To Be Charmed
Chapter Twelve
Secrets Revealed
Summary: The Charmed Ones and Penny meet some family they didn't know they had. Christy and Billie learn more about their abilities in secret.
Disclaimer: Don't own.
For centuries, Warren witches have used their gifts to battle evil. Present-day Warrens have made the Warren name famous, good magic respects it, evil fears it. The first Warren witch, Melinda, possessed three powers: telekinesis, molecular immobilization, and premonition. When she was burned at the stake, a rare sight, she spoke of three sister witches, descendants, who would become the most powerful force of good, and that no sons would be born until the Charmed Ones arrived. Many Warrens could only hope to be those sisters. The Charmed Ones came into existence 283 years after Melinda's death. That still did not stop a select few from hoping.
After the demise of their cousin, Phoebe Bowen and Priscilla Baxter Johnson decided it would be best if Phoebe move out. Phoebe moved to Los Angeles, where she met and wed Roy Rogers. In 1926, she gave birth to their only child Ruth.
When Ruth started showing signs of magic, Phoebe came clean to Roy. He didn't fully understand, but he accepted his wife and daughter for who they were.
Phoebe's line continued to grow, as did Priscilla's. Ruth's granddaughter possessed no power, not even the basics. Rosie, the girl's mother, gave her up. Her daughter was taken in by a lovely couple, who named her, but to Rosie, her daughter's name was always Renee. Not long after that, Ruth's second daughter was vanquished by a demon, three years before her first granddaughter was born.
The youngest descendant of Phoebe Bowen was born to her great granddaughter Regina. Little Roxana Barker was born on the eighth of April in 1995. The exact powers Melinda Warren possessed was unknown, but the Barker girls possessed the power to move things with the mind, stop time, and see the future.
~TBC Chapter Twelve~
Ruth, Rosie, and Rachel decided it would be best to stay in Ruth's apartment until Christy and Billie were found. The news of Helen and Carl's deaths came as a shock to the witches.
"Where do you think Billie could be? Should we call social services?" Rachel voiced her concern. Rosie crossed her arms.
"We already tried that the day Renee was found dead," Rosie told her daughter. Rachel bristled. Sensing some discord, Ruth stalked up to the phone and dialed. Rosie rolled her eyes at her mother's actions. 'If it didn't work that day, it won't work now.'
Five months. That's how long her youngest granddaughter has been missing. Her oldest granddaughter has been missing for four years. The odds of finding them alive were slim, but Rosie continued to hope.
~TBC Chapter Twelve~
It was the middle of April when Penny received a call she could not believe. Her granddaughters and young charges were upstairs doing whatever it was young girls do when a Ruth Hale introduced herself on the other line.
"I'm sorry, have we met? Your voice sounds familiar," Penny inquired.
"I don't think we have, Ms. Hallliwell, but our families are connected."
"Connected how?"
"Your mother, Priscilla Baxter, and my mother, Phoebe Bowen, were cousins."
Penny almost dropped the phone. She had other relatives? Her late husband's family had all passed away, so she didn't think she had any family besides her granddaughters.
"Prove it." It was always a good thing to be a bit skeptical.
"Melinda Warren. She prophesized three sister witches."
"She did, and do you know who they are?" Penny smiled snugly. She was extremely proud to have brought the Charmed Ones into the world, once removed, of course.
"I have a theory that they might be my granddaughters Ryleigh, Rhiannon, and Roxana."
Penny twiddled the cord between her fingers. How could her granddaughters be Charmed when her granddaughters possessed one of Melinda's powers? Wait. Granddaughters?
"You have granddaughters?"
"Yes. They could be the Charmed Ones."
"That's impossible. My granddaughters posses Melinda's three powers."
"As do mine. Psychokinesis, temporal stasis, and clairvoyance."
"Strange. My Prudence has telekinesis, Piper has molecular immobilization, and Phoebe has premonitions."
"How can they be the Charmed Ones when one can't stop time? She has the ability to stop molecules, not time."
Penny bristled. Stopping molecules, stopping time, what was the difference? Beings still stopped in their tracks!
"Look, why don't we meet up?"
~TBC Chapter Twelve~
The Halliwell Manor was in total chaos. No less than fifteen demons, warlocks, and Darklighters attacked the week after Easter Sunday. They attacked so that any one of the witches were alone. While Penny, Prue, Piper, Paige, and Billie could dust the demons with flicks of the hand, Phoebe and Christy had to be a bit more creative. Penny took this time to train her young granddaughters and charges. Leo, Adam, and Sam were called upon, as well. Within two weeks, the young witches had perfected basic self defense maneuvers. Piper and Paige were the more passive of the six, understandable, considering Paige's Whitelighter heritage and Piper's gentle nature. The Wednesday after Easter Sunday, Paige had to embrace her Wiccan heritage, however, as a Darklighter had sensed her and followed her orbing trail.
