When Prue said she wanted to do some reading, she neglected to mention she was referring to the Book of Shadows. She had realized something earlier that day, after seeing Paige with that black aura, which made her consider an avenue she hadn't explored.
So, once Piper and Leo left for P3, she went up to the attic and the book. Combining the spell to summon the dead with the one to summon Belthazor and another of her own creation—which wouldn’t work as it once had due to the location and circumstances—she pieced together a new spell, one that she hoped would give her the answers she was looking for.
When she finished, she checked over the wording and then set up the candles they recently used for summoning Grams, which would provide an anchor point. When everything was ready, she read aloud, "Magic forces black and white, bring to me the guiding light, angel of the Great Divide, I summon thee before my time.”
With a wisp of white light, a man dressed in black-on-black appeared inside the circle of candles, facing in the other direction. He turned quickly, making his medium-length light brown hair fly about his face. His expression of alarm then relaxed into one of exasperation. “Of course… Miss Halliwell,” said the Angel of Death, dripping with disdain.
“Hello,” said Prue.
"I wondered when I would be hearing from you," said Death in his English accent. "Actually, I had expected you to call before now. I had no intention of answering, of course, but it seems your spell work has improved. Not the same sweet little poem you used when we spoke last, I take it?"
“No, something new, but you can drop the attitude. I won’t keep you long, I know you have places to be,” Prue told Death.
“Oh? Learned your lesson, have you? I thought you might have summoned me in some vain attempt to bring your dearly departed sister back,” he retorted.
“No,” Prue answered coolly. “I know that’s not within your power. If it was Phoebe’s time, it was her time.”
Death smirked. “Do you really think I’m going to fall for that?” he said with a laugh. “Don’t insult my intelligence. Just ask what you want of me, and perhaps I’ll answer.”
"Fine," Prue said. "Was it Phoebe's time, or wasn't it?"
The angel paced within the circle for a few moments, considering whether to speak with the witch. There was nothing to prevent him from speaking openly with her, but he wasn’t sure if it was…advisable. “As it happens,” he started, deciding that the witch might be able to provide some answers for him, “I had hoped we might have this little chat eventually.”
Prue remained silent, her heart beating faster in her chest.
“You see, while it was your sister’s time, there were some irregularities surrounding her passing.”
“Irregularities?” Prue probed, certain now that she was on to something.
“Yes,” Death drawled. “You and your sisters… Your names were all on my list at some point that day, some of you more than others. But when time was rewound, naturally, things changed, and while you were all in danger once again, only one of your names moved to the very top of my list.”
“It wasn’t Phoebe’s name, was it?” Prue asked.
After a dramatic pause, Death answered with a categorical, “No.”
“It was my name,” Prue answered knowingly. “I was supposed to die, not Phoebe.”
“Indeed. It’s why you’ve felt my pull, why I imagine you still feel it to some degree. You see, I had known for some time that your time was coming. As a courtesy to you, and to save myself some aggravation, I made myself known to you in advance. I let you get used to the idea of me, to learn to accept me, so that when your time came…”
“So, what happened? Why didn’t you take me?”
“Well, when I came to collect you, your spirit wouldn’t detach from your physical body,” Death said with a chuckle. “When I consulted my list, your name was gone. Now, the names on my list move around all the time, but not the top one, not once fate has been decided. So, I ask the same question of you, what happened?”
Prue considered this. “Phoebe had a Premonition,” she explained.
The angel nodded. He seemed to find this answer amusing. “Yes, I thought as much. But I’ve been dwelling on this matter for some time now, Miss Halliwell, and while I’ve seen the power of foresight affect my list many times before, including that of your sister’s, this…was different.”
“How do you mean?”
“What I mean, is that it was your time,” he clarified, which Prue understood only too well. “Even if a Premonition had delayed your passing, it wouldn’t have prevented it. Your fate was inexorably altered that day. So was your sister’s. But your destinies…? They were completely rewritten.”
Prue crossed her arms defensively, trying to process the implications of the angel’s words. “But how can that be?”
“Phoebe was not meant to have that Premonition. It changed everything. It is not my place to tell you this, but I do so because I wish to know what happened as much as you. My counterparts did not foresee any of this. Their great plans and predictions have been rendered useless. It is…unprecedented.”
“Why haven’t the Elders told us about this?” Prue questioned.
Death let out a mocking laugh, “You think they wish to admit their failings? You give them too much credit. What occurred is beyond them, beyond me even.”
“Do you have any ideas about why this happened?”
Death seemed uncertain about whether he should share his thoughts but ultimately, he liked a good mystery. “Phoebe was not meant to have that Premonition. Of that, I’m certain. I would contend that it was sent to her. Sent to her by someone with knowledge of the future and of the past, and a great desire to change it.”
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Prue shook her head. “Is there anything that can, or should, be done?” she asked.
“No,” the angel confirmed. “A change of this magnitude cannot be undone. Its ripples will be felt across time and space. This reality, whether it was meant to be or not, is set now. We must see how it plays out.”
“Thank you for this,” said Prue, feeling as though a weight had been lifted, even if it had been replaced with another, heavier burden.
“There is something else…” he began enigmatically. “But alas, it’s not for me to tell you. When you learn of it, just know that I didn’t have a hand in it and can’t explain it, so there’s no point summoning me again. Good luck, Miss Halliwell. My pull on you will lessen eventually…should your time not come again.”
With that, Death faded away, leaving Prue confused by his cryptic statement on top of everything else. She had been right. Phoebe wasn’t supposed to die. With one perfectly planned intervention, someone had changed destiny on a grand scale, effectively killing Phoebe in the process, and she was going to find out who.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” said Piper, making Prue jump out of her skin as she entered the attic suddenly with Leo and… “And look at that, the candles are already lit.”
