The War on Witches (3 page)

The man stepped closer. “No one is here to help you.”

Natalie was frozen in a prison of light. She wasn't in pain. It merely held her in place. But she was terrified all the same as the man stepped closer.

He poured out another handful of the sparkling powder.

He lifted his hand to his lips.

And blew.

Prue concentrated on the kids' painting as it floated up to the wall above the newly formed mantle. It really was the kind of artwork only a mother could love. Or a very,
very
caring aunt. Prue wanted more than anything to be that aunt, but she still felt a bit uncomfortable around her nieces and nephews. It was hard enough coming back to a sister she'd never known, but the tiny little humans that looked a bit like mini Pipers, Phoebes, and Paiges were another thing entirely. And there were so
many
of them. Her sisters had been quite busy in recent years.

It wasn't that Prue didn't like children. Quite the opposite. She'd always dreamed of a little Prue Jr. of her own. She'd never imagined that Phoebe would be the one naming her firstborn daughter that instead. Piper, sure, but Phoebe?
That
was how Prue finally realized how much her death had affected the family. When even Phoebe—the sister she'd nagged most of her life—wanted to carry on the tradition of names that began with
P
starting with Prue's, it was almost too much to bear.

It was hard enough to forge a connection with the little ones when she had free rein to visit as she pleased. Now it would be nearly impossible. Piper could joke about babysitting all she wanted, but it wasn't like Prue could drop everything and get to the Manor whenever the need arose.

Once the painting was hung, Prue adjusted the size of the mantle so that it balanced out the picture perfectly. She was still getting used to her new powers, but the ability to manipulate her environment was a decorator's dream. It was a shame that Piper was the only one around to enjoy her work.

“What do you think?” Prue asked.

“It looks great,” Piper said. “But are you sure you want to put it in such a prominent place? I mean, we usually keep the kids' stuff on the refrigerator.”

Prue joined her sister back on the couch. “I'd have to make a pretty big refrigerator for that picture. I like it there. Besides, I doubt I'll be using this room for entertaining too often, so it's not like any of my guests will be judging me for it.”

“What about your roommate?” Piper asked.

“Cole's not my roommate,” Prue said. “He's more like another inmate. One that gets to come and go as he pleases.”

“And he's gone where?”

“I don't know. I don't keep track of him. Frankly, I'm glad that he's not always underfoot. It's not like we were best buddies back before we both died. We're just getting accustomed to this situation. How about giving us some time to figure it out before we get the third degree?” Prue got up off the couch. She had to move.

“I'm just trying to help,” Piper said.

Prue smiled at her sister. “The curse of the middle child. Always the mediator. Always the fixer. I can't imagine how hard my leaving was on you.”

Piper got off the couch as well, taking Prue's hands in hers again. “It was hell on earth. But you're back now, and I'm not letting go.” She wrapped her sister in her arms again. “More hugs!”

Prue returned the embrace, laughing, then squeezed a little tighter when she felt something shift inside her.

“What's wrong?” Piper asked immediately. She was always in tune with her sister's feelings.

Prue released Piper from their hug, but held on to her for support. “Something's off. Something . . . happened.”

“What? Where?”

Prue closed her eyes and concentrated. “It's not here. It's not me. It's . . . something.”

“Prue, the living room is moving.” Piper said, trying—and failing—to keep the worry from her voice.

Prue didn't need to hear Piper's voice to be concerned. This wasn't anything she was doing. The Nexus was acting up. And that was not good.

This wasn't the first time Prue had lived above a Spiritual Nexus. There weren't many convergence points of energy on Earth, but they weren't as rare as one might think. There was one under the Halliwell Manor—a point equidistant from the five Wiccan elements that had its own brand of magic. Many in the magical community considered that point a symbolic seat of power that could be swayed for good or evil.

The convergence point beneath the Manor was nothing compared to the Nexus of the All. “I'm connecting with the Nexus,” Prue said. “It's trying to tell me something.”

