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Keepers of Hope: Disappearing Act

"Keepers of Hope"
BLURB: The unlikely Witches Alliance must carry on the fight against evil alone when the Charmed Ones mysteriously disappear and demonic terrorists take over the city.

Disappearing Act

First in the "Keepers of Hope" series
By Ayla123
(swordhandler@yahoo.com)

The Keepers of Hope series chronicles the experiences of the regular witches who have watched and waited throughout time for the advent of the "Charmed Ones". Dating back farther than even Melinda Warren, the ancestor of the Charmed line, these "Keepers of Hope" are a secret society that have protected innocents and fended off dark forces for centuries, helping to maintain equilibrium until the arrival of the prophesied sisters.

CHAPTER ONE - The Alliance

It was one of those dark and foggy San Francisco nights. Most days were sunny and pleasant, but when the sun went down and the fog rolled in, the temperature dipped and the winds gusted. Lately the wind had been particularly bad, day and night, and when the sun went down everyone was especially careful to stay inside. Down this particular stretch of street the wind whipped cruelly around unlit street corners, and sighed in and out of long abandoned cars and buildings.

Scurrying down the street, making furtive glances around her as she went, a young dark-haired woman clutched the hand of a younger boy as she pulled her coat around her more tightly. "Come on Jonathan, we're almost there." She whispered hoarsely as she tugged the boy along. Jonathan, with his eyes wide and his ears straining for the slightest noise, swallowed and clutched his hand tighter inside his pocket as he was pulled along in the older woman's wake.

Avoiding fallen timbers and other debris that littered the walkway to the large house, she almost dared to breathe a sigh of relief as they ran the last few steps and pounded on the door. The place had once been a beautiful and stately manor, with evidence of its former glory still remaining, but most of its windows were boarded over and a gaping hole in the roof revealed the attic to a darkened sky.

After a moment, the door opened a crack, and another woman with dark eyes and hair looked out at the pair, and then quickly swept the street for signs of movement. "Did you have any trouble on the way?" She asked curtly as she bustled them through the doorway.

"No, you were right, with just the two of us, we made it through without being noticed. We were able to get to the bridge through the underground passages, then we got the talisman and got out." Celia smiled down at the small boy and continued as she unwrapped her scarf, "Jonathan was able to pinpoint the exact location and bring it up to the surface without a problem."

Barring the old door shut and heaving a sigh of relief, the second woman turned to address the pair. "Good job Celia, with you there to 'Shield' Jonathan, I knew you would be successful." Pausing to catch Jonathan up in her arms in a hug big enough to smother the small boy, she held him tight for a moment. He squirmed slightly, but held onto her for just as long. When she pulled back and squeezed his shoulders gently, asking if he was alright, his small nod and timid but brave smile almost made her break down in tears. Standing up, she continued briskly, "Come on upstairs then. Paul and the others have been waiting for your return."

* * *

As the three ascended the broken down staircase, skirting missing or broken steps, Sarta glanced down at her 6 year-old son and gave a quick shake of her head in wonderment. Sarta herself had no special powers, though she was deeply involved in the inner circle of the Witches Alliance. Of course they dared not to speak of the existence of the Alliance in public, as the City of San Francisco was barely holding on as it was. Ever since the suspicious disappearances and unsolved murders of prominent public figures had begun more than 8 months ago, the city had been on the brink of pandemonium.

The secret members of the Witches Alliance knew that demons were behind the whole thing, but their previous attempts to vanquish them without revealing themselves had been unsuccessful. The only reason total chaos had not already erupted was due to the fact that it pleased the demons--now masquerading as government officials--to play with their newfound power and manipulate events subtly until they could expand across the country with ease. The famous Golden Gate Bridge had been closed down after a fatal accident claimed the lives of hundreds of commuters; factory accidents were suddenly in the papers every day; rental property prices had skyrocketed; and parts of the city were periodically blacked out, with the power inexplicably restored days later according to their destructive whims, which they blamed on "policy".

Sarta's husband was a witch and had been an Anthropology professor at Stanford until the recent round of layoffs had rocked the unsuspecting campus. Up until that point their lives had been simple, if only a bit unusual with Sarta running a small mystic bookstore and herbarium, and Paul being a practicing witch. Since she was mortal, they hadn't known if their son Jonathan would be one too until he had started to show a magical inclination at a young age. Jonathan was a 'Seeker', he could sense lost objects and seek them out, particularly antiques or items of great value. An innocent trip to the Natural History museum when Jonathan was in his "terrible twos" had alerted them to the fact, and had quickly turned disastrous besides. Now still only 6 years old, Jonathan had just been out on a mission with Celia, who had the power to 'Shield' herself and others from the forces of evil, in order to gain a relic to help them in their quest.

