Date with Death

by Elizabeth Lenhard

  Suddenly, Phoebe threw her arms out to the side, bringing herself to a startled halt. The “building” they'd been swimming toward had just come into view. Paige followed Phoebe's gaze.

  “I know what that is,” Paige said. “It's a . . . a . . .”

  “Computer chip,” Phoebe said. “It's a giant computer chip. Actually what's more likely is that the computer chip is a normal size, which means we've been shrunk to the size of pinheads and plopped into Lupercalus's virtual world.”

  “Oh,” Paige said flatly. “Well . . . this is new. But definitely not improved. You think the spell to bring us back will still work from here, don't you?”

  “I don't see why not,” Phoebe said, spinning around and scanning the bizarre electriworld for Lupercalus. “Not that it'll do us any good if we haven't bagged our demon by then.”

  “Right,” Paige said, looking at her watch. “And we only have fourteen minutes to do it before Piper calls us home.”

  “Well,” Phoebe said, gazing into the empty abyss. “I'm stumped. He could be anywhere or anything down here. He might have returned to his ephemeral state, in which case, he'd be invisible.”

  “So . . . as your Grams likes to say,” Paige suggested, “get him! Write a spell. Just start rhyming.”

  “A spell?” Phoebe said. “Just off the top of my head? Just like that? Paige, I don't think you understand how delicate an operation spellwri—”

  “Give us this soul, um, brimming with malice . . .” Paige called out. “Bring before us, Lupercalus!”

  “That's your spell?” Phoebe said with a patronizing smile. “Well, it's not bad—”

  “What the hell is going on here!”

  Phoebe and Paige whirled around in the bubbly gel to see . . . the demon himself.

  Lupercalus was floating before them.

  His hair had morphed from his slicked do into a long, flowing mane. He'd ditched his earth clothes and was clad in a shimmery, silver robe. And his yellow eyes were glowing bright with rage.

  “No witch has the power to summon me in my own world,” Lupercalus raged. His face was a mask of anger and just a hint of confusion.

  “No mere witch,” Paige countered. “But, Lupercalus, you should have done a bit of research before possessing this witch. We're the Charmed Ones.”

  “And guess who's gonna be sorry, now?” Phoebe said. She kicked her legs and whipped over to Lupercalus, putting his head in a choke hold.

  “Off!” Lupercalus bellowed. His entire body began to spark and he zapped Phoebe with a lightning bolt of pain. Moaning, she released him and floated backward. Her arms trembled violently.

  Paige gasped and backed away as Lupercalus took a moment to recover. Then he began to float toward her, his eyes narrowing to gold slits. Paige gave him a defiant glare, then glanced quickly at her watch. She gasped when she saw the time.

  “Phoebe,” Paige said, catching her sister's eye. “Thirty seconds.”

  “I'm on it,” Phoebe gasped.

  “On what?” Lupercalus sneered. “Do you really think you can conquer me? And in my own environment? You know, my demons aren't the only ones who have claws.”

  With that, Lupercalus raised both hands in the air. Almost instantly each hand morphed into a network of gnashing blades. His weapons were twice as foreboding as those of his possessed minions.

  Phoebe shot Paige a terrified glance.

  Five seconds, Paige mouthed, glancing at her digital watch. Four . . . three . . .

  “You know, Max,” Phoebe said as she neatly dodged a swipe of Lupercalus's hand. “Great knives. But bad timing.” She leapt upon him from behind, grabbing both wrists and yanking them behind his head. Lupercalus roared in rage, but, for that instant anyway, did seem to be paralyzed by Phoebe's strength.

  Then Phoebe squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the portal to emerge. She could picture Piper in the kitchen, uttering the spell, her potion in hand. Piper always comes through, Phoebe thought gratefully.

  The only glitch in the warm fuzzy? The portal never came.

  chapter

  12

  Half an hour after Paige and Phoebe leapt into the time portal, Piper had sent a confused but memory-washed Alan on his way. Then she'd placed the mason jar and its quick-seal top carefully on the kitchen's island.

  Now she was nervously putting the finishing touches on the Origin spell, and just in time. She only had five minutes before she had to read the spell that would summon Phoebe, Paige, and hopefully, their revenge demon, back into the kitchen.

