"Leo, for God's sake, if you can hear me..."
Piper's continued attempts to contact her husband, which I think were just about to take a violent turn, are thankfully cut short by an apparition in the living room.
Chris orbs in, awfully close to me. I feel the hair on my skin stand on end at the feeling of magic occurring so close - of something filling a space by unnatural means that, just moments ago, had been empty.
"You? Where's Leo?" Piper demanded when she noticed him, and the others turned to us as well.
He half raises an arm, as if to reach out to her and says, "He's safe, for now." Then he notices our new addition, "Paige," he paused after her name, his tone was almost reverential then an added nonchalant "Hi." He punctuated it with one of those head tilts and leaned back slightly, as if he was trying to play it cool.
The interaction makes my stomach feel sour. Why was he reacting to her like this? I should have known, Paige has always been the cuter one of the two of us; with her luscious locks and petite face. I'm nothing but a plain Jane in comparison to her. It shouldn't surprise me that he would be attracted to her, most guys were. That never made it hurt any less.
"Forget that," Piper interjects, and I can't agree more. Yes, please, let's forget all that. "What do you mean 'for now'?" She asks with heated concern for her husband.
His tongue peeks out to wet his lips, and my eyes are immediately drawn to them. It's hard to tear them away. His sharp eyes catch my gaze and something sparks in them.
Piper continues her questions, "What's going on?"
Phoebe takes a step forward to ask, "And what is this about us supposedly battling the Titans?" With her hands on her hips.
"You're about to find out," Chris answers with a smirk, looking them up and down.
Paige looks more confused, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Suddenly a crack of thunder is heard and a blinding white light torpedoes into the room from the ceiling.
I jump at the sound, incidentally moving closer to Chris. He pulls me closer and holds me steady as we stand opposite the girls. The white light swirls around them so fast. I try to keep my eyes open, but find it impossible to do so. Unlike Chris, who seems to have no trouble staring at their transformation.
The flashing continues behind my closed eyelids for a few more seconds, before it disappears as quickly as it came.
I tentatively open my eyes, and my jaw drops at the sight in front of me. All three sisters are in Greek styled white dresses, and Paige has - is that a Trident?!
The girls seem just as started by this as I am. Phoebe grabs her new long blonde locks and spins, trying to get a good look at it, then jumping in fright as she notices Paige's new weapon.
"That's what that means," Chris grins with satisfaction, answering Paige's earlier query.
"But, what happened, what are we?" Paige asks in a stutter.
"You're Gods," he says as if it was obvious.
"No, you're not," I interject, feeling Chris' hand still on my shoulder and shrugging it off. "Leo must have increased your powers, but that does not make you Gods. No need to let the power go to your head or anything," I punctuate the last sentence with a bit of accusation as I give Chris a glare. What is he thinking? He warned us all about the dangers here.
He raises his eyebrows at me innocently, making me roll my eyes as I looked back at the sisters. Piper was staring at me in deep thought, but I doubt the other two heard me. Paige looked absolutely confused and Phoebe...
She's twirling her hair around her finger and staring at Chris like he's a tasty snack. It's making me uncomfortable, so without thinking I take a half-step in front of him and raise my hands as if to shield him from her gaze.
"You expect us to beat the Titans dressed like this? Maybe at a costume party." Piper exclaims.
"That's not a costume," Chris states, gently pushing my arm down and moving in front of me so he can standing face-to-face with all three women. "That represents your new position and power."
"Power? Power is good. I like power," Paige claims eagerly before questioning, "Why do I like power?"
"Because you're the Goddess of War," Chris answers.
I couldn't help but interject, "And wisdom. Battle strategies, really. That is assuming you've taken on the powers of Athena. I don't know why you have Poseidon's Trident, though..."
"I thought this was a pitch fork," Paige says, examining it closely.
"No, it has three prongs, so it's a trident."
"Be careful, that's a formidable weapon," Chris warned. "And Cas, I told you history got a lot of things wrong."
I shoot him a look at the familiar nickname, "Don't call me that, only Paige calls me that."
His sharp eyes flash at me and his hands come up in surrender. "Alright, moving on - Phoebe." He looks at her and says tenderly, "You're the Goddess of Love."
"Naturally," she responds with a smile.
I fake cough with a hidden, "Lust," in there and she shoots me a glare.
Piper interjects with, "Well, then, that must make me the goddess of sanity because I find this ridiculous."
I can't help but chuckle as I watch Paige trying out new moves with her trident and making 'scary' faces.
"Actually, Leo gave you dominion over the Earth and all it's natural elements" Chris explains.
"Like Demeter," I say with a smile. She was my favourite. So tragic - being forced to surrender her child to the leader of the underworld, but at least she got to see her child.
"Wait, Cassy mentioned that too. You think Leo did this to us?" Piper questioned.
Phoebe interrupts by stepping forward like a tiger stalking it's prey. "Chris, you never told us, do you have a girlfriend in the future?" She practically pants the question at him.
His eyes flicker past her to meet my curious ones for just a moment before he flashes Phoebe an uncomfortable grin. "As you can see," he deflects with force, "all of you have drives and urges based on your powers. Don't let them distract you, alright?"
As he moves away from her to circle the room, Phoebe follows him eagerly, and I notice Paige getting more serious with her new-found weapon. Why do I feel like this won't end well? Oh, right, because it clearly won't.
"Stay focused," he points at Phoebe directly as he commands this, trying not to let her back him into a corner, "Focused on the Titans."
"Hold it, pal!" He startles a bit, not realising Piper was now behind him. "I don't know what kind of game you're running here, but Leo is not in the god-making business."
