Nowhere Man Rantings

                                                             
Watching the show, Nowhere Man again is really frustrating I mean it's just like ep 6, The Spider Webb, predictable.  You know Tom's going to end up in the same place, scenario, situation as all the eps before and you just can't help wondering why he falls into those traps and pitfalls that are just ready and waiting for him.  Was it written like that, did they deliberately make his character so 'predictable' at times, all the time?  Why does he miss the obvious 'clues' or set ups/traps that are right before his eyes.  He has such dreamy blue eyes! To digress!  Did anyone actually think, this show is really going nowhere, man!  Ha.

Hey I know it's only a TV show and those pitfalls are needed or viewers will switch off and the ratings will bomb, but sometimes, just once, you wish they'd do things differently and no disrespect to anyone associated with the show and Bruce Greenwood made it what it is.  Will love the guy in anything he comes in, cos yeah I think he's a brilliant actor and an even greater guy in person!  Love him plenty! But I got a little annoyed with what they had written for him, script-wise, in some of the eps. Especially looking back at them now and re-watching.  As I said can watch him a million times over in the same show and each time will get something different out of it and him!

Then was it just me or the glasses smashing and the trays falling in almost all the eps!  What was that, some kinda clue, warning for everyone to take their places and their cue in the episode, not whilst filming is what I mean.  Not to mention all the bad guys or those involved in chasing after him, luring him, etc, they all drink water.  "It's in the water dude!"  ha.  Seriously though.  maybe someone somewhere has written this before, but I wasn't blogging when watching this first time round and of course, there's a little thing such as the Internet not being around.  So we only had papers and magazines to rely on and they're not going to give anything away!

Watching ep 6 especially had this whole feeling or sense of deja vu, not only in terms of, yeah he's going to find some clue, then he'll follow it up and in the end, it'll get him nowhere.  It was like the entire ep was meant to be like the entire show, just one big stage and everyone was just play acting. Like they're just making one big movie in 25 eps.  Even the bus at the end, "Evergreen Stage" Lines!! Stage!  Acting, studio, act!

Ep 5 Paradise At Your Doorstep, though and Eagle Flight Centre, wasn't that meant to be from the  ep  1.3 The Incredible Derek with the psychic boy, Derek, who wasn't really psychic or blind.  Shouting at the scene, he's not really blind Tom!! How'd he see your hand when he took hold of your fingers! Then that other ploy where he wanted to see the negatives, 'it's okay I'm blind.'  Yeah aren't you.  Then there was the water and spilling the glass over in that ep too.  Didn't hear anything break in the diner though! (Also in ep 5 we had the photoshop called 'Corey's' completely unrelated to this show, but that was Bruce's character name in the Pilot film Destination America which wasn't picked up! Everyone called him Cinqo.)

Though in ep 4 Something About her, Karin (Carrie-Anne Moss) did break a cup and she fell in the water taking him with her.  No one actually drank any.  Would he really have forgotten about his wife and spent the night with Dee in ep 5, so easily.  Which took me a back to the conversation he had with Alyson (Megan Gallagher) in the Pilot when she tells him she was easy!  Linking that with Nancy in ep 6 saying she didn't know if Nancy could be trusted.  I thought the same.  The way she turned on him so easily when he followed her.  Maybe she was just a plant all along.  He did say they were only married two and a half years.  If she really loved him and was on the level, wouldn't she have given him some clue, some indication of why she went along with them.  Then there was that scene with the shrink, Bellamy.  She was so at ease with him too (sorry to use the word ease a lot! ha) like she was a part of the whole conspiracy.

I must admit in ep 6 I thought Tom would've let the ending of the script on the floor and not picked it up.  Yes he was predictable, but then he read Nancy's script ending.  Was this the same ending in the script smarmy Max gave him.  Never trust a producer/writer.  They will have your heads spinning with their twisting plots and predictions.

IN ep 7, The computer screen smashing twice, well just the sound and Scott with his 'close but no cigar line.' So what did he find in that file that he couldn't tell Tom about.  That what, it's not real, none of it is real and he's going on a wild goosechase, or they were using him for some covert operation?

Ep 8 The Alpha Spike, the alias of Jack Griffin was there an in-joke here, a secret one, Jack Gage was Bruce's name in Legman and Seth Griffin was his name in St Elsewhere. ha.  I know, let's combine the two! ha. Here was the pot plant falling, now who dropped that in the headmaster's office. Then the cigar smoking man at the end.  So no glass shattering in ep 9 You Really Got A Hold On Me, but we did get some water glasses and even Tom drinking water, as well as the customary cigar at the end.  But Gus (Dean Stockwell) smoking one would've been more in character, especially since it would've been in character with Al in Quantum Leap.  Not to mention Tina and how he was always in love with Tina!! So why did Tom call them up and turn in Gus, it wasn't to save him and that gun shot in the end, was that really Gus exiting stage left??

Then there was rather a bit of a turn around in this ep, Father, when Tom found his father, now we had Tom coming down with something and he was the one doing the smashing of things, the glass, the Christmas decorations and how he heard the glass smashing still in the doc's office.  Of course what made his father's cigar smoking different was using the cutter instead of the pencil.  But we had to get one other cigar in it.  Can you believe the photo was behind the sofa, no, neither can I.  though I did say that his father looked younger than his mother when we first see him.

Ooh here we go again, more love interest, don't ya just hate it when they have a woman in the show and you know why and what's going to happen, as if you wrote the script yourself.  Wait, if I wrote the script I'd have to put myself in every scene! ha. So we get a reference to steel, glass and concrete in ep 10 An Enemy Within and that was just from Tom, including the shop owner breaking something early on.  This one was a bit of a shattering ep, or sacrilege, I mean to get Tom to give it all up, his life his past.  His past is his life, it's what makes him who he is.  Come to think about it, if he wasn't in dire straits he wouldn't be where he was so Emily, ya didn't think of that, did ya?!

He can't give up, it's not in him and he needs answers and more importantly the truth.  He can't pretend he has no life, had no life and give it all up and give in.  In some way's what's probably why he used his real name here, forgetting the fact it was a hick back own.  He did use his own name most of the time anyway.

It's Not Such A Wonderful Life. So if this was such an elaborate ploy, why leave the tape behind. Yes I thought that, not another hoax, but they had Tom falling for it everytime, the lies, the big happy family, cos deep down they know it's what's he wants and that they can convince him it's real too.  Would he really have turned over the negatives anyway, that's the first thing I thought when the woman mentioned how she was needing his testimony and then the clinker, or sinker, was wanting the negatives to authenticate and prove beyond a reasonable doubt the photo was real.

So how did he figure it out and why is he never one step ahead of them, especially since they always find him and he's meant to be on the run and what better time to dupe him then at Christmas.  It's always about trust, he has trust issues and yet they always find him.  Including the file, with all the photos, of course they'd have it, they're everywhere.  Tom belongs nowhere.  I tell you I'm having serious trust issues behind Alyson too, she's always in the thick of it, lies and then deserts him.  When she mentioned they've had the photo before him, three years earlier and they were married two and a half years, it seems there was more to their 'marriage' and Alyson than meets the eye.  Was her cooking turkey the clincher??

Then there was the over turning table with the glass smashing and the bottles too and Alyson just drops the, well throws, the perfume bottle down.  That'd do it and the smashing in the kitchen, or was that just the turkey baster!! ha.  Also when he was asked if he wanted any water in the interrogation at the beginning.  Especially since there was no mention of cigars that'd been too easy.  NO angels got wings this ep and Clarance where were you when needed.  As the title suggested It's Not A Wonderful Life!

SO he gets these tidbits of information and doesn't know what to do with them, so many questions and no answers. Ep 13 Contact had the same predictability again, he'd take the file cos in the end he can't resist it.  This one did have a future Dark Angel ep feel about it.  You know with chimera and the motorbike messenger job he had, just to find some info in the place.  But how does he get his leads and end up in the wrong place at the wrong time all the time.  This time the glass shattering effect was through Tom's eye.

Ep14 Heart of Darkness was run of the mill, army recruits fighting for another man's vision of a truer America and what it should be.  Though Tom does seem to get into a lot of jams and has to talk his way out by telling them who he is and they don't want to kill him, if they value their own lives. Only cigar in this one smoked by Quinn, but plenty of water.  Do you see the aurora borealis? Ha. Yeah, where the sun don't shine.  Or as I would've had Tom saying in true Prisoner fashion, "I am not a number, I am a free man."  Seeing as he was Number 6!  Freedom being relative.  I thought that anyway.

Ep 15 Forever Jung and the old folks' home was the forerunner to Dark Angel, spot a young Zoe McClellan making an appearance as an assassin at the end.  Yes, Dark Angel, genetically modified soldiers, here in much the same way, we had genetically enhanced old people being used as assassins. Women of course cos they can get away with more, especially if the target is male.  Yet no glass shattering, only some water when Tom meets with the younger Pauline.  But he did manage to find out that either Alyson was enhanced in the same way, just think Tom, you may be married to an older woman, or she had the implant and was made to do what she did.  I on the other hand always preferred the notion that Alyson was all bad to begin with and just seduced him for getting what the Organization wants.

1.16 Shine A Light On You, finally got a cup falling when Tom sees Helen, or rather the other way round, we get the cigar with Bud, so no obvious giveaway as to who he is. Then there was some glass shattering at the end.  Plus the Barbershop sign which seemed a continuation from the previous ep where he was told he needs to cut a haircut.  Suppose their purposes behind the UFO sightings made for a novel and different idea.  But Tom's just not anywhere near finding out what's going on and getting his life back.  He has these near pangs of revelations  when he's on the right track, gets close but things go awry and he's back to square one.  A little like Helen here who seemed to come out of her traumatic state of believing in UFOs, and lucidity when she saw her father, but after losing him, she goes back into that same shell again, which Tom finds difficult to believe.

