Author's Note: Just to let you know, I am going home to Canada and to Vermont, USA, with my family from 12 -24 October, so probably won't be posting again until I get back. Hope you can wait until then and that you won't send any demonic bounty hunters after me, hehe. Enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 7
Paige lay in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She was not feeling herself at all. She had moments of calmness and moments of total restlessness, bordering on panic. Her internal thermometer had gone berserk. She was either hot or cold and nothing in between. Right now she was sweating.
It had been a few days since she was allowed to go home and she had totally immersed herself in her painting in an attempt to escape her reality. Ironically, her work reflected what she was feeling. She wasn't deliberately avoiding her sisters but the air in the manor was so thick with tension that it was just easier to stay in her room. Paige got up and sat down in front of her easel which held a canvas she had begun working on yesterday, a soothing seaside landscape, something completely different to what she had been painting previously. She grabbed her palette and placed it on her lap, squeezing drops of different coloured acrylic paints onto its wooden surface. She took a brush, blended a few of the colours together and began to paint, shutting out the sounds of shouting emanating from somewhere in the manor.
Paige stopped suddenly, bringing her brush to rest on the cliff top she had just been touching up with the paint and studied the coastal scene that illustrated the canvas before her. She wrinkled her brows in confusion as the painting suddenly seemed to come to life. She could hear the murmur of the ocean, the cries of the seagulls and the song of the wind as if she were sitting on the beach herself instead of in her bedroom. She could hear the waves lapping against the sand and crashing into the rocks near the cliff. The solitary figure walking along the beach held onto its hat as the strong ocean breeze attempted to claim it. The clouds drifted across the blue sky. The figure, still holding onto its hat with one hand, turned and waived at Paige with the other. The witchlighter dropped her paintbrush which made a clattering sound as it hit floor and she stood up too quickly, causing her chair to tip over and land with a thud. She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head in disbelief. There was a soft knock at the door when Paige opened her eyes again and she turned her head to see Piper standing at the doorway. When she looked back at the canvas it was nothing more than an acrylic seascape.
"What's wrong?" Piper questioned with concern, sensing that something wasn't quite right with her younger sister.
"Nothing," Paige lied. "Uh, just a moment of clumsiness," she continued as she bent down to pick up her brush and set her chair upright. I don't mean to be rude, but what do you want Piper?" She questioned in return.
"To get away from the battle of the sisters out there." She replied, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb towards the hallway as she shut the door behind her with her other hand. "Huh. It's just like old times. Prue and Phoebe are arguing and I'm stuck in the middle again!" Piper rolled her eyes and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Yeah, I could hear that." Paige mumbled as she sat down and resumed her painting, convincing herself that she had been imagining things before. "It woke me up this morning. What are they fighting about anyway?" The witchlighter asked absently, completely immersed in her work.
Piper stared at the painting. "Uh, failed mission to the Underworld to find the alchemist, which nearly got Phoebe killed when they had a run in with another thorn demon and Prue had to heal her. Again."
"Oh." Paige put her paintbrush down. "So it's my fault they're arguing."
"Oh no sweetie, it's not your fault! Phoebe was too impatient and Prue didn't think they were ready to take on the Underworld yet, that's all." Piper got up and stood behind Paige, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Well, if it wasn't for me they wouldn't have needed to go there in the first place." She brushed Piper's hand away, feeling that she didn't deserve her sister's sympathy.
"Some things never change with you! Why didn't you listen to me?" Prue shouted angrily. "You were outnumbered by those demons Phoebe! Why did you pull away from me and try to take them out, what were you thinking? How long have you been a witch now?"
"Oh I don't believe this! You're dead and you're STILL lecturing me! You're right Prue, some things NEVER change!" Phoebe glared at her big sister.
"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" Prue snapped back. "Do you think I like to watch you get hurt? Phoebe, you're experienced enough by now to know that when you're outnumbered you need to back off. You-"
"Why did you orb us out Prue? Time is running out for Paige. Retreat is a luxury we don't have time for. We need to do something and we need to do it NOW! Maybe Elders sit around and do nothing, but witches don't."
Prue's temper flared and she shot her sister a piercing look. "Do I look like I'm sitting? I orbed you out because I didn't want you to get killed Phoebe!"
"All right you two, knock it off right now!" Piper entered the kitchen, her face as red as her big sister's. "Prue, you're an Elder! You should be beyond arguing, and YOU Phoebe," Piper exclaimed, pointing a finger at her younger sister who had been attempting to sneak out of the kitchen, but had now been stopped in her tracks, "You've been a witch long enough to know that you should NEVER go off half cocked in search of demons, not to mention you're fighting with your DEAD sister. Do you have any idea how lucky we are to have Prue with us now? And now the two of you have got Paige thinking it's her fault that you're fighting. Is that what you want?"
Prue and Phoebe looked down at their feet in shame. "No." They mumbled simultaneously, feeling like chastised children.
"Well then, you need to stop bickering and work together. Time's running out. And Phoebe, why are you avoiding Paige? You haven't said a word to her since she came home and she thinks you're not talking to her because you're mad at her."
Phoebe suddenly felt like a deer caught in the headlights of a passing car. "Uh…no, I…"
"You're afraid of how Paige is going to react when she sees you, aren't you?" Piper answered for her sister.
"Well, she did throw me against a wall," Phoebe answered hesitantly.
"Sweetie, she's fine now. I doubt she'll do that again. Besides, she's painting. Why don't you take that up to her," Piper suggested, pointing at plate of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies that was sitting on the kitchen counter.
"But-"
"Please?" Piper interjected.
"I-" Phoebe decided not to finish her sentence and sighed instead. "Fine," she agreed as she reached out for the plate of cookies which Piper handed to her. She took a cookie off the top and bit into it, crunching away as she left the kitchen.
Piper quickly grabbed a towel and ran after her little sister, snapping the towel across her backside when she had managed to catch up to her.
"Ow! What was that for?" Phoebe cried out, covering her behind with her free hand as she bolted toward the stairs.
"Those are for Paige!" Piper scolded, watching Phoebe ascend the staircase. Piper turned to find Prue standing behind her with a smile on her face.
"Nice to see you haven't lost your touch as the mediator."
"Yeah, and I better not have to mediate between the two of you again," Piper held up her index finger in warning.
"Oh no, not Mr. Pointy finger!" Prue teased her sister and made a break for it.
"This isn't funny!" Piper followed her sister back into the kitchen, swatting her sister with the towel as they ran.
"It's me. Can I come in?" Phoebe tapped reluctantly on her sister's bedroom door. There was no response. Suddenly Phoebe heard a shriek and a crashing sound coming from inside the room. Phoebe threw the door open and froze at the sight before her. "Paige!"
