“Any ideas?” Paige asked hopefully.
“Not many.” Leo shook his head. “Only that you’ve all encountered something in the past few days that you’ve never run into before. And whatever it was, you came into contact with it twice.”
Paige tried to shake off the gremlin that was gnawing on her leg, but the ugly little beast just sank his fangs in deeper.
“Come on, Paige.”
“Huh? What—” Paige awoke from the dream with a start. Phoebe was shaking her knee.
“It’s almost seven,” Phoebe said. “Time to get up.”
“Why?” Moaning, Paige drew her knees to her chest and threw an arm over her head. She was still on the couch, where she had been left to slumber undisturbed since the family meeting that afternoon.
“Uh—” Phoebe cleared her throat. “Wait a sec while I check.”
Curious, Paige rolled over to look at her sister through half-opened eyes. She didn’t recognize the delicately crocheted sweater Phoebe was wearing. The garment had a 1960s hippie look that went perfectly with her sister’s T-shirt and jeans. “Nice sweater. Did you find it at a thrift shop?”
“Let’s see.” Phoebe sat on the coffee table with her laptop on her lap. She silently mouthed the words she was reading, then said, “Attic. What was the other question?”
“Why do I have to wake up?” Paige repeated.
“Oh, right.” Phoebe glanced back at the screen and smiled. “Because Piper’s making dinner and Leo wants you to check The Book of Shadows. I’m not much help in the research department right now.”
“Whose idea was it to use the computer as a substitute memory?” Paige pushed herself upright and swung her feet to the floor. Her eyelids felt as though someone had glued lead weights to her lashes.
“Not sure.” Phoebe shrugged. “Probably Leo’s. Works really well, too.” She glanced back at the screen. “It looks like we made a whole list of stuff I need to remember.”
“I’m impressed,” Paige said. “Does your list include what Leo wants me to look for in the book?”
“No, but”—Phoebe ran her finger down the list—“The Book of Shadows is in the kitchen, which Leo and Piper just finished cleaning.”
“And they let me sleep?” Paige stretched to work out the kinks in her muscles, then smoothed her wrinkled skirt. “Must be my lucky day.”
“Don’t think so,” Phoebe said as she followed Paige into the hall. “According to my list, Piper is devastated because you ruined the remote control.”
“Really?” Paige cast an annoyed look back at Phoebe. “How does she feel about almost killing a plant?”
Paige headed straight for the refrigerator and pulled out a bottled juice. Piper and Leo must have cleaned to keep their minds off the current problem, which had no known cause or solution. The kitchen looked just as it had that morning, in perfect order except for a huge pile of garbage in one half of the double sink. “Did Gilbert break the garbage disposal?”
“I’m not going to turn it on to find out.” Piper poured some gray goop on top of the garbage, then put the wooden bowl in the empty sink and filled it with water. Her eyes were red from crying. “We’ve got enough problems without adding ground gremlin to the list.”
“We have a gremlin? Shouldn’t that be on my list?” Phoebe settled in at the table and muttered as she typed. “‘Do not turn on garbage disposal. Gremlin in it and would be really messy.’”
“I hope you can stay awake awhile after your nap, Paige.” Leo finished stacking coffee cups in a cabinet and closed the dishwasher.
“I’ll try.” Yawning, Paige took a chair opposite Phoebe and flipped open The Book of Shadows. “Can you give me a hint what to look for?”
“Sorry.” Leo shook his head. “If there’s something there, I’m hoping you’ll know it when you see it.”
Paige nodded and began turning pages. The Halliwell family’s book of magical lore was in constant flux, always with purpose, usually by the hand of an ancestor. Information pertinent to new dangers had a tendency to show up when they needed it. She just hoped the book didn’t let them down now.
“There’s a really weird reference on my laptop about a gremlin in the garbage disposal.” Phoebe looked over her shoulder at Leo and Piper. “Is there anything else about gremlins I should know?”
“Yes.” Piper picked up the cordless phone. “If the sink runs low on gremlin garbage chow, refill it. Does anyone care what I order from Sun Li’s Chinese Takeout?”