Ep 18 Hidden Agenda so it appears the glasses breaking and falling started way back when he was in Nicaragua, does this mean they were after him from the outset and not just the photo, especially since it seems they're always around or something happens when the china crashes.  Even now.  Then his contact brought the entire table down with him.  As for all of this not happening, that's what I thought too. That all of this was just some elaborate game, act and wasn't true.  Why would anyone want to do this and why choose Tom for this big ploy?
Hidden Agenda being right, what was their hidden agenda behind all of this.

Ep 19 Doppelganger had lots of glass shattering effects and not a broken glass in sight. I don't know maybe it's me but this show was getting a little predictable for me at this stage, watching it first time and second time round.  No offence to Bruce, who was perfect as always!  Rather everytime something happens, he meets someone or they find him, it always boils down to the negatives and wanting their hands on them and he comes so close to losing them.  Like his newfound ally, who found them in his motel room and took them cos Tom predictably put them in a silly place and then took them out to check if they were still there without drawing the blinds.  They always have him 'trusting' people so naively and that just doesn't go with his character of photo journalist.  He can't be that gullible.  Like this one with the negatives once again coming down to having them and needing them to save his skin.

Of course what was missing was his doppelganger and luckily enough I liked how we didn't get to see his face and him having to do a double role on screen.  Now that would've been predictable.  Glad he got fed up with the palm pilot, but that PD, Jane (Mia Korf) was shifty wasn't she.  If she had been on the real Tom's side, then fake Tom wouldn't have let her go, especially since they killed Claire (Jamie Rose) and then took her body.  SO they knew nothing about negative numbers until Tom told them, but it was obvious that wasn't the real Tom at the pier, they had him do a swagger and walk differently to the real Tom.  Not to mention the strawberry birthmark, that's all we needed for the distinction.  Which explains why Jane asked him to repeat himself when he mentioned it.

Thinking real Tom called fake Tom and told him to turn up at the pier.  Maybe it's what he says in
the intro that his diary/journal is to record events and they're not real.  But they have to be.  Are they?? I've doubted that for quite some time and his line here of going through the looking glass which was getting much more elaborate in some ways.  So I' also thinking did they need the whole story from Tom in ep 18 Hidden Agenda cos they needed the double to know everything, but then he didn't seem to know anything at all.

Ep 20 Through A Lens Darkly was one of those 'out there' eps where he gets an old flame out of nowhere.  Yes we've seen it all before and through everything they put him through they still don't get their negatives.  We get the customary glass shattering, camera lens breaking and he even smashes his own camera, but at the end of the day, he didn't really need Laura's words of wisdom to pull him through.  He already had the noble pursuit for the truth within him, which is why he did what he did and never gave up on being a photographer.  Just like he's not giving up on his search for the truth even now.  Predictability in this ep, that Laura would get blown up somehow, somewhere. Just happened to be there.

So ep 21 The Dark Side of the Moon turns out to be a karma ep, if you can call it that.  Cos everyone got what they deserved except the gang of course.  Bu then anyone Tom has run into or come into contact with ends up dead.  Yeah guessed the radio broadcasts were just a commentary on Tom, his life, what's left of it and his quest for the truth.  Hence the cigar at the end.  First we had shattering glass etc, now it was the clocks and those chimes everywhere.  That darn negative is still intact ha!

There's that clock again and how he'll cease to be and to breathe, he'll turn into a pumpkin at midnight.  Or as good as considering they used electro chemical therapy on him.  So the Agenda is mind control and once again it's all politically motivated.  Guess this started out good but somewhere some plots were lost along the way.  Going from a photo to this.  So if that photo isn't relevant why the need for the negatives, I mean it doesn't prove anything, or have anything to do with mind control does it?  Are they instilling that everything that's happened to him was all in his mind and was all controlled by them.  An experiment, if so all they had to do was control his mind, make him forget everything and he wouldn't remember the negatives or the photos.

Guess by the time we reached the end of this series, we'd have questioned our own sanity.  Real, fake, going round in circles.  How Tome ended up where he did, hospital, coma, probable road accident. Ep 23 Zero Minus Ten another one where his actions were predictable, as Larry said, finding the negative was exactly what they wanted him to do, he risked it, took the chance and once again Larry paid the price, or did he even this time?  Though glad I was right and Alyson was behind it after all. She was too predictable too.  The wife who betrayed him, but didn't really love him.  Well she wasn't a wife at all, like I said they got married before all of this supposedly started.
So if he worked at the newspaper office, why didn't they know that and search his locker.  They seem to know most everything else.  Hmm guess that wasn't predictable enough for them.  But how do they, did they end up finding him everywhere he went and he ended up in their clutches.
Had the glass shattering sound effects here, no cigars, but Tom reeling or getting the earth shattering revelation about Alyson which he should've believed all along.  She wouldn't have done all this if she did love him, as for saying she loves him as much as life itself, well that'd be her life then, not his.

He finally prints the negative and finds what he was missing; the real reason for everything that happened to him.  The secret radio frequency and Heritage House.  Meeting Robman (Nicholas Surovy) and finding out about the mind control experiments, which he knew about anyway.  Creating perfect assassins.  So what's the info he's going to find in the safety deposit box about him.  Covert secret organization, conspiracies and everything, kind of in the X- Files territory.

Going back to episode 7 A Rough Whimper of Insanity I want to know what was in his file and what Scott said it contained in there, that it was all what...?  Still it seemed kinda easy for him to get to where he is and find out what was really in the photo, that it was altered and the disappearance of the senator, why?

Ep 25 Gemini no cigars I should say for guessing or working out what was really going on, but if you managed it that was great.  Yeah I did, should've realized it was all about doubles when there was that double of Tom floating around.  The title to this episode was also a big clue and the voice on the phone telling Barton to destroy the Gemini files, well that sounded just like Bruce even if he was kept in the shadows.  Government conspiracies, showing how they can manipulate freedom, people and eliminate was the mainstay of this show and all that water drinking.  Boy would've needed it by the end of this.  It appears the truth was not all it turned out to be and for all of Tom's pursuits in learning it, it just led him round in circles.  He really didn't want to end up where he did and learn what he did. He was Gemini and he thought every bit in the same way as Tom did.  Did Tom Veil even exist as a person.  Wait, if Tom was Gemini and also the other double, then that means there were three of him.

Going back to the ep where found his file and said there's nothing in there, that's what he meant.  The file would've only contained info about Tom: the Tom that they made up and brain washed/mind controlled into existence.  So they had him chasing ghosts and all the while they were conducting their own experiments.
Had to say that in the beginning though, why did he he just take everything out of the file, now he wouldn't be stupid enough to actually drop it right into their hands from the fire escape.

So how satisfied were you with the show and the ending and did you feel cheated, or where you right there working everything out and what was really going on.  These were just my rantings (of a mad woman!! ha) but I've found if you read too much into the show or try to work things out logically, you'll just end up getting more confused.  Think it's just a show you watch for the sake of it and leave the pitfalls of making actual sense of it in the background and to those who actually came up with it. Truth is, logic will take you round in circles.  Maybe if the series wasn't cancelled, then we'd have taken it slower and gotten some revelations which were logical or made sense. But we enjoyed the ride along with Tom!

I noticed the North By Northwest references and when Tom finds himself at the crossroads in the Pilot ep.  My sis even mentioned it.  Also to The Prisoner, The Fugitive and The Manchurian Candidate.

The title of the show could've been taken from The Beatles song Nowhere Man?  But alas that was based on a novel about something completely different.  Some appropriate lyrics though.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 18

Chapter 18

 Perdita was lost in the amulet forever.  That’s how Phoebe chose to remember the event. Rather than the bleak picture painted by Perdita being sucked into the shattered mirror glass.  There had been too much mist and smoke to see what happened clearly anyway.  Perdita was a part of that amulet now, just as it had been a part of her for so long.

 Phoebe felt guilty.  But worst of all, Prue had feelings of sorrow and disgust.  How she had envied her and treated her appallingly all because of a man.  A man who was non-existent of all things. Perdita was a complete stranger who had been so selfless.  Prue was rueful.

 “I should have done more for her.  At least I wish I could have."  Phoebe remarked with hesitation.

Don’t punish yourself Phoebe honey.  It wasn’t your fault.  Our destinies are already written.  We can’t really change them.  We can try that’s all.  I didn’t know Perdita and I wish I could change that but I think she believed that strongly about destiny.  Anyway she wouldn’t want us to be sad.  Least of all you Phoebe.”  Prue was trying to comfort her.

 “No that’s my line Prue.  After seeing the sorceress.. She told me to protect her and I stood there like a stuffed dummy.  Helpless!  In an instant she was gone.  Taken from us.  Snatched by unrelenting, cruel fate.  She was one who died young.  Before her time and that’s always sad.   More than that, it’s wrong… The other night I thought about her and then I dreamed about her.  Does that make sense?  As if there was something my subconscious must be trying to tell me..or my conscience. Perdita knew the risks – I know that but to be locked somewhere, forever trapped in a lowly place.  Like purgatory.  She didn’t deserve that sort of an end; that cruel a fate.  I can’t help but feel guilt.  Remorse.”  Phoebe was inconsolable.

 “Here honey.  Take this.”  Piper handed Phoebe Perdita’s book of spells.  Phoebe stepped back.
 “I don’t want it.”

 “Keep it safe like the treasure that it is.  Perdita wanted you to have this just incase...well, just incase.  She gave it to me that night we all rowed with Prue.  It’s rightfully yours.  She didn’t have anyone else.  She wanted you to have it.  Only you.  So one day you’d look back and think of her fondly...  Sometime.”

