Nomember 9th 2025
Melinda had spent the whole day in her room, mindlessly scrolling through her phone. She hadn't even bothered going out for breakfast; the sirens had kept blasting throughout the night making her stomach churn, so she wasn't feeling particularly hungry. At some point Chirs had dropped by to inform her that he would be leaving for a rescue mission,
"When will you be back?" she'd asked, heart hammering inside her ribcage.
"I don't know," Chris had opted for honesty.
"Are you going to bring Wy back?" she'd asked, her hands pressed together tightly on top of her lap.
"Wyatt is... This mission is not about him."
Melinda must have not managed to hide her internal turmoil very well, because in two steps Chris had covered the distance between the bedroom door and her bed. He'd sat down next to her, pulling her in his arms. He'd tucked her head underneath his chin, holding her close.
"Wyatt is fine," he'd murmured in her ear; "I would've known if – You would've known too! But he's fine and he's coming back and I'll come back too. I'll always come back to you, Mel."
"Okay," Melinda had whispered and she'd let him hold her for as long as he could before he had to go.
After that Melinda had spent all night on her phone, shifting from app to app, restlessly.
Now, mobile phone usage inside the safe houses was banned. It was also banned in the headquarters; mobiles could get hacked; computers could get hacked; any device connected to the internet could get hacked. They were just another thing the enemy could use against them. The members of the Resistance had learned early how technology could only serve as liability.
So, when Cassandra had come home, after assisting her mother on a mission in Europe, with a mobile phone for each one of her underage cousins, initially they hadn't known how to react; nobody wanted to be blamed if the phones were found. Cassandra had reassured them she'd magicked them to be untraceable and un-hackable,
"And they are always connected to wi-fi," she'd said with a small shrug and Ruth had screamed in delight.
Matt hadn't been as easily persuaded.
"Look, I understand your cautiousness, I do! But everybody knows the Resistance doesn't do technology, okay? The enemy has no reason to believe that has changed. It's just... it's four mobiles! The war is not going to be lost because of this, trust me! I just want you kids, to have some semblance of normalcy, okay? I just want you to have some fun!"
Ever since then Melinda would spend her alone time on her phone.
The knowledge that there were still people out in the world who didn't wake up into a battlefield every day gave her equal amounts of hope and anger. It wasn't fair that people had enough time in their hands to spent hours upon hours making videos on tiktok and whine about reality tv shows on twitter, while Melinda had to, constantly, worry about the wellbeing of her family. On the other hand, it was just so reassuring that there were still people out there with enough time to spent on apps like tiktok and twitter. That there were still people, teenagers, living normal lives.
Melinda envied them. Melinda was so grateful for them.
She had been lying on her bed, when she heard the loud knocking on her door. She didn't even get the chance to respond before it flew open, three people barging through in a flash. All three of them were out of breath, chests heaving. Melinda arched an eyebrow, silently demanding an explanation.
"Well?" she asked, once it was obvious no one was answering her.
"Give a man a second!" Matt said, breathing heavily, hand pressed against his chest.
"I think I might be dying," Warren piped in, his fingers touching the pulse point on his neck. "Yep, definitely dying."
Melinda rolled her eyes.
"Why didn't you, idiots, orb in?"
"I can't orb," Warren reminded her, earning himself another eyeroll.
"Whatever... Ruth, please explain."
Ruth was buzzing on her feet, standing in the middle of the bedroom. Melinda was half certain the pink tinting her cheeks and neck wasn't caused by running. She seemed tense.
"We were outside the head office-"
"Trying to listen in," Warren cut her off. Ruth glared at him.
"Did you hear anything?" Melinda asked. Ruth waved her hand dismissively.
"Not important! We were there and then Matt had a vision-"
"Premonition," Matt corrected her.
"Whatever!" Ruth and Melinda said at the same time. Matt looked at them affronted but didn't say anything. "What was it about?" Melinda asked.
"There's going to be an attack-" Ruth started, only for Warren to budge in again,
"Multiple, attacks-"
"It's a diversion tactic, four attacks at the same time; two at the safe houses, one at the HQ and one at the hunting zone;" Matt took a deep breath, but Ruth started speaking before he had a chance to continue,
"They want to divide our powers, they know most of us will go to the safe houses, but the higher ups will stay here-"
"What are they after?" Melinda cut her off. They looked at each other, blank expression on their faces.
"We've no idea," Matt said. "The premonition ended abruptly; I didn't get a chance to see anything other than the attacks."
"Did you tell anybody?"
"Of course, but-"
"They don't want to send anyone at the hunting zone!" Ruth all but yelled. Her cheeks were even redder than before, and it was enough for Melinda to get off her bed and approach her.
"Hey," she said softly, resting her hand on her cousin's shoulder.
