A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I was glad not to get any 'Who's Derek?' reviews.

Chapter Ten: The Painted World (And A Nervous Wreck)

Looking from Derek to the crossbow, Paige thought through her current situation. Prue and Andy had now left for work – Paige had heard the front door close moments before; Piper was next door, talking to Dan; and Phoebe was upstairs in the manor. If Derek shot Paige, Phoebe could call for Leo in time to heal Paige.

The crossbow disappeared from Derek's hand in a puff of smoke. Derek scowled at his empty hand and shook his head, slumping down on a chair.

'This keeps happening!' he yelled.

Paige was puzzled. 'What keeps happening?'

'My powers are acting up!' replied Derek. 'I told you I came here to get some answers from you.'

'You mean you did not come here to avenge Alec's vanquish?' said Paige, standing by the kitchen door, not wanting to take a step closer to him.

'Of course not,' said Derek. 'Alec was my friend, but I would be doing him a disservice to avenge his vanquish. He was too proud.'

'Then why are you here?' asked Paige. 'What questions do you need answering?'

'You are a really bad listener, witch,' said Derek.

'Well, you are a nervous wreck, but I don't point that out… Oh look, I just did,' said Paige, smirking.

Phoebe came running into the kitchen. 'Paige, are you okay? I heard a man shouti –' Phoebe skidded to a halt when she saw Derek. 'And who's this?'

'Oh great, another witch!' groaned Derek.

'Hey buddy! I am not just a witch! This happens to be the home of the Charmed Ones!' said Phoebe.

'I know,' said Derek. 'I came to see Paige.'

'Who are you?' Phoebe quizzed him. Phoebe added quietly to Paige, 'Demon or magical goody?'

'Not a goody, but he won't hurt me,' said Paige.

Phoebe frowned. 'Are you sure? I will be upstairs if you need me.' Looking across at Derek, who was still slouching on a kitchen chair, Phoebe said, 'Just for you to think about, if I were Prue, I would have TKed you out of here by now, and if I were Piper, I would have frozen you by now.'

Derek chuckled. 'Ah, so you are the useless idiot that makes up the third sister in the Power of Three?'

'Get out if you are going to offend my sister, Derek,' said Paige crossly.

'A Charmed One is your sister? That makes you a Charmed One too,' said Derek.

'You connect the dots so quickly,' Paige said sarcastically. 'Now get out.'

Phoebe was still standing beside Paige. Her eyes were slightly wet as the idiot insult had gotten to her.

'Paige, you have not answered my questions yet,' said Derek.

Piper came walking into the kitchen. 'Hi. I am only back for five minutes. I forgot my –' She came to a halt when she saw Derek. 'What's going on? Who's this?' enquired Piper.

'Oh look, we have the Power of Three amongst the three of us now,' said Paige. 'Does anyone else feel like vanquishing Derek here?'

'You two have been standing chatting to a demon?' said Piper in shock.

'Is that any different to you standing next door chatting to Dan?' said Paige mockingly.

Piper ignored Paige's remark.

'Paige, you wouldn't dare vanquish me,' said Derek, standing up to face the three sisters.

Paige shrugged. 'How can you know what I would dare to do? I vanquished your pal, Alec, didn't I?'

'He's a dark lighter? Phoebe, you are letting Paige converse with a dark lighter?' panicked Piper, while trying to keep a strong demeanour in front of Derek.

'Piper, I found out he was a dark lighter at the same time as you!' said Phoebe.

Piper and Phoebe pushed Paige behind them. Paige saw Piper flick her hands up and Derek froze. Piper and Phoebe turned to Paige.

'What are you doing conversing with dark lighters?' Piper asked Paige.

'I was trying to tell him to leave,' said Paige. 'I would not exactly call that a conversation.'

'Paige, you should have orbed out,' said Phoebe. 'He could have shot you.'

'Relax, I don't think he knows I am part white lighter,' said Paige, staring Derek up and down. 'Besides, I don't think his powers are working properly.'

