Chapter 16: the Mind is a Wonderful Thing
A/N: I hope everyone likes this chapter. It's kind of where everything starts getting all conclude…y. There'll be…20 something chapters. No more than 25. I really hope everyone enjoys this chapter. It didn't turn out as good as I wanted it to. I still don't own charmed.
"What did you do with her?" I yelled to the demon. He merely laughed, and then he was gone. The attic door and the windows became unblocked. I don't know why, but I took that as a bad sign. I looked to Aidan for support, but he merely shrugged. He looked very defeated. I sat cross legged on the dirty attic floor. If only I could clear my mind, to think, we would get through this.
"Should we…just check around the house?" Aidan suggested half heartedly. I didn't really expect anything to come of that, but reluctantly, I agreed. We got up, and very cautiously, we walked out of the attic door. I never remember the house this quiet. It was very unnatural, and I didn't like it. The trip down the stairs seemed to take forever. I was afraid that any sudden noise would anger whatever awaited bellow.
I never expected to find Melinda in the house. Barbas had said he had done something to her, and I was sure that he had. That's why I was so shocked when I saw my cousin in the living room, staring into space. "Melinda!" I called excitedly. My cousin didn't turn to look at me. In fact, she hadn't reacted at all to her name. She was still sitting on the floor, staring into nothingness. Something was horribly wrong.
Aidan and I rushed to her side. "What's wrong with her?" Aidan asked me.
"I have no idea", I responded glumly.
I really had no idea whatsoever. I had seen a lot of strange things in my life, being the daughter of a Charmed One, but I had never seen anything like this. I waved my hand energetically in front of Melinda's face. There was no response. I yelled in her ear, and she didn't as much as flinch. It was as if she wasn't there anymore.
I felt the familiar feeling when you thought of something both very exciting and very frightening at the same time. The rush brought an excited flush to my cheeks. Without explanation, I shimmered out. I returned a moment later with the book of shadows in my hand. I closed my eyes and put my hand over the ancient cover. The pages began flipping at break neck speed. They stopped when I found what I was looking for.
Aidan leaned over my shoulder to read. What was written on the page in flowing calligraphy was a frightening thought, but it made a lot of sense. The mind is a very complex and intricate thing. It is tied in with one's emotions. In rare cases, when one is convinced that they are not necessary, that they are worthless, they retreat, into their own mind. The only way to save them is through an extreme emotional realization.
I read the short paragraph twice in quick succession. It was a very short paragraph, and I didn't like to think what it could mean for Melinda. "I need you. Please listen to me", I said. I looked into Melinda's vacant blue eyes, but I didn't ever see a flicker of recognition. "What do we do?" I asked, turning to Aidan.
He pointed at the still open Book of Shadows. There was a spell written beneath the short paragraph that I hadn't previously noticed. I glanced carefully at the wording. Aidan had noticed too.
"The way the spell is worded, it means that only one person can say it. You better go", said Aidan softly. I rushed to him and gave him a big hug. He was the most understanding guy in the world!
"Thanks", I said, pulling away from him. I placed my hands on Melinda's forehead as the Book of Shadows instructed. After a quick glance at the book, I began the spell.
"Secret thoughts that I can't find,
Safely hidden in the mind,
Soul that's trapped deep inside,
From my love you cannot hide.
Feelings hidden deep within,
Open up and let me in!"
Sparkles of gold danced before my eyes. The room around me was dissolving into nothingness. I felt my self floating gently through the air. New scenery then replaced the view of the manor. Where ever I was, it was very dark. The only light came in bright bursts in the distance. It kind of reminded me of outer space. There were doors of all shapes and sizes hovering above the ground.
I knew where I must be. I was inside Melinda's mind. It was much creepier than I could have ever imagined. I shivered, although I wasn't the least bit cold. I knew that Melinda would be behind one of those doors. The question was which one? I didn't want to just open random ones. That would be stupid.
