I muted the TV so I could get to sleep, but a thousand thoughts ran through my mind. Most of them were about how stupid I was being. I mean, it's just a TV show, right? He didn't really die. Drew Fuller was alive and well and probably surfing at that very moment. And, that's another thing: Drew Fuller played Chris. Chris isn't real. So being sad and feeling as empty as I felt made no sense. Then, an absurd thought occupied my mind: could I have fallen in love with a fictional character? I laughed inwardly, thinking maybe my sanity had finally left me far behind. Either that or my love life was well and truly screwed. If I was that desperate, I might as well give up any and all hope of finding a guy. The only thing to do would be to bury myself in my work. A light went off in my head. What work? I hadn't had a steady job since I moved. I sighed. I'd been popular in high school. And in college. So when had my social life become nonexistent?
My clock chimed, startling me out of my thoughts. I looked out the window and saw a full moon. Then I realized it was midnight. I smiled slightly and began to recite the spell I had heard so many times:
Hear now the words of the witchesThe secrets we hid on this night
The oldest of gods are invoked here
The great work of magic is sought
In this night and in this hour
I call upon the ancient power
Bring your power to me
I want the power
Give me the power
I waited, listening for anything, thunder or something. Four minutes passed. Nothing. Not that I had actually expected anything.
"Still," I said aloud, "I wish I could go to Chris and save him." I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, it was morning. I gazed around my room. No. Not my room. I was somewhere else, somewhere very familiar. Where the hell am I?
I sat up and looked around, trying to spot anything that could give me a clue as to where I was. My gaze landed on a picture and my heart stopped.
"No," I whispered. "No friggin' way!" I jumped out of the bed and grabbed the picture for closer inspection. "It can't be! This just can't be! It's not possible!" I looked around the room once more before dropping the picture and running full-speed out the door and down the stairs. I froze. Everything was just like I'd seen it, the living room, (I ran in to make sure) the kitchen, even the grandfather clock was in the same place. It's true, I thought, I'm in Charmed!
"Ok, ok, it's ok, there's gotta be some sort of explanation, I mean people don't just go to sleep and reappear in fictional worlds! Hmm, ok, uh, what was I doing before I went to sleep? I was- oh." I remembered thinking about Chris and saying the spell. Then I said something else. Oh yeah, I said I wished I could go and save Chris. "Great. What the hell am I-" Wait. I wanted to save Chris. Maybe if I save him I'll go back. So the house is empty, that means that everybody's at the hospital. Except Chris. He should be in the attic.
I turned and hurried back up the stairs. When I reached the attic I saw Chris going to Wyatt and saying "Time to get you out of here."
"Chris! Watch out!" He turned to see who said that and was thrown off his feet and onto a table by Gideon.
"No!" Gideon's head snapped in my direction. He looked about to give me the same treatment as Chris, when suddenly a shimmering blue- I stared in disbelief- force field surrounded me. I looked down. Wyatt was at my feet. He looked up at me, and I smiled. I looked back up at Gideon. The guy looked mega-pissed. He tried to electrocute his way through the field, but it sort of rebounded on him and sent him flying. He orbed out before he landed, and didn't reappear. The shield fell.
I leaned down and looked Wyatt in the face.
"Thanks, buddy. Nice shield you got there." He held his arms up, so I picked him up.
I turned around to find Chris staring at me suspiciously.
"Who are you?"
I laughed nervously. "Well, um, that's a funny story, actually."
He raised an eyebrow. "Your name is a funny story?"
"No, uh, it's Cassie Thompson."
"Okay, and what are you doing here?"
"Umm…"
"Let me guess: it's a funny story."
"Yeah. But, can you wait until we get rid of Gideon and save Wyatt?"
He eyed me. "Alright. But I expect you to also explain how you know about all this later on."
"Deal. Let's go save the world." And your fiancée.
We headed toward the door, Wyatt resting on my hip. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I turned around on impulse. A darklighter black-orbed in. He took careful aim at Wyatt.
"NO!" I spun around and gasped as an arrow found its way through my lower back and into my stomach. Wyatt caught on and orbed the three of us to Magic School, which was gratefully empty.
