December 10th 2025
"We have a problem!" Melinda exclaimed as she burst through the door and into the twins' bedroom.
Matt, who had been levitating a couple of feet above his bed let a loud yelp as he unceremoniously crashed onto his mattress. He laid there for a couple of seconds and then pushed himself on his elbows, shaking his head and glaring at his cousin. Ruth, despite being just as startled, managed to complete the execution of her spin-and-thrust and was now idly twirling the sword in her grasp, her free hand playing with the end of her ponytail.
"What is the point of having doors if you never bother with knocking?" Matt demanded, still glaring at her.
"I thought we weren't allowed to take weapons out of the training room," Melinda deflected, looking pointedly at the sword hanging languidly from Ruth's grasp.
"Perks of being a Halliwell," her cousin said with a small shrug. Melinda's eyes narrowed.
"So, Maxwell knows about this?" she asked.
"Well… I wouldn't say that, no," Ruth said, twirling her ponytail between her fingers.
"I thought we are supposed to be having a problem," Matt cut in, before Melinda could say anything else.
"Yeah, right… Yep, we have a problem," Melinda said, anxiously nodding her head. Ruth and Matt exchanged a look as they came to stand side to side. Fleetingly Melinda wondered when the hell Matthew had gotten so tall.
"Um, elaborate," he prompted, crossing his arms over his chest. Melinda nodded again.
"Last night, when we went to save Parker, I lost my phone," she said in one breath, her words jumbled together. The twins blinked at her in unison, and she sighed, readying herself to repeat what she'd just said.
But Matthew cut her off.
"No way," he said, giving a forceful shake of his head. Both Ruth and Melinda looked at him inquisitively; "No way you are that much of a moron," he said again, his eyes pinning hard on Melinda.
"Matt, when you do that empath-schtick it's good to share with the room," Ruth said, hitting the back of his knees with the sword.
"Hey, watch it with the death prickle!" he yelled, jumping away from her.
"You know your empathy is almost as good as my telepathy, maybe we could-" Melinda started, only to get cut off.
"Stop trying to sweet-talk me, Melinda Prudence Halliwell! I cannot believe you went and did something so stupid!" Matthew yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at her.
"It's not like I planned for this to happen!" Melinda deffended herself.
"Hey!" Ruth said loudly, the point of her sword making contact with the floor beneath their feet. The sound of it reverberated through the room and Matt, who'd opened his mouth to retort shut up. Melinda looked at her, eyes wide with apprehension. "Okay, so, is anyone going to tell me what happened?" She asked, smiling sweetely.
"She lost her phone last night," Matt said, glaring towards Melinda. Ruth's eyes all but popped out of their sockets as she whirled around to look at her cousin.
"You took your phone with you?"
"I didn't mean to! I just stuck it in my jeans pocket when you came into my room and then I forgot that it was there."
"Are you sure it's not actually somewhere in your bedroom?" Ruth tried, her fingers twisting her hair in a way that seemed almost hurtful.
"Positive."
"Oh, this is bad!" Matt said, running both hands through his floppy dark hair. "This is so, so bad. I don't know about you guys, but I hate this."
"Yeah, I'm not a big fan of what happened either," Melinda said, earning another glare from her cousin.
"Okay, so we have to go back," Ruth said simply, taking a seat on Matt's bed.
"Oh yeah," Matt mocked, snapping his fingers, "Just like that."
"Well, we can orb in and out, so pretty much, yeah," Ruth said, nodding. Matt gaped at her.
"Ruth, it's not so easy; you are talking about orbing into the hunting zone. There are a dozen different protection spells all over the area, never mind the wards," Melinda said.
"True, but they were all compromised as of last night," Ruth reminded her, "I don't think anyone has been over there to assess the situation, not yet anyway."
Melinda chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes never straining from Ruth's. On one hand the hunting zone was probably the least safe place in all of San Fransisco; it was usually the place were both demons and Elders lurked in hopes to catch a too self-assured witch who had gone out of their way to seek them out. On the other hand, Ruth was right; those in command were too distracted with accounting for casualties at the safe houses and figuring out if there had been a breech in the HQ security wards to care about what was happening at the hunting zone.