 Phoebe glanced over at the book again and picked it up.  She gave out a cry.

 “What is it?” Prue asked.

 “Nothing. I didn’t see anything.  All I felt was a sudden, brief glimmer of happiness.  Good vibes.  When I wanted to see something, nothing came.  But I don’t feel so sad anymore.  I feel like Perdita touched me herself in the flesh and told me not to worry but to go on and be happy.  Her spirit dwells within her book still." Phoebe smiled.

 “Maybe that’s what we all should do.  Remember her as the good friend she was and even the greater friend she would have been.”  Thought Prue.

 “There wasn’t anything you could have done honey,” Piper was so reassuring and so clinically right as usual.

 Nothing could have been done to save Perdita.  They had yet to learn Perdita had been there to defeat Sabroh.  The only one who could have.

 “Then somewhere along the way, my visions must have got confused with Perdita’s.  Where I saw Prue she must have seen herself or something along those lines.  It’s confusing I know, but it’s the only reason I can come up with.  The only thing that sounds plausible to me.”

  Phoebe showed them the amulet.

 “It’s our symbol.”

 “She was a part of us after all.” Prue admitted ruefully.

  Tears welled in Phoebe’s eyes.  For days she had been confused, angry. Thought wildly.  Erratically.  Knew she could have been more helpful.  Then reality would set in again.  Cold, frozen and permanent.

 They both crowded Phoebe and hugged her tightly..

 Time heals.  But something like this would always be at the back of Phoebe’s mind.  Imprinted forever like a story on a sad, sallow page.  Tedious though the aftermath had been.  Phoebe kept busy.  She had to be in control.  Rebuild her shattered life from losing a new friend, a cousin. Losing a part of her heart.

 Phoebe placed the amulet around her neck.  A permanent remainder of what could have been.  All the fun they would have had.  Perhaps Perdita’s favorite lines from her favorite book, A Tale of Two Cities would have served as a fitting epitaph  to her memory, her life.
“It’s a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done.  It’s a far,far better rest I go to than I have ever known.”

 That night she had another dream. Minah appeared to her.  To thank her for her quick thinking spell.  With her brave act she had saved Perdita’s soul from the inescapable horror that would have been.

 They were parted now, but one day would be together again. Reunited in a happier, mystical plane without earthly barriers to prevent their friendship from beginning anew.  In a spiritual place without fear, anger or tears.

  A smile lit Phoebe’s face as she tossed the covers back and turned over; back in her own room; with her sisters in the safety of Halliwell manor.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 17

Chapter 17

 The cloaked figure emerged from the raging, fiery shadows and fell into a heap on the cobbled, sandy ground.  It was Prue.  Miraculously Sabroh’s downfall and return to the prism’s confines enabled Prue to be released from the hourglass and enter back within her own body.  She was no longer astrally projected but could sense everything and everyone around her.

 Expressing relief at seeing Piper, she was still a little hesitant, cautious about emerging from the small obelisk that had been her prison for two days and two nights. Piper was relieved and rushed to greet her sister.

 “Boy am I glad to see you.  Are you all right?”

 “I’m glad to be back believe me.  I never thought I’d get out of that hell.  Where’s Phoebe?  I‘ve got so many apologies to make to her and to Perdita.  I’ve been such a fool.  I could kick myself.  I guess I probably left my brain at home because I wasn’t thinking straight.  It sure wasn’t the jetlag.”

 “She’s with Perdita. They went on to look for your captor.  Oh by the way good news, we managed to vanquish Kane.  You wouldn’t believe who he was.” Piper was happy.

 “After what I’ve been through I’ll believe anything.  So who was he then?  Something dead and horrible?”

 “He was a real-life body snatcher.  Well he was once alive.  Sabroh bought him back to life to help him with his evil plans.”

 “You mean I fell for a dead guy?  I figured as much when I saw him as his true self.”  Prue felt embarrassed.

 “Hmm, it’s not the first time you know Prue.”

 “Yeah, right? What’s Perdita doing here?”

 “She helped us figure out stuff.  Where Kane was and who he was and we ended up here.  You know for someone who we don’t really know so well, she‘s not such a monster after all.”

 “Maybe.” Prue sighed. “For the record I never said she was a monster.  Just Miss Goody Two Shoes.”  Joked Prue.

 “Come on let’s find the others.  Can you walk?”  Gestured Piper.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 16

Chapter 16

 The passage was long, entwining, as they ran through the open doors, passing stairs of iron rungs.  Long, twisting and spiral.  A familiar aroma of candle smoke choked their surroundings.  Muddled with the reeking stench of mildew and moss.  The gray-glacial walls were all sewn together with cement and grilled openings on the roof through which they could glimpse bluish-purple light pouring down in a patchy, misty mire.

 Upon climbing the coppered steps, they heard soft, musical chords playing in the distance.  Some sort of classical, chamber music.

 “For a djinn,” whispered Phoebe.  “This demonic force sure has weird taste in music.”

 “Yes, perhaps the death march would be more to his liking.” Answered Perdita vapidly.  “Well here goes nothing.”  Perdita hugged Phoebe.

  Together they stood motionless for a second.  They knew this meant goodbye.  At least for now.

 “Let’s do it.”  Phoebe whispered.

  Sudden fear held Phoebe motionless and silent.  She knew dark, primitive fear had her now.  It was something strange and energy zapping.  A new experience she’d never felt before, even when vanquishing all those demons that had come before.

  This feeling was unnerving, a feeling of helplessness wrapped with hope.  Why weren’t Prue and Piper here?  Together they could come up with a spell to protect Perdita.  With them out of the picture, Phoebe had to act fast, think fast; think alone.

Powers of light
Forces of good
Illuminate a path for your servant so true
Keep her, protect her
From all that will ensue.

 Phoebe hoped it would work.  She wished she had some silvery, sparkling moondust to throw at her for added good measure; or could see some fireflies sparkle.  Wait fireflies were supposed to signal romance.  Not good luck.  Well it was the spell that was important no matter how it was sealed.

 They found Sabroh wanting. Embers of light enthralled their surroundings as Perdita began to chant.  The air was shrouded in mist and dry ice.  Phoebe called out to Sabroh,

 “Hey you scary djinn over here!”

 “I’ve been expecting you.” He grunted.

 He turned to catch sight of her dashing towards one of the silk screens.  She did her best to distract him as fireballs and flames from Sabroh’s palms marred her every movement.  Shooting like lit arrows in all directions and angles.

 “Hey over here!”  She called out.  Ducking and diving behind rock formations, pillars and columns.  The whole room came alive with dancing shadows.

 “Hurry Perdita.”  She whispered.

  Perdita placed the spherical prism on the ground behind Sabroh to form a right angle in direct correlation with the amulet around her neck, as she glanced Phoebe running around from the corner of her eye.

 As she chanted more mist gathered and soon the whole cavern was in vapours.

Perdita’s chant was a beautiful resonance of a soothing melody to human ears.  A variation on old Castillian Spanish and Persian Farsi.  But to Sabroh’s ears it was a mesmerizing din.

 Phoebe understood what was being said as another voice, that of Minah, seemed to be translating and repeating the chant into English for Phoebe’s ears.  It was as though music was being broadcast simultaneously on two distinct, yet separate radio stations.

 Beneath gilded embers
 Crystals twisting, precious, strong
 We are the children of a forgotten past
 A future – that lies forward – less beauty has its strong hold overcast
 And left us with dreams.

 Our desires fade as the last remnants of a distant meteor shower;    
 Whilst he grows.
 Pull away this chilling entity, foreboding the holy and divine
 Fine line betwixt evil and good
 Emprism this djinn’s legacy within your dome-encrusted structure
 Leave this earthly plane
 Return it from whence it came.


 Perdita could feel herself being drawn inwards towards the mirror as it began to project strange illuminations.  She thought she was hallucinating as she saw white figures flying inside the mirror.  Fierce wind blew from every direction, as her chanting grew stronger.  Uncannily Sabroh couldn’t hear Perdita, it was as though he was oblivious to her presence.

 The fire escaped from his body then suddenly the light went out.  He could feel his strength, his power being drained, ebbing away into an abyss.  Sabroh knew he must fight back.  Then it dawned.  The eerie memory.  This had happened once before.  Minah.  But she was dead.  Had she been playing tricks?  Lying dormant somewhere ready to awaken when the right moment was at hand.  His mind began to wander and finally from over his shoulder he turned to hear strange chanting again.  This time it wasn’t Minah’s heavenly chords.

 “Cursed it. It is Perdita. I must destroy or be destroyed!”  He shook his fiery fist of rage, attempting to release his presence from the numb dawning of the real truth.

  Perdita chanted. The wind enraged and howled stronger; a whirlwind began spinning around the room, gathering momentum.

 Sabroh wavered.  Shivered against the dry ice.  He was being vanquished. Impossible for a djinn.  Resistance was useless.  He failed in every defeated attempt to free himself from the cataclysmic vortex parring, gathering immense speed with each syllable she uttered.

 Perdita stood, reflected in the glorious flicker of light and shadows, arms reaching out, extending, in angelic fashion.  Eyes closed as in deep meditation.  Her hair flying loose and care free against the torment of the gusting wind.

 Phoebe ran for cover behind a marble post.  The first force of the circling vortex knocked her off her feet but she clung onto the post by the skin of her fingers and the end of her nails.  She was nearly pummelled by the spasmic, cosmic veils of the inflating gale.