Arriving at the second floor sitting room that had been hastily converted into command central for the Alliance; Sarta, Celia and Jonathan entered to the buzzing sounds of heated conversation.

A large man with a bushy beard and a slightly red face was standing in one corner of the room with a paper cup crumpled in his hand. "But I told you that something like this just can't be pulled off with the resources we currently have avail--"

"Would you please let us get started before you go off all half-cocked!" interrupted an equally as large woman with glaring eyes and a shrewish voice. "I swear, sometimes you make me wonder if we're related at all."

"Well if there were even an iota of sense in just-" He grumbled, and then looked strangled as he was cut off again, but this time by a soft calm voice from the far end of the room.

"Enough."

The bickering between brother and sister suddenly ceased, and all eyes shifted as one to look at the pale-haired woman who was seated at the end of the room near the boarded up bay windows.

The room fell silent as each person turned to consider Claudia, the woman who had sought each of them out and enlisted their aid after the Charmed Ones had disappeared a year ago.

Claudia was the only one among them who had actually met the Halliwell sisters, now famed in Wiccan circles. Prior to their disappearance, no one had really known who they were, or how powerful they had been. No one had realized the level of protection they had afforded the rest of the world thanks to their calling and diligent acts. Very few had even realized that they actually lived in the era of the fabled Charmed Ones, or knew the level of evil ready to burst into their world at a moment's notice. But standing there today, everyone knew how important and necessary they had been, now that Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell were gone.

Claudia herself was a High Priestess who had been a friend of the sister's grandmother, Penelope Johnson, often meeting with Penny at this very same manor when the Charmed girls were growing up. Now the place seemed like an abandoned shell, with all the windows boarded up and what furniture that hadn't been sold at auction covered over with dusty tarps. Still, the place had a presence about it, since it had been built on a spot of great magical power. It was because of that power that Claudia had come as soon as the Halliwell sisters were declared missing. The forces of evil wanted control over this source of power very badly, and it was only her immediate occupancy as a force for good that had kept them from encroaching. Even Celia's 'Shielding' wards were very necessary for meetings of this sort when the members of the Witches Alliance met in secret.

"Enough of this unrest my friends, I know that we are all incredibly strained, constantly keeping spells in motion to thwart our enemies, but we cannot fight them and fight with each other at the same time." Claudia rose and strode to the middle of the room so she could turn and look at each person in turn.

"For months now we have been working in scattered groups, achieving small victories where we could, but now it is time to combine our power as one. I thank you for coming here tonight, I know that it is not easy for all of you to get away quietly. There have been new developments since last we spoke." Noting Celia and Jonathan's return with a small nod of her head, she continued to address the assembled witches.

"As you know, I have long been a scholar of the Charmed Ones, and have kept close watch over them since they came into their powers. I can't say that I fully agreed with Penny when she bound their abilities when they were young, and unfortunately that caused problems between the two of us…Now I realize that I was wrong…But that is neither here nor there. I could not fully turn my back on my dear childhood friend, so when the girls came into their own I vowed that I would keep watch over them in her absence. Now that the girls have suddenly vanished, I am especially distraught. Not only has the world lost the Charmed Ones, but I have lost my dear friend's granddaughters." Claudia paused for a moment to take a breath and stand in silence. Then with renewed determination, she finished. "I WILL see this made right."

Pacing the room, she went on. "In my lifelong research, there have never been any portents or prophecies regarding a sudden disappearance of the Charmed Ones. This simply should not have happened. I feel sure of that. I had hoped to find the Halliwell Book of Shadows here, but it seems to have either been destroyed or has disappeared right along with the sisters. My own family's grimoire has been useful though, and that combined with Paul and Sarta's collection of rare books, has served us well." Turning to Paul, who had by then crossed the room to stand by his wife and little son, she gestured for him to continue.

