"We aren't just anyone," replied Paige with a smirk. Penny raised an eyebrow but remained silent. "Oh, relax Grams. I'm just kidding. Sort of."
"Anyway, I'm half Elder. We don't need them," added Chris.
The others, not from 2007, gaped or looked puzzled for a moment at this little revelation before Penny raised a hand, shaking her head. "Never mind. It's not like we're going to remember the explanation anyway."
Prue and the younger Phoebe shrugged, realizing the truth of her statement, but Piper shot straight up. "Wait! What? But I thought you said Leo was your father-"
Chris, for his part, knowing that they would be erasing their memories decided to concede the information. "Dad was an Elder when I was conceived."
"Leo?" exclaimed the younger Piper. "Leo became one of those douch-"
"Yep," answered the older Piper. "And believe me, at the time I was about as happy with them as you are with the Elders in your time."
"Then how - why did-"
"Don't ask. Long story," Piper answered to herself.
"Anyway," interceded Prue. "How do we know that this will work? I mean, we've got 6 full blooded witches, but only a half-whitelighter and a half-elder."
The older Piper sighed. "We don't," she answered in unison with Grams.
Piper cocked her head as Penny put her hands on her hips. "But it’s the best shot you have, girls."
Piper, too, stood with arms akimbo as she quirked an eyebrow and shot Penny a lopsided smirk. "Just what I was thinking." At the image of Piper mirroring Grams pose the faces of everyone in the group took on an odd, mostly amused, expression. Piper's eyes darted back and forth a moment. "What?"
Immediately, the group broke eye contact with the older Piper, many waving her off, except for the younger Piper looked like she didn't know what to think. "Nothing!" replied Prue with a smirk.
"Okay girls, lets focus. If we're going to do this we need to be careful," continued Grams. "Messing with things on this kind of cosmic level is nothing to be flippant about."
"We know, Grams," answered the older Phoebe, who shrugged at Penny's look. "I'm just saying – we've been at this for nearly a decade now."
"And I've been at this for five," shot back Penny.
"Okay, really not the time to argue, okay?" interjected the younger Piper, trying to come to a peaceful conclusion.
The rest nodded agreement, except for Grams, who simply shrugged. "You're right. But that doesn't change my point."
"Right," replied Paige. "So, we'll make sure that we reverse the rite after we've defeated the demon."
"Do we even know if that’s actually possible?" asked Prue.
Penny smiled. "Of course, dear. Anything is possible with magic!"
Prue shook her head. "Yeah, of course. I remember the last time you told me that."
Grams wore a warm smile as well. "It’s as true now as it was then."
Prue frowned. "Tell that to Andy."
"Right," interrupted the younger Piper, still trying to bring some peace to this little burgeoning argument. "So, let’s get to this before Kaalaya realizes what’s going on."
Penny nodded. "Yes. We'll need the spell, though."
"And we get that how?" asked the younger Phoebe.
"Summon one of his minions," answered the older.
The sisters from 1999 looked a bit take aback, but Penny and Chris merely nodded. "Precisely."
"Where do you keep the crystals in this time?" asked Paige.
Grams pointed to a small credenza near the attic door. After Paige had set up the crystal cage the Charmed Ones of 2007 stepped back, joined hands, and exchanged looks. "The usual, and then a truth spell?" asked Paige. The other two nodded before all three joined hands and began the chant. Everyone else backed up.
“Demon we seek,
Compelled to come,
Into the attic,
We three summon,
Appear in our cage,
And nowhere else,
Your demonic rage,
Your will is squelched.”
A swirl of flame announced the arrival of their demonic soon-to-be tattle-tale inside the crystal cage, at which point they recited the truth spell. A white glow swelled around everyone, including the demon, for a moment. He was tall, but spindly man, clad in the typical demon garb of black leather and rags, his short grey hair disheveled and stained. "How do we do the Avidaivid?" demanded Paige.
"I know what you've done! I won't-" began the demon.
"Wrong answer." Paige threw down a crystal shard, sparking the cage, and the demon let loose a howl of pain.
The three sisters from 1999 exchanged looks, surprised at the hard edged demeanor that the youngest sister, who had only shown herself to be precociously feisty up until now, had suddenly taken on. The demon growled. "Screw you, witch!"
"Oh, we'll see who'll do the screwing!" answered the older Piper who blasted him through the cage. She paused for a moment and looked askance at her sisters. "That didn't quite come out right, did it?"
The older Phoebe shook her head and replied with the smallest of smiles, "Noo, not really."
The demon growled again at the injury to his eyes and again the younger Charmed Ones were taken aback by the flippantly ruthless, down to business, nature of their future selves. Piper turned back to the demon. "I'll ask again. The Avidaivad. How is it done?" Piper raised her hands for another blast.
"Okay! Okay..." cried the demon. "On a Triquetra. Combine your blood with Ninsun's Tear in a vessel." He clutched his side, where Piper's blast had hit and gasped. "Chant... chant," he squeezed his eyes shut. "Bring to us... the ancient power, bring to us the triple power, ancient signs and ancient rhymes, forever bind us throughout time. Then-" he coughed. "Drink the blood."
"Thank you," replied the older Piper sarcastically.
Paige kicked a crystal and the cage disintegrated. The demon eyed them suspiciously for a moment before shimmering away.
"You're just going to let him get away?" asked Prue in a huff.
The older Piper shook her head. "We have no choice."
"But-" began Prue before she was interrupted by Penny.
"They can't change the past, darling. As much as we'd like to vanquish that demon, we can't. Not without risking damage to the future." The sisters from 2007 nodded. "I would think you'd have realized that by now."
"Yeah – still trying to wrap my head around all of this. The past is the future, the future is the past... just – no," Prue grumbled and sighed. "But yeah, I get it."
"So what next?" asked the younger Piper.
"We become the new Triad," answered her older self.
Chris raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms. "Well, three of us anyway."
The older Piper ran a hand through her hair, pulling it back from her face. "Yeah. Great. Juuust great."