Only seconds later, Piper and Leo came running down stairs. "What happened?" Piper asked in mixed worry and panic, dropping to her knees next to her daughter. Melinda was shivering like she had a terrible fever. "A witch attacked her. When I got here, that symbol was already on her arm. He wanted to take her away" Chris answered. In the mean time, Leo had tried to heal the wound. It had stopped bleeding, but the mark wouldn't fade. "What is it? What's wrong?" Piper asked when she saw his worried face. "I can't heal it completely. It's a magical wound." he answered. "Water", Melinda said suddenly. Piper immediately got up to pour her a glass, but Leo stopped her. "No, not yet", he said, "We don't know why she's asking for water, or if she really is asking for it. We should get her upstairs and find out what this symbol means first." Since the wound was magical, they decided it best to carry her to her room, rather than orb her there.
As they got upstairs, Wyatt poked his head out of his room. "What's going on?" he asked in a sleepy voice. Then he saw Melinda in Leo's arms. "What happened?" he asked, immediately wide awake. "A witch attacked her in the kitchen," Piper answered as they all got into Melinda's room and Leo lay her down on the bed, "Chris saved her from getting kidnapped as well." Then Piper turned around to her youngest son. "Did that witch say anything?" she asked impatiently. "He said something about gathering the sisters. I don't know if he meant you or not." Chris answered, "And something about The Nai-ors? Or Nai-its?" Leo turned around. "The Naiads?" he asked incredulously. Chris nodded. "Who are they?" Piper asked, looking at her husband as he started pacing around the room. "The Naiads are water nymphs." He began, "They live in fountains, rivers, lakes… They're protectors. Loved by the ancient Greek Gods." Piper frowned. "That's all wonderful, but what I'd like to know is why there's a symbol carved in my daughter's arm!" Wyatt walked over to Melinda's desk and picked up a large book. All eyes turned to him. "From Melinda's advanced Mythology class" he said. He opened the book and waved a hand over it. The book flipped instantly to chapter eight. "It says here that among the Naiads, there were three supposed sisters. Corycia or Cory, loved by Apollo and mother of his child; Cleodora or Cleo, loved by Poseidon, they had one son; and Melaina or Mel, who was also loved by Apollo, like her sister Cory and also had a son with him. However, Hades, king of the underworld, noticed the sisters and took a particular interest in Mel. He let her rule over the nymphs of the underworld. And…" He stopped reading and stared at the page. "What?" Leo asked, walking over to have a look at the book himself. "It's unsure what happened to Mel, but it is believed that she got too dominant and was therefore killed by Hades." Wyatt read on. "So?" Chris asked, walking over to his brother and his father. "So," Piper answered, "If these 'Naiads', or whatever they're called, are trying to have a family reunion, they probably want to use our Mel to do it. If there's one thing I know, it's that sisters are always stronger together. Especially when there's three of them." Chris looked at her. "Yea, except, she's not their sister, she's ours." Leo closed the book and put it back on the desk. "Maybe so, but she is the daughter of a charmed one and she has no sisters herself." Piper nodded. "Not to mention the name thing is sorta creeping me out, just a little bit."
"Kayla", Melinda whispered. It seemed as if she was having a nightmare. "Her friend from school?" Leo asked. Wyatt nodded. "Maybe something happened to her as well." "Quite possible", Piper agreed, "You two should orb over there and check on her. She lives with a non magical family, so if something did happen to her we should bring her here. Melinda said Kayla doesn't want her family to know she's magical." Chris frowned in confusion. "Why doesn't she want them to know she's magical?" he asked. "Probably to protect them." Leo answered, "but either way that doesn't matter. If she doesn't want them to know, that's her choice, and we should respect that." Chris didn't seem convinced. "Then, can't we use the call-a-lost-witch spell?" he asked. Leo shook his head. "If she has a mark too, we shouldn't use magic. There's no way of telling what the effects would be." Piper turned back to her eldest son. "You think you know her house well enough to orb over there? Because I doubt there's a valid explanation to wanting to see Kayla at 5 in the morning" He nodded. "I think so." Wyatt concentrated, grabbed Chris's arm and they orbed out.
When they arrived, Chris looked around in the room. "Are you sure this is right?" he asked, seeing a few teddy bears sitting in the corner, near a big window with pink curtains in front of it. "Yes," Wyatt replied, keeping his voice as low as possible, "I followed a magical trail." Then Chris spotted a little girl in the bed in front of them. "Erm, unless we went back in time in the process, I think that one's too young to the one you have a crush on" he said, pointing at the girl. Wyatt's eyes widened. "That must be Katie" he said, slightly panicking as the girl turned around in her sleep. "Katie?" Chris asked. "The daughter of Kayla's cousin." Confused once again, Chris turned towards his brother. "If you followed a magical trail, then how did we end up here, exactly?" "How should I know? Maybe I made a mistake?" Wyatt answered, not really paying attention to the whole silence thing. When he looked back at her, Katie opened her eyes and stared at the both of them. "Oh, hi Katie" Wyatt said in his friendliest voice, desperately hoping the girl wouldn't scream.