Paul was a tall, thin man with curly hair and a slightly rumpled demeanor. His eyes were fiercely intelligent but kind, and he absentmindedly ruffled the top of his son's head as he spoke. "Yes, well we have been able to conclude that the Halliwell sisters did not disappear from any sort of time loop or discontinuity bubble. Nor have they been cut off at the root of their lineage, ceasing to exist or some such thing. There have been no re-appearances of any of the demons that they vanquished; the good that they did is still intact. The very fact that we can still remember and recognize their deeds supports this."

Clearing his throat, he paused to look around the room at the assembled witches looking back at him, each with enough talent and bravery to have challenged high level demons on their own, with varying degrees of success, but still with true courage and honor. Unsure how this band of unlikely heroes would take the news, he cleared his throat once again and went on apprehensively, "Rather, we have come to believe that Prue, Piper and Phoebe Halliwell voluntarily gave up their powers and agreed to be spirited off to a distant plane never to return again."

The assembled crowd gave a slight gasp, and mutterings of denial started up almost immediately. The big bearded man named Mikel got even redder in the face, and another young woman named Annie dropped her jaw in disbelief.

"How?"
"Why?
"I don't believe this!"
"We're fighting the battle they just gave up on…?"
"So, they just run off, and we…"
"But they are the CHARMED ONES! They just can't walk away from their duty…!"
"How can they do that? They CAN'T do that! …CAN they do that?"

Looking a bit flummoxed, Paul stammered against the rising tide of voices, a chorus of shocked incredulity, anger, and dissent. But yet again, it was Claudia's clear strong voice that rang through the tumult like a bell and quieted the restless assemblage.

"We understand this is distressing, but there is more to the story. We believe that the Charmed Ones gave up their powers and agreed to be imprisoned in another dimension because they felt it was the only way to save the world."

Against more muttering, Paul forged ahead, "As near as we can figure out from my resources at the University Library, and Sarta's rare books collection; there is a dream dimension that parallels our own. We are not typically aware of this dimension because as a human race, our dreams are discrete, individual. We dream separate things at different times, and dreaming is the one moment during the day of our complex interactions with others that we are truly alone with ourselves and our subconscious. But I have a theory that all of our individual dreams "meet up" in this "dream dimension" and create a world of their own. It's quite interesting you see, because if the human race DID in fact dream collectively, we would be able to visit and explore this new communal creation…we could guide and learn…" He cut off and stuttered as he took in the stares of the crowd before him.

"Well, I, I" He stammered, "I guess I should digress. The point is this; the sisters are most likely living out their lives in this dream dimension now, although we are not sure of the how or why. We don't know what choice they were faced with to cause them to make such a drastic decision, but it must have been dire. What we DO know is that the lost artifact retrieved tonight from the waters of the Bay near the site of the Golden Gate Bridge collapse is the key. The demons that we have been facing must have something to do with it, but whether they initiated the disappearance of the Charmed Ones, or are simply taking advantage of the situation, I don't know. However we do know that in the course of looking for the talisman now in our possession, they demolished the bridge. Luckily they did not know what they were looking for, and my Jonathan here has a knack for finding valuable lost items."

Beaming down at the boy, who grinned brightly back up at his father, Paul produced a small square block with rounded edges. It was rather flattened in shape and glittered like smooth obsidian, but was rough to the touch like limestone.

CHAPTER TWO - Spying Eyes

Outside on the street, sinister eyes watched the old Halliwell manor from all sides. Jared had been set to watch the front of the house, and he lurked in the shadows, reluctantly diligent to his task. Jared wasn't a demon, but he was hoping to become one. Never a foolish man, Jared could see the way the tides were turning, and he knew when the Mayor first disappeared that trouble was brewing. Then when the bridge collapsed with no warning and the crime rate of entire neighborhoods suddenly tripled, he was sure that something dark had taken control.

Always one to play for the winning team, Jared had finagled his way into a circle of "people"-at least he thought they were people-who had gained some power in the city, and had been lucky enough to be appointed as one of the sentries set to guard the former Halliwell residence. He didn't really know why he was watching, or what he was watching for, but he did know that for some reason this old run down house was important to his bosses.

Every night for the past month he had been set to watch the house. Nothing exciting had ever happened, just that old woman and a few other people coming in and out all the time. Tonight though, that exotic looking brown haired woman had opened the door for a minute, looked around and seemed to look right at him without seeing him, then shut the door again. He thought it was a bit strange, since no one else had been at the door, but he sniggered to himself, a hot woman looking outside for a moment wasn't something to be alarmed with. It certainly wasn't strange enough to report. Jared sighed and shifted his feet to find a more comfortable position. He hoped that if he were good enough he would be given a better assignment; this one had no action at all.

