Author's Note – I got three more reviews! Thank you so much scrawn, moonfirefairy, and Laurie Lu. Your encouragement means a lot me.
This is the longest and most violent chapter I have written. So beware.
Chapter 7. – A Funeral For Paige
Benny's Report, Day 98
Benny looked unhappily around in the small room they called "Headquarter". His junior agent Agneta had decorated it with idiotic Christmas decorations of all kinds. She had quite frankly gone overboard with the whole thing.He didn't know what to do with her; Agneta wasn't cut out to be an agent at all. She just didn't take the job seriously enough - most of her time she was either flirting with his junior agent, Björn, or decorating the sewers.
Benny didn't like working with Kalla Bong women; he was just too old fashioned for that. Ever since The Frozen Yogurt Crisis the Kalla Bong society had changed radically (some even call The Frozen Yogurt Crisis a revolution, but I wouldn't go that far) and old souls like Benny had a hard time adapting to the new order of things.
Benny took the little mug of eggnog and sipped it with a grimace. Well, he could always comfort himself with the fact that the Halliwell sisters had as miserable Christmas as himself.
Piper sighed while she was putting the last leftovers from Christmas in the garbage bin. This Christmas must have been the shittiest one since Grams had died.
Piper couldn't decide which was worst:
- The fact that Leo never showed up
- Her dad giving them a call from Hawaii where he stayed with his secretary (who was barely of legal age), apologizing for forgetting to inform them that he wasn't showing up this year
- When they had to go to the hospital because Chris ate up his new crayons (they weren't toxic thank God!)
- Phoebe showing up for a fraction of a second together with her greasy boyfriend
- Phoebe and boyfriend being drunk and making out in front everybody during the Christmas dinner
- When Wyatt threw up under the Christmas tree
- Having to book an awful Eurotrash DJ for New Years Eve at P3, instead of Scissor Sisters who couldn't come
- Paige going around looking miserable
- The terrible news that a huge wave had killed maybe hundred of thousands of people in Asia on Boxing Day
Thankfully they had a couple of days without demon attacks. Piper didn't know if it was a good sign or a bad sign. As she contemplated the whole Christmas fiasco there was suddenly an electrical charge in the air behind her. She turned around with raised hands, ready to explode any kind of intruder.
"Whoa!" The last glowing orbs around Leo slowly faded away. He held his arms as to shield himself from Piper's explosive powers.
Piper stopped herself in the nick of time and looked angrily at her husband. "Leo! What did I tell you about orbing in behind me!"
"Sorry, I forgot." He gave her an embarrassed smile.
"What do you want?" Piper was all business. She was not happy with him for being absent during the holidays.
"Is it a bad time? I just wanted to see my sons… and you." He looked at her and she almost melted. Almost.
"Now? It's half past ten Leo! They are asleep. Both Wyatt and Chris would be delighted if you visited them when they are awake. Wyatt have been asking for you, you know."
"He has?" Leo's face brightened up in a warm and proud smile. Piper could see his eyes getting shiny and it broke her heart.
"I want my kids to have a father, Leo. Would it be too much to ask for you to spend more time with them?"
"There is nothing I want more in the world than to be with them. But you know that I have to get to the bottom of this conspiracy against our family, to keep you safe. So… how are you doing? Is The Ripper Demon Family still bothering you?" Piper noticed that Leo looked very tired, as if he hadn't slept in days.
"No demon in the last five days, which is a new record."
"That's good! I hope you forgive me for showing up so short like this Piper. I just wanted to see you before I… I continue… " He sounded like he was going into war, like he was going to embark on something very dangerous. He looked her in the eyes and tried to explain: "I must do this. It isn't fair to us, our family, to Paige… we shouldn't live in this kind of uncertainty."
"Sure." Piper swallowed her own bitterness and gave him a little smile as she watched him go in a rain of glittering orbs.
"Was that Leo?" Paige walked into the room. Piper turned to her as she quickly dried away her tears.
"Yes."
"Did he say anything about… how things are going? About… you know… " Paige didn't know how to put it because she and her sisters never talked about the possibility of her not being their sister.
"No." Piper shrugged and looked at her half sister rather coldly. Paige was as much of a victim as all of them but Piper couldn't help but to blame her a little bit. Because of her 'sister', her kids would miss out on their father in their most formative years.
"Ok." Paige sounded a little bit disappointed but not really surprised.
"I have to check out the new 'DJ' for New Years Eve at P3. Keep the kids safe while I'm gone, ok? If there's any hint of trouble, just call me." Piper was out of the door before Paige could answer.Ok, that was an utter lie; Piper wasn't going to her club at all. She was going to the post office to pick up a package.
Paige walked aimlessly around in the house after Piper's departure. She tried to research a potion but gave up after an hour. The nightmares were still haunting her every night and the lack of sleep made her unfocused and clumsy.
The Christmas had been pure hell. Leo's absence wasn't good for Piper; she became almost insufferable to live with. Usually Paige found her oldest sister's quirky grumpiness endearing – it was a big part of Piper's charm, but lately Piper's moodiness was getting on Paige's nerves. The only time Paige saw her sister smile was when she was about to visit her friend Esmeralda.
