Chapter Twenty-Seven: Finding All the Elements
The attic was crowded with the working witches; Billie, Phoebe and Paige were at the lectern sporting the Book of Shadows, copying down spells and inventing others, and Piper, Taylor, Amos and Ava were busy with potions and charms at the table. There was no trace of Brooks' corpse or blood.
"What we need first," Piper was saying, tossing a mandrake root in her vanquishing brew, "is a way to close all the Nexuses at the same time. I doubt she'll just watch and do nothing while we try and thwart her plans." Everyone know who 'she' was. "And we can't expect to banish them all –"
"You're sure about that?" Phoebe asked, looking up.
"Well, as I said, Christy won't just stand back, and we can't possibly be at so many different places at the same time. The first objective is to control the spread of evil by closing them, instead of wasting energy trying to banish entities that actually aren't either good or evil."
"Alright," Paige said. "I'll get a closing spell. Someone tries to find a way to put back the witch gene to slumber, or whatever. Ava?" Ava looked up. She nodded her assent to help.
"I'll do," Billie interrupted, going over to the Gypsy. "My sister's sick, letting loose smugglers and murderers and who knows what else, and giving them powers." She clenched her teeth.
"Took you long enough to realize," Piper said casually. There was no meanness intended, only statement of facts.
Billie's jaw loosened and a small smile took over the pursed lips.
Piper's potion exploded. She bottled it up then produced her cell phone from her pocket. "I'm gonna call Dad. I –" she trailed off. All knew she needed news from her sons. "Taylor, can you get me some more water and put it on to boil, please?"
"Sure." As she reached for the crucible, Taylor's eyes suddenly bulged out as realization struck her. "Oh!" she exclaimed.
The others looked round at her. Her skin darkened even more under her blush at being in the spotlight.
"What's up, Tay?" Billie asked.
"You guys told me the – the Nexus things are created when the five spiritual elements are located at equidistant spots from a central one, right?"
"Yes," Phoebe answered, her tone pressing her on.
Taylor's voice took on a high-pitched note beneath such scrutiny. "What if we used them as well to close the Nexu-" she hesitated: "Nexi? Nexuses?"
Phoebe's gaze grew distant as she pondered the idea. "The Equator. Five of us should stand on it." She snapped out of it and went to her bag, sitting on the couch. She took out her laptop and turned it on. Getting on the Internet, she Googled for a map of the world.
"Well, we won't have a problem with finding a 'water spot'," Paige joked.
Billie and Taylor smiled slightly, but the others remained grave.