How Quaint the Ways of Paradox Part 2: Promises,promises,promises Chapter 14
"How quaint the ways of paradox; At common sense she gaily mocks" (Gilbert and Sullivan. Pirates of Penzance) |
Cole woke up jumping, as the sheet was
ripped off him, his eardrums all but shattered by Phoebe’s hysterical
screaming. The scream, the shrill screeching in his ear was leaving it ringing
even from the distance Phoebe was now across their bedroom, long straight dark
hair falling over her face. The large flannel pyjamas had not withstood the
pressure of her flight. The bottoms were on the floor half way across the room
and the undone top was falling over her back. Jumping around, trying very
unsuccessfully to pull the sheet over her, she was still managing to make his
ear drums ache.
“Shit” he thought still on the bed
more or less exposed. The bedroom door flew open and Paige came in. Her hair was
brassy blond longer than it had been yesterday and it did not suit her
complexion. She was wearing a T shirt night dress with a crude message on the
front and falling over one shoulder.
Piper stood a little behind her
wearing grubby old flannel pyjamas, her hair a mess her eyes almost unfocused,
her face worn, so tired. Cole tried to find the quilt to pull it over him. Piper
gestured to freeze or blow up, he wasn’t sure which one and for a second he
was afraid in this timeline he was finished, but nothing happened to him.
“Demon” screamed Phoebe reaching
new levels of sound, ”demon in my bed.”
”Yeah well demons were never known
for their brains“ Piper said in a tired flat voice.
”Hey demon guy“ Paige said eyeing
Cole with a gleam. She reached over and pulled the quilt off ”Give my fucking
sister a thrill. She hasn’t seen anything that fucking good since she got
fucking divorced.”
“Since before I was married” Piper
said looking. “Shut up Phoebe” she said as Phoebe began screaming again,
bouncing backwards so the sheet did even less of a job of covering her than it
had.
“Yeah shut up Phoebe” said Paige
“Fucking stand still and let the demon guy see what he came to fucking well
see.” She leered suggestively at Cole “Never seen an unused cunt that old
before eh demon guy.”
Cole shut his eyes, lay back and
pulled the quilt over his head groaning. It was a punishment he knew. Some spite
punishing him for the fight he had with Phoebe’s sisters over breakfast the
other morning, when he had thought what a pair of bitches they were and
anything, anything would be better than what he was living with.
………………………………………………….
For Tempus the need to fulfil his
destiny and retrieve the Grimoire was becoming desperate. With each failure more
and more demons deserted and ignored him and he knew that the only reason he was
still the ruler of demondom was that as yet no other demon had found a way to
rule without the Grimoire or found a way to retrieve or resurrect it. But he
knew that was only matter of time.
Amid the more and more insolent
responses of the demons who served him, Tempus watched for pretenders, for those
who consorted with dark priests and lore master who may find a way to resurrect
the Grimoire. And he too consulted the dark priests and lore masters but they
could only confirm what Tempus already knew. The answer to the return of the
Grimoire lay somewhere in the life of Belthezor’s witch. A choice she made
could be changed, a moment of evil and the Grimoire could be saved.
Once again Tempus looked back through
the time of Belthezor’s witch. He watched the life as far as he could, mostly
where it was touched by evil, and it occurred to him that if the witch was not
always wise she was a risk taker, one who acted first and thought sometimes
never. Perhaps, as he had found to his regret, if the bond of the sisters was
not weakened enough to save the Grimoire by the perfidy of the witch then it
could be weakened by her frailty and fear.
If you search long enough sometimes
you find what you seek.
Tempus found the time of 15 year old
Phoebe Halliwell, a little girl plump and insecure, a little girl who had had
been deserted by mother and father so young, a little girl at a school party,
never part of the group only there on sufferance because the bitchy May Anne had
made big deal about inviting every classmate to her 16th birthday and
so for once the weird, orphan Halliwell creep was at the party too.
Sitting awkwardly in a corner, hating
herself for being ignored, hating herself for having huge breasts, hating
herself for being plump, all alone in a corner while prettier and more popular
girls danced and flirted Phoebe Halliwell huddled to herself wishing she was
safely at home with Grams or popular like the other girls who all seemed to be
making out just fine, dancing or macking with class mates.