  Piper tossed exactly five mustard seeds into the bubbling saucepan on the stove, then looked at her watch.

  “And three, two, one—”

  Boom!

  A pink geyser erupted out of the pot like a garish flower. Then it plopped back into the potion.

  “Okay,” Piper muttered, peering into the Book of Shadows. “Next it should turn ‘brackish green, then corpse blue.’ Ugh, potions like this are what give witches a bad name. We couldn't describe them, say, as mossy green and powder blue?”

  Piper watched as her bubbly potion began to change color.

  “Well, at least it's working,” she said. “And I've got to admit, ‘corpse blue’ is the perfect description for that color.”

  She took another peek at her recipe.

  “Now add . . . well, what do you know!” Piper said, reading the recipe again. “Eye of newt! I thought it was just a myth. But there actually is a potion that calls for eye of newt!”

  Paige sifted through Grams's old spice box and found a dusty glass bottle filled with tiny, black orbs. Cringing she popped two of the tiny eyeballs into her palm, then dropped them into the pot.

  She let the potion simmer for thirty more seconds, then used her turkey baster (which would no longer be used for turkey, that was for sure) to transfer the potion into a glass vial. Piper corked it up and checked her watch.

  “Perfect,” she said, slipping the vial into her capri pants pocket. “Made it with one minute to spare.”

  She walked around the island with the Book of Shadows and flipped to the page with the summoning spell.

  And that's when the basement door splintered and three, glinting, clawed hands thrust themselves into the kitchen.

  “Oh, great!” Piper cried, dropping the Book on the floor. “Now you guys figure out how to work together? I don't have time for this!”

  She hurried to the door, getting ready to freeze the demons before they could bust into the kitchen. But just as she reached the door, it crashed open, hitting her square in the chest.

  “Ooof!” Piper grunted as the blow threw her through the air. She heard, rather than felt, her head hit the kitchen island.

  Leo, she thought, her eyelids fluttering weakly, help me.

  And then she felt her consciousness slip away into gray, followed by total darkness.

  “Phoebe?” Paige said through gritted teeth. “Where's the portal?”

  “Search me!” Phoebe grunted.

  “If only I had a free hand, I would,” Paige replied with a grimace.

  But every one of the sisters' limbs was occupied in trying to overpower Lupercalus and his thrashing, lethal hands. The three of them were still suspended in virtual, blue gel, and entangled in one brutal battle.

  And the demon had the advantage.

  “You'll never take me,” Lupercalus raged, spinning around in the computer-generated gel. “After all, an ethereal demon can take all forms,” he continued.

  And that's when Max Wolf began to melt away. His handsome, rugged face began to morph into a reptilian visage—green, slimy, and encrusted with raw scabs. His yellow eyes bulged like those of a corpse. His body began to elongate. Slipping out of his silvery robe, Lupercalus became a slimy, eel-like, seven-foot-long . . . monster.

  Paige and Phoebe took one look at each other. Then both of them screamed the same thing: “Piper!”

  But when their screams subsided, the substance in which they were floating became eerily sil
ent.

  Okay, Paige thought in panic, our time portal? It's definitely not happening. As an alternative, my new boyfriend is going to eat us!

  Paige grabbed Phoebe's hand and mouthed to her, What now?

  Lupercalus was swimming around them in a predatory circle. He flicked his thick, scaly tail, sending a froth of bubbles into their faces. Then he reared back and spat at them. But instead of something wet and slimy, Lupercalus spat electricity. A sparking energy ball whizzed past Phoebe's ear.

  “I've created this world!” Lupercalus roared. “I control it. Which means I control you! And believe me, I'll have some fun with you before I kill you.”

  “Just like you did with Catherine!” Phoebe yelled.

  Ooh, Paige thought as Lupercalus skidded to a halt and roared with rage. Perhaps that wasn't the most tactful way to put it.

  “Never mind, then,” he said to Phoebe. “If that's what you want, I'll just slay you now.”

  “Phoebe!” Paige screamed. She began to hyperventilate as Lupercalus reared back and opened his mouth wide. His teeth were long and jagged and they were stained a disgusting brown.

  Phoebe grabbed Paige by the shoulders and stared at her fiercely.

  “Orb!” she ordered her.

  “What?” Paige gasped.

