Chapter Twelve (B)

Flying

As soon as I made my way to the main portion of the sidewalk, I remembered why I'd left my house to begin with as I heard 'Roof.. fly away... fly away... jump... fly... roof... roof... roof...' I ran to the school this time. The closer I got, the louder this chanting seemed to get. I felt tired after only two blocks, but I kept running. Someone's thinking about jumping from the roof of the high school from what I could tell, but I had to make sure. I saw a figure moving around on the roof of the high school, and I tried to speed up my running. On the ground, a man was running, screaming things like, "Go away! I haven't even seen Forrest Gump!"

Another man chased after the first, yelling, "But Tom, I love you! You're my idol! Tom, come back!" When he saw me, however, he screamed, "Oh my god, Madonna, I'm your biggest fan! My favorite song is 'Like A Prayer'! You're my idol!" I stopped running from him when he gained on me. He, too, stopped running and stood in front of me. "Man, you sing great AND you run fast! Can I have your autograph?" I sighed, looking around.

"Sure, you can- Oh my god, is that David Spade?" The man looked in the direction I had suddenly pointed and he started running that way, as I'd hoped he would.

"Oh my god, David Spade! I haven't seen anything you've been in, but I'm your biggest fan! You're my idol, man!" The poor guy was chasing a car, and would never catch up to it until it stopped. The weird thing was, he didn't seem to get tired from chasing his 'celebrities'. He wasn't gasping for breath as I was, and he didn't break into any sort fo sweat. It made me wonder if he had abilities as well. I hurried on towards the school, where I saw people breaking windows on cars, wandering around confused, one woman screamed for her baby, and everyone acting bizarre. No one else approached me as I got to the school building, thankfully. There was so much noise. The doors were locked on the school, but every window was completely broken, leaving very small jagged edges on the sides. 'Roof... fly-roof...fly...

jump-jump-jump-fly...' Those thoughts brought me into action. I crawled through a broken window, feeling shards and jagged edges against my legs and arms. As far as I could tell, there was nothing deeper than the scratch Kelly had given me earlier. I ran through the halls. It was a mess inside.

Papers were everywhere; signs and posters were ripped from the walls and scattered carelessly on the floor near where they once hung. Lockers were dented in and/or had words of jibberish spraypainted on them. Windows on the classroom doors had spiderweb shaped cracks, but they weren't completely broken like the windows on the outside of the school. Inside classrooms, chairs and desks were strewn everywhere, most bent and broken. More words of jibberish were written on the black and white boards, and in my lab class, I was shocked to see Bunson burners I'd cleaned only days ago (with Dinah by my side) useless due to the now cut cords.

I ran past it and across the career counsilor Mrs. North, and found she was the culprit breaking the glass. Well, not all of it. She had help from our school mascot, that is, someone in a suit of armor holding a baseball bat made of metal. "Gabby! Help me break all of the windows! The devil can't enter this world if all the glass is broken!" The suit of armor started to scream incoherant thoughts while he waved his baseball bat, not caring about what he hit, as long as he hit SOMETHING. I stayed out of his arm's reach.

"I'd start a revolution if I could get up in the morning!" He suddenly screamed. It was the only thing I heard him say that made a lick of sense. I frowned in thought, thinking, 'That would make a really awesome rock song.'

I started to walk away and Mrs. North grabbed my arm, looking at me as if I was betraying her.

"I'm pretty sure there are a couple of windows up on the roof. I am going to go look for them." I told her quickly, shrugging off her hand. Mrs North gasped in realization.

"Oh my goodness! Good thinking, Gabby! I never thought of that. Anything can be a portal to our realm. There," She pointed suddenly behind me, and I turned to see a door that said 'Do not enter. Alarm will sound', and I walked to it. I opened the door despite the sign, and sure enough there was a loud buzzing not unlike that of the fire alarm when we had a fire drill.

"FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!" I heard someone, most likely the suit or armor, scream, but the door closed behind me and the sounds of running and screaming muffled. I raced up the stairs and opened the door that was at the top. 'Fly-fly- fly- fly- fly- fly- awaaaaaay...' I saw a girl standing on the ledge looking down. She was shifting from foot to foot.

"Come out. Please. Come out. Come out." I recognized the voice instantly.

"G-Gina?" The girl turned around slowly.

"Nooo," she said playfully. "My name's Margaret Gina Halliwell, but you're close!" Then her eyes widened. "Hey, I know you! You're... that girl... I know?" She ended her sentance sounding confused, as if she really didn't know me.

"Yes, I am that girl you know. Gabrielle Madison Andrews. People call me Gabby." I told her, stepping closer to her. She watched me with a big smile.

"Yes-yes!" she said excitedly. "Gabrielle Madison Andrews. Beautiful name.

I know you well." I could tell that she didn't really, but wanted to be nice. I stopped walking towards her when she leaned over the edge and looked down, bouncing as if to get rid of the cold. It felt as if the air was really chilly, and I wondered why she was in shorts and a hoody. Had she come from track practice? Was she even in track?

