Chapter Twelve
Today you were wearing forget-me-not blue,
I held you and said "I'll never forget you,"
You smiled at me and stroked my hair,
But you were never really there.
And so we fall into the night,
Searching for a glimpse of light,
Our sister, our friend, is at world's end,
We have to bring her back again.
Phoebe's POV
"So, we go get Paige and then we come back and vanquish Shax?" I summarized. Prue and Piper nodded enthusiastically, flicking through The Book of Shadows and writing down spells they felt we might need. "Sounds like a battle plan to me!" I felt a lot better now; we were working together as one. It wasn't 'them' and 'me' it was 'us' and I hadn't even realized how much I needed that. I carried on making the vanquishing potion for Balthazar – I figured it would be better to have it and just be able to add the demon flesh when we managed to get our hands on it. Demon flesh…
Ew!
It made me feel sick, so I avoided thinking about it – if only to keep my breakfast down.
"Okay, I think we've got everything!" Piper announced, walking over to me with what seemed like a small book written on post-it notes. I rolled my eyes at her.
"Don't you think you've overdone it a bit?" She looked down and grinned abashedly; I just giggled and let her off the hook.
"Ready to go?" Prue reached over to me, I could see the worry in her eyes and I knew she could tell exactly how I was feeling. Sometimes it sucked having sisters – they see right through you.
"I'm fine, Prue. Really." She nodded acceptingly but she knew I was lying. I wouldn't let it stop me getting Paige back though: it was my fault she was in this mess.
"Okay, let's do this thing," she decided, nodding over at Piper who shuffled through her spells before seeming to find the right one.
"Well, you know the spell we used to bring Phoebe back?" Prue nodded and I just wondered what the hell they were on about – I didn't hear this spell! "Anyway, I figured if we could reverse it, we could go down to her instead of bringing her to us."
"Why don't we just bring her here?" I frowned. Wouldn't that be simpler?
"Well, that Balthazar guy could track us or something, I wouldn't help." I nodded resignedly at Prue's words and we started chanting.
Paige's POV
I woke up with a jolt; I could feel cold rock pressing into my back and a foul-tasting gag in my mouth.
Where the hell am I? What happened?
All I remembered was Phoebe telling me…unbelievable things, then running and then…black. An all-consuming darkness coming over me. I looked around quickly, judging any possible dangers and apart from the fact I was tied up and defenseless with God-knows-what coming for me any second, it was all fine. It looked like some kind of cave. I shivered.
This can't be good.
I saw a glimmer of white light in my peripheral vision and looked over, or at least tried to, considering my limitations at that moment. The white orbs clustered together and formed a person – three people. I recognised one of them, it was Phoebe. I felt indescribably glad that she was here. I moved as much as I could to draw her attention and she rushed over immediately, setting to work on the ropes tying me to the wall.
"Listen, you need to hide. Bad things are going to happen and I don't want you getting hurt," she whispered. My eyes widened, nobody other than my parents had ever spoken to me like that, like they cared. I wanted to argue but something in her eyes told me this was seriously out of my control. I gave in and nodded, crouching down behind a nearby rock. We didn't have to wait long.
"WITCHES!" A huge cry erupted from somewhere near the entrance to the cave, I muffled a gasp.
"Good morning to you, too. Lovely day to die isn't it?" I really wanted to laugh – Phoebe surprised me. I hadn't known she could be so cocky.
"WHERE is she?" the voice demanded; I tried to quiet my breathing by putting my hand over my mouth but it was hard.
"Oh, don't worry about her. You won't lay a finger on her ever again." The voice growled at this – he was frustrated.
Come on, Phoebe…
I heard something slam into the wall next me and looked over: there was a black, smoldering patch on it like some kind of…fire or electricity had hit it. How was that possible? I didn't have time to think about it, though. I heard the sounds of a fight and a brief groan of pain and then the smell of burning flesh hit me – it was really disgusting. Who were these people?
"Paige? You can come out now." I got up slowly and saw Phoebe looking a little ruffled, but with a huge grin on her face, I looked over at the two women she'd arrived with and frowned. She noticed this and smiled.
