To the Reader: This is a Paige spin off starting off with a prologue. I hope you all enjoy. Review upon reading as I would really like to hear what you have to say.
(Prologue) Chapter 1: The First Chapter of Her Life
August 2nd, 1977
The midnight blue sky blanketed this part of the world at this time. Countless stars glistened in beautiful patterns, but above a red victorian manor, there were an array of stars that resembled a Roman numeral two. The reason this shape rested above this particular home was because of the situation happening inside the top floor.
In the attic of the Halliwell Manor, Penny Halliwell flipped through the aged pages of the Book of Shadows, hoping to find answers to a serious problem in her ancestral tome. Penny ran her hand through her dark brown curls and scratched her scalp as she wasn't finding a solution.
Her daughter Patty Halliwell and her Whitelighter Sam Wilder, sat on a near-by red couch, a newborn baby cradled in Patty's arms in a blue blanket. The baby was their daughter, and a forbidden one at that.
Witches and Whitelighters weren't meant to be together, but Patty had fallen for hers. She had been having problems with her ex-husband, and Sam always knew how to comfort her. Sam was an angel, whereas her ex, Victor, was a magic-hating mortal. Despite the two held different understandings on magic, Patty and Victor had given birth to three daughters who, unknown to Victor, but definitely known to Patty, were destined to be great witches. More than three hundred years ago, Melinda Warren, the first family witch, had foretold a prophecy of their line producing three women with the strongest of magical powers, the Power of Three. These sister witches were to come from Patty Halliwell, but instead of the required three girls, she had produced four.
"There's nothing here about witches with Whitelighter powers," her mother said, giving the tome a puzzled look. The ancestral Book of Shadows was letting her down in a dire time.
"Then what do we do, Mother?" Patty asked, looking worriedly down at her baby. Her auburn hair fell and concealed her eyes, only for Sam to assist her by pushing it back.
"I don't know," Penny said, telekinetically flipping the pages with one hand while she gently tugged her jeweled necklace with the other. "I'm thinking we should bind her powers, just like we did with the girls. Hopefully, the Elders won't be alerted to her magic."
"We need a better solution! Something without flaw," Patty urged, wanting to squeeze her daughter in her grip to assure no one can take her away. "If the Elders learn about her, it could mean serious punishment for the both of us! I don't even want to think about what may happen with her!"
"And for me as well," Penny sighed. She looked at Patty's horrified expression. "I'm sorry, dear, but I'm keeping the secret as well. If the Elders find out, they won't forgive any of us." She gently waved her hand, closing the Book magically. "Nothing in here, but we're forgetting a bigger factor. The girls may be denied their powers as part of the punishment."
"No! Magic is a part of who we are. I can't allow my girls be denied their heritage," Patty said firmly. But beneath her defiance she feared for her family; a part of her secretly wanted to renounce witchcraft and give all of her children a normal life. How could she let go of her newest daughter for the Greater Good? Patty yearned to raise her, a desire that shouldn't have been selfish. Unfortunately, in this case it was.
"We should hide her," Sam suddenly suggested. It was the first time he had found the courage to discuss the subject about what to do with his only child.
Patty looked at him questioningly. "Hide her?"
Sam remained silent, unsure of whether he wanted to answer this. He understood it was possibly the solution that could've worked, but could he really separate himself from his daughter? This wasn't a time to be selfish to his own wants, so he said, "Give her up for adoption. Let another family raise her. If the Elders don't see her with us, she won't be of any interest to them."
"Is that our only option?" Penny asked, walking over to the couple. "Surely there is another option..."
"Actually, it sounds like our best bet," Patty said, shifting her gaze from her mother to Sam. "It would be best for her."
"Should we do it now?" Sam asked.
"I don't see why not," Patty replied. She turned to her mother. "We'd better do it before the girls wake up from that sleep spell you put them under."
Penny nodded, shrugging her shoulders and the features of her crimson velvet gown brushed around. "Making sure they were asleep was very much necessary. Not only were we coming into the attic, we were bringing with us a half-sister they don't know about. They were naive enough to believe you gained all that weight, but if they saw that weight gone after a few hours, they might catch on."
