I flinch as the gravity of his words hit me. No. He's lying. He must be. I don't want to believe it, but his eyes move between the three us with open vulnerability.
"And with her death," he continues, "the power of three died too, allowing Titans to rule and create a world you don't want to see. Trust me." he eyes seem to lock onto my gaping face as he admits; "I'm here to alter history. To help you save the future."
My head is spinning with his words, still trying to make sense of it all. We should at least put his knowledge to use. "If you're from the future then how-"
"Who sent you?" Phoebe cuts me off with suspicion.
All at once his nonchalant front comes sliding back into place when he takes a step back and admits, "I can't answer that."
His words make the sisters stiffen, "Why not?" Phoebe asks, her voice hard.
Once again Chris is rushing to justify himself, "Because anything I tell you could risk changing the future in ways we don't want," he walks in front of both sisters as he explains, before finally settling on me. His eyes flicker down to my gloved hand and move it behind me in reflex.
"Who's 'we'?" Piper interrogates.
"All I gotta say is that if I hadn't gotten here when I did, Paige would have been the third whitelighter victim." he gestures to her frozen form as he says it, and my heart cracks at the reminder.
What are we all doing squabbling here while she is frozen? How do we know that every moment we wait, this doesn't become more irreversible? I want to repeat my question of how, exactly, we can free her, but am cut off before I can start.
"Wait, third?" Phoebe interjects, "I thought only one was missing."
"Not anymore."
I have no idea what they're talking about, and I don't have the heart to care. I take a step towards my sister instead, feeling more worried than I ever have. "How could you do something like this without telling me Paige? What were you thinking?" I whisper to her, knowing she can't answer me. I dread to think that, if what Chris says is true, in another timeline I arrived here to have all of my worst fears confirmed. "Did you really forget all about me? We had plans..."
I feel Chris' green eyes stare intently at me, but I don't take my eyes of the stone face of the person I hold most dear.
I hear Piper call for "Leo!" and the otherworldly jingle signalling his arrival. Out of my peripheral vision I can't help but notice Chris tensing beside me. He crosses his arms as if to hold himself together as the other man forms out of lights. My eyes flick to his face, but it gives none of his emotions away as his gaze remains fixated on the whitelighter who has just joined us.
Leo apologises to Piper for missing their counseling but she dismisses him and his questions swiftly. She only wants him to confirm Chris' claim of another whitelighter going missing. Evidently, he was telling the truth.
"Believe me now?" Chris asks us, almost rhetorically. All eyes turn to him, along with my own, as we weigh up our answers.
"Who's he?" Leo finally breaks the silence. Chris stares back at him, keeping his guarded expression in place.
Before any of us could answer, a crash is heard downstairs and all the three of them rush down to face the possible intruder without a second thought. I make no move to go with them, without any powers I'm basically useless in that situation. Besides, I don't want to leave my sister alone with a stranger, regardless of how handsome he may be.
There's an awkward silence between us as we both realise we are, essentially, alone.
He clears his throat and comes to stand beside me. I feel his hand hovering over my shoulder as if he wants to comfort me, but he must think better of it in the last moment because I don't feel his touch. "She's going to be okay, you know. We're going to fix this."
My eyes start to fill with tears as I shakily ask, "How could you know that?"
"I'm from the future, remember?" He tries to smile but seems to struggle upon seeing me so upset.
"But you said yourself, this isn't what your history says happened. For all you know, Paige is going to be stuck like this forever." The mere idea of it makes my tears overflow, and I lower my face to hide them from him.
"Hey," he gently remarks, putting his hand under my chin and lifting my eyes to meet his. He uses his sleeve to wipe my cheeks. "Don't think like that, we have so many magical beings in this house right now. I'm sure we're going to figure this out... C'mon"
I let out a shaky huff, trying to clear my throat, as he guides me over to stand behind the book of shadows. I watch with baited breath as he reaches a hand out, not knowing what to expect. When it doesn't jump out of his reach immediately, I begin to feel more comfortable in his presence and feel myself relax a bit. I still can't help but ask, "Why are you looking in their book?"
"To find a way to save your ch- Paige." His certainty would make me smile if not for the reminder of what state Paige is currently in. Her stone frame seems to fill up the entire room.
I stumble back and sit on their pink antique couch, folding my arms over myself. I grip my forearms, almost giving myself a hug, while I try to steady my breathing. I need to think clearly if I'm going to be of any help here, although I'm not sure what a mortal like me could even do to help.
"What's wrong?" He asks. There is so much wrong here that I have to hold back a bitter laugh, but I know what he's referring to.
"I really don't fell comfortable around their Book. I respect them too much to go through their things while they aren't here," My tone is almost teasing at the end.
He turns slightly red at the not so subtle jab, but seems happier now that I've started to get my spirit back. "Surely you've been offered before. What did you just say no?"
