As the last of the part guests shuffled out the doorway, Pattie could hear her aunts bidding friends goodbye. Her closest companion, Emily, who she had not only known since they were toddlers, but shared her destiny as a witch, had been the last to leave and soon only a few of her aunts' own friends remained behind.

The graduation had been a success, the party even better. But the date still stuck in her mind, and halfway through a dance with her boyfriend, Pattie decided it was time to rid her mind of the pain.

She stood in the attic doorway, leaning against the wooden frame, gazing at the one piece of ancestral history that existed for her family: the Book of Shadows. Downstairs her aunts were distracted. She could easily sneak it to her room without being discovered. But as she crossed the room and was ready to lay her hands over the book, a voice shook Pattie from her thoughts.

"Hey, kid."

Frightened, Pattie turned around. "Billie!" she shouted as this site of the blonde-haired college girl walking her way. Billie enveloped her in a hug as Pattie cried, "You nearly scared me half to death."

"That isn't hard to do." She ruffled Pattie's hair. "You looked beautiful today. The speech was wonderful."

"Even when I messed up?" she winced. A graduation speech hadn't been her idea, but she'd tried to move past it in stride. Still, somewhere along the line she'd lost her place and nearly fallen apart in front of everyone.

But Billie just shook her head. "I didn't even notice."

"Liar."

"I'm serious," Billie replied. "I'm not surprised anyway; Phoebe told me your mom had a great gift for language and public speaking. Those things usually show up over generations."

Her face stricken with irritation, Pattie let her hair fall over her face to conceal the sting of the remark. Billie caught it anyway. "Aw, man. I shouldn't have said that, huh?"

Pattie waved her hand at Billie, brushing the situation away. "Don't worry about it." Pattie drummed her fingers on the thick cover of the Book of Shadows, watching Billie fumbling through potion bottles. The girl was always looking for a new concoction to brew or spell to cast. An idea came to her. "Hey…Billie," she started. Billie glanced back at her.

"Yeah?"

"Aunt Piper got these great new spices the other day for me to practice potion-making with. But you seem so interested in them," she added a fake laugh to make the story more plausible, "you can test some if you want."

Luckily for Pattie, Billie didn't think twice. "Well, if you're positive you don't mind…" she started, planting a kiss on Pattie's forehead, already halfway out of the room.

"Too easy." Blowing a wisp of hair from her eyes, Pattie heaved the book off of its stand. "This house needs a few less people occupying it," she groaned, leaving the attic and heading towards her bedroom where privacy could be ensured.

Pattie entered her room and dropped onto the soft comforter of her bed. She opened the book, skimming for anything that might come to her aid. A knock on the door made her jump.

"Pattie?" Paige's voice called.

Slamming the book shut and quickly shoving it under her pillow, the atmosphere tensed. She grabbed her remote and turned the TV on, laying back on top of her pillows, feeling the secret hidden beneath. "Come in."

Paige and Phoebe slipped through the doorway. Pattie welcomed them both with a hug, each sitting down on either side. Fear flashed through Pattie's eyes as the pillow slid forward, but thankfully it didn't alter enough to reveal the book. I'd be dead if they found out, she mused, they'd want me to tell them every little detail.

"Is anything wrong?" Phoebe queried, the sympathy brimming within her. She loved Prue, and missed her equally, but it was always harder on the daughter, she knew from experience.

"Nothing," Pattie lied. Just everything, she thought.

"Well," Paige began. "I'd say today was a success, we're so proud of you."

"For?"

"Just being a good kid, especially considering the circumstances," Paige replied, rubbing Pattie's arm.

Pattie laughed, "Yeah, being magical isn't exactly the prime subject at the lunch table."

Phoebe ran her fingers through her niece's hair as she'd done for years. "Don't grow up too quickly."

Attempting to be encouraging, Pattie took Phoebe's hand. "I love you. And I'm ready to begin a new chapter to my life, to grow up. But I'm not graduating college; I'm just going to high school. I want to start fresh." Both women smiled. "Now, go home and enjoy yourselves. I'll be just fine resting after a great party."

