Chapter 11 Episode 4x07: A Paige from Her Past, Part One

One Month Later…

In a strapped pink exercise top and black yoga pants, Paige Levitated from the floor and Hovered. She placed her hands together as if in meditative prayer. "Alright, Leo, I'm ready this time."

Leo, dressed in a white T-shirt and black sweatpants, took a deep breath and transformed into a much taller demon with mottled black-and-red skin, needle-like teeth, and soulless black eyes. He growled and launched a cloudy white Energy Ball, far from being as harmful as the ones used by demons, at Paige.

With a yell, Paige somersaulted in mid-air, used her momentum to fly forward, and lashed with her Adidas-clad right foot at Leo. He easily caught her foot and pushed it upward. Paige yelped and flipped in mid-air then crashed to the floor, face-first. Fortunately, Paige's hands broke her fall.

"Ow!"

Leo transformed into his familiar blond face and husky body then stooped at Paige's side. "Paige, are you okay? Do you need healing again?"

Paige groaned and pushed herself upright. "I'm fine, Leo. I just have a bruised ego—and maybe a bruised hand."

Leo smirked and patted Paige's shoulder. "Don't worry. It took Phoebe a while before she really figured out Levitation." He sighed. Paige hated that sigh; he had already used it five times that day. "Maybe we should take a break for today. You've already practiced five times today."

"If I just try one more time…"

"How about you go downstairs and meet with Prue for a lesson on spells?"

'If Leo wasn't so nice about how screwed up I am as a witch, I'd probably hate myself right now.'


Twenty minutes later, Prue was brushing chicken feathers off her cream-colored chemise and gray skirt. Paige rose slowly from behind the sofa, where she had taken shelter. A chagrined look decorated the younger sister's face. "I'm sorry, Prue, I didn't mean to…"

"Paige, the spell was supposed to summon a platter of cooked chicken, not turn a live chicken into bombs, sweetie."

"I'm sorry. I thought 'blown away' would rhyme with 'flown away.'" Paige grimaced at the smoking, charred chicken feet on the sideboard.

"Well, um, it-it does." Prue frowned and brushed her fingers through her hair. "But when you write a spell, Paige, you have to think about the impact of the words you use. Just because it rhymes doesn't mean you should say them."

Prue and Paige looked around the living room. There was hardly a square inch without feathers. "I would help with the clean-up, Paige, but that was my lunch hour. I've got to get back to work."

"I'll tell Piper I'm sorry about the mess."

"Don't worry; I'll clean it up as much as I can."

"One more thing, Prue."

"Yeah?"

Paige pointed at Prue's chemise. "You have a few feathers on your skirt."


The exploding chicken was followed a few minutes later by another explosion that rocked the entire manor. It came from the kitchen. Prue, who was sweeping chicken parts into a dustpan, and Leo, who had been upstairs studying the Book of Shadows, ran to the kitchen.

Acrid gray smoke curled from the door through the air. Prue coughed painfully, and Leo's eyes watered. Prue flicked two fingers, and the kitchen windows unlocked. She waved her right hand and the windows in the kitchen flew open. As the smoke thinned out, Prue's coughing joined the chorus of her sisters', for which Prue and Leo were happy. "Piper? Paige?" she choked. "What happened?"

"Are you okay?" Leo added.

Piper and Paige rose from their shelter behind the kitchen island, still hacking. "We're fine," Piper answered. "Paige tossed dragonroot into a potion that already contained brimstone." She lifted the twisted, blackened metal remains of the boiler from the soggy crater that represented their former stove. All three sisters grimaced at the sight.

"Piper, why didn't you tell her not to do that? She could have destroyed the entire house—with us in it," Prue demanded indignantly and crossed her arms.

Piper opened her mouth to object, but Paige spoke. "It wasn't Piper's fault. It was mine. She did warn me, but I kind of ignored her warning."

