Chapter 4

Characters introduced in this chapter:

Laura

Annie and Sara's Mother, Stan's wife, 5'-6" tall, 130 pounds, 36C-25-36, 34 years old, Chestnut brown hair, hazel eyes

Sunday morning, the 20th of April, we all went into town for church, and our Moms and sisters sang in the choir. Actually, they took over the choir, as the others there couldn't do more than sing backup for them. Each set of twins took the lead for a hymn, so that they all had the lead at least once, and sang backup on the rest. They all sang lead together on the last hymn. Even though the old minister had retired, his replacement was just as taken by our Mothers' and Sisters' voices as his predecessor had been.

After church, we all had a big family lunch at our parents' house. There was food, and ale, but the ale was only in small quantities for all of us under eighteen which was most of us. There was also singing. Our Mothers brought out their Irish harps, and the afternoon was filled with songs and a few traditional Irish dances.

While the others were all quite happy and having a good time, Sean and I were much more reserved. We were still thinking about what our Mothers had said yesterday about grandchildren. We wondered if our sisters were as aware of their desires as we had become. They certainly didn't seem to be worried about it presently as happy and carefree as they seemed to be.

The rest of the week was filled with the usual: school, work on the fields, maintenance on the tractor, and work at the printing plant. Saturday morning we went to work in the printing plant with a mixture of joy and dread. Joy at seeing the O'Neill sisters again, and dread at what they would want to do. Our real problem was that while we desperately wanted to have sex with them, we were worried about what the outcome of that sex would be.

As it turned out, Saturday only brought relief and distress. Distress that the sisters didn't show up, but relief at not having to worry about getting them pregnant. It was, however, the distress that was occupying our minds. What could have happened to prevent them from coming again this week? Could something have happened to them? Were they all right? Later that afternoon, we even went to the Denver bookstore, but George hadn't seen them all week either.

We also realized that we should have given them our e-mail address and gotten theirs so we could communicate, but we hadn't. No one in our family was on any of the social networks that were still so prevalent and popular especially with young people. We had never even asked if they were on one, but we tended to doubt it. Even our Dad no longer had a site for his books. Worse yet, we had never even asked for their phone number. What had we been thinking, or in this case not thinking? We were left to worry all of the following week.

Consequently, it was quite a shock to be awakened very early the following Saturday morning, the 3rd of May, by the voices of two screaming females wanting help.

"Help, Help! Gus! Sean! Help us, please!" I heard. It was coming from downstairs and the sound was getting closer. I was out of bed like a shot, but did glance at the clock, and notice that it was 2:30 in the morning. What in the world could be going on?

Sean and Dad reached the hall right after I did, and we met the O'Neill sisters near the top of the stairs. They were frantic and crying; scared half out of their wits. Their hair was a mess, and their clothing was torn. Annie came into my arms, and just cried her eyes out, while Sean was comforting Sara. Annie shook in fear and her breathing was very ragged. Her body quivered and shook for several minutes while I tried to calm her down.

"Annie! Annie, easy. It will be all right," I told her repeatedly. "You're here now. You're safe, and we'll deal with whatever the problem is."

"They ... they came ... and ... and we..." Annie was incoherent, and I had no idea what the problem was or how they had gotten here.

"Easy, calm down!" Dad told all of us, and used a spell to calm all of us down. "Now tell us what is wrong, girls," he told them. Annie and Sara were still having trouble getting their breathing under control, and it took them a little time before they could speak. Their shaking had subsided but had not stopped entirely. After they had taken several long shuddering breathes, the sisters began speaking.

"Stan came home drunk tonight. We heard him from our room," Sara told us.

"There was a very loud argument between our Mom and Stan," Annie managed to get out. "Then we heard her scream, and we were very afraid," she continued.

"It was right after this that we heard someone at our bedroom door. We've been locking it every night because we didn't want Stan to be able to just walk in, especially when... !" Sara trailed off and didn't finish.

"Yes, that's all right. What happened next?" Dad asked calmly.

"When the door wouldn't open, they hit it and broke it in! Then the two older men rushed into our room. We were really scared by then," Annie whimpered and started shaking again. I leaned down to kiss her and rubbed her back some more to reassure her that she was safe here. She took several long ragged breaths.

"They were drunk just like Stan, but quickly came over to either side of our bed and grabbed us," Sara managed to get out before she buried her face in Sean's shoulder, unable to continue.

"Calm down. You're safe here," Dad reassured them. Our Moms were out in the hall by now and had very determined looks on their faces.

"Where are these men?" Mother Katie demanded sternly.

"They're still in our bedroom," Annie told her before taking in a long shuddering breathe. "We remembered the spell for changing things and changed them into frogs. It was the only thing we could think of," she managed to tell us before she broke down in tears again.

"What happened next?" Mother Margie asked, quietly.

"We ran out of the room. We didn't want to be in there with them even when they were frogs," Sara told us. "When we got to the living room, we saw that Stan had beaten up our mother, who was on the floor and he was kicking her," she continued.

