The following day provided a tiny bit of relief. The heat wave had broken overnight with a short but heavy rainstorm. When the girls awoke that morning, it was about twenty degrees cooler than it had been in weeks. The cooling of the air was accompanied by a cooling of the tension in the Manor. Everyone seemed to be more at ease, with each other and with themselves.

On the way to the park, Piper and Prue had actually gotten along, something that hadn't happened in a couple of weeks. Piper couldn't tell whether they were getting along because the heat had finally abated or because Prue had Piper's word that she wouldn't go near the climbing rock and she was therefore more relaxed, but she suspected that it was a little bit of both. However, Piper was now standing in the woods, trying not to break her promise. She didn't know how she was going to find Melody if she couldn't go to the rock to wait for her.

Sighing, she made her way to the rock. "Sorry, Prue," she murmured as she pushed a branch back out of her path. I'll stay here just long enough to find Melody, and then I'll have her take me somewhere else, she thought insistently.

Cautiously, she stepped through the oak trees and approached the rock. All of a sudden, the spot wasn't the serene place she had thought it was. It was a scary spot, a dangerous place. One wrong move and she could fall twenty feet to the rocky ground below. "Come on, Melody," she whispered. "Where are you?"

She carefully sat down on the very back of the rock. Normally she would have let her legs dangle over the edge, but not today. Not anymore. Why didn't I notice how straight that drop is? she asked herself. Her sister was right; the place was much too dangerous to play. When they had gotten home from the library the day before, Prue had explained why she had freaked out and asked Piper to stay away from the rock. When Piper heard the story of the girl who had died while playing on the rock, she had been horrified. She had known that Tommy had broken his arm from falling, but knowing that someone lost her life from falling frightened her. One wrong step and that could be her.

Her heart was pounding, but she crawled a little closer to the edge. It was like driving by a car wreck. She wanted to turn away, the scene made her uncomfortable and more than a little scared, but she just couldn't. Before she knew it, her fingers hit the end of the rock. She curled her fingers over the edge and leaned forward, gazing down at the stony outcropping at the foot of the rock. I wonder if that girl ever woke up again, she thought with a shudder.

"What are you doing?"

Piper screeched and jumped back, kneeling up. For a split second, she thought that she was going to fall forward, but she soon realized that her mind, in its surprise, was playing tricks on her. She wasn't going anywhere. She backed away from the edge and stood up, whirling on Melody. "You scared me to death!" she exclaimed, panting as she held one hand over her heart. "Don't do that!"

"I'm sorry," Melody said, her surprise evident in her voice. "I didn't realize I was going to give you such a fright. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Piper answered, taking a deep breath. She was starting to calm down. At least her heart wasn't beating a mile a minute anymore. After taking one more really deep breath, she looked up at Melody, instantly feeling guilty when she saw the shocked expression on her friend's face. "Look, it wasn't your fault. My sister told me that a long time ago, a girl our age fell and died while playing on this rock, and it scared me--"

"How does she know about that?" Melody asked frantically, panic flashing briefly into her eyes.

Piper gasped at the sudden venom in her friend's voice. "She read about it yesterday in an old newspaper," she answered, trying to hold back her surprise. "Grams didn't want us outside because it was so hot, so we hung out at the library. Prue likes reading the old newspapers, and she found the story. Why does it matter?"

Melody hesitated a moment. It seemed as if she was trying to find an answer. "Because that girl was my ancestor," she said eventually. "My mom used to tell me that story all the time when I was little to scare me and keep me away from here, but it backfired on her. All it made me do is want to come here and master this thing."

"Wow," Piper said with a low whistle. "I had no idea--"

"How could you?" Melody asked with a smile. "Anyway, I can tell you don't want to stay here and it's getting close to lunchtime. Would you like to eat at my house?"

"Sure!" she exclaimed. Eating at Melody's house would not only be fun, but it could also provide some clues as to who Melody was. "I have to tell my sister first, though."

"Oh, no, you don't," Melody said, waving her hand dismissively. "We'll be gone all of ten minutes. Besides, she's not your mother, remember?"

Piper grinned. As strange as Melody was, she did seem to understand Piper in a way that Prue never could. "You're right! Come on. You lead the way."

Melody grinned back and grabbed Piper's hand. She began dragging her down a small, worn path in the middle of the dense trees. They were heading back towards the park. Piper was a little confused, but she kept her mouth shut. She figured that Melody would obviously know where she was going.

