Third Time Charmed

A Fight to Remember (Part 6)

The dark and rough-hewn stone walls of the Source's chamber danced with light and shadow when he appeared with a burst of fire. His servant spun around in response to this sudden flare, looking predictably fearful. "You have failed me," he boomed from beneath his black hood.

"I beg to differ," said the Chameleon Demon, smart enough to know that he should be pleading for his life. "Aside from finding Belthazor, everything I've learned about the Charmed Ones—"

"May all be for naught now that they've exposed you, Alaster," the Source interrupted, his patience tested. "The element of surprise was critical to my plan's success."

"You can still use the information to capture one of the—"

"That's not what I needed the information for. Capturing is easy. Tricking one into giving up all of their powers was the ultimate goal. That's why I needed to learn everything about their hopes, their fears, their dreams."

"Then accelerate your plans," Alaster suggested, eager to remain useful. "Use me to capture the one you want. After all, they'll be after me now."

"Yes, they will, won't they," the Source considered.

Alaster looked hopeful for a moment, but his face drained of color when the Source Shapeshifted into an identical copy of him. His fate was sealed.

"But then, why not cut out the middleman?" the Underworld's ruler asked rhetorically, casually disposing of his servant with his Incineration power, burning the demon up from the inside. He turned and summoned his adviser with a wave of his clawed hand.

The bikini-clad Oracle appeared, sprawled languidly across a rock. Recognizing her master's aura despite his current visage, she gave him a deferential nod.

"It's time, Oracle. I must know now, which of the sisters do you foresee to be most vulnerable to my plan?"

"First, I must ask, are you certain this is the path you wish to take?" said the Oracle. "You wanted the Charmed Ones dead just days ago. The changing situation makes it difficult to divine how events will unfold."

"Tell me," the Source demanded.

The Oracle gazed into her crystal ball. "Well, each is vulnerable in their own way," she relayed. "But the middle sister seems to have the most resistance to the craft. Her yearnings appear to be her greatest weakness."

***

Piper had barely been at the baby shower for half an hour, listening to the group of women exchange idle gossip and inane chit chat about their gloriously normal lives, before her cellphone rang. Seeing it was home calling, she hung up and turned the phone off.

"Oh, no, don't tell me you have to go," said Becca upon seeing this.

"Uh, no, it can wait," Piper assured her, but she was distracted when she saw Paige and Leo coming down the stairs moments later, their arms full of what could only be the party baskets, but which resembled poorly wrapped Christmas presents, Rudolph-print paper to boot.

"Who's ready for party baskets?" Paige announced cheerily.

"Oh, my goodness, what's all this?" exclaimed Wendy, rubbing her enormous baby bump with one hand as she waved excitedly in Paige's direction with the other. "Piper, are you responsible for this?"

"Err," Piper started with a grimace, unsure she wanted to claim credit for Paige's festive monstrosities. The demon blood would almost have been preferable.

"Oh, this must be the long-lost sister?" Wendy said with fascination as she received a basket.

"Yeah, hi, I'm Paige!" she responded with a wave to the group. "Please don't blame Piper for the wrapping paper. You should have seen how nice she had them before, but I'm a bit of a klutz, and I had a little accident, so I had to improvise."