Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. Only Nem. And the Geps. R.I.P. Aaron Spelling.

Chapter Duo: And There Was Silence

As the students settled into their seats, the staff made their way to the front of the room. Coming through the doors to the right was Paige followed closely by a grimacing Piper, who was shortly followed herself by a large group of hooded Elders that quickly made their way in front of the slightly perturbed-looking youngest sister to the front of the line. After the Elders, a clan of dwarves (preceding a few leprechauns) took their seats to the left of an empty chair beside Piper. Quickly forgotten was this procession, due to the arrival of a young male and a rather large number of suited men with earpieces.

Silence prevailed.

Brenna dropped the apple that she had absently been gnawing on. "No …wait, yeah. Can't, no touch, on list …" At this point, her mind shut down in its entirety and Brenna was left to her own decisions- which she made, of course, with no thought. It seemed she was not alone in her choice, as nearly every other college age woman in the room pushed away their chairs and prepared to stampede the resurrected Halliwell. However, as the hoard advanced, they came to notice that they were being met with no resistance. This changed as the one thing they hadn't noticed happened. The guards had each reached into their jackets and withdrawn white crystals, which they placed simultaneously in a circle around their charge and themselves.

As the magical barrier forced the fans out of their momentum and onto the floor (often several meters from where they had stopped), Leo appeared with the assistant headmistress by his side. They quietly slid into their respective chairs and waited for the commotion to subside. Piper leaned to the side,

"Where's Phoebe?"

Leo took a breath, "Ah- I found her …"

"Well, who worked the mermaid spell then?"

He looked guilty. "Paige …But don't worry, she just needed some more …time." At the conclusion of the whitelighter's sentence, the last component of the Power of Three crept into the room and over to her seat. Adjusting her glasses and smoothing out her pants, she settled in beside Paige.

"Where have you been?" she whispered huffily. A malicious smile spread on Phoebe's face.

"Oh- just- straightening things out." She twittered. Piper moved slightly out of her seat and swatted at her sisters to stand up. Flicking her hair off her shoulder, the eldest Halliwell composed herself.

"Hello," she began as the last of the stunned students resumed their seats. Looking somewhat forlorn, they paid reluctant attention to the speaker. "Yes. Well- now that we've collected ourselves, it's time to lay out the rulebook." She grinned. Nem shifted in her chair. "As students in this institution, our institution, you are here to learn-and retain …" Piper lingered on the last word. "…the information you are instructed upon."

"Namely the correct use of yours truly." Paige put in. Phoebe tilted her head towards her sister.

"Yours-es."

"Ah-huh." Piper twitched her head.

"Your course selections and schedule are in front of you." Leo said.

"Mm …yes!" Phoebe piped up. "No need to worry about your classes."

"'Cause we already picked them for you." Paige finished deviously, narrowing her eyes.

Brenna looked down at the paper in front of her. Ignoring the fact that it had not been there when she had sat down, she glanced at her list of classes. Rose leaned over to see Brenna's schedule.

"I have… Literary … Ignorance 101?" Brenna asked in disbelief. " And- 202 next." She looked up in exasperation. "What?"

"Some of these classes might not be to you liking," Phoebe continued, "But they do fit your needs."

"Which would be our needs." Said Paige.

"We need you to fully understand our …universe- before you can write about it ….responsibly." Finished Leo.

"And without incest." Phoebe pointed out bluntly.

And there was silence.

While the room paused to briefly reflect upon this statement, Nem leaned over on her side of the staff table and softly clapped.

Brenna forced a glance back down to her schedule. She ran her finger down the list, vaguely paying attention to 'R.E.A.L. Incantations', 'Magical Beings and You', 'Mermaid or Not: An introductory course to distinguishing similar mythical figures and their traits', 'Family Relations '97-: The Halliwell family tree', 'Demons and Divas 202', and 'Past Lives, People, Places and Oregano' an in-depth study of the kitchen smarts of time travel. She stopped at the very end of the list at a class labeled 'To Be, or Not to Be: The former Source speaks out from beyond the grave'.

