December 25th 2025

Matthew took a turn, following the path he'd started on ten minutes or so ago, only to come face to face with a tall, bricked wall. His eyes trailed up the length of it, a groan leaving his lips in the process. Matt ran a hand through his already tussled hair, gripping at it lightly.

"Fucking awesome," he muttered to himself.

He brought his hands over his face, rubbing at it tiredly. The uneasiness he'd been trying to suppress ever since splitting from the girls started bubbling up at the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong, something was going to happen, if only his stupid powers decided to cooperate for once…

Matt groaned again.

He shook his head, sniffing loudly. He eyed the wall again, before rolling his eyes at his luck. Following after a dead-end; that was such a painfully Matt-move, he couldn't even be upset about it. He checked his watch, he still had five minutes to kill before heading back to their meeting place. Matt looked at the ghost town around him, wondering what he was supposed to do with himself.

And then the next second he was stumbling forward, propelled by a searing pain in his midsection.

Matt swore vehemently, pressing his hand over the phantom wound over his ribs. He blinked his eyes, trying to clear his head, but the pain was numbing. Matt gritted his teeth. The pain and panic surging through him was not his own. Ruth was in trouble. And if he couldn't clear his mind long enough to track her…

Matt started running.

He didn't know where he was going, had never been to the hunting zone, aside from last night that was. He only hoped the connection to his sister would be enough to get him to where Ruth was in time to help her. Matt zig-zagged through smoldering building ruins, his steps echoing loudly in the dead silence. He took sharp turns following the invisible magic thread connecting him to Ruth. He had half a mind to orb to where he thought his sister was but…

"We don't orb into danger," Chris' voice ran through his mind, "We approach, carefully, on foot. It's better to access the situation from a safe distance, before making our presence known."

By the time he found himself at the narrow alleyway, Matt was panting. The phantom wound on his side was still throbbing painfully, clouding his already worried mind. Matthew took a long second to compose himself, all the while registering the familiar sound of a blade tearing through flesh accompanied by his sister's angry grunts. When he felt like he could move again Matt quickly covered the small distance between himself and Ruth.

"Took you long enough," she grunted, pushing a low-level demon back with her forearm.

Matt looked at her incredulously.

"I was at the other side of the… You know what? No," he stopped himself firmly, before getting into a too familiar snark contest.

Matt swiftly stepped out of the way as the demon lunched itself at him. Ruth weaved her way between them, swirling the sword in her grasp and forcefully slashed through the demon's abdomen. With a surprised scream the creature fell to its knees, before his body burst into flames leaving a small pile of ashes behind. Ruth seethed her weapon, animatedly dusting her hands off as she turned to address her brother.

"Found the phone by the way," she said, taking it out of her pocket and tossing it his way. "You can both say thank you later."

But the end of her sentence got smothered by his sweater, when Matthew firmly grabbed her arm, pulling her flush against his body. Thrusting his hand out, he just barely had the time to deflect an energy ball heading straight towards his sister. He heard the last one of the demons screech in pain as it exploded in a swarm of black particles.

Matthew let a long exhale, releasing some of the adrenaline cursing through his body.

"You okay?" he asked, pulling her at arms' length to look at her.

"I think that was the last one of them," she said instead of answering his question. Matt bit on his tongue to keep from calling her bullshit; he could still sense that she was minutes away from freaking out. But going after her like that wouldn't help; Ruth would never admit to being scared.

Matt looked around the alleyway, making sure that there were no more demons lurking in the shadows. He tried to ignore just how many ash piles were strewn all around the narrow passageway, but he was still holding on to one of Ruth's arms and his grip on her instinctively tightened; not enough to hurt, only to make sure that she was still there with him, alive and unscathed.

There was a lump raising in his throat and he tried to swallow past it. They were not ready for this kind of fight. They were not yet of age, they didn't have the proper training, they had never been officially out on a mission. They just weren't ready! And to think that they'd willingly gone into danger not once but twice already…

"Matty," Ruth's voice sounded like coming from underwater.

Matthew blinked, tried to focus on his sister's face, on what she was saying, but the only thing he could hear was raging breathing. Was it his own? Was he the one breathing like that? Well, this couldn't be good. What was wrong with him? And why was his heart beating so fast and so loud? No, no, this was not normal, no, no something was wrong…

"Matty, I think you are having a panic attack," Ruth said, taking hold of his hands and squeezing them, hard enough to hurt.