Because of all the demon attacks Piper was more paranoid and demanding than ever. Paige tried to help as much as she could but she was starting to feel trapped. It was almost impossible to get out of the house without Piper exploding and laying on such a guilt trip that Paige always ended up staying at home to guard the boys with her sister.Phoebe on the other hand had showed up only for dinner on Christmas Day, with her new boy toy. She got drunk and started macking on him in front of everyone (including her two nephews, who we must hope were two small to be traumatized by this terrible display). Christmas just couldn't get worse.
When the phone rang, Paige realized that Christmas actually could get much, much worse. It was her uncle Dave on the other end of the phone. He had called to tell her that his wife Julie, her favorite aunt, had died from a stroke during an operation. Paige couldn't really remember much else from her conversation with her uncle. When they hung up she sat down, feeling numb and unreal. Dave and Julie had in many ways been her substitute family after her parent's death. Aunt Julie had been ill for over a decade, but because of her sunny and brave personality her death still came as a big shock. Paige zoned out for a couple of minutes, trying to understand that her beloved aunt wasn't out there with the rest of the living on this planet anymore… Maybe that's why the demons were able to get so close to Paige without her noticing. Suddenly she felt herself being lifted from the ground by two pair of big hairy hands. Three demons were staring at her with malice in their eyes.
"Tell us where the kids are bitch! Tell us or we will tear you apart!"
Paige's blood froze. She orbed out of the demon's hands to the nursery. A demon was already there, trying to pick up the boys without waking them. Paige smashed a vase into his head and the demon went out like a light. She quickly picked up Chris and Wyatt and tried to orb out of the house, to safety, only to be met by an invisible wall. Paige made another attempt, and another one but the wall was impenetrable. She called for Leo, Piper and Phoebe all the while she was orbing around the house to find some kind of door or a hole in the invisible wall. She even called for Grams but to no avail. No one came and she was unable to escape with the boys. Whatever the demons had done it was effective.
Out of breath by orbing around the house like a crazy tennis ball, Paige finally orbed to the attic. There she conjured a portable room that she had been working on and put the boys in there before she locked the door to the room and swallowed the key. Swallowing the key made the door invisible - that was something of an emergency solution but Paige was still working out the kinks of how to hide the portable room. She also had intended to decorate it a little bit more before the boys moved in. Well, at least she had made the key taste like licorice to be able to swallow it easier.
She heard the demons arguing downstairs and decided to orb down there to spy on them and if necessary, draw their attention away from the attic. When she started to orb the strangest thing happened – she was sucked out of her orb and appeared in front of two of the demons in the living room. It was a painful and dizzying experience. Paige felt as if she had been turned inside out, she was gasping for air and her skin was itching and burning. What had just happened?
"NOW, it works! I told you guys that I could make it work!" It was the second largest of the demons that spoke. In his hand he held something that looked like an amethyst. The stone had a dark lilac color, almost black, and it shone with a cold light from deep inside.
"Too late you idiot! She probably already hid the boys from us by now. Argamel if you just had gotten that crystal working sooner we could be on our way home now, with the brats." The other, much smaller demon looked angrily at the demon called Argamel. The smaller demon was not as muscular as the other demons - he was thin with long arms, instead of fingers he had razor sharp claws.
"Ok ok, you're always complaining. I still got the crystal to put a Wertobian Force Field around the house, didn't I?"
The biggest of the demons came into the room carrying the demon Paige had knocked out, over the shoulder. "I couldn't find the kids upstairs. Bax was out cold in the nursery." He dumped the unconscious demon on the floor beside Paige and turned to her with fury written in his face. "What did you do to him bitch? What did you do to my brother!"
He picked up Paige from the floor and hit her hard with the back of his hand. The blow split her upper lip wide open and sent her into the opposite wall. Paige panicked and tried to orb away from the brutal demons but once again she felt herself get sucked back by the mysterious crystal. She emerged by the feet of her attackers, out of breath and her skin like it was on fire. Paige felt the blood flowing down from her split lip and nose. Damn! She just bought that blouse and now it would be ruined thanks to these guys. Paige almost started to laugh, she was about to die and all she could think of was a stupid blouse.
"What are you smiling for cunt? I'll give you something to smile about!" The bigger demon lifted her up again and looked her in the eyes. "I will tear your limbs from your body, little girl!"
When Paige didn't answer him, he punched her so hard she flew out of the room, into the hall. The other demons cheered him on. Paige stood up with wobbly legs and made a big show of looking as hurt and defeated as possible. Suddenly, with speed that amazed even her, she dived into the demons - tackling them like a star quarterback. They all fell to the floor in a heap. Paige grabbed the dark crystal from Argamel and ran up the stairs. When she reached the second floor Paige thought for a second that she actually would be able to make it.
"Give me The Wertobian Stone you fucking cow!" Argamel shimmered in right in front of her and threw himself after crystal in Paige's hand. They started to wrestle at the top of the stairs. It didn't take long before both of them were tumbling down the steps. There is no good way to fall down the stairs; it is practically impossible to break the fall and every step is painful. Paige felt the crystal break into three different pieces when they finally landed on the first floor.