"So Margaret," It felt odd calling her that after being used to calling her Gina, " What are you doing up here?" Gina's smile faded completely.

"Gabby, I am trying to get home. My sisters need me. My wings won't come out!" Gina was frusterated. "Something's wrong."

"How do you know that your sisters are in trouble?" Gina watched me for a second, then started to sort of chant.

"Shadows within show your side,

If there's something you must hide.

I do not wish, but fear I must,

Find if this girl is one to trust."

Her eyes closed and she moved her hands towards me. 'Oh no' I thought, 'She thinks she is a Charmed One.' I'd seen so far that night that playing a long seemed to keep people at least harmless, so I pretended that all of what she had just done was real. I nodded. "Wow... Powerful." I said in amazement, hoping it didn't sound sarcastic. She smirked as if to say 'I know.' She stared for a second, then nodded at me.

"When people started to act strange about a couple of hours ago, I tried to call my sisters. Maybe a demon or warlock was behind this."

"That sounds... logical, actually." I said, more to myself than to her. It was better than any explaination I could come up with.

"No one answered the phone, so I got worried. All three of them have cell phones. I called each one, the house phone, P3... nothing. No one answered, and once I got this messege saying the number doesn't exsist. I knew something was wrong then. They must be affected by this demon, so I tried to scry for them. I got nothing. Maybe I'm too far away or maybe-" She didn't finish what she was going to say, and I could feel that the thought of losing her 'sisters' really hurt her. I felt fear and anger at herself. To her, it was real. So real that I couldn't help but feel bad for her. I decided against asking about the Power of Three or even why none of her names started with a P, as were the rules of the show. I was curious about one thing, though.

"I didn't know that the Charmed Ones could fly," I said. Gina shook her head.

"My sisters can't, Gabby, but I can. I am not sure why, exactly. I have wings that are inside the skin on my shoulders, and they carry me just like a bird's, but they just won't- COME OUT!" She screamed the last part, making me jump.

"Easy! Hey... don't force them. I have a feeling it will hurt like hell if you did that." I said, still playing along. I was getting worried at how close she was to the edge, and I didn't want her to fall. "Come closer to me. We'll do an excersise to try and get your wings out." Gina's look was suspitious. "Your spell proved me trustworthy, and you already told me something that if I weren't, I could tell whoever I am working for, which I am not. I'm just a mortal girl. Come on, I don't bite." She watched me closely as she walked away from the edge. As she got closer to me, I said, "Now, in any book or movie where someone's got special abilities of some sort, their mentors have them meditate- or something like that- to get them in touch with their powers. Pretend I'm your Yoda, and we'll see if that works. Close your eyes." She doesn't. "Look, the more you doubt me, the longer it will take for you to get to your sisters. They need you, like you said, but if you waste what precious time you've got to save them, then consider them dead," I told her. She had this look of horror on her face as if she never expected the harsh words to come from me. I didn't even expect to put it that way, but it got her to close her eyes. From there, I just pretended I knew what I was doing, when all I was really doing was just keeping her with me, that way I knew she couldn't jump, and she would at least be safe. "You said they are on your shoulders?"

"Yes, my shoulder blades." I nodded. I put my hand flat on her shoulder blades, fingers spread apart. I saw that there were two large slits on her back, as if they'd been cut, but it seemed too neat to have been done by Gina's hand.

"Okay. Eyes closed?" She nodded. "Good. Do you feel my hands?" Another nod.

"Okay, concentrate on the feel of my hands." I tried to imagine what it would be like to have wings that were inside the skin like Gina claimed. "Do you feel your wings inside you?"

"All the time."

"Okay... okay." I said as my mind blanked. "Okay, concentrate on your wings. Feel them move slowly... slowly move..." I said. "Now, breathe, and relax everything. Imagine your wing tips reaching upwards towards my hand...

Can you-"

"Gabby, move!" Gina shoved me to the side just as two large beautiful black wings protruded from the shoulder blades through the slits on her jacket.

"Oh my god, it worked! Thanks for your help, Gabby." She ran, and I couldn't stop her movement; it was so quick. She jumped from the roof, and I took a few steps toward the ledge with her name on my lips before she appeared before me, her wings flapping and lifting her higher until we were at eye level, her in the air and me on the rooftop. "I'll tell my whitelighter- who is also soon to be my brother in law- to speak to The Powers That Be on your behalf. May they shine brightly upon you for helping me save my sisters, Gabrielle Madison Andrews." It was then that I snapped my mouth shut. With Gina in the air, there was no way I could stop her from going to San Fransisco, and part of me was tempted to ask her for a ride to San Diego since she was on her way to the West coast. At least then I might have a better chance of finding the Institute. All I could do was give her a warning.

"Gina-"

"Margaret."

"Margaret, be careful where you fly. People- warlocks will see you and know who you are. Maybe a... a flying Charmed One is the secret weapon your sisters need." Gina thought about this. "At least change into some dark clothing and fly high above the buildings so no one can easily see you."

Gina nodded, and I could only watch as she flew away like she had wanted to all night.