CHAPTER THREE - A Little Research

"What is that thing?" Mikel asked, the curiosity in his voice overriding its gruffness for once.

"It's more of a crutch than anything else." Sarta replied as she took the object from her husband and held it out for inspection. "Annie is an 'Empath' and as you all know now, with her power of 'Premonition' Phoebe was-is, a 'Psychic'. This is a Gibraltar rock. We're hoping that Annie will be able to use it to make a psychic link with Phoebe in the dream dimension."

Turning the rock over in her hand, small, fossilized shapes were embedded in the glistening black surface. "Centuries ago, an island priestess made a journey to Morocco and visited the Rock of Gibraltar. She used her power to forge a piece of the rock with a piece of obsidian and made this tool to access the dreamworld. From our research, it seems that her culture knew of the dream dimension and that their legends even spoke of communal dreaming."

"Gibraltar is a beacon which signals the position of the Strait of Gibraltar, the narrow neck which separates Europe from Africa and provides the only link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Just as it is a link between those two great bodies of water, this rock can serve as a link between the waking world and its dream counterpart." Stopping then, she crossed the room to where the young girl named Annie sat by Claudia's side. "It would be ideal if we had another psychic, especially a dreamer, and Annie is young, but her empathic talents will have to do. We're hoping that with the Gibraltar rock, she will be strong enough to contact the Charmed Ones wherever they are."

As everyone took in Sarta's words, they all looked at Annie appraisingly. Even little Jonathan, who had been using his powers practically since birth, looked up at the 15 year old girl somberly. Annie was new to the craft, and her powers of 'Empathy' had only recently surfaced when she underwent puberty. She had no real control over it yet, but blessedly so far her power only applied to close loved ones, people she was already emotionally invested in. If she were empathically open to the entire world, she would be overwhelmed and quickly go mad from the pressure.

Claudia spoke up then, to give Annie a moment to process it all. "Mikel, that is why we need you too. Since Annie is untrained in her gift, and has no experience using a talisman to augment her powers, we need you to be the stabilizing force." It seemed strange asking the fiery and quick-tempered man to be a balancing agent. Mikel was more likely than not to erupt in anger than to be a mediator. But Mikel's talent was 'Focusing'. His sole power was to serve as a magical "boost" for other witches and spells. Somehow he was able to concentrate and focus any magical effort to make it double the strength that it would normally be, which was why he and his twin sister Petra always worked together, despite their constant quarrelling.

"Without the Charmed Ones, we are doomed. The fact that they are gone is a mistake--they must be here to serve in the battle, otherwise our cause for good is a lost one." Speaking more fervently, Claudia looked around at each of the people before her in turn, settling lastly on Mikel's face. "We must do everything possible to bring them back and set things right!" Petra glanced at him, and Mikel nodded soberly in agreement, and for once, didn't say a word.

Turning her attention back to the round-faced girl who, with her multi-colored strands of hair, and nose piercings, looked more like a techno club kid than the only hope for the most powerful witches in the world, Claudia asked if she was ready. Flipping her hair back from her shoulders and taking a deep breath, Annie spoke for the first time, in a surprisingly strong and steady voice, "Bring it on."

CHAPTER FOUR - Only Dreaming

Leaving the rest of the group behind in the sitting room, Claudia, Annie, and Mikel, followed by Sarta with the Gibraltar rock, made their way down the hallway to what had been Phoebe's room. The interior of the house was still sound, and the upper floors still had their furnishings, even if they were a little dusty from disuse. Removing a sandy tarp and settling herself on the bed that was still made up as if Phoebe had just been away for the day, not a whole year, Annie tried to make herself comfortable. Everyone else took seats around the room, with Mikel sitting closest to the bed in a low padded Victorian settee.

Claudia officiated while Sarta dimmed the lights and lit meditative candles instead. "Annie, you must open yourself up to your emotions. While it is true you never knew Phoebe or her sisters, you still have a connection to them since you both struggle for the same cause, and our need in this matter is great." She then leaned in and stared fiercely into Annie's eyes. "You WILL be able to reach them with the help Mikel and the Gibraltar rock, do you understand?"

