Chapter 3

"Whatever do you mean?" asked Olive, staring at the new stone in Eric's sword. "How could they possibly not know that they had another child?"

"It would seem that they were bored of waiting for me to assimilate all of Eriths knowledge, so they decided to er... how shall I put this? Pass the time in a slightly more exciting way?" Eric replied with an embarrassed grin. "Brianna was pregnant for about two minutes but Yeneya decided not to join her growing body, choosing to come here instead once she realised that the stone was headed this way."

"Eric, you must send Yeneya and the stone back to us immediately. You have no idea how dangerous it is for her to be there. She is a raw magical entity, untrained and untested, a complete unknown. Your world is no place for her to grow up. She needs tutoring and guidance or she could cause all sorts of problems in your world." Erith said to him "If she sees a person she likes, she could take them over. Literally steal their body and eject the soul unless she is trained. It was different for you, you were placed inside that body before it was even a few hours old. There was no consciousness to replace, you were simply there first. If Yeneya were to do that to a living, breathing being, it would be like murdering them and it would darken her spirit and her magic beyond measure. She can only properly enter a body with our help and it must be one either on its deathbed or an unborn child. You must send her back now."

"She is not going to like that you know. I can tell that she loves me and I don't want to hurt her."

"Eric, she is too young to know what she wants. We will explain the necessity of it to her as she grows but she must come back to the realm of the Fey. NOW!" Brianna told him.

"Ok, I will send her back to you but please look after her won't you?"

"Of course, she is our child, " Erith told him.

Eric once again placed his hand over the crystal in his sword and spoke in an arcane tongue. Nothing happened. He tried again, still with no success.

"I can't do it, she won't leave," Eric told Brianna and Erith. "What should I do?"

"If she will not return then there is nothing to be done for now, she is at least as powerful as you and has joined with the inherent magic in the crystal. She also appears to be quite stubborn. You will have to persuade her that the proper course is for her to return to us." With that final comment, Erith was gone.

"Well Yeneya, that has to be an all time record for pissing your parents off. Five minutes old and already defying them!" Eric said to the sword with a smile.

Olive however was not smiling. "Eric, this is very serious. If someone here on Earth were to gain possession of that crystal with an unformed Fey in it, they could warp her psyche into whatever shape they wanted. Instead of a force for good, promoting balance within the realms of the Fey, she could become the greatest dark warrior of all time. You must protect her and keep her safe, providing love and comfort while her trust in you builds. For the sake of her future you must make her either want to return to the Fey of her own free will, or else to never want to be apart from you. The consequences of losing her to another just don't bare thinking about."

"This is a bit confusing Nan. I don't understand how a sprit like her could just decide to join me instead of going to her mother. Why would she do this?"

"You need to understand that things in the Realm of the Fey don't work like they do here. Fey children exist as 'spirits' as you called them for a very long time before they decide to join with a body. They don't really mature in their ethereal form even though they can be thousands of years old. They are like children but when the time comes and they wish to experience more, they will look for a newly conceived baby to inhabit. I would imagine that if you could meet Yeneya in her real form, she would be like an eight or nine year old. She is going to take a fair bit of looking after. She will be wilful, and mischievous but the most dangerous part of her make up will be her complete trust. She will trust the first person to show her kindness and it could take years to make her see if it had been misplaced. Do you seen now why you must never show her anything but love and kindness?"

Eric was thoughtful for a couple of minutes. "I think so." He replied. "If she doesn't trust me she could cause problems."

"That's not the half of it Eric. Can you imagine what would happen if someone with less than honourable intentions gained her trust first? Taught her that violence and cruelty were the way forward? As I said, the consequences don't bare thinking about. Anyway, that will have to be a problem for another time. We need to get you sorted out first."

Eric looked at her with more than a little apprehension, "What do you mean Nan? I thought you said this was all over."

