Chapter two: A plot begins
Ally ran a hand through her bright red hair that flared out on the sides and bottom, trying and failing to get rid of the cowlick on the back of her head. Mel, who was standing next to her in front of the large mirror over the desk in the room they shared, was braiding her long brown hair that fell to the middle of her back. Both girls were dressed in school clothes, Mel in a blue tee shirt and jeans, Ally in a neon orange shirt that had San Francisco written in blue on the front, and straight legged blue jeans decorated in random patches. "I hate my hair," she said out of the blue, "Why?" Mel asked, "because I don't look like the family, with all your brown hair, and me? I get red!" "Your mom has red hair, and she's definitely part of the family, end of discussion," Mel replied firmly, Ally gave her a grateful grin and looked at the clock on Mel's bedside table, "Oh, man, we're gonna be late!" Ally ran to the door and yanked it open, grabbing her neon green backpack off of the floor. Racing down the stairs behind her, Mel tied off the end of her braid and the two girls ran out the door, followed shortly by Matthew, Mel's seven year old brother, and Rachel.
***********
*Five more minutes, come on, geez, why does this clock go so darn slow?* Ally wondered as she sat in her last class of the day, in which she was supposed to be writing an essay about her family, except that she wasn't. She looked down at what she had written so far and read silently to herself:
My Family
By: Ally Halliwell
My family is
*My family is what?* She pondered, staring out the window into the stormy sky.
********
Matthew swung his feet, trying to get his shoelaces to hit the desk in front of him. Just as the teacher had begun to explain subtraction, there was a particularly loud burst of thunder, and the lighting, as if in retaliation to the noise, promptly went out. All of the kids in his class yelled and screamed in fear or joy. As the teacher got out a flashlight, there was a ear splitting screech and the PA system came on and the principal said, "Not to worry, kids, the second generator will come on in a moment, please don't leave your classrooms, and will Rachel Halliwell please come to the office?" Matthew smirked, for now, the adult's attention would be away from him and back to Rachel. Again. "-and will Rachel Halliwell please come to the office?" *Great, just great,* Rachel thought, *and now that Ms. Adamson wants to meet with mom, it'll make things a whole lot worse.*
********
As the final bell rang, the second oldest Halliwell child sprang from her seat and raced for her evilly stubborn locker. Once there, Ally kicked a taped X on the door, and it swung open. Grabbing her books, she bolted for the bus, meeting Mel, Rachel, and Matthew on it. "How do you think you did on that test?" Ally asked her cousin, "I dunno, I studied all weekend for it," Mel answered, looking half confidant, "Not me, I probably tanked it, with all those essay questions at the end," Ally said with a worried look on her face. "Well, you have your birthday to look forward to, it's on the eleventh." but that was as far as she got before Matilda, a popular, and rather mean girl cut her off, "Oh, how cute, Melinda's going to throw her ickle cousin a party! Too bad no one will come, your family's probably too poor to send out invitations," she said with fake sympathy. Mel grabbed her cousin's arm to keep her from attacking the bully who'd insulted them. "Come on, Mel! She just insulted our whole family! Let me hit her!" Ally yelled, frustrated that her older cousin wouldn't let her go. "Al, if you hit her you'd just get in trouble," Mel said sensibly, "But I'd feel a lot better!" Ally said, grudgedly sitting down. As the bus chugged its way home, Mel was relieved to see that Ally had calmed down considerably, and was now sitting with her sketchbook up against the window, drawing random people she had seen on the street. When the bus stopped, the Halliwells, Matilda, and a few others got off, and began to walk towards their homes, but not before Matilda had mouthed, "poor," smirked, turned, and immediately fell over a very large branch that hadn't been there moments ago. "That was personal gain!" Mel whispered to Ally, who replied, "I know, but it was worth it!" "Way to go Al!" Rachel exclaimed, "now everyone'll be worried about that and not my parent- teacher conference!" Mel and Ally blinked back at her, Mel looking curious, Ally amused. "What'd you do?" Mel asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Shaving cream. do I have to say more?" Rachel said shortly, shimmering away with Matthew, who had been silent as soon as they had gotten off the bus. "I wish she wouldn't do that," Mel said, "Well, I am, so I'll see you at home," Ally