Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 23:12:49 -0700 From: Amethyst Rose <thepleiadescall@gmail.com> Subject: Charmed Reborn Episode 12 Disclaimer: All rights for Charmed and the Halliwells go to the WB, as well as Aaron Spelling and Brad Kern. This story is a spin-off of the original Charmed series, categorized under fan fiction, and is not intended to imply any personal knowledge, or the actual sexuality of any of its celebrities. This story is obviously fiction. This story will also involve sexual and intimate relationships between two (or more) males, and if this offends you or it is illegal for you to be reading, then please leave. If you are under the age of consent for your community, please leave. And if it does offend you, I honestly don't know why you're even here in the first place. - - - - Previously... "Hey..." Lex began to ask, cocking his head in curiosity. "What did you do before you became a whitelighter?" Aaron put his hands on his hips, and beamed with pride. "I, my friend, was the son of a preacher!" **** "I am a priestess. And I have vowed to destroy evil wherever I see it." Rolline paused a bit, as she seemed to examine Lex and Lucy for flaws. "But... But you are good. You are good?" **** Phoebe sighed. "To answer your question, the Guardians are a new magical order that's fighting against the Seven. I think it's mostly Gypsy clans and witch doctors, and they specialize in spirit magic... In fact, we're old friends with the founder: Ava Nicoli. She's really grown." **** Aaron piped up from his place in front of Sandra and Odin. "The witches that the Elders were protecting personally were the Stillman Sisters, reformed. The fact that the LeFleurs have finally surfaced and tried to kill you is pretty conclusive evidence that they were responsible for the Stillman deaths." **** "You don't have to fear the Elders anymore." Kane said. "Remember, you're in the Underworld." A clear female voice answered back. "We are not afraid." **** Phoebe reached over and grabbed her sister's hand. "...Hey. I'm sure they're okay." Piper nodded quickly, and rubbed something out of her eye. "I-I miss them." "I do too, Piper." Phoebe said. **** A Witch in the Matrix Part I When Lyla returned to work, she was faced with the daunting task of deflating the hubbub she had created with the announcement of her marriage. What would her excuse be? It varied depending on who she was talking to. Victoria and Cynthia settled for the explanation that her fiancee was cheating with a two-dollar Albanian hooker. Lyla told Jenny that she dumped him when she found out he was a serial killer. Depending on what boy she was talking to, Lyla described her fiancee as being too clingy, neglectful, ugly, good-looking, poor, or rich. But surprisingly, Lyla had no problem lying about her secret marriage. In fact it was a bit fun to come up with a different story each time. By the time she was done, about a dozen different scenarios floated around the agency, all of them equally invalid. The hardest part was explaining why she was still wearing the ring. "What'll I do, pawn it?" Lyla told them all. "This rock's not big enough to buy me a pack of gum." Obviously, unless the ring was made of plastic, she was lying. But out of confused politeness everyone nodded their heads and whimsically laughed with her. She was greeted by Aaron when she came home to the manor. It was a late day, and the time nearly struck midnight. Still, he smiled as he kissed her on the lips. "How was work?" Lyla shrugged. "They were having me do some special edition wedding shots, and I posed for them anyway. I may not be officially married but I feel married enough." Heralded by the ringing of the front door, Lucy and Lex came downstairs. Lex smiled at Aaron before giving Lyla a hug. "How're you doing?" Lyla asked. "Not so hot. Rudi's evading our scrying attempts, and we still couldn't find anything that belonged to Lucas." "I wonder where they could be..." she pondered. Aaron interjected. "Thankfully the Elders still don't know about either of them. But we have to hurry anyway. If they find out that a half-vampire-whatever-he-is is on the loose, they might be a little angry at us." "Oh, that reminds me..." Lucy piped up. "I tried to summon one of the Halliwells again. Still no answer." A troubled sort of expression settled on Lyla. "What's going on?" she mumbled to herself. "Well, anyway. Instead I tried to take the initiative to summon the Nightshade Guardians, since you know, they're basically the next best thing." Lyla, Lex, and Aaron all understood her euphemism for calling Mikey. "...And they'll be coming over really soon. I hope. I dunno, they seemed really busy." The doorbell rang. Lucy smiled. "That's him! Or, um... them." she exclaimed. Lyla rolled her eyes. Being closest to the door, she turned around and swung it open while saying loudly, "Mikey, it's not that I don't appreciate you coming over, but it's late and I-" She stopped. Two blonde women stood in the doorway, glowing from the front porch light. They were older, probably in their forties, but Lyla could tell they were both once beautiful. One, the older, dressed in a long black robe, and her curly gold tresses were done back in a ponytail. The other was visibly younger, her platinum yellow hair ironed out. She bore bright neon colors that were familiar from somewhere. "Can I help you?" Lyla asked with a raised eyebrow. The bright one pointed a finger at Lyla. "You!" she exclaimed. "Who?" "You!" She pushed her way past Lyla and then pointed at Lucy and then Lex. "And you! And you!" Lucy wrinkled her nose, mentally preparing to fling her powers out her hands. Lex did the same as he searched for words in his mind. The bright one suddenly lapsed into benevolence however, and she eventually smiled. "I apologize. You do not recognize me, of course. It is I: Rolline." "...Rolline? Rolline, Rolline... Oh! You're that priestess!" Lucy said, suddenly stifling her desire to say "you were a freak." "Wait, but... an Oni killed you." Lex stated, subtly wagging his finger. "Yes, this is true. That was my eleventh body." Rolline stated quite matter-of-factly. "But while I was in limbo, I still managed to watch your exploits. You handled my charms quite expertly." she said to Lex. "Oh. Thanks." "Huh? Eleventh body? So what, you just reincarnate?" asked Lyla, confounded. The woman in black, silent the whole time, finally entered the manor and closed the door behind her while speaking on behalf of Rolline. "She's a Sun Priestess. Her spirit's in a state of suspension, and it can enter any uninhabited body when it leaves its current one." "Alright... So, uh... I guess you're representing the Guardians." Lucy said. "Yeah. We know that Michael's your normal ambassador, but he's tied up right now. We can help with whatever you need." Not bothering to mind Lucy's obvious disappointment, Lyla nodded. "Great. We're... looking for someone. But we can't really find them." Rolline and the woman in black exchanged glances. "What? You don't know how to scry or something?" The woman in black asked. "It's not that. See, one is a witch, but we don't have any of his stuff. We have some clothes that belonged to the other guy, but he's like, a vampire, and we can't focus in on-" "You've got to be kidding me." The woman in black rudely interrupted Lyla. She rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation, which was an interesting change of tables for Lex and Lucy to observe. "You're the seer in the trinity. Don't tell me you can't just use your powers." Lyla sucked in her cheeks in frustration. "...You don't know how my powers work. I only work with areas I can see, I don't know where they've been, so I can't see them, and-" "Did you get our wedding gift?" "Huh?" "Our wedding gift: the Reflector. Come on, if you didn't throw it away, bring it out." Chastised, Lyla swiveled on her foot and went upstairs. Aaron watched her depart, just a hint of pity in his eye. An awkward silence prevailed while Lyla fetched the Solar Reflector from the attic. She ran down the stairs clutching the huge thing in her arms. The woman in black seized it with no regard for politeness. With a sweeping motion she gathered everyone else around her in a circle, and Lyla across from her. With annoyance she held the reflector in front of her, the shiny square facing upwards towards the ceiling. She looked at Lyla. "I'm not