I stopped in front of a tall white door with pink flowers stenciled around it. I knew that door. It was the door to the room Melinda and I shared when we were very young. That seemed as good a place to start as any. With a trembling hand, I turned the antique silver knob. The door opened onto the room that we once shared.
I peered around cautiously inside. There was our door house in the corner. Barbies and books were strewn around the door. It was eerily silent. In the room it was nighttime. Rays of moonlight flooded through the window. Melinda wasn't in the room. No one was in the room. I was about to leave when I heard a noise.
The noise was coming from the closet. It was a horrible rattling rumbling noise. As I had once slept in that room as well, I knew exactly what it was. All children fear the monster that lives in the closet. In our closet, there was a real monster. I glanced a final time at the bunk beds we once shared. Then I ran out of there.
I slammed the door shut, and ended up exactly where I started. The strange abyss with all of the floating doors was kind of freaking me out. If it had not been Melinda trapped in here, I would have left. For my cousin, I would do anything.
It was time to try another one of the doors. This time I tried a pale blue rounded one that I didn't recognize. It looked very…well…non-threatening. I didn't want a repeat at what had just happened. This being Melinda's mind, and not mine, I knew that I had no way to prevent that.
I opened the door to find a very pleasant scene. The floor of this chamber of Melinda's mind seemed to be made of clouds. The sky was a flawless blue, and I could hear the faint sound of chimes in the air. This was exactly how Melinda described "elder land" as we called it jokingly. Melinda had been there many times, but when she tried to bring me, it never worked.
I knew that the reason I was not permitted to go there was because I am part demon. My demonic powers may have been bound for most of my life, but that didn't stop me from being part demon. I saw Melinda no where in this place, so I felt no need to stay. I knew that I was a good person, I believed that now, but I felt strangely uncomfortable here.
When I left, I closed the door lightly behind me. This was getting me nowhere. There had to be millions of doors in this place that was my cousin's mind. I tried to sense her instead. For as long as I could remember, Melinda and I had shared a special bond. Although sensing was not really one of my powers, I could always sense her for some reason.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. I tried to feel Melinda. I let her essence filter into my psyche. My eyes snapped open at once. I had felt her. What I had felt along with her was not good. I felt hopelessness and despair. Wherever Melinda was, it was not a happy place. I had to remind her that technically, she was in her own head. That was not a very nice thought.
The door that Melinda hid behind was a foreboding one indeed. It was old and wooded with a wrought iron handle. It looked like the stereotype to the door of a dungeon castle. The door was heavily bolted. I tried to push it open, but it wouldn't budge. Fleetingly, I wondered if I could shimmer while in someone else's mind. It was worth a try.
I shimmer inside the room where I knew Melinda was. It was the most horrible place I had ever seen. The room seemed to be styled in the fashion of an underworld cave, although it was much more foreboding. There were strange spirals of smoke rising from the floor. Chains hung from the walls, inside of which were bones that were almost certainly human. Spattered against the walls was what was almost certainly human blood.
Huddled in the corner was a small figure cloaked by darkness. If I hadn't known it was Melinda, I would not have recognized her. Her face was smeared with dirt and tears. There were bloody cuts all over her arms. Worst of all was the look in her eyes. It looked, well, lost. The look in her eyes was that of a child who couldn't find its mother. It made me feel very uncomfortable. Hesitantly, I approached her.
" Me…Melinda?" I asked hesitantly. I tried in vain to keep the tremble out of my voice. She barely looked up at me. The silence in this strange room was very disconcerting.
"He was right", Melinda said silently. The sudden break of silence caused me to jump a little. "You would be better of without me." A lone tear escaped her eye and flowed slowly down her cheek. I gaped at my cousin in shock. Never, in my lifetime of knowing her, had I suspected that my cousin felt that way.
I was speechless. This didn't often happen to me, but I had no idea what to say. "I need you Melinda", I said. That was all I could think of saying. It was nothing but the truth. Melinda shook her head frantically, trying to brush away the seemingly ridiculous notion that she was needed. I was starting to get a little freaked out. Never in a million years did I think that this could happen to me.