"Fuck! She broke the stone!" Argamel sounded like it was he, not the stone that had broken. "You just destroyed the last Wertobian Stone you bitch!" He got up and started to hit and kick Paige with a hysterical frenzy. Paige tried to shield herself from the brutal rain of blows as best as she could. She felt something break in her left arm.
"Stop! STOP! Fuck the stone! You're forgetting what we came for. If you're killing her now we will never know where the damn kids are!" It was the thin demon that had spoken. He seemed to be the smartest of the quartet and also in charge. He bent down to Paige who were still lying on the floor and caressed her cheek with his claws. "Be a nice little girl and tell us how we can get the boys. Tell us and we will let you live." He gave her a reassuring smile. The claws were barely touching her face but they still left small cuts.
When Paige didn't answer he looked almost happy. "Well, ok then. Too bad for you because my brother Bax has woken up and let me tell you; he pretty mad at you for hitting him in the head." Paige saw the demon she clocked before, walking up to her with a fireball in his hand. The thin one held her in an iron grip so she turned around and kneeled him in the groin before she tried to escape out of the hall. The fireball hit her hard in the back, making her fly through the room. The smell of burned flesh from her back reached her nostrils as she struggled to get up from the floor. Every inch of her body hurt.
The four demons gathered around in a ring around the beaten Paige. The largest one picked her up and held her by the throat. "Tell us where the boys are! NOW!"
Paige gurgled something. The big demon took that as a negative answer and hurled her through the glass doors like a rag doll. The glass shattered and rained down on her as she landed in a bloody heap on the floor in the sun room. Paige coughed and tried to sit up while the glass cut her even more.
"You haven't given up yet? Good girl!" The thin demon turned to one of his brothers beside him. "I like it when they try to fight back."
The largest demon laughed so loud that he never heard or saw the athame that suddenly appeared together with orbs in his chest. He whimpered just before he exploded into millions of pieces. Wow! She had no idea that she still was able to do that. The orbing had been an act of sheer panic. The other demons looked surprised at each other for two seconds. Then they turned towards Paige who had crawled into the kitchen to find something to defend her with. Her left leg didn't seem to work at all and she was in no condition to orb anything anymore. Her energy was running out fast.
"You are going to wish you never did that you bitch!" said Argamel and grabbed her by the hair and dragged Paige back into the living room. She left an impressive trail of blood behind her. Paige, who somehow had found a small knife that Piper used on fruit, stabbed him in the hand he was grabbing her with.
"OWWWW! That's it! Bax, zap her!"
Bax's hands started glow and sparkle with electrical lights as he sat down and touched her. Paige suddenly found out how it must feel to be tortured with electricity as raw energy surged through her body. It was pure pain. Getting thrown through a glass door was a picnic compared to this. She couldn't stop convulsing after the electricity finally was turned off.
"Stop it! We don't want her to die just yet, and you always fry them too much." Bax nodded and kicked Paige hard in the stomach instead. He was an excellent kicker; she felt several ribs crack. Paige landed on her back. She could hardly breath and all her limbs were numb from the electroshock.
The demons closed in her. The thin one had a vicious gleam in his eye. "Argamel, hold her legs! Bax, take her arms!" The other demons seemed to understand immediately and gave her an evil smile while they got hold of her limbs.
When the younger demon climbed on top of her, Paige's semiconscious brain started to understand what they were up to and she panicked. He ripped her shirt open with his claws and pushed her skirt up. She started to trash around even though she was too exhausted and in extreme amounts of pain just by moving.
"Stay still bitch!" He hit her in the face a couple of times. When Paige didn't stop fighting he took her head and banged it hard to the floor with a cracking sound. "I told you to STAY STILL!"
It felt like her head exploded wide open – it was white, hot pain; so intense that she forgot the rest of her body. While the pain slowly faded away, giving way to a consuming blackness, Paige could feel his razor sharp claws roaming her body. With a fast, elegant move he ripped her underpants away.
"I always believed in mixing business with pleasure. What do you think whore?"
In her hand Piper held the package that contained a dead murderer's hand. Internet was indeed a amazing thing - she had been surprised of how easy everything had been; finding the hand on eBay, buying it and getting it delivered to her post office. But vacuum-packed and freeze dried? That was just wrong!
Upon arriving to the manor Piper's senses immediately warned her that something was going on.
"Paige why is the door ope…?" Piper stopped quiet. She knew with dread that the peace was over. There were signs of struggle all over the house. Slowly, without making a sound she entered the living room. Nothing could prepare Piper for the sight that met her there; two demons were holding Paige down in the middle of the floor while a third demon was on top of her, undressing her. He had ripped open Paige's shirt and Piper could see bleeding claw marks on her sister's breasts. The demon was unzipping his pants. Piper lifted her hands and exploded the three demons with a loud bang and no particular effort. When she was able to take a closer look at Paige she gasped; Piper had never seen her little sister so beaten up before. Paige looked worse than Patricia Arquette did in "True Romance" after the guy played by James Gandolfini had beat her up. Her eyes were swollen shut, a thick layer of blood covered half of her face and she was covered in deep cuts and pieces of glass.
