Third Time Charmed

Enter the Witch (Part 3)

If someone had told Piper three years ago that she would soon be frequenting Chinatown back alleys in search of rare herbs that had nothing to do with cooking, she would have called them a liar. She had never been one for all that new-age stuff, after all. Here she was, though, at one of her now regular stops, where the owner recently offered to run her a tab, stocking up on potion ingredients.

Piper screwed up her nose upon entering the store, a particularly pungent medicinal aroma overwhelming her senses. She hoped her kitchen didn't start smelling like that. One whiff of that at a dinner party would send her guests running, even if she made her Coq au Vin. What was she thinking? When was the last time she threw a dinner party? When was the last time she made her Coq au Vin, for that matter?

With a lamentable sigh for her former passion, Piper moved toward the counter, eager to return home before Paige did too much damage. Leaving her unsupervised may not have been the best idea, but frankly, she needed a break.

"Please, just listen to me," a young woman pleaded with the shopkeeper. "You have no idea how important this is to me."

"Come back later," he advised her tiresomely, apparently dealing with a difficult customer.

He looked to Piper, who stepped forward, but the woman was persistent. "If I could come back later, I would, but I can't. I need it now," she explained.

"That dagger is a family heirloom," the man said, indicating in the direction of an ornate knife mounted on the wall behind the counter. "It's not for sale."

Thinking he had been definitive enough, Piper tried to get his attention. "Excuse me. Do you have any wormwood?"

"You don't understand. I don't want to buy it," the woman interrupted irksomely, presenting a small scroll of paper with a red string tied neatly around it. "It's all right here in the note."

Getting irritable, the man stated clearly, not for the first time, Piper was guessing, "I don't read Chinese!"

"You have to help me. My father needs the Dragon Blade. He said your father would—"

"My father is out of town until Tuesday. You'll have to come back then. Excuse me, I have customers."

"Yes, hi, thank you," said Piper, a little irritable herself now, as the woman finally relented. "Hi. I need a sprig of wormwood, preferably small-stemmed—"

Just then, the woman sprang to life, sprang being the operative word. She jumped from one side of the counter to the opposite wall, seemingly defying gravity, and tore the dagger from its mounted display frame. She moved like Spider-Man or...Phoebe! The woman had levitated, Piper was sure of it.

"Hey!" the shopkeeper protested. Instinctively, Piper raised her hands to stop the thief in her tracks, but only the shopkeeper froze. Unaffected by Piper's magic, she flew through the plate-glass window, escaping with the stolen artifact.

Forget irritable. Now, Piper was pissed. "Hey!" she called after the woman, following her outside, where she was strutting away without a care in the world. If she could levitate and didn't freeze, that probably meant she was a good witch. That, in turn, probably meant she was immune to Piper's exploding power, too, but hopefully, they wouldn't have to find out.

Reaching out, careful to focus and take aim, Piper gestured a hand at a bunch of cardboard boxes and wooden produce crates, stacked next to some trash cans. Her noisy warning shot caused the crates to splinter, the boxes to blow apart, and garbage to be strewn all over the alley.

The woman jumped in fright and turned around slowly, clearly shocked and frightened by Piper's display of power. She was an attractive Asian woman with flowing black hair, wearing an off-white martial arts uniform of sorts with red and gold embroidery. "Who are you?" she questioned, wide-eyed.