A/Note: Hey, all. Couple of comments. For those reviewing with registered accounts, I appreciate it but I'd like to be able to get back to you to discuss a couple of things, so maybe you can sign up? I'd appreciate it as I like getting back to my readers.
Quick note on the chapter; this chapter is just for humor and it's the most immature chapter I'll ever write. Also, the enemy in this chapter is purposely annoying, so don't think of him as a poorly written enemy. He's intended to be lame, lol. On that note, please enjoy, I hope you get some laughs, but there is a revelation in here as well.
Chapter 17- Mischief Manor
February 12th, 2007
The Mitchell-Matthews manor had been quiet since coming into the new year. Henry continued to work, Paige stayed at home watching over her foster son and Billie returned home. No demons had entered the house and Paige figured this to be because she wasn't stirring up any trouble with taking her Wiccan hiatus. The Witchlighter was in her second trimester and looked as if she was carrying an oversized basketball under her shirt.
This morning, she was stuck in bed with swollen feet and serious cramps. Her blood pressure often rose at the frustration of having to stay in bed all day and she only got up once this morning to use the bathroom. She woke up an hour ago to get Henry to work and he was already gone.
"Billie!" She called, wondering what her and Peter were doing.
The young witch made her way home on New Years Eve. Upon leaving the ancient realm, she went to Cameron's apartment to figure out how to get the stone to locate Christy. When New Years Eve hit, Billie wanted to spend some time with her second family and Cameron sent her home. Ever since, she met with Cameron twice a week to work on some ideas to activate it, but weren't successful. Cameron assured her that he'd be working with some of his allies to figure it out and would contact her when they thought of something.
Billie walked in with gray pajama pants and a pink zippered up sweater, protecting her from the cold roaming around the house. Peter was right behind her in his blue footsie pajamas with a coloring book under his arm and a crayon in his hand. "What's up? You want something from downstairs?"
"No, I just wanted to see what you guys were up to," Paige replied. She found herself disliking a lot of things in her time of pregnancy. She grew a great dislike for hoop earrings, her red hair, and being alone. To resolve this, Paige gave her hoop earrings away to Billie and made it seem to be a gesture of kindness. To get rid of her red hair, she bought the necessary supplies and washed the dye out of her hair, returning to her natural brunette state. Now for whenever she was alone, she would call Billie, Henry, or Peter to hang out with her in the room.
"Oh," Billie said, not understanding Paige's technique just yet. "Peter and I were just doing some coloring in my room. Well, Peter was doing some coloring and I was doing some channel surfing." In her time back home, she'd grown really attached to Peter, playing whatever he wanted throughout the week and enjoying his company.
"Well, you can always channel surf in here and Peter can color up here on the bed," Paige suggested. "We can even talk about Christy if you'd like." She was hoping this would get Billie to stay and keep her company.
"No, I won't bore you to death about it," Billie said. "But we should just hang out today. How's the job hunt from your bed going?"
Paige exhaled, glad to have Billie to keep her company. She loved Peter, but it was nice to speak with someone who didn't obsess over Batman. "I've been reading the papers and looking out for something that interests me for the past two months and nothing. Being a Witchlighter pays absolutely nothing and my personal funds are really suffering."
"Really?" Billie asked. "I thought you were far from decking out." Billie picked up Peter and sat him down on the bed where he instantly began to color some more. She then sat herself down at the edge of the bed.
Paige nodded, "Nope. I don't want to alert Henry though, but our expenses have really changed since we moved in here. Rent's getting steep, we're buying Peter new clothes every two weeks, plus toys and then we're still setting up the room for the twins."
"I should really get off my behind and get a job too," Billie said. "If you want, I can help pay rent with the money I got from my parents' death and then I can always get some of my tuition out and..."
"No," Paige interrupted. "I wasn't saying this so you could search for a reason to stay out of school. I want you to go back once everything around here settles, but I won't say that I wouldn't be against you getting a job. With that money, you could handle all expenses on potion ingredients, vials and other equipment."
The twenty year old nodded, "Sounds fine by me. I should start saving up for a Christy fund anyway. Hey! Do you think Piper is hiring at P3? I could be a waitress or bartender."
"Billie, you're not twenty-one for another two months," Paige reminded her. "Piper could lose the club if she's caught hiring underage people."
"Oh, come on, she won't get caught," Billie said. "I'd be great at it. I smile a lot, very cheerful, and my hours would be pretty flexible. Piper ran out for years because of demon activity, she'd perfectly understand why I'd have to do the same, so she wouldn't fire me."
"You bring a good point, but first you have to convince her to hire you," Paige said. "I'll call her up later and we'll discuss it."
"Thanks!" A gleeful Billie replied. "So, have you and Henry been thinking about names for the girls yet?"
The Witchlighter smiled, "Yeah, we have. I assure you though that we aren't going with the P tradition. We considered it because of little Peter here, but decided that we don't want the girls to feel obligated to carry on the tradition themselves. I'm also doing it as a sisterly favor to Phoebe. I bet once she gets pregnant, she'll carry on the tradition."
"Yeah, I suppose with two girls you'd be cheating her out of two potential names," Billie figured. "Are you sure you're not hungry? I don't have a specialty or anything, but still."
Paige was hungry and too prideful to admit it, but had to lower her pride if she was to feed herself as well as her unborn daughters. "I don't know, can you just maybe put together some of that apple cinnamon oatmeal for me?"
"I can do oatmeal!" Billie exclaimed, hopping off of the bed. "Iced tea? O.J?"
"Orange juice would be perfect," Paige answered. "Thank you, Billie, you're a doll."
The blonde smiled, "See? I'm a very convincing waitress." She turned on her heel and left the bedroom to prepare the breakfast. She and Peter already had bowls of cereal when waking up, so she knew that he was okay.
Paige turned to her foster son and asked, "What are you coloring there, honey?"
Peter continued to color outside the lines with his orange crayon. "I'ms coworing a pumpskin."
"Ooh," Paige soothed. "Is it a scary pumpkin? Or a nice pumpkin?"
Peter giggled, "It's a nice pumpskin. Wanna sees?"
"Only if you're ready to show me," Paige said. He nodded and held up the coloring book to her. The average person would've laughed at how messy the page was, but not Paige. She had really grown into her position as a mother and the little things such as coloring outside the lines were very memorable for her. She knew there would be a point where he would eventually start coloring inside the lines and getting frustrated if he messed up, so she wanted to cherish these moments of innocence. "It's beautiful, Peter. Do you want to put it on the fridge?"
"Wow! Fo' reals?" Peter asked, knowing that a picture being put on a fridge was a big deal. Paige nodded and he said, "If I cowors more pitchas, can theys go ups on the fwidge too?"
Paige chuckled. She loved how innocent his words were at this age, "We'll put as many as we can fit on the fridge."