Phoebe watched Mary Beth making out in
a corner, tongue down Bobbie West’s throat, sucking saliva and wondered why
anyone could ever enjoy anything as disgusting. She doubted she could ever find
a time when she would like that.
She watched the other girls gradually
pair off and glanced at her watch. Prue had promised to pick her up at 1.00 and
it was only 10.00 She did not think she could last another 3 hours.
Phoebe shrunk in a corner wishing she
was somewhere else, and also wishing she wasn’t the only girl huddled in a
corner, suddenly looked up. Elmer Crane, class creep, skinny and covered in acne
was standing over her, legs apart groin thrust almost into her face, eyeballing
her very large breasts, not really contained in a to tight top. Phoebe
unconsciously crossed her arms in protection.
“Wanna dance” Elmer asked his eyes
popping as the crossed arms made her breasts larger and seemed to expand in
front him. Phoebe glanced behind him. Several of the class creeps, including May
Anne falling all over another creep Danny Fallon, were watching Elmer, skinny
acne covered Elmer leering over her and laughing.
Somehow she could not stand it
”Yeah” she said ”Why not?“
She got up and danced. Phoebe was good
dancer, she moved with a natural rhythm and grace, with a sexy insolence that
promised much. As she danced she forgot the creeps and tried to forget Elmer.
Which was not easy as Elmer’s idea of dancing was to rub his groin against her
and make regular grabs for her breasts.
The music finally stopped as the tape
ran out and she was glad, sweat pouring down her face, hot as much from disgust
at Elmer as the dancing. Phoebe
just wanted to get away.
”Wanna a drink“ Elmer asked
getting his acne face down low so he could get closer to her breasts.
She nodded, anything to get away from
him without the rest of the room knowing how sick he made her. He came back with
a coke. She gulped it down and it tasted tart and bitter not really like coke
and it made her more thirsty not less.
”Wanna another one?” Elmer asked.
The room was going cloudy. She saw the
creeps laughing at her and said yes and Elmer brought her another one. She
gulped it down, this one was just as
bitter and Phoebe suddenly found the room going around. "I’m going to
faint" she told Elmer and was aware of a smile on his face.
Phoebe found herself lying on May
Anne’s parents bed. Her jeans and panties had been pulled off and her shirt
was open and her breasts were pulled out of her bra. Elmer was pushing his
tongue in her mouth, horrible, ugly, nasty sickening.
He moved down on her, his hands
grabbed her breasts and she whimpered as he caught her nipples and squeezed so
hard it hurt. He then collapsed on her and his full weight knocked the breath
out of her. He started to move against her and it felt horrible, he was clumsy
ugly and he was hurting.
”Spread your legs“ he wheezed at
her.
And Phoebe understood, she could lie
there and let him do it. She was not a fool she knew what was coming, it was sex
and after all the others all did it, she must have been the only virgin in her
class, so what it was horrible, so what if it wasn’t a fantasy lover, tender
and sweet and taking her to the heights of ecstasy, loving her, caring for her,
wanting her beyond life itself, it was sex and all the girls did it and at least
she would not be a freak.
And Tempus watching Belthezor’s
witch in his dark mirror of time waved his hand and the blue light mixed in the
dark of the mirror
Or who cared what the class creeps
Phoebe thought. She could scream, yell at Elmer to get his stinking horrible
acne face away from her, take his miserable, clumsy hands away from her breasts,
get his sweaty smelly groin away from her, and scream she did, hysteria and
panic and fear overwhelming her.
When Prue arrived to pick her little
sister up from the party at 12.45 she found Phoebe huddled in a corner crying,
miserably, the buttons on her shirt done up wrongly and the shirt not tucked in,
all her makeup blurred and mascara streaks down her face.
Phoebe saw her big sister and ran to
her, throwing her arms around Prue who with her jaundiced 19 year old eyes
summed up the situation and led her sister away.