gonna repeat this, so pay attention." Contorting her arms, she twisted the reflector and then spun it like a top; they expected it to fall, but it did not. The reflector levitated in midair, quickly revolving like a bronze merry-go-round. The woman in black gracefully fluttered her fingers over the inlaid mirror square, which transformed into a shining circle from the spinning motion. A funnel of light erupted from the reflector. All drew back in awe except for enraptured Lyla and the woman in black, who seemed to have the light at her mercy. The symbols engraved around edges of the reflector suddenly began to glow white. The funnel of light began to take on colors, shapes, distinct features. In the precognitive hologram Lyla could see it. Then the light flickered and then the reflector began to slow. The woman in black let it. When the last of the light faded into obscurity and when gravity called the reflector back into her arms, she smugly mugged at Lyla. "Get it?" She nodded. "...I guess." "What'd you see?" Lex asked from behind her. "The San Pablo Casino." "That's a weird place to go." Lucy stated. "You sure that thing's reliable?" The woman in black was offended. "Hey, don't question me right in my face! I've been doing this for a while with or without a reflector, so if I see a casino, it's a casino. Shut the hell up." While Lyla and Lucy sparred with the woman in black, Rolline aimlessly wandered up the stairs. Lex and Aaron exchanged a wary glance then ultimately followed her to the attic. When she reached the middle of the room, Rolline paused and the twirled around to face Lex and Aaron. In the moonlight pouring in from the tall attic windows, Rolline was strangely backlit. Her skin was unearthly pale. The red pearls around her neck glowed. But both Lex and Aaron noticed that she had no shadow. Maybe distrustful or maybe just curious, Aaron pushed Lex a little bit behind him as he stepped forward. "So... I get the impression you were a part of the Nightshade Guardians this whole time." "Of course! Madame Ava sent me to hunt down that oni you vanquished. He led me to you... of course, we had no idea that the new Charmed Ones had awoken so soon. And when I scanned you, Lex Russel, I found the blood of evil ones!" she put emphasis on "evil" that made Lex flinch a little. "Yet you Russels practice your witchcraft so artfully, and have made greater allies than those LeFleur men, whose blood is pure as glass. Pure as glass! Imagine that!" At this point, Rolline had lost all interest in Aaron and focused on Lex. "You have our allegiance to the very end, Lex Russel! The end!" she spotted Aaron's befuddled face. "You and your whitelighter." "Oh... thank you..." Lex said through clenched frightened teeth. Perhaps sensing his alienation, Aaron further stepped in front of Lex to shield him from the onslaught of Rolline's crazed smile. "There you are!" Lex and Aaron spun around. The woman in black stood in the doorway, hands on her hips and her eyes fixed on Rolline. She strode past the two straight to Rolline's side. "Don't wander like that!" "Oh, oh... apologies." Rolline nearly mumbled quite incoherently. Lyla and Lucy came in after her, but stopped at Lex's side. Lucy put a finger on her chin. "Actually... I can think of something else you can help us with." "What?" The woman in black asked while ushering Rolline. "The Halliwell Sisters. We've been trying to get in contact with them for days, but they keep ignoring our calls." "That's not my specialty." "Huh? You're part of the Nightshade Guardians. I thought you're supposed to be good at that." "Psh! I'm not part of the Guardians. I'm representing them. And escorting THIS one." she pointed to Rolline. "...I'm part of a different organization." "Which one?" Lyla asked. "Wouldn't you like to know." she responded. "Anyway. Rolline, you figure it out." Rolline nodded eagerly. "With haste." she reached her fingers into her shirt and pulled out several paper slips, then plunged into her pockets to procure a brush and some ink. While she did so, Lyla looked at Lucy, Lex and her husband. "It doesn't take all three of the Charmed Ones to ask Paige about Rudi. While I'm doing this, you guys go to San Pablo and maybe converge on our missing persons." They nodded. Aaron held Lex's hand and Lex held Lucy's hand. Together they disappeared in a flutter of orbs. - - - - Perhaps Casino San Pablo would have been a more likely place to look if the Russels had known the position of Lucas and Rudi five hours ago. Needless to say, they were dazzled to discover that they had so easily escaped their custody. Or to be more specific, they didn't know WHY they escaped their custody. And as Lucas stood with Rudi on a dirty weed-ridden pavement, he wasn't sure either. "This is your house?" he asked. Although the hour long bus ride and the fading twilight hours began to make Lucas a strange combination of drowsy and disoriented, he was still conscious enough to be surprised. Perhaps it was because of his upbringing in a three story house in San Diego, but Rudi's one floor, five room (kitchen, 2 br/1 b, living room) house directly across form the community college was less than glamorous. Rudi, dressed in Lex's sweat clothes that he hoped weren't missed, nodded as he reached under the door mat for the front key. "Yeah. My mom and dad are at work, so no one should be home right now." They entered and shut the door. Rudi lead Lucas to his bedroom; or at least, partially his. Two other beds lined the walls. "My older brothers." Rudi explained. "...They're both at Stanford medical. And they both got the same full scholarship." Lucas nodded. "Did you get a full scholarship too?" "No. I mean, I got some scholarships, but not enough." Rudi said regretfully. He sat on his bed and invited Lucas to sit on one of his brother's beds. "...My parents are paying my tuition. My dad had to take on another job to pay for it." "Ah." Now he knew why Rudi was so upset about dropping the pre-med path. "Well... don't worry, dude. You'll succeed at whatever you do." A weak smile from Rudi. "Thanks." he grabbed his pillow and then hugged it to his chest. "Hey, um... Lucas?" "Yeah?" "I'm really, really, really sorry about what happened earlier. It won't happen again, I promise." Sorry? How could Rudi be sorry? At least, that's what Lucas thought to himself, as he realized that he himself wasn't sorry in the least that Rudi kissed him. In fact, Lucas wondered if Rudi knew how much he wanted to be kissed by him again. But with masterful restraint and a display of friendship, Lucas held back. "...Dude, don't even trip. It's no big deal." Lucas got up and sat down on Rudi's bed with him. "And don't worry. We'll figure out what happened to you by ourselves." However, while he spoke, Lucas let his hand wander to Rudi's back. It traveled around his shoulder and then wrapped him closer. He felt Rudi's small warmth against his chest. "I'm a witch too, you know." Lucas said. "And we can definitely-" He stopped. Deep in Rudi's eyes, Lucas could see specks of scarlet. He hoped it was just the lighting, but Rudi's hair looked paler. "...What's wrong?" Rudi asked quietly, gripping Lucas' arm tighter. Again, with restraint, Lucas pulled away from Rudi and went back to his brother's bed. "Um... maybe we should get some rest. Pick it up again tomorrow." "Ah. Alright." Rudi said. Disappointment was obvious in his voice. "Goodnight then." "Goodnight." - - - - That evening, Rudi awakened with blood on his mind to a world dyed red. The light outside, unknown midnight and electric illumination, burned through the windowpane. Lucas was fast asleep. Rudi licked his lips. Next time, he thought. But up on the hill, awake in the red light in the middle of the night; that was where he had to go. It was something that had to do with the color red... something so intoxicating, so alluring, even more than lust. Rudi fled out the front door, leaving Lucas alone in his own house. - - - - Hush settled on the Twilight Citadel as Kane settled a heavy leer on Amy. She finally spoke. "No." "What do you mean, 'No?' Don't be stupid!" Kane yelled. "I'm telling Gloriana to hold off for now. I for one am sick of sacrificing my sisters to clean up a mess that's not even mine." The crystal clear voice rose in response, cutting Kane's rebuttal off. "...Amy is correct. I believe it is time to bring our affairs into our own hands. Knowledge of the