Soul of the Bride

Soul of the Bride is the 9th novel based in the Charmed series.

This novel is set sometime before Be Careful What You Witch For, since the story takes place in August and the episode is mentioned to be in September when Prue tells Piper she had been gone for a whole month in the following episode.

Prue's opportunity to take an original picture to serve as the cover to 415 Magazine goes disastrously wrong when Phoebe's latest boyfriend provides a camera that causes the souls of the models for a shot based on the Greek Gods to be sent to the Greek underworld, forcing Piper to go on a mystical trip to make contact with Zeus before Phoebe gives in to temptation and eats something, thus condemning her to eternity with Hades's son.

Summary
"In a land, wandering souls. Journey with care on the River Styx, A prince of darkness plays his roles— Protect the Charmed Ones from his tricks." Prue's editor at 415 magazine offers her a challenge: if she takes a really fantastic photo, he'll run it on the cover. This could be Prue's big break—if she can come up with a killer concept. Then Prue gets the idea to shoot a group of models in the Halliwells' Victorian mansion. She'll even use an antique camera to capture the style of an old-time photo.

But when Prue snaps the shutter, all the models collapse into a deathly slumber! To rescue the innocents, the Charmed Ones descend into Hades, fighting underworld perils and uncovering an unholy plot. To rescue the missing models, they must match wits with the greatest of the ancient Greek gods—and one of the sisters might not be allowed to return to her mortal life.

Characters

 * Nikos: Hades's son. He tried to trick Phoebe into eating food in the Underworld to make her his lover for all eternity.
 * Mitchell Pearl: National Geographic journalist and Nikos's minion.
 * Nick Caldwell: 415 Magazine editor, and Prue's boss.
 * Professor Winters: Phoebe's art professor.
 * Chloe: The model playing Artemis.
 * Joey: A model playing Ares.
 * Kurt: The model playing Apollo.
 * Madelaine: The model playing Hera.
 * Charon: The ferryman who takes souls across Rivers Acheron and Styx.
 * Jessica: The wife of Nikos's older brother, Philip.
 * Zeus: The king of the Greek gods.
 * Hades: The god of the Underworld, also known as "Hades".

To Temporarily Remove a Witch's Power

 * For an instant may we be,
 * ordinary mortals three.:
 * Take us where we want to go,
 * Then back to our powers let us go.

To Send Someone to Mt. Olympus
A potion is to be made with the following:
 * Lavender, Thyme, Sage, Saffron,
 * red clay, rose thorns, scales
 * from a silver fish (e.g. salmon)
 * stone chipped from sculpture
 * Simmer it for four hours
 * in a base of red wine, water and song.

Once the potion is ready, chant these words at sunrise:
 * To the heavens, take this traveler,
 * As the sun rises, the sky shall have her.
 * One day she'll walk among the clouds,
 * Protect her with heaven's benevolent shroud.

To Unbind a Bond

 * The bond which was not to be done,
 * Give us the power to see it undone.
 * And turn back time
 * To whence it was begun.

To Call Someone Back from Mt. Olympus
The spell must be cast at sunset.
 * From the heavens, bring the traveler,
 * As the sun sets, the sky shall no more have her.
 * One day she walked among the clouds,
 * Now cast her from heaven's benevolent shroud.

Incantation for Lost Souls

 * When a wandering spirit evades you,
 * Say thee this spell, for it will aid you:
 * Spirit oh spirit, where are you roaming,
 * Follow our call and return to us running.

To Accelerate Time

 * The bond which was not to be done,
 * give us the power to see it undone.
 * And move time forward,
 * for thee we shun.

Powers

 * Astral Projection: Used by Prue and Nikos.
 * Banishing: Used by Nikos.
 * Conjuration: Used by Nikos.
 * Luring: Used by Mitchell and Sirens.
 * Molecular Immobilization: Used by Piper.
 * Power Granting: Used by Nikos.
 * Power Stripping: Used by Nikos.
 * Premonition: Used by Phoebe.
 * Shapeshifting: Used by Mitchell.
 * Shimmering: Used by Nikos.
 * Summoning: Used by Nikos.
 * Super Strength: Used by Nikos.
 * Telekinesis: Used by Prue.
 * Transformation: Used by Nikos.

Artifacts

 * Cursed Camera: Nikos's artifact, capable of sending any mortal it takes a picture of to the Underworld, particularly Hades.

Notes and Trivia

 * This novel heavily features Greek mythology.
 * Several Greek mythological creatures are featured: Sirens, Gorgons, Cerberus, Hydra, Harpy, and Centaur.

Goofs

 * Phoebe has the power of flight instead of levitation.
 * Phoebe has dyed her hair blond.
 * Prue's boss doesn't have an August cover for the magazine, but the novel takes place during the middle of August. A large photo-journalism serial would have their cover photos ready weeks before if it was a monthly periodical in order to allow time for editing and printing. For Prue it is July being 5 months before writing Christmas cards, as well as taking the photo before August.
 * The Season 5 finale shows that the ancient gods were actually mortals who had received their powers from the Elders.
 * The Sirens in this novel are described as having seagull bodies and kill with knives. However, in Siren Song, the Siren appears as a human and kills with a kiss of death.
 * The name of the magazine editor "Mr. Caldwell" was shown in the series to be the new head of Buckland Auction House as revealed in Ms. Hellfire.
 * On the first page it has Piper paired with Nikos and then unpeeled from Phoebe, when she is paired with someone else and not unpeeled within the chapters of the book.
 * Prue mentions Piper learned Latin in high school and knows a lot about mythology. On the show, Prue is the one who speaks it, and knows more about mythology than either of her sisters.

International titles

 * French: La fiancée de Nikos (The Bride of Nikos)
 * Russian: Duša ǌevjesty (Soul of Bride)