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door. A closed sign hung at an angle, even though the hours painted on the glass clearly indicated the shop should have been open. “It’s locked.”
    Piper peered in the window. “Looks empty.”
    Phoebe checked up and down the street. It was clear like the alley had been. Not a lot of people around, which wasn’t promising for a shopping district in the middle of the day. “Street’s empty too,” she said, pointedly.
    Paige grabbed her sister’s hands and they were inside the shop in the blink of an eye. The store was empty, as it had appeared from the outside. The only sign of the fight that Prue had mentioned was some scattered papers on the floor. Otherwise, it would have just seemed like it was closed for business, if not for the voice whispering from behind the counter: “Come on, come on, come on. Pick up, pick up,
pick up.
”
    Phoebe looked to her sisters. She recognized that whisper of fear they’d encountered so many times before. They were too late to protect their Innocent, but at least she was still alive. Phoebe called out, “Hello?”
    The voice went silent.
    Phoebe approached the counter slowly, careful not to spook the Innocent they’d been sent to help. She was probably already terrified by whatever had befallen her. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.”
    A girl with dark, spiked hair and multiple piercings rose tentatively from behind the counter. Her clothes were torn, but Phoebe couldn’t be sure if it was the result of the attack or a fashion choice. The girl had a cell phone to her ear and a panicked expression in her eyes. She was trying hard to keep it together. “We’re closed,” she said. “That door was locked. I know it was. I just locked it.”
    â€œNo, it wasn’t,” Paige said. The Charmed Ones had gotten through so many locked doors over the years that they had long since tired of making up excuses to explain their sudden appearance. It was easier to just pretend the door was open. It’s not like most of the people they were coming to rescue were in a state to argue the point.
    â€œI’m sorry, but I’ve got to ask you to leave,” the girl said. “We’ve had a . . . I don’t know what. I’m on the phone with the police right now. Well, I’m
on hold
with the police right now. I should have told them I was attacked with anthrax instead of fairy dust. But, you know, it sparkled. Anthrax doesn’t sparkle. At least, I don’t think that it does. It’s not like I have a lot of experience with this kind of thing. Does it? Sparkle, I mean. Anthrax?”
    Babbling was another reaction the Charmed Ones had grown accustomed to after years in this line of work. It never got any easier hearing the terror in people’s voices.
    Phoebe pulled a stool behind the counter and sat the girl down, noticing the name tag on her shirt in the process. “It’s okay, Nat. The door is locked now. You’re perfectly safe.”
    Piper gently took the phone from the girl and disconnected the call. “The police won’t be able to do anything about this. Even if they do believe you. Which they won’t.”
    â€œBesides, it probably wasn’t fairy dust,” Paige said. “Unless you were attacked by a person about six inches tall with wings.”
    The girl looked confused, which was actually a good sign. “No. No wings. It was just a regular guy.”
    â€œAt least, he
looked
like a regular guy, you mean?” Paige asked.
    â€œWhat do you mean? He was a guy. What else could he be?”
    Paige chuckled, trying to bring some levity to the tension in the room. “That depends. He could have been a demon, warlock, sorcerer, seer. . . .”
    Phoebe caught the girl eyeing her phone. Probably wanting to call the police again. “Okay, Paige. Don’t think you’re