"Yes, no," I stutter, "Paige offered once when she brought it to my flat, but it just... didn't feel right. Like, there was this tense energy around it, and if I touched it I'd be taking advantage somehow. That's when I first found out about all this, actually. She hadn't known them long but-" I cut myself off from rambling, feeling embarrassed.
He gives me a sharp look out of the corner of his eye at the word flat, and the longer I ramble the clearer it is that he's paying me more attention than The Book. He's flatly staring at me with a confused look on his face. "Why do you-"
But, he doesn't get to finish his question. Piper suddenly bursts into the room and demands, "What are you doing?"
Our moment is shattered, and I jolt in my seat at the accusation before realising it's not me that she's questioning.
Chris' face immediately closes off again as he stares back down at the book and starts flipping. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to find a way to free stone-cold Paige over there," he gestures at her with his eyes as he says it, and I flinch at the casual manor he mentions her condition.
"Step away," Piper threatens as she stands on the opposite side of the book before turning on me with hostility, "How could you let him touch the book?"
I hold up my hands in surrender. "The Book let him, so how could I object! You know better than anyone it won't let anyone with ill intentions touch it."
Chris eyes flick down to mine with gratitude before he looks at her and interjects cheekily, "Exactly. By the way, you should update your goblins entry. It'll come in handy some day." He taps the page twice as if to rub it in before perching himself of the arm of my chair.
I can't help but sigh and rub my eyes at his immaturity as Piper questions, "Goblins?"
I don't bother to open my eyes. They still sting from my tears, and this entire thing is giving me a headache. I don't want to see the un-moving figure of my sister who has been achingly present through this.
"Yeah. Trust me, it's going to get ugly," he says with a small smile in his tone before getting serious. "Look, obviously you don't trust me. But, like Cas said, I touched the book, right? And the book thinks I'm good, shouldn't you?"
She seems to question this for a moment, "Maybe you found a way around that."
"Piper, come on," he's slightly taken aback by the accusation, "I'm just trying to help."
She lets out a short sigh before asking, "Well, if that's true, why don't you tell me know to vanquish the Titans?"
"Except you can't vanquish them." His tone is flat as he states it, and it makes me feel uncomfortable.
"You mean without the power of three," she quickly corrects.
His voice is soft now as he replies, "Maybe not even with that, the only way the elders could stop them three thousand years ago was by infusing some mortals with a hell of a lot of power, way more than you guys have."
"So they can do it again."
"Yeah, that seems simple enough, all things considered," I agree, finally opening my eyes as I contribute something.
"No, they won't. Not after what happened last time. When the mortals trapped the Titans, the power got to their heads," he explained gravely, "They declared themselves gods and forced the world to worship them. The Elders swore they would never allow that to happen again."
He rises from his position near me and moves to stand across from Piper. I can't help but feel his absence, and it makes me shift uncomfortably in my seat. I stand up and move back over to Paige to give me something else to focus on.
"Hold on, I'm having a ninth grade flash back. You're talking about the Greek gods - Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite? They were mortals?" She asks.
"Mythology left that part out, not the only inaccuracy, by the way."
I hear the shuffle of steps and look past Paige to see three figures entering the room.
"Phoebe, what are you doing? You're supposed to be..." Piper gestures vaguely downstairs as if that finishes her sentence.
"I know, I know." At least Phoebe seems to understand what she means. "But I thought they could help us free Paige. After all, a leprechaun's luck has helped us before," as she says this, she taps the leather clad shoulder of one of the people she brought in, and they both shift awkwardly.
"Er, Phoebe?" I can't help but interject, "I think that might be one of the seven dwarves."
"Yes, thank you. He's the leprechaun. Try to keep it straight, will ya?" He points between them as he explains while looking up at Phoebe.
"Sorry," Phoebe replies with an awkward giggle and brushes her hand over his shoulder like shes clearing the insult off.
The leprechaun approaches Paige and I. Gazing up and down her form he states, "It's going to take a lot more than just me luck to free this one. We're going to need some pixie dust, too."
If we weren't in such a dire situation, I would have smiled, I love those accents. Paige tried to do one for me after their first encounter with leprechauns, but she was never very good at impressions. Paige... I miss her so much.
"Do you think that will be enough to free her? If all three of you work together?" I question the leprechaun after a moment.
He smiles at me as he says, "Ey, lassie. We'll her out of this tight spot, one way or another. Don't you worry."
I try to smile at him, wishing I could fully believe his reassuring words.
He introduces himself as Fergus, and we stand together while he tries to puzzle the best order to do this properly while the others discuss the Titan situation. Suddenly Piper exclaims, "Leo!" and storms out of the room.
I watch after her and hear Phoebe ask exactly what I'm thinking. "What did I miss? What did she figure out?"
"Nothing good," Chris responds with a shake of his head.