"Hey, Piper, check it out," Paige said as her oldest sister walked into the kitchen. "Watch this." Paige looked fixedly at Piper's neck, and suddenly Piper's necklace disappeared in a swirl of orbs, reappearing in Paige's outstretched hand.
Piper's eyes widened in surprise. "Paige! That's awesome! You didn't have to call for it!"
Paige beamed. "Just wait -- it gets better." She closed her eyes, a look of determination on her face, hands outstretched. "Phoebe's pen," she whispered. A moment later, blue orbs circled around Paige's hand, clearing to reveal a pen with the words "Ask Phoebe" in gold lettering on the side.
"Hey!" came a yelp from upstairs. "What the --" Phoebe came running down the stairs and into the kitchen, and pointed accusingly at the pen in Paige's hand. "You!" Piper and Paige looked at each other and dissolved into giggles.
"Excuse me, but I'm trying to write a column here. What is going on here?" demanded Phoebe.
"Paige can orb things without calling them and without seeing them, that's what's going on here," Piper explained.
Phoebe's jaw dropped. "You can? Since when?"
"Since today. I've been working on it for a while," Paige said. "After the Crone stole my voice, I realized how vulnerable my power was, so I worked on calling things in my mind, instead of out loud. And I've been trying to orb things I can't see for a long time. Remember when the Muse was here, and I orbed that ring from a drawing?"
Her sisters nodded. "Well, I wondered why I couldn't do that on my own. So I'd been working on it on and off for almost a year, but I didn't really spend serious time on it until the last couple of months. I can't do anything too heavy yet -- I started with a cotton ball and worked my way up to a pair of shoes -- and so far I can only do it when I know where the object is. But I'm still working on it. It doesn't look like I'm getting any new powers any time soon, and I'm guessing my Whitelighter half won't let me have any cool destructive powers like making stuff explode like Piper here does, so I figure I better get the most out of what I've got."
"I am im-pressed, Paige," Piper said, and Paige basked in the approval.
"Sweetie, that's great," Phoebe agreed. "Very, very cool. But I do have a column to write, so could I have my pen back, please?" Paige handed it over with a smile.
* * *
Piper entered her bedroom and saw Andy, Prue's late ex-boyfriend and Wyatt's whitelighter, standing across the room from the baby's crib. "Hi, Andy," she said. He seemed not to hear her, as his attention was focused on Wyatt. Suddenly, Wyatt's energy shield flared up. Piper gasped, looking around in alarm.
"Good job!" Andy said. "Sorry, Piper, we were working."
"You were -- what? What's going on? Why is his shield up? Who's here?"
"Relax," Andy said, crossing the room to calm Piper as Wyatt's shield receded. "Nobody's here, nothing's wrong. Wyatt knows to put up his shield when somebody says there's danger. I'm training him to put it up if I send him the thought that danger is nearby. Whitelighters are very empathetic, that's how they tune into their charges. That kind of empathy is pretty close to telepathy, so this is the next logical step. This way, even if it's dangerous to talk -- or if I'm somehow not with him -- I can send him a thought to make him put up the shield."
"Wow," Piper marveled. "Can only a Whitelighter send him that kind of warning?"
"Phoebe should be able to send him a premonition of danger. And you have the closest bond to him, being his mother, so you should be able to as well. And Paige, Leo, and I have all got the Whitelighter thing. So any one of us should be able to warn him if it's necessary."
"Well, you are just the best-protectedest little thing there ever was, aren't you," Piper cooed, lifting her son up from him crib. He smiled happily at her, waving his arms.
Twinkling orbs announced Leo's entrance into the room. "Piper," he said in a worried voice.
Andy looked startled as he turned toward Leo. Wordless communication passed between the two Whitelighters, and the look on Andy's face turned to horror. "Oh, no."
Leo swallowed hard and nodded. "Book of Shadows. There isn't much time."
"There never is," Piper sighed. "Paige! Phoebe! Attic!"