***FYI: I didn't realize that what I had typed in italics wasn't uploading.
So, I've added *asterisks* around what are thoughts so you can tell the
difference. That should help with some of the storyline that I think was
being missed. I'm glad you're enjoying the story! I'm enjoying writing
it! Thanks so much for the reviews! ~abs
Chris walked back over the book and looked at the demon staring back at him from the book. "What did happen to you?" he asks, as if the book could answer him.
Leo orbed in, "Chris, I didn't know you were up here," you could cut the tension with a knife.
"My house, my book," Chris said shutting the book before Leo could see what he was looking at. "Can I help you with something?"
"I came looking for you. I was hoping we could talk," Leo started approaching Chris, "I want a different future than the one you came from. I want one where we are all a happy family," Leo pleas.
"I don't know if I want that. But we've got different problems right now, Leo," Chris walked around the edge of the book, Leo lowered his eyes at Chris calling him by name.
"You call Piper Mom," he mumbles sheepishly.
"Stick with the subject, please. There's a new demon. Potentially more," Chris answers evasively.
"Is it the one who turns Wyatt," Leo asks with slight panic in his voice.
"I'm not sure. I doubt it. But he probably works for the person who does... in the future anyway."
"What?" Leo was lost.
Chris and Leo go downstairs to find Piper dressing Wyatt after his bath. "Not even noon and we've been through two outfits. I hope you're a cleaner baby than your brother or else more than half my income is going to go to new baby clothes," Piper looks up from her oldest son, "Oh, hi Leo. I didn't see you. You two been catching up?" she asks hopefully. Chris rolls his eyes and looks away. Leo frowns—both answering the question without words. "I'll take that as a no. Where did your friend go?"
"What friend?" Leo asks, "Somebody needs to catch me up."
"Chloe, her name is Chloe. And I don't know where she went exactly," he said rubbing his ring, "I upset her. Or, she's just upset. Girls are crazy, do you realize that? Absolutely nutty. It doesn't matter if she's a friend, family, or the next door neighbor—you're all just off!" Chris stormed out of the room.
"Ouch, touchy subject. He really is neurotic. How do I raise a neurotic and a psychotic son?" Leo raises his eyebrows and starts to open his mouth, "No answer from you, they're half your's," Leo nods his head in agreement then they both follow Chris to the kitchen. "Chris, honey, where'd you go?"
"I'm in here," Chris was sitting in the sunroom staring at the map and scrawing crystal.
"Do we need to scraw for her?" Piper suggests.
"No," Chris replied curtly.
"Can you sense her?" Leo adds.
"No."
"Do you want us to stop asking questions?" Piper asks agitated.
"Yes," Chris answers without thinking. Piper eyes him with one of those, motherly watch your tone looks, "Sorry. It's ok. I have a feeling I know where she went. Especially since I can't sense her."
"Where's that?" Piper wonders.
"The underworld," Leo answers for his son, "that would be the only place she could go without him being able to sense her." Chris nods.
Chloe shimmers into a cave in the underworld, with a black cloak around her shoulders and black suede bag over her shoulder. Two tall demons stoically guarded the entrance to the cavern. "I seek to gain passage to the Hall of Lost Souls," Chloe requests approaching the guards. They looked her up and down and let her pass. She enters the room filled beyond eyes sight with glowing white globes of light. She closes her eyes and turns in a circle in the middle of the room concentrating. *Where are you?* she thought, *if you're gone, I know you're here somewhere* She focused intently turning, turning. *There you are,* she smiled and opens her eyes. Two white orbs floated towards her. She looked at them, studied them, "Why?" she asks out loud, "How did you get here?" Hoping that somehow the balls of light could answer her, but they didn't. They floated there, radiating light, filling Chloe with an insatiable curiosity to determine how the souls became trapped in the underworld's Hall of Lost Souls. *I can't take you now,* she thought, *but I will be back. I promise. And I don't break my promises. You know that.*
Chris orbed himself to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. After Leo introduced him to the spot, he frequented it when he needed space to think... high above the expanse of San Francisco, sitting precariously above the bay, he had plenty of space to think. He looked down at the gold ring with the Triquatra engraved in the top. It glowed as if knowing he was looking at it. "Did you find what you were looking for?" he asks.
"I did," Chloe answers sitting next to him, "This view. Man, I thought it just existed in books and holograms. A figment of some author's imagination. It's nice to see that it's real."
"What did you find?" Chris kept his gaze on the bay.
"I found their souls. And if they are trapped in the Hall of Lost Souls, then... I guess you're right. But, maybe that's why I'm still here. My dad's not really gone... not yet anyway," Chloe answers calmly.
There was a disturbance in the air behind them. "You know we were being watched," Chris states matter-of-factly, letting his eyes wander to Chloe's.
