Inspector Cortez’s eyes were fixated on the translucent, slightly glowing bodies of Penny and Patty. There was no denying that he was looking at a pair of ghosts. He had caught the Halliwell sisters in the act. This was going to be the bust of a lifetime.

“Darryl, do something!” Piper exclaimed.

“He's a cop, Piper,” Darryl reminded her. “And he's got a search warrant.”

His eyes wide with a mixture of fear and fascination, Cortez said smugly, “And believe me, I've found what I've been searching for.”

Thinking of how the last time the sisters were exposed had cost Phoebe her life, Cole made a reckless move toward the inspector.

Noticing this, Cortez aimed his gun at Cole. “Ah-ah-ah-ah! Don't move. I'll shoot,” he warned.

“Then so will I,” Cole countered menacingly, alluding to an Energy Ball, the potential danger of which naturally went over the inspector’s head.

“Cole...” said Leo reproachfully.

“Inspector, if you would just lower the gun, we can talk this out,” Prue told the man while mentally preparing herself to take action.

As if he didn't hear her, Cortez spoke to himself more than to anyone in the room, "My whole life, I suspected evil magic was real, that there was something more. I've seen too many horrible things on the job to suspect otherwise, not the least of which are the two murders that happened here.”

“Wait. Are you accusing us?” asked Piper indignantly.

“I've just begun to accuse you, lady!” Cortez snapped.

Tired of the standoff, Penny mocked, “All right, fine. You caught us. Congratulations. So, what are you gonna do about it? Shoot us?”

“Not all of us are dead, Grams,” Prue reminded her.

“All right, look, you can't arrest us, especially not them,” reasoned Leo, indicating to the ghosts. “Nobody will ever believe you.”

“Maybe not at first. I'm putting this whole place under constant surveillance. I'm taping your every move. Sooner or later, I'll catch you doing something uh, supernatural, and then—”

At that point, Cortez fell to the floor, knocked out by Darryl with the butt of his gun. “I think you've been through enough today, huh?” he said.

Piper thanked him, while Prue insisted, “Go home, Darryl. We’ll fix this. You were never here, okay?”

Darryl nodded. “If you need me, you know where to find me, huh?” he said before departing.

“It doesn't solve your problem,” said Cole, mindful of what happened last time the girls were exposed. “He's gonna wake up eventually. You've just bought yourself some time.”

“Which is what you're gonna need,” added Leo, “especially if you wanna save your...”

Prue shook her head at the unspoken word.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Just write a spell. Get rid of him,” Grams encouraged.

“We’re not getting rid of him, Grams,” Prue rebuked.

“Well, you know what I mean. Dump him somewhere. Anywhere. With all the witches in this room, we oughta be able to do something with him. I mean, just start rhyming. Uh… Take him back, take him away. Remove him now. Don't let him stay.

Prue continued, taking the spell in a gentler direction, “It’s time to rest, so slumber deep. Return to home, your sweet—”

“Scrapheap?” Piper snorted under her breath.

“Piper, no!” Prue yelled as Cortez’s body disappeared in a flash of white. “Oh my God! I was going to say retreat!”

Piper slapped her hands over her mouth. “But I was just kidding! It was one word, how was I supposed to know that would work?”

"That was your fault mother," Patty chastised, but Penny seemed to find the mishap hilarious. Leo and Cole were also struggling to keep themselves from laughing.

“Scrapheap, Piper, really?” Prue despaired. “My idea was to send him home, hoping he’d wake up thinking this whole thing was a dream, not to dispose of him mob-style!”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Oh, come on Prue, like anybody would believe that after what he saw,” Piper sneered. “And does ‘retreat’ really rhyme with ‘deep’, anyway?”

Prue’s jaw dropped indignantly, “It would have worked just fine, thank you very much!”

“Don't worry. Uh, I'll find him,” Cole assured them, looking mildly amused before Shimmering out.

“Okay, well this is all way too much for me to handle. Way too much,” Piper declared dramatically.

Prue shook her head again and turned on the ghosts accusatorily.

“Nobody could blame the two of you for being angry,” said Patty.

“Angry?” Piper repeated. “Yeah, I'm angry. Um, I'm confused, and you know what? This…this is just crazy. You cannot float in here after all these years and go, ‘Oh gosh, I forgot, by the way, you've got another sister,’ especially not today of all days!”

“I know it's a lot, sweetie. More than anybody should have to deal with, but you're going to have to deal with it the best way you know how,” said Patty sternly. “Losing Phoebe, learning about another sister... This is your path. This is your destiny. Get angry at it, cry about it, but don't fight it. Or it'll consume you.”

