Magic InkChapter 28
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The house where the O'Neill sisters and their Mother, Laura, lived was several miles from the strip mall where the bookstore was located. It didn't take long to arrive there with their Mom giving directions.
Annie and Sara were very nervous as we entered the house. Sean and I held their hands to reassure them that all would be well. In the living room, Stan was still frozen in the same position they had left him in last night. We passed him by for now, and went to the bedroom first. We could see where the door had been kicked open, as the door frame was broken out where the lock plate had been. There were still two large frogs in the room, and they both retreated to a corner, as we entered the room.
"Do you know how to remove the spell?" Dad asked the O'Neill sisters, who were not reassured by the question.
"Yes," Annie answered, as she took in a ragged breath.
"Do we need to?" Sara asked, hesitantly.
"Yes," Dad answered, smiling. "I need to talk to them and inform them exactly what will happen to them if they ever try anything like this again." On seeing the sisters' anxiety over this, he added, "Don't worry, they won't try anything," and Fragarach appeared in his hand in addition to the Bata staffs appearing in our Mothers' hands.
"Go ahead and remove the spell," he told them. Both sisters recited the removal spell and the frogs changed back to men instantly - two hungover and rather sorry looking men.
"What happened to us" the taller one asked.
"You picked the wrong girls' room to break into," Dad told them with out any preamble. Fragarach was vibrating in his hand and eager to taste blood again. It had been very disappointed to learn that the witch La Maris had been consumed by Dad's magic flames.
"But ... but we were... !" the shorter of the pair started, but stopped as Fragarach began vibrating harder.
"No Buts!" Dad told them sternly. "We are not the police and are not concerned about your rights. YOU have NO rights. YOU are guilty simply by being here.
"When you broke in here these girls, who are Apprentice Sorceresses, cast a spell that turned you into frogs. At my request, they have removed that spell so that you can hear your punishment.
"From this instant, if either of you ever again attempt to attack another girl or woman, no matter the circumstances, you will both be changed into andirons in a fireplace - a very active and well used fireplace. The fire will burn on your backs there for a full six years before you are released," Dad told them and then recited the powerful spell and made the glyph in the air that accompanied it. The flames appeared when he started the spell and frightened the two men more than Fragarach had.
"Now get out and never return here," Dad instructed them when he had finished and the flames had withdrawn. The two men quickly shambled out of the room and the house when released. We returned to the living room then.
"What do you want to do with him, Laura?" Dad asked when we all stood facing Stan.
"Do with him?" Laura asked, puzzled. "I want him out of my life. I don't ever want to see him again. You warned him - warned both of us - at the bookstore, and he still tries something like this. I've had reservations about having married him for the last few years. I want out. I don't need to stay with someone who beats me up. I want him gone and a divorce," she told us in no uncertain terms.
"Very well," Dad said, and used the word and sign that removed the spell on Stan. He in turn completed the action that he had just started when the spell froze him and turned him into a statue. His right foot came forward and he said, "I'll give... !!" before he stopped, shocked on seeing the eight of us standing there. He quickly looked at the floor where he had just been kicking his wife.
"What? How?" he demanded in shock.
"It's late on Saturday morning, Stan. You've been frozen into a wooden statue for the last twelve hours or so," Dad informed him.
"What are you people doing here? This is my house!" Stan demanded belligerently.
"This is not Your house!" Laura shouted at him angrily. "It's MY house."
"Don't give me any crap woman, or I'll beat you again like I did last night," Stan growled.
"Yes, try that! Please, try that!" Mothers Katie and Margie begged, as they stepped forward with their Bata sticks. "We would be glad to give you a little of what your wife suffered last night!" I had never seen my Moms so upset. Stan was startled enough to back up several steps, as he wasn't used to women that would challenge him.
"No, Stan wouldn't try that," Dad said, and returned Fragarach to his scabbard. "He is too much of a coward for that." Stan turned red at these words, and the anger returned, but he thought it better not to do anything when he looked at the two angry women directly in front of him.
"Stan, you have two hours to pack your things and move out of this house," Dad continued. "From then on if you come within one mile of Laura, you will be changed back into a wooden statue for the next ten years. It will make no difference if it's your fault, her fault, or no one's fault. You WILL be turned in to a wooden statue for ten years. The only exception will be for any appearances in court during your divorce proceedings.