His head snaps to Phoebe as she asks, "How old are you, anyway?"
Then back to Piper as she continues, "The Elders forbid it, and if anything Leo is a company man."
He looks a bit overwhelmed. Maybe I should try to step in to help him? Nah, I barely know the guy, and I'm pretty sure he got us all into this 'God' mess. Plus, I want answers to a few of these questions myself.. like how old is he? No shh brain, that's not important!
Paige is looking far too volatile with that trident now, so I approach her and say, "Honey, maybe you should put the trident down."
Her gaze fixates on me. I can hear the others arguing behind me, but I pay no attention, just wanting to try to rationalise with my sister.
Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to be in the mood to be rational right now. "Why? Do you want it? Why don't you try to take it from me?" She gives a little hop when she says this, like she's ready to jump into a fighting stance.
"No, Paige, I'm just worried that swinging a trident around might result in someone getting hurt. There's a baby in the house!"
"Yeah, but he's fine, he's upstairs," She easily dismisses. "I think you're just jealous that I have a cool weapon and you don't," she punctuates this with a quick tongue poke before she walks to the others.
I can't help the squeak of indignation that comes from my lips, not sure if she's just teasing me or not.
She quickly stalks over behind Chris and lifts him clear off his feet using the trident. Where the hell did she get that kinda strength? Guess it's part of her powers.. She accuses him of not helping the Elders, which I guess she's right about, but I think she's missing the point.
"A little control here ladies, please?" He requests, trying to be calm.
Alright, I need to stop this, now. "Paige," I bark in my most no-nonsense tone, "Put him down. He may not have saved the Elders, but without his help you'd be dead right now. He saved your life! And this is how you thank him?"
I see her hesitate, and the fire seems to fade from her eyes. Before she can make any movement, Chris orbs himself to safety on the other side of the room.
"I told you, stay focused!" He berates them, "In my future, all the elders were killed. That's why I came back, to help Leo give you the power so this would never have to happen again."
That's why he came back? He say it was to save the future - maybe this is how? But still, I cross my arms over my chest and look at him with uncertainty.
"Hey guys, watch this," Paige lifts the trident and blows up the piano.
"Oh my Gosh, Paige! That was a nice piano! Why did you do that?" I demand, whacking her forearm on reflex.
She shrugs and makes an 'I don't know' sound at me, clearly not phased by my assault.
Piper, ever the level headed one, steps in. "Put that thing down! You're gonna hurt someone!"
"I certainly hope so! Do you know the kind of damage this thing could do?" Paige responds with an enthusiastic grin.
Chris is taken aback as he looks between her and the piano, "A lot."
"Yeah, you seriously need to put that thing down now," I say before trying to pry it from her fingers but she is quite good at playing keep away from me, especially with the added advantage of her powers.
"Paige, Cassy. Make love not-" Phoebe's face shows her disappointment in us, "-you know..." she doesn't even want to say the word.
I roll my eyes at her and Paige makes a disgusted face.
She continues, "There's no door love cant open. No wall love can't climb. No hurdle love can't... hurdle." Her face is so confused, it makes me giggle. She tried really to find another word there.
"This is Leo's strategy?!" Piper angrily questions Chris, "Well, he must have lost it up there because these girls can't be seen in public, much less-"
Phoebe interrupts excited to exclaim, "Ooo, that reminds me. I'm late of the bachelor auction! I'm gonna go pick up a guy or two, or twelve."
No sooner had she finished then she was gone with a puff of pink smoke, shaped like a heart, leaving us in her dust.
"Phoebe!" Chris calls warningly, but knowing it was far too late to stop her.
Unfortunately, this seems to inspire Paige. "Oh, that's a good idea," she said darkly, and Piper turned to her with a look of trepidation. "I'm gonna go get in some target practice with some demons. Watch out, Titans."
"Paige, no. Don't-" I start to reach for her, but it's too late. She evaporates into lightning and thunder before our eyes.
Chris slaps his hands on his thighs in frustration. "I knew this was going to happen," he smiles while he says it, but it is anything but a happy expression.
"Then why the hell did you let it happen?" I ask, getting annoyed.
"You gotta go after them," he demands of Piper in a serious tone, entirely ignoring my question.
Piper shakes her head and replies, "Oh, no, no, no, no, this was your big plan. You clean up the mess."
"No, your role is to provide balance," Chris says like he's explaining it to a child. He finishes with, "That's why you feel so grounded and in control."
"So not much different then your usual role, huh Piper?" I add cheekily.
She shoots me a pointed look before rounding in on Chris again, "That was actually pretty good, Chris. It's too bad I already have a whitelighter. And if he would like me to do something, he can come down and tell me himself. Do you hear that?!" She yells the last sentence at the ceiling, clearly trying to get Leo's attention.
Chris glances up before moving towards her. "You want Leo? Hm? Then vanquish the Titans." he bargains, "If you can't do that, you're gonna find out what a world of darkness feels like," he stands in front of her now. "My world."
This makes Piper stop and really look at this young man. She glances at him up and down, like she's trying to see the truth in his claim.
I look at Chris with wide eyes, but he is steadfastly avoiding my eyes as he stares at Piper, waiting for her response.
"Okay," she relents.
Chris and I both let out a breath, and I request, "Can you go get Paige first? I'm worried about her..."
She shoots me a smile and says, "Of course, Cassy. Just, please check in on Wyatt while I'm gone?"
I nod and she vanishes in a gust of warm sunlight and autumn leaves, leaving Chris and I entirely alone in room for the first time.