Once they'd said farewells and finally dismissed themselves, Pattie sighed. Casting this spell isn't wrong, is it? This isn't my personal gain…right?

She flipped the page, recovering the Fearless Spell that her aunt had created years ago during crisis. Tempted, she flattened her hands across the page until a pang of guilt ran over her. Remembering the frustration it had caused her family and the consequences that had befallen Piper, Pattie decided against it.

Page after page, spell following spell, Pattie grumbled in aggravation. "Come on, come on, there must be something here that can help me."

When all else failed and she was down to her last option, Pattie gave in and closed the book. She laid back on her bed, pulling open her nightstand drawer and recovering a lined notepad from inside of it. Grabbing a pen off of a pile of her books, Pattie did her best to string an assortment of words together into a fluid passage. Spells had never come to mind easily for Pattie, they had fallen under Phoebe's strong suit and she usually covered any and every spell dilemma when it came to demons and magic. Pattie scribbled down a few words, only to scratch them out a moment later.

This wasn't going to work.

But just as she was about to throw the pad and surrender to her panic, her eyes caught that purple picture frame and that frozen instant of time, the eyes of the young child staring back at her. Would she have given up?

Once again determined, Pattie fell forward onto her elbows and forced her mind to focus. When there was finally a spell fully dictated in black ink sitting clearly in front of her, Pattie made sure her door was shut. She dimmed her lights and then activated her IPod from its Ihome so that soft music filled the atmosphere. If her aunts thought she was asleep, they wouldn't surely bother her.

"This one's for you mom."

With a heart full of hope, she began to chant:

Across the universe far and wide

Where my fears dwell and anguish hides

All of this worry, all of this strife

Needs to be banished from my life

Free my aching heart on this quest for peace.

Let myself go and my pain release.

The paper crumpled in her hand as her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she was taken away, falling into a deep slumber before her body was whisked away completely. She'd vanished from her room, her home, and her time all in one second.

When Pattie reappeared and regained consciousness, she found herself behind the couch in the conservatory. She sat up, confused. Peering at the outside windows where sunlight poured in, Pattie had to shield her eyes. Wasn't it just evening? Where did all of the party supplies go?

A round of cries sounded from upstairs. Rubbing her eyes, and getting onto her feet, Pattie was nearly ready to call for Piper, but another voice stopped her. She shrank down behind the coach again.

"Patricia! I said that Emily's house was off limits tonight. You break the rules you suffer the consequences. There will be no costume party," she heard Phoebe yell, crossing the foyer into the kitchen.

"Emily's costume party?" Pattie whispered. "That was years ago." She smiled at the memory, knowing that in the end she'd wound up going anyway. Pouting worked every time. She wondered what kind of trick Phoebe was pulling.

"But Aunt Phoebe!!!" a shriek came following. "Moooommmmyy," it moaned again.

Pattie cautiously peeked over the couch she was situated behind. Her jaw dropped at the sight of a little girl, her younger self, skipping across the floor in a white flower skirt and pink top. Her mind reeled more when she saw the figure behind her. "Patricia Elizabeth Halliwell, you heard what your aunt said, and that goes for me too, babe." Suddenly the figure scooped her up from behind and her face came into view. "Why don't you go get your homework and we'll get you to school.

"Mom!" she screamed, muffling her voice just in time before anyone could hear.

Little Pattie ran into the conservatory, Pattie realized, to pull her homework off the coffee table. She was humming the tune to something Prue would play when she used to fall asleep as a child, but the name escaped her. Every memory came flooding back.

When she pulled herself up long enough to gaze at her younger self, their eyes met.

Little Pattie let out an ear-shattering scream.

"Oh man," the older girl muttered, sinking against the back of the sofa. How had this happened? She'd wanted to take her pain, not take herself away…to the past.

"Well, I see we have a visitor." Pattie looked up to see Phoebe hovering over her, hands placed on her hips, looking quite intimidating.

Pressing her palm to her forehead, Pattie whimpered. "What have I done?"

It's coming along, are you ready for the next chapter? I love writing this, I hope you like reading it! More reviews for Chapter 3, please!