The makeshift altar on Charlie's bedroom floor was a haphazard stack of books and an old piece of cardboard that Chris had scribbled important symbols on with a slowly-dying Sharpie. A circle of mismatched candles; randomly scented and variously sized were crowded around the two of them. Chris touched the burning match to the wick of the final candle before leaning back into position. He reached out his hands and Charlie linked their fingers, but not before rolling her shoulders and taking a deep breath. The candles flickered across the dark walls, throwing shadows and warping shapes. He didn't know if this would work, but if it did, it would be the most valuable action since they had begun this search.

"Remember what we talked about?"

Chris's voice was soft and comforting, the light squeeze of his hand a gentle reassurance that she could do this. Block or not, she had already managed to tap into minute levels of her power. All she needed to do was try hard enough. Chris was going to try and funnel as much of his own power into her in the hopes that it would somehow boost her energy levels. They had no idea if it would work, but right now, it was all they had. Charlotte let her eyes fall closed, letting the room around her fall away. Chris had written the spell, but he insisted that it would work just the same if she put enough will behind it. She conjured an image in her mind, focusing as much energy as she could on etching the picture into the forefront of her brain. She needed to find the Time Keeper. She needed to solve this mystery.

"Grains of future, sands of time

Hear my words and hear this rhyme.

I seek your guidance, this saving grace,

Reveal to me your hidden face."

Charlotte opened her eyes and shied away from the assault of white light pouring in through an open window. She called out to Chris but heard no reply as shrill tone pierced through the air; the light almost white hot at her back. The cacophony subsided as quickly as it had started; the assault of light dimming before finally flickering out. Charlotte looked around and saw no sign of Chris, but also came to the startling realisation that she was no longer in her apartment. Her surroundings had been replaced by a cozy room bathed in early morning glow. A thick carpet caressed her feet and plush armchairs beckoned her to them, but she resisted the overwhelming urge to lay back and fall into a slumber.

"Chris?"

"I hope you like the décor."

Charlotte spun on her heel and muffled her frightened squeal with two teeth sinking into her bottom lip. A tall, elderly man was perched in one of the plush armchairs, legs crossed and eyes sparkling. Charlie stepped back and looked around the room.

"Where's Chris?"

"Perfectly safe, I promise. He's just back in your room. So are you, actually. Right now, this is just a manifest of your subconscious I cooked up. I'm sorry to scare you like this but unfortunately I can't leave here and, well, it's hard enough trying to get one of you through the barrier, let alone both. Sit, please. You came looking for me and here I am. Alexander James. Time Keeper."

Charlie didn't take the seat her gestured to, instead choosing to back even further away. She and Chris had made vague discussions about how to proceed when they had called the Time Keeper, but she hadn't even considered the possibility that she might have to talk to him alone. Chris was the magical one with all the experience. It took several long moments for Charlie to decide to take a seat, but Alexander made no move to pressure her. Charlotte took her time before speaking, drinking in every detail of the man before her. His skin was wrinkled and spotted with age; his eyes the kind of blue she had only heard of in romance novels and cheesy poetry. Laughter lines creased his eyes and his white hair was loose around his body. She had expected flowy robes or some kind of grand attire, but he wore simple pants and a white shirt, utterly ordinary apart from the tingling air around him.

"I'm-"

"I know who you are."

Charlotte faltered but gathered herself before clearing her throat, "I'm here because-"

"I know why you're here."

The man smiled across at her and leaned forward. Charlie instinctually jerked away from his advance, but he continued to smile.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Charlie. We don't have much time. I'll need you to trust me."

Charlie reluctantly relaxed into the soft chair, waiting for Alexander to speak.

"I am aware you know of your past life as a Time Keeper, and that you and Christopher have questions. I already know that I will not be allowed to answer them, unfortunately. There are, however, things I can tell you. There is a tear in the time streams. A miniscule tear, but a tear nonetheless. It seems the powers of your other entity have found a way to bleed through and tether themselves to you. This is why the lock on my powers did not hold as well as everyone had hoped. No issues, of course. I knew this would happen. It was just a matter of when. You tapped into them not long ago, but they didn't manifest quite as nicely as I had hoped they would. That is why I brought Chris to you. I knew he could guide you, and that you could help him."

