Book excerpt: Having read a mystical incantation, sisters Prue, Piper and Phoebe Halliwell are charmed with magical powers. Prue moves things with her mind. Piper can freeze time. Phoebe can see the future. They are the Charmed Ones, the most powerful of witches - using their powers for good. Wishes are being made all over San Francisco: a candidate for office wishes for a less formidable opponent, a little girl wishes for a horse and Phoebe wishes she could foresee more calamities so she could help prevent them. Soon she's having more visions than she can handle, and the sisters are exhausted from racing all over town to avert disasters. Eventually, Phoebe refuses even to leave the house! A strange spirit has been released from its stone prison, and the power of the Charmed Ones may not be enough to stop an impending cataclysm...