Annie nodded, stretched herself out on top of the floral coverlet, and closed her eyes. As she took deep relaxing breaths, she tried to ignore the fact that the fate of the world rested in her ability to go to sleep now, and remain aware of her dreams. She almost laughed out loud at the enormity of it! How was she, a girl who couldn't even yet drive her parents car without grinding the gears possibly do something that Claudia the High Priestess could not? But remembering the serious and determined face of the older woman who stood over her, she thought better of it, and tried to relax, willing sleep to come.

Claudia studied the young face for a long while, hoping that she hadn't put her faith in the wrong place. This girl was young, but Claudia was a good judge of potential, and this girl had to be the right one for the job. If she failed, all was lost. When Annie's breathing regulated into the deep and even breaths of sleep, she nodded to Sarta to place the Gibraltar rock in the young girl's hand. Turning to Mikel she said, "You know what to do." Mikel returned her level gaze for a moment, and then focused his energy on the sleeping young girl.

* * *

She was running through the moonlit night, all of her senses heightened as she made her way through the hulking headstones of the cemetery grounds. This was a recurring dream she had and she loved it! Humming an upbeat tune to herself, she looked down and grinned at the wooden stake clutched in her hand. What good was lucid dreaming if she couldn't manipulate it to have a little fun and play out the role of one of her favorite TV shows? She was just coming up to the vamp-nest she sensed was right around the corner, and her excitement level rose to a fever pitch, her nerves straining taught in anticipation--then just like that, everything changed.

Suddenly she was in the middle of a field, blanketed white with soft snow. The flakes were still falling down from the gray sky above, and she was down on the ground making snow angels in the drifts. All she felt was peaceful and contented, and even a little cold, but still happy.

Then things changed again. She was in school, but it didn't look like her high school. She had an overwhelming sense of anxiety and looked around in confusion. She was walking down the halls, and everyone was staring at her and pointing. She looked down at herself and realized with horror that she-

Was snorkeling underwater in the Caribbean Sea with bright colorful fish flashing all around her, feeling utterly peaceful and warm.

Huh? This wasn't right, she said to herself as she was whipped around to another setting. This time she was a movie star and there was a swooningly handsome man leaning in for a deep and passionate kiss. She could feel herself responding, sensuously warming up to his touch. Then it was a woman caressing her--no wait, it was a man, but he looked different. Things were switching and jolting in front of her eyes.

Taking a deep breath she tried to use a trick that she had learned early on, to center herself in a personal bubble of solitude. But for some reason it was harder to focus in on that personal space than it ever had been before, and she struggled against the flashing images tugging at her from all sides.

She was only able to center in on herself by sensing a solid thread of stability that she had never noticed before. Fastening onto this curling tendril of strength like a life preserver, she was finally able to isolate herself and she briefly wondered where the unrecognized support had come from. Standing within her quiet bubble, she still saw the riotous images swirling around her, each scenario changing and morphing into another one until there was no end in sight. This was really odd; she had gotten caught up in dreams before, when the dreams and emotions of her family and friends intruded on her own. But it had never been like this!

Slowly her personal sphere strengthened and as the images were pushed back and drowned out, she began to remember why she was there. Claudia…Mikel…The Charmed Ones-Phoebe! She was supposed to contact Phoebe in the dreamworld! It was the Gibraltar rock that had brought her to this place, the dream dimension where all dreams came together as one. Looking around her at the swirling vortex outside her shield, a sinking feeling formed in the pit of her stomach. How was she ever going to be able to locate 3 souls wading through this morass of dreamtime imaginings?

She almost hunkered down into herself in dread and frustration; she was just a teenaged girl who had barely a clue as to how her power worked in the first place! She was mostly able to handle her own dreams, because dreams were pure emotion, and since they were her emotions, she generally knew what to do with them. But to handle the emotions of the entire sleeping populace? The thought was almost unbearable.

Still, something prevented her from crying out in total despair. Some force was buoying her beyond her own insecurities, and she somehow had the sense that she *could* do this after all. 'Think of the Charmed Ones', she told herself, 'Think of their bravery to accept their fate and defend innocents from the forces of evil. Innocents who would never know who their benefactors were, or even that they had ever been in danger in the first place. Think of their courage to lay it all down, and willingly enter this place rather than put the world in jeopardy. Think of how the world will suffer if you don't do what you can to save them.'

With those thoughts ringing in her head, she squared her shoulders and began striding through the chaotic plane, her sphere of protection traveling with her. Talking aloud now, she kept up a steady stream of self-encouragement. "Ok Annie, reach out, try to feel for Phoebe's emotions. You're an Empath dammit, you can do this!" She scanned the dream manifestations before her, looking for something, anything.