"How do I-"

"Trust in Chris, but also in yourself. He has the power to guide you into your gifts, but you need to be willing to allow yourself that power."

"Why wouldn't I-"

Alexander held up a hand to silence her and continued without hesitation, "His journal is going to be helpful, especially now that you have found the missing pages. Your other self was incredibly gifted and advanced; I have no doubt that you will take stride just as she did."

"But I don't want to be the Time Keeper; I just need you to tell me why Chris is hurting."

"I already told you, Charlie. There are some things I can't answer. These powers are a gift, but there are rules. Some things need to happen, and I'm afraid that is something I cannot be part of."

Charlie dropped her head into her hands and huffed, but Alexander remained unfazed. "Do you understand what these powers are, Charlotte?"

"You manipulate time. You can see it and do stuff with it. Or I guess you could if you were allowed out of here. Right?"

"I'm glad to see you have some idea of what this is. When you become-"

"But I don't want to become the Time Keeper. I'm not here for powers; I'd never be any good with them anyway. I'm just… not."

Alexander muffled laughter with the palm of his hand. "You might think you're not capable now, Charlie. But you've barely begun. Let me show you something."

He stretched his hand out to her, palm to the sky. Charlie waited several moments before clearing her throat.

"Your hand's empty?" She drew out slowly, unsure where he was trying to go with this. Alexander nodded and closed his palm; his eyes bled gold for several moments before the curl of his fingers revealed a small seed in the centre of his palm.

"You think you're incapable, but what you really are, is unflourished. We are all just seeds, Charlotte. Incredibly ordinary, until something brings us to life. We thrive. As soon as we begin to break through the cracks, well…"

He gestured a hand to the window, where a tree stretched endlessly into the sky; leaves dark green and truly alive. "We never stop growing."

Charlie stared up into the never-ending sky and cocked an eyebrow, "That was a very impressive speech, I'll give you that."

Alexander laughed and shook his head, "I'm afraid I can't take credit for it. It was what the last Time Keeper said to me before he gave me his powers."

"How long have you been here?"

The man smiled warmly, "A long time. A very long time."

Charlotte fidgeted and folded her arms across her chest, "How many have there been? You know, since the Magic War?"

"Two. I am the first in line of the man who was. He was here far longer than I. I found him much like you found me, only he called to me in a dream and suddenly… here I was. This power is a gift, Charlie. Its circumstances, however, are not. You are meant to be a Time Keeper… whether you want it or not."

"So just because I was randomly selected in another life, I'm black marked for eternity?" Charlie muttered. She was growing increasingly agitated with the cryptic babble and roundabout answers.

"You misunderstand, Charlie. Your powers in the unchanged future did not come to you by accident. When Wyatt's power grew too strong for the Elders to contain, they asked me to help them."

"Why didn't you? Why me instead?"

Alexander's brow drew together and the warmth in his eyes turned cold, "I saw what it was they wanted from me. They wanted to use my powers to erase Wyatt from the timestreams; any world where he existed was to be altered. The Elders wanted me to destroy him… but I knew I could do something far less drastic. Despite the estranged relationship to his sons, I knew Leo Wyatt would never agree to what the Elders had planned. I convinced him and a small group of Elders to bottle my powers and entrust them in the newest Time Keeper host before the Others could act. I surrendered my power and they sought out the most suitable host for the plan I had created, and that is how you ended up here. Unfortunately, they were unable to successfully complete the intended power transfer before they were murdered; but things still managed to arrange themselves. For the most part, that is," he added sagely, the twinkle back in his eye but lacking the same sparkle.

"What do you mean by that?" Charlie accused, unsure is she liked the way he was gazing at her.

"Christopher Halliwell is a particular brand of unpredictable. I have been a Time Keeper for longer than you could understand, and yet even I did not see the outcome of his actions."