Prue and Piper looked to their mother in capitulating silence, and then to each other, feeling like they were little girls again, being told off by Mommy. The problem was, Mommy knew best.

***

“I can't sense where she is because she's technically not a witch yet,” Leo explained as he, Prue, and Piper headed downstairs.

“Alright, so let’s go to that church Mom mentioned. They must have records. Maybe the nun she and Sam spoke to is still there,” Prue suggested.

“Okay, let's get one thing straight. I am only doing this to save her. I'm not remotely interested in reconstituting,” Piper paused, spotting a dark-haired girl standing in the foyer, wearing an orange jacket, “the Charmed Ones.” She was immediately struck by the family resemblance. Of course Prue felt like there was something familiar about the girl; she looked like a young Grams! She could have been—well, she was—their younger sister.

“I…the door was open,” said Paige nervously. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't be here.”

“No,” said Prue as Paige turned to leave, a little louder than intended.

“Stay,” said Piper. “We were about to go looking for you.”

“You were?”

Prue and Piper both seemed a little reluctant, so Leo stepped forward. “Yes, we were,” he said, placing a hand on Paige’s shoulder and guiding her forward as the girls stepped off the stairs and edged closer. “I’m Leo, and this is my wife—”

“Piper. I know. I've been to your club. Pretty great.”

“Thank you,” said Piper. “And this is Prue. And you are?”

“Paige. My name is Paige.”

Prue gave a silent chuckle, her arms folded in front of her. “Another P,” she remarked.

“It's nice to meet you, Paige,” said Piper, extending a hand.

When Paige took Piper's hand in her own, a strange blue light began to shine over the three of them, through the chandelier above, which appeared to be shaking.

“Okay. What was that?” Paige asked, an odd warmth radiating within her.

“I think that means you're supposed to be here,” said Leo.

Suddenly, the front door slammed open, and a spiraling wind blew Paige, Piper, and Prue off their feet and toward the dining room, while Leo was knocked onto the staircase. Shax materialized in almost the exact spot he had the day Phoebe died, his wild gray hair dancing around him as a gale filled the house.

“Not again, you bastard,” Prue hissed, getting to her feet, and standing protectively before her sisters. He and Prue were just raising their arms to test their powers, when Leo jumped on Shax’s back.

“Run! Get upstairs!” he cried as Shax tried to buck him off.

“Leo?!” Piper exclaimed as Prue led her and Paige up the stairs.

Seconds after they reached the landing, Shax succeeded in throwing Leo off his back, who was knocked out when his head hit the floor.

“What are we doing? What is that thing?” Paige asked as the three sisters reached the attic stairs.

“We'll explain later,” said Prue, entering the attic and heading for the Book of Shadows, which she flipped through to the right page. She knew the vanquishing spell for Shax by heart, of course, but if she wanted to get rid of him, and for good this time, they needed the Power of Three. She just hoped Mom and Grams were right about Paige.

“Okay, just say this spell out loud with us, okay?” Piper instructed.

Paige took one look at the book and blanched, “Spell? What are you guys, witches?”

“Yes, and so are you. We hope,” said Prue.

“Well, we're about to find out,” said Piper as Shax blew through the door in twister form, and materialized, ready to strike.

Together, the girls chanted over the howling wind, “Evil wind that blows, that which forms below. No longer may you dwell. Death takes you with this spell.”

Shax let loose a tortured cry of agony as his body contorted, crackled with blue energy, and then exploded impressively.

Paige was dumbstruck, a hand raised to shield herself from the assault of air following the monster's disappearance.

“He’s gone,” Piper said, a tear escaping her.

Prue stumbled backward, waiting for the relief to come. The task was done. Shax was finally vanquished. But it wasn’t enough. He was only indirectly responsible for Phoebe’s death. It was the Source that she needed to punish. Maybe then, she would be rid of that bizarre sensation. Maybe then, she would be able to mourn her sister.

“What…? What the hell was that?” Paige finally spoke, the words unable to express themselves before now.

“That…was a demon,” Piper elucidated.

“Sent by the Source,” Prue added.

“The source of what?” Paige asked, stepping forward to marvel at the thick spell book from which she just read.

“Of…all evil,” Piper answered bluntly.

However, Paige didn’t hear this response. When her fingertips touched the pages of the ancient-looking book, her eyes closed tightly as a barrage of images invaded her mind. Whipping by at an incredible speed, she couldn’t even discern what she was seeing but for the faces of three women, which repeated throughout.

When the images stopped as suddenly as they began, Paige turned to face Piper and Prue, and breathed, “What have you guys turned me into?” She then raced out of the attic.

“Paige?” Piper called, and began to pursue her, but then noticed that her older sister wasn’t following. “Prue, are you coming?”