Lilian Tablet must be contained. We will ensure its containment." "Beleth." Kane tried to address her with compromise. "You are our greatest asset. It would serve the Seven better if you continued to work from the sidelines; made yourselves scarce so in case of the event that-" "I think it's time she started pulling her own weight around here, frankly." said Amy. "...We are quite capable. And prematurely revealing ourselves should leave minimally negative consequences, especially considering the impending peril we currently are embedded in." Beleth said curtly. Ipos, mostly quiet, piped up with shrill voice. "If you're keen to attack, then we have a location." "Tell us." Ipos closed his eyes. "Casino San Pablo." "A casino!" Kane exclaimed. He gave a wicked smile. "My kinda place." "Very well." said Beleth. "We will comply with haste." And with that, she vanished without a trace. - - - - The sound of orbs swirled and fluttered like a fine wind. Lex, Lucy, and Aaron appeared in an empty casino. The sight was strange: cigarette scent lingered in the air. Drinks, half empty, studded the bar. The bright lights of the endless rows of slot machines simply illuminated the loneliness, brightened it with a thousand ringing noises from a false heaven, colors of false pinions. Lex looked to his sister with curiosity. "I thought casinos were open 24/7." She nodded. "They are." Suddenly, at the other end of the slot machines: movement. Aaron spotted pink hair and a familiar-looking sweat shirt. He ran towards Rudi. "Hey!" Rudi, his prowl cut short, turned a devious glare to Lex, Lucy, and Aaron before heading to the rooms with the card tables. But Aaron was fast. Before Rudi could get very far, Aaron transformed into a cloud of orbs and appeared in front of him, restraining him in his arms. He may have been small, but Rudi put up a marvelous fight, kicking and even attempting to bite Aaron's arm. Aaron yelled over the struggle to Lex and Lucy, who were still at the far side of the slot machines. "Lucy! Maybe you can freeze him!" "Got it." Lucy raised her hands and prepared to shoot lime light at Rudi. But something curious interrupted her. Instead of the sound of a slowing clock, there was the sound of victory. To be more exact, a thousand victories, all at once, as each and every slot machine suddenly cried out in a cacophony of electric noise and synthetic joy, and the slots themselves began to revolve in frightening whirling dervishes. Aaron gave a skeptical look as he continued to hold Rudi. "What was that?!" Similarly confused, Lucy looked at the slot machines. "I didn't do anything!" Each of the machines spun its reels over and over again. Each time they hit jackpot, but each time they simply restarted the spin again. "What the hell's going on?" And then a nova of matter, as space folded like a blanket and rebounded back into place; it forced Lex and Lucy to their knees. Aaron disappeared in orbs and Rudi was flung into the back wall. The memory of Byron LeFleur's powers briefly flashed in Lex's head. Levitating above the slot machines that were still ringing to the heavens was a ghost- or at least, she looked like one. Her skin was pale to the extent of ghastliness. Her dress seemed royal and strangely ornamental, a long gown of grey black and silver cloth weaving an elaborate ankle-length skirt. A platinum diadem perched in her similarly silver hair, braided and going down to her waist. Her eyes glowed, her fingers glowed; trails of pure light encased her hands, falling sparkles that faded like snowflakes to the ground. Her gaze, sharp and shining white, lay on Lex. "Push!" Lex yelled from his place on the ground. A wave of force escaped from his hand and flung the woman through the air like a gust of wind. She stopped herself in midair just before hitting the wall. Aaron reappeared next to Rudi, who was spellbound by the glowing woman. He grabbed Rudi's wrist and attempted to pull him away. The woman looked down at the ground below her and spotted Rudi. She outstretched a hand and a sphere of volatile light shot out of it. Aaron orbed Rudi away; with a flick of the woman's wrist, the sphere combusted in an explosive flash that engulfed the space Rudi just inhabited. Although there was no noticeable concussive force, a slot machine seemed compelled to fall over in the light's wake. While the woman turned around to face Lex and Lucy, Aaron and Rudi orbed behind them. Lucy gave a cursory glance to Rudi. "Aaron, get him out of here! We'll handle this!" Aaron nodded and finally succeeded in dragging Rudi away. The woman shot another sphere of light. Lucy put up a shield of green light; another wrist turn, and the sphere detonated at the shield. Lucy's light seemed to disassemble like a puzzle and then fade away completely. Lucy looked down at her fingers in panic. With great speed the woman sent yet another sphere in their direction; Lex and Lucy jumped in opposite directions, just narrowly avoiding the light. Lex yelped with fright when a chunk of the ceiling fell down next to him. He countered with another word. "Up." A slot machine rooted itself out of the ground. "Attack." It flew towards the woman. Ribbons of light that wrapped around the woman's wrists suddenly swirled to her fingertips. They solidified into sword-like projections that she used to slash the slot machine in two before it hit her. A heavy crashing noise accompanied the bifurcated metal as it fell to the ground. Lucy and Lex regrouped behind the fallen ceiling debris. They heard a series of resounding bellows. To their dismay, two more novas appeared behind their opponent. And two other women, exactly identical to the first, levitated in battle positions. A hopeless look slapped onto Lucy's face. "Who are these people?!" The swords the first woman used faded back into sparkles. She shot two spheres of light now, and her companions let loose their own glowing projectiles. Lex extended his hand and concentrated. "Rebound!" The lights flew back to their senders. Each of the women donned a blade and hit the spheres back on their original trajectories like a baseball bat. "Uh, uh- rebound!" Lex yelled again, and the spheres went back, but faster than before. This time, the women hit them away at different intervals, and each flew at Lex and Lucy in a storm that Lex could barely handle. "Rebound! Rebound! Rebound!" he screamed over and over again, stopping each individual sphere in its tracks only to have each one reflected. Perhaps Lex knew it was inevitable that he could not keep it up. But eventually the spheres moved so fast he couldn't spit the word out quick enough. In last minute desperation, as explosions of light burst around them, Lucy shielded herself in lime light and the sound of a slowing clock, and Lex put his hands in front of his face yelling the first word that came to mind: "Shine!" Blue light blooming. Green light accelerating. White light exploding. Mathematics etched in an invisible slate, a million equations making the impossible possible. Time stopped still. Light particles and waves froze in place surrounding static molecules. An absolute zero of movement making color a constant and variables nonexistent. The floating women knew what they had done, what their tools had done out of their control. But they could not stop it: the Ars Mathematica was eternal in its actions. There was the sound of a clock winding up. There was the transumation of matter into the speed of light. With a flash of aqua illumination and the sound of a whip, time resumed. The floating women realized their mistake. Lex and Lucy had disappeared. - - - - Finally... it's the Song of the Episode! "Dear Mr. Supercomputer" By: Sufjan Stevens (Sound the horn, make the bed Pull the cord, raise the dead) Oh my God, I can't believe it What went wrong? The human race, in its place Superstition man's religion And conditioned mysteries incomplete And the raven with its haven Gods-in-graven God is dead, God is dead; 1-2-3-4-5-6-7, All computers go to heaven If you think you got the vision, Plug into the conversation... (Sound the horn, make the bed Pull the cord, raise the dead) - - - The dark aroma of ink wafted through the attic. It smelled like the night outside. Rolline's pale hands worked magic with her brush as she made charm after charm with her arcane calligraphy. Lyla and the woman in black sat at an antique table, their legs crossed, both watching Rolline