The tension following Paige's confession was too thick for even a knife to cut. Prue's face was dark with rage. Piper was upset, but Leo's face was gently stern. "Paige, if Piper tells you how to brew a potion a certain way, you're supposed to follow her instructions. She's been practicing the craft, and you haven't had the time to grow as a witch that Phoebe had. You can't take risks like that."

A gigantic white elephant stomped into the kitchen and sat at the table. "I'm sorry, Leo. I'm sorry, Piper."

"It's ok, Paige. We know that you've had to go through a lot of changes."

"There's still a mess to clean up, Paige. And since I'm not the one responsible, I think you should do it," Piper recommended.

Leo's face brightened. "How about we all pitch in and clean up then go out to the movies?"

"No thanks, Leo. I think I'll go lie down. I have a headache." Paige mumbled a hasty, "Excuse me," and sidestepped Leo to leave the kitchen.

As Paige departed, she heard Piper say, "This isn't my mess to clean up, Leo."

"What about you, Prue? You've been working really hard lately. You should treat yourself; we could rent Bridget Jones' Diary?"

Paige lingered in the hall between the dining room and kitchen to eavesdrop. 'Now that I have big sisters to spy on, I'm going to use it to my fullest advantage.'


In the kitchen, Prue poured a cup of coffee and leaned against the kitchen island. "Being the third wheel to you and Piper sounds terrific, but I have other plans. I have a photo shoot with Four-One-Five in an hour for an Asian bank's corporate catalog. And Logan is back in town. He wants to have dinner tonight."

"So do you really like him?" Piper asked. She beamed like an inquisitive school girl. Beside her, Leo smiled eagerly too.

"You two should really team up less against a single girl. You make it harder to not be married," Prue joked.

"Well, come join us on the married couples' side and stop being so picky. Now, do you like him or not, Prue?"

Prue groaned. "I don't know. I just feel like, with Logan, he's not the great love of my life. I feel like there's someone better out there for me. I want a romance like you and Leo have."

"Well, he did hit you with his car and save your life, Prue. It doesn't get much more romantic than that."

"I don't know. It just feels like I should have more romance than that, and my instincts are never wrong. Anyway, I have to go to the photo shoot." Prue set her coffee cup in the sink and headed out the back door. "Oh wait, my equipment!" She rushed toward the corridor between the dining room and kitchen.

'Uh-oh, gotta go!' Paige thought. Shutting her eyes and tensing her body, Paige Orbed from the corridor to the attic. She staggered slightly when she materialized. 'I've never Orbed that quickly and that far before. Practice makes perfect, I guess. It's only been three weeks, but I can do that better than anything else magically.'


In the attic, Paige opened an antique chest, pulled out five white candles, and carefully placed them in a circle. She tenderly removed the Book of Shadows from its podium and flipped only a few pages before she found the spell she needed:

Hear these words, hear my cry,

Spirit from the other side:

Come to me; I summon thee,

Cross now the great divide.

White lights appeared and revolved around each other before coalescing into the shape of Phoebe Halliwell. The second-to-youngest Halliwell sister looked very much in death as she had in life. Her slim shoulders were shrouded by her dyed blonde hair, and her face sparkled with a laughter and joy she could hardly repress, on which a transcendent serenity had come to rest. Phoebe smiled kindly at her half-sister.

"Hey, Paige, how's it going?"


Outside the manor, a nondescript blue Toyota Camry was parked directly across the street. Lieutenant Rodriguez studied the exterior of the house the exterior of the house and its windows through a pair of binoculars. 'All three cars in the driveway, but there's no movement inside or outside the house. As soon as the sisters leave for work, I'll track their movements. Three weeks of surveillance has to pay off at some point.'


In the dark recesses of the Underworld, the Source's residential chambers were warmly lit by the Underworld's plentiful hellfire. The Oracle reclined on the Source's palatial blue silk bedspread in an outfit that was hardly more than three ribbons of satin sewn together, seductively rubbing her crystal ball. The walls of the chamber were illuminated by a seductive red glow from the torches, which danced happily on the Oracle's skin. She hummed softly to herself.

