Piper, Phoebe and Paige have all moved out of the Halliwell Manor to concentrate on their own personal lives. They have been granted a break from demon hunting to allow them to bring up the next generation of 'Charmed Ones' in safety. The underworld has come to an agreement that the three of them will be left alone; as will the corresponding demons that the 'Charmed Ones' were pursuing. Their powers will now be transferred to three new witches who will continue their job, but the transference has not yet taken place. Piper, Phoebe and Paige do not know who the girls will be, or what abilities they will have, as their powers will develop depending on their differing personalities. Now they have to find the three new witches, who will be complete strangers, convince them to stay together, and develop their powers to battle the new rising sect of demons.
Piper gazed through the window of the café at the people outside: people rushing, strolling, chatting, nothing out of the ordinary there. A frown crossed her face as she sat absorbed in her thoughts.
"It will happen when it happens, just relax," Phoebe reassured Piper, placing a large cup of coffee and a cake in front of her and sitting down to enjoy her own.
"Yes, but it's been a week now…" She raised her voice slightly and looked upwards, as though intending the comment for someone else. "…and I don't think it's too much to ask for things to get a move on!" She turned back to Phoebe. "I realise that I should be grateful but now that I know it is going to happen, I just want it to hurry up so that we can finally get our lives back to some semblance of normality."
Phoebe gave her sister a sympathetic look and reached across the table to squeeze her hand. "It will happen soon… it has to."
"Well what the hell is taking so much time anyway?"
"I guess it's hard to find the right people, it's a big responsibility sis."
"Hello everybody, has the meeting started already?" Piper and Phoebe glanced up to see Paige rushing towards the table.
Piper leant her head on her hand. "It really doesn't make much difference, there's not a lot to discuss."
Paige sat next to Piper with an animated look on her face. "Sure there is, there must be something we can do to get the ball rolling." She looked from Piper to Phoebe enthusiastically.
"Right, and how do you propose we get this ball rolling? Start asking passers by if they have developed any magical powers lately?"
"Ah, come on sis, look there are three girls sitting over there, it could be them." Paige's eyes motioned to a table of young girls over the other side of the room.
Phoebe looked unconvinced. "They look a bit young to be battling demons any time soon."
Paige stood up suddenly. "Well I'm going to get a coffee while you two come up with a plan, want anything?"
Piper looked at her with a sigh. "No, no, we'll be waiting here, waiting being the only thing we can do lately."
Paige turned around to head towards the counter but in her haste she bumped into the person behind her. "Sorry, didn't see you there." The girl smiled and went to walk past her, at which point they did a little dance, each misinterpreting which direction the other wanted to go. The girl gave an awkward laugh and pointed to a seat behind Phoebe to indicate where she wanted to move to. She slid into the seat and Paige walked away to find some coffee.
Piper sighed yet again and fiddled with the spoon on her plate, then a thought hit her and she looked up to Phoebe to speak, but froze at what she saw. There was something unusual about the girl that had sat behind Phoebe. Piper's eyes widened in shock as she saw an orange glow leap from the girl's hair. She did a double take and then realized that the girl was on fire!
Jumping up, she pointed to the girl. "Oh, my God, fire Phoebe, fire!"
Phoebe turned just in time to see a man who was sitting nearby throw the entire contents of a bottle of water in the direction of the girl. While some of the water hit the girl, and seemed to have extinguished the flame, the majority of it missed, drenching the person sitting behind. The woman stood up, water dripping from her clothes onto the table and floor in front of her.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Her icy blue eyes cut into the man's as she threw him a furious look.
He glared back at her. "Well, in case you hadn't noticed, this girl was on fire!"
She looked at the girl with confusion, then crossed her arms as she turned her attention back to the man. "Really, well I don't see any flames leaping from her now, no smoke coming out of her ears!" With that she turned to collect her bag to leave but in three quick strides the man was next to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder to halt her, an infuriated look on his face.
"Hey, I'm telling you she was on fire!"
