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Chapter 5: Advice from Grams
Wyatt and Chris orbed into the attic to find Mel, Tyler, Pogue, Reid, and Caleb talking to Grams. She had stepped out of the crystal circle to become solid for a brief amount of time. "Grams!" Wyatt hugged Grams and then released her.
"You too young man," she enveloped Chris in her arms and he chuckled.
"Hey, Grams. How's the afterlife?"
"I wouldn't know. This family summons me so often I don't have a chance to live it! Your Aunt Prue and Grandma say hi, by the way. Melinda here has just filled me in on what's going on. Not that I didn't know already, but it is nice to be filled in by family."
Reid shook his head at his brothers. "This is so freaking weird. I mean, we're talking to a fucking ghost!" All of a sudden Reid clapped a hand to his head. "Hey! Something just pulled on my ear!"
"Watch your language, boy."
Mel looked at Reid. "Don't swear around Grams or she'll yank on your ear, even if you're not related to her. She still does it to my Mom."
"Grams, not that we're not glad to see you, but why are you here?" Chris asked.
"Uh, hello Chris? I summoned her." Mel pointed out.
"No duh, Sherlock. I asked why, not how."
"Christopher Perry Halliwell, be nice to your sister. I swear you two fight like Phoebe and Prue did when they were children."
Mel smirked at her brother and he stuck his tongue out at her. "Very mature. Glad to know my 21 year old brother's only comeback is to stick out his tongue at me. Aunt Paige asked me to show the guys some spells so I showed them how to summon a ghost."
Grams waved her hand around in a very regal way. "I so love being talked about as if I weren't here."
"Sorry, Grams. Speaking of Aunt Paige, did everything go okay this afternoon?" Chris asked of Mel.
"Yeah, it was a couple of warlocks. Caleb and Pogue actually vanquished them."
"You know, I don't believe these boys are evil."
"I never said that Grams."
"You didn't let me finish Melinda. I don't believe these boys are evil but the Powers they do have might come from evil."
"What do you mean?" Pogue asked.
"Well, you said that when you Use your eyes turn black. Black eyes usually indicate something evil." Grams looked deep in thought.
"What are you thinking Grams?" Mel asked, flicking a piece of her hair out of her eyes. She thought to herself that she needed to get a haircut soon; her bangs were getting too long and were constantly in her eyes.
"I think you should go to the past. Back to the Salem Witch Trials. Perhaps your ancestors know how the Power came to be."
"It would have been recorded in the Book of Damnation if they knew," Tyler said.
"You don't really think that everything your ancestors knew was put in that book, do you? Some things have to be found out for yourselves, a lesson my girls have learned very well."
"That sounds like a good idea, Grams, but I don't think they should go by themselves," Wyatt said.
"Nor do I, Wyatt. That's why Melinda should go."
"Why our baby sister? Why not Wy or me?" Chris demanded of Grams. He did not like the idea of sending his baby sister to the past without any offensive powers. Yes, her freezing power was powerful but until she was able to blow evil up, she was pretty much defenseless with out either him or Wyatt. Looking at his older brother and sensing the tension radiating out of him, Chris could tell Wyatt didn't like the idea any more than he did.
"Because our ancestor during the Trials was Melinda Warren, the namesake of our Melinda. And, daughter to mother is a stronger bond for this spell than son to mother. Also, there could be a chance that they inhabit their ancestors' bodies, instead of just watching. You know as well as I do that time travel is tricky and you never know exactly how you will be involved. So, it would be better if Melinda went.
"She's right, Chris," Mel pointed out. "We'll be fine. We've never had a problem with time travel before and we won't have one now. But what spell should we use?"
"Well, your best bet would be the To Go Back in Time spell. Just put it in the plural and it should work for you five to go back. And, if it's like Mom and the aunts told us with an alternate Chris coming back to save me from turning evil, you should be physically in the past, not inhabiting another's body. That way you should have your powers. The spell would be strengthened if each of you has something that belonged to your ancestor. Blood to blood is really strong but if there is another bond there it would be even better" Wyatt told her.
"Alternate Chris? Evil Wyatt?" Pogue wondered.
"It's a long story," Wyatt said. Personally, he didn't like thinking of an alternate reality where he was evil and had to be saved by his younger brother.
Mel broke in. "Not if you can talk quickly. Basically put, Wyatt was turned evil as a child. Chris went to the past and acted as the Charmed Ones whitelighter to try and save Wyatt. Obviously he succeeded because our Wyatt isn't evil. But the Chris who went back was from a parallel world because our Chris never went back."
