Disclaimer: I am using actual lines from the series premiere episode of Charmed in this chapter. I do not own Charmed, nor do I own the script. I just wanted it to be more accurate.

The Dreams of Paige Matthews

The Power of Four

Paige found herself in the living room of the Manor. It was completely different than what she was used to. She walked over to the mirror on the wall. She looked just as she did seven years before. Paige saw a flash of light outside the window. It was raining as well. Crash! There was a boom of thunder. The lights flickered

Paige heard footsteps and saw a younger version of Piper come down the stairs. Without thinking Paige said, "Piper, you look so much younger!"

"Really, I do? It must be that new moisturizer I picked up. It's working wonders on my skin. Do you think I'll be carded at the movie theater now?" Piper replied.

Paige took a few seconds to process what she had just heard. "Wait, you know me?"

"Of course I know you, you're my sister. We share the same genes. Paige are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah." Paige's spell hadn't gone the way she'd imagined. She didn't think the sisters would know her in this dream. Apparently in this reality Paige had grown up with them. That meant that she never got adopted and she wasn't Paige Matthews. She was Paige Halliwell. That meant the sisters knew about her real father Sam. Although they probably didn't know he was a whitelighter. If she had phrased the spell correctly she would have arrived before they all got their powers and they wouldn't even know what a whitelighter was. The dream felt so real. She touched the mirror. It felt cold. All of her senses had been put in the dream.

"Prue is going to be home from the museum soon. Phoebe is coming home from New York to live here again. I need you to keep your mouth shut because I am going to try and squeeze it into the conversation. Prue wants to do something with the room, but it's Phoebe's room. Can you promise me, you won't say anything?"

"Sure Piper, but I don't think that saying anything is going to change the situation in any way."

"Oh that reminds me, I have to call up Jeremy and change our dinner date to Saturday instead of tomorrow."

The name Jeremy struck a soft spot in Paige's memory. Phoebe had once told her that Piper was engaged to a guy named Jeremy until they found out he was a warlock. He was the first demon they ever vanquished and they did it with the power of three spell. However, that spell wouldn't work with four of them. They would have to come up with a different spell to vanquish him in this reality.

Piper was heading for the phone. "Piper I don't think you should be seeing Jeremy," Paige blurted out.

"Where is this coming from? You never had a problem with him before."

"I—I." Paige thought for a moment. If she was going to get everything she wanted out of this experience she had to play along as if she was the Paige from this reality. That meant not spilling the beans about being witches. That would come up soon anyway. If she was really in complete control of this dream as she had dictated in the spell she should be able to do anything she wanted in it, but that wouldn't necessarily get her what she wanted. "I just don't think he's the right guy for you. You could do so much better."

"That sweet Paige but I think I can pick my own boyfriends."

The front door opened and Prue stepped inside. Paige recognized her from the pictures all over the Manor.

"Prue?" Paige stood there staring at her. For the first time she was standing in front of Prue, not a photograph of her long-gone existence. Paige knew it wasn't real, but it was as close to the real Prue as she was ever going to get.

"Paige, why are you staring at me like you haven't seen me for twenty years?"

"More like never," Paige mumbled to herself.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. I'm just so glad to see you made it home safely. It looks dangerous out there."

"Okay. Whatever." Prue turned to Piper. "I was thinking that we could rent out that extra room in exchange for help around the house."

"Or we could let Phoebe have it," said Piper.

"Phoebe lives in New York."

"Not anymore. She left New York and she's moving back in with us."

"What!" She turned to Paige. "Did you know about this?"

"Don't look at me. I'm as shocked as you are," Paige lied.

"Traitor," Piper said just loud enough for Paige to hear. Piper turned back to Prue. "It's her house too. Grams willed it to all of us."

"How long have you known about this?"

"A couple of days. Maybe a week—or two."

"I don't believe this. When will she arrive?"

They heard a knock on the door.

"I'd say right about now," Paige said.

Prue opened the door to reveal a young drenched Phoebe.

"Hi everyone," Phoebe greeted them.

After a long greeting and argument about Phoebe staying at the Manor, Paige was getting bored. "Can't this dream fast forward or something?" As if she commanded it, time began to accelerate around her. After a few moments of watching everything zoom by, Paige saw Phoebe take what looked to be a spirit board out of the closet. She placed it on the table. "Freeze. Play. Resume." Paige's third try returned her to normal time. She walked over to the table Phoebe was sitting at. Phoebe had her hands on the pointer. The pointer moved to "A."

"Prue! Piper! Get in here!" Phoebe yelled.

The two of them came rushing in from the kitchen.

"Phoebe, what is it?"

"The pointer on the spirit board, it moved on its own. You saw it didn't you Paige?"

"It looked like you pushed it," Paige replied.

"You used to always push the pointer," said Prue. She turned away from Phoebe.

The pointer moved to "T" and then "T" again. Then Phoebe took her hands off the pointer and it continued to move to "I" and "C."

"Tell me you guys did not see that." Phoebe wrote the spirit board's message on a piece of paper and held it up for them all to see. "Attic."

So Paige and Phoebe went upstairs to the attic door while Prue and Piper stayed downstairs complaining that it was impossible to open the attic door. At the top of the stairs, Phoebe reached out her hand to open the door, but it opened by itself. A light shone over a dusty crate in the middle of the room. Phoebe and Paige went over to it and opened it up. Inside under all the dust was what Paige knew to be the Book of Shadows. Phoebe blew the dust off of it to reveal the triquatra, the wiccan symbol of the Warren family line. She opened the book and read the incantation on the first page.

Hear now the words of the witches
The secrets we hid in the night
The oldest of Gods are invoked here
The great work of Magic is sought
In this time and in this hour
We call upon the ancient power
Bring your powers to we sisters four
We want the power.
Give us the power

It was slightly different than Paige remembered seeing it. It had to be different to factor in the four of them. After Phoebe finished the incantation, the house began to glow blue. As quickly as it came the glow disappeared. Prue and Piper came running up the stairs and looked inside the attic.

"What happened?" Piper asked them.

"The power of four," Paige replied.