I couldn't take the pain. I felt Wyatt falling out of my arms, and he orbed. Chris caught me. He orbed me to a couch.
"W-W-Wyatt… is he- ?"
"He's okay."
"G-good." I closed my eyes and attempted to steady my breathing. "D-damn, this really-hurts. B-but hey, at least-I'm-dying now, when my life can't get-any w-worse."
"It can't be that bad."
"I-it is."
"I'm sorry. At least you didn't grow up in a world where your older brother was-"
"I-inexplicably evil?"
"Unfortunately." He looked down, deep in thought.
"I'm s-sorry ab-bout Bianca."
He stared at me, his face chalk-white.
"How the hell do you know about her? Did Wyatt send you back?" He stood up and backed away.
"N-no, I-" I groaned as I felt the life draining out of me. I mustered all my strength, opened my eyes, and glared at him. "L-look, I'm laying here dying so your future doesn't t-turn to crap. I-I'm laying here dying for your b-brother, your fiancée, your family, and you're w-worried about how I k-know what I know. G-give a dying woman a b-break."
He studied me for a moment, then sighed. "Alright. Except, you're not going to die. Wyatt!"
Wyatt orbed in. He held his little hand over my forehead. My pain vanished in an instant. I looked down. The arrow was hovering above my stomach. Wyatt orbed it out of sight. I looked at him gratefully.
"That's twice today you've saved my life. You really are an angel, aren't you?"
"Okay, you're healed. Now, explain yourself."
"I thought you said it could wait."
"You are currently residing in my care. I reserve the right to change my mind. So, start talking."
I rolled my eyes. "Sir, yes, sir, Mr. Bossman, sir."
"Just get on with it."
"Fine, but you're gonna try and have me committed, I'm sure." I took a deep breath. "I'm from another dimension, one where everything that's happened to the sisters for the past six years is on a television show called Charmed. In my world, none of this is real."
Chris stared at me. He seemed to be reading my thoughts to see if I was telling the truth. Finally, he said, "Would you be willing to prove it?"
I was immediately apprehensive. "How?"
"Just answering some questions."
"Okay."
"What are the sisters' names?"
"Prudence, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell, and Paige Matthews."
"Okay, that was easy. Their parents?"
"Patricia Halliwell and Victor Bennett for the first three, and Patty and Sam Wilder for Paige, who is a half-whitelighter like you."
"Name one creature each of them has turned into."
"Prue, a dog, Piper, a wendigo, Phoebe, a banshee, and Paige, a vampire."
He thought for a second. "It was a TV show?" I nodded. "Then you even saw things that not everyone here did?"
"Yeah."
"Tell me about something."
I had to think about it for a while. I met his gaze, and sighed. "All right, but you asked for it. I know about your last conversation with Bianca, word for word. You said, "Bianca! Oh God, no no no, etcetera," and then she said, "Haven't we been here before?" You answered, "Maybe we will be again." I looked up at him, and was horrified to see tears in his eyes. "Chris, I'm sorry, but it was the only thing I could think of…"
"It's okay," he said hoarsely. "I believe you." He wiped his eyes on his sleeve.
"I know it still hurts."
"Doesn't matter. So, how did you get here anyway?"
I eyed him carefully. "You shouldn't bottle things up like that." He said nothing. "Fine. I don't know how I got here. Well, I kind of have an idea."
"Just tell me what you did before you were here."
"Well, I watched the season finale of Charmed on tape, as when it had originally been on, I'd been job-hunting. Anyway, I noticed there was a full moon, and the clock chimed midnight, so, just for fun, I said the power-invoking spell."
"For fun?"
"Yeah. It's not like I really believed anything would happen."
"So that's when you came here?"
"No." He waited for me to go on, but I didn't want to. I knew I'd have to tell him about his death, and I really didn't want to do that. But he wouldn't stop staring at me, so, with a heavy heart, I continued. "First, I need to tell you about that last episode. You, Leo, Paige, and Phoebe traded places with your evil counterparts in another world."
"Yeah, that happened here too."
"Okay, I'll just cut to the chase. All the events leading to that moment just before I interrupted things went the same in both worlds."
"And after?"
"Clearly, things have gone a little differently. I'm not supposed to be here. I wasn't in the show. I wasn't there when Gideon attacked, and so I couldn't stop him from… killing you."