"Also if you attempt to get anyone else to harm Laura or her daughters, you and they will automatically be turned into wooden statues. I would advise you to move to a different area of the country to avoid running into Laura after your divorce," Dad told him before renewing the wooden statue spell. "Your two hours have already started. Move!"
"I'm going to watch that bastard. I don't want him stealing me blind," Laura told us.
"We'll go with you!" Mother Katie told her, and all three women followed Stan into the bedroom.
"We need to pack too," Sara said. "Will you guys help us?"
"Sure," Sean agreed, and he and I followed the sisters back to their room. We spent the next hour or so helping them pack. They changed their minds several times about what to take. They also ran out of suitcases to put things in, as they only had one each. Sean and Sara went to the garage to get some heavy duty plastic bags to put things in and a few boxes. By the time we were finished, a very upset Stan had finished packing and left in his car. Laura still had an older car that she would now need to use for transportation. When she saw that her daughters were packing as well, she was very surprised.
"What are you doing?" she demanded, angrily.
"We're packing too," Sara told her Mother.
"Where do you think you are going?" she demanded.
"We're moving in with Gus and Sean, Mother," Annie told her.
"You aren't old enough. I won't give my permission!" Laura told them angrily.
"WE are moving, Mother. With or without YOUR permission. YOU will NOT stop us!" Annie told her mother quietly, but with 'Steel and Power' in her voice that had never been there before. "We intend to marry them as soon as we are old enough. Until then we'll just live with them."
"How can you do this to me?" Laura pleaded in tears.
"It's very simple, Mother!" Sara told her. "They have comparable Talents to ours. There are few people in this world with our level of Talent. We are meant for each other. If necessary, we will use a spell to cause you to forget that you ever had daughters. Do you want that?" Sara asked in a much quieter manner than she usually used.
"No! No, not that! Oh God, Michael! What have you done to me?" she wailed in misery.
"We will come to visit you, Mother," Annie told her, "but we are going to live with our future husbands. You may come to see us also, if you wish. We will arrange it with George at the bookstore."
We started loading the sisters things into the van after that. They kissed their Mother goodby then.
"We'll take good care of your daughters, Laura," Mother Katie told her before we left. It was a rather crowded van that pulled up to the bookstore shortly after that.
"Gus, go through the portal and get one of the carts to carry some of this," Dad told me. "Sean and I will bring the suitcases."
I hurried through the portal and retrieved one of the carts that we use for book delivery and brought it back to start loading the bags and boxes on it. We soon had everything moved to Statesboro, and Dad had parked the van back in its regular place. He returned the keys to George and thanked him for the use of the van. Annie and Sara had also spoken to George about their Mother using the portal if she came in. We all returned home after that.
Sean and I spent the rest of the afternoon helping our now permanent girlfriends move into our rooms. We moved and consolidated our things so that the women would have adequate space for their things. Compared to our sisters, who loved lots of clothes, they seemed to have a lot fewer clothes. Our Moms had also noticed this and promised to take them shopping - later. It was dinner time that surprised the O'Neill sisters.
"We'll be going down to dinner in a bit," I told Annie. "You'll need to get ready."
"Ready!?" she asked in surprise.
"Yes, now that we are older, we are expected to dress for dinner. When we were younger, it wasn't necessary, but now that we have become young adults, to quote our Mothers, 'you are expected to dress formally or at least semi-formally for dinner'. It will probably be in the main dining room tonight," I explained.
"But what should I wear?" Annie asked, perplexed.
"Your best Sunday church dress will be okay for now," I told her. "We should probably shower again, also," I added.
"Yes, I'm a little sweaty from all of the moving. Don't you have air conditioning? It seems very warm here for early May," Annie told me.
"It's a lot warmer in Statesboro than in Denver. I can cool down the room if you like," I told her, and used the spell to change the air in the room. Annie seemed confused for a few seconds, then smiled.
"I know how you did that," she said in amazement. "But how do I know that?"
