This chapter jumps back and forth between Phoebe and her sisters a lot, because I want to show you what's happening all at once! The clock is ticking… Anyway, hope you aren't confused. Here it is...
Chapter 12
The door clanged shut behind the two guards as they entered Phoebe's cell. Nathaniel Pratt stood on the other side of the glass, watching as they handcuffed his victim. He smiled satisfactorily.
Phoebe hardly struggled as she felt the cold steel snap shut around her wrists. She was being led to her execution, and there was nothing she could do about it. The letter addressed to her sisters lay on the floor, a crumpled memento of Phoebe's life. Soon, it would be all that remained of Phoebe Halliwell.
The guards pushed her roughly out of the door, and down the corridor. She stumbled past cells containing people wrongly accused of witchcraft. They turned to stare at her as she was led by, silent pleas filling their gaze. Phoebe could feel their pain.
'I'm sorry,' she whispered. It was all her fault. If only she hadn't been seen…
She walked forwards haltingly, the two guards muttering as they forced her onwards. They arrived at another door. It was in here that Pratt stood, his finger pointing to the post in the centre of the room. The guards hauled her over and she was chained to it tightly. Through the glass, she could make out the sombre faces of the journalists as they scribbled furiously in their notebooks.
If only I could have seen Prue and Piper one last time she thought sadly.
'Please be quiet,' Prue hissed as she found herself standing in a long dark corridor. 'I don't know how many guards are about.'
Piper inched closer to her sister.
'You lead,' she whispered. Prue muttered something darkly under her breath, but pressed forwards. Piper followed, with Paige and Leo after her.
Paige couldn't stop staring at Piper and Prue. Now she knew that they were her sisters, she saw them in a totally different way. She began to imagine what it would have been like to grow up with them, as one big family. Prue would have been her protector,she decided, while Piper would have been the sister tell her problems to. She hadn't met Phoebe, but she could imagine them being close friends, getting into all sorts of problems.
'Freeze!' a voice called out.
'Gladly!' Piper called back, lifting up her hands and twitching them in the guard's direction. Paige stared, opened mouthed, at the power her sister possessed.
'That is so cool!' she whispered. Piper heard her, and turned around to flash a smile.
'Come on,' Prue urged as she slipped past the frozen guard. Piper gave him a grin as she squeezed by, staring at his unmoving face.
They hurried down endless passageways, Leo telling Prue which way to turn as he sensed his charge.
'It's just down here!' Leo said finally. Just then, there was a crack as a bullet whistled past the shocked group.
'I don't think you should go any further,' a voice growled. Prue spun around quickly, and sent the guard flying.
'Careful, Prue!' Piper admonished. 'He's not a demon.'
'That's a matter of opinion,' Prue sniffed, then sighed. 'I suppose vanquishing them is out of the question…'
The guard's colleagues backed up warily.
'She's a witch!' they muttered.
'Nice going, Prue,' Piper hissed out of the side of her mouth. She lifted up her hands and froze the group. Prue smiled sheepishly.
'Sorry, it's just my instinct.'
'Witches have been causing no small amount of evil in this town, in this country. Perhaps even the world. Our society today is corrupted because of them. They have hidden themselves away, blending in with the innocent citizens, always plotting their next evil act. But no longer. Today will be the beginning of the end for witchcraft. And it will also mark the beginning of the end for our society as we know it. No longer will there be evil spread about this country. For we have found the source…the witches.'
He paraded up and down in front of the glass, enjoying being the object of attention of the journalists and television crews. Phoebe felt the cold of the pole seeping through her clothes, and shivered.
Ironic, she thought bitterly I feel cold just before I'm burnt to death.
Paige hurried after the two witches and their whitelighter as they hurried down the corridor. Something her mother had said was playing over and over inside her mind.
A Charmed One will die if you don't help them.
But how could she help them? She didn't even understand what her abilities were; yet Piper and Prue seemed so powerful. They didn't need her help.
A Charmed One will die if you don't help them.
Maybe there was something specific she was meant to do.
A Charmed One will die…She must have meant Phoebe, right?
Phoebe's mind raced as Pratt addressed his audience.
Just do it quickly! Her mind screamed. She didn't want to stand here, simply waiting to die.
Pratt came to the end of his speech.
'Let today be a lesson to all those who would seek to defy human nature with their way of life. Let today serve notice that black magic will not be tolerated in our society and let today be remembered as the day we burned the witch.'
Nathaniel Pratt threw out his arm, pointing at Phoebe with a quivering finger. She shut her eyes, waiting for the searing hot flames.
So, drop me a line and tell me what you thought! I know the chapter was rather 'bitty', but it was meant to be like that, jumping back and forth, blah blah blah.
Thank you: Shawn-n-Bell, Awf, Hotcutii and Charmedfan90 for your reviews!
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