49"Phoebe, watch out!" cried Piper from behind an overturned table.
The demon shot out a disgusting substance through a small tube-like weapon towards Phoebe's head just as she threw her body onto the floor. The substance was some kind of thick venom, which Piper had already found out could burn a hole straight through your skin. Luckily, Leo was there to heal her since she wasn't self-healing anymore.
"Alright, that's it!" yelled Phoebe angrily. She stood up, ran, and kicked the demon straight in the face. "Piper, blow him up!" she cried.
Just as Piper raised her hands to vanquish him, Paige orbed into the room.
"What's goin' on in here?" she asked, puzzled, before she noticed the demon behind her.
"Paige, call for that tube - thing, now!" Phoebe said, loosing control of her temper. It wasn't exactly Paige's fault, and she knew that, but lately Paige hadn't been concentrating and had cost them some pain.
"Tube!" Paige cried, holding out her hand. But the tube didn't appear. Piper rolled her eyes, and dodged another stream of thick, black, tar-like stuff. Finally, Piper got a clear path to the demon and blew him up with a thrust of her hands. Phoebe climbed out of her hiding place - the dining room table which had turned on its side when she had kicked the demon into it. It took a few minutes for Piper and Phoebe to catch their breath, and after they did, they turned on Paige.
"What is wrong with you, Paige? You haven't had this much trouble with your telekinetic orbing since you first found out you were a witch!" fumed Phoebe.
Paige looked at them hurtfully, trying desperately to think of an excuse for why she couldn't concentrate lately, but she had no idea herself.
"I'm sorry," she replied weakly. "I don't know what the problem is."
"Paige, we're your sisters, and we love you," lectured Piper. "I mean, we never had this problem with Prue. She pretty much always had a firm grip when demons attacked, and most of the time, she saved our lives. I mean, we're not leaving it up to you, but we're the Charmed Ones. In other words, the Power of Three doesn't work with two. Understand?"
Phoebe felt this was a bit harsh, being that Paige had had problems with competing with Prue's reputation when she first came to them. Shooting Piper a dark look, she cut in.
"We don't expect you to be Prue. She had a lot more years at this than you have, but please, just try to concentrate harder, okay Honey?" she said kindly.
"I'm really sorry, you guys. I really don't know what is happening with me. I'll try harder," Paige promised.
Her apology and promises were accepted by Phoebe, who smiled and gave her a hug. But Piper was still angry. Prue was always there for us. Now I'm the oldest sister, and no one is there for me. Phoebe has no active power, and Paige just doesn't care enough, though Piper sorrowfully.
Paige spent the rest of the day upstairs in her room, pensive. She felt awful for letting her sisters down. They missed Prue so much, and each time she screwed up, it only reminded them of how Prue could have done it right. She was only a stark reminder of their sister, Prue: Super-Witch.
Night fell, and neither Phoebe nor Piper had come to see if Paige was okay. Well, of course they wouldn't, Paige told herself, you could have gotten them killed! As if on cue, there was a slight knocking on her bedroom door.
"Come in," said Paige meekly.
Phoebe walked in slowly, carrying a think book, which Paige soon realized was a photo album. Her face, which had a hopeful smile on it, fell. Forget it. She's not going to give me a pep talk. She's gonna show me pictures of Prue. Great, I feel better now, she though sarcastically.
Phoebe sat down on the edge of her bed gently, and opened the album.
"Here, these are pictures of us when we were younger. You see, Prue was our big sister. At the time, her power was the most powerful, and we got too comfortable with her saving our butts all the time." At this point, Phoebe gave a small laugh, getting lost in memories.
"See, it's not you, Paige. It's just that now, Piper and I have no...safety net, I guess you could call it. I mean, we have you, and Leo who helps out. But with Prue around, we felt like we didn't have to worry. When she died, it was a big surprise, and it hit us in two ways. First, we had no longer had anyone to do all the physical work for us. She'd send demons flying to give us time to say a vanquishing spell. It wasn't nearly as hard as it is now. And then, we lost our big sister. She had the best personality I'd ever known. We weren't prepared to lose such a young, beautiful sister with so much going for her. When she died, it's like... we got a nasty shoch that said, 'You aren't invincible.' It was too much."
Phoebe paused and took a deep breath. Paige looked down at the book, and glimpsed the pictures of little Piper, Prue, and Phoebe: playing, smiling, and hugging. Prue seemed to always be in the center. They really did depend on her, Paige realized. She was starting to feel extremely guilty. Phoebe started to continue.
"It's not your fault, Paige, and we don't blame you. It was a blessing to have you reconstitute the Power of Three, and not just for our job, but for our broken hearts. No one can ever replace Prue, but you are just as special to us as she was, in your own way," Phoebe explained softly.
Paige looked at Phoebe with tears in her eyes. The speech was touching and saddening enough, but put that with the pictures of their beloved sister, and it was just too much. She no longer pitied herself, but she pitied her sisters. She would do anything if her sisters could have Prue back. Anything.