“Could you get it to talk faster? The floor is undulating. I've got to . . . whoa!”

“Get on the couch,” Prue said.

“It just dropped through the floor!”

Prue hadn't known about the All when she was alive, but every religion had stories about it, though it went by different names. The All was a spiritual energy that touched everything. It was the source of all magic, whether wielded by the good or the evil. It even controlled those beings that did not have access to their own magic. It was everywhere. And the Nexus of the All was its source. It was the point where magic united the realms. At this place, anything was possible, and Prue was living right above it.

The Nexus of the All filled Prue's mind with images: a young woman, sparkling herbs, and an old, weathered book. Prue couldn't make sense of the visions, but she sensed the danger. She felt hollow in her soul. Empty.

“Prue!”

Her eyes popped open as the images flew from her mind. Piper was on the ground beside her. The living room was a shambles. The couch was gone. Cracks ran through the floor and walls. The kids' painting hung askew over the mantle. On her arm, Prue saw that her tattoos had shifted. This wasn't unusual, as the art on her arm changed all the time, somehow linked to the magic of the Nexus. A pentagram glowed in white on her wrist.

She pressed the pentagram, bringing order to the chaos. Suddenly, the images she'd seen made sense.

Prue helped Piper off the floor. “There's some kind of imbalance to the magic. It's in Connecticut. Hartford. A witch was attacked by . . . something. That part's still a jumble.”

“A demon?”

“No . . . maybe. I can't tell. It felt . . . human. But something else. Something more.”

“How do you know that?” Piper asked. “Hartford's on the other side of the world.”

“I just know.” Prue used the power she could control to bring the couch back up through the floor. “I guess it's another way that I'm tied to the Nexus. What it knows, I know. Well, this is just the gift that keeps on giving.”

Piper cautiously took a seat on the returned couch. “And the Nexus had to nearly kill us in the process of passing along that information?”

“No,” Prue said. “That wasn't the Nexus. I think it was me. I guess I kind of . . . lost control of the magic. It caught me off guard. I don't know how to listen to it yet. How to take it in.”

Prue noticed Piper's eyes flick to the painting. Of course her thoughts would go to her children. If this place could swallow couches whole, how much easier would it be to devour a child? So much for Auntie Prue getting babysitting duty now.

“You can feel something happening in Hartford?” Piper said instead.

“In that moment, I could feel everything happening everywhere,” Prue said. “I could feel the energy that runs through the entire world. I always can. Normally, I hardly notice. It's in the background like white noise. But now . . . there was some kind of interruption. A break in the energy or something. It's a little scary.”

“I'll bet.”

“Probably something the Charmed Ones should check out,” Prue suggested.

“Speak of the devils,” Piper said as bright white-blue orbs began to gather in the living room.

“Careful,” Prue said. “You never know with us. The devil
could
appear.”

The tiny orbs continued to drop from nowhere as they formed the other two Charmed Ones and Prue's third and fourth sisters. Prue never had the chance to know Paige while she was alive the first time, but she'd come to discover that the Power of Three couldn't have fallen into more perfect hands. In order for that power to continue to grow, Prue had to relinquish her ties to magic that ran through the line of witches that had descended from her ancestor, Melinda Warren. It was the hardest decision she'd ever made in her lives, but it was also the most rewarding. She got another sister—another Warren Witch—in exchange.

Paige wrapped Prue in a hug the moment she'd completed the orb. “Look who I—”

“Chat later, fight evil now,” Piper said, taking her sister by the hand.

Phoebe barely had enough time to check out the living room, but Prue could see the sudden glimpse of relief on her face. Prue couldn't be sure if it was due to the fact that Cole wasn't around or that they had to go as quickly as they'd arrived.

“Oh, are we leaving?” Phoebe asked. “Pity. Hi, Prue. Bye, Prue!”

“Nice to see you too,” she said to Phoebe before holding her arm out to Paige. “Here. Place your finger on the tattoo. It should take you where you need to go.”

