Chapter Twenty: Cole Returns

Three hours later, and Piper, Phoebe, Leo and Grams still hadn't found Paris or Cole or thought of a way to bring Paris and Paige back to life and vanquish Cole. "Leo, come on, are you sure you can't sense her?" Piper asked desperately.

"It's no use, Piper. I told you already: Paris isn't my charge, but even if she was, I can't sense my charges when they're technically not alive," Leo sighed patiently.

"Okay, but what about the Elders? Surely they can sense her?" Phoebe asked.

Grams scoffed. "Even if they could, they wouldn't. Useless men, they are," she told her granddaughters. Leo awkwardly smiled at the woman, and shrugged his shoulders at Phoebe. "Face it, sweetie. You're not getting any help from them,"

"The Lost and Found spell!" Piper said suddenly; putting her finger up triumphantly.

"Piper, that's brilliant," Phoebe agreed with a smile. She started flicking through the Book for the spell, but Grams stopped her.

"If I remember correctly, the last time you cast that spell, you never actually found what you were looking for?" she asked; raising her eyebrows.

"That's because I didn't realise what I was looking for," Phoebe sighed.

"No, Grams is right. All we found were hundreds of lost socks and your brown hair," Piper said.

"And Rasputin," Phoebe added. Piper smiled softly, and looked over at Paige's body, which Leo had orbed to the couch. "Okay, scratch that idea. What about Tempus?"

"You want to turn back time?" Piper asked shrilly.

"Hear me out," Phoebe said. "If we turn back time to just after we saved Paris and Paige from the Underworld, then we can stop Cole from taking Paris, which would mean he wouldn't have been able to kill her," she explained.

"But Phoebe, the only reason he took Paris was because…" Piper started. "Actually, why did Cole take Paris?"

"She tried to vanquish him," Grams told them. Piper and Phoebe turned to look at her in surprise. "She wrote a spell… it was pretty clever actually – decided to include the names of our ancestors in it to get more power – but… it was way too powerful for her to say by herself and she was knocked out," Grams explained.

"Giving Cole the perfect opportunity to take her without us noticing…" Phoebe said slowly.

"Well, even if we do turn back time, who's to say Paris won't just do the same thing?" Piper asked. Phoebe shrugged, and then sighed.

"I don't know Piper. It was just an idea," she replied eventually. "Hey, I just had a thought… what if… we someone trap Cole in a crystal circle and force him to either give us Paris, or tell us where she is?" Phoebe suggested.

"Do you think that will work?" Piper asked; looking at Grams and Leo as well.

"It might…" Leo nodded. A few hours later, and even though the crystal circle was ready, Piper and Phoebe were still trying to figure out a way to save Paris and Paige. Cole suddenly flamed in, and without meaning to, went into the open circle.

"I just thought I'd remind you that half of your time is up," he said with a smirk.

"It's a shame we'll be cutting that short," Piper said as she placed the final crystal down; trapping him. Cole laughed.

"You really think a crystal circle is going to destroy me?" he mocked.

"Where's Paris?" Phoebe asked.

"Now, why would I tell you?" Cole replied; sitting with his legs crossed on the floor.

"Just tell us Cole," Phoebe said. Cole shook his head, but did create a small window into the Underworld.

"See for yourself," he said. In the window, they could see Paris' body surrounded by lower-level demons. "She's being very well looked-after," Cole told them. "Although I did have to put a circle around her to stop the demons from destroying her body… they can get… peckish…" he smirked.

Leo, Piper and Grams had gone downstairs to start making a potion to get Paris back, so Phoebe had to look after Cole. She stepped close to the circle and looked at Cole. "I love you," Phoebe whispered.

Smiling, Cole said: "I knew you still did, Phoebe. Be my Queen,"

"I want to be. I really do, Cole," Phoebe replied. "But I want you to give Paris back – alive. And bring Paige back to life," she added softly.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Cole replied.

For a few minutes, Phoebe stayed silent, until Leo came back up. "How's the potion going?" Phoebe asked.

"Good," Leo replied; eyeing Cole suspiciously. "It should be done within the next hour,"

Phoebe smiled and nudged the crystal closest to her foot out of the circle. Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around Cole's waist and leaned up to kiss him passionately. "I want to be your Queen," she mumbled into their kiss.

Cole smiled, and, still kissing Phoebe, flamed out with her in his arms, leaving Leo alone in the attic.