"No, I didn't know, but I assumed. And you know what assumption does," she smiles.
"Yeah," he laughs bumping her with his shoulder, "let's get back and fix it so it doesn't happen again."
"Right," Chloe shimmers out, followed by Chris's orbs.
"We're back!" Paige announces walking into the kitchen. "Where's the future crew? Out battling evil?"
"Shhh," Piper hushes, "I just got Wyatt asleep. And you're going to be the new evil if you wake him."
"Sorry, sorry," Paige apologizes, "Where are Chris and Chloe?"
"Out getting into trouble," Phoebe postulates.
"Pheebs, why are you being so skeptical?" Piper asks concerned.
"She's been like that all day. I can't snap her out of it," Paige pouts.
"I'm sorry, Paige," Phoebe corrects, "but I just don't know what to think. I'm still adjusting to not having my powers and not being able to read people. I don't want any of us to get hurt."
"I don't either, Phoebe," Piper gets up and places her hand on Phoebe's arm, "but we have to give her a chance. I trust my sons. And they trust her. Wyatt doesn't put his shield up for strangers. And he did for her. That makes me want to trust her, and help her."
"I would have to agree with Phoebe, though. Ere on the side of cautious optimism," a voice adds as Leo enters the room.
"Why? What do you know?" Phoebe questions.
"Not too much more than you. I asked the other elders about her, and she definitely is good. We can all sense it. And I would assume she really is from the future because none of us know who she is," his voice trailed off, "but she has access to the underworld... and the Hall of Lost Souls."
"What?" Paige asks emphatically, "Leo, how did you find that out?"
"Doing a little snooping and eavesdropping," he answers shying away from the girls' accusatory glares. "Hey, I had to do something. Chris may not want me around, but I still don't want anything to happen to him. And I wanted to make sure he really does know her and wasn't just under some spell or something."
"And?" Phoebe demands.
"He really knows her. And he loves her."
"Loves her?" Piper inquires almost offended, "He's engaged to crazy evil Bianca in the future."
"Not that kind of love," Leo corrects, "the kind of love you would have for a sincere, honest friend. I think he would change the world for her, like he is willing to for his family."
"Awh, how sweet is that?" Paige gasps. Leo shot her a look. "What? You said it. I'm merely saying that is a sweet gesture on my youngest nephew's part."
"I mean it. I could feel his love for her."
"Well, Pheebs, you gotta trust that," Piper winks at her doubting middle sister.
"I'm working on it," Phoebe smiles, thinking.
"Mom?" Chris calls, walking into the foyer. Chloe walked over the hall tree and placed her cloak and bag on the coat hooks. She looks in the mirror and sees Leo standing in the kitchen with the girls.
"Oh, my gosh," she whispers and followed Chris into the kitchen.
"I found her," Chris announces entering the kitchen.
"Did you lose her?" Phoebe asks concerned.
"Well, kinda, yes. She shimmered off mad at me," Chris explains to Phoebe and Paige.
"Why? Chris, what did you do?" Paige winks.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Chloe answers for Chris as he began to open his mouth, patting him on the back. *You...* she winked at her friend. "You must be Leo," she offered Leo her hand.
"Have we never met?" he asks her confused, offering his hand in return.
They shake hands as Phoebe braces herself for a premonition. She sees Leo smiling at her and looking at an engagement ring on her hand. Then orbing out, quickly, leaving Phoebe confused and alone. "You have your powers back!" Piper asks excited.
Chris looked at Chloe, *Uh-oh.* Chloe quickly released Leo's hand and backed out of the conversation.
"No, no, I don't," Phoebe clarifies, "I thought so at first, too, but I still can't levitate or use my empath power. I don't know what it is. I almost feel like I'm intercepting someone else's premonitions... but I'm in them all."
*You shouldn't be touching anything.* Chris wanders to where Chloe had relocated herself.
"I know," she whispers in response to him.
"We're going to go upstairs and work on those potions for you, Paige, while you work out what's going on with Phoebe," Chris informs his family, turning Chloe and pushing her out of the room.
"This isn't the first time it's happened?" Leo asks continuing the conversation in the kitchen.
"No, actually... that's been part of my skepticism about this future girl upstairs. The premonitions started when she showed up. Actually, that's how we knew she was in the alley getting ready to be attacked—I had a premonition when I touched her glass," Phoebe thought out loud.
"You know, I thought that was a little screwy," Paige says in response, "I just didn't think about it at the time."
"Well, yeah," Phoebe continues, "and then I had a premonition of Prue and Grams when we were watching her go upstairs to the book."
"You were spying?" Piper asks upset.
"Yes, but you're missing the point. Chloe was touching the picture of Grams and Prue, not me. Just like just now, she shook Leo's hand...and I had a premonition."
