Chapter 3

Fi rested on her bed, surrounded by her family as well as the Bells. Her mother had seen the near-accident, and insisted that she lie down. "I'm okay, really. I got out of the way in plenty of time."

"Are you sure? You can move everything, right?" Jack asked, standing next to her at the head of the bed.

Fi crossed her arms. "I'm good! I was on the sidewalk when the truck barely rounded the corner."

"That's a lie. If you hadn't moved at that moment, it would have hit you," Molly chided, massaging her temple. 'I still don't know why you were outside in the first place."

Fi and Irene traded guilty glances. Fi cleared her throat. "It probably looked worse because you were watching it. Truth be told, it wasn't that close of a call."

"Mol, she's fine," Ned insisted. "Not a scratch on her. I say we give her some breathing room and leave her alone. We're probably breaking maximum occupancy as it is."

"Come on boys, you can visit Fi later," Irene ordered, herding her sons and Jack towards

the door. "You coming, Molly?"

Sitting on the edge of Fi's bed, Molly stayed put. "Nah, I'll be there in a few minutes."

Letting out a breath, she gave her daughter a once-over. Fi did look okay, but for some reason Molly didn't want to leave her alone. "Fiona, what were you doing crossing the street?"

"I'm sorry, Mom, but I thought I was allowed to cross the street by myself when I was eight," Fi joked, despite her mother's serious tone.

Molly narrowed her eyes in irritation. "That's not what I meant. I deliberately told you to stay on the bus. I don't appreciate –"

"Why?" Fi interrupted, making up her mind to break her promise to Irene. "Why did you make me stay on the bus? You let Jack go. Why couldn't I have gone with them?"

Molly chose to ignore that. "I don't appreciate you sneaking out like that. I know what's best for you."

"How is keeping me cooped up in the bus best for me?" Fi retorted, annoyed that Molly had dismissed her question.

Molly closed her eyes for a brief second, determined to keep her cool. The last thing she needed was a huge fight. "That doesn't matter. What matters is that you didn't even see the truck rushing at you. I mean, you were too busy searching for a candy bar to notice the truck driver waving at you, trying to say that the breaks weren't working?"

That was the ammunition Fi needed. "How did you know that I was looking for a candy bar? And what the truck driver was doing?"

"I-I…saw it the whole thing through the bus window," Molly fibbed. Well, it wasn't a total lie. She had been staring out the window, just like in her vision. In fact, she would have rushed out and saved Fi herself if she hadn't been mysteriously rooted to floor.

Fi gave her a disbelieving glance. "You couldn't have seen all that from the bus window. And I never even got my candy bar out of the bag."

Completely frustrated, Molly got off the bed and started pacing. "What exactly are you trying to prove here, Fi?"

'That you had a vision. And don't deny it – that look you got on your face couldn't have been anything else," Fi answered.

Molly turned to face her, hesitating. Usually she rejected her daughter's claims that the supernatural existed with such a passion that they would have an argument, and wouldn't speak for days. But…she was getting the very strong sense that Fi wouldn't let this go easily, that even if they did fight, she would keep nagging. Fi might as well have been saying it to her. In fact, the only reason Molly was sure she wasn't saying it was that her lips weren't moving. Sitting back down on the bed, Molly decided that she didn't need more stress on top of this nervous breakdown she was apparently having. "Fine, you win, I give up. Yes, I had a premonition."

"I knew it!" Fi exclaimed. "You are psychic!"

"Whoa, hold it, just because I have premonitions once every few years or so doesn't make me psychic," Molly argued.

Fi laughed, "You know, I was just thinking. If you hadn't made me stay inside because of your vision, I would have never snuck out, went to the deli, and been in the path of that truck. Ironic, no?"

"How was I supposed to know that would happen?" Molly defended, but felt stupid just the same. "Look, Fi, can we not make a big deal about this? It's really nothing. The last time I had one was over a year ago."

"What was that of?" Fi inquired eagerly.

Again, Molly paused, but then figured there was no point in keeping secrets now. "You. It was when we were in New York, and I was about to go on that talk show. I knew that you had fallen off that building before Rachel even told me about it."

"I was wondering why Jack had come to find us," Fi remarked after a minute.

Molly was about to get up to go inside, but again she got a feeling from Fi. This time it was only a vague sensation that her daughter wanted to share something, but felt she couldn't. "Baby, did you want to tell me something? I'll listen."

"It's nothing, really…" Fi began, then figured that if her mother was being honest, so could she. "Mom, you were right before. I did come close to getting run over by the truck. I didn't want to worry you."

Satisfied, Molly kissed the top of Fi's head and stood to leave. "It's ok, and I guess I'm not that mad at you anymore. You had every right to wonder why I wouldn't let you outside."

"But there's something else that happened…" Fi wanted to tell her about how she had been saved by her whitelighter, and that she was a witch, but….they were getting along so well that she couldn't. At her mother's expectant look, she shook her head, "You know what, it can wait until later."

Lounging in a chair in the corner of the lobby, Paige watched in silence. Molly and her manager, who the file said was Irene Bell, were arguing with the desk clerk. Paige tuned in, using the technique of supernatural eavesdropping her own whitelighter, Leo, had taught her. She focused her energy, and suddenly it was as if she were watching the scene through a telescope that magnified sound as well as sight.

"We made the reservation a week ago!" Molly was saying, throwing her hands up in pure aggravation. Paige was glad that Fi was the one with the molecular combustion power.