"Stan heard us and turned in our direction," Annie told us then. "He was really mad, and we were afraid of what he would do now that his plans weren't working out. That was when we remembered what your Father had told Stan in the bookstore," Annie continued, grimly.

"The spell that he had used came into our minds along with the word and sign that activated it. We both spoke the word and made the sign in the air. Stan froze in place and turned into a wooden statue," Sara managed to get out as Sean held her tightly and kissed her neck.

"How did you manage to get here?" Dad asked, quietly.

"We went to check on our Mom after Stan was frozen," Annie told us. "He had beaten her, and she was only semi-conscious. We had to get out of there, and the transport spell came to us. We transferred to the bookstore with our Mom. We wanted to get here. We thought we would be safe here," Annie finished with a great sigh, as I held her in my arms and kissed her neck.

"Where is your Mother now, Dear?" Mother Katie asked, concerned.

"We got her as far as your printing plant. We couldn't carry her any farther. We came here to get help," Sara told us.

"We set off the alarm in the bookstore too!" Annie added. "We came out in the Magic book section and not the portal booth."

"Let's go to the printing plant and have a look at your Mother. I'll deal with the alarm at the bookstore," Dad told us.

"We all need to put on some clothes," Mother Margie told us. "You boys get changed, and we'll take the girls with us and find something for them to wear. Let's move quickly." We all got into some regular clothes and then hurried down to the portal to the printing plant.

The O'Neill sisters' Mother lay on the floor there. Her face was badly bruised and there was a cut on her forehead, but it had stopped bleeding. Her night gown covered the rest of her injuries, although we could see that she had a broken arm and a fine large pair of breasts.

"Take care of their Mother," Dad told our Moms, who had brought a blanket with them. "I'll deal with the alarm system in the bookstore. You boys give your Mothers a hand." He disappeared through the portal then leaving us to care for Mrs. O'Neill.

"We'll deal with their Mother," Mother Katie told us. "You boys keep those girls calm while we take care of her."

"Yes, ma'am," Sean and I answered and took our respective girlfriends in our arms. Annie clung to me so tightly I was afraid that she would break a bone or tear a muscle. I kissed her face and whispered to her.

"It's going to be all right," I kept repeating and added, "Our Moms are very good at fixing people up. They had all of us to practice on when we were younger."

Our Moms had been working on Mrs. O'Neill during this. I had felt the spells they had used to heal her after drawing a circle on the floor and inscribing a pentagon inside it. I knew that they had repaired her broken arm, the cut on her forehead, a bruised kidney and two cracked ribs. The spells and the Magic involved were all familiar to me.

Mother Margie went over to the Herbal store and returned with several kinds of salves which they also applied to Mrs. O'Neill before wrapping the blanket around her. They had also used a spell to keep her asleep and thus quiet while they worked.

"All right, we'll need both of you boys to help us get her home. We'll put her and the girls in the bedroom at the end of the hall," Mother Katie told us, and I felt Annie stiffen at this news.

Sean and I went over to help our Moms get the woman on her feet. Then we each took one side, and supporting her we all proceeded to our house through the portal. By the time we had her up to the second floor at our house, Dad had rejoined us.

"Is everything all right at the bookstore?" Mother Margie asked.

"Oh yes," Dad answered with a smile. "The alarm was still sounding when I got there. There was also a cat in the adjacent alley that had just caught a mouse. I simple moved her, mouse and all, into the store in front of the counter. The police and George arrived right after that, and saw the cat as soon as they opened the front door.

'Case solved' I heard one of the police say.

'How did that cat get in here?' George asked.

'That's your problem, ' the police answered. I left then," Dad finished.

"Put her on the left bed," Mother Katie instructed us. "You girls can share the bed on the right."

"NO, Mother O'Connell!" Annie said quietly. "We will share the beds of Gus and Sean." Even though she spoke quietly there was steel and 'The Power' in her voice, and it was not to be ignored. Our Mothers stared at both girls for a few seconds in confusion and surprise.

"All right," Mother Margie answered, "if you feel that strongly about it. Your Mother will be fine here by herself for the rest of the night."

"Yes, we'll go to your house in the morning after the store in Denver is open. Those still at your house will wait until then," Dad told us with a smile, as he realized just how much power Annie had used in her simple statement. We all left for our separate bedrooms then.

Once we were in my room, I closed and locked the door. I then instantly chanted the privacy spell, as I didn't want anyone else to know what was going on in here. Annie came into my arms and cried, sobbed, and shook for a time. I held her to me. She was so soft, warm, and scared. I kissed her hair and rubbed her back to reassure her, but was very grateful to just be holding her whole and unharmed. I wasn't sure what I would have done if those men had harmed her. After a time, her tears subsided. We undressed and got in bed. Annie came back into my arms again.

"I was so afraid when those men broke into our room," she whispered. "I knew what they wanted, and I didn't want them in me. I didn't want one of them to be my first!" she whispered in tears.

"I want you to be my first, Gus. I want you to have me. I want you to be the only one to ever have me!" she whispered all chocked up.