by Eloise Flood
“I know, I know.” Piper hung her head, feeling incredibly guilty. “It was just one of those freak accidents, I swear.”
They walked the few blocks to the Marketplace, where Caer Wydyr was. But as they began to cross the square, Piper spotted Phoebe and Niall seated at a table at one of the outdoor cafés. They were holding hands across the table. Phoebe was saying something to Niall, gesturing with her free hand.
“They look pretty happy for two people whose lives are about to change forever, one way or the other,” Prue commented.
Phoebe spotted Piper and Prue at that moment. Jumping up, she ran over to them.
“You aren’t going to believe this,” she burst out. “It’s the most incredible, fabulous, amazing thing!”
“What is?” Piper asked, smiling. Phoebe’s high spirits were infectious.
They walked over to the table and greeted Niall. Phoebe pulled up two more chairs, then sat down and seized his hand again. “We found a counterspell!” she announced.
“Keep your voice down!” Prue ordered, glancing around at the crowded square. “You found a what?”
“A counterspell!” Phoebe repeated in a lower voice.
“What do you mean?” Piper asked. “Are you saying you found some other way to send Niall back? Because Prue and I just went through—”
“No, no!” Phoebe cut her off. “I’m talking about a real counterspell. One that will totally nullify the consequences of Diana’s spell.” She glanced from Piper to Prue, her eyes shining with happiness. “Don’t you get it? We can fix it so Niall doesn’t have to go back to his time at all. He can spend the rest of his life here—with me!”
CHAPTER
12
Hold on a minute. Back up,” Prue said, alarmed. “Phoebe, what are you saying?” “The answer has been staring us in the face this whole time,” Phoebe declared. “I can’t believe I missed it for so long. I’ve been such an idiot.”
“No,” Niall corrected her. “You’re brilliant.” They exchanged glowing smiles.
“Enough mutual admiration,” Prue said. “Phoebe, would you get to the point?”
A waitress came up and asked Prue and Piper what they’d like. Suppressing her impatience, Prue ordered an iced latte. Piper asked for a lemonade.
As soon as the waitress had gone, Phoebe leaned forward over the table.
“Okay, here’s the deal,” she said. “You know how Diana told Niall he’d crumble into dust at the stroke of midnight tonight?”
“Right,” Piper said. Prue just nodded.
“Well, I started thinking, what if Niall wasn’t around at the stroke of midnight? What would happen if he was somewhere else until, say, a quarter after twelve? Would the spell still work?”
Prue raised her eyebrows. She’d never thought about that.
“Anyway, I looked through a few books in Caer Wydyr,” Phoebe went on, “and they all pretty much say that if you have a spell that says x will happen at such-and-such a time, it actually has to happen at that exact time, or it won’t happen at all. The spell won’t work.” She grinned around the table. “If Niall’s not around at the stroke of midnight tonight, Diana’s spell won’t affect him.”
Piper was shaking her head. “’Not around’? Phoebe, I don’t think you can just stick him on a plane to Tahiti. I mean, I guess Diana’s spell might be limited by distance, but you can’t be sure of that, or of what the critical distance is.”
“I’m not talking about distance,” Phoebe said. “I’m talking about time.”
Prue’s jaw dropped. She began to see where Phoebe was going.
Phoebe paused while the waitress set down Prue’s and Piper’s drinks. Then she resumed.
“It’s so simple! If Piper freezes Niall in time right before midnight, and then releases him right after midnight has struck, he’ll be fine! All we have to do is make sure all our watches are absolutely precise.” She lifted a forefinger. “Fortunately for us, we’re in England—land of the Greenwich Observatory, the place that sets the standard for correct time. I already called the observatory and synchronized my watch. See?” She held out her wrist.
Prue frowned, skimming foam off her latte. Thinking it over, Phoebe’s argument made sense. She couldn’t spot any holes in it. But still, it made her uneasy. . . .
