Ch 1 : The meeting
When Paige Matthews awoke to find herself in the middle of a forest, she was pissed to say the least. Earlier that day, when the Elders had assigned her a new charge, Paige had been excited. When she found out that she could not orb into the area where her charge was located, that excitement quickly dissipated. After hiking for hours through some god-forsaken part of Maine trying to find the way into town, Paige had given up and decided to head home. It was late, and this was no easy task, but it was one that could wait until morning. With a sigh to relieve the tension that had built up in her body over the course of the day, Paige smiled slightly as she orbed home to spend time with her family.
Or at least she tried to. Paige had opened her eyes to find herself not at home with Henry, Henry jr., and the twins, but lying spread-eagle on the forest floor. Paige cursed as she dusted herself off and stood up. Her hand halted at her jeans pocket. She angrily kicked the leaves at her feet when she realized that she had left her cell phone at home. Great. Like this day could get any worse.
Suddenly, in the distance, Paige swore she heard a noise. Was that an engine? When the telltale dual pinpricks of the headlights appeared, Paige took off toward them at a sprint. For once she was glad that Henry mad her go for jogs with him in the mornings. Puffing, she stopped when her feet hit pavement. She cautiously stood in the middle of the road and waved her arms above her head to attract the attention of the approaching car.
"Hey!" she screeched, her voice cracking in desperation. The car continued to barrel toward her, and Paige closed her eyes to protect them from the headlights' glare. "He-"
The witch was cut off by the squeal of tires. Seconds later, she heard the sound of a car door open and slam, followed by a series of angry, heeled footsteps coming toward her.
"What do you think you're doing!" spat a woman's voice icily. Paige opened her eyelids a smidgen, but she was still blinded by the headlights and could only make out the woman's silhouette.
"I-I'm sorry! I was, uh… hiking in the woods and got lost!"
"Well, next time…" Paige would never know what to do next time, as the woman trailed off her angry rant and stopped short. From the rigidity of her posture, Paige could tell that she was surprised by something.
"What, is something wrong?"
The woman didn't reply. She simply stepped forward and reached out her hand, brushing it against Paige's blouse as if to test if she were actually there. Finally, Paige could see her face. Currently, it was expressing pure terror. Raising her gaze to meet Paige's the woman whispered one word, a breathless whimper so quiet that Paige nearly missed it. But she didn't, and it only served to confuse the witchlighter further.
"Mother?"