Shape of Things to come

Shape of Things to Come

Part 3:Seeds of Time

Chapter 29

‘All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts'
...William Shakespeare. As You Like It

Cut off by the lockdown from the Powers that Be of magic, and any explanations for what was happening in the world of Evil, the Charmed Ones supposed they were luckier than most witches because Cole could, at least if he chose, pass on some account of recent events. However, after receiving a non-contradictable view of the rights and wrongs of interference from Durand, particularly about the line between Guardian and witches’ business, it took considerable pushing for Phoebe to get anything out of Cole. Especially as Leo had decided to enact his role as Guardian advisor, who more often than not shook his head, when Cole went to respond to a question.

However, they still had more understanding than most other witches, and family phones were ringing constantly as witches from all over the world called the Charmed Ones for information. Many of these witches reported finding themselves targeted by many forms of lower ranked demons and lesser minions of Evil and also reported that some coven members were brutally attacked and left injured, as Evil tried to tempt whitelighters to emerge from the lockdown. Paige confessed to Phoebe that she was almost relieved to know Mark was confined to the upper levels of ‘up there’ because she was certain that if he was not he would have been one of the first to break free from the barricades.

Paige was having a difficult time because she was the only orbing creature who had any healing powers in San Francisco, indeed for all she knew, the accessible earthen realms. She did what she could but Piper was insistent that she did not orb so she had to rely on driving or when she could talk Cole into being her ‘ride’. Something he was reluctant to do after he received another very terse lecture from Durand about right and wrong, when three callouts for injured witches turned out to be darklighters setting traps for whitelighters, although Cole did rather irritably get rid of the evil creatures to protect Paige.

So, although Paige helped as much as she dared, mostly all the Charmed Ones could do was to very strongly recommend to witches asking for advice about the state of magic that for the moment witches lie low. When some witches protested that they were being asked to ignore calls from innocents needing helped, Paige carefully suggested they weigh the risks to innocents and the risks to whitelighters and make their decisions accordingly, good advice that made a couple of angry witches suggest she had sold out to the Elders.

At best therefore, the Charmed Ones and the Simpson sisters all managed to, as Phoebe said ‘get through’ the next days. All six witches were extremely apprehensive not only because of the magic issues but because the ‘riots’ at the San Francisco university were still constantly reported, and they also realised the mortal legal issues could engulf them at any moment. The whole family were waiting expectantly for the doorbell to ring and discover FBI at the door, or to find reporters gathering on the lawn.

The family also nervously watched for signs of darklighters and their accessories, sniffers, trackers and shakers, laying siege to the nexus of the Manor. However, although Leo took the risk of venturing into the spirit winds, and reported the creatures hanging around as close as they could get to the Manor, nothing untoward happened. The children all seemed to remain safe at school, but the level of grumpiness in the four of them was growing because they were more or less confined between the house and school. Cole, to Piper’s concern, refused to put a block on the school stating that as soon as Evil creatures realised the block was there they would be looking for the reason, as well as attempting to defeat the block. If they did not use magic Cole argued both Wyatt and Melinda were safer lost in the crowds at school.

Both Leo and Paige were feeling as caged as the children. Other than answering callouts from witches when she could, Paige only moved between work and the Manor. Whilst worrying herself ragged about not hearing from Mark, she reluctantly accepted Cole’s reasoning that magic blocks attracting attention and only worked so completely on the Manor nexus because of his power. However, as there was already a lost soul at the employment agency who knew what Paige was but clearly feared her powers and consequently left her alone, she felt the blocks on her own space there at least kept demons from her office and always made sure she had crystals to recognise evil that surrounded it. Leo used the time to work on ‘next door’ and did not appreciate Phoebe telling him to stop complaining about being forced to stay home, because that is what he would be doing anyway, magic crisis or not.

The Simpson girls made an effort to return to their normal lives but all were very subdued after what they believed to be a failed venture into greater magic. All three were decidedly uncomfortable and a little embarrassed at the results of the demon battle at the university. As the immediate strain of the battle and its after affect passed, the Charmed Ones did try to talk to Fern about what happened, but she was in deep mourning for her supervisor Mary and closed herself down from any discussion, to Paige’s great concern, even though Phoebe warned the family she would talk when she was ready.

As they had no connection with ‘up there’ or any whitelighters, the family found themselves relying on the magic of TV news and social media for any information about demonic actions. Something that Patsy was very clever at locating. Piper worried about the ease with which he negotiated the dark side of the web. The world news programs reported that there was more ‘riots’ in India at two large universities. Even Piper conceded that the riots seemed to be over a vague concoction of social outrage and historical turbulence, which was conveniently missing any real substance. The witches had no doubt that they were demonically inspired.

Several people were reported killed in these riots but as Leo and Piper watched quite a long video of the events that Patsy found hidden away on social media, they suspected that somehow or other, common sense had prevailed, and the panic that would have allowed demonic influence to completely overwhelm did not happen. The riots, as Phoebe who watched some of the video pointed out, were going to be a disappointment to the demons who had no doubt invested their resources and reputations in creating bedlam.