"Parker is on patrol tonight," Ruth whispered and Melinda's mouth fell into a perfect 'o' could finally understand what had upset her cousin so. There were tears, gathered in Ruth's lashes, but she furiously blinked, shooing them away. "She's on patrol," she started again, her voice growing frantic with each new word; "And there will be an attack and she's going to get hurt-"
"We don't know she's going to get hurt," Matt said, reaching for her hand. Ruth scoffed,
"The moment the premonition was over you screamed her name," she said, pointedly and Matt bit the inside of his cheek.
"Okay, yeah, there was that..." He trailed off, scrapping the sole of his shoe against Melinda's floor. Ruth scoffed again, her shoulders slamming.
"And mom doesn't want to send anyone, because she says the hunting zone is neutral!"
"Okay," Melinda said, her eyes flickering between the other three. "So, we'll go."
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
"Oh, c'mon, Matt, it's not like this will be the first time," Melinda said, further fueling the incredulous expression on his face.
"Oh, no no, you don't get to do that," he said marching right into her personal space; "All the times we snuck out, you were the one insisting we shouldn't break the rules and now you are ready to lead us straight into a suicide mission!"
"Don't be so melodramatic," Melinda condescended to which Matt answered with an indignant huff, "Besides, we can't let Ruth go after Parker alone, that would be a suicide mission," she said, raising her eyebrows as she looked pointedly at Ruth. An incomprehensible sound came out of Matt's mouth as he rounded to his sister.
"Get out of my head," Ruth said, glaring at Melinda.
"Okay, so are we going or not?" Warren asked, reminding the older teenagers that he was still in the room with them.
"You're not going anywhere," both Ruth and Melinda said simultaneously.
"Hey! Why not?"
"Because we need someone to stay behind to alert us in case anyone figures out we are not here," Melinda said, trying to appeal to him. The angry look on his face was a clear indication that she had not succeed.
"Yeah, but what if something goes wrong and you morons die? It's going to be too boring around here," Warren said, feigning aloofness. Even without her powers Melinda could tell he was lying.
"We are not going to die," Melinda said, trying to convince both herself and her cousins.
Warren's bottom lip jutted into a pout.
"Hey, being the lookout is better than walking willingly into a death trap," Matt said, bumping his shoulder against Warren's.
"Then you do it!"
"Warren," Ruth said pleadingly. The younger boy glared at her for a second, before sighing loudly.
"Fine, fine; I'll be the lookout," he said, dejectedly, "But you jerks, are going to take me with next time!"
Ruth pulled him in a quick hug. Warren scrunched his face as if he were annoyed, but still placed his arms around her waist. Melinda saw her whisper something to his ear and Warren nodded vigorously, a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips.
"Should we be worried about Chris?" Matt asked, gaining Melinda's attention.
"He's on a mission," she said, simply. Matt opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again, giving her a nod instead.
"What about Cass?" Ruth asked. "Should we tell her what we're about to do?"
Melinda shook her head.
"Not a good idea."
"But it's Cass," Ruth insisted.
"She's still an adult," Melinda countered.
For a second Ruth looked like she was going to say something, but then her gaze tore away as she gave a small nod of acceptance. Melinda was in the process of shrugging on her coat when she heard a loud battle cry, coming from her left and she turned just in time to see Matt smacking himself on the face. Her eyebrows jumped up, her eyes widening.
"What the hell?"
"Let's go save my sister's girlfriend!" Matt yelled, clapping thunderously.
"Parker is not... Okay, whatever gets you going," Ruth said and Matt slapped his cheeks again.
"Whoo!"
Melinda looked at him bewildered, exchanging amused glances with Ruth and Warren.
"Alright," she said, "We will need a plan!"
"Yeah!"
There was a beat and then,
"Does anyone, actually, know how to form a plan?"
In the end they decided to go without a plan.
"We're winging this?" Matt asked incredulously, while both girls bobbed their heads in unison. "Okay, I seriously hate this for us," he mumbled as he grabbed their hands to orb out.
Melinda could hear the sounds of a battle in full swing, before they even became corporeal; there was a lot of loud yelling, someone was barking orders, a deafening explosion came from somewhere on their left and several people screamed. They had reappeared at an open space that eerily reminded her of a parking lot and Melinda had all but a second to take in her surroundings, before Matt shoved all three of them behind a large garbage bin.
"Well, this turned out amazingly," he snarked, just as an energy ball swirled above their heads.
"Oh, my god, we're gonna die," Ruth whispered, pressing herself as close to the garbage bin as she could.
"We are not going to die," Melinda said, but her voice wavered.
"So convincing," Matt bit out, earning a glare from his cousin.
For a long second, they could hear nothing and then the earth shook underneath their feet. The teenagers let a collective shriek, holding on to each other, when the garbage bin blew into oblivion. In her fright Ruth almost orbed, but Matt's hand on her arm pulled her right back. Melinda looked around frantically, trying to figure out what had just happened, but all she could see in the darkness were flashes of blue and yellow every time one side attacked the other.
"Is it normal that it's so dark?" Ruth yelled in order to be heard over the ruckus. Melinda shook her head.
"No, this is definitely a spell."
"We should do something," Matt said, his voice was getting progressively more shrill.