Momentarily the breath caught in his throat. Ruth was still speaking, but the sudden luck of oxygen sent an alarm through his body and without a warning Matthew started coughing his lungs out. His eyes widened, filling with tears and he almost doubled over. Ruth was now whispering in his ear, one of her hands rubbing soothing circles on his back, as Matthew tried to regulate his breathing. He attempted to straighten his body, but his knees trembled and fearing they might buckle under his weight, Matt remained in an awkward half-crouched position.

"It's alright, you're gonna be fine. Just keep breathing," Ruth was murmuring in his ear. He felt her press a kiss against the side of his head, her fingers gently going through his hair.

Matt breathed heavily through his nose, holding the air in his lungs long enough to burn.

"Okay, so that sucked," he said after a minute of loud labored breathing. He rubbed a hand over his forehead. "Is that what Mel goes through, when she gets all twitchy?"

"Some type of it, yeah," Ruth said, still stroking his back. Matt pulled a face.

"Isn't there like a magical remedy?"

"I don't think you are supposed to magic away your anxiety."

"Yeah, you're probably right… You want me to get that for you?" Matt said, pointing at her ribcage.

Ruth blinked at him, not understanding immediately what he was saying. Matt tilted his head, giving her a minute; his own phantom wound had been painfully pulsing for the past five minutes, so he knew she was still in pain. Then her eyes lit in realization.

"Oh," she said, simply shifting her body to make easier the access to her aching side. Matt gingerly splayed his fingers over the expanse of her ribcage, concentrating on the energy pulling at the pit of his belly.

"You think at some point we'll figure out how to heal ourselves?" He asked, as the golden light started shimmering beneath his fingers. Ruth gritted her teeth to stifle a groan.

"Wyatt and Chris can do it," she answered when she trusted herself enough to speak.

Matt snuck a look to her face; she looked paler than he'd like, but her brows were not pinched anymore, and her face seemed more relaxed. The light slowly died from under his hand.

"C'mon, I've already cast a tracking spell for Mel. We should find her and get out of here."

"First of all, you are welcome," Matt said, earning himself an eyeroll. "And second, you think it's smart to blindly orb to her? What if there are more demons?"

"Well, first of all," Ruth quipped, "If there are more demons, we cannot let our cousin fight them alone. And second, I think we can handle it," she said, smugly, resting her hand on the pommel of her sword.

Matt looked at her doubtfully, Chris' words still resounding in his mind.

"Matty, we need to get out of here. We can't do that without Mel."

"Alright, alright," Matthew gave in with a sigh. "Lead the way," he gestured with his hand. Ruth smirked and then orbed out. Matt groaned, defeatedly, and followed her.

But when they rematerialized, Melinda was nowhere to be found. They were standing in the middle of a playground. Barren trees surrounded the lot and a gentle wind swept through it, making the old, rusty swing set whine as it moved slowly back and forth. The setting was eerie enough to make the hair in his arms stand in alert.

"Um, I don't like this," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ruth's grip tightening on the hilt of her sword. "Are you sure you cast the spell correctly?" he asked and Ruth side-eyed him.

Apart from the two of them the playground was empty. There were no signs that any sort of fight had taken place there, no blood, no pile of ashes.

"Matt," Ruth said, and he didn't miss the way her voice wavered. Matt looked at her expectantly, but Ruth's gaze was fixated on something beyond his eyesight. He moved closer to her, following her gaze and he immediately felt his heart sinking.

"Is that…?"

"A portal?" Ruth finished his sentence, the blue light of it reflecting in her eyes.

"Yep."

"Yep," Ruth echoed.

"You think she…"

"She's gone through it?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah," Ruth said, her hand coming up to scratch anxiously at her neck.

"Right… So, we're officially screwed," Matt conquered, gripping at his hair.

"Probably."

"Definitely."

"C'mon, we need to go find an adult," Ruth said, and Matt faked a grin.

"Oh, my, what fun," he said sarcastically, clapping his hands.

Ruth gave him a stern look, before grabbing his left arm and orbing to the bunker.

"Cassandra?"

Melinda was painfully aware of the three set of eyes pinning on her back, but she couldn't stop herself from practically sprinting up to her cousin and throwing herself on her. Only to immediately walk right through her. Cassandra looked at her almost guiltily, her own arms half-raised as if she'd hoped for a hug too.

Right, we are in the astral plane.

The back of Melinda's eyes started burning.