In a blaze of fire, the Source—shrouded in his ceremonial black robes—appeared in the annex to his private inner chamber. He surveyed the walls and the bedspread, and gave hardly a glance to the Oracle's dress. "Have you seen anything of use lately?" the Source growled.

The Oracle cut her eyes at the Source and smiled alluringly. "I saw you coming…in a manner of speaking."

The Source roared ferociously and waved his left claw. Everything seductive about the room—the rosy glow, the bedspread, and even the Oracle's dress—vanished immediately. "Do you think I want your entertainment at this time? The Charmed Ones must be destroyed if I am to keep the throne." The chamber shook with the magnitude of the Source's anger. "I have demonic factions quarrelling to overthrow me, and you want me to warm your bed!"

"I-I apologize, my Liege." The Oracle prostrated herself before the Source.

"Do you think I want your apologies? I want your visions." The Source raised his right claw and telekinetically raised the Oracle's crystal ball to her face. "If you can see nothing of value, perhaps I should pluck out your pretty little eyes."

The Oracle swallowed and concentrated on the crystal ball's clear interior. She placed her delicate ivory hands on the surface, and milky fog swirled within the ball. "I see…a way to defeat the Charmed Ones, and gain greater power, my Liege. The answer lies within the Charmed Ones' house…A secret darkness they wish to conceal and control."


Paige rose, alarmed, from her kneeling position on the floor. "Ph-Phoebe?" The blonde witch nodded enthusiastically. "What are you doing here?"

"You summoned me."

"No, I didn't. Why didn't Mom or Grams come when I summoned them?"

"The spirits sent me instead. Isn't that cool?"

"Not really." Paige folded her arms over her chest and pouted petulantly. "I wanted to talk to mom or Grams."

"So you're not happy to see me?"

"You're the last person I wanted to see today."

"The spirits sent me, Paige. They must think I know how to help somehow."

Paige sighed and unfolded her arms. 'I'd rather talk to my sister's ghost than go downstairs and talk to Prue and Piper.' "I'm not you, ok, Phoebe?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Paige flopped into a chair near the Book of Shadows. "I'm not 'super-witch,' like you, Phoebe. I've been training for almost a month on how to fight, how to brew potions, and how to cast spells….And during all this training, I have the feeling that everyone's just using it to remind me I'm not you.

Phoebe frowned. "Paige, you shouldn't feel that way, sweetie. Prue, Piper, and Leo don't expect you to replace me. They don't want you to. You're Paige and they know that."

"I don't feel like they do. When I brew a potion, it's 'That's not how Phoebe would have made it.' When I write a spell, I hear, 'Phoebe didn't mess up the spell.'" Paige sniffled and wiped away a tear. "Why wouldn't I have an inferiority complex about being a witch?"

"You know something," Phoebe smiled wistfully, "when we first became witches, I had an inferiority complex too. Prue and Piper had the active powers, and I couldn't even make a premonition happen if I wanted one. Even when I learned karate, there were some demons I just couldn't beat, like the Woogy."

"The Woogy?"

"Don't worry about it yet. The point is, I had to learn to be really good at spells and potions, even when I got an active power."

"So I'm just supposed to wait until I have a moment of epiphany?" Paige rolled her eyes and stood up. "Now I really have a headache, and I really am going to bed."

"Wait, Paige!" The youngest Halliwell rolled her eyes and turned around. "Maybe I can help you have that epiphany moment. When I went to my past life, I saw why I didn't have an active power in this life. Maybe—just maybe—you have some lessons from your past life too."

"What the hell; I could use a vacation," Paige mumbled to herself. She turned to face Phoebe. "Alright, sis, how do I get to my past life?"


Five Hours Later…

"Piper!" Prue yelled down the second floor hallway of the manor. "Piper, I need your help!"

