“Magic people who lived on the island before the Celts arrived in roughly one thousand B.C.,” Phoebe said. “According to the legends, the Danann went underground. All the modern Irish myths are derivatives of that ancient culture.”
“What did we have for dinner, Phoebe?” Piper asked.
“Uh…don’t know.” Phoebe sighed.
Paige blinked. “Why is it that you don’t know what we had for dinner but you can remember all that historical stuff?”
“All what historical stuff?” Phoebe’s gaze shifted as Leo appeared in swirls of sparkling light. “Hey, Leo!”
Piper rose and threw her arms around Leo’s neck. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “It’s about time you showed up.”
“The Elders’ archives are pretty extensive,” Leo said. “How are things here?”
“That might take a while to explain.” Piper patted his shoulder. “Hungry?”
While Piper heated Leo’s dinner in the microwave, Paige paced and gave him the encapsulated version of their findings. He was up to speed by the time Piper placed a plate of steaming egg rolls, crab Rangoon, and chow mein mixed with limp noodles in front of him.
“So you were right, Leo.” Paige sank back into a chair. The weariness was fast becoming too hard to fight off. “We were all exposed to something—or rather, someone.”
“Both, actually,” Piper said. “The evil Ks and their engraved artifacts. I don’t know if this means anything, but part of the designs on the bracelet and cane were red. There was no red on Karen’s flute Monday, but there was yesterday.”
Leo finished chewing a bite of chow mein and swallowed. “The red could be a measure of the amount of power the artifacts have absorbed. How much of the designs were red?”
Piper squinted, thinking. “Roughly three quarters on the cane and bracelet. One quarter on the flute, but that was before she hit me with the weeping whammy.”
“But why drain our magic slowly?” Paige asked. “Why not just zap all our powers at once, like the demons who were possessed by the Hollow did?”
“The hollow what?” Phoebe positioned her fingers over the laptop keyboard to type.
She isn’t trying to be funny, Paige realized. Phoebe didn’t remember the ultimate power that consumed all magic, because they had encountered it too recently.
“It’s only relevant as an example, Phoebe.” Piper looked back at Leo. “So why not just zap our powers dry?”
“Because then you’d be mortals, and the Higher Powers could negate any magic used against you.” Leo put down his fork. “It’s kind of like the ‘no magic for personal gain’ rule.”
“Wait a minute,” Paige said. “Evil uses magic against innocents all the time.”
“Yes, but there are rules of engagement for magical feuds,” Leo explained. “Break them and forfeit.”
“Sounds like this trip to the great above wasn’t a waste of time,” Piper said.
“Not completely.” Leo pushed his plate aside and folded his arms. “It took some digging, but the Elders found an obscure reference to the warriors of darkness and champions of virtue—”
Paige snapped her head up. Leo was still talking, but she had obviously dozed off.
“—duel between the magical clans of the Sol’agath and the Dor’chacht. It was a classic example of good versus evil.”
“The who and the what?” Phoebe did a double take.
“That didn’t ring a bell with me, either,” Piper said.
“I missed it too.” Paige propped her chin to listen and pinched her leg to stay awake.
Leo patiently repeated himself. “The Sol’agath and Dor’chacht were ancient clans that coexisted on Earth—until the Dor’chacht decided to challenge the Sol’agath for magical supremacy in the mortal realm three thousand years ago.”
“The warriors of darkness were the bad guys, right?” Phoebe began typing, anticipating the answer.
“Yes,” Leo said. “The Sol’agath were your ancestors.”
“We go that far back?” Piper was stunned.
“Melinda Warren wasn’t the beginning, then?” Phoebe grinned, pleased that she had remembered a significant part of the family history.
“Melinda was the beginning of the Charmed cycle.” Leo snatched the last crab Rangoon off the plate as Piper reached for it. “Sorry, Piper, but I really like crab Rangoon.”
“I thought you were done,” Piper whined. She brushed away a tear and picked up the last egg roll.
“Okay, so the Dor’chacht clan challenged the Sol’agath clan three thousand years ago,” Phoebe read off her computer screen. “What happened?”