'Why would you think that?' asked Piper.

'Something he said…' mumbled Paige, staring at him.

'Should we vanquish him while he is frozen?' suggested Phoebe.

'No! Don't vanquish him,' said Paige quickly. 'Just give him a chance to leave.'

'Paige! He is a dark lighter! He could harm you or Leo or any other white lighter that he chooses to go after!' said Piper.

'He won't. Not if his powers are not working,' said Paige.

'What if they are?' asked Piper.

'I will orb him out of here,' said Paige, refusing to answer Piper's question.

Paige walked over to Derek, resisting Piper and Phoebe's attempts to keep her away from him. Paige orbed herself and Derek to the first place that popped into her head: Piper's club.

The impact of being orbed unfroze Derek. He stumbled to the floor of the dark, empty club.

'Where did you take me?' shouted Derek. 'How did we get here?'

Paige surveyed the surroundings. No lights were on, but the light coming in from the windows above allowed her to see through the dimness. There was a bar area to her right. To her left was a staircase that led upstairs. There were a couple of doors leading off of the main room which she had orbed into. Paige could see why Piper had chosen the place.

Derek got to his feet. 'Tell me, witch!'

'It doesn't matter,' said Paige, realising that he must have been frozen during the whole orbing part so he had not realised that she had orbed him there. 'Now ask me those questions. I will answer them and then you can be out of my life for good!'

Derek's right hand began to glow red in the darkness of the room. Suddenly Paige realised what he was doing. He was about to use a dark lighter ability, the Touch of Death.

'Hey! That's not a question! That looks more like a death threat to me!' Paige shouted, stepping back slightly.

'I am not trying to hurt you. I am showing you,' grumbled Derek as the red glow of his hand quickly sizzled out.

'You cannot control your powers?' Paige realised with a tone of amusement.

'Don't you mock me! Don't you dare think I am pathetic!' shouted Derek.

'You are the one who cannot control their powers,' laughed Paige.

'This is your fault entirely, witch!' Derek said, turning his back on Paige as he began to pace along the room.

'Huh?' said Paige, confused. 'What do you mean by my fault?'

'The trigger for my Touch of Death power is hate; and the trigger for my crossbow materialisation power is killer instinct. Ever since the day that I first met you I have been unable to control either of those! I cannot hate and my killer instinct is completely gone!' shouted Derek.

'Maybe you are realising that just because you are a dark lighter, you don't have to be evil,' said Paige, shrugging. Paige leaned up against the counter of the bar area as she watched Derek. He had reached the wall and turned around as he began to pace back towards Paige.

Derek scowled. 'You know that is not true. You met me. You know me.'

Paige blinked. 'Do I?'

'You were trying to get on my nerves all evening. We both figured out what would get on each others' nerves quite fast. Which leads to my next question: Did you cast a spell or something to mess up my powers – except for my orbing power, that is?' asked Derek.

'Why would I do that?' asked Paige slyly. She knew she had not done anything, but it was fun to annoy Derek by not giving him direct answers.

'You despise me as much as I despise you. That's why!' shouted Derek. Derek came to a stop. He was across the room from Paige, but they were eye to eye. Derek did not look angry though. His expression was serious, but not livid.

'I did not do anything,' Paige finally responded with a straight answer. 'Maybe you don't want to kill anymore. Ever considered that?'

'I am a dark lighter. To kill is my vocation,' said Derek.

'You can always quit,' said Paige. 'It is not your life.'

'Yes it is,' said Derek.

Paige shook her head. 'You seem quite a nervous wreck right now, Derek. There is nothing I can do to help you. Nor do I want to help you. If your powers are on the fritz, as a Charmed One, I can only see that as a positive. Now you better leave my sister's club and not follow me to wherever I go. You said your orbing power is still intact, so use it. Orb out now.'

Derek did not reply. He just stared at Paige.

'Fine, I will leave before you then,' said Paige, smiling. 'I am sure that my method of exit will only freak you out more.'