"You're right, Mom," Patty admitted, staring down at her daughter. "Its just that I don't like the idea of you using magic on them."
Penny could not know that her daughter would soon be killed by a demon in the lake, and that Penny would raise Prue, Piper, and Phoebe alone. Unaware at that moment of what the future held, she nodded and said, "All right, I'll try to keep that down to a minimum."
"Thank you, Mom. I only say so because -"
"Forget about that", Penny interrupted. "We can't waste any more time, we have to do it now. Take the baby to a local Church. Let's pray they find a wonderful family for her."
"Okay," Patty said as she and Sam stood up.
"I'll orb us," Sam said, placing his hand on Patty's shoulder.
"Wait a moment, Sam," Patty told him. She turned to Penny with teary eyes. She nodded her head to side and asked, "Do you want to say goodbye to your granddaughter?"
"I don't know if I'm strong enough, but.." Penny gently replied, unable to finish the sentence. She approached Patty, took the baby into her arms, and gently rocked her. "Hello, little one, I'm your Grams. And I wish you a safe journey through life." Penny looked up, a tear rolling down her face, and handed the child back to Patty. "I can't do this. It's too hard." This was tough for such a prideful woman to admit, but she had to send her off before any of them changed their minds. "You should go. Hurry."
Sam hugged Patty as she rested her head on his shoulder, clutching her baby girl. In a moment's notice they vanished in a shower of blue-white orbs with no proof that the girl was ever there by the time the orbs were replaced with empty space.
Penny wiped the tear from her cheek and left the attic, locking the door behind her. Unbeknownst to her, the array of starts above the house cluttered around and blended in with the other stars for a mysterious reason.
(X)
Inside a Catholic church, a newly-founded nun, Sister Agnes, knelt in front of a pew, finishing her prayers. She got up to start her next task, which was to go to the homeless shelter to help serve hot meals for those in need. It was work like that which helped her feel fulfilled in the nature of her role now. It was a nature she would embrace for the rest of her life.
Throwing on her sweater that had rested on the backseat of the pew during her prayers, Sister Agnes walked up the church's main aisle and out the front door. She tightened her grip on the sweater as she went down a street, heading for the shelter. Suddenly, she saw a hint of light out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see a shower of bright lights materialize into a man and woman with a child in the woman's arms.
"My God!" a shocked Sister Agnes exclaimed, her hand over her mouth. She questioned what she had just witnessed, but viewed it as beautifully serene.
Patty and Sam knew her to be a nun because of the habit she wore. They also knew they had been exposed, but still they approached her. "Excuse us," Patty said to Agnes. "Are you with the Church?" She already knew the answer, but felt it would only be appropriate to ask first.
"I am. How did you- Is there something I can help you with?" Agnes asked, still frightened and amazed by the way the couple had appeared to her.
"Yes. We hope you can find a home for our daughter. She's in danger as long as she's with us. We want to keep her safe, and the only way we can do that is by giving her up. Would you be able to place her with the best family you can find?" Patty's auburn hair was blowing in the wind as she desperately hoped the nun could deliver her daughter to a caring home.
"I'm positive I can find a family. I don't mean to pry, but are you sure?" the nun asked.
"Yes, we are," Sam replied. "This is the hardest thing we'll ever do, but it's necessary. Necessary for her."
Sister Agnes nodded, feeling remorseful for the couple. She walked up to them and looked at their sleeping baby. Like all children in her eyes, she was beautiful, but judging by the arrival of her parents, she figured she was more than just another beautiful child of God.
"Looks like orbing tires her out," Sam said to Patty in a half-hearted joke.
Patty forced a chuckle, hoping it would lighten the mood, but it didn't. She gazed down at her infant, her eyes beginning to brim. "I am so sorry we have to leave you. It hurts us more than you can imagine, but if you're discovered, it could mean terrible things for us and your sisters. I know this is selfish, but you might be better off living a normal life. You'll escape danger if you're with a normal family. I just hope you don't grow up hating us because we let you go. I love you, my little angel," Patty said, sobbing softly as she kissed the baby's forehead.
