Morality Takes A Bite Back….

[gzv969]

Morality Takes A Bite Back…
Based on the two stories below that are part of “Charmed Heritage”,
Morality Bites 2 - Biting Back, Part One
Morality Bites 2 - Biting Back, Part Two
a series written by StoryGirl83
Written by GZV969 and edited by Esmeralda with StoryGirl’s permission and dedicated to her.

Chapter 1: Part One

I’ve just gotten off the school bus, excited for the long weekend. Teachers’ seminar both tomorrow and Friday, so no school for four whole days! I’m heading to the apartment I share with my mom, a place we’ve called home for the past three years. Before Boston we lived in Los Angeles, and Denver prior to that. Originally we lived in San Francisco, but that seems like ages ago, even if it was only ten years.

For all that it’s the day before Valentine’s Day, neither my mom nor I have a sweetheart who could make tomorrow night special. Well, Mom does—my dad—but they’ve been divorced for a long time and never spend time with each other. They can’t risk Pratt finding out where we are and capturing us and burning us to death on national television. It doesn’t matter where we go. There’s always someone out there looking for us to report to him and collect the million-dollar reward he’s put on Mom’s and Aunt Prue’s heads. Hence the reason why none of us look anything like ourselves when we’re not home and why we have to keep very low profiles. It’s a pain, but after ten years of doing it, I’m used to it. My poor cousin Vicki’s had to do it all her life. She doesn’t know what it’s like not to have to do it. At least I can remember what it was like before.

Before Pratt.

Of course Aunt Prue and Uncle Andy have each other. But if I know Aunt Prue, she’s long forgotten what the date is and Uncle Andy knows his wife. Every afternoon when I return home from school, Mom is usually either at Aunt Prue’s or home on the phone with Aunt Prue, working on a plan of how to save another innocent from Pratt.

It’s been this way ever since the Source of All Evil and most of his demons decided to live aboveground shortly after Aunt Phoebe’s execution. Running organizations and businesses, posing as humans and people in high places so they can control most human activities. Thanks to that, there’s no one we can truly trust outside of family. Especially now that we know for sure that the Source has taken over Nathaniel Pratt and is using him to run his organization. It’s why we just call him Pratt and not the Source. We never know for sure when the Source will hop from him and possess someone else. Another reason why we can’t trust anyone outside of family. I’m just glad Mom and Aunt Prue came up with a magical shield that prevents him from taking over one of us. That would really be scary.

So as I open the door to our apartment, removing my glamour as I close and lock the door, it doesn’t surprise me to hear a lot of chatter or to see Aunt Prue sitting on the couch. But why are Uncle Andy and Vicki also here? It’s been so long since they came over. We’re at Aunt Prue’s a lot more than at our place because ours is so small with Mom and me needing to share the same bedroom.

They seem to be in a deep discussion about something, and the Book of Shadows is sitting on the coffee table. A book that’s never been in our apartment but instead when it’s out, it’s always been in Aunt Prue’s home. When not in use, Aunt Prue usually has it hidden somewhere. Always in different places. The last thing we need is for Pratt to get a hold of it. If that ever happens, whatever is good in the world will shortly be no more.

As I enter the room everyone stops talking and looks up at me. Well, except for Vicki, who is playing with her doll in the corner of the couch.

“Hi, sweetie,” my mom greets me. “How was school?”

I shrug. “Good. Nothing eventful. Just glad I don’t have to go back for four whole days. But why’s everyone here? What’s going on?”

That serious look comes over Mom’s face. “We were waiting for you, Melinda. We need to talk. Go drop your backpack in our room and come and join us.”

Oh, oh. Whenever Mom calls me Melinda and not sweetie, it usually means she and Aunt Prue are about to embark on a mission to save another innocent from Pratt. A mission that is usually dangerous and often leaves me wondering if this will be the one that Mom or Aunt Prue or both don’t return from.

As I go into my room I hear Uncle Andy ask, “Are you sure this will work?” and Aunt Prue’s reply: “It’s the only solid plan we have, so it has to.” Oh, oh. Whatever Aunt Prue and Mom are planning, it has to be big. And this one sounds more dangerous than usual.

I quickly drop my backpack on my bed and hurry back to the living room. As I go in, both Aunt Prue and Mom look at me intently like they have a lot to tell and somehow it involves me, although I can’t figure out how. Uncle Andy just has that worried look on his face that he often has. As a whitelighter he always worries any time Aunt Prue is going to try to save an innocent.

I quickly sit down, anxious to find out what’s going on. “So, what are you guys planning this time? I assume since you have the Book of Shadows it has to be a serious one.”

Aunt Prue takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out before speaking, again telling me how serious this is. “Honey, your mom and I believe we have come up with a plan that could end all the witch trials and help us reset everything back to how it was before Phoebs was executed.”

“But it’s a dangerous plan,” Uncle Andy warns me. “One that I’m not too keen on going along with.”

“So, what is it?” I ask. “Can’t be any worse than all the other plans you’ve tried over the years.”

This time it’s Mom’s turn to take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well, sweetie, this one is different. Your Aunt Prue and I believe that we need to cast a spell to take us back in time to when this whole thing got started in order to find out what went wrong so we can fix it.”

“You mean to what started the trials?” I ask, my eyes wide in surprise. They’ve never tried something like that.

Aunt Prue shrugs. “Sort of. In a way. But we have been more worried for some time that some other force apart from Pratt may have also been involved. It all points back to February 26, 2009, when Phoebe was executed. Remember we told you we were present at the execution?”

I roll my eyes. Mom has never let me forget how horrible witnessing that event was. “Yeah, I remember.”

Mom sighs. “Well, what I didn’t tell you was that Prue and I have no recollection of how we got there. Or the events of a lot of that day, for that matter. I remember resting on the couch while waiting for your ride and the next thing I remember is Phoebs burning, not our plan at all. I was going to freeze the place; we’d free Phoebs, and then run to the other side of the country, the reason I left you with your dad.”

Aunt Prue nods. “As you know, that was also the day Pratt learned that we were also witches with powers, the reason he hasn’t stopped hunting us down since that day. We believe something possessed us, and we also believe that whoever or whatever did that must have also possessed Phoebs and compelled her to murder Cal Greene. We knew your Aunt Phoebs was angry after he got away with murdering her best friend, but she was never angry enough to murder and expose magic. She was always smarter than that. That's why she pleaded temporary insanity during her own trial—not that Pratt believed her, of course.”

Mom nods. “So we have written a time-travel spell to take us to the time when whoever or whatever possessed us. Hopefully we can vanquish it or at least stop it before it possesses Phoebs, which will hopefully reset all this.”

“Well, so far that seems like a good plan,” I admit. “But isn’t it obvious that it had to be Pratt?”

Mom shakes her head. “No, no, couldn’t have been him. We’ve checked and we’re sure that at that time he was still just a human. The Source didn’t take over his body until much later, after he and the other demons came aboveground. And Phoebs said her empathy let her feel that some other force was at play when she was possessed, and it wasn’t Source-like or even evil-like. She would have known that immediately. She said it was a stronger power. And she felt the same power off of Cal Greene when she was murdering him. At the time we didn’t know what to believe.”

“So why don’t you cast the spell right now and get it over with?” I ask.

Uncle Andy frowns. “First of all, it’s a dangerous spell and they don't know what or where it will take them. Secondly, it requires the Power of Three, which, of course, hasn't existed since Phoebe was murdered. But Prue and your mom believe it could technically be recreated with them and you, since you are twice-blessed.”

“But, Mom, I’m your daughter, not your sister. You always taught me that a Power of Three spell can only be cast by three sisters descended from Melinda Warren.”

“Well, we still think we might be able to cast the spell with you,” Mom tells me. “Yes, I know. There are some things we will never be able to do without the Power of Three and we can only hope this isn't one of them. And even if it does work, it probably won't work as well. Hopefully not as well only means we don't arrive at the exact place or time, but close and shortly before, not shortly after. And if we can do this and save Phoebs, then we’ll have the Power of Three—again be Charmed.”

“So let’s cast it!” I exclaim, eager to finally have the chance to help them do some good—even though I’m now sixteen, they’ve never let me join them before.

Uncle Andy sighs. “But the main problem is that since you three aren’t sisters, we’d need more power. So they’ve decided that it has to be cast with the Book of Shadows on its pedestal.”

I understand immediately. “Which is in the Manor attic, directly over the Nexus where we’d be our most powerful. And we know the Manor is constantly being monitored by Pratt’s demons.”

Our family ancestral home sits on the nexus of both a wiccan pentagram and a spiritual one, making it the center of great power, power that can be used for either great Good or great Evil. A power the Book of Shadows can tap into, the reason why we can’t let it fall into Pratt’s hand. We’ve found other nexuses over the years, like the one over which Aunt Prue and Uncle Andy are now living or the one in LA or the one in Denver, the reason the Book has always been with her. But the one in San Francisco is the only one we’ve found that’s both the nexus of a wiccan pentagram and a spiritual one, so we’ve always called that nexus “the Nexus”.

He nods. “Going in there would be suicide.”

“But that’s why we need to fight our way up to the attic,” Aunt Prue insists, “and hope we can fend them off and cast a protection spell around us long enough to cast the time-travel spell. We can’t orb in there since the only form of transportation that can get through its shield is by shimmering. We know—Andy tried to orb in and no such luck. So we will have to go through the front door.”

I nod. “So you’re going to basically blast our way through the front door and then we will fight our way up to the attic, then lock ourselves in the attic and cast the spell.”

She smiles proudly. “Exactly, smart girl.”

“But if we are able to get in through the front door, then why not at that point I orb you all upstairs to the attic?” I ask.

Mom nods thoughtfully. ‘”That could work. Or Andy could.”

“Uncle Andy is coming along?” I ask, surprised. Usually Mom and Aunt Prue go alone.

He glares at me. “Well, I’m sure not standing by and letting you three go to the past alone where I wouldn’t be able to heal you if you’re hurt.”

“And we’re also taking Vicki,” Aunt Prue insists. “If Andy’s coming with us, we can’t leave her behind. We need to be sure we keep her safe.”

I’d almost forgotten that my little cousin is here. Now I glance at her to see her looking up from her doll, a huge smile on her face. I realize that she’s been sitting quietly playing with her doll, pretending not to listen, but I’m sure she understood everything. Vicki is only five but a very smart little girl. Almost as smart as me and I just turned sixteen eleven days ago.

Now I grin. “Let’s do it.”

I can tell my Uncle Andy still doesn’t like the plan but is willing to play along. I was about to ask Mom if we should tell Dad, but I know what he would say and that’s “NO!”

As usual, Dad is off on one of his own missions, taking care of his other charges, checking in on us periodically once or twice a month for a few moments or two. We understand. Much as he wants to be with us, this is what he has to do so Pratt doesn’t connect him with us. Besides I’m sure that just like Uncle Andy, he would just try and talk us out of it. And unlike Uncle Andy, if we didn’t agree, Dad would probably do something to try to stop us.

Mom stands and points towards the kitchen. “Okay then, people. Eat up. We'll go over the plan one more time and then go in late tonight when they will least be expecting activity. That’s why we’ve decided to do it tonight, Melinda, since you don’t have school tomorrow. Doing it on the weekend could be too obvious.”

Yeah, I was right. The fact that tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day hasn’t even dawned on her or Aunt Prue. The look Uncle Andy gives me tells me that he knows better, but also knows better than to say anything.


It’s now 11 p.m. Mom brewed some potions and packed a number of them for her and Aunt Prue. Initially, she wanted to give me a couple of potions, too, but decided she didn't want to tempt me into engaging any demons. My part of the mission has changed somewhat. Now it’s just to carry the Book of Shadows and orb up into the attic with it once we get inside the Manor, then cast the protection spell around the attic while Mom and Aunt Prue fight their way up, giving me enough time to do that.

One of these days, they’ll let me battle demons and save innocents, too, but this won’t be that day, even though I have a lot of powers they don’t. But I still need a lot of training on how to properly use them from Uncle Andy, so the only ones they’ll let me use is my orbing and my glamouring and the shield I’ve had since I was a baby. The others are all bound unless we’re training. It’s Mom’s way of making sure that I get some sort of a normal childhood. Even if I’d prefer getting to help battle demons and save innocents.

But ever since Aunt Phoebe’s execution and Pratt seeing Mom and Aunt Prue there, he’s been relentless trying to find them, forcing Mom and me to leave the Manor and forcing Aunt Prue to abandon her company to her assistant CEO. To our knowledge, Pratt doesn’t know about me or Vicki, and Mom and Aunt Prue want to make sure that stays the case as long as possible. That’s why I have to use my glamour to look tall and fat and blonde and blue-eyed whenever I’m out of the apartment or Uncle Andy and Aunt Prue’s home—so I look nothing like my mom.

That’s also why I’m Melinda Wyatt now and not Melinda Halliwell as I was when I was very young, just like Mom is Piper Wyatt and Aunt Prue is Prue Trudeau and Vicki is Vicki Trudeau. It’s proven to us that Pratt knows nothing about our connection to Dad or Uncle Andy, something else Mom and Aunt Prue want to keep from Pratt for as long as possible.

Now we hide out in Boston, like we hid out in LA and Denver, always ready to move if Pratt finds out about us. But for the past three years he hasn’t succeeded, mainly thanks to those glamours, glamours we’ve changed with each move. Aunt Prue has more than enough money in different bank accounts that Pratt doesn’t know about, so we’ve always had enough cash to live on. Which is a relief with the amount of innocent-saving Mom and Aunt Prue do and Uncle Andy’s inability to get a job since technically he’s dead.

Now we all gather together in our living room, ready to embark on this mission. One that we have no way of knowing whether we’ll succeed.

Aunt Prue goes into what Mom always calls her ‘General Prue’ mode, taking charge like she always does. But neither of us care because she’s so good at it and then we don’t have to worry about what to do next. Mom says she’s always been like that since they were kids, and I believe it.

‘General Prue’ looks at each of us. “Okay, so this is the deal. Andy? You orb us to the Manor’s front door. I’ll blast the door open. Piper, you freeze the place, and then we go in blazing, using our potions to vanquish any demon we see. Melinda, as soon as we’re in, you orb to the attic, set the Book on its pedestal and extend your shield. That should work even better than a protection spell. Andy, once we’re in, you make sure Vicki stays safe. Orb her out of there if necessary. Everyone, got it?”

Mom, Uncle Andy and I nod in agreement. Aunt Prue blasting and Mom freezing before both using potions to vanquish demons is a common battle tactic; one that usually works most of the time.

Aunt Prue picks up the Book of Shadows and puts it in my backpack which I’m already wearing, then we all take hands. I hold Mom’s; Mom holds Aunt Prue’s; Aunt Prue holds Uncle Andy’s; he holds Vicki’s and she holds mine. After we all squeeze hands for luck, Uncle Andy orbs us out. .

[Granny Charmed]

Chapter 1 was off to a great start dear.

It’s been this way ever since the Source of All Evil and most of his demons decided to live aboveground shortly after Aunt Phoebe’s execution. Running organizations and businesses, posing as humans and people in high places so they can control most human activities. Thanks to that, there’s no one we can truly trust outside of family. Especially now that we know for sure that the Source has taken over Nathaniel Pratt and is using him to run his organization. It’s why we just call him Pratt and not the Source. We never know for sure when the Source will hop from him and possess someone else. Another reason why we can’t trust anyone outside of family. I’m just glad Mom and Aunt Prue came up with a magical shield that prevents him from taking over one of us. That would really be scary.

