"Mom, I'm going to Kayla's, ok?" Melinda said, looking around the corner, into the living room. Kayla was a girl she knew from magic school. Melinda hadn't seen her since her graduation party last year. Kayla was a year older than Melinda and had always been a good friend. She lived with her cousin and his family. They didn't know anything about magic, and Melinda understood all too well why Kayla wanted to keep it that way. But of course, the fact that they didn't know about magic meant that orbing over to Kayla's was out of the question. "You know, Mel, sweetie, I'd rather you don't go alone." Piper said, looking up from her book. Melinda was just about to protest, when her eldest brother walked in, with his coat on his arm. "Don't worry, mom. I'm dropping her off." He said with a smile. Piper nodded. "Ok then." She looked at Melinda. "Don't stay too late. I know you haven't seen your friend in a while, but remember what you promised about helping out in the restaurant tomorrow." Melinda nodded and waved her mom goodbye.

"It's freezing!" Wyatt complained as they turned around the corner of the street, "I'm never going to get used to these climate changes. I remember winters when people thought 20°C was cold!" Melinda laughed as she saw him trying to pull the collar of his coat higher. "And I thought you came along to admire the winter scenery" she said teasingly. "Now, what does that mean?" he asked with a frown. "You know what I mean" she answered, "You're coming along to see Kayla." He didn't say a word. Melinda smiled. "You like her, don't you?" she asked, glancing sideways at him. "No, I don't!" he protested, "I mean, she's a nice girl. But I… I… I mean…" Melinda laughed loudly and put a hand on her brother's back. "Honestly," she laughed, "all the power in the world, but you've never been good with secrets. Not even with your own." For a moment there, she thought she saw him blush. But she didn't give it much attention and they continued on their way. "Damn, it's cold!" he repeated, after having seen two snow men, "I should've brought my gloves." He tried to warm his hands with his scarf. Instantly, the scarf disappeared and a pair of red woolen gloves appeared on his hands. "What the…? Where did they come from?" he said surprised. "What?" his sister answered, lowering her voice and looking back to see if anyone else was around, "You didn't conjure them?" He shook his head. "That wasn't conjuring. My scarf disappeared. Looks like it transformed or something. Maybe…" he doubted, "maybe you did it." Melinda looked at him in disbelief. "I don't transform things." She simply said. "Well, maybe you do now. Think about it. You started orbing when you were four because Chris was nagging about demons. Maybe you're starting to transform things now, because I was nagging about the cold weather." Melinda didn't answer. She wasn't really sure what to think about all this.

When they arrived at the front door of Kayla's house, Melinda turned towards her brother. "You're staying too, right?" she asked him. He simply nodded, since only moments later, the door swung open and Kayla threw her arms around Melinda. "It's so great to see you, Mel!" Then she turned to Wyatt, suddenly looking far less sure of herself. "You too, Wyatt" He just smiled and nodded. Melinda felt an awkward moment coming on. "So," she broke the silence, "what have you been up to during the past year?" Kayla took their coats and guided them into the living room. "I had a temp job at the local florist" she said, "nothing much, and certainly nothing exciting. But I'm thinking about sending that letter to magic school to become a teacher. You know how I loved potions class. It would be so great to have a class to teach the things to that I've learned." Melinda smiled. "That would certainly be an improvement to Eggidius." she said. "Hey, Eggy's a good teacher" Wyatt interrupted. "Yea, he is" Kayla agreed, "But you have to admit he's a little…" "Boring" Melinda finished the sentence. They laughed and spent the rest of the evening reminiscing about their time at magic school, and talking about their future plans.

"Oh my, almost eleven. We should get home." Melinda said, looking at the clock. "Yea, we should." Wyatt agreed, "Hey, since your family isn't back yet, can we orb home?" Kayla nodded. "Sure. Let me just go get your coats." She disappeared into the hallway. Melinda looked around in the room and noticed a book on the shelve with strange markings on it. It looked like ancient runes of some sort. Thinking it was strange to keep a magic school book on the family book shelve, she wanted to get a closer look, when Kayla returned with the coats. "Here you go" she said with a smile, "Promise me you won't let another year pass by before you visit again." Melinda hugged her friend. "Promise." she said, "And thank you for having us over." "Yea, it was great to see you again." Wyatt added. Kayla blushed and waved them goodbye. Melinda and Wyatt orbed out.

"Very subtle, that last one" Melinda said as they arrived in the manor's kitchen in a shower of blue sparks, "I'm impressed." Wyatt shrugged. "Will you stop with the match making already?" he said, walking towards the living room. "I'm not doing any match making," Melinda answered, following her brother, "I'm just saying that if you like her, you shouldn't wait too long. She's a pretty girl. And clever too." Piper looked up from the ingredient list she was (double) checking. "Like who?" she asked, looking at Wyatt. "No one." he answered. "Kayla" Melinda said, sitting down next to her mother. "Your friend from school?" she asked, taking off her glasses. "The one and only." Melinda answered. Piper looked up at her eldest son with a sit-down-and-tell-me-all-about-that smile on her face, while Wyatt looked at his younger sister with a you're-so-dead look on his. "Ok, well I should probably go to bed, because I have to be all rested and energetic tomorrow to help out in the restaurant. Night, mom.", Melinda said quickly. "Night Wyatt" she added with an innocent smile; and orbed upstairs.

At 4 AM that night, Melinda woke up; cursing her own sleeping pattern, since this was the third time this week this happened. She got up and walked downstairs to get some milk from the kitchen. She took the carton out of the fridge and poured herself a glass. Behind her, someone orbed in. He grabbed her and put a hand over her mouth, muttering a spell. Melinda dropped her glass. It shattered on the floor. In a slight moment of panic, the witch behind her listened for any sign of movement upstairs, holding Melinda as still as possible. Then he turned back to her, still trying to constrain her with his left hand and conjuring a small knife is his right. Melinda tried to scream, but when there was no sound, she understood the spell he had muttered before was a silencing charm. He turned her right arm with the palm of her hand facing upwards. Melinda tried to fight herself free, but he was too strong. The witch started carving a symbol in her skin. A few tears of pain ran from Melinda's eyes, and she tried to scream, even though she knew it was no use. She noticed the milk carton on the table. To her surprise, it instantly transformed into a glass bottle. She grabbed the bottle and hit the witch behind her over the head with it. It didn't knock him unconscious, but it did break the charm. "Help! Someone help!" Melinda yelled as loud as she possibly could, feeling her head starting to spin. Just a split second later, she saw the blue light of someone orbing in. Confidant that everything would be all right now, Melinda gave in to the dizziness and passed out. Coming back to his senses, the witch tried to get to her in an attempt to orb himself and his victim away. He was sent flying to the other end of the room though. "Well if it isn't little Chris" the witch said, realizing the only way to keep him from calling reinforcements was to talk himself out of it. "What did you do to her?" Chris asked furiously. "Oh, she'll be ok" the witch answered, "As soon as we've gathered the sisters. The Naiads will be pleased." He smiled viscously, and orbed out before Chris could even make another move. Chris dropped on his knees next to his sister. "Mel! Mel, can you hear me?" he said, trying to get her to wake up. Then he noticed blood on her arm. He turned it around and saw the mark. "Mom! Dad!" he screamed, as Melinda started to shiver.

Note: Thanks for the reviews, the faves and the alerts, i really appreciate it. I hope you liked the second chapter. Can't wait to hear what you think about it. -Points at the review button-