CHAPTER NINETEEN

Paige and I just shrugged at each other and headed back upstairs to bottle our potions. We figured we'd never be able to figure out our new Whitelighter.

Wherever Chris went, he did make it back in time to meet us and go over the plan once more. We all felt as prepared as we were going to get. That is, until Piper opened the front door.

She hadn't been kidding when she said this girl looked like Prue. I thought I was in a time warp for a second when I saw that face. Paige grabbed my arm; it must have been a shock for her, too, to see a carbon copy of our sister's pictures that she'd studied so often suddenly appear in the flesh.

"Hey, snap out of it," Chris demanded in a whisper in our ears. "If we're right, that's the face you'll be vanquishing in a minute."

He succeeded in refocusing our attention enough that we were able to go through introductions as normal. She told us her name, and then Piper ushered her into the dining room ahead of us.

"Rori Bowen," Chris said, like it sounded familiar. If he'd studied us in the future like he said he had, it was no surprise that he'd know the name.

"Bowen was the name of one of our ancestors," I explained, remembering the three-cousin witches from the time I switched places with an evil past-self. "If she's a demon, she does her homework."

A look of recognition spread across his face at my explanation. "I think she's not a --"

But he didn't get to finish his sentence because Piper had called to us to join her, and Paige and I had already started to walk away from him.

"There's wine for most of us," Piper was saying to Rori as she set Wyatt down in his playpen in the conservatory. "It'd be slightly illegal to give you any, but we have ginger ale, like Paige will have, or juice, or water, or --"

"Got any soda?" Rori asked like a typical teenager.

"Yeah, a couple of kinds. Come and see what you want."

"How will it react to carbonation?" Paige whispered to me from the corner of her mouth, obviously referring to the potion.

"I don't know," I whispered back.

"We can't let her have it if we don't know." Paige sounded a tad panicky.

I had to think fast. "Um, Piper," I called to stop her before she went into the kitchen. "We're all out of sodas."

Piper gave the closest thing to a frown that I'd seen since Leo left. "We can't be. I bought some this morning."

"Yeah, but we were really . . . thirsty," Paige finished lamely.

"Oh, come on, I bet I can find one," Piper laughed and pulled Rori along with her toward the kitchen.

I glared at Paige. "Do something!"

Chris tried to get a word in. "Guys, I'm telling you--"

Paige ignored him and bit her lip as she held out her arms. "Sodas," she said, and suddenly, a couple of bottled six-packs orbed into her arms. She shoved them toward Chris. "Hide them."

He rolled his eyes and quickly tossed the bottles behind a chair in the sitting room. I was pretty sure one of them busted open when they landed, but we couldn't do anything about that now.

"I could have sworn . . ." Piper said when she came back with Rori and a pitcher of water instead. "You guys really need to cut back on the sugar," she laughed. "Well, what are you all huddled up for? Come sit."

Paige and I sat on one side of the table, Rori and Chris on the other side, and Piper presided at the head, with Wyatt in his high chair on one side of her and cutie-pie you sitting in your infant seat that was resting on a chair on the other side. Piper played the perfect hostess, ladling soup or slicing lasagna for each of us. Of course, nephew mine, you know that your mom's spinach lasagna is simply to die for, but Rori went with the potato and broccoli soup after Chris said that was his choice (apparently, your favorite of Piper's soups was a hit with him, too). For a couple of minutes, the only sounds were those of eating.

The silence gave me a chance to really look at Rori, and I had to admit that if she was a demon, she was doing a really good impression of a teenager with a huge crush on our new Whitelighter. She blushed when she asked Chris to pass the salt, and got even redder when their hands touched in the passing. The flush brought out the physical difference between this girl and Prue, at least, and helped me keep her separate from my dead sister. If she was truly a demon, I couldn't help admiring her for not making herself look exactly like Prue--that would be too obvious. As you well know, Rori's hair has a more reddish cast than Prue's pure black, and her eyes are a brilliant shade of emerald green, unlike Prue's ice-blue ones. While looking at her, I found myself glancing across the table at Chris, who seemed oblivious to Rori's raging hormones, and suddenly noticed that he had really nice eyes, too. Looking him over, I decided that he had pretty nice everything, for that matter. What? I had absolutely no idea where that thought came from, and quickly shook it out of my head. There was absolutely no reason for me to think that way. I took a big gulp of my wine and thanked God when Paige finally broke the ice.

"So, Rori, Piper tells us you're a witch. Any powers?"

I rolled my eyes. My little sister really could've been a little more subtle with the question. I was afraid that maybe she'd tipped off our demon when Rori seemed a little taken aback by the abruptness of it. She glanced uneasily at Piper. "Um, I kinda get these visions, you know, like of the past and stuff. Mom says it's called retronition, but I just call them retroes. Mom gets them, too. So did her mom. So it's kinda like a Bowen family tradition."

"So it's sorta like Phoebe's power," Chris commented. I thought he was really sweet to chime in and make Rori feel more welcome. What was I thinking that for?

"Oh, you see the past, too?" Rori asked me.

"Well, sometimes, but mostly I see the future. Premonitions."

"Oh, my God, that is so cool! I would kill for that power!"

Anyone realize what's happening with Phoebe? Remember that this takes place after "Oh, My Goddess!" and before "Valhalley of the Dolls!"