Disclaimer Notice: Charmed is the creation and property of Constance M. Burge. The characters of Piper and Phoebe Halliwell, Paige Matthews and Leo Wyatt are likewise not owned by me.
This story is completely unauthorised. I did not write it for financial gain, and am not receiving any money for either the writing or posting of this story.
It started on afternoon a few years ago. I'd just put on my new evening dress. Nothing too unusual, you might think, except that I wasn't going out anywhere. I wasn't even female. There was something about the smooth satin that made me feel comfortable. Not turned on, mind. I never got any kicks from that sort of thing. I've just always felt more relaxed in skirts. They felt right, somehow.
I like to think it's because of my sister. The one I never really had. My mother miscarried before I was born, and everyone thought she'd lost me. But out I came a week or so later, perfectly healthy. Carrie was stillborn. I've always believed we would have been close, but I guess I'll never know.
Or it could have been the Pill. I was a statistical minority. The one chance in a hundred when the contraceptive hormones failed, and those very chemicals messed up my developing brain. Without extensive tests and research, it's impossible to tell. I know which explanation I prefer, and it has nothing to do with science.
Whatever the reason, I had picked up quite a collection of feminine attire over the years. The new dress was one of a dozen such I'd bought from charity shops. One or two were still too big for me, but most fit perfectly. I'd spent a lot of time making sure of that. The one I was wearing that day was just a little loose around the chest, despite the padded basque underneath.
I've always thought there's little point in wearing dresses without the appropriate underwear. I even had a pair of matching high-heeled shoes to go with my gowns. Buying them had been scary. You can't really buy shoes second hand, so I went into a proper shoe shop. I didn't buy the first pair I saw and run out. I even asked to try them on before I paid. I can't imagine what the sales assistant thought of me. Nor do I really care.
Admiring myself in the mirror, I saw her appear behind me out of thin air, totally naked and facing away from me. Gentleman that I was, I closed my eyes before speaking.
"That's not something you see every day."
Although I couldn't see her, I heard her yelp and jump round to look at me. I turned slowly so that she could see my eyes were closed as she stammered the obvious questions. Who was I? Where was she? Where were her clothes? She didn't ask how she got here, which was good. I didn't have an answer for her. I answered the questions with one of my own. What size clothes she wore. Luckily for her, she and I were a match, so I pointed her to the suitcase under the bed, and left the room for her to dress in peace.
She took her time, no doubt exploring my bedroom to try and find out as much as she could about me before coming face to face once more. I'd expected that, and wondered what she'd make of me. Eventually she emerged, and came downstairs. Despite all the dresses and skirts in the suitcase, she'd gone for my black leather jeans with a matching bodice. As she peeked her head round the door to the living room, I caught a glimpse of a black bra strap, and guessed she was probably wearing the matching knickers.
Now I could see how beautiful she was. Dark brown hair framed a smooth face that could easily have graced a cinema screen. Intense brown eyes fixed on mine as she hesitantly entered the room.
"Come in," I said. "Have a seat." I gestured toward the sofa beside the door. She smiled as she sat down.
"Thanks," she said. "I'm, uh…. This is England, right?"
"Yes," I replied. "Nottingham, to be exact. My name's Kevin."
"Paige." Her name, presumably. "Is that calendar in your room accurate?"
"Actually that's last month. It's April now. Why?"
"April 2004?" She seemed a little upset.
"Yes." She slumped dejectedly. "Something wrong with that?"
"Only if you believe in magic."
"Paige," I began, "I just saw you appear out of thin air. I think I can be persuaded to believe in anything."
"Okay, how about if I tell you that I'm a witch, and that a demon I was fighting sent me back in time almost two years." she said.
"A witch?" I asked.
"A good witch," she said hurriedly. "I vanquish evil demons and protect the innocent."
"But this demon got the drop on you."
"My own fault," she admitted sheepishly. "I didn't wait for my sisters. They're witches too."
"And now you're stuck here in the past," I concluded.
"Yes. And I can't call my sisters to help, because…" she trailed off uncertainly.
"Because that never happened," I finished for her. "And it's a long time to wait."
Paige nodded sadly. That was when I realised she hadn't been looking at me since she'd confirmed the date. It crossed my mind that it could have been because I was still wearing my new dress. While I was comfortable with it, my guest probably wasn't. Especially as we'd only just met.
"Would you like a cup of tea?" I asked her, standing up. She replied positively, and I went to the kitchen. While the kettle boiled, I took the time to change into something more appropriate, so that when I returned to the living room, I was wearing denim jeans and a black t-shirt. Paige took her tea with a smile, now obviously more relaxed.
"I was just thinking," she began as I sat back in my armchair. "Maybe I did call my sisters, but I told them to keep what happened a secret. They'd do that, you know?"
"It's possible," I conceded. "I think we should leave that as a last resort, though. Is there any way you can get back to your own time without their help?"
She frowned, thinking about it. "I could work out a spell, I suppose. But I may not be powerful enough to cast it alone. And I still need to deal with that demon. I don't really know what it is."
"And you chased it anyway?"
"Hey, there wasn't time, okay?" she countered defensively. "I just meant to distract it. Stop it killing one of my charges. How was I to know it was some kind of time demon?"
"Research?" I supplied helpfully. "Did you save your charge?"
"I don't know. The demon may have hunted her down after sending me here," she said sadly.
"In that case," I said, "You've got the better part of two years to find out how to vanquish it."