“I know what you’re thinking, Prue,” Niall said to her. She glanced up and met his steady blue-gray gaze. “Phoebe already explained to me the peril of meddling with time. But I’m no more than a mere drop of water in the river of history. I have no family, no sweetheart, no parents. No one even knows Merlin had a son. And I am certainly not one of the storied knights of Arthur’s Round Table. I’m a simple ship’s captain; my name appears in no books or songs.” His smile was bittersweet. “I will not be greatly missed or mourned.”
“Whereas I, on the other hand, would miss him and mourn him a whole lot,” Phoebe pointed out.
“My heart is here now. And so my home is here, too,” Niall said simply.
“Phoebe.” Piper swirled the straw around in her lemonade. Her voice was troubled. “I don’t want to be the voice of doom, but what about your vision? The one you had our first day here?”
Prue’s eyes widened. “That’s right!” With all that had happened since, she had almost forgotten about Phoebe’s vision of Niall and the baby.
“Don’t you remember that feeling you had?” Piper asked. “That terrible sense of loss? That vision meant something, Phoebe. It was telling you something. Something about the future.”
“I know. I’ve thought about that,” Phoebe admitted. Her eyes darkened with the memory. Then her chin came up. “But my visions don’t tell me what will happen, Piper. They show me what might happen if I allow it to. The future is there to be changed, if we have the courage to change it.”
She leaned forward and put a hand over each of her sisters’. “Please, you guys,” she begged. “I’ve got a chance at real happiness here. Please tell me you’re with me.”
Prue bit her lip. It still seemed to her that Phoebe and Niall were playing with fire. But did she really have the right to try to stop them, when it meant so much to them? And at least they were going into the future with their eyes wide open.
She laced her fingers through Phoebe’s. “We’re with you,” she said gently. “No matter what happens, we’re always with you.”
Piper nodded. “What she said.”
Phoebe’s smile lit her whole face. “Thanks.”
There was a moment of silence. Then Prue took Merlin’s spell out of her bag and handed it to Niall. “I guess you won’t be needing this after all. But you might want to keep it anyway. Your father was quite a guy,” she added as she thought back to the morning’s adventure.
Niall took the bit of parchment and studied it for a moment. Then he rolled it up into a tight scroll and tucked it into the pouch that hung around his neck. “Thank you, Prue and Piper,” he said softly. “For everything.”
“Hold on,” Prue objected. “This is starting to sound like one of those awards dinners where everyone gets their medals and makes their speeches. But we aren’t done here yet. We still have a big problem, remember?”
“Mrs. Jeffries,” Piper put in. “We’ve got to rescue her.”
“Right.” Niall looked contrite. “How can I help?”
Prue didn’t have to think much about that. The answer was obvious.
“We need you to be bait,” she told him. “I want you to get in touch with Diana. Make her believe that she’s won, that you’re going to show up for her ceremony tonight with your tail between your legs, ready to do whatever she wants you to do.”
Niall nodded. “And then?”
Prue glanced at each of her sisters. She smiled grimly. It was time to call on the Power of Three.
“We’ll take it from there,” she said.
“It’s just on the other side of those trees,” Piper said in a low voice. “There are two ancient standing stones there. I think it must be some kind of
Druid shrine from way back.”
“The stones are the locus of a Druid’s magic,” Niall said. “They are built to draw on the power of the Earth herself, to channel it and tame it so that it becomes a tool, rather than simply an overwhelming and often destructive force.”
Phoebe sniffed the air. The pleasant, autumnal smell of burning wood floated faintly on the evening breeze. “They must have a bonfire,” she said. She spotted an orange glow through the trees. “Yeah, I can see it.”
“It’s part of the ceremony,” Niall confirmed. “They toss the wicker giant into the bonfire with the sacrificial victim inside.”
Phoebe shuddered.
“Not this time,” Prue said.
The sun had just set; the last traces of deep orange and magenta were still barely visible across the river, along the western horizon. To the east, the first stars had already made their appearance.
In single file, the Halliwell sisters and Niall crept through the thicket of oak trees, toward the clearing with the standing stones.
And then, suddenly, they were there. Phoebe’s eyes widened as she took in the scene.
