Prue gave Paige a hard stare. She was certain that the girl had just orbed. But the guards were coming closer, entering every office in the search for Paige.
'Wait here,' she snapped, and left the room. Some of the guards had just left the office next door to the room where the others were hiding. Prue had to act quickly.
'What do you think you're doing?' she snarled, trying to intimidate the very tall, muscled guards.
'I'm sorry, m'am, but we have reason to believe…'
Prue interrupted.
'You think that I'm hiding a dangerous criminal in one of my offices, is that it? Look, mister, I don't tolerate people barging into my auction house and disturbing my employees!'
One of the guards had evidently realised who Prue was. He lent closer to the man who had just spoken, and whispered something in his ear while indicating at Prue. The guard who had spoken looked uncomfortable.
'I'm very sorry, Ms Halliwell. We just…that is to say, we had to…Is it alright to…?' He wilted under Prue's glare. 'Um…we'll be going then.'
The guards shuffled sheepishly towards the door and left. Prue stood there, hands on hips, until they had disappeared from her view. Then she returned to the others.
'Nicely done, Prue!' Piper smiled. Paige had slumped to the ground, her eyes slightly out of focus.
'I think she's in shock,' Leo whispered, nodding at Paige.
'What did the guard just call you?' Paige asked suddenly. 'What is your surname?'
'Halliwell. Prue and Piper Halliwell.'
Paige clambered unsteadily to her feet.
'As in Phoebe Halliwell's sisters?'
Piper nodded.
'And we really need to get going…we only have five hours.'
'And what am I?' Paige's voice had become an octave higher. 'Am I a witch too? Is that what you turned me into?'
'No no. Look Paige, I think you might be a whitelighter,' Prue reasoned.
'That's impossible,' Leo argued. 'The Elders would have known about her if she was.'
'Leo, she orbed,' Prue rounded on him. 'What else could she be?'
'YOU TURNED ME EVIL!' Paige shouted suddenly. 'You've turned me into a-a-a witch, or whitelighter or whatever and now I'm evil!'
'Paige, you're not evil!' Piper tried to calm her down.
'All witches are evil. Your sister murdered a man!'
'Paige, please…'
'No!' Paige shouted. 'I'm not turning evil!'
With that, she stormed out of the office, out of the auction house and disappeared into the crowd. Piper, Prue and Leo watched her go in silence. Prue felt a headache coming on.
'Leo, we have too much to deal with right now to go and find her,' she told her whitelighter. 'Piper and I have to help Phoebe. Could you…?'
Leo nodded, and began to orb.
'Leo!' Piper called quickly. Leo stopped orbing and looked at her expectantly.
'Where's Melinda?' Piper asked. 'Lara brought her over to your house. You were supposed to look after her, so where is she?'
Leo looked at the ground guiltily.
'She…Ah…She might be at home.'
'Alone?' Piper sounded dangerous. Leo nodded again quickly, and orbed before Piper could say another word.
'Errrrrgh!' Piper gritted her teeth angrily. 'Prue, I'm going to have to check up on her.'
'But Phoebe…'
'Please, Prue.'
'Alright, alright. Let's go then.' But the last thing Prue wanted to do was go see Melinda. She didn't want the memories to come back, not now…
Paige slipped into the deserted warehouse quietly. Luckily there had been no guards to run into on her way there. She hurried over to the trapdoor, wanting to be back underground, safely hidden.
'I'm not a witch!' she told herself. 'I'm not evil!'
Tears obscured her vision as she fumbled with the catch of the trapdoor.
'Paige.'
She looked up. Leo was standing there, watching her.
'Stay away from me!' she snapped.
'Paige, listen. Witches aren't evil. They fight evil. They're good. People like Pratt are the evil ones.'
Paige shook her head.
'Phoebe killed a man, Leo. How is that good?'
'If you only knew the whole story…'
'No, Leo! I trusted you! But you're on their side too! I don't want to hear your story!'
'Paige, please…'
'Just go.'
There was silence for a few minutes. Paige was hoping Leo had gone. But when she looked up, he was still standing there.
'Henry!' he exclaimed suddenly. Paige stared at him. On one of his visits, Leo had found Paige in tears, and she had explained to him all about Henry.
'Henry, your fiancé. To prove magic really is good, I'll find him for you.'
Henry…Paige hadn't seen him in five months. All she wanted was for him to hold her and tell her that everything would be ok.
'He won't want me. Now that I'm evil and all,' her voice sounded bitter.
Leo shook his head with a smile.
'I promise I'll find him for you. But then you have to listen to me, ok?'
Without waiting for a reply, he orbed out, leaving Paige alone. She swallowed hard.
Will he still want to marry me after all this? Has he found someone new?
What Paige did know was that something had changed inside her when she had met the Halliwells. She didn't think her life would be quite the same from now on.
So, another chapter bites the dust. The next one will be a big one- Prue's secret is explained in further detail! DUH DUH DUUUUH
Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I promise there will be more interesting happenings coming up in the story! It won't just be them talking the whole time!
piperleoforever: I love Piper and Leo together too. I can't give anything away yet, but I can say that they have an important chapter coming up!
Awf: As I have just said, Prue's secret plays an important role next chapter, so I hope you like it!
l.a.mitchell: Henry will certainly be playing a bigger role in future chapters. He will definitely be useful, trust me!