"What do you think it means, Pheebs? Leo?" Piper wonders.
"I don't know, I really don't," Phoebe lets her eyes trail out the door towards the stairway.
Chris walked back over the book and looked at the demon staring back at him from the book. "What did happen to you?" he asks, as if the book could answer him.
Leo orbed in, "Chris, I didn't know you were up here," you could cut the tension with a knife.
"My house, my book," Chris said shutting the book before Leo could see what he was looking at. "Can I help you with something?"
"I came looking for you. I was hoping we could talk," Leo started approaching Chris, "I want a different future than the one you came from. I want one where we are all a happy family," Leo pleas.
"I don't know if I want that. But we've got different problems right now, Leo," Chris walked around the edge of the book, Leo lowered his eyes at Chris calling him by name.
"You call Piper Mom," he mumbles sheepishly.
"Stick with the subject, please. There's a new demon. Potentially more," Chris answers evasively.
"Is it the one who turns Wyatt," Leo asks with slight panic in his voice.
"I'm not sure. I doubt it. But he probably works for the person who does... in the future anyway."
"What?" Leo was lost.
Chris and Leo go downstairs to find Piper dressing Wyatt after his bath. "Not even noon and we've been through two outfits. I hope you're a cleaner baby than your brother or else more than half my income is going to go to new baby clothes," Piper looks up from her oldest son, "Oh, hi Leo. I didn't see you. You two been catching up?" she asks hopefully. Chris rolls his eyes and looks away. Leo frowns—both answering the question without words. "I'll take that as a no. Where did your friend go?"
"What friend?" Leo asks, "Somebody needs to catch me up."
"Chloe, her name is Chloe. And I don't know where she went exactly," he said rubbing his ring, "I upset her. Or, she's just upset. Girls are crazy, do you realize that? Absolutely nutty. It doesn't matter if she's a friend, family, or the next door neighbor—you're all just off!" Chris stormed out of the room.
"Ouch, touchy subject. He really is neurotic. How do I raise a neurotic and a psychotic son?" Leo raises his eyebrows and starts to open his mouth, "No answer from you, they're half your's," Leo nods his head in agreement then they both follow Chris to the kitchen. "Chris, honey, where'd you go?"
"I'm in here," Chris was sitting in the sunroom staring at the map and scrawing crystal.
"Do we need to scraw for her?" Piper suggests.
"No," Chris replied curtly.
"Can you sense her?" Leo adds.
"No."
"Do you want us to stop asking questions?" Piper asks agitated.
"Yes," Chris answers without thinking. Piper eyes him with one of those, motherly watch your tone looks, "Sorry. It's ok. I have a feeling I know where she went. Especially since I can't sense her."
"Where's that?" Piper wonders.
"The underworld," Leo answers for his son, "that would be the only place she could go without him being able to sense her." Chris nods.
Chloe shimmers into a cave in the underworld, with a black cloak around her shoulders and black suede bag over her shoulder. Two tall demons stoically guarded the entrance to the cavern. "I seek to gain passage to the Hall of Lost Souls," Chloe requests approaching the guards. They looked her up and down and let her pass. She enters the room filled beyond eyes sight with glowing white globes of light. She closes her eyes and turns in a circle in the middle of the room concentrating. *Where are you?* she thought, *if you're gone, I know you're here somewhere* She focused intently turning, turning. *There you are,* she smiled and opens her eyes. Two white orbs floated towards her. She looked at them, studied them, "Why?" she asks out loud, "How did you get here?" Hoping that somehow the balls of light could answer her, but they didn't. They floated there, radiating light, filling Chloe with an insatiable curiosity to determine how the souls became trapped in the underworld's Hall of Lost Souls. *I can't take you now,* she thought, *but I will be back. I promise. And I don't break my promises. You know that.*
Chris orbed himself to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. After Leo introduced him to the spot, he frequented it when he needed space to think... high above the expanse of San Francisco, sitting precariously above the bay, he had plenty of space to think. He looked down at the gold ring with the Triquatra engraved in the top. It glowed as if knowing he was looking at it. "Did you find what you were looking for?" he asks.
"I did," Chloe answers sitting next to him, "This view. Man, I thought it just existed in books and holograms. A figment of some author's imagination. It's nice to see that it's real."
"What did you find?" Chris kept his gaze on the bay.
"I found their souls. And if they are trapped in the Hall of Lost Souls, then... I guess you're right. But, maybe that's why I'm still here. My dad's not really gone... not yet anyway," Chloe answers calmly.
There was a disturbance in the air behind them. "You know we were being watched," Chris states matter-of-factly, letting his eyes wander to Chloe's.
"No, I didn't know, but I assumed. And you know what assumption does," she smiles.
"Yeah," he laughs bumping her with his shoulder, "let's get back and fix it so it doesn't happen again."