Paige decided to go for an afternoon stroll when the rest of the household was napping. She didn't leave a note, because she was only going to be gone for a few minutes. The teen first went left, passing the yellow house belonging to the Hampton family. Pretty soon, Paige made it to the not so friendly side of the neighborhood.
'Guess it's time to head back now.' The sun was slowly dipping into the abyss and the moon could already be seen. Paige turned on one foot and barely made a step when she heard a noise behind her. It sounded like her orbing, but something was different about it. Not to mention, the foreboding feeling she suddenly had.
"Whitelighter."
Spinning back around, Paige came face to face with a loaded crossbow. A woman was on the other end of it, with her hand on the trigger.
"What did you call me?" Paige put up a brave front. She had heard about these beings that went after Whitelighters, but couldn't remember their names. 'Blacklighters?'
"You're a Whitelighter. I smell it on you," the woman replied. Without warning, she pulled the trigger and released the arrow, straight into Paige's face! Paige gasped and orbed out at the very last second. She orbed back several feet away from the being.
"You can't escape, Whitelighter. I can track you where ever you orb."
Paige grimaced. How was she supposed to get away?
The being pulled another arrow and loaded the crossbow. She let the arrow fly once again. This time, Paige was ready. After weeks of practicing, she had progressed to not only calling for objects, but deflecting them as well.
"Arrow!" she called. The arrow disappeared in a swarm of Whitelighter orbs before switching directions. The woman's eyes widened as her own weapon was used against her. Being pierced in the chest, she let out a howl and disintegrated into dust. Paige flinched. She felt conflicted. Sam had told her that Whitelighters were pacifists, that they didn't believe in fighting or killing, but witches had to kill to survive, to keep good thriving. 'How am I supposed to fight demons while still being a Whitelighter?'
~TBC Chapter Twelve~
Phoebe had been up for five minutes when Paige came careening through the double doors. She was gasping for breath and looked absolutely terrified.
"What is it, Paige?" Phoebe put her hands on her sister's shoulders.
"Blacklighter, I think," Paige whispered, "I killed her."
"Darklighter," Phoebe corrected gently. She had been fingering through the Book, learning all she could about the various evils in the world. She wanted to be prepared for whatever was out there.
Phoebe led Paige to the couch and sat down. Her sister still looked shaken up. She thought about fetching Grams, but there was no need as the woman came gliding down the stairs.
"Christy," Penny explained to Phoebe, as her face contorted in confusion.
"Oh," Phoebe said lamely.
The telepath no longer needed to concentrate to hear thoughts. Sending them was a different matter. Phoebe willed the jealous feeling away. While she and Christy shared more passive powers than their sisters, Christy could control hers. Phoebe still couldn't control when or how a premonition came. She sighed and left Grams and Paige to talk, walking up the stairs.
"What are you and Billie up to?"
Phoebe crept up the final flight of steps to her old room. The door was closed.
"Seeing what we can do with our powers." Now she was intrigued. Telepathy and telekinesis were pretty simple in her mind. Moving things and hearing thoughts. What else could these powers do? Phoebe opened the door to reveal the younger girls on the floor facing each other. She took a seat on the edge of the bed.
"So, what can you do?"
Billie smiled and bounced her hands on her knees. "I'm strong enough to move the bed!"
Phoebe jumped up, knowing the almost nine year old wanted to demonstrate. Billie put both hands out and lifted the bed to the right, before placing it back on the floor.
"Sweet," Phoebe complimented, "Anything else?" Christy's eyes went wide.
"Demons!" she cried, hopping up and immediately grabbing Billie's hand.
~TBC Chapter Twelve~
"Are you sure this is the place?"
It had been two weeks after the fateful phone call. Rachel sat in the back of her grandmother's ancient Volkswagen, smashed against her mother. Her cousin Regina and her family were trailing behind. They had drove for hours on end and finally stopped at three story red Victorian. Three cars were blocking the driveway, so Ruth and Regina parked their vehicles on the side of the road.
"Yes. I remember Mother telling me about this house growing up. She moved in with her cousins and stayed until Great Aunt Pearl was vanquished," Ruth said. She dusted off her clothes and unbuckled herself. The rest of the group followed her lead. The trek to the stained glass double doors wasn't much, but Riley and Rhiannon were leaning against their mother, complaining of jelly legs. Roxana was blissfully oblivious in her carrier. Ruth took a breath before knocking.
The Rogers matriarch waited a good two minutes before knocking again. Exactly one second after knocking, she heard crashes and loud thumps coming from inside the Victorian. She frowned before turning to her family.