"My God, Paige! LEO!"
Paige was in and out of consciousness. Her breathing was irregular and sounded extremely painful.
"LEO! You got to come quick! Leo!"
Leo orbed in and took one look at Paige. "Oh my God! What happened?"
"Just help her!" Piper couldn't stand to hear Paige fighting for her breath anymore.
Leo's hands started to glow as he lowered his hands to Paige's wounds. It was a slow and exhausting process.
Paige began to wake up little by little. When she became aware that she was lying topless in front of Leo, Paige shot up and covered herself with the tattered remains of her shirt; Leo hadn't had the time to fix/heal her clothes yet. The panic was replaced by embarrassment and she became red as a tomato in the face. So did Leo who started to realize how naked his sister-in-law was.
Piper wasn't amused by the situation at all. She had more important things on her mind: "The kids! Where are Wyatt and Chris!"
A small key appeared in Paige's hand and she gave it to Piper. "They should be safe in my portable room in the attic. Just say the words: 'Kajagoogoo' and the door will appear."
"I'll go and check them." Leo took the key and orbed away, grateful to leave the awkward situation.
"Kajagoogoo?" Piper helped her sister to stand up on shaky legs.
"Yeah, I know… it's from that band in the eighties, the ones with only one hit. 'Too Shy' was playing on the radio when I was working on the room and I thought… " Paige was rambling, doing her best to sound normal but it was obvious that she was in a state of shock.
"Are you ok? What happened? Did they… ?" Piper looked worriedly at Paige who was paler than pale. She really looked awful; Leo hadn't had the time to heal her torn clothes or the blood that were still all over her. "Maybe you should sit down and tell me everything from the start."
Paige sat down on the sofa, took a deep breath and tried to make her voice as steady as possible. "You showed up just in time, Piper. Just before they… they was about to start… " Paige ran a trembling hand through her hair, that was sticky with blood, and decided to do as Piper told her – to start from the beginning: "They wanted Chris and Wyatt and when I couldn't orb them out of the house I hid them in my portable room."
"Good thinking. But why didn't you call for any of us, for help?" Piper sat down beside her and stroked Paige's back gently to make her relax.
"I did several times but the stone that trapped me and the boys inside the house must have made my calls for help silent to everyone."
"The stone? What stone?"
"They had this dark crystal… It's called Wart something and it shone with a little light inside. They used it like some kind of magnet when I was trying to orb away. It hurt like hell."
"It's probably a Wertobian Stone… Where is it?" Piper became excited - Esmeralda had told her about Wertobian Stones; they were extremely powerful – they could prevent demons from shimmering and create extremely strong force fields among other things. Wertobian Stones were practically extinct. Having a stone like that would make life much easier.
"Yeah, that's the name! Don't worry I managed to destroy it. Unfortunately I was to tired to orb away by the time so that's when they caught me." Paige felt a little proud over how she had been able to take away the stone from the demons.
"What! You destroyed a Wertobian Stone? Do you have any idea of how powerful and rare they are? If we could gotten our hands on that we would have been invincible!" Piper stood up, very agitated. She couldn't believe how close she had been to getting her hands on such a precious gem. And now it was gone forever thanks to Paige.
"Well, I'm sorry I smashed your precious stone, but if I hadn't I would have been dead by now."
Piper was too irritated, too caught up in her own thoughts about the missed opportunity, that she didn't notice the sharp tone in Paige's voice. She sighed impatiently and gave her sister a discontent shrug. "Fine, whatever you say."
Paige looked at Piper with wild eyes. Paige - who barely had a time to catch her breath since she had been lying on the floor beneath three demons that had been seconds away from raping her, felt something burst inside her. Suddenly she was furious with her oldest sister. Maybe it was Piper's nonchalant way of handling the situation that got to Paige, maybe it was misdirected rage from her fight with the demons or maybe it was just something that had been building up for a long time. Her voice was ice cold: "You sound as if you would rather have the stone than me alive."
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Paige stood up. She was so mad she couldn't stop herself from screaming at Piper: "I'm so sick and tired of this – I am a person you know! Even if I'm not your sister anymore I'm still a person!"
"What are you talking about?" Piper didn't understand where this sudden aggressiveness from Paige was coming from.
"I thought that I was going to die! Just some minutes ago, in this room, I thought I was about to die while those demons were… were going to degrade me… And all you care about is some stupid stone! Sometimes I don't understand why I'm still around, why I still bother!"
Piper felt the panic rise within her. This was her biggest fear; everybody abandoning her, leaving her alone to fend for what was left of the family. She responded with anger, not thinking much of what Paige just had told her: "Well, why are you? Don't let me stop you on your way out of here if you hate it so much!"
"You are absolutely right. Goodbye!"
Paige orbed out.
"That's great! Just ORB out on all our problems, just… !" Piper realized the futile of standing there talking to the thin air. "Leo!"