"Right," Chloe shimmers out, followed by Chris's orbs.
"We're back!" Paige announces walking into the kitchen. "Where's the future crew? Out battling evil?"
"Shhh," Piper hushes, "I just got Wyatt asleep. And you're going to be the new evil if you wake him."
"Sorry, sorry," Paige apologizes, "Where are Chris and Chloe?"
"Out getting into trouble," Phoebe postulates.
"Pheebs, why are you being so skeptical?" Piper asks concerned.
"She's been like that all day. I can't snap her out of it," Paige pouts.
"I'm sorry, Paige," Phoebe corrects, "but I just don't know what to think. I'm still adjusting to not having my powers and not being able to read people. I don't want any of us to get hurt."
"I don't either, Phoebe," Piper gets up and places her hand on Phoebe's arm, "but we have to give her a chance. I trust my sons. And they trust her. Wyatt doesn't put his shield up for strangers. And he did for her. That makes me want to trust her, and help her."
"I would have to agree with Phoebe, though. Ere on the side of cautious optimism," a voice adds as Leo enters the room.
"Why? What do you know?" Phoebe questions.
"Not too much more than you. I asked the other elders about her, and she definitely is good. We can all sense it. And I would assume she really is from the future because none of us know who she is," his voice trailed off, "but she has access to the underworld... and the Hall of Lost Souls."
"What?" Paige asks emphatically, "Leo, how did you find that out?"
"Doing a little snooping and eavesdropping," he answers shying away from the girls' accusatory glares. "Hey, I had to do something. Chris may not want me around, but I still don't want anything to happen to him. And I wanted to make sure he really does know her and wasn't just under some spell or something."
"And?" Phoebe demands.
"He really knows her. And he loves her."
"Loves her?" Piper inquires almost offended, "He's engaged to crazy evil Bianca in the future."
"Not that kind of love," Leo corrects, "the kind of love you would have for a sincere, honest friend. I think he would change the world for her, like he is willing to for his family."
"Awh, how sweet is that?" Paige gasps. Leo shot her a look. "What? You said it. I'm merely saying that is a sweet gesture on my youngest nephew's part."
"I mean it. I could feel his love for her."
"Well, Pheebs, you gotta trust that," Piper winks at her doubting middle sister.
"I'm working on it," Phoebe smiles, thinking.
"Mom?" Chris calls, walking into the foyer. Chloe walked over the hall tree and placed her cloak and bag on the coat hooks. She looks in the mirror and sees Leo standing in the kitchen with the girls.
"Oh, my gosh," she whispers and followed Chris into the kitchen.
"I found her," Chris announces entering the kitchen.
"Did you lose her?" Phoebe asks concerned.
"Well, kinda, yes. She shimmered off mad at me," Chris explains to Phoebe and Paige.
"Why? Chris, what did you do?" Paige winks.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Chloe answers for Chris as he began to open his mouth, patting him on the back. *You...* she winked at her friend. "You must be Leo," she offered Leo her hand.
"Have we never met?" he asks her confused, offering his hand in return.
They shake hands as Phoebe braces herself for a premonition. She sees Leo smiling at her and looking at an engagement ring on her hand. Then orbing out, quickly, leaving Phoebe confused and alone. "You have your powers back!" Piper asks excited.
Chris looked at Chloe, *Uh-oh.* Chloe quickly released Leo's hand and backed out of the conversation.
"No, no, I don't," Phoebe clarifies, "I thought so at first, too, but I still can't levitate or use my empath power. I don't know what it is. I almost feel like I'm intercepting someone else's premonitions... but I'm in them all."
*You shouldn't be touching anything.* Chris wanders to where Chloe had relocated herself.
"I know," she whispers in response to him.
"We're going to go upstairs and work on those potions for you, Paige, while you work out what's going on with Phoebe," Chris informs his family, turning Chloe and pushing her out of the room.
"This isn't the first time it's happened?" Leo asks continuing the conversation in the kitchen.
"No, actually... that's been part of my skepticism about this future girl upstairs. The premonitions started when she showed up. Actually, that's how we knew she was in the alley getting ready to be attacked—I had a premonition when I touched her glass," Phoebe thought out loud.
"You know, I thought that was a little screwy," Paige says in response, "I just didn't think about it at the time."
"Well, yeah," Phoebe continues, "and then I had a premonition of Prue and Grams when we were watching her go upstairs to the book."
"You were spying?" Piper asks upset.
"Yes, but you're missing the point. Chloe was touching the picture of Grams and Prue, not me. Just like just now, she shook Leo's hand...and I had a premonition."
"What do you think it means, Pheebs? Leo?" Piper wonders.
"I don't know, I really don't," Phoebe lets her eyes trail out the door towards the stairway.