Author's note: Sorry that I forgot to write this in the first chapter, but I would like everyone to know that I do not own Charmed, nor am I associated with any of the actors or producers. Also, sorry if I messed up on the orbing part later in this story, I just need the story to go this way.
Paige vs. Prue
"Erm, yes, I am Paige Matthews." Paige said into the telephone receiver. "No, I do not wish to access my own criminal records. No, I do not even have any criminal records, or at least I don't think I do. NO! I SAID I DIDN'T WANT TO! My God, I only want to know if I can book an appointment. Yes? Saturday? Uh, could it be more like today or tomorrow? Okay, sounds great. Yeah, thanks. G'bye."
Paige hung up the telephone. "Drat." she muttered. She was going to access her records so that she could prove to Prue, Piper, and Phoebe that she was really their sister. The secretary at the town hall wanted to access her criminal records for some stupid reason, and wouldn't give her an appointment until tomorrow. That was alright, except that she didn't have a place to stay. She could check into a hotel...but then that would cost a lot, especially because it was tourist season in San Fransisco.
"Okay, Paige, think logically. Maybe you just can't do orbing because you're having some kind of anxiety attack." Paige said to herself, shutting her eyes. She opened her eyes and was still there. "Okay, a spell." Paige tried to remember a good spell, but all that came to her was the one she tried on her friend the day Piper became a fury. Still, it would show if she had powers or not. She took out a mirror and focused on a zit at the tip of her nose. She whispered, "Let the object of objection become but a dream, as I cause the seen to be unseen." Nothing happened. She looked the exact same. She felt the exact same. Not even the tingling rush of magic. She knew the awful truth. She wasn't Paige the witch anymore. She was just normal Paige.
"Prue, don't go calling on demons today." Phoebe said at breakfast that morning.
"Why not? Why shouldn't I?" Prue asked. "Why, did you have a premonition?"
"Mmm. No, it was kind of a dream." Phoebe said.
"Kind of a dream. You mean a premonition dream?" Prue wondered.
"No. It was like a memory dream." Phoebe said. "Only it couldn't be. Because you're alive."
"What happened in it?" Prue asked. At that moment Piper walked in, curling her hair with a curling iron.
"This demon called Shax threw you out one of our windows." Phoebe said. "He threw out Piper too. Then I came back up from the underworld, I was down there with Cole for some reason, and I called Leo. Leo healed Piper, but he couldn't heal you. You died. Prue, swear to me that you'll be really, really careful and not go after Shax or something."
"Shax. That's the demon that killed Prue!" Piper said. Then she blinked her eyes five times in a row and continued getting out ingredients for waffles as if nothing had happened.
"What did you just say, Piper?" Phoebe asked.
"I didn't say anything." Piper said, truthfully. Well, almost truthfully. She wasn't aware that she had said anything.
"Oh, yeah, we vanquished Shax with Paige, remember?" Phoebe suddenly said. Then she did the same blinking thing that Piper did and got back to reading the newspaper.
"Who is Paige?" Prue asked. "Since when did I die? When the heck is going on here?"
"I didn't say anything." Phoebe said, same as Piper, not knowing that she had.
Paige took her ear away from the hole under the kitchen window and crept over to where the ladder was. She extended it and climbed up to the attic window. She started to open it when it screeched with a low –whuuuummmm- sound. Paige flinched, but nobody seemed to have noticed. She continued to open it, slower this time. Suddenly the ladder slipped out from under her and before she knew what she was doing she was in the attic, twelve feet away from the window. The ladder made a loud CRASH!
"Why did I orb now instead of when Prue used her power on me?" Paige wondered. Then she remembered some things that her sisters had said before.
"Of course we couldn't freeze her. She's still a good witch, even if she is corrupted by evil." Piper had said once about Phoebe. Paige was no longer a witch, so of course Prue's power worked on her.
Phoebe had once said to Paige when all of them once got their powers taken away, "Well, your orbing objects to you is the witch part of your power. Orbing altogether is your whitelighter part."
No wonder she could orb now and not then. She was still half-whitelighter. But now she was half-whitelighter, half-mortal. Paige went for the Book of Shadows. It jumped away from her. It didn't recognize her anymore.
"Great." Paige muttered. "Really great."
Just then she heard Prue, Piper, and Phoebe coming. They opened the door and looked in. Paige orbed away just in time that they couldn't see who she was.
"Leo?" Piper asked, looking at the orb trail.