Silence greeted Xander's deduction. Then Prue spoke. "That does make more sense."
The lady whitelighter glared again and then said. "Fine. I'll talk to the Elders." And orbed out.
"She didn't let me finish." Xander said. "If he's been planning a run at the Elders for as long as he seems to have been, then he's going to have a back up plan. Leo told me, very few whitelighters are just their job and that probably includes the lady whitelighter. He's proven he's willing to kill witches to carry out his plan. So he might go after a witch and force their whitelighter out in the open and then copy them. Just because Leo tends to get preferential treatment because you girls are on the front lines of this war, doesn't mean, especially in a situation like this, that any whitelighter wouldn't be able to, too. All whitelighters are in danger. Which means we need to preempt the dark lighter."
"How?" Leo asked. "It's a good thought, but how?"
"We could summon him. Natalie, that's who the lady whitelighter is, said her charge, the one the dark lighter killed, had an ability as rare as a Slayer, deflection. If we scry or call for that power, we could trap him." Prue said.
"Trapping him is a good idea." Piper said. "But how? And once he's trapped, what do we do with him?"
"Well, our ancestor, Melinda Warren, cursed that warlock, Mathew Tate, into a locket. And a witch named Nell, trapped a warlock in a painting. Destroying the painting killed the warlock." Phoebe said.
"So is there a way we could trap him, provided we can summon him, I mean?" Xander asked.
"A crystal cage would hold him, at least for awhile." A Prue said. "But it would only be temporary. We'd need a way to vanquish him ready."
"He has several different powers. We'd have to come up with something that was broad enough to deal with all of them." Piper said.
"Or, we could have my friend Amy come for a visit." Xander said. "Amy channels Hecate and can turn people into animals. Her preferred animal is a rat. Killing a rat's not so hard. Especially if it's already in a your crystal cage. Piper could just blow it up at that point."
"Vanquish a rat!" Prue exclaimed. "I like it! And it's so appropriate. He's a rat bastard after all."
"I'll call Amy and see if she's willing to help. Leo, you think you could pick her up?" Xander asked.
"Yes, as long as she's ready, it'll only take a few seconds to get there and back. So are we agreed? Provided Xander's friend agrees to help. We summon the dark lighter into a crystal cage, Amy transforms it and Piper blows it up?"
"Oh, I'm all for it." Phoebe said.
"I agree, too." Piper said.
"Let's go get the crystals and work out a summoning spell. Xander, you go call your friend." Prue ordered.
The sisters headed upstairs, while Xander headed to the phone. Amy picked up on the second ring.
"Hey Amy, it's Xander. We've got a problem here in San Francisco and your particular rat trick might just be the solution we need."
"How? What's the problem?"
Xander explained about the dark lighter and his killing of witches to collect specific powers and the possibility that he was going after the Elders.
"I'll help. Go ahead and send Leo. I don't need supplies, I can do this on my own."
A few minutes later and Amy was standing in front of him.
"Hey Amy, good to see you again."
"You too, Xander. I'm looking forward to meeting the Charmed Ones. To think, Cordelia is related to them. Weird, I would never have thought of her as having powers. Her family seems so normal."
Xander took Amy up to the attic and introduced her the sisters. "Ladies this is my friend, Amy Madison. She's a channeler witch. Amy, that's Prue, setting up the crystals, Phoebe working on the spell, she's the best spell creater in the family and Piper's over there practicing her quick snap."
"Nice to meet you, Amy. Thanks for agreeing to help." Prue said.
"No problem. The chance to work with the Charmed Ones would be enough reason to agree. Add in a dark lighter killing witches and possibly going after the Elders, and I'm definitely not saying no."
"I've got a summoning spell ready." Phoebe announced.
"Crystal cage is a go." Prue informed them.
"I'm ready over here." Piper said.
Phoebe handed Prue and Piper each a copy of the spell she'd written. The three of them chanted together.
Evil dark lighter with stolen deflection
Who murders witches without objection
We sisters three
Summon thee
An image formed within the crystal cage and became a man.
"What the...? Witches! Charmed Ones!"
Amy stepped forward.
Goddess Hecate, work they will
Before thee let the unclean thing crawl
The man became a rat right front of them and Piper flashed her hands forward and it exploded.
"It worked!" Xander cheered. "Seriously, good work, ladies."
"It was your idea, Xander." Prue reminded him.
"But you guys made it work. We did good. This is what working together gets us. Bad guys vanquished!"
Happy nods and smiles all around, as everyone agreed.
A/N Original summoning spell created by author. Hecate channeling and transformation spell used by Amy Madison on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.