told her, "Hang on," Mel said, carefully, "I'll go too," And with that, both girls disappeared in their own swirl of blue and white. Upon reaching the house, Mel instinctively pulled out her house key, preparing to unlock the door. " We're orbing, dude, no need for keys," Ally laughed as they rematerialized in the hallway, "Guys?" Rachel said, walking out into the hall with Matthew, "you better take a look at this newspaper," She held out that day's paper, the cover story being "Woman killed, Culprit Unknown," "So?" Ally said, slightly confused, "This is San Francisco! This is the United States! People get killed!" "Not like this, they don't," Mel said quietly, reading the story, "Listen to this, ' Police cannot seem to find the manner of the killing, as the victim's heart is missing, without so much as a puncture in the body. The victim's hair is also devoid of color, the skin unnaturally pale.' I find that a bit odd, don't you?" Rachel, who had gone extremely pale, choked, "Where's T and Pru?" "At the daycare service in Aunt Paige's office," Mel answered confidently. Just then, Leo orbed in, saying, "Sorry to. Where is everybody?" "Aunt Paige is at work, T and Pru are with her, Mom's at work, and I don't know where Aunt Piper is," Rachel rattled off, still looking pale. "Are you feeling alright?" Leo asked her, a worried expression crossing his face. "She's just shaken up, here, look at this," Mel handed him the paper. After a long silence, Leo asked, "Have your mothers seen this?" "Nope," answered Ally, "we just got home," "Okay, I'll go get them, why don't you look in the book," "Can do," Rachel said, and all three girls raced upstairs to the attic. Once there, Ally picked up the ancient tome, and began to flip pages with such speed that her fingers appeared a blur, "Hey, look at this," she said, and read a page written in an old, fancy script: "The Sentinel is a guardian that lives and coexists within the owner, taking the form of a creature, it can be summoned at will and creates a shield between the owner and the evil at hand. It is born within someone at their birth, protecting them for life. The Sentinel is called forth during times of true fear, and can stay outside of the owner for as long as it or the owner wants. They have some magical properties, they can be used as a link between it and it's owner and others, shrinking itself as big or as small as it is needed, can be used as a bandage, and enables its owner to talk with the Sentinel's species. The Sentinel can go as long as ten years without showing itself, finally expressing it's existence by frequent headaches, of which no tea or medicine can cure, and a symbol of the creature which cannot be washed away. Isn't that cool?" "Cool, yes, but not what we're looking for," Mel answered her, "Marks that can't be washed away? Like this?" Rachel asked, rolling back her sleeve to show a small, yet unmistakable tattoo-like silver fox. "Ouch!" Mel yelped, yanking her own sleeve up to her inner upper arm and gazing with shock at the miniscule owl imprinted there. "Well," Ally gulped, "here goes nothing," and pulling up her sleeve, and blinked down at the little silver tiger on her arm.
Ally ran a hand through her bright red hair that flared out on the sides and bottom, trying and failing to get rid of the cowlick on the back of her head. Mel, who was standing next to her in front of the large mirror over the desk in the room they shared, was braiding her long brown hair that fell to the middle of her back. Both girls were dressed in school clothes, Mel in a blue tee shirt and jeans, Ally in a neon orange shirt that had San Francisco written in blue on the front, and straight legged blue jeans decorated in random patches. "I hate my hair," she said out of the blue, "Why?" Mel asked, "because I don't look like the family, with all your brown hair, and me? I get red!" "Your mom has red hair, and she's definitely part of the family, end of discussion," Mel replied firmly, Ally gave her a grateful grin and looked at the clock on Mel's bedside table, "Oh, man, we're gonna be late!" Ally ran to the door and yanked it open, grabbing her neon green backpack off of the floor. Racing down the stairs behind her, Mel tied off the end of her braid and the two girls ran out the door, followed shortly by Matthew, Mel's seven year old brother, and Rachel.
***********
*Five more minutes, come on, geez, why does this clock go so darn slow?* Ally wondered as she sat in her last class of the day, in which she was supposed to be writing an essay about her family, except that she wasn't. She looked down at what she had written so far and read silently to herself:
My Family
By: Ally Halliwell
My family is
*My family is what?* She pondered, staring out the window into the stormy sky.