"Oh, my god! I can't believe I found you!" Cassandra said, her voice soft enough to force the tears brimming in Melinda's eyes to topple off. "Oh my... merde, where the hell are you, Melinda?" Cassandra demanded, looking pointedly at the boxing rink and then at her.

"Uhm, well, that's kind of a long story…" Melinda trailed off. She tried hard to keep her foot from bouncing when Cassandra crossed her arms over her chest.

"Am I going crazy or can you too see the angry Asian ghost woman?" Phoebe stage whispered to her sisters.

Cassandra, who wasn't known for her self-restriction answered almost immediately, without bothering to look at the person who had spoken about her .

"I'm actually half Korean half Purgatorian, so spare me the Asian umbrella term," Cassandra deadpanned. "And I'm not a ghost, I'm just astral projecting-" She added, finally turning to look at whoever she was addressing.

In the next second Cassandra's brain seemed to short-circuit, and it would've been hilarious, under different circumstances, how her jaw hit the floor, upon seeing the sisters.

"Merde," she whispered, again, her eyes flickering between the three older witches.

Melinda knew exactly how she felt.

"Purgatorian?" Paige muttered to herself, completely oblivious to the Cassandra's mental freak out.

"Yes I am comment dit-on…" Cassandra trailed of, attempting to quickly recollect herself "I'm half Korean, half from Purgatory."

Paige's face blanched.

"Cassandra, stop telling them about yourself!"

"Oops," Cassandra muttered, having the decency to look sheepish.

Melinda sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Chris is going to kill me," she said, shaking her head in resignation.

"Oh Chris," Cassandra whispered, an agitated hand running through her short, wavy hair. "Putain, your brothers will kill me-"

"Cassandra tais toi!" Melinda snapped, her accent clumsy and heavy with frustration.

"Why do you think the Korean ghost keeps cursing in French?" Paige stage whispered.

"I can hear you, you know," Cassandra rose to the bait, and Melinda covered her eyes with her palm, quietely groaning to herself in despair.

"Huh, and here I thought we were completely invisible," Paige snarked, kinking an eyebrow as she looked at them.

Cassandra opened her mouth to respond, but the pleading look in Melinda's face must've done the trick for she closed it without uttering a word. Melinda tried to communicate to her that she had to remain silent. Cassandra blinked back at her cousin, but her shoulders visibly to dropped, which Melinda took as a good sign. Melinda took a deep breath, swallowing her nerves and putting on a brave face, as she turned to look at the older witches.

"I know you have questions," she started, earning an unamused scoff from Piper, who'd finally stopped crying. Melinda pressed her lips in a thin line, drawing in another calming breath, before continuing. "The spell has already answered some of them, and I will do my best to answer more once we get back. But we need to get back, first."

"So, get us out of here," Piper bit out, all her previous animosity coming back with a vengeance now that her tears had subsided.

Melinda gritted her teeth.

"I can't ; this is your spell," she explained, trying to hold on to what little sense of restrain she still possessed.

"Well then, I guess we are stuck here," Piper said, sounding almost petulant as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Wait, did they actually cast a spell on you?" Cassandra spoke up.

"Yep," Melinda said, popping her 'p'.

Without any forewarning, Cassandra stepped right through her, putting herself between the sisters and Melinda. She squared her shoulders, jutting her chin out and looking at them from under her nose. She looked so much like her mother for a second that Melinda found herself staring at her cousin in complete awe.

"What the fuck? She's a teenager! What do you think you are doing casting a spell on a child?" Cassandra demanded, her gaze hard as she looked at the past version of her family.

"Listen here, missy-" Piper started just as Melinda said,

"No, Cass, it's alright, I –"

"No, I won't listen," Cassandra cut them off, firmly, glaring towards Piper, "And no, it's not alright!" She exclaimed, looking at Melinda over her shoulder. "No matter what happened, they had no right to cast a spell on you, Mel! Do not defend them!" She hissed and there was a crimson undertint glimmering in her eyes.

"She tried to kill my son," Piper bristled, irritated by Cassandra's dismissal.

Cassandra blinked at her.

And then promptly burst into a boisterous laugh.

"Do you think I said something funny?" Piper's tone was bordering to murderous, which only resulted into more laughing on Cassandra's part.

"I mean, yeah," she said, shrugging. Piper's mouth silently fell open. "Did you try to kill Wyatt? What did that little shit do?" Cassandra asked, looking at Melinda.

