asked as Phoebe started helping him pack the rubbish into bin bags, and Prue chewed her lip nervously.

"Well, I think I've made progress, but I'm not sure, I need to ask Darryl and Sheridan, see what they think. What the hell did you do to the scrying crystal?" she exclaimed in alarm as Paige picked it up lamentably, giving a last look at the faithful artefact before casting it into the bin bag.

"Told you, Scabbar demons. They spit acidic spew at you." She informed her big sister, who wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Ew, gross. Did you get anywhere?" she asked, and the other three shook their heads, and she sighed wearily.

They were running out of time, and the severe lack of progress was grinding them down, and despite the odds, it was very difficult to keep motivated when they were continually hitting dead ends.

"All we got is nearly seared to death by acidic vomit, and a whole lot of mess." Phoebe complained, and Prue smirked a little, imagining the look of fury on her younger sister's face at the mess that her house was currently in.

Sadly the same mess did not just apply to the attic. While that was, so far, the only site of a demon encounter, with Prue being out at all hours working on her plan to bring down the Mercer crime family, Paige up half the night running P3 for Piper in her absence, and with Phoebe being the sole breadwinner, and with Leo, Chris and Cole all coming and going and using the manor as a base for their demon related missions, the whole house had kind of fallen into a bit of a mess, and that was without a year old child running through it.

Piper was going to freak.

"Have you heard from Cole?" Prue asked, her eyes narrowed in concern, and Phoebe scowled.

"Why should I have heard from Cole?" she asked, and Prue allowed herself a small smirk.

"Um, because you married him, and since he's technically the one you guys vanquished, you're his most likely port of call for anything he finds." She pointed out, and Paige and Chris exchanged slight smirks as Phoebe glared at her older, blonde sister, who smiled innocently.

"Just had to get in there that I married him didn't you," she grumbled, and Prue gave her a winning, annoying smile, "no I haven't heard from him, which isn't actually that surprising in all honesty. I asked him to investigate what was going on in the underworld, and if things are as bad as they seem with this new power that's down there, he's probably struggling as much as we are to get any info."

Prue tapped her finger against her chin thoughtfully, the whole thing mulling over in her mind. Being back was strange in this way, as her intuition, like Chris', was rarely wrong, wasn't entirely attuned to the timeframe she was in yet, and that was hampering her ability to follow her instincts slightly. If she knew more about this timeframe, which would come the more she adjusted, she could probably have a few more clues about what was going on in the underworld, but until then, they had to make do with what they had.

"I don't like it. And dad's still on his tear to try and vanquish Rennek, who's also gone to ground I might add, but the Darklighters are up to something, a few of them have been moving around a lot, and it's making me uneasy." Chris complained, crossing his arms and Paige looked nervously at Chris.

"You think they're something to do with whatever else is going on down there?" she asked, and he frowned thoughtfully.

"Truth be told, I'd be surprised if they weren't, but it's weird, Darklighters rarely move in the same circles as the demons, and unlike the demons and warlocks, they don't seem to be running scared, it's more like they're mobilising." He mused, and Prue looked at him sharply.

"Mobilising? Well if they're coming after us we need to be ready for them, why didn't you say something?" she asked, and he shook his head emphatically, soothing her a little.

"I don't think they're mobilising because of anything to do with us, they know that would be suicide, especially once word of Paige's projection power gets out. No, the clan that are on the move act more like mercenaries anyway, which makes me think they might be after dad, after all, Rennek's his old nemesis, it would make sense for Rennek to call in the cavalry to get dad off his back, especially the way dad's been tearing through every bad guy he can find." He reasoned, and Prue had to admit, it was a good line of argument, and she had thoroughly studied Rennek in the book ever since his initial appearance, and Chris' assessment of his tactics seemed on point from what she had read of him.

"Great, well we better let Leo know that there's something amiss anyway, just to put him on his guard. I take it we're kind of at a brick wall for clues and leads?" she asked, and Chris sighed miserably, which she took as confirmation.

"What about Piper?" Phoebe asked, and Chris' eyes flashed, and he turned to his two younger aunts, who suddenly seemed to quail under his harsh glare.

"Well maybe if you two had spoken to her in the last two days, you'd know yourself. Since she went to Magic School, she's only really had me to talk to when she isn't terrorising the staff, and Prue here!" he scolded, and both Phoebe and Paige hung their heads in shame.

Prue turned her own shocked, irritated gaze onto her youngest sisters.

"You haven't even spoken to her?" she demanded, and Phoebe nodded her head while staring determinedly at Chris' trainers.

"No, we've been busy, we've felt horrible, we didn't even realise till today that we hadn't actually spoken to her in the last couple of days since we made her go to Magic School. We decided this morning to bring her breakfast tomorrow!" she said brightly, and Prue rolled her eyes in amused exasperation, and Chris looked slightly mollified.

"Well good. More than anything else, it's the sense of abandonment that gets you. I ought to know as you lot kicked me out twice." He reminded them pointedly, now wearing an identical evil smirk to his oldest aunt's, who sniggered and winked at him proudly while Phoebe glared at him.

"Oh hah hah, what I don't get is how Prue has time to keep in contact with Piper, on top of everything else she's doing." She admitted, and was rather begrudging of the fact that Prue actually could manage so much.

"Prue Halliwell, recently resurrected super, single, witch extraordinaire." Paige complimented as she put the last of the rubbish into the bin bags and tied them up.

"Thanks sis. Besides, I added Piper on that new Facebook thing, it's the business, and even texting is easier than it was before I died. She's been catching me up on the West Wing, oh that reminds me Paige, I saw an advert for a remake of Battlestar Galactica, I set it to record for you, Piper said you and Chris like sci fi stuff." She said, and Chris looked at her in shock.

"You know, I know you are super witch but how the hell do you do it all?" he asked, astounded anyone could do as much as she was doing at once.

Paige wrinkled her nose.

"It won't be as good as the original but thanks." She said indifferently, but then she saw the curious smile on Chris' face.

"I wouldn't dismiss it so readily if I were you." He advised, and her eyes widened in excitement while Prue and Phoebe rolled theirs.

"Prue, look what you did!" Phoebe scolded, and Prue smiled innocently.

"Well they do! Anyway, unless we want a quadruple murder occurring here, we better get this place cleaned up, by the way, what's with all the potions in the kitchen?" she asked, and Chris shrugged.

"That was me, I'm taking them to dad. Don't worry, I'll be back soon and then we can get these two yahoos whipped into shape and return the house to normal. Then we can talk about where you stand." He said to Prue before orbing out, and Prue smiled slightly, bless him, despite everything he was still willing to try and be their Whitelighter.

"Can't believe he left us with the cleaning up, when it was his idea to bring the icky demon here!" Paige complained, and Phoebe chewed her lip slightly.

"Yeah well, better finding out stuff here where we can do something about it than on the hop, he's trying to look out for us. Can you imagine the grief Piper would give him if anything happened while she was in Magic School? So what is going on with you Prue? Progress?" she asked worriedly, and Prue nodded, looking vaguely worried.

"Yeah, I think so. You know, I forgot how tiring it is being super witch. So I propose we clean up the house, get some Chinese food, then just hang out as sisters, what do you say?" she asked, and her two younger sisters smiled.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Phoebe said for the two of them, a worried glance casting over her older sister as she once again mused on the extremely daunting task that Prue had set for herself, which in so many ways was just as daunting as the one their nephew had set for himself.

XX

"Where is Rennek?" Leo spat, electrocuting another demon, who screamed in pain, his eyes bulging as lightning wracked his body.

"I swear I don't know man! Hiding if he has any sense, it's getting nasty down here, trust me, I can help you!" he cried, however by that point the pain had become too much for him and he screamed as he was consumed in flames as he was vanquished.

"Whoops." Leo muttered, before orbs distracted him, and Leo rolled his eyes, expecting another fight with Gideon only for the orbs to materialise into Chris, who sniffed the air and grinned.

"Are you trying to vanquish the entire underworld by my birthday, or is that just a new cologne you're trying?" he asked cheekily, and he shot him a dirty look while accepting the potions his son passed him.

"I underestimated the demon's capacity to withstand pain unfortunately. Anyway, what are you doing here?" he asked, and Chris shrugged.

"I just came to check in, see how you were getting on. And to warn you." He told him, and Leo looked at him worriedly.

"Warn me? About what?"

"Well, we were interrogating a Scabbar demon, gave us a little trouble, I'm about to herd the sisters to clear up the place otherwise mom will freak when she finally gets home," he admitted ruefully, and Leo grinned, he had wondered (uncharitably it was true) whether or not banishing Piper to Magic School was just an excuse to make a mess of the manor without her breathing down their neck, "but he confirmed what I was already suspecting, that there's something big going on down here, which isn't just the fact that all four sisters are now united. And the Darklighters are mobilising, which is the main reason I'm here." He told him, and Leo frowned, leaning against the cool black rock of the underworld.