Leo appeared with Wyatt and Chris sleeping in his arms. "What's going on?"
"Can you check where Paige went? I can take care of Wyatt and Chris."
"She left? Orbing? She is no condition to orb anywhere! What happened?"
Piper didn't have the energy to explain her and Paige's little argument. "Just go and get her back." Leo handed over the boys and orbed away. Piper looked at the mess in the house with an exasperated sigh. This was going to take ages to clean up.
While Piper stood there contemplating how to clean up, Phoebe came home to get some fresh clothes.
"What the fuck happened?" Phoebe stopped in her tracks and looked at the massive trail of blood that led from the kitchen to the next rooms. "Is that human blood?"
Piper turned around to her sister. "Yes. It's Paige's."
"My God! Where is she? Is she all right?" Phoebe panicked; she had never seen so much blood.
"Yes... no. I don't know… " Piper sighed, she felt very tired.
"What do you mean? Either she's ok or not."
"We had a fight."
"Did you this to her?" Phoebe pointed at the blood and looked at her big sister with big, wide eyes.
"Me? Of course not! Why do you think that? It was another demon attack. And now Paige is gone!"
"What? Did they take Paige!" Phoebe started to pace around the floor, ready to take up the fight despite her lack of powers.
"NO! Don't you hear what I'm saying?"
"What are you saying?" Phoebe stopped and looked at her sister quizzically.
"She just orbed… left."
"She went? Again? What did you say to Paige this time to make her do that?" Phoebe crossed her arms and gave Piper a look.
"Why do you think I have said anything to her? Why do you always assume that it's my fault?"
"C'mon Piper. You are grumpier than a walrus with a toothache. Paige has always been the tolerant one when it comes to your moods, plus she's so loyal. So you must have been really awful this time."
"I was not awful!" Piper was getting sick of everyone always thinking the worst of her.
"Maybe a little?"
"Look, she was already upset because of what the demons did to her so she overreacted when I tried to talk to her."
"What did the demons do to her exactly?" Phoebe pointed at the blood on the floor.
Piper closed her eyes, the horrible images from what she had seen in the living room washing over her. "They came when she was alone with the boys. Paige managed to hide them before they caught her… This was worse than any attack we ever had before, Phoebe. They beat her to a bloody pulp… and they were just about to rape her when I came home."
Phoebe was horrified. "No! That's terrible!"
Piper nodded silently, her excitement over The Wertobian Stone was long gone and the impact of the traumatic event was slowly seeping in. "Yes it was… Leo was able to heal her in the nick of time and then all of a sudden we had this fight over… nothing really."
"That's great! What did you say to her this time?"
"Don't you 'great' me! If you were here more often this would never have happened. Unburden Paige and me a little."
"I have no powers, I'm useless as a witch right now!"
"Well, isn't that convenient."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Do you think I don't notice how you constantly avoid us or anything witchy nowadays?"
"You are being ridiculous! Besides someone have to bring in the money you know! And don't you try to change the subject!"
"I'm not, you are!"
"Paige was nearly molested by demons and in great need of comfort and you probably… "
Piper cut Phoebe off: "I didn't see you comforting her, Phoebe."
Leo suddenly appeared in a cloud of orbs.
"So, did you find her?" Piper was eager to see her youngest sister again to clear the air between them and to show Paige that she really cared about her.
"Yeah."
"So?"
"She will come back at the end of the week." Leo looked uncomfortable; he knew that Piper wouldn't react very well to what he was about to say.
"What?"
"Piper, she needs some time alone. Leave her alone a little bit. She has hardly had any rest for several months and… "
"I haven't had a rest in several years! She was unemployed during the summer while I had a club to run, two small and very magical boys to take of and an estranged husband to worry about. Not to mention that both Heaven and Hell wants my two sons!"
"Piper. Paige will come back at the end of the week. Just leave at that ok?"
Paige was in her green Beetle, on her way to uncle Dave. Leo had been surprisingly understanding when she told him that she intended to go away for a couple of days to her aunt's funeral. He let her leave without much of a discussion and promised to look after Piper and the kids. She had washed away the worst of the blood that Leo hadn't had the time to heal away, redressed, thrown some clothes in an overnight bag and fled from Prescott Street. She didn't allow herself to think of what almost had happened in the living room with the demons; just thinking about it made her panic. So she expertly pushed all her memories and emotions of this particular trauma to a place deep down in her mind where she hid all the things she wasn't able to deal with. Too bad they later turned up as nightmares…
Uncle Dave and Aunt Julie had a small house across town, in her old neighborhood. It was strange coming back; Paige had expected everything to change as much as she had during her years as a witch. Instead all the houses and gardens looked the same as when she had left so many years ago. It was like traveling in time.
Her uncle greeted her with open arms when she showed up on his doorstep. She could see that Aunt Julie's death had taken a huge toll on him; he appeared much older than she remembered him, and he had this lost look his face. Paige's heart ached for Uncle Dave because she knew how much he had loved his wife. He was a shy man who never talked much of his feelings, in many ways he was the opposite of Aunt Julie, so Paige was moved to tears when he expressed how happy he was to see her. They both started crying and stood embraced on the doorstep for a long time, rocking back and forth, comforting each other. For Paige, who under the last couple of months had felt more and more shut out from her sisters, it felt like coming home, to a place where she was wanted.