Excited and on a mission, Peter flipped the page of the coloring book and saw the next picture was of a penguin. The penguin already had some orange on him because the color of the crayon bled through due to the force the one year old applied on it. He didn't care. He was about to color all over it anyway. "Cans I goes gets my cwayons?"
"Of course you can, sweetie."
Peter hopped off of the bed and tottered off to get his box of crayons.
Paige sighed, "Motherhood."
(X)
Billie was in the kitchen and placed the bowl of oatmeal on a black tray. She collected a spoon and napkin and placed it in-between the bowl and glass of orange juice. Carefully, she lifted it and steadily walked out of the kitchen and into the dining room. When she originally came down, the bottom landing was silent, but as she was making her way to the stairs, the silence was disturbed by chanting that wasn't even being whispered.
"Hello?" Billie called out, walking down the foyer. She looked into the living room where she saw a man in strange attire.
The man responsible for chanting was in orange overalls with a long sleeve checkered shirt of green and yellow. Around his head was a red silk scarf and he finished chanting. An orange ball was now rolling around his hand and he opened his eyes to see Billie. He grinned, "How do you do?"
"Who are you?" Billie asked, confused as to why he didn't launch that glowing ball at her yet. It was even more bizarre that he asked how she was doing.
"You need not worry about my name," he held up the glowing sphere higher and admired it. "You have other problems on your hands." He lunged his arm forward and the orange sphere flew straight at Billie.
The witch immediately dropped the tray to the floor, spilling the contents of oatmeal and orange juice. Billie herself, dropped down and covered her arms over her head. The orange sphere flew past her and embedded itself within the wall, spreading all around the house in different directions.
Billie turned around to see the orange light taking different path lanes around the house and sharply turned back to the man. She heard Paige call for her, but wasn't allowed any time to respond.
"I send you great appreciation for not staining my magic with yours," he said with a sly smile. "It makes it even better for me! Let the fun begin!" He raised his hand and a violet light entombed him, vanishing in seconds.
"What the..." she turned around and stormed up the stairs shouting, "Paige!" She reached the second floor and ran into Paige's bedroom, where she saw Paige holding onto Peter, prepared to orb if trouble came. "We have issues... I think."
"Demon?" Paige asked. Peter now knew about demons, but had never gone under a demonic scare, not until now.
"I think so," Billie answered. "He was really strange and even asked how I was doing." She recounted the scene, "And then he shot some orange thing at me, I took cover, but it flew into the walls."
"Into the walls?" Paige asked. "Just great. Hear I am talking about how our expenses are suffering and now we have to pay for wall reconstruction."
Billie nodded, "Oh, don't worry about that. It just spread around in all sorts of different directions. I think I'm going to just go and get the Book to see if I can find him."
"You go do that," Paige agreed, watching as her charge left the room. She turned to her foster son and asked, "How are you doing? You okay?"
His lip was trembling a little since this was the first real demon scare, "No demon?"
"No demon," Paige said, pulling him under her arm and kissing his forehead. "We're safe. You can go back to coloring if you'd like."
Peter hesitated, but trusted her word. He grabbed his coloring book and crayon, but remained close to Paige, slightly worried.
Billie entered with the midnight blue tome under her arm and sat down at the foot of Paige's bed. She put the Book down and began leafing through the pages she was familiar with. "Paige, if you would've seen this guy, you would've been confused as to whether or not you should attack him or hire a tailor. He was an absolute mess." The young witch continued to flip and stopped at a page, slapping it. "And I think I just found him."
"What is it?" Paige asked. "Does it need more than one witch?"
"I don't know, let me see," Billie replied. "It says here that we are dealing with a Prankster."
"A demonic prankster?" Paige asked. "What kind of magic could make something so immature? Were the cosmos thinking one day that they wanted some laughs and just whipped up a being who pranks people?"
Billie shrugged and read on, "Prankster lore states that these beings are neither good nor evil, but are extreme magical nuisances. While they may believe that their tricks are just in good fun, they can also be considered highly dangerous. They tend to target those who aren't in the best position to fight them including lack of power or incapacity. Their pranking can get out of control with the longer their magic is roaming around and may never fully heal all the damage they brought upon the environment they select." She looked up at Paige, "This is great, we can go downstairs and fix the problem before anything happens."
Paige refused to believe it was going to be that easy, "Is that all that's written?"
The witch looked back down at the page and said, "No." She found her spot and read on, "To disable the enchantments, you have to use other magic to counteract anything that has been hexed and when the majority has been covered, a spell to destroy the Prankster must be chanted before more damage is wrought. Upon the vanquish of the Prankster, if done in a timely fashion, everything will return to normal."
"See?" Paige said. "It's not going to be that easy. I don't get it though, are we supposed to just wait around for the house to attack us?"
Billie looked down at the page and informed, "There's one last paragraph. It's labeled 'Prankster Character'."
"I guess it's just the attitude and such about the Prankster," Paige assumed. "Check if it mentions anything about powers."
Billie read for the final time, "Pranksters are generally quick to insult and keep a great distance from their enchanted playgrounds. They know of the pranks occurring and feed off of them. They tend to check in with their victims in the form of a voice as well to toy with the minds further." Billie placed a white ribbon in-between the pages and closed the Book of Shadows, "And that's all that was written. No vanquishing spell listed."
"I'll be able to handle a spell," Paige assured. "It's the least I can do with being stuck under the sheets and all. We just have to keep an eye out of anything wonky." Her eyes suspiciously looked around the room and said, "I hope it's not spreading in here."
"I wouldn't be surprised. The Book said that they target people who are incapacitated and he must be picking on you because you're pregnant," Billie realized.
"So I'm being picked on because I'm having babies?" Paige questioned, folding her arms. "That's not exactly an excuse for legitimate bullying."
"Do you think if we set crystals, we'll be safe in here?" Billie stood up, preparing to get the crystals.
"Maybe, but even if so, we have to pay attention to everything that happens around the house," the Witchlighter reminded. "Unless you want to live inside a House of Pranks." Paige removed the covers from on top of her and managed to get to her feet. The bottom of her large belly was hanging out from her white sleeveless shirt. The blue bathrobe warmed her arms and the tail fell when dragged off of the bed.
"Whoa, where are you going?" Billie asked. "I'm capable to get the crystals myself or do you want breakfast because that kinda spilled downstairs?"
Paige shook her head, dissapointed at the fate of her breakfast. Even with all this trouble lurking around, she was still hungry. "Alright, well we should go downstairs, clean up the mess, and just keep our eyes open." She looked at Peter, "Honey, do you want to stay up here or come with me?"
"Go with yous," Peter responded, placing down his crayon onto the coloring book. He walked on the bed and held onto Paige's hand as he bounced onto his rear, landing his feet on the floor.
The three walked out into the hallway, unsure of what to expect. Billie took lead and went down the steps, smelling the aroma of the oatmeal making its way to the second floor. She looked back at Paige and said, "I got it, I got it." She reached the landing and ran to go get the mop.