“Sweet-and-sour anything,” Phoebe said.
Paige cocked a quizzical eyebrow. Apparently, Phoebe’s long-term memory was intact and unaffected. Since the computer compensated for the short-term deficiency, she was remarkably functional under the circumstances.
“Egg rolls and crab Rangoon.” Leo pulled up a chair. “Better make that a double order. I’m starved.”
“The shelter!” Paige suddenly stood up. “I’m supposed to be working at the shelter tonight.”
“I called Doug and told him you weren’t feeling well,” Leo said. “Seemed like the logical thing to do.”
“Since I can’t serve food and sleep at the same time, it was. Thanks.” Paige sat back down. Resting her chin in her hand, she went back to turning pages. “I hope Jennifer and Kevin showed, so Doug’s not shorthanded.”
“Couldn’t be helped. Phoebe’s skipping her class, and I bailed on P3 tonight, too. Nobody’s going anywhere until”—Piper blinked back more tears—“we have some answers. Excuse me.” She pulled Sun Li’s paper menu out of a drawer and disappeared into the hall with the cordless phone.
Paige felt herself drifting off and shook her head. “This is getting old fast….” She stopped to stare at a page she didn’t remember seeing before.
“Find something?” Leo leaned over to look.
“Maybe. This rhymes, but it doesn’t seem to be a spell.” Paige frowned as she scanned the four-line entry.
“You’re sure it’s not an incantation?” Leo asked.
Nodding, Paige read the passage aloud. “‘And should the chosen three of evil be awakened/ the champions of virtue must defend/the light of ages past or be forsaken/ as the warriors of darkness were before them.’”
“Any clue what it means?” Phoebe typed the verse into her laptop before she forgot it.
“Not really, but it’s more to go on than we had before.” Rising, Leo glanced toward the hall. “Tell Piper I’ve gone to consult the Elders again.”
“Right.” Phoebe nodded as her fingers pounded the keys. “‘Tell Piper Leo gone to Elders.’ Got it.”
After Leo orbed out, Paige laid her head on the book and closed her eyes. “Don’t forget to hit ‘save.’”
“I’ll make a note.”
Paige was asleep before Phoebe finished typing.
Chapter
6
Karen dropped her leather jacket on a chair as Kevin closed the apartment door behind her. “Where’s Kate?”
“Right here!” The younger woman stuck her head out of a small kitchen. She flashed a brilliant smile and waved a large knife.
“Honing up on your combat skills, Ce’kahn?” Karen asked with pointed sarcasm.
“Kate brought pizza.” Kevin reinforced his point with a cold stare, an unspoken reminder that their clan names must remain secret until after they vanquished the Sol’agath.
“I think better on a full stomach,” Kate said.
“What’s the emergency?” Karen asked abruptly.
Kevin met the musician’s hard gaze. Once known as Sh’tara and soon to be known as Sh’tara again, Karen wouldn’t argue with him. The ancient master sorcerer who had arranged their escape from a miserable fate had designated him, Tov’reh, as their leader. Neither of his companion warriors would defy Shen’arch’s will or wisdom.
When Karen had finally met him and Kate at the appointed place two years ago, he had insisted that they continue the pretense of their human lives. Raised in normal families and college educated,
they had developed careers and social contacts as adults. Consequently they had left no suspicious gaps in their backgrounds that might alert the Sol’agath’s ancestors to their true nature and purpose. They had also taken great care to make sure their old Dor’chacht names could not be used by the higher powers to link them to the past.
“Even the old warriors of darkness had to eat,” Kevin joked to ease the sting of his rebuke.
“Yeah, but we didn’t have the convenience of takeout back then.” Kate hurried in carrying a cardboard container with a steaming pizza.
“I don’t want to be late to P3.” Karen eyed the American combination of bread, cheese, meat, and tomato sauce with disgust. “Besides, I miss the taste of wild boar cooked over an open flame.”
“Yuck.” Kate knelt by the coffee table and gingerly lifted a triangle of pizza onto a paper plate. “I’ll take hamburgers, shrimp scampi, and caesar salad with broiled chicken over half-cooked, stringy pig meat any day.”