Oh, wouldn't that be scary dear. Knowing one of your bosses might be The Source.

“So let’s cast it!” I exclaim, eager to finally have the chance to help them do some good—even though I’m now sixteen, they’ve never let me join them before.



Uncle Andy sighs. “But the main problem is that since you three aren’t sisters, we’d need more power. So they’ve decided that it has to be cast with the Book of Shadows on its pedestal.”

 Love this dear. Also glad the story remembers her age is 16.

It’s now 11 p.m. Mom brewed some potions and packed a number of them for her and Aunt Prue. Initially, she wanted to give me a couple of potions, too, but decided she didn't want to tempt me into engaging any demons. My part of the mission has changed somewhat. Now it’s just to carry the Book of Shadows and orb up into the attic with it once we get inside the Manor, then cast the protection spell around the attic while Mom and Aunt Prue fight their way up, giving me enough time to do that.

Oh, love how protective they are dear.

Now we hide out in Boston, like we hid out in LA and Denver, always ready to move if Pratt finds out about us. But for the past three years he hasn’t succeeded, mainly thanks to those glamours, glamours we’ve changed with each move. Aunt Prue has more than enough money in different bank accounts that Pratt doesn’t know about, so we’ve always had enough cash to live on. Which is a relief with the amount of innocent-saving Mom and Aunt Prue do and Uncle Andy’s inability to get a job since technically he’s dead.

Oh, I hated Pratt.

[gzv969]

Chapter 1: Part Two

Rather than the front door, we’re now behind some bushes next to the Manor, which was a good idea on Uncle Andy’s part, since it takes a bit for our eyes to get used to the sudden darkness, since it’s now almost midnight. I can’t believe we’re really here. I haven’t been near the Manor in nearly ten years, when I was only six. It still looks the same but no one lives here now. Aunt Prue pays a cleaning service to regularly clean the place. Someone they can’t trace back to us. I don’t even know which service she uses and I doubt that Mom or Dad know. Uncle Andy might not even know. I’m sure my neatnik mother is the one who talked her into doing that. 

We all go out from behind the bushes. ‘General Prue’ goes ahead first and looks around. Everything must look quiet, because she turns to nod at us, so we tiptoe to the front door. Again ‘General Prue’ turns to look at each of us, quietly telling us, “This is it. Andy, remember, keep Vicki close,” and he nods as he picks up Vicki and she puts her arms around his neck.  

‘General Prue’ raises her hand. Hesitates for a moment, obviously realizing what she’s about to do. I’m hoping she’s remembering her powers can get very explosive at times. I remember seeing the damage it can do. The attic window above us was repaired ten years ago after she mistakenly blasted through it, almost destroying the entire attic.  

Although she insists she doesn’t remember doing that, because she’d never do such a thing which could expose magic. 

She waves one of her hands at the door. At first it merely budges, probably due to the protection spell Pratt put on the house to prevent us from getting in and taking advantage of the power of the Nexus.  

“What's wrong?” Mom asks.  

“I don't know,” Aunt Prue admits, words I’ve hardly ever heard her utter. “Step back.”  

We do and this time she waves both hands, obviously putting a lot of might into it. This time there’s an explosion and the doors blow right off the hinges, smashing the colored glass in the door, letting us run in through the front door.  

But no sooner are we through the door than two demons shimmer in. Mom quickly flicks her hands, freezing them, then Aunt Prue waves her arm, sending them flying across the room. Mom throws one of her potion vials and they both combust in midair. Since we’re inside the Manor where the shimmer-only rule is no longer in effect, Uncle Andy quickly orbs out with Vicki as three other demons shimmer in. 

“Just lower-level ones,” ‘General Prue’ announces. 

Mom nods and freezes them before taking Aunt Prue’s hand. They cast a quick spell which vanquishes all three demons, before making their way down the hallway towards the stairs. 

But first Mom turns to glare at me since I’m just standing there watching, almost forgetting what I’m supposed to be doing; I’m just so fascinated watching them, something I’ve never gotten to do before. But I know that glare a little too well and quickly gain control of myself, orbing up into the attic with the Book still in my backpack.  

Uncle Andy and Vicki are already next to the pedestal where the Book of Shadows used to reign. We can hear the explosions coming from the stairway, letting us know that Mom and Aunt Prue are slowly but surely making their way up here, even though more demons must keep shimmering in, since the explosions mean they’re in full-on combat mode. 

Even as I hurry over to the pedestal, I quickly remove the Book from my backpack, so I can place it on the pedestal as soon as I reach it. No sooner do I let go than the Book starts glowing, protecting itself as it taps back into the energy forces of the Nexus. Since we’re here, I’m not surprised when the Book starts flipping pages, ending up on the protection spell Mom found for me before we left. I look down and smile to see that the words have changed to fit our current situation. I know who had to have done that. I quickly look up. “Thanks, Aunt Phoebs!” then look down to chant the words I see: 

“When in the circle that is home  

Where safety’s gone and Evil roam  

Keep all Evil from these four walls  

Use my protection shield, protect us all.” 

No sooner do I cast the spell than my blue magical force field expands from surrounding me to surrounding the entire attic, blocking the entrance door and windows. No sooner is the spell working than Aunt Prue runs through the door, which she can do as the protection spell only protects against Evil. A demon tries to follow her through and is blasted backwards. We smirk at each other as we hear him clunking against each step as he falls down the stairs. 

I hear Mom’s “Oops!” and I’m guessing that the demon nearly knocked her over as she ran up the stairs. As I see her reach the third-level landing, another demon appears right in front of her, right at the attic door. Mom tries freezing him so she can get by him but he quickly fights through her freeze and she’s still not in. 

NO! MOM! NO! 

My mom is now on the floor, blood pouring out of her stomach and then out of the corners of her mouth! The demon’s hands grew sharp claws and even as Aunt Prue ran towards the door to help, the demon stabbed my mom in the stomach! 

“MOM!” I run towards the attic door. But the demon quickly shimmers out before any of us can vanquish him. But not before he actually smirked at us, obviously satisfied with what he did to one of the ex-Charmed Ones who Pratt wants dead.  

Aunt Prue and I drag Mom into the protected attic, next to the Book’s pedestal, over the Nexus, both of us hysterical and crying. Mom’s bleeding through her mouth and is having trouble breathing. All Aunt Prue can do is moan “No, no, no. Not again. This can't be happening!”  

Even as Vicki stares in shock and horror, Uncle Andy quickly hurries over and puts his hands over Mom’s stomach, trying to heal her. But his hands stay dark. He looks up at us, tears of frustration in his eyes. No! The demon’s claws must’ve been laced with some sort of poison that he can’t cure!  

Mom opens her eyes just long enough to say, “Take care of Melinda, Prue.” 

Even as she closes them again, Aunt Prue goes back into ‘General Prue’ mode, shouting at me. “Melinda! The spell! It may be the only way to reverse all this.” 

Touching my mom’s cheek just once, tears rolling down my cheeks, I jump up even as I reach in my pocket and pull out the sheet of paper that Mom used to write down the time-travel spell, rewritten to include all of us. I lay the sheet on the Book, grabbing Aunt Prue’s hand as Aunt Prue reaches down to take Mom’s. Hoping this improvised version of the Power of Three will work with the help of the Book and the Nexus, Aunt Prue and I chant: 

“Hear these words, hear the rhyme  

Heed the hope within our minds  

Send us back to where we'll find  

What we wish in a different time.” 

Again white lights swirl in front of my eyes and even as the attic fades out, I see a number of demons forming at the attic entrance, instantly breaking through the attic door’s force field. Without the genuine Power of Three, we knew it wouldn't hold them for long and it was just a matter of time before they got through. Had we waited any longer we’d all be dead. 

The swirling lights have faded, but we’re still in the same room. Doesn’t look like we went anywhere. But Mom isn’t on the floor anymore. Only me, Aunt Prue, Uncle Andy and Vicki. Somehow Mom disappeared or didn't travel with us and I think I know why, but I don’t want to think about it. 

But as I look around, I realize that something is different. Although I know this is our attic, it looks nothing like the attic we just left. It’s more like it was when I was a kid—nice and fresh and neatly arranged. To top it off, the wonderful smell of freshly-cooked food is coming from somewhere. The Book of Shadows is still on its pedestal, and there’s no demons at the attic entrance.  

“What just happened?” I ask. “Did it work? Where’s Mom?” 

“I don’t know,” Aunt Prue reluctantly admits—she hates those words! “But we went somewhere. Same attic, different time maybe, like when my sisters and I went back in time and saw ourselves as children. Hopefully it’s before Phoebs was possessed.…” 

“If Piper didn’t time-travel with us…” Uncle Andy starts, but he doesn’t finish it. I understand. If she’s not here, it probably means she was dead by the time the spell took effect. But right now I don’t want to think about it, and I’m sure the others don’t either.  

But just how can we figure out when in time we are and how to finish what we started? If we can, not only will Aunt Phoebs be alive again, but so will my mom! 

Oh, I just remembered the story about Mom and Aunt Prue and Aunt Phoebe going back in time and Aunt Prue going down the stairs to see a very young Great-Grams, her grandmother, the one who raised her and my mom and my Aunt Phoebe after their mom, my own grandmother, was killed. I’m about to volunteer but I hear someone coming up the stairs, whistling. 

‘General Prue’ has her hands up, ready to attack. 

But in through the door walks a dark-haired, green-eyed boy a bit younger than me. Maybe 12, 13, 14, 15 years old. I don’t know. I’ve never been good at guessing ages. He stops in his track at the attic entrance, as shocked as I am and as I’m sure the others are. He just stands there, staring.  

“Who are you?” Aunt Prue demands. “And what are you doing in our home?” 

“Mom!” the boy shouts at the top of his lungs. “There are strangers in the attic!” 

[gzv969]

Chapter 2: Part One

Aunt Prue rolls her eyes. “We’re not the strangers,” she retorts. “You are. This is my family’s home.”

The boy rolls his own eyes. “Yeah, right. Tell me another one.”

Now someone else is running up the stairs. This time it’s a light-haired, brown-eyed boy who looks to be closer to my age. Unlike the younger one, this one immediately goes on the offensive, raising his hand. He’s going to throw an energy ball! They’re demon boys!

“Whoa.” Uncle Andy must be thinking the same thing. “Hold on,” and picking up Vicki, he puts his hands around me protectively but why doesn’t he orb us? But wait a minute. Why can’t I orb? What’s going on?

“Wyatt, stop!” the dark-haired boy shouts. “They are not a threat. I can sense no evil from them.” Huh? He thought that we’re evil? And he can sense when someone’s evil? That’s an Elder power. How could he possibly have an Elder power?

“So, who are you and what are you doing in our attic?” the boy named Wyatt asks, lowering his hand.

“Same question,” I retort. “What are you doing in our family’s attic?”

Aunt Prue steps in between me and Wyatt. “Okay. Both of you. Time out.” She glares at Wyatt. “Okay, Wyatt, what’s your full name?”

“I’ll tell you mine after you tell me yours.” He turns to glare at me. “Or after you tell me yours.”

I recognize that intimidating look—I’ve seen it in the mirror a few time so I shoot it right back, which he shoots back at me. No way I’m going to let him win this war. But he seems just as determined. Looks like we share the same level of stubbornness.

Even as we argued, the other boy must’ve noticed something. He’s now holding an old framed picture, one of Mom, Aunt Phoebs and Aunt Prue standing outside of the Manor when they were very young. Now he’s staring at Aunt Prue. “Prue. Your name is Prue.”

Aunt Prue turns to look at him. “Yes, it is. And you are?”

“I’m your nephew, Chris, and that’s my brother, Wyatt.”

So that makes him my cousin? How the heck is that possible when I’ve never met him before?

Now it’s Aunt Prue’s turn to raise her hand. “Look, buster, I don’t know who you are, but I don’t have nephews because there’s been no males in our family for generations. Now who are you really?”

Even as she speaks, yet another person is coming up the stairs. “What did you say, Chris? I couldn’t hear you in the kitchen. On my way up.”

What? That sounded just like my mom! But it can’t be. Mom’s dead. I saw her die.

But a moment later in walks my mom, alive. Except she’s not my mom. Not really. This person has a ponytail rather than Mom’s bun, and her hair’s straighter and longer, and of all things, she’s wearing an apron, one that she takes off as she walks into the attic. She stops halfway through the door, staring at Aunt Prue, while Aunt Prue stares back.

“Prue?” this different Mom asks. “Andy?”

“Piper?” Aunt Prue asks. “I thought you were dead. I saw the demon attack you…”

“What do you mean, dead?! You’re the one who’s dead! I’ve tried so hard to summon you for so long but…” She turns to look at the boys. “Okay, who was finally able to summon Prue and Andy from the other side?”

“Summoned from the dead?” Uncle Andy asks at the same time Aunt Prue exclaims, “I’m not dead!” while Chris raises his hands in self-defense. “Don't look at me! I didn't do it.”

“Neither did I,” Wyatt insists. “Chris was here first. I just found him here with them.”

Everything is so confusing. Where, or should I ask, when did we travel to? Uncle Andy looks even more worried than he did before. He leans over to Aunt Prue and whispers words in her ear that I can hear. “I can’t orb. My guess is our magic is down.”

Aunt Prue waves her hand but nothing moves. What the hell is going on?

To my surprise, my little cousin wriggles out of her dad’s arms and goes over to Piper (I can’t think of her as Mom), a big smile on her face. “Hi. I’m Vicki. I’m five and that’s my mommy and daddy while she’s my big cousin. We traveled through time to fix a problem but it looks like it didn’t work.”

“Traveled from when?” Piper asks, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“February 13, 2019,” Aunt Prue replies.

She nods. “That’s today’s date. So if that’s true, it doesn’t look like you traveled very far. So what’s really going on here? Are you sure you’re not demons who just happen to look like Prue and Andy? Maybe I should summon Grams. Maybe she can tell us what’s going on.”

“Good idea,” but Wyatt doesn’t even turn his head to look at her. He’s still giving me the eye which I give right back, even as I keep the other one watching what’s going on around us.

“They’re not demons, Mom,” Chris insists even as Aunt Prue insists, “Look, we’re not demons and we’re not dead! Well, Andy technically is, since he’s a whitelighter, but Phoebs is the one who is dead, not us.”

Piper stares at her, but before she can respond, we hear the front door downstairs opening and a voice calling out, “Honey, I’m home!” That voice is so familiar. “Dad?”

“Dad? What do you mean, Dad?” Wyatt demands. “That’s not your dad! That’s my dad!”

Piper just stares at me. I’m sure she’s trying to figure out if I think that’s my dad, who does that make me. Well, I can tell you one thing—my Aunt Prue is not these boys’ aunt and this woman is not my mom!

Then in walks a man who can’t be my dad. This Leo Wyatt is too clean-cut, looking too happy and chipper. Oh, great. I think Piper’s right, but I also think she’s wrong. We’re not the demons who look like us—they are!

Leo (just like Piper, no way I can think of him as Dad) comes in, staring in shock at Aunt Prue.

“Leo?” Aunt Prue asks. “Thank God! Now we can get some answers. You usually know what’s going on.” Oops, looks like Aunt Prue doesn’t get it yet. She thinks he’s my dad when he isn’t.

