Back to the Past

Revelations

Chris's POV

"So why exactly did you save Penny?" I asked Eliana as we passed in the hall. "She's a ghost, why risk dying for someone who's already dead! I swear if this is just another trick of yours to try and get me to trust you, it won't work!" I glared down at her. She was only 5"3 so I stood roughly 4-5 inches higher than her (don't remember how tall he actually is so don't pay too much attention to that!).

"No it was not just an act to get you to trust me, I know you don't think very highly of me but I'm not that conniving! I don't know why I did it! I just saw what was about to happen and reacted on instinct - it didn't even occur to me that she was already dead; I mean she had a corporeal form at the time! So sorry to disappoint you but there wasn't some big conspiracy behind it. Your welcome by the way..." She glared at me then walked out of the room, my eyes trailing after her as I thought over what she'd just said.

Did I believe her? It seemed like she was telling the truth...not to mention, if she had meant to do it, she would've known that it wouldn't have gotten me to trust her anyways...but still - I just can't comprehend any reason she could possibly have for wanting to help.

I shook my head and walked off to help the sisters return Grams to where she belonged. Afterwards, we all gathered around and sat at the dinner table; Eliana sitting with Baby Wyatt on her lap as she fed him. I looked over to see Phoebe and Paige watching the two of them intently.

"Piper was right, Wyatt seems to really like you, he's trying so hard to get your attention. It's almost as though he's trying to impress you!" Phoebe laughed as we all watched Wyatt orb the bowl of mashed potatoes to Eliana; she had tried reaching for it, but hadn't been able to get to it with him sitting on her lap. He giggled and tugged on her hair.

"Yeah, he still does...has done? Will do? - ugh, you know what I mean!" She laughed as she beamed down at Baby Wyatt and gently pried his fingers out of her hair. As happy as she looked, I thought I heard a hint of sadness in her statement.

"You mean you two know each other in the future?" Paige gasped.

"Yeah, I do live with him after all - I've been his girlfriend for the last two years," Eliana explained, chuckling at the astonished looks on the sisters faces as their eyes widened in shock. "Can't seem to get rid of him..." She said it jokingly, but I got the feeling that she wasn't.

"Wha - you're - he - huh!" Piper stuttered as Leo clapped her on the back to stop her from choking.

"Wow, he must really love you a lot!" Piper exclaimed as she stared Eliana down; looking at her in a new light.

"What do you mean?" Said Eliana, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"I mean, he must really love and trust you for you two to be already living together!"

"I've known him since I was little - spent all my time here with you guys, actually. Besides, he's twenty three, Piper! He can do what he wants, whether you like it or not. In fact, he does do whatever he wants!" I glanced up sharply as her tone darkened dramatically. I hadn't expected her to ever talk about him with such a spiteful tone in her voice! It almost sounded like she despised 'Lord' Wyatt as much as I did; which was preposterous.

If she did, then she wouldn't still be with Him...she'd be with me - I shook my head as I realized what I had just thought. I did NOT want to be with her! I wanted Bianca not Eliana! Besides, it didn't matter who I wanted anyways. Neither option was possible anymore now that Bianca was dead. I forced the thoughts out of my mind and tried to focus back on the conversation.

" - so what do you two do in the future exactly?" Paige was asking.

I met Eliana's eyes and tried to warn her to keep her mouth shut.

"Um...well...I'm not sure I should say...future consequences -" I breathed a sigh of relief as the sisters groaned at the familiar expression.

"Oh come on! Can't a mother get at least a little hint as to how her only son's future turns out?" Piper pleaded. Eliana glanced at me again before looking back to Piper.

"Well...to be honest Piper, I don't exactly know half the things He does. He doesn't exactly talk to me anymore -unless he needs me to do something for him...which you really don't need to know about; considering Chris here already told you what I do -" she broke off as our eyes met across the table again.

"Wait, are you implying that my sweet little son comes to you in the future to have people killed?! That's crazy! He would never do that! My son is good! how dare you suggest -" I stood up abruptly and glared at Eliana. She opened her mouth but then suddenly bit down on her lip as her expression changed to one of pain. My brows furrowed in confusion as we watched her open and close her mouth as she squirmed uncomfortably in her chair. It almost looked like some invisible force was stopping her from speaking. I was suddenly reminded of something I had read about in the Book of Shadows but only ever encountered once. I narrowed my eyes and examined her more closely as a horrible thought popped into my head.

He would never use that spell on her! The one time I'd seen Him use it on someone it had rendered them an unrecognizable babbling shell of a person in less than 10 minutes! 20 minutes later he had been driven so insane by the pain and inability to speak that he had killed himself - and once again I had found myself staring at the dead body of a close friend; killed by his desire to help me. Without a word of explanation, I dashed out of the room and up to the attic; hoping that the entry had already been written in this time period. I flipped through the Book frantically searching until I finally landed on the page I needed:

The Tongue-Tying Jinx,

Used when the caster does not desire information to be revealed. If cast, the spell will cause the desired target physical pain whenever they try to speak about whatever topic the caster does not want spoken - can be altered to meet the caster's specific desires and even thinking about the forbidden subject will cause the target pain if the caster is powerful enough - No known counter jinx. Be warned, this spell can be deadly if the target's willpower to speak is too strong. When this happens, the jinx will triple in power and can drive the person insane or to the point where they can't take it any longer and kill themselves.

I read the entry over and over again as I remembered the way Ben had died. It hadn't been pleasant to watch; especially since I had known it was my fault. It had been on my orders that Ben had gone undercover - I hadn't liked it, but we had needed someone on the ground who could pass us information on His plans - and Ben had been the most suited for the job.

For months he was able to send us the information that we needed to counter His raids on our strongholds but unfortunately, someone on our side must have turned traitor and told Him about Ben. It wasn't long before myself and those I had been with at the time, had been captured and watched Ben get tortured for going against Him.

Somehow, we had managed to escape that night and it wasn't long afterwards that I had started getting the anonymous letters from the Shadow Queen. I still had no idea who they were, but without their help, I would never have been able to keep the Resistance alive.

After rereading the page for about the fifth time, I finally closed it shut and went back downstairs thinking about the best way to approach the situation. I still couldn't believe that my brother would ever use it on Eliana; especially after seeing what had happened to Ben, but if he had, then the sisters and I definitely needed to know before we tried to force information out of her. If not done carefully, we could end up killing her before getting anything useful out of her to help us better protect Baby Wyatt.