Paige eyed the tattoo skeptically. “Your arm is a GPS device now?”

“Something like that,” Prue said. “No time to explain. An Innocent is in danger.”

Paige didn't ask another question. She placed a finger on the pentagram on Prue's arm, then looked up in her sister's eyes. She suddenly knew all that Prue had to tell her. Paige took Piper and Phoebe by the hands. “Thanks!”

Prue watched as her sisters' bodies broke up into thousands of tiny orbs again, rose into the air, and were sent off halfway around the world.

Flying far away from her.

Prue sighed. It was one of the few times Piper had left her since Prue had become trapped on the Nexus. She hated that she couldn't go with her sisters to help protect their Innocent. She missed her old role in the fight against evil, but—even though they'd only left a moment ago—she missed her family even more.

“The Cole I remember wasn't big on hiding,” Prue eventually said. She didn't need any supernatural powers to tell her that she wasn't entirely alone. “Actually, scratch that. There was a certain amount of lurking going on back then, if I recall correctly.”
Cole entered the living room with his trademark smirk. “I wasn't hiding. I keep getting lost with the changing walls and floors in this place.”

“One room. I've changed one room so far. But now that Piper's gone I don't have to hold back.” She raised her arms. “But you should hold on to something.”

Cole took a seat on the couch as Prue waved her arms like a conductor. She wasn't sure that the movement was necessary, but she was used to activating her magic through some sort of physical movement. Old habits died hard.

The rest of the building shifted from the Manor to a more modern castle. The interior of her new, magically created home was something out of
Architectural Digest,
the complete collection. It was everything she'd always dreamed of having in life, but she'd never had the finances to make it happen. But now that she could have it in the blink of an eye, it left her cold. Having all this stuff at her disposal wasn't nearly as rewarding if she could just whip it up with a wave of the arm.

Once she was done, Prue realized Cole was no longer sitting on the couch. He was outside on the newly formed balcony. Prue went out to join him and even she was surprised to see her new home was floating higher in the air. The sky above them was all pinks, yellows, and blues as the sun set over the desert.

“Someone took the idea of a home being a castle a bit too far,” Cole said.

Prue batted her eyes at him innocently. “What? You don't like turrets? Turrets are awesome.”

“Don't you think this place is a bit big for the two of us?” Cole asked. “I get that it wasn't your choice to have me move in here, but do you really need to keep a dozen rooms between us on multiple floors?”

Prue checked out what she could see of the exterior from the balcony. Maybe she had gone a little overboard, but there didn't seem to be any reason to hold back. “I have a big family. With a place like this, they'll always feel welcome.”

“And they'll always feel like royalty,” Cole said.

Prue gave him a playful swat on the arm. “Why are you complaining? Now you've got more places to hide. Where
have
you been today?”

Cole sat in one of the newly created chairs on the balcony to take in the rest of the sunset. “Just reading up on all the news that I missed while I was away.”

“What a nice euphemism for
dead,
” Prue said, with a little more harshness than she'd intended. “And don't act like you weren't keeping watch on the world while you were wherever it was you were. You know what's going on in the world. You're just avoiding my sisters. Or a certain sister in particular.”

“I figured it's probably better that way,” Cole said. “That particular sister is married now, a mother. She doesn't need me complicating her life.”

Prue took the seat beside him. “Guess she doesn't need me complicating it either. I've seen Paige more than Phoebe since I've been back.”

“She's another one that I'd like to avoid,” Cole said. “I was never top of Paige's list before.”

“Cole, that was another lifetime ago,” Prue said. “Literally. They've moved on.
We've
moved on.”

Cole coughed discreetly.

“Okay,” Prue said. “Bad choice of words. But you know what I mean. If we're going to be in this together, we've got to be together. No more hiding.”

“Fine,” Cole said. “Did you want me to go after them and see if I can help?”

“They've been getting along fine without us for a while now. They'll let us know when they need us.”

The pair sat in silence for a moment as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Cole leaned over to Prue. “You have any board games in this place?”