"God, I hope not."

He starts to pace.

"We should go to the book. If I can get you set up with a vanquishing potion now, we'll save a lot of headache later."

"Sure thing. I will take you there."

The other two follow.

The attic remains an attic, showing no sign that anything unusual happened there.

And presumably the book is still there?

It is. Closed, but the image on the front of it has changed. Where once the three ellipses were separated, alone, they now intersect.

He looks around the room slowly, not saying anything immediately.

After a minute has passed, he sighs, and glances at the book.

"I should be able to touch it, technically, but I don't know if would recognize me as a Halliwell. This family definitely isn't mine."

Beatrix offers it to him. "As long it isn't going to burn you like holy water or something."

It doesn't burn him. It lets him take it just fine.

He can't open it, however.

He tries longer than strictly necessary.

He hands it back.

"Okay. We're looking for a vanquishing potion. If your ancestors are as helpful as they should be, you should just be able to ask for that...your ancestors are probably in the afterlife."

"What is the afterlife like?!" The three ask simultaneously.

"Yeah, I can't help with that. I've never been. There's also reincarnation. You can try to get one of your ancestors back, it's happened before, but not for long. It's supposed to be nice, if you're a certain kind of person."

"I will search for the potion."

"What do you mean with back? And how do you know there is an afterlife? How does reincarnation works?"

"So whitelighters are a lot like the popular image of angels, and the elders are their leading council. Sometimes, the elders will send dead people back for a while. While they're dead, they can do things like help you with the book. Reincarnation works like most religions that have it say it does. You're reborn, but you forget your past life. They can turn out pretty different."

"What do you mean with back? Are they ghosts? Is there anything that survives reincarnation? Are you saying that everyone that has ever died is going to reincarnate? Are there ways to recover past memories?"

"She wants to know if figuring out immortality through magic is less of a priority. Also, does this means Christianity is wrong? And what is up with that Jesus dude?"

"Is this really what you want to do before learning basic skills? Only witches reincarnate, some witches are Christian but a lot who grow up in it pick up Wicca, they come back as long as the Elders want them to which means I've never seen it happen because I'm not as popular with them as my parents were. Back to the book, please?"

"We will stir to more practical questions."

"What are the basic skills?"

Back to the book.

"Potions, spells, and scrying. All witches can do that. Even witch practitioners. Witch practitioners are like witches but less magic and more New Age, but the basics actually work. It's still genetic though, not every person who picks up a book of spells will be able to get somewhere."

"Do the basics also get better with practice? How spells come to be?"

Felicia comes across a demon vanquishing potion! It vanquishes "upper-level demons", and requires their blood.

"Basics don't really improve, and I don't want to tell you everything unless you're sure you can hide how much you know from your whitelighter."

"What would happen if they figured out we got outside help?"

"Whitelighters and the elders care a lot about proper behavior, and secrecy, and the Greater Good. Also, try not to let them know I exist, they might want to fix that."