Chris went all chalk-white again. "Killing? I died?"
I nodded, and cleared my throat. "After everything that happened this season, I couldn't believe that it all had to end in your death. I didn't want that. So, for some stupid reason, I said aloud, "I wish I could go to Chris and save him." I went to sleep there, and woke up here."
He was still pale, and wouldn't look at me or say anything.
"Chris, it's okay. Well, no it's not, but it didn't happen, I stopped it, I saved you! So you can't fall apart now, because we're all really scared and don't know what we're doing and we aren't sure if we can handle this because it's not possible and I just want to feel safe again!" I was up and pacing during all of this, hysterically gesturing this way and that. I stopped and realized I was having trouble breathing. It had suddenly all sunk in when I saw that look on Chris's face, and it was all way too much for me to take.
Chris snapped out of it and came to me. I spun around so he wouldn't see my tears. He put a hand on my shoulder, but I pushed him away. He realized this was my melting point. He grabbed my arms from behind and held them tightly to my stomach. I struggled for a bit, then gave up and collapsed. He went to his knees, arms still around me. I continued to hyperventilate while Chris attempted to calm me down.
"Chris, I'm so scared. I-I've watched this show since my junior year of high school, and now I'm in it! You have n-no idea…"
"You're right. You're right. I don't know how terrifying this must be for you. But let me let you in on a little secret." He let go and turned me to face him. "I'm scared too. The fate of the world is on the line here, not to mention the fate of my whole family. I'm scared to death."
I looked him in the eye. "That's probably not the best expression for you, considering."
"Oh, right."
I closed my eyes. "Damn, sorry." I reopened my eyes and looked at him. "This is insane, all of this. Me being here, you here with me. I've seen you on TV, 2 dimensional, and now I'm here talking to you. This is surreal. And this place?" I gestured around Magic School. "It's absolutely amazing!"
Chris looked around. "I guess to someone who didn't practically live here for most of their life, it would be." He held out his hands. I took them, and he pulled me up. I wiped my eyes, feeling a tad embarrassed for my tears. The feeling dissipated when I noticed him doing the same, discreetly.
I felt a little uncomfortable after my outburst, so I went to a bookcase to change the atmosphere. "Jeez, is that a spell book?" I grabbed it and flipped it open. "Oh, ew, there's a spell for relieving constipation. And another for removing warts, and this one- Damn! This one is supposed to cure lung cancer! Too bad my Uncle Jack didn't know about this one. He died 6 years ago from it."
Chris appeared at my side. "You know, I doubt half of these even work. They were probably written in the Middle Ages, when stuff like that was really popular."
"Hmm." I put it back, and grabbed another. I opened it to the first page, on which was written in large, swirling letters "An Introduction to
Necromancy". I glanced sideways at Chris, then closed the book quickly and returned it to the shelf. I began running my hands along the spines, until I touched upon a rather large volume that for some reason I just had to read. I tugged it off the shelf, went to a table, and let it drop heavily. The sound startled Wyatt, who began crying. Chris went to take care of him. I looked at the cover curiously. It was written in some weird language that I'd never seen. I opened it to yellowing pages, probably hundreds of years old. Again, more strange writing. I tucked my hair behind my ear, and a moment later, realized the writing was beginning to blur and move. I closed my eyes tightly. When I opened them again, I couldn't believe it: right where seconds before there had been another language was clear and plain-as-day English. The title page read: "Being a Book of Prophecies from He, The Unseen". I carefully turned the page and read the first prophecy.
"The sixteen is the great but doomed
Two coins placed so he cannot see
Fomalhaut, Orion, Regulus, Denebola
These stars do frown upon a boot."
I read it aloud.
Chris wandered over. "What was that?"
"A prophecy, and I think I'm on the verge of figuring it out. See these names? These are stars, or constellations. 'The sixteen' is a person, and he had coins put over his eyes so he couldn't see. And the stars, constellations, whatever, look at the first letters. They spell something."
"F-O-R-D," we read in unison.
"And then it says the stars frown upon a boot. What if there's a letter missing?"
"I think I know what you're saying," he said.
