Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it.

AN: Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews

Chapter 8.

Hostages

Piper looked at the demon encased in the shield. "We should interrogate him." She watched as the demon sneered at her and she raised her eyebrows. "Oh. You don't think that we can break you?"

Maliki looked at her. "No. There is no way some little witch can make me talk." Maliki had heard what Keahi said about the dampening shield and decided to try to see if he could break through. He tried to create an energy ball, but it just fizzled out as he concentrated.

Keahi saw what he was trying to do. "It won't work, you know. The dampening field that is up around you will not allow any magic to work."

Maliki just growled in response.

Kesia decided to begin the interrogation. "So, what were you doing trying to spy on us? Trying to get our plans? Is the Source so scared of us because he doesn't know what to expect? If so, good. He's going down for what he did to our mother."

Maliki did not respond to this, he just stood there glaring at the women.

Kesia looked at the other women and with a nod they filed silently out of the room, taking the Book of Shadows with them. "Well that was interesting. Keahi, I didn't know you could do all of that."

Keahi smiled and ducked her head. "Well, I did some reading after you guys came down to Earth. I found the spells in some books. I figured that I could put them to good use."

The other four Daughters looked at Keahi in astonishment, while the Charmed Ones looked on. "You mean you never tried those spells before?" asked Kai.

"Nope."

Paige looked at them. "Those were some pretty advance spells. The fact that you get them right the first time shows how much power that each of you has. Change of subject. We need to figure out where and when we are going to confront the Source."

Piper and Phoebe both nodded. "I, personally, want to confront him on our terms. If we chose the battlefield, then we have more power," Piper said.

Kansas nodded. "Exactly. But where is the best place to fight."

Kim answered her. "We need somewhere remote. Somewhere that the power would go unnoticed."

Phoebe looked at them. "What about the desert? That would definitely limit his water power."

Kai looked at her. "It might, but that means that it will also limit my power as well and I think that it may take all of us to destroy him."

Phoebe nodded. "Damn. I forgot about that."

Keahi decided to break in at that moment. "What about someplace like a national forest? I remember looking at maps of the terrain while I was trying to decide where I wanted live down here. The one thing that sticks out in my memory is that there are millions of acres that are so remote that it takes the forest rangers days to get to them. We could scope out a place before hand and set up wards to keep people out, so no innocents would be hurt."

Kesia looked at her younger sister. "Sister, that is a wonderful idea. Why don't Paige and I do that? She can Orb us there and I know I can set up the wards."

Piper nodded, beginning to feel hopeful that they would be successful in destroying the Source once and for all. "I think that is an excellent plan. Paige, you know where we keep the maps. Why don't you try scrying for a good location? The rest of us will stay here and try to work on creating a spell to destroy him."

All of the women agreed and quickly split up, with Paige and Kesia moving to the kitchen, so they would have room to spread out the maps.

The rest of the women stayed in the living room. Piper grabbed a pad of paper and a pen to try to write down their ideas for a spell. Once she had them in hand, she turned to the others. "Okay. Phoebe and I worked on this a little bit when you guys were out training. We know that the Book of Shadows was no help. Most of the spells in there are to destroy lower demons, not the ultimate demon. What do we know about the Source?"

Keahi drew a breath. "He was a water demon, but I have no idea how he became the Source. From what I remember about Mother's discussions on him, he now controls most elements."

Kim nodded. "I wish I could go back in time to the discussions that Mother had with us about good and evil when we were growing up. I know she was telling us important stuff, but it's all vague now."

Kai agreed with her. "I know. Do you think that Kronos would help us?"

Keahi shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. He is supposed to remain neutral in the fight. For him to come down to take us up to Mother must have been a huge concession. But there is only one way to find out." She looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. "Kronos!" she yelled. She waited patiently, but had no response from her uncle.

Kai looked at her. "I think it's time to bring the big guns out. We should say the spell that Mother taught us to summon him."

Kansas looked at her. "That's a good idea, but it requires all of us to say it. Is Kesia still here?"

Piper offered to go into the kitchen and see. She got up quickly and walked into her favorite room. She was relieved to see that Paige and Kesia were still there, debating heatedly the pros and cons of a particular forest.