"Relax Eric, it is like you said earlier, you need new clothes and there are a couple of other things you need to consider. Like how to explain your miraculous change to all that know you."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that, I will have to disguise myself a bit. Hmm. If I wear baggy clothes I can probably pad them with some of my old shirts to make it look like I am still fat," he said.

Olive chuckled. "Eric, Eric, Eric. You don't get it do you? You are probably the most magical being on the planet right now. You don't need a disguise, you need a glamour."

"A what? That sounds a bit girly, do I have to do glamour stuff?"

"Not glamour stuff, a glamour. It's a type of spell, an illusion, but one that modifies your appearance and makes people see what you want them to see. Try it now, see if you can make your hair change from brown to blonde."

"How do I do that?" Eric asked with a look of confusion on his face.

"Since I can't do it myself, I am not too sure of the specifics. From what I understand it is instinctive, you just sort of will things to happen and the magic takes care of the details"

Eric concentrated hard. "Any change?" he asked.

"No, none."

"Oh for heavens sake, I am supposedly the most magical person alive and I can't even do a simple little thing like this. All I want is for my hair to change colour from brown to blonde."

"Good heavens. You did it! But I don't think that is a glamour, I think you actually changed the colour of your hair. Hold still." Olive reached over and plucked a single hair from his head. It stayed blonde.

"Yes, you have definitely changed the colour. Change it back to brown again now."

Eric thought to himself, "I want my old colour back," and it changed immediately. He then thought to himself, "I want my hair to look blonde," and it changed again.

"You almost had it there," said his Nan. "It changed to brown but it has gone back to blonde again now."

"I know, but pluck another will you?"

"Oh well done," Olive said as the hair she pulled changed back to brown. "You managed a glamour. How did you do it?"

"I think I just thought I wanted it to LOOK like it was blonde instead of thinking I want to BE blonde."

"Well, that's excellent. Why don't you try to see if you can look like you did yesterday? Don't forget to add some bruises and cuts. No doubt word will have spread about your adventures in the park last night and people will expect to see you a bit battered."

With a thought, Eric looked like he had when he arrived home the previous evening, complete with cuts, bruises, and scrapes.

"I am really tempted to get rid of the bruises. I would love to see their faces when they realise that they didn't actually hurt me."

"But Eric, they did hurt you, they left you lying on the ground covered in blood and muck. It will cause too many people to ask awkward questions if you show up to school totally unscathed. You can accelerate your apparent healing if you like, by Wednesday you could be bruise free. That won't worry people; it will just impress them slightly."

"Oh Nan, you spoil all my fun," Eric said with a grin.

"I think you are going to be having enough fun as it is without me adding to it. Whilst we are on the subject of your appearance, you will need to slowly alter your glamour over the next few weeks. I think you should look as though you are losing between twelve and fourteen pounds per week, that is achievable with the correct diet and exercise and won't draw unwanted attention to you. You will also need to increase your height a bit each day, only a quarter of an inch or so. Something that is not too noticeable."

"This sucks, I finally look like I have always wanted and I can't show anyone!"

"Eric, you have been overweight all of your life, another couple of weeks is not going to hurt."

"Yeah, I know Nan, but for the last few years I have tried everything to get fit and lose the weight. Now I am finally there..."

"Eric, you were unable to lose weight for a very good reason. If you didn't have all of that fat to burn you would not have been able to complete the transformation. Something like that takes a huge amount of energy so your body had to have plenty in reserve."

"Yeah but if I had been able to lose weight, I could have been halfway to this shape so it wouldn't have used as much energy. I'm a little confused"

"That's a valid point Eric but it just doesn't work that way. Anyway, its all over now so you can stop worrying about it."

Eric knew it was pointless to press his Nan on a subject when she used that tone so he decided to take her advice and just live with it for the next few weeks.

"Now then. You said you needed some clothes. I suggest you start with the simpler things first, socks, underwear and then progress onto the other things you need."

"Nan, it's not even eight o'clock yet, no shops will be open. I suppose I will have to borrow something off of dad..."

