A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Yeah, Paige is stubborn and quite foolish, hence the end of last chapter.


Chapter Forty Nine: Out Of Sight (And Unintentional Actions)

'I know that, because… because I am a witch,' said Paige.

Eric stared at Paige.

'Okay, if I had not witnessed what I witnessed earlier this morning, I would never have believed that witches and demons existed…' said Eric.

'So you believe me?' said Paige, hoping not to have to try and convince him.

'Yes,' said Eric slowly.

'Good,' said Paige. 'You cannot go to that house. You stay here. My sisters and I are witches. We deal with demons on a daily basis. I can go home, get my sisters, and we will vanquish that demon.'

'So you vanquish demons daily?' asked Eric.

'Yes, well not every day. Just whenever they turn up,' explained Paige.

'So you and your sisters are like super witches?' said Eric.

Paige shrugged. 'You could say that.'

'I don't think I can believe you are a witch until I see your powers,' said Eric.

Paige sighed. She closed her eyes and thought, 'Do you believe me now?'

Eric jumped in surprise at hearing Paige's voice inside his head.

Paige opened her eyes. 'Cool, huh? It is telepathy.'

'So you can read my mind too?' asked Eric.

'Yes, but only if I wanted to,' said Paige.

Eric relaxed a little. 'Paige, I want to come with you when you go to vanquish this demon. I can film it. I can make a story out of it. Newspapers will sell. I can see the headline already: Magic and Monsters on San Francisco Bay.'

'No, no, you can't come with me,' said Paige.

'Why not? If you and your sisters are there, I should be safe,' said Eric.

'Yes, but I cannot let you film us or write about us in the newspaper,' said Paige. 'If our secret gets out, magic will be exposed, and we might not be able to do what we do.'

Before Eric could reply, Paige had left the office with the Book.


Paige arrived at Prescott Street and walked up the steps to the manor door. Paige did not have a chance to get her keys out of her bag before the door opened.

Piper had opened the door. She did not look happy. She took the Book of Shadows from Paige and went to sit on the staircase.

Paige slowly walked in and shut the door behind her. She hung her coat up and then waited for Piper to say something. Piper was flicking through the Book of Shadows.

'Piper, I know what the vanquishing spell for this demon is,' said Paige.

Piper stopped looking through the Book and looked up at Paige.

'Paige, I told you that this Book does not leave the house,' said Piper. 'You did not even try to conceal it when you were outdoors!'

'Piper, I am sorry, but I needed it,' said Paige.

Piper continued looking through the Book.

'Piper, I told you I have found the vanquishing spell,' said Paige. 'It is a Power of Three spell.'

'Well, Phoebe has gotten more information on the demon, and I wanted to have a read,' said Piper in a strop. 'Is that okay with you?'

Paige sighed. She left Piper to look through the Book on the staircase and continued through into the kitchen.

Phoebe was sitting at the kitchen table eating a sandwich.

'Hey Pheebs,' said Paige. 'Piper's mad at me.'

'Paige, how could you take the Book out of the house?' said Phoebe. There was disappointment in her tone, but no sign of anger.

'Pheebs, I needed to,' said Paige.

Phoebe nodded slowly. 'So does Piper have the Book now?'

Paige nodded.

Phoebe put her sandwich down and got up to leave the kitchen.

'I already know the vanquishing sp –' Before Paige had a chance to finish what she had been saying, Phoebe had already ran out of the kitchen towards the foyer to join Piper on the staircase.

Paige suddenly saw a blue glow from outside in the back garden, as if someone had just orbed there. Paige stood up and left the kitchen, walking into the back garden. She stopped when she saw Leo.

'Hi…' said Paige. She had not seen Leo since he had yelled at her about the dark lighter dating business. Paige was not sure whether Leo had forgiven her yet.

'Hey Paige,' said Leo nonchalantly. 'How are things?'

Paige relaxed a little. If Leo was deciding not to bring up the dark lighter dating topic then neither would she.

'The usual: Demon hunting, and – actually, I do have some news. I have a job,' said Paige.

Leo smiled.

'You have a job? Well done, Paige. Is it something you have always wanted to do?' said Leo.

Paige shook her head. 'It is only a job to get some money in. Those dark lighters really cleaned my funds out.'

Paige grimaced when she realised she had brought up something that she had not wanted to.

Leo frowned and let out a sigh. 'You know I still don't know where you stand in all that.'

'What do you mean?' asked Paige.

'You told me you wanted to help Daisy, to do more of the sort of thing that I do,' said Leo. 'Yet you then decided to go against my orders and put Daisy in danger.'

Paige was taken aback at what Leo had said.

'Did you just say orders? You did not order me to do anything! You of all people should know that I do not follow orders!' said Paige.

'Maybe I did not order you to do anything, but I explicitly told you your role for the two days you were in L.A.!' said Leo.

'Yes you did, but when Alec showed up and you did not, I had to improvise!' said Paige.

'You think that the only way you could improvise was by going on a double date?' said Leo.

Paige put her head in her hands. 'I don't want to argue over this. I am not in the wrong for what I did.'