"Only the first semester and they're trying to kill us." Said Rose. "I've heard of this before. Hallucinations lashing out after ignoring them for awhile." Brenna looked at her friend.

"You've had them before?" she asked uncertainly, "When?"

"Oh, around." She said nonchalantly. "Like when I wrote this one fanfic about Cole coming back. 'Said I shouldn't mess with someone else's relationship. That time an Elder visited my dorm."

"You do know that this isn't a hallucination, right."

"Oh! Damn."

"Why?" Brenna was unsure if she even wanted to know.

"Ah …nothing. I'm just gonna go back to my room. Ha-ha. Number's on the sheet." She walked off, gathering speed as she ducked behind the backs of students eating their dinner. The speeches had finished by now, Brenna guessed. Sure that she would regret missing that last part of the introduction, she turned back to a plate of chicken that materialized in front of her.

"Funny- that's exactly what I wanted."

The green- eyed cat stared up at Phoebe longingly. She bent down and stroked it some. Soon, though, the petting had gotten out of control, and the witch was standing snuggling it under her chin—

"Gep-py poo!" She cooed. The Persian purred happily as the air was loved out of its lungs.

"PHOEBE!" Paige shouted, coming into the hallway. She shuffled as fast as she could across the room to her sister in her slippers. It was dawn and the gloom of the morning's cloud cover hadn't vanished yet. The young woman pulled the cat from Phoebe's arms as she struggled to hold on. "Ugh."

Paige held the cat protectively away from her sister. "Ah-uh-uh." She put both hands beneath her face and gave a forlorn look.

"Ohhh."

"No." Paige shot back shortly. "Phoebe—this is …"

"A Gep."

"Correct. Good job. And though irresistible to normal students, you as a witch and facilitator of these hallowed halls cannot give in to its abilities."

"Oh, but it's so cute …"

"Yes, but its cuddly capabilities' sole purpose is to charm the wits out of nasty, nasty children." The witch snapped out of her stupor as a lone student made her way down the hall. "Go get 'em." Paige urged. The cat pounced expectantly after its prey.

"Ah …Page, she's a crafty one."

"How many do we have, now?"

"About ten …trust me, there'll be more." Paige was, of course, referring to the many Geps (Green- eyed Persians, the incorrect form of Kit. There were also Beps- Blue- eyed Persians, yet the wrong spelling and or color- and Breps –Brown- eyed versions of Beps) inhabiting the school: Page, Payge, Paig, Pag, Pheobe, Phebe, Pheby, Fhoebe, Fheobe, and Pipper. These were not 'mini', but were entirely new creations, stemming from authors' versions of the sisters' pet cat, Kit. Their sole purpose, as Paige had mentioned, was to completely charm unknowing students for their own, devious uses. They might also charm the staff, but only in a loving, brainwashing, 'Get- Me- Some- Purina Cat Chow' kind of way.

The university was at it's most active in the early morning hours. This was because the students, still adjusting to the time difference (Pacific Standard), were almost completely inactive. The staff took this time to work for their advantage, checking security precautions, locked doors, dormitories, and supply closets.

The average supply closet was stocked not only with the usual magical implements, but with many of Darrel's security devices. Although non-magical, these were formidable. He had already caught Sapphy Sapphire, whose name's originality was admired by all, trying to break into—of all places—the (former) Source's bedcave. The device was, of course, backed up some by magical means, and Sapphy left the nurses' office with not only an electrical burn, but a few quartz chards in significant places as well.

The smarter pupils, of which there were some, had naturally tried to search for the obvious places, and had found just general locked doors in their way. Thinking that Chris's room was only padlocked due to the lax security of the first night in school, the girls of the group quickly picked the lock and were automatically met with a firewall.

They realized immediately that they were facing a more clever foe than previously thought.