 Sabroh was sucked into the prism’s cold, icy glare.  Echoes of his screams, wild animal cries, resounded and rebounded against the hollow walls.  Long, icy hands reached out from the crystalline prism to grab him.  Pulling him, dragging him mercilessly. Sabroh clung on.  His claws screeching, marks patterned the floor. In an instant he was gone.  Finality had returned.  The prism, containing Sabroh’s inflammable remains had melted to ripples of glassy water.  Then vanished.

 There was no escape from the tyranny of the tumultuous ending Perdita knew was about to abruptly mark the end.  Her end.

 The mirror crashed to the floor as shards of blue halos radiated around her.  In the blink of an eye she’d disappeared too. It seemed she had been sucked through the depthless glitter of the broken mirror.  Only her amulet remained heaped within a pile of sand and dust.

 Daylight blistered the torn walls of the vacant room.  Perdita’s destiny had been fulfilled.  Phoebe’s vision had proved hauntingly harsh and ghostly true.

 Phoebe didn’t have an explanation for what took place.  It was beyond words.  She picked up the amulet and turned it over.  In the back she saw a symbol.  It was their sign.  The symbol of the Charmed Ones.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 “Kane was right.” Piper intoned. “ He didn’t tell us where Prue was and now we’ll never know.  We won’t find her.”

 “You’re so defeatist at times Piper.”  Phoebe glared at her.  “All our clues and instincts led us to this place and there’re a lot more rooms and spaces we haven’t explored here yet!”

 They rushed out of the room and frantically searched the rest of the immense house for signs of life.

 “There’s one place we haven’t looked.”  Perdita pointed to the creaky floor.  “Under the house.  There are miles and miles of sewers under London.  Victorian sewers.  What do you bet we get lucky and find what we’re looking for there.”

 Piper wasn’t amused.

 “Oh great that’s all I need to do now.  Explore sewers.  What a grand vacation this has turned out to be.  Never again am I going to convince you guys to take me anywhere!”

 “This is no time to be selfish.” Phoebe reminded her.  Piper snickered.

  They pried open the drain cover with a metal rod Piper had found and braced themselves for the long trek down the stairs.  Not to mention for the smell, placing their hands over their noses so as not to breathe the putrid stench.

 Trudging through miles of sludge and dirty water, neither of them equipped for the hike, they reached a dead end. Turning around to head back, Phoebe noticed one of the bricks was smooth.  Shining her torch towards it, she glimpsed a grayish marble stone in the wall. That was a strange place to put a valuable feature. Amongst all the drab bricks. Perhaps it was s secret passage or a sign guarding an entrance.

 “Let’s try and move it or push it or something to see if it budges.”

 Phoebe placed her entire hand over the middle of the stone and miraculously it gave way with a rumbling, part of the wall slid backwards to reveal a cast iron gate, with a second marble stone next to it much bigger and heavier than the first one.  Beyond the gate hidden amongst the clinging stalactites of mildew, were stairs shining from the damp reflection of the dripping water.

 They dashed towards the stone and utilizing all their strength the three loosened the rusty lock.  It gave way with a clanging sending Piper reeling backwards, hitting her head against the other damp, rocky boulders.

 “Ouch,” she yelled in pain and anger and hobbled back towards the side wall helping herself up by pulling on the jutting bricks.

 “Are you okay?” Perdita questioned.

 “Yeah, I’m fine.  The things I do for my sister.  She’d better be grateful!” She snapped back as she pulled the polka cotton scarf from around her neck and placed it over the moist cut she could feel on her head.  Tapping her forehead gently up and down she moved the scarf away and shone her torch at the stains of blood on the white encircled pattern.

 “I hope this doesn’t leave a scar.  I’ll probably need a tetanus jab or something!”  She said to herself anxiously.

 But the other two didn’t hear her.  At this moment they were preoccupied with other more pressing matters.  Especially Perdita.  Upon opening the cast iron door Phoebe had gone on to find Prue in inanimate form nearby. Still and listless.

 “ You were right.  She is in two places, she’s astrally projected herself to another place.”  Phoebe explained.  “One of us should stay here, Piper, since you’re hurt you can wait here for Prue to return.  We’ll go and check out the rest of this place.”

 Piper agreed.  Although the cut wasn’t too deeply gauged she thought it may slow them down and besides someone had to stay for Prue and let her in on what was happening.

 “OK, and if Prue gets back anytime soon, we can come find you guys and maybe she can give us a helping hand.  A better idea of where Sabroh is or even how to rid him of this world.  For good.”

 Through her thoughts, Perdita sensed another life force ebbing inch by inch through her body and mind.  In the entangled embers of the moon, radiating in a palatial spire, forming a wired mesh shadow on the tough ground, she heard a voice in the foggy air surrounding her.  She felt the full force of the chanting.

 The voice was that of a woman.  Soft and deep and slurred, and there was in it the lazy caress of warm wind, warm water, warm sleep.

 It was the Sorceress, Minah.  Her soul was humming and filling Perdita’s mind with all sorts of thoughts and emotions.  It was as if a soothing lullaby was caressing her own soul.

 In an instant Perdita knew what she must accomplish to defeat Sabroh.  Yet in the end, with a strange fatalism, which guided all her actions, she bent her step in the direction of the graceful sound.

 No mortal’s power could kill him or ensnare him but Perdita’s amulet and the bejewelled prism-like object that Minah placed on her head was the key to his defeat.

 “Perdita,” Phoebe called out.  “Perdita.”  She nudged her but Perdita didn’t respond.  She was in a polished, soaring trance induced by the soothing, lithe voice she could hear through the desolate howling.

 “Oh great. You’ve zonked out on me now too!” Phoebe sighed.  “Are you doing another Prue?”

 A vision of loveliness appeared to them in that dingy cavern. Minah.  A misty haze embodied her magnificently beautiful, yet wounded face.  Her eyes sparkled silver and sapphire-esque in the moonlight.

 “Sabroh may have killed me and taken my wondering soul.  That was only my earthly vessel.  He has not taken my eternal soul.  That which lives on in me.  That will always remain with me until it is mine to pass onto my ancestors.  Those who will inherit my mystical powers and facets between light and dark shadows.”  Minah’s voice was kind and earthly.  Not other worldly as Phoebe imagined it would be.

 Phoebe was amazed at what she heard.  Who was this beguiling vision?  But with all her questions, Phoebe was impressed by the truth of her words.  Piper and Prue didn’t know what they were missing.  She attempted to speak to Minah but her words were driven back by her enchanting voice.

 “Perdita is one such living soul.  She has the wings of angels.  Strong emotions.  A courageous heart.  Through her powers.  The jewel, and the amulet around her neck you can defeat Sabroh.  Protect her Phoebe for she is a part of you.”

 She put her slender hand to Perdita’s forehead and placed a golden, pear-shaped jewel onto her head above her brow.  This will protect you and be his downfall.

  Minah then disappeared as magically as she had appeared.

  Perdita’s amulet.  The cobalt blue eye surrounded by a sea of turquoise and cyan, attached to a filigree, rose gold chain, encapsulated many powers.  It was a family heirloom handed down to the daughter of each generation.

 Perdita had been right all along.  It did bring the wearer luck and it did ward off the evil eye as it was supposed to.  Not only of humans and mere mortals but also from demons and other malediction of forces.

 That was why Kane had no power over her and over her thoughts.  It warded off his virulent, lupine senses.  Just as it had protected her from le loup garou many years ago in Paris.  Had Kane been stalking her even then all those years ago? And with the amulet she always wore around her neck, he must have felt some sort of good force holding her from him.  Driving him back as a cross to a vampire.

  Perdita awoke with a jaunt and called out with an insatiable glee.  Phoebe stood in her tracks.

 “Couldn’t you just say Eureka or by Jove or something as you English do.  What happened to you?  For a minute there I thought you’d abandoned us like Prue.”

 “Quickly I know what to do.  Let’s find him.”  Perdita was certain.

 “I don’t know what you’re going to do, but let’s do it already.  I may start to lose my cool composure!”  Phoebe said in jest, and feeling very nervous at the same time.
 Perdita’s enthusiasm and excitement rubbed onto Phoebe and she was anxious to get the whole sorry chapter over and done with.

 “We all know you can’t change the past or alter events already taken place.  History can’t be changed.  But it can be repeated.  You know the saying, ‘history always repeats itself’.  That’s how we’ll have to defeat Sabroh.  At least how I’ll have to win over him.” Explained Perdita.

 “I think it’s a bit dangerous.  You can’t take him on by yourself.”

 “I have to Phoebe, it’s my destiny.  Don’t worry I’ll be fine and besides I’ll have you for moral support and remember we have a lot to talk about.  Being distantly related.

  Minah rid him from the world once and that’s why he was out to exact his revenge on her.  She was betrayed by the very people she was trying to help.  To save themselves, they promised Sabroh they’d hand her over.”

 Perditd was so sure about what she must do, so certain in her actions.  But there was a fatalistic flaw in her voice.  She knew it wouldn’t be easy and it was perilous but this was her calling, she realized it now.

 “I’ve got to do as she did.  Exactly the same.  The prism, the charm, is the only piece of natural element found in the earth that has enough energy to hold him between its many crystalline facets.  The structure is unique.  It creates a force field within it; powerful enough to hold any living matter.  Even fiery djinns.”

 There was something Phoebe could do to help.  She would have to be the bait.  Something Perdita thought was more life threatening than her part.  Anything could go wrong.  Anything, and perhaps everything.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 Twilight was falling as they traversed the flagstones of Craven Street. The house was situated in one of the shadier districts.  Although the city was alive and bustling for the time of night.  Vagrants and people of the night inhabited this area.