"She means Chris, actually," Melinda said with a little shake of her head. Cassandra snorted.

"Tu rigoles," she scoffed.

"Cassandra, you are not helping," Melinda murmured, her voice soft. Her cousin looked at her over her shoulder. "Please."

Cassandra stared at her unblinkingly for a long beat, her gaze analyzing. She must've seen something worrisome in Melinda's face, because suddenly her shoulders relaxed her whole posture getting less defensive. Cassandra gave her a small nod, and her tongue darted out to lick her lips, before turning to look at the three older witches,

"Okay, so, from what I understand you cast a spell and there isn't a counter one for it, correct?" She asked, her gaze cutting towards Piper, who was already looking at her murderously. "I'm assuming the look on your face means I'm correct."

"I like this one," Paige whispered under her breath, earning an elbow to her ribs, courtesy to Phoebe. The youngest Charmed One pulled a face, taking a step further away from her sister.

"Alright, so, since this is your spell," Cassandra started again, addressing Piper, "I need you to concentrate and find the lines of magic around us. Can you do that?"

"Can we do that?" Paige asked, surprised.

Piper's face was unreadable, but Phoebe looked just as dumbfounded. Cassandra stared at them, for a long second, and then turned to Melinda. The girl's eyes widened, slightly, as she looked back at her cousin. It was obvious that the sisters had no idea what Cassandra was talking about, which on its own was both ridiculous and alarming; just how different was this version of their family?

"Alright, uhm, so think of it like that; you can see the trail of an orb, right Paige?" Melinda asked, stepping next to Cassandra, standing shoulder to shoulder with her.

Paige nodded.

"And you can tell when a spell or a potion takes effect?" Melinda continued, her eyes flickering between them.

"I don't see it, I feel it," Phoebe was the first one to break the silence, her hand instinctively moving towards the center of her chest. Melinda bobbed her head in understanding.

"Right, it's different for different people," Cassandra cut in. "When someone casts a spell, it is bound to their magic. The spell is only as strong as the person casting it. Since it's your spell, it is bound to you and you should be where it begins and where it ends; it circles around us, but you are the beginning and the end point, Piper," Cassandra said, her eyes boring deep into the other woman's.

"Okay, so let's say it does work like that," Paige pipped up, unable to hide her excitement at the prospect of new ways to look at magic, "How does that help us break the spell?"

"If you can see the lines, you can break the lines," Cassandra said with a small shrug.

"That's not how magic works," Piper refused immediately, folding her arms. Melinda saw Cassandra pressing her lips together tightly.

"It is one of the ways that magic works," Cassandra managed through her teeth. "It's not usually how witches do it, but it works."

"Why should we believe you?" Piper asked, her tone a clear indicative that she did not, in fact, believe what Cassandra was saying.

"Because it's your only chance at getting out of here," Cassandra deadpanned. "Unless you want to wait until your twenty four hours are up."

"We don't have to lose anything," Paige said, to which Piper huffed in indignation. "What?"

"Paige, you can't be actually considering this," Piper sounded affronted.

"It makes sense," Paige defended herself. "Pheebs, back me up!"

"It wouldn't hurt to try," Phoebe said after a long second of silence.

"Phoebe!"

"I cannot wait to go back and tell mom about this," Cassandra whispered under her breath, her gaze softening as she looked at her aunts. "She will be so angry that they cast a spell on you…Zut! Auntie Paige is going to create a portal just to come over here and kick her own ass," Cassandra bubbled, her eyes dancing with mirth.

"That is a very real, but scary possibility," Melinda agreed.

"How do I do it?" Piper demanded, after another couple of minutes of hushed conversation between the sisters.

"Close your eyes," Cassandra said, and didn't continue until the older witch complied. "You need to concentrate on your magic, find the source in your body, watch it expand," Cassandra trailed off, giving her a second to familiarize herself with the concept.

"I think I got it," Piper's tone was a mix of pride due to her accomplishment and disappointment that Cassandra's suggestion had worked.

"Focus on the lines of the spell; it should be a thin thread looping around us," Cassandra instructed. She saw Piper nodding. "Right, now that you have located it, reach out with your hands physically and break it."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not really there," Piper said, frustrated. Cassandra pinched the bridge of her nose, her eyes falling shut.

"Witches," she whispered to herself, before reopening them and focusing on Piper. "The thread will respond to you, it doesn't matter if it's corporeal or not," she said, her voice slightly raising along with her temper.