"They would be near each other, the three sisters. Somehow their energy would want to keep together in this mess, I just know it. So feel for three distinct energies grouped together…" She strode along, and peered into dream after dream, grateful for Mikel on the other side, holding her together. If it weren't for him, she was sure she would go flying off into one of the dreams herself and never make it back out.

Suddenly she flinched, 'Was that…?' Looking closer, making her way between the dreams of two women in a sword-fighting contest, and a man holding a baby in his arms while he sang, she saw it again. Yes, three distinct forces of energy, grouped together, she had found them! There was a strong sense of purpose and a feeling of duty around each of the three auras that floated off in the distance. They looked similar to her own isolation sphere, but two of the three pulsed a little bit more faintly than the remaining one. The auras were apart from the dreams, yet they bobbed and rode the tides of the dreams as if existing as a part of them too.

"Phoebe!" She called out, willing her thoughts and the urgency of her emotions toward one of the spheres with all her might. "Phoebe Halliwell!" As she got closer, the strongest sphere seemed to coalesce into a faint representation of the youngest sister. The others had a strong sense of being around them too, but it appeared that Phoebe was the most in touch with her psychic side, enabling her to immediately sense and understand Annie.

"Who are you? You're not a part of any dream." Phoebe's voice came through loud and clear. This momentarily surprised Annie, for some reason she had thought that her voice would sound faint and ghostly, but that spunk that she had been told epitomized Phoebe came through loud and clear.

"I, I'm Annie." Faltering, she didn't know what to say next. "I've come to get you out, I guess."

Raising an eyebrow, Phoebe stared at her hard. "Sorry, but that's not possible. We are bound here now." She stopped to look around her in frustration. "When we became the Charmed Ones, we promised to protect the innocent, and unfortunately, this time, this was the only way to do it."

"But Phoebe, things out there are even worse with you gone! Though no one will admit it, the city is on the brink of disaster! People have been disappearing right and left, martial law is descending, and it's all because demons have taken governmental control. We think the only reason things haven't self-destructed yet is because these demons are selfish enough to want to keep it all for themselves for a while. Meanwhile, the people are afraid to leave their houses after dark for fear that they'll be one of the ones who have simply come back insane." If she could have grabbed onto Phoebe and shaken her, she would have, because the woman was looking at her as if she had just sprouted two extra heads.

"That's impossible. We made this pact and agreed to come here because we were told we had to for the good of mankind. It was all set up by the Powers That Be." Phoebe's eyes narrowed as she continued her train of thought. "Although it has been nothing like we were told it would be, and I keep getting these strange premonitions even here…And now you're telling me that the city is falling apart?"

Annie nodded fervently, and sighed with relief, Phoebe finally understood her.

"Hold on a sec, 'kay? Don't go anywhere" Phoebe then called out to the 2 other spheres floating about 10 feet away from her. Seeming to be half caught up in two dreams, the first about a little boy boarding a NASA space shuttle as the youngest American astronaut, and another that was mostly just shapes and threatening images that seemed to be chasing down a terrified older man. "Piper? Prue? I think we've got a problem here." The Prue and Piper spheres made their way closer, and now Annie could make them out even if they were a bit hazy. Phoebe quickly explained what Annie had told her, and Prue turned to eye the young teen skeptically.

"How did you get here, why aren't you just another dream? And how do we know you're not just a trick?" Prue's crystal eyes cut into her waiting for her to respond, and Annie gulped, understanding now what she had heard about the iciness of the eldest sister. Piper's soft brown eyes looked on at her expectantly too.

"Well, I'm Annie, I'm an Empath. Or at least, I'm trying to be. I'm still learning, since I only just got my powers a couple of years ago." Realizing she was babbling, Annie took another breath and tried to start again. "The Witches Alliance discovered what had happened to you, and we found the Gibraltar rock so that I could come and communicate with Phoebe." At the mention of the need for a Witches Alliance, the three sisters glanced at each other in surprise. "I'm in the old Halliwell manor right now, actually sleeping in your bed Phoebe, uh, I hope you don't mind, but its not like you've been sleeping in it for like a year or anything-"

Piper cut her off then, "What do you mean a year? We just made the pact and were sent here yesterday." Stopping, she considered. "Or was it the day before? I'm supposed to be good at this time thing…" she muttered.