'I never said you were,' said Leo. 'All I mean to say is that I am disappointed with you.'

Paige looked up from her hands. 'That seems to be a running theme today…'

'What do you mean?' asked Leo.

Paige sighed. 'I think they are disappointed in me too.'

Leo looked at Paige directly. 'The Halliwell sisters?'

Paige nodded. 'I took the Book without asking.'

'Paige, you should not have done that. The Book of Shadows is theirs to protect. It has always been in their family. It is not something that you can just decide to go and use yourself,' said Leo. 'Don't worry though, because you will be able to put it right. I know you well enough to know that you can do that.'

Paige nodded, and then said, 'Do you think I can make things right between us two? How long do you think you will be disappointed in me?'

Leo did not reply. He frowned. Paige looked Leo in the eyes. Then due to his silence, Paige decided to close her eyes and listen to Leo's thoughts.

'Paige, I know what you are doing,' thought Leo. 'Please stay out of my head.'

'Please, tell me how long it will be before you forgive me,' said Paige. Her eyes were still shut and she was still listening for a reply from Leo, whether he decided to say it out loud or think it.

Paige heard Leo let out a sigh. Paige opened her eyes. Leo was shaking his head. Leo took Paige's hand and orbed her out of the back garden. They reappeared in Daisy's apartment.

Daisy jumped. 'Leo! I did not know you were coming.' Then she saw Paige, and said, 'Paige! How are you?'

Paige did not smile. She turned straight back to Leo.

'Why did you bring me here?' Paige asked.

'I didn't…' said Leo, looking slightly confused.

'Yes you did,' said Paige. 'You are the only one out of the two of us who can orb.'

Leo nodded slowly. 'I must have orbed here unintentionally… I have never done that before…'

'Well, while we are here, we may as well ask Daisy for her opinion in our discussion,' said Paige, turning to Daisy.

'Your discussion?' said Daisy.

'Yes, our discussion,' said Paige. 'Do you think I was in the wrong for allowing you to go on a date with Alec?'

Daisy went pale. Paige could tell from her face that Daisy did not want to get into the middle of this debate. Paige suddenly felt extremely guilty for having done exactly that.

Leo had also noticed Daisy's expression, as he said, 'Paige, let's leave. Daisy, I am so sorry for barging in on you like this. Call me if you get into any trouble.'

Daisy nodded slowly.

Leo took Paige's hand and orbed her back to the manor's back garden.

'Paige, you should not just say things like that!' Leo said to Paige.

'Don't shout at me,' said Paige. 'I know I should not have upset her. I did not mean to… I just… I acted on impulse… We were there, we had just been discussing it… so I automatically thought that we may as well ask for her opinion…'

Leo shook his head. 'Paige, Daisy has been through a lot! She does not need to get into the middle of a family argument!'

'Family argument? Family argument?' said Paige. 'Are you getting personal work mixed with professional work now? I thought we had to act more like work colleagues around charges, and not like father and daughter? So how can you call this a family argument? Can you not keep this sort of thing separate?'

Leo frowned. 'Paige. Look, I always thought I taught you well. I thought you knew how important my work was. Even just now when you spoke so rashly to Daisy… Since when do you do that? You seem to have changed so much since you started working with the Halliwells…'

Paige was beginning to tear up a little.

'Are you trying to say that you do not like what I have become?' Paige managed to say quietly.

Leo orbed out. Paige was about to yell for him to come back when she heard Piper call for her from the kitchen. Leo had orbed out because he must have sensed Piper approaching. He was off the hook for that, but not for what he had said to Paige. That had stung.

Paige slowly walked back into the kitchen.

'What were you doing in the back garden?' Piper asked.

Piper suddenly saw Paige's face.

'Paige! Have you been crying? Your eyes are puffy,' said Piper in a concerned tone.

Paige hesitated before saying quietly, 'I am fine…'

'Is it because I moaned at you about the Book?' asked Piper.

Paige shook her head. 'Don't worry. I should never have taken the Book.'

'Paige, you have every right to look at it. You are one of us,' said Piper softly. 'What I was mad at was that you went against my orders and took it out of the manor.'

There was those three words again: against my orders. Why did everyone keep saying that to her today?

'Piper, I am sorry, okay?' said Paige.

'Paige, are you okay?' asked Piper with concern and worry.

'Where are Prue and Phoebe?' asked Paige, ignoring Piper's question.

'Phoebe has gone to see one of the demon's past victims again, and Prue has gone to find an ingredient we need for the vanquishing potion,' said Piper. 'I need to go and speak to Josh as he may have a map of the storm drains for us.'

'Storm drains?' said Paige.

'That is where we think the demons are based,' said Piper. 'Can you stay here and help Prue or Phoebe when either of them gets back?'

Paige nodded. 'Bye.'

'Bye,' said Piper.

Piper left the kitchen and Paige soon heard the front door open and close.

Paige went to the living room where her sisters had left the Book of Shadows. It was shut so Paige flicked through the Book to find the page about the demon Rebecca.

Paige frowned. On reading the list of ingredients for the vanquishing potion, Paige noticed that they definitely did have everything they needed at the manor.