 The trio turned and looked around at the dirty, grimy, brown-rust buildings.  With broken glass windows and bits of paper hanging from the gutters.  Damp, smelly and spongy.  Everything was dingy and the place didn’t look quite prepossessing at all.  None of them could contemplate how the place would appear during the daylight hours.  Piper was doubtful. But with baited breath and a long sigh, she climbed the shabby steps after the others.

 “Prue.”  Piper called out in soft, dulcet tones.  Her voice echoed around the hollow fixtures of the rooms.

 “Ssh!”  Phoebe whispered.  “We don’t want to give ourselves away.”

 Perdita suggested they spread out and search the house.  It would be quicker than creeping about the place together.

 They each went their separate ways but Piper wasn’t pleased with having to snoop around the house on her own.  Not with cobwebs and dusty floor coverings; and especially weary of meeting some towering beastly demon.

 Kane came silently, slithing from behind Phoebe and grabbed her by the shoulder. Tagging savagely at her hair.

 ”At last you’ve come.  I was wondering how long it would take you to figure out the pieces of the jigsaw.  You being the intelligent of the Charmed Ones, I figured it wouldn’t be too vast a time span.”

 “Ow!” Phoebe yelped with shock.

 Arms of steel and iron were locked aimlessly around her waist.  A superior demigod lifted her from her feet.  A vast, solid crane.

 Phoebe wasn’t one to be beaten.  She fought back.  Struggled.  Kicking out using her kick boxing skills.  Panting.  Gasping.  Heaving her sweaty, limber body up and down; she lashed out in desperation.  Kane fell back for a second losing his footing.  He hadn’t expected her to be so strong or so worthy an adversary.  But amazingly he leaped back up again and grabbed her arm.

 “Where’s my sister?”  Phoebe demanded between shallow breaths.

 “Now that would be too easy.  Where’s your sense of adventure?  The fun’s in the challenge.  Of deducting answers for yourself don’t you think?”  Even in their fight, Kane was still a most charming opponent.  An ardent advocate.  But this wasn’t a courtroom.  It was life and death.  Phoebe’s life and his death.

  The saturated words just seemed to roll off his mellow tongue. Still the smooth-talker.  Without even looking at him, Phoebe could understand why Prue could have fallen for his deadly, snake-like charms.

 “You’re evil.  No one can be free from the grasp of evil unless his or her own will is strong.  Or until they knew they’re actually dealing with true, unadulterated evil.  Then they must fight, just as we do and Perdita too in her own way.”

 “Don’t talk to me about Perdita. For months now I have attempted to win her over with my wild, sexy charms and sweet talk.  But she never came round.”

 “She has sense that’s why.”  Kane pulled his clammy hands tighter about her neck.

 “No it’s something else, something more powerful within her and around her.”  Kane seemed uneasy.

 She pirouetted.  Parried.  Pinning back her arms.  Dropping her weight to the lowest point of her body.  Pressing against him as though slow dancing, she punched her elbow back into his stomach.  It felt like lead weight.

 Phoebe’s head dripped with perspiration.  Dispatching him would be hard.  Her face ran with large spots of sweat and her hair untangled itself in her mouth and around her cheeks.  She could only imagine where Piper and Perdita were.  If only they were here.  Why couldn’t Perdita read Phoebe’s thoughts now?

 Kane was huge.  Massive, strong and heavy.  A real demon, unlike any she had encountered before.  What could she, a small girl, compared to him, do?  This meeting brought back a brief recollection of battling their arch rivals and foes.  Her memories of helplessness in the past opened up again.  But her sisters always helped save the day.  She was alone now in this violent, aggressive death match.

 Feeling a gnawing, sharp pain in her chest. Enraged. She bellowed out.  Jumping to her feet, feeling like Buffy The Vampire Slayer; she hooked her leg around his knee.  Jerking counter clock wise she pounced and threw him backward with all the strength in her tiny-framed body.

 Kane spun.  Fell back and she kicked him again with the power of a steam train.  This time he somersaulted back against the wall and seemed to pass out.

 “Obviously he’s never read Shelley.”  Phoebe unceremoniously remarked.  Throwing her hair back with her hand. “Although Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein would be a suitable adage here and ironic.  I mean Percy Bysshe Shelley when he wrote: ’All spirits are enslaved which serve things evil’.  So we’ll just have to free you and send you back from whence you drifted!”

 Everyone loved Phoebe’s dry wit and it certainly was needed at this point in the proceedings.  As it proved most refreshing.

 She heard a noise beyond the door.  Hope it’s not another one she told herself, as she crept behind the jarred door. Piper and Perdita arrived at the same time.  Phoebe’s arms ached from where she’d grabbed his body.  Her face glowed.  Bright scarlet.

 “About time you guys got here.”  Phoebe gasped breathlessly.

 “I sensed you were calling out to me,” Perdita explained but I got stuck in the basement. The door handle fell off.”

 “We need all three of us to vanquish him.  Without Prue here I hope using Perdita in her place will work.  Quickly the spell Piper!  Piper you could have frozen him if you were here.  Then I wouldn’t have needed to fight him like an old boxer out of retirement.  He really took my breath away; and I don’t mean in the romantic sense of the word either!”

 “It wasn’t my idea to split up!” Piper snapped back as she searched her backpack for the scrap of paper.

 “But you’re OK aren’t you?”  Perdita fretted.

 Kane jumped up and pounced at Perdita.

 “Quick Piper freeze him!” Phoebe commanded.

 Piper threw up her hands in a waving motion and directed them at Kane who immediately stood frozen in his tracks allowing Perdita to escape his gloomy clutch.

 “Now the spell.”  They all joined hands and repeated the spell they’d found in Perdita’s book.

 To remove the power of a fearsome slave
 Encircle hands; join together on a glistening plane
 Count to three; let the chaos begin
 Wither thee hence dark knave.

 Shafts of moonlight fell onto Kane’s body where he had frozen solid.  Piper reached into her pocket for the elderflower water and poultice whipped up earlier by Phoebe.  Each of them hoped the spell would work with Perdita in place of Prue.  Piper crossed her fingers.  They said the spell over and over three times.

 As they were vanquishing. Kane unfroze.  He felt the clammy fingers of fear probing his chest.  A sound that tightened the muscles of his stomach and sent shivers down his bony spine, as Kane knew the end was nigh for him.

 “Evil does as evil says.  Kane must have found his darkside and succumbed to it.  Revelled in it.  That’s why he was able to do what he did.  What he did best.  Steal bodies.  Be a total creep.”  Phoebe was remorseless.

 “Now you’ll never find Prue,” he sniggered as the last remnants of his hollow voice echoed about the room rebounding off the walls.  He vanished in a puff of sulphur and silvery flame.

 The spell worked.  Phoebe was now certain that Perdita was a part of them; part of their family and she knew Perdita was right they must be long-lost, distant cousins.  Several generations removed of course.

 “Good riddance to bad garbage.”  Perdita mused.  She wondered how his strange, untimely disappearance would affect chambers.  They were in the middle of an important criminal trial with Kane as head honcho.

 “Maybe now, after being in his shadow, I’ll get the recognition I deserve!” she grinned.

 But little did she know that the forthcoming events of the night were going to change her life forever.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 13

Chapter 13

 By dawn’s early light Prue was fading fast.

 Perdita had felt Prue’s agony and pain when she had been captured and put into the hourglass by Sabroh.  She knew, with the aid of her telepathic powers, that Prue was out of her body and was in two separate, spiritual planes.

  Perdita could sense her image was flickering in and out, whilst the other sisters wondered what could be done.  Phoebe recalled there was nothing in the Book of Shadows which provided an explanation for this sort of behaviour.  It was just as Prue had thought to herself, now they didn’t know how long Prue could contain herself in astral projection without there being serious repercussions.

 However Phoebe knew Sabroh was going to pay big time for this. Deep within her heart she hoped her vision of Prue didn’t mean this.  They had been estranged for so long with Prue thinking Phoebe was hopeless.  After Phoebe returned to San Francisco they had grown much closer, as sisters should be.  The most dreaded thoughts entered her mind again.  Then horror filled her heart once more, Aghast she screamed at herself over and over again.

“This does not signal Prue’s demise!!”

 She shuddered as a chill entered her bones.  She couldn’t lose her big sister now, after finding her again after all this time.  In the midst of agony she despaired.  Scolding herself.

  Perhaps she should have told Piper and Prue of her vision of foreboding.  Maybe then she could have prevented Prue from leaving her side and going out on her own.  But realizing her own stupidity or irresponsibility wouldn’t really have altered her vision.

 In the past she could have prevented and did prevent innocents from meeting their destinies and changing their lives, saving them even.  But now.  Could she have stopped Prue?  She was in two minds.  Since when did big sister not speak her mind and act out her own will.  Feeling guilty at an inopportune moment wouldn’t help Prue now.  She had to think of some alternative action before it was too late.

 Piper was horrified and shocked at Phoebe’s confession.

 “If you had seen our sister’s impending future doom why didn’t you tell us, her?”

 “Because I wasn’t sure of what I saw and anyway it was just a brief flash. I didn't know what it meant at the time!”

 Besides wasn’t there something about not using their powers for personal gain?  How would that be interpreted in this scenario anyway?

  Repentant, hating herself at this minute, Phoebe said,

 “All I saw was Prue surrounded by flashing blues and greens, lights and reflections, like a glitterball.  She looked like she was in some sort of glassy, aqueous liquid.  Like a turquoise sea.”

 “Fishtank! You mean.” Piper said tersely.  “Oh great!  Now there are two of her and we don’t know where either one is or whether she can get back into her own body or not?  Especially if she’s trapped in some glass structure and can’t get out.”

 “Which means we have to get to this Sabroh demon or dijinn or whatever he is and vanquish him.  Sabroh steals lost or wandering souls, so Prue being in her astral state would have been wandering.  It would give him ample opportunity to capture her.” Replied Phoebe.  A look of anger, then worry passed over her face.

