In A Most Unusual Way

Prologue: A Mistake Waiting To Happen

"You know what?" Piper Halliwell snapped as she blew up yet another demon. "This is getting ridiculous."

"Tell me about it," said Paige Matthews. "They just keep coming."

Piper glared at the only demon that was left in the entryway. "Say hi to your friends for me," she said, raising her hands and blasting the blue-suited man into oblivion. "I am so sick of this."

"I got the spell!" Phoebe Halliwell rushed down the stairs. She surveyed the damage to the living room. "Oops," she said sheepishly. "A little too late, huh?"

"You think so?" asked Piper. "If you want, we can summon a few more and destroy the dining room next."

"Don't bite my head off. It wasn't my idea to invite half the Albanine Demon community over."

"One," Paige said. "I summoned one to see if the spell would work."

"Unfortunately," Piper snapped, "that one had backup. Lots and lots of backup."

Phoebe sighed as she dropped the piece of paper she was holding in her hand. "I need a vacation. Between demons and Cole and the newspaper…"

"Cole?" repeated Paige. "I thought he hadn't been around lately."

"That's what's scaring me. I know he's planning something." Phoebe started up the steps. "Call if you need me."

Paige shook her head. "Why didn't she vanquish him in the first place?"

"God only knows," Piper said. She looked at her watch. "Crap. I was supposed to be at the club fifteen minutes ago."

"You can take my car. Or I could orb you."



"Don't grovel."

Paige watched as her sister left the Manor. "I'll just…go make a potion or something," she said.

It really wasn't fair, she decided as she entered the kitchen. You make one mistake with summoning evil and you get treated like you're the demon.

"It wasn't my fault." Paige set the pot on the stovetop. "My spell worked…just a little too well. And it's not like I'm the only one who's screwed up witchcraft in this house. Like the time Phoebe…"

She trailed off. The youngest Charmed One couldn't come up with even one instance of either one of her sisters writing a spell that backfired.

"This is stupid," Paige said. She tossed some burdock root into the bubbling water. "I've done a bunch of things right. I helped vanquish the Source of All Evil! Twice!" She rolled her eyes. "A lot of good that did. The first time, the Source came back as Cole and the second time, Phoebe lost her husband." She paused. "Great job, Paige. You're talking to yourself."

The potion was beginning to take shape nicely, although Paige wasn't sure what it would do.

"Now this is a mistake waiting to happen," she said to herself. "Isn't this the way the whole body switching thing started?"

Before Paige had time to figure out a way to get rid of the smoking potion, there was a poof…and everything went black.

A/N: This just popped into my head today. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be updating A Slight Change in Destiny's Plans, but let's say it all together: "spastic!"

And in case you were wondering…this all takes place somewhere between "The Eyes Have It" and "Sympathy for the Demon."

I wrote this on Microsoft Word and it's correcting my grammar.

Huh. Michelle Branch has a CD called "The Broken Bracelet"? Who knew?

All right. I'll quit babbling and post this.

oh yes, one more thing. The title will make sense with the coming chapters.