If she had been in a better mood, Paige would have been worried for the safety of her job right then. She was too focused on what had just gone down, though, so much so that she had to pull over her lime green VW Beetle and take a moment to calm down. The picture of Jake Grisanti’s smug grin kept flashing across her mind’s eye.

She had always known him to be a dirtbag, but the way he basically admitted to it, and then provoked her… It was infuriating! The worst part was, he was right. Without knowing for sure what was happening to Aaron Grisanti, there was nothing she could do to prevent it, professionally or otherwise. Was that feeling of uncertainty and powerlessness just something about the job that she would have to learn to accept? Or was there more she could do?

After resuming her journey a few minutes later, Paige arrived at the old church. It was more of a cathedral, really, tall and imposing, mounted by stone gargoyles. The inside was just as impressive, a cavernous space beset with an ornate altarpiece and beautiful stained-glass windows, which let light flood in from all sides.

Walking up the aisle in awe, Paige approached a nun in a navy blue habit, and asked, "Excuse me. Are you Sister Agnes?”

“Yes,” the kind-faced woman confirmed. “And who might you be?”

“I'm Paige. Paige Matthews?”

There was no recognition on the woman’s face.

“You might not remember me. I probably changed a little bit since you last saw me, on August second, nineteen seventy-seven. Does that ring any bells?

“Oh, dear Lord,” said the nun breathlessly, her eyes wide with wonder.

***

When Prue emerged from the manor, wearing her leather jacket over a green peasant blouse, and a good amount of coverup on her face to conceal a red handprint, Piper drove them to the church in silence. She was consumed with regret but didn’t know how to voice it. When they arrived at the church, she grabbed her sister by the arm to stop her exiting the vehicle. “Piper, about what I said…” she started.

Piper took a breath and turned expectantly.

"I'm so sorry. I can't believe I even said it. It was like an out-of-body experience. I heard myself saying the words, but I couldn't stop myself."

Piper sighed, “Prue… I can’t say it didn’t hurt to hear those words come out of your mouth…but everyone grieves differently.”

“That’s no excuse,” Prue admonished herself. “It was a hideous thing to say. I’d have hit me too.”

After a pause, Piper pressed, “So, you don’t believe it…that it was my fault?”

“No, of course not,” Prue insisted.

“Are you sure?” Piper asked, her eyes tearing up. “Because I’ve asked myself that same question, and the truth is, I froze! I saw you slam through that wall, and I just…froze. Ironic, huh? The witch with the freezing power scared stiff!”

“No, it’s understandable. Shax was stronger than anything we’ve ever gone up against.”

"Yeah, but I just shut down, Prue. My legs moved on their own, and then I was standing there in front of him, flailing my hands, but all I could think about was you. I still remember the sound of it…or maybe what I imagine I heard. It just pops into my head when I'm not expecting it; the sound of howling wind, the sound of your bones crunching against wood and plaster…"

“I don’t blame you, Piper. If anything, I blame myself. I’ve gone over that day a thousand times in my head, reliving every moment. I was doing it today while hitting that bag. I think about everything I could have done differently, like how I could have moved Griffiths with my power or used it on Shax’s blast. Maybe I could have Astral Projected to the Book of Shadows instead of letting Phoebe go, or maybe we could have all gone to the book together…”

“Prue…”

"I've dreamed up so many different scenarios, but ultimately it doesn't matter. In one reality, I apparently lost you, and in the other, we lost Phoebe. I'm the common denominator."

“There’s a name for this,” said Piper wisely. “It’s survivor’s guilt.”

“Yeah, well, then there’s Phoebe’s Premonition…”

“What Premonition?”

“The one that made her send Leo back, the one where she saw me die. What if…? What if I wasn’t meant to survive, Piper? What if I was supposed to be the one who—”

"Prue, stop,” Piper said, not even willing to consider the idea. “There's a lot we don't know about that day. What we do know for sure, is that there's no version of it that ends well. Whether it was you, me, or Phoebe that passed, for whatever screwed-up reason, it seems clear that two of us were going to end up losing a sister."

“But I don’t understand why. Was it just so we could find this girl?” Prue vented. “We went to the future; we saw the three of us in it. She wasn’t!”

"Her name is Paige," Piper corrected gently, "and that was a future where Phoebe was going to be burned at the stake…and you were blonde! Those things weren't meant to be. Trust me."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Prue amusedly expelled a puff of air at the memory of her platinum locks, and shook her head, “I just can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right about all this.”

***

In a small office at the rear of the church, Sister Agnes retrieved a box from a trunk. “I was just about your age when they came,” she recounted.

“They? My mother and my father?” Paige asked.

“They came in a swirl of bright white lights, just like…angels.”

“White lights? What do you mean?”

“Well, that's how they appeared, with you in their arms! I was stunned. I-I didn't know what to think. They said that you were in great danger, that they had no other choice but to give you up, to protect you.”

“Danger? What kind of danger?”

“Well, they didn't say. But I could tell from their pain that it must be very real. They asked me to find you a good home, a safe home, and to keep their secret…until you came looking.”

“But how could they know?”