at work. Although not interacting besides through trace and intermittent angry glances at each other, Lyla's boredom finally overcame her. "What's your name, anyway?" she asked. The glance the woman in black gave Lyla lasted for less than a second, but was noticeable enough to indicate that she was paying attention. "Mitzy." "Oh. Oh!" Lyla raised her eyebrows. The picture of the family tree flashed through her head. "Mitzy Stillman?" Mitzy nodded. "Oh..." Another silence. In a strange and unexpected act of compassion or something like it, Lyla reached forward then put her hand on Mitzy's. Mitzy reflexively drew back from under Lyla. But Lyla continued anyway, not moving her own palm from the table. "I'm sorry." "Tch. For what." she stated more than asked. She shook her head and still avoided eye contact. "Lex and Lucy are my world." This seemed to grab Mitzy's attention. "I mean, I spent my whole life working for them. I spent my whole life training in magic for them. If they were to be gone, I wouldn't be able to handle it." It wasn't much of a sob story. Still, Mitzy was receptive. She finally turned to look at Lyla. "You're absolutely right. You wouldn't be able to handle it. I barely could. I can barely fucking stand it now, but if it's anything my sisters taught me, it's sucking it up." Mitzy motioned to Rolline. "D'ya know about Rolline? Her soul moves on from body to body, and each time she does she gets crazier. She was someone I could talk to back in her eighth body. But now... seeing her newest one, I think I'm going crazy too." Mitzy pursed her lips briefly. Lyla did not know what her last statement meant. Rolline placed the eighth slip of paper on the floor to complete the circle. She seemed oblivious to Mitzy's outburst, but Lyla obviously was not. She saw Rolline's progress and quickly departed from the table. Mitzy gave a grim smile to herself. It seemed that Rolline had forgotten what she was doing, for she stood in solitary silence until Lyla put a hand on her shoulder. Rolline jumped and squealed. "Oh! Apologies." "Err... yeah. So are you ready?" "Yes." Rolline suddenly and unexpectedly became swift as she pulled a slip of paper from her blouse and flung it at the circle in one swift motion. When the slip touched the floor it shone bright white along with the other charms. A dome of light flashed into view. The spectral visage of a spinning red dress appeared. A face became visible as the twirl slowed to a stop. Lyla recognized Paige. But Paige looked anything but happy to see Lyla. She quickly scanned the attic with manic motions and anger on her face. "What the- I'm not supposed to be here!" she screamed. "Well you weren't answering our calls!" Lyla said. "Of course not! Because I'm not supposed to be here! My sisters aren't supposed to be here! We're busy!" "Oh, come on, Paige. We need your help." "Grr... No!" Lyla giggled to herself hearing Paige growl, but Paige still was not amused. "Take me back. Now." Although Rolline almost complied, Lyla bent down and kicked one of the charms away with her spike heels. The dome of light vanished and Paige abruptly solidified. She gave an offended look as she gazed down at her body. Lyla seemed satisfied. "Look. Lyla. You don't get it. We're on the verge of something important. And I mean REALLY important." Mitzy got up and strode to Rolline's side. "Just answer her questions. We went through al lot of trouble, so you might as well." Paige suddenly acknowledged Mitzy's and Rolline's presences. "Oh. Mitzy. And Margo." "Margo? That's not-" Lyla stopped. She gazed at Mitzy's pale shameful face. Then her eyes wandered to Rolline's. Their profiles were quite similar. "-Margo." "...No. Rolline." said Mitzy. With a mournful realization Paige nodded. "I see. Sorry." she looked at Lyla and then sighed. "Ask away, I don't have all day." "Um, you..." Lyla almost forgot her question, distracted by Mitzy. "You remember Rudi, right?" "Yeah." "Kincaid told me that you said his transformation wasn't complete." "Yeah." Paige repeated. "Right, well we didn't exactly know what you meant by that." Paige rolled her eyes. "Sweetie, you really are hopeless. I meant that he's a vampire, but he's not connected to any Vampire Colony. Didn't you read the Book?" No, Lyla suddenly realized. She didn't check the Book of Shadows. Trying to avoid embarrassment she changed focus. "That's what we thought you meant, but we were kind of confused since he didn't display any vampire traits." "Of course not. Vampires are only fully turned when they connect to a colony. But when they're only half converted, then they're only vampires part of the time." Lyla raised an eyebrow. "What part of the time is that?" "Depends. Most part-vampires turn when something triggers them. A smell, a scent, an emotion or feeling... It would probably depend on the affinity of the vampire responsible for biting them." "Oh. Alright! Thank you, thank you, thank you, you can go now." Paige shrugged. She closed her eyes. Nothing happened. She slightly opened her left eye. "...I'm not going. Why am I not going?" she directed to Rolline. Mitzy and Lyla looked at Rolline as well. Rolline didn't really react in any way. "The spirit summoning charms only work during the waxing or full moon. The unsummoning ones only work during the waning moon." she said. "What?" Paige yelled and stomped her foot. "I have to wait another moon phase?!" "Whoa whoa, calm down." Lyla put her hands up and made soothing motions in the air, as if that would help. "Today's the last day of the full moon, which means you can leave tomorrow night." she said. The statement was met with a very sarcastic smile from Paige. "Great. I only have to wait a day to work on one of the most important cases in the world of magic." "Well I don't-" Now Lyla was frustrated. "What's so 'important' anyway?" When Paige opened her mouth to tell her, she was cut off by the sound of orbs. Lyla, Rolline, and Mitzy turned around in synchronicity. Aaron appeared in front of the doorway. In his arms was a limp Rudi, frightened and confused, and certainly not very vampire-ish. Lyla furrowed her eyebrows. "Where're Lex and Lucy?" Aaron let go of Rudi, who stumbled over to a nearby chair. His face was blank. "I... tried to sense them." he said. "They're gone." - - - - Aqua colored bursts of light made a whirlwind of brightness. Lex and Lucy tumbled onto a grassy hill as if they were dropped from the sky. The magical illumination faded away. A red sunrise lit the scene. Lex got up first. He rubbed the bump on his head and squinted his eyes against the sun. He looked down at Lucy and shook her awake. "Luce." he said softly. He shook harder and she finally began to get up, brushing grass out of her hair and then rubbing her eyes. "W-what happened?" Lucy said uneasily. Lex helped her to her feet. "I'm trying to think..." Lex pursed his lips. "There were those women. They used some really weird magic. Then I tried using Shine, and you used your light, and now we're here." The red sky became intense. Lucy nodded and shaded her eyes. "Ok. But where's 'here?'" "..." Lex took Lucy's arm. They were located on a precipice of some sort. He led her to the edge of the cliff. "I don't think we're in San Pablo anymore." At the bottom of the cliff was the sea. And rising above the ocean's horizon was the sun. "W- we're on the east coast." Lucy said rhetorically and skeptically at the same time. "Damn... that must've been some powerful magic." she looked to her left and right. Nothing but the grassy cliff they were perched on. "I guess we should find someone." "Yeah." Lex perked up." Oh! I'll just call Aaron. He's probably worried. Aaron! Aaron!" he said loudly. No response. "...Aaron?" Lucy scratched her head. "Something's not right here." "What?" "Iunno. The air's cleaner. The ocean's emptier. And the sky... it's so blank." She turned to Lex. "It doesn't seem too quiet to you?" "Yeah." Lex heard it too. "You're right." Motivated by the eerie silence, Lex sharpened his eyes and looked around. To his relief, he saw something on the far end of the hill. "Well... there's some sign of civilization at least." he said to Lucy, pointing to a far off dirt road. "Alright then. Let's go." And with that, they made their way to the trail and walked north on it. The trip was neverending and monotonous, but as the morning grew brighter more hopeful noises grew with it. Birds chirped and sang