"Get your hand off me!" she replied angrily, looking down at the offending hand. "And what on earth is that horrendous noise?" She bent her head, covering her ears in pain. The man, however, was not listening to what she was saying now as his attention was firmly fixed on the point at which his hand had met her shoulder; he was looking at her through what can only be described as a watery surface. She went to brush his hand away but came into contact with the surface and was unable to penetrate it.
By this time, Paige had returned to the table, attracted by all the commotion, and she was watching the events with interest.
She leant over and whispered to Piper. "Think you'd better freeze this little lot, looks like the ball has started rolling." Piper shook her hands in the general direction of the incident and the scene froze.
Phoebe jumped up. "Okay, so we may not have a lot of time if they are absorbing our powers. I'd say that she…" Phoebe pointed to the girl who had seemed to be on fire, "definitely has some kind of power, maybe her too and…him?" She looked at the man and then back at Piper with a quizzical expression.
Piper shrugged, "Well, Leo didn't say it was going to be three girls this time, I guess we have found them then. Paige you get them back to the Manor and we'll meet you back there. See if you can find out more from Leo too." Paige placed her hands on the three people and orbed.
"Do you mind telling me what on earth is going on?" The drenched woman paced the lounge, stopping in front of Leo who was standing by the doorway. "And you are?"
"Leo, and you?" He held out his hand to shake hers but she ignored it, moving back towards Paige.
The other girl stepped forward with a grin and shook his hand. "Hi. I'm Phoenix and this is…" She gestured towards the man who had saved her from the fire.
He answered for her. "Gabe." He waved across the room. "Would quite like to know myself how we got here." He lifted a questioning eyebrow but Paige cut in.
"Err, before we go any further, I'm assuming that we've got the right people Leo?"
"Almost. You must be Phillipa, right?" Leo asked.
The woman looked at him suspiciously. "And you know this how?"
Paige interrupted. "What do you mean 'almost' Leo?"
"You seem to have missed one," he replied.
"What! We've got three people here; who have we missed?" Paige asked, running a hand through her hair.
"Payton, she is the third. This guy accidentally got involved," Leo said, gesturing towards Gabe.
"Hey, what do you want with my sister?" Gabe asked suspiciously.
Paige put her hands to her head. "Oh, my God, we need to find her, and quick."
"Okay, time out! I want some serious explanations, and I want them now," Phillipa exclaimed, beginning to pace the room once more.
At that point the front door opened and Piper and Phoebe strolled in. "Have you lost somebody?" Phoebe smiled, pulling another girl through he door. The girl stood in the doorway, looking bewildered. "This is Payton, we discovered her not long after you left."
Gabe strode across the room to Payton, grabbing her by the arms and looking her over with concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine, a bit confused though," she replied.
"You and me both, about that explanation…" Gabe looked towards Leo.
"Shall we all just calm down a bit and take a seat?" Leo suggested.
"I have the feeling that I'm going to need to sit after this," Phillipa said, taking a seat in a chair opposite the sofa, which Gabe, Payton and Phoenix had settled on.
Leo turned to the three girls. "Well, it seems as though you three have officially taken over from these three as …" Leo paused, unsure of how to continue.
Piper intervened impatiently though. "Okay, so you are now witches." A silence settled on the room whilst four faces stared at Piper as if she'd grown a second head. "I know, I know…" Piper went on "…it's a shock, but the sooner you get used to it, the sooner we can get back to our lives, and there's really no point in fighting it; it's your destiny," she finished.
Paige glared at Piper with astonishment. "Well done sis, break it to them gently I should!"
"Hold on," Gabe shook his head as if to clear it, "when you say 'witches', are we talking about pointed hats, black cats and caldrons?" he laughed.
"No actually, that image is so yesteryear," Paige said with a dismissive gesture of her hand. "Nowadays, we pretty much run regular lives… in between vanquishing demons of course," she added.
Gabe rose an eyebrow. "Demons now too. Next you'll be telling me that I'm the Angel Gabriel," he chuckled.
