Then...
Mel took the other woman's hand and studied her ring finger. "This is a very old, powerful and severe curse that you carry. The fact that you knew about it before you enacted it makes you foolish. The fact that you don't want to tell my brother about it makes you stupid."
"There's only one way for the curse to be broken," Rae said, "and it might be stupid to stand here and watch myself die but better me than Wyatt. I just want to know if anything can be done to keep it under wraps. I may not have known your brother long but I know enough that he'll keep whatever promise he's made and I can't have him come looking for me."
"I might have a way," Melinda moved over to a sitting area and poured a cup of tea, handing it to her guest. "It's just going to require...some strategic maneuvering."
Now...
The hood of her sweater cloaked her face from prying eyes and she stuffed her fists into the pockets of her leather motorcycle jacket, trying to keep her fingers from fidgeting. Her five inch black suede ankle booties clacked along the paved road as she passed through a bad part of town on her way to her destination. Her feet picked up the pace when she thought she heard an odd noise and as the figure rounded the corner and made it to her destination, she came face to face with her ladies in waiting.
Rae dropped her hood and was greeted with ready hands; Melinda's wasting no time in marking Rae with sigils as Bianca prepared the circle for the ritual. "Let it begin," their Queen commanded.
"What would Mel be doing with Melinda Warren's ashes?" Wyatt demanded.
"Considering she started our family line and is one of the more powerful witches ever born, I think it's pretty simple to figure out what she's using them for," Chris griped.
Wyatt cursed and took a sip of his water, wiping his mouth on the back of his arm. "She's going to use them to channel her power for some kind of ritual."
"Right, but what kind of ritual and for what? I have to assume that whatever it is Mel is doing, Bianca is in league with her and when you follow the trail it all leads back to-"
"-Rae. But what the hell does Rae have to do with the ashes Mel got her hands on?"
"Do I really have to spell it out to you? You told me about how the book lead you to the Lost Love spell and how you discovered that your past lives were King Arthur and Lady Guinevere."
"Got that," Wyatt sniped back. "Relived it, too."
"Am I the only Halliwell who passed Theory on Creation of Magic?"
"No, you're just the only one who took the time to read all of the books and sources posted in the footnotes," the blond retorted.
"We all know that magic was unlimited and flourished until the Hollow was created and nearly destroyed all of it until it was captured in a box and entrusted to the Guardians of the Hollow," Chris explained. "But though it destroyed so much of what magic existed, some survived and lived on. That was 3,500 years ago, and it wasn't until a little more than 300 years ago that an innately magical child was conceived and born on old Hallow's Eve."
"Melinda Warren," Wyatt interrupted.
"And before Melinda Warren was born, who is the center of the most magical story you've ever heard," Chris prompted.
Wyatt realized what his brother was getting at. "King Arthur, born from magic, delivered from death by magic and protected through out his reign by the most legendary wizard ever; Merlin."
"And since you're the reincarnation of King Arthur and souls tend to be reborn into the same families-"
"-It's more than possible that Melinda Warren descended from King Arthur-"
"-But what does that have to do with Mel obtaining the ashes," Chris posed this question. "Let me tell you."
Bianca finished the circle and took her place inside as Mel finished the last sigil over Rae's left palm and placing it over her heart.
"Remember," Mel lead her Queen to a seat in the middle of the circle and held Rae's right palm in her hand, "the ritual will not be complete until the sun rises over the horizon. Our task will require many hours of difficult labor. We can't risk being distracted."
"You found all of this at Magic School?" Wyatt was in awe of the research his little brother had conducted. He respected Chris's ability to find answers to the hardest questions and also knew that he himself did not possess that kind of unflinching determination.
"No, unfortunately I had to go to a higher source," his brother scratched his head as he grimaced. "The library had some great material about the legend of Arthur and the real history of Camelot but the book I wanted is very powerful; almost as much as the Book of Shadows."
"You went to the Elders, didn't you?"
"Not exactly," Chris winced. "I mean, I went up there, but I didn't exactly tell anyone what I wanted."
"Wait a minute," Wyatt held up a hand, "are you telling me that my little brother committed grand larceny from the Elders?"
"Uh, well...if I'm right then the book is a family tome and belongs to us anyway, so it's not technically theft," Chris reasoned.
Wyatt laughed and covered his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief. "What exactly is this book?"
Chris reached into his bag and handed a large, leather bound book to his brother. "It's your journal; it's Arthur's journal."
Covered in sigils, Rae sat in the center of the circle as smoke rose around her. Mel and Bianca held hands as they chanted and the first sign that the night sky was making the morning welcome. In just an hour the sun would rise and there work for the day would be done. They might not be able to stop the curse, but they could sure as hell make sure that it would never make it's way to Wyatt. As long as everything stayed on course, he would never have to know.
"She knows about this, doesn't she," Wyatt whispered. "And Mel;Bianca." He stood, somber and then all of a sudden he threw a telekinetic blast and sent an old dresser flying into the wall, exploding into bits and pieces. Pacing, he finally turned to his brother and asked, "Why are they doing this to me?"
"If it's true, and you and Rae really are cursed, I can only assume she means to protect you. Why she let you get involved with her in the first place I really don't know."
"We're soul mates. We'll always be drawn to each other. And now she's out there with our sister and your wife, doing God know's what with Melinda Warren's ashes!"
"I know what they're doing," Chris told him, "and it works in our favor, as long as we can tap into their power and make some small adjustments. Are you up to it?"
They continued to chant as the first signs of dawn spread across the sky when Melinda noticed a shift in their energy. "Keep chanting," she yelled, even as the wind picked up speed.
Unbeknownst to them, Wyatt and Chris stood in the attic, chanting as well. Arthur's journal laid on the altar, open as they read from it in an ancient language from the times of old magic. A single candle flickered as Chris used the athame to first cut his finger, and then Wyatt's; dropping beads of blood into the bowl and then wax from the flame.
Panic set in as the three women realized something was tampering with their spell. Rae looked down to the tattoo located on her wrist and running down to her ring finger and noticed it rescinding back down to the knuckle.
"Something's not right," the redhead yelled over the wind.
"We have to keep going or the curse will continue to advance," Melinda replied. Just then, Bianca began chanting out of sync with the group.
"What's happening," Rae cried.
"Someone is high-jacking the spell," Mel cried and right then Bianca broke hold from the circle and a burst of energy was released just as the sun came up.
Wyatt screamed as his flesh began to burn, marking his flesh with a tattoo on his ring finger. Chris grabbed his brothers hand and compared the mark to the one in Arthur's journal. "That's it," he spoke. "We did it. We've successfully slowed down Rae's curse by binding it to you as well. It will slow the speed of it until we can figure out a way to cure it."
"And how do we do that?"
"Well, we could do this quietly or we can do this in a way that completely humiliates Melinda and Bianca as payback for lying to us."
"Tell me more," Wyatt was intrigued.
Chris smiled before yelling, "Family meeting!" His voice echoed in his family member's heads and slowly but surely white lighters, cupids and witches began appearing in the attic. "This is gonna be good," Chris smirked.