"Mobilising? You think Rennek is behind it?" he asked, and Chris shrugged.

"That would be my guess. You haven't exactly been subtle." He said with a slight smirk, and Leo shoved his shoulder playfully.

"Well excuse me for trying to hunt down my mortal enemy before he comes after my family. Mind you if Darklighters are mobilising, that ties in with what I've found out. The demons are scared, and a lot are retreating further down into the underworld, but there's no indication of that actually has them all so anxious, so it just can't be your mom and aunts. And that…" Leo said leadingly, and Chris nodded in agreement.

"Is making us uneasy. Phoebe asked Cole to look into what's going on down here too, but she's not heard from him in a while. Could you maybe keep an eye out for him too?" he asked, and Leo nodded.

"Sure. How's your mom?" he asked, and Chris narrowed his eyes at his father slightly.

"A bit lonely, she's only really got me and Wyatt to talk to. Prue calls and texts, the others, not quite so much but I've already had a go at them." He told him sharply, and Leo squirmed a little, what he was doing was important, same went for all of them, but he could maybe afford to spend a bit more time with Piper too, otherwise he'd be in line for a rather painful blasting when he next saw her.

"I'll go and see her tomorrow night then." He said, and Chris allowed himself a small smile.

"Want me to take Wyatt out of your hair?" he asked, and Leo pondered, while he did want to see his son he could also spend a pleasant evening one on one with Piper.

"I'll get back to you on that part. Are you going straight back?" he asked, and Chris nodded, though he looked hesitant.

"Yeah, probably, I'd prefer to go and find my demonic contacts but they've gone to ground, but if they're in hiding I don't want to overtly endanger them by looking for them just yet, I'll leave it just now. But maybe if you could…" Chris began, but Leo's face suddenly lit up and he clicked his fingers.

"Of course! Sorry buddy, I just had a brainwave I'll catch up with you later!" he said, and abruptly orbed out, leaving Chris standing a little bit dazed and nonplussed by the abruptness of the end of their chat.

"I hate it when he does that." He complained, orbing out himself to go and corral the Halliwell cleaning crew the way his mother had taught him.

XX

Phoebe was in her office, had just turned in her column, and she and Paige had both had breakfast with Piper, who had been happy to see them despite being hacked off with them, and after a bit of grovelling they were back in her good books. After catching her up on what she had been missing the last few days, she had talked to Piper about the chat she had had with the crime reporter who had told her about the crimes that affect the family the way that Wyatt was threatened, and as such Piper was now working solidly on everyone within Wyatt's circle of influence, on anyone who could, however unintentionally, endanger her nephew. Meanwhile, Chris continued to work the supernatural angle, leaving his aunts free to pursue their own problems that rather than decreasing only seemed to be increasing. Cole and Leo had barely checked in, and with her constant worry for Prue being so close to the most dangerous crime family in the city, she was needing something of a break herself.

A reprieve then appeared in the form of Paige, who strolled into her office.

"Hey sweetie, what are you doing here?" she asked, as Paige sat down on the opposite side of her desk.

"I've had an interesting sort of day at P3, a wicked witch was causing problems in the Enchanted Forest, I've had a forty year old male nymph, a short ogre, an old fairy and a tall leprechaun all coming and vying for my attention all day." She explained, and Phoebe looked at her, a little taken aback.

"Wait, what?" she asked, completely taken aback and Paige nodded, looking a little frazzled.

"Yeah exactly. I think she was trying to offset the power of nature, use it to try and do whatever she was trying to do." She explained, looking supremely fed up, and Phoebe looked at her worriedly.

"Well if she upsets the natural balance there, do you need me to get Prue or Piper?" she asked, and Paige shook her head.

"No, I cast a spell and she went poof, so everyone went back to normal she would only be your bog standard malicious witch type, not warranting the three of us, let alone the four of us. But I've had a parade of forest inhabitants needing my help all day, I mean why they'd go to P3 when Piper is a bit…" she said with a smirk, and Phoebe grinned.

"Surly I think is the diplomatic way of putting it, don't worry, I won't tell her we said that if you don't. You look stressed honey." She said sympathetically, opening her drawer and offering her sister some of the chocolates that a fan had sent her, and Paige took a few, smiling a little.

"Hey celebrity status has its perks. I'm alright, it's just with everything going on, running P3, we've let everything slide, you realise we don't have so much as a tin of baked beans in the house? How does Piper do it all, I miss Piper, and running her club is harder than it sounds!" she complained, and Phoebe nodded, patting Paige's hand.

"Yeah, I think we kind of take her for granted, because she only goes to the club at night and has Wyatt all day, she can get everything done. Ok sweetie, since you look so pooped, how about I take you for lunch?" she asked brightly, and Paige brightened.

"Only a snack, I'm meeting Henry later." She told her, and Phoebe gave her a teasing look.

"Ah, so we're past the bumping into each other phase, the illicit rendezvous phase, now we're getting to the proper date phase?" she wheedled, and Paige pouted and sent her a dirty look.

"Yes as it happens, he even asked if I wanted to go out for a date." She told her proudly, and Phoebe didn't need her empathy to see that her little sister was fast becoming enamoured with Darryl's new partner.

"Aww. I know we promised to stay out of each other's love lives, but Paige…" she began and Paige smiled a little.

"I know, be careful, no sex without safe sex, etc. Thanks my dear, but I'll be fine. So, you mentioned lunch?" she asked, and Phoebe nodded, reaching over for her purse.

"I suppose so, you've been so put upon," she teased, and brushed her hand against a letter that she was intending on looking at later.

She then saw a woman, dressed in Middle Eastern clothes, cowering and hiding from a bunch of demons that were throwing fireballs at her.

She flashed out of the premonition to see Paige's confused face.

"Um, how do you fancy lunch in the Middle East?"

XX

"You know, when you said lunch in the Middle East, I didn't have an archaeological site in the middle of the desert in mind!" Paige hissed as she and Phoebe crouched behind the rock they had orbed behind, and Phoebe shrugged.

"Well how was I to know where we'd wind up? You might have worn something a little more sombre you know." She taunted, as Paige was currently clad in a cream and gold jacket that was glinting in the desert sun, and Paige shot her a furious look.

"Lunch date with Henry remember? Besides you're hardly dressed for the weather in a scarf!" she grumbled waspishly, and Phoebe had to admit, she was rather warm in it, as the temperature was sweltering and neither of them were particularly equipped sartorially for this heat.

"Ok, we can't fight, let's just find the innocent and get out of here before we both melt." Phoebe whispered, edging out from behind the rock they had orbed in behind to have a look at the cave they were standing in.

It was indeed part of an archaeological site, with numerous excavating tools and maps lying around everywhere, and also, curiously, a pink bottle.

"So you saw your innocent here?" Paige asked, looking around, as the place was quite deserted, and Phoebe was just about to respond when two robe clad demons barged into the cage, shouted at them in Arabic, and conjured swords before charging at the sisters.

Phoebe was on the move in an instant, leaping into the air with her levitation power, spinning and kicking the demon charging her in the back, sending him sprawling into the sand. Landing catlike, she lunged for the demon's sword, and as he screamed she plunged it into him, vanquishing him.

Paige simply concentrated, and to the demon's surprised terror, his sword suddenly turned into a snake which bit him in the neck, and the demon screamed as he and his projected sword were vanquished.

Sensing the jealous, disgruntled look Phoebe was giving her she turned and gave her sister an innocent smile.

"Well I need to practice with my new power don't I?" she asked innocently, and Phoebe muttered what she felt Paige could do with her new power under her breath, which only made Paige smile more.

"Ok, this is weird, my premonitions haven't been wrong before, so what gives?" she asked, looking around, there was clearly something wrong with this whole thing, and they seemed to be in the right place, and the demons had pretty much confirmed it, yet still no innocent.

"Maybe we're too late? Either way Phoebe, I think we should get out of here before any more demons show up." Paige urged worriedly, how long would it take the bad guys to notice two of their number had been vanquished?

Phoebe was looking at the various tools, wondering if there was perhaps a note left behind somewhere, but then saw that there was faded, golden writing on the bottle, and picked it up, wondering if that might hold some clue, she rubbed at the writing and tilted the bottle towards the light coming in the mouth of the cave.

And a second later there was a pink cloud of smoke as a happy, smiling genie materialised before her.

"You got my letter! Thank you for releasing me master!" she cried joyfully, as Paige's mouth opened in shock as she beheld the genie.

