A/N: I am so sorry for the wait! School has been insane! The good news is though, is that I am done this year with school! This chapter is longer than my usually chapters so I hope you enjoy it! Last chapter there were four reviews!

WWCF: I hope you don't mind me shortening your pen name, anyway thanks for reviewing! Please enjoy the chapter!

Carameldip18: She does have that type of attitude and some of it will come out near the end of the chapter.

Charmedeva: Yup, she is being a bit bratty.

Daicy: She's emotional and stressed so her reasoning isn't exactly going to be the way it should be. She has a little basis for an argument but not much of one. I hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 49

When Paige had orbed into the attic she heard commotion downstairs. Rushing downstairs she saw groups of people dressed up in formal wear.

"I'm too late," she said softly to Leo behind her, "Just, uh, find my sisters. I'll find Prue. Tell her to cancel everything." She slipped through the crowd receiving a few dirty looks for her age and attire. Entering the kitchen she saw her eldest sister but not the basement door cracked open.

"There you are!" she sighed, "Prue you have to send everyone home."

"Paige, I looked more into this demon thing. It's just a ploy to get more attention."

"What? No! Prue, this demon is dangerous, he could kill everyone here! Prue, please, I'm begging you send everyone home!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that." She smiled large and Paige knew something was wrong. Just then Piper, Phoebe, and Leo burst into the kitchen.

"So this demon, Phoebe has most of the spell!" Piper said swiftly.

"Leo tell them the party is-," but her voice was cut off as she started to choke. Prue had her up against a wall her hand around Paige's throat.

"Prue!" Piper shrieked.

"Prue- woogy-," she tried to get out.

"Piper freeze!" Phoebe said and Piper held up her hands as her older sister froze.

"Thank you," Paige coughed stepping back. Paige asked Phoebe if she remembered the spell. Before Phoebe could reply Paige was thrown against a wall. She tried to orb but couldn't see because the lights went out. The people in the living room started to freak out and Paige yelled for a lamp aiming aimlessly for Prue's head. Instead of hitting Prue it knocked out Piper. It did distract the demon long enough for the power to return. Phoebe took the opportunity to grab Paige's hand and run out of the kitchen. Everyone from Prue's work was gone, the front door wide open.

"Man, I am in so much trouble," Paige said.

"Prue tried to kill you, I think you're even," Phoebe said dragging her upstairs. She told Paige how she remembered that the Woogyman didn't like light and Paige shared information that the Nexus, in the basement, was his power source.

"Okay so we blind Prue, attack the source- Nexus- and say the spell."

"Except you don't remember the spell and neither do I!" Paige said as she blocked the attack door with pieces of furniture.

"I am light, I am one to strong to fight, return to dark where shadows dwell, you can not have this Halliwell… I can't remember the rest."

"Keep thinking," Paige said grabbing a candle and lighting it as well as grabbing a flashlight. Phoebe started to pace as Paige orbed downstairs when Phoebe wasn't looking. She grabbed Piper just has Prue turned around. The demon used Prue's power and Paige went crashing into the kitchen table.

"Piper," she said trying to stay awake. Piper slowly regained consciousness and crawled to Paige grabbing her hand.

"Paige! What the hell!" Phoebe yelled at her.

"I wasn't going to let the demon kill Piper. She'll be okay. Leo!"

"Hey, what happened?" he asked seeing Piper.

"Just stay here with her," Paige said. Piper tried to speak but Leo interrupted.

"Paige you're bleeding," he looked up at her head.

"I'm fine, look the Woogy is in Prue. I don't care what I look like, I care about Prue."

"Leo, heal her," Phoebe said as furniture started to move.

"I got it!" she cried.

"Finally," Paige sighed leaving Leo in mid-heal. She grabbed the candle and flashlight and grabbed her sister's hand.

"There you are," Prue said, "So how do you want to die? Choking isn't the answer." She looked at Paige.

"Prue this isn't you. Fight it," Phoebe said.

"Don't you think I'm trying? Why is it so strong?" Prue asked and then the demon took over.

"Isn't me? Why of course it is. You know who isn't the same? Paige, look at her. She's pathetic. I was going to invade her I should have when she was down there. Ah well, you'll die anyway."

"Run!" Prue yelled.

"Not unless you can catch us," Paige said orbing her and Phoebe to the basement. Paige flipped the flashlight on and held the lit candle and flashlight out.

"Ready?" Phoebe nodded unsure.

"You can do this Pheebs," Paige said. The candle fell to the ground, instantly going out. Phoebe called her name as the flashlight clattered on the ground as well. Phoebe couldn't see much but she did see that her sister was at her feet unconscious. Prue was now at the top of the stairs as Phoebe tried to wake her little sister.

"Looks like I may have killed her."

"I am light, I am one to strong to fight, return to dark where shadows dwell, you can not have this Halliwell," Phoebe said shaking.

"Phoebe, keep trying!" Prue yelled through the demon.

"Go away and leave my sight, and take you with this endless night." The demon yelled with anger as he became smoke and was sucked back into the basement. The lights turned back on.

"You did it." Prue smiled.

"Yeah," Phoebe said and Leo and Piper appeared next to them.

"Next time we take the stairs," Piper said, "Where's Paige?" Phoebe turned around and knelt down on the ground.

"Oh my God," Piper said covering her mouth. Leo knelt down and held his hand over her.

"She's going to be okay, she's been through a lot," he said. She sat up slowly holding her head.

"What happened? Is the demon gone?"