There was a flash of light, and the image of a big purple monster with three blue eyes appeared like a hologram between Katie and the two brothers. The monster looked like it had just escaped from a cartoon. "Hey, I know him!" Wyatt laughed, "We used to watch his show when we were little, right? I don't really remember his name though…" Chris shrugged. "She's image projecting" he said, trying to get his brother to focus on the problem, "That might be the reason why your trail brought us here. She's magical too." Wyatt walked over to Katie. "Katie, it's ok, we won't hurt you." He tried. The monster growled at him. "That's a pretty scary monster. Hey, do you think he could tell us where Kayla is?" Katie shook her head. "No? How about you? Can you tell us where she is?" Wyatt asked. Without saying a word, Katie jumped out of the bed and ran to the door. Wyatt and Chris followed her to the room opposite to hers. Chris closed the door behind him as Katie jumped on Kayla's bed and woke her up. "Katie? What's wrong?" Kayla whispered. Then she noticed Wyatt and Chris. "What are you two doing here?" she asked startled, pulling the covers a bit higher. The boys blushed. "We erm… came to check if you were ok." Wyatt said. Kayla stared at them, completely confused. "And…why wouldn't I be?" she asked. "Because our sister got attacked an hour and a half ago," Chris began, "She now has a strange mark carved into her arm, and she said your name." "So we were worried that the witch that attacked her, came after you as well." Wyatt added. "Is she ok?" Kayla asked worriedly, "Can I see her?" Chris seemed a bit reluctant, but Wyatt immediately nodded. "We'll orb you over", he said. But his brother didn't really seem to trust the situation. "Kayla, did you know Katie has powers?" he asked. Kayla gave him a surprised look. "She doesn't." she said. "She does," Chris said matter-of-factly, "We just saw her project a cartoon monster." Kayla looked at Katie. "I… didn't know" she said. Chris shook his head in disbelief. "It's ok," Wyatt intervened, "We should get going." Kayla moved to the side of the bed. "Could you two wait in the living room?" she asked, "I'll just get changed and put Katie back to bed." "Right. Of course." Wyatt answered. He and Chris walked down the wooden stairs, into the living room.
They sat down on the couch. "I don't trust her." Chris said plainly. "You never trust anyone, Chris." Wyatt returned. "You don't think it's strange that Katie has powers too, even though Kayla said she lived with a non magical family?" Chris asked surprised. "No" Wyatt answered shaking his head, "I don't." At that moment, Kayla walked in. "I'm just going to the kitchen to leave a note for my family." She said, still looking quite worried. A few minutes later she came back. "Alright, let's go." Wyatt said. He and Kayla orbed out together. And just before he orbed out, Chris noticed the book on the shelve that Melinda had seen before.
They orbed into Melinda's room. As soon as they arrived, Kayla walked over to Melinda and started talking to Piper who was sitting on the side of the bed. Chris gestured for his brother to follow him into the corridor. "I saw a runes book on her book shelve in the living room", he said. "So?" Wyatt asked. "So," Chris continued, "if she really does live with a non magical family, why would she keep a school book there?" Wyatt shook his head. "She's not a threat, Chris." He said, and walked back into the room. But Chris wasn't going to give up, just like that. "Mom, dad, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked. Wyatt gave him an annoyed look and followed his mother and father back out of the room as well. "You seem worried. What is it?" Piper asked. "I don't trust Kayla." He said. "Why?" Leo asked, "Did something happen?" Chris nodded. "Katie, the daughter of her cousin; she's magical too. She projected the image of a cartoon monster because we orbed into the wrong room and she was scared." he began. "Well, it could've been the first time she showed her magic." Leo said, "Magic is triggered when you get scared." "But that's not all," Chris continued, "I also saw a school book, from magic school, on the book shelve. A runes book. Why would she put it there if she doesn't want her family to know she's magical?" Wyatt still thought his brother was being paranoid. "So you think she lied? About everything?" he asked. "Yes," Chris answered, "and if you think about it, it does make sense. I mean, she's known Melinda more than half of her life, she knows us, and she conveniently lives with a non magical family we haven't seen before. Well, except for Katie, who is in fact magical. So it's not like we can orb in unannounced to check up on her. Plus, just before we left her house, she went into the kitchen to leave a message for her family. She could just as well have used that time to contact whoever she's working for." Leo didn't seem to buy it either. "That's a bit far fetched, don't you think?" he asked, "Don't forget that Melinda asked for Kayla." Chris shook his head. "She never asked for Kayla; she said Kayla's name. And she could just as well have said it to let us know she's behind all this." Wyatt wanted to say something, but before he got the chance, there was a scream from Melinda's room.
They rushed in. The bed was empty. Melinda was gone. Kayla was sitting against the wall, barely conscious. She had a wound on her forehead and a cut on her right arm.
Note: Thanks again for the reviews and such. And sorry for the wait. I had an exam to study for, so it took a bit longer. But this chapter's a bit longer as well so I hope that compensates things a bit. Hope you enjoyed reading it. Don't forget to let me know what you think...