"It's one of the spells the 'Book of Dreams' taught you. There is a lot of information from the book that you will become aware of when you need to use it. The air spell is one of the most often used spells, both in the summer and the winter," I told her, as we left for the bathroom. We arrived there just as Sean and Sara did.
"I think we ladies should shower first, by ourselves," Sara told us. "It takes too long when we shower with you guys because you enjoy it too much."
"And you don't?" Sean asked with a big grin.
"Yes, I do. That's why it takes so long," Sara told him with a wink, a smile, and a giggle. The ladies went in to shower first while we waited in our study room.
"Did you wear each other out last night?" Sean asked, as this was the first time we had been alone since last night before the sisters arrived.
"If you must know, yes," I told him. "Annie and I made love three times. God, it was fantastic!" I finished.
"Yes, Sara is pretty fantastic, too," Sean admitted, and had a huge smile on his face. "We had sex until we both passed out, but she was a bit tender when we got up," Sean added.
"Yes, I know. Annie was a bit tender also," I admitted, and fell silent. I didn't want to discuss what we had done even with my brother, and we had always talked about everything that we had done. This was still too personal to talk about yet.
The sisters came out of the bathroom giggling like young girls, and when they looked at us, it made them giggle even more. They returned to our rooms to dress while Sean and I went in to shower.
"What was that about?" Sean asked, when we were alone in the bathroom.
"I don't know. Our sisters would do the same thing, and I never figured them out either. It must be a girl thing," I told him. After showering, we all dressed and went down to the dining room. Our sisters and their boyfriends were just arriving when we got downstairs. Our sisters all had their very best dresses on. Ed and Bill were wearing slacks and sports coats; the same as Sean and I were.
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We had just finished taking our seats and Lady Caoilinn had signaled for the first dish to be served when everything was interrupted by a long, loud, high pitched, agonizing scream that was suddenly cut off. I immediately sent out my Magical senses to determine what had happened. I didn't like what I found. "What on Earth was that?" Lady Caoilinn demanded in the sudden silence that followed the scream being cut off. Captain Sean Og was already on his feet and calling for the guardsmen,...
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I awoke the next morning a very satisfied and rested kitty. I instantly knew that it was morning even with no windows to see out or the fresh air of dawn to sniff. The remains of last night's meal, about twenty pounds of meat, were still there and I wolfed it down in short order before starting to clean my muzzle and whiskers, which I had neglected to do last night due to tiredness. Following cleaning up, some of last night's meal was anxious to depart, and I deposited my cat scat in the...
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Grace takes over the narrative: Margaret O’Connell and her Husband returned that evening after supper. As promised, she brought the wedding dress and a box of books, but she also brought two lamps with her. “These are Magic Powered lamps, which don’t require fuel or electricity to work. All that you need to do is activate the spell in them with your Talent, and then you can adjust the intensity of the lamp to the level that you require,” she told Owen and me, before demonstrating how to do...
It was just after 4:00 that afternoon when the radio broke the silence. "Attention all O'Connell teams! We have just received word from the Intelligence Corp that the Persians have landed a short distance down river from Frankfurt. Keep a sharp lookout for their arrival. That's all for now," Grandfather Mark finished. Pat and I used the small pair of binoculars that we had been issued to search the area west of the city, but could only make out the top masts of several ships down the...
On arriving at the Hall for the evening meal, we were surprised to see a larger table set up and that several other guests were already there for the meal. The current conversations all stopped when we entered the Hall. "These are my house guests," Lady Feidhelm told the others. "The young man is Master Kellen O'Connell and the young ladies are the Mac Sweeney Sisters, Airmid and Almha, his Apprentices," she finished. "Kellen, these are my guests for the evening meal: Master Murchadh...
We materialized in the Duke's apartment on the second floor of the Manor house. The lamps there ran on Magic and they were lit. There was a fire in the large fireplace, making it much cheerier than the cell that we had just left. Of course the four girls couldn't see any of this, but they could feel the increased warmth. A large sumptuous dinner had been set out on the large table in the dining area here. It appeared that the Duke and Duchess had been interrupted as they prepared to have...