The bonfire blazed in the middle of the clearing, between the two standing stones. Even where she stood, Phoebe could feel its heat on her face and arms. As she watched, a white-robed woman stepped forward and tossed on an armful of branches covered with glossy green leaves. A shower of sparks leaped toward the sky, and the air was filled with a sharp, piney scent.
“That’s mistletoe,” Niall murmured in her ear. “One of the sacred plants the Druids use in their rites.”
Phoebe nodded. Her eyes swept over the clearing, then stopped on a tall, slim figure in a robe of deep reddish orange. It was Diana. Her long, auburn hair hung down her back. She wore a filmy mauve shawl around her shoulders, and a scarf of the same color around her neck. She stood with her eyes closed and her face turned up to the darkening sky. Three or four women fussed around her, adjusting the robe and scarves.
Ugh! She’s so theatrical! Phoebe thought. Dislike boiled up inside her. “What is with the Stevie Nicks look?” she whispered to Piper. She knew it was pointless to be catty, but it felt good.
Behind her, Prue drew in her breath sharply. “I see the wicker giant,” she whispered, pointing over Phoebe’s shoulder. “There, on the right.”
Phoebe followed the direction of Prue’s finger. At the far edge of the clearing stood a huge, hulking construction. Two white-robed men stood in front of it, guarding it.
Made of woven branches with the leaves still on, the giant was shaped roughly like a human body, with two stubby legs and a barrel-like torso. It had no arms or head. Nevertheless, to Phoebe it seemed to radiate a sort of sullen malevolence. In spite of the warm June air and the heat of the bonfire, she shivered.
“Mrs. Jeffries must be inside that monstrosity,” Prue muttered. “I bet she’s completely and utterly terrified, the poor thing.”
Phoebe had been holding Niall’s hand. Now he gently withdrew it from her clasp. “I think it’s time to finish this,” he said. He turned to Piper. “Are you ready?”
She nodded. “Just give me a second to get around to the wicker giant. Then all you have to do is keep them distracted for two or three minutes while I freeze the guards and get Mrs. Jeffries out.” She turned and started working her way quietly through the trees toward the other side of the clearing.
Niall glanced down at Phoebe. “Be careful,” she told him, and pressed a swift kiss on his lips.
He touched her cheek, then strode forward, out of the shadow of the trees.
As he entered the clearing, a tense hush fell. Even the crackling of the fire seemed to fade in intensity. Diana opened her eyes. As she spotted him, a slow, triumphant smile curled the corners of her mouth.
“I’m here,” Niall announced in a defiant voice.
“Obviously,” Diana drawled.
He scowled. “Before I agree to do what you ask of me, I want guarantees from you. How can I be sure you’ll carry out your side of the bargain?”
Diana laughed. “Dearest Niall, are you really in any position to ask for promises?” She stepped forward and ran a finger down his cheek in a coy gesture that made Phoebe bristle. “I hold your life in my hands, remember?”
“I can see Piper,” Prue whispered in Phoebe’s ear. “She’s just frozen those two goons who are guarding the wicker thing. Now she’s trying to figure out how to get it open.”
Phoebe nodded, her eyes still on the scene by the bonfire.
Niall knocked Diana’s hand away. “What you say may be true,” he said, “but I have something you want, too. Something you want badly.”
“Oh, ugh,” Phoebe muttered. “I don’t want to think about that!”
Diana’s smile slipped for an instant. Then it was back. “Niall, darling, don’t you know that I have a dreadful crush on you?” she cooed. She put both palms against his broad chest. “Of course I’d never let you die in that horrid way.”
Niall put his hands over Diana’s, but he didn’t push them away this time. “Tell me why I should believe you,” he asked. But there was a softer, more intimate note in his voice.
Phoebe’s fists clenched unconsciously by her sides. “Easy, Phebes,” Prue whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Piper just needs one more minute.”
“A minute is just about how much more of this I can take,” Phoebe muttered.
Then a flicker of movement by the far side of the clearing caught her eye. She squinted through the gloom. Her heart beat faster as she saw Piper half leading, half supporting a white-haired woman in a blue housecoat. As if sensing Phoebe’s gaze, Piper turned and gave a thumbs-up. A moment later she and the woman slipped into the shelter of the trees.