Paige cautiously walked down the steps with her hand dragging against the wall as she allowed Peter to hold onto the railing with his free hand. The two took a step at a time before an orange glow quickly passed through the steps, unnoticed by the coincidental blinking of both Paige and Peter. This was magic working its way in unnoticed as it prepared to strike.
The stairs in one swift motion narrowed and became flat, causing Paige and Peter to start skidding down like a slope. Before they could fall on their backs, orbs completely enveloped them and saved them from an unfortunate fall. The orbs navigated through the stair railing and grew back in size, forming the sparkling silhouettes of both Peter and Paige.
As the orbs vanished, Paige turned and saw a slope replacing her stairs and let go of Peter's hand to place both of hers on her face. "Oh, my God." She looked down at Peter and said, "I bet you're thinking you're going to be sliding down this thing, aren't you?"
Peter laughed, guilty. "Cans I?"
"Eh," Paige started, wanting to tell him 'no' desperately, "Maybe if we get you a helmet... some elbow pads... kneepads... and a balloon-like suit." She turned away and shouted, "Billie!"
The blonde ran in from the kitchen with the mop in her hand. "What happened?"
"My house is turning into a playground, that's what happened!" Paige exclaimed, pointing at the slope. "We could've died if it wasn't for orbing. Got any spells to make a staircase turn back into a staircase?"
"Yeah, I definitely don't," Billie stated. "Let me clean this mess first and then we can see how to go about it." Billie walked past Paige and began to clean the oatmeal from the floor with the drenched mop. She felt a tingle and saw an orange glow flash on the mop and said, "What the...?"
The mop snapped back and shifted itself between Billie's legs and began to lift into the air. "Uh... Paige?"
The Witchlighter and her foster son turned around and saw Billie ascending higher. "Oh dear."
"How do I get down?" A frightened Billie asked. She tried to jump off, but the mop mystically glued her hands to it. She looked up to see she was closing in on the ceiling and screamed as she steered the broom down, flying around the foyer of the house. She lost control at that moment as well, flying through the living room and appearing again in the foyer seconds later.
Paige heard Peter laughing hysterically with the occasional Ooh and Aah, but she shook her head at what she was seeing. The stairs pranked Paige and Peter and the mop was playing tricks on Billie. "It's not even a broom! What kind of moron is this guy?"
I'm not a moron. Must you insult?
The Witchlighter looked around for the voice and remembered the Book saying that he kept his distance. "How do I get her down?" Billie's screams made it hard for her to hear herself, let alone a voice with no face. The voice never replied and she shouted at Billie, "Just steer down!"
Billie whizzed by and pulled back on the mop as if they were breaks, but ended up backflipping. "I can't! I'll... crash!" The witch continued to cycle around in a circle, her blonde hair flapping around, and her screams continued.
Paige looked around, searching for a solution. She held out her hand and shouted, "Couch pillows!" The four brown pillows from the couch appeared in separate orb clouds, but collected themselves in one area on the floor of the foyer. "Mop!"
The mop orbed out from under Billie and the young witch flipped onto her back against the safety of pillows. Her chest was panting violently because of the excitement of flying and she didn't bother getting up, collecting her breath.
Paige and Peter walked over to Billie and Paige asked, "Are you okay? I'd offer you water but I don't want the fridge biting me." She placed her hands on her waist, "How would we go about fixing sliding stairs and a defective mop?" She looked down at the puddle of oatmeal, shattered glass and tray, "Not to mention the mess on the floor."
Billie was still on the floor and finally sat up. Her blonde hair was frizzy and covering her eyes. With a quick brush with her hand, Billie moved the hair out of her face and said, "As scary as that was, it was such a rush."
"Billie, you're an insult to stereotypical witches," Paige commented. "You had absolutely no control over that mop. You won't be getting your permit to drive that thing anytime soon, so get on up and let's figure this out."
Billie stood up and eyed the oatmeal mess still on the floor, "I think it'd be okay if you just orbed it away now. Even if the Elders wanted to get on your back because of it, this excuse would hold up in court."
The Witchlighter nodded, choosing not to devote more time to this. "Mess!" Paige exclaimed with a simple wave of the arm, mentally sending the oatmeal and broken glass to the garbage and the tray to the kitchen counter. "Alright, I'm going to orb back upstairs and just stick with the Book because, honestly? This house scares me right now. You want a ride up?"
Billie nodded and held Peter's hand, as did Paige. The three vanished in orbs and reappeared in Paige's bedroom.
Paige sat down, feeling tired and pulled the Book closer to her. "I'm going to see if I can find some undo spell or something."
"If there isn't, maybe we can use some magical creatures to help us. Maybe summon a leprechaun to cast some good luck on this place to negate the prank magic," Billie suggested.
Paige began to flip through the tome and said, "While that might make some sense, we can't ask a leprechaun to throw gold at a mop that thinks it's a broom. But maybe I can ask some dwarves to fix the stairs considering they carry around appliances of man."
"Dwarves?" Billie asked. "I never thought I'd ever meet a dwarf in my life as a witch."
"Yeah, they're pretty strange people, but they are experts in this kind of stuff," Paige explained. "I'll see if I can find a spell to summon them."
"If you can't, I can always grab a potion and teleport to the magical realm," Billie said.
Paige continued to flip and landed on their page, slapping it. "Got it."
Billie looked over her shoulder and read, "The Ancestors of the Seven Dwarves, best known for preserving the Dead..." she skimmed, muttering, "Yadda, yadda, oh! It mentions they have talents in reconstructing." She looked further past the illustration of seven little people lined up with their names under each dwarf in a small script font. "No calling card listed in here though."
"Alright, well, does your offer still stand?"
"Yeah, I'll just go and get dressed," Billie said, walking out of the room.
Paige turned to her foster son and just watched as he continued to color his penguin. The beak was blue and the large belly was currently green. She knew that Peter knew the true colors of a penguin, but was just being creative. "You wanna watch t.v, Peter?"
Peter looked up at her and thought about it. He didn't like being distracted, but couldn't help it in his youth. "Um... yeah... wait, no!" His mind was wracked with possibilities. "Okay."
Paige chuckled, "So, yes or no?"
"Yeah!" Peter replied, hiding his laughter behind his hands.
Paige reached for the remote and turned on the television with one click. The news was on and the headline was "Witches in San Francisco". Paige's eyes widened and she put up the volume.
"This disturbing news, is in fact, true," the anchor reported. "Witches are living amongst us. One gives advice for a living, the other serves liquor which are speculated to be magical potions, and the other is jobless! The Halliwell sisters use their powers for pure evil and..." the anchor stopped and grinned. He waved at the camera and said, "Fooled you, Paige!"
The anchor morphed into the Prankster and the newsroom changed into a shadowy room with orange strobe lights. "How's it hanging, Paigester? Your house treating you right?"