Irene put a steadying hand on her friend's arm. "What she means is, there must be some sort of mistake. I called and made the reservation under Phillips, for an eleven 'o clock check in. Granted, we're a little late, but –"

"But this is a very busy hotel, Ms. A convention taking place," the clerk interrupted. "And the convention guests get preferred treatment. Some of those guests needed rooms, your two rooms were the only ones left…you do the math."

Paige could tell that Molly wasn't about to take that. With a sharp jab of her finger, Molly retorted, "Excuse me, but in case you didn't know, I'm Molly Phillips, in town to do a gig, and we had those reservations first! I don't really give a –"

"Down girl," Irene whispered, pressing harder on Molly's arm. To the clerk, she plastered on a smile. "Now, there must be one room we could have."

For a minute, Paige considered casting a spell to get them the room. After all, it really wouldn't be personal gain for herself, she'd be helping her charges… Making her decision, she covered her mouth with her folded hands and quietly chanted, "Hotel that has no occupancy, let two rooms become free." Okay, so not her best work, but what could she say – her sister was the spell writer of the family.

Before the clerk could reply, a woman came out of the elevator and approached the desk. "Hi, I'm from the convention, I just checked in a few minutes ago?"

"Ah, yes, is everything all right with your room?" The clerk asked, full of politeness.

The woman gave him an apologetic grin. "I'm so sorry, but it turns out my friends and I won't be needing our rooms after all."

"Are you sure, Ms.?" The clerk inquired.

"I know this must seem very abrupt, but my sister just called me. She hadn't realized I was in town, otherwise she would have offered her guest rooms sooner," the woman explained.

Stunned at their good fortune, Molly handed the surprised clerk her credit card, wearing her own smug smile. "We'll take those rooms."

Paige let out a soft chuckle, then waited until she sensed that Molly was heading back to the bus. That was her cue. She orbed herself into Molly's room, rematerializing on the edge of her bed.

"I still can't believe that guy," Molly laughed, going up the stairs of the bus with Irene.

Irene couldn't stop laughing herself. "Good thing that woman let us have her rooms. You were ready to pound him into the ground."

"He was getting on my nerves," Molly shrugged. "Besides, he called us stupid and was about to call security."

Irene stopped in her tracks. "No he didn't. He was rude, but I didn't…" Her eyes widened, realizing Molly must have read his mind. "Forget it, I guess I didn't hear him."

"I know what you're thinking…" Molly began.

Cutting her off, Irene exclaimed, "Finally! You admit it!"

"That's not what I was going to say!" Molly insisted, following Irene further onto the bus. When Irene seemed like she wasn't listening, Molly gave a huff of annoyance and stalked to her room.

She breezed by Carey in the common room, and heard him mutter to his mother, "What'd you do to piss her off?"

Reaching her room took an eternity, and she must have passed every person on the tour. She made a point of ignoring the concerned looks they gave her. What is the matter with Irene? She's been spending way too much time with Fi. Me, be able to read minds? It's bad enough that I admitted that I get visions every once in a while.

Molly was so wrapped up in her thoughts that when she finally banged open the door to her room, she didn't even register that there was a strange woman sitting on her bed. Mumbling to herself, she grabbed a travel bag from her closet and started dumping in things she would need while she stayed in the hotel.

"Wow, what happened to you in the space of five minutes?"

Quelling the scream in her throat, Molly froze, then slowly turned around. Sitting on the edge of her bed was a young woman, her legs crossed. Telling herself to remain calm, Molly inched her way towards the door. "W-who the hell are you? How did you get in here?"

"I orbed, the typical mode of transportation used by whitelighters," she answered, as if Molly should have some clue of what she was talking about. Then the woman held out her hand. "Paige Matthews, your whitelighter."

Not knowing what else to do, Molly hesitantly shook it. "I'm sorry, my what?"

"Whitelighter. A sort of guardian angel given to good witches."

Guardian angel, huh? Molly thought. Somewhere in the back of her mind it registered that Paige had implied that she was a witch, but she wasn't about to address that. The woman was clearly crazy. Maybe an obsessed fan? All she knew was that she had to get out of there and call for the police. "Look…Paige, is it? You can believe whatever you want, but frankly, you're scaring the crap out of me. Unless you can convince me otherwise, I'm getting my cell phone and calling the police."

Paige's face was now filled with anxiety, but somehow Molly knew it wasn't because she was afraid of being arrested. That anxiety was mixed with determination as she replied, "Molly, please, just hear me out. I know this has got to sound really insane, but I was sent here to help you."

"Help me with what?" Molly asked out of curiosity.

Paige paused, as if thinking of the best way to phrase her response. "Well, see, you're a witch. I'm supposed to train you, basically."

That was enough for Molly. "You're nuts," she accused, running towards the exit.

"Door!"

At Paige's shout, the door was engulfed in blue lights and slammed closed.

Molly gasped, stopping to stare back at Paige. "H-how…"

"I told you, I'm an angel," Paige explained. "Well, actually, I could do that because I'm half-witch myself, but that's a long story I won't bore you with now."

Molly didn't want to hear this. She had to…she had to find Jack. He would tell her that this was all a dream, or she was the one going crazy. "I can't deal with this." She reached for the doorknob.

Paige intervened again, this time taking hold of her arm. Fearing that she was going to be physically attacked or something, Molly struggled. Then there were the blue lights again, only this time she was surrounded by them. Molly closed her eyes.