A/N: So here I am again, introducing another heavy plot I really didn't want to…I don't know why these ideas enter my brain or why it is that I'm unable to say no. I sit here, writing and think, 'oh, that would make a great twist'. I need some common sense.
Paige led Billy into the manor with a firm grip on the teenager's upper forearm. It was raining in sheets outside and they had managed to avoid most of the rain with Paige's umbrella. Throwing her keys down on the table, she clacked over to the kitchen and back to the foyer after finding it unoccupied.
"They're probably upstairs," she said. "We have an attic that we use as an altar room," she explained as she ushered Billy up the stairs. "Most of your lessons will be there, like mine were."
"What do you mean by lessons?"
"You said that your powers were unleashed around the time of your grandma's death, right? Well, she probably bound your powers but when she passed on the binding wore off. Being a witch is a lot more than having powers and my sisters are going to help teach you everything you could ever need to know."
Climbing the final steps, Paige reached the threshold to the attic and saw her sisters standing at different parts readying for the arrival of Paige's new charge. Paige unbuttoned her double breasted blazer and threw it on Aunt Pearl's couch. "Hey guys," she said announcing her arrival. "What's going on?" Prue was the first one to answer in her capacity as eldest sister and de facto team leader.
"We've set up stations for Billy's lessons," she said smiling at the girl hidden behind Paige. "Piper will be teaching potions, Phoebe will be going over spell writing, I will help Billy gain control over her telekinesis, and both Phoebe and I will teach self-defense," she said pointing to a hideous mechanical structure Phoebe had purchased years earlier. "Leo has offered to go over battle strategy."
"Leo," Billy asked.
"My husband," Piper said stepping forward. "He's also a whitelighter like Paige, but he's been around for much longer and has a lot of experience."
"What's Paige going to teach me, then?"
"I am going to teach you about all of the different types of demons out there with a guest lecturer from Phoebe's husband, Cole. He's our resident demon expert," she explained, "but he works as a lawyer so he can't make all of your lessons."
"How long is it going to take me to learn all of this stuff? I mean, I have to learn fast, right?"
"Slow down," Paige said. "Besides the fact that you have school which is going to keep you busy," she said and was met by a groan, "you're also only a kid. There will be no demon fighting for you until you absolutely need to and with my sisters so close by there won't be a need."
"It's a lot to learn," Prue said, "and we had to rush through a lot of it in order to keep ourselves safe. You've got time and protection that we weren't granted; just be grateful that you still have time to be a kid, alright?"
Billy looked at Prue and nodded. "It is kind of scary and I guess I shouldn't be rushing to get into a fight."
"Besides," Phoebe said stepping in, "there are some ground rules we've decided on and if you don't follow them to a tee then you're going to go on probation and lessons are going to stop."
"What kind of rules," she asked, brows furrowed.
"No cutting classes," Prue said.
"Don't forget I can sense where you are," Paige reminded Billy when she let out a whine.
"Grades are the most important thing," Phoebe said. "I missed a lot of school and when I finally figured out what I wanted to do with myself I had a hard time getting into a good school. You might not get the importance now but it is. Especially since Prue is going to be like a drill sergeant."
"Exactly," Prue said. "Now, I've already picked up a planner. I want you to use it to write down every class assignment and test dates and leave it up here for us. We're going to schedule around these dates so we give you more than enough time to study. I'm not going to distract you with lessons if you have a math test."
"Isn't Paige my foster-mom?"
The sisters laughed. "I might be in charge of you at home, but you are my charge and this is what I'm prescribing. I know you're new to this whole magic thing, but we're the cream of the crop and that kind of makes Prue the queen of our magical realm—"
"Even though she thinks she's the queen of everything," Phoebe joked and received a small shove.
"A warning by the way," Piper added. "The attitude is good for the work you've got in store for you; you'll need that fight when it comes to demons, but it won't work on us so don't try to get around one of us by going to another."
Billy just nodded, realizing that she had met her matches. Suddenly, having parents who weren't interested in your comings and goings sounded a lot better to her than it previously had.
Paige jogged down the stairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She had let Prue have the first lesson with Billy on how to control her powers and Paige had even stuck around to learn a thing or two. While she had already mastered orbing and her other powers, she was interested in learning the different ways in which they could be used. Prue, a masterful telekinetic, was able to elegantly float a feather in the air as well as forcefully move anything in her path clear across a room into a powerful explosion of pieces.
Still, her eldest sister was creative and had managed to come up with other ways to use her ability. For instance, Prue had shown Billy how to use her ability to apply pressure on a pillow until feathers exploded everywhere and then asked her to imagine the effect on demons. It might not be as effortless Piper's exploding ability but had a similar effect. Prue explained that there were other possibilities they would explore near the end of her training.
Paige had realized the choice to let Prue go first had been good for motivating the young witch. Paige had known that other parts like learning the basics of potion making could be tedious, so giving the young girl a taste of the power and excitement could help motivate her to push through all of the other studies.
Paige was even excited about how her own powers could progress. She had a nice handle on her whitelighter abilities but she wanted to someday be able to summon something without having to call out for it, or to be able to move things like Prue could even if she had to combine it with her orbs. Drinking her water, Paige made a promise to exercise her powers daily as she had done when she first learned of them.
Her phone rang and she picked it up from the island before answering it. "Henry, what's going on," she asked, surprised to get a call from her husband. He had told her earlier that morning that he was going to be working with one of his old parolees on his police academy training.
"I've got a small problem," he told his wife.
"What's that?"
"Your father showed up in my office."
"My dad's dead," Paige said, not understanding.
"No, not your dad. Your father," he said drawing out the last word, and understanding finally came.
"I'll be there in a few minutes," she said hanging up her phone and orbed out.