A/N: Thanks so much to PhoebeColefan, Draco's-Loyal-Longing, qtgirl, lizardmomma, and thaatgirrl for reviewing. Glad to see you all are liking it. To qtgirl-Cole is not evil. He's just doing what he thinks is necessary to protect Phoebe. Hope you all like this chapter. Phoebe's odd behavior will be explained next chapter. Happy reading.

Chapter Four

Phoebe picked up the sword and kept her gaze focused on Cole's back. He was sitting in the center of the cave, his back to her. She raised the sword in silence, slowly creeping up on him. He didn't show any signs that he knew she was there, so Phoebe decided that this was the ideal time to swing her sword.

Just as she was about to bring it down, he stood up and turned around, grabbing the blade of the sword.

"Don't just assume that your opponent isn't paying attention just because he has his back to you. What if I had been the Source?You would've been dead before that sword could hit the ground," Cole explained, touching his forehead to Phoebe's, allowing them a couple of seconds to catch their breath.

They had been training for the past couple of days. Cole was worried that the Source would catch on to their plan, and he wanted Phoebe prepared in case he launched a surprise attack.

Phoebe thought she was doing a good job keeping up despite their disadvantage. There hadn't been many demon attacks; maybe one a day and they were all just happenstance. None of them had been sent by the Source; it had simply been wrong place wrong time.

Now that Phoebe was finally starting to adapt to the Underworld, she was starting to believe that they stood a chance. The Source was just another demon, right? Granted a big bad nasty one, but what made him so different? Power? Phoebe and Cole had power, too. Maybe even more if they joined forces.

Now that they had a plan--or at least an outline of a plan--Phoebe was beginning to feel better about the situation. She now believed that they stood a chance.

"I'll be ready next time. Let's start again," Phoebe promised, her voice soft against his.

Phoebe couldn't explain it, but she felt different somehow. More aware of what was going on around her. More independent, and more confident somehow. It was almost as if being away from her sisters was allowing her to realize her full potential. It was as though being a Charmed One was stifling her.

It was a great feeling.

She didn't tell Cole. She knew he'd worry and try to find out why she was feeling that way. But the truth was that she didn't know why it was happening, and she didn't care. It felt great. Empowering. She didn't want this feeling to ever go away.

"Are you ready?" Cole asked, the tip of his sword pointed directly at her neck.

As an answer she swung the sword at him with all her might, aiming for his bare stomach. He blocked the strike, and an all-out sword fight ensued.

Phoebe didn't know how she got so good so quickly. She guessed that it fell into how she was realizing her full potential. Whatever it was, it was empowering.

Cole was struggling to keep up. Sweat matted his brow, which was furrowed in concentration. The more he fought, the stronger she became, and the weaker he became. But he never fell behind, no matter how many times it looked as though he would collapse.

Phoebe had to respect him for not doing it.

She didn't know how much time they spent training, but eventually Cole stopped fighting and held his hands up, leaning over.

"Stop, Phoebe. That's enough for today."

"Oh come on baby. We were just getting started," Phoebe pouted, throwing the sword to the ground and walking over to him.

"No, you were just getting started. I feel like I'm going to pass out." Cole sat down on the ground, leaning his back against the far wall.

Phoebe followed him but didn't sit down. "But if we expect to defeat the Source, don't you think we should test our limits? It's not like the Source is going to let us rest just because we feel tired."

Cole looked up at her, a baffled look contorting his features. "What's gotten into you, Phoebe? You've been acting strange these past couple of days."

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Cole, don't change the subject. You know I'm right. We need to reach our breaking points and learn to deal with them if we expect to succeed," she said, moving to pick up her sword again.

"Don't you change the subject," Cole countered. "You're different somehow."