Leo looks at Aunt Prue and Uncle Andy then looks at Piper. “What’s going on here?”

Piper sighs. “Hon, we’ve got a problem,” and that sounds so much like my mom who I just saw die that it hurts like hell. Why did that demon have to look and sound so much like my mom?

“I see that,” Leo replies. “Where are they from?”

“Supposedly the past apparently,” Piper replies sarcastically and we all glare at her. “But it’s looking like they didn’t go anywhere.” She now turns to glare at us. “I still think they’re demons disguised to look like people we know.”

Chris starts to remind her that he can tell, but Uncle Andy speaks up first. “If we were, we would have attacked you already. Just like you would’ve attacked us if you were demons.” True—unless they are trying to catch us off guard.

Leo nods. “Good point. So, how did you get here?”

“They cast a spell to take us to the time in the past where we believed magic interfered with our fight against evil during the Witch Wars and gave Nathaniel Pratt an upper hand after my sister-in-law, Phoebe, was executed.”

“Wait a sec,” Piper interrupts. “Did you say Nathaniel Pratt and the Witch Wars?”

Uncle Andy nods. “Yes, what do you know about that? I hope he isn’t here.”

“No, he’s definitely not here but we have bigger problems,” Piper tells him.

“What do you mean?” Aunt Prue asks.

“I think my sisters and I visited your reality ten years ago,” Piper tells her. “We thought we were sent to the future but it appears we were sent to an alternate reality instead, and now you’ve landed in ours. Oh, boy. I think we all need to go downstairs and sit down and discuss this.”

Aunt Prue nods. “Sounds like you might be right. I’m now willing to listen with all ears.”

Not me. I still think this whole thing is awful fishy. “Not a good idea, Aunt Prue. We only have that one’s words that they’re not demons,” and I point at Chris. “What if they aren’t who they appear to be? What if we go through that door so we’re outside the protection spell I cast and the demons kill all of us?”

“Good point,” she admits. “I didn't consider that.”

Wyatt rolls his eyes. “This is ridiculous. Mom, are you really listening to these people? Somehow they’re messing up Chris’ power. Just vanquish them already. If you don’t, I will.”

Ooo, I’m finding myself disliking this Wyatt guy more and more. I really wish a couple of my powers weren’t bound so I could show him a thing or two!

Chris holds up his hands for peace. “Look, guys, I keep trying to tell you. My powers aren’t messed up and I can sense equal amounts of good from all parties. Mom, they aren’t evil and, Aunt Prue, neither are we. Believe me, Aunt Prue, nothing will happen if you go through that door.”

I wish he’d quit calling her Aunt Prue. She’s not his Aunt Prue; she’s my Aunt Prue.

Aunt Prue nods at Chris. “Okay. I believe you. I’ll go first,” and before Uncle Andy can say anything, Aunt Prue goes through the door and nothing happens. Vicki follows, running behind her mom.

“You see? I told you nothing would happen.” However old this Chris kid is, he acts way too mature for his age. Wish his brother would.

Uncle Andy has followed his family, so I’m going to be the last to go through. But I do so hesitantly. Piper follows and she keeps giving me these strange looks. Still trying to figure me out. Has probably realized that I’m her daughter from “that alternate reality” but I’m not about to say anything to her about that yet. If she tries treating me like I’m her daughter right after I saw my real mom die, I’m not sure what I’d do. I just know that it wouldn’t be pleasant for either of us.

[gzv969]

Chapter 2: Part Two

Oh! We’re downstairs now and it’s so well done. Very neat like my mom used to have it over ten years ago. It’s reminding me of how things used to be when I was six. I’m finding myself jealous of these two boys who got to live in a house like this their entire lives while I had to constantly be on the run.

We all sit down in the living room, all but Piper. As we all sit and stare at each other in silence Piper returns with a tray holding glasses of lemonade and water. After she serves each of us, she sits down. Seems everyone is waiting for her to join us before we get the discussion going.

Typically, it’s Aunt Prue who speaks first. “So, Piper, talk to me.”

“Whoa, okay. I haven’t heard those words in that tone from you in years. I’m sorry that I thought you were a demon. You’re definitely a Prue, all right, even if I’m pretty sure that you’re not really my sister. Okay, so Cliff Notes version. Back in 1999 we thought we were being sent ten years in the future to witness what would happen to us if we misused magic. But instead we ended up in our older selves’ bodies. Which must’ve been your bodies.”

Aunt Prue nods. “You’re talking about the day Phoebs was executed when we had just come up with a plan to break her out and all of a sudden we lost our memories, but we knew we were possessed somehow. So we did travel to the right time, and the time-travel spell did work.”

“Not really, Aunt Prue,” I speak up. “We should’ve gone back to before Aunt Phoebs died, before she killed.”

“But we just found out the reason why our reality got messed up,” Uncle Andy points out. “It worked, just not the way we thought it would.”

“Yes, but we weren’t evil,” Piper insists. “We thought you were the ones who had turned evil with all of those personal gain spells in the Book of Shadows. We tried using your plan to break into the prison to stop Phoebe’s execution but she talked us out of it, and after the execution we wound up back in our own bodies in our time.”

“Including Phoebe?” Aunt Prue asks excitedly. “Phoebs is alive here?”

Piper smiles. “Yes, she is. Although I haven’t heard anyone call her Phoebs in like forever.”

“What about when Phoebs murdered Cal Greene?” Aunt Prue asks. “That wasn’t at all like her, and she told me she felt like it was someone else doing it. Was that your Phoebe?”

“No, no, that definitely wasn’t ours,” Piper insists. “I have no idea what happened there. We cast the spell hoping we’d end up showing up days before she killed Cal Greene so we could try to stop it, but ended up landing there the day of the execution.”

“That’s because the Elders didn’t want you changing anything.” Leo quietly points out. “So they made sure you got there on the day of.”

Aunt Prue spins to glare at him. “Changing anything like what?”

Leo stares at the floor. I recognize that look. It’s the look Dad wears when he’s already said more than he’s supposed to.

“Leo?” Piper asks. “What do you know?” and that sounds so much like my mom that I almost want to cry.

And just like my dad, he can’t hold it in. These two are so much like my parents, like what my parents might have been like had we lived in a reality without Pratt.

But I did live in a reality with Pratt.

They must have totally different memories since the day Aunt Phoebs was killed, maybe even before that. They’re not my parents, just very close proximities. I want to go home and find my dad and see if he can figure a way to bring my mom back to life. And these two are just making me want that more and more.

Leo takes a deep breath and then lets it out. “Okay. I was never supposed to talk about this, but when I was briefly made an Elder before I had my wings clipped I learned a lot more of what went on during that time-travel trip.”

“Briefly made an Elder?” Uncle Andy asks, his eyes wide in shock.

For whatever reason, Leo glances at Chris before looking at Uncle Andy. “Long story. I think this is more important.”

Aunt Prue nods, even as she frowns. “We’re listening.”

Piper is wearing the same frown. “So are we. Start talking.”

Again he sighs. “Apparently one of the Elders created the entire event after a bunch of them talked the Angels of Destiny into creating an alternate reality that would show what would happen if the Charmed Ones continued on the path they had started.”

“So that’s why we came up with all of those personal gain spells and I was so mean to my employees,” Aunt Prue interrupts. “It never felt right, but I couldn’t stop myself, any more than Piper or Phoebs could.”

Leo nods. “Exactly right. That’s all that was supposed to happen, and that should’ve been enough to make their point. So at the time it must’ve felt like a good idea but later they found out they couldn’t just get rid of that reality and if they didn’t find a way to get rid of it, eventually it would’ve joined with ours and end up destroying both realities. That’s what they were trying to fix when I found out about it. You see, that reality was as real as could be and not even the Angels could undo it that easily.”

“That still doesn’t explain the Witch Wars,” Piper points out.

Again Leo takes a deep breath and slowly lets it all out. “Well, the Elders discovered that as long as any of the Charmed Ones existed in that reality, that reality remained real and threatened both. That’s why my old mentor, Gideon, went to your reality, Prue, and used his own powers to influence events there to create the evil that culminated in Phoebe’s execution and started the Witch Wars. He thought that the Witch Wars would eventually catch up with the Prue and Piper of that reality and once dead, that reality would cease to exist. When I was Up There, he was amazed that you and Piper had lasted as long as you had. He would’ve done more but since he was from our reality, the Angels wouldn’t let him do anything beyond the time our Charmed Ones visited yours.”

Piper rolls her eyes. “Figures that someone like Gideon would be involved in something like this.”

“So, this Elder Gideon of yours is the one who possessed Cal Greene, and got Phoebe’s best friend, Paige Matthews, killed.” Uncle Andy points out, obviously angry, just like I can tell Aunt Prue is, and like I know I am. Vicki is just staring, not saying anything, probably having a hard time assimilating all of this. “Then he must’ve possessed Phoebe and got her to kill Cal Greene, starting everything, then you sisters from here interfered again, changing things and making everything worse for us.”

“Aunt Paige was killed?” Wyatt asks. “Must have been some powerful person to be able to do that to her.”

“Why did you call her Aunt Paige?” Aunt Prue asks the same thing I’ve been wondering.

“Because in this reality, you’re the one who is dead,” Chris tells her, “and Mom and Phoebe found Paige Matthews, their long-lost half-sister, who helped them reconstitute the Charmed Ones. And she’s very much alive in this reality.”

“Paige is our half-sister?” Aunt Prue ask, and when Piper nods she sighs. “We never knew. No wonder she and Phoebs got along so well. But how did your version of me die?” she softly asks.

Piper also sighs. “That’s another long story for later. Just know she did it protecting an innocent. By the way, where is me from your reality?”

I now look at Piper, tears in my eyes. Just like I remember what happened on our way here each time I look at her, which is why I’ve been doing my best not to look at her or Leo. But I have to now. “When we tried to time-travel and fix this, a demon attacked my mom. She lived just long enough to help us power the spell. And because she died, she didn’t come with us.”

Piper stares at me, tears in her eyes. “Melinda? You’re Melinda? The little girl I saw in that reality?”

And even as I nod, tears now on my own cheeks, I can’t help smiling over the fact that she has remembered my name.

Chris stares at me. “How old are you?”

I shrug. “Sixteen”

He starts snickering. “When’s your birthday?”

“February third. I was born on a very special day. I’m twice-blessed.”

Now he’s really laughing. “Well, so is he,” and he points at his brother. “Hey, Wy, looks like you’re a girl in their reality!” and now we both glare at him.

“So you honestly had a son?” Aunt Prue asks. “I thought Halliwells couldn’t have boys.”

Piper smiles. “We thought so, too, but Wyatt, and then Chris, proved otherwise. It was quite a surprise when he showed up rather than Melinda, or Prudence Melinda as I was going to name her.”

Aunt Prue smiles. “After me?”

“Well, that was shortly after our version of you died, so, yeah. But back to our discussion, Prue. How did we make it worse?”

Now Aunt Prue’s smile turns into a glare. “If you and your sisters weren’t there, my sister Piper would’ve frozen the execution chamber, we would’ve freed Phoebs and been out of Dodge before Pratt even knew we were there. But he saw us watching Phoebs burn and so did all of the witnesses and everyone watching on TV. Piper did freeze the chamber so we could escape. But he knew the only way we could’ve gotten out was if we were witches with powers, too. Since then he’s been on our tail trying to hunt us down. We’ve had to move three times in the last ten years just trying to stay ahead of him.”

Piper looks at her, sorrow in her eyes. “I’m truly sorry about that, Prue. We honestly thought we were doing the right thing. Phoebe thought the Witch Wars would end with her death. She was obviously wrong. Guess we have to figure out how to fix your reality.”

“I’m afraid you can’t.”

We all turn to glare at Leo. “What do you mean?” Uncle Andy asks.

“We…ell,” and he looks down again.

“Leonardo Christopher Wyatt,” Piper yells, just like my mom would yell at my dad, and now I’ve figured out how Chris got his name. “You know more. Start talking.”

He looks at Aunt Prue, not his wife. “You aren’t going to like it.”

Aunt Prue shrugs. “Well, I’d rather know what we’re facing so we can figure out what we can do about it.”

“I’m afraid there’s not much you can do about it.”

“Think again,” she insists.

“Start talking, Leo,” Piper insists. “Tell us what you know.”

He sighs. “As I told you, Prue, with your Piper gone, once you left your reality, it stopped existing. There’s no going back. From what I can tell, you and Andy may stay in this reality since your counterparts exist here as ghosts, but the only way that can happen is if their souls merge with yours, the way she merged with yours when she went to your reality.”

“But wait!” Uncle Andy interrupts. “How can your version of me be a ghost? I’m a whitelighter.”

Leo shakes his head. “Not in this reality. That’s something else I found out. When our version of you crossed over, when the Elders offered him his wings, they first told him that it was his soul mate Prue’s destiny to cross over in a couple of years so the others could find their long-lost sister. So our Andy decided to wait for her.” He turns to look at Aunt Prue. “As would’ve happened had you died when the Prue of this reality did, but because of Gideon’s interference, forcing you to do things for personal gain and thinking of yourselves and not innocents, you didn’t.”

Then he turns back to Uncle Andy. “How did you become their whitelighter, anyway? Did your version of me lose his wings earlier in your reality than I did here?”

Uncle Andy shakes his head. “No, he still has his wings. But once the Source took over Pratt, he already knew that you were their whitelighter, even if he didn’t know that you and Piper had been married, so Leo hanging around and protecting Prue and Piper wasn’t a good idea. But before the Source took over, he had darklighters kill most of the whitelighters. I was one of the few who survived, so once Prue and Piper moved to Denver where no one would recognize me and they started using their magic to save others from Pratt rather than using it for their own personal gain, our Elders decided to let them become my charges.”

“When did that happen?” Leo asks.

Uncle Andy thinks about it. “November, 2010. Why?”

Leo first glances at Chris for some reason and then at Piper. “That was when Gideon was killed in the original timeline.”

“Original timeline?” Aunt Prue asks.

Leo smiles. “Another story for a different time.”

I’ve been thinking about something, but didn’t want to interrupt. Now I speak up. “Leo, that might explain why Aunt Prue and Uncle Andy can be okay here.” In a small voice, I add, “But what about Vicki and me?”

“I’m sorry, Melinda. Very sorry. Since you and Vicki have no counterparts here, you do not exist and will fade away.” He turns to Piper. “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you about what happened to the other reality once I found out. I didn’t want you to find out that it truly wasn’t an alternate future so you’d try to find a way to bring them here and have Melinda and Vicki fade away.”

“Wait a minute!” Now I’m mad. “What do you mean I don’t exist? I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Yes, but not for long.”

I march up to him and poke him in the chest, yelling, “Does this feel like I’m not…” NO! Although I can feel Leo’s chest when I poke him, I can see right through my fingers!

Everyone else stares at this proof that I truly am fading away. We all now turn to Aunt Prue, Uncle Andy and Vicki who are also staring at their own translucent fingers.

“But wait a minute!” I cry out, terrified. “Chris just said that Wyatt’s me in this reality. So I do exist here. Shouldn’t I…”

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Wyatt yells back. “I’m not sharing my body with no girl!”

“And even if he could, it would be only temporary,” Leo regretfully tells me. “It would be like our Prue, Piper and Phoebe—only able to stay in your bodies for a very short time. Prue and Andy will be able to stay because their counterparts are ghosts, whose souls are here and can merge with theirs. You can’t join with Wyatt unless he becomes a ghost. I’m so very sorry, Melinda, truly I am, but unless you find some way to keep it from happening, in twelve hours you and Vicki will be gone.”

