Charmed Again

Chapter One

Prue & Phoebe

Buckland Auction House had quickly grown to be a safe haven for the eldest Halliwell sister. Even after Prue's experience with Rex and Hannah, and the countless times demons or other evil creatures had come through her office doors with nothing but intent to harm... this was her space.

It was something Prue could run away to, to hide in, to take care of... her. Outside of this office, she was the big sister. The one who had the responsibility of being the role model, the protector, the biggest supporter, the strongest advocate. But in these walls? The only thing she had to worry about was herself.

Light ticks escaped the clock on the wall as the hour dial edged closer to eight o'clock. Blue eyes fixated on the screen of her laptop, Prue was in her element, and she was confidently finishing an appraisal that would surely put her at the head of Buckland's young talent list. With a final tap of the enter key, the report was submitted, and all the stress of that deadline vanquished with it. The dark haired maiden found herself comfortably relaxing as she eased back into the leather chair, looking over her now fully crossed off to do list. Beneath the clipboard, the corner of a sage green envelope played peekaboo with the witch's attention. She couldn't help herself, pulling out the envelop that shielded a card, a birthday card to be exact.

Prue purchased it on her way into the office, and had the mailing address set for the name Saige Walker, the woman's closest friend growing up. Closest friend that wasn't her sister. Saige had been everything Prue needed in the hardest time of her life. A gentle presence, a sensitive and thoughtful soul, an outgoing and fun persona. The two split ways after graduating, they'd dreamed of the day they'd move off to college together and take a new city by storm, but that day never came for Prue. Grams had thwarted any intentions of moving out of the area, of course now Prue understood why but it never took away the "what could have been" thoughts.

Despite not having been reunited with Saige, they were still close. They sent cards back and forth, every birthday, holiday, or travel destination of interest- and this card was for her. Saige was turning 27, just as Prue had earlier that year, and Prue intended to bring the card home for her sisters to sign before sending it off.

"Oh dearest oldest sister of mine! Wherever art thou?" The sound of Phoebe's voice singing out carried through the dark hall and into the open door to her office, a small smile twitching its way into Prue's lips at the arrival.

"Hey you. I was just finishing up here." Prue greeted with a knowing look, she was running late.

"Good! Because you and I have a date with the devil."

"The... the devil?" Prue could feel her heart sink at the words.

Phoebe noticed the visible change of her sister's facial expression, making her realize perhaps she had chosen her words poorly with their line of work.

"Oh honey no no that's not... that's not what I meant." Phoebe giggled innocently, as she skipped over and took a seat on the edge of her sister's desk. "I meant we have scary movies to watch and popcorn to eat and nails to paint."

Relief flooded the entirety of Prue's being, leaving a sigh to slowly release itself from her lungs as she closed her eyes, visibly relaxing.

"Thank God, you really gotta be more mindful of those sorts of terms." She muttered out in a scolding tone, which only made Phoebe cheese a smile to prove her innocence.

The second youngest sister couldn't help herself, poking around with various miscellaneous items on her older sister's desk, as the other sibling was packing up her stuff to leave. First she was looking at a bronze fountain pen that looked like it cost more than her wardrobe, then she was doodling a smiley face on one of the cream colored sticky notes. The sage envelop caught her eye.

"Hey, whose birthday is it?" Phoebe slipped out curiously, glancing to Prue who was now standing.

"Oh, it's for Saige. Her birthday is on Friday, hopefully it will get to her in the next three days. Want to sign it?"

"Uh, duh! When do I ever not write in a card you send to Saige? She was like our forth, er... fifth sister!" Phoebe would retort as a matter of fact-ly. She popped the cap of the fountain pen she'd been doodling with and picked up the card- yet the younger sister's entire embodiment jolted as she stiffened, a premonition barging its way into her mind.

The black and white visual was distorted, the vision came in what felt like flashes. A large brute stood looming over a petite brunette, the man pinning the woman to the hood of a car. The woman was whimpering, Phoebe could feel the terror flooding off the girl. The man struck her, the woman falling to the ground, quickly rolling into a crawl to try and get away from whoever was attacking her. That's when the vision shifted frames, Phoebe could see his face- nothing but torment behind his eyes. He was cackling at the familiar woman's fright, the woman she quickly recognized as Saige. With one last lunge, the man's fist came colliding down, fire in his grip. That was the last of Phoebe's premonition.

The brunette gasped loudly as she returned to reality, her entire body flinching as if it had been her who was being struck by whoever the attacker was.

Prue had immediately noticed her sister's body change, recognizing it as Phoebe's gift, however she was stuck watching with both intent and concern as she waited for the woman to snap out of it. When she did, Prue herself jumped as she was startled by Phoebe's sudden burst of movement, leaving the girl almost falling off her desk. The short haired maiden acted quick to steady her sister by taking her by the shoulders and holding her firm, meeting the girl's soft chocolate gaze with worried blue eyes of her own.

"Phoebs, are you alright? What did you see?" The eldest sister asked. Once she was confident Phoebe had steadied herself, she would lift her right hand to gently brush a strand of hair out of her sister's face in an attempt to comfort her.

"I saw... Saige. She was being attacked by someone." Phoebe's response held a grim and dread tone, which made Prue's heart drop.

The eldest took a moment to straighten her posture, running a hand through her hair at the news she'd just received. It didn't take much for Phoebe to see just how troubled her sister appeared over this premonition, which made her own heart hurt even worse for what she had seen.

"Hey, I saw that for a reason, okay? It means we're supposed to help. And we will. Let's get home, I'll write down every detail I have from what I saw, then we'll look for our guy in the book of shadows."

"Yeah, and then we'll send that bastard back to where he came from. I'll call Saige on our way home." Prue stated, quickly throwing her bag over her shoulder and taking her sister by the hand. They both swiftly returned to the Audi coupe parked in the garage, and would head home as planned.