In Grams car, Phoebe sobbed out what
had happened and Prue as gently as she could explained it wasn’t the end of
the world, it happened to everyone and good or bad, the first time easy or hard,
every one survived it and moved on.
”Its not going to happen to me“
Phoebe declared thinking of the stale sweaty body, the brandy breath, the
painful clumsy hands and the rough discomfort.
“It will happen when you’re
ready” Prue said caught between amusement and irritation ”Its only sex
Phoebe, something you do with a man, its fun and its okay and then its over. It
isn’t fairy tale romance, it isn’t ever after passion, it isn’t ecstasy
and it isn’t mind boggling over the top ever, after soul mates eternal love.
Its great when you really like the guy,” she said from the wisdom of her 19
year old experience “but if you do or you don’t.. Its just sex and its fun.
It is“ she said in the face of Phoebe’s disbelief.
“Phoebe“ Prue said as her 15 year
old sister lifted herself into a rigid stubborn stance. “Its just sex Phoebe,
fun, nice, exciting but its only sex with a man. You need to stop reading those
stupid romance books. It doesn’t happen that way. Sometimes it happens great
and sometimes it happens not so great but its just sex not the end of the world
either way. “
”Well it isn’t going to happen to
me. Even if he did not… finish, it made me sick. If that’s what its like I
don’t want it.“
“It isn’t like that all the
time“ 19 year old Prue muttered exasperated.
………………………………
Cole woke up jumping, as the sheet was
ripped off him, his ear drums all but shattered by Phoebe’s hysterical
screaming. The scream, the shrill screeching in his ear was leaving it ringing
even from the distance Phoebe was now across their bedroom, long straight dark
hair falling over her face. The large flannel pyjamas had not withstood the
pressure of her flight. The bottoms were on the floor half way across the room
and the undone top was falling over her back. Jumping around , trying very
unsuccessfully to pull the sheet over her, she was still managing to make his
ear drums ache.……..
………………………………
Cole nervously looked out from under
the quilt. Piper, almost dead eyes watching him carefully. Paige licking her
lips ”Fucking bloody hell demon“ she said“ if you had to land in a witch's
bed why not mine. At least you would have been some fucking use in mine.“
Piper tiredly raised her hand and this
time Cole decided not to risk it
and shimmered. The problem was in this time line he shimmered without wallet,
car keys or clothing. Despite Paige’s best efforts to sell him on the benefits
of pyjamas he always slept naked.
He shimmered out in his outer office,
Francesca’s office and went into his. He magically manufactured clothing but
he was very nervous because he felt naked and magic as he well knew had a habit
of failing at inconvenient times.
He started to ransack his office
cursing himself after the other day, he had not left a credit card there.
He heard the door to the outer office
and turned to stand at his own office door as Francesca came in. she looked much
the same as she always did, plain face, beautifully groomed, not one of her salt
and pepper coloured hairs out of place. She stood at the door and met his gaze
complacently. There was silence between them.
“Feeling .. good" she finally
asked.
”Fran.. Mrs Rinaldi. Thank God“ he
said meeting Francesca’s incredulous expression. He asked nervously “Who am
I?”
”What is the matter with you Cole?
she asked severely, not taking her eyes off his face.
“What happened on Friday?“ he
asked trying again.
”Your behaviour was abysmal“ she
said to Cole’s relief.
”I think I’m in a different time
line“ he said “again.”
“Why? she asked shutting the door.
”Because I went to bed last night
with Phoebe piss .. annoyed at me and I woke up with her screaming in my ear.
She did not know who I was“ he said.
”Who’s Phoebe.“ Francesca asked
”All right don’t bother“ she said. “I can go somewhere I can find out
about the timelines.”
“Mrs Rinaldi.” he asked ”Where
do I live in this timeline?” he asked.
”!342 Mercer St Apartment 7“
Francesca answered immediately “Why?”
”Because I was in bed when I
shimmered off “Cole said “and .. magic can fail..”
”I wonder which one of us would be
more embarrassed“ Francesca mused.
”I don’t“ Cole said not missing
the laughter light in Francesca’s eyes.