"So it's you," Paige said. "You get your jollies off of bugging people?"
The Prankster laughed and held his stomach, clearly exaggerating, "Why, yes I do. Did you love that mop spectacle back there? I thought that was pretty funny." He shifted his glance to Peter and moved closer to the screen, "What about you, Peter? Did you find it funny?"
"Ye-"
"Don't talk to him, Peter," Paige interrupted. "He's a bad man."
Peter instantly showed fear and crawled into Paige's arms. He felt safe, aware that she could teleport him away if any trouble came.
"I'm not a bad man! I'm very good, Peter! I do really cool magic!"
Paige clicked the off button on the remote, but the television stayed on. "Why isn't it turning off?"
"Because I don't want it to turn off!" The Prankster shouted, his saliva splattering on his camera.
Billie ran into the bedroom with the only difference in her attire being jeans as she didn't give herself enough time to change. She held a potion in her hand and she looked around for the Prankster. "I hear him. Where is he?"
Paige pointed to the television and said, "Throw the potion!"
The blonde looked back at Paige, unsure if this was what she actually wanted. Seeing that Paige was serious, she hurled the potion at the television, blowing up the screen.
Paige shielded Peter with her body, afraid of any glass flying their way, but they were all safe. "Man, that demon really runs his mouth."
"Yeah, I hate trash talking demons," Billie commented. "Does that make me a hypocrite since I tend to run at the mouth as well?"
"Technically no, because you're not a demon," Paige replied. "You really need to get going to find some dwarves. Just teleport..."
"I know, I know," Billie interrupted, pulling a potion out of her potions purse. "I'll jump from realm to realm until I get word of where they're at." Her potions were designed to not only teleport, but bring herself to people she was close with. That unfortunately didn't apply here.
"If you run into any trouble, call me," Paige said.
"Don't worry about me," Billie said, dropping the potion at her feet. A cloud of smoke entombed her and she vanished along with the smoke.
"I hope she's going to be okay," Paige said to Peter.
(X)
A column of smoke rose into a pitch black room. The smoke dispersed in seconds and Billie stood there, curious. She walked straight, strangely hearing her sneakers create an echo with each step. "Hello?" Billie called out, still trying to see past the darkness. "Is anyone here?"
The witch found her way into her potions purse and pulled out a vial. She just hoped it was the right potion to defend herself. She blindly walked further and called out again, "Is anyone out there?"
"Billie... Billie... Billie!" A harsh whisper repeated. The source couldn't be found, but it caused Billie to frequently turn around as it came from different directions.
"Who's out there?" Billie shouted.
A dim light began to flicker and this relieved Billie. This one small light brought her comfort in this mass of darkness, but she wasn't so blind anymore. The flicker ended, but the light continued to grow in size. The intensity of the light began to blind Billie once again except in a different manner. What was once complete darkness was now overwhelming light.
She covered her eyes with her forearm and shouted, "What's going on?" The wave of light washed over Billie and she felt the light's heat cover the bare parts of her body. A cool wind passed and she heard a whimper. Billie braved the great light and it was still there, but no longer blinding her. The dominating effect passed for some strange reason.
What she did see was a little girl in a gray dress with dark brown hair. She was hugging her knees and rocking back and forth, whimpering louder. Her back was to the witch who was slowly creeping up behind her.
"She's definitely not a dwarf," Billie quietly commented, crouching down behind her. "Are you okay, honey?"
"I'm scared," a familiar voice said.
"Christy?" Billie asked, recognizing the voice immediately and placing her hand on her shoulder.
"Find me," she whispered.
Billie turned the little girl around and a burnt face bubbled on little Christy's face. Billie fell onto her back in shock as Christy rose to her feet.
Christy pointed her finger at Billie and her voice changed; innocence was replaced with a deep demonic voice. Her brown hair ignited and the flames seemed to dance as she snarled at Billie, "You killed me! Then you just... let it go! Don't look for me if you're going to kill me again, you miserable bitch!"
The witch crept backwards, still on the floor, and dragged her body away from the terrible illusion. The sound of swarming particles comforted Billie as it closed in on her.
Cameron Hawke teleported in and instantly released a neon blue energy ball at 'Christy'. The attack crashed into the little girl's body and she fully ignited in flames with echoing screams. The flames quickly blew her up, leaving a scorch mark in the pure white room and gave Billie a burning reminder of the night she killed her sister.
The mercenary approached Billie with an extended hand, "Are you alright?"
Billie clasped his hand, allowing him to pull her up with assistance of her own. "Not really, I was aiming to enter a different realm to find some dwarves and I ended up here."
"Why are you looking for dwarves?" Cameron asked, confused that people still called upon the services of the seven dwarves.
"Our house has been infected by some Prankster pest," Billie answered. "We need them to fix our stairs before Paige's son starts getting some crazy ideas."
Cameron processed this, "He must've jinxed your potion and made you land here. Pranksters know about what's going on in the lives of their targets and the search for your sister is apparently an overwhelming thought." He looked around the room, maintaining its white glow, but in a softer tone, and placed his hand on Billie's shoulder. "It's not safe to discuss what I have to talk about with you here."
Their bodies dissolved into black particles and began to fly up into the air, before rippling in shimmers and leaving the imaginary realm.
(X)
The particles shimmered into another realm and continued to flow through the air in their normal fashion. They spun around in a twister-like fashion and Cameron and Billie materialized. Billie immediately saw a beautiful field with blades of grass flowing with the wind and flowers in full blossom. The trees didn't seem to have a leaf fallen out of place and the wind brushed the branches around as well. She looked up to the clear blue sky that gave her a feeling that his realm never saw darkness.
"Wow," Billie said, stunned. "This place is beautiful."
Cameron nodded, "Yeah, I guess you can say that. This is the other realm where the magical folk generally live."
"Where are the dwarves?" Billie asked, then stated, "I can't see them. Or anyone for that matter."
"This is just the central peak for this realm. If you just aim to teleport in here, you still have to walk around and find the opening for the different realms. This is just the universal magical realm, but there are other pocket realms existing within it," Cameron explained. "I know where I can find you some dwarves."
He began to walk off and Billie trailed after, "Can't we just spin around and get there faster?"
"We could do that, but it wouldn't give me the opportunity to tell you about the latest in Christy news," Cameron answered, still walking ahead of her.
Billie jogged ahead of him and began to walk backwards, "Wait... what do you know?"
"I think you should..." Cameron started, but stopped as Billie tripped over a small boulder and landed on her back. "... watch the path ahead of you."
(X)
Henry parked his company car outside his house in the driveway and was making his way to the stairs that lead into the house. He walked up the few steps and picked up the newspaper, knowing Paige would want it to continue her job hunting. He tucked it under his arm and walked down the path towards the white house. He approached the door and put his key in, hearing the door unlock. He turned the knob and pushed, but nothing happened.
