A/N: It's starting come down to the wire. Ooooh the suspense! I apologize for the short chapter. I tried to give Zack a brief moment to shine in this chapter since a lot of this story has revolved around Cody.

Chapter 15: The Seven

"Rise and shine, beautiful." Natalia coaxed smoothly while kicking Piper sharply in the shoulder. The sorceress felt they'd been unconscious long enough.

Piper lurched forward. "Zack! Cody!"

"They're gone." Natalia explained, still seated on the couch with Wyatt on her lap. The toddler was quiet, but he didn't seem to enjoy it at all.

"What do you mean? Where did they—get away from my son!" Piper grabbed her baby from the demoness and crouched by her husband. "Leo! Leo, wake up, the boys are gone!"

Leo groaned. "What? What's going on?"

Phoebe and Paige were beginning to gather their senses as well. "Ugh, how long have we been out?"

"Two hours." Natalia replied.

"Two hours?!"

"I've got to hand it to those little upstarts." Paige snipped, dusting herself off and bending to help Phoebe up. "I knew they'd put up a fight, but I didn't see those sleeping potions coming."

"Wait." Phoebe mused. "Nat, I thought sleeping potions didn't work on you.

Natalia just shrugged and crossed her legs. "They must have tweaked the recipe. They're smart boys."

"People, can we focus?!" Piper cried. "Somebody start scrying, we've got to find them!"

"You think they're in trouble?" Phoebe asked, still rubbing her eyes.

"This is Zack and Cody we're talking about! Who knows what they've gotten themselves into in two hours! If they're not in trouble already, they're gonna be, now let's move!"

Despite Piper's insistence, a cloud of glowing orbs danced into the living room long before anyone had moved. Carey had her arms draped around her boys who were both supporting Max. The young brown eyed girl looked on the verge of being sick.

"Boys!" The sisters cried in unison. Zack and Cody suddenly found themselves caught in the middle of a bone-crushing group hug.

"Are you guys alright?" Phoebe asked with a voice full of concern.

"We're fine, but Max needs healing." Zack replied.

"I'll take care of her." Leo assured him, taking Max and—despite her protests—carried her to the couch. "Nat, move London. Make room."

The sorceress moved the still sleeping heiress aside—a little more brutally than was necessary—before helping Leo lay Max across the couch to address the wound while the rest of the living room quickly became a scene.

"Oh good, Carey you're back!" Paige cheered, throwing her arms around the woman.

"Umm… nice to see you too… Paige?"

Piper moved to the front and handed Wyatt to Phoebe so she could grab Zack and Cody firmly by their shoulders. "What were you two thinking? You had me worried sick."

"We're sorry." The twins answered earnestly.

"Hi there." Came Carlisle's voice from the back of the group where he had stayed hidden.

"Whoa!" Phoebe cried, shifting Wyatt on her hip so she could thrust a fist into Carlisle's face. The poor man staggered back holding his hands to his nose. The others gathered at the opposite side of the living room, all eyes intent on him. "What's he doing here?"

"Relax." Natalia assured them, pushing her way to the front. "It's not The Heir."

Carlisle nodded sheepishly through watery eyes. Suddenly, London snapped her eyes open and looked around at the gathering with bleary eyes.

"What'd I miss?"

The sun had started to creep over the horizon and bathe San Francisco in its soft orange light, and the sisters and Natalia were still hammering poor Carlisle with questions. However, being in less abusive company, and still grateful to the boys, he was glad to comply.

"He's going to use the autumnal equinox to perform his ritual tomorrow night… well tonight I guess now. It's the strongest night to gain his powers." Carlisle wasn't entirely sure what any of that meant, but The Heir hadn't bothered to conceal his thoughts from his 'mortal shell' and the witches he was explaining this to seemed to understand.

"He's right. That's the night we got our powers." Phoebe realized.

"That's not good." Piper agreed.

"And why isn't he still using your body to maintain cover?" Natalia prodded, a little more intense in her questioning than the sisters.

Carlisle shook his head sadly. "He doesn't need to anymore. The Tipton is completely empty. Except for the demons of course."

"What about Maddie, and Arwin, and Moseby?" Zack asked urgently.

Carlisle frowned again, not enjoying his role as the bearer of bad news. "Some members of the staff were round up while trying to help the guests evacuate. It's possible that your friends are with them. They're being held in one of the suites. The demons are forcing them to dig something up in the basement."

The others looked at each other with expressions of worry. Natalia and The Charmed Ones knew exactly what they were digging for in the basement. But the boys were worried for a different reason.

"Who was with them?" Zack pleaded.

"The manager, a balding handyman, a bellhop with a thick accent, a not too bright lifeguard, an elderly red-headed maid, and that sweet girl who works at the candy counter." Carlisle's frown deepened. He was unable to forget the faces of the kind people that his own mouth had imprisoned.