”I’ll be at your apartment soon“
Francesca said and orbed off in front of him. Cole shook his head and shimmered
to the apartment Francesca told him about. He had to pull a magic block off to
get in . It was a very small apartment, not far from Prescott Street; Cole could
hear himself telling Phoebe “I’ll find a place near Prescott Street.“
It was full of overstuffed very ugly
furniture that Cole hoped was rented and it was a mess of unwashed crockery,
papers, books, empty Chinese food cartons and clothes over the floor from the
living room to the bedroom.
”God” he thought ”Phoebe’s
right. I do live like a pig without her.“
He found one pressed suit, his least
favourite one and a clean shirt and tie and showered, sadly accepting that his
toiletries and razor were in the messy, and badly in need of a scrub, bathroom.
Francesca orbed in as he left the bedroom tucking his shirt in. ”You live like
a pig“ she commented dryly “and there is a problem with the time line.”
”I’m not sure why I’m out of
it“ he said.
”Did you take any time powers out of
the wasteland?” Francesca asked.
Cole nodded.
”I better go check on Phoebe” he
said.
”I’ll do that” Francesca said
”You’re due in court.“
”All my papers were at the manor“
Cole said panicking. “I don’t even have a witness list.”
”I’ll call the court clerk and
tell him my idiot boss lost the list“ Francesca said “After that you’ll
have to wing it. You think you’re so smart. Prove it.“
”Last time Leo was not in the
changed time line“ Cole said.
”If Leo was in this realm he is in
this time line“ Francesca said “Yes I can recognise another whitelighter“
she added “I’ll be in my car, watching the manor she said.”
Cole gulped and shimmered off to
court. He was ten minutes late for a pre trial discussion with his client, an
elderly African American who had been arrested after losing his temper with two
pugnacious young cops who got rough when they pulled him over for speeding. The
man had indignantly resisted arrest and the ensuing brawl had received a great
deal of publicity. The court clerk with great formality and a smirk handed Cole
a witness list.
Cole was grateful for once that he was
left to try the shit cases without any support from the law firm so that no one
had to know that he was reading off blank paper when he asked questions.
As the defendant was guilty of
speeding, insulting the police and resisting arrest Cole contented himself with
flicking his fingers every time the prosecutor stood up. By the time Albert
Kratz, a small arrogant man in his 40’s who was as pompous as he was bigoted,
and who Cole when he worked for the DA had hated, and now he just loathed
intensely, had spilled water, mixed up evidence, insulted every witness,
insulted female Americans, Spanish Americans, African Americans, Chinese
Americans, Anglo Saxon descent Americans, the constitution, the flag and every
policeman whoever put his life on the line to protect innocent people, the jury
would have been prepared to find Madonna was a virgin just to get even with the
prosecutor.
Cole was out of court by 3.30. He
shimmered to Prescott Street and found Francesca sitting in her car outside the
manor calmly drinking coffee.
”Phoebe’s at work, Paige just got
back from running Piper just came back from her club. She looks terrible.”
Francesca commented “I have to go“ she added.
”Can I have your car?” Cole asked.
”Your’s is over there“ she said
indicating the green Mercedes and put her hand in her purse handed Cole a set of
keys. “I know how they work“ she added as she caught his quizzical look.
”Cole” she said ”Just to be safe
with any timeline changes. Make
sure you are where you’re supposed to be at any given time“ Francesca said.
”I’m supposed to be living in the
manor with Phoebe” he said exasperated. “Phoebe doesn’t sleep with strange
men in this timeline.” He sighed and touched his still ringing ear. ”I
don’t think she sleeps with familiar men in this time line“
”You’ll find a way” Francesca
smiled complacently ”I have faith in you.”
Glowering at Francesca Cole shimmered
to his own car and watched the manor. Nothing
exiting happened until after 5 when Marly’s small and very old grey car pulled
up outside the manor.
”Great“ thought Cole ”They’re
off on a demon hunt“ and if Paige orbed he was going to have difficulty
tracking them. He finally settled on a half shimmer in the house, risking one of
the witches might pick up on his presence, to keep track of them.
The atmosphere in the manor was
somewhat chaotic.