As Prue's footsteps approached rapidly down the carpet-covered wood floor toward Piper's room, Piper pushed Leo off her with a groan. Leo mewled softly as his lips parted from Piper's, and his wife followed his lips with her own as he sat upright. "Where's your shirt?" Piper whispered.

"I don't know," Leo responded. He moved slowly toward the pile of his clothes on the floor, while Piper rushed to pull on her skirt and a blouse. Prue rapped on the bedroom door just as Leo found his T-shirt and a plaid, long-sleeved shirt.

"Uh, just one second, Prue!" Under her breath, Piper mumbled, "What's the use of having a day off?"

"She won't be here all day." One Leo had pulled on his flannel shirt and pulled up his jeans, Piper straightened her hair and helped Leo button up his shirt.

Leo exited with a light kiss on his wife's lips and Orbed out. One split second later, Prue opened Piper's door and entered the room in a purple silk dress. The neckline was square cut, and the hem stopped teasingly just below Prue's knees.

"What do you think of this?" Prue posed in an enthralling lean in the doorway with a thick black sweater on her arms but not covering her torso. Her long dark hair tumbled down her back.

'Finally I get time for romance with my husband with Paige up in the attic, and the new manager at the club tonight. But I can't get fifteen minutes alone with my husband because my big sister has a date tonight. That's what I think.' Piper sighed. "I think it says, 'I'm professional and polite, and I had a bikini wax last night.'"

Prue rolled her eyes and chuckled wistfully. "That sounds like something Phoebe would say."

"Sometimes Phoebe said things that were pretty accurate. So why are you dressed so…flirtatiously?"

"Is it a little too much for dinner tonight? Logan is coming back in town from East Africa, after all."

"I thought you weren't too excited about Logan. What changed?"

Prue flopped onto the bed. Piper folded her arms and sat beside her. "Logan is the first guy I've dated this long since I dated Andy. He's been on assignment most of the time, and I'm not even sure it's a relationship. But my instincts tell me he wants one."

'Don't be bitter, Piper. Your big sister needs you right now. Be her rock.' "What's not to like about him?"

"He's cute. He has a big heart. He's tall, strong, brave, and he has a solid future career." A smile premiered on Prue's face. "And he writes poetry that's actually kind of good."

"Logan doesn't sound bad at all."

"But something's missing. I just can't figure it out yet."

"I know what it is Prue." At that moment, the doorbell rang.

"Saved by the doorbell."

"Not quite." Smirking, Piper called out, "Paige! Could you get the front door?" A few seconds lapsed. The doorbell rang again. Paige neither responded nor did her footsteps sound on the stairs. "Paige?" Silence answered Piper's call. She frowned.

"I'll get the front door. You check on Paige." Prue skipped downstairs while Piper climbed the attic stairs. 'We lost Phoebe the last time she went to the attic. We can't lose Paige.'

Prue cleared her throat and opened the door. In that instant, she regretted not checking her makeup in the mirror in the foyer. She was at a loss for words, even a greeting.

The man on the other side of the doorway offered a bouquet of lilies to Prue. From their scent, they were freshly cut. That scent seemed to reignite Prue's mental faculties and verbal skills. "Bane?"

Bane stood on the front porch of the Manor dressed in a black tuxedo, navy blue vest, and black necktie. His hair was more closely cropped than it had been before his prison sentencing, but he was also more muscular beneath his clothes. He replied to Prue with his devilishly seductive smile, and Prue warmed up, smiling too.

"I'm glad you remembered my name, Prue. As you can see, I haven't forgotten a detail about you."

"Prue!" Piper yelped from the second floor. Prue jumped as Piper's footsteps pattered a rapid rhythm on the stairs.

"This really isn't the best time." Prue shut the door and turned to Piper, who had reached the foot of the stairs.

"Prue, Paige is missing."

'Out of the frying pan and into the fire,' Prue thought.