Brenna awakened in dormitory 703, the digital clock blinking 9:50 at her from the bedside table. She sat up in the bed, believing for a brief, happy moment that she was back in New England after one of the weirdest, Tylenol- induced hallucinations known to man. But the mermaid tail seen flapping through a crack in the bathroom door told otherwise.

Brenna got up and walked over to the dressing table on her side of the room. Scrunching her curly brown hair in one hand, she leaned back and opened the shutters of the nearby window. A great expanse of green lawn stared back at her, the green dragon situated on it staring back as well. A faerie flitted past the glass at random.

It might be nice here. Dragons, faeries, sunlight. It could be good. I have the feeling that it wouldn't be good to be late for anything that Phoebe teaches, though. Touchy, touchy witch, that one. Maybe I should catch up on some shows- borrow someone's DVDs. Gonna have tuh' get them illegally, though.

After choosing some green number and a pair of oddly stylish (she thought so- never too early to impress Christopher, being the same age and all) blue jeans, she grabbed her room key and schedule, and headed out into the bustling atmosphere of OUCF. It seemed that she and the other students were all set to attend an orientation that morning at 10 o'clock.

Presenters: Assistant Headmistress Miss Nemue Corcoran

Miss Phoebe Halliwell

Miss Paige Matthews Featured

Ms. Piper Halliwell Featured

she read,

Directionary Instruction on University Life and Survival

Seeing a gradual stream of fellow students going to an outer venue, Brenna followed. A large, stage-like platform had been erected overnight to accommodate the women, all of whom were pacing to and fro in the center awaiting the arrival of their many charges. She picked out Miss Nem, clad today in a white version of last night's outfit. Nem looked frazzled. Her short, hazelnut hair was whipped clumsily into a claw-clip the size of what Brenna deemed Nebraska.

Time difference wasn't just for students, Brenna thought. The sisters seemed more pulled together, though they seemed to all be in some variation of the same sweat suit. Brenna settled into a lawn chair next to an oversized faerie with sparkly gold wings. As the whole of the student body finished moving into either of the two groups of chairs set up, the speakers stopped their nervousness and came to the front of the stage.

Up on the stage, however, nervousness was not the problem. A lack of organization was.

Nem thought vaguely of her cozy apartment sitting empty back east. She cursed San Francisco.

The murmuring of the student body continued. Phoebe stepped forward, her hands clasped behind her back. "Students?"

There was silence. It seemed the rest of the pupils had the same view of messing with Phoebe that Brenna had.

"Thank-you. Now—today is your official orientation to our little educational facility. Though I myself did not favor this type of situation when I was in your place, now that I have survived along with my sister, here," Paige waved. "—I know the possibilities that come with …mentoring … a class."

The students' eyes grew wide. Possibilities? They shivered in their lawn chairs.

"To begin with, we realize that we cannot keep you from using magic on each other. However, I will add that if you do, you will have detention. Just like high school."

Piper stepped forward. "And if you attempt to use any magic whatsoever on us, you will get detention. Just like high school."

Paige came close to the edge of the stage. "Plus, if you try to use any magic outside of the school, you will have detention. Just like high school." Cole spoke up from his position at the back of the stage.

"And if any of you try to "romance" any one of us for your own purposes, magic or otherwise, you will punished in whichever way the dungeon wizard sees fit according to our suggestions…just like in high school."

"Okay-thank-you." Said Phoebe. "Now that the basics are covered—relatively speaking—we're going to split you into your respective sub-species, so that you can get used to your specific set of abilities.

"Now, witches over here; demons over here, way over here, thank-you; whitelighters here; magical creatures here; and witch/whitelighters over here. Now, get used to each other." Cheerfully, or at least with a smile, she jumped off the platform and went to her group of students.

The students hesitated—yet only briefly, for they feared what had been foreshadowed would come to pass. Uncommonly perceptive for their kind, they were justified.