II: Secrets
Prue ran to her cousin's old room and plopped herself on the small couch. She knew something was going on with her. And it started when she put on the ring.
She swung the door open.
"So sorry I'm late," she called out, figuring her parents were waiting, arms crossed. She ran through the kitchen to get to living room, stopping short to find a bright yellow post-it note.
"Went out with mom. Dinner's in the fridge. Be back late. Don't stay up, kitten."
"Hmph," she mumbled to herself. She slipped her backpack off and grabbed some food from the fridge. She made her way to the living room to watch T.V., when she stopped, just recognizing a small, unfamiliar green box on the counter. She put her food down and picked up the box. The intense color attracted her eyes. She slid open the box to discover a single silver ring, with small engravings on the outside and inside. She inspected it closer, not able to read the inscription. A note lay on the bottom of the box.
"For a darling girl, who has stolen my heart," it read. She turned it over suspiciously. It was signed by Max, her boyfriend. She smiled.
Intrigued by the peculiar looking ring, she picked it up, but hesitated. Something seemed off about the note. It didn't seem like him to not give it to her personally. But maybe he wanted to make it romantic by leaving it in her house. Maybe he gave it to her parents to leave it on the counter. She slipped it on her thumb, making a note to herself to ask her parents later. She smiled, running to the phone to call him.
But that had been weeks ago. A knock snapped her out of her thoughts. Her mother emerged from the other side of the door. She walked in and took a seat next to her on the couch.
"Everything okay mom?" she asked.
"I'm here to ask the same question. Are you tired? You left the party quietly, I didn't even notice you were gone until Chris came to me," her mom started.
Prue sighed and looked away. "Chris," she mumbled, shaking her head.
Phoebe looked at her with concerned eyes.
"Come to think of it, I am a little tired," Prue said after a long silence.
"Oh, as much as I want to believe that's the only thing on your mind, I can't," Phoebe commented.
"School's been at my throat lately, Max hasn't called me for days, and I haven't hung out with my friends for a while," Prue admitted only half of the truth.
"And then not to mention all this witch stuff I've been thinking about. You never had to worry about this stuff when you were sixteen. You got lucky."
Phoebe shook her head. "Honey, if only I did know about my powers when I was younger. It would prepare me so much better. I would have had Grams with me to help. I lost so much when I just discovered about my powers. It was new, it was out of nowhere. I never had the comfort of being able to fall back onto someone, other than my two sisters, when there was a demon we couldn't handle. Your Aunt Piper and Prue couldn't always be there for me, especially when they were going through the same thing."
"You're lucky," she said. "You have eight, eight, wonderful cousins and siblings to help you, not to mention your aunts, uncles, and your parents."
Prue allowed the words to seep through.
Phoebe continued. "Everyone's entitled to their secrets, believe me, I know. But with a family, demons use that. Especially our family. They take advantage of that little ounce of vulnerability and turn it into something much bigger. If there was anything I taught you as a daughter it was to…"
Prue cut her, "…to be strong, no matter what happened. I know." Prue nodded.
Phoebe's eyes started to tear a bit as she stared at her fragile daughter.
"I can't stand seeing you like this. I just want to be able to hold you in my arms and kiss your troubles away, like I could when you were a baby."
Prue smiled weakly. "But you can't now."
Phoebe sighed, grazing her hand over her daughter's face. She extended her lower lip.
"Yes I can," she embraced her daughter who fell into her mother's arms. A tear slipped down Prue's face. She wanted to tell her mom. It would be the perfect moment, but she knew it was a bad idea. Either way, she's going to be disappointed. And ashamed.
"I'd say the party was a success," Helen commented. She was sitting with Tricia and Junior in the car. The long day was coming to a finish. They were heading back to the apartment.
Junior nodded. "It was nice. And calm. Surprisingly."
Tricia followed her brother's nod. "Prue was off tonight though."
"Yeah. Mom said Aunt Phoebe's been worried about her. She talked to her I think. They came downstairs somewhat happier looking," Helen responded.
"Well, you know Prue. It's never been just simple with her," Junior said.
"You can't blame the girl. I mean, she looks at all of us and thinks that's what she's going to become when she's older. Still fighting demons while trying to maintain a normal life. Still managing to lose more friendships and jobs than innocents. If only I was her age again, I'd just run away from it all," Tricia added. Helen shook her head.
