Paige was struck by panic, shock, anger, and anxiety all at once, and her face contorted into a grimace. She was frozen, as if affected by Piper's freezing power. "H…How? Why?"
The face in front of her leered, its icy blue eyes glinting in the room. "Surprised to see me, Miss Halliwell?" The voice wafted through the room lazily, clearly amused at the bewilderment of the Charmed One. "Surprised to see old Regina ?"
"B…But why?" Paige stammered, shocked at the betrayal of her fellow teacher, "Why?"
Regina's eyes grew and her blue eyes suddenly turned into crimson red, staring at Paige with anger and hatred. "Why?" Regina repeated, rage creeping into her voice. "Why? Because you stole my job from me, witch! You-stole-my-job-from-me!"
Paige stared at the enraged witch in front of her, confusion in her eyes. "I…I… what?"
Regina slowly stood up and turned her back from Paige, pacing toward the pentagram of flames. "Don't play coy with me, you opportunistic little witch," her voice boomed inside the room, dripping with detest and malice. "Don't pretend you don't know." As she spoke, the flames from the torches grew larger, reaching toward the ceiling. "Ever since that old Gideon 'resigned', I knew that I was going to be the new Headmistress of this school- the new leader of the next generation of Magic. Imagine, hundreds of magical children under my rule, under my control."
Regina stopped, and turned sharply to face Paige, her finger extended, pointing angrily at Paige. Her eyes glared, burning with hatred and rage. "But you," her finger shaking, "had to come along and ruin everything- ruin everything I've waited so long to attain." Her fingers sprang from her hand, and she slapped Paige with the force of a brick wall.
"Ah," Paige recoiled as Regina's hand connected with her face.
"All those months of being under the wing of that imbecile, Gideon," she muttered disgustedly. "'Regina, do this. Regina, do that.'," she said. "I've been the perfect little assistant, doing everything that Gideon ordered. I was a servant, more than anything else; a puppet being twirled around by the biggest idiot the magical world has ever known. But guess what? Regina grew tired. I knew that I had to take things into my own hands. I knew that Gideon's golden rule should be replaced. And who better to replace that imbecile, than me- Regina Forlanee."
"I did a good job with it, too. No one suspected a thing. No one knew that I was the reason behind everything, I was the reason for the downfall of the mighty Gideon," she whispered, her eyes staring back into the past and into what had happened. She stood up and walked back into the center of the pentagram, and sat inside it. Her entire body was bathed in an orange glow, shadows playing around her.
Paige looked at her blankly, her face still red. "What? What do you mean?"
Regina's gaze returned back to Paige, a look of amusement in her eyes. "Of course," she laughed, "You wouldn't know. None of you do. Well then, let me tell you, witch. Let me tell you the grand plan that only the great Regina could have hatched."
Her eyes glinted, and she continued, "I was the one who told Gideon to get rid of the Twice-Blessed Child. I was the one who told him to destroy the one thing that could threaten both sides of magic- the child of the Charmed One and the Elder." She paused, a satisfied smile on her face as she saw confusion in Paige's face. "Dear old Regina."
"It was… you?" a faint voice murmured in the distance, shaky and weak. "You… You endangered my… son, you s…sick devil."
"So," Regina turned her head towards the faint voice, "the Whitelighter finally found the strength to speak. Yes, me. It was I who planned the destruction of your beloved mentor and your first-born child. Me." Her eyes glared at Leo and Paige angrily, "And I would have been successful, too, if it weren't for your meddling wife and her sisters. Despicable witches, you disgust me."
"Heh," Paige smirked, "That's right, Regina. While I'm still around, you won't succeed."
Regina paused for a while, and seemed to be struck by what Paige had said. Then, to Paige's surprise, Regina laughed- a long, maniacal, and triumphant laugh. She looked around the room, then laughed again. "How are you going to stop me, witch? Look at you, Paige, you can't even free yourself! Your powers are useless here. By the looks of it, I've already succeeded."
Paige felt defeated. For the first time in her life, she was powerless. Then, hope shone in her eyes, and she defiantly glared at her captor. "My sisters… my sisters will save me, and we… we'll vanquish your sorry ass."
Another laugh echoed throughout the little room. "Ah. The legendary sisters- the Charmed Ones. But where are they, Paige? Where are your sisters to come and rescue you? Stuck at home, sniveling over the little…little brat, protecting him from the demons that I've sent their way."
Something clicked inside Paige's mind. "It was you, wasn't it? You were the one who sent the Witch Hunter to the manor, and all those demons!"
"Not only demons, Paige," Regina laughed, "but this." She waved her hand in front of her face, and it changed suddenly into Melissa, the new Whitelighter. Regina stared in amusement at the shock on Paige's face. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Y…You," Paige whispered, connecting the dots, "you? But then… You were the one who sent Leo here, weren't you? You needed him out of the way to get to my sisters! You…you…you're a shape-shifter!"
"Ah, but aren't you the brilliant one? Finally figured it out, eh?" Regina leered. She waved her hand once more, and she changed into another form, one that Paige knew all too well- Clyde. "It was so easy to get to you, Miss Halliwell," the Clyde-form said in its pre-adolescent voice, "so trusting and nurturing. Didn't even think that someone as harmless as me would pose a threat to you. Want another apple, Snow White?"
Right then and there, Paige was struck heavily with a harsh revelation. All those dizzy and fainting spells that she had been getting weren't the results of stress- they were the results of Poison Magick. Her stomach turned in disgust.
Regina waved her hand once more and shape-shifted into yet another form that Paige recognized, the Clyde-form disappearing. "G' afternoon there, miss. Reckless young 'uns running along." The husky voice sent shivers down Paige's spine. It was the new Groundskeeper. "The nosy Groundskeeper saw me change my form, couldn't have him rattin' out on me, now could I, miss? Naw, I couldn't take that risk. No sir, no how." The Groundskeeper-form flashed a toothless grin at Paige.
"But…" Paige began, her head spinning from the new revelation, "But, I was with Clyde when I saw you… How? Unless…"
"Ah, yes," the Groundskeeper smiled once more, "the pieces are starting to fit, ey? I can create clones, too. Shape-shiftin' ain't all I got, miss." The Groundskeeper-form burst into a fit of cackling laughter.
The Groundskeeper-form withdrew once more, and Regina returned to her true form. "And now, to finish what I've started. To destroy you and your sisters. This school will soon be mine, Paige, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. Nothing."
Nothing…
Nothing…
Nothing…
Regina's voice echoed inside Paige's mind. No, she thought, no! Piper, Phoebe, where are you?