"A genie? Aw crap." Phoebe groaned, a genie was the last thing any of them needed.

"I can't believe you landed a genie!" Paige exclaimed, and Phoebe sent her a vexed look.

"She's a genie Paige, not a trout." She scolded, and the happily smiling genie looked supremely unbothered.

"It doesn't matter master, you got my letter! I knew you would be able to help me, and that you will be able to save me from Bosk!" she continued excitedly, and Phoebe shook her head.

"Oh no, not happening, genies are tricksters!" she insisted, and the genie looked crestfallen.

"Please master, Bosk is very dangerous, if you do not release me, he will unleash horrors untold, you must help me!" she wheedled, and before Phoebe could say anything else, Paige interrupted.

"Wait, who is this Bosk guy?" she asked, trying to fill in the blanks.

"That would be me." A voice said from the door and the three women turned to see Bosk, a leather clad demon smirking at them and flanked by a good dozen or so demons, and it looked like more were appearing every second.

"I told you we should have got out of here!" Paige hissed, and Phoebe glared at her as Bosk entered the cave properly, flanked by his sword wielding bodyguards.

"It would seem you've been naughty Jinny, bringing not only a witch here, but one of the Charmed Ones, let alone two. If you think your treatment until now has been cruel, you haven't seen anything yet. Kill them!" he roared, and with an Arabian war cry the various demons rushed towards the sisters, as Bosk threw a fireball.

"If you get me killed I'm not speaking to you forever!" Paige snapped, grabbing Phoebe's arm, who twitched the bottle and Jinny vanished back inside it, allowing Paige to orb them to safety just as three demonic swords would have decapitated them.

XX

"I agree, it's a step in the right direction." Sheridan admitted, mulling over everything that Prue had told the three cops in the grimy little coffee shop they had elected to meet her in.

Prue kept quiet, letting Sheridan mull it over, answering Darryl's concerned look with an appeasing nod. Still sporting her blonde hair, which she had to admit was growing on her, she was also clad in a white poncho that she was wearing over a red crop top and jeans. Using glamours did take a certain risk out of what she was doing, but still, with her next move being debated right now, she had to admit, she would have preferred to meet them in the manor.

"Yeah, but why the sudden interest?" Henry asked, and to Prue's slight consternation, even Sheridan looked a little worried about that one.

"We can only hope it is a genuine interest, rather than them being onto her." Sheridan said, though she didn't look entirely convinced herself, which didn't exactly fill Prue with joy.

"Ok, so best case scenario, we dangle Prue as a piece of eye candy, but what do we do then?" Darryl asked in an undertone as a server went past, looking supremely fed up with their job and indeed, with life in general.

"Provided their interest isn't mercurial," Sheridan said, tapping her teeth with her finger thoughtfully, "then we just see what she can gather from serving in their poker game. Who knows, they might slip up and get us something juicy."

"But if they are onto me?" Prue asked, and Sheridan did look worried at the question.

"See, I'd make you wear a wire, but they're bound to double if not triple check you since it's the first time you'll be in there, which means we've got no way of getting you out if things do go south. If you go in, I'm sorry Miss Halliwell, but you'll be going in alone." She told her worriedly, and Prue mulled it over in her mind as she weighed the pros and cons, ignoring the concerned look Darryl was sending her way.

She had just come back from the dead, and she was certainly in no hurry to go back to being dead. Walking in without any form of backup or way of letting anyone know what was happening was just asking for trouble, and would most likely get her killed. She briefly pondered using just her astral form but she couldn't guarantee it would last as long as she would need it to, she had trouble maintaining it indefinitely before she died, and with three years dead she'd be back to square one. She also didn't know if she could add a glamour on top of her astral form. She also contemplated asking Paige to give her a hand with her projection, but the power was too new to Paige as well, and besides, she wanted her sisters kept as far from this as possible. But if it was indeed an innocent invitation, well as innocent as things with the Mercers got, then it would go a long way to helping her cause and getting her life back.

Which meant she had only one choice.

"I'll do it." She told them, and Darryl laid a hand on her wrist, his eyes clouded with concern.

"Are you sure Prue?" he asked, his voice thick with concern, and she nodded.

"I said I'd do this to get my life back Darryl, I'll make it work." She assured him, patting his hand with her free one.

"Are you sure about this Prue?" Henry asked, looking at her nervously, and she nodded.

"No, but I'm as confident about my answer as I'm going to get. I'm doing this." She told them with a sense of finality, and Sheridan nodded, respect burning in her eyes.

"You're very brave Miss Halliwell. We'll try and be close by in case things go wrong, but just in case…good luck."

XX

Chris grumbled under his breath as he finally managed to open the front door despite his arms being laden with shopping bags.

"Oh don't all rush to help, it's just me, the culinary pachyderm!" he complained, finally managing to get through the door, kicking it shut with a slam and grumbling under his breath as he took the shopping bags through to the kitchen.

Depositing all of the shopping on the bunkers, he began decanting the normal food and ingredients from all of the potion ingredient he had also bought, and briefly wondered how the hell things had gotten so bad in the day to day running of the manor in the last week or so. Admittedly, with everyone coming and going, and without Piper's firm hand at the tiller, or even Prue's full time, to make sure the remaining yahoos toed the line, it was always going to slip a little, but it should never have slipped this badly.

However, with the cupboards, fridge and most importantly wine rack all restocked, so that his aunts wouldn't be forced to subsist on beans on toast, at least things would improve a little. On the plus side at least the washing had been done.

He was distracted from his musings by the back door opening, and startled, he span, ready to blast whoever had startled him only to see it was Prue, who flicked him an amused glance.

"I surrender." She teased, and he scowled at her.

"Well you made me jump. You will be pleased to know that I have now restocked with groceries so you can eat something other than beans on toast." He told her, leaning against the counter as she deposited her handbag on the bunker in the middle of the room.

"Thanks honey that's a great help…hang on, where did you get the money?" she asked curiously, and he looked only slightly guilty as he smirked.

"Well I had to get creative." He answered elusively, and she shot him a dirty look.

"You dipped money from our purses didn't you?" she asked in resignation, and he nodded.

"Pretty much yeah. Mom told me to! She said she wouldn't pay for it as you're all old enough and ugly enough to look after yourselves. Besides, I took less from your purse, you're just back from the dead!" he told her brightly, and she rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Thank you for your consideration. Is there any change?" she asked, and he gave her a disbelieving look.

"No, I used the change to buy my lunch, which was my payment as I'm shopping for three sensible adult women who seemingly can't look after themselves." He taunted, and she swatted at him playfully, and he ducked just in time before he fixed her with a concerned look.

"How did you get on with Darryl?" he asked, and she chewed her lip but nodded forcefully, reminding herself that despite how crazy it seemed she was indeed doing this.

"I'm going ahead with it." She told him, and he looked at her worriedly, but nodded.

"Alright, but you have a code word so Paige or I can get you out if things go south ok?" he asked, and touched by his quite dedicated Whitelighter instincts she nodded.

"Course scrappy. Now, how about-" she started to say just as they heard a smash from upstairs, both exchanging an alarmed look before hurtling for the attic, where the crashes were coming from.

Barging into the attic, the two of them watched the bizarre scene of a hulking demon atop a magic carpet throwing fireballs at Phoebe and the scantily clad woman with her, both crying out in alarm while four sword wielding demons shimmered into the attic, giving a cry in Arabic and rushing towards Phoebe and her charge.

Chris moved instantly, orbing into their way and flicking the four swordsmen back away from his aunt. Prue meanwhile flashed into her astral form, tackling the demon off the magic carpet with a grunt as he fell. Flashing back into her body, Prue then swept her fingers up, casting her shimmering telekinetic blast into the demon, who screamed as he was thrown over the attic. Chris span out of the way of one swordsmen, flicking a combustive orb into the face of him as he passed, the demon screaming as he went past.

"Phoebe, what have we missed?" Prue asked, yelping and diving for the floor as the demon she had attacked recovered, climbing out of the pile of debris that she had blasted him into.

"Innocent genie, evil demon trying to exploit her!" Phoebe cried, levitating herself from her position and kicking one of the swordsmen in the face, taking the sword he was carrying and thrusting it into his chest, making him cry out as he was vanquished.

"Where's Paige?" Chris asked, orbing out of the way as one swordsman threw his sword right at his head, and orbing back he used the temporary disarmament of his opponent to blast him with lightning, the demon screaming in pain as he was consumed in flame.

"Lunch date with Henry!" she replied breathlessly, and Chris and Prue both drilled her with a glare.

"And you let her go?" they demanded in unison as the leader demon whistled and four more swordsmen demons shimmered in to reinforce their friend.

