SIX

"You say she only said she had a feeling?" Leo asked in Phoebe's office.

"That's about the size of it," said Phoebe. "She would only say she sometimes knows things. She would explain how. But there was something about her I couldn't figure out. She seemed familiar somehow."

"Do you think you had a premonition about her?" asked Piper.

Leo had decided to bring Piper and Paige with him to Phoebe's office.

"I don't think so," said Phoebe. "And it wasn't exactly an empathic impression either. I guess if I had to define it it was something like an empathic premonition. I know that doesn't make any sense but I don't know any other way to explain it."

"Can you do that?" asked Paige. "Have an empathic premonition?"

"I suppose it's possible," said Leo. "Her power is still fairly new. It's possible it will do things you haven't experienced before."

"Whoa," said Phoebe. "That was weird. It was like déjà vu. I remember you saying exactly the same thing recently."

"Really?" asked Leo. "I don't remember that."

"Neither do I," said Phoebe. "Anyway, I figured you could see what you could find out about this Tru Davies. I don't think she was a demon. She came here to warn me about Leo being in danger."

"Could she be a witch?" asked Paige. "It seems to me that her 'power' is more magical than anything else."

"It's possible," said Leo. "Witch's abilities can develop at different rates. It could be that she's a witch and her ability is just now beginning to manifest itself."

"Leo, why don't you check with the Elders," suggested Piper. "Maybe they have some information about her."

"Just what I was thinking," said Leo.

"Paige and I will see if we can find out anything about her from out end," said Piper. "She said she worked for the city morgue in New York City. It should be easy enough to find out some information about her."

"Hey, I can orb there and pretend to be a friend of hers," said Paige. "I can say I'm in town and wanted to say hi to her. Since she's here in San Francisco there's not much chance she'll walk in and expose me or anything."

"That's a good idea," said Phoebe. "But there are a lot of morgues in New York. It might not be easy finding out which one she works at."

"I'll just have to check out as many as I can," said Paige. "Even if I don't get the one she works at the workers there might know which one it is. Besides, with my orbing it shouldn't take long. A lot quicker than driving from one to another or even using the telephone."

"Just be careful," said Leo. "We don't know who she really is. She could still be a demon and this could be some kind of trap for all we know."

"I'll be careful," promised Paige. "I can orb out from the closet Leo orbed us into. That way no one will be suspicious about my leaving."

"Good idea," Piper. "Leo, can you orb me home before you go up there? Chris is the only one home with Wyatt right now and I don't want to leave them alone for too long. I know Chris won't hurt him but if a demon attacks they might need my power."

"Okay," said Leo. "Phoebe, you be careful, too. If she is a demon, this might be her way of putting you off your guard."

"I'll be careful," said Phoebe. "But somehow I don't think she's a danger to us. I can't explain it but I think she's exactly what she says she is. Just let me know what you guys find out."

"We will," said Paige. "Come on, you guys. I have a lot of orbing to do and I need to get started."

Leo, Piper, and Paige left the office as Phoebe thought about Tru. She hadn't said anything to the others but the feeling she had about this young woman was very similar to what she felt when Andy had died. The time loop Tempus had put them into had nearly destroyed them. They had finally been able to defeat him but it had cost Andy his life.

This felt remarkably similar to that incident. But that wasn't possible. Tempus had died when Prue had died. The Source had destroyed Tempus by forcing him to reset time in an effort to destroy them. Without Tempus, there shouldn't be any way for anyone to reset time. She finally decided it was just her imagination.

"Well," said Leo that night at the manor, "the Elders say there is definitely something different about this Tru Davies. But they can't say exactly what it is. Whatever she's able to do they aren't connected with it. But somehow she has the ability to know who's going to die and has the chance to prevent it."

"You mean like a premonition?" asked Piper.

"Not exactly," said Leo. "As I said, they don't know a whole lot. They did say she's not evil and that she's definitely mortal - she just has an unusual ability."

"I didn't find out much," said Paige. "She's been working at one of the morgues since she graduated college. Her boss, some guy named Davis, wasn't real forthcoming with the information. She does have a brother and a sister both who apparently have problems of their own. Her mother was murdered about ten years ago and they never caught the guy."

"That's what she told me," said Phoebe. "She said she witnessed the murder. I can't imagine the pressure that would put on someone. Watching your own mother being murdered."

"Well, speaking from experience," said Paige, "watching you parents dies is a very unsettling experience. And mine died in a senseless accident. It has to be a whole lot worse watching one of them being murdered."

"So you think what she told Phoebe was true?" Piper asked.

"Yes, I do," said Leo. "From all indications her only ability is to know when certain people are going to die and has the chance to prevent the deaths."

"But she said you died from being shot during a botched robbery attempt," said Phoebe. "That doesn't make any sense. You're a Whitelighter. You can't die from bullets."

"I know," said Leo. "Even if I was shot several times my natural healing ability would heal me before I 'died'. I can't explain how something like that could happen. But there's something more interesting that I found out. I checked out that restaurant earlier. There was no robbery attempt there."

"There wasn't?" asked Phoebe. "That's strange. If there was no robbery attempt it couldn't have gone wrong. That doesn't make any sense."

"It does if it wasn't a robbery attempt," said Paige. "Maybe whoever this robber was wasn't there to rob the place. Maybe he was after Leo instead."

"I think we should have a talk with this Tru Davies," said Piper. "Maybe she knows something about a demonic attack on Leo. That could explain how Leo could die. Maybe a Dark Lighter was involved somehow. She might know something and doesn't even know she knows it."

"Only we don't know where she's staying," said Leo. "San Francisco is a big city. Even if we called every hotel in the city, it would take time."

"She's leaving for New York in the morning," said Phoebe. "She said her flight was at ten a.m. We can find her at the airport. There shouldn't be more than one flight to New York at that time. All we have to do is wait at the gate until she gets there."

"Chris can stay with Wyatt while we do," said Piper. "I'm sure he won't mind. But he keeps asking what's going on and I keep putting him off."

"You didn't tell him about this?" asked Phoebe.

"No," said Piper. "I don't think this has anything to do with Wyatt. Since he's told us he's come back to save Wyatt I figure it's something he doesn't need to know about. Besides, he has his secrets. It's kind of nice to have one from him for a change."

"Let's all get some sleep," said Phoebe. "I'll call Elise in the morning and tell her I'm going to work from home. Then we can go to the airport and see just what Tru Davies knows. We'd better get there early. With all the security that's been added in the past couple of years it might take her a while to get to the gate."

"Agreed," said Piper. "Okay, who's up for a late snack before bed?"