Magic Lessons
Later that afternoon I made my way upstairs to check on Brianna. I knew she needed some time to get a handle on all of this stuff but if she was anything like me, she needed someone to talk to. I knocked softly and she pulled the door open.
"Can I come in?" I asked.
"Sure," she mumbled and I walked in.
"They hate me don't they," she blurted.
"No they don't hate you. It's just…a little overwhelming for them too," I answered.
"It's going to take some getting used to, I know," I added, laying a hand on her knee.
"So do I have to go into another foster home?' she asked.
"No. I'm going to talk to the agency tomorrow and get you out of the system," I promised.
"So do I have to hide my magic while I'm here?' she questioned.
"Nope. This is a magic allowed zone. We should probably get you started on magic lessons," I answered. I couldn't help but laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"We're kind of in the same boat. Both new to this whole magic thing. We can learn together," I answered.
Suddenly there was a loud crash downstairs and I sprinted out of the room, Bree hot on my heels. We found Phoebe ducking behind the couch and Cole flinging an energy ball at a really disgusting looking demon.
"Damn bounty hunters," he groaned, helping Phoebe up.
"Sorry about that," he apologized to her.
"That's ok," she sighed, kissing him.
"Nice of you to drop in," I remarked.
"Oh, we didn't see you there," Cole snorted.
"Obviously," I shot.
"Is everything ok?" Phoebe asked.
"Oh yeah…fine. Nice of you to come home," I answered.
"Whoah, what's with the jealousy?" she spat at me.
"I'm not jealous," I retorted and headed for the kitchen.
"What is going on? I don't need sisters killing each other," Piper groaned.
"Cole is dragging demons into the house," I told her.
"Hey, you don't any right to accuse him of anything. We've been at this a lot longer than you have. I think we know how it works," Phoebe shouted.
"I'm so sorry I had to interrupt your lives," I ground out.
"That's enough!" Leo called over all of us.
"Listen to yourselves. This is ridiculous. You shouldn't be fighting right now. You have more important things to deal with," he continued.
"Like what?" I shot.
"Like protecting your innocent," he replied.
"You know I don't think Prue would have wanted her daughter to deal with all of this," Phoebe muttered.
"No, Phoebe. You're confusing her with Dad. Prue always respected our gift and she knew how important it was," Piper retorted.
"Why don't you summon her and ask her?" Cole suggested.
"Shut up," both of my sisters snapped at him.
"Um…can I say something?" Brianna asked, her voice drowned out by all of our bickering. No one heard her. She took a deep breath and let out a loud whistle. We all looked at her.
"May be new to all this magic stuff but I'm not new to bickering families. Maybe I should just leave," she sighed.
"No. We don't want you to leave, honey. We're very glad to have you," Piper replied.
"Somehow I just don't think so. I come here and you all start fighting," she continued.
"Sisters fight. It's the nature of siblings," Phoebe tried to explain.
"No. I think Bree might be right. All of this has dragged up some painful memories. Maybe we all need to deal with them before we move forward," I interrupted.
"How do you propose we do that?" Phoebe asked, her tone calmer than before.
"I honestly don't know," I sighed.
"Do you have any suggestions?" I addressed Leo.
"One but I'm not sure how much it will help," he answered. We all looked at him expectantly.
"You could summon your mother. She knew the situation. It's the next best thing to summoning Prue," he explained.
"You really think Mom can help us?" Piper asked.
"I think she can set you on the path to healing," her husband responded.
"Everybody upstairs," Piper announced, ushering us towards the stairs.
"You stay," I heard her tell Cole. He didn't follow us up. When we got to the attic, Brianna looked around in awe at all of the magical objects just sitting around. Phoebe grabbed five candles and lit them. Piper grabbed the Book of Shadows and flipped through it.
"What is that?" Brianna asked.
"This is everything there is to know about our family line. Plus a whole lot of other stuff," Piper answered, finally finding the spell. We looked at the page and in one voice began to chant.
"Hear these words, hear my cry Spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the great divide," we read aloud. The candles flickered and a wind filled the center, depositing our mother's spirit. She looked surprised but stepped out, becoming solid.
"Girls, what's going on?" she asked.
"We have some problems and we were hoping you could help us," Phoebe explained. Mom looked around and spotted Brianna who was now browsing the Book.
"Is that?" she asked and we all nodded.
"Well I see we do have some things to work out," Mom sighed and we all sat down.
"So who wants to go first?' she asked.
"I will," I said, raising my hand in the air a little.
"I guess I can relate to Bree. I mean I know what it's like to know you're parents had to give you up. I guess I just haven't really come to terms with knowing that had you had the option, you would have kept me," I sighed.
"Oh Paige. Sweetheart, if I did it again, I wouldn't have given you up. I would have fought the Elders," Mom assured me. I smiled a little.
"Is that all that is bothering you?" she asked.
"I feel like I don't fit in. I mean there was this great Power of Three and then I showed up and I feel like by not knowing as much as Piper and Phoebe, I let them down," I admitted.
"We know you're still learning," Piper told me, placing a hand on my knee.
"I know…I guess I just have some trust issues….foster care does that to a kid," I answered, fighting back tears.
"Now what is wrong with the two of you?" Mom questioned of my sisters.
"We weren't ready to have this part of our lives reopened," Piper answered.
"We know why Prue did what she did but a part of me feels responsible. Somehow I feel like we should have done something to stop her," Phoebe murmured.
"And it's not that we don't want Brianna here with us…because we do. Not only is she our innocent but she's our niece and that should be reason enough to protect her," Piper added.
"It's just…we never quite handled Prue's assault. She wouldn't let us. I guess it's been festering inside for all these years," Phoebe concluded.
"I'm so sorry that you girls feel this way. I know your sister never meant to keep you from healing. I'm afraid there isn't much I can do for you other than tell you that I know Prue would want you to move on from all the pain she held in side and embrace this opportunity," Mom answered.
"Like I told her thirteen years ago, she needed to accept what happened and get mad about it. And then she needed to deal with it. I want you girls to do the same. Accept that it happened, but get mad about it. Break a chair. Vanquish a demon or four. And then sit down and talk your feelings out. I know you can't summon Prue right now but in time, it will be easier. And talk these feelings out with Brianna. She is a part of this too," she concluded.
"Thank you Mom," Piper sighed, hugging her tightly. Phoebe and I joined in and for a while I felt like everything was right in the world. I was in my mother's arms and I knew she loved me. We finally broke apart and we all looked over at Bree. She was sitting just looking back at us. Mom got up and joined her.
"Hello my darling," she whispered.
"You're my Grandmother," Bree stated.
"Yes I am. And I'm here for you," she breathed, kissing Bree's forehead.
"Why don't you tell me what's bothering you," she prompted the thirteen-year-old.
"I just never thought this would happen to me," Brianna admitted.
"It's a scary thing. But your aunts will be there for you every step of the way," Mom assured her.
"And I hope you know that your Mother is watching you every day," she added. At this comment Bree shrunk back a little.
"It will take some time to get used to all of this. I'm just a spell away if you need me," Mom promised.
"For all of you ' she added, standing up.
"Do you have to go?" Piper asked.
'I'm afraid so, sweetie. Your sister needs me," she sighed. We all gave her one last hug before she disappeared.
"So what happens now?" Brianna asked.
"I think we need to sit down and figure all of this out…before it starts really affecting our powers," Piper answered.
"Yeah…suppressions is never a good thing in this family," Phoebe added.
"I guess that's lesson number one," Bree said with a small smile.