"This is a prophecy predicting President Lincoln's assassination. He was killed in Ford Theater by John Wilkes Booth, and everyone knows that afterwards, he had coins with his face on them placed over his eyes." I looked at him triumphantly.
Chris looked at me, awed. "That was unbelievable. That would've taken me forever to figure out. Are you usually that intuitive?"
"I don't know, it just wasn't that hard to figure out. It's like a puzzle, and somehow the pieces just fell into place."
He turned the page. "What about this one?"
I read:
"The second child of the second child
And the traveler of worlds,
Their destinies are one
When upon clasped hands the full moon doth shine.
Then three there shall be
From these two most powerful souls."
Was I going nuts, or did this sound a little familiar?
"Piper's the second Charmed One."
"Yeah." We didn't look at each other, but I knew we were thinking the same thing.
"And you're her second kid, right?"
"Uh huh."
"And I'm from another world."
"Unless you've been lying to me. What about the 'three there shall be'?"
"Only thing I can think of is… kids."
I looked at him. He looked unusually pale, then slowly began to turn red as I said that.
I cleared my throat and looked away. "Well, none of that matters because our hands have never been clasped underneath a full moon. So none of that will happen if we avoid full moons. Right?"
"Er, right. You know, we still need to find Gideon and save Wyatt. I'll go see if maybe he came back here." He walked out of the room, leaving me stunned and confused.
I closed the book with a sigh and put it back on the shelf. As if attracting someone of the opposite sex wasn't hard enough, there was now a prophecy involved. Between Chris and me. Who's engaged. I foresee some major drama in the near future.
I went to Wyatt, who was sitting on the couch, kneeled, and started making funny faces at him. He smiled.
"Boy, what a cutie you are." I stopped and sighed. "So what do you think? You think your brother and I are destined to be?" He looked at me knowingly, then pointed behind me. I turned. A swirl of blue orbs appeared, and there was Chris.
"I thought you were looking for Gideon."
"I was, somebody else must've…" His gaze drifted to Wyatt. I looked at him too. He looked at me as if to say, "Answer your question?"
"Well, I'll just go back and uh…" I turned back to Chris, who looked extremely uncomfortable.
"Chris, maybe we need to talk about this. Because, the first prophecy we read came true, so who says the other one won't? Ha, and I know that's terrible thing to say, considering what you left behind in the future. But, oh for Buddha's sake, I have to admit I've felt drawn to you since the first time I saw you on Charmed, and every time the sisters distrusted you, I trusted you. I always knew you were good, even before anyone else did. I like everything about you; your neurotic-ness, your eyes, your hair, the way you smile, the way you talk, the way you act, the way you selflessly died for your family and kept telling Leo to just go save Wyatt and don't give up, even thought that never really happened. Why the hell do you think I really came here, huh? I wanted to save you because I love you! And that was also a terrible thing to say, and now I'm rambling, God, I'm such an idiot!" I stood up, straight up, my hands in fists at my sides. In my mind, I was freaking out because I just told him everything and I was berating myself for saying that because of Bianca. Outside, I seemed frustrated, but had tears blurring my vision, so I couldn't tell his reaction. I didn't want him to know what I was really feeling, so I kept acting angry. I spun around, discreetly wiped the tears from my eyes, and flung myself onto the couch. I crossed my arms and wouldn't look at him.
"Cassie?"
"Just forget it. I did what I came here for, now I just want to go home." Suddenly, the room around me began to dissolve. I blinked, and I was at Halliwell Manor again. "Uh, heh heh, I said HOME, as in my home." Nothing from the Powers. I sighed. "Fine, I want to go to Magic School." The room dissolved, and I was back on that couch, Chris staring at me.
"Well, that really sucks. Guess I'm stuck here." I crossed my legs and glared at him, daring him to say whatever he wanted about my outburst.
"Cassie?"
"What?" I said harshly, looking away.
"Was all that true?"
"What do you think?"
He was quiet for a second, then said, "Wow."
I looked back and him, and our eyes locked. He was looking at me thoughtfully, but I was still feigning anger.
"Look, like I said, it doesn't matter and we should just forget it because I'm apparently stuck here so we can't let our personal things get in the way of the more important things. Okay? Forgotten? Good." I got up, picked up Wyatt, and started to walk right past Chris.