Mark's Narrative Continues: We didn't see Seamus or most of his people for ten days following dinner that night. Meagan and Maureen did appear for dinner a couple of times during that period, and they borrowed Dymphna for a time as Seamus and Carl had taken Dealla and Cessair with them. Having three Mages in the Ohio country put a strain on our one remaining Mage, Coleen, who was rather busy with two locations to take care of. Things on this side of the Ohio River had not slowed down or...
June slipped into July, and we still hadn't found time to return to the Other Reality to visit the girls still there, and to see how they and the Daughters they were carrying were doing. We had planned on returning several times, but every time that we had, something had come up to prevent us from leaving. Aside from the normal work in the fields on the growing crops, and our work in the printing plant, several emergencies had developed to prevent us from leaving. The first was one...
Because of our late start, there was no way that we could make the fifty kilometers to Gray before dark. We passed through the hamlet of Belleauve that afternoon, and had neared Mirebeau-sur-Beze before deciding to stop for the night. We looked for, and found, a wooded area with a pond nearby, at the edge of an open field. Pat and I had unsaddled our riding horses, unhitched the cart team, and removed their harnesses before we took them out to the pond for a drink. The women were preparing...
Monday started a week of discoveries and amazement for our future wives. While Pat and I hit the books, as the old saying goes, on Monday morning, our Sisters and female Cousins took our girlfriends shopping in Statesboro. They went on the small bus that makes regular trips to town several times a day so that our people can shop or run other errands. The first shock was the bus itself. It's one of the small types of buses that can carry 25 or so passengers, like those used by many churches...
Characters introduced in this chapter: Shannon O'Connell (Shan) Sheena's twin, one of Mike's future wives, 5'-4" tall, 104 pounds, 34C-21-30, 15 years old, long flaming red hair, deep green eyes, some freckles, and terribly cute Sheena O'Connell (She) Shannon's twin, one of Pat's future wives, 5'-4" tall, 104 pounds, 34C-21-30, 15 years old, long flaming red hair, deep green eyes, some freckles, and terribly cute Clare O'Toole Cathleen's twin, one of Mike's future wives,...
At home on Monday we all relaxed for a while except for the need to weed the fields and some maintenance on the new Tractor. Sean and I took Annie and Sara out to show them how to weed with Magic. They were surprised that they knew the spell, and at how easy it was to weed the large fields with Magic. Later our Moms took them out and introduced them to the herbal garden and weeding by hand because many of the herbs and other things growing there would be considered weeds by the Magic spell,...
"Shannon, what are you doing?" Savannah demanded, standing in the hall behind us. Shannon's head came up off my chest, and she turned toward her Sister in a more determined way than I had seen before. "It's all right, Savannah. He will take us with him and will marry both of us," she told her Sister. Savannah gasped in surprise. "Really? Both of us? Are you sure?" she asked in a doubtful voice. "I told Shannon that I would marry both of you. I will be glad to have both of you as...
Annie and I spent a troubled night with thoughts of Weres waking us from time to time, as I was sure others in our family did. We had all heard tales about them, but had always assumed that they were just that - tales, and not anything real. We were about to discover if they were real or not. Annie and I were up early for breakfast and were joined by Sean and Sara, who were up equally early. After breakfast there wasn’t anything to do at our houses, so we went over to our parents’ house to...
Mark resumes the Narrative: I didn't have a chance to return to the barracks room until sometime later. I had checked with all of the Platoon Leaders and the remaining leaders of Olive Hill. I had also created the permanent Portal to Hickory Hill to get supplies in here. Wolf came over to me as I entered the room. He had very hesitantly left the girl that he had rescued, who was asleep on one of the bunks. "I'm sorry that I let you down, Mark, but I ... I just couldn't leave Saoirse....
The sun was already up when we rose the next morning. It was dry and fairly warm in our defensive shell, and the fire that the Eternal Flame had left was still burning. While the women started on breakfast, Pat and I fed the horses. "We are going to take the horses for a drink," I told the women, as we prepared to move the horses through the defensive shell and our wards. They didn't like this, and were always skittish when we did it. "Breakfast will be ready in a bit," Shannon called...