Paige orbed out of the club, disappointed that she could not see Derek's reaction to her use of a white lighter ability.

Paige had orbed straight to an empty lift within Bucklands. She pressed the button with a twelve on it. Once the elevator stopped, Paige exited onto the corridor and walked into Prue's office. Paige expected to get a rant from her eldest sister about learning to knock before entering, but to her surprise, Prue was not in her office.

Paige decided to wait in the office for Prue to return. Therefore she sat down at Prue's desk. A painting perched up on a table at the side of the room caught Paige's eye. Paige stood up and went over to it. The painting was of a castle.

Paige realised she was stepping on something. She looked down. On the floor was a piece of paper, a x-ray of the painting. According to the piece of paper, there was hidden text behind the painting: Absolvo amitto amplus brevis. Semper mea.

Paige shrugged. She had no idea what the language was, she had never been good with languages. Paige frowned in thought. Leo was good with languages because he was a white lighter so spoke whatever language his charge spoke. Therefore why could Paige – who was part white lighter – not understand another language? She had never really had passion for other languages – apart from Italian, but she had pretty much forgotten all of that by now.

Paige sat back down and waited for a little while. When Prue did not return to her office, Paige decided to phone her. Immediately Paige heard Prue's phone go off within the room and Paige noticed that wherever Prue had gone, she had left her purse behind.

'Did a demon attack?' thought Paige. Paige closed her eyes and tried to sense for Prue. Paige opened her eyes, frowning. Her white lighter senses were telling her that Prue was present in the office.

'Prue?' said Paige, looking around the office. 'Prue, where are you?'

There was no reply.

'Leo!' shouted Paige. She would have said 'Dad' but she did not know if Prue was in the office or not. Paige could not see her anywhere.

Leo orbed in. 'Is everything alright, Paige?' Then Leo noticed where he was and realised he had never been there before. 'Is this… Prue's office? Is this Bucklands?'

Paige nodded.

'Why are you in Prue's office?' asked Leo. 'Where is Prue? Isn't she supposed to be working right now? Shouldn't she be here right now?'

'How many questions are you going to ask before I get to answer your first one?' asked Paige.

Leo took a deep breath. 'Sorry, Paige. Let's go back to my first question: Is everything okay?'

'I don't know,' said Paige.

'Is this Prue's office in Bucklands?' continued Leo, spacing out – and combining some of – his questions this time.

Paige nodded.

'Why are you in Prue's office?' asked Leo.

'Prue – hang on! She wanted me to look at this painting! How could I forget that part?' Paige ran over to the painting.

'Why did she want you to look at the painting?' asked Leo.

'She thought she saw a man in it,' said Paige. She picked up the magnifying glass off the table and had a closer look at the canvas. 'She thought there might be something demonic or generally magical about it.'

'Then this leads to my next question: Where is Prue?' asked Leo.

Paige put down the magnifying glass and turned back to Leo.

'That is my problem. I don't know where she is. Try sensing for her,' said Paige.

'Why did you need to call me to sense for her? You have the ability to do that yourself,' said Leo.

'Just do it. You'll see,' said Paige.

Leo closed his eyes. Paige turned back to the painting and tapped the canvas. She did not know whether she was expecting anything to happen, but there was something strange about the painting. However Paige had not yet seen this man that Prue had mentioned.

'She is here,' said Leo.

Paige turned around to see Leo frowning. His eyes were open and he was looking around the office.

'Now do you see why I called you?' asked Paige. 'She is not here, but apparently she is… and she left all her stuff here too.'

'Hmm…' said Leo, thinking. 'I should go up and check with the Elders. Go back to the manor. You better tell Piper and Phoebe that Prue may be missing.'

'Are you sure I should tell them?' said Paige, imagining the panic that would appear on Piper's face.

'Of course. If the Elders tell me it is something magical, then you and your sisters need to be prepared. They won't be prepared if I am the first to tell them in an hour or so,' said Leo.