"No," said Paige. "That's too close to the city. The wards would have to be very strong and then he would definitely know that something was up."

"But," Kesia interjected. "Since its close, it would take a lot less energy to get there."

Piper cleared her throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but Kesia, we need your help. We are trying to call Kronos, but he's not responding to just calling him. Kai suggested that you guys us the spell that Gaia taught you to summon him, but Kansas said that it will take all of you to do it."

Kesia looked at her, her face awash with puzzlement. "Why are you trying to call Kronos?"

Piper looked at her. "Keahi said something about a discussion on good and evil that Gaia used to have with you. Something about how what she told you would be important to defeating the Source."

Kesia nodded in her understanding. "Oh. I see. They want to bring Kronos down to see if they can go back to the past to see what Mother was telling them. Good idea. I remember some of it, but not all."

Piper nodded and began to walk back to the living room. Kesia and Paige followed her.

When she was in the living room, Kesia nodded to her sisters and they began to move about the living room. Kesia looked at Paige. "We need five white candles, and help in moving the furniture."

Paige nodded and summoned the candles while the rest of them moved the furniture out of the way. Once the furniture was done, she handed the candles to Kesia, who distributed them to her sisters.

Quickly, the Daughters formed a pentagram in the middle of the room, arranging themselves next to the candles. They looked at each other and began to chant. "We call upon the power of the Earth."

"Land," said Kesia.

"Wind," Kansas followed after her.

"Water," Kai spoke clearly.

"Metal," said Kim.

"Fire," called Keahi.

"When help from Father Time is most dire. Come to us as we summon thee. As we will it, so mote it be," they finished together.

The Charmed Ones stood back as a gust of wind invaded the room. Piper looked confused when Kronos did not appear. "Did it work?"

Kesia looked around. They had done this spell before and Kronos always appeared instantly. "It should have. I wonder if the Source has put up a blocking spell around the..." She was cut off by the sudden appearance of Kronos, who did not look pleased.

"You called, Daughters of Gaia?"

Keahi, who was the most emotional of the sisters, reacted to the displeased tone of his voice. "Yes, we did. Why did you not come when I called you, Uncle?"

Kronos sighed. "Because I have a feeling of what you want to ask me and I don't think that I will be able to help you, firecracker."

Keahi looked confused. "How would you know…?" She stopped as a light when on in her head. "You're with Mother right now. Watching us."

Kronos looked her in the eyes. "Of course I am. Why would I not? What happens down here is going to have a clear impact on Time. If you do not stop Nen, then he will destroy the very fabric of time that holds this world together."

"Then why can't you help us? All we want to do is to go back in time to the discussion that Mother had with us about the Source when we were young," Kim said belligerently.

Kronos sighed. "Look, Kim. I may be your uncle, but I am Father Time first and foremost. I am bound by certain laws of the universe. I can not interfere. I interfered enough when took you back to Gaia's fortress. That was an area of gray. This is not. That is why your Mother told you guys all of those stories. They were meant to prepare you for this. She knew that Nen was still alive and most likely try to attack you during you're time down here."

The Daughter's looked disappointed at his response, but they all knew that he was correct.

Kronos smiled. "Look." He looked at the Charmed Ones and included them in on the next comment. "The eight of you are the most powerful witches on the planet. Look inside of yourselves. You will find the answers you seek there." With that cryptic remark, he vanished.

Piper nodded her head in disbelief. "Well that was helpful," she said sarcastically.

Keahi sighed. "It wasn't unexpected, though. I had hoped that he would be able to bend the rules since we are family, but I guess not. What are we going to do now?"

The women looked at each other, but their conversation was interrupted by Leo orbing in.

"Good. All of you are here. We have a problem."

Piper looked at him. "What kind of problem?"

Leo looked at her. "Demons have kidnapped five mortals."

Keahi got a strong feeling of dread in her stomach. "Who?"

"David, Mark, Ben and Darren. He has kidnapped the Daughter's love interests."

The only sound in the room was the collective gasps of horror of all the women.

AN: Updated 9/18/07 for grammatical and spelling errors.