"I didn't think it would be an issue how was I to know they had a magic carpet?" she demanded indignantly as the leading demon started throwing fireballs with reckless abandon, forcing all four of them to assume cover.

"Remind me to kick your ass when we get out of this. We need Paige!" Prue hissed, and Chris was inclined to agree.

"And really? A genie? No offence!" Chris assured the genie hastily as the demons advanced.

"Oh, none taken master!" the genie said happily, wincing as a fireball flew over her head.

"You should never have taken her from me witch!" the demon snarled, conjuring a fireball.

Exchanging a nod with his aunt, he and Prue turned ands blasted the table over the room with their powers, sending the demons scattering and with that the three witches made a resurgence, Prue's disintegrating blast vanquishing another while Chris took down another with a combustive orb. Phoebe used her martial arts skills to kick the sword out of one demons hand, which flew through the air and embedded itself in one of his companions.

"Wait, where's?" Phoebe asked, as the genie shrieked from behind them, the leading demon clearly having used his companions as a distraction.

"Master! It's Bosk!" the genie cried as the demon, apparently Bosk, grabbed her, grinning malevolently.

Phoebe looked around in desperation, but if she didn't act fast Bosk would take her innocent, and Prue and Chris were both occupied with the last of the swordsmen…

"Jinny, I wish you free!" she cried.

There was a pink whirlwind of smoke, and instead of the scantily clad demon she was now clad in a black jumpsuit and had a very ugly expression on her face.

"Um is it me or does our innocent not look so innocent anymore?" Prue asked Chris, and Jinny smirked.

"Who's the master now?" she taunted, as Bosk tried to back away, looking horrified and Jinny then conjured a fireball and threw it into Bosk, who screamed as he was vanquished.

Jinny smirked and lunged for the bottle, her eyes alight with malice.

"Chris!" Prue urged and he flicked the bottle towards his hand, catching it.

Seething with anger, she stomped her foot then threw a fireball at the two of them, but Prue reflected it back towards her. Snarling in anger, Jinny sprang onto the carpet, flying it through the already smashed window, leaving the two of them standing a little nonplussed in the wreckage of the attic.

"Ok…what the hell just happened?" Chris asked indignantly, waving the bottle around in his hand in annoyance, but Prue had more immediate worries on her mind.

"Never mind that, where's Phoebe? Did a demon kidnap her or something?" she asked worriedly, looking around in a panic, desperate for any sign of her sister.

"Phoebe?" he called, looking around worriedly, he didn't see how a demon could have nabbed her but then again…

"In here!" a small voice called, and he and Prue exchanged looks, looking around again.

"Phoebe?" Prue asked in confusion.

"In here!" came the voice again, and with a sense of dawning realisation Chris and his aunt exchanged looks of realisation as they peered into the bottle in Chris' hand.

"Hi guys." Phoebe said in a miserable voice, looking at them miserably from the plush confines of the inside of the bottle.

"What the…get out of there!" Prue snapped angrily, and Phoebe scowled.

"Don't you think I've tried? I don't know how. Try commanding me!" she encouraged, and Prue rolled her eyes.

"What do you think I just did?" she asked, and Phoebe waved her hand impatiently.

"Not you, Chris, he's the one who took the bottle isn't he?" she asked pointedly, and Prue rolled her eyes and glared at the bottle before letting Chris look into the bottle solo.

"Alright, get the hell out of there!" he ordered, just as irritably as his aunt had done, and she clasped her hands together and nodded, and a second later blue smoke billowed out of the bottle and materialised as Phoebe.

However rather than plain old garden variety Phoebe she was now clad in flowing blue silk pantaloons, a cropped blue silk top that exposed her belly, and a blue headscarf wrapped around her hair which had now turned long and blonde.

Chris and Prue stared at her for a second before Chris roared with laughter, and Prue, sniggering into her hand, fixed her sister with a pitying glance.

"You look ridiculous." She teased, and Phoebe glared at her before examining herself, shaking her head as she did so.

"I feel ridiculous!" she complained as the other two present laughed at her misfortune.

"How am I supposed to worry about the Mercers now with this?" Prue asked, still chuckling and gesturing at her sister while Chris sniggered.

Phoebe turned and looked at her, furious with incredulity.

"Is that what you're worried about? Would you look at me? I'm wearing pantaloons for crying out loud! Where's the mirror," she muttered, heading over and looking at herself and thankfully avoiding the looks Chris and Prue exchanged which started them sniggering all over again, "I look like a genie fetishists dream for god sakes, an I Dream of Genie reject! And what's with the hair, why do I always get stuck with the wig?" she wailed plaintively, and Prue, struggling to stop laughing, pulled herself together.

"Trust me, you don't. Leo!" she called, and to her shock, he came on the first call, orbing in and to his credit, the expression on his face only briefly flickered into a smile as he saw Phoebe before he pulled himself together.

"Uh oh."

"Yeah, right? Uh oh." Phoebe said waspishly, while Prue arced an eyebrow at her.

"I still can't believe you made a wish with a genie, after how we got burned last time? You know better than that!" she scolded, and Phoebe flared up at once, looking rather disgruntled that she was getting the blame.

"I thought she was an innocent, how was I to know I was going to unleash a demon?" she demanded petulantly, and Leo frowned as he took the bottle from Chris, who also peered at it.

"Um, because it says it right here on the bottle, in Arabic." Leo replied, and Phoebe made a noise of incoherent rage.

"Yeah, well, I don't understand Arabic, how was I to know?" she demanded and Chris gave her a reprimanding look.

"You would know if you hadn't been in such a hurry, and if you had shown the bottle to me, dad, or even to Paige, as she also has omnilingualism, it's also Paige's fault but still." He told her, and she flared up, but Prue laid a hand on her wrist, sending her a look which kept her from replying, though she did glare resentfully at Chris as she stewed in silence.

"There's a warning label on the bottle?" Prue asked, taking it from Leo and scrutinising it herself, and Leo nodded.

"Yeah, it says a shah condemned her to eternity in the bottle for her actions, and anyone who was stupid enough, sorry," he said, withering under Phoebe's glare, "to free her, would share her fate. But if she was imprisoned by good magic, that would explain if she was able to touch the book, it would be an unintentional cloak over her intentions."

Prue rubbed her forehead wearily.

"Great, that's all we need, so now we're down two Charmed Ones effectively, and we're being manipulated by a bad Princess Jasmine to do her dirty work for her. Alright, I'm beginning to get the start of a plan in my head, but either way, we need Paige, with Piper at magic school were already down a sister, and I've had enough of the power of one trip, I'll go call her. Let's go people." She commanded and swept from the messed up attic.

"She has a plan? How?" Chris asked, marvelling at his aunt, and Leo tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully.

"Technically speaking it shouldn't be that difficult, all you need to do is reverse the magic, get the genie to wish Phoebe free and everything will go back to normal." He reasoned, and Phoebe nodded eagerly.

"Yes, that's what we can do then! And can we do it quickly, it's a bit breezy in this outfit?" she complained, and glared at Chris as he had a suspicious sounding cough into his hand, trying to hide his smirk.

"Ok, so if you guys are alright, I've got to go." Leo said, and Chris turned and looked at him incredulously.

"Wait, what? Are you kidding? We're down mom already, and Phoebe is now a genie, if you have to go off somewhere, you can at least wait till Paige comes back!" he shouted, and Leo looked at him apologetically.

"I know buddy, and I'm sorry, but I was checking on your tip that the Darklighters are mobilising, if I can find their ringleader, I can follow them back to Rennek!" he said excitedly, and despite the look of outrage on Chris face, he started to orb out.

"I really wish you wouldn't do that!" he yelled angrily, then immediately clamped his hand to his mouth as he realised what he had said, his eyes widening in alarm as Phoebe closed her eyes and nodded her head, abruptly stopping Leo's orbing.

Leo looked around, closing his eyes and straining, before he glared at his son and his sister in law.

"I can't orb!" he spluttered angrily, then raised his hand towards the wall, trying to shoot electrokinesis, but nothing happened there either, and he raised his arms into the air in frustration.

"I can't do anything! You've blocked my powers or something!" he complained, and Phoebe looked vaguely apologetic.

"Heh, sorry Leo, maybe I was a bit overzealous as it's my first wish?" she asked sheepishly, and Leo turned angrily to Chris, who to his credit did look vaguely apologetic.

"Sorry dad, I didn't mean to, and I didn't realise she'd block all the powers." He said, mostly sorry but a small, savage bit of him thought it served his father right.

Leo grunted and kneaded his eyes with his fingers, just as Prue came back in.

"Paige is on her way, and she doesn't sound happy." She told them, not noticing that none of them were paying attention.