“She’s ahead of schedule,” Phoebe whispered. “You go, Piper!”
“Okay. We’re on,” Prue said. “Ready?”
“And how,” Phoebe agreed.
She and Prue stepped forward into the firelight. “Wow—a cookout? Hope you saved some marshmallows for us!” Phoebe called.
The white-robed Druids stared at her in consternation. These poor people—they’re just human sheep, Phoebe thought.
Then Diana was shouting, her face twisted with anger, “You stupid amateurs! I’ve had enough of your interference!” She aimed a finger at Prue and Phoebe. “Will somebody bloody grab those two?”
Three of the Druid men obediently stepped forward.
“I don’t think so,” Prue said. With a flick of her hand, she sent them flying through the air.
Diana’s eyes widened in shock.
“That’s right,” Phoebe called to her. “We’re actually pretty good, for amateurs!”
“Get them, you idiots!” Diana yelled. “Get them before they ruin everything!”
A few more of the men stepped forward, though their faces were terrified and their movements halfhearted. Once again Prue sent them flying.
“Prue! Phoebe! Behind you!” Niall yelled.
Prue and Phoebe spun around. Four more men were rushing at them from the woods. But suddenly they froze in place. Piper stepped out of the woods, dusting off her hands. “Anyone else want a time-out?” she asked.
Phoebe grinned. “Cute!”
She turned back. The remaining Druids were scattering out of the clearing as fast as they could, their faces blank with terror. But where was Diana? Phoebe’s gaze sharpened with concern. Diana was dangerous. They couldn’t let her escape.
Then Phoebe caught sight of her. Diana had retreated until her back was against one of the standing stones. Arms raised, she was chanting something in a low voice. The stones were starting to glow green.
“Prue,” Phoebe called urgently. She pointed at Diana.
Prue shook her head. “Some people just never learn, do they?”
She thrust out her hand toward Diana, fingers stiff. Phoebe gasped as Diana’s long scarf began to writhe like a snake. It twined around one of her arms and began to slither up it. Then it was slidin
g around her wrists, binding them tightly together.
Diana’s chant broke off abruptly. She stared in horror at the writhing scarf. She opened her mouth to scream, but Prue made her mauve shawl whip up and gag her. Mute and helpless, Diana could only glare her hatred at them.
Phoebe let out an admiring whistle. “Prue, that was downright artistic!”
“Amazing!” Niall called.
“Thanks,” Prue said. She glanced around. “Everything okay on your end, Piper?”
“Fine,” Piper replied. “Except that Mrs. Jeffries is probably losing it right now after seeing what we did.” She shook her head. “Poor lady. She’s been through a lot.”
“Maybe we should put a little harmless forgetting spell on her,” Phoebe suggested. She put her hands on her hips and gazed around the now-quiet clearing. “This probably isn’t the kind of thing she’ll want to remember.”
Prue nodded. “That’s for sure. But there’s something else we need to take care of first.” She pointed to the standing stones. “Those things can be very dangerous if the wrong person learns how to control them. I think we’d better make sure no one can use them—either for good or evil.”
Niall took Diana’s arm and pulled her away as Prue, Piper, and Phoebe walked up to the great stones. Phoebe gazed at their scarred, lichen-covered surfaces. Though they were made of rock, they seemed almost alive to her. She could feel them as twin dark, brooding, ancient presences in her mind.
The Charmed Ones joined hands. Slowly, Prue began to chant a cleansing spell from The Book of Shadows. Phoebe and Piper joined in. Their voices rose over the crackle of the bonfire as they came to the last lines of the spell:
“In this place, upon this night,
Cleanse these stones, bring them back to light.
By the Power of Three, bring them back to light!”
Crrrrrraaaaaaakkkkk! With a rending sound, a long, dark crack appeared down the center of each stone. Two pillars of sickly greenish light streaked out, stabbing up at the sky like accusing fingers.
Then the light began to fade. Slowly, slowly, it died away. The three sisters watched in silence as the long cracks in the stones closed themselves up.