"Just try, Piper," Phoebe encouraged her, leaning towards her sister.

Piper's brow furrowed as she lifted both her arms, her fingers looping around nothing. Melinda noticed Paige trying to swallow down a chuckle. Piper's face tensed further, her knuckles turning white as she applied more pressure. Phoebe worried on her bottom lip, her eyes moving back and forth between Piper's face and her hands. She moved closer to her sister, leaning right next to her ear and whispering something that Melinda was far too far away to make out. Piper's hands started trembling, her whole face scranching up.

And then she opened her eyes.

"I did it," she said, her expression one of complete awe as she stared down at her hands.

"Never doubted you, sis," Paige said, pulling her in a one-arm-hug.

"But why are we still here?" Piper wondered, her eyes slicing to Cassandra. "I broke the thread; we should've gone back!"

"Yes, you did, congratulations," Cassandra cheered, a shit-eating grin taking over her face at the complete confusion on Piper's face. "But I need a minute with my cousin, so see you in a bit."

Piper was about to speak when Cassandra waved her hand, throwing a foggy barrier in the middle of the space they were standing in, effectively separating her and Melinda from the Charmed Ones. Melinda could still see and hear them, but it was all very distorted. She felt the hair at the nape of her neck standing in alert as they always did when Cassandra showcased her powers; Cassandra Halliwell was a force to be reckoned.

"I bet they're gonna hate this," she said almost cheerfully as she met Melinda's eyes.

"You've no idea," the younger girl said, trying to block out the annoyed buzzing of the Charmed Ones' voices. Cassandra smiled at her, warm and wide, her hands reaching to touch her, before she stopped herself, as she remembered where they were.

"We don't have much time, I don't know how long I can keep all of you here," Cassandra said, her face and tone growing serious. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know how to answer that question," Melinda said truthfully, wrapping her arms around herself. "It's so weird to be here, everything is so different, they are so different!"

"They are young," Cassandra noticed.

"They are cruel," Melinda corrected. Cassandra gave her a long look, but didn't say anything to counter her statement.

"Did they really think you tried to hurt Chris?" she asked the disbelief obvious in her voice.

"Yeah, but to be fair I did drop unannounced in the middle of a fight."

"Is that where the portal took you?"

"Yes, no… I mean, it's a long story," Melinda sighed heavily, her shoulders dropping. She suddenly felt very tired. "How did you find me, anyway?"

"Well the twins freaked out when they found the portal at the Hunting Zone, so they came running to find me," Cassandra said her look pointed. "I mean, you could've come to me first, before deciding to do something stupid."

"But we didn't."

"But you didn't… So, they showed up, worried out of their minds claiming you were lost. I tried to calm them down –"

"No offense, but I doubt it worked," Melinda cut her off.

"Yeah, I don't think it did. I told them I'd take care of it. I feared that you might've somehow ended up in limbo, so I came to the astral plane and lo and behold, I felt your presence in the quad," Cassandra said making an abstract motion with her hands.

"It was Wyatt's protection spell; it made Piper's spell backfire," Melinda explained.

"I told him he shouldn't use that stupid spell," Cassandra said angrily.

"Yeah, but without it you wouldn't have found me," Melinda reminded her. "Does everyone else know? That I'm gone?" She asked, her stomach turning at the thought of it. Cassandra shook her head.

"They didn't, when I went up to my room."

Melinda took a deep breath.

"Okay, let's try to keep it that way."

"If they ask I won't lie to them, Mel," Cassandra warned her.

"Just… try to stall them? I'm sure they will be more than happy to open a portal for me when we are back, they can't wait to get rid of me," Melinda said, refusing to acknowledge the hurt sipping into her voice. "I'll be back in an hour, two tops."

"Okay, but I can't promise you it'll work," Cassandra said with a rueful smile.

"Thank you," Melinda said, aching to reach out and squeeze her hand.

Cassandra looked like she was going to say something more, but then she flicked her hand again and the barrier between them and the sisters dissolved into nothingness.

"Finally!" Paige exclaimed, glaring towards them.

"Well, fun as it was to be here with you, I must bid you adieu," Cassandra said with a silly military salute. "It was so nice meeting you all again, honestly, but I must go. À bientôt," she said and throwing an air kiss towards them, she vanished.

"What the hell was that supposed to mean?" Phoebe asked, looking at Melinda.

Melinda had seconds to wonder how to best explain everything that Cassandra had said, before everything went into darkness.