Paige, Piper and Phoebe all glanced at Leo with questioning expressions.
"Ah come on!" Gabe exclaimed, observing their reactions.
"Not as far as I know but… you got to wonder about the name," Leo pondered.
"Do I look like the Angel Gabriel to you?" Gabe said, standing up and holding out his arms. Everyone in the room cast doubtful eyes over his torn jeans, and dark gothic style t shirt, which revealed a bold, abstract tattoo running down the length of one muscular arm.
"He has a point," Piper admitted. "So, what's he doing here then?" she asked Leo.
"Well, apparently he does have powers too. The elders believe that your powers," he turned his attention back to Gabe who had sat back on the sofa next to Payton, "are connected to your relationship with your sister. This happens sometimes if someone with a strong connection to a witch won't let her transcend, then that person absorbs powers with her and becomes her 'Protector'," he explained to the girls, before focusing on Gabe once more. "When this happened to you, the elders made a decision and well… now it's your job to protect all three, at least until a new whitelighter can be found."
"Ahh," Phoebe began, a look of realisation on her face, "so that's what the weird barrier thing was around Phillipa then. What about the fire? Phoenix looked as though her head was burning!"
"To some extent it was. I was told that Phoenix had some sort of relationship with a demon in her previous life…"
Phoebe glanced at Piper and interrupted Leo. "Oh, here we go again!"
Phoenix looked on, fascinated.
"…and he taught her how to manipulate fire, this means that if, or should I say when, a demon throws an energy ball in her direction, it will immediately vanquish the demon that threw it."
"Cool." Phoenix looked impressed.
"That's not all," Leo went on, encouraged by Phoenix's enthusiasm, "you can also sort of teleport."
"Amazing! How do I do that then?" she asked.
"You will see. It should be quite spectacular too."
Phoenix looked enthralled.
"Excuse me, am I the only one here who thinks you have all gone completely mad?" Phillipa looked from Leo to Phoenix and then to the rest of the group with exasperation.
Leo continued. "You had a pain in your ears, right?"
"Yes but…"
"That was your powers developing. You have profoundly developed senses, you will be able to see and hear things happening miles away, but you need to learn how to control your powers, you all do, they aren't fully developed yet," Leo explained.
Payton added. "What about me then? What do I get to do?"
"I'll show you. Here take this." Leo stood up and passed her a candle from off the table in front of them. She took it. "Now concentrate on what you would like it to be." Payton looked uncertain. "Anything you want it to be, just concentrate," he encouraged her. She closed her eyes and jumped in shock when she felt the object change in her hands. She opened her eyes to see that she was holding a flower.
Phoebe laughed. "Hey cute, but I think you're going to need to practise. You won't vanquish many demons with that!"
"You are all going to have to learn to control your powers, and that's just the first step. We have so much to teach you, but for now you need to develop a bond. It was the bond between Piper, Phoebe and Paige that ultimately thwarted the underworld. Spend as much time as you can together before the first demons find out that you are here. And that could be anytime soon," he warned.
"Well, that's all very fascinating, but I really should be getting home now." Phillipa rose off the sofa to leave but was confronted by a unanimous, "No!"
Paige blocked her exit. "You all have to stay here. If you split up, you won't stand a chance. Besides, Gabe here is your 'Protector', and believe me, you will want him around when the action begins."
Phillipa frowned. "But I've got things to do, my own apartment, I can't just move in here!"
Gabe added. "For once, I'm in agreement with her. If it's all the same to you, I'd like to pass on this one. I do actually have a life already, and I've got enough going on dealing with protecting clients without having to run after three air headed girls, sorry sis."
On hearing this Phillipa jumped up, standing in front of Gabe with her hands on her hips, glaring down at him. "Well, if it's all the same to you, I have a life too, and I've got better things to do than to stay here to be insulted by some high handed, arrogant male chauvinist pig like you!"
Phoebe, Piper and Paige all glanced anxiously at each other. Things weren't exactly going to plan!