Paige took the Book with her into the kitchen and started to whip up a vanquishing potion. Although she did manage to set off the fire alarm twice during the process, Paige did successfully manage to make up the potion.

Smiling, Paige bottled the potion in a small glass vial. All she needed to do now was get two of her sisters to come with her to find Rebecca, and then say the Power of Three spell.

That is when Paige remembered Piper mentioning that the demon was located in the storm drains. This was another inconsistency with what the Book had said. Where were Prue, Piper, and Phoebe getting their facts from?


Paige walked into the living room with the vial in her hand. She was trying to figure out a way to locate Rebecca. Why would her sisters think she would be found in a storm drain?

Through the living room window, Paige noticed Prue and Piper's cars parked on the drive. Paige went into the foyer and opened the front door. Prue and Piper were talking on the porch.

Prue and Piper stopped talking and turned to Paige.

'Hi Paige,' said Prue. Then she noticed the vial in Paige's hand, and said, 'What's with the potion?'

'Piper was wrong. We were not out of ingredients,' said Paige. 'I whipped up the vanquishing potion and now we can go and use it on the demon.'

'I know my kitchen, and I know for sure that we were short by one ingredient for that vanquishing potion,' said Piper, slightly offended.

'So I went across town to get Schisandra root for nothing?' said Prue.

'We definitely did not have any,' said Piper.

'Schisandra root?' said Paige. 'The vanquishing potion never mentioned Schisandra root.'

'Paige, what are you on about? Schisandra root is a key ingredient to the –' Piper stopped talking.

Prue and Paige followed Piper's gaze to see why she had stopped. A pram was rolling from a neighbour's driveway onto the street. A truck was going to hit it. Piper threw out her arms and froze the street just in time.

'That was close,' said Paige.

The three of them ran down to the middle of the road to the pram.

'Where is the mother?' asked Prue.

Then they noticed that the pram was empty. Piper was relieved. Prue and Paige were suspicious.

'Wait a second, since when did the Johnsons even have a baby?' asked Prue.

Prue and Paige spotted Eric hiding in the bushes with a video camera at the same time.

'He must have followed me home from work!' Prue and Paige said in unison.

'What did you say?' Prue and Paige asked each other at the same time.

'I said that the reporter over there followed me home from work!' Prue and Paige replied to each other in unison.

'Can you two please stop saying the same thing and explain to me who that is and why he is trying to expose us?' said Piper.

'That is Lohman. This is a set up,' said Prue to Piper. Then Prue turned to Paige, and said, 'What do you mean he followed you home from work? He followed me home from work.'

'I don't know how long my freeze is going to last,' mentioned Piper before Paige could respond.

'Oh, right,' said Prue. 'Let's go back to exactly where we were standing before everything froze and then unfreeze it and go back inside.'

Piper and Paige agreed. The three of them returned to the porch. Piper held up her hands and the street unfroze.

The three of them entered the manor.

Once in the living room, Prue repeated her question to Paige. 'Why do you think he followed you home from work?'

'That reporter, Eric Lohman, is my boss,' said Paige. 'Piper, I told you that my boss witnessed a demon attack. Well, I had to tell him that I was a witch and that I was going to help him by getting my sisters to help me vanquish the demon. I told him not to follow me back here, but he must have done, which means he must have been out there for a while.'

'Paige, what are you saying? You told him we were witches? How stupid are you?' said Prue. 'That reporter saw me use magic when a Grimlock kidnapped David. Eric confronted me at work this morning, and then again this afternoon at work. I keep denying the existence of magic! What is worse is to find that you have basically told him that magic does exist! Besides he must have followed me back from work.'

'What?' said Paige, ignoring the part where Prue had told her off for giving away the secret. 'Hang on, Grimlocks don't have telekinesis, and your powers are channelled through your eyes… So who was Eric on about if my demon is not involved in all of this?'

'Paige, Prue had a power advancement today,' said Piper.

Paige went pale. 'You can channel your telekinesis through your hands?'

Prue nodded. Prue and Piper's eyes flicked to the vial in Paige's hand.

'So technically the demon you were attempting to vanquish was… me?' said Prue.

Paige laughed nervously. 'Well, not you… Just a demon with similar powers to you… Except it turned out to be you that I had mistaken for the demon… It is not like this vanquishing potion would have had an effect on you – you are not the demon it was intended for.'

'I cannot believe you heard a description of me and automatically thought demon,' said Prue.

'Prue, I –' Paige stopped when she saw Prue smiling.

'Paige, I am not mad,' said Prue. 'You were following your instincts and trying to act fast. All I ask is that next time you think you know who the demon we are after is, please consult with the three of us first.'

'I tried to,' said Paige.

'Well, next time, let's mention the names of the demons,' said Piper, laughing.


A/N: Just to let you know, the reason why Leo said he had not intentionally orbed was because he had not orbed at all. Paige subconsciously orbed them to Daisy's apartment, because she subconsciously wanted to involve Daisy in the conversation. However, because neither know Paige is part white lighter, they both think that Leo had accidentally orbed them there. Please review!