Paige's heels hitting the floor made huge echoing sounds through out the halls as she walked to her office. It had been a week since she resumed her position as headmistress of Magic School, but it felt like an eternity. She had forgotten all of the responsibility the job entailed.
Leo was getting extremely stressed with the job and Paige was honestly getting bored with her whitelighter-only life, so she offered to take the school off his hands.
"I don't know how Leo did it. I don't even know how I did it, or if I will be able to keep doing this job." Paige murmured to herself once she had entered her office.
Paige was startled when a voice answered, "What's that, Ms. M?" She whirled around to find her assistant, Jennifer, shelving some books on her bookcase.
"Oh, nothing." Paige answered, "Jen, what does the M stand for?"
"I'm Sorry?" Jennifer replied
"You called me 'Ms. M', what does the M stand for to you?"
"Oh, well it could stand for Matthews, but it could stand for Mitchell…which do you want it to stand for?" the girl asked
Paige was wondering the same thing. Ever since her wedding Paige had been conflicted over whether or not to change her last name from Matthews to Mitchell. "I really don't know!" Paige gasped as she plopped down on her enormous armchair.
"Well…" Jennifer said putting down the books she was holding. "If you want my advice, keep Matthews, it is the 21st century, isn't it?"
Paige giggled, "Yes, it is. And I might just take your advice." Just then, a head popped in the door. It was her 8-year-old nephew, Chris. He was panting and sweating, like if he had been running. "Hey there, Chris, what's going on?"
"Paige! You have to hurry, there's someone at the main doors!" Chris shouted at his aunt
Paige bolted out of her chair. "Who is it?" She knew that because of the charms Leo placed on the school, those not supposed to enter couldn't do so magically. This forced any unwanted visitors to use the main doors. But no demon ever did this, as it was very easy to kill someone who simply knocked at your door. This made it very peculiar that someone would knock on the doors.
Paige ran as fast as she could to the front door. She knew very well that she could orb there, but she had to set an example for the children to only use magic if it is necessary. When she reached the door, she wasted no time resting. There was a large group of children already surrounding the door. Paige looked around and found the magical transportations teacher, Mary, trying to calm some children down.
"What's been going on?" Paige asked her
"Oh, Ms. Matthews! It's so great to see you finally. I sent Chris for you as soon as I realized the gravity of the situation." Mary responded
"The gravity? What gravity? Who is at the door?" A strong tapping came from the huge wooden doors, creating an eerie silence in the crowd.
The silence was broken when Mary said, "The entire good magical community."
Piper and Phoebe arrived by way of Leo's orbing soon after.
"What's going on, Paige?" Piper asked
"I'm not exactly sure…but the entire good magical community is outside of this door.
"Well, what are they doing there!?" Piper yelled
"I have no idea, I haven't talked to them, I only saw them through the peep hole." Paige answered
"They can't be good if they're knocking on the door. Remember, Paige, the charms keep out those not wanted. a.k.a. evil. Maybe you're not ready for this, Paige" Leo scolded her
"No, Leo. I am ready for this. I knew that. What you don't know is that I enchanted the school with a charm that didn't let people in who are in large groups." Paige answered frustrated as another loud tap came at the door.
"Why did you do that?" Phoebe asked
"Some of the kids were taking classes on field trips around the world, so their punishment was that on their way back they were stuck out there in the snow."
"What about in summer?" Piper inquired
"It's always snowing here." Leo reminded her
"So you mean to tell me that all of those good magical creatures are freezing out there?" Phoebe asked worriedly. And with that she walked over to the door and said, "Abre Cadabre!" Suddenly the doors creaked open slowly, not having been opened since the founding of the school, and all of the creatures outside rushed in, creating a large stampede. Leprachauns tripped over Dwarfs and Pixies bumped into Elves. But as suddenly as it began, the commotion stopped and everyone, excluding a few witches and the Charmed Ones, was frozen.
"Good one, Piper." Leo congratulated her.
"Thanks, Paige and Leo start orbing each species to their own room so we can deal with them and figure out what's going on." Piper demanded
"This can not be happening!" Paige screamed as she sat down on a sofa in the library.
"Well, it is…and we need to deal with it." Piper said
The last hours had been spent interviewing each species of magical creature, trying to get a clear answer out of them as to why they had appeared at the door. Finally they had gotten it.
It seemed that someone was kidnapping the children of each species. "Well, that's all we need, a magical molester!" Piper shouted when she heard of this.
Now Phoebe was the one to should as they sat in the library. "Aha!"
Leo, Piper and Paige turned their heads to the face her. "I know who's doing it!"
"Who, Phoebe!?" Leo inquired
"The tobacco companies! They want to get them smoking while their young so they're be buying cigarettes all their lives!" Phoebe had been on an anti-smoking campaign lately
"I really don't think this is the time, Phoebe." Piper sighed
"No. No, I think it is the time. Something Phoebe said made me think. A demon would steal a magical child to make them evil, right? Like with firestarters, only now they want the entire magical community. It makes sense." Paige had had an epiphany
"The only problem is, we don't know who is stealing the children." Leo reminded her
"That's not a problem. I'll find out who wants children. This is a school after all; I have plenty of bait." Paige snickered
"Paige!" Phoebe squeled
"That's not a good idea, Paige." Leo remarked
"Don't worry, I wont let anyone get hurt. Besides, this is my school. I'm in charge. And I'm going to do this."