“The Sol’agath won,” Leo said, “and their descendants have lived among humans using magic to do good ever since. If they had lost, they could have chosen between ascending to a higher plane of benevolent existence or becoming mortal.”
“But the Dor’chacht lost.” Piper frowned. “So what happened to them?”
Leo held up a hand while he finished off the crab Rangoon. “Since they were empowered by evil, they should have forfeited human form and been banished to the underworld.”
“But?” Phoebe prompted.
“But if the portent of the poem you found in The Book of Shadows is correct,” Leo continued, “then apparently some of the Dor’chacht have survived…in human form.”
“What does that mean to us?” Piper asked.
“I don’t know.” Leo looked worried. “Nobody from the Dor’chacht clan should be here!”
“But they are.” Paige frowned, wishing she hadn’t returned The Book of Shadows to the attic before dinner. She thought about walking upstairs to read the poem again, but she didn’t have the energy. “Didn’t the verse say that the champions of virtue had to defend the ‘light of ages’ or be forsaken, like the warriors of darkness were before?”
“A rematch?” Phoebe offered.
“Makes sense,” Paige agreed, yawning, “but it’s just an assumption.”
“Except if some of the Dor’chacht survived,” Leo said, “then technically the original battle never ended.”
“Is that a major or a minor distinction?” Paige had learned that the smallest detail sometimes made the biggest difference when dealing with magical adversaries.
“Well, it could mean that the Dor’chacht haven’t lost yet…exactly.” Leo shrugged. “And if they didn’t lose, then it’s possible they wouldn’t have been forced into the underworld.”
“Okay, but if that’s true, where did they go?” Anger flashed in Piper’s teary eyes. “We aren’t up against the whole Dor’chacht clan, are we?”
“No,” Leo said with conviction. “In matters of great consequence, the forces of good and evil must be balanced. Whoever cast the spell back then knew that. Whatever’s going on, I’m sure it’s three on three. The rest of the Dor’chacht clan may be suspended in time and space, waiting for their ultimate fate to be decided.”
“Wouldn’t the higher powers have known that they slipped away?” Paige asked.
“Not necessarily,” Leo explained. “They can’t detect suspended magic or track what’s going on in the underworld. Just like I can’t sense any of you down there.”
“Sounds to me like we’re just guessing,” Phoebe said.
“We are.” Piper’s eyes narrowed. “But I know someone who has the answers.”
“Karen,” Leo said.
“Who just can’t wait to zap Piper with her magic flute.” To keep from dozing off, Paige stood and reached for Leo’s plate. The only thing left was a small mound of cold chow mein on noodles long past a state of tasty crunch. “Are you done with this now?”
Leo nodded, but he was focused on Piper. “You can’t risk a confrontation with her, Piper.”
“I can if all of you are there to back me up.” Piper’s eyes welled with tears and her voice shook, but there was no doubting her determination. “Karen stole some of my power, not all of it.”
“Fifty percent,” Leo clarified. “Assuming on
e quarter of red in the patterns represents one contact.”
Piper touched the flute twice, so Leo’s math makes perfect sense, Paige thought as she carried the plate to the sink. The pile of garbage on the disposal side was only half the size it had been earlier. Gilbert wasn’t as fast or efficient as the mechanical garbage disposal, but he was making progress.
Phoebe used the laptop trackball to scroll, then looked up. “Unless my notes are incomplete, the artifacts are the only magic they’ve used on us. As long as Piper doesn’t touch the flute, she should be safe.”
“But we can’t rely on my power to keep that from happening. If I tried to orb the flute, it would probably turn into sawdust,” Paige said. The destructive quality of her faulty power might come in handy at some point, but not in this instance.
Piper was quick to agree. “Definitely not a good idea.”
“Why not?” Phoebe asked. “Wouldn’t that stop Karen from stealing more of Piper’s powers?”
“Yeah, but as far as we know, our powers are being stored in the artifacts,” Paige explained as she added the chow mein to the rest of Gilbert’s chow.