"You STILL don't get it do you? Eric, you have powers beyond the imaginings of most men; there is little in this world that can be denied to you. If you want something to change, just concentrate and it will reform to your liking. You should be able to alter your clothes easily, changing the style, size, colour, whatever you want. It should also be possible for you to create new objects, but it is much easier to alter things and copy them.

"What do you mean by copy them?"

"Well, if you needed some socks, it would be much easier to have one in front of you and make a copy of it so you had a pair than to completely produce a pair from nothing. Fashioning an object from nothing requires huge amounts of energy and will put a big drain on you. It is always best to find something that can be modified rather than to try to produce it from thin air. Go up and get some of your clothes and we can work on making them fit."

When Eric returned he laid the clothes out on the table in front of him.

"OK, now picture in your mind how you want them to look. Just try to alter the size to fit you for the moment, we can worry about colour and fabric later," Olive said to him.

Eric concentrated hard on a vision of his clothing, but nothing seemed to happen. Suddenly a window within his mind seemed to open, and he could clearly see the method of it. Somehow he knew that this was not his own knowledge but Eriths. A blue glow at the tip of his finger flared into life. Reaching out a hand to touch his trousers, he could feel the alterations beginning to take place. He adjusted the picture in his head slightly and the jeans shimmered as they changed.

"I thought that would be better," he said with a sly smile.

His £10 discount shop jeans had turned into a pair of Levis and now had a faded, stone washed look. He tried them on and they were a perfect fit.

"Er... yes, yes I suppose they are. You realise that you will never need more than a couple of sets of clothes again don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when you need to get dressed for school, just make those clothes into your school uniform. The only time you will need to have any extra clothes on hand will be for when you have to get changed in front of people, like PE at school."

"Cool! Hang on, let me try something." Eric stood up and performed an impromptu fashion show. One minute he was wearing jeans and sweatshirt, the next his school uniform, then a suit, then a martial arts gi, then his PE kit and then back to jeans and sweatshirt. This time however he decided to go for all designer labels. "I might as well have the clothes I actually want from now on instead of what I can afford," he said as he slumped into his chair.

"God, I feel like I have just run the hundred meter dash, and I feel sick"

"Well, that will teach you not to show off. Every time you use your magic it will drain you. The drain will become less with practice but you will always have to be careful not to over exert yourself. That's another reason why it is better to alter something rather than try to produce items out of thin air."

"You are going to have to spend months or even years getting used to some of your abilities," his Nan told him. "You must be very careful though. To quote someone wiser than me, 'With great power comes great responsibility, ' or to put it another way, 'Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

Eric thought about this. "I have all the power in the world, I am going to live almost forever, I can have anything I want. Rules, even laws, don't apply to me anymore. I can do whatever I want," he said with awe in his voice.

"That is a dangerous line of thought. What you have to remember is that just because you can do something, doesn't mean that you necessarily should. You are old enough to know right from wrong and sensible enough to realise the consequences of your actions. Just think to yourself, who would this hurt? Before you do anything rash."

Just then, they heard someone coming down the stairs.

"Eric, you can't let them see you like this yet. We have some explaining to do first," Olive said in a hushed tone.

Eric immediately recast his glamour; adjusting his appearance to what they had agreed would be appropriate. However, he somehow neglected to add back in all of the weight he had lost. Olive scowled at him, but didn't get a chance to voice her reprimand as his dad walked into the kitchen.

"Morning Dad," Eric said.

"Morning. How are you feeling? Your face looks a bit sore son."

"Oh it feels better than it looks," Eric replied truthfully.

"So, are you going to tell me how you ended up looking like that?"

"Yeah, I got the crap kicked out of me for talking to a girl at school. Her boyfriend and his mates decided that they didn't like it and this is how they let me know."

"Jesus boy, are you sure you were only talking? It looks like they put some serious effort into letting you know that they weren't happy."

"