  “But what does he do with the body?” Enquired Piper.

 “They’re enslaved.  Without a soul their body just becomes a hollow shell pandering to his every demand.”  Phoebe answered.

 They had to find some sort of spell to vanquish Sabroh.  Only unbeknown to them Sabroh couldn’t be vanquished in the normal sense of the word.

  This was easier said than done considering the Book of Shadows was at home.  They couldn’t have bought it with them.  It would have been funny trying to explain it to British Customs, or they’d probably have to smuggle it through.  That would have been a task in itself but not really that difficult to pull off.  Piper could have frozen time and everyone surrounding them. Then Prue could have wafted it through the green “Nothing to declare” zone.

 “Phoeb can you think of some sort of tracking spell to locate Prue?” Piper asked.

 “You think I haven’t tried that already!  My mind’s come up with so many alternatives.  Nothing works.  Something must be interfering. A mystical force field or untapped energy.  Either that or our conventional spells don’t seem to be working on this continent.

 “You don’t need a spell.” Perdita cut in.  “I know where they may be – but we’ve got a lot of territory to cover, especially since we have to do a lot of legwork.”

 “We haven’t got the Book of Shadows with us which is a darn shame.”  Phoebe protested.

 “Perhaps you don’t need it. I have something you could use, but it’s not very big.  It doesn’t contain many spells or anything.  Just bits and pieces handed down to me over the years and other stuff I’ve come across myself.  Spells I’ve made up on my own.” Pointed out Perdita.

 “You know I haven’t had to fight demons, or help reunite lost people or vanquish either; because I don’t really have the Power of Three do I?” Grinned Perdita.  “Here it is.”

 Perdita pulled out a little black book the size of a notebook with gilt and silver edges.  Laydees Spelles and Other Portente Potions, was written on the cover.

 “Gosh you English really tend to do everything civilized don’t you?” Remarked Piper.  “Look at the funny spelling.”

 “It’s written in Medieval English – most of it dated back to the time of the Crusades and there’s some more modern stuff too.”

 Phoebe flicked through the yellow stained pages.

 “Here’s something – a piece on vanquishing the body of one who is brought back to walk the earth.” Phoebe mumbled to herself.

 “Hmm, sounds a bit suspect to me.”  Phoebe was puzzled. Piper snatched the book from Phoebe’s hand.

 “I don’t know what that means?” Piper quipped.

 Phoebe snatched it back.

 “Do you mind Piper.”

 Perdita continued with her explanation of Sabroh’s intentions.

 “He’s planning to win mankind, take their souls and turn them to the dark side because of the Knights Templars.”

 Knights Templars were the secret hood of knights that gave pilgrims returning to and from Jerusalem, safe passage. Hence the Middle Temple, and Inner Temple Inns of Court in legal London.

 Perdita was a part of that tradition too, in a way.  Being a barrister she had to join an Inn of Court.  A sort of a society which helped students and qualified barristers alike and gave them support during their student year and after qualifying; and facilities to use, such as libraries.  Where Perdita did most of her research.  She’d wile away the hours until day and would sometimes be found by her friends sprawled out over her books.  They put it down to simple dedication.

 “So I suppose he blames me too somehow.” Perdita added.

 “Here’s a spell containing a poultice of wheaten breadcrumbs and egg white for removing ‘worms of the face’.  This would work wonders for your circles Piper!”

 “Very funny.  Can you quit with the jokes Phoebe and find something fast.  What are worms of the face anyway?”  Piper naively questioned.

 “Blackheads, in those times.”

 “Ugh! Phoebe that’s disgusting.”  Piper replied with a sullen look.

 “This definitely dates from medieval times.  Look at the ingredients in some of these: boiled lizards and distilled young ravens.  Yuck!  This isn’t so much a book of spells, as it is of cosmetic improvements.  Improve you looks without resorting to facelifts and nips and tucks.  Here's something.  Join hands in a circle and chant the following:

"Once, twice, thrice..which probably means we’ll have to repeat it three times. But it’s got be done in the wane of the moon and we’ll need distilled water of elderberry leaves to throw around him.”

 “I don’t know what that will achieve?”  Piper looked even more confused.

 Now all they had to do was find Prue’s body and their foes and put an end to this whole fiasco.  Neither of them knew where to start looking as Piper and Phoebe’s trip to Madame Tussaud’s had proved unfruitful.  Although they did chance upon a wax figure that exhibited an uncanny resemblance to Kane.

 However Phoebe had been on the right track with her theory of body snatchers.

 After putting their heads together, pondering and deliberating over the clues they had in their possession, like Sabroh needing bodies to carry out his deeds, the place where Perdita had been pursued by Sabroh and the clues on body snatchers.  Phoebe and Perdita finally had a flashing brainwave at the same time.  Something about great minds thinking alike.

 “Craven Street!” They both shouted simultaneously.

 “Craven Street?” Piper asked with a puzzled expression.

 In the eighteenth century, Craven Street was a district full of lawyers; as there seemed a clean, professional air about the place.  What perfect a location to hide out and carry out mass illegal dissections and experiments than right under the snooty noses of lawyers.

 Perhaps a most gruesome thought would be that many bodies snatched were probably those of lawyers themselves.  Poetic justice?  Or perhaps legal justice?

 “It’s history lesson time again Piper.” Phoebe laughed.  “Remember the Founding Fathers? Ben Franklin, the most famous one of all?”  Phoebe replied sharply.

 “The guy who flew his kite in a thunder storm and discovered electricity.  Yeah what about him?

 “Well apparently it’s rumoured he lives around here.  Craven Street.  Round about the eighteenth century some doctor used to live in his house and conducted medical experiments.  You know, the pioneering days of medicine.” Phoebe told her.

 “No,” answered Perdita softly.  “It’s not a rumour.  It’s a documented fact, he did live here, but it was more of an office than a home and he did rent it out to a doctor.  But you might like to know Franklin did visit The Hellfire Club on many occasions.”

 “Ah the notorious band of womanizing, drunken Satanists.” Phoebe joked. Then glanced at Piper’s sour expression. ”Oops sorry!”  Too many jokes weren't called for at this time.

 “Yeah. So?”  Piper looked confused again.  Her question was vacant and the know-it-all attitude of the two was agitating her.

 “So, so get your thinking cap on Pipe.  So they needed bodies didn’t they; and where did they get those bodies from?” Phoebe ogled her.

 Piper tersely replied, “Twenty questions or are you going to give me a clue?”

 “From grave diggers of course.  Body snatchers.  London is riddled with history.  Only they were called resurrection men.”

 “They got bodies from anywhere they could.” Perdita commented.

 “So what’s the significance?”

 “We’ve been over this already Piper.” Phoebe observed.

 “Kane – he’s a modern-day Burke and Hare.  Two of the most famous body snatchers of London.  He’s a reincarnation most probably, or he’s been resurrected himself by Sabroh.  I should have realized.  His touch was petulant.  Ice-cold.  He was too good to be true; and a good man is 'oh so hard to find'.  All those other cliches spring to mind too.” Perdita looked sad.

 “Yeah.  No man can be that gorgeous and be one hundred per cent good.  There’s always some catch isn’t there?” Agreed Piper.

 “Catch here is, he’s evil and there aren’t any ifs or buts about it and he’s got Prue!” Phoebe gave them a quick, harsh lesson in reality.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“That’s it,” exclaimed Phoebe.  “Remember someone was bringing wax bodies to life at Madame Tussaud’s and The London Dungeon.  What if Sabroh had the power to do that?”

 “But he doesn’t have a physical body – he can only manifest himself in animate form, like fire he can only appear in the form of fire or reflect himself in water.” Piper interrupted.

 “His powers have been growing and he did manifest himself in a solid mass.  We all saw him.  Horrible as it was.”  Phoebe reminded her. “And you couldn’t freeze him Piper. Which means he still needs someone to do the dirty.”  Phoebe commented grabbing her bag.  “Come on Pipe.  I know exactly where to go.”

 They ran out of their hotel and darted across town on the underground (subway).  Phoebe knew exactly which train to catch and which line to take as she had studied the entire underground map the night they had arrived, when she should have been exhausted.  They took the train from the brown colored Bakerloo line from Oxford Circus to Baker Street station, scurrying like busy bees.  A short journey which was only two stops from end to end.

 “Next stop Baker Street.” She enthused.

 “Why here?” asked Piper looking flustered.

 “This, sweetie, is where it all began.  Remember the paper headlines: the two tourists disappearing and Perdita’s encounter with some strange man.  Well right here are ye olde waxworks: Madame Tussaud’s.”
 Here were housed the world famous collection of waxworks and dummies of famous people, past and present.

 “What you mean Sabroh’s here!”

 “I don’t think so.  But then he could be anywhere.  Anyway you said he needed “people” to work for him, where else can you find the devil’s minions – but here.”

 “Phoeb don’t bring the devil into this – that’s just what we don’t need!”

 “Quit worrying honey, it was just a figure of speech.  As I was saying, remember the body snatchers?”

 “No I didn’t go see the movie at the Revivalist.”  Said Piper.

 “Not the sci-fi movie silly! The Body Snatchers.   Don’t you know your history Piper?” Phoebe remarked.  Not only is it English history but US too.”

 “Well I’m not the one who’s grown a big head just cos I’m back at school.” Piper said obtusely.

 “Nah, it’s basic high school stuff.  General knowledge even. They used to find dead people; dig up bodies and sell them to doctors for experiments and research; cutting them up and using their body parts.”