"Wait," he said, grabbing my arm. He came around to my front, not letting go of my arm.
"Chris, we have nothing to talk about. You love Bianca, and you're still engaged to her."
He laughed scornfully. "No, I'm not. I can't marry a ghost."
"But once we save Wyatt, she won't be a ghost. She'll be alive and you won't even remember me. And that's the way it should be. I have to go back to my world."
"Do I get a say in this?"
"We can't be together, that's why I didn't want to tell you about how I really feel. Now, come on, we have to save Wyatt."
"Maybe I want to be with you. Maybe I don't want Bianca anymore. And maybe I've felt an attraction to you too, since the first time I saw you."
"When, 20 minutes ago?"
"I'm serious."
I looked away. Then I looked back at him. "Chris, you can't just stop loving someone and love someone else. It doesn't work that way."
"I haven't really loved Bianca since she took me back to Wyatt. She-"
"She broke your heart. I know. I saw that episode."
He smiled sadly. "What was it called?"
"Chris-crossed, appropriately enough." I realized then the full impact of that prophecy. It was clearly drawing Chris and me together, and I knew we both wanted it. But what would happen to us once we changed everything?
"Chris…"
I looked into his eyes. Wow, they were really green, and so deep…
"You okay?" His voice shook me out of my thoughts.
"Oh, uh, yeah, it's just…don't you think this is all happening a little fast?"
"Yeah, I guess it is."
"I mean, normally I would've had at least 20 more minutes of outburst-free time. It's gotta be the prophecy."
"Probably. I wonder when the next full moon is?"
"Can we get the paper from the house?"
"No, I don't want to risk orbing."
"Ahem, who said you had to get it?" I grinned at him and he raised an eyebrow. "I'm trying to get into my powers, the least you can do is let me learn to use them."
"Well, I suppose, as long as you're careful and come right back."
"Yes Mr. Mom, and when I get back, will you bake me cookies?"
He laughed. "You are positively hilarious."
"I know I am." I handed Wyatt to him."Now, I want to go to Halliwell Manor." I watched Chris's face dissolve and the Halliwell Manor living room come into focus.
I went immediately to the kitchen where I knew the paper would be. I looked around, then, sure enough, saw it on the counter. I grabbed it, opened my mouth to say I wanted to go to Magic School, and felt a hand clamp over it.
A voice I knew all too well muttered in my ear, "I don't want to harm you. I just want the boy."
Gideon took his hand off my mouth and an athame appeared in it, which he held to my throat.
"I guess you'll have to kill me because there is no way in hell I'll ever tell you where he is."
"It would be a terrible loss to the side of good for you to die."
"What?"
"Oh yes, we have long foreseen your arrival and known of your destiny. Together, you and Christopher Halliwell will bring about the third generation of Charmed Ones, and possibly the most powerful yet. I would be happy to allow that, but I cannot let Wyatt Halliwell live. He is too dangerous."
"You know, it's Elders like you that give Elders like Leo Wyatt a bad name."
"I am trying to do what's best for everyone."
"That's what Adolph Hitler said."
"Do not associate me with that monster."
"You're trying to murder a baby. How does that not make you a monster too?"
"Enough!" The kitchen disappeared, and I felt like I was floating. Then, my feet hit solid ground. I looked around and knew instantly I was in the Underworld. Gideon threw me onto the ground, where two chains attached to the wall slithered to my wrists and clamped onto them.
"You will stay here while I look for the child. Unless you'd rather just call him to you now and save me the trouble?"
"Go to hell!" To my great surprise, he disappeared. I didn't question what I just did; I had to get out of there before he came back. "Magic School!" The Underworld disappeared and I was back on the couch, Chris standing in front of me with his arms crossed.
"What took you so long?"
"Keep your eyes open for Gideon; he's gonna be pissed."
"Gideon?"
"He was at the house. He took me to the Underworld, I told him to go to hell, and I'm pretty sure he did."
His eyes widened. "That's quite a power you have."
"You're telling me." It was then that I noticed the paper was still in my hands. I found the weather report. "Hey Chris, the next full moon is…tonight."
End of First Chapter