Aunt Prue hugs Vicki to her side and reaches out to pull me into a hug as well. When Uncle Andy comes up behind her and hugs all of us, we all draw strength from him as Aunt Prue glares at Leo. “I refuse to accept that.”

Uncle Andy hugs us closer to him. "Prue, please. He did what he had to. Can't you see this is killing him? Had Piper and Phoebe tried to come back for you, we'd still be in the same place we are now, but probably years earlier, and still lose Vicki and Melinda. We might have never had a chance to even have Vicki. At least this way we had the chance to have them. And if we’d tried this before and Piper had come with us…well, the Piper here is alive, so it would be just like Melinda and Wyatt."

Aunt Prue breaks free of Uncle Andy's hug and turns to glare at him. "I can't accept that there is no way we can keep our daughter. And I promised Piper I’d take care of her daughter. I won’t accept the idea that we’re going to lose them.”

“It's better if you do," Leo tells her. "Because ever since I found out, I've tried to find some way to fix this, to not lose them, especially when I found out that a version of Piper could be one of you, but I've found nothing."

There’s silence for several seconds. Finally, Vicki looks up at Aunt Prue. “Mommy, what are we going to do?”

Again she hugs all of us even as she glares at Leo. “We’re going to fix this. I don’t know how but we’re going to. I refuse to lose you two.”

Piper nods. “You’re right.” She turns to her sons. “Wyatt, Chris, go get your aunts. We'll certainly be needing the Power of Three.”

[Charmed by Piper]

We all go out from behind the bushes. ‘General Prue’ goes ahead first and looks around. Everything must look quiet, because she turns to nod at us, so we tiptoe to the front door. Again ‘General Prue’ turns to look at each of us, quietly telling us, “This is it. Andy, remember, keep Vicki close,” and he nods as he picks up Vicki and she puts her arms around his neck.

General Prue!!!

‘General Prue’ raises her hand. Hesitates for a moment, obviously realizing what she’s about to do. I’m hoping she’s remembering her powers can get very explosive at times. I remember seeing the damage it can do. The attic window above us was repaired ten years ago after she mistakenly blasted through it, almost destroying the entire attic.

Piper's powers too growing so much more. I half expect at her work freezing the entire place just so she can have some peace and quiet. LOL

“Just lower-level ones,” ‘General Prue’ announces.

 Love that they already know what the difference is between lower level demons and higher level.

Even as I hurry over to the pedestal, I quickly remove the Book from my backpack, so I can place it on the pedestal as soon as I reach it. No sooner do I let go than the Book starts glowing, protecting itself as it taps back into the energy forces of the Nexus. Since we’re here, I’m not surprised when the Book starts flipping pages, ending up on the protection spell Mom found for me before we left. I look down and smile to see that the words have changed to fit our current situation. I know who had to have done that. I quickly look up. “Thanks, Aunt Phoebs!” then look down to chant the words I see:



“When in the circle that is home

Where safety’s gone and Evil roam

Keep all Evil from these four walls

Use my protection shield, protect us all.”



No sooner do I cast the spell than my blue magical force field expands from surrounding me to surrounding the entire attic, blocking the entrance door and windows. No sooner is the spell working than Aunt Prue runs through the door, which she can do as the protection spell only protects against Evil. A demon tries to follow her through and is blasted backwards. We smirk at each other as we hear him clunking against each step as he falls down the stairs.

 Love this spell.

My mom is now on the floor, blood pouring out of her stomach and then out of the corners of her mouth! The demon’s hands grew sharp claws and even as Aunt Prue ran towards the door to help, the demon stabbed my mom in the stomach!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!

[gzv969]

Chapter 3

After Wyatt and Chris orb out, Leo turns to Piper. “So, what is the plan?”

She rolls her eyes. “The ‘plan’ is to get all my sisters coming up with ideas and see if we can come up with one that will let Melinda and Vicki stay.”

Wow, this Piper is so often sarcastic in her responses, much more than my mom ever was. Leo just smiles. He’s obviously used to it, but it’s going to take me some time—if I get to stay.

Suddenly orbs form among us, leaving behind Wyatt and a woman, and I know who she must be. I’ve seen pictures of the best friend whose murder led to my Aunt Phoebe’s execution, and although she looks older and a lot more mature than the one my mom told me about, I’m sure she’s the Paige Matthews of this reality, the one who let this Piper have what we haven’t had since Aunt Phoebe was executed because she herself was already killed—the Power of Three.

“Paige!” Piper smiles. “Glad you could make it. Haven’t seen you guys in a while. Henry watching the kids?”

“Prue? Omigod!” Obviously Paige didn’t hear a word Piper said. “Prue!”

“Paige!” Aunt Prue rushes over to her and gives her the biggest hug I’ve seen her give anyone, holding onto her like she’s never going to let her go, while Paige hugs her just as tightly.

“Oh, Prue! Someone was finally able to summon you? And you actually get to be corporeal?” She turns her head to look at Piper. “So, what happened? Who summoned her? Or was she finally able to come back on her own?”

“Yes,” Piper replies, “and she brought people with her,” and pointing to each of us, she adds, “Her husband Andy, daughter Vicki and niece Melinda,” and I’m so glad she didn’t call me her daughter. Maybe hearing about my mom just dying has helped her realize that I’m not really hers, just a version of the daughter she might have had if she didn’t have Wyatt.

“I still don’t follow,” Paige admits. “If she wasn’t summoned, where’d she come from, and how can she have a husband and a daughter?” Now she turns to look at Uncle Andy. “If I recall properly, you look like the Andy I’ve seen pictures of, but shouldn’t you be dead, too?”

“The two kids will be if we don’t fix this,” Leo tells her. “And if that happens, it will probably kill them.”

“It’s a long story,” Aunt Prue adds. “But I’m just glad you’re alive.”

“Alive? Why would I be dead? Piper, Wyatt mentioned an emergency before he told Henry to watch the kids, then grabbed me. I thought we were done with emergencies. Is a demon involved? Now a demon I can handle. Anything else, well, that might be another story.”

Man, she just can’t seem to stop rambling. I didn’t know someone could say so many words in such a short time.

“No,” Piper tells her. “Just a demonic Elder.”

“Oh, no! Don’t tell me Gideon screwed them up, too.”

“Yup. And now we need to come up with a way to keep Prue’s daughter and niece here. They’re from an alternate reality which is now gone. Prue and Andy can stay here since our Prue and Andy are ghosts, but not the girls. They will be taken from us in less than twelve hours if we don’t find a way to keep them here in our reality permanently.”

“That sort of explains things a bit but I still have a lot of questions.”

“We’ll catch you up on all the rest of the details later,” Piper tells her. “Let’s hit the Book of Shadows.”

Aunt Prue nods. “Very good idea. But what about Phoebs? Shouldn’t she be here by now?”

I’m wondering the same thing. I’d love to know how much their version of my Aunt Phoebs is like the one I knew as a kid. She used to spoil me before this Gideon guy must’ve began influencing her and I still have the fondest memories of her. I remember she always told me to never give up on my magic. That it was the best part of me. She also taught me how to use my various abilities as a witch that I can do despite my powers being bound like scrying and potion-making and spell-writing. And just as if the others can read my thoughts….there’s orbs again, but it’s just Chris.

“Where’s Phoebe?” Piper asks.

“No such luck,” he tells her. “Just like Wyatt and me, her girls don’t have school tomorrow or Friday thanks to teachers’ meetings, so she and Coop went somewhere for their anniversary tomorrow. Supposedly getting enlightenment so they’re out of our reach if you know what I mean. But Prudence said she will try to summon her dad. We told her it was an emergency. She has her ways of reaching him.”

Piper sighs as she leads us to the stairs. “So we’ll have to try to do this without the Power of Three until she gets here.”

“Prudence?” Aunt Prue asks. “Phoebs named her daughter after me?”

“Yeah, she had the first girl, and remember? You’re the one who’s dead here,” Piper reminds her. “But wait…if you named your daughter Vicki…”

“Yeah, Pratt killed Dad shortly after Pratt was taken over by the Source, probably hoping we’d try the same thing as we did with Phoebs. We wanted to, oh, we did, but we knew we couldn’t risk it. And Dad and I were just starting to become friends…He had nothing to do with us while we were under your Elder Gideon’s influence. That’s why I named my daughter after him rather than after Mom or Phoebs.”


Now we are all up in the attic. Paige goes straight for the Book and starts flipping pages, although she’s already looking frustrated. Aunt Prue gave her the full gist while we came upstairs. Aunt Prue herself is looking at all of the potions on the shelf.

“So, what’s on your mind, Prue?” Piper asks. “Got any ideas on how to keep everyone here?”

“Not really,” Aunt Prue admits. “But I’ve been wondering if there is a potion we can make that we can use with a spell to make it strong enough to keep them corporal, at least until Phoebe gets here. I’m just not sure if that will be enough. Although I still think that what Leo said may be the key.”

“Me?” Leo asks. “What did I say?”

“If Andy and I can stay here it’s because we have something the girls don’t. I have a soul here in this reality in my dead counterpart and so does Andy, but Vicki and Melinda do not. Or rather, Melinda does in Wyatt, but not one she can access. So it must mean that the problem must be them not having a soul here that they can access.”

Uncle Andy nods. “And that must be the reason why we no longer have our powers—they’re part of our souls, not our bodies.”

Paige’s eyes light up. “Now that makes sense. What we need to do is maybe try to summon the souls of Melinda and Vicki from wherever they are back into this reality and into their bodies. That way they should be able to stay here.”

Aunt Prue gives out a heavy sigh. “Good idea, but I’m pretty sure their souls from our reality are long gone.”

“Yeah,” Leo agrees with a sigh of his own. “Remember, their reality doesn’t exist anymore.”

““Well, their reality may now be gone,” Paige admits. “But their souls could not have just disappeared. They have to have gone somewhere. If they didn’t I don’t think Melinda and Vicki would be standing here now.”

Piper, who keeps reminding me more and more of my mom and keeps making me miss her more and more, nods. “That’s logical, Paige, but, even if you’re right, how do we go about summoning someone’s lost soul that’s probably not in this reality?”

Paige shrugs. “That I don’t know yet, but I’m going to find out. Maybe we can find something in the Book of Shadows.”

Aunt Prue smiles. “I’ll help you look.”

Piper also smiles. “Good. I’ll start working on a Power of Three spell in case we need one. Although I do wish Phoebe was here. She’s always been the best at writing spells.”

Now this is finally starting to look promising. I have to see what I can do to help. Since Paige and Aunt Prue already have their noses in the Book I go over to Piper. “Piper, what can I do to help?”

I can tell that me calling her Piper and not Mom hurts her, but she smiles understandingly and I find myself liking her even more. Maybe if I do get to stay, maybe I could start thinking of her as Mom…but not now. “Sure, Melinda. Would you like to help me with the spell?”

“Melinda?” Paige looks up from the Book even as I nod to Piper. “So you’re the Melinda Piper keeps talking about, the one she thought she was going to have when she got Wyatt instead. So what does Wyatt think of you? He jealous?”

I just smile. “Yeah, that’s me. And what does he think? I guess you’ll have to ask him.”

I just realized that neither Wyatt nor Chris are up here with us. I wonder where they went and what they’re up to.

Then I smile to notice that Aunt Prue is already nose deep in the Book. I’ll bet she never heard a word any of us said. She’s totally focused on finding a solution. Tapping a pencil periodically on the Book and writing stuff on the pad of paper that’s always there, then going back and circling and underlining things on the pad that she must think show promise. She often gets intense like that.

As I now follow Piper to the table I notice that my little cousin Vicki is curled up in the corner of the old couch that was always up here when I was young, sound asleep. I turn back to Piper. “What time is it?”

She glances at her watch. “6:30. Dinner will be ready at 7.”

Well, Aunt Prue certainly heard that. She looks up, grinning. “Looks like we did a little bit of time-traveling after all. We went to the Manor at 11 at night and must have come here around midnight our time. So we’re six hours ahead of you. But I’m wide awake. No way I could sleep with this on my mind,” and both Uncle Andy and I agree.

“Well, if you guys want to join us for dinner, you sure can. I made plenty,” and we all have to admit that food does sound good, but both Uncle Andy and Aunt Prue decide that it’s best to not wake Vicki.


The evening’s gone on. It’s close to 8 p.m. here, but for Aunt Prue, Uncle Andy and me, it feels like two in the morning, and I haven’t been able to stop yawning. Piper’s fantastic meal didn’t help any. Thinking that this is what our meals could’ve been like if my mom could’ve concentrated on food rather than keeping us and other witches safe from Pratt makes me feel sad, but at the same time it makes me feel more like I want to be able to stay in this reality and be part of this reality’s version of my family.

But that might not happen. It’s now our full hands that are translucent. We can still use them, but it seems so weird to be able to see through them. Unfortunately we’ve yet to find a spell in the Book that can summon our souls, but there’s still no sign of this reality’s version of Aunt Phoebe.

Chris orbed over to their place again and his cousin Prudence said they’re still trying to get a hold of Phoebe or her husband Coop (Aunt Phoebs with a husband and children just seems so weird. The one I remember was always a bit of a child herself—I’ve heard both Aunt Prue and Mom admit that they and their Grams spoiled her rotten. No way she was ready for a family of her own.), but so far no such luck.

Wyatt and Chris have come up a few times, each time eating something and asking if they could help. Piper kept telling them “No.” She told me that they always get carried away around the Book of Shadows and with potions and spells, and something always goes wrong. She said they have the habit of trying something out before asking if they can proceed so she keeps them out of the attic as much as she can. That sounds too much like what Aunt Prue would do when I was at their place. Hate to admit it but even though Wyatt’s a boy, we really are a lot alike. I actually feel a bit honored that Piper is letting me stay up here and help.

Speaking of, she and I tried writing a couple of Power of Three spells but couldn’t come up with one that worked. I kept hearing Piper say under her breath that she wished Phoebe was here, that this was usually her thing. They tried doing it as a Power of Three with Aunt Prue, Piper and Paige, then with Aunt Prue, Piper and me (that twice-blessed thing again) but no such luck. They even tried it with Aunt Prue, Piper, Wyatt and me (that both-of-us-twice-blessed thing) but still no such luck. We need Phoebe to help with the spell and complete the Power of Three.

As I yawn yet again, I look at Piper apologetically. She smiles understandingly. “Prue,” she says, “I’m going to get a room ready for Melinda and Vicki.”

“You probably should get one ready for us, too,” Uncle Andy adds.

Aunt Prue shakes her head insistently. “No, no. No way I could sleep before I figure this out.”

Uncle Andy smiles. “Honey, you’ve gone back and forth between the same two pages for the last ten minutes. You’ll do a lot better in the morning after you get some sleep.”

“But we can now see right through our wrists! What if Vicki and Melinda are gone by tomorrow morning? I’d never forgive myself.”

“The Elders thought you’d have twelve hours,” Leo reminds her.

Aunt Prue sighs. “Yes, and that might be noon tomorrow our time; but it’s 6 a.m. yours. Besides, they only think. What if they’re wrong?”

“Well, it’s only eight here for us,” Paige reminds her. “Leo, Piper and I can keep looking for a few more hours.”