Patsy also found some reports of more riots and turbulence in some English universities and these seemed to be more successful, for Evil at least. Several institutions had cancelled some staff for both trivial and reasonable actions, then gone out of their way to ensure these staff were publicly discredited on social media, leading to riots by supporters and critics. Watching these riots on television, Phoebe suggested the riots were being led by demon grunts, because there was something not quite mortal, even weasely about the faces of those inciting the worst of the violence. Any doubts the charmed sisters had about the demonic origins of the riots were then allayed when it was reported that four university staff were killed during them.

“Lost soul grunts” Phoebe fumed in disgust but fortunately for any witches involved the police seemed to be having difficulties identifying anyone connected with the deaths.

Phoebe nodded. “At least my magic is working. And no, I haven’t forgotten the press on the front lawn when Prue died. I can safely say that no one without an Evil agenda wants magic exposed.”

Despite all the bad news being reported overseas, the tension of immediate danger did finally ease, and a few uneventful days passed, so some level of normalcy on the surface, returned to the family. At least until a couple of days later, however, when Phoebe was busy upstairs writing, Cole was still at work, and Piper was preparing the evening meal before she going to P3 for the night. She and Leo wanted to be there in the early evening while the piano bar was still the focus so that the new staff were well aware of their presence. Leo was still ‘next door’, just finishing things off before he had to get ready too. The kids were all in the dining room and living room, three diligently doing homework, Wyatt not so much, all surrounded by dogs and cats.

Piper had the television on, listening to the early news, as she often did while she worked in the kitchen. She was enjoying herself putting together a pasta dish that Phoebe could easily cook, because she worried about the family eating takeaways. She was also enjoying an early glass of wine, because she never drank while at P3, when she glanced nervously the screen because she could hear the announcer refer to events at the San Francisco University. For a few seconds, she just stood and stared in anger at the screen, then in complete annoyance she threw the glass as hard as she could and it broke with a satisfying crash, and then she swore as hard as she could, as loud as she could.

Both Melinda and Patsy came rushing into the kitchen, followed by three excited dogs. Melinda so concerned about Piper she forgot to be a belligerent teenager as she asked “Mom what’s wrong?”

Piper roared at the dogs to shut up then replied with another string of expletives, and indicated the television. Patsy and Melinda both forgetting they were in another round of not talking, exchanged glances at each other and looked at the television and saw a grainy video that they recognised immediately as an edited version of the recording of the first demon fight the witches had in Human Resources.

Patsy turned to go, but stopped as Phoebe, after hearing all the noise came running.

“I can find it” Patsy interrupted brightly and headed back to his computer while Phoebe tried to get Piper to explain what she saw.

Piper impatiently indicated the screen which showed a carefully edited film of the security videos of the demon massacre. Patsy enjoying himself more than he should have, slowed the video down.

It was very clear that some work had been done to clean up the images compared to the one Phoebe had seen at the FBI, and whilst the spinning, kicking and whirling figures were still not completely in focus, details of clothing and shape were quite identifiable. What was missing was the explosions of demons turning into goo. Whilst there were some images of what could, at a stretch, be described as mortals hurling flickering coloured light at each other, the film was mostly focused on the three witches, very effectively running, jumping and kicking their way through the building. The video showed maybe flashes of light coming from Charlie’s eyes and maybe light from Paige’s hands but this was mostly out of focus. There were a couple of clearly focused frames of the knife in Phoebe’s hand as she levitated across the room.

Melinda went to obey then hesitated and Patsy for once not inclined to argue with her, got up from his computer screen to get Leo while Melinda turned back to watch the video, concern all over her face, her feet splayed, head on the side as she watched her mother.

“Nothing to worry about” Piper stated, her voice tight as she remembered to be a mother.

Leslie answered Cole’s phone, explaining they were driving home and would be there in five minutes. As Phoebe ordered them to get there as soon as possible. Leo came running. “I thought you said the film was pretty out of focus when you saw it at the FBI?” he asked Phoebe after watching it.

“Lots of it missing and really heavy editing” Phoebe explained her voice tight.

“Patsy said the film is public?” Leo asked calmly because the kids were present, just as Cole and Leslie came in. They watched the film with various levels of annoyance.

“Its pressure not evidence” Cole told them. “They can’t use it as evidence.”

“Because” Leslie explained “Even a half-way good lawyer could discredit it. It’s been edited … heavily you say. It becomes ‘you say’, ‘I say’ about what was changed and what they did to change it. They would have to use the original.” She looked at Cole questioningly. “That would get laughed out of court?”

Cole nodded “Okay” Cole he told them. “We need a copy of the video and the original. FBI only have to supply it if there is an arrest and it’s used as evidence.”

“Hell y…” Patsy caught Piper’s expression. “Sure. It’s always on tv last. It’ll be all over the internet. And there are black sites that can get FBI stuff” he assured them, then slightly worried and relieved to have been asked, began pushing a reluctant Wyatt to come and help him.

Piper ground her teeth her face going slightly red. Melinda watched her nervously.Piper ground her teeth her face going slightly red. Melinda watched her nervously.

“The somewhere else alibi still stands Piper.” Cole assured her “That is why we have three pieces of evidence. Phones, video and credit cards.”