"Yeah, he's gone." Prue said smiling pulling her sister into her arms.

"What happened? How did it invade you?"

"We'll discuss that later. Right now we are going to talk about your disobedience."

"See, I find this demon thing more pressing," Paige said.

"Yeah, well, he's gone. We need to talk." Paige sighed as she and Prue went upstairs. Piper and Phoebe started to clean only hearing bits and pieces of Prue reprimanding Paige. Prue first went through a list of things Paige did wrong. She left in the middle of a conversation. She lied to Phoebe and to her about the Woogyman and threatened to go after him herself. Paige then interjected that Prue went after him herself.

"I'm older."

"I'm more experienced."

"Only because you refused to tell them," Leo said entering. Prue nodded agreeing.

"I had my reasons."

"Tell us again what your reasons were." Abandonment, Phoebe left and then so did Glen. No her sisters couldn't abandon her but they could lock her up for being crazy. A dream, that was a nightmare was her fear but she wasn't going to tell her sisters that. So she just said that she didn't think they'd believe her or accept their destiny. Prue sighed and said that they had accepted it. She then pointed out Paige hadn't. When Paige opened her mouth to interject Prue said it was the Power of Four not of One. The talk bounced around several subjects one being that the former deal was gone. Paige would stay at Magic School unless there was a desperate need for her.

"At least tell me the demons you fight!" Paige yelled.

"No, Paige, you're being careless. You are going after demons that you can't handle on your own!"

"No! You can't do that! You went after the Woogyman by yourself. You can't say it's because your powers are stronger or that you're older. Just because I'm not here doesn't mean you can go and do the job yourself. I shouldn't go after demons by myself but if I'm not included as a Charmed One I will go after demons by myself. It is my destiny to protect innocents, it is all our destinies. You can't write me out of it because I'm the baby sister."

"Paige it's my job to protect you!"

"To some degree, you can't protect me from everything Prue! There are demons that attack in broad daylight, there are innocents that can be saved. So I may get hurt but I have Leo. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm not a baby anymore. I can fight for myself. If you want to attack boyfriends, or ex girlfriends, or even get mad at me for setting off the smoke alarm fine! That's what you can protect me from! That's all you should protect me from."

"It's changed. We're witches now! There are demons, darklighters, whatever else is out there. I want to see you live!"

"Do you think I want to die! Do you think I want to end up like my dad!? Or how about mom!? I don't want to die! I don't need protection anymore because guess what? I'm done. I realized I shouldn't have told you. I like being a witch, I like protecting people. You don't have to worry about me going off and fighting demons. I'll stay at Magic School. I don't want to fight demons with you anymore." Paige left the living room and before she walked through the portal she added that someone needs to put about the Woogyman in the book.


The older sisters sat in the living room astonished at Paige.

"She's changed," Piper said, "We've just become truly aware of it. I don't think she meant a lot about what she said Prue. She'll be back. We just need to give her some space."

"She's being an angry teenager Prue. You and I both were. I just thought Paige wouldn't take this route. She'll be home in a couple of weeks. Prue, she didn't mean half of what she said."

"She's already gone after demons by herself Pheebs because we haven't really included her. But she hasn't included us either. She didn't tell Piper or I. She lied to you and me about the Woogyman. I should have come straight home when you told me about your premonition. I have to fix this with her. Yeah she's being an angry teenager, but it's not all her fault. She has an invincibility complex, most teens do. The only problem is, is that she has powers and there are demons that can kill her in a second or invade her body. This is partially my fault too. I have to try talking to her like a sister not like a guardian." There was no mention of their mom or Paige's dad at all. Phoebe did say she almost gave a woman a tour of the Manor today but waited because of her premonition and Prue said she should have cancelled her party. The older sisters did talk about what had happened earlier. Prue explained that she had her guard up and just wanted to see what this demon was. She explained that the demon was stronger than she thought.

"He invaded my body before I could leave, I just I don't know how he became so strong."

"I know," Leo said joining them, "He absorbed a lot of Paige's power. It's why he had some much control over her."

"How did he absorb her power?" Piper asked.

"The Elders don't know."

"Does Paige?" Phoebe asked. Leo shook his head.

"She probably passed it off as a headache and fought him the best she could. Paige pushes pain away."

"Yeah, well we knew that," Piper said, "She always has."

"What are we going to do?" Phoebe asked.

"We update the Book," Prue said, "And then we wait for her to return; for her to not be so stubborn."


Paige stumbled into the school her friends greeting her.

"What happened?" Hadley asked seeing tears.

"Fight with Prue. He's gone. I need to lie down, I need to think." After several hours of resting Paige awoke and told her roommates what happened.

"There was something about the Woogyman that you missed," Melanie said handing her the book.

"That's why he was able to possess Prue. He absorbed my powers. I- I didn't even notice. How could I not notice?" she asked.

"I bet you passed it off as a headache," Hadley said, "Your powers were most likely absorbed when we were down there during the quake." Paige sighed knowing she was right.

"There's something else I didn't tell you," she said, "I'm not a Charmed One anymore. I've decided not to return to the Manor."

"But Paige you can't fight destiny," Hadley said.

"No, but I can't deal with my sisters. Prue is being so stubborn right now when it comes to protecting me. After a while I will return home."

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please don't forget to review, I love reading your thoughts on my writing! The next chapter is going to span over a few week period so it will take me a while to write. It is the 50th chapter so it is a milestone for this story! I'll have the chapter done as quickly as I can but I can't make any promises to when it will be out. Anyway, thanks so much for reading and please review!