 The eighteenth century was a particularly difficult and far from austere time for medicine in many countries around the world and even more so in England and America.  Whereas many “doctors’ before this time were considered quacks, butchers or bloodletters, the eighteenth century regarded surgery as a suitable occupation for many young men from rich, prominent backgrounds, of good blood and breeding, it could be said, rather distastefully.

 Medical schools, once created, boasted unscrupulous competition for places and more so for students of anatomy.  Bodies, cadavers, were needed.  Those that could be obtained legally for experiments were those of criminals.  Hence the need for unsavoury characters such as body snatchers, since there was an unusual shortage of hung criminals in England for that time.

 One such notorious body snatcher, so dedicated to his craft, actually snatched the body of his own sister.  Adding a new dimension to the phrase “keeping it within the family!”
The most famous body snatchers in London at that time were Burke and Hare.

 “So. So I don’t get where you’re going Phoebe.  What would Sabroh want with Prue or with live bodies?”

 “No, remember he’s a djinn he needs live people for their souls and what I mean is he’s got these two old body snatchers working for him.  The twist being, these characters are taking the real thing and not dead bodies.  Taking over their minds and souls probably gives him his power. If he knows Prue is a charmed one he’d want her soul even more.”

 “Because she’s good?” Piper asked.

 “No because she has her powers.”  Phoebe wished she didn’t have to spell everything out for Piper all the time, but she felt Piper’s cautiousness probably made her not see the true picture all the time.

 “Ok, so what now Phoebe? You seem to have all the answers.”

 Their trip to Madame Tussaud’s proved to be a waste of time.  They stumbled out looking down. They stood outside in the rain oblivious to their surroundings.  As though they were standing still with the rest of the world passing them by.  Crowds of people, tourists rushing round without a care in the world.  Almost dejected and heartbroken they returned to their hotel where Perdita was waiting for them.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 11

 Chapter 11

 For a long time Sabroh had been caged in that deep prison of walls.  Termed time immemorial. Gazing upon the Sorceress’s limp body that was no more.  Minah was her name and he had loved her from afar and from the start.  She had forsaken him.  They were from two entirely separate universes. Two entities that could not, dared not influx together.  Light and dark; good and evil.  He wanted Minah to be as one with him.  To convert to his evil ways so they could unite.  But she had defied him.

 Fire and water do not mix for one would extinguish the other.  Minah hadn’t felt love for him but a deep, sorrowful pity – for his kind, the good of his kind, who had been ravaged by invading armies.
Nevertheless he was still her dreaded foe and she was his.  Love never once entered the sinful equation.

 She had protected lost souls and guided them to their rightful place in heaven’s holy twilight.  She used all her might to fight him with savage battles of mind over matter.  Her mind over his matter. Winning many splendid victories.  Once strong and eloquent in her fight.  Now she was no more but a seraphic beauty in Sabroh’s fading memory.

***
 Prue hated being helpless.  She closed her eyes and astrally projected again. She appeared in the same room  but this time she knocked one of the silver, floral screens she had hidden behind on her first projection.  Sending it ferruling towards a mirror, crashing into a thousand pieces.

 “Aagh, another seven years bad luck.” She wearily screamed.

 Sabroh and Kane turned their heads to gawk and immediately Sabroh wafted his scrawny, emblazoned fingers towards her.  In a flash the room filled with mystic shafts of hazy violet.

   Prue found herself shrinking whilst all around her, above and below the whole room was increasing in size.  She tried to project herself back but it was too late.  She was a miniature and her body wouldn’t have accepted her back in that state.  Prue was there but motionless, in spirit only.  Her alternate self was stuck in an hourglass.  Standing all alone in time.  Prue had underestimated Sabroh’s powers.  Thinking she could defeat him on her own.

 Phoebe’s dreaded vision had come true.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 Dark, sanguine echoes lulled the twilight mist.  Feebly Prue fumbled in the darkness for a light, a candle.  Some sense of belonging.  Of being back home with her sisters.  She was the eldest but time and again she felt herself let down by her own common sense.  Not lack of, but from not using it.  For trusting Kane and not telling the others where she was going.  Now she was paying for her stupidity.

 She had passed out as if last night was just a dream.  A convoluted nightmare.  Her face was streaked in a checkered pattern of black mascara and the feeling of barely surviving an avalanche.  Her left shoulder, where Kane had kept a tight hold on her so she couldn’t fight him off with her powers, throbbed incessantly and painfully.  A hot bath would have revived her, relieved her muscle pain, but not her emotional turmoil.

 “Can anyone here me?” she shouted in desperation.

 Shouting was futile.  Desperately she crawled the space of her prison.  Feeling every crack in the floorboards.  Every inch of the empty walls.  There was nothing there.  No pictures, no doors, sounds.  No visible signs of life.  She heard water dripping.  Was it water?  Where was it?  She crawled on all fours like a hungry dog in search of a bone.  The tuneful dripping grew louder as she forged towards it.  The wall was wet and mouldy.  Maybe there was a hole in the wall, her chance to escape.  She moved her hands across the wall.  Up and down, round and round in circular motion.  It was smooth in places, indented in others.

 “There must be something!”  Prue’s heart raced.  Nothing.  She folded her knees and rested her head on them. There was nothing else to do but sit and wait.

  Was she a prisoner in time, of shadows? How had she arrived here, surrendering to the dim hollow of an eerie, cold isolation?  This was existence in its bleakest.  Its lowliest.  How she wished for friendly faces.  Those of her sisters.  A brief glimmer of hope.  She was a stranger in a forbidden past, present or future.  No one heard her wailing.  The pleas for deliverance.

 The dim tunnel seemed endless.  She had to sit still.  No one would come.  No one was here.  Only shadows.  The faint thoughts and distant memories of yesterday.  She was in need of salvation.  Of rescue.  To be transported to a new world.  A new beginning, one without dark, marauding shapes or desolate howlings.

 Prue remembered herself as a little girl again running to greet her mother.  Her warm gentle hugs and caressing voice.  It was her birthday and time to open her presents.  To change into her pretty pink, flowered dress.  Make a wish, blow out candles. Suddenly the door was slammed shut.  Everything was in turmoil.  They had lost their mother, she had drowned in a lake whilst trying to defeat an evil warlock. Her heart sank.  Yet all three were safe in the knowledge Gram’s would always be there to help and guide them.

  Prue berated herself for being so stupid.  Swept away by Kane in a moment of blind passion.  It could have been a budding holiday romance but she never really had his heart.  Perdita was right and so was Phoebe.  She was here to work and she should have listened to them.

 It had been a mistake coming to a far off mysterious land.  Looking back she could remember the excitement.  Her dream trip to London that many could only dream about.  But this, this was like The London Dungeon itself.

 Would no one come?  Would she have to bear the agony of silence alone?  Face the torment of bleak night.  Where was her fair and princely knight?  This wasn’t a fairytale but fate.  Cruel and unrelenting.  True heroism was a thing of the past when dragons and princesses towered the land. Graceful, strong and regal.  The present was a mire.  A world where everything and everyone was lost.  Caught up in their own selfish existence.  Friendship and love a mere fragment of her imagination.  Distasteful villains and avaricious swine had squandered chivalry.  They had tried to help innocents from a world full of tragedy and wickedness.  Was this her reward?

  Prue put her hand to her head.  It was wet with the sweat of fear.  There were tears in her scarlet tired eyes.  She recalled the past.  That was only a fleeting flicker of a memory.  She was here, now. Regrets were in the past and should be forgotten.  Just as she was forgotten?

 Piper and Phoebe would lament her passing, burn the midnight oil with worry.  Pace the floors in anguish.

  Prue caught herself in a moment of despair and regret.  Men were so fickle.  Specifically the ones she always met.  It was never meant to be.  She felt so much emptiness and pain and hurt inside. Foolishly believing a mysterious man could fill all those empty far away places in her heart and mind. Such teenage rebelliousness.  Teenagers had an excuse.  Prue was a grown woman and should know better.

 She wondered how much time had past.  Was it still day or night?  Her watch had been broken.  Day probably turned to dusk by now.  Dusk to darkness.  All she could do was count the eternal hours. Imagine time lapsing.  No sweet birds who could flee to the sky.  To freedom far and away.
Freedom.  A meaningless word.  All words were imagined.  All words are costly, yet still cheap and empty.

 There was nothing else to do except sit and wait.  Give up.  Rot away in a timeless dungeon.  Wait and wither like the last rose before winter and fade.  Fade…

 Clenching her fists tightly, she hurtled them against the stone wall in defiance. She wasn’t done yet.  She wasn’t going to let a man get the better of her.  She thought of Grams again.  Her lessons on life.  Grams wouldn’t give in without a fight and that’s what she’d taught them too.

 “Never let darkness and defeat tear you down.  Always think and win!”

 Yes, think.  That was the key.  Why was she here? Closing her eyes she projected herself, astrally, into a different plane. Astral projection was another aspect of her powers that had been revealed to her as her powers had grown.
 Her projected body found Prue in a majestic room.  Dimly lit with candles and oil lanterns.  Rich with tapestries hanging from every nook and cranny.  A myriad of gold, yellow and amber was radiating around the room.  In the hearth was a flickering glow.  Something about the earthly fire reminded her of the finest alchemy metals, of their warmth and purity.  Yet within this entire splendour lurked something eerie and sinister.

 Voices seemed to be approaching.  Quickly she searched the rest of the room focusing on every little object.  Unfortunately there weren’t any phones anywhere.  You’d think in this day and age there’d be some primitive form of communication.  Of some way of getting word to the others.  For some uncanny, unexplainable reason she hadn’t been able to project through the outside walls of her prison.

 Hiding behind a huge, flower motif screen, she crammed her neck to see who was there.  It was a large figure in a long, flowing, black velvet cloak.  He turned abruptly to reveal a hideous face with protruding green, luminous eyes and slimy, dirty teeth.  It was Sabroh.