Piper nods. “And if we find anything, we’ll wake you up.”

“Me, too?” I ask.

She smiles. “Of course. Same thing when and if Phoebe shows up.”

Aunt Prue can’t stop her own yawn. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But until you have the room ready, I’m going to keep looking.”

Piper’s smile grows larger. “Of course. I know you’re not really my sister, Prue, since you must have different memories after 1999 than I have, but you still remind me so much of her, that it’s almost like having her back.”

Aunt Prue actually leaves the Book long enough to come over and hug her. “Yeah, I feel the same way. And once I get your Prue’s memories, I have a hunch I’ll feel that way even more.”

I find myself wishing that there was someone whose memories I could pick up on. But that seems to mean that Piper would have to have lose her son and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even Wyatt.

Paige looks up from the Book. “I should call Henry and let him know I might be here all night.”

Piper nods, “Good idea,” and then she leaves, Prue and Uncle Andy carrying Vicki behind her, as Paige takes out her cell phone. After a quick call, she sighs. “Now where were we?” She rubs her fingers along her forehead and leans over the Book of Shadows.

With Aunt Prue no longer helping Paige and me no longer helping Piper, I go over to help Paige look in the Book. Even as we continue to look, all of a sudden this small but very bright throbbing light forms in the center of the attic. It looks like a beating heart. Paige looks up, smiles, then goes back to the Book, as if stuff like that happens all the time.

Not me. I have to watch as that heart gets larger and brighter and then two people appear. One’s this tall, handsome guy who looks Italian and the other one has to be the Phoebe of this reality. She’s holding a drink with a large straw in it. The drink looks tropical. Wonder where they’ve been. And she’s wearing what looks like a skimpy bikini with a satin wrap around her waist. They obviously had fun somewhere. Where I don’t know.

Paige smiles. “Hi, Phoebe, Coop! Long time no see.”

Phoebe starts to answer, but stops right in the middle and I know why. Aunt Prue, Uncle Andy and Piper must’ve heard their entrance and have returned and Phoebe is staring at my aunt.

Piper rolls her eyes. “Well, it’s about time you showed up.”

I don’t think Phoebe even heard her. “Prue?”

“Phoebs?” Aunt Prue exclaims. “Omigod, Phoebs!”

“Prue! Omigod, Prue! It’s you! It’s really truly you! Omigod, you’re back! You’re really back! And you’re not only back; you’re corporeal!”

They run and hug and emotions are running high once again. This is getting to be one weird family reunion. I wish I could think of them as my family like it looks like Aunt Prue is starting to do, but I very simply can’t. Not when each time I see Piper or Leo I think of my real mom and dad and the pain of losing them gets worse.

“Wow. This wasn’t what I was expecting to get for my anniversary, but it’s the best gift I’ve gotten today. No offense, Coop.”

The tall man who must be her husband smiles indulgently. “None taken.”

Aunt Prue smiles. “And thank God you’re not dead.”

“Huh? I’m not dead; you’re the one who’s dead.”

Uncle Andy turns to smile at me. “Haven’t we seen this movie before?” and I smirk back while Paige tells Phoebe, “Long story.”

“So, what’s the emergency?” Coop wants to know. “Prudence said there was an emergency.”

“And I thought we were done with those,” Phoebe adds.

It’s Paige’s turn to smirk. “That’s what I said.”

Piper just smiles at them. “The emergency? You’re looking at it,” and she points to each of us. “Prue, her husband Andy, their daughter Vicki and Prue’s niece Melinda.”

"What? Andy, too?" Phoebe shakes her head, blinking, as she looks past Aunt Prue at Uncle Andy. "You brought back Andy, too? How? I thought we no longer get to see anyone who’s been dead that long." Looking back at Uncle Andy, she adds, "You know I'm glad to see you. I'm just surprised."

She finally releases Aunt Prue, who reluctantly releases her. Phoebe hurries over to Uncle Andy and then comes to a screeching stop. "Oooo! And who is this cute little, sweet little sleeping girl? Looks like Prudence when she was that age. Wait. Piper, did you say their daughter? How long have they been back?"

Wow. And I thought Paige rambled! Speaking of, she speaks up. "I told you it's a long story."

And just like Paige with Piper, Phoebe doesn’t hear her. "And Melinda?" Phoebe asks, still looking at Piper. "Didn't you have a daughter named Melinda in the future where I was burned?"

"So, what's the emergency?" Coop repeats. "Prudence said there was an emergency and you still haven't told us what it was."

Piper smiles at Phoebe. “Yes, I did, and yes, that is her.”

“Piper Halliwell, what did you do?”

Piper raises her hands, claiming innocence. “Me? I didn’t do anything. Talk to that version of our big sister Prue. She’ll explain everything.”

Aunt Prue smiles as she reaches for Phoebe’s hand. “Come on, Phoebs.”

Phoebe stares at Aunt Prue’s hand and wrist. “Wow. I see we really do have an emergency.”

Coop looks around. “And Andy, Vicki and Melinda are also like that?”

Aunt Prue nods as she leads Phoebe to the couch.

“Well, I have to agree,” Coop admits as he follows them. “This is what you call an emergency.”

[gzv969]

Chapter 4

While I continue helping Paige check the Book of Shadows, I see both Coop and Phoebe looking at me occasionally as Aunt Prue explains everything to them. Meanwhile Piper goes downstairs to get some food and check on her sons.

Phoebe now looks up at her tall husband. “Looks like I’m going to be here for a while. Why don’t you go home and check on the girls?”

“Okay, but call if you need me. I love you,” and he kisses her cheek.

“I love you, too,” and she gives him a big open-mouthed kiss. Then that large heart appears again and before I know it, he’s gone. I’ve finally figured out that he must be a cupid. I never thought that they could marry witches, but I guess they can. And that must mean this Prudence I keep hearing about is half-cupid. Wonder what her powers are like.

Oh, Piper’s back with a tray of sandwiches and glasses of milk, suggesting Phoebe looks at all the spells that she and I were working on and find the one that will work best with the Power of Three now that we’ve got it. So while we eat, she looks over the spells and starts giggling.

“What?” Piper demands. “What’s so funny?”

“Your spells,” Phoebe smirks. “None of these would have worked.”

“I know,” Aunt Prue sighs. “You were always the best at writing these.”

“I’ll work on the spell. All of you can get some rest.”

Aunt Prue gives Phoebe another big hug. I’m also getting very tired and can’t prevent yet another yawn. Phoebe must’ve noticed. “That includes you, Melinda. Wouldn’t want my niece all tired tomorrow in case we have to run.”

I’m about to let her know that I’m not her niece, but am more confused by something else. “Wait! Run? Why run?”

Phoebe shrugs. “Joking. But if we do see the Angel of Death tomorrow and we have no solution we might as well be running.”

Angel of Death? What Angel of Death?

“Over my dead body,” Piper growls. “I would never run from any of them.”

Any of them? There’s more than one??? That’s scarier than fading away!

Aunt Prue shakes her head in amazement. “Piper, you are such a strong personality, so much more than the Piper I knew.”

“She’s definitely not the same Piper you knew,” Phoebe tells her. “This one changed a lot after you died here. She had to in order to become the leader of the Charmed Ones.”

“And I love having a version of you here so you can take back that role!” Piper declares. “Whatever I did, I tried to do what I thought my sister would do, but it always felt like I was wearing a dress that was too tight.” Shaking her head in self-bemusement, she turns to me. “Come on, Melinda. Let me show you where you’ll sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”

I sure hope so.

As I follow Piper towards the door, Phoebe’s showing Paige something in the Book of Shadows and Paige doesn’t seemed too thrilled with whatever Phoebe found. As Piper and I walk out the door, Phoebe says, “I may have a solution that could work, Prue, but you may not like it, and I’m certain Piper won’t.”

Piper turns to look back, but then shrugs and continues to lead me down the stairs.

I wonder what this solution could be. Guess I’ll find out in the morning. No, it will have to be before the morning. Come morning their time, I’ll either have my soul back or be gone!

Piper shows me my room—and it is my room—or at least it was when I lived in our version of this place as a little girl. Vicki’s already in the big bed, still sound asleep.

Piper goes over to the dresser and rummages in a drawer until she pulls out a nightgown. “Here, try this. I think you’re about Prudence’s size, even though she’s a bit younger than you are. She and her sisters stay over here a lot and when they do, they sleep in here. Go ahead and change and then get into bed.”

I take the nightgown as I nod and she leaves. I change clothes. The nightgown’s a bit tight, but not too bad. Just before I get into bed, Piper returns with a fresh pillow and blanket for me. I get into bed and she tucks me in and says her goodnights to me and gives me a kiss on the forehead. “Melinda, I’m so happy to have you here. I know you’re not really my daughter and I don’t ever want to even try to replace your real mom, but just like it’s so nice to have Prue here after having lost my real sister so long ago, it’s nice to have you here. Sleep tight,” and she leaves.

Tears form in my eyes, I’m so touched to hear her say that, but, oh, I miss my real mom so very much. And I can’t help wonder whether I’ll even wake up. What if Phoebe’s idea doesn’t work, whatever it is, and if Piper and Phoebe and Paige don’t find one that does? Will they just let me and Vicki sleep? Will we very simply fade away?

Oh, I hope not. I like this reality with no Pratt and no need to constantly be on the move or having to glamour, and with people who it hurts to see right now but who I think eventually I could accept as my family. I just really wish it was my real mom and dad who were here and not two people who look like them, sound like them, even act a bit like them, but aren’t them and just makes me miss them more.



“Melinda! Melinda! Wake up, sweetie!”

“Go away, Mom. I’m so tired. I think I’m sick. Can’t I skip school just one day?”

“No, sweetie. It’s not your mom—it’s me—that other Piper. Remember?”

Huh? Huh? Oh! That’s right. I open my eyes and see that it’s still dark outside. “What time is it? How much time do we have left?”

“It’s midnight our time, six a.m. yours. If Leo’s right, you still have six more hours. We wanted to give you a chance to get some sleep, but we don’t want to accidentally do something wrong because we’re too tired and not thinking straight, and Leo, Phoebe, Paige and I are starting to fade.”

I sit up so fast my head spins, but that’s not important. What she said is. ”What?? You, Phoebe, Paige and Leo are starting to fade??? When did that start happening?”

“Oh, sweetie! I’m so sorry! No, no, I don’t mean fade that way. I mean we’re all getting tired.”

“Oh! Thank God! But you let me sleep in? Where’s Vicki? What about Aunt Prue and Uncle Andy?”

“We woke Prue up about an hour ago because we thought she’d be able to help us. That woke up Andy, too. They decided to move Vicki back to the couch in the attic, but just let you sleep.”

I start to push the covers back, but she stops me. “Speaking of fading, now don’t be too shocked. Prue’s and Andy’s arms are now translucent and so are their feet, so yours probably are, too. But they can still use them, so I’m sure you can, too.”

I nod, even as I push back the covers and see that she’s right and despite what she said, it still scares me. Maybe Leo isn’t right. Maybe we’ll all fade away long before those twelve hours are up.

“Go ahead and get dressed—I found some more of Prudence’s clothes that I think will fit you—and then go downstairs—I made scrambled eggs and bacon for us when we woke up Prue and Andy and there’s some in the warmer, OJ or milk in the frig. Don’t know if you drink coffee, but there’s some in the thermos. Have breakfast and then join us upstairs.”


It’s now 1 a.m. their time; 7 a.m. mine. I’ve gotten dressed in the clothes Piper left for me—like the nightgown, they’re a bit tight, but they work—eaten, washed up and brushed my teeth. Wouldn’t you know it, Piper left out a fresh washcloth, towel and toothbrush for each of us, just like my mom would when we had guests. She really is a lot like my mom, even if she isn’t her.

I’m now going into the attic and as Piper told me, she, Leo, Wyatt, Aunt Prue, Uncle Andy, Phoebe and Paige are all here. I wonder why Chris isn’t here. Maybe it’s his turn to sleep. Also as Piper told me, Vicki was asleep on the couch, but I passed her on the steps—after all, she’s had more sleep than any of us. She’s on her way downstairs for breakfast.

There’s a big world globe sitting on the potion table. Piper is spinning it while both Aunt Prue and Paige scry around the globe as Phoebe directs them. Even Wyatt is trying to help with the scrying. Just like I felt when I got home from school yesterday and I walked into our apartment in Boston, there must be another big plan in motion.

“This is crazy,” Leo insists, while Uncle Andy adds, “I still don’t like the idea.”

I start to say “Good morning,” but that doesn’t really work right now. So I just greet them with “Hey, everyone. So what’s going on?”

“Oh, Melinda,” Aunt Prue smiles. “Hey to you too. We are trying to find someone who might be able to summon your soul and Vicki’s and return them to you before you fade away.”

“So who’s that?” I ask.

“Someone they call Isis,” Uncle Andy tells me. “An Egyptian goddess with the power to call people’s souls back into their bodies from wherever they are in order to revive them.”

“Only we vanquished her years ago,” Piper tells me. “But according to Phoebe and Paige, after checking the Book last night, they seem to believe she wasn’t really vanquished but just ejected back into her embalmed body which is in her coffin somewhere.”

I turn to Phoebe, remembering that she seemed to be the one with the idea last night. “So, how are you so sure she’s not vanquished?”

“Well, Paige and I were once possessed by her soul and we had all her thoughts,” she explains. “And we both recall her thinking about how she could not be vanquished. And that she would return to her coffin and just wait for her soul to be freed again one day.”

Aunt Prue nods. “So we plan to summon her soul and make her call your souls back to you and Vicki.”

“But it’s crazy,” Leo insists. “Even if you manage to find her and summon her soul, what makes you think she will agree to do anything you ask her? Especially after what you did to her boyfriend.”

“She doesn’t know about that,” Phoebe insists. “We ejected her soul before we vanquished Jeric. Besides, you didn’t tell Melinda the rest of my idea.” She now turns to me. “I’m going to call her soul into me, use her memories to figure out the spell, and cast it before she’s able to takes total control of me. Then one of you can cast the spell to eject her again, and we should be good.”

“See why it’s a bad idea?” Uncle Andy asks. “So many ways this plan could go wrong.”

“Well, if you got a better one I’m all ears.” When there’s silence, Phoebe smirks. “I didn’t think so.”

Just like my mom and Aunt Prue used to, Phoebe and Paige are certainly on to something but just like my mom’s and Aunt Prue’s always were, their plan is dangerous. Usually Mom’s and Aunt Prue’s plan made me afraid that I’d lose one of them, like I’ve lost my mom. This one makes me afraid that I’ll lose me.

But like Phoebe said, it sounds like it’s the only plan we’ve come up with that might work.

Paige sighs. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re having any luck scrying for Isis. We got the crystal to kind of point to the Middle East but that’s as close as it got. We need more power.”

“Did you try the Power of Three?” I ask.

Again Paige sighs. “Yeah. Five times now. It didn’t work. I even thought it might be because Prue is here, throwing our powers off balance. So she left the room and we tried Piper and Phoebe and me. Then I left the room and Prue came back and they tried Prue, Piper and Phoebe.”

“And before you ask,” Leo interrupts. “No, they can’t use all four of them. The Power of Three is the most powerful magic we have. Since the Power of Four would make up a square instead of a triangle, the powers would either cancel each other out or combine and be too powerful and blow up the entire Manor, maybe the whole world. Andy and I refuse to let them try, and we finally got them to reluctantly agree.”