"That's…confusing," Pogue said in return.
"Time travel can get very complicated and, for as much as we do it, most of the Halliwells don't really seem to understand it."
"Speak for yourself, Mel. I understand it for the most part." Mel opened her mouth again, probably to continue this fight when Wyatt broke in.
"Ding ding, back to your corners, siblings of mine. Do any of you have a token of your ancestors that you can take with you? Besides the book?"
"Well for our eighteenth birthday, our parents gave us each a necklace with our family symbol on it. It's recorded in the book that our ancestors wore something similar," Caleb said.
"That would work. Mel?"
"I can use Melinda Warren's locket. Remember when Mom, Aunt Prue, and Aunt Phoebe summoned her from the past? She was wearing that locket. It went back with her but me and Mom found it in one of those chests a couple of years ago. And I don't think we're going to have to put the spell in the plural. It should still work."
"Alright then. We'll need to draw a triquetra for you to step through. Mel, you and the boys will incant the spell and then focus on the time you want to go to," Grams said. "Why don't you five go and get your tokens and Wyatt and Chris, you two draw the triquetra."
The Sons and Mel left the attic to get their necklaces. Wyatt passed Chris some chalk and they sketched a triquetra on the wall next to the Book of Shadows with Grams critiquing their drawing. A couple of minutes passed and the five teenagers walked in, each wearing a necklace now. Mel had the locket while each Son wore a silver chain with a small replica of their family symbol hanging from it.
"Mel, you know how this spell will work. Caleb, you and your friends will need to say the spell with Mel and then step through the passage that will form. While in the passage, focus on the time you want to go to and the people you want to see. I don't really know if that impacts the spell any but it can't hurt," Wyatt filled the Sons in on the spell.
"How are we supposed to get back?" Caleb asked. Chris started on a long explanation of how they should be able to get back when they learned what they needed to. His explanation just confused the boys so Wyatt broke in.
"You'll either come back automatically when you learn what it is you're supposed to or you'll be able to use this spell to send you forward in time or Melinda Warren will help you write a return spell. You'll get back no matter what, though. Even if we have to come back to get you."
"Well that's comforting," Reid said sarcastically.
"Okay, enough exposition. Let's go!" Mel said excitedly. It wasn't often she got to do something magical on her own and she was pleased for the chance. She also really wanted to meet Melinda Warren, the head of their magical line. "Okay guys. Come here so we can read the spell together." Tyler stood next to her, a fact Wyatt and Chris both noticed. Then, Caleb, Pogue, and Reid crowded around them.
Reading together, the Sons cast their first spell. "Hear these words, hear the rhyme, heed the hope within my mind. Send me back to where I'll find what I wish in place and time." The triquetra glowed blue and Mel took a step toward it.
"Good luck my dears," Grams told them.
"Be careful, Mel," Wyatt told her.
"Watch out for each other," Chris told all of them.
Mel turned around to face the Sons. Holding out her hand to Tyler, she asked him "Trust me?"
He took a hold of her outstretched hand. "Yeah." Walking together, they reached the Charmed symbol on the wall and stepped into the passage. Sticking her head back out, Mel said "Be back for dinner. Coming guys? Or are me and Tyler doing this ourselves?" She pulled her head back in.
Reid laughed and ran through the symbol, Caleb and Pogue following at a slower pace. Once they all had left and the symbol was once again only a chalk outline, Wyatt and Chris looked at each other. "We're going to have to talk to Tyler, aren't we?" Wyatt remarked.
"Yeah, he better not be making a move on our little sister."
"Now boys, Melinda is almost a grownup and very mature for her age. She is allowed to have a boyfriend. Her parents allow her to date, so why shouldn't her brothers?"
"Grams, we just want to make sure Mel is with a good guy. So far, none of the boys she has dated have been good enough for her." Chris said.
"I think Tyler might just surprise you. Well, I'm going to hang around for awhile. Let's go talk to Piper and that mortal husband of hers."
"Grams."
"Oh, you know I love your father, Wyatt." The three left the attic, Grams complaining that she hadn't raised her girls right because both Piper and Phoebe married magical creatures. Wyatt tried to point out that Leo was mortal now and had been for many years but Grams wasn't listening. Chris decided not to get into the middle of them arguing. He had learned long ago not to talk back to Grams; there could be painful consequences of doing so.