You may have heard of the Halliwell family. You may have heard of their magical adventures. But you haven't heard of their future.
I am the narrator. You need not know my name. I don't know it myself. I just started to exist in the author's mind and since then I have been burdened by the task of narrating this story, and she was too lazy to give me a proper name. But that is not of your concern, I know. You want to know about the Halliwell sisters and their children. You have probably written your own stories about them. Stories with goody two-shoes Wyatt Halliwell, troubled loner Chris Halliwell, and either spoiled bitch or chosen prodigy Melinda Halliwell. And, once or twice, also about their cousins. You may have or not have included that nonsense the comics spawned into your stories. My point is that you have come to this text with certain expectations. Expectations I don't intend to fulfill.
Don't go just yet! That I don't intend to fulfill your expectations does not mean you couldn't enjoy this story. On the contrary, you might love it. I dear hope so, because otherwise my existence would be meaningless. Oh joy. Still, I can't start just yet. You need to know some facts first, otherwise I might throw you clueless into this. Mind you, any narrator who does that is an idiot and not in the least proud of his work. Huh, look at that, I am developing a character. Picture my author smirking because she listens to weird music while doing that.
This story starts in 2023, just a few months shy of Melinda Halliwell's fifteenth birthday. I am using Melinda as a reference for this timeline, because she is vital to the storyline. And because I like her.
You should keep in mind one fact: Of all of the Halliwell children, Melinda is the only one born a pure witch. She was born into a family where all of her siblings and cousins were able to do things she could not do. Well... except for Parker. Parker Astrid Halliwell, born not even two weeks after Melinda, did not develop any powers. Some say the reason for that is the magic-sucking incident that took place when she was born. It turned out to be one of Wyatt's accidental magical outbursts. I hope you can imagine the effect this had on Wyatt. But I am confusing things. Let me introduce the Halliwell children one by one, starting with the oldest.
Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, the goody two-shoes of the family. "Goldylocks", as so called by his only sister. He is already 20 years old at the beginning of this story, and enjoying his time at college. But there is more to Wyatt than just his smiling face and kind words. Would you have suspected that a sunshiny guy like him was able to name every single incident when his magic had hurt someone, by year, month and nature of the incident? At times, he dared not hug his baby sister, for fear his power might devour her. And whenever he looked at his younger brother, he was sure he had failed as an older brother. Wyatt was, all in all, pretty miserable.
Christopher Perry Halliwell, 19 years old, was obviously miserable. He did not hide it. His face spoke it to anyone that eyed it, because he had ceased to care. At 19 years old, Chris had already pretty much given up on most things in life. Except for illegal car races, alcohol(At which point I might have to mention that the writer is European and does not understand the fuss 'merica makes over this. Also, we pretend that by the year 2023, at least in this timeline, the legal age to drink alcohol has been lowered to 18 years old.) and the study of magic. It might not appear so to the average bystander, but Chris was the one in the family with the greatest knowledge on magic, potions, demons, creatures and spells. He practically memorised the book of shadows when he read it while going through puberty, in an attempt to not cut himself. It ended with directing what he would have done to his body to demons, for which they sent bounty hunters after him every once in a while. Not that he cared. He never cared much.
Don't think that Chris was unable to love or be could be, but it was pretty much limited to his siblings, and once or twice to his cousins. But in general he was the rock for both his brother and his sister.
Which brings us to my beloved Melinda. Granted, I might be unfair in rewarding her with so much attention, but I hope you can come to understand why I like her so much. I will start with her faults, which I find the most attracting: She is arrogant. She was not spoiled, but through being a unicate in her generation in the family, she developed a sense of entitlement about her position. And, very much, she is the kind of person who takes most things way too personal. Whenever Wyatt teases her, she becomes mad at him for at least two days, and whenever her cousin Prudence argues with her, she is again convinced that Prudence hates her.
This is a funny thing, I find. Melinda and Prudence both have this feud going on, you see, in which they always insult or tease each other, but with them it's not so much about familial bickering as it is about actual dislike. Maybe it had started when the two were first being mistaken for siblings, for they shared a strong likeness in their appearance. Or maybe it was because Prudence was always equally as arrogant as Mel. But I am straying from the point.
