TWO

"Uh oh," Phoebe said out loud before she realized it.

The man turned to face her. He appeared to be in his early to mid-twenties. He was dressed in robes that she recognized from old photographs. The kind that had been normal garbs several hundred years ago before trousers had become more popular. He had a beard and dark hair. He was looking around in total confusion.

"Where am I?" the man asked. "How came I to be here?"

"Hi," said Phoebe a bit timidly. "Well, that's a bit hard to explain, really."

"I do not understand," said the man turning to face her. "How is it I can understand you? I speak many languages but English is not one of them. What is this strange place?"

"Okay, well, it's like this. I sort of brought you here. It was an accident. I was, uh, looking for something and it seems I found you instead."

"Michael de Notre Dame, at your service. And whom might I have the pleasure of addressing?"

"I'm Phoebe Halliwell. As for where you are, right now you are in the attic to my house."

"How came I to be here? I was studying in my library. What form of dark magic is it that has brought me to this place?"

"It's not dark magic, not exactly. You see, I'm a witch. And as I said…."

"Witch? Back evil doing. I'll have nothing to do with the black arts. I am a physician and healer. I'll not have you trying to corrupt me for some foul plan of evil you may have conjured."

"Relax. I'm not evil. I'm a witch, not a warlock. And you're here because a spell I cast didn't work out the way I had planned. I'm not sure what exactly happened here. Where are you from?

"I currently make my home in Montpellier, France. I shall soon complete my doctoral studies in medicine and hope to cure many of the ills of my countrymen."

"Yeah, okay. Tell me. What's the date?"

"The date?" He looked totally confused. "I do not understand."

"You said you were studying in your library. What was the date? It might be important."

"The date was February 9, fifteen hundred and thirty. How is this significant?"

"Yeah, well, I know this might be a shock to you but the year is 2002. My spell seems to have brought you about four hundred and twenty years into the future. Only I don't understand why."

"Four hundred years? That is not possible. Such things can only be accomplished through the use of the dark arts. A practice condemned by the church and punishable by death. Why do you seek to destroy me? What offense have I committed that you would wish me harm?"

"Look, it was an accident, okay? Just sit down and I'll see if I can explain things to you."

She pulled out two chairs and cautiously he sat down. She explained to him about being a Charmed One and how they protected the innocent and fought against evil. She also explained how she had somehow lost her ability to have premonitions and the spell she had cast was designed to get them back. All through the explanation he had a look on his face that she was unable to decipher.

"So you are not a consort of the evil one?" he asked when she had finished.

"No, not at all. Like I said, I'm a good witch. We help people. I'm just trying to get my power of premonition back so I can do that. I just don't understand why I got you instead. What do you have to do with my premonitions? Are you a fortune teller or anything?"

"Of sorts, I am. I am versed in astrology and astronomy. It is possible I could use that knowledge to produce your horoscope which may give you a clue as to why you have lost this ability of yours."

"I don't think that's going to help. I do know that things happen for a reason. That reason isn't always self-explanatory. If my spell brought you here there must be a reason for it. Are you sure you don't have any kind of precognitive ability?"

"Only a minor one at best. I occasionally have visions. I would not speak of such things openly, however. To do so would risk incurring the wrath of the church. And as I said, such practices are under penalty of death."

"Things have changed a lot in the last four hundred years. People are a lot more tolerant of some things now than they used to be."

"Well I do not understand why your magic has brought me here. What have I to do with your precognitive ability?"

"I don't know," said Phoebe thoughtfully. "If I knew who you were that might give me an idea. I suppose you might have done something noteworthy later in life. Maybe if I did an Internet search I might find something about you. That might give me an idea who you are, or were, and what you have to do with my premonition ability."

"What is this Internet?"

"That's a long story. Right now I need to get some answers before Piper and Paige find out what happened."

"Your sisters?"

"Yeah. Come on. Let's go see what we can find out. It shouldn't take long to figure this out. Then maybe I can learn why my spell brought you here."

Still confused, Michael de Notre Dame followed Phoebe to her room.