-7-

The attic of the Halliwell Mansion was spacious but almost all of that space was crowded. Boxes of old, ancestorial items lined the walls, each labeled neatly. A crimson, antique love seat rested in front of an old oak trunk that was etched with carvings and symbols and covered in a thick layer of dust. Everything about the room showed age from the sporatic cobwebs Piper had missed while cleaning, to the yellowed pages of books lining the shelves of a huge bookcase. A few small nooks in the wall suggested mice, but to counter the age and dust, a huge, stained-glass window reflected shapes of every color over Prue and Lucy, who were bent over an enormous map of the country. As Phoebe and Piper picked their way towards the center of the room, stepping around stray boxes and an old rocking-horse, Prue looked up and shook her head.

"There's nothing. Nothing is coming up. I've checked three times." She set down the scrying crystal that dangled off a thread and massaged her neck, which was strained from being bent. "Are you sure this works without the sister's actual blood?"

Phoebe sat in a vacant chair in front of the round table and replied, "It should. I mean, she is their sister. Wouldn't that make sense?" She picked up the small knife Prue had used to prick Lucy's finger to get the blood.

Piper leaned forward to pick up the crystal as Phoebe received the knife from Prue at the same time. Piper's palm brushed against the knife, its keen edge opening a small cut which nevertheless bled.

"Ouch!" As Piper jerked her hand back impulsively, a drop of her blood fell onto the crystal. Without warning, it sprang up from the table and flew to the Book of Shadows, which opened magically to a blank page. The girls all stared.

"Ok, what was that?" Prue asked to no one in particular. Puzzled and shocked, Piper clutched at her stinging hand and crossed over to the Book with the other three right behind her. What met their eyes caused them to start with shock.

As if an invisible hand were holding a pen and writing, an entry was being scrawled on the yellowed page, written in a fancy, but clearly legible hand.

The Power of Four will not protect

The Power of Three will not set free

A power has blossomed from darkness

But a stronger power emerges from light

Long lost shall return

Unknown will become known

But present and future can only combine

To vanquish this evil from time and space.

Below this message were six words:

To find a lost witch

Teleportation

There was a silence after Piper read the message aloud.

"Wow," Lucy breathed, summing up the feelings of the other women. "That was odd." She looked at Piper quizzically. "Why didn't that work with my blood?"

Piper shook her head, still staring at the page. "I have no idea."

"Well, obviously it was written to help us find the Millers, so we should probably try to figure this stuff out, since it's going to be important." Prue said, turning to Phoebe. "Well, I'm completely lost already. Have any ideas? Or, heck, do you understand it at all?"

Phoebe placed her hands on the podium, thinking intently. "Well, look at this," she said, pointing to the last words. "To find a lost witch...teleportation. I think those are the spells we have to use to get to the Millers. If we just combine them together and write a whole new spell..." she trailed off, taking a pad of paper off the table and starting to write before even sitting down on the sofa.

After a few seconds while waiting for her sister to finish her sentence, Prue gave up and said, "Um, ok. So," She turned to Piper. "Should we figure out what all this means?"

Lucy had already figured out the first two lines. "The Power of Four: that's us. It didn't defeat the demon, so we can't protect ourselves from her. Not the four of us alone anyway. The Power of Three: that's you. And," she looked slightly frightened as she explained her concern. "Obviously, the Power of Three won't keep you safe, either."

"'A power has blossomed from darkness'. Well, that has to be this person." Phoebe piped up from the couch, pointing at Lucy's shoulder before returning to her notebook.

"That makes sense. Thanks, Pheebs," Prue said, then continued to think. "I don't know what else. 'Unknown will become known'. Well, like most of the writing, I have no idea what that means."

"I guess we'll find out soon," Piper said. "That and how the Book wrote itself."

Prue smiled as her sister said this. "I think I know who did that." When Piper looked at her, Prue glanced upward. Lucy was puzzled. Seeing this, Prue explained. "We found out last year that the Book of Shadows, or at least some of it, was written by our grandmother, Penelope."

"Penelope Halliwell? Wow, legend has it that she was really powerful," Lucy breathed.

Piper laughed slightly. "She still is!"

