A/N: Here's the next chapter. Sorry took so long. It may take me a while to get the next couple of chapters out. School is starting to rear its ugly head.
Ch. 7: To Learn and Unlearn
Jackson awoke to the sound of knocking. At first, he was disoriented and did not know where he was. He looked around and saw a room painted in blue. There were posters of sports teams on the wall, weights in a corner, a study table with a laptop on top and some trophies on top of a dresser drawer. Then he remembered yesterday and all that had happened. He could not believe how much his life has turned, and he wasn't even sure if it was a good change. The knocking disturbed his reverie.
"Coming," Jackson called out. He took off the covers and saw that he had slept in his clothes. He got up and opened the door. He was surprised and happy to find Melinda had woken him up. "Hey," he said.
"Hey," Melinda returns. An awkward silence ensued. "Ummm…I just wanted to make sure you're up. It gets kind of hectic in the morning here on school days. I just wanted to make sure you have fighting chance for the bathroom." She looks up and gives him a timid smile.
He chuckles and says, "Thanks. I mean for everything. I don't think I have thanked any of you enough for all you've done. So…thanks." He smiles back at her. Suddenly, his hand is drawn to an errant hair in her face and draws it back behind her ear.
Melinda, a little bit flustered from the gesture, says, "Don't mention it." She takes his hand into hers. Before anything could continue, Trish walks briskly toward the bathroom. As she passes them, she coughs out what sounded like the word 'crush,' and then goes into the bathroom. The other realize what they were doing or about to do, and they visibly separated.
"Melinda thanks again," Jackson says.
"Yeah…um…no problem," Melinda replies. "I'll see you downstairs for breakfast." She quickly walks away and downstairs. Jackson's eyes follow her all the way down the hall and before she disappears down the stairs. He doesn't even realize that Alex was coming up the stairs and heading toward him. When Alex gets to him, Jackson is still facing the direction Melinda went. Alex snaps his fingers in Jackson's face. Jackson snaps back to reality. Alex just laughs quietly.
"Come on. I'll give you some clothes to wear and an extra towel to use. There should be an extra toothbrush in the medicine cabinet. You can use the bathroom after Trish, and I'll just go after you," Jackson tells him. He goes into his closet and starts rummaging for clothes for both of them. "So?" he calls out from the closet.
"So what?" Jackson asks.
"You know? What's up with you and my cousin?" Jackson asks. He steps out of the closet with two sets of clothing. He hands one stack to Jackson.
"Um…nothing. What do you mean?" Jackson asks, acting innocent.
"You know what I'm talking about," Alex encourages him to talk.
Jackson turns to him with a contemplative look. He says, "I don't know yet what we have. I would like to us to be friends first but I really do like her. A lot. I don't know yet. Everything is kind of confusing right now especially since yesterday. I just have too many things to deal with. But if you're worried, and acting like the protective brother, I only have the best intentions for her." Alex notices Jackson getting uncomfortable about revealing too much about this particular subject. He changes the subject toward school, sports, and anything that didn't delve into anything serious. They just talked and waited until they could get ready for school.
****
Melinda walked downstairs and headed into the kitchen. She saw her dad making coffee and cooking breakfast. She sits down at the table and grabs a glass of orange juice. "Good morning, Dad. What time did you get back last night?" she asks.
"Good morning to you too. Oh, I came in pretty late last night. All of you were asleep already," Leo replies. He turns off the stove and grabs the plate with breakfast on it. He heads toward the table and sits at the other end from Melinda. "I've found out some interesting things from the Elders. I was right something was a bit off about what they were telling me. And they told me something about how your powers are growing. But I'll let everyone know once they get here."
"Ok," Melinda replies. She grabs a toasted bagel and starts eating some breakfast. A couple of minutes later, Alex and Trish were coming through the door talking about a teacher, and Jack walking a few steps behind them. Alex and Trish sit across from each other closest to Leo so that Jackson would sit next to Melinda. The two continue talking about school but they give each other a crafty look, like they've planned the sitting arrangement all along.
"Everybody, I have some news to announce," Leo says. Everybody stops what he or she is doing and pay attention to Leo. "Now, first this has to deal with you Jackson. You are destined to be a witch, and the Elders were right when they said that you would be doing a lot of great things. But they've failed to mention about the real reason behind the warding and the binding." Jackson has a questioning look when Leo mentioned binding. He turns to Melinda. Melinda places her hand over Jackson's, "A binding is a spell done on a witch so that they can't access their powers or their magic." Everybody except Jack and Melinda notice the familiar gesture made but didn't say anything about it. Leo continues his news, "After some questioning, I've found out that your real parents wanted to you live a normal life. So they made you as distant as possible from magic. The Elders didn't want this revealed because they feared you would refuse to become a witch."
"Mr. Wyatt, I'm still skeptical about me being a witch but if I could do anything to help you all out as payment for your kindness and to protect myself from the Source, I wouldn't refuse it," Jackson affirms. Melinda squeezes his hand, "You don't have to do anything to repay us. But I'm happy that you're keeping an open mind."
"Yes, it's good that you won't refuse to unbind your powers because we need your help." Leo resumes. "You see to defeat the Source you have to join your magic to the Charmed Ones'. It seems your magic is attuned to theirs. The Elders believe it's because your ancestors were in the same coven as their ancestors. We will try to do an unbinding after you come home from school today. Understood?" Melinda, Alex and Trish nod their heads. Jackson has a look on his face like he wants to ask a question. Leo turns to him and waits for him to ask it.
