Chapter 4
Melinda stood in the doorway of the attic, hesitant to walk in. This place had been her playground growing up. Every little girl had tea parties with their friends growing up, but Melinda's were extra special. Leprechauns would arrive on rainbows, fairies would make the room sparkle with fairy dust, and wood nymphs would decorate the table with the most beautiful flowers imaginable. As a child, she spent countless hours playing hide and seek with her brothers and her cousins. She had a special hiding place up there where nobody ever seemed to find her. Now that she was grown, she had a sneaking suspicion that Wyatt and Chris knew, but they humored her anyway. But the idea of going in there and actually studying the book that she had long taken for granted seemed unnerving to her.
Chris had been on her for years telling her to look at the book and to learn what was in there. She had always told him that there was no point, that their mother never studied it and she became one of the most powerful witches ever. Chris would roll his eyes and leave it alone. She really couldn't blame him now for treating her as if she were clueless, because essentially she was. Everything had always come easy to Melinda, and she never had to work a day in her life. Now, today, she was going to buckle down and earn her keep in the magical community. Slowly, she walked over to the book and opened it to the first page.
"Hey," she heard a voice say softly from the door. Chris was leaning against the door jam looking intently at her.
"Hey," she replied as she flipped the page.
"Looking to curse somebody?" Chris asked, his eyebrow raised.
"No," Melinda replied sarcastically. "I'm trying to learn something."
Chris stood up straight and looked at his sister. That statement had certainly caught his attention. She was so much like Piper in the sense that she wanted a normal life, but also at the same time she always wanted to be in the middle of the action. He and Wyatt had decided a long time ago that they would never forgive themselves if she got hurt, so they never let her put herself in harms way. They agreed that one day she might learn, but as it stood now, they simply thought that she would be better off mixing vanquishing potions for them. But now, Chris thought that he saw a different person in his sister and managed to muster up a bit of respect.
"Okay," he said and turned to leave.
"Chris?" Melinda called after him.
"Yeah?" Chris asked over his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, about that thing on the stairs, and about everything elseā¦" her voice trailed off.
"Already forgotten, Kiddo. I'll leave you alone and tell Wyatt to do the same." He answered.
"Thanks."
Melinda spent hours gazing at the handwritten pages of the book. She tried to absorb as much of it as possible. She took down notes in a tablet on things she wanted to clarify with her mother. The book was packed full of information, not just on demons and warlocks, but life stories of her past relatives. She wondered to herself why she never found all of this interesting before.
Melinda found an excerpt from her Aunt Phoebe about a warlock named Anton. He was a lover of one of her distant cousins from the 1920s that wanted to steal the powers of the witches. According to the book, they vanquished him years ago, but that wasn't what caught her attention. The name of the witch that Anton had fallen in love with, her name was P. Russell. The name sparked a distant memory in Melinda's brain.
During her enchanted tea parties, Melinda and her girl cousins would play dress up in the old clothes that were stashed in the attic. She laughed with her cousin Patience once that the sisters never got rid of anything. Melinda slammed the book shut and went searching for the something that stirred her memory. Finally, underneath some half full boxes and years of dust, she found a chest that was over 100 years old.
She opened it carefully so that she wouldn't damage the rusted hinges. There, within the tattered flapper dresses, yellowed corsets, sequined hats, and costume tiaras Melinda found what she was looking for. Lying in the bottem of the chest, long forgotten was a leather bound diary with a tiny little heart shaped lock to deter the eyes of intruders. Written in faded gold ink Melinda could barely read what it said in the poor lighting of the attic:
"Property of Pearl Russell"
Melinda stared in awe at the journal. She couldn't believe that within the pages of this book were words scrawled by a woman that lived 100 years ago. A witch that had been good once, but seduced by the love of a warlock. All of that was written in the Book of Shadows, but Melinda was dying to know what else had happened to this woman. She knew that it had nothing to do with learning, nothing within the pages could help her fight demons with her brothers, but curiousity consumed her.
"Read it," a voice seemed to say to her. "Read it and you'll learn more than you could ever have imagined."
Melinda wondered if she was invading the privacy of her distant cousin. She wondered if somewhere her spirit was looking down and loathing the idea of someone reading her private thoughts. But, that was nonsense. Pearl Russell was long dead.
Melinda had an eerie feeling that she wasn't alone in the attic any longer, even though she knew nobody had come through the door. She looked around and caught sight of a being hovering in the darkest corner. Unafraid of things that lurked in the night, Melinda looked right at the being.
"Who are you?" she asked the apparition.
"A friend," it seemed to sing back to her.
"What is your name?" Melinda asked calmly.
"My name isn't important. I'm here to help you. Read the journal. I know that you think that it won't help you, but it will help you more than you can imagine."
Melinda stood up and looked at the figure. It was a pretty girl, in her early 20's. Wavy hair hung past her thin shoulders and her eyes seemed to look straight through Melinda. The figure pointed at the diary.
"Read it."
