At first, the conversation with Grams had made Piper feel a little better. While changing out of her funeral outfit and into a maroon top and black pants, however, she found her rage returning in spades. It wasn’t just Leo and the Elders that expected her and Prue to carry on with this destiny nonsense as if nothing happened. Grams believed it too.
She had been a little cryptic, but it seemed clear now that they were using the prospect of seeing Phoebe as a bargaining chip, withholding her sister as a means to manipulate Piper into…what exactly? Putting her life on hold indefinitely to continue fighting demons on a weekly basis? When would it end? After the next one of them died? Or would the last remaining Halliwell be expected to keep fighting the good fight until they kicked the bucket?
Their supposed destiny was tied to the Power of Three. Without that, how much of an effect could they have? They certainly couldn't stand up to the Source without it. Did the Elders just intend to use them for all they had, to bleed them dry, so to speak? No, Piper wasn't having that. She'd told Leo and she would tell them too if need be. She was done.
Prue, on the other hand, seemed incapable of letting things go. If her obsession with Shax wasn’t bad enough, she was already talking about a so-called innocent, not even bothered that the puppet masters on high had probably nudged the girl in her direction for this very reason.
“I’m telling you, it was the same girl, the one I had a sense about at the funeral,” Prue insisted. “That must have been because she’s an innocent I’m supposed to protect. Or maybe because she’s a Whitelighter?”
“But a Whitelighter can’t be an innocent in the way you mean, and you wouldn’t get any kind of sense about one either,” said Leo.
“Well, innocents don’t usually Orb, Leo. What else could she be?”
“It just doesn't make any sense.”
“Why not?” asked Cole.
“Because why would Shax want to kill a Whitelighter?”
“Maybe he doesn't know she's a Whitelighter,” Cole reasoned.
Leo shook his head exasperatedly, “Right, the Source sends out his personal assassin, but doesn't know who he's after?”
Piper rolled her eyes, the pots she was washing at the kitchen sink clattering rather louder than necessary in an attempt to block out the magic talk. Whether the three of them were completely oblivious, or else purposely having this debate in front of her, she wasn’t sure.
Trying to be sensitive to his wife’s feelings, Leo wanted to move their discussion, but Prue followed up, “Is it possible that she doesn’t know she’s a Whitelighter?”
“No,” Leo said clearly, the very idea absurd to him. “Why?”
“Because she acted as if she didn't,” Cole explained. “She acted just as surprised as we were when she Orbed out.”
“And she Orbed back, Leo,” Prue added. “She could have gone anywhere, but she came back after narrowly dodging Shax’s attack, then ran away on foot!”
“Well, that doesn't make any sense either,” resigned Leo. “And you’re sure she Orbed? Couldn’t it have been something else?”
“You know what, Leo? No, I’m not sure if she Orbed,” mocked Prue. “Why don't you remind me what Orbing looks like on your way to ask the Elders what the heck is going on.”
“Okay, okay. I'll be right back,” sighed Leo before disappearing amidst a shower of blue-white lights.
“Definitely Orbed,” Cole remarked, covering his eyes.
“Yeah,” Prue agreed. “None of this is adding up. Is there anyone you can ask down there? Any demon buddies?”
“Demon buddies?” Cole repeated, looking mildly amused.
“I guess it was presumptuous of me to think you might have friends,” Prue quipped. “Any enemies you can beat information out of?”
“Oh, plenty of those,” said Cole. “As a matter of fact, I was going to suggest the same thing. Whatever’s going on, it must be important to the Source. We should get ahead of it if we can.”
“Right, well, while you do that, I’m going to Scry for Shax again. If he hasn’t gone under, he might be vulnerable after our last encounter,” said Prue. After Cole Shimmered out, she made to exit the kitchen, then turned to her sister, who had remained silent throughout the discussion. “Piper, you okay?”
“Yeah. Sure, why not?” Piper answered, wiping her hands on a towel as she turned to face Prue. “We could have another funeral tomorrow. I mean, all the dishes are out, and we pretty much know who to invite.”
“Piper...”
“Just tell me one thing. Are you insane or are you just plain stupid? We bury Phoebe this morning and you go off tonight and nearly join her. What the hell is the matter with you?”
“I was saving an innocent.”