“Enough talk about food. We’ve got a problem and not much time to fix it.” Kevin pushed a stack of newspapers off a worn sofa that dominated the center of the room, and motioned for Karen to sit.
“Does it have anything to do with why Kate’s not at her computer class and you’re not at the shelter, Kevin?” Karen perched on the edge of the couch and placed her flute case in her lap.
Kevin watched as Karen’s gaze shifted from the paper plates and napkins on the coffee table to the TV and satellite receiver resting on a metal stand. A state-of-the-art computer sat on the desk against the opposite wall. He knew that she had always felt estranged in the late twentieth century, while he had easily adapted to the faster pace, technological innovations, and customs of the modern world.
Kate’s interest in men, food, and sporting fun was just as appropriate in the present as it had been three thousand years ago.
“Paige didn’t show up at the shelter,” Kevin said.
“And Phoebe was a no-show at the college.” Kate took a bite of pizza.
Karen tensed. “Do you think the Sol’agath witches have figured out what’s going on?”
“How could they?” Kate wiped a string of cheese off her chin. “Shen’arch said the higher powers wouldn’t be able to detect us as long as we’re human, and we’ll be human until tomorrow night—after we’re in the Valley of Ages and it’s too late to stop us.”
Karen closed her eyes and tilted her face upward, a gesture of honor for the long-dead master Dor’chacht sorcerer.
And our powers are dormant in the artifacts, Kevin thought. The powerful elders above and the demonic elements below couldn’t detect inert magic, either, especially when it hadn’t been used in three millennia. Time and Shen’arch’s unsurpassed craft had served their cause well.
“Doug said Paige’s brother-in-law called her in sick,” Kevin explained. “Since her fatigue level increases each time the cane drains her power, I’m inclined to believe that.”
“Phoebe probably forgot she had a class.” Kate laughed. “Last night she didn’t remember five seconds later that Mr. Deekle had called on her to answer a question, and that was before I touched her a second time.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Piper’s gotten suspicious.” Frowning, Karen absently rubbed the flute case. “How could she not notice that she’s gone from being always amused to totally depressed for no reason, or that her power has been depleted?”
“But she might not connect that with touching the flute,” Kate said.
Maybe, maybe not, Kevin thought. The tunes Karen played on her flute had influenced Piper because she was a witch. A temporary magical bond had been formed when the instrument had siphoned off a measured portion of her power. Humans were immune. The side effects inflicted by his cane and Kate’s bracelet on Paige and Phoebe were a lot easier to explain away. However, the witches’ fatigue, forgetfulness, and manic moods may have kept the Charmed Ones from uncovering the Dor’chacht plot just as Shen’arch had intended.
But even if Piper has figured it out, Kevin thought, it’s too late to help her.
“I’ll know if we’ve blown our cover when I see Piper at P3,” Karen said. “Either way, I’ll make sure she touches the flute again.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked up. “But that doesn’t solve your problem. You’ve both got to tap Phoebe and Paige a third time before the battle begins.”
“I’m going to drop by Phoebe’s house to lend her the notes from tonight’s class.” Kate pulled a paper napkin off her sticky fingers. “We’ve hung out and gotten friendly, so I don’t think she’ll question it.”
Karen looked at Kate askance. “You didn’t go to class tonight.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “No, but Stuart Randall did, and he’s taking notes for me. We’re going out later, and he said we could stop by the Halliwell house on our way to the movie.”
“You’ve got a date?” Karen asked, aghast. “Tonight?”
“What?” Kate’s perky face puckered into a playful pout. “I can’t have a boyfriend after we become the most powerful magical force in the world?”
Kevin shifted uneasily, dismayed by Kate’s cavalier attitude. Unwavering focus and conviction were essential in the upcoming duel with Paige and her sisters, the latest, most powerful witches in the Sol’agath line. The Dor’chacht had challenged the Halliwells’ ancestors thirty centuries before, hoping to exterminate the Sol’agath and their benevolent magic, but they had vastly underestimated the power of good. That battle had been lost, but now the Dor’chacht’s long awaited chance for vengeance was imminent.