"We have to get them out." Cody voiced everyone's thoughts.

"What's this we stuff?" London pouted hopelessly. "I don't have any freaky powers. What am I supposed to do, bribe the demons?" She paused with a thoughtful look on her face, no doubt actually contemplating the idea.

"That's it!" Cody cried. All eyes turned to him, staring as if he'd announced that he had just sprouted wings on his ankles. He furrowed his brows. "Don't you get it? London's the key!"

"Sure Cody, sure." Zack patronized, making a hand motion to the others that his brother had hit his head recently.

"No, I'm being serious. Why did The Heir want London out so badly?" They were all still drawn a blank, but were now regarding him with interest. "It wasn't just because she owns the Tipton. It's because she's the force for good that holds the Nexus. That means she can stop him from using it!"

"Oh my gosh, he's right." Phoebe realized. "All we'd have to do is get her to the basement to say the spell!"

"You're forgetting something." Natalia rained on Cody's parade. "That won't stop The Heir for long."

"She's right." Piper agreed—for once—with the sorceress.

Cody's face fell. "It's not the seven, but it's the best I could come up with."

The seven, Zack mused to himself. Idly he thought back to the story of Melinda Warren and his ancestor Eva Proctor fighting The Source. He'd enjoyed that story. Then he thought of something he hadn't before. "Hey Natalia, didn't you say that the seven had to be connected to that first battle in the grove?"

"Yes." Natalia nodded, impressed by his knowledge. Before anyone could say anything, Zack dashed upstairs and returned with the Book of Shadows Cody and Max looked at eachother, never being able to recall a time Zack had so eagerly fetched a book.

"I think if we read that page again we might—whoa!" Zack squealed as he was knocked to the floor. He had taken the book a little too close to Natalia and it had responded accordingly by throwing itself away from her. He picked himself up, a little abashed by the incident. "We might find something."

"What did you have in mind?" Max asked, fully recovered from the poison thanks to Leo. "Natalia's been searching three hundred years for the seven."

"Just bear with me." Zack quieted her.

"Let's give it a try." Cody agreed.

"Okay, here it is. 'When full moon's risen high a shadow will rise' that must be the autumn whatever, and we already know that the shadow is The Source. 'Thrice hath it risen, thrice hath it died' that must be when you guys vanquished him before. The place where great powers lie means the Nexus, and to get rid of him for good, we need the seven."

"We've been through this." Natalia drawled. "The only surviving bloodlines strong enough to cast a Power of Three spell are Melinda Warren's and Eva Proctor's, because I doubt any of Matthew Tate's line would be willing to help us. You two are all that's left of Eva's line."

Zack could almost feel his brain physically click into place as an idea struck him. "What about our mom?"

"Zack, sweetie I don't have any powers." Carey reminded him.

"Mom, that potion you saved Max with wasn't chump change."

"You saved Max with a potion?" Leo asked with incredulity. "No witch has ever been able to stop darklighter poison with a potion. So far the only thing that can stop it from killing a whitelighter is another whitelighter."

Carey shrugged sheepishly. "It was nothing really."

"No mom, he's right." Cody brightened. "That potion was strong. Just because you don't have any active powers, doesn't mean you're not a witch. That would make you, me, and Zack a coven of three!"

"Not a bad idea." Paige grinned excitedly. "Carey, welcome to the seven."

"Alright, but we're still one witch short." Natalia reminded them, resuming her usual cynicism.

"Maybe." Zack agreed, but then grinned. "And maybe not. Maybe you've had the seventh witch all along." He grinned as the sorceress' expression took on one of confusion. "You were at that first battle, and according to the book you're powerful enough to be your own coven of three."

"That's right!" Cody beamed, knowing that information was accurate. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of that considering that no one had studied Natalia's entry more closely than him.

"You think I'm one of the seven? Maybe it was you thathit your head a little too hard."

"I think he's right Nat." Piper agreed. "You have been caught up in our family history for a long time."

"Much as you hate to admit it, you're practically one of us." Phoebe chuckled.

The purple eyed demoness' face darkened as she folded her arms. She glanced upward and muttered something inaudible (although it sounded like "Good one Melinda.") "Fine then." She growled. "It looks as though Zackary has figured out in a matter of minutes what took me three centuries."

"Three covens, seven witches." Cody mused. "Alright Zack!" He cheered as he and his brother did their special handshake.

"Alright, I say we have a pretty good battle plan." Paige nodded brightly. She held her hand out in the center of the group, motioning for the others to do the same. Piper, Phoebe, Zack, Cody, Max, Carey, Leo, London, Carlisle, followed reluctantly by Nat put their hands in the circle, the seven witches and their allies sealing the connection that had bound them together from the beginning.