“Well, our time-travel spell worked for Mom, Aunt Prue and me standing over the Nexus, since I’m twice-blessed,” I remind Aunt Prue and Uncle Andy. Then I turn to Piper. “You say Wyatt’s twice-blessed, too. Have you tried your Power of Three spell with him, but with the globe sitting on the Book of Shadows so it’s over the Nexus?”

Phoebe nods. “Good idea, Melinda. We could try that, Piper.”

Piper lightly hits her forehead. “Oh, how could I forget about me and Baby Wyatt?”

“Baby Wyatt?” Aunt Prue asks.

Piper nods. “Yes when I was pregnant with him, I used to channel his powers to do all kinds of things and scrying was one of them I did a lot. I was invincible then.”

Wyatt stares at her in shock. “You did what?”

“Yes, Wyatt, I used you a lot,” Piper smiles, rubbing his cheek. “You were my secret weapon,” and he pushes her away, his face red while I snicker at him.

But before they can try my idea, suddenly a man in a dark cloak appears. This person spooks everyone in the room, even Aunt Prue who is hardly ever spooked. But the way she and the others look at him, I can tell they all think he’s bad news. He must be that Angel of Death guy who Piper and Phoebe mentioned last night.

“What are you doing here?” Phoebe demands, while both Uncle Andy and Aunt Prue surround me, ready to fight him if he tries to take me, probably glad that Vicki has left the room.

“You’re early,” Piper adds. “We still have at least five hours.”

“Yes, Piper Halliwell, but as I mentioned to you in the past, I still consider you all as friends and decided once again to give you a heads up. Forewarning you that I am going to taking Melinda Wyatt and Victoria Trudeau. So you can prepare. And you are mistaken. They do not have five hours—they have two…Wait. Why is that globe on the table? What are you doing? I was advised that you will not be able to fix this one.”

“Over my dead body you’re taking them,” Aunt Prue insists. “You tried that with my sister and me a number of times. You didn’t succeed then and you won’t succeed now.” So Mom and Aunt Prue have run into this guy before. I wonder why they never mentioned him—probably didn’t want to scare me.

He nods. “Yes, Prudence Trudeau. I remember you from that other reality. You were never a friend the way the ones here were. I was sent to take you and your sister and you both were a pain, casting protection spell after protection spell. But here you will not be able to stop me, since you already do not have a soul, which means you have no powers.”

“That’s what you think,” and she casts a spell: “Let the ones you seek and see; Be hid from you for eternity”

Nothing’s happened, but now the Angel of Death is looking around in confusion and when Vicki comes back in and runs to us, Uncle Andy picking her up, the so-called Angel doesn’t even seem to notice her. And, oh, does he look pissed! “What have you done this time? Where did you send them? I thought you couldn’t use magic here.”

“Maybe I don’t have my powers, but I’m still a witch and can still cast spells, especially when we are in the Manor over one of the strongest source of power there is.”

“Even over the Nexus, this little spell of yours won’t last long,” he growls. “They are on my list and those who are I always collect. And this time, when I do I will show no mercy. I will also tell you that you, Prudence Trudeau, and your husband, Andrew Trudeau, are also on my list and if you do not join with the souls of the ones who are ghosts here, I will very gladly take you two, too,” and with that he disappears.

“He’s right,” Aunt Prue admits. “He’ll find a way around my spell and will be back in two hours, maybe sooner. We need to move fast.”

“Yeah,” Piper agrees. “Let’s hope Melinda’s idea works. If it does and we find the location, Paige can orb us all there and perform the summoning spell there. Hopefully we get your souls back, eject Isis back into her coffin and orb us back here before that so-called Angel comes back.”

So we all stand around the table. Piper, Phoebe and Paige all hold the rope of the crystal, while Phoebe holds Wyatt’s hand. She’s probably using her power of empathy to channel his power somehow without making it too strong.

I sigh. Empathy is one of my bound powers. If I had my powers and that one wasn’t bound… Oh, well, I’m glad Phoebe can.

Aunt Prue gives the globe a spin and Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Wyatt start chanting “The Power of Three will set us free,” and Aunt Prue and I join in, even if we’re not technically part of the chant. Phoebe is trying to channel the spell through her empathy to target Isis.

Suddenly the crystal starts spinning around in a circle very fast. They let go and even as it continues to spin, it hovers in a circle over the globe while the globe starts spinning in the opposite direction. Just as suddenly they both stop spinning and the crystal drops on the globe, sticking to it. Phoebe quickly checks it.

Before she speaks, Piper rolls her eyes. “Let me guess. Egypt, right?”

Phoebe nods. “Yep.”

“How did you guess?” Aunt Prue asks.

Piper shrugs. “This was kind of a déjà vu moment for me. Paige understands,” and Paige grins back.

“Then why did we go through all of that with the spells and the scrying and everything?” Aunt Prue demands.

Again Piper shrugs. “Because we don’t know what town it happened in. We just know Egypt.”

“So do you know now?” Aunt Prue asks, obviously getting anxious.

“Yeah, I do,” Paige tells her. “Now that the crystal knows where it is, I can hold it and orb to the exact spot where it dropped.” She can do that? I never knew she could use her orbing power that way, but it’s kind of cool.

“Very good,” Aunt Prue nods. “Let’s do this.”

“Wait,” Leo tells her. “I’m really concerned with this new equation we have to deal with.”

Aunt Prue sighs in frustration while Piper asks, “What new equation?”

“The Angel of Death!” Leo exclaims. “He’s probably going to end up interfering with whatever you’re doing and it won’t be good. He always claims the soul on his list.”

“Not in my reality,” Aunt Prue growls.

“Well, in this reality he does and that concerns me.”

Paige grows pale. In a small voice she asks, “Since we all saw him, does that mean we’re all going to die? I don’t want to leave Henry and Junior and the twins.”

“Prue, you talked about you and your Piper using protection spells to protect you two,” Phoebe reminds her. “Maybe we need to cast one around all four of you to throw him off his precious cosmic balance. Maybe buy us some time like you did before. Just a thought. “

“Oh, no,” Piper insists. “Don’t even think about it. Maybe it worked in your reality, Prue, but not here. Not unless you have the sudden urge to wear black. I don’t ever want to be recruited by him again. Plus black’s just not my color.”

“Why would you think he’d recruit you again?” Paige asks. “You weren’t any good at it the first time,” and Phoebe cracks up.

“Are you kidding?” Piper demands. “He’ll find any reason to pick on me. He always does. I just don’t understand. Especially after how I’ve treated him over the years.”

“Don’t even remind me of all that,” Paige insists. “Since the client you tried to take to the other side was me.”

Aunt Prue glares at all of them. “Okay, Phoebs, pissing off the Angel of Death idea dropped. Sounds like it might have worked in our reality but not yours. So let’s just concentrate on the plan. Phoebs, take it from the top and walk us through our strategy again.”

Phoebe shrugs. “Okay. Dropped.” Then she smiles. “It’s good to have you back, Prue. Haven’t heard you call me Phoebs in years,” and Aunt Prue smiles back.


A half-hour has passed. Only an hour-and-a-half to go, maybe less. Aunt Prue, Uncle Andy, Vicki and I are all now totally translucent, although we can still use our bodies and when the others try touching us, they can still feel us and we can feel them touching us. So we’re still here, but we’re running out of time—fast.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige have just finished making some potions and each pack some in her own pouch while saving some for Aunt Prue. Just like last night, I’m going to be a spectator in this one—those four will do everything.

While they worked on the potions, Aunt Prue decided she didn’t want to wear the same clothes she wore yesterday—they still have my mom’s blood on them—and Piper told her they store some of their Prue’s clothes in the closet in the room that used to be hers and is now Paige’s—so she didn’t get to sleep in her old room like I got to sleep in mine. Now she returns looking very good in black jeans and a black long-sleeved sheer blouse and a black leather jacket that looks like the one she wore all the time in our reality. Through the top we can see her black bra. Black might not be Piper’s color, but it sure is Aunt Prue’s.

Phoebe and Piper stare at her, shock in their eyes.

Aunt Prue is just as surprised. “What? Why the looks?”

Piper shakes her head, amazement in her voice. “Of all the clothes to choose, you had to choose that one.”

“What? What?” Paige is obviously as confused as we are.

“What’s wrong with it?” Aunt Prue demands. “I have an outfit just like it at home and I’ve been very lucky fighting demons in it.”

“Um. Not in our reality,” Phoebe tells her. “That’s the exact outfit our Prue wore the day she died.”

Paige’s hands fly to her cheeks. “Oops!” as Uncle Andy, Vicki and I squeak out our own shocks of dismay.

“Should I change?” Aunt Prue asks, worried.

Piper considers it, then shakes her head: “No, no, it’s okay. Our Prue also used to wear that a lot to fight demons. It just gave us another déjà vu moment. But except for that once, Prue always seemed to successfully kick demon ass when she wore it. Wherever her ghost is, I’ll bet she’d like seeing it get a chance to do that again.”

“All right,” Aunt Prue smiles. “Then positions, people. Time to go.”

So we all surround the table. Reluctantly, Uncle Andy picks up Vicki and carries her over to the table.

“Uh, oh!”

Aunt Prue spins to face Paige. “What’s uh oh? What now?”

“Forgot something. Be right back. In one minute. Promise.” And before Aunt Prue can stop her, Paige orbs out.

Now Aunt Prue spins to glare at Piper and Phoebe. “Where did she go?”

Phoebe shrugs: “Probably to tell her Henry where she’s going. He gets paranoid when he can’t reach her. Believe me, you don’t want him panicking and calling everyone she knows. He could end up exposing magic. We already have the Angel of Death after us; we certainly don’t want the Cleaners to be after us, too.”

The Cleaners? Now who are the Cleaners? But before I can ask, Piper turns on Wyatt. Still have no idea where Chris is. “You stay here in the Manor with your dad and wait for us. When your brother gets back from wherever he went, make sure he does the same thing. Don’t answer the door and don’t go anywhere. You’re both under house arrest until all of this is over.”

“I’ll keep an eye on them,” Leo promises and Piper smiles before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, hon.”

Just then Paige orbs back in. “What?” she asks, seeing Aunt Prue’s frustrated glare. “I had to tell my Henry where we’re going and give him instructions for our kids in case they wake up before we finish all of this. Don’t want my man worrying about me!”

Aunt Prue gives her another glare then spins to turn the glare on Phoebe. “What about you? Gotta go tell your man where you are?”

Paige stares at Aunt Prue in shock. We should’ve warned her about ‘General Prue’. Looks like Paige is slowly realizing just what type of a take-control person my aunt is and how pushy she can get. Especially whenever she’s about to go into a battle. Obviously Piper’s not the same when she’s in charge.

“Nope,” Phoebe tells Aunt Prue. “He’s a cupid and we’re one heart. He can always sense where I am and if I’m in trouble.”

“Oh, well, isn’t that just sweet? I suppose someone else is going to have to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water or something. By the time we get to Egypt my daughter and my niece are going to fade away.”

We quickly assure her that we’re all ready to go. “Okay, people,” Paige tells us. “This is it. There is no going back once we orb.”

“Paige!” Aunt Prue growls.

“But I always wanted to say that…”

Piper rolls her eyes. “Paige, just orb!”

[gzv969]

Chapter Five

So Paige squeezes the scrying crystal tight in one hand while grabbing Piper’s hand, so Piper grabs Phoebe’s hand so Phoebe grabs Aunt Prue’s hand so Aunt Prue grabs Uncle Andy’s hand, so he grabs mine and I put my hand on Paige’s shoulder, completing the circle around the table. Paige closes her eyes. “Got it,” and before anyone can complain about the delay, she orbs us all out.


When we can see again, the first thing we all notice is it’s a dark room with no visibility. I can just barely see Uncle Andy and Vicki on my right or Paige and Phoebe to my left. Where did Paige orb us to?

“Daddy?” Vicki asks, her voice shaking. “I don’t like this place. It smells icky. Can’t we go home?”

Her voice makes all of us smile. “As soon as we can, sweetie,” Uncle Andy tells her.

“Paige,” Aunt Prue demands, “are you sure this is the right location?”

I can just barely see her nod. “I’m sure. It has to be”

“We can’t see,” Aunt Prue needlessly points out. “We need light.”

Paige doesn’t respond; she just calls for light and waves her hand in a circle above her head. Little orbs of light form above us in little circles. Wow, that’s another cool way of using her power. I wonder if I could do that if it was unbound.

And look at this room, a lot bigger than I thought it was. We’re standing in what looks like some sort of former ceremonial or ritual room. There’s a podium and a long slab at the far end. Old rusty cups and bowls on them with Egyptian carvings. A lamp stands on either side. And all around the room lots of cobwebs. Then what looks like three big boxes next to us that look a bit too much like coffins to me. They have lots of engravings on them and are lined up right next to each other.

“These look like coffins.” Like Aunt Prue, Phoebe has a habit of pointing out things that are obvious. “Isis’ bones must be in one of them.”

“But which one?” Piper asks what we’re all wondering.

“If you’re like our Phoebe, you get psychic premonitions,” Uncle Andy points out. “Why don’t you touch each and see if you can get something off of it?”

Phoebe shudders. “I would rather not do that.”

Aunt Prue rolls her eyes. “Come on, Phoebs. We don’t have all day and for all we know that Angel of Death could show up here any minute and grab us.”

Phoebe sighs, her fear obvious. “Okay, let me try. Any idea what this place reminds me of?”

Piper’s turn to roll her eyes. “Let me guess. With all these cobwebs, it has to be either where Future Chris got in touch with his inner Spidey or where Cole used to hang out at the mausoleum.”

“Bingo. Cole.”

“Future Chris?” I ask. “Inner Spidey? Cole? Mausoleum?”

“Later, Melinda,” Piper warns me. “Don’t get her going on any of that or she’ll never try this. Get going, Phoebe.”

Phoebe sighs again, but she reluctantly goes over to the first coffin and puts both hands out, ready but not ready to touch it. She hesitates for just a minute then goes for it. As she puts her two palms flat on the coffin, it looks like nothing’s happening but now suddenly she gasps and rolls her eyes. Then she jumps back and looks at us, fear in her eyes.

“What did you see?” Aunt Prue asks.

“Creepy. Very creepy. This one is male. May have been a king, at the very least someone important. I saw him in bed with someone who might have been Isis then soldiers came in and executed him in front of her. But definitely not Isis.”

“Okay,” Piper nods. “Next.”

Phoebe gives her a look, but goes over to the middle one and does the same thing. Like before, it takes a moment but then it’s obvious that she’s getting another premonition. But when she opens her eyes, she’s quiet.

“What?” Paige asks.

“This is definitely Isis’ coffin,” Phoebe tells us. “I saw her as they knelt her down in this room with Jeric and saw them both executed. Jeric must be in the last one.”

“Great,” Aunt Prue exclaims. “Now let’s say the spell and get this over with.”

Phoebe takes a sheet of paper out of her pouch and unfolds the sheet as Piper and Paige gather around her. They all kneel down next to the coffin. I know Aunt Prue wants to be part of this, just like I do, but in this reality they’re the Charmed Ones, so even though this is really all about us, we have to just watch.

Phoebe holds out the sheet with one hand so the others can see it while setting her other hand on the coffin. “Remember,” she reminds them. “As we cast the spell, I’ll channel her soul into me so once you see it come out, you all better step away to the side.”