"Why, because for the first time in my life I'm not being held back by my sisters? Not hiding behind their powers? I've got news for you, Cole, just because I don't have active powers--at least not strong ones--doesn't mean I'm powerless. These training sessions are helping, and we can't sit around talking about pointless issues when the Source has already figured out how he's going to kill us. We need to be prepared. And the first step in doing that is training,"she argued. It felt good to vent. She had no idea how long she had been feeling this way, but it felt good to let it off her chest.

"And if we over-do it, we could push our bodies too far, and as a result we'll be weak for a long time. And if the Source attacked if that happened, we wouldn't stand a chance. We need to rest," Cole snapped.

Phoebe was skeptical. A part of her believed him and wanted to listen to him, but another, much larger part of her knew he was wrong.

But she sat down beside him, sensing something was wrong. "Is it something I said?" she asked as she snuggled close to him.

"No, it isn't that. i just..." he trailed off, about to say something he didn't want to tell her.

"You just what? Tell me," Phoebe pressed. "No secrets between us, remember?"

Cole sighed, holding her closer to him. "Sometimes I wonder if it was such a good idea keeping you down here with me."

Phoebe pulled away from him, not expecting that. "What? How can you say that? Keeping me down here was the safest thing; otherwise the Source could have reset time again and we wouldn't have remembered. Prue and Piper would be dead and the Power of Three would've been gone forever," she reminded him.

Cole nodded. "Yes, I know that. But don't you wonder if...maybe things would've worked out better that way?"

"Don't say things like that. Because I'm down here, Prue and Piper are alive. Even if the Power of Three is separated doesn't mean that it no longer exists. Because of you, things are as they should be," Phoebe explained, feeling as though she were comforting a distraught child. Not that she thought of Cole that way.

"I know. You're right. Forget I ever said anything. Are you ready to give it another shot?" Cole asked, standing up and picking up his sword again.

Phoebe smiled knowingly. "I thought you'd never ask."

They got into position again, but before they got a chance to continue, Phoebe felt a strange sensation in her stomach. She doubled over, wincing.

"Phoebe, what's wrong?" Cole demanded, hurrying over to kneel by her side.

"I-I feel strange," she muttered. They both looked up as a swirl of white lights erupted from Phoebe and floated upward, out of the Underworld.

Cole gave Phoebe a worried expression. "What just happened?" he asked.

Phoebe stood up straighter and held her hands up. She tried levitating. When she hovered over the ground just a couple of inches before, now she couldn't even do that. "I uh...I think I just lost my powers."

"Is this where you guys live?" Paige asked in awe. Piper pulled the Jeep into the driveway by the side of the three-story red victorian mansion that had been in their family for generations. From the backseat Paige stared up at it in wonder.

"Yes, it is," Prue answered as they got out. Paige followed them up to the front door. She had to admit that she couldn't wait to see the inside of it.

Prue unlocked the door and walked inside first, followed by Piper and Paige. As Paige stepped in, she sat some old paintings lining the walls, plants on every available surface, and pristine rooms. Paige couldn't believe how immaculate the place was. She would've figured that two sisters living together in a house this size were bound to make messes somewhere.

She was impressed.

"If you like this, wait till you see the attic," Piper stated as she hung her brown leather jacket on the coat rack by the door. Prue and Paige followed suit.

"What was it that you were going to show me?" Paige asked.

"It's in the attic," Prue replied. Piper led them upstairs to the second floor, then to another, smaller staircase which Paige could only assume led to the attic. Piper opened the brown wooden attic door and the three women stepped inside.

Paige couldn't help but feel a small amount of disappointment. This was the messiest room in the house. Boxes lined the floor, and no one had bothered to dust in some time. The only clean area she could find was by the window. In front of it was a large wooden pedestal that held a large green leather-bound book.

This must've been what Prue and Piper wanted to show her since they were standing in front of it, smiling at her welcomingly.

"Paige, this is the Book of Shadows. It belonged to our mother, grandmother, and hundreds of Halliwell women before them. Now it belongs to us. And you if you are who we think you are," Prue began, and waved her hand as a gesture of wanting Paige to come closer.