He turned again, pushing the door harder with the assistance of his shoulder to no success of opening it. "What the hell?" He banged on the door, then pulled out his phone. He called Paige's phone and pressed the phone to his ear, waiting for a response.
"Henry?" Paige asked on the line.
"Yeah, Paige, it's me," Henry replied. "Look, I'm having some trouble getting into the house. I keep turning the knob and I can't get in."
"Yeah, we're having some technical difficulties," Paige explained. "Uh, let me think... um, try pulling the door."
"Pulling the door?" Henry asked. "Paige, I'm outside, I don't see how pulling a door I'm supposed to be pushing is going to do me any good." He didn't even attempt it. Her suggestion was ridiculous.
"Henry, would you just listen to me? The house is absolutely mental right now and if you would just pull the door and come inside, we could talk about this further," Paige explained.
"Okay, I'll do it, but I'm going to feel really stupid doing it," Henry said, holding the phone on his shoulder as he clasped his hand around the knob once more. He turned it and pulled the knob, opening the door in the same manner it should open had he been able to push it. He tried to push the door closed once inside, but it remained in its spot. He squinted in curiosity and pulled the door, watching it push itself closed.
The mortal closed his phone and tucked it into his pocket, "Paige?!" He walked towards the stairs, gaining pace and ready to jog up to ask his wife what was going on. He began to move so fast that he walked past the pillows on the floor and didn't even see the mop that was hovering in the living room. He took a hold of the railing and ran up where the stairs were supposed to be. Not realizing a slope replaced the steps, Henry slid back down and crashed into the wall, tumbling down back to the floor. He groaned on the floor, remaining on his back.
Having heard the crash, Paige and Peter left the bedroom and were now watching from the top flight. "Oh, my God, Henry! Are you alright?"
"I think I'm going to just sit here for a minute and figure out what the hell just happened," Henry commented, not censoring his language in frustration.
Peter wasn't so much concerned for his foster father, but craving to slide down the slope. He looked up at Paige and slowly crept closer to the slope and sat down on the floor. With one quick push, he began to slide down to Paige's late amazement.
Scared that he was going to slam into the wall and hurt himself, Paige quickly waved her arm at the pillows on the floor and shouted, "Pillows!" The pile of pillows together orbed off of the floor and materialized against the wall, which Peter safely bumped into and then rolled onto Henry's legs.
The one year old laughed hysterically, still reeling from the fun, and crawled off of Henry's legs.
Henry sat up, smiling at Peter and back up at Paige, "I thought we made an agreement that we would always talk about renovating the house. I might be old fashioned, but I always found stairs easier to go up of." He rose to his feet and rubbed his back, "I think I'll just go back out and buy some mountain climbing equipment."
Paige rolled her eyes and folded her arms. She quickly orbed out and reappeared on the bottom floor, arms still folded. "We are living in a mad house. Some magical prankster is just playing games with us and the house is now a playground."
"Is that why I had to pull a door I was supposed to be pushing?" Henry asked.
"Yeah, but that trick was new to me. You lucked out though; the stairs tried to kill Peter and myself and a mop was touring around the house with Billie on it," Paige informed.
"A flying mop?" Henry asked.
"Yeah, it's an insane mop that I believe has the aspiration to be a flying broom," Paige explained. "I think we'll take it therapy when this is all over." She exhaled and spotted the mop hovering in the living room. She chose to ignore it and said to Henry, "I sent Billie out to get some reinforcements to handle the stairs." The Witchlighter rubbed her arms and said, "It's getting kinda chilly in here."
"I'll go and turn on the fireplace," Henry offered.
"Thanks. I'm going to see if the kitchen window is open," Paige said, walking off.
Henry looked down and grinned at Peter, who was following him on his knees. They both entered the living room and the flying mop was hanging out in the corner away from Henry's sight. The mortal made sure that Peter was a good distance away before turning a trigger and setting the manual fireplace on. Flames rose behind the black fence and soon, the heat would flow around the manor.
(X)
Paige was standing in her kitchen with a palm to her cheek. She continued to stare out of the window at her now dead garden. She lowered her hand and mumbled, "You weren't dead earlier, which can only mean..." She rolled her eyes and turned her back to the window, leaning against the sink. "I gotta call me some Wood Nymphs."
(X)
Billie and Cameron continued to walk through the large field, searching the magical realm for the dwarves. The witch made sure to step over all stones after the last incident, but stopped to admire flowers every now and then, forgetting the urgency of the house.
"So who exactly have you been working with to figure out all you can about these stones?" Billie asked.
"Phoenixes may all be mercenaries, but we all have different talents. Some are sneakier than others, some have explored enough about magic to be of great resource, and a few have gone around the world studying different functions of artifacts," Cameron explained. "And they've come into a new theory."
"Which would be...?"
"That there is more to you than meets the eye," Cameron said.
Billie stopped in her tracks, folding her arms, "Hold up. Am I being accused of something?"
"Don't always jump to conclusions," the mercenary replied, stopping in his tracks as well. "They're just thinking that you're maybe more than just a witch."
"More than a witch?" Billie asked. "What else would I be?"
"A sorceress," Cameron stated.
The witch's blue eyes widened. A sorceress? She lived this past year accepting her heritage of witchcraft, but now there were suspected trails of sorcery? "What made you guys think that?"
"A few things actually; it never really added up on why you were such a threat that the Triad would want to recruit you and your sister. Let's face it, did you ever think that the Charmed Ones' final battle would be against a witch with latent genes and her sister?"
"No. Had I known them longer, I would've thought they'd have to fight a demon," Billie said.
"It turns out that their last battle was supposed to have been with the demon Zankou until you received your powers. That alone could've launched the Triad's plan and with the initiation of you at the manor, it appeared you infiltrated their lives," Cameron commented, seeing that Billie was about to reply back. "And I know that you were just a curious mind, I know, but this was all set into motion by the Triad."
"So I have to thank them for meeting the sisters? Kinda hard considering that they're dead now," Billie replied.
"Let's just hope their death sticks this time," the Phoenix stated. "The point is, we're assuming that the Triad didn't just pick two ordinary sisters, but sisters special in their own way. Christy is a witch with firestarter abilities and that's rare in itself and you... everyone assumed that just because you have the power of projection that you were to be labeled as an Ultimate Power. It appears that you are more than just a witch."
"Wait... now, you need to stop jumping to conclusions," Billie said. "Who's to say that I'm automatically a sorceress just because you guys are putting together pieces to a puzzle? I think you either find me real proof on this matter and while you're at it, explain to me on why that would even matter with Christy."
"It would matter with Christy because it might take an established sorceress to track her," Cameron said. "This would mean that we would have to put you through trials to see if you are a sorceress because if you aren't... you may never find your sister. At least not with the assistance of the stone."
