CHAPTER FOUR
Even while I tried to talk Paige out of doing it, she orbed out and orbed right back in, followed by some earthquake-type rumbling, which heralded the arrival of one of those big huge people, a big, huge woman dressed in a Greek-type toga, holding a big, huge spear! Both Paige and I threw our vials at her, but they had absolutely no effect!! Instead the big, huge woman looked at me, and I went flying across the wall, hitting my head. Then just as she turned towards Paige, a very cute, but very young-looking black-haired guy suddenly orbed right in front of me, telling me not to look the Titan in the eye, then threw a bunch of vials at her himself. They didn't have much effect either, but it did make Ms. Titan give up, as she vanished into thin air.
The cute young guy helped me up, wanting to make sure that I was okay. I admitted that I was, but when I turned to look at Paige, I gasped. Oh, nephew mine, where your aunt had stood was now a stone statue, a stone statue that looked just like Paige! The cute young guy tried to convince me that she was okay, well, not okay, but at least she was still alive, but I wasn't so sure and neither was Piper when she walked into the attic a moment later. He shrugged and told us not to worry, that it happened all the time in his own time, and when Piper demanded that he tell us who and what he was, he said his name was Chris Perry and he was from the future. Yep, nephew mine, this guy is the reason why you're named Chris, well, him and Leo's dad. When Piper wanted to know whether he was friend or foe, I told her I wasn't sure yet.
Well Chris Perry was insulted--after all, he'd just saved Paige, hadn't he. He had?? He called turning her into a statue saving her? That's when he told us that Paige wasn't fated to be turned into stone that day--she was fated to die, so Ms. Titan could steal her Whitelighter powers, after she turned me into stone when I'd look her in the eye and before Piper showed up. That would also have broken the Power of Three. He insisted that he was from a future that we didn't want to see and that he was trying to change.
That made both Piper and me suspicious--we'd seen before what can happen when you try to change the future—you know how often we berate you kids for even thinking about doing such a thing! --and we wanted to know who sent him. That was the first time we heard the line that was going to drive us crazy for the next year--"I can't tell you that," and when we asked, "Why?" we heard the other line we'd learn to hate--"Future consequences." Only thing he was willing to tell us was that had he not shown up, Paige would've been the Titans' third Whitelighter victim.
Third? We only knew about one. That's when Leo orbed in, telling us about the second Whitelighter victim, and we had to admit that maybe this guy did know what he was talking about, but it didn't mean we had to trust him--at least not quite yet! I noticed that when Leo orbed in, the new Whitelighter folded his arms and glared at Leo, as if he didn't like him. I shook my head, telling myself that I must be seeing things—as you well know, nephew mine, everyone loves Leo!!
Before we could tell Leo who this new guy was, suddenly we heard a crash and when we went downstairs, there were all the magical creatures we'd met in the last year or so, all wanting the Charmed Ones to save them! As usual, Piper took over, delegating jobs (sounds familiar, right, nephew mine?), wanting me to keep an eye on our guests, Leo to keep an eye on the Elf Nanny--who Piper had fired awhile back, but who now wanted to go take care of Baby Wyatt--while we took care of the Titans (or, at least, tried to!)--while Chris Perry should go check with the Elders--he was a Whitelighter after all--but Chris Perry wasn't even there! That's when we realized that he had never followed us downstairs, that he was still up in the attic--with the Book and your still-frozen Aunt Paige! At that your mother ran upstairs, determined to keep an eye on "Future Boy".
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