"But," Prue said, turning back to Piper. "That looks more like Mom's handwriting. What do you think?"

Piper looked down at the yellowed parchment and nodded. "You're right, it does look more like hers."

"'Long lost shall return, unknown will become known'." Prue's eyebrows knitted together. "Could that mean...does that mean...?" She stared wide-eyed at Piper.

"I don't know...woah!" But Piper's voice trailed away as the Book of Shadows flipped its own pages again. "Again with the Book flippy thing!" She said to the ceiling. When the Book ceased moving, Piper leaned forward and read the inscription. "'To call a ghost' She looked up again. "Ghost, as in, dead?" She asked Prue. "Must be." Prue agreed, crossing to Piper and studying the Book in turn and starting to read the spell that was scrawled on the page.

"'Hear these words,

Hear my cry,

Spirit from the other side,

Come to me,

I summon thee,

Cross now the Gr-'"

Before Prue finished reading the spell, Piper had clapped a hand over her mouth roughly. "I don't think you want to do that just yet," she warned her sister.

"Why not?" Lucy inquired.

Piper looked at her quizzically, her hand still stifling her sister's words. "Haven't you ever read a spell without really knowing what you were saying?"

Lucy shrugged. "Well, no, but that was because Kate would never let us. But why wouldn't we? What happens?"

"Bad things. If you read a spell or summon before you need it, either the spell will go badly, or they'll happen, but incompletely or wrongly. You have to actually know what you're saying. Otherwise, it could be very bad."

Prue twisted out of Piper's grasp and said, "Piper, why not do the spell now? We need to start right away if we want to-" She glanced sideways at Lucy, and lowered her voice slightly, "Save the Millers."

"Phoebe has to figure out that spell first and what it means," Piper replied, logically.

"We can get help from Grams and Mom," Prue countered, explaining herself. "Six heads are better than one."

"Maybe we should say the first spell, the one to summon a lost witch. Look. It's on here twice. Once with teleportation, which is the spell to find the Millers."

"We think. No," Prue said, walking to the Book. "We should call the past first. Trust me." Without waiting for a response, Prue read the summoning spell.

"Hear these words,

Hear my cry.

Spirit from the other side.

Come to me,

I summon thee.

Cross now the Great Divide."

Orbs of light circled around the space in front of the podium as Prue read the spell, shimmering and lighting up the room. Phoebe looked up as the lights grew brighter and a light, magical wind kicked up. What Lucy saw next made her sink to the ancient love seat in shock, for despite being a seasoned and renowned witch, she had never seen this spell performed, and the results were extraordinary, for standing side by side in the center of the rug stood two women, both incredibly famous, and both unbelievably powerful. Penelope and Patricia Halliwell had been brought over the Great Divide. Lucy couldn't believe it. The most powerful witches in the universe before the Charmed Ones were standing in front of her, as easily as if they had been listening to the entire episode.

"Mom! Grams!" Prue exclaimed with joy, and hurried forward to hug her kin. Piper and Phoebe also made their way forward smiling, happily wrapping themselves in their mother's hold, but Lucy stayed where she was, unsure of how to greet the legendary pair. Patty welcomed her daughters with open arms and joy in her face, but Penny, or Grams as the girls called her, was more subdued. A smile creased her lined face, but none of her usual twinkle sparkled in her eyes now.

"My dears!" Patty folded her arms around her three daughters, closing her eyes and burying her nose in Phoebe's hair. "I've missed you so!"

"And I haven't?" Chimed in the older woman. She smiled and hugged Prue, saying, "My, my. You've grown more and more beautiful, Prudence." Prue blushed as Grams looked over her granddaughter's head at Lucy and asked, "Girls, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" She, of course, knew who Lucy was. She knew her parents when she was alive, but she didn't say anything.

Piper untangled herself gently from her mother's arms and beckoned to Lucy to join them. "Mom, Grams, this is Lucy Miller, the youngest of the Magicked Ones. Lucy, may I introduce Patricia and Penelope Halliwell, our mother and grandmother?"