“Because you come from them, my dear. As wonderful and precious as your adoptive parents were to you, you still come from angels,” Sister Agnes explained, reaching into the chest, and pulling out a blanket with an embroidered ‘P’. “They asked me to save this for you for this day. It's what they bundled you up in. Your mother had only one request, that your name begin with a P.”

Just then, there was a knock on the office door, and Piper and Prue entered, “Aha! See I told you the nun’s description sounded like her!” Piper said triumphantly. “That saves us some time.”

“Yes, may I help—” Sister Agnes started. However, she paused mid-sentence when Piper gestured a hand in her direction.

“Hey, what's up? We need to get you out of here,” said Piper, walking around the nun.

Seeing that Sister Agnes remained as still as a statue, Paige asked incredulously, “What did you do to her?”

Prue explained coolly, “Don’t worry, she’s just frozen. It’s temporary.”

“Yeah, she’ll be fine. Lucky, I didn't blow her up. My powers have been a little off lately,” Piper told Paige, as if freezing people or blowing them up wasn’t something to be alarmed about. “Is that our blanket?”

Piper reached for the blanket in Paige’s hands, with its familiar ‘P’, but Paige snapped, “No! That's mine! Leave me alone!”

“All right! Gee!” said Piper as Paige tugged the blanket away protectively.

The girl then fled the office, bothered by the abrupt encounter and a little scared by the display of…what? Magic?

“Come on, don’t make us chase you,” Prue groaned as Paige stepped quickly through the narrow corridors and out into the church. “We’re here to protect you.”

Paige laughed internally at this as she began marching down the aisle toward the exit.

“Stop, or I'll freeze!” Piper threatened.

When Paige stopped in her tracks, Prue looked at her sister with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

“She doesn't know that good witches don’t freeze,” Piper mumbled.

“Will you please just leave me alone?” Paige pleaded.

“We can’t,” Prue answered.

“Look. You just gotta trust us. Somebody very, very bad is after you.”

“Trust you? You just froze a nun? How do I know you're not the bad ones?”

“Well, if we are, then you are, sister,” Piper accused facetiously, then continued in a more serious tone, “You get that, right, that we’re sisters?”

While Prue turned away at this point, Paige looked conflicted. “How do you know for sure?”

“Because only one of us could have helped vanquish the demon that attacked us,” Prue explained. “From what we’ve been told, your magic was sealed in the womb to keep you hidden. It was awoken last night. Like it or not, you’re a witch now, a Charmed One. That comes with responsibilities, the first being learning to use your power, so you can protect yourself.”

“I have a power?” Paige asked, her curiosity piqued.

Prue sighed. Was that all the girl gleaned from what she just said?

“According to the prophecy, the third sister would have the power of Premonition, to see visions of the future. Like Phoebe could," Piper elaborated. "If you've taken Phoebe's place in the Power of Three, you should have it too."

“How does it work?”

“Err, well,” Piper began, looking to Prue for an answer about how they might demonstrate the power that Phoebe always had trouble using on command.

“It requires contact with something or someone,” Prue elaborated, “but It’s a passive ability. You might not be able to use it when you want, at least not at first.”

Paige eyed Prue and Piper dubiously, this explanation sounding a little convenient.

“You haven’t seen anything since you saw us? Visions in your head after you touched something?” Piper asked.

Paige found herself wondering about the previous night, when she had touched the big book in the sisters' attic, but replied churlishly, "Nope! Maybe I'm not one of you, after al—" Just then, Paige gasped, shutting her eyes tightly as an odd sensation overcame her. Her head ached, her skin tingled, and her ears rang as an image played out in her mind, an image of… “Shane!”

“Shane?!” Piper asked, frowning in confusion. “Who’s Shane?”

“Was that…?” Prue started quizzically.

“A Premonition? But how? She wasn’t touching anything.”

“I don’t know… Maybe it’s something to do with her being half-Whitelighter?”

Paige scowled at this strange comment, then shook her head, turned on her heel, and charged down the church aisle toward the door. As she did, an odd screeching wail began to reverberate all around them.

“Now what? What is that?” Piper asked, her brows furrowed as she raised her hands tentatively to her ears.

“It’s definitely not choir practice,” said Prue. “Hey, come back here, it’s not safe!”

As Paige reached the doors, they flung open, revealing a dark-haired young man lying on the steps, writhing in pain. “Paige!” he called, reaching for her.

“Shane, what's the matter? My God, what happened?” she responded. The scene was just as she had seen in her head; Shane, collapsed, reaching out to her for help. Had the sisters been right? Had she just seen the future?

“I don't know. Someone's after me,” Shane whimpered.

“Paige,” Piper called, feeling uneasy about the man’s sudden appearance and the continued wailing noise. With a silent look to Prue, they followed in pursuit.

“Come on. Let's get out of here,” Paige said as she heaved Shane up from the floor, lending him her shoulder to help him move away from the church.

“Hey, come back!" Prue demanded when over his shoulder, the man looked their way and released a pulse of red energy from his eyes. Before she could respond, she and Piper were on their backs, screaming as they slid from one end of the polished aisle to the other, coming to a halt just below the altar steps.

“What the hell was that?” Piper expelled.

“Good question!” said Sister Agnes, looming over them, looking none too pleased.