Paige's cousin Cecilia - Uncle Dave and Aunt Julie's daughter, arrived from Mexico City the same evening with her husband Augosto and their two children; Hampus and Clara. It was happy reunion despite the sad circumstances - Cecilia and Paige were delighted to see each other after so many years. Hampus, who had been a baby last time Paige had seen him, was quite smitten with his mother's cousin. Before the six-year-old boy finally fell asleep Paige had been forced to read "The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking" for him three times, admired his dinosaur collection at least seven hundred times and helped him to build a fire engine with Lego.
It felt wonderful to reconnect with Uncle Dave, Cecilia and her family again. Ever since Paige became Piper and Phoebe's sister she had more or less lost touch with her relatives. It was her own fault - like she was afraid that Piper and Phoebe would take offence if she kept up with her old life – which was complete nonsense of course.
After the late supper, when Cecilia had put the children to bed, they all sat down at the table in the kitchen. They started talking memories – funny, happy, sentimental stories that lifted their grieving hearts a little. They laughed and cried together that evening, remembering the ones that weren't there. Aunt Julie had of course been the best storyteller of them all and they tried to honor her memory by trying to tell their stories as well as she could.
Paige lived with her uncle and his family for a couple of days and it was wonderful. Aunt Julie's death was sad and yet the best thing that could happen to Paige in a long time. They treated her like family and she reveled in it. Paige felt happy in spite of her grief. She was among family - people who cared about her, whose love for her she would never doubt. With them she was Paige Matthews, and that was all she ever needed to be. Nothing more.
The funeral ceremony was light and beautiful - it reminded of Aunt Julie in that way. A lot of people showed up to pay their respect. Paige wasn't surprised; her aunt was a very liked person. Many of them who showed up also knew Paige and her family (The Matthews). It was especially great to see some of her father's colleagues from the fire brigade. They were equally happy to see her and told her funny anecdotes about her as a child.
After the ceremony Paige felt someone tap her on the shoulder. It was Mrs. Belland – Glen's mom, a motherly and resolute woman who Paige had known in her whole life.
"Oh Paige, I'm so sorry about your aunt Julie! She was such an extraordinary person!"
"Thank you Mrs. Belland." Paige was a little bit unsure of herself in front of Glen's mom since that whole episode with Glen's wedding. She didn't know how much Mrs. Belland knew about what had happened.
"We have seen far too little of you out here. I almost forgotten how pretty you are." She gave Paige a pat on the cheek.
Paige blushed. Mrs. Belland had always gushed about Paige's prettiness when they were kids and Paige had hated it because she had been such a total tomboy. Now the compliment was more than welcome. "Have you heard anything from Glen? Is he still traveling in Asia? We kind of lost touch since the wedding." Paige cringed when she mentioned it; she was still very ashamed of how she had behaved, trying to stop Glen's marriage, even though she had been under demonic influence.
Mrs. Belland's face suddenly crumbled and Paige became aware of tired and totally devastated Mrs. Belland looked. "Oh Paige! Haven't you heard? Glen is missing in Sri Lanka since that big wave! We haven't heard from him since Christmas Day. Linus (Glen's older brother) is flying there right now."
Paige's stomach dropped - she had watched the news about the tsunami like everybody else and seen the harrowing pictures from the devastation around The Indian Ocean. The thought of Glen in the middle of the catastrophe was unbearable. She hugged Mrs. Belland who broke down in her arms, holding on to Paige like she was drowning. It was unsettling because Glen's mom was one of the most emotionally stable persons Paige knew. Across the room she saw Mr. Belland talk to Uncle Dave with teary eyes – Mr. Belland looked absolutely shell-shocked.
"I don't know what to do… we have tried to get in contact with the consulate in Colombo, with the embassy… but no one knows anything! I hate sitting at home waiting for any kind of sign that he is alive. We wanted to go to Julie's funeral to just to get out and meet people we know. And Julie was such a good friend… " Mrs. Belland didn't have to explain, Paige knew exactly how she felt.
"What about his wife? Is she missing too?" Despite the fact that Paige once had orbed Glen's wife to hell, she was still worried about her. Or maybe it was Glen she was worried about. Even though Paige didn't like the thought of Glen getting married, the thought of a heartbroken widowed Glen was way worse.
Mrs. Belland made an ugly grimace. "Well, that one is fine I think." Paige looked at her, very confused. "Paige dear, you haven't talked to Glen in a long time, have you? His ex-wife left him for an Australian diving instructor at the Maldives half a year ago. That little wench!"
"That's wonderful! That she's OK I mean… "
Mrs. Belland looked at her with a sad smile and put a strand of Paige's hair behind Paige's left ear. "You know… I always hoped that it would be you and Glen one day… "
Paige didn't know what to say so she gave Mrs. Belland a hug instead. "Don't loose hope… Glen is alive. He must be! I can feel it."
