Third Time Charmed

Size Matters (Part 7)

A/N: The final chapter of TTC's Size Matters is a nice, long one, featuring fun new/old bits of magic, hints of character development, and some important plot points that will affect the story going forward. Enjoy!

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Gammill admired his latest work, the four shrunken women placed side by side. "Time to fire up the kiln. You're first," he told Claudia, picking her up from the shelf, much to her throaty objection. He would bake the human woman first. The jewels of his collection, all three Charmed Ones, he would save for last.

"Prue? Prue, can you hear us?" Piper mumbled, barely able to speak with the clay around her lips rapidly hardening. "Paige and I are here now. We have the power of three. Can you say a spell?"

"Her lips must be sealed shut," Paige said out of the corner of her mouth.

"That other woman couldn't speak, but we could hear her making noises and see her blinking. Why isn't Prue? Is she...? Is she—"

"No, Piper, don't go there. If something happened to Prue, you'd feel it, right?"

"Right," Piper agreed, comforted by this thought, if not entirely convinced.

"Besides, this creep likes to bake his victims alive, right? We'd be dead already otherwise. I'll bet anything Prue gave him a hard time. He probably just knocked her out or something."

"Yeah, that makes sense," said Piper. "Okay. We'll figure this out. Paige, let's go over our options."

"Right! Options!" said Paige enthusiastically. "What are our options?"

"I asked you!"

"Okay, well, option one: we're screwed. Option two: we're more screwed."

"We don't need negativity. We need solutions."

"Well, I'm sorry. I've never been shrunk and covered in clay before!"

"Hey! You wanted to be partners, so work with me here, okay?" said Piper. "Or you're right, we are screwed."

Paige took a breath. If they worked together, they could surely figure something out. "Hmm. Can't you blast your way out of it?"

"I tried. I can't move my hands."

"Well, what about Prue? Can we wake her up? Is there a spell that can do that?"

"I don't... Wait, yeah, there is. Kinda," said Piper, not liking where her mind was taking her. "There's the Awakening Spell. It's a temporary revival for communicating with people who are unconscious or on their deathbed. Prue and Phoebe used it on me once, to disastrous effect, but this situation is so different. I mean, the spell would need rewording, and it required contact, my blood, and a poppet...."

"Well, we have a poppet, a whole shelf full of them!" said Paige with optimism, eyeing Gammill's collection. "As for the rest, can't a power boost make up for what we're lacking? Can't we use the Power of Three?"

Piper considered this. She happened to remember the spell because of the morbid curiosity she developed after her experience under it, but she'd never been one for spellwriting. Phoebe and Prue did that stuff; she just whipped up the potions on occasion and froze things...when her powers weren't on the fritz. And they would usually need to be in contact or say the incantation together to invoke their magical bond as sister witches.

"Piper?" Paige urged.

"Alright, alright, gimme a minute," Piper rebuked, fixing her gaze on the closest of Gammill's figurines and envisioning the Awakening Spell's page in the Book of Shadows. If she could just tweak the wording enough... "Err, Power of Three, gathered here, I speak for thee, so listen clear! Troubled sister, I implore, awaken now, sleep no more. Shift the source of illness borne, to this poppet, whom none shall mourn."