in lilts from faraway trees. A bright white sun cried shining columns of light. Scent of dewdrops and crisp air made a crystal atmosphere. Still, the quiet was otherworldly, and neither Lex or Lucy could shake off the strange feeling. So Lex tried to sate the feeling with some gossip. "...Hey, sis." "What?" He gave a wry smile. "Do you like Mikey?" "Excuse me?" Lucy opened her mouth in bewilderment. "What does that have to do with anything?" "I'm not hearing a no..." "Tch." the sharp noise made Lex just gently smile. Lucy couldn't stay mad at him, but she didn't admit anything either. She crossed her arms. "I won't dignify that with a response." Perhaps that was the answer Lex expected. He began to skip just a little bit, putting his hands behind his back. "Well... if you do like someone... hypothetically speaking, of course." "Oh, of course." "-then you deserve it. Deserve whoever you like, I mean." Lucy's eyes shifted to her sides. "Uh... thanks." Both of them perked up. At the end of the road was a town; small for sure, but a town nonetheless. They exchanged glances and laughed, picking up the pace. But as they approached the town, their hopes became dashed. "Oh." Lucy remarked as they walked passed a squalor wooden gate. "It's one of those renfairs or something. God, I hate these..." Lex looked around. Widely spaced, stately wooden houses of disturbingly humble color. Iron signs, dirt roads (not even stone paved!) wheelbarrows, horses... and eventually they saw people. They were dressed like Puritans, actually. He leaned over to whisper to Lucy. "Some renfair. Maybe it's like, one of those Thanksgiving reenactments." The majority of the people didn't see them, for they were exiting from the houses in front of them and quickly rushing to the main square. Lucy caught one woman in a white hair covering and black dress identical to all the others by the arm and turned her around. "Excuse me, miss, could you-" "Ah!" she squealed. Her blue eyes widened in terror upon seeing Lucy's face and hearing her voice, and she jumped away to the main square with her boots scuffling on the dirt. "...the hell?" Lucy asked, frustrated. She and Lex exchanged glances yet again, this time in a little bit of curiosity. With silent mutual consent, they walked to the gathering crowd at the main square, making sure to keep their distance from any people, but coming close enough to see the object of their attention. The people, a sea of black and white cloth, were gathered around a gallows. On the gallows was a pole surrounded by wood. Tied to the pole was a woman in a white dress with long brown hair. A man in the typical black suit but with a white wig stood on the gallows. He held a torch in his hand. "Melinda Warren has been found guilty of Witchcraft against the Reverend's daughter Abigail Parris, as well as against Mercy Walcott, Ann Williams, and Elizabeth Putnam. As punishment for her most heinous crime, she is to be burned at the stake!" Uproarious cheering from the crowd! Lucy smiled. "Wow! This is really authentic!" She said to Lex. But Lex wasn't laughing. The man put the torch in the wood. The flames were kindled, the fire grew beneath the woman's feet. Heat licked upwards to her ankles. The people grew more restless, jeers and boos and yells. Lucy frowned. "Huh. They better take her down from there soon, that dress ain't flame-retardent." "Luce. Listen." Lex beckoned. The woman yelled over their shouts. "You may kill me, but you cannot kill my kind. I vow that each generation of Warren witches will grow stronger, culminating in the arrival of three sisters. These three sisters will be the most powerful witches the world has ever known. They will destroy all kinds of evil and shall be called the Charmed Ones!" Lex and Lucy gasped. A man in the crowd screamed "Burn in hell!" to which the crowd grew wild. The flames caught the woman's skirt on fire. Lex's face contorted in horror as he turned away. Lucy put her hands to her mouth, similarly turning in Lex's direction. Above the uproar, Lex heard Lucy's harsh whisper. "Oh. Shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Lex, we're in trouble. This is Salem." "There they are!" Lex and Lucy turned around. The woman Lucy had spoken to wildly pointed at them. "Witch! Witch!" "Crap." Lex took Lucy's hand and ran at full speed down the path, not bothering to see if they were followed. - - - - In a swarm of panic, Lyla flipped through the Book of Shadows. Aaron was behind her on her left, and Paige on her right, tapping her foot impatiently. Mitzy and Rolline leaned against the wall. "If you don't need us anymore, we'd be glad to go." Mitzy said. "No don't go we still need you stay there for him and phoebe." Lyla said as one continuous sentence, referring to silent Rudi in the far corner. Mitzy rolled her eyes. "I don't often say this to people I look down upon, but you need to calm down." The search paused just briefly as Lyla looked up at Mitzy. "YOU look down on ME?" "Ok, argue later, search now. Now!" Paige urged. And Lyla continued to panic. Aaron finally stopped Lyla with a steady hand on the page. "Wait." He, Lyla, and Paige leaned over a picture in the Book. It was unlabeled, on a very tattered page that was soft with age. A stately young woman in an ornate silver dress, a diadem in her hair. Aaron pointed to her. "That's her. That's the one." "...There's no caption." Lyla stated she flipped the page back and forth, looking for a hidden explanation, but there was none. She looked up at Paige. "I don't know either, I've never even seen that in the book before." Paige said. She pushed past Lyla and inspected the picture closer. "The artists's initials... CW." "Charlotte Warren?" Lyla asked. Paige shook her head. "No. Melinda created the book, not her mother. I think it's Melinda's granddaughter. Cassandra Warren." "Cassandra..." Lyla repeated to herself. She folded the page of the silver woman and flipped through the book again looking for Cassandra Warren's page. Ironically she found Ipos and Cassandra's Eyes. "No..." Lyla continued to search until she found her. She was a slight but pretty woman with curly brown hair. "Cassandra Warren. One of the greatest seers of the entire Warren line. She lived in Boston as a glass smith. It is said that the extent of her powers were so great, she could see from the beginning of time all the way to the end of it, and the vision drove her to madness. That's scary." she closed the Book. "Well. Whoever it is that Cassandra drew in that book, Lex and Lucy are in trouble." Paige said. "Aaron. You can't sense them at all?" "No." he said, shaking his head. "They're not dead or hurt... it's like they vanished." "You tried triangulating their signals? Using Lyla as a starting point?" Aaron rolled his eyes. "I've been at this job longer than you have, you know." "Right. Sorry." "Only a couple of things could have wiped Lex and Lucy off the face of the earth like that." Aaron went on to say. "One is the negation of their entire existence." Lyla gasped. "...But that's not possible, since if that were the case, our memories would have been wiped as well. Which leaves us with the next most likely possibility: they were transported to another spatial or temporal plane. Right now they're either in another universe, dimension, or time frame, or any combination of the three." Mitzy, from the sidelines, chuckled. "Oh man... you guys are screwed." "Shut up!" Lyla, Aaron, and Paige said at once. "Excuse me..." A mousy voice responded from across the room. The five of them turned to face Rudi, who the whole time was politely quiet. "Um... can I go now? Lucas doesn't know where I am." Lyla pursed her lips. "Just call him then." she said from her place. Rudi nodded. In a small house in San Pablo, the telephone rang. It rang for a minute straight in fact, since Rudi's family apparently didn't have an answering machine. Lucas rubbed his face in frustration and sat up in bed. The red digital clock read 2:20. Just wishing for the noise to stop, he grabbed the phone on the windowsill and answered. "Hello?" "Hi." Lucas paused. He looked at the bed next to him. It was empty. "Rudi?!" "Yeah. I'm sorry... I went at about midnight, and then these people found me and-" Aaron, Paige, and Mitzy gave him an uncomfortable silent stare from the other side of the attic, and Lyla put her hands on her hips. "-I'm back at the Russel Manor in the city." "..." Lucas