“What are we going to do?” Paige asked. They were still sitting in the living room, oblivious to Piper walking down the stairs.

“I guess we have to talk to Piper first” she said, thinking. “Then go and find Kate.”

“Easier said than done” Paige told her. “Finding Kate I mean. She’s not my charge, I can’t sense her.”

Piper walked into the kitchen silently. She crossed the room and reached for the handle to the back door.

“Mommy, I…” Poppy began.

“Shhhhh” Piper said to her youngest child. “You have to be quiet. It’s a game ok?”

She looked briefly to her sisters and paused regretfully. She knew she was hurting them. And Kate. But she had to go.

* * *

“What was that?” Paige asked, interrupting Phoebe.

“What was what?”

“That noise, in the kitchen.” She looked concerned. “Piper?”

They heard the door slam and looked at each other. “Oh no.” the said in unison and rushed into the kitchen.

* * *

This is the action that I must take
So leave me be, my decisions to make
And keep us safe in a mystical cage
Hide us from Elders and White lighter Paige

Piper stuffed the scrap of paper back in her pocket. She didn’t know whether the spell would work or not, but it was worth a shot.

“Argh, dammit!” She knocked over a pottery plant pot by the gate and cursed aloud.

“Mommy, stop it. You’re scaring me! Where are we going? Where’s PK?” Poppy cried in one, long run-on sentence.

Piper held on to her more tightly and paused at the end of the drive. “Shhh, it’s ok, I promise. Do you trust me?”

The little girl nodded. Piper kissed her on the forehead as she ran to the car, which was parked a fair way past the house. She reached back into her pocket and pulled out the car keys. She unlocked the door and they both got in, Piper fumbling to put the key in the ignition before Phoebe and Paige could realise they were gone.

She didn’t want to hurt her sisters, and she knew she was, but this was what she had to do.

* * *

They heard the door slam and looked at each other. “Oh no.” the said in unison and rushed into the kitchen.

They heard a crash outside and ran to open the back door. As they ran round the side of the house, Phoebe yelled to her older sister. “Piper, wait, we can sort this” Phoebe yelled but then stopped. The plant pot at the end of the garden was shattered on the path and the gate was wide open but there was no sign of Piper.

Phoebe looked at Paige and they both shared the same expression. Phoebe could’ve sworn she heard footsteps but when she walked up the path and glanced both ways down the street, she saw nothing.

“What the…?” she muttered to herself, and turned back towards the house.

Paige shrugged. “Maybe it was a cat.”

“But we head them go out the door” Phoebe said. She looked at Paige again for and explanation but she could tell that she had no idea what as going on either.

Paige heard a car engine start down the road but Phoebe was already walking up the front steps. “Listen, can you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Paige paused then shook her head. “Oh, nothing. Oh god, what are we going to do?”

* * *

Kate walked slowly towards her house, all the time wondering whether it as right to go home. It was getting dark now, she knew that someone must be worried. She knew her family loved her, even if they had a hard time showing it sometimes.

She didn’t mean everything she had said earlier to her Mom, it was just heat of the moment stuff that she was now regretting. She had been walking around for about 3 hours now, just thinking. All she wanted to do was run home into her mother’s arms but she was too stubborn to give in straight away.

Kate took a deep breath as they started across the street. She had to go home, it was her only choice. Where else was she going to go tonight? However angry and upset she was, she didn’t want to hurt her family anymore than she had already, she wasn’t that spiteful.

Kate sighed and swallowed her pride. She would just have to face up to her actions. She walked through the front gate and carefully shut it behind her. She paused. Something wasn’t right. The plant pot had fallen off the wall and lay shattered on the path. That was usually a sign of an attack.

Her breathing began to quicken and her heart started to thump at the slightest hint that the people she loved were in danger. A demon or a warlock might be after them now, she had to help. Not that she’d be much good at fighting whatever it might be without her powers, she hadn’t come into them yet, but that didn’t matter.

She raced up the front steps and was surprised to find the door locked. She dug deep into her coat pocket for the house keys she’d taken off the counter, she hadn’t wanted to wake anyone if she got back later, but she heard her aunts talking inside.

“… I’m just worried for her safety that’s all, she’s so young. If Piper looses it again, Poppy will be helpless.”

Kate caught the tail end of Phoebe’s comment as she turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open. Paige and Phoebe turned their heads and looked at her.

“Oh, Hi Honey, where have you been?” Phoebe shuffled awkwardly and tried to sound calm.

Paige did the same. “Yeah, we were so worried.”

Now it was Kate’s turn to look worried. “What’s going on? Why’s the car not in the drive?” She could feel tears stinging the backs of her eyes. “I only went for a walk, and…”

Both adults rushed towards her as they witnessed her getting more and more upset. They placed their hands lovingly on her shoulders but glanced around nervously, unsure of what to say.

“What were you saying about Mom?” she insisted, “Tell me!” She was getting agitated and desperate now and just wanted to know what was happening.

Paige finally spoke. “She and Poppy, uh…”

Kate looked at her, confused for a moment, then her eyes widened in a mixture of shock and realisation. She glanced down at the carpet and sniffed to hold back tears.

“She’s….” Kate stuttered, not wanting her fears to be true. “Mom’s gone again, hasn’t she?”