"Mel, freeze them!"
"What? No, I can't-"
"For the love of everything, Melinda, freeze them!"
Melinda screwed her eyes and threw her hands up, fingers spread. She could practically feel Matt and Ruth hold their breaths, but...
"Nothing?" Ruth's voice was barely above a whisper.
"I told you, I can't do it anymore, I-" Melinda bit on her lip hard, her eyes unable to focus on something for too long. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of an energy ball heading straight towards them, "Watch out!"
But before it got anywhere near them it suddenly changed its course, flying back to whomever had sent it. Melinda's gaze flew to Matt's outstretched hand; he'd pushed his sister behind his back, his posture rigid seconds after deflecting the attack. Melinda's heartbeat thundered in her ears; this had been such a bad idea. Such a horrible, terrible... They were going to die!
A scream ricocheted around the razed buildings and Ruth's head snapped towards it.
"Parker!"
Before either of them could stop her, Ruth dashed after the cry. Matt quickly started after her, not before swearing vehemently. Melinda froze for a split second, her anxiety rendering her unable to move. And then she was running. They were running, all three of them, into the darkness, following the whimpers that grew in distress as the seconds ticked by.
Melinda sidestepped a fireball which landed exactly were her foot had just been. More fire balls lit the air and Melinda heard Matt's voice as he casted a protection spell. The fire balls bounced against the air surrounding them and she quietly thanked her cousin's fast thinking.
"Woah, woah," Matt came into a halt, bracing an arm against Melinda's chest to stop her.
Melinda had no time to catch her breath because in the next second she had been pushed on the ground. Matt fell on top of her, his body protectively covering her own. Melinda pushed herself on her elbows, trying to see what was going on. They were cowering on the ground, next to a busted lighting pole. Ahead of them were three Elders, surrounding a fallen body. Parker, Melinda's brain supplied the answer, and she felt the sickness rising in her stomach.
"Hey, shitheads!"
Ruth!
Ruth flicked her left wrist, snapping her fingers. A purple light danced across her fingertips and before the Elders had the chance to figure out what was happening a streak of fire shot straight to them. They orbed out just in time to miss it. With another flick of her wrist a figure, tall and huge, positioned itself between Ruth and the reappearing Elders; its head was lolling forward, lifelessly, but there was fire flowing through its fingers. Ruth snapped her fingers once more and the fire blazed as she directed it anew towards the Elders.
They weren't so fast this time around. One of their robes caught on fire, rapidly engulfing the person wearing it in flames. The Elder screamed.
"Get him out of here!" The one on the right ordered and the other readily did as he was instructed. The remaining Elder turned his attention aiming a swift attack on Ruth.
Ruth orbed out of the way of his lightning bolt, causing the dead body which was guarding her to fall limply on the ground. A round of bolts scorched the earth around them and Matt aguishly called his sister's name out, when the end tail of one of them got her on the foot. Ruth stumbled backwards, tried to stay up, but ended up falling down. In a flash Matt was next to her.
The Elder laughed again, sauntering slowly towards them. Melinda didn't miss when she flexed her fingers. She saw the surprised look on his face, before he was blown up and Melinda quickly jumped to her feet, rushing towards her cousins before he managed to rematerialize.
"Matt, I'm fine, go to Parker!"
"You're fucking bleeding, Ru!"
"Go to Parker," Ruth said, pushing him away.
"I can patch her up, Matt, go," Melinda reassured him. Matt looked between them for a long second, before orbing next to Parker.
Melinda crouched next to her cousin, tasting metal in her mouth, as her eyes fell on the gushing wound on Ruth's calf. Ruth was biting down on her lip, hard, probably to keep from groaning. Melinda spread her hand over it and felt the warmth surge through her.
"Fuck," Ruth breathed harshly, her knuckles turning white, fisting her t-shirt in her grasp.
"You were so awesome, dude."
"I could hardly keep his body up straight," she managed to say through her teeth. Melinda shook her head, concentrating on the still bleeding injury; Elder inflicted wounds took longer to heal.
"It was still so awesome! And you managed to use his powers, Ru, you should've seen their faces!"
"They were surprised, weren't they?" Ruth said, a small smile twisting the corners of her lips up.
"Are you kidding? I don't think they expected a power like that from a witch." The light died under her fingers and Melinda smiled widely; "There, good as new," she said, patting her thigh lightly.
"We should get going," Matt 's voice came behind them.
"Parker," Ruth called out. Parker was hanging on to Matt, one of his arms securely wrapped around her waist holding her up. Her face looked pale and clammy, but she still perked up at the sound of Ruth's voice.
"Ru-Ru," she rasped, reaching towards her. Matt kept her firmly in place, turning to look at Melinda.
"We need to go," he said his voice urgent. "Now."
"Yeah, we are-"
Someone screamed and again Melinda found herself being pushed on the asphalt. She looked up, her stomach instantly sinking to her feet upon seeing who was standing before her.
"You should not be here, children."