sighed and put pressure on the bridge of his nose. He was starting to get a headache. "Rudi, it's way too late for me to catch a bus." "I know. I'm sorry. That's why maybe I was wondering if maybe any of the people who are here right now could pick you up...?" Rudi said and asked at the same time. Lyla threw her hands up in frustration. She spoke in a harsh whisper. "Aaron, babe?" Aaron shook his head. "Paige?" "You're funny." "..." The rest stared at Mitzy. Mitzy bit her lip. "Fine. Yeah, I'm your damn chauffeur..." Rudi smiled. "Thanks!" he referred back to Lucas, who patiently and sleepily waited for an answer. "We'll be coming right down. Just stay there, ok?" "Sure. Whatever. See you." Lucas hung up. At this point, he didn't care what was happening. He just needed some sleep. Rudi collapsed his phone and put it back in his pocket. Mitzy held a hand out, conjuring a broomstick. Lyla snorted. "You're kidding." "I wish I was." Mitzy looked at Rudi. "Whereddya live, kid?" "First house on Mission Bell Drive." "Great. I'll be back." Mitzy trudged down the stairs. The front door opened and slammed shut. With that, Lyla sighed. She made her way to Rudi's side and kneeled to eye level. "Look... why did you and Lucas run away? We were only trying to help you." "Lucas didn't think so. And I was really scared, I just wanted things to get better." Rudi said. He shrugged. "I-I mean, I've just gotten to terms with magic, and it has to start out with my boyfriend being a vampire that turned me into one too. Sorry." "There's not much we can do about it now..." Lyla replied. She looked up at Paige. "While you're here, maybe you can help us cure him." The red lips of Paige's mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. She crept to Lyla's side and whispered in her ear. "Can I talk to you? Outside?" Lyla nodded and motioned to Aaron, who left Rolline gazing at the Book of Shadows and replaced Lyla at Rudi's feet. She and Paige stepped into the hallway. "There's no cure." Paige whispered. "Wha?" "Sh!" Paige said putting a finger to her lips and peeking at the attic door. "You obviously didn't get it when I told you about hybrids, but once a hybrid has vampire blood in them, I don't think it can be removed." "What are you talking about? I thought we could just kill whatever vampire bit him!" "No... Here, lemme put it this way. Let's compare it to a flower. Normally, a vampire bites someone, ok? That's like planting the seed. Then, when the vampire finishes the job and he puts all his emotion and intent into that bite, that's like the stem growing out of the ground. This is usually when you kill the vampire that bit the guy." "Like with Aaron and with you?" "Yeah. Ok, anyway. Then when the victim bites someone themselves and becomes a vampire too, that's like the flower blooming. Rudi's seed could never grow a stem, because his boyfriend couldn't finish the job. So obviously you can't pull the seed out of the ground if there's not a stem to pull it out by!" Lyla paused at Paige's convoluted metaphor. "...What if you have a shovel?" "Lyla, please! What I mean to say is, you can't kill anybody to turn Rudi back to normal, because technically, no one actually turned him into a vampire! They just made him half-baked." "Shit." Lyla exclaimed. "What am I supposed to do? Go back in there and say 'Oh, well we went through all this trouble and brought you back here just to tell you you're screwed, goodbye.'" "NO. You're protecting him. Why did the vampires attack him in the first place? And why were those crazy floating ladies that Aaron saw so intent on killing him?" Suddenly, a scream in the attic. Paige and Lyla exchanged glances and barged through the door with their guard up. Aaron had brought Rudi to his feet and backed him away to the wall. Rolline, a bright blue charm in her hand, screamed "Evil! Evil!" at the top of her lungs. And there, in the middle of the room, was Dragon. "Purge evil!" Rolline screeched as she threw her charm. Dragon slashed his arm in the air, and a green wave of wind effortlessly blew the paper away. Lyla ran as fast as she could in heels, grabbing Rolline's wrists and holding them down. "Rolline, no! He's a friend! A friend!" "NOOooo! I must kill evil! Evil must be purged..." Rolline started at high volume, but dwindled as Lyla held her tighter. Her blue eyes narrowed and her muscles relaxed. Lyla cautiously let go. Without another word, Rolline sat back down in her seat. "Where is Lex?" said Dragon, his deep voice resounding. Lyla turned around to face him. He was angry. - - - - Almost unconsciously, Lex brought a hand to his chest and fingered the pendant under his shirt. He was relieved to find that it still brought comfort. Still, knowing that Atla may not have even been born yet was a scary prospect. "Ow!" Lucy whispered. Lex turned to her. A branch had fallen on her head. The bushes they were hidden in were dark and dense, but the deciduous trees shed leaves and other things constantly. Through the thick boughs they saw the last hunting party finally give up. They turned around and headed back towards the direction of Salem. When Lex and Lucy were sure of their departure, they stood up and stretched. "First thing's first..." Lucy said. "How the hell did we get here?" A harmless shrug from Lex. "It must've been the magic those women in the casino used. Maybe it's time magic." "No... that didn't look like their power." said Lucy. "Well whatever, it doesn't matter. We can find out later. Right now, we gotta find some other witches that can take us back." "Yeah. We also gotta hide the fact that we're witches ourselves." "Can we talk about that, by the way? How did that girl know?" Without hesitation, Lex pointed to Lucy's hair. Lucy looked up at her fluorescent green streak. "Oh." "It's nothing some magic can't fix. I'm pretty sure I can think of something..." Lex said. Lucy nodded and waited for him to concoct a spell. "Um... Let's try this: We are lost and out of place/lacking in a guise sublime/we call upon illusion's grace/to make our semblance fit this time." A flash of white lights. Lex blinked. "Did it work?" he asked. "I don't feel any different but I-" she stopped when she caught sight of Lex. "-it worked." Lex looked at Lucy. "Oh God... it did work." The spell was only an illusion, and for that both Lex and Lucy were thankful it wasn't an actual physical change. Both of their skin had grown pale white, their hair dark brown, eyes green and noses sharp. Lucy was in a black dress all the way down to her ankles and a white hair covering. Lex was in a black archaic suit and a hat. They looked like genuine pilgrims. "How do I look? Do I look bad?" Lex asked. "Yeah... You look pretty bad." she replied. "What about me?" "Like the Anglican Church threw up. Oh, but don't worry, they all look like that. I really hope we'll be able to pull this off." Lucy sighed. She brushed some leaves off her shirt. "...I guess if anyone finds out about us, I can just freeze them." "Your powers won't work." "Whaddya mean?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow. "I read it in the Book somewhere. Our powers don't exist yet, so we can't use them." Lex fumbled at his t-shirt, and his illusion fumbled at his starched collar. "Do I really look that bad? I hate this." "Oh, come on. I'm sure they work." A flock of birds passed overhead. Lucy smiled at Lex and then pointed to the birds. "See?" Lucy flicked her arms at the birds. A green spotlight indeed traveled from her fingertips. But something was off- instead of the sound of a slowing clock, they heard the sound of acceleration. Sure enough, the birds flew across the sky at three times the speed, like a tape on fast forward. Lucy put her hands down and hugged them to her chest. "What the hell?!" "Luce, could you always do that?" "No! Of course not! Otherwise I wouldn't have yelled 'What the hell,' would I have? Use your powers, maybe they're funky too." Lex nodded. He pointed to the falling leaves. "Push." Nothing happened. He looked at Lucy. "I don't have any powers." "Well- whatever! Come on, let's just go and find some witches! This time loop just made everything psycho, and when we get home it'll be fixed again..." Lucy stepped over the bushes onto the dirt road, and Lex followed. Eventually they made their way back to Salem, and they were relieved to find their disguises working perfectly. Walking down the crowded road and