 The second figure was hooded but his bony, skeletal, hairless features were visible.  The air turned smoggy and a great bellowing stench filled the room.  Prue put her hand to her nose to stop herself breathing the odorous fumes.

 “What of the other Charmed ones?” The first creature asked in a shrill, sharp voice.  “Have you made any attempts at locating them?”

 “The plan was to lure one of them here, thereby bringing the others after her.”  He said acidly.

 Prue recognized the voice immediately.  It was Kane.  He was no longer the handsome striking six foot dreamboat but implacably ugly and gross.

 “It had better work.  Now I know they are here, I need to harness the powers of all four of them if I am to bid to take over all of mankind.  Make them my slaves.  To exact my revenge, retribution.” The creature spoke morosely.  “Slaves of everything malfeasant, especially of the dark side."

 Prue retreated back into her body in the cold din.  She wasn’t sure how long she could astrally project out of her normal body, as she hadn’t timed it or utilized her power to its fullest potential. Still it was better to be safe than sorry.

 She pondered over their conversation.  Tried to fit the pieces together.  He was after Piper and Phoebe but who was the fourth person he mentioned.  She thought pensively.  Already this demon, or whatever he was, must be powerful, being able to menacingly transform other demons, obviously dead bodies into live beings.  Kane must be dead, the walking undead? Because he wasn’t flesh and blood just now.

 Sabroh’s powers embraced many aspects, including resurrecting the dead just by clicking his fingers and the ability to restore old bones to their former munificent; mortal body.

 “Where is the one who calls herself Perdita?  Through her tiresome meddling I haven’t been able to carry out my goal yet.  My kismet has yet to be fulfilled.”

 “I haven’t been able to capture her.  For some reason she’s able to resist. To evade my spells.”  Grunted Kane.

 “She is part of the ancient realms of knights.  The Knights Templars.  Being an ancestor of the Sorceress, whose powers I stole, she must have developed many of her own by now.  I must have her too.  No one must escape my grasp!”  Sabroh was contrite.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 On an ill-lit night the fires shone brightly.  Orange light filled the night sky as a deafening silence shrouded the landscape in a cowering din.  He had burned the Sorceress.  Brought death to the one who had spurned him.  One in a long ancestral line of many.  She had tried to ensnare him and she had succeeded not once but many times.  But not anymore.  He was free and she… was no more.

 Her long, dark, flowing tresses sparkled in the raging fire and burnt ash smoke-like sequins embedded in a sepia mantilla.

 She was a witch, or so they said.  Her tiny body lay motionless on the makeshift sacrificial altar.  Life had been squeezed out of her once limber, agile body.

 He turned around in a bewildered state of glory.  He promised vengeance on his enemies and on his friends alike.  Those who wronged him and his race.  His emerald green eyes appeared hollow and in them was reflected the emblazoned mist of the pyre.

 With the Sorceress's demise went all her power and her soul, or so he thought. She was good and her good deeds in helping the innocent had been exploited by a malicious life force who specialized in malevolent evil.  For he was not a man with a devil’s soul or a devil with the powers of a fallen angel. He wasn’t cast from any of the natural elements, not earth, nor water or air but fire.  Believing man to be on this mortal realm only to be enslaved.  Humans were weak.

 He was created from fire by fire.  In the Middle East, in Arabia and Persia and far off lands where Crusaders in their quest for world domination, to convert the heathen masses; had killed, pillaged and tortured.  This life force had remained strong.  They had long since vanished.  He remained, promising revenge and his own brand of wrath and justice on all those who ransacked his world and his kind.  On those who had imprisoned them in holy chalices and ornaments of dark crystal.

 His name was Sabroh – the Defiant one.  For he was a djinn.  All djinns are created from fire.  There was no human way to kill him or rid him from this mortal earth.  He wasn’t human…after all.

 With the Sorceress now gone, he had her power.  He was a consuming djinn.  Living off the fear and souls of mortal men.  But he grew stronger from the power of witches, warlords, wizards and warlocks.  The masters of light and dark shadows.  This witch’s power gave him everything he needed to enter the world once more. After banishment to an eternity within a jewelled, golden chalice by the Sorceress.

 She had the power to enter different realms on earth; between earth and the portals amongst them.  Spreading the goodness from the seeds of her soul.

 With her end had commenced Sabroh’s beginning.  He was on a savage quest for belligerence and now he began a new journey.  Leaving the Neverworld far behind to enter the mortal depths once more and grow stronger wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting, materialistic many.

 From the ages of enlightenment, men; spirits, good witches and white sorceresses were created to protect human bodies and more importantly their own spirits.  This Sorceress was one who was spawned from the enlightenment at a time when perilous evil forces ruled the land.  When good versus evil was the only realm in which true beauty and survival depended.

Charmed "Wicca Becomes You" Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 Did Kane have some sort of skeleton in his closet?  Not talking about himself much and his frequent attempts to ask Perdita for help when he didn’t really need it. Was it all a ploy to get something from her?

 Kane arrived a little before noon running lithely down the steps leading from the street onto the tiny, cobbled path.  Then firmly planted a kiss on Prue’s sultry, red lips.  Prue took a step back in astonishment.  She hadn’t been expecting such a warm greeting.  Not so soon anyway.

 “Come with me.”  Kane boomed.  “I want to show you something I think will be of interest to you.”

 “I thought we were going to eat.  I’m starving! (and not just for food either!)”  Prue placed her hand on Kane’s arm.

 A second later and she would have missed it.  Perdita turned the corner to see Kane swiftly manoeuvre Prue down the street into a dark alley.  She couldn’t tell if her arms were bound or not otherwise Prue could have fought him off with her powers, unless she was a willing captive.

 What was he up to now and why had Prue willingly gone with him; it was beyond logic but then again she was besotted with him.  Kane turned around and Perdita quickly jumped behind a large, stony column.

  Now her suspicions had been confirmed.  This rogue was up to no good.  Not only had he lied to her about having to cancel their conference, but he was now having a secret rendezvous with Prue Halliwell of all women!  This woman who had envied her from the outset.  Who’d given her the cold shoulder when Phoebe introduced them. Scoffing the mere mention of the word family or cousin when it was said they could be related.

 Perdita recalled the conversation.  How Prue had met Phoebe’s news with blue-eyed, defenseless silence.  Then she let it rip when Perdita tried to warn her about Kane and his secret, wildly, wicked side.  A destructive, brutal arrogance which could only lead to recklessness and folly.

 She’d even gone so far as to accuse her of being jealous when she mentioned Kane had asked her out.  Almost vampingly, Prue said she wasn’t the least bit interested in what she or anyone else had to say about Kane.

 Here was Kane embarking on a secret conference all of his own.  Prue had given Perdita an icy stare ignoring her warnings about Kane.  Not only that, she was sure envy played a part in this picture too.  But she was unsure as to why.  After all they hardly knew each other.

 Perdita would see where Kane was going and then she’d go back for help.  Find Prue’s sisters. Especially Phoebe, with whom she felt a ‘bond’.  She liked Piper who was down to earth and approachable.  The sensible one.  Phoebe was a fellow kindred spirit.

 When she arrived at the very spot where Kane and Prue had been only two seconds earlier, she was shocked to discover there weren’t any entrances or trap doors anywhere.  All the windows were locked so where did they disappear?  Was Kane a ghost or a floating spirit that he could walk through walls and what of Prue?

 Kane hadn’t disappeared into any buildings or houses with Prue.  There was a car waiting for them at the other end of the street.  A broken down, beige VW Beetle.

 Prue heard noises.  The general hustle, bustle of city life.

 “Taxi.” A grim, sharp voice had shouted nearby.  She heard cars sloshing by on the drenched streets.  They made the sound of ice being shaken in a drink… She turned around and saw a man huddled in a dark raincoat.  His face partially covered with a striped scarf and a slate black Trilby squarely perched on his head.  He was stocky and short.  Not much taller than Prue herself.  Though she could hardly see him in the shadowy gloom of the tall, faceless, radiating buildings around her in the alley, she noticed him squint his eyes.

 “Where are we going?”  Questioned Prue furtively.

 “Don’t ask so many questions.”  Kane crossed.  Tightening his grip on Prue’s left arm.

 “You’re hurting me.”  She screamed.  Attempting to break free and nod her head to use her powers.  Her movements were fruitless.

 The Beetle pulled up from behind Prue and blocked  her in between the large, grey wheelie bins and the wall. Kane followed hastily, forever keeping his tight reign on her arm.  The left passenger door of the car flew open in front of her.  The rumbling, groaning of the engine masked the sharp, menacing voice.  Kane threw her into the car.  Prue twisted and turned trying to gyrate out of his hold but he was so amazingly strong. Hitting her head against the metal rim of the door she gave out a lingering yell.

  In an instant the car’s engine was revved and they started moving.  Prue was bound with coarse rope.  The stocky man grimaced a lot and had a distinct tattoo of a snake on his right wrist. Green, red and slimy with a slithering, forked tongue.  She relived the smell of sweat and aftershave.  The same as the taxi driver they hailed at the airport.  This man too was partial to smoking.  Could it have been the same man?  So much for her insult about his body odour.  But he was taking a grudge too far. This wasn’t like the taxi ride through London’s history she’d taken with Kane at Madame Tussaud’s, called ‘The Spirit of London’, this was a vast, slimy ride into today’s reality.

  Prue felt blood running down her cheek.  Kane pulled out a smelly, reeking rag and placed it to her nose and mouth.  She turned her head from side to side and tried in vain not to breathe the caressing chemical fumes from the ether.  Prue eventually passed out.