"Sorry, Paige. I forgot to introduce everyone! These are my sisters: that's Piper." The younger-looking one waved at me shyly. "And that's Prue." The other smiled and nodded before taking Piper's hand. I nodded dumbly, feeling a bit weird. All their names began with 'P'…
"Pheebs? We still have demon ass-kicking to do if what we saw was right: you were fighting more than one demon." Prue looked meaningfully at her and I watched as they communicated silently. I felt a slight pang and wondered…was it jealousy?
"Okay, Paige. Back to your rock. Go!" I rolled my eyes at her smiling face and returned to previous position.
They'd better hurry up: I'm gonna get leg cramps.
I got worse than leg cramps: by the time they'd finished 'kicking demon ass' as they put it, I felt like I'd never be able to stand up properly ever again. I informed Phoebe of this but she just laughed.
"Okay, I think you'll be okay for now. We're gonna have to take you back to your place for a bit – we have some other stuff to deal with. Afterwards, we'll explain everything. I promise."
"Okay," I agreed. "So, um, how do we get out of here?" By the looks they exchanged, I could tell they hadn't though about that. Phoebe looked to be trying to remember something. A moment later, she called out for a guy.
"LEO!" An instant later, this guy, looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties, appeared in the cave. He came in blue lights and I could feel my jaw drop.
"What's up?" he asked. I looked at Phoebe and could swear I saw shock pass over her features before she instructed her sisters to grab hold of him. I told myself I was wrong, of course. How could she be shocked when she obviously saw things like this every day? She came over to me.
"You okay, Paigey?" she asked. Paigey? Whoa, she's never called me that before. I nodded.
"So, is it true?" I asked. "I'm really…a witch?"
Phoebe nodded. "And a Whitelighter. That's what Leo is," she said. "You'll do amazing things, Paige. Amazing things. We help good people, understand?" I nodded and she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close. I felt this intense connection to her and was reminded of the feelings I'd had for her…before she'd revealed that I was her half-sister.
"We can't." Phoebe's voice was only a whisper as she shifted away from me, simply taking my hand in hers. "You have to come with us. I'll explain more, how this all happened."
I nodded and she moved over to grab Leo's other arm, holding my hand tightly in hers. I looked over at her and was surprised to see her disappear in the blue lights Leo had appeared in. And for a moment, all I saw was blue.
When I could see again, I realized I was in the foyer of a house. Presumably, my…my sisters' house. It was beautiful and I found myself admiring it. Phoebe squeezed my shoulder. I looked up to see her smiling at me. I smiled back.
"Pheebs." Phoebe looked up at her dark-haired sister, Prue, I think her name is. Wow, she looks a lot like me. Same complexion, same dark hair, but my eyes match Phoebe's and Piper's, whereas Prue's are a light blue.
"I know," Phoebe said. "Hey, Leo. Can you run upstairs – and I do mean run upstairs – and get us the Book, please?" He turned and took off at a fast walk toward the stairs, which I could see from our spot in the foyer.
"Phoebe, what's going on?" I demanded.
"Well, my sisters and I think that another demon is going to be attacking soon. We need our magic book, The Book of Shadows, to find the spell to vanquish him."
"Like you vanquished that other guy down in the…"
"I think that was the underworld," Piper said, filling in the blanks for me. "And yeah, like that. But Phoebe here seems to think we'll need you to give us a hand. Literally."
"What do you mean?"
"Physical contact is needed to do a Power of Three, or in this case Power of Four, spell," Leo answered me, coming down the stairs with a big, green book in his hands. "What makes you think a demon will be attacking anyways?"
"Um…premonition," Phoebe said. "I saw the demon and I thought I recognized him from flipping through the Book." She took the humongous book out of Leo's hand and led us into another room.
"This is the conservatory," Piper told me. "Have a seat." I nodded and took a seat on one of the wicker armchair across from where Phoebe and Leo were sitting, bent over the Book on the wicker coffee table.
"There he is," Phoebe finally said, jabbing at a particular page. She scanned it over and glanced up at the other two. "Shax. The Source's assassin. There's a vanquishing spell here."