When they emerged, Piper was more than a little bewildered. She knew where they should have come out. The slides should have been at her right and the seesaws should have been to her left. But what she was looking at wasn't the park at all. Instead, she saw a farmhouse at the back of a small expanse of land. She heard the clucking of chickens and a cow mooing in the distance. It was quaint and pleasant, and Piper couldn't help but smile, but it was all wrong. "Wait a second," she said softly, pulling her hand out of Melody's. "This isn't right. This shouldn't be here."

"What do you mean?" Melody asked, smiling sweetly. "Of course we should be here."

"I meant that this is all wrong," she clarified, shaking her head. "The slide should be right there and . . ." She trailed off, the details of what should have been where getting fuzzier as time passed. She looked out over the farm and smiled, her apprehension melting away. "Never mind."

Melody gently took Piper's hand once again and tugged her towards the house. Piper allowed her jaw to drop in amazement as she walked past a small pasture where two cows grazed on the deep green grass. On the other side of the pasture was a small chicken coop surrounded by a wire fence. Her eyes settled on the coop and she giggled in delight when she saw a few tiny brown chicks jumping around at the adult hens' feet. "Oh gosh!" she exclaimed, breaking away from Melody and running up to the fence. "They're all so little!"

Melody grinned and opened the gate to the fence. "Come here," she whispered, tapping Piper's shoulder. Piper followed her into the caged area and Melody then closed the gate tightly to prevent the chickens from getting loose. Then, Melody crouched down, cooing to the chicks, and picked one of them up. "Hold out your hands," she instructed Piper.

Piper did as she was told and Melody gently placed the chick into Piper's hands. "Just curl your fingers a little bit to keep her from falling," Melody said, gently forming Piper's hands into a small bowl. "Cradle her in your hands and once she's comfortable, she'll start hopping around."

Piper kept her hands perfectly still, just as Melody had positioned them, and giggled when the chick did indeed begin walking around in her palms. "This is incredible," she whispered. She began cooing to the chick, caressing her soft feathers with her thumbs. "Does she have a name?"

"Trixie," Melody said with a smile. "She's the friendliest."

"Hi, Trixie," Piper said softly, bringing her hands closer to her face.

Melody grinned. "Come on, let's go eat. You can bring Trixie inside if you want. My mom's not going to care."

Piper nodded, following Melody out of the chicken coop and up to the house. "This is unbelievable," she breathed as she and Melody settled into two rocking chairs on the front porch. "I mean, I never knew a place like this still existed, never mind by the park."

"You really like it?"

She nodded vigorously. "Yeah, I do."

"Well, you can come over any time you want. We'll meet in the woods and I can bring you back here. Even if all you want to do is get away from your sisters for a while."

Piper looked up at her, regarding her warily. "What makes you think I want to get away from my sisters?"

"It's more than a little obvious, Piper," Melody answered with a knowing smile. "I know you better than you think I do. In fact . . . I know that there are times you wish you didn't even have sisters. Am I right?"

Piper's jaw dropped once again. How could Melody know that? She'd never mentioned that to anybody. She'd never even written it down in her notebook. It was a thought she hated admitting she had, but it was the truth. And she was afraid that if anyone in her family found out she thought it, they'd hate her. "How did you--"

"--know that?" She grinned. "I told you, I know you better than you think I do. And I won't tell anyone you think that because I know that you know they'd all hate you for it. But the reason I brought it up is this . . . what would you say if I could get you away from your sisters? Even if it's only for a night?"

"I'd say great," she smiled.

"Good. When you go home tonight, ask your grandmother if you can stay over here sometime."

Piper hesitated. Something wasn't quite right, but she couldn't place what it was. There was something off about everything; the farm that shouldn't exist, Melody knowing Piper's innermost thoughts . . . yet, there was also something strangely comfortable about it all. "I-I don't know."

"Come on, Piper. I just proved to you that I know you better than even your family knows you. And I don't hate you for thinking what you think. They would. All I'm offering is a chance for you to get away for a night."

"What do you get out of it?" Piper asked. The way Melody was talking, it was almost as if they were making a business deal.

"A friend's company," she answered, smiling. "No more and no less."

Piper looked down at Trixie and smiled. "Okay. I'll ask when I get home tonight."

"Great! You won't regret it. I promise."

Melody stood and entered the house. Piper followed her in, a strange sense of peace settling over her. She knew she should have been uncomfortable with the whole thing, but she wasn't. She was perfectly calm, regardless of the fact that she was going to ask permission to stay the night at a farmhouse she was pretty sure shouldn't exist at all.