Mrs. Belland answered her by hugging her tighter and crying. Funny thing was that when Paige said that, she felt certain that her friend still was alive. She could really feel it.
Later that night when everyone else had fallen asleep, Paige locked herself in the bathroom and silently scryed for her childhood friend with the help of some maps she had printed off the Internet. Thankfully the scrying pointed to dry land in Southern Sri Lanka. Paige didn't dare think of how she would have reacted if the scrying had showed a place somewhere out in the sea.
When she orbed to the city where Glen was missing, she wasn't prepared for what she was about to experience. But then again, how can anyone prepare for such chaos and despair? A large part of the Sri Lankan city was in ruins; the tsunami had destroyed everything in its way. People around her were still in shock, grieving loved ones and trying to pick up their lives from the rubble the tsunami had left behind. The enormity of what had happened hit her like the wave itself. Paige felt so terribly helpless. Despite her Charmed powers she realized that she was just as powerless as everyone else.
Finding Glen was tough – it was an extremely hot day under a blazing sun and she was in a foreign country that just had a natural disaster of gigantic proportions. Paige checked local hospitals and hotels; she showed everyone in her way the photo of Glen. Several times she stopped her search to help people lift something up from under the rubble or clear a road. Usually they discovered dead bodies under the rubble they were lifting, causing heartbreaking scenes when people recognized a loved one among the dead.
What struck her the most on her quest for Glen was in spite of the general desperation and grief around her, people were amazingly helpful and generous. Someone offered water without Paige asking for it, another one gave her lift to one of the hospitals on his truck, everyone who could understand English stopped to take a look at her photo to see if they could recognize him. It warmed Paige's heart and she felt that she had been given a lesson for the rest of her life - people who basically had lost everything, who were facing bigger problems than Paige would ever face in her entire life, were still caring and giving with a sympathy and dignity that she seldom saw in her own part of the world. They set an example and Paige vowed to try to be as good person as all the people she had met in Sri Lanka that day.
After five hours she finally found some German tourists who recognized him. They told her the last time they saw him he was in a small village by the coast, surfing with some friends. Paige orbed to the village and met someone pretty quickly who could show her to Glen. He was in a school building, one of the few houses that were still standing in the village, together with other injured people.
She found Glen sleeping on small mattress in one of the classrooms. The whole school had been made into a make shift hospital, it was filled with people with various injuries or different stages of shock. Paige stood and watched him for a while with a racing heart. His clothes were torn and dirty, his feet and head was bandaged with some kind of cloth. He looked like something the cat had dragged in and he was still the most wonderful sight Paige ever had seen. She sat down beside him, a little hesitant to wake him up. What if he was in great pain? What if he had lost his memory and didn't know who he or she was? What if he was in a coma? A million crazy thoughts went through her head and before she had decided what to do, Glen woke up.
"Paige! Is it really you?" He looked at her with wide eyes, as if he didn't believe what he was seeing. She smiled at him and he took one of her arms to confirm that she wasn't a dream. "It is you! What are you doing here?"
"I orbed here to searching for you. When I spoke to your mom and she told me that you were missing I decided to find you. She is so worried Glen… Your parents don't know if you are dead or alive. They don't know anything and they are so worried."
"My mom? Dad?" At the mention of his parents Glen started to cry, overcome by emotion. Paige hugged him and held him. When Glen calmed a little bit down he looked her in the eyes. "I'm so happy to see you. You have no idea… "
"It's good to see you too." They shared a moment that was neither romantic nor unromantic, it was just good.
"You orbed here to find me… you are amazing, you know that don't you?"
Paige blushed. "Linus is on his way looking for you. But my guess is it's going to take a while coming here… I have no idea if the airports are working in Sri Lanka right now. But I think you should phone the consulate and the local hospitals in the town to tell them where you are."
Glen started to cry again when he heard his older brother was coming to get him. "I would phone them if I could. The communication is down in this place and I lost all my stuff in the waves… Ben and Mike… the guys I was here with, they are gone too." Paige laid a hand on his shoulder and put her forehead to his while Glen wept for his friends. He looked embarrassed: "I'm sorry, crying is all I seem to do right now. You're here and I'm so happy to see you and all I do is cry"
"Sometimes it's good to cry." They smiled at each other. Paige touched the bandage on his forehead. "Are you very hurt?"
"No, pff… I cut up my feet and banged my head into something. It's looks worse than it is. I was way more hurt when I fell off that cliff in Peru a couple of years ago."
"You never learn, do you?" Paige looked at him with a mock scolding face but then turned serious. "I think you should call your family, Glen."
"How? As I told you: my mobile is gone and no communication works here right now."
"That's why I was smart enough to bring my mobile with me. I even made sure it could reach The States from here." Paige was a little amazed at herself for being so clever – she had enhanced it magically. She knew there would be some kind of repercussions from The Elders about personal gain but she didn't care. Paige walked out of the room to give Glen some privacy while he phoned home to his parents. After Glen was finished she found the man in charge of the hospital and gave him the mobile to use as he wished. The mobile would be able to reach the entire world without charge for three months - sometimes it's good to be a witch.