“And destroying them might send our powers into the void,” Phoebe finished with a frustrated sigh. “That’s a keeper.” She typed the information into her computer file, then scribbled a notation on her papers.
Piper shot out of her chair. “I want my powers and some answers, and there’s only one place to get them.”
“There’s no guarantee Karen will tell you anything,” Leo said.
“She’s gone to a lot of trouble to get me to P3 tonight,” Piper said, refusing to be deterred. “And I’m not going to disappoint her. Do we drive or orb over?”
Phoebe stuffed her paper notes in her pocket, closed the laptop, and tucked it under her arm. “Orbing is faster.”
“Fine, but since Kevin drained my powers, Leo will have to orb all of us.” Paige turned on the water to rinse off the plate and stepped back when Gilbert’s pliable body oozed out of the tap.
The gremlin hissed, spraying Paige with underworld rodent slime. She gagged as the screeching creature dove into the pile of garbage and burrowed back into the disposal.
“I can orb you into mush, you know!” Paige glared into the sink.
Gilbert thrust his head up and spit out a wad of chow mein noodles.
Paige glanced at her family with a resigned sigh.
“Life doesn’t get a whole lot more interesting than this, does it?”
Chapter
7
Phoebe gasped as her body dissolved into a stream of photon particles. Her consciousness seemed to meld with the vastness of the cosmos for an instant before she re-formed in the alley behind P3, clinging to Leo, Piper, and her newly discovered half sister, Paige. The tingling she felt in every cell dissipated with the orb sparkles.
“That is such a rush!” Phoebe exclaimed.
“And scary until you get used to it.” Paige slouched against the Dumpster and smothered a yawn with her hand.
“You can orb from one place to another?” Phoebe asked with a nervous glance around the dark alley. “What are we doing here?”
“We don’t have time to explain, Phoebe,” Piper said. Her eyes were red from crying. She pulled keys out of her bag and unlocked the delivery door into the club. “Check the laptop under your arm or the notes in your pocket. Better yet, just do whatever we tell you.”
Leo glanced at his watch. “Dixie should have given last call five minutes ago.”
Phoebe saw that Paige was wearing high boots, a short skirt, and a stylish blouse with billowing long sleeves. Piper’s long skirt, scoop-neck top, and ankle boots were casually classy. She, however, was dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a faded U2 T-shirt. Apparently, we aren’t going to P3 to socialize, she thought.
Piper held the door open as Paige and Leo ducked inside. Phoebe followed Piper, who motioned everyone into the storeroom.
Paige sat down on a reinforced cardboard box full of stemware. She looked exhausted. “Do we have a plan?”
“We have a general idea,” Piper said. “That’ll have to do.”
Phoebe almost asked what dire danger they had gotten themselves into now, but Piper looked so upset, she decided to just go with the flow. She set the compact computer on a stack of cardboard boxes, turned it on, and opened the last file she had been using.
Piper dialed her cell phone. “Dixie. It’s Piper. Tell me exactly how things stand in the bar. I mean, right now, this minute.”
Leo stood watch at the door while Paige caught some Zs. Piper just kept nodding with her ear to her cell phone. In the dark about everything, Phoebe took the opportunity to glance at the detailed notes in the computer file.
It only took her a minute to realize that her memory—short- and long-term—was completely unreliable, thanks to a power-draining bracelet wielded by someone named Kate. Since she couldn’t trust herself to make appropriate decisions, the only sensible thing to do was to take Piper’s advice and follow orders. She took out of her pocket the pen and paper notes mentioned on the laptop.
“Okay, here’s what I want you to do, Dixie.” Piper kept her voice low. “Get rid of the last few customers and the band, except for Karen. Tell her I’ll be there shortly to take care of her. Then lock up and go home.”
Phoebe folded her paper notes so the visible portion was blank. Then she wrote, “Don’t ask, just do whatever Piper and Paige say. Important!”
Piper paused. “You already used tonight’s cash to pay her, Dixie, so there’s no money in the register to steal. Just call my cell as soon as you’re out of there—in two minutes or less, if possible, please.”