“Hi, Prue,” said Paige with a sheepish wave. “You hexing someone or something?”
“We don’t hex people,” Prue replied coldly.
“Oh… I’m sure you don’t, I was… just kidding, you know?”
“Prue, why don’t you help me with this,” said Piper, turning the Book of Shadows to the spell to summon the dead. “There’s someone we should introduce Paige to, assuming you weren’t just talking to them?”
Prue shook her head, and together, they recited, “Here these words, hear my cry, spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the Great Divide."
In a swirl of bright white light, Patty Halliwell appeared.
“There's someone here we thought you should meet,” Piper told her.
“Paige,” breathed Patty, stepping forward, beyond the candle’s circle, where she somehow took physical form, perhaps by sheer determination, and embraced her long-lost daughter.
“Mom?” Paige croaked, her eyes tearing up at meeting her birthmother, seeing the woman’s face, for the very first time, at finally knowing where she came from.
“Welcome home,” said Patty, hugging her again.
After a few tear-filled minutes, the emotional reunion was interrupted by a loud, “Ahem.”
“Come on out, Mom,” said Patty, and Penny Halliwell appeared from the beyond, though she did not take physical form. “Paige, this is your grandmother.”
“Call me Grams, my dear,” said Penny. “Oh, Patty, she’s fabulous!”
“I can’t believe this is possible,” Paige said as Patty took her hand.
“Anything is possible, my darling, but I’m afraid we can’t stay long, so we need to move this along,” Penny advised.
“Grams?” Piper asked with a frown, then turned to Leo. “Well, since you’re here, I think we better clue you in.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Prue.
“Paige just told me and Piper about a Premonition she had after Shax was vanquished,” Leo explained.
“I thought you told us at the church that you hadn’t had any Premonitions?” said Prue accusatorily.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t really know what I saw at the time,” Paige explained.
“And what did you see?”
“Easy, Prue,” said Piper. “Paige says she saw a whole bunch of images of her with me…and Phoebe. But you weren’t there. Leo’s going to check with the Elders but…”
Prue averted her eyes, but it was clear that she wasn’t surprised by the vision’s content.
“Oh dear,” said Penny.
“Mother?” Patty asked. “Do you know something?”
“Well, I just happened to be listening in before when Prue…”
"Oh, thanks, Grams," Prue chastised. With the cat out of the bag, she relayed what she had learned from the Angel of Death. "Yeah… So, there we have it. It was me who was supposed to die, and if there was any doubt about it, I guess Paige's Premonition proves it. What she saw must have been the future, the future that you guys were denied."
“I mean, this is just unbelievable, even for us!” Piper yelled. “Someone changed time, changed destiny? We were supposed to live this other life with Phoebe and without…”
“Without me,” Prue answered. “And someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make it happen. There must be a reason for it.”
"So, this isn't our second time around on this crazy merry-go-round, it's our third?"
“Hmm,” Leo considered. “That makes you, Prue, and Paige the third iteration of the Charmed Ones. Third time Charmed, you could say. There could be something to that.”
“Should I not have said anything?” Paige asked Patty quietly.
“No, you did the right thing,” Patty assured Paige, squeezing her hand.
“Were you not going to tell us about this?” Piper accused Prue.
“It doesn’t matter now, does it,” Prue said with a rueful look toward her grandmother.
“It does matter, Prue,” Penny corrected, “because there’s something else. Something that we need to tell you. A message we’ve been asked to relay from beyond, and then we have to leave. Patty.”
Patty kissed Paige on the cheek, then relinquished her hand with a regretful expression as she returned to the circle, where she became incorporeal once more.
Prue felt an odd sense of deja vu, thinking back to Death's cryptic parting words.
“We couldn’t tell you before now, we were strictly forbidden,” Penny explained, her voice strained, “but now that Paige is here, now that the Power of Three has been reconstituted, and some semblance of your destiny has been restored…and after hearing all of this… Well, it’s time, and it’s not going to be easy to hear.”
“Grams…?” said Piper uneasily.
“Darling,” she responded, turning to Piper, “when we spoke, the night before Phoebe’s funeral, I lied to you—I had to and I’m sorry, but I lied.”
“Lied about what?" Prue questioned.
“You needed to find Paige, and to do that you had to let go of Phoebe, I told you that much, Piper, but I made it seem like once you found Paige, you would be able to speak with Phoebe.”
“And you’re saying we can’t?” Piper asked. “Why not?”
“You can’t speak to Phoebe, Piper…because she isn’t with us,” Patty answered tearfully.
“I don’t understand,” said Prue. “If Phoebe’s not with you, where is she?”
“That’s just it, we don’t know. They don’t know where she is either. When Phoebe died, her spirit didn't cross over.”
“That’s not possible,” said Leo.
Prue felt her nails digging into her palms. This was it. This was what Death was talking about, what he insisted he wasn't responsible for. Something bigger was at work here.
“I’m afraid it is, Leo,” said Penny. “The Elders will know by now; you can confirm with them. We’ve done our part, now it’s time for us to go. It’s up to you now, my darlings.”
"Mom, Grams, wait!” Piper admonished. “You can't drop yet another bomb on us and just up and leave!"
"I’m sorry, girls,” said Patty. “Please, find out what happened to Phoebe. Find out who altered your destinies. But be safe, be good to each other. We love you! Blessed be!"
With that, the two spirits disappeared, leaving Piper and Prue staring dumbstruck at each other as a deafening silence filled the attic.
After what could have been minutes or only seconds, Paige asked tentatively, “What happens now?”
“Now,” Prue answered, her expression determined, “we find our sister.”
THE END - TO BE CONTINUED?