The other two nod and then they cast the spell. Phoebe told me earlier that she just rewrote the “To Summon a lost Witch” spell by substituting “Call on Isis’ soul” for ”Call on The Witches” part. As they repeat the spell a second time, a pillar of smoke rises up from the center of the coffin. Piper and Paige quickly jump up and move away from Phoebe. But the cloud turns into a ring and goes around in circles like it’s trying to figure out where to go.

“Is it supposed to be doing that?” Aunt Prue demands while Piper adds, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

What?? That cloud dropped and seemed like it was headed for Phoebe but then swung left and went straight into Aunt Prue and knocked her to the floor!

“NO!” Phoebe screams. “That not what was supposed to happen!”

Aunt Prue stands up and looks at all of us, grinning evilly. No, no. That’s not my Aunt Prue. It has to be Isis controlling Aunt Prue’s body. She walks towards Piper, Phoebe and Paige who in turn back away. “You all had the audacity to summon me. You must have a death wish.”

Piper flicks her hands and Aunt Prue’s body freezes since it’s now inhabited by someone evil. But it’s obvious that as a goddess it’s not going to last long.

“Oh,” Phoebe exclaims. “This is so not good. The last two times Prue was possessed she tried to kill us. And we can’t vanquish Isis without killing Prue. Not fun at all.”

“How did you stop her?” Paige asks.

“By talking her out of it,” Phoebe replies. “Not sure if it will work this time.”

Piper flicks her hands, refreezing Aunt Prue’s body, then turns to glare at Paige. “If only you had remembered the spell from before we wouldn’t have had to do all this.”

Paige hunches her shoulders. “Sorry. It was a long time ago and I didn’t write it down. Plus it wasn’t like it was in English. Plus as I said before it was a De-mummifying spell. Not sure it’s still the right one for our situation here.”

Phoebe shrugs. “De-mummify, restore the dead or lost souls, same thing.”

“Oh, yes,” that voice that sounds nothing like my Aunt Prue’s comes out of her mouth. “I remember the two of you. You were vessels I occupied in the past. And you were also the ones who banished me back into my coffin. For that you shall all die.”

“Give us our sister back,” Piper growls. “Or else….”

“Or else what?” she demands. “I like this body and I sense that it will not burn out like all the others I’ve possessed in the past have. Must be some powerful magic you used to summon me. My soul is stronger than it has ever been. I can feel it. This time it is definitely different.”

“Prue,” Phoebe calls. “We know you’re in there. Fight her. Remember the plan. Remember we’re you sisters—well, your counterpart’s sisters, but you know what I mean.”

Darn it. Phoebe’s words aren’t having any effect at all. And neither does Piper’s freezing! As Aunt Prue’s body closes in on the Charmed Ones, Uncle Andy, Vicki and I can only watch helplessly from the other end of the room. Trying to stay as far away as possible since we have no active powers.

This is so not what’s supposed to be happening. Phoebe was supposed to be the one who’s possessed by Isis so she could use her empathy to pick up the spell to call back someone’s dead soul from Isis’ memory. But Aunt Prue never had empathy so how can she do that?

Isis (can’t really call her Aunt Prue) forms clouds of dust in her hands like she’s trying to create a mini-sandstorm to blast us with. I remember hearing that she was the Goddess of the Earth so it makes sense that this is one of her powers.

Phoebe pulls a potion vial out of bag. “Wait,” she calls out. “I have Jeric’s soul trapped in this vial. If you kill any of us his soul will be trapped forever.”

“You are lying,” Isis growls. “I do not sense his soul in this room.”

“That’s because we have a protection spell on it so you can’t sense it,” Phoebe tells her. “We captured him back then and trapped his soul. Check his coffin. There are no bones to resurrect.”

I inwardly smile. Piper and Phoebe told us that they ejected Isis’ soul from Paige before they vanquished this Jeric person, so Isis wouldn’t know anything about that. All part of the plan.

Isis pauses for a moment. Quickly turns into dust and reappears in a cloud of dust next to the third coffin, the one Phoebe didn’t check. She looks at it for a moment and screams “NOOOOO!” since there’s nothing in it worth reviving. She spins and now angrily stalks towards the Charmed Ones in anger. “Give it to me now!” she screams.

Now not only clouds of dust form. Little sparks of lightning do, too. This is getting way too scary. Uncle Andy hugs Vicki close, telling her to close her eyes.

“Dromos wabet khufu nemes akh!”

What?? Aunt Prue’s body is pointing at me and Andy holding Vicki, but her voice sounded just like Aunt Prue, not Isis. She’s somehow gained control of her body and has picked up the spell!

But now Aunt Prue’s face gets that ugly look again and she heads towards the Charmed Ones again. Now the cloud of dust engulfs them and they start coughing as the dust chokes them. But now four white crystal-like balls descend from the roof of the room and one goes into her while one goes into Uncle Andy, one goes into Vicki and one goes into me.

Oh! Aunt Prue did it! She called our original souls from the other plane!

Even as Phoebe keeps choking and coughing, she manages to call out, “Piper, Paige. We have to cast the spell to eject Isis from Prue now.”

But Piper and Paige are choking too much to have the strength to do much of anything.

“It’s too late,” Isis laughs. “Your time is up and I will not let my guard down again. Say farewell to your precious sister and yourselves as you choke on your own foolishness.”

She is now standing over the Charmed Ones. She grabs the vial from Phoebe’s hand. “No! This is no soul! This is just water!” and she angrily throws the bottle across the room into the wall, crashing it, even as she tightens her magic hold on the Charmed Ones even more.

In all this craziness Uncle Andy’s hands suddenly start glowing. His whitelighter powers are coming back, which must mean mine must be, too. Oh, I wish my powers weren’t bound so I could do something to help!

But now, finally, Uncle Andy can! He pushes Vicki into my arms and then quickly orbs out and orbs back in behind Isis and before she can turn around and confront him, he puts his hands on her temples or I should say Aunt Prue’s temple. “Feel pain!” he shouts.

Oh! I get it! Much as my Aunt Phoebs used her empathy to make Cal Greene feel all of the pain of his victims, Uncle Andy is using one of his whitelighter powers to do the same thing to Isis. She tries to pull him off but it’s obvious that the pain is too much for her. In order to fight him off and fight off the pain, she releases her hold on the Charmed Ones.

“The spell!” I shout so Uncle Andy can keep concentrating on Isis. “Piper! Cast the spell now!”

The Charmed Ones jump up and Piper grabs her sisters’ hands while casting the same Power of Three spell she used to eject Isis from Paige:

“Two warring souls now burn inside
Where only one can reside.
I call upon the Power of Three,
To save her body and set Prue free

Aunt Prue’s body starts shaking violently. Uncle Andy releases his hold and her body drops to the floor even as that pillar of cloud rises up from Aunt Prue’s body and goes back into Isis’ coffin. “Prue?” Uncle Andy asks. “Honey, is that you?”

“Ow! Ow! Ow! My head hurts. That’s one scary power, honey. Remind me to never cross you.”

Uncle Andy hugs her and then his hands turn golden as he heals her head.

“So?” Piper asks. “Is Isis really gone this time?”

“Yes,” Aunt Prue smiles. “Back in that coffin. When Andy had his hands on me I could feel the pain of all of her victims from her days in Egypt and also all the bodies she possessed and burnt out over the centuries. I never want to feel that again.”

“Oh, believe me when I tell you that this wasn’t the first time I heard a version of you say that,” Piper tells her. “Our Prue literally at one time felt the pain of the entire reality and wouldn’t even leave the house.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Aunt Prue asks. “I actually wouldn’t leave the basement.”

“Yes,” Phoebe agrees. “Wait. Prue. You remember. How can you remember?”

Uncle Andy smiles. “Because it wasn’t just our original souls that came into us. It was also your Andy joining with me and your Prue joining with Prue. We now have their memories, too.”

“So, you’re really my sister now?” Phoebe asks.

Aunt Prue smiles, “Yeah, Phoebs, in some ways I guess I am.” And the Charmed Ones run over to their sister and hug her, even she smiles at Vicki and me. “But I’m still not really her. I’m still Vicki’s mom and Melinda’s aunt, too, because I still have all of my own memories, too.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Piper tells her. “Chris did.”

“What do you mean?” Uncle Andy asks.

“Another long story which we’ll now have time to tell you,”

“Does that have anything to do with Future Chris and his inner Spidey?” I ask.

Phoebe grins. “As a matter of fact, it does. Cliff Notes version? We originally had a really icky future and Chris came back in time to warn us and save us. He faded when Gideon killed him, except that happened at the same time that Piper was giving birth to our Chris, so we figure that his soul must’ve gone into our Chris. So he’s always had double memories. If he got used to that, you can sure get used to this.”

And that explains why he always seems so much older than his older brother.

Uncle Andy smiles. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah,” says Vicki. “I can finally orb home!” Hey, that’s right! I can, too!

“Not so fast,” Paige says. “What do we do with Isis’ coffin?”

“I don’t know,” Aunt Prue reluctantly admits. “Leave it here where it’s been hidden, I guess.”

“Or to prevent any other psycho from trying to get to her again…” and Piper raises her hand and blasts the coffin and the bones inside it into very tiny pieces. In seconds the other two coffins are also in very tiny pieces. “Ha. There,” she smirks. “Like to see you come back from that!”

Aunt Prue glares at her. “Piper! You didn’t have to destroy priceless artifacts. Do you know how much those were worth? They dated back centuries. Priceless artistry and engraving. Could have fetched you millions of dollars in bids in the open market per coffin if we took them back intact.”

Phoebe stares back at her. “Is that Buckland Prue we hear?”

Aunt Prue grins. “Yes, but it’s me, too. Remember, in our reality, I owned Buckland’s.”

“Okay, now let’s get out of here,” Piper declares. “Paige?”

So Paige orbs out with Piper and Phoebe. Uncle Andy orbs out hugging Aunt Prue, while Vicki and I follow after them. Oh, it feels so good to finally be able to orb again!


We all orb into the Manor living room at the same time. Leo grins. “I can tell by the fact that Melinda, Andy and Vicki are orbing that you were successful.”

“Yes,” Piper agrees. “And how ‘bout a kiss from my husband? I missed you.”

Piper and Leo kiss while Uncle Andy refuses to let Aunt Prue go. She just lays her head on his shoulder. Vicki runs over and squeezes between them so they’re in a family hug while Phoebe calls for Coop and he immediately hearts in, embracing her in his arms.

Now Piper grabs Wyatt and hugs him even as she looks around. “Where’s Chris?”

Wyatt shrugs. “Never came back and never told me where he was going.”

Piper just shakes her head indulgently. “That boy.” And now we know that boy isn’t much of a boy if he’s been living with a young man’s memories of a dreadful reality his whole life.

Even as she speaks, Leo goes over and hugs that portion of his family.

Much as I love feeling all the love in this room, I’ll admit I’m feeling just a bit left out, again wishing my real Mom and Dad were here or that I could really count this family that is so much like mine as mine.

Paige must also feel left out, because she calls out “Henry” and waves her hand and the guy who orbs in from wherever he was must be her husband. But he’s the only one who doesn’t look happy about it. “Paige! You can’t just orb me in like that I could have been with people.”

“But you weren’t, were you?” she asks cheekily. “After all, it’s three in the stupid morning. If you weren’t in bed—and by the looks of your PJs, I’d say you were—you’d be in big trouble, mister.”

“Well, yes,” he admits, “but that’s not the point.”

She just pulls him in for a big kiss. He grins “Well for a kiss like that it’s worth it,” and she grins back. He then looks around. “Paige, are you going to introduce me to your friends?”

We all laugh as we know it’s her turn to tell our long story and hers will be even longer. But that’s going to have to wait as the mood in the room gets all dark and cold again.

The Angel of Death is back and we have no idea if we’ve done enough for us to stay here.

[gzv969]

Chapter Six

The Angel of Death glares at Aunt Prue. “I told you I would find you. Now it’s time for me to collect what I came for. Come to me, you four.” He puts out his hand. I don’t know if he’s expecting something to happen like the four of us to maybe drop dead or turn into spirits and merge with him. But, of course, that doesn’t happen. “What is happening?” he demands. “Why can I not claim your souls? You should each have a lifeless and empty one, but I sense a living soul in each of you now.”

“Yup,” Phoebe grins. “They’ve got real souls now, so you can’t take them.”

He shakes his head: “If they are on my list I have to take them. I do not make the rules; I only enforce them.”

Piper rolls her eyes. “Maybe you want to check that list of yours again.”

He snaps his finger and a list magically appears in his hand. He looks at it and then turns it so we can see it. “See? There at the top. Andrew Trudeau, Prudence Trudeau, Victoria Trudeau, and Melinda Wyatt.”

But even as he speaks, the four names fade away and the other names move up.

“What names?” Uncle Andy asks.

Aunt Prue grins. “I don’t recognize any of those names, do you, Piper?”

“Nope. Can’t say I do. Looks like you’re in the wrong house, Mister.”

“Are you blind? Right there at the…” He’s been turning the paper around as he speaks and now he just stares at it in surprise. “Well, Piper Halliwell, I guess you and your sisters have been able to cheat death once again. You all never cease to amaze me. It must be why I have grown rather fond of you all over the years.”

Now he turns to look at Aunt Prue. “And I can now sense that the soul of the Prudence Halliwell from this reality has joined yours. I passed her soul on to the other side many years ago. Prudence Halliwell, I know you can hear me, so listen to me. Do not waste this new life you have this time. You have been given a second chance, just like Prudence Trudeau, Andrew Trudeau, Victoria Trudeau and Melinda Wyatt have. You would all do wise to heed what years ago I told Prudence Halliwell to do. It will save you this time.”

With that he disappears and now the celebration is in full force. We get to stay! We get to stay! It’s all over! We get to stay!

When we settle down somewhat, Paige turns to Aunt Prue. “What did the Angel of Death tell our Prue that she thinks you guys should heed?” she wants to know, and I’ll admit, I do, too.

Aunt Prue smiles. “It's to remember the bigger picture. She has to stop fighting death when she knows it's time for someone to die and her sisters need her to stay alive. Death isn't the enemy. She knows that now and so do I.”

Phoebe smiles. “I remember that lesson with inspector Davidson but I thought our Prue had already learned that lesson.”

“No, she didn’t. Not really. Now that I can access her memories, including the ones while she was on the other side, I can tell you that after she died she was told that part of the reason she died was because while she was protecting innocents with you and Piper, deep down she was doing it to prevent Death from claiming anyone else even when she knew it was their time. She still had a problem with him claiming your innocents. Even when you guys were protecting Dr. Griffith, at some point the Angel of Death appeared to her when you two weren’t around and he told her that she had to let him die or things would be catastrophic that day. She blew him off and still tried to save Dr. Griffith, not wanting Death to claim another victory on her watch.”

Piper frowns. “Wait a minute. So what you’re telling me is that when we went to the hospital that morning to save an innocent, she already knew it was his time and she still allowed us to bring him home with us to try and protect him? And now I remember that all of this was her idea. Well, no wonder things spiraled out of control that day. And the Elders decided to teach her a lesson by letting her die, even if you being here proves that it wasn’t really her time, the way us having Phoebe and Paige proves that it wasn’t really their time in your reality? My sister should’ve ended up marrying Andy and having Vicki, while we still should’ve had a chance to find and know Paige as our half-sister. Makes me hate the Elders even more than I already did.”