"What? Look, I'm sure it would be kick ass and all to be a sorceress, I'm sure it's loads of fun, but how come Christy is lost forever if I'm not a sorceress?" Billie began to slowly pace away, trying to collect her thoughts and find some sense in this.
Cameron followed and said, "It takes a sorcerer to track the firestarters and we're assuming they imbue some sorcery into the tracking stone. But, since we decimated all those sorcerers in the castle after destroying that one Fire Lord, our last hope is your bond with her."
Billie continued to walk and slid her hands into her back pockets, "Well, that's just good news to an already strange day."
"I'm sorry I had to be this bearer of bad news," Cameron said.
"Maybe it's not completely bad news. At least it gives me something to do and I can ask Paige to check with the Elders if they know anything about this," Billie replied, honestly feeling low. "I don't mean to be aggressive towards you, I just..."
"Need your sister," Cameron finished. "Well, that'll be a problem for later on. You gotta help your Whitelighter now."
"Paige is more than my Whitelighter," Billie stated. "But, yeah, I do need to help her."
Cameron stopped and pointed towards a glowing brown vortex. "If you enter there, you'll find those seven different personalities in a cabin. If they give you any problems, just call out to me."
"Call out to you? Like I would a Whitelighter? How?" Billie asked.
"I'll just be listening out," he stated before turning on his heel, exploding into a mass of black particles that flew away from Billie.
"Thanks," she whispered, charging towards the brown vortex and walking through it.
(X)
"Henry, watch out!" Paige shouted in the foyer.
Moments ago, Peter's drawing from his coloring book came to life and a penguin with a green belly with random orange dots, blue beak, royal blue eyes and coral fins was chasing Paige's husband.
"Paige, stop that damn penguin!" Henry shouted, diving over the couch to avoid the penguin's rapid fin.
The Witchlighter waved her hand and shouted, "Penguin!" The oddly colored animal orbed out from sight and reappeared in the basement. "Henry, he's in the basement now. You should probably go lock the door."
Henry rose from the other side of the couch, panting. "Lock the door, Paige? He has fins! He won't be able to turn the knob!" He fully rose and rubbed his face in frustration.
"Well, we also thought that penguins couldn't run at the speed that one was running and that theory was proven wrong. I'm fine with a chasing penguin as he seems to like you out of the rest of us," Paige playfully replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe we can keep him as a pet."
"Cans we? Cans we?" Peter begged, jumping up and down with his coloring book against his chest.
Henry walked around the couch and through the foyer, "Sorry, buddy, but your little friend is going back into coloring book he came from." The mortal walked through the dining room, intent on locking the basement door.
"This is just getting ridiculous," Paige commented. "Peter, do you want to stay down here with Henny?"
All Peter could think about was the penguin. That was enough to make him want to stay downstairs. "Yes."
Paige then felt the wandering cold run through her robe and she shivered. She looked down at Peter and asked, "Are you cold, honey?"
"No," he replied. He was still excited from the penguin and all the jumping around kept him warm.
"I thought I asked Henry to warm this place up," she said, walking into the living room and saw the fire burning within the fireplace. The closer she got, the colder she got. "What the...?" She opened the gates and a great blast of cold air was released and she closed the gates. She muttered, "And now the furnace is giving off cold fire. That's just wonderful."
(X)
In a rather large cabin, Billie entered and stood in front of the door, staring at the strangest sight she's ever seen. Seven dwarf-sized men were present in the room and moving to their own accord. These were the ancestors of the Seven Dwarves. All seven of them were in brown tunics with matching leather boots, but there were some differences that helped make it easier to put them apart.
In a yellow cone shaped hat was Happy. He was off in the corner of the room, not feeling bad that he wasn't resting under the window every night. Nothing could ever really bring him down and he was currently holding up a red jewel to his eye, inspecting it. This was his latest prized possession.
A sneeze caught the witch's attention and it was none other than Sneezy. His nose was the reddest thing on his pale face and he simply wiped the mucus from under his nose with his sleeve.
The youngest dwarf threw off his brown hat and revealed his hairless head. Dopey didn't have any facial hair and just plopped onto his bed, staring up at a light flying around on the ceiling.
Doc's bed was next to Dopey and he noticed that Dopey's eyes followed wherever the light of his flashlight went. The intellectual dwarf of the group continued to amuse himself with this act.
One dwarf was under his brown covers, snoring away. It was only a quarter past three, but Sleepy didn't care. Any time was sleeping time.
Bashful was currently at the open window speaking with an elfin nanny he had a crush on. It was obvious with what seemed to be eternal blushing printed amongst his cheeks. When he felt a lot of blood rushing to his face, he would cover his face with a black scarf and never gave a reason for it. The others still found it amazing that he even had the courage to speak to the elf.
One last dwarf remained and he was currently standing in front of Billie, who hadn't even noticed him. She was too busy looking over him and trying to find the seventh dwarf. Grumpy had a full beard on his face and short black hair. His cheeks turned a rosy red with frustration and shouted, "Hey! Blondie!? Yoo-hoo! Whatcha doing in here?"
All the dwarves turned to look at Billie. Happy was no longer eyeing his jewel, Doc and Dopey stopped looking at the light, the elf ran away due to fear of Grumpy's wrath, and Sleepy woke up. They all began to slowly totter behind Grumpy, who's arms were folded.
"So what is it?" Grumpy asked again.
"I need some help and I was hoping you guys could give it to me," Billie replied.
"We don't work for free, toots! What do you have in mind for payment for me and my men?" Grumpy greedily asked.
"I was actually hoping this one could be on the house," Billie reluctantly said. She saw Grumpy become even more annoyed and said, "My friend is Paige Matthews and her house is under attack by some Prankster. We were hoping you and your crew could help us out with negating some of the effects."
"I think we can arrange something to help you with your dilemma for a Charmed One," Doc supposed. "Don't mind my friend here, he's just hoping to be reimbursed for some gnomes breaking his tractor."
"That's not what I'm mad about you little-"
"Who are you calling 'little'? You're little!" Doc shouted back, the only dwarf courageous enough to retaliate Grumpy's comments.
Billie sighed and lowered her head. She started off her day playing with Peter and now she was watching dwarves fight. It was going down as one of the strangest days.
(X)
Paige sat on her bed with the the Book of Shadows resting in front of her. She was flipping through the pages and muttered to herself, "I got Billie chasing after dwarves and I need some Wood Nymphs." She found the page she was looking for and admired the beautiful illustration of a Wood Nymph. On the left side of the page was a blonde Nymph with a wreath over her hair and wrapped around her shoulders was a thick vine with daisies on it. The daisy petals were also tied into her short green dress, drawn perfectly.
On the right side of the page was information on Wood Nymphs including their purpose, powers, and a spell to summon them, all written in a dark green ink. Paige ran her finger under the words as she recognized the spell wouldn't work with the way it was worded, since Paige wasn't in the forest. She pulled out her pen and pad from the drawer beside her and reworded the spell to her advantage and chanted.