"Well, you just need to do another wish and get my powers back, that's all." Leo told him, and this attracted Prue's attention.

"Wait, what do you mean 'another wish'?" she asked suspiciously, and Chris scuffed his feet, quailing under his aunt's harsh gaze, and Phoebe thought to herself resentfully, Chris gave them the run around for months, whether intentionally or not, and was even able to hold his own against his mother in a shouting match, yet here he was backing down before Prue, where was she months ago?

"I accidentally made a wish to stop dad orbing out, though in my defence he was about to orb out when I was still talking which would leave us even more shorthanded, and besides, Phoebe's the one who actually granted the wish!" he moaned petulantly, pointing at Phoebe, who spluttered in outrage, and the three of them broke into petulant bickering, before Prue gave a sharp whistle that drilled right through their ears.

"Enough! I left you alone for three minutes for god sakes and this happened! Alright, Leo Chris is right you should have at least been waiting until Paige got back, but what's done is done, and when we get Jinny back we can undo the wish, so until then just sit here and stew. Chris, you also know better than to make a wish with a genie, and accident or not, we're now down Leo's powers even if he's still physically here. And Phoebe none of this would have happened had you not rushed into all this. Now," she began, glaring at the three of them who were staring at their shoes after her dressing down, "Leo, if I use my astral form on Jinny, would I be able to possess her without the need of a ghost?" she asked, and Leo mulled it over for a second, before nodding cautiously.

"Yes, I can't see why you wouldn't be able to, and if you possess her with your astral form and undo all the magic that's been accidentally done, then wish her back into the bottle provided you get out of her before it happens, it should work." He told her, and she nodded, looking pleased.

"Good. But, just to be on the safe side, I'll still write a vanquishing spell because either way, whatever else Jinny is up to things might go wrong, but that's a bridge we can cross when we come to it. Now, let's get a move on, we've got ninety nine problems here and I'd rather a genie wasn't one!" she ordered, sweeping them up with a gesture and following them downstairs.

XX

"Hm, no that isn't quite right there, she's an upper level demon, I think you should invoke the name of…" Phoebe began, peering over Prue's shoulder as she sat at the dining room table writing her spell, and Prue turned and shot her a venomous glare.

"Hey do I need to get Chris to shut you up? I don't need a bossy genie on my back, I know how to write a damn vanquishing spell and I'm writing it the way I want, so back off." She warned, and Phoebe looked aghast, clearly feeling that her threat was below the belt.

"You wouldn't!" she exclaimed, and Prue smiled sweetly.

"Keep pushing me." She hissed, eyes glinting malevolently, and Phoebe pouted and scurried off, allowing Prue to go back to her spell, muttering under her breath.

She was just finishing the final touches to her spell when Paige orbed in, looking both upset and angry.

"Honey, what's the matter?" Prue asked, and Paige scowled.

"Oh nothing much, just the guy I was dating is a total cad and a cheapskate! We had a nice lunch, having a good time, and then we get the bill and he expects me to pay half!" she raged, just as Chris walked in, and he shot his aunt an unimpressed look.

"So the guy should always pay for the girl?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"No, I don't mind splitting with a guy, not at all, but if he asks you out on an actual date then surely he should pay?" she raged, and Chris nodded, conceding that point.

"Aww that sucks sweetie. Want me to beat him up for you?" Prue asked a little too enthusiastically, and Paige smiled but shook her head.

"No thanks, so what's the big emergency that I had to leave a cheap date for anyway?" she asked, just as Phoebe reappeared.

"Aww honey, I heard you from next door that sucks." She lamented, but then Paige burst into a fit of the giggles and Phoebe glowered.

"P-P-Phoebe…" Paige sniggered, which of course started Chris and Prue sniggering again as well while Phoebe looked at them in irritation.

"You're laughing at me? I'm trying to be sympathetic and you're laughing at me?" she asked through gritted teeth and Paige, to her credit, managed to get herself upright and look at her sister.

"Sorry sweetie, I needed a laugh. Um, what happened with the genie?" she asked, and Chris shot her a nettled look.

"You would know if you'd been here," he told her, and she looked slightly apologetic, "but the cliff notes version is…"

With Paige up to speed, she and Prue were going over the plan while Phoebe fretted in the background, and Chris found Leo scowling out of the kitchen window.

"I'm sorry dad, I didn't mean to take away your powers." He said, and Leo sighed and turned to clap his son on the shoulder.

"It's not your fault buddy. And you were right, I was being a bit of an ass, so I probably deserved it. And besides, I'm not worried, now Paige is back we can go about fixing all of this before Jinny comes back." He said, but no sooner had the words left his mouth than there was the smash of breaking glass, and Chris rolled his eyes at his father before telling him to stay put and running through to help his aunts.

Jinny was indeed back, sending fireballs down at Prue and Paige from her magic carpet while Phoebe was beset by the sword wielding demons. Deciding her need was greater than the other twos, he ran at them, electrokinesis puncturing through the chests of two of them allowing Phoebe to shoot him a look of thanks.

"Once I get that bottle, I'm going to rid the world of witches beginning with you!" she spat, throwing another fireball at Paige, who orbed out of the way just in time, but with Paige out of the way, Jinny was able to make a beeline for the bottle which was on the table behind her.

"No, Chris!" Prue snapped, and Chris flicked the bottle into his hands just as Jinny would have swiped it from the table.

"Got it!" he called, and Jinny snarled, throwing a fireball at Chris and catching him in the chest and he went careening over the couch, the bottle flying from his hand.

"I thought you said you had a plan!" Phoebe hissed, ducking from a demon hacking at her with his sword, and Prue glared at her, as Paige orbed back, and Chris, coughing a little, pulled himself up over the couch and glared at her.

"Bottle!" Paige called, orbing it to her hand, but that allowed Jinny to divebomb her with her carpet, clutching for the bottle, which Paige threw to Chris waiting hands, while flicking the other two swordsmen away from his genie aunt.

"Prue, now!" she cried, and Prue astralled into existence, her astral form leaping at the carpet and at Jinny, who smirked mockingly. As astral Prue touched her, she gave a cry of pain and a red sphere of magic flared around Jinny, throwing astral Prue back into her normal body which promptly fell onto her backside, Prue cursing as it happened.

"Well that wasn't part of the plan." She complained irritably, pulling herself up as Jinny swooped through the house to come around for another pass.

However it was then that Leo did something incredibly brave and incredibly stupid, especially when he didn't have his powers, and charged through from the kitchen, springing at Jinny and tackling her off the carpet, the demon shrieking in alarm as she crashed into the dining room table with Leo on top of her.

"Leo!" Prue called, and he rolled out of the way, giving Jinny a clear shot at getting back up…

"Crystals, circle!" Paige cried triumphantly, and Jinny snarled in frustration as she was finally ensnared while Prue flicked the carpet to the floor where it remained unmoving. The last two demons screamed as Chris finished them off, panting slightly.

"You think this thing can hold me?" Jinny taunted, and Prue smirked.

"Not for long, but hopefully by the time you get out of this, we'll be ready to vanquish your sorry ass. So ha!" she taunted, and she walked through to the living room, where Paige had gotten Leo back on his feet who was looking a little winded, helped Chris to put out the smouldering of his jacket though he was still coughing, and had corralled Phoebe into position with them as well.

"Are you boys alright?" Prue asked worriedly, and both nodded.

"Yeah, just a little winded." Leo assured her, and she nodded before looking at Paige.

"We don't have much time, we need to figure out how the hell she was able to repel our powers." She said, and Paige glowered through at the demon standing on the dining room table (Piper was going to kill them), squinting her eyes.

"That necklace, she wasn't wearing it earlier." She mused, and Leo also peered through at the demon, who had now closed her eyes and seemed to be meditating, which didn't seem a very good idea to let her keep doing, but they were short on time and options.

"It looks like an amulet, so we need to get that off of her, otherwise we can't even vanquish her." He told them, and Chris frowned thoughtfully, getting that off her was going to be tricky without her trying and potentially succeeding in killing them.

"Maybe we should call Piper?" Phoebe suggested, and Prue had to admit, it was a tempting prospect, but for now, they had a plan, the only thing that had scuppered it was Jinny amuletting up.

"We'll keep that as a reserve, alright, Paige, would you be able to make a stun potion of some sort?" she asked musingly, and Paige contemplated the question before nodding.

"Should be able to yeah, especially if I can cross it with Piper's warlock blinding potion, you know, adapt the two of them." She said, and Prue nodded, she didn't necessarily like this, but time was short, and with Jinny able to block their powers she would be on the offensive as soon as they deactivated the cage.