Piper was in the kitchen throwing
flashlights and athames the girls had collected over the years into bag, while
giving Marly a long list of instructions. Paige was standing at the bottom of
the stairs, wearing jeans and joggers and a white parka with what Cole could
only just make out in the shimmer as a somewhat suggestive picture on the back.
She had her hands on her hips and yelled at Phoebe ”Hurry up. What the fuck
are you doing up there? The fucking demons don’t care how your hair looks.”
Cole grinned to himself.
Somethings did not change. Phoebe in any time line kept everyone waiting
while she did her hair.
Paige walked into the kitchen ”I
don’t know why that fucking virgin princess spends so much time worry about
how she looks" Paige said to Piper "its not as if she’s ever going
to let any thing get near her c…..”
"Paige!!! Not in front Marly“
Piper said in a dull flat voice.
”Oops sorry Marly“ Paige “I
forgot I shouldn’t say virgin in front of you.”
"Paige!!!!!” said Piper in a
dull flat voice.
”Shit” said Paige ”I only
said.”
”Paige!!!!!!!! ” said Piper again
her voice flat.
There was the sound of orbs and Leo
appeared. He looked worse than Piper. He had put on weight and his face looked
pale and drawn. His hair was to long and uncared for and his eyes had an almost
permanent watery glaze about them.
As he orbed in he stole a long haunted
glance at Piper then averted his eyes. Cole recognised the expression. It was
one he had seen, all to often, in his own mirror, in the long months he and
Phoebe had been apart.
Piper turned her back on him.
”Are the fucking Elders sure about
this?” Paige asked.
”Paige!!!! “ said Leo flat voiced
”Yeah, they think its better to get them. You can’t do anything to help the
witches but the Elders don’t like the idea of the scavengers
feeding. Its .. its not respectful to what they died for“ he added
glancing at Piper.
”Well you’re fucking right there
you arsehole traitor” Paige said ”I still don’t see why we have to still
have you farting around us. Where’s that shit Caleb?”
“Paige!!! “ said Leo. ”He’s
busy The Elders sent me.“
”Yeah if they knew what a fucking
traitor you were the only place they would send you is hell“ Paige said. She
turned her back on Leo and went to down the passage to the hall ”Phoebe, Get
the fuck down here“ Paige roared.
Leo walked over and took his daughter
from Marly who all but cowered in a corner. Piper glowered at him.
”She’s my daughter to Piper” he
said quietly.
”Well I’ll make damned sure she
doesn’t suffer for the sins of her father“ Piper spat at him.
Leo gave his daughter a cuddle and
with a sigh handed her back to Marly. Phoebe finally appeared in the kitchen,
hair in pigtails and wearing sensible shoes jeans and a dark jacket. Even Cole
was left wondering why it took her so long to put on three articles of clothing
and a pair of shoes.
”Are you ready?” she said to her
sisters pointedly ignoring Leo.
”Do you want me to come?” Leo
asked quietly.
”I don’t want any traitorous shits
behind me while I’m killing demons” Paige said orbing her sisters off.
Cole followed the witches to a small
clearing in the Redwood forests in the north of the state and watched. It was
one of those messes that made him very glad he had put Evil behind him. The
upper levels of demondom, with demons who could appear in near human form and
play their power games with cunning and duplicity was one thing but the lower
levels of blood sucking, flesh mangling ogres and monsters was another.
The fallen timber at the edge of the
clearing was apparently a cache for some Arachnid demons who had killed several
witches in a fight a little while back and they had as arachnids did, covered
the bodies with their own version of spider slime and stashed them for a later
feast. The old Source had been very careful how he let Arachnids feed, and
certainly not very often on witches because of the battles that happened when a
repulsed Good came after Evil, but with Tempus unable to control the demons the
Arachnids were feeding as they pleased, and stashing their spoils when they did
not need to feed.
A nest of scavenger demons had found
the Arachnids cache and were feeding on their store. The Arachnids had arrived
to protect it and the scavengers had defeated them and called more of their
brethren to finish the feast of witch and demon.
When the Charmed One arrived, the
scavengers were in a feeding frenzy. All Cole shimmering could do was watch.
