Charmed: Let Gorgons Be Gorgons

by Paul Ruditis

  “But it can be us,” Stheno said. The sudden calm that came over her was even worse than Euryale agreeing with Medusa. “If tapping into the magic of the Charmed Ones and their sister is what brought our own gifts back to us, I wonder what would happen if we took their magic as well.”

  Chapter 24

  Coop watched as the residents of Grand Haven Retirement Village went about their late morning activities on the well-manicured grounds. A painting class had set up on the patio while another group played bocce on the lawn. Several other residents seemed to be taking leisurely strolls, but there was something very predetermined about their chosen routes. As nice as the “village” was, Coop couldn’t see himself ever moving into such a casually structured place, and that had nothing to do with his immortal status. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit.”

  “Yes, it is kind of a constricting way of life,” Cole replied, taking a sip from his drink. They waited in the gazebo for someone to either kick them out or ask them what they were doing there. So far, it has been a half-hour and not a soul had approached. “These people don’t seem to enjoy as much freedom as this community wants it to appear they do. And yet, it has a stunning lack of security.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m talking about your plan. I don’t like your plan.”

  “I know,” Cole repeated. “You’ve made that perfectly clear the dozen other times you mentioned it. But it’s the best option we have for bringing Dafydd out into the open.”

  “It seems wrong,” Coop said. “Manipulative. I would have preferred staking out Phoebe’s other couples and waiting for him to show up.”

  “That’s probably because it is manipulative,” Cole said without a moment of hesitation. “Kama’s got the couples covered. Dafydd hasn’t gone near them. Hasn’t gone back to Piper’s restaurant either.”

  “We’re putting people in danger,” Coop reminded him.

  “Only for a moment,” Cole said. “As soon as he appears we grab him by the throat and beam him to Cupid’s temple where we can force that disgusting river water down his throat.”

  “I don’t like that part of the plan either.” Coop said. “Let me try to reason with him first. He is the man who trained me. I don’t want to just grab him and force him to drink that swill. Maybe I can get through to him. I just don’t understand what would make him betray his calling like this.”

  Cole looked skeptical. “Do you really need me to explain how love can make people do crazy things? Would you like me to cite examples?”

  “That’s okay. I’ve heard the stories.”

  “I will say it’s worse for people like us,” Cole added. “The ones who never die. Or at least exist for a very long time. You’d think that with so much time and so many different opportunities to fall in love that we’d be better at it. Have more experience. But that’s not the way it works out.”

  “I didn’t really have any experience,” Coop admitted. “Not before Phoebe.”

  Cole paused for a beat, looking him over. “That’s… sad.”

  “Job hazard.”

  Cole nodded like he understood. Coop assumed Cole’s former life as a half-demon came with enough hazards to put his to shame. Maybe complaining about his life to Cole Turner was not the most sensitive thing Coop had ever done. His mind went back to the thought that kept playing on repeat. “We should have thought this out more. It’s not… fair.”

  Cole leaned forward in his seat. “You heard Kama. Stheno was the one who used her mythological connections to get access to the vault. She stole the ring for Dafydd. They’re clearly working together with him being some kind of distraction for the Charmed Ones. He’s already affected Phoebe and Piper so you know what that means.”

  Coop sighed. “That Paige could be next. Which might mean an attack on her Charges or Magic School.”

  “I’m guessing that’s going to be worse than breaking up some couples or making a few mortals sick.”

  Even though everything Cole kept saying was true—and he was saying it in the most direct way possible—Coop couldn’t help but feel like it was coming out in a slightly condescending manner. Then again, Cole usually had that tone when he spoke, which made it difficult to read his true intentions.

  As logical as the argument sounded, Coop still felt like this was not right. But none of that mattered because it had worked. Dafydd beamed in right beside the gazebo in a red glow much stronger than the pink light that Coop was used to.

  “Where is she?” Dafydd demanded. “Where’s Marsha?”

  Coop and Cole were on their feet. They moved so fast that Cole lost his drink, sending the plastic cup spilling to the ground.

  “She’s not here, Dafydd,” Coop said, trying to keep the situation from escalating. Coop hadn’t seen his friend in decades, but time—and magic—had been kind to him. A little graying at the temples. A few wrinkles around the eyes. All in all, he looked very much like he did on the day he was stripped of his powers. Dafydd was no longer immortal, but he would enjoy a longer life than most people. There wasn’t a crime Coop could think of that would force a Cupid to lose everything.

  “Like hell she isn’t,” Dafydd replied. “I’ve still got friends in the magical community. I know you came here to move her some place safe.” The Eros Ring sparkled on his finger, even when it wasn’t active. Coop could feel the emotions coming from it. He was surprised that it didn’t have a calming effect on Dafydd. Perhaps because he’d only used it for evil purposes.

  “She’s been some place safe for over fifty years. Why would we move her now?” Cole’s response saved Coop from having to admit his manipulation of the truth. “Those friends passed along the information we wanted you to have. It was the only thing we knew would bring you out of hiding.”