"Ok, you do that, I'll keep an eye on Jinny. Leo, I know you can't heal at the moment," Prue said, earning her a dirty look from her brother in law, "but maybe check Chris over? Scrappy, keep the bottle close ok?" she asked as she gestured with her head to Phoebe to go and watch Jinny while the others went about their assigned tasks.

Prue took a small moment to lean against the doorframe, closing her eyes and kneading her temples. Yes, out of the four of them she was probably the sister who enjoyed the demon vanquishing aspect the most, but that didn't mean it wasn't stressful, actually, she'd forgotten how stressful the whole thing was. And what with being a sister down…

She shook herself. Piper was at Magic School for a reason, and truth be told they were perfectly capable of dealing with most things without her, it was just with everyone coming and going standards had slipped. And her focus on the Mercers didn't help, but she wasn't going to get anywhere with them until they dealt with the current genie crisis.

And to do that, they needed to get Paige's stun potion to blind Jinny so they could get the amulet off her, then Prue could do the needful. Deciding that Jinny was sufficiently entertained taunting Phoebe for the moment she went to help her baby sister.

"It's just red, thank god." Leo said, checking over his son's wound as he coughed a little, and Chris smiled ruefully.

"Suppose it was a good thing that Wyatt unleashed all my powers otherwise it could have been much worse. She's a good shot though." Chris grumbled, glowering through at where Jinny was standing on the table, clearly losing the battle of wits with Phoebe who was now singing Land of Hope and Glory in an obnoxiously loud voice which was clearly putting the demon off whatever mischief she was trying to actually cause.

Leo looked at the demon, chewing his lip as he studied her pensively.

"Am I the only one who's getting worried about all this? Am I just paranoid or is it like…?"

"Like someone is keeping these attacks coming to exhaust us and keep us occupied while they get ready to make their own move? Yeah, we've been wondering that too, but we either haven't had the time or there hasn't been enough evidence to confirm our suspicions either way." Chris said worriedly, watching as Phoebe taunted Jinny.

Leo had to admit, it was seeming more and more likely that someone was sending threats like the spider demon and now Jinny in order to offset any progress the sisters could make on who was behind everything. However, while it was likely that if Chris was right and there was someone behind this, there could be another aspect to it all other than just thwarting them in finding out who was after Wyatt. After all, the entire underworld was significantly less than delighted about the unification of all four Charmed Ones, and they could just be sending these threats in order to gauge their strength. However, either way it was a problem that needed to be addressed once they rid themselves of their current problem.

"We don't seem to be getting anywhere do we bud?" Leo asked his son musingly, and Chris shook his head.

"No. I just wish we had some clue who was behind all of this." He said, then his eyes widened in alarm a split second before Phoebe clasped her hands and nodded, granting his wish before she could stop herself.

"Phoebe!" Leo snapped as she turned to look at him in alarm.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it! Oh my god I've killed Piper's son!" she screamed, and panicking, Leo looked around and was actually greeted by the sight of Chris slumped back in the seat, sleeping peacefully.

His heart rate returning to normal after Phoebe's outcry, he looked at Chris, blowing his exasperated breath out through his teeth. Chris was sound asleep, and now that their immediate spike in blood pressure was dealt with, they could try and wake him up. However, five minutes later, after poking him, speaking to him, shouting at him, threatening him with his mother, nothing worked. Chris was essentially dead to the world, sleeping soundly, while Jinny sniggered maliciously in the background.

Leo shot his sister in law a filthy look.

"And how exactly did that even help with his wish?" he asked, and she shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know do I? I've never been a genie before, maybe that's just how all my wishes work! Is he alright do you think?" she asked worriedly, and Leo nodded, checking his son's pulse just to be sure,

"Yeah, he's fine, he's just sound asleep. On the plus side at least he's actually getting some sleep which I suppose is a bonus. We need to fix you being a genie right now though, before you grant any more awkward wishes." He grumbled, and Phoebe looked at him brightly.

"At least now he can't make any more accidental wishes!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, and Leo shot her a deadpan look.

"Yay." He said sarcastically, and she at least had the good grace to look sheepish.

Most unfortunately for Phoebe however, it was that moment when Prue decided to walk back through to the living room, and eyes quickly taking in the scene she turned her gaze onto Phoebe.

"What did you do?" she demanded angrily, and Phoebe winced.

"It's not my fault! He accidentally made a wish, and I had to grant it! Or maybe that's the extent of my genie powers, putting people to sleep? I don't know!" she wailed, and Prue heaved a sigh, rolling her eyes as she did so.

"Well if he isn't in any immediate danger…how did this go so wrong?" she asked Leo wearily, and he gave her a wan smile.

"Just bad luck, besides you're a little rusty, you'll get back into the swing of things soon enough." He assured her, and she gave him a grateful look.

"Thanks Leo. Today's just been one disaster after another. Paige, how you getting on with that potion?" she asked, and a satisfying bang reached her ears from the kitchen.

"Just done I just need to bottle it, hold on." She replied, however in all the commotion, they had taken their eyes off Jinny.

With a triumphant shriek, Jinny watched as the magic carpet she had summoned broke through the window just as Paige came through with the potions. Orbing out of the way of the shards of glass as they fell around her, Jinny had the carpet ram into the crystal cage, overloading it and allowing her to step out, throwing a fireball at Paige, who orbed once again.

Prue was immediately on the defensive, blasting Jinny with a telekinetic blast however the amulet absorbed the attack, the former genie laughing mockingly as she did so. She then whistled and a host of sword wielding thief demons shimmered in.

"Leo, get the bottle!" Prue barked as she and Paige set about the demons with abandon, however while they were busy with the demons, Jinny was already approaching the sleeping form of Chris, a sneering smirk on her face.

"You know, I always hated witches. My plan was simple, lure you suckers into helping me, get you to free me, use the bottle to find the Lost City of Zanbar and use that to destroy Bosk and then take over. But no, you had to get in the way. So, first I'm going to rid the world of witches, then I'll get Zanbar!" she hissed, Phoebe looking worriedly over at her still sleeping nephew before being forced to leap backwards to avoid one of the thieves who was about to take her head off.

"Leo!" she cried as Jinny advanced towards the still sound asleep Chris.

Leo however had his own set of problems, beset by two demons and with Jinny nearly right behind him. Without his powers he was completely useless, but he was damned if he was going to let them take the bottle, or hurt Chris. Snatching the bottle from Chris' side, he looked around desperately to see Phoebe edging away from the demons, prevented from battling them directly by her current predicament as a genie. Prue was also surrounded, though she was beginning to gain the upper hand, determined to help Paige who had the potions that they needed in order to stop Jinny but she too was beset on all sides by demons.

"Paige!" Prue called, though her attention was diverted as Phoebe leapt over a couch in order to escape another demon.

"Alright, new plan!" Paige called, and suddenly orbed onto the stairs, drawing some demons after her before orbing to Leo's side, and allowed Prue to blast them with a telekinetic wave, scattering the various demons.

Leo saw the two sisters come together, and Prue nodded to her youngest sister, who closed her eyes, and with that the remaining demons swords turned into snakes again, all of them screaming as their swords turned on their masters, and Jinny cried out as her minions were all finally vanquished.

"Damn I'm getting good with this new power!" Paige said appreciatively, grinning even more widely as she saw Phoebe glare at her and mumble under her breath.

Jinny snarled, throwing fireballs at them with reckless abandon, forcing Phoebe to hit the deck while Prue and Paige deflected her attacks. However Leo deftly took one of Paige's potions from her pocket and threw it, Jinny shrieking as the potion blinded her, sending her staggering and flailing back.

"Good work Leo!" Prue called, however before she could do anything else, he charged her, tackling the demon to the ground with a screech, his hands grasping for the amulet.

"Leo!" Paige cried out in panic, but a second later he was triumphant, rolling off the demon, the amulet in his hand.

"Got it, Prue go!" he cried, however Jinny struggled back to her feet and fired a large fireball at the sisters, scattering them, and allowing her to turn her attention to Leo.

"Give that back! And give me that bottle!" she spat, throwing an energy ball at him, and Leo fumbled with the amulet just in time, its powers activating just before the attack would have drilled through him.

Prue readied herself, prepared to assume her astral form however another horde of sword wielding demons suddenly shimmered into existence, throwing Prue's concentration off and forcing Paige to retreat and backpedal away from the commotion. Phoebe was in the process of becoming cornered by the remaining demonic forty thieves, and the two fighting sisters were separated from Chris and the bottle by the others. Leo was clutching both the amulet and the bottle, fearfully backing away aware of just how powerless he was as the forty thieves came closer, brandishing their swords and Paige was too busy to use her projection power again. But where was-?

Oh no.

