Third Time Charmed

Charmed Again (Part 12)

Paige stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. In a daze, she wiped the mirror of her medicine cabinet and stared into it, at herself and at Shane, whose face appeared through the steam.

"You know who you are now, Paige," he whispered enticingly into her ear, into her very soul. "This is where your destiny lies. It lies not with your sister witches. It's for no one but you. This is what you've been searching for your whole life. This is why you have the power."

Then, their reflection became the face of Jake Grisanti, the child abuser. "You can't stop me," he taunted from inside the mirror.

"Use your power for your desires, to seek your own revenge," the Source's voice coaxed. "Use your power. See what he's been hiding. See the truth. And once you know their secret...punish them!"

***

The memory of Shane's words still ringing in her fuzzy mind as she sat at her desk the following morning, Paige watched the meeting room door, waiting patiently for the right moment. When Jake and Carol Grisanti emerged, Paige got up to follow them.

Neither the couple nor Mr. Cowan seemed happy about their discussion, but Paige didn't notice that. All she could think about was a single-minded focus to lay hands on one of them. That was how the sisters said her power worked. There would be no more hiding. She would know the truth at last. She would make sure Jake Grisanti could never hurt a child again.

Just as the Grisantis reached the exit, she grabbed the man's arm. At the moment of contact, it happened. Her body tingled as if submerged in cold water, and she felt a sudden lurching sensation in her brain, causing a sharp intake of breath and the closing of her eyes.

Paige watched as the Grisanti family's secret played out in her head. A blonde boy, eleven-year-old Aaron Grisanti, was being struck repeatedly by...his mother. A door opened, and his father rushed in to stop it. The vision ended as abruptly as it had begun, and Jake Grisanti snatched his arm out of Paige's grip before he and his wife exited the building.

"It was her," Paige muttered to herself. The truth was worse than she had imagined. She had been wrong. Jake Grisanti wasn't abusing his son. He was covering for his wife. A mother hurting her own child... She needed to be punished. They both did. But Paige was the only person who knew. It was up to her. Overcome with rage, she followed the Grisantis outside.

***

"What would the Source be doing at Social Services?" Prue asked Cole, getting out of Piper's Jeep and looking around the parking lot with the enchanted sunglasses on. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"The Source is here. I can Sense him," Cole confirmed.

"Maybe he's getting a mental health assessment?" Piper joked, fumbling nervously with the zipper of her green jacket.

"Or maybe he's here because Paige is?" said Leo, pointing to the building's entrance, where Paige had just emerged, wearing an indigo vest and black pants.

"What's she doing?"

"I think she's following that couple. She looks kinda mad."

"There's something wrong with her," Prue informed them, lifting her sunglasses to compare what she was seeing—Paige's body surrounded by an eerie gray and black aura. The sight unnerved her. "She's got a shadow, kinda like when Death is targeting someone."

"The Source?" Leo asked Cole.

"No. It can't be. If Prue saw my demonic self, then she'd see his too," he clarified.

"Wait, now what's she doing?" said Piper in confusion as they approached Paige, who tore a branch off a tree, brandished it like a baseball bat, and stalked after the couple. "Oh!"