The Lost Room

[kat29]

I finished this story a couple of months ago, I will post it in installments.



8 year old Phoebe had decided to explore the house, she didn't care that Prue wouldn't let her play with her and Piper, she would have more fun on her own anyway.

The long corridor on the 2nd floor stretched out ahead of her, where to go first? "I think I'll look in Mom's old room." Phoebe said to herself. She went along the corridor past Grams room and quietly let herself into her Mom's old room.

She had never known her mom like Prue and Piper had and had always been curious about her. The room smelt of flowers as usual. Phoebe glanced around the room trying to decide where to explore first, her gaze fell on the build in wardrobe in the corner. Smiling she moved to the wardrobe, opened the door and stepped inside. What met her eyes was not what she expected, not clothing but another room. Phoebe turned her head and looked back into her mom's room puzzled, even at 8 years old she knew this other room wasn't supposed to be here so why was it....
She stepped inside the room in the wardrobe and looked around. The room smelled of herbs like the kitchen did when Grams had been cooking. Phoebe stopped and looked around the room, it was the same size as the one she had just left but it didn't have as much furniture. There was a chair in the corner next to a large oak table and little else. There was a coal scuttle near an open fire and a few books piled up in a heap in the middle of the room. And then Phoebe spotted something else, a woman was hunched over a book near the window. Phoebe had not seen her before because of the light from the window. The woman had not noticed Phoebe and she decided that was the way she wanted it to stay. She quietly made her way back to the wardrobe and stepped back through but the room on the other side was different, her mom's things were gone and there was a dark haired woman sitting on a bed looking at her....
Phoebe froze. "Who are you?" demanded the woman on the bed. Phoebe screamed. "Don't do that!" ordered the woman as she got to her feet. Phoebe could hear commotion outside in the hallway and then two more dark haired women burst into the room. "Paige...you alright?" asked the first woman. "Yeah I'm fine. This kid just popped out of my wardrobe."
The women who had just entered the room turned their attention to Phoebe. "Hi there." said the first woman again "Are you lost?"
Phoebe screamed again.
"No no stop that!" ordered the first woman. Phoebe immediately stopped and then started to cry. The first woman moved over to her and put an arm around her. "Piper..she could be a demon?" yelled the second woman. Phoebe ears pricked up. "She's not a demon, she's just a kid." replied Piper.
"Your..name..Piper?" stammered Phoebe.
"Yes, what's your name?"
"Ph Phoebe." stammered the girl
"What..? yelled the second woman.
"Phoebe stop yelling your'e scaring her." ordered Piper.
"Phoebe, your name is Phoebe too?" asked young Phoebe managing to find her voice.
"Yeah, I'm Phoebe. Who are you?"
"I'm Phoebe, I live here who are you?" young Phoebe demanded.
"We live here. I'm Piper, this is my sister Phoebe and this is our...this is Paige."
"Thanks" said Paige.
"Huh?" grunted Piper.
"What am I a houseguest now?" Paige replied sulkily
"No no Paige. If this is little Phoebe, she won't understand about you." replied Piper softly.
"I can understand, I'm not a little kid." replied young Phoebe gruffly.
"There, she's not a little kid." replied Paige triumphantly.
Piper glared at Paige. "How did you get here Phoebe?" asked Piper softly.
"Throw Mom's wardrobe." young Phoebe answered pointing to the wardrobe.
"The wardrobe..?" Piper walked to the wardrobe with a puzzled expression on her face. "But how?"
"I went in the wardrobe to look at Mom's stuff.."
"I was always doing that." cut in Phoebe.
"Shh." ordered Piper "Go on." she uttered softly to young Phoebe.
"And the stuff wasn't there a room was and there was a woman but she didn't see me and I came back through the wardrobe and that strange lady shouted at me and I want to go home." young Phoebe babbled.
"OK.." said Piper. Lets go to the attic and look in the Book of Shadows. Maybe Grams put something in there about this.
"I'm not allowed in the attic." protested young Phoebe.
"Since when did that ever stop you?" argued Piper. Young Phoebe started to sulk but Piper grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the door.
"Thats exactly what Grams used to do to me. I'm getting de ja vu." giggle Phoebe as she followed Piper out of the room.
"I'll just wait here then shall I?" said Paige sulkily.