********
Matthew swung his feet, trying to get his shoelaces to hit the desk in front of him. Just as the teacher had begun to explain subtraction, there was a particularly loud burst of thunder, and the lighting, as if in retaliation to the noise, promptly went out. All of the kids in his class yelled and screamed in fear or joy. As the teacher got out a flashlight, there was a ear splitting screech and the PA system came on and the principal said, "Not to worry, kids, the second generator will come on in a moment, please don't leave your classrooms, and will Rachel Halliwell please come to the office?" Matthew smirked, for now, the adult's attention would be away from him and back to Rachel. Again. "-and will Rachel Halliwell please come to the office?" *Great, just great,* Rachel thought, *and now that Ms. Adamson wants to meet with mom, it'll make things a whole lot worse.*
********
As the final bell rang, the second oldest Halliwell child sprang from her seat and raced for her evilly stubborn locker. Once there, Ally kicked a taped X on the door, and it swung open. Grabbing her books, she bolted for the bus, meeting Mel, Rachel, and Matthew on it. "How do you think you did on that test?" Ally asked her cousin, "I dunno, I studied all weekend for it," Mel answered, looking half confidant, "Not me, I probably tanked it, with all those essay questions at the end," Ally said with a worried look on her face. "Well, you have your birthday to look forward to, it's on the eleventh." but that was as far as she got before Matilda, a popular, and rather mean girl cut her off, "Oh, how cute, Melinda's going to throw her ickle cousin a party! Too bad no one will come, your family's probably too poor to send out invitations," she said with fake sympathy. Mel grabbed her cousin's arm to keep her from attacking the bully who'd insulted them. "Come on, Mel! She just insulted our whole family! Let me hit her!" Ally yelled, frustrated that her older cousin wouldn't let her go. "Al, if you hit her you'd just get in trouble," Mel said sensibly, "But I'd feel a lot better!" Ally said, grudgedly sitting down. As the bus chugged its way home, Mel was relieved to see that Ally had calmed down considerably, and was now sitting with her sketchbook up against the window, drawing random people she had seen on the street. When the bus stopped, the Halliwells, Matilda, and a few others got off, and began to walk towards their homes, but not before Matilda had mouthed, "poor," smirked, turned, and immediately fell over a very large branch that hadn't been there moments ago. "That was personal gain!" Mel whispered to Ally, who replied, "I know, but it was worth it!" "Way to go Al!" Rachel exclaimed, "now everyone'll be worried about that and not my parent- teacher conference!" Mel and Ally blinked back at her, Mel looking curious, Ally amused. "What'd you do?" Mel asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Shaving cream. do I have to say more?" Rachel said shortly, shimmering away with Matthew, who had been silent as soon as they had gotten off the bus. "I wish she wouldn't do that," Mel said, "Well, I am, so I'll see you at home," Ally told her, "Hang on," Mel said, carefully, "I'll go too," And with that, both girls disappeared in their own swirl of blue and white. Upon reaching the house, Mel instinctively pulled out her house key, preparing to unlock the door. " We're orbing, dude, no need for keys," Ally laughed as they rematerialized in the hallway, "Guys?" Rachel said, walking out into the hall with Matthew, "you better take a look at this newspaper," She held out that day's paper, the cover story being "Woman killed, Culprit Unknown," "So?" Ally said, slightly confused, "This is San Francisco! This is the United States! People get killed!" "Not like this, they don't," Mel said quietly, reading the story, "Listen to this, ' Police cannot seem to find the manner of the killing, as the victim's heart is missing, without so much as a puncture in the body. The victim's hair is also devoid of color, the skin unnaturally pale.' I find that a bit odd, don't you?" Rachel, who had gone extremely pale, choked, "Where's T and Pru?" "At the daycare service in Aunt Paige's office," Mel answered confidently. Just then, Leo orbed in, saying, "Sorry to. Where is everybody?" "Aunt Paige is at work, T and Pru are with her, Mom's at work, and I don't know where Aunt Piper is," Rachel rattled off, still looking pale. "Are you feeling alright?" Leo asked her, a worried expression crossing his face. "She's just shaken up, here, look at this," Mel handed him the paper. After a long silence, Leo asked, "Have your mothers seen this?" "Nope," answered Ally, "we just got home," "Okay, I'll go get them, why don't you look in the book," "Can do," Rachel said, and all three girls raced upstairs to the attic. Once there, Ally picked up the ancient tome, and began to flip pages with such speed that her fingers appeared a blur, "Hey, look at this," she said, and read a page written in an old, fancy script: "The Sentinel is a guardian that lives and coexists within the owner, taking the form of a creature, it can be summoned at will and creates a shield between the owner and the evil at hand. It is born within someone at their birth, protecting them for life. The Sentinel is called forth during times of true fear, and can stay outside of the owner for as long as it or the owner wants. They have some magical properties, they can be used as a link between it and it's owner and others, shrinking itself as big or as small as it is needed, can be used as a bandage, and enables its owner to talk with the Sentinel's species. The Sentinel can go as long as ten years without showing itself, finally expressing it's existence by frequent headaches, of which no tea or medicine can cure, and a symbol of the creature which cannot be washed away. Isn't that cool?" "Cool, yes, but not what we're looking for," Mel answered her, "Marks that can't be washed away? Like this?" Rachel asked, rolling back her sleeve to show a small, yet unmistakable tattoo-like silver fox. "Ouch!" Mel yelped, yanking her own sleeve up to her inner upper arm and gazing with shock at the miniscule owl imprinted there. "Well," Ally gulped, "here goes nothing," and pulling up her sleeve, and blinked down at the little silver tiger on her arm.