"It will be safer if we go now," Ruth said.
"Who are you and what have you done to my sister?" Matt asked, looking at Ruth with his head tilted. Ruth rolled her eyes at him. "You cannot be entertaining this insane idea," Matt said, turning to look at Melinda.
"Well…" she trailed off.
"Unbelievable!" Matt exclaimed, throwing his arms up in exasperation. "Unbelievable!"
"Matt, calm down," Ruth admonished.
"Calm down? Calm- Do I need to remind you both that last night we were cornered by Odin? We almost got killed by the second in command and if dad hadn't shown up-"
"But he did!" Ruth cut him off. "He showed up! And we didn't die!"
"Only just," he said bitterly.
"Matthew," his sister cooed, but he turned his head away. Ruth looked at Melinda for help.
"We need to get that phone back," Melinda said, slowly approaching the bed where the siblings were seated. "I don't know whether they know how to use the mobile to infiltrate the Resistance, I don't even know if they know how to use modern technology, but we need to get that phone back. We can't leave it out there."
"You think they don't know how to use a phone?" Matt asked after a beat of silence.
"I mean, they are a bunch of old dudes dressed in robes," Melinda said with a pointed look.
"They are eternal beings, Melinda," Matt said slowly, as if talking to a rather dense individual.
"Exactly my point! Have you seen Warren's dad using a laptop?" she asked, and Matt opened his mouth to retort, but Ruth beat him to it;
"I don't think he counts as eternal," she said.
"Well same difference," Melinda said with an eyeroll. Ruth considered her for a second, before nodding in acceptance.
"Okay, it's settled then!" Ruth said, slapping her free hand over her knee and making the other two jump in alarm at the loud noise. "We should probably get going."
"Wait, wait, shouldn't we come up with a plan?" Melinda asked.
"Didn't we establish, like fourteen hours ago, that we do not know how to form plans?" Matt retored.
"Right…" Melinda said, biting the inside of her cheek, her anxiousness creeping in, now that they'd both agreed to go after her missing phone.
The three of them looked at each other. Ruth was still holding her sword and Matt was still wearing his meditation clothes. Melinda felt a surge of affection for the twins and surged forward to pull them in a tight hug. Ruth went in willingly, but Matt stood his ground until the girls double-teamed him dragging him forward.
"Okay," Melinda said, once she finally stepped away.
"Oh, I really hate this for us," Matt echoed his words from the previous night, before the three of them orbed out.
Piper finished her chanting.
An opal light pulsed through the room.
And then everything went dark.
Melinda heard their alarmed shouts and several swear words in a hashed voice. She blinked, her gaze quickly adjusting to the absence of light and pulled herself as far away from the sisters' voices as she was willing to go, considering she couldn't see where she was going.
"What the hell happened?" Piper demanded and it was clear the question was intended for Melinda.
"The spell-" Melinda's voice came out hoarse and she paused to clear her throat. "The spell backfired," she said.
"That's impossible," came Phoebe's response.
"What do you mean backfired? How could it backfire?" Paige asked, sounding more intrigued than angry. Melinda was pretty sure Piper's spell had backfired because of Wyatt's protection spell, but she wasn't about to tell them.
"It couldn't; power of three spells don't backfire," Phoebe answered Paige's question, when it was clear that Melinda wasn't going to.
"But it wasn't a power of three spell," Melinda said, unable to stop herself.
"You little –" Piper's hissed words forced Melinda to take another step back. "Why can't I use my powers?" she said after a beat.
With a jolt Melinda realized Piper had probably tried to attack her.
"Answer me!"
Melinda winced at the anger in Piper's voice.
"Because we are in the astral plane, I think… You can't use your powers here," she said slowly, knowing her response would only provoke them further.
Soon as her words registered the sisters started talking over each other, again. Melinda could hear them move around and she made sure to keep her distance whenever they sounded too close. It was clear that Wyatt's protection spell had somehow drawn them out of their bodies and into the astral plane, it was also clear that she could refuse answering their questions, despite Piper's truth spell.
