Disclaimer: The demon named Richerkvin that appears here, Does Not represent anyone living or dead or anyone's username. If it does, it's a pure coincidence.
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They made their way to the attic where the Charmed Ones and Leo were.
"I must be going, my darlings." Penny announced.
"So that's it then? You all talk and discuss my son, then you just up and leave without telling us anything." Piper said, upset.
"Piper darling you will learn all you need to in time." Penny said then as she turned to leave she remembered something and turned around and said, "I will however tell you one thing they told me."
The future kids shared uneasy glances, worried about what she had to say.
Penny said, "They told me that by going into the past you were disconnected from the book. So you currently don't have the Power of Three."
Leo frowned, "I don't see how? It didn't happen when they went to the future that time."
"It's because they went to a time before they were born." P.J. explained quickly.
"And you would know this, how? You're a cupid?" Leo said, challenging her. "Besides, it didn't happen when they went back to the original Warren witch."
P.J. was mad. She realized that Chris had been right about them not believing her. When Chris had first suggested it, she had responded to appease him, but internally she had assumed that the sisters would intuitively trust her. Now she found herself frustrated to realize that Chris had been right. She sighed, "I learned about it in magic school."
"I've never known Cupids to go to magic school." Leo said, confused.
P.J. was frustrated, she really didn't think Chris knew what he was talking about when it came to Leo. But now she sees he knew him better than she thought she did. Glaring at Leo and not wanting them to realize they could communicate mentally she said, "Wy, we have to give our mothers back The Power of Three. Tell them that I'm right about them losing it, and they have to touch the book together."
"She's right, you have to touch the book together to regain the Power of Three." Wyatt did as he was asked.
"Tell them that was another reason why the elders of the future sent you here. To make sure that they reconnected to the book and the Power of Three." Chris said.
Wyatt repeated what Chris said and at that Leo nodded accepting the explanation. P.J. wasn't happy that Leo believed Wyatt simply because he mentioned the elders. Some part of Chris was equally annoyed, though this was more because Leo seemed to side with Wyatt, even when Leo didn't know it was Wyatt he was talking to!
"If that's true, you should try just to be safe." Leo said.
Paige too thought that was strange and went to the book and started flipping through it to see if there was something written about the Power of Three and time travel.
"I don't believe this! Just because we went to the past, it shouldn't have affected our Power of Three status." Piper complained.
Phoebe, still getting a strange familiar feeling towards P.J., walked over and as she dragged Piper to the book said, "Let's just do it. What harm can it do?"
To everyone's surprise, and to the delight of the future kids, it worked. The Power of Three reverted back to Piper and the others.
P.J. and the others had a hard time after that explaining that they didn't know why the disconnect happened, only that it's what was written in the history books.
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A couple of days later found Melinda feeling excited, "Say Chris what are going to get for mom?"
"What are you talking about?" Chris asked, genuinely confused.
"Today's mom's birthday!" she exclaimed happily.
P.J. got excited too. "I forgot about that. I wonder what we should get her?"
"I'm pretty sure she doesn't want anything from us. She doesn't even know who we are." Chris reminded them.
Melinda slumped, "Right I forgot about that. Where's Wy?"
P.J. was equally as sad since she was always close to her Aunt Piper.
"He thinks he has a lead on how to bind Barbas where he is. He was acting strange." Chris explained.
"Strange how?" Melinda asked warily.
"He kept mumbling something about having dreams of your world but couldn't connect with it or something."
Just then Wyatt orbed in, "I just found out that there is a Demonic Black Market Bazaar that allows demons to buy, sell and trade things."
"I thought of that already. It happens several times a year. But the next one's not going to happen for a few months. " Chris told him.
"Not from what I heard. I heard it's going now." Wyatt said.
"Then we'll have to find it so we can go and see if anyone has what we need and what they want in exchange." Chris said, wondering why his info was wrong.
It wasn't easy but they managed to find it. Melinda and P.J. weren't happy about being forced to stay home, though. Chris and Wyatt had explained that they needed the girls as back-up in case something went wrong. Mel and P.J. were the only ones that knew where they were going, so if the boys didn't return in time, someone could track them down.
"There's the entrance but how are we getting in?" Wyatt asked Chris seeing the guards.
"I prepared for that." Chris handed him a handkerchief.
"What's this for?" Wyatt asked, confused.
Chris waved his hand over it and it enlarged. "They're invisibility cloaks. I just shrunk them. Now with luck they won't notice us." Chris was nervous but they managed to make it in with no trouble. Chris had several items he brought with him - both from the future and what he's collected since being here - and hoped one of them would be enough.
"Okay, we're in. Now what?" Wyatt said as they took off their cloaks and Chris shrunk them back down.
"I did some digging and we need to find a warlock named Richerkvin."
After asking around they found the tent he was in. "I heard you were looking for me."
If they didn't know he was a warlock he'd seem like a normal person. Tall, about Wyatt's height, long black hair, beard and mustache but with bright blue eyes, which was very uncommon among demons. Not to mention the fancy suit he wore.
Chris looked at him, "You're Richerkvin?"
"That's right, you must be the Charmed Ones new whitelighter I've heard tell of. What can I do for you?" Richerkvin stated casually, causing Wyatt to glance around nervously to make sure not too many demons had heard the statement.
"We're looking for a way to stop Barbas from returning or possibly vanquish him, not just banish him." Chris said, not surprised that the demon had heard of him.
Wyatt however was surprised and was equally shocked that Chris wasn't surprised.
"No matter how hard you try, you can never truly vanquish him. He's too powerful. It may at first appear as though he's been vanquished but he always finds a way to return. Millions of years ago a powerful witch, one that rivalled that of Melinda Warren cast a powerful spell that bound him to a cycle which only allowed him to return to earth every thirteen hundred years in which he must seek out thirteen witches. But he soon realized that she didn't do it so that he could terrorize others, she had restricted his power. So even a less powerful witch could take him out. He would be forced to try to read the witch's fear only to have it backfire and the witch would see his fear of being vanquished and the knowledge of a spell to bind him in place. Then a potion that they also gained knowledge from to torture him with was made. He was doomed to repeat the process 13 times, suffering both humiliating and pain each time."
"How do you know all this?" Chris asked.
"He sought out the Source for help. I was working under my former Master who was third in command behind the Source at the time. Unfortunately the Source, although powerful, wasn't strong enough to end the curse. However with my former Master's help he was able to alter the curse and remove the restrictions on his powers. Thus began the cycle in which he could only end it if he killed thirteen unmarried witches on Friday the 13th. Which would then see his return." Richerkvin explained.
"Why unmarried?" Wyatt asked.
"It's probably due to the whole virgin sacrifice mortals used to do. They did it as payment to a god or some other power. They stupidly believed that by doing such a sacrifice it would keep their crops from going bad or in some cases their towns were suffering from something like the plague or a severe drought. They believed that in doing a sacrifice it would bless their village or town. They sometimes did it to win their gods or whatever they worshiped favor in general just to keep it happy. The whole thing was a superstition that if they didn't something bad would happen or if something bad was happening it would get worse without said sacrifice." Chris said.
"Wait, if that's his goal why is he aligning himself with an elder?" Wyatt questioned.