Nature's maidens, I call on thee,
With natural elements to welcome three deities,
Wander away from your personal groves,
As I invite you to help restore my home.
Three windy columns appeared at the foot of Paige's bed and the air passed by Paige and blew her brown hair back. She welcomed the gentle breeze, despite freezing downstairs. Leaves began to spiral around the columns and ultimately formed three Wood Nymphs, each with a different hair color. They immediately looked around their surroundings.
"Oh my!" The redhead exclaimed, placing her hands to her rosy cheeks. "This isn't our environ-"
"I know, I know," Paige interrupted, placing down her pen and pad. "I will orb you three off back to your home grounds as soon as you do me the favor of fixing my garden."
"What has gone wrong?" The brunette sweetly asked, deep concern sketched across her face.
"Some Prankster dude killed it. He just flat out murdered my garden for laughs. He didn't even think twice before doing so," Paige exaggerated, pressing the issue.
"Oh no!" The three Nymphs shouted in unison.
"Well, in respect for your earthly sanctuary, we will reverse this demonly deed," the blonde informed, frolicking out the bedroom door with her sisters following.
"I hope the neighbors don't see this," Paige commented, returning to the Book of Shadows. "Now where is Billie with those damn dwarves?"
(X)
A cloud of smoke rose in the foyer and Billie appeared, just missing the Wood Nymphs by seconds. She turned around and saw a spiraling brown vortex appear behind her and the seven dwarves hopped out. The vortex closed behind them.
The eight presences looked around the room and saw the mop whiz by, silverware dancing on the dinner table, and the scented candles were cackling with fireworks on the wicker.
"Alright, you guys need to get to working," Billie instructed. "Before you touch those stairs, I need to climb up them." The witch stepped on the slope and pulled herself up with the help of the stair railing. Once she made it to the top, she held up her thumb and said, "You're good to go."
"Okay, so here's the plan, fellas," Grumpy started, turning towards his six men. "We'll pull this slide apart with our picks and..."
Henry walked into the foyer, holding Peter's hand. He just stared at the now silent dwarves and asked, "You wouldn't happen to be demons, would you? I just have to say that if you are, I'm going to have to ask you to come back another day," he looked around the house and rolled his eyes at the flying mop. "Today is just not a good day."
"Do we look like demons?!" Grumpy shouted. "Do you really think demons would've picked up and left just because you asked?! Now, if you haven't guessed by now, we're just little people helpin' out ya wife here! We're not psychatrist..."
"Psychiatrists," Doc corrected, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose.
"Whatever," Grumpy replied. "Now do ya want us to work on these stairs or what?!"
"I suppose," Henry said. "So what are you guys? Elves?"
Grumpy's eyes widened and he hurled his arm back with his pick in possession. Upset by nature, he threw it at the mortal and Henry quickly ducked. The pick continued to soar through the air and landed into the table. The spike drilled itself through and stood there.
"What did I say?" Henry asked, rising back to his full stance with Peter in his arms. He was hoping the little guy wouldn't attack with his foster son in his possession.
"You messed with the wrong guy!" Grumpy shouted, pointing at Henry.
"Look, I didn't mean to offend you. You gotta forgive me because..." Henry paused to think for a logical excuse. "... because I'm a no good stinkin' mortal." He was hoping that by insulting himself, he would gain forgiveness from Grumpy.
"He's just a mortal," Doc reminded to Grumpy. "He doesn't know any better."
"Fine!" Grumpy shouted. "Another small word out of you and we're going to go at it!" He turned away and tottered over to the steps.
Henry looked at Peter, slightly frightened by Grumpy. "How about we just go back into the kitchen?" He didn't wait for an answer and just turned away, letting the dwarves work. "That penguin is looking a lot better now."
(X)
"... so I met with Cameron and he pointed me out to the right direction."
"Glad to know he's still there to help you," Paige said. "That demon Christy sequence must've been scary."
"Imagine Prue rising from the dead with fire for hair and a demonic voice," Billie said. "It's not pretty."
"Did he say anything regarding Christy?" Paige asked, flipping through her tome.
"He actually did, but that can all wait until this is over," Billie said. "So I got the dwarves working downstairs, you got nymphs in the garden, and what other problems do we have? Who do we call on next?"
Paige stopped at a page. "We need some fairies." She showed Billie the page which had an illustration of a fairy in a pink dress and she appeared to have been drawn as a fairy who was currently gliding.
Billie turned the tome to her direction and read the spell out. "Okay, but judging by the way the spell is worded, we would have to chant this at midnight. If we wait that long, we may not be able to reverse the Prankster's magic."
"That's why we have the magnificent ability to reword spells to our advantage," Paige said, grabbing her pad and pen once again for the same purpose. "I wasn't exactly orbing into the forest to get some nymphs now."
As Paige rewrote the spell, Billie read on and read at the bottom something significant at the bottom of the page. "Wow, Prue wrote this spell."
Paige nodded. "Yeah, Piper showed me a ton of spells that Prue personally wrote one night. This one is a tad rhymey, but it apparently did the trick. I altered that spell for my own gain so I'd be able to see the fairies as well."
"Yeah, I chanted one last year as well with Christy," Billie said. "Some leprechaun suggested we do so when he wanted us to save all the members of the magical community from you guys." Paige stopped to stare at Billie. "Yeah, they were wrong, but I got something good out of it. How do we summon the fairy now?"
Paige looked back down at her pad and continued to write. Seconds later, she looked up and said, "With this spell. It's been tweaked." She held it to eye level and chanted:
Two together stand alone,
And request the unseen to be shown,
In innocence we search the skies,
Reveal yourself to our established eyes.
The fairy on the illustration of the page decided to answer the call and let the conjuring magic bring her to life. She glided above with a glittery trail following after her. She just hovered over the Book of Shadows as a new image replaced the empty space and she smiled, swaying back and forth.
"Hi," Paige greeted. "I kinda need your help with fixing my house. There are several problems that I think some of your very special dust will be able to help."
The fairy nodded rapidly and spoke in her very tiny voice, which could only be heard by magical ears.
Paige understood and said, "Well, the problem would be a flying mop, a furnace producing cold fire, and plenty of other things. So if you see anything out of the ordinary, could you please just work your magic as soon as possible? Maybe you could even get some of your friends to help out."
The fairy nodded and she flew out of the room at rapid speed on a mission.
Paige threw the pad on the bed and breathed in deeply. "This is a very active day."
"Be happy that you get to do it in bed," Billie commented. "I'm going to go and make sure that everything is going okay. I would suggest that you have a Prankster vanquishing spell ready because with the assistance we have now, we might be able to nail him in a little bit."
"Aren't you just stepping up as the witch who has to carry around the weight here?" Paige joked. "I'm proud at how far you've come, Billie."