In the Attic

"Haven't you found anything yet?" asked Piper.
"I'm looking, I can't find anything. Maybe she.. me.. I.. didn't tell Grams about all this."
"Yeah right, you kept your mouth shut about something, I don't think so."
"I want to go home!" yelled young Phoebe. "I want Grams. Grams!...Grams!.."
Piper raised her hands and froze young Phoebe. "Thats better."
Phoebe looked up and saw young Phoebe frozen. "What did you do? You froze me? Wait a minute how did you freeze me?"
"We were stripped of our powers remember. Thanks Grams."
"Hey I wasn't that bad!"
"Yeah you were." Piper had moved to the book and was flicking through it.
"There's nothing here Piper, I've looked. We're on our own with this one."
"Oh no, I can't put up with...that." Piper gestured towards young Phoebe "I'm summoning Grams."

[kat29]

A few minutes later.

"Piper, darling and Phoebe, how nice to see you but why did you summon me?" Grams was glowing in the centre of a circle of candles.
"Why don't you take a stab at guessing, Grams?" answered Piper sarcastically.
"Piper!" scolded Phoebe. "Grams, we have a bit of a problem with..with.."
"Little Phoebe." cut in Piper.
"Little Phoebe? What do you mean....oh I see." Grams had spotted little Phoebe and was looking a little shamefaced. "Why is she frozen?"
"Cos she keeps screaming for you" Piper gestured her hand and unfroze little Phoebe who continued to scream for Grams. "See." said Piper as she froze her again.
"What is she doing here?" asked Grams innocently.
"Don't give me that, you know something." bristled Piper. Grams stood in the circle silent.
"Grams?" said Phoebe "Do you know whats going on here?"
After a moments pause "I thought I had taken care of it already, she I mean you obviously didn't tell me everything." said Grams gesturing at Phoebe.
"I don't understand. I don't remember any of this?" replied Phoebe.
"I know, I wiped your memory. In fact I had to wipe your memory a lot when you were a child, you were always getting into trouble. There was that trip to the future and.."
"Grams!" yelled Piper. "How do we send her back?"
"You don't, I mean you can't. She has to find her own way back."
"I can't put up with...that. She has to go back. NOW!!" protested Piper.
Grams didn't answer instead she seemed to be listening to something else. After a moment she stepped forward out of the circle of candles and was fully materialised. "It has been decided that I will help you take care of little Phoebe but no more. Don't ask me to try to send her back because I can't."
Piper and Phoebe looked at each other and then back at Grams. "Well." said Grams.
"Well what. Do you want us to thank you?" snapped Piper.
"That would be nice. But I would actually like you to unfreeze little Phoebe."
"Oh." Piper waved her hand in the direction of little Phoebe and then immediately put them over her ears. Phoebe giggled. Grams didn't seem to notice, she was busy trying to calm little Phoebe down who was now screaming in horror.
"Now, now Phoebe enough of this noise." commanded Grams and little Phoebe was immediately quiet.
"How...?" started Piper but was interrupted by the sound of Paige yelling from somewhere below them.
Paige's Room

Paige rolled off the bed narrowly avoiding the onslaught of fireballs. "Great." She crawled along the side of the bed poking her head at the end to see what she was up against. Another volley of fireballs shot towards her but this time she was ready "Fireballs!" she commanded taking control of the fireballs and sending them back at the demons. There was a mass of fire as the 7 demons burst into flames. Paige breathed a sigh of relief and got to her feet just as Piper and Phoebe burst into the room. "This is getting old." remarked Paige with a wry smile on her face.
"Yeah, yeah." replied Piper trying to supress a smile of her own. "What happened in here?" she asked regaining her serious composure.
"Demons, same old." replied Paige.
"Same...old..?" shrieked Piper "You..."
"OooKay." cut in Phoebe trying to stop Piper from completely losing her temper. "Do you know what kind of demons?"
"Just demons. Seven of 'em but I took care of it." answered Paige flippantly.
"You took care of it." replied Piper coolly. "And what were they after exactly, your face cream?" asked Piper sarcastically while eyeing Paige's nightstand.
"Whats up with you? Forget your happy pills today?" Paige knew it was a mistake the moment she said it.
"Ha.."
"OK, so these demons. What did they do exactly?" cut in Phoebe trying to calm the situation.
"I don't know, they shimmered in. I rolled of the side of the bed deflected their fireballs back at them and then ....you know....you guys came in."
"Thats weird." said Phoebe looking at Piper trying to access her mood.
"Phoebe..." said Piper who was moving back through the door.
"What?" said Phoebe.
"No, little Phoebe..." before Piper could finish Phoebe collapsed on the floor.