chapter 1
Three o’ clock AM at 1329 Prescott Street, San Francisco, California. It’s occupants, Sisters Piper and Phoebe Halliwell, half sister Paige Matthews, and Piper’s son, Wyatt slept soundly. It had been three fierce days of demon battling, babysitting Wyatt, and managing their jobs for the three women. Piper Halliwell, oldest Halliwell, lay in bed alone. It had been so lonely without her husband, Leo, beside her each night to stroke her hair and make jokes about the day with. Leo Wyatt was also Wyatt’s father, however, they had named their son Wyatt Matthew Halliwell. Leo also helped around the house and managed his most important job, being their whitelighter, or guardian angel for witches. Piper and her sisters were no ordinary, parlor trick, kind of witches. They were the charmed ones, generations before the sisters’ birth had realized how powerful they would be, and expected them. Piper was finally comfortable with life, or, as comfortable as life can be when you are a charmed one. So why did Leo, the love of her life, have to go? Piper knew the answer. Leo wasn’t a whitelighter anymore, he had become a higher form of an whitelighter, an Elder. Piper found that funny, since the Elders were the ones who tried to keep them from getting married and having children in the first place. Piper placed a hand on her belly, which was three months pregnant with Leo’s other son, Chris. Piper and Leo had already met grown up Chris when he came from the future to prevent Wyatt from turning evil, but he had left for the future again, now that he had done all he could do. When Leo found out he had impregnated Piper, they decided it was even more reason for him to stay away, since whitelighters and witches weren’t supposed to even be romantic together, it was against “the rules.†Being that witches and whitelighters were no perfect match, Elders and witches were forbidden, which is why Leo had decided to leave, and asked Piper to get a divorce. Piper and Leo were still completely in love, that’s why Chris was in the process, they needed to be together. After “it†they realized they made a terrible mistake, and Piper totally agreed Leo should leave, only come back if they were in a life-or-death situation. So now here she was, alone, without Leo. Thinking that Wyatt and her unborn son, Chris would grow up without a father hurt her, she had grown up without a father, too. Piper was also new to being the eldest, she and Phoebe had grown up without Paige, they never knew about her. When the eldest, Prue turned nine, Victor, Prue Piper and Phoebe’s dad, had left. That’s when Patty, Prue Piper Phoebe and Paige’s mom had fallen in love with her whitelighter, Sam and had Paige. Since it was forbidden and Paige’s life was at risk, mom and Sam brought Paige to a local church where she was adopted by the Matthews family and grew up happily. When Prue died three years ago, Piper tried to bring her back and cast a spell to call a sister. Prue never came back but Paige was magically drawn to Prue’s funeral, where she met Piper and Phoebe. The charmed ones were back. The charmed ones each had two powers, Piper could freeze time and explode things, Phoebe could see the future and levitate, she was also an empath and good at karate. Paige orbed, which was from her father’s side and teleorb. This meant she could call for an item and it appeared in her hand. Teleorbing was Prue’s power of telekinesis in simpler form. Piper’s unborn son interrupted her thoughts with a kick. “Ouch!†Piper whispered. “Chris, cut that out!†As if in reply, the kicking stopped and Piper was relieved, for a second, at least. Moments later, a small noise started haunting Piper. For any ordinary home, no one would have thought anything. But in the charmed ones’ house, the slightest noise could be trouble. Scrape, scrape. The noise sounded again. Piper sat up, careful of her big belly, and slowly scurried into Phoebe’s room across the hall. Piper didn’t turn on any lights, it would disturb the demon that was planning to kill them. Unworried about Wyatt, since he could magically take care of himself, Piper shook Phoebe awake. “Piper!†She said. “What– “I think there’s a demon– or maybe a mouse downstairs, but I’m not willing to take a chance.†Piper answered. “What about Wyatt?†Phoebe asked. “His force field will protect him, or he will orb to us.†Piper said Phoebe relaxed. “Whatever it is honey, let me and Paige take care of it, your in no condition to be fighting off demons.†Phoebe rubbed Piper’s belly, “you guys need some sleep,†she instructed. “As if me or Chris can sleep!†Piper said. Piper stood up to get Paige but Phoebe sat her down. “I will get Paige,†she said. Piper sat on Phoebe’s bed. “Be that way!†She joked, she knew Phoebe only cared about her. Moments later a blue swirl of lights appeared next to Piper and solidified into her sisters. To avoid footsteps, Paige had orbed them from her bedroom into Phoebe’s bedroom. “What kept you?†Piper joked. Paige smiled, “a demon I hear?†The brown haired, spunky sister said. The dimple in Paige’s chin added more sweetness to her look, Piper always thought. Piper brushed her waist-length brown hair behind her back. “Or a mouse,†Phoebe said, her “boy-short†brown hair in frazzles from sleep. Phoebe’s heart-shaped face looked beautiful without makeup. “Whereas my plain, square-shaped face needs makeup,†Piper thought. Fighting demons was no biggie for the Halliwell sisters, they did it so much. “Vamos!†Paige said. Piper and Phoebe each grabbed hold of Paige as she orbed downstairs. No matter how much Piper orbed with Leo or Paige, she never got used to the sensation you felt when you did it, as your molecules split apart and reunited, it always left you light-headed and tingly, Leo and Paige were used to it, though. The girls landed in the dining room and peeked out into the hallway. To their surprise, it was no demon at all, it was a real, human robber