"Think we woulda noticed that before," Prue muttered. I glanced at her and she instantly looked away. Piper flashed me an apologetic grin and squeezed Prue's hand, whispering something in her sister's ear. Prue sighed and smiled grudgingly at me.
That's when I noticed Prue shiver. The grin was immediately followed by a shiver. She froze in place, sitting straight up.
"What?" Piper asked.
"I don't know," Prue said slowly. "I just felt a chill." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, I heard a set of doors slam open, as if hit by a huge gust of wind. All five of us jumped up and ran in the direction of the sound.
We were greeted by the sight of a pale gray demon with long, slightly darker gray hair. He sneered at us, this ugly, evil look in his accompanying it. He raised his hand, aiming directly at me and threw a blue, glimmering ball.
"No!" Leo leaped in front of me and it hit his shoulder, knocking him away from us and into a wall behind us. He was out cold, Piper told us, after looking at him.
"Phoebe, do you know the spell?" Prue asked.
"Yeah." Phoebe grabbed my hand and Prue's. All four of joined hands as another of those blue balls formed in his pale hand.
"Just repeat after me," Phoebe said. She closed her eyes and began to speak.
"Evil wind that blows,
That which forms below.
No longer may you dwell,
Death takes you with this spell."
We repeated the spell and Shax, as Phoebe called the demon, began to scream and moan in pain. We repeated again and again until he burst into flames.
"Wow," I said. "That was…wow." Phoebe pulled me close to her. I smiled up at her and she led me away.
"We need to talk," she said, simply.
She told me everything, everything I hadn't wanted to hear the first time and more. She told me that although I looked like the Phoebe I had run from yesterday, she was from the past. I felt my eyes widen of their own accord- that was some serious power!
"So, you're thirteen?"
"Erm…yeah, but…" She looked up, as if trying to figure out a good way of expressing herself. "Okay, let's pretend there are two Phoebes, 'kay?" I nodded; trying to get my head around the idea. "Alright, so there's Past-Phoebe and then there's Future-Phoebe. Right now, Past Phoebe's here but Future-Phoebe will be back soon. She probably won't even remember all of this…no wait…she will. She'll just remember it as me and work it out. Man, time is so messed up…" I nodded again, but I could tell she knew she'd lost me.
"So, are you guys gonna go back now?" She frowned slightly, thinking.
"I guess so; I don't think we can do anymore. I just hope our future selves remember enough of today to fix the rift between them. It nearly killed them…it did kill them." Her eyes glazed over and the sadness that suddenly drowned her usually glowing aura just made me want to hold her and never let go.
"I think I should go," I told the floor- this was getting awkward. This wouldn't be the Phoebe I saw tomorrow; anyway, so getting attached wouldn't do anyone any good. Her eyes focused on me and she smiled sadly.
"Yeah, your parents will be worried. You've been missing for a day already."
"They're not my parents," I muttered under my breath.
"Yes, they are. They are in every way that counts, Paige." I felt startled- she'd heard that? I looked up and her eyes were burning with pain and almost…anger. I suddenly felt so guilty: she had never known her mother or father and she'd just lost the only mother-figure she'd ever had (even if they had died four years ago). How could I feel bitter towards the parents who had raised me as their own? Who had loved me and cared for me even though I didn't share their blood. "Family isn't always defined by blood," she said, as if reading my mind. "You make your own and you love them. When you have that, you have everything." I felt her words run through me and closed my eyes, she was right.
"I'm going home now." I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was her smile.
"Goodbye, sis." She grinned, reaching out and hugging me. The heaviness had gone from the room now, and I was glad. I turned away and walked out
Bring on tomorrow, I think I'm ready for anything.
Prue's POV
"So, we saved you and Paige and Phoebe…do we get to go home now?" I looked over at Piper and grinned before gazing heavenward and mocking deep thought. Phoebe strolled in from her goodbyes to Paige and smiled at us. I had to give in when Piper started poking me.
"Stop that! I'm getting old: you might break a bone or something," I complained, grinning.
"Oh shut up, you're twenty-two. Get over it."
"Ah, but I'm not!" I replied, jokingly.
"Are we going home or not?"
"Yes! Just don't start attacking me again…" She grinned and reached into her pocket to get the spell.