  “Paige, orb us out of here,” Phoebe said. “Get us home or we're doomed.”

  “My orbing, it's so haphazard, I don't know—”

  “Now, Paige!” Phoebe screamed. Then she turned to Lupercalus and shouted, “You want us? Come and get us!”

  “Raaaaaggghhh!” Lupercalus screeched. He lunged at the sisters in full attack mode.

  “Aaaagggh!” Paige screamed.

  She grabbed Phoebe. And then she orbed.

  When the white lights shimmered away, Paige blinked and looked around. They were no longer floating in blue gel and Lupercalus was nowhere to be seen. She heaved a shaky sigh of relief.

  Then she stopped for a minute to regard her surroundings: big, green, leafy stalks. A cloudless blue sky. And a rustly, peaceful breeze.

  Mooooo.

  And . . . the sound of a cow nearby.

  “Uh-oh,” Paige said.

  “Paige,” Phoebe said, shielding her eyes and looking around. “This . . . is a cornfield. I think you orbed us to Iowa.”

  “Well, Iowa's better than Lupercalus's hologram from hell, isn't it?” Paige protested. “I told you, my orbing isn't quite refined yet.”

  “Well, you'd better get it refined, because I just baited Lupercalus into following us!” Phoebe shrieked. “And if he took the bait, then he's probably making an appearance at Halliwell Manor right about now.”

  “Piper!” Paige breathed. She grabbed Phoebe's hand and squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to envision Halliwell Manor, to propel herself through the heavens and make a direct hit to her new home. She felt the warm, glimmery sensation of her white lights swirling around her body. She felt the weightless zoom of the orb. And then she opened her eyes.

  “Close, but no banana, Paige!” Phoebe was screaming.

  Paige found herself clutching a metal beam and fighting a whipping wind. She looked down and saw a stream of tiny cars, and then, a swirling body of water.

  “The Golden Gate bridge?!?” Paige squeaked. “I orbed us onto the top of the Golden Gate?”

  “Yup!” Phoebe cried from her awkward perch on a nearby beam. “And I'm losing my grip. Try again!”

  Paige reached out for her sister and orbed as soon as she felt their fingertips touch. When the white lights finished fluttering, Paige opened her eyes fearfully.

  “Yes!” she cried. She and Phoebe had landed in the Halliwells' kitchen. “I can't believe I did—Piper!?!”

  Paige gasped as she saw Piper sprawled on the kitchen floor. The Book of Shadows was lying next to her. She was out cold.

  “Phoebe, help me get Piper into the living room,” Paige said, rushing over to her unconscious sister.

  “Um,” Phoebe quavered, “now is not the best time.”

  Paige looked up in confusion and saw Phoebe backing away from a phalanx of men—Teddy, Charlie, James, and Cole. Their eyes had begun to glow yellow, just like Lupercalus's. And they were swinging their clawed hands malevolently.

  “Little help here?” Phoebe squeaked.

  “Mallet!” Paige cried, feeling a surge of heat in her hand as the wooden meat mallet orbed into it. Then she stole up behind the quartet of possessed men and gave each one a swift thwack on the head. Like a stack of dominoes, they each crumpled to the floor.

  Paige stared at the pile of men and wondered out loud, “Where's Leo?”

  “No time to look,” Phoebe said, turning to Piper. She ran to her pale, limp sister and leaned over her. And that's when a familiar howling filled the kitchen.

  Paige and Phoebe clutched each other as a time portal erupted gushily from the floor. Its mouth pulsated and glowed, shooting little lightning bolts into the kitchen.

  “Ow!” Paige screamed as a searing bolt of electricity grazed her arm. It sent a jolt of hot pain down to her wrist and burned a hole in her favorite silk cardigan. She glanced at Phoebe.

  “Well, I guess your bait worked,” she yelled over the roaring of the portal's swirl of wind. “But now what do we do? With Piper laid out, we don't have the Power of Three. And I don't see the Origin potion anywhere. Maybe Piper didn't have a chance to make it!”

  “Piper!” Phoebe said, roughly shaking her sister by the shoulders. “Oh, please, Piper, we need you!”

