THIRTEEN

"I hope this works," said Prue. "I'm not real comfortable trusting a demon. Even a half demon."

"It will work," said Phoebe. "Cole always was very resourceful."

"You sound like you know him pretty well," said Piper.

"Yeah, I guess I do," said Phoebe. "Or at least I did. He was different in my timeline. Even before he changed he never seemed to be as antagonistic as he is now."

"Before he changed?" questioned Piper.

"It's a long story," said Phoebe. "Even though he was half demon he became good. He helped up fight demons for a while. He even helped us vanquish the Source."

"Wait a minute," said Prue. "You vanquished the Source?"

"Not by myself," said Phoebe uneasily. "The Charmed Ones defeated the Source. With Cole's help."

"And what about Matthews?" Prue asked. "Did she help vanquish the Source?"

"Yes," said Phoebe. "When we discovered her she didn't have any powers. Maybe that's why she hasn't been identified as a witch in this timeline. She never met us so her powers are still dormant. Except for her White Lighter powers. She didn't know she had them so she never consciously used them."

"Sounds like things are a lot different in this altered timeline," said Piper.

"Yeah, they are," said Phoebe. "I still don't see how bringing Nostradamus into the future could have changed everything so much. It just doesn't make any sense."

"We can try to figure that out later," said Prue, looking around the corner of the building they were standing next to. "Turner has the security orb. It doesn't look like any of the guards have seen him. I guess it's time to put your plan into action."

"Why do we need the orb anyway?" Phoebe asked.

"They monitor these damned collars," said Phoebe. "As long as we're within a certain distance of them they keep the collars from detonating. While the orbs are run off a central power source they also have battery backups in each one. In case there's a power failure. The batteries will run the orbs for twenty-four hours before they run down. As long as we have one of the orbs with us when we leave the camp the collars will remain dormant. It will give us twenty-four hours to figure a way to get them off without decapitating us."

"Okay, makes sense," said Phoebe. "Well, no time like the present, as they say. Any idea where Aames is?"

"Yeah, he's over there," said Prue, pointing toward the fence. "You sure he's going to take the bait?"

"Yeah," said Phoebe. "He seemed real interested in me. The only reason he backed off was because Cole intervened. If Cole's not around he's bound to make another attempt. All we have to do is make him angry enough to come after us."

"That should be easy," said Piper. "Humiliate him in front of his friends and he'll be so mad he'll follow us anywhere to get even. Well, 'sis', I guess you're up."

Cautiously Phoebe walked out into the compound. She tried to appear nonchalant as she skirted just beyond the buildings nearest the fence. Just as she suspected Aames noticed her right off.

"Well, what do we have here?" he asked walking towards her. "Where's your protector? You seem to be all alone."

"I don't want any trouble," said Phoebe, backing away from him. It had taken longer for him to see her than she had anticipated. It was going to take longer to get back to Prue and Piper. "Just leave me alone."

"Oh, I can't do that. You haven't received our initiation yet. Until you do you aren't really a part of the community."

Phoebe kept backing away from Aames and the two men with him. He had a smile on his face that anything but friendly. Suddenly she came to the corner of the building she was backing against. Prue and Piper would be right around the corner. In a few minutes they would put her plan into action and – hopefully – be out of the camp.

"There's no place for you to go," said Aames as he drew closer. "You can't get away. Might as well just relax and enjoy it. We won't be too rough with you."

Suddenly Prue and Piper stepped out from the opposite corner of the building behind the two men with Aames. They were both holding chair legs as clubs. Before anyone knew they were there they had struck the two men knocking them to the ground.

Aames turned to see what had happened. Seeing his two friends on the ground and the sisters holding clubs he instinctively turned back to Phoebe. She didn't hesitate. She jumped into the air and swung out with her foot catching him along the left side of his head. The blow knocked him to the ground, stunning him momentarily.

The sisters all turned and disappeared around the sides of the building. They moved quickly to Cole's house. He stood in the doorway holding the door open for them. As they entered the building they looked out to see Aames and his two friends come around the side of the building after them. They all had hatred in their eyes. As Prue entered the building Cole slammed the door shut and threw a bar over it sealing it shut. He handed the security orb to Phoebe.

"It's time to get out of here," he said. "Join hands. Everyone has to be touching if I'm to get us all out of here. With any luck they won't bother to look for us once this is over."

The sisters joined hands. Cole reached out and took Phoebe by the arm with his left hand. With his right hand he reached up and grabbed the collar he was wearing. With one massive yank he pulled the collar from around his neck. He tossed the collar in the back of the room and at nearly the same instant he shimmered out of the building with the sisters in tow. They had no sooner shimmered out of the building than the detonated destroying the entire building.