Melinda is easily offended. Her being teased by a family member usually leads her to feel very, very insulted by it, and she tends to not talk to any of them about her problems and feelings. All of this she shares with her best friend, one Colin Samaras. I will come to him when the time presents itself.
Next are Phoebe's daughters. Prudence, 16 years old, is actually very optimistic and happy in her life, but it unfortunately leads her to a superficial behaviour and is not always greeted gladly by her fellow humans. Still, she has a great lot of friends, and her two best friends are vegetarian just like her and her mother. Other than that, and because of this superficial nature of hers, there is, at least at this point, not much more to tell about Prudence.
So let us turn to Parker, 14. Do you want to know the secret why she does not have magical powers? I am not going to tell you just yet. Don't want to spoil everything just in the prologue. But I will tell you that she has, to make up for her disadvantage, memorised the book of shadows nearly as good as Chris and is quite skilled at writing spells for her siblings and cousins. She also enjoys martial arts and practicing physical combat. Of all of the siblings and cousins, she is the one who spends most time with her cousin Melinda, with whom she shares a certain isolation in the family. Apart from all of this, she is a skilled video editor and also very good at filming videos herself. She wants to be a movie director someday. I think that's cute.
Phoebe's third daughter's name is Peyton Grace, a girl who is not in the least as graceful as her second name. She is the youngest with her 13 years in life, and the least girlish girl you can imagine. Not because she wears her hair pixie style short, or because she doesn't wear skirts, but mostly because all of her friends have penises, she'd like to have one too, because she gets into physical fights with the and because her preferred career choice is either pirate, spy or spartan warrior. She persists in wishing for either a tarantula, a parrot or a monkey for christmas and birthday. But she is also very skilled in her premonitions, and she knows in general what is going to happen next. Her aunt Piper made it her job to not ever let that girl wander alone on any amusement park where there was a glass with peas whose number to guess in order to win something, or anything else that involved possible cheating via premonitions. Luckily, Peyton, who called herself "Pat", already preferred roller coaster rides of various varieties.
Lastly, we have Paige's children. The twins, Catherina, called Cat, and Tamora, are completely different. Where Cat is social, Tam is socially awkward. Where Cat loves good movies, Tam preferres stones. What is Nightmare Before Christmas for Cat is Pokémon for Tam. Cat would like a dog, but Tam is too afraid of animals. Days pass by during which they share not more than three words: Morning, evening, goodnight.
The last one on the list is Henry Junior. Now, I have been informed that the comic claims him to not be Paige's biological son. I beg to differ, for Paige has indeed given birth to this young boy all by herself, because her husband was, accidentally, strolling through the underworld to find his daughters who had decided it was the right moment for a game of hide'n'seek. Henry, being only a month older than Peyton, never attracted too much attention in the family. It might come as a surprise regarding his mother, but he himself preferred the company of himself, and avoided big family meetings just as much as big crowds. It is fair to say that, sometimes, he was simply overlooked by his parents. Not that they intended to. But those things always happen when you don't intend them.
On a sidenote, I would like to inform you of a wonderful invention that has becoming the new must-have in 2023: The Earics. It stands for "Ears and music", and it is not an Apple invention. Earics are headphones where an MP3-Player is already integrated, plus it is able to connect to cell phones and telephones. Why am I telling you this? Because my writer thought it might be a good idea. After all, you should get a glimpse of what life is like for a teenager in 2023, or else you might come to the conclusion that their life is equal to yours. I would hate for that to happen, simply because I can hate. Wondering where I picked that up...
I should maybe warn you. My author is well-read to the point of being annoying and is most likely going to include literature references or new word creations, and I am pretty sure she would just love making a Nazi joke at some point. What I can tell you for sure is that this story is going to contain references to greek mythology and, because he should never be missing in a Charmed story, since being the only character with a good actor – in my opinion, at least – we shall also meet Barbas later on. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I already do. After all, I am the one in the lucky position to communicate with you. Consider me your friend in this story – your only friend. For what you are about to experience will shatter your trust in every single character you thought you knew... nah, just kidding. Simply because I am the one who can protect y'all from my dear author and her mood swings. So, if you are willing to join this wild ride, make sure you've got everything you need. And don't you forget your towel.