"Please take me home, mom! Why you don't believe me? Why you leave me behind?"

3. Soul piper and nothing woman

1:00

Piper sat on her bed, bent her knees close to her chest. She felt she was all alone in her own house. Everybody seemed to know something and nothing at the same time. She didn't know who to believe anymore.

"Piper, honey!"

She backed off to the wall. It was Phoebe, and she doubted that she would say the same thing like others, about the punishment. BUT FOR WHAT? I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG. She screamed inside.

"Piper, please let me in! I don't want to orb in without your permission but you're worrying us."

This time, it was Paige. She knocked hardly at the door. Receiving no answer, Paige gave up. She shrugged with Phoebe and tried one more time.

"Okay, Piper. You can stay inside but listen to us. You said that the girl you saw in your dream… I mean in the morning, she was an Asian. Maybe she isn't a demon. So does the piper-thing. Maybe they are some god or some spirit in Asia. So that you can't find them in the Book of Shadows or any book in Magic School. We must find them in the index of God or Spirit, not Demon."

The door was sprung out.

"And what about the boy? He seemed like he was hurt… By me." Piper added hesitantly. As a mother, she never wanted to hurt any children but she did with that boy without thinking. Maybe the punishment was for that… But she saw that girl before she met that boy. And what's the connection?!

"Do you remember the van? Sometimes thing aren't like we thought they are. Don't let the innocent look trick your view."

From the depth of her mind, Piper remembered that story but at the same time knew that this time was different. However, she left the feeling aside intentionally to accept Phoebe's hypothesis as some peace for her soul.

She was running away from the guilt.

Behind the door, suppressing the pain, inside those green orbs flashed the light of anger.

The piper opened its eyes a little more.

The time would come soon.

2:45

"Piper! I think I found it." Paige spoke behind the giant book. They had dug in the library of Magic School again, in silence.

Her two sisters rushed to her. The yellow page was full of ancient language but with the ability of a whitelighter, Paige can read it all. Didn't need to read, Piper could confirm by an old but exact picture.

"Yes, that's it. What did they say?" Piper asked, eagerly.

"It's called the soul piper, a guide for children's soul. Lead the good souls to heaven and the bad souls to hell. If it opens its eyes fully then the gate to hell will open." Paige read out loud to both her sisters. Phoebe took a quick glance at Piper.

"So, that boy was a bad one." She said.

No, I'm not. From far away, Piper heard a weakly denial. I will be a good boy. Please…

"We used this kind of spell before, right, Phoebe?" She said loudly, just to drown the voice. And the noise of more iron chains appeared from the air wrapping around the small body.

She never wanted to hurt a child… but after all, he wasn't a normal child but a bad soul.

3:30

"Mom!"

"Attic, honey!" Hearing the call of her son, Piper lifted her eyes away from the Book of Shadows and replied. A bunch of blue orbs brought to the center of the attic her first born.

"Wyatt, it's just one minute for you to use the stair. Don't orb anytime you like or you will become a potato." She scolded.

"Okay, got it, mom. But the heather had gone out and I need it for my homework." He wrinkled his nose.

"Ah, I forgot about it. Sorry, honey. The moth's powder ran out, too. Paige, can you orb me to Asian market." Piper walked to the old couch to grab her coat and turned back to her sister.

Paige wrote down the final word and gave her the paper.

"Okay, here is the spell. Let's go."

They reformed in the familiar store, where they always buy ingredients. Before Piper could talk, the owner, a very very old man had spoken with his wheezing voice.

"I had said until Monday we would have the new heather and moth's powder. Don't you have any patience or memory, young lady?"

She opened her mouth then closed it immediately. Exchanging a confusing look, Piper finally found her voice to apologize and they left the store. The narrow alley full of people suddenly became quiet with Piper. Everyone sent her a look of disgusting. Not because of her skin, she knew because she had come here a thousand times.

"Piper, I have goosebumps all over my body." Paige whispered beside her.

But she didn't pay any attention at those words. She was attracted to a stand of a peddler. He had a lot of pictures displayed in a dirty cloth. Piper walked to the man, others avoided her like plague.

"What is it?" She asked the peddler. The picture she pointed drew a woman holding a lot of children's dead bodies. She had no face.

"She is nothing woman. The mother who lost her child in the war and wants to collect any children's soul, keep them, take care of them. Will you buy it?" He said with a dirty smile.

"PAIGE!" Piper called out for her sister, nearly screaming.

"What's wrong, Piper?"

"That's her. That's her, the girl before the Manor this morning. She wants my children. Oh, my God."

To confirm her words, Paige widened her eyes and gulped.

"Phoebe's calling."

They orbed back immediately. The peddler gazed at the spot they just disappeared and muttered under his breath.

"Maybe you won't because she had already come to you. You will be punished, my dear customer…"