“No. You were trying to get yourself killed, which is what this family does best, get killed!” Piper expelled, both literally and figuratively throwing in the towel. “Isn't it obvious by now that our only destiny is to die? And you are making it way too easy for them, Prue. You are just walking right into it!”
“I’m sorry, Piper, but I can’t ignore what’s happening right now. I can’t lose an innocent to the same demon that took our sister.”
“And I can’t lose another sister!” Piper yelled, bursting into tears. “You can’t go and leave me all alone!”
Prue embraced Piper. “I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered.
***
“Paige,” said Shane, sitting up in his hospital bed as she stepped into this room with trepidation.
“Hey,” she said in reply, unsure of what to say about their harrowing ordeal. Shane hadn’t seen what happened. He hadn’t seen that…monster.
“What happened?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Shane, I feel so bad. I just got scared and I ran,” she said evasively.
“Of course.
“Are you all right? What'd they say?”
“It's no big deal, just a little concussion.”
“Oh, no,” she said sympathetically, internally surprised that it wasn’t anything worse. After seeing Shane’s body collide with that vent… Well, she was just thankful he was alive.
“No, I'm gonna be fine. They wouldn't be releasing me if I wasn't, right? I'm just glad you're okay too.”
“Yeah, well, physically anyway,” Paige joked half-heartedly. What she had seen had definitely left some mental scars.
“Did you talk to the cops yet?”
“No. Why?” Paige felt her guard go up. She had no desire to talk about what she had seen. What would she even say?
“Why?” Shane repeated. “They want to find out who attacked us, that's why. I-I told them you saw him.”
“You did what?”
“Well, you did. Didn't you?”
“Did you?” asked another voice.
“Who are you?” Paige asked the man entering the room, who then flashed a police badge.
“Inspector Cortez, homicide. I'd like to ask you a couple of questions.”
“Wait, homicide?” Shane queried. “No one was murdered.”
“Based on the MO, if it's the same perpetrator I think it was, that just makes you lucky,” Inspector Cortez explained ominously. “He killed two people last week, violently, one of them a young woman who looked a little bit like you.”
“Phoebe.”
“Phoebe Halliwell. Did you know her?”
“No. No, not really.”
“Well, in a way you did, right?” Shane asked, immediately regretting his question when Paige rounded on him with a reproachful glare.
“What way was that? Were you friends of hers, or friends of her sisters?”
“No, not friends.”
“Then what? Okay, look. I-I know you know something. I can see it in your eyes. Just like I know they know something, too. If you're trying to protect them in any way, I'll find out.”
“Well, in that case, I have nothing to worry about,” Paige said defiantly, leaning in to kiss Shane goodbye. “You rest up. I'll be back. Excuse me, Inspector.”
***
At one end of the dining table, Piper was drinking her third cup of chamomile tea. At the other, Prue was busy Scrying over a map with the crystal imbued with Shax’s essence. It had been fortunate, though perhaps not surprising, that the long-haired Storm Demon had left some hair behind when he attacked at the manor.
“Anything?” Piper asked, trying to speak her sister’s language now that she had calmed down. She didn’t want Prue to find Shax, of course, but what else did they have to speak about right now? She was fairly certain Prue wasn’t ready to have a conversation about what to do with Phoebe’s belongings for example. Then again, she wasn’t sure she was ready for that either.
“Nothing,” Prue answered just as a bright glare signaled Leo’s return. “Well?”
Leo walked over and drew up a chair, “Well, they don't know anything about her, so she's definitely not a Whitelighter.”
“Then why can she Orb, Leo?” Prue asked, placing her crystal down at last.
“They can't explain it.”
“What’s the bet the other side knows more than they do?” Prue said with derision as Cole Shimmered into the room.
“Whew. Sorry I took so long. I had to dodge a couple of bounty hunters,” he said, patting down his coat.
“Did you find anything out?” Asked Leo nonchalantly, secretly hoping he wasn’t about to be shown up in front of the girls.
Cole spun a dining room chair around and sat on it backward. “You have no idea what I found out,” he teased. “Turns out the Source doesn't think she's a Whitelighter at all. In fact, he thinks she might be another…” he gave a nod in the direction of each woman at this.
“Another what?” Prue frowned.
“Charmed One. That's why he put Shax on it. He thought he ended the Power of Three. Now he's worried that this girl may somehow reconstitute it.”