Paige stayed with Glen for the rest of that night. There was a little, terrified girl in the same room. She had terrible nightmares and woke up screaming. Someone told them that the girl's entire family was missing. They tried to console the girl as best as they could. Paige who had some experience in how it felt to lose family members let the girl cry while she hugged her. Good old human contact, like hugs, can actually save lives. Wherever you live on this planet, our feelings are universal. Loss is loss. Comfort is comfort. The girl finally fell asleep beside Glen and Paige knew that he would look out for her.
When Paige orbed back home she felt that she had been given perspective – even if she wasn't Phoebe and Piper's real sister, it wasn't the end. She still had them - they were alive and they walked the earth. And sometimes it is all you need to have.
Paige, the palest of all pale girls, couldn't help to get burnt the hot Sri Lankan sun while she was looking for Glen. When she came home to Prescott Street, her face had the color of a cooked lobster.
"Hello? Anybody home?"
"So, you finally decided to come back?" Piper came through the door from the kitchen with Chris on her arm. She took one look at Paige. "Wow! Did you forget to bring sun block to your resort or did you just orb right into the sun?"
"Very funny. Did you have any trouble with demons while I was gone?"
"Do you care?"
"Don't be silly, of course I care!"
"Yeah, you showed that real good by orbing out on us."
"I was gone for less than a week! Phoebe have been gone in over a whole month and that is ok?"
"Phoebe has no active powers while you on the other hand are too valuable to go missing like that. You can't just orb away every time you get upset over some little thing."
"Some little thing?"
"For your information we had one demon attack while you were gone. Leo and I were able to thwart it but we might not be so lucky the next time. So please, would it be too much to ask for some help and support before The Ripper Family kidnap my kids?" Piper stormed out of the room, slamming the doors after her.
Paige sighed: "Well gee, it was good to see you too!"
Deep down in the sewers: Benny was sitting quietly in the dark by the monitors when his junior agent, Annifrid stopped by with two cups of hot chocolate in her hands. She handed him one of the cups and plumped down beside him.
"Thank you Annifrid." He took one sip of the lava hot chocolate. "Why aren't you asleep?"
"I don't want to… Paige's nightmares are freaking me out." Annifrid had some telepathic ability that allowed her to share the dreams of her target. "They stopped for a while during her stay at her uncle. I guess she felt safe. But they started as soon as she came back to her sisters. I have honestly no idea why she came back here at all."
Benny got a little worried, just like he had been with Björn. "Are you having sympathies towards your target?"
"No. But I guess I find her interesting sometimes."
Benny liked Annifrid's answer, he found the sisters interesting as well. He watched his junior agent and decided that he liked her, despite her being female and all. Annifrid was everything a good agent was supposed to be: intelligent, ambitious and interested in the human nature.
"I knew your father you know."
"You did?" At the mention of her father Annifrid's face light up. Since she never got know him, she loved to hear other Kalla Bongs talk about him.
"He was one of the finest agents that I ever had the pleasure to work with. It's a damn shame what happened to him."
"Yes." Annifrid looked down, hesitant over what she was about to say: "He was monitoring Paige Matthews when he disappeared."
"What are you saying!" Benny was shaken. "Why haven't you told me this before?" Annifrid's father had disappeared during a secret mission fifteen years ago. No one knew what had happened to him.
"Because I was afraid that if I told you; you wouldn't let me work on this assignment." That was true, if Benny had known this beforehand he would never let Annifrid work on this case. This was against every protocol: no agent was allowed to monitor a target with close personal attachments. It could get very messy.
"Why Annifrid?"
"Please Benny, I must do this! If Paige Matthews had anything with my father's disappearance I need to know!"
Benny hesitated. He should remove her from her job on the spot but something deep inside him didn't want to. Maybe it was because Benny understood. Kalla Bong had a very strong sense of revenge. "Ok then. You do what you have to do. But you must promise me to not do anything against protocol! Nothing stupid, ok? If Paige is guilty of your father's death I will kill her myself but I can't have you killing her without the approval of The Almighty Turnips (the Kalla Bong equivalent of The Supreme Court). Promise?"
"I promise."
Benny wasn't very convinced but it had to do for now. He couldn't stop thinking of why Annifrid's father had monitored the youngest Halliwell fifteen years ago and who the client might have been. As usual he had a feeling that Mr. Ledin was involved.
To be continued in "Chapter 8. – Days of Our Charmed Lives, Part I – The Trio"…
Author's Note AGAIN – I wrote this chapter with one hand. I broke my arm recently and I want to give a good advice to anyone out there reading this: don't mix beer, wine and bad whiskey on a sunny Friday afternoon picnic because you might go INSANE and try to climb some roof on a nearby house for no logical reason whatsoever. And if you are really unlucky you will fall down and break something - like an arm for example. Now that's just stupid. So don't do it. IF you are going to do that anyway… well, stay away from the whiskey at least. And roofs.
Have a good summer:-D