Paige walked over, her curiosity getting the better of her. Piper stepped aside so that Paige could stand in the center. Prue had flipped it open to the very front page, which contained what looked like some sort of spell.

She looked up at Prue and Piper in confusion. "What is this?" she asked.

"This is a spell that we need you to read with us," Piper answered.

Paige looked from one sister to the other, hoping that one of them would burst out laughing at any minute and tell her that this was some sort of newly-discovered sister initiation.

But when she found that it was not a joke, she gulped. Everything inside her told her this was a bad idea, but she was intrigued. After all this, she wanted to know if this was going anywhere. It would make for a good story, if nothing else.

"What does this spell do?" she asked as she silently read the incantation on the page.

"Well, in theory, it should allow you to receive the power of the third sister," Piper replied.

"The third sister? Power?"

"Yeah...we're the Charmed Ones. We're the most powerful good witches the world has ever known. Well, at least we used to be," Piper started.

Prue continued where she left off. "The truth is that Prue and Piper used to be the Charmed Ones along with our younger sister Phoebe. But she's missing in the Underworld someplace, and we need your help to find her."

"Though that isn't the only reason we want you. You're our sister and we want you to do this with us. You deserve to know all of your sisters, and reconstituting the Charmed Ones with us is the only way you'll be able to do that," Piper finished.

Paige took a couple minutes to register what Prue and Piper had just said. So there is an ulterior motive for this, Paige thought to herself. They just want me to find their sister.

But Paige didn't think that was the only reason they found Paige. Despite missing their other sister, Paige had a feeling that they genuinely wanted to get to know her. They wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of finding her if they were just using her.

Paige finally nodded. "Okay. I'm in."

Prue and Piper each gave her a wide smile, and Prue touched her hand in a comforting, sisterly gesture.

"Just say this spell with us," she said, and together they began chanting.

'Hear now the words of the witches,

The secrets we hid in the night

The oldest of gods are invoked here

The great work of magic is sought.

In this night and in this hour,

We call upon the ancient power

Bring your powers to we sisters three,

We want the power,

Give us the power.'

Right after they finished saying the spell, the room was bathed in a brilliant gold light, and Paige felt a great warmth fill her body.

She moved away from the book to the center of the room. She couldn't explain it, but she felt different. Powerful, warm, different.

Magical.

"Sweetie? Are you okay?" Piper asked, her voice filled with concern.

At that moment a swirl of more white light shot up from the floor and entered Paige through her chest. Paige looked panicked at first, but Prue and Piper glanced at each other, each expressing a worried expression.

"What was that?" Prue asked, whispering so that Paige couldn't hear them.

"I don't know, although it sort of looked like our powers when we don't have them," Piper replied, the worry dripping from her voice.

"But that isn't how we got them the first time. I remember that the change just happened."

"Well, maybe since the power was already in Phoebe when we read it this time, it appears differently."

"You really think Paige just got Phoebe's powers?" Prue asked, looking alarmed.

"It makes sense. The prophecy said that the third sister has the power of premonition. And we replaced her with Paige," Piper answered.

"Hey, guys, what is this?" Paige interrupted.

Piper turned to see what Paige was talking about when she saw Paige hovering, blue and white orbs surrounding her body. It looked exactly like when Leo hovered while doing his meditation.

"I think you just got the power of levitation," Piper replied, then shot a confused look at Prue.

"Phoebe could never levitate like that," she pointed out, gesturing to Paige, who was gradually floating higher and higher toward the ceiling.

"Maybe the Whitelighter in her makes it work differently," Prue said. Piper opened her mouth to argue, then realized that her older sister was probably right. After all, Paige was half-witch half-whitelighter. Why would it work the same way as Phoebe?

"Do you think Phoebe knows her powers are gone?" Piper asked.

"Oh I would count on it. And I don't think she's going to be too happy about it."