  It wasn’t that Cupids couldn’t lie, but Coop felt like he lost a part of himself every time he chose not to tell the truth. Honesty was at the core of any relationship. Even a lie made with the best of intentions told to someone who had done horrible things didn’t change that. “I’m sorry, Dafydd. You gave us no choice.”

  “That doesn’t mean much coming from the man responsible for destroying her life,” Dafydd said. “Now you’re even using her to betray me. You should be ashamed.”

  Cole laughed in a taunting way. “Wow. Demons have nothing on you when it comes to hypocrisy.”

  “Who the hell is this?” Dafydd said.

  “A friend,” Coop replied. It was the easiest explanation and one that he was finding truer with every passing moment. Cole looked a bit taken aback by the comment, but didn’t say anything.

  “Afraid to see me on your own?” the former Cupid asked.

  Coop held out a hand. “We’re here to help you, Dafydd. You need to return the Eros Ring.”

  “As soon as you take me to Marsha.”

  “You tried to destroy my wife’s career and close my sister-in-law’s restaurant to convince me you’re worthy of Marsha’s love? That’s the most twisted--”

  “I’m not interested in convincing you of anything.” Now Dafydd let out the taunting laugh. Coop thought it must be something they taught in villain school. The former demon and former Cupid were both skilled in that department.

  It was interesting, this point that Coop had reached in his life. He was partnered with a former demon—his wife’s ex-husband—on a mission to stop his former mentor—a fallen Cupid—from destroying numerous lives. What odd set of circumstances could have ever brought him to this place? It was as much a question for his mentor as it was for him.

  “What happened?” Coop asked. “What made you do it?”

  “This woman came up to me and offered the ring in exchange for keeping your family occupied,” Dafydd said. “Once I knew it would hurt you, I was all in.”

  “We figured that part out,” Coop sa
id. “I mean, why did you use your Cupid ring to make Marsha fall for you when you knew she was destined for another? Why would you betray her like that? Why would you hurt her?”

  “I didn’t hurt her,” Dafydd insisted. “You did when you reported it to our--”

  “That is not an answer!” The group painting on the patio looked over at the sound of Coop’s raised voice. He smiled an apology their way before continuing in a more acceptable tone. “Pretending for a moment that her punishment was my fault, I wasn’t the one that forced her to feel an unnatural emotion. That was all you. And you knew what it would do to her. So, I want to know… why did you do it?”

  Dafydd looked at Coop like he’d lost his mind for asking the most obvious question in the world. “Love.”

  It was then that Coop accepted what Cole had been saying all along. After all this time, Dafydd still couldn’t even entertain the idea that what he’d done was wrong. That what he was continuing to do by punishing Coop and his loved ones was a bad thing. He was never going to accept it. Dafydd really believed his twisted version of love justified his actions.

  “Fine, Cole,” Coop finally said. “We’ll do it your way.”

  Without another word, Cole reached out and grabbed Dafydd into a chokehold before teleporting him to Cupid’s temple.

  Coop remained behind for a moment to make sure that no one had seen them disappear. The painters had returned to their easels. The bocce ball players were deep into their game. No one walking the grounds had noticed Cole’s sudden disappearance.

  Truth be told, it had caught Coop off guard as well. To see Cole embrace violence so quickly even though the demon was long gone from his body was the most telling difference between the two men.

  It wasn’t that Cole was evil anymore. He’d done more than enough to prove that since his return. But Cole lived by a different code, one that Coop would never embrace. But part of him—a small part—appreciated that aspect of Cole’s personality. It would be handy to have around when things got rough. As they often did when the Charmed Ones were around.

  All along, Coop had been making it clear to Phoebe that he didn’t have any problems with Cole hanging around. Now, for the first time, Coop realized that he was actually kind of glad.

  Chapter 25

  “We tried the Power of Three spell earlier.” Phoebe formed a circle around Paige along with Prue and Piper. “What makes you think we’ll have any better luck now?”

  “It worked earlier,” Prue countered.

  “The first time. But it hasn’t worked since,” Phoebe reminded her.

  Piper held up a hand in what had become her personal sign for her sisters to knock it off. “What are you thinking, Prue?”

  “It’s possible that first Power of Three spell we did to unfreeze the congressman—the one that hasn’t worked since—might be somewhat to blame for all this.”

  “How?” Phoebe asked.

  “Don’t… care… try… it….” Paige’s skin was turning a deeper shade of gray. Her lips barely moved as she spoke.

  Phoebe reached out and grabbed Prue’s and Piper’s hands. “Okay. Explanations later. We should do something before Paige loses the ability to speak.”

  “Thank…”

  “Save it.” Phoebe tried to be strong, but she was concerned that Paige would see the fear in her eyes. If this didn’t work, she didn’t know what they would do. Nothing had gotten those other statues to turn back to normal yet.

  As one, the sisters took a breath and began to chant.

  “The Power of Three will set you free.”

  “The Power of Three will set you free.”

  Phoebe was even more concerned that the spell would be useless since Paige’s nearly frozen contribution amounted to, “Power… three… free,” but she refused to give up hope.

  “The Power of Three will set you free!”

  The gray that was slowing taking over Paige’s already porcelain skin seemed to pause. And then it receded. Soon the color returned to Paige’s cheeks as she worked her jaw to make sure it could move. “Much better,” she said.