The following Monday, the 4th of September, was Labor Day, and on Tuesday, the 5th, we all started back with our home-school studies. Pat and I were now Seniors in high school. Thanks to the work done by the 'Book of Dreams', Shannon and Sheena were now in their Junior year of high school, while Clare and Cathleen had started their Sophomore year. Gretchen and Petra, because of their late start with the 'Book of Dreams' were only on eighth grade work at present, but were advancing rapidly...
It was July before more checks showed up. It was Wednesday, the 13th, to be exact. On Thursday, the 14th, we returned to Nassau to deposit the latest checks and some excess funds from our parents' regular bank account in Georgia. Our parents were maintaining a large reserve of cash on hand in their house now. They had built it up over the last eleven months. This deposit brought them to over 225 million dollars in the two Nassau banks. It would appear that we weren't the only ones moving...
Mankato's (Robert's) awakening: I awoke next to the woman who had rescued me. From the size of the Talent that I could feel and the amount of Magic energy surrounding her, one would assume that she was a woman of large proportions and stature. In fact, the woman next to me was short with large breasts and a slim but very female figure. In her sleep, her breasts rose and fell rhythmically, and I watched them joyfully for a considerable period of time. At last she awoke and sat up. "How...
Characters introduced in the next two chapters: Lady Caoilinn O'Doherty Master Cahir's Wife, the current owner of Glenveagh Castle, 5'-7" tall, 135 pounds, 36B-24-37, 32 years old, dark blond hair, gray eyes Master Cahir Imprisoned the Mac Sweeney sisters, Lady Caoilinn Husband, 5'-7" tall, 175 pounds, 41 years old, Long brown hair and brown eyes Donough Servant, 6'-2" tall, 255 pounds, 27 years old black hair, blue eyes Sean Og O'Doherty Captain of Guards, Lady Caoilinn's...
I was awakened by Sean's voice as he pounded on our bedroom door a couple of weeks later. "Gus, Gus! Wake up!" he was shouting. I sat up and that was when the knowledge hit me. It was like someone had suddenly opened a door and all of the Magical knowledge that I had been absorbing for the last five weeks plus was suddenly right there in my mind - whole and in exacting detail. I just sat there stunned at the magnitude of it all for several seconds. I was brought back to reality by...
I hated to interrupt the Sisters' fun, but it was getting late in the day, and we needed to come to a consensus on what was to be done. "Would you ladies like to leave here with me?" I asked when they took a little break after exploring the room. "Leave?" they both thought in my mind. "Yes, go somewhere else with me." "We had never considered that we could go somewhere else!" Airmid said in surprise. "How would we do that?" Almha asked. "I can use my Magic to transfer us to...
We awoke fairly early the next morning, as the Sisters wanted to see this new castle. I was worried about what Ken had said, and that they would be disappointed. We quickly dressed in our Wizard's robes, but I didn't know if Ken and the O'Hallinan Sisters were up yet. "Ken could still be asleep," I told my women, who were ready to leave for his apartment. "No, they are awake and up," Airmid told me, confidently. "Are you sure?" I asked wondering how she could know that. "Yes, we...
New characters introduced in the next two chapters: Gretchen Servant, Mikes bed mate, 5'-5" tall, 115 pounds, 34B-22-32, 17 years old, long black hair, blue eyes, a sweet but rather plain looking girl "I'll cover the differences first, as they are marked," Grandfather told us after he had finished his meal, and we all had some more of the excellent wine. "They will allow you to understand the similarities better. Also please realize that all of these events have been caused by the...
Margie resumes the Narrative: Romero New York hoodlum, 5’-8’’ tall, 165 pounds, 36 year old, black hair, brown eyes We moved Mr. Franklin’s concrete mixer, a steam powered Ransome 7 batch mixer with an elevating charging hopper attached to the site of the first house on Monday, the 25th of March. Mr. Franklin was concerned as the mixer weighed some 8,000 pounds, but it really wasn’t any challenge for me at all. My Ancestors had moved much heavier loads longer distances with no trouble. I...
Even before the others had started dinner in the cafeteria, the flashing lights and sirens had appeared outside the defensive shell. They had been preceded by, and were followed by, helicopters of various police and news organizations. Those arriving included: the Fairfax County Sheriff's department, the Virginia State Police, the FBI, and others including local radio and television news reporters. There was a multitude of details to be taken care of before our family would be able to join...