Paige sighed. 'Okay.'

'See you later,' said Leo, orbing out.

Paige went over to the desk and picked up Prue's purse. Paige decided she had better take it back to the manor with her. Paige eyed the painting again. If Prue's strange disappearance had anything to do with the painting, it was probably a good idea to take the painting with her.

Paige slung Prue's purse onto her shoulder to free up her hands. She picked up the painting. It was rather heavy, but fortunately Paige did not have to walk anywhere with it. Paige closed her eyes and orbed back to the manor.

Back at the manor, no one was in. Paige put the painting down in the living room. She sensed for her sisters. Paige's white lighter sensing told her that Piper was next door at Dan's house. Paige assumed that the two of them were still discussing Piper's code violations. Paige's white lighter sensing told her that Phoebe was across town. Paige assumed that Phoebe had gone out with a friend.

Paige decided to sense for Prue again. Paige furrowed her brow. Apparently Prue was in the living room now.

'Prue?' said Paige.

Once again there was no reply. Paige looked at Prue's purse which Paige had dumped on the sofa. Then Paige looked at the painting… If Prue had seen a man in the painting, could it be possible to enter the painting? Had Prue entered the painting?

Paige sighed. 'I had better get Piper and Phoebe.'

Paige decided to find Phoebe first as Piper was only next door. Paige orbed across town to find Phoebe sitting in the library by herself. Phoebe was sat at a table with piles of books in front of her. One was open and Phoebe had her hands held out above it as the pages flicked.

Paige walked over to Phoebe and sat down opposite her, shutting the book that Phoebe had been… reading? Phoebe jumped in surprise as she had not noticed Paige sit down.

'What are you doing?' Paige asked her.

'What did it look like I was doing, Paige?' said Phoebe awkwardly. 'I was… reading.'

'I have never seen a person hover their hands over a book, turning the pages without making contact,' said Paige.

'Prue?' suggested Phoebe.

'She is a different case. She has telekinesis,' Paige pointed out. 'Besides, she does not do that in the middle of a public library.'

'No one saw,' said Phoebe.

'That is not the point,' said Paige. 'How were you doing it?'

'We don't need to discuss that right now, Paige,' said Phoebe. 'Is there a reason you came here?'

'Is there a reason you came here?' asked Paige, turning Phoebe's question back on herself. 'You don't attend college, you don't have a job… Why are you at a library reading…' Paige paused to look at the book that she had closed. 'Why are you at a library reading the encyclopaedia?'

'I am entitled to read it every now and then,' said Phoebe, obviously trying to avoid answering the question. 'So why are you here?'

Paige hesitated. 'Come back to the manor. I should tell you and Piper at the same time.'

Phoebe suddenly looked worried. 'Paige? What's wrong?'

'Let's find Piper and then I will tell you,' said Paige.

'It is something about Prue, isn't it?' asked Phoebe.

'How do you know?' said Paige.

'You never mentioned anything about finding Prue to tell her too,' said Phoebe. 'It was easy to connect the dots.'

Paige waited for Phoebe to check a few of the books out of the library. Then they went off to a quiet corner of the library where Paige orbed them back to the manor. Phoebe put the books down before wandering over to Dan's house with Paige.

Paige knocked on the front door. It was opened by Jenny.

Paige frowned. 'Shouldn't you be in school?'

'It finished over five hours ago. It is gone eight o'clock in the evening,' Jenny pointed out.

Paige blushed in embarrassment. She had not realised how late in the day it was. She must have been at Piper's club talking to Derek for a while, and then waiting around in Prue's office for a while too. The day had definitely gone by fast.

'Is Piper here?' asked Phoebe. 'We need to talk to her.'

Jenny nodded. 'She is talking to Uncle Dan. I will go and get her.'

Jenny walked away, leaving Phoebe and Paige standing on the doorstep.

'Piper has been at Dan's all day? Should we be worried?' said Paige.

'I am sure this is just work related,' said Phoebe. 'Piper loves Leo. We know that.'