  Phoebe sighed with relief before turning her attention to the other statues in the room. “Should we try it on them?”

  Prue shook her head. “I mean, we can try, but I don’t think it will do any good. They aren’t witches. They’ve never been Charmed.”

  Now Phoebe shook her head as well, but mainly in confusion. “Are you saying we’re related to that congressman we helped yesterday? Because if we are, I’m burning that family tree in the attic. It was never completely accurate anyway.”

  “No. But I think when you used the Power of Three spell here and I tried to give it a Nexus boost, we might have done something else too. Something unintended. I think the gorgons might have tapped into our power somehow.”

  “That sounds like a bit of a stretch to me,” Piper said.

  “Oh, it completely is,” Prue admitted. “It’s a total stretch. But it’s the only thing that makes sense. Hear me out.”

  “This should be good.” Phoebe took a seat on the couch and was quickly joined by Piper and the now mobile Paige.

  Prue rolled her eyes in the general direction of her sisters. “What is this? Story time?”

  “Oh! Popcorn would be great right now!” Phoebe said.

  Prue ignored her, like she usually did in these situations. “It’s like Leo said: Everyone was convinced Medusa was dead. I think she was. I think her sisters brought her back from the dead. And they somehow tapped into our powers to do it.”

  All three sisters opened their mouths to speak, but Prue silenced them with a glare.

  “Think about it,” Prue continued. “Stheno was focused on Medusa being at full strength. But why? Why wouldn’t she be strong if she’d been alive all this time? And why are three figures from ancient Greece suddenly causing havoc in San Francisco of all places? If they can teleport anywhere, why only attack people in our hometown? Just think of the potential if they plopped themselves in the middle of DC. Why settle for one little congressman who is probably going to get voted out of office next time there’s an election?”

  “Actually, the people in his district are kind of fans of his backwards ways,” Piper said.

  “Not the point,” Prue said. “We need to start considering these sisters as the witches they once were and not the horrible monsters that—” Prue’s voice cut off as her eyes went wide in shock.

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” a voice said from behind the couch. “We can be both.”

  Phoebe, Piper, and Paige twisted around on the couch to find three strange women standing in the middle of Prue’s living room. They looked more like witches than the monsters that had been in the stadium, but the Charmed Ones didn’t have to guess who these uninvited guests were. The real question was how the hell they got into the Nexus uninvited.

  Prue was the first to put their thoughts into words. “How the hell did you get in here?”

  “You might be surprised to learn that we found a way to tap into the magic of your line.” The tallest of the women stepped forward. Her voice wasn’t as gravelly as in her monstrous form, but Phoebe was fairly certain that it was Stheno.

  “Yeah. We figured that out ages ago,” Phoebe tossed off her obvious lie as she stood alongside Piper and Paige. With Prue to their side, she hoped they made for an impressive display of strength, though she doubted that three monster-witches who could magic their way into the Nexus of the All would suddenly be afraid of them.

  “Aren’t they cute?” another gorgon said. This one Phoebe guessed to be Euryale. “And this place is fabulous. Do we get to keep it when we kill them?”

  Medusa stepped forward, glaring at Paige. “Why aren’t you stone?”

  Paige looked the gorgon right in the eyes. “Guess you’re not as strong as you thought.” It was a bold gesture, and Phoebe
worried that her sister was tempting fate. If Medusa was growing more powerful, they didn’t need to be one sister down at the very start of this confrontation.

  Stheno jumped in before her sister could reply or react. “You might be surprised by our strength.” Her hands went up and a chill wind blew through the living room. Icicles formed on the ceiling, growing into stalactites that came down to the floor behind Phoebe and her sisters, trapping them in front of a wall of ice.

  Stheno had made sure that the Charmed Ones and Prue could not escape, not that they intended to. The couch stood between the two sets of sisters who stared at each other in classic showdown. But it was only there for a moment.

  The couch that Prue had carefully designed broke into thousands of little blue marbles that rolled right out of the room. At first Phoebe thought it was Prue’s doing, but her sister didn’t tend to make her furniture go away with such a flourish.

  Prue took a single step forward and Phoebe braced herself for what was about to happen. “You want to see someone manipulate this environment?”

  The living room started to shake, but only in the spot where the gorgons stood. The jerking grew so violent that it threw them to the ground. Stalagmites shot up from the floor around them, trapping them on all sides.

  Medusa was first to get back to her feet. Her eyes began to glow.

  “Don’t look!” Phoebe screamed as she quickly turned away.

  A clap of thunder shook the entire castle as a crack of lightning burst through a window, smashing through the ice behind them. Phoebe and her sisters were knocked to the floor as they were showered in ice.

  A second lightning bolt came at them from the other direction, but Prue brought a new wall up from the floor, placing it between them and the gorgons. It was roughly the width of the former couch, but it was enough to shield them for the moment. The wall trembled as it was struck again and again by Medusa’s lightning. A burn mark started to form in the center and Prue dropped another wall behind it just in time. Bits of burnt plaster exploded out from the first wall as the second began to warp from the middle almost immediately.