"Should we...?" Ruth didn't want to put her family in danger, especially the young ones, who haven't learned how to control their powers.
"Yes! We're good witches, damn it, and we have to help our fellow witches!" Rachel spat. She stormed ahead and kicked at the double doors. Ruth rolled her eyes and simply turned the door knob.
"Oh," Rachel said, blushing.
"Hmm," Ruth hummed.
The horde of witches, minus Ryleigh, Rhiannon, Roxana, and Regina, stomped into the house, hell bent on destroying whatever evil lurked inside.
~TBC Chapter Twelve~
Four demons shimmered, faded, glistened, and wisped in the Manor, the attic, specifically. Prue had curled up on Great Aunt Pearl's couch for a nap whilst Piper practiced her potion making. Their abrupt entrance startled the two sisters, who immediately moved into action. Prue flung the foursome against a wall and Piper froze them before they could recuperate.
"What are demons doing here?" Piper asked.
"No idea," Prue replied, "How long until they unfreeze?"
"Until I unfreeze them." Prue looked at Piper.
"Really? Wow. I can't even use telekinesis in astral mode yet."
"Where are the demons? Christy said there were demons!"
Phoebe ran into the room, with a following of Grams, Paige, Christy, and Billie. Christy still had a hold of Billie's hand.
"Frozen," Piper said, pointing to the wall.
"Oh," Phoebe said. Exactly two minutes after, the witches heard the front door be kicked open and a group of people enter the house.
"More demons?" Piper pushed her hair out of her eyes.
"I don't think demons use doors," Paige joked.
~TBC Chapter Twelve~
There was not a soul on the first floor. Ruth delegated the dining room and beyond to Rosie, whilst she and Rachel took the den and conservatory. Nothing. They met by the small table by the stairs.
"Should we all go upstairs?" Rosie asked.
"I think we should," Rachel said.
Ruth beckoned Regina and her girls inside. "It's safe on this floor," she said.
Regina tightly held onto Roxana. She regretted not leaving her with Tyler. Only eleven days old, the infant already showed some control over her power of stopping time.
"Regina, we need you to go with us upstairs," Ruth said. Regina shook her head.
"I can't, I have to stay with the girls, they..."
"Will be alright," Rachel said, "Ryleigh knows to look after her sisters."
Regina deflated a little. She set Roxana down in Ryleigh's lap with strict instructions and brought up the rear of the line to the second floor.
~TBC Chapter Twelve~
With Penny and Prue in front, Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Christy, and Billie followed down the short flight of stairs. Turning the corner, Penny held out her arm to stop the younger women. Across from them stood four women.
"Who are you?" Penny asked, ready to send them flying if need be.
"Ruth. Are you Penelope Halliwell?"
"I go by Penny. Ruth? Ruth Hale?"
"Yes."
There was no time for more pleasantries, as the four demons Piper had froze somehow overcame her power and crashed down the stairs! Christy pulled Billie behind her, but the younger girl pushed away, intent on using her power on the demons. It was too late for Piper to freeze or blast them. One demon rushed for Phoebe and Paige, making them back up. He made a swipe at them, mystified when his hand met with air. Phoebe and Paige were airborne, Paige's feet on orbs.
"Phoebe!" Prue yelled. She made a sweeping motion with her hand and two demons collided with the wall. As the demonic beings were knocked off their feet, Paige and Phoebe suddenly fell to the floor.
"Piper, do that thing! Blow them up!" Phoebe suggested loudly. The hall was becoming too crowded for her liking.
"Huh?" Nonetheless, Piper did as requested. She took aim and blew two the four demons to kingdom come. The remaining demons looked at their fallen brethren before teleporting away.
"That was close," Paige sighed.
"Did you get anything?" Billie whispered to Christy.
"No, it happened too fast. And there were too many people," Christy answered.
"Do you think they were sent by the Triad?"
Christy paused, considering. She had told her sister, in secret, of course, about her previous keepers. Billie seemed to soak it up.
"I don't know, I have never seen them before."
"Christy, Billie, we're moving to the parlor, you coming?" Phoebe held out her hand. The hall was now empty except for the trio.
"Yeah," Christy chirped. She needed to get her head off of the Triad and Charmed Ones. She needed to connect with Billie, fast. Christy knew when she turned thirteen, her other power would unleash itself, and that would connect with Billie's second ability, whatever that was. The Triad hadn't told her. Placing her hand in Billie's as her sister took Phoebe's hand, she held her head high.
~TBC Chapter Twelve~
The parlor was cramped to the max. Prue, Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Christy, and Billie all had to stand in the archway. Two toddlers and an infant sat on the laps of the unfamiliar women.
"Alright, start talking," Penny said.