"You don't mean that. At least she has all of us to help her!" Helen argued. "She's too naïve. She just doesn't understand it yet. We always sacrifice so much for her, but what has she done to make it easier for us?" Helen argued.
"Give the girl a break. What's so wrong with wanting to be normal?" Tricia asked calmly.
"Everything," Helen shot back. "Our powers are gifts. We're lucky."
Tricia let out a breath, her voice rising. "I wouldn't call it lucky." Silence followed. Junior watched the argument back and forth as though he was watching a ping pong battle.
"You guys wanna watch the road…?" he asked, trying to prevent a fight.
"You, just as well as me, know that without our powers, we wouldn't be who we are today," Helen argued.
"Yeah, and without this destiny, we wouldn't lose the ones we love," Tricia said so softly it was barely heard, yet the words burned through Helen's debate. Helen's expression softened. She crossed her arms and turned toward the window, letting the ping pong ball burn through her racket.
Junior opened the front door and clicked the lights on, brightening up their apartment. It consisted of three bedrooms, one for each of them, along with a spacey living room that led to a small, suitable kitchen. It was the perfect apartment for the three of them, conveniently placed one floor below one of their closest friends, Milli. She met Tricia while they were in high school, eventually earning the trust of the siblings, figuring out the family secret. She was out of town, visiting her brother in New York. She went with her sister, Isobel, who had met Wyatt and Chris while they were in high school. Despite the fact he had a huge family, he had incredible memory when it came to remembering all of his and family's friends. It wasn't too hard, considering they had few close ones. He headed to the kitchen to get a bottle of water and went to his room, which was placed across from Helen's. Stepping into the cold room, he shut the door close. He hadn't been there for a few days because he was helping his cousin Wyatt, who had a massive overload of charges. He'd been recently given an assignment of three new charges, adding on to the dozens he already had. It was hard enough to deal with the older ones, and now he had to assist newer ones. Junior decided to tap into his whiteligher side and help out his cousin, which involved almost no sleep since the charges lived across the world. When he should have been sleeping, demons were attacking his charges. He thought to himself.
So I guess I have whiteligher-lag?
He chuckled to himself
"Whitelighter-lag," he laughed again. "I'm just great."
Prue headed to her bedroom. The party had ended hours earlier and she was back at her house. Her parents were already sleeping in their bedroom and she spotted Dora moving around in her bedroom. Penny's door remained closed, as it had for the past couple of weeks since she moved out. She closed the door of her own bedroom and sat on her bed, reaching under her bed. She emerged with a velvet box. She opened the box. It contained scraps of paper, small bottles of different colored liquids, and a variety of herbs. She fumbled through the papers until she found a folded sheet. She stopped at the sight of its golden edges, tinted from its age. Retrieving it from the box, she unfolded it. It revealed a paragraph of words, followed by a list of instructions. The sides were ridged, as if ripped out of a book. She sighed, recalling the day she took – stole – the page from a book.
"Are you sure you're okay alone?" Dora asked her. Prue nodded.
"Yeah, of course. I'm just gonna grab a couple of books and study over there," Prue said, pointing to the couch in the lounge of the Magic School. Dora nodded.
"Alright, I'm heading over to my class. See you at dinner tonight," she patted her sister's shoulder and walked off. Prue's smile faded and she waited a few moments until she was sure her sister was out of sight. She looked around. The room was deserted. She put the stack of books down and walked over to a secluded area of the bookshelf. She exposed a piece of paper she had in her pocket and took three books off the shelf, revealing a discolored section of the bookshelf. She started chanting.
"Secrets hidden with disguise
Unlock my path with no more lies
By a flicker of my hands
Don't hold me back from future plans."
She waved her hand over the area. It brightly shone, blinding Prue. She winced, covering her eyes. She peeked to see the wall of the bookshelf slowly disappear and uncover a secret compartment. She checked her left and right to make sure nobody was there and slowly extended her hand into the compartment. She saw a pile of books and reached for the one she needed. She quickly flipped through the pages until she found the right one. She fingered the page. She heard voices approach. She quickly ripped the page out and threw the book back into the compartment. She waved her hand over the area, trapping it. She folded the paper and shoved it into her pocket, covering the bookshelf with the books, as if untouched. Students walked into the area, talking. Prue rubbed her hands together and smiled at them, walking past them and into a private room of Magic School.