“Is it smart to warn Karen that you’re coming?” Leo asked, worried.
“Probably not, but we have to talk to her alone,” Piper explained. “We can’t risk having any innocents caught in the middle, especially since our magic is messed up. Besides, I doubt Karen expects all of us to pop out of the storeroom in a couple minutes.”
“I’m ready for”—Phoebe drew a blank—“whatever.”
A thud sounded behind her, and Piper’s eyes widened in alarm. Phoebe turned as Paige curled up on the floor. Falling off the carton had not disturbed her deep slumber.
“Wake Paige up, Leo, and try to keep her awake, please.” Piper glared at her phone. “Come on, Dixie…” She punched the talk button when the ringer sounded. “Dixie. Great. Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Did we come up with a plan, yet?” Paige wobbled as Leo helped her to her feet.
“We’re going to bluff and hope our mental prowess is as effective as our magical powers used to be.” Piper stuffed the phone into her bag.
“Well, brains can usually beat out muscle,” Paige said. “So why not magic, too?”
Phoebe couldn’t type or read fast enough to keep up with everything. Since the paper in her hand said it was important to obey Piper, she decided to just take her own advice. Leaving the laptop behind, she palmed her paper notes and followed Paige, Leo, and Piper into the bar. A blonde woman sat on the edge of a small stage.
“Piper.” The woman spoke with deadly calm. “Who’re your friends?”
“They’re family, actually.” Piper folded her arms, ignoring a solitary tear that traced a slow path down the side of her face. “Let’s just skip the small talk and get right to the heart of our issues, Karen.”
“Certainly.” Karen reached for a wooden flute lying on the stage behind her.
“Forget it.” Piper’s tone was cutting in spite of her sobs. “I’m not touching your flute.”
“So you figured it out.” Karen set the flute in her lap and shrugged. “There’s nothing you can do now, though. Your powers are useless.”
“Not completely.” Paige held out her hand and glanced toward the bar. “Candle!”
Phoebe tensed as a teardrop candle turned into a burst of flickering light. However, when it reappeared in Paige’s hand, it was a mass of melted glass and shredded
wax.
“Was that a threat?” Karen asked, unruffled.
“A reminder,” Paige said. “We’re not helpless.”
“Nice try, but I’m one hundred percent human. No powers.” Karen smiled. “You can’t use magic on me without suffering the consequences.”
“She’s right,” Leo said. “That’s why Karen, Kevin, and Kate haven’t stolen all your powers, remember? They can’t challenge mortals, and neither can you.”
“But they won’t be mortal when we finish fighting our family feud, will you?” Piper’s question was phrased as a statement of fact. She held Karen’s gaze as she pulled out a chair and sat down.
What feud? Phoebe scanned her notes until she found references to an ancient battle between two magical clans called the Sol’agath and Dor’chacht. As she reviewed what little they knew, she realized Piper was pretending to know more than she actually did, hoping Karen could be tricked into giving them specific information.
“Why would I tell you anything?” Karen scoffed.
Paige took a chair beside Piper and flexed her fingers. “Because you can’t be absolutely certain that I’ll honor the rules. I haven’t been in the good-witch business as long as my sisters.”
“Paige was an incredibly powerful, extremely evil enchantress in a previous life,” Piper added. “She hasn’t even begun to tap her magical resources in this life.”
“You’re bluffing,” Karen said.
Due to her missing memories of the past several months, Phoebe had only known Paige a few hours. However, since she had been evil in a past life too, she knew that Paige could not possibly be evil and still be a Charmed One now. Piper was gambling that Karen didn’t know that.
“Maybe.” Piper’s sniffles didn’t dampen the chilling effect of her unwavering stare. “If you’d rather not find out, I suggest you start talking.”
As she sat down at the next table, Phoebe noted a flicker of doubt in the blonde woman’s eyes. Piper’s ploy to rattle her was working.
Karen hesitated, then shrugged. “All right. You can’t thwart our destiny this time, so what harm can it do?”
“This time?” Phoebe glanced toward Piper.
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