“Well, I can tell you that she always felt sorry about that. She wanted so many times to tell you all after she died but every attempt to reach out to you was blocked. After some time she stopped trying.”

Piper shrugs. “But that’s the past and all is forgiven. Lesson learned and we should move on, right?” and she turns and quickly walks out.

Aunt Prue's eyes almost pop out of her head; I can tell she’s awful surprised that Piper would just shrug off her sister's death like that. I wonder if it’s also this reality's Prue feeling that way.

Phoebe reaches over and puts her hand on Aunt Prue's arm. "Try to understand. Losing our Prue nearly destroyed Piper. It’s been years since she’s talked about losing her—each time Paige or Leo or I tried, she'd just push it off like she just did. I'm sure it's why we never got to see our Prue's ghost—Grams told us that we wouldn't until we'd truly accepted that she was gone, and I think that deep inside, Piper was always hoping that she’d somehow come back, and I could feel how much it hurts her to think that she might have gotten to have her for a lot longer, and she wouldn't have had to try to step into her shoes, something she never really felt she was doing properly, so now it's really hurting her."

Aunt Prue stares at her for a moment or two, and then slowly nods her head. "Yeah, that all makes sense. I guess we accepted the death of our version of you so much easier because it had such a huge effect on our reality. But if I wasn't constantly reminded of it, the way I was each time I wished we had the Power of Three, yeah, I think I'd feel the same way, too. Thank you, Phoebs. It still amazes me how much you've grown up," and Phoebe smiles.

A couple minutes later, Piper returns carrying a tray of goodies and drinks. I can tell she’s been wiping a few tears from her eyes. She sets the tray down, turns to Aunt Prue and gives her a big hug. “Sorry for reacting that way. I didn't realize how much losing my version of you is still affecting me. Guess I need to work on that. But you are here now and that's all that matters. I never want to lose any version of you again. At least not that way. You promise?

Aunt Prue grins. “I promise. As long as you and Phoebe and Paige promise the same thing.” As she speaks, both she and Piper tear. Phoebe and Paige, tears in their eyes too, hurry over to join in for a group hug, and obviously they’re all promising each other the same thing.

Now that all of that is off their chests we go back to celebrating. Everyone goes back to being happy as if the subject of their Prue's death never came up. But no sooner do we all raise our glasses in a toast than orbs appear again. Now who? Oh, it’s Chris and he’s laughing, almost hysterically.

Piper looks at Leo and Leo looks at her while Wyatt stares at Chris in shock, worry painting their faces.

“I’m okay,” Chris assures them. “I was just thinking of the expression on their faces when I informed then that this was their fault so they better do something to fix it.”

“You what?!?” Piper exclaims.

“Yeah, I was afraid that what you guys were going to try wasn’t going to work, and even if it did, what happens to Aunt Prue, Uncle Andy, Vicki and Melinda even if they get to stay? Everyone thinks Aunt Prue and Uncle Andy are dead so how can they be alive and have a daughter? And how do we explain Melinda?”

“So what did you do?” I ask.

"I went Up There, went to the Council and told them the whole story. Then I told them that if they hadn't decided to teach my aunts a lesson and have the Angel of Destiny create an alternate reality, none of this would have happened. It would have been bad enough if they truly forced your mother and aunts to go off the path of Good after they pushed the dog poop onto Pratt’s shoe and then put my Aunt Prue, Aunt Phoebe and Mom into the bodies of your Piper and aunts, but Gideon—one of them—had to make it so much worse by forcing Cal Greene to kill someone wonderful who you never got to know as your aunt and then force your Aunt Phoebe to kill him, the Witch Trials never would have happened in your reality the way they never happened in ours despite all the mistakes and missteps our family has made over the years. As we’ve discovered, Gideon caused the Witch Trials—he wanted Aunt Phoebe on that pyre—in order to truly teach my aunts a lesson when just seeing all of those personal-gain spells would’ve been more than enough."

Leo sighs. “If only Gideon didn’t go nuts over the idea that killing someone was worth it if it kept the Grand Design in balance.”

“The Grand what?” Aunt Prue asks.

“If you’ve never heard of it,” Paige tells her with a roll of her eyes, “never mind.”

“Anyway,” Chris continues. “I told them that it truly started when they had the Angel of Destiny create the alternate reality rather than sending them to their future, which would’ve included some awful terrible stuff,” and he glances at Wyatt, making me wonder what happened in his own alternate reality that he still remembers. One of these days, we’ll have to share horror stories. I wonder if his other life was worse than my old one.

“So,” he adds, “it was up to them to figure out how to let Melinda and Vicki stay.”

“In my experience,” and sarcasm rolls off Piper’s tongue as she rolls her eyes, “they don’t care about things like that.”

“Fortunately my experience was different, Mom. Because I did manage to convince them to give you some help if you succeeded. That’s why I wasn’t allowed to return until you had finished, one way or the other. Have you ever argued with the Cleaners?”

Piper, Phoebe and Paige exchange glances. In unison they exclaim, “Yes!”

Chris wrinkles his nose. “Yeah, that was fun.”

“Chris, the Cleaners hate us,” Phoebe informs him, while I wonder who these Cleaner guys are. “Even more than the Elders do. They would never help.”

Chris shrugs. “Once I convinced the Elders that this was their fault, or at least the fault of Gideon, which still puts it on them, they put the pressure on the Cleaners.”

“So who are these Cleaners and what are they going to do?” Uncle Andy asks rather skeptically. “They can’t just change the last ten years.”

“You’re right, Uncle Andy, they can’t,” Chris admits, and it’s funny, but I’m beginning to get used to him calling my Uncle Andy his Uncle Andy. Maybe eventually I will be able to count these people as my family—even counting Piper and Leo as Mom and Dad—not that I ever want to forget my real ones. “But they can and have altered the memories of non-magical people who don’t know about magic so they’ve forgotten about your deaths and instead think that after your marriage, you and Aunt Prue moved to Boston. So now they will just think that you have returned with your family and no one will notice the difference.”

“And me?” I have to ask.

“You, well, Melinda, when you wake up tomorrow morning, although the people in this room will always know better, everyone else now thinks that just like Aunt Paige, Mom had twins—you and Wyatt. I made the suggestions, the Cleaners like them, and as soon as Aunt Phoebe’s solution worked, that’s what they did.”

“But will I still have my memories of my other life, my real mom and my real dad?” I ask. “Much as I now know how much I love the ones who you say will be my new mom and dad, I don’t ever want to lose my memories of my real ones.”

Chris nods. “Yup, just like me, you’ll have double memories, as will all of you from the other reality—I used my own experiences as an example of how it could work, and they agreed.”

“You have been busy,” and Aunt Prue sounded more than a bit impressed, which is usually awful hard to do.

Chris shrugs. “Nothing much else to do Up There while I was waiting for them to let me come back. Which they wouldn’t let me do until you guys were able to fix it. Besides, I’m a member of this family, too. And just like you guys, I wasn’t about to lose family without a fight, which is why I went Up There in the first place. And when I found out that they still hadn’t found a way to keep you guys here, I tried to make it easier on you guys if you did.”

“Thank you,” Uncle Andy smiles at him.

“Well, don’t thank me quite yet,” he yawns, as I remember that unlike Aunt Prue, Uncle Andy, Vicki and me, he and the other members of this reality haven’t had any sleep yet and it’s now going on four o’clock in the morning for them. “I’ve got a message from the Elders for you.”

“For me?” Uncle Andy asks.

“Yeah. Let me quote what the Elders told me to tell you.” Chris rolls his eyes and then starts speaking in a sing-song voice, obviously quoting the Elders. “Most likely the majority of your memories before the event that lost you to this reality originally are the same.”

Uncle Andy frowns at the awkward wording of the statement. “I am assuming they mean Rodriguez, which I now remember thanks to having his memories,” and Chris nods. “So, what do they want with me?”

“Well, you have a choice to make,” Chris continues, still in that sing-song voice. Then he grins and sounding more like himself, he adds, “I think I know what choice you will make, but I have instructions to ask anyway.”

“What choice is that?” Uncle Andy asks.

Huh? Surely if Chris thinks he knows the answer, one answer at least is a good one. Aunt Prue must feel the same way, because she reaches out to take her husband’s hand.

“Whether you wish to remain a whitelighter,” Chris tells him, again in that sing-song voice.

“And my other option?” Uncle Andy asks.

“To be fully mortal again like Leonardo Wyatt is,” Chris replies, once more speaking sing-song while quoting the Elders, which must be why he called his dad by his full name rather than just “Dad”. “No powers, but alive.”

“What’s the catch?” Uncle Andy asks. “Because I must admit that either option sounds good to me for completely different reasons.”

Chris sighs, and still speaking for the Elders, he tells him. “If you decide to become a whitelighter again, we Elders of this reality will not be held to the agreement you had with the Elders in the other reality, whatever that agreement was.”

Uncle Andy stills, his face growing pale. “In other words, I lose my family.”

Now I get why Chris was so sure he knew what Uncle Andy would choose. And when Chris nods, I’m not in the least-bit surprised that Uncle Andy knows immediately what to reply. “All my charges have other whitelighters in this reality anyway,” he shrugs, thinking out loud. “I can find another way to help people.”

And I grin. Protecting people is what he’s always done. No amount of powers could ever change that and I’m sure a lack of powers isn’t about to do that either, since they’re just tools. Just like my dad, it’s his heart that’s always been his true power.

“Just so we are clear,” Chris smiles, “what is your choice?”

“Just so we’re clear,” and Uncle Andy’s grin shows that he’s using the same words on purpose, “while innocents are very important to me, there is more than one way to fight for them, to protect them. But there is no way I will willingly give up my family. I died for Prue. I think it’s past time I lived for her and our daughter. I chose mortality,” and Aunt Prue reaches over to hug and kiss him.

A smile on his lips and finally sounding like himself again, Chris admits, “That’s what I thought you would choose. And in fact, that’s what I told the Cleaners I was sure you would choose. So since you have, everyone outside of the family now thinks that you and your family will be returning to San Francisco in a couple of weeks because you’ve been offered your old job as an SFPD inspector by our new chief of police—Darryl Morris.”

Uncle Andy’s eyebrows shoot up. “Darryl will be my boss?”

Chris nods. “And as usual with this family, he’ll be the only one outside of our family who will know the truth, both about your deaths and that you were a whitelighter and now you’re not. He will even know that you’re from another reality but part of ours now, so he can help you acclimate to this world.”

Aunt Prue starts snickering. “Darryl accept that magic’s real? That would be a new one.”

Chris starts laughing again. “The Elders think that he’ll keep convincing himself that you’ve always been alive and have just been living in Boston the way he and his family were in Florida for a long time, but if you have anything magical to investigate, he’ll understand. You won’t have to hide your interest in such cases like you did the first time you were alive.”

Uncle Andy’s face glows. “Oh, that would be great!”

Now Piper turns to Aunt Prue. “So what are you going to do? You are welcome to stay at the Manor for those couple of weeks and then until you find a place of your own.”

Aunt Prue glances at Uncle Andy. After a nod from him, she replies, “We talked about it last night. We had decided that we were going to move back to Boston after all this was over.”

“What?” Phoebe exclaims.

“We’ve been living in Boston for the last three years,” Aunt Prue tells her. “So we know the land. It no doubt has differences, but it’s familiar. So for the present we are still going to go there. What we'll do, I don't know. Probably take a vacation, visit our former neighborhood and relax until it’s time for us to return here.”

Uncle Andy gives Aunt Prue a nice loving smile as he hugs hers. "Yes, that would be nice."

“Well,” Leo tells them. “You’ll still be welcomed to stay here while you’re looking for a house of your own.”

Uncle Andy’s smile grows larger. “There’s an offer we’ll gladly accept.”

Piper goes over to them and hugs them both. “Until you come back, I’ll miss you, but at least I know you’ll be back.”

Aunt Prue smiles. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Well, what do you know,” Wyatt speaks up. “Sounds like for once in all of our lives, both the Elders and the Cleaners have done something right,” and we all crack up.

“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you,” Paige tells us as she covers a yawn. “But I think Henry and I should go home before our kids wake up.”

"Good idea!" Phoebe agrees, and an instant later that heart reappeared and Coop gives his wife a kiss.

That’s right. They have kids. I only really know about Prudence, but Piper mentioned she had sisters and Paige mentioned something about Junior and the twins. If Chris is right and I’ll start thinking of Piper as Mom and Leo as Dad, I guess that means I’ll have to start thinking of them as my aunts and uncles and cousins. Funny, I think I like that idea. I’ll bet it’s nice to be part of a big family.

And after a lot of hugging, Paige orbs Henry out and Coop hearts Phoebe.

Once they’re all gone, Leo, I mean Dad, turns to look at all of us. “Well, now that that’s all settled, we should probably all go to bed and get some sleep. After all, now it’s almost four in the morning and the ones from the other reality might have gotten some sleep, but the ones from mine haven’t had any. Fortunately since the kids don’t have school, they can sleep in as late as they want, and I’m not sure about the other adults who have jobs, but as soon as I found out the problem, I planned on calling in sick.”

That gets a laugh out of everyone and after saying good-night, they leave until it’s just me and Piper, I mean Mom. I stand in the middle of the attic and close my eyes. In my mind I can still see the attic as it was in my old reality when I was just a little girl, silently telling it good-bye.

Suddenly, for some reason, I remember the large calendar my real mom had hung up to remind us of special dates. Opening my eyes, I notice that my new mom has done the same thing here, and what I see makes me smile again—I’d totally forgotten what day it now is. My smile grows bigger as I realize that my new mom is still waiting for me. “Mom?”

That word puts a huge smile on her face and tears in her eyes. “Oh, Melinda. If you only knew how much I’ve wanted to hear you say that.”

“Well, I’ve gotta admit it. It feels good to say it.”

“And it sounds so good when you say that. Yes, Melinda, what is it?”

“I just realized that today is Valentine’s Day.”

She looks surprised. “Why, yes, so it is. We’ve been so busy with saving you and the others that I totally forgot. But that means after I get a good night’s sleep—even if it’s really a good day’s sleep—I’ll have to get over to P3 to get ready for the party. You, Prue, Andy and Vicki better come tonight.”

I smile. “I know I will, and I’m sure they will, too—I’m sure they won’t go back to Boston until at least tomorrow.”

I take a deep breath. “Just yesterday morning, when I was coming home from school, I was thinking of how neither my mom nor I had a good reason for celebrating Valentine’s Day. Thanks for giving me the happiest one that I’ve had in a very long time. I hope you’ll understand why I’ll always miss my real mom and dad, but I’m so glad I get to live with both you and Dad, Mom. That’s something I haven’t been able to do with both of my real parents in many, many years, before you and your sisters even visited my old reality. And thanks for staying with Dad through everything so I can have a couple of brothers, too, even if it’s going to take Wyatt and me a bit to get used to each other. Happy Valentine’s Day, Mom.”

Mom smiles. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Melinda,” before she turns back around and heads down the stairs.

I smile as I follow, sure that Uncle Andy, Aunt Prue and Vicki are also now more than ready to start our new lives back here in San Francisco where we belong.

No more Pratt. No more fear. No more running. No more constantly looking over our shoulder. No need to glamour each time we walk out the door. A chance to make real friends outside of the family, and cousins to get to meet and know.

I can’t wait!

The end