Jinny, a malevolent look on her face, was now approaching the still sleeping Chris, a sinister smirk playing on her mouth as she conjured a fireball, aimed right at Chris' sleeping form, his head in particular.

"Chris!" Leo cried, and Jinny winked at him.

"You know, you might have the bottle, but if I kill the master and my minions kill you, then it'll be all mine. And here's the poor master, defenceless and all alone. Guess the power of the genie will soon be mine…kill them all." She ordered, pulling back her arm as the light of the fireball illuminated Chris face, prepared to kill him once and for all.

XX

"Leo! Paige! Chris!" Piper bellowed as she stormed away from a rather frazzled looking Ms Winterbourne, who had just been on the receiving end of an extremely irate Charmed One as she dropped Wyatt off in her class.

It had been hours now, and none of them were answering her calls. She had been mildly nettled at first, then had progressed to irked. She had now passed through hacked off, annoyed, pissed off and was now at full out meltdown because other than the lack of contact from her family, she was now seriously beginning to worry about them as well, no matter what they were doing, one of them should have replied to her by now.

And if they were ignoring her because of some demon related problem then so help her…

She stormed along the corridors, scattering an alarmed Mr Monkeyshines (he had escaped her interrogation the day before about any possibilities as to who could be after Wyatt and clearly hadn't recovered) from her path as she tried to find either Sigmund or Gideon.

"Piper, I gather from the talk among my staff that something is bothering you?" Gideon asked, appearing from around a bookcase as she entered the reading room where she spent most of her time researching, and she could tell that he was fighting back an amused smile, his staff must have found her terrifying.

Too annoyed at this point to care, she looked at him desperately.

"I'm sorry Gideon, but Chris, Leo and Paige are all ignoring me, and Prue and Phoebe aren't answering their phones either, and at first I was just annoyed but now I'm worried too. Is there any way you can get me to the manor to find out what's going on?" she asked, and he frowned slightly.

"Piper, the whole point of you being here is so you can avoid putting yourself in danger due to your pregnancy." He reminded her, and she hissed through her teeth as she laid her hand on her increasingly large belly.

"I know, and I wouldn't ask otherwise, but the fact that no one is answering has me seriously worried. Please Gideon." She pleaded, and he sighed, but allowed himself a small, rueful smile.

"Of course. And Wyatt?" he asked, and she waved a hand dismissively.

"He's at the nursery with Ms Winterbourne. Thank you Gideon." She said as he clicked his fingers, a door appearing before her which she stepped through.

Gideon watched as she went, and decided to go and pay a visit to the nursery. After all, these moments when his protective figures were essential, as they were the only way he could find how to circumvent his forcefield when the time came.

XX

Prue kicked another thief demon away from her just before he made her a head shorter, turning to see Jinny about to finish off Chris, but she was suddenly beset by two more demons, she couldn't get to him…

Paige was similarly occupied, and Phoebe had been captured by two more of the demons, there was nothing any of them could do…

A door suddenly flew open on the staircase and Prue felt relief wash over her as Piper erupted from the doorway, her eyes bulging in furious horror as she beheld Jinny about to smite her son. Distracted by the sudden appearance, Jinny had turned to look at Piper in terrified awe, and Prue had to admit, she did look rather impressive, standing at the top of the stairs, hands raised, the very image of maternal fury with the light of the portal streaming behind her.

Jinny looked worriedly over at Prue.

"Um, his mother?" she asked sheepishly, and Prue nodded with a smile.

"Oh yes."

"Oh crap."

With a roar, Piper blasted Jinny away, sending her screaming smoking body away from her son. With the arrival of the missing Charmed One the sisters then rallied, Piper deftly blowing up however many members of the forty thieves she could reach while Prue and Paige retook the initiative, Prue's telekinesis sending them sprawling away or disintegrating them with her wave attacks while Paige used her orbing power to wield their swords to deadly effect.

"Um, what have I missed?" Piper asked waspishly, vanquishing another of the thieves, who exploded with a scream.

"We've had a bit of a day." Prue admitted flicking the demon who had grabbed Phoebe before away from her sister, who then peered round the corner with relief etched on her features, then quickly scurried to join the others.

"You look like you belong in an Aladdin porno!" Piper exclaimed with glee, barely controlling her laughter as she vanquished another demon, while Phoebe glowered at her and her sisters chortled.

Only a few demons were left, and Jinny seemed strong enough to drag herself back to her feet, trying to regain her bearings.

"Prue!" Paige called, and as her sisters dealt with the remaining demons, she astralled out of herself, running at Jinny who shrieked and tried to escape but it was too late.

Jinny tried to resist Prue's astral form's control of her body, but against the indomitable will of Prue to protect her family, she had no chance, quickly overcoming Jinny's defences.

"Phoebe, I wish you free!" she gasped, still forcing down Jinny's attempt to retake control, and ended her astral projection.

Jinny looked furiously at Prue as she came back into her own body, favouring the demon with a smug smirk as pink smoke whirled around the demon, once more transforming her into a genie and Phoebe was suddenly reverted to her normal form, which she looked at with an air of great relief.

And with a last smirk, Prue flicked the bottle to her hands while Jinny crossed her arms and glared at the sisters.

"What is your command, master?" she spat venomously, and Prue chuckled while Piper rushed to Chris' side, flicking her hands at Leo to get him out the road to which he rolled his eyes but acquiesced.

"Oh what to do first? Firstly, if I pass the bottle to my sisters, do they also get three wishes?" she asked, and Jinny seemed to be struggling to say something, but with a little wave of the bottle by Prue, she hissed.

"Yes master, each wielder would get three wishes." She grumbled resentfully, and Prue clapped her hands in victory.

"Fab. So, first of all Jinny, I wish that the Lost City of Zanbar will remain lost forever." She taunted, and with a face like she was sucking on a lemon, Jinny clicked her fingers.

"Very well master." She sneered bitterly, before Prue passed the bottle to Phoebe.

"Now, just in case we missed any, and for making me walk around all day in something so impractical and chilly," she said, ignoring the snorts of amusement of her sisters who all knew full well she had worn a lot worse, "I wish to vanquish the demonic forty thieves."

Teeth grinding in rage, Jinny clicked her fingers again, and Paige was sure that she heard a couple of missing demons scream as she did so.

"Very well master."

With a broad, toothy grin, Phoebe then passed the bottle to Paige, who Jinny looked at furiously.

"And finally, I wish to undo all the damage made by the accidental wishes." She told the raging demonic genie, who clicked her fingers.

"Well?" Prue asked, and Leo orbed with a grin.

"That's better." He taunted, while the genie glared at him.

"And now my dears," Prue said, taking Piper's hand and dragging her away from her son, "Piper, he's asleep, he'll wake up in a minute," she said patiently, while her younger sister glared, "just to make sure nothing like this ever happens again, let's finish this, ladies:

A genie in the bottle rubbing the wrong way,

We four witches now have our say,

Granter of wishes both demonic and genie,

We now turn you into vanquished zucchini!"

Jinny had a split second to look at the sisters incredulously before lava like cracks appeared in her bottle and all over her, her eyes erupting in flames and with a last cry, she and her bottle shattered into tiny little slivers before vanishing in a roiling fireball.

Prue then went a little red as she became keenly aware of her sisters staring at her.

"What the hell was that? A Christina Aguilera song crossed with a vegetarian recipe?" Piper demanded incredulously, and Prue shrugged.

"Hey it worked didn't it? Besides I was short on time and options, I'm a bit rusty, I was very stressed, its quite difficult to rhyme anything with genie, and Jeannie here kept interrupting me." She complained, pointing at Phoebe, who laughed as she shook her head.

"I'm actually quite concerned that you told me to back off when you were writing the spell." She said, and Prue glared.

"Well I made that one up at the last minute, the spell I originally wrote was to vanquish demonic Jinny not demon genie Jinny. And you know what, it's been a long day." She said wearily, and Piper looked expectantly at her three sisters.

"Yes, a very long day as no one has answered me all day, so I would advise you all to make the explanation you're about to give me, phenomenally good." She warned in a dark voice, and her three sisters and husband gulped as one.

XX

Gideon orbed into the chambers of the Triad, who looked hardly bothered by his unannounced interruption.

"The genie was an interesting touch, if nothing else. She seems to have caused quite a bit of havoc before being dealt with. My congratulations." He said, nodding at them respectfully, and Asmodeus acknowledged him with a small grin.

"An amusing entertainment. Our plans proceed apace Elder. The timing isn't quite right to bring back our special guest, however Rennek here," he said, gesturing and Gideon started as he realised the Darklighter was lingering menacingly in the shadows, "is prepared to make his attack. You said you had a couple of events planned yourself in this regard?" he asked, and Gideon nodded, he did indeed have a couple of plans in mind, both of which were ready to go on the demons signal.