"If you know these things by any chance can you…" Jackson pauses, "can you find out who my real parents were?"
Leo smiles at him, "That's no problem Jack. I've already found out. They're Thomas and Stephanie Williams."
Jackson asks, "Do you know what happened to them?"
Leo loses his smile, "It was very unfortunate. Minions of the old Source were hunting them. They gave you up to protect you but they couldn't do anything for themselves. I'm sorry." Jackson gives him sad smile.
Jackson replies, "You don't need to be sorry. I'm just glad that I finally know their names. Thanks." There was a moment of silence before Jackson looks up, "Hey let's eat before we're late for school." Everybody starts eating again.
Leo catches Melinda's attention, "I've found out about your powers. It needs explaining. Since I'm your father, you're half whitelighter and that means your powers will reflect that pacifism. Your mother had the power to make things explode but your powers can only make them disperse apart. Objects and very strong evil will eventually reform where they are. But usually evil will be banished back to their realm or the Underworld and because of the touch of your good magic will be unable to return for a certain period of time. You'll cause demons, warlocks and darklighters a lot of pain and disorientation but you won't be able to destroy them. As your powers grow you'll have better control but you won't have the power to make things to explode." Melinda nods in acceptance.
"Thank goodness she doesn't have that power. This house will probably fall apart," Trish laughs. Everybody laughs with her. Melinda throws a piece of bread in mock annoyance but laughs with the rest anyway.
"Okay guys, hurry up and go. Let's not make it a habit of being late to school like last year." Leo says. Everybody finishes their breakfast, grabs their things, and haul out the door. The four of them pile in the jeep and head off to school.
****
School was uneventful for the four teenagers. The only high points of the day were lunch and when the bell rang to let students out for the weekend. The four meet up at foyer of the school, and headed to the jeep. Jackson was thinking, "I'm pretty lucky. Aside from the Source lurking around the corner, I have people I can depend on. I haven't had somebody I could trust in a long time." Jackson looks at Melinda, and they smile at each other.
"I swear! You two should just go out and date. Instead of these puppy love looks you keep giving each other. Geez, go out with each other already," Trish complains. Alex just burst out laughing at Trish's sudden fit.
"Trish!" Melinda says shocked. She was completely embarrassed at the moment. She wouldn't even dare taking a look at Jackson's reaction. She kept on walking head straight and at the quickest pace without dashing to the car. Then, she feels a stronger hand grab her right hand before she could open the driver door. She looks up at a grinning Jackson. Jackson, in turn, was making one of the braver moves he has made in his young life.
"You know Trish might actually have a good idea," Jackson says. They hear, "I heard that" from the other side of the jeep. "It could repay for all the saving you've done lately. And I would really like to go out with you." Jackson smiles. He can tell that Melinda is nervous. "Well she looks like what I feel inside. Please don't tell me I read the signals wrong," Jack thinks.
"Sure," Melinda finally answers. The breath that Jackson didn't know he was holding was finally let out in a long sigh of relief. "Great. We'll talk about this when we get back to the Manor. Okay?" Jack replies.
"Sure no problem. Don't forget that we still have to stop by your old place to square things away," Melinda reminds Jackson. Melinda opens the doors and let's everyone in. Once everyone was inside, Jackson continues the conversation.
"Yeah. Let's go I need to take care of things. But that got me thinking, what am I going to say to everyone? What if the police come looking for me? What if, " Jackson asks.
"Don't worry. You don't need to panic. I've been working out a spell during school that may do the trick," Melinda interrupts.
"Are you sure we should be doing a spell like that? It could be counted as a personal gain spell," Alex warns.
"Don't worry…It's not me who's gaining anything. Plus, none of this would have happened if the Source hadn't interfered. So it should be fine," Melinda tries to assert. Alex just gives a dubious look but doesn't say anything more.
"I for one thinks that it's a good idea, Mel. It'll be good that Jackson will be free from some of these things. You don't need to be reminded of the bad things that happened to you," Trish says. Jackson smiles at her in gratitude. Alex was still unsure but apparently majority rules so he let it slide. They continued toward Jackson's old place to pick up some of his things. He took all his clothes, books, and anything else they could fit in their vehicle. He also had some money saved up from odd jobs and hidden from his father. He offered it to the three but they refused it and said he should keep his well-earned money. After they could get all they needed, they decided they would go back the next day to pick up anything else Jack wants from this place. Jackson was fortunate enough that the apartment owner let the lease end prematurely without any trouble. The rest of the trip back to the Manor was uneventful.
****
Jackson and Alex took Jackson's things to their 'new' room, the one they will eventually room in together. After they finished, they headed to the attic, where Mel and Trish waited for them. The two ladies looked up as they entered. Melinda was holding a piece of string and a pair of scissors. She turns to Jackson.
"This spell should be pretty simple enough. We will still remember what happened to you but no one else will. It's as if you've always lived with us since your parents died and that way you won't have unwanted questions," Melinda explains. Jackson just nods his head. "Okay I'm going to begin the spell:
With this twine, I do severe"
She cuts the string in her hand into two pieces.
"To prevent old life to interfere.
I tie two pieces for life renew;"
She takes the two cut pieces and ties a knot to connect them again.
"To make destinies come true."
When she finishes her spell, the string in her hand changes into a strip of light and flies toward Jackson. It starts spinning around him, and there's a flash and the light disappears. Everyone looks at Jackson who has a dazed look in his eyes.
Melinda steps forward, "Jackson are you all right?"
Jackson looks up confused and answers, "I'm fine. But…who are you?"