Lucy couldn't feel her legs again. She remained on the couch, unable to move, and stared, open-mouthed, awestruck, and pale. "How...what...are...are you...alive? I mean..." She stammered out the words, disbelieving her own eyes.

"Oh, we're not alive. We're ghosts. But we're able to be solid until our duty, and yours, is complete. We're here to help, and I must say, we have much to help with," Grams said, kindly, moving over to the couch to sit next to Lucy. The girl drew away from her at first, hesitant about the ghost of the legendary witch touching her, but she soon relaxed as she realized that Grams was indeed, solid.

"I'm honored to meet you, Penelope."

Grams waved off the formalities with a worn, wrinkled hand. "Please, call me Penny. Everyone does."

"And call me Patty," said Patricia, grimacing slightly. "I can't stand to hear my full name being used. Too long and fancy." She smiled kindly at the young witch.

Prue also grinned at her, a new twinkle in her eyes since the arrival of her loved ones, and at the sight of Lucy's still-shocked face. "What should we start with?" She asked her mother. "We don't have too many leads and we don't have too much time."

"But you do have leads," Patty answered, growing solemn at the mention of their duty. "You have the spells you need to get all the help you need. Except for one. All you need is the means to destroy Zoltof."

"So, that's who's behind all this?" Piper questioned, gesturing at Lucy. She had heard of the demon Zoltof and it surprised her that he was powerful.

Grams nodded. "Yes. Zoltof, as you know, started as a lower-level demon, but over the years, through treason and murder, he has become more powerful than any other demon in history. More powerful than the greatest Source. Zoltof now has countless followers, each of them almost as powerful as the Source himself."

"Kate vanquished one, though!" Lucy said, but Gram's shook her head.

"No, she didn't. Your whitelighter orbed Kate and Samantha out of the glade immediately after they were threatened again. All she could do was hold him off. Besides, neither Kate nor Samantha have the powers to destroy."

Lucy was shocked. "How do you know what happened?"

Patty answered. "We can watch what happens, we just can't help unless we're summoned. We can't change the events of the living, or this never would have happened."

"Well, Heather blew one up," Lucy brought up, desperate to find an answer, but Grams shook her head again.

"She barely wounded him, actually. I told you, they have more power than other demons."

Pure crossed over to the Book of Shadows as she exclaimed, "That means we're going to need more power. A lot more power."

The four live women missed the pointed glance exchanged between Penny and Patty. "That's why we're here. And that's why we need someone else," Grams said, and without prior announcements, she drew a handful of glittering dust from a pouch at her side and blew it lightly into Lucy's face. The girl sighed, her eyelashes fluttered as her body went limp, and she slipped down on the couch as her eyes closed.

"Grams!" Prue exclaimed, starting to cross to Lucy, but Patty held her back.

"Steady on, Prue, honey. All she did was put her to sleep."

Prue stared incredulously at her mother. "What the heck was that? Why? I don't understand."

Grams got up from the couch and gently lay Lucy down and covered her with a light blanket. After making sure Lucy looked comfortable, Grams made her way over to the Book and turned to a page near the back. "Your mother and I have something to show you. I need you, Phoebe, to make this potion," she indicated it with a wave of her hand. Phoebe crossed to her and looked over her shoulder at the ingredients, but the name of the spell was covered, purposefully, by her grandmother. Grams then turned to her eldest granddaughters. "You two, set up eight candles in a circle around the table. And, we'll need the knife." She flicked her finders and the knife used by Prue shot through the air and landed, handle first, in Grams' outstretched palm.

As she moved to get the candles, Piper suddenly realized what Grams wanted, having seen the spell once while she was searching through the Book. "Grams," She said, slowly, stopping. "Who are we summoning?" At this, Prue and Phoebe also stopped what they were doing and looked up, eyebrows furrowing.

"No questions, Piper. We weren't expecting for you to meet yet, but desperate times call for this. Just do what I ask."

Piper was still confused. "Why did you put Lucy to sleep? She's a fellow witch. She has the right to-"

Patty interrupted, trying to speak reason to calm her daughter down. "Because this is important only to you three. This will change your lives and your destinies greatly. I'm not saying any more until after the potion is made and the spell is spoken. Now, come on, get a move on. We don't have much time."