'Yeah, but…' said Paige, worried.

'Paige, I have known Piper for longer than you,' said Phoebe. 'She is not the sort of person to juggle two guys. I am the only one out of us who has ever done that.'

Their discussion ended there because Piper, Dan, and Jenny had come to the door. Paige frowned. They looked like a family: Piper, Dan, and their kid. Paige tried to shake the thought out of her mind. Piper had only spent the day there to get Dan's expertise on construction; that was all, nothing more.

'Phoebe, Paige. Is everything okay?' asked Piper.

'We need you at the manor,' said Paige.

'Are you sure? Dan and I were just getting into the final details about what could help my club,' said Piper, reluctant to leave.

'Piper… It is to do with that man that Prue went to see about the painting,' Paige said, subtly trying to hint back to the conversation that Piper had been barely listening to that morning.

Piper sighed. 'I thought you were going to help Prue with seeing that man about the painting…'

'Yes, but the painting is in our living room, and I have not seen the man about the painting yet. I don't know if Prue has, but I have not seen her either,' said Paige. Paige wished that Dan and Jenny had not been standing there. It would have made the code speaking so much easier. Paige suddenly realised how difficult it must have been for her sisters to talk about magic around Paige before they knew that she knew.

Piper looked at Dan apologetically. 'I better go. Can we meet at my club tomorrow? We can discuss the final adjustments there.'

Dan smiled and nodded. 'Sure, Piper. It was nice spending the day with you.'

A few minutes later, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige were in the living room. Piper and Phoebe turned to Paige, waiting for an explanation.

'Prue is missing,' stated Paige.

'Missing? What do you mean?' asked Piper.

'I went to Prue's office and she was not there,' Paige explained. 'She had left her purse there though.'

'Maybe she was in a meeting,' suggested Phoebe.

'My white lighter senses were telling me that she was in her office,' said Paige.

'We should go back there now and see what we can find,' said Piper.

'No, because now my white lighter senses are telling me that she is in the living room,' said Paige.

Piper and Phoebe looked around.

'Unless she is invisible, she is not here,' said Piper.

'Exactly,' said Paige. 'The only thing that I moved was her purse and the painting.'

Phoebe frowned. 'You think the man she saw in the painting may have been trapped there, and whatever led to his imprisonment has caused Prue to be trapped in there too?'

Piper and Paige were shocked by Phoebe's fast analysis.

'I was expecting more of a 'do you think she got shrunk down into her purse' sort of a comment from you, Pheebs,' said Piper as a joke.

'I was expecting you to be more worried, Piper,' said Paige.

Piper turned to Paige. 'Oh, don't worry. The panic is quickly escalating within me right now.' Piper began to pace back and forth in the living room. 'What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?'

'We could wait for Leo to come down with information from the Elders,' said Paige. 'I don't feel patient enough to wait though.'

'Good, because I don't either,' said Phoebe.

Piper stopped pacing and turned to her two younger sisters. 'Was there anything in the Book about this?'

Phoebe shook her head. 'I have already checked in the Book. Remember when Prue originally asked me to? There was nothing on evil artwork in there.'

'Then the Book is wrong, because we obviously have evil artwork here in our house!' snapped Piper.

'I don't think the painting is evil,' said Paige. 'Some magical being just made it as a way to trap others. The question is: How?'

'There must be some way to open the portal,' said Phoebe. 'It could be touch sensitive; it could be activated by sound; there could be a verbal command; maybe only the person who made it can open it; or maybe it can only be opened from within the painting itself…'

'Phoebe, those are only theories. What we need is to do something,' said Piper.

'I have an idea,' said Paige. 'If there is a locked portal between our world and the painted world maybe I can orb into there… Orbing between dimensions is possible, so why can't this be?'

As Paige closed her eyes to orb, she heard Phoebe shout, 'Wait, Paige! Don't!' However, it was too late: Paige was already orbing. She felt a pain on her head and then nothing.