"Don't mention,. I'm just keeping your lead witch seat warm until you're ready to take it back," Billie smirked, exiting the bedroom.
(X)
Approximately twenty minutes later, Billie walked into Paige's bedroom with a grin spread across her face. "Your house is almost as good as new."
"Really?" Paige asked.
"Yeah, I was actually able to walk up the stairs. Pretty amazing work the dwarves did, although they did tag team with the fairies," Billie commented. "Now we just have to make sure it sticks and that's where you come in."
"I got a spell ready," Paige said, shifting the pillow behind her back. "And I've worded it so it can strike the Prankster wherever he is."
"Really? How?" Billie asked.
"I was looking through the Book of Shadows and discovered these beings known as the Warriors of the Wind," Paige started. "They are these beings that travel through the winds and can be called upon to destroy forces of Evil with their otherworldly abilities and their talent to track demons." The Witchlighter pointed to the page and the full description was there with simple lines forming what appeared to be windy figures.
"I'll go and tell the others that they can start packing up and leaving," Billie said and left the room.
Paige held up the notepad and smiled. "Bye, bye, Prankster." And with that, she chanted:
Warriors of the Winds, Hear these words,
Travel around with the flight of a bird,
Seek out the one who's pranks disrupt,
Reverse all the symptoms and make him erupt!
A gentle breeze passed by Paige and she felt it grow in intensity. The window was closed, but she already summoned upon the great warriors and a final breeze passed by Paige as they flew away to do their work.
(X)
The Prankster was reading a small purple book with yellow pages, planning his next prank. He began to hear harsh whispers enter his mind.
... Seek out the one who's pranks disrupt,
Reverse the symptoms and make him erupt!
He turned around, trying to find the voice without realizing it was actually in his head. A violent wind entered the room and he dropped his book of pranks on the floor. The wind continued to encircle him and he moronically tried to slap it away from him. He made an attempt to run, but he only tripped on a rubber toy left on the floor. His back slammed into the marble floor and he tried to crawl away.
The wind then shaped into three figures that were constructed of collected wind. One possessed a long sword, the other wielded two daggers, and the final one held no weapons. The two with blades began to stab the Prankster with their windy, but deadly weapons as the other flew into his screaming mouth in a funnel of wind.
The Prankster held his chest in great pain, regretting all the trouble he caused on Paige's house. He truly messed with the wrong witch. He gasped for air as the invading warrior was killing him from the inside. In one sharp second, the Prankster's eyes bulged as his body was enveloped in a gleaming silver light.
"Noooo!"
The beautiful silver light parted and exploded into blasts of wind, destroying the Prankster.
The Warriors of the Winds' job was done and they quickly dispersed after protecting Innocents from another foul evil...
(X)
"Noooo!"
Paige recognized the screams to have come from the Prankster's. If he wasn't dead now, he'd certainly be dead in a matter of seconds. A quick wind passed by Paige, confirming her thoughts and she exhaled. "Thank you."
She put down the pad and closed her Book of Shadows. She stared at the gemini glyph on the cover and this made her think of the two daughters growing inside her. Although they found her large belly to be their current home, when the time came for them to be born, they'd have a safe house to grow up in.
(X)
It was evening when Paige slowly walked into the living room with a newspaper under her arm and a hand on her stomach. Henry and Billie were on the couch watching television with Peter asleep in-between them.
She made her way around the couch and sat down in her own personal chair, "So you guys leave me upstairs all alone because I had Billie blow up the t.v?"
Henry and Billie chuckled. "I'm going to miss it," the mortal joked.
"It was for the Greater Good, as some might lamely say," Billie commented, turning off the television with the remote. She spotted the newspaper, now on Paige's stomach, and asked, "So did you find any jobs you liked?"
"Nadda," Paige answered. "All the jobs being offered are extremely below what I'm capable of or not flexible enough to raise three kids and battle off the forces of Evil."
"I can always take up a second job," Henry offered. "We could use the extra money."
"No, you work hard enough," Paige said. She turned to Billie, "But Billie here is going to be starting work at P3 tomorrow night as a bartender."
"Piper's letting me work there?!" Billie exclaimed, almost waking up Peter.
"Yeah, she is, but she wanted me to warn you that you will be blown up should she lose her license," Paige warned. Although it came off as a joke, she had a feeling that Piper was slightly serious. Paige looked at Peter and asked, "How long has the little fella been knocked out?"
Henry shrugged, "Twenty minutes or so. The excitement of his penguin friend and everything else that happened here today wore him out." He stood up and reached down for Peter, "I think I'll take him to bed now. I'm a bit tired myself."
Paige nodded in agreement as Henry lifted Peter, "Good night."
"Good night," Henry said to both ladies, heading upstairs with Peter.
Billie curled up on the couch, tapping her knees, "So... Paige. There's something I should tell you about what Cameron said to me."
"Oh, right! I almost forgot," Paige admitted.
"Well, him and his fellow friends are thinking that I'm more than just a witch and possibly a sorceress," Billie informed.
"A sorceress?" Paige asked. "They aren't too different from witches, with the exception that they come into their powers easier..." she stopped. The idea was actually adding up. "And then your power of projection..." Paige stopped once more. "Billie, I have to say that maybe Cameron is onto something. We should really look into this."
"Do you really think so? I'm actually kinda hoping so, to be honest. It's not that I want to be extremely special in anyway, but they think that it might be the solution to finding Christy," Billie explained, then paused. She took a deep breath and said, "It's always one thing or another. First I needed to be able to control my projection power to find her, now I have to come into the nature of sorcery and-"
"Cool it," Paige said. "In the end, we will find your sister and hopefully she won't be Evil. I would hate for all of this to be for nothing." She stopped and turned to the furnace, "Speaking of things that are hot, Henry tells me that the furnace is still breathing cold fire?"
Billie nodded. "It sure is, but at least it's not blizzard cold anymore. I guess it's one of the things that remained enchanted after vanquishing the Prankster. I prefer this as opposed to that insane mop."
Paige chuckled, "Me too." She struggled to her feet and stated, "I'm off to bed. I have to send out many 'Thank You' notes in the morning to all the little creatures that helped out today."
The blonde rose to her feet and said, "Yeah, I'm heading to bed as well."
"Enjoy your very normal walk up the stairs," Paige smirked, folding her arms. "I'm one big pregnant lady and I choose to make life easier for mys-" she stopped, and winked. "For the babies of course." She orbed away and illuminated the dark living for a couple of seconds, leaving the potential sorceress behind in the living room of a nearly normal house.
End of Chapter.
A/Note: Thanks for reading. Once again, this was more of just a fun chapter more than anything and I hope you saw it that way. The next update will be on July 19th as that will mark the one year anniversary of this story and the title is "Twitchlighters", so I'm assuming you can figure out what it's about. Please review.