"How did we get here?" Paige's voice broke through the cacophony of their piping voices. "Did we die?"
"No," Melinda said quickly. "We are all alive. And I told you already; your spell backfired, that's why we are here."
"Well can you get us out?" Paige asked and there was a tint of annoyance in her voice. It made Melinda smile fondly in the darkness; Paige always reserved that tone for when she was about to scold somebody.
"I don't think so… This is still your spell," Melinda said.
"Great!" Paige exclaimed and she could almost see the frustration drawn on the older witch's face.
"I am going to ask you one last time," Piper took over and her voice sounded much calmer than before, but it still managed to make Melinda shiver. "What happened to Chris?"
"I told you I don't –" Melinda started, but as soon as she spoke, flashes of light swirled around them, warping the non-space they were standing in. Melinda's spine straightened, her shoulders tensing; it oddly reminded her of falling through a portal. Soon there were noises added to the flashing lights and Melinda saw the sisters falling into attack positions.
It couldn't have taken more than a couple of seconds, but Melinda would've sworn it had lasted an eternity for the room to finally snap into focus. When it did, she felt the breath hitch in her throat; they were back at the Manor, back into the living room and the fight was in full swing. Demons were throwing fireballs around, Dark-Lighters' arrows were whooshing overhead, one of them flying straight towards Paige's chest.
"Paige!" both Piper and Phoebe screamed at the same time, but it was too late and all four of them watched in horror as the arrow flew right through Paige and embed itself on one of the couch cushions.
Melinda huffed out a breath of relief, running a hand through her tussled hair. Her eyes roamed around the scene before her and she noticed how everything looked a little distorted in places; there were certain spots throughout the room were the colors seemed a bit odd, some details on the furniture were fuzzy and the Dark-Lighters looked more imposing than they had actually been.
Melinda blinked the realization slowly dawning on her.
"This is a memory," Phoebe whispered. Melinda looked at her only to find Phoebe already staring right back at her. It wasn't a question, really, but Melinda still felt the need to nod in confirmation.
Phoebe tore her gaze away, taking a step closer to her sisters. Melinda could still feel her trying to pry some information out of her. After years of training with Wyatt, Melinda's mental forces were a force to be reconed, but she wasn't sure how much of a chance she stood against a charmed one. So, Melinda rolled her shoulder, drew in a deep cleansing breath and then started internally reciting her favorite childhood poem. From the corner of her eye, she saw Phoebe pulling a face and she subtly turned her face away to hide a smile.
In her periphery vision something glitched, immediately gaining her whole attention. The view wasn't very clear, probably because by that point Melinda in the memory had been kneeling on the floor, so she couldn't clearly see what was happening at the other side of the room. But it was still there, the disturbance in the atmosphere, the magical footprint of someone appearing out of thin air…
"Bianca?" Melinda all but gasped when she saw the witch stepping up to her brother.
Chris looked just as shocked, if not more, but before he had a chance to do or say anything Bianca's hand shot forward her fingers glowing blue. Melinda heard Piper's scream just as Bianca's hand made its way through Chris' chest. Chri's eyes widened, his expression breaking into one of betrayal. Bianca had kept talking through out the whole thing, even as Chris' body hit the floor.
"So," Paige's voice was rather dry as she spoke "You do know her."
"Who is she? Who is the demon trying to kill my son?" Piper all but growled her way.
"She's not a demon, she's a-"
"I don't care what the hell she is!" Piper cried, angrily. "Why did she try to kill him? Why did she try to hurt Chris?" Piper's furry was so palpable that Melinda had to take some steps backwards to maintain the distance between them.
"Answer me!" Piper demanded.
And as if on cue the lights started dancing around them again. The living room span on its axis, dizzyingly so. White and blue particles swarmed around them in a vortex, and the living-room quickly decomposed in front of their eyes, leaving them briefly in the darkness, before the lights started reshaping the nothingness.
"Where are we?" Phoebe was the one to wonder, when the room settled.
