Suddenly a huge tome filled her hands and she quickly lowered it to the table. At the look everyone gave her, she shrugged. "It's quicker than all of us traipsing up to the attic."

Piper grunted. "Well...that's true."

Joe frowned. "You know, that looks just like that book that Jasmine has in her apartment." He looked over at Frank. "What did she call it?"

Frank studied the book, noting the parchment pages, some of which had fancy writing, some pen and ink drawings. "Jasmine called it a grimoire."

Piper gave a start and then nodded. "Ahh...yes, I remember...last year."

Leo grunted. "Hmm, yes, well..." He looked at Paige. "Why'd you orb it down here anyway?"

"Piper said we needed to plan."

"What happened last year?" asked Callie quietly.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "What didn't happen?"

"Don't start that. I won't start in on how you and Paige followed me."

"We didn't follow you, per se," said Paige, slowly turning pages. "We had to warn you."

Leo cleared his throat. "No reason to start all that again."

Piper shared a look with him and smiled faintly. "Leo and I were at this inn in Maine, just the two of us, enjoying a rare weekend together when Paige and Phoebe show up to tell us there's about to be some sort of trouble." She sighed. "Well, anyway, I met Casi there and—"

Joe held up both hands as if he were stopping traffic. "Hold up. Casi? As in Casi MacKensey?"

Piper nodded. "Yes."

Joe let his head fall forward and narrowly missed hitting his forehead on his glass of tea. "She does know everybody, Frank. I swear she does."

Frank shook his head. "No...maybe it's luck."

Joe lifted his head to look at his brother. "What?"

"Oh...so you know about your fairy?" asked Phoebe.

"She's not mine," said Joe, sounding scandalized.

Piper's smile widened. "We sensed her the last time you were here. Adults can't see her unless we're dusted with fairy dust."

Vanessa frowned. "What fairy?"

Joe jumped and swallowed hard. "I thought I told you about that..."

Callie looked from Joe to Frank. "About what?"

Joe sighed. "When Detective Sheridan moved us to the hotel to stay for awhile back in November. We um, kind of left on our own....We knew if we went to any of our friends' homes, Dad would track us down so...we...um...Frank?"

"What?"

"A little help here?"

"It was all your idea, remember?" Frank didn't quite smile. When his brother gave him a lethal look, he sighed. "Joe decided to ask Merlyn for help."

"Oh you did, did you?" asked Vanessa, narrowing her eyes.

"It seemed a good idea at the time. Anyway, Rhiannon...the fairy...um...well, I think she likes me."

"Can't imagine why," muttered Callie.

Phoebe laughed softly. "Actually, that's one of the reasons I do trust you. Fairies aren't attracted to evil. They're attracted to good. But fairies can be ruthless, too. Don't anger them."

Joe slid a look at Frank. Frank shifted in his chair. "I apologized."

Paige sat back in her chair, a stunned expression on her face. "Oh my..."

"What is it, Paige?" asked Piper. When her sister didn't answer, Piper leaned forward. "Paige."

"The warlocks aren't doing this, Piper. There's an upper-level demon involved."

Piper went pale. "Damn. Leo—"

"I'm checking—" Before he even finished speaking, he was gone in a swirl of blue lights.

Callie shuddered. "I'm not sure I'd ever get used to that."

Phoebe looked unsettled. "Well...it can't be Cole. That's a good thing."

Frank arched an eyebrow. "As in assistant district attorney? Your husband?"

Phoebe winced and wouldn't meet his eyes. "Cole was much more than that. He was a demon and he was after us. But..." She swallowed hard. "We dealt with him."

"Demons, warlocks, fairies.." Vanessa shook her head. "I just can't wrap my head around it."

"It was hard for me, too," said Paige. "I came in late to the party and had to play catch-up, big time."

Leo reappeared, with a frown on his face. "The Elders don't know how they missed this. Whoever this upper-level demon is, he or she is clever."

"Damn," muttered Phoebe. "I really hate this, having to look over my shoulder all the time."

"You should be used to it by now," said Piper, with a little smirk.

Joe looked around the table. "So...what's the plan?"

Piper stared down at her hands. "We need to lure the warlock and his cronies out, turn things around and put them on the defensive. When they get on the defensive, they get messy, they make mistakes." Her long dark hair slid off her shoulders and fell forward, blocking her face. "I'll do it."

Leo moved to get up. "Piper, no."

She raised her head to look at him. "What do you suggest, Leo? I risk someone else. My sisters?" She gestured to the Hardys and their girlfriends. "Them? No, I know, why not risk the rest of the coven the warlock hasn't grabbed."

"Piper.." Leo sighed and shook his head. "I meant that's not a good idea. We can't risk breaking up the power of three."

"I'll do it. Macey's my friend," said Vanessa.