"What outcome?"

"I can't tell you, Charlie. I'm sorry."

Charlie threw her arms up and stood from the chair, pointing accusingly at Alexander, who remained calmly seated in the wake of her reaction.

"Why are you doing this? Chris is having these, these, mind issues, and that I did a thing that was important and I was part of some big plan but you're not telling me anything useful! How can I help Chris? How do I stop his brain from exploding his skull open? What was it that I did that was so important and what outcomes are you talking about? I don't speak cryptic, okay? I'm trying my hardest to follow you but I just need you to tell me how to help Chris and stop all of this!"

Alexander seemed unrattled by her outburst, but pursed his lips and steepled his fingers, all laughter drained from his eyes, "I wish I could tell you, Charlotte. But I can't. There was only one real purpose of bringing you here today, and I may have already said far too much."

"What does that even mean!" Charlie demanded, "Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because, I know what has happened, what will happen and, mostly importantly.. what needs to happen. I wish I could tell you everything you need to know but now there are far more dire issues on your horizon and there is only so much I can do for you. When you live as long as I have, Charlie… you will understand. Good luck. " His hands closed over hers and Charlie felt a whirl of heat encase her hands, white energy funnelling from his arms and up into her own. Images burned through her brain in a blur of scenes; voices roared through her head, growing louder by the second. She could hear someone saying her name; hands tight on her shoulders. Charlie opened her eyes with a gasp to find herself face to face with Chris. His eyes were wide and franticly searched her face, still gripping her tight as though she would melt away under his fingertips at any moment.

"What did you see? What happened? Charlie! Where's the Time Keeper?"

Charlie looked down at her tight fist and slowly let her fingers uncurl. A small seed was settled in her palm; one long, green shoot cracking through the hard shell.

"You're looking at her."


"Mommy?"

Phoebe looked up from her laptop and frowned, casting a quick glance to the clock before rising from her chair. Lily stood in the doorway, stuffed toy rabbit in her hand while the other rubbed at her eyes.

"Why are you up, sweetheart?" Phoebe asked softly, rubbing her hand through Lily's mussed bedhair. The brunette yawned widely, showing off her brand new tooth gap.

"Chris isn't in his bed."

Phoebe tilted her head in confusion and guided her youngest daughter to the living room chairs. Lily gripped her bunny by the ears and swung her feet in the air.

"I had a dream. He's not in his bed; he's with the girl in his cupboard."

Phoebe already had her phone in hand, tapping away at the keys and hoping Piper would be by her phone at such a late hour. Lily kept talking, yawns punctuating her words.

"I dunno why he's there, but he should be in bed. We're s'posed to go on a picnic tomorrow."

"I know we are, sweetheart. I'm sure he's going back to bed very soon." Phoebe assured Lily, who smiled sleepily. It was later, when Phoebe was tucking Lily back into her bed that Piper's reply lit up on the screen of her phone.

Piper: He isn't here. Leo can't sense him. Come to the manor.

Phoebe pressed a kiss to her youngest daughter's forehead and headed to her room. Paige would no doubt orb over to collect her any moment now. She whispered a goodbye to Coop before pulling on a purple dressing gown over her pajamas. The photograh on her bedside table bore the image of Chris and Wyatt, mingled in among the various Halliwell brood. She reached out to stroke it, heart in her throat as she thought of the danger Chris could have gotten himself in to.

The premonition grabbed her from nowhere, the image forming of Chris, shadowed in darkness. A feminine voice was talking, but the face obscured.

"Should we tell your parents yet?"

"No, I just need more time. We can involve them soon, I promise."

"Chris-"

A slender hand came into view, gripping to Chris' wrist, "Please tell me you know what you're doing."

"He's my grandson," a familiar voice cut in, the image switching to Victor, propped against a wall with a soft smile on his face, "He always knows what he's doing."

The image ended, and Phoebe found herself face-to-face with Paige. The youngest Charmed One folded her arms, eyes wide at the look on her sister's face.

"Pheebs… what did you see?"

"Piper's going to be pissed."