Every feeling of balance and every warning about not inferring was running
through his head and on several occasions as soon as he even thought of
interfering, he was almost struck down by the nauseating feeling of he balance
spinning. This was a fight between Good and Evil.
The area was pitch black and the girls
had to use the flashlights to locate the very dark scavengers by the very creepy
green flash of their eyes. The fight was messy and ugly but the witches were in
no real danger as long as they stayed out of the way of the scavengers long rope
like slimy lure.
It was apparent the Phoebe in this
time line was only there to say the Power of Three spell. This Phoebe was not a
risk taker. She said the spell with her sisters which pulled the scavengers away
from their feast and dehabilitated them then she huddled behind the other two
witches and neither seemed to find it unusual. Paige and Piper went in, boots
and all. Piper blowing up the cowering demons on all sides, Paige orbing athames
and as each demon went up huge bilious steams of green goo of scavenger demons
and whatever they had feasted on landed on the girls. Even Phoebe who was
hanging back was heavily slimmed.
Cole watching her cringing away from
the battle in the deep dark of the Redwood forest in a California winter
wondered what had been lost to Phoebe. It was not about whether she had ever had
sex. It was nothing to do with sex. But somewhere in the story of a little girl
in the other time line he knew, the Phoebe who had gone looking for love in all
the wrong places, was the story of a woman who had found the courage to fail and
try again, to take the risks to reach for what she wanted. It was nothing to do
with whether that girl had sex, it was everything to do with her listening to
her own passionate and capricious nature and accepting the consequences and the
pain and the joy to which it lead.
Cole watching Phoebe shrink back from
obnoxious but not particularly dangerous scavenger demons, thought of all the
times when one of Phoebe’s sisters had choked back a comment on Phoebe’s
chequered past with men and each time he had said he did not argue with the
process that got him the girl he loved. Watching the witches battle the
scavengers, he had never felt that was truer.
It took the witches about an hour to
finish off the scavengers. When it was over, Cole his eyesight well able to deal
with the dark, watched Phoebe put her hand to her face and pull off a big green
glob of scavenger demon and god know what else and promptly bend over and throw
up.
Paige standing listening to the noise
of Phoebe gasping brushed another glob out of her once white parka. “Shit“
she said, “I hate fucking bastard demons.“
“Paige!!! “ Said Piper
automatically. She pulled a glob out of her hair “Shit “she said ”I hate
fucking bastard demons.“ She gagged and then called angrily ”Leo.“
Leo arrived in seconds. He struggled
with the dark, and then used orbs to light the scene. It was pretty bad.
Concerned he said ”You all okay“
but he looked at Piper.
”Yeah said Paige ”Shit those
bastards dickless.. “
”Paige!!!!“ interrupted Leo
automatically.
”Can you fix up here?” Piper
demanded but her eyes as she looked at Leo for the first time showing emotion
and it was all agony.
”Yeah” said Leo his eyes a
reflection of Piper’s.
Cole watching, wondered why it was
that the tensions of the world of magic meant two people simply loving each
other was not enough.
Phoebe finally straightened up and
said ”Can’t we go please?” and Paige without another word orbed them away.
Cole followed them back to the manor
and all he could do was wait, wondering how the hell he was going to
finish up where he should be, in bed with Phoebe that night. Then to his relief
about an hour and a half later Phoebe came out the front door alone as a taxi
arrived at the manor. Apparently Phoebe in this time line, not a risk taker, did
not drive at night in San Francisco.
He clearly heard her snap to someone
behind her “I just need to be
alone, get away from this, this , “ she struggled for a word” family
"she finally added. Cole did
consider that being outside the manor meant he missed out on his timeline‘s
version of the sister brawls. They were bad enough in his timeline and in that
one, the sisters not only cared about each other, they respected each other.
Dressed in a pale blue but modest
sweater, jeans and very high heels, presumably to give her some height and some
confidence out in the real world, Phoebe ran into the taxi. Cole followed and
the taxi let Phoebe out in front of one of the older
cinemas in San Francisco.
…………………………………………………..