That idea cheered her up. "You're right! And I've got plenty of time to work out that spell, too." A thought seemed to occur to her then. "Um…, I'm going to need a place to stay…."
"Don't worry," I said. I'd reached that conclusion, too. "I'll set up the spare bedroom for you. You'll want the suitcase too, of course."
"You don't mind me wearing your clothes?" Most people would have thought those belonged to a girlfriend or something. Mind you, most people hadn't seen me wearing a dress.
"They're meant to be worn," I replied, "and they'll probably suit you better than me anyway."
"I don't know," she said with a laugh. "That dress looked pretty good you."
"I have others that fit me better. You want to take a look?"
Research was slow, both with the demon and the spell. I was connected to the Internet, and knew a few Wicca sites, but not the right ones it seemed. Most of the ones I knew only listed the classical demons; Baal, Asmodeus, Moloch. None of whom had any connection with time travel. Paige's optimism with her spell was likewise misplaced without adequate research materials. After four fruitless days, she decided to throw in the towel.
"It's no good. We've got to get Phoebe to help." One of her sisters. The other was called Piper. Their mother had had a thing about P's, apparently.
"Can you trust her not to tell you?" I asked.
"I guess I'll have to," was Paige's response. "It'll be cheaper for you if I e-mail her, won't it?"
"Absolutely." A thought struck me then. "Actually, that might be better in another way."
"Another way?" She was puzzled.
"Well," I explained, "if she gets a letter from me explaining that a witch has been sent back from the future by a demon, then she doesn't actually need to be told who it is, does she?"
"No, she doesn't," Paige said slowly, a smile lighting up her face.
"And when you get home, you can tell her the truth about it all."
"I like that idea."
With Phoebe's help, the research was soon completed. Paige's assailant turned out to be a mid-level time demon called Rufio. He could transport people through time up to a hundred years and throw balls of lightning which could stun or kill as he chose. Since he was mid-level, there was a fairly easy vanquishing potion. Most of the ingredients I could buy at the local supermarket, but two of them required a specialist shop, as did several props for the ritual to send Paige home. An Internet search of local businesses provided what we needed.
The vanquishing potion took three hours to prepare. The ritual took longer, because we had to cast it at a specific time. Midnight at the next full moon, which was nearly three weeks away. Paige and I became close during those three weeks, although not as close as I would have liked. She had a husband waiting for her back in her own time, it seemed.
All too quickly, the full moon arrived, and Paige had to go back home. We set up the ritual circle in the spare room, and had often rehearsed the timing of each little step. It wasn't a complicated ritual, but it did have to be timed so that the final incantation occurred at the stroke of midnight.
Paige sat cross-legged in the middle of the circle, wearing the leather jeans and bodice she had put on that first day. The anti-Rufio potion was tied with a leather thong around her neck. I sat outside facing her. Candles were lit. Incense was sprinkled. Charms and incantations were spoken. As Paige finished the final chant, and the clock struck twelve, all the candles blew out at once. Without wind. Moonlight shone in from the window, and seemed to outline the circle with a pale silver light. As I watched, the light grew deeper. More intense. Swiftly, it seemed to spiral inward, focusing on Paige. As it got brighter, I thought I could almost see through her. Then the light blotted out everything for a brief flash, before vanishing.
When my eyes accustomed themselves to the moonlight, Paige had gone. But her potion hadn't. It sat forsaken in the centre of the circle. As I leaned forward to pick it up, there was another flash of light, accompanied by a loud boom, throwing me back outside the circle. A glowing ball of electricity illuminated a tall, dark figure. His bearded face showed a truly malevolent expression, and his eyes burned red in the gloom.
This was Rufio. Paige must have reached her destination, but without the potion which lay between Rufio's feet, she had been (would be?) unable to harm him. I remember wondering if she were dead. That was all I had time to think before the time demon threw his ball of lightning at me. I didn't have time to try to dodge it, but I was lucky. He didn't want to kill me outright. Just hurt me.
"Cursed witches," he snarled. "Just get you out of my way, and you come straight back for more." Another ball of lightning appeared in his hand. "Next time that Charmed bitch won't be so lucky."
I took that comment to mean Paige was still alive. But she wouldn't be for long. And neither would I if I didn't do something quickly. I looked down at the potion. It was much too far away for me to reach without getting fried to a crisp, but I still stretched out my hand toward it, wishing I could move things like Paige could. To my amazement, the potion leapt from the floor and into my outstretched hand. I almost dropped it in surprise, but realised the movement had distracted Rufio briefly. I threw the potion up at the demon. Not a very elegant throw, but I thought hard about wanting to hit him with it, and the potion flew further and more accurately than it should have, hitting Rufio in the centre of his chest.
As he looked down at it, his ball of lightning flickered and died. The potion spread out in a cloud around him, engulfing his upper torso. With a frantic expression, Rufio jumped back, trying to escape, but the cloud wouldn't leave him, expanding further down his body and legs. Within moments he was completely engulfed, and the smoke began to clear. At least that's what it seemed like at first. It took me a few seconds to realise that it was actually settling into a grey powder over his body. Rufio's movements slowed, and then stopped, as the powder seemed to harden into stone around him. Then it started to crumble. Bright light shone out of numerous small cracks as flakes of stone fell off, disintegrating before they reached the floor. Then with a roar and a flash of white light, it was over. I was once more alone in the room, staring at an empty circle illuminated by moonlight.