Melinda looked around, the corners of her lips twitching upwards when she realized where they had ended up. The room was dimly lit and not particularly spacious. The furniture was also minimal, apart from the bed, there was a frail looking wardrobe and a vintage vanity table. There were no paintings hanging from the walls or other trinkets to make the bedroom more homely. Melinda's eye caught a potted plant, placed on top of the three-drawer wardrobe, flicker in and out of existence. She squinted her eyes at it; the plant was a birthday present for Bianca's twenty fifth, which happened almost three months after this particular conversation.
The potted coneflower blinked out of existence.
Melinda turned her gaze and her focus on the three people in her memory.
"But you promised you were going to braid my hair," Ruth's voice was whinny, as she scooted closer to Bianca; the vanity table's bench was barely big enough for two people.
"I know I did, you little hellion," Bianca said, bopping Ruth's nose with the end point of her blush-brush. "And I will do it, as soon as I get back."
"What is this? Why are we here?" Piper questioned.
"And why are there no windows?" Paige wondered and Melinda's gaze briefly flickered to her before returning to the people in her memory. Paige had always been annoyingly observant.
Ruth sighed long and dramatically.
"I really don't understand why you agreed to go on a date with him; you could literally do so much better."
"Hey!" Melinda, who had been sitting on the bed behind them, exclaimed defensively. Ruth looked at her over her shoulder.
"You know I'm right," Ruth insisted. "Bianca's like super smart and pretty and Chris cannot even form a whole sentence whenever she's there," Ruth pointed out.
"And you still wonder why I agreed to go out with him," Bianca said, an adoring smile stretching across her lips.
"I don't understand..." Ruth trailed off, looking perplexed. Bianca laughed.
"So they were dating," Phoebe said, "Why would she try to kill him if they were dating?"
"Please, as if you didn't use to date someone who tried to murder you," Paige scoffed, earning a death glare from her older sister. Melinda had to bite her tongue to keep from reacting.
"This is an old memory; it doesn't mean anything. They went on one date, she still tried to kill him today!" Piper said, breaking the tension between Phoebe and Paige.
"She didn't try to kill him," Melinda said, softly and she heard Piper scoff. "If Bianca had wanted him dead he would've been dead. She's an assassin, she doesn't try to kill people; she kills people," Melinda said, her temper getting the best out of her.
"She's a what now?" Paige asked, leaning forward as if she hadn't heard correctly.
"Chris is dating and assassin?" Phoebe asked, her gaze cutting to Piper, who seemed to blanche. "You've seriously messed this one up, huh?" she said, going for levity and she elbowed her sister lightly on the ribs.
But Piper was apparently too shaken to respond.
"It's not like that…Bianca would never hurt Chris; she'd never let anyone hurt him. But…my future is not exactly black and white," Melinda said, trying to salvage the situation.
"Chris keeps on saying the same thing about his future," Paige said, eyes narrowing as she looked at her. Melinda felt like she was trying to peer straight through her. "But he never explains what he means," she added, as if an afterthought. Melinda remained silent. "Why are there no windows in this bedroom?" Paige repeated her earlier question.
"And why are two teenagers left alone with an assassin?" Phoebe chimed in.
Melinda grinded her teeth and drew in a deep breath, to calm herself.
"I told you already, Bianca is not a bad person."
"And what about you," Piper spoke up. Involuntarily Melinda looked at her, her breath catching at the unfiltered distrust she could see shining in her mother's eyes. "Are you a bad person?"
"I-I-" Melinda stuttered, not knowing how to continue. Piper raised a chalenging eyebrow, before Melinda broke their eye-contact.
"It's not a difficult question," Piper pressed, her tone once again bordering to cruel. "It's a 'no' or 'yes' simple question. I'm not asking you to tell me what's going on in your future or why your parents allowed you to hang out with assassins at such a young age. I'm only asking if you are a bad person."
Briefly Melinda wondered whether or not had Piper realized that the spell only seemed to be responding to her. Chancing a look to her face, she couldn't tell, Piper's expression remained impassive as the bedroom dissolved, plunging them in darkness for the third time in just under and hour.