Kevin breathed deeply to cement his resolve. Transported across time by Shen’arch’s last-minute spell, he had emerged twenty-six years ago with the humiliation of defeat buried and burning within. If they failed this time, there would be no more chances to regain the Dor’chacht clan’s lost magic and position of power. Their mental, spiritual, and emotional matrixes would die, leaving mindless, comatose bodies behind to confound anyone who had known them.
But they would not lose, Kevin vowed. Their enraged desire for vengeance combined with experience gave them an edge they hadn’t had before. This time they would not be victims of their own arrogance and deluded sense of invincibility. The Sol’agath witches were being disarmed.
“You can have a new man every day if you choose, Kate,” Kevin said to appease the impetuous young sorceress. “But you’ll have no more need for college courses.”
“Cool.” Kate snarled, a manifestation of the bloodlust that had empowered the Dor’chacht clan’s malignant magic.
“But first we have to win,” Kevin added, turning back to Karen. “I worked through the dinner rush tonight so Doug wouldn’t think anything was wrong, just in case I have to go back to the shelter tomorrow to tag Paige.”
“Wouldn’t that be cutting it a little close?” Karen asked. “Besides, what if she calls in sick again?”
“I went to Paige’s office to make the second contact yesterday, so that’s out,” Kevin said. “I’m open to other ideas, though.”
“Why don’t you just drop by their house tonight too?” Kate suggested.
“Wouldn’t both of you dropping by be a little too obvious?” Karen asked.
“So what?” Kate shrugged. “After they’re zapped, they’ll be way too messed up to hurt us.”
That’s probably an accurate assessment, Kevin realized. The second contact with the artifacts had reduced the Charmed Ones’ power levels to fifty percent. The third touch would drain another twenty-five percent, the most the witches could lose and retain enough magic to satisfy the rules of engagement. Anything less than a quarter of their powers and the Charmed Ones would be too human for the plan to proceed.
“All right,” Kevin agreed. “I’ll go by the house, but let’s make sure we don’t show up at the same time.”
“Stuart is picking me up around nine thirty, so you’ve got plenty of time to get there first.” Kate’s blue eyes gleamed with cruel delight as she studied
the gold band on her arm. Half of the engraved pattern had turned red, indicating that it contained half of Phoebe’s magic.
Karen opened the wooden case and stared at her flute. As with Kate’s bracelet and Kevin’s cane, half the etched design on the instrument had turned red. She snapped the case closed. “I’ve got to get going. The guys will wonder what’s going on if I don’t get to P3 on time, and I don’t want to answer any questions.”
“With a Vengeance.” Kate grinned. “Great name for a band, and the guys are cute, too. I vote to keep them around when this is over.”
“Oh, I intend to.” Karen stood up. “At least until they get boring and I decide to replace them. I’m not giving up my music just because I’ll be able to make anyone do whatever I want anytime I want just by thinking about it.”
“Man, I can relate. I can’t wait to terrorize humans again.” Kate sighed wistfully.
Kevin knew exactly how they felt. He missed his ability to change the physical properties of beings and things as much as Karen missed being able to inflict her will on any creature with a brain. Kate’s power to command the elements was less elegant, but just as powerful.
“There’s no thrill quite like hunting intelligent prey that’s threatened by a force-five tornado,” Kate added.
“Except maybe for vengeance,” Kevin said softly.
During a dinner of miscellaneous Chinese dishes served on paper plates from paper containers, Piper had written down everything she and her sisters had done since Sunday. Leo’s theory that they had all come in contact with something unusual twice in the past few days made sense, but the list had not produced anything helpful. Fresh out of tears following a prolonged crying jag over Leo’s latest sudden departure, she sniffled in dismay.
“Are you sure you want me to add these two together?” Paige hesitated before dumping one half-full carton of leftovers into another. “I don’t know about Leo, but I hate soggy chow mein noodles. They’re supposed to be crisp.”
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