Annie cut back in, "No, no, you've been gone for nearly a year. Then about 8 months ago, that's when all the terrible things started to happen. Claudia saw what was going on, and after months of searching she was able to gather people together for the Witches Alliance-" She stopped abruptly as Prue cut her off again.

"Wait a minute? Claudia? Is that Claudia Bentley?" Prue demanded. At Annie's nod she went on. "I remember her. Her family has always been close friends of our family, and we used to see her all the time when we were little, but then she went away. I never thought anything of it at the time, but when we got our powers, I realized that she had been a friend of Grams' and figured that since Grams never mentioned her that a warlock must have gotten her." The three sisters worriedly exchanged glances again, ignoring a large pirate ship floating by above their heads.

Annie shook her head fervently, "No she is still alive, and it is because of her that we gathered together and figured out how to find you. Something is seriously wrong with the world, and if you guys are here instead of there, you must have been tricked!"

Phoebe pounded her hand against her fist, as there was nothing else solid to pound it against. "I knew I didn't like that Etremius guy and his angel posse!" Phoebe bit her lip in irritation and went on, "I went along with it because he had such convincing things to say, and well, you know, they all had the whole 'Powers-That-Be-White-Flowing-Robe" thing going on."

"He did make believable arguments." Piper murmured as she wrung her hands. "But I knew I felt a little strange when he said the White Lighters couldn't be a part of this because he and his so called "Council" were above them." She touched her hand to her head, "But somehow I just let it slide, why would I do that?!"

Prue's eyes narrowed as she considered. "They must have been imposters that used some sort of coercion spell on us. Enough of what they said was true to make us believe them, and the rest they handled with a little mind control." Her eyes flashed and her jaw settled into a determined line. "We've got to break their incantation and return to reality to set everything right again."

"Oh, and I was just starting to get used to the dreams where greasy old guys bagged beautiful young women." Phoebe quipped.

Suddenly Annie began to sense a deep and driving emotion coming at her in force. It wasn't coming from the sisters standing in front of her, and it wasn't coming from any of the myriad of dreams surrounding them. But it was coming closer. Then she realized--it was Hate. Hate so strong, that she felt filthy just by the touch of it in her mind, and she wondered how she wasn't knocked over by it as it advanced. "Uh, guys?" The sisters looked at her, having almost forgotten she was there. "So this Etremius guy, he's bad huh? Well, I think he's coming!" Phoebe's eyes widened as she too picked up on the feeling.

"Ooohh, Oooh, Ooooh!" She squealed, "Yeah, bad guy coming! Big Time!" Just then a man burst through a dream of a tightrope walker performing to the thunderous applause of an audience. The dream instantly evaporated as he stepped through it, and when it coalesced again behind him, the trapeze artist had fallen from his line, sprawled out on the floor 30 feet below, leg bent at an impossible angle.

Behind Etremius, six other robed figures followed, leaving similar tales of tragedy in their dream wake. There was no way to know what happened to the real life dreamers of those dreams. The "Council" formed a threatening phalanx behind Etremius, and as one, their glowing white robes paled, then seemed to disintegrate and darken to a roiling black as they approached. Etremius's eyes glowed orange as he advanced, and his kindly face transformed into a horrifying mask of rage.

Prue raised a hand to throw them back with all her might, and though his men faltered a step or two, Etremius shook it off and kept on coming. He shouted out warningly, half in a mocking singsong, half in the purest rage, his voice going up in venom with each syllable. "HAL - LI -WELLS!" The winds whipped up, and all of the dreams around them suddenly turned ugly. The nightmares battered at them now, trying to encroach upon the protective spheres of the women, plucking and pricking at the shields that had held them safe up until now.

"Piper, freeze 'em!" Phoebe barked. Piper raised her arms, and Etremius and his vanguard blanched for a moment, but only slowed down in speed, as if they were moving through molasses. Then even that shattered as they broke through and were coming towards them even more quickly. Annie surely was frozen though, too afraid to even scream. Piper added her squeak to Phoebe's wail and even Prue quailed as they drew near.

"Ok, it looks like our powers are diminished in this dream dimension." Prue yelled. "But Etremius got us here with a simple translocation spell. He didn't even need any special talismans or potions, just our willingness to come." She spat that last bit out with disgust. "So all we should need to do is recite the same words, but substitute our own plane of existence for the destination. Do you remember the incantation?" The remaining two sisters nodded in agreement, and Annie held her breath as she witnessed the Charmed Ones in action.

