"Patience has its rewards, Darklighter," answered the demon. "Like vast power."
"Do you have it?" asked the darklighter, still irritated.
The demon merely held up a pendant as an answer.
The Darklighter scowled suspiciously. "I won't take this kind of risk without knowing what this promised power is."
"Very well." The demon pulled a small silver object from beneath his cloak and tossed it through the portal. It splashed out the other side and shot into the air where the Darklighter caught it. He turned the clasp in his fingers, examining it. Its silver bars took the form of three interlocked triangles.
"The Triad?" asked the man in surprise. "What do they have to do with this?"
"The Triad is no more in my time."
"But you're outside time."
"Not precisely. I am bound to its passage as are all beings. I can merely manipulate my relation to it. And move others through it. Including yourself. Don’t strain that anemic brain of yours by trying to understand. If you assist me in this task you can join me as one third of the new Triad."
"But what does a measly whitelighter have to do with anything?"
"He is essential to the destiny of those who would challenge our rule." The Darklighter nodded, satisfied for the moment. "Take this. Set their new destiny in motion." The demon dropped an amulet through the portal, where the Darklighter caught it before disappearing into a swirl of black orbs.
__________________________________________________
In the Manor's kitchen, Paige crumpled up another piece of notebook paper and tossed it into a small pile of failed rhymes.
"What if we invoke the Sun and the Moon?" asked Phoebe.
Paige shook her head. "Nah. They're just markers of time, they don't exert any power over it."
"Ok, how about Baby New Year?" joked Phoebe.
"Ha, ha, ha… although…" Paige flipped through a book of mythology. "Father Time, maybe?"
"Doesn't exist," replied Leo. He had returned shortly after the others had left to get the potion ingredients. The Elders hadn't heard anything about the Hawker recently.
"Damn!" Paige slammed the book shut in frustration. "How can a horny fourteen year old figure this out and not the three, no, six, most powerful witches of all time? I mean, I've taught this stuff!"
"Well, uh…," started the younger Piper in an unsure voice. "Never mind."
"No, go ahead honey," encouraged Phoebe.
"Well, it seems to me… maybe you're overcomplicating this? I mean, I've only written a few spells, but why do we need to reverse time? Couldn't we just erase that period of time from his head?"
"I always knew there was a reason we listen to you Piper!" said Paige "Sometimes knowing all the possibilities blinds you to the simplest common sense solutions!" She grabbed a new sheet of paper and began scribbling as Phoebe peered over her shoulder. After a minute, Paige looked up at her sister. "Got anything Pheebs? I'm stumped."
"How about… 'remember only the ordinary'?"
Paige shrugged. "Works." She looked back over the spell. "Reads a little like we're channeling Yoda, but it gets the job done. How's the potion coming?"
"We're ready for whenever they get back with those ingredients. I gotta say, they're right when they say 'if you want something done right, you do it yourself'!"
"I guess so," chimed in the younger Piper. "I've never made a potion this fast. We're in perfect synch – like we can read each other's minds."
"Imagine that," replied Paige. Both Pipers rolled their eyes in unison.
"We're back!" called the other Phoebe from the living room.
"That was one hell of a shop you sent us to!" said Prue as she walked into the kitchen.
The older Piper nodded. "It's owned by a Mandarin family that's been hunting Grimlocks for twelve generations." Prue began to unwrap the herbs from their brown paper packages as the Pipers pinched out measures of each, tossing them into the frothing vessel. In short order, the potion was almost complete.
"Stand back," ordered the more experienced Piper. Everyone backed off and Piper tossed the final ingredient, an indigo-black flower petal, into the concoction. The petal touched the liquid and a powerful poof of steam burst from the pot, shooting straight up into the ceiling.
"Ok, so how do we find this Hawker?" asked Prue, waving the smoke away from her face with her hand.
"We've been to the market before, so I can orb us to the entrance," said Paige, "but the market itself is magically protected. We'll have to get through a crowd of demons. Without killing them or them recognizing us…"
"Sounds like it's a good time for that glamour spell you guys mentioned," said the younger Phoebe. "We should probably be disguised too. We don't want any of them coming after us later."
"Agreed," replied Prue.
"Ready for an Extreme Magical Makeover, ladies?" asked Paige. "We'll need an image for you to focus on…" she rummaged through her purse and pulled out the latest issue of 'San Francisco: Life & Style'.
"Should you be letting them see that?" asked Leo, concerned.
"It's just a trendy magazine. What harm could it do?" said Paige, shrugging him off.
"Pick a face," she said, handing the magazine to Prue. "We can just use the identities we picked out a couple years ago. Don't ask," she said before Phoebe could open her mouth. ‘Boy I'm getting sick of saying that,’ thought Paige.
Prue slowly flipped through the pages while her sisters looked on over her shoulder. "Talk about getting a jump on the next fashion trend!" From what she saw everything seemed basically the same, but with touches of difference, of course. She really liked the trend in colors. After all, black was her go-to choice, and it seemed to be paired with splashes of vibrant color in a lot of the outfits she saw.
"Guess I'll have to replace all my mid-riffs, huh? I don't seen one, yet," said Phoebe.
"Never a moment too soon," said her older self under her breath. At the look her younger self gave her, Phoebe put her palms up in a defensive pose. "No offense! Sorry!" she smiled. "It's just that I'm having one of those 'what was I thinking?' fashion moments. Y'know - like when you look back at pictures from High School. Maybe I'm just getting too old for that stuff..." she continued to ramble.