  “You'll need all the help you can get,” roared a demonic voice. Phoebe and Paige whipped around and screamed as Lupercalus, still in his crusty, slimy, monster-eel body, slithered out of the time portal. Immediately the portal closed and melted away into nothingness, which left the demon alone, in the middle of the Halliwells' kitchen. His bald, scaly head hit the ceiling, leaving dents in the plaster as he skimmed across the floor to thrust his face into Paige's. His breath was hot and smelled of an electrical fire.

  “You wanted love, did you?” he cried. “Well, I wanted love too. I offered Catherine a kingdom. But unfortunately for you she rejected me. Out of spite. Out of malice.”

  “You don't know what love is, you monster,” Paige sneered.

  “Then . . . neither will you,” Lupercalus bellowed. He opened his mouth wide and lunged for Paige's neck. She screamed and braced herself for death.

  But instead she felt a shoe graze the tip of her nose as Phoebe cut in, kicking Lupercalus square in the jaw. Brown, rotten teeth scattered onto the floor and the demon howled in pain, stumbling backward. Paige threw herself against his gut and gave a tremendous push. The already off-balance monster collapsed, pinning his own tail beneath him. A lightning bolt burst out of his mouth as he hit the floor.

  “I've got him,” Phoebe said, pouncing on Lupercalus with a volley of kicks, punches, and stomps. “Try to revive Piper!”

  “Okay,” Paige said breathlessly, stumbling away from the fight and turning to her other sister. But somebody was already leaning over her. Somebody with matted blond hair and a wild look in his eyes.

  “Leo!” Paige screamed. “Nooooo!”

  Imagining Leo's morphed, knifelike fingers digging into Piper's chest, Paige leapt across the kitchen and pounced on him. But he barely moved, so focused was he on his wife.

  “Stop it!” Paige screamed, grabbing at Leo's arm.

  But her mouth clapped shut as soon as she saw what Leo was actually doing. He wasn't piercing Piper's flesh with his silver nails. In fact his talons weren't even bared. Instead he was resting his palms on Piper's head and they were glowing brightly.

  An instant later Piper's eyes fluttered open.

  “Leo, you're back?” Piper said.

  “I'm back,” Leo said. “I don't know what happened. I saw you lying there and it was like something shut off in my brain. Something terrible. Oh, Piper, I'm so sorry I tried to hurt you!”

  “It wasn't you, sweetie,” Piper said, wrapping her a
rms around her husband. “It wasn't you. I know that.”

  Over Leo's shoulder, Piper saw Paige. Her eyes widened.

  “Paige!” she exclaimed, disentangling herself from her husband's embrace. “How did you get here? Did I say the spell? And, oh my God, what is that thing?”

  Piper was pointing at Lupercalus, who was still locked in battle with Phoebe. He was matching her blow for blow, and literally spitting fire. Both witch and demon were screaming with rage. But only Phoebe was growing weak. Paige could see her already beginning to stumble.

  “Never mind how we got back here,” Paige said. “It's spell-time again. Piper, did you make the potion?”

  Piper reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a glass vial of blue liquid. Paige grabbed it and called out to Phoebe.

  “Phoebe, over here!”

  Then she turned to Leo and pointed at the pile of comatose suitors near the breakfast table.

  “Orb those guys out of here, will you?” she said. “I don't want them to get hurt.”

  As Leo cleared the room with a flurry of white lights, Phoebe glanced over her shoulder. She saw Paige and Piper standing next to each other by the stove and leapt away from Lupercalus. She stumbled over to her sisters. Piper put an arm around Phoebe, who was almost too exhausted to stand after her knockout fight with the demon.

  But the demon, of course, was ready for more.

  “Three little maids, all in a row,” he roared. “The better to obliterate you all at once.”

  He reared back and hawked with a disgusting, wretching noise. Then he spat a giant blue ball of shimmering sparks across the room.

  Paige uncorked the vial of Origin potion. Cringing, she threw the ice blue liquid through the air. The energy ball and potion collided over the island with a violent, hissing noise.

  “Oooh, I hope this works,” Phoebe cried.

  The energy ball was definitely halted by the potion. It hovered in the air for a moment, sizzling and shooting little lightning bolts in all directions.

  And then, slowly, the ball reversed direction.

  “What the—” Lupercalus began. But then the energy ball made a direct hit. Screeching in terror and pain, Lupercalus's demonic shape exploded with a huge, mind-blowing boom.