Bracing themselves against the maelstrom being whipped up around them, the three sisters took each other's hands and Prue, Piper, then Phoebe each recited a rhyming couplet.

"We choose this action for the greater good,
An agreement made, as three sisters stood."

"A promise to live and breathe and stay,
Until we wake on our dying day."

"Our ties are here, but this bond erase,
"Set us now in our own home space."

They finished breaking the spell just as Etremius let fly a huge barrage of red hot bolts of energy like a hundred arrows let loose to rain down upon them. Annie screamed in utter terror, but as soon as Phoebe uttered the last word, Etremius doubled over in pain and his arrows dropped dead from the air. The rest of the front line simultaneously collapsed in pain as they howled in agony.

As the demons fell, the swirling images around them all shuddered and slowed, finally coming to a dead stop and silence. Then they began moving again, but this time in reverse, swirling and spinning faster and faster, the colors blurring together, scooping up Etremius and his demonic companions one by one until the dreams were actually pulling back from the women, and disappearing away into the darkness. In a moment, every dreamscape was gone and the witches stood there alone in darkness and silence for a blink of an eye. Then, they too were gone.

CHAPTER FIVE - Waking Up

Phoebe woke up with a start. Just as suddenly, both Piper and Prue also sat up straight in their beds. Looking around her room, Phoebe noticed nothing out of the ordinary, it all looked just the way it usually did, complete with books strewn across the desk and a few socks peeking out from a dresser drawer. Rolling over, she grunted as something hard dug into her side. She pulled a small dark and rough rock from the floral coverlet as her two older sisters burst into her room.

"So you…" Piper began.

"And we…" Prue continued.

"Yeah." Finished Phoebe.

The three sisters settled down on the bed to deconstruct the recent events. "What's that?" Prue asked, seeing what Phoebe held in her hand.

"I think it must be the Gibraltar rock that Annie was talking about." Phoebe said as she turned it over in her palm. Then she added wryly, "It's what enabled an inexperienced teenager to enter a dimension of collective dreams, and save the all powerful Charmed Ones. I definitely think we'll have to look up Annie and Claudia. What do you think about a fruit-basket for a good way to say 'Hey thanks for saving our butts from a from a lifetime of dream voyeurism?'"

"Well everything looks normal." Piper said. "How's everything the same if Annie said that we had been gone from the manor for a year?" Pointing at the bedside table, she went on. "Look, even Phoebe's peanut butter and jelly sandwich is fresh enough--for having sat out awhile." She gave her little sister a pointed look, and Phoebe grimaced and shifted in on the bed.

Giving them a sheepish smile she just mumbled, "Well they call them midnight snacks for a reason…"

Prue spoke slowly, as the gears in her mind turned. "Yeah, time must move differently in the dream dimension. Even though a year had passed in the real world, in our perception of the dream reality, only a day or two had gone by. Remember Piper, it felt like we had just gotten there."

Piper nodded and continued the train of thought. "So, when we broke Etremius's spell, and came back to our own dimension, it was like we were all just waking up from a long nap, only just a day later than usual, not a year later."

Phoebe furrowed her brow, "Well strictly speaking, it wasn't a time loop, right? We did not go back or forward in time, we just stepped out of this reality and into another one." The sisters nodded and Phoebe continued, "That means all of those things did happen, we just weren't here to witness it."

"But those things happened *because* we weren't here to witness them. Now that we're back, they can't happen." Piper reasoned out with a smile on her face.

Nevertheless Prue blew out her bangs in annoyance, "But if they *happened* because we *weren't* here--and we have the proof that they happened because we have the Gibraltar rock--but they also *didn't* happen because we vanquished Etremius and *are* here, how did they happen?! And how do you explain--" She cut off as she saw the amused looks on her two sister's faces.

"Oh forget it. I hate time paradoxes." She sniffed, and the others collapsed in uproarious laughter.

THE END!

Keepers of Hope: Story 2, Stolen Sisterhood

DISCLAIMER: This story and the Halliwell characters and manor are based on the Spelling Productions television show, "Charmed", created by Constance M. Burge. All other characters and settings (Claudia Bentley, Sarta, Paul, Jonathan, Annie, Celia, Mikel, Petra, Jared and Etremius) are mine. Copyright February 2001 AKA Ayla123, please contact me at swordhandler@yahoo.com.