"Whoa!" exclaimed the younger Piper, pointing at something in the magazine.
"'Ask Phoebe'?" said Prue, one eyebrow raised.
Paige grimaced. "Oops." She turned to her Phoebe. "That was this month, huh?"
"Holy…" she trailed off, her eyes scanning the article quickly. Prue and Piper looked amused, and more than a little surprised, while Phoebe just wore a look of fascination.
"Enough future information for ya?" asked her Piper, rhetorically.
"Look!" Phoebe said, a prideful expression crossing her face as she read lines from the article. "'As smart as she is sexy!' 'One of the most successful women in Northern California'! You're famous!" she exclaimed, turning to her future self.
The older Phoebe blushed and held a pillow in front of her face. "Naaah. Well, maybe a little." She lowered the pillow, now wearing an embarrassed grin. "But I'm not Oprah or anything... I haven't even been on her show."
Chris meanwhile, looked more and more alarmed with each passing second. "You shouldn't be letting them see that! Or telling them all this!" He snatched at the magazine, but the older Phoebe waved him off as the younger one dodged out of his way, rolling back into the couch cushions.
"It's just a fluff piece to drum up some interest in a Breast Cancer benefit I'm hosting next month. There's nothing in there they can't learn from the headline. The cat's already out of the bag," she shrugged.
Chris waved his hands around frantically. "Yeah, well, we're gonna have to do something about all this!" he said, "You've revealed way too much!"
"We'll worry about that after we've handled the demon," said the older Piper, calmly. Chris didn't look happy at this, but let the subject drop.
Prue was now looking at the older Phoebe, studiously. "What?" asked Phoebe when she felt her sister's eyes on her.
"Nothing," replied Prue lightly.
"Don't give me that – I don't have to be an empath to know something's on your mind."
Prue smiled. "I just never would have imagined… I mean, I've hoped you'd finish school and finally blossom into that grownup I see inside you that pops it's head out every once and a while… but this. You've really made something of yourself!" Phoebe hadn't recognized what the look on her sister's face was until she became aware of the emotion radiating off Prue like she was a space heater. It was pride. In her.
She'd so rarely seen it before Prue died that it was an unfamiliar expression. Until this moment she hadn't truly known how much Prue's approval really meant to her even now. Phoebe felt tears well up in her eyes for just a moment. "Thanks," she replied softly.
"I just can't believe I get to grow up to be you!" exclaimed her younger self. She was so engrossed in the article she seemed to have missed the exchange.
"Pretty neat, huh?" said the older Phoebe, pulling herself together.
Her younger self continued reading quotes from the article aloud. "'I suppose a lot my insight comes from personal experience. I've been through more than my share of heartbreak, personal tragedies, and loss'," her reading had slowed and her face fell at this. "'When you see what I've seen you learn a lot about life'…" she frowned and looked up. "I guess this means I've got a lot of awful things to look forward to, huh?"
"Read the next line," her older self insisted gently.
Phoebe complied. "'But everything happens for a reason. I don't just believe that. I know it."
Phoebe put a hand on her younger self's shoulder. "I've learned along the way that even the most painful events in my life have made me who I am, made me a better, stronger, person, and have lead all of us to where we are now – which is a pretty good place. I wouldn't change one of them even if I could." She smiled down, reassuringly.
"Not even the thing with the sibling rivalry spell? The awards acceptance speech incident?" asked Paige, smiling.
"Ok, maybe that!" laughed Phoebe.
"I suppose I believe it too then, " said the younger Phoebe.
The younger Piper had taken charge of the magazine during this exchange between the two Phoebes, mostly to stay out of the uncomfortable situation, only to quickly make her own small revelation. "Good to see the club isn't – wasn't – a flop!" she pointed out an ad for P3. "I got Patti Smith to play there? Wow."
"'The Killers' was a much harder get this month, actually," replied Piper.
"Aaah..." Piper nodded as if the name meant something to her. "Who?" she finally asked, confused.
"Just made it big. Rock band," her older self clarified.
"Guys!" exclaimed Chris in frustration. "Can we please get a move on here?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So cranky," mumbled Piper as she resumed flipping through the pages. Finally, she landed on an ad featuring a picture of three women sipping martinis. "How about these ones?"
"Sure," said Phoebe.
"Yeah, whatever," replied Prue.
When the glamour spell, complete with demonic outfits, had been cast, Leo began to snicker. "What's so funny, mister?" asked Piper.
"You do realize you've chosen almost identical faces to those of your older selves, right?" he replied. They looked in the mirror.
Older Phoebe shrugged. "Just goes to show we have great taste in any time."
"Ok, so let’s get to this market," said Prue impatiently.
"Yes, lets," said the older Piper. "Paige?" The sisters and Chris all joined hands. "Be safe!" echoed Piper's voice as Leo watched the twinkling orbs float into the air.
"Same to you," he said quietly to himself.
The feeling, the personal tone of caring, he heard in her voice was something he hadn't had directed at him since becoming a whitelighter. Sure, the Elders and fellow whitelighters shared a kind of love, but it was a detached, impersonal, almost hypothetical kind of love like he had for his charges. Well, all except for one charge. One to whom his whole heart was dedicated. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but it seemed like this future Piper felt that love for him too. Maybe even a deeper kind, informed by time and bonding. It made him hopeful for his current situation with his Piper. And so, for the moment, he didn't care if he was seeing signs that weren't there. He'd revel in his fantasy a little longer, in secret.