passing by identical men and women and identical wooden houses, Lex whispered to Lucy. "...That was Melinda Warren they burned this morning." "Yeah, I know." "That's..." he sniffed a little. "That's our grandma." "Well, yeah. Like, our great, great, great, great, great, great grandma or something. Lex-" Lucy gave a firmer tone of voice, seeing Lex's illusionary face grow sadder. "-Lex. She was meant to die. Otherwise the Charmed Ones wouldn't exist. Remember that." Lex nodded. But the look of defiance Melinda gave before burning, the strange face of determination she had- it was something to both admire and fear. Did she know the impact that she had put on the world with the words she spoke? "Hey. Look at that." Lucy said, grabbing Lex's shoulder. He followed her gaze. A small group of men and women were gathered in the street. They watched a young woman who somehow made the Puritan clothes pretty perched on a high wooden box with three other girls gathered around. They stood with their hands in their laps, but the main girl was engaged in raucous speech; she clutched a Bible in her hand. "We have struck yet another blow to evil this day!" she screamed. "We did God's work! We served His justice!" The crowd cheered. "Melinda Warren was a sister of Satan. An ungodly whore of Lilith. And she tried to use her wicked craft on me, on my friends, on all of you! But with the divine fires of righteousness, we defended ourselves!" While the group cheered yet again, Lucy and Lex made their way to the edge of the crowd. Lucy nudged a young man. "Excuse me, sir. Who is that up there?" He gave her a strange look. "You must not be from here." "Uh, yes we are..." "No we're not. We're from Beverly." Lex interjected. The man nodded. Lex clenched his teeth and thanked Arthur Miller in his head. "Ah. Welcome to Salem, friends." He pointed to the women engaged in sermon. "That is Abigail Parris. Reverend Parris' daughter. She has single-handedly rooted out ten servants of the Devil. But there are more out there. As long as we follow her, we'll find them." "Ooh! Yes. Absolutely." said Lucy with a smile. The man redirected his gaze to Abigail. Lucy turned to Lex. "Hear that? Servants of the Devil." Lex shook his head. "I really don't like this." "There is evil afoot!" Abigail continued to yell. "And these brave men will help to exterminate it!" As she said that, about five or six young men appeared in front of her, armed with muskets and strangely ministerial black robes. She motioned to them. "This is my Monastary! They will fight evil with the power of light." "Who is it, Abby?" Someone in the crowd asked. "Who is the evil in our midst?" Another voice cried out. "My crops died yesterday! But I swear I saw Goody Osborne dancing on them in the night!" "My baby has fallen ill- Goody Osborne cursed him too!" The crowd began to grow irritable again, but the three girls around Abigail shushed them. Abigail continued unopposed. "I saw it in a vision. I felt a tingling on my skin, li-like needles, and a cold piercing in my heart..." she clutched her chest and visibly shivered. "So, so... cold..." "She's being hexed right now!" "By Lord, someone do something!" "I can feel her spirit... she sends her spirit upon me...!" Slowly, ever slowly, Abigail raised a finger. She pointed down the road at a brown house on the far hill. Her strong voice plummeted a raspy whisper that her followers had to stifle themselves to hear. "The Devil... the Devil's servant..." The three girls around her suddenly began to wail. They clutched their hands to their hearts and floundered to the ground, screaming. Finally, Abigail's verdict arrived. "ิtis... Goody Good." As though the crowd knew it was Goody Good all along, they erupted in uproarious anger. The Monastary led the way to the Good's house with the entire crowd in tow. Abigail, satisfied, came down from her perch very much unfrozen. Two of the girls gathered around her and wrapped a shawl around her shoulders, and in a quick mousy caravan, the four girls glided down the street away from the crowd they just dispatched. Lucy trailed them, and Lex had some trouble keeping up with her pace. "What are you doing?" he whispered. "Following. Who better to find a witch than a witch hunter?" Her logic seemed dangerous to Lex, but he figured that his sister would know the right course of action. The two kept a very safe distance from the girls, hiding behind corners and large objects but still keeping them within range. They made their way to a very big church; Abigail entered first, followed by two of the girls. The last girl Lucy recognized as the one that had so vigilantly pointed them out before. She paused on the doorstep, then turned around. Lex and Lucy stopped in their tracks. The girl gave an uneasy stare before entering the church herself. "That was close..." Lex whispered for some reason. "Lex. There's gotta be a spell that can turn us invisible." After a pursing of the lips and contemplation, Lex shook his head. "Nope. Don't think so. Oh, I can try the vanishing spell though. The Book said it turned Phoebe invisible once." "...Sure. Do it." Lex held Lucy's hand. "Let the object of objection become but a dream/as I cause the seen to be unseen." A flash of light. It had worked, completely and utterly. "Lex, I love you." Maybe Lex had winked to his sister, but Lucy had no idea. "No problem." she heard him say. Lucy led Lex by the hand across the road to the front steps of the church. As quietly as she could, she pried the heavy doors open, slipped in, and closed the door behind Lex. The spacious church was empty but for the girls, who were engaged in a very heated conversation by the altar. Still holding hands, Lex and Lucy sat down at the back pew to overhear. "They're starting to catch on, Abby. Goody Good was going to kill me! I know she was!" "Don't a twit, Mercy." Abigail snapped. "No one would believe her anyway, she's a nitwit." "Was Melinda the last witch? Are the rest of them dead?" asked Ann. "No, don't be stupid. We're still alive." Abigail said with a laugh. "It's done now. Tituba is gone. Alice, Susannah, Martha, Sarah, they're all dead." "But Abby!" the jumpy girl that Lucy and Lex recognized yelped. "Some of the girls- some of the girls, they just vanished! They could've blinked away! What if they come back for us? If they know Melinda is dead, they'll-" "Shut up, Lizzy, shut up!" Abigail yet again exposed a hint of fury. "I didn't want to kill Melinda. She was sympathetic to our ideas and a fine witch, and I regret that someone exposed her to the authorities. My Monastary would have saved her... but the fact is she's dead now, and there's nothing we can do. Sacrifice is needed to win the war." "B-but... but Abby..." Elizabeth almost seemed on the verge of tears. "We've gone too far. Goody Good isn't even a witch. She wasn't on our side or on Tituba's side, she was just an innocent." "She was gonna kill me!" Mercy whined yet again, this time to Elizabeth. "She knew! If she told the town we were witches, we'd have been done." she looked to Abigail in panic. "We gotta leave. We gotta leave Salem, Abby, before someone finds out." "Mercy is right. We've gone too far to give up now. So-" Abigail stopped when the door opened. A shadow stood in the doorway, his details obscured by the bright light outside. Lex and Lucy couldn't see him at their angle either. But Abigail seemed to recognize him. "What are you doing here?" she lashed. The figure walked towards the girls, and by the time he was out of the light Lex and Lucy could only see the back of his head. "It's our father's church." he said. "I have as much right to be here as you and your friends." The word "friends" had some obvious spite that made Elizabeth flinch. Abigail smiled. "Father says I'm more reverend than you are. And I'm a girl." "...Is that what you are?" he posed angrily. Mercy, Elizabeth, and Ann pulled back from Abigail. Abigail narrowed her eyes. "'A girl?' Something worse, like... murderer, or killer maybe. "No. Cleanser. Illuminator." Abigail approached her brother, hugging her Bible to her chest. "You don't believe in God's work? You wish for these filthy Devil-worshipping pagans to run loose in our town?" "Oh ho, now don't call me un-Christian, Abby." He pointed to the door. "You just killed an innocent woman! Goody Good was not a witch and you know it." "You're not a witch either. But all I have to do is point my