“Excuse me? How can that be? Leo?”
Leo gave a “don’t ask me” kind of shrug in reply to Prue’s accusatory tone, and turned to his wife for support, but she inexplicably left the table, heading for the stairs. “Piper?”
“Piper?” Cole asked with intrigue. He turned to Prue and Leo, and they silently agreed to give pursuit, following Piper all the way up to the attic and the Book of Shadows.
“Sweetie, what's going on?” Prue pressed.
“Light those candles,” Piper ordered Cole and Leo, gesturing to the ones that were still arranged on the floor following her recent summoning. They complied immediately. “I'm going to ask Grams what's going on, actually.”
“Grams?”
“Mm-hmm. Your destiny still awaits, she says. There's a reason for everything, she says. So, it's time to summon her transparent butt back here and find out exactly what that reason is,” Piper explained snippily.
“You spoke to Grams? You didn’t tell me that you spo—”
As soon as the last candle was lit, she began chanting testily, "Here these words, hear my cry, spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the Great Divide!" She let out a semi-satisfied sigh when Grams appeared in a rush of white light.
Flummoxed by the forceful and unexpected summon, Grams stammered, “P-Piper? Why are you calling? Prue? Wha-what's going on?”
Getting right to business, Piper asked, "Grams, why does the Source think that the Charmed Ones can be ‘reconstituted?’”
“I-I do-don't know what you're talking about,” said Penny unconvincingly.
“You know what, Grams? You were a lousy liar when you were alive, and now as a ghost, you're worse.”
“Yeah, Grams, we can literally see right through you,” Prue added. “Fess up.”
“I can't. I'm sworn to secrecy.”
“By who?” Piper challenged.
“By me,” spoke an unseen presence, and Patty Halliwell materialized next to her mother. “By me.”
“Mom?” Piper and Prue said in unison.
“Hello, girls,” said Patty, beaming at her daughters with sadness in her eyes. “I wasn’t sure if I would ever share this with you, but it seems that now is the time.”
“Share what with us?” Prue questioned cautiously.
“We didn't tell anybody because we were afraid that there would be reprisals, afraid that you girls would be denied your powers, your birthright. It happened after your father and I were divorced, when Sam and I were together.”
“Sam?” Cole asked Leo surreptitiously.
“Her Whitelighter,” Leo answered in an undertone.
“Hmm. Apples don't fall far from the forbidden tree, I see,” Cole jested.
Piper shushed the pair of them, “Go on.”
“You were both toddlers. You just thought Mommy got a little fat,” Patty explained with a wistful smile. “You never knew I was…pregnant.”
“I was the only one who knew,” Grams bragged.
“And Sam, obviously,” Patty clarified.
“Right. Well, yes, of course.”
“We wanted to keep the baby, of course. But mother…”
“Well, I-I knew it would be disastrous,” Grams defended. “You know, before you and Leo, Piper, it wasn't just forbidden. It was unthinkable for witches to be with Whitelighters. I mean, let alone have children with them.”
“So, that's why we had to… Why we decided...to give the baby up,” Patty recounted with some difficulty. “Before she was born, we cast spells to prevent her receiving her powers, to keep her hidden, then after, Sam and I took her to a local church. And we asked the nun there to find a home for her, and she found one. A very good home.”
“Yes,” Grams concurred.
“Explains why the Elders didn't know about her,” Leo remarked.
“Alright, wait. Wait a minute,” Prue spoke, raising her hands to rub her temples, trying to process the information. “Are you telling us, that my innocent, that girl…is really our sister?”
“Your baby sister,” Patty confirmed.
“Their baby half-sister,” Penny quibbled.
“But by my half, which makes her a sister witch. Well, actually, not yet anyway. Not until all three of you are here together by the book. Just like before.”
“Charmed,” said Grams proudly. “Again.”
“And I thought my family was screwed up,” said Cole, earning a glare from both Piper and Prue. “What? You’re okay with this? Phoebe’s gone, so they wanna just break out the spare?”
Before anyone could react to Cole’s words, Inspector Cortez entered the attic with a torch raised, and a guilty-looking Darryl trailing him, seeing Prue, Piper, Leo, and Cole, conversing with what were undoubtedly ghosts. “Well, I'll be damned,” he said.