Chapter 1: Something Wicca This

"Demon!" Piper's voice sliced through the manor's silence, followed by the sharp crack of her freezing power. Crystals of frost bloomed around the creature's limbs.

Heather orbed into the sunroom, her body dissolving and reforming like blue-tinged smoke. The moment she materialized, an unknown demon came into sharp focus. This wasn't a monster from their usual repertoire—not a single page in the Book of Shadows could have prepared them for this.

It stood upright, but nothing about it resembled human. Iridescent scales rippled across its skin like living mercury, and its eyes burned with a purple fire that seemed to consume light itself. Ancient. Dangerous. Alien.

"Never seen this one before," Phoebe muttered, dropping into a fighter's crouch. Her hands curled, ready to strike. "Heather, move!"

The warning came milliseconds too late.

The demon shattered Piper's freeze, moving with a predator's impossible speed. A jagged crystal shard—sharp as a surgeon's blade—sliced through the air where Heather had stood heartbeats before. She orbed away, blue light trailing behind her like a comet's tail.

"What in the-" She rematerialized behind the creature, magical energy crackling across her fingertips. Not telekinesis like Prue would have wielded, but something utterly her own. Raw magical force that hummed with potential.

She'd learned months ago that trying to channel her dead sister's powers only led to spectacular magical failures.

"Piper, freeze it again!" Heather shouted.

The demon whirled, revealing a larger crystal fragment hanging from its neck. It pulsed with an energy that felt older than time itself—dark and hungry. "The veils grow thin," it rasped, its voice like obsidian scraping against bone. "Time bleeds into time. The Jewel seeks its scattered pieces."

"Seek this!"

Heather unleashed her power. Blue energy—wild and uncontrolled—erupted from her hands. The demon sailed through the conservatory windows in a spectacular arc of destruction. Glass exploded outward in a deadly crystalline storm.

Piper's hands shot up reflexively, freezing the razor-sharp shards mid-fall. They hung in the air like deadly wind chimes.

"Time bleeding into time?" Piper's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Anyone else getting tired of cryptic demon speak?"

Phoebe was already buried in the Book of Shadows, pages turning frantically. Suddenly, she went rigid. A premonition seized her body—muscles tensing, eyes glazing over with visions beyond their reality.

Heather and Piper caught her as she swayed, supporting her weight.

When Phoebe's eyes reopened, they held a storm of confusion and mounting dread. "An ancient well," she whispered. "Demons everywhere. A girl in a school uniform fighting beside someone with... dog ears?"

"Dog ears?" Piper's eyebrow arched. "That's not even the weirdest part?"

"No," Phoebe locked eyes with Heather. "Mom's voice. She said this is what they were protecting you from. Why they had to hide you."

The purple crystal shard glinted on the floor—a key to a mystery decades in the making.

Heather reached down, fingers hovering just above the fragment. For the briefest moment—so quick she could almost convince herself it was imagination—a voice called her name. Distant. Urgent. Familiar.

"Well," she said, her voice steady despite the tremor beneath her words, "I guess we're about to find out exactly what Mom was afraid of."

"What in the-" Heather rematerialized behind it, calling forth her power. Blue energy danced across her fingertips - not the telekinesis Prue had wielded, but something entirely her own. Raw magical force. She'd learned months ago that trying to mimic her dead sister's powers only led to failure. "Piper, freeze it again!"

The demon whirled to face her, and now she saw the source of its power - a larger crystal fragment hung from its neck, pulsing with dark energy. "The veils grow thin," it rasped, its voice like broken glass grinding against stone. "Time bleeds into time. The Jewel seeks its scattered pieces."

"Seek this!" Heather unleashed a wave of crackling blue energy that sent the demon hurtling through the conservatory windows. Glass exploded outward in a deadly spray.

Piper's hands shot up, freezing the cascade of shards mid-fall. "Time bleeding into time? What jewel? Anyone else getting tired of cryptic demon speak?"

"Here's what I want to know," Phoebe said, already flipping through the Book of Shadows they'd brought downstairs earlier. "Why isn't this-" She stopped mid-sentence, her body going rigid as a premonition seized her.

Heather and Piper caught their sister as she swayed. When Phoebe's eyes finally opened, they held a mix of confusion and dread.

"What did you see?" Heather asked, though something told her she might regret asking.

"An ancient well," Phoebe said, her voice distant. "More demons like this one, but stronger. And this girl in a school uniform fighting beside someone with... dog ears? But that's not even the strangest part."

"A guy with dog ears isn't the strange part?" Piper arched an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know what tops that?"

"The girl," Phoebe locked eyes with Heather. "She wore crystals exactly like our demon's. And I heard Mom's voice. She said this is what they were protecting you from. Why they had to hide you."

The floor seemed to tilt beneath Heather's feet. Since learning she was the hidden Halliwell sister, she'd wondered why she'd been given up, why she'd remained a secret even after they found Paige. Now, staring at the purple crystal shard the demon had dropped, she sensed those answers were about to shatter everything she thought she knew.

One more time.

"Right," she said, fighting to keep her voice level. "I guess we better figure out what this jewel business is about. Because something tells me that demon was just the opening act."

She reached down and picked up the shard. For just a moment - brief enough that she almost convinced herself she'd imagined it - she heard a voice calling her name across the centuries.