finger... and you'll be making friends with the fire too." Silence. Abigail raised an eyebrow. "Don't think I won't." She turned on her foot and joined the girls, heading towards the back door. "You're not doing God's work, Abigail!" He yelled. She ignored him. "You masquerade harm for help and murder along the way. Are you willing to kill innocent men and women to uphold your imaginary good?" Abigail stopped. The girls exited. She peered at him with the corner of her eyes. "I am justice. I am His sword. And I cut whom I see fit." "Ha! Arrogance. God watches all. He watches you. His eyes see every move you make. So help me, you will cut yourself." Quiet again. Abigail paused. Then, without a word, she left and closed the door behind her. He sighed and turned around. The light from the open entrance doors shone on his face; Lex and Lucy gasped. Lex got up, pulling his sister with him, and he felt the vanishing spell being thrown off as he let loose a jubilant yell. "Aaron!" Aaron's eyes widened as two strangers, dressed in bizarre clothes and and naked uncovered hair, appeared in the back of the church. He straightened his hat on his head and cleared his throat, completely lost for words. Lucy looked down at herself. Not only had the vanishing spell worn off, but the illusionary spell was also undone. She glared at Lex. "That was so stupid!" she whispered harshly. "Obviously he's not Aaron!" "Ah- I am. Aaron Parris...You are witches, I presume." "Yeah! Uh... Yes." said Lex, eagerly nodding. He turned around and closed the church doors. Aaron was still dumbfound. Lex gave a goofy grin. "Can we talk?" - - - - Several centuries later, Lyla decided to move everyone down to the living room. Although Rolline seemed content to sit in the corner, and Rudi was fine on the sofa, Aaron and Dragon took the liberty of standing with their arms crossed and intensely staring at each other. When Paige walked in with the Book of Shadows in her hands, she didn't seem surprised. "Why don't you two just break the tension and kiss or something?" she asked with a very serious look on her face. Both Aaron and Dragon turned to glare at her. A tingly, peppy electronic beat pulsed through the living room, making everyone jump. Rudi reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Hello? Lucas?" Pause. Rudi bit his lip. He held the phone out to Lyla. "...What?" Lyla inquired, giving the cell phone a rather disgusted glance. "It's for you." Confused, she took the phone. "This is Lyla." "Shit! It's about time you answered!" Lyla glared at the receiver. "...Mitzy? What are you doing, you're supposed to be picking up Lucas." "I am! I'm at the kid's house right now!" A burst of static as Lyla heard a small explosion and a scream on the other line. "We're under attack! They're trying to kill this kid too! Send help, now. Fuck-" The line cut off. Lyla threw the phone back to Rudi as she stood up. "Is everything ok?" Rudi asked. She shook her head. "Paige!" Paige put the book down on the couch as she answered to her name. "I'm really sorry, Paige... but-" "Yeah. Sure." Paige shook her head and pressed her fingers to her temples. "I'm here anyway... I might as well." "Great." She turned to Aaron and Dragon. "Aaron? Dragon? You guys stay here with Rolline and protect Rudi." "But-" both Aaron and Dragon piped up at the same time. Lyla interrupted them both. "I trust you, Dragon. And babe? Love you. We'll be back." she took Paige's hand and orbed away. The effulgent chiming and the white light faded out. Rudi looked from Dragon to Aaron with the awkwardness of a child whose parents were arguing. "...I'm truly beginning to doubt the skill you have at your job." Dragon said. His normally stoic face was sharp with anger. His fists were clenched, and his muscles were noticeably tense. Aaron wasn't about to be pushed over. "How dare you?! I did everything I could back there, and you of all people have no right to say I wasn't there for Lex." Aaron felt his own fists tightening. "What would you have done, anyway? Huh?" "I wouldn't have let him out of my sight." Dragon said through clenched teeth. "The woman you described is part of the Seven. I've seen her. Surely you'd know better than to leave your charges alone with such a powerful force." "Don't you tell me how to do my job. I don't tell you how to assassinate your targets, do I?" Aaron snickered and Dragon bit his lip. "At least I'm not a trained killer. I guess you feel differently, but I don't see murder as a viable career path!" "I do not murder. I fight." "To the death! You are a killer! Lex isn't safe with you! None of us are safe with you! ...When we save Lex, I'm going to save him from you next. Mark my words, we'll-" "Choose your words wisely, whitelighter." "Or you'll what? You got darklighter poison somewhere?" "Whitelighters still feel pain." Aaron shook his head. "When I look at you... I wonder if Lex was crazy." "...Do not. Insult. Lex." "1." Aaron, whose rebuttal was about to leave his lips, stopped. Dragon stopped. Who had spoken? Aaron and Dragon followed Rudi's gaze, which was trained on Rolline in the corner. Rolline twirled her straight blonde hair between two fingers. She rocked back and forth perched on a chair in fetal position. Aaron held out a hand. "...Rolline?" "1.9.1.5.2.1.1.4.4..." The numbers came slowly at first. She nearly whimpered them. But they gained momentum with her rocking, and gained strength and speed with her voice. "2085 8151814" "Something is wrong." Dragon stated. "Yeah, no shit." "158 131208513120931" Rolline grew wilder. Her eyes widened and her skin blanched paler as the tone of her voice grew panicked. "What's happening?" Rudi asked, standing up and coming to Aaron's side to observe Rolline. She was in a frenzy now. "4121782051819! 156! 25125208! 116161815138!" And then finally, she stopped. She shut down like a tired computer. "They approach!" Dragon yelled. Aaron turned around and conjured his bow, pushing Rudi behind him. Time and space warped and shimmered in the lobby. Aaron notched an arrow in his bow. Dragon swirled wind between his fingertips. Rudi, in a bout of fear, clutched catatonic Rolline's shoulders from behind her. The third dimension folded. A deep flash of light stained their retinas a myriad of color. Aaron hesitated before letting his arrow loose. Dragon, in the corner of his eye, gave him a solemn nod. He shook his head. The glowing woman, her eyes aglow, her hands aflame... The embodiment of silver and light. "...God help us." To Be Continued - - - - "Fun" fact for fans!: I think this is the first time I've ever bought up the subject of religion, or the topic of religion in Charmed for that matter! In case you're curious, Aaron is certainly Christian- no longer Puritan of course, but he's adapted a much more nebulous Protestant attitude as time went by. Lyla is Wiccan, and Lex considers himself agnostic, but Lucy likes to say she's an Atheist. As for Atla... his cultural quirks will be covered a little bit later in the series ;). Bonus Fact: I don't think I would've had this whole time-traveling nonsense if it weren't for reading The Crucible. It has got to be one of the most fun plays ever. Abigail Williams is just the perfect villian. While Arthur Miller took poetic licence on the actual Salem Witch Trials to write The Crucible, I'm taking poetic licence on The Crucible to write this story! So it's a little bit like that game Telephone- just mix it up and see where things end up in the end. No, this is certainly not historically accurate in any sense. But the names and characters are loosely based on actual figures in history ^^ Well, here it is: Part I. You know, at first I was really excited about it, but now when I read it... I dunno, it seems a little bit deflating. I'm hoping part II's going to be more exciting and a whole lot more revealing, since it seems like this episode was just setting up mysteries that would be resolved in part II. :D. I'll let you decide what to think. as per usual: thank you for reading! Questions? Comments? Recommendations? Fan Mail? Hate Mail, maybe? Wanna just talk about Charmed? email me at ThePleiadesCall@gmail.com . Love to hear from you! If you like Charmed Reborn, maybe there's the very vague possibility you'll like other stories I've submitted: Final Fantasy Rosa (Celebrity), Pokemon: Amethyst (Celebrity), Teth (Fantasy), Diana Celes (High School), and Hallow (Sci-Fi/Fantasy).