Patty gave the infant to a tearful Sam, who held her and bounced her around for a couple of seconds. "Giving you up is the hardest thing we'll ever have to do. I'm sorry we can't be there for you." Sam felt weak and then handed her over to Sister Agnes.
The nun couldn't help but admire the beautiful baby some more and the blue blanket covering her. "I'll find a safe home for her," Sister Agnes promised. "Does she have a name?"
Patty shook her head. "No, but I do have a request. Can you ask the family you place her with to give her a name starting with the letter 'P'? I may never see my daughter again, but I just want to leave a piece of her family with her. Please."
"And please keep our secret," Sam joined in. "We can't have anyone knowing about this. The only person you can reveal us to is her." He pointed at the baby. "If she ever comes looking, tell her about everything that happened here tonight. Help her understand and even offer the blanket as proof."
"I'll be sure to do so." Sister Agnes agreed with a nod.
"You should get going before she gets sick from being out here," Patty told Agnes in a cracking voice.
Agnes nodded again and walked off with the baby. She turned back once at the parents and continued to gaze at the beautiful baby girl as she walked back to the Church she just left.
Sam looked at Patty, pulling her into a hug. "Do you think she'll come into her powers?"
"I don't think so," she sighed. "It's sad to think that the world is now minus one Halliwell witch."
Sam tried his best to be encouraging. "You never know. Maybe she'll come looking for us one day, find her sisters, and become a powerful witch like them."
"Maybe," replied Patty with a weak smile. "Right now I just hope she'll be safe from all the evil roaming around." She walked over to her beau and pressed her sobbing eyes against his chest, clutching onto the back of his shirt in great emotional pain.
Sam nodded in agreement. "Let's go home," he said. Patty nodded against his chest and as they glowed in blue lights, her sobs evolved into full cries. The orbs spiraled around the couple and carried them into the sky, eventually dispersing directly under the array of stars which first hovered over the manor. The further the baby was carried away, the more distant the collection of stars spread.
(X)
As Penny sat on her bed, leafing through a brown book on her lap, she gasped as she came across a page. "Oh my!" she exclaimed, bringing her hand to her cheek in amazement.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps. With the book under her arm and a hand raised, she stood up and walked cautiously out of the room, ready to attack any demon she discovered. But what she found instead was a crying daughter and the sobbing father without his child.
Penny lowered her hand. "How did it go?" she asked in a soft voice.
"As hard as can be expected when you're giving up your child", Patty said, sniffing.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Penny said. She smiled gently. "But I have news for you. Whether it cheers you up or not is beyond what I can imagine, but it's definitely something great in my eyes."
"What is it, mother?" Patty asked curiously.
"Our fourth girl will have a safe childhood as well as a great destiny ahead of her. She's going to be the Witchlighter."
Patty and Sam looked at each other in confusion at the sound of the unfamiliar title. "The Witchlighter?" they asked as one, even more confused by the grin on Penny's face.
Penny walked over to them and handed Patty the brown leather book, introducing her to the knowledge.
Patty and Sam sharply gasped as their eyes went wide as they read. Breaking into a joyful smile, they and Penny stared at the page with the entry title written above it: Witchlighter.
Authors Note: I hope you enjoyed. To all readers, this is going to be the start of a series. Chapter 2 will pick up with present day two months after the Ultimate Battle. A date will be given. Please review upon completing. By the way, I've realized that a Chapter 1 wouldn't necessarily be the prologue, but that's just how I set it up. I do realise most of you lot on the CV do not watch Charmed but I still hope you can enjoy it! :)
{The story behind the story}
Me and my dear friend who are very loyal Charmed fans, came up with this concept back in 2009. We decided to start co-writing this spin-off about Paige Matthews together, before his work caught up with him and he retired from the story around Chapter 10, so everything up to their is not all my work, as it is co-created from prologue to chp.10 <---- please bare this in mind. These are archives from a Fan Fic account so I'm currently writing the two part finale, which is Chapters 29 & 30.
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