Joe jumped. "Vanessa, no."

Piper reached out and touched his hand. "She'll be protected. No harm will come to her."

"I'll go with her," said Callie. She glanced at Frank. "Don't look at me like that."

Joe swallowed hard, shared a long look with Frank and then turned to Piper. "I'll hold you to that."

Piper nodded. "Of course."

*****

Joe eyed the unusual-looking pot on the stove. "So...what did you say that was again?"

Piper smiled. "A cauldron."

Joe nodded. "Like in Shakespeare: ‘Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.’

Frank grunted. "What is it with you and Shakespeare today?"

Joe shrugged. "It is the Ides of March."

Phoebe laughed and glanced at Vanessa and Callie. "Are they always like this?"

Callie rolled her eyes. "Yes."

"And this is a good day. If one of them has gotten kidnapped or conked on the head...well..." said Vanessa.

Joe nudged his girlfriend. "Thanks, that'll be enough out of you now."

Frank pointed his fork at Callie. "Goes for you too."

Since time was of the essence, the four teenagers were invited to stay until the plan could be put into action. Piper had fixed a salad as well as small sandwiches and individual fruit bowls. Vanessa sighed. "Mmmm, you know, you could go into business..."

Phoebe shushed her. "Don't put that idea into her head again."

"Hey, I had fun catering...and working at Quake...well, not in that order, but I had fun."

"No you didn't," said Phoebe. "You complained about everything. And when you were catering, everything had to be perfect. Every time you had a job, you'd drive us crazy."

"Well, what about you? How many years was it, you floated from job to job? Remember that modeling job that nearly cost you your life?"

"You had to go and bring that up," said Phoebe. "Talk about trouble, what about Buckland's? Remember the painting?"

"How could I forget. Of course, Prue thought she was helping him....Ha, she got us trapped inside. If it hadn't been for you..."

Phoebe blew on her knuckles and polished them on her shirt. "Yeah...who would have thought to send Kitt in there?"

Leo chuckled. "Now, girls."

"Kitt?" asked Frank.

"Her name was Kitt-Katt," said Piper. "She was our cat."

"Was?" asked Callie.

"She's gone now. Moved on to better things." Phoebe shrugged. "When did we see her last?"

"About a year ago," said Piper. She stood up and walked over to the stove. She opened a small bottle labeled powdered sage and sprinkled some into the concoction bubbling in the cauldron. She then picked up an ordinary turkey baster and filled several small clear bottles. The mixture was a lurid green. "Okay, these are protection potions. Keep one on you at all times and you'll be safe. I need to fix some more potions for you to keep as backup."

"Potions..." Joe shook his head. "I always thought that was just for fun....You know, on Harry Potter. Their Charms and Potions class."

"I love Harry Potter," said Paige with a giggle. "I got to see the first movie like a dozen times when I was temping at the movie theater." When everyone looked at her, she shrugged. "What? Not like I had a ton of things to do but serve cokes and popcorn."

"I thought temps worked in offices and such," said Vanessa.

Paige sighed. "I prefer the odd jobs and stuff. I did the office thing for a bit but it was depressing after awhile."

"And very tempting too," said Piper. "Let's see...I seem to remember..."

"Okay...enough already. So I made the mistake of borrowing the Book of Shadows.." Paige sighed. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

Piper gave her youngest sister a wicked grin. "Why should I?"

Joe laughed and looked at Phoebe. "Are they always like this?"

Phoebe grinned. "Yeah, most days. Some days, it's even worse."

Piper sighed. "Okay..." She nodded to Vanessa and Callie. "Warlocks can sense witches, so we'll have to be close by."

Joe turned serious. "Too bad there's no Invisibility Cloak. That would sure come in handy."

Paige started flipping through the Book of Shadows. "Hey, is there a spell in here?"

Frank frowned. "You mean to be invisible?"

"Hey, that'd be pretty handy in a stakeout," said Joe, swatting Frank's arm. "Just think..."

"Not the way you eat on stakeouts."

Phoebe shook her head. "No. There's a spell to make a muse visible and then invisible." She looked over at Piper. "Can it be reworded?"

Piper frowned. "I don't think so. Muses are magical beings. I'd hate for the invisibility to be permanent."

Joe looked down at his arms and hands. "Yeah, I imagine that would be rather unnerving."

Phoebe got up and grabbed the cordless phone. "Time to set this plan in motion. I'll call Willow and she'll call the others."

"The others?" Vanessa looked over at Piper. "You said coven earlier...Macey is really a witch?"

Piper nodded. "Yes. Good idea, Phoebe. Get the ball rolling. I have more potions to make and we'll be ready."

"For anything?" asked Frank, sounding skeptical.

Piper took a deep breath. "For anything."

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.