"I do indeed, do you require them? One will need a little help from natural events, moon phases, all that sort of thing." Gideon cautioned, and Baliel nodded, stroking his beard.

"That's all well and good, we need help of celestial phases as well to bring back our, 'special guest', as you call him. If your plans can be made to coincide with ours, and of course Barbas, we can distract the sisters to a much greater degree, weaken their bond, drive them apart, then strike. Brute force and intrigue haven't worked, but perhaps psychological warfare will." He mused, mulling over all the implications, and Gideon was forced to agree, outright or clever attacks seldom succeeded against the Charmed Ones for long, but perhaps psychological warfare that they were about to unleash could be used to their advantage.

"Have you made any more progress with the boy?" Barbas asked, making Gideon leap as the demon flamed in beside him, this time flanked by a female demon the Elder hadn't seen before.

"Yes as it happens, we'll be able to move soon. What do you have in mind this time?" Gideon asked curiously, and Candor raised a hand and beckoned someone forward imperiously.

A young, tall, redheaded man appeared, and Gideon was initially not convinced that he actually was a demon. However as he came onto the light afforded by the sconces on the wall, Gideon was shocked to see that the young man had the face of half a snake, his skin on the left side of his face a scaly, reptilian green with a yellow sinister snake like eye.

"This is Sirk, a demon we have recruited with some difficulty. Think of him as a new generation Belthazor, without the…deficiencies shall we say of the old one. He will take the lead in one front of our new multipronged assault upon the Charmed Ones. In exchange, he will become more powerfully demonic with our help until such a time as he kills the final target we have for him, and then he will assume his true form. I think we'll find him suitable." He said, and Sirk sent him a predatory grin.

Gideon nodded in satisfaction, yes, perhaps it was now time to up their game.

"Very well, I wish you well. I'll be in touch. Until we're totally prepared though, perhaps it would be prudent if we gave the Halliwells something else to focus on, what say you?" he asked, though the proper Triad had gone back to their silent scheming and were talking with Sirk in lowered voices.

"Well Elder," Xar whispered from the darkness on the other side of the room, "there is something you could get the Charmed Ones to deal with. We've had numerous reports of a couple of demons with their own reality show who are accumulating powers and could become a potential threat to all of us. Perhaps if you'd be willing to let the sisters interfere?" he asked, eyeing Candor with a malevolent look in his eye.

Not liking the look he was giving his so called compatriot, Gideon nodded curtly before starting to disappear in a flurry of purple orbs.

"I'll take it under advisement."

XX

"Alright, I get everything else, other than that truly terrible vanquishing spell," Piper said with a pointed look at Prue who was reading over her notes for dealing with the Mercers, who merely responded by raising a certain finger, "and while I don't appreciate being kept out of the loop, I get why you did it, but the main question now is, why is Chris not waking up?" Piper asked worriedly, as her son was still sound asleep.

Leo did look mildly concerned as he observed his son, but he did shrug his shoulders.

"I've tried healing him but that doesn't seem to be working. Then again I suppose there isn't anything technically wrong with him." He mused, trying once again to heal him to no avail.

"I broke your son!" Phoebe wailed while Paige rolled her eyes.

"Well that'll serve you right getting us entangled with a genie. Piper relax, remember, Phoebe hit him with a magical whammy and besides, you know as well as I do that he could probably use the rest." She reminded her sister, who did have to concede that point if nothing else.

"Yeah I suppose that's true but isn't it weird that he isn't waking up?" she asked, and Prue did deign to look up from her notes for a second.

"Well, like Paige said, he could probably use the rest, and besides, we don't know how zealous Phoebe's genie powers were. I doubt there's anything wrong with him, really." She said, though there was a slight waver in her voice with her final word, which obviously got Piper's blood pressure up.

"Well we can't wait for him to wake up if he's never going to wake up! Remember, true love's kiss was killed by his evil big brother. Nothing else has worked, maybe Gideon will know something to help. Gideon!" she called, making the others roll their eyes.

There was an answering jingle, and then the sound of a sneeze filled the room before Gideon, blowing his nose with a handkerchief, appeared from the kitchen.

"Apologies, never sneeze and orb, rather throws one off balance. What happened here?" he asked in shock, looking around at the detritus of the day.

"We had an encounter with a genie, she kind of ran amok. Short story is, Phoebe got made into a genie, Chris accidentally made a wish, now we can't get him to wake up. Do you have any ideas? I've tried healing him, but it didn't work, because as far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with him." Leo explained, and Gideon stroked his beard thoughtfully before looking at Chris with a professional interest.

"How strange. I'm assuming he didn't wish for forty winks?" he asked, and Phoebe shook her head, scuffing her toes.

"Um, no, he asked for something else, that's just how it manifested." She admitted, and Gideon gave an amused chuckle.

"Hm, let me see…" he mumbled, and raised his hands over Chris, glowing light emitting from his hands.

And a second later, Chris gave a yawn and sat up, seeing them all looking at him with relief, and he responded with a look of confusion.

"What'd I miss?" he asked sleepily, only to be hugged in relief by his mother.

"Weird that I couldn't heal him." Leo said, though he did have a look of slight relief that his son was now up and about again.

"Maybe your powers weren't back to normal after Phoebe took them away?" Paige offered, and Leo quailed at the dirty look Gideon gave him, he was going to hear more about that one later.

"So what did I miss?" Chris asked, and Gideon chuckled a little.

"I'm sure your family will fill you in my dear boy. Leo, a word please, when Chris is up to speed? I'm afraid I must dash, I have a function tonight for the Society of Elfin Nannies." He said, and Piper shot him a grateful look.

"Thank you Gideon." She said, and he waved his hand.

"Not at all my dear. Until later then." He said, waving them goodbye before orbing out and leaving the family to fill Chris in on the day's events, which of course, led to a lot of mocking of Prue's vanquishing spell.

XX

Shane's eyes bulged in horror as Sirk stuck the athame into his chest, the half reptilian demon's yellow eye glowing in malice as he murdered his victim. Shane dropped down to the floor, gasping in pain, blood pooling from the wound, and he muttered in protest before Sirk struck again, and again, and again, and again. Shane's eyes went glassy as he let out a last rattle of breath before his life left him, and Sirk savoured the moment.

The Triad had summoned him, he alone among demons had been called upon by the Triad, to fill the void left by the might Belthazor, to achieve their designs. In exchange for every person on their list, he would gain new power, in order to stop being this weak, half demon and become a full fledged demon. And his night was just beginning.

Looking in satisfaction at Shane's cooling body lying bleeding on the floor of his apartment, Sirk felt new power entering him, empowering him as he shimmered out of the apartment towards his next victim.

Hello everyone, I am back!

Who thought I was dead? The intention was by going back to the 7-3 shifts, I would have more time to write, which has been true, I've just not had much luck finishing chapters (im looking mainly at my Sith lords story in that regard, that takes a while). However, when all this madness is over ill be going back to 8-4s to my disgust but with the world in the state its in who knows when that will ahppen?

So this coronavirus is spreading across the world, so i hope everyone is safe, not losing their heads and following the guidelines. Working in a shop as I do, my department has been forced to close temporarily for the current crisis and im to go onto the shop floor. Please everyone, be nice to shop floor workers, were all working hard and its just as bad a time for us too. The whole situation is so strange and different and scary, so I hope everyone is keeping their cool, and not panic buying because that's only adding to the hysteria. I know were all unsettled and scared, but hopefully this will break soon

And considering our goverment, god help us if it doesnt, the mans a buffoon

So please everyone stay safe and calm and isolated if need be for the duration of this crisis and hopefully we can head it off at the pass

And now onto my notes after all this time. Im back, Prue's about to move in on the Mercers, but yet theres a multipronged plan about to be launched against the Charmed Ones and their allies. And just who is the Triad conspiring to bring back as their special guest, and what does Gideon have up his sleeve?

Before I go onto my last remarks, I really feel I must apologise for that shockingly bad vanquishing spell, ive written a lot better. In my defence, its very hard to rhyme a word with genie. However, dont worry, the next bad guys are all either potion or power vanquishes, and im a lot prouder of my next spells. This one however did amuse me by being so bad i decided to leave it in to cheer people up with its badness in these dark times

Last remarks, a big thak you to Terra King, whos enthusiasm for Charmed in no uncertain terms helped me get my finger out and get this chapter finished

Anyway, thank you for coming back and reading (I really hope you did), and after answering Terra Kings latest message, I'm starting the next chapter, so hopefully I will see you soon and hopefully you will read and review, especially if youre stuck in self isolation, and until next time, blessed be, may the force be with us, and whatever other such words are in the other fandoms I write in