I was stuck in my cousin's mind, and all I could think about was how I had failed her. "I am nothing, you would be better off without me." She repeated over and over again. It was like a mantra, and if she stopped saying it, she would slip off into the darkness surrounding us. I spun around, looking for something, anything, which might help me. There was no one except Melinda for miles around. At the moment, she was in no position to help herself.
There was nothing in this dismal cave that could help either. I was truly alone, and that frightened me more than anything. "I love you Melinda", I whispered. I didn't really expect that to make any difference. However, as I said those words, the strangest thing happened. My cousin got up, and hugged me. I was too shocked to say a thing.
"I love you too", she said. As she said that, she sounded totally like herself. The old Melinda was back. She actually smiled at me. It was a relief to see her smile again. "I know exactly what to do, about everything", she said confidently. I didn't know exactly what everything was, but Melinda sounded sure of herself. When Melinda sounds sure of herself, she's usually right.
I looked around the cave we were in. More precisely, we were in Melinda's mind, but that just confused me. I thought that with Melinda back to normal, we'd be out of her mind. "Um…" I said hesitantly. I was afraid of offending Melinda again, and causing her to shut down again.
"Oh!" she said laughing. It was good to see her laugh. "I know how to get out of here to. I just didn't get out before, because I thought you didn't want me there." I was immediately going to tell her that it was not the case, but I could see that she knew that already. Instead of saying anything more, Melinda held my hands. It was only then that I noticed how pale her hands were. I didn't have to ask her what she was going to do. In a swirl of blue white lights, we were whisked back to the real world.
My body was exactly where I had left it. I opened my eyes, and I was sitting on the floor of the living room. Melinda was sitting beside me. Aidan was hovering near the door, looking beside himself. It took me a few moments to get my bearings. Slowly I stood up, swaying a little. Being in someone else's mind took a lot out of you.
Melinda too got up. She looked a lot more confident then she had been in a while. I ran up to Aidan and hugged him. I broke away, and looked at Melinda awkwardly. I wasn't sure how she felt about Aidan. I wasn't sure of much anymore. She looked at Aidan for a moment. Tentatively, she held out her hand.
Almost just as tentatively, Aidan took it and shook it. It wasn't exactly a declaration of friendship, but it was good enough for me. For now at least, they had called a truce. I couldn't help myself. I squealed with joy, and hugged each of them in turn. They didn't look like they wanted to share in my happy go lucky mood.
"We still have a lot to do. We need to get ourselves home as soon as possible. I have an idea, but it'll be a lot of work, and it'll be very hard to do", she said, very business-like. I smiled to myself. Melinda seemed to be back to her old self. Melinda's view, strangely, was much more cheery than Aidan's. It was Aidan that was right.
"Where's Barbas? What about Belthazor?" he asked. The urgency in his voice brought back all of the panic I had previously felt. I looked into the dark corners of the living room, as if I expected them to jump out of the shadows. What frightened me most was that it was a very real possibility.
I looked to my cousin for reassurance. Melinda had none to give, and neither did Aidan. I froze, when I heard a voice that was all too familiar. It was a voice that I wished I would never hear again, but I was hearing all too often. "I am nowhere, and I am everywhere", said the voice of my father.
It felt like ice was flowing through my veins? Where was he? Was he invisible? You can't fight what you can't see. I was panicking, doing what I did when my father was even mentioned. I felt Melinda put her hand in mine. It was cold and clammy. Aidan held my other hand. His hand was warm and soft.
With Aidan and Melinda beside me, I felt a lot calmer. I let my fear slowly ebb away. I felt the power that was within them flow to me. My own power began to swell as well. Together we could face anything. I told myself that over and over again until it became true in my mind. That truth was soon to be tested.
All around us, dozens of demons, too many to count, shimmered into the room. They surrounded us. They formed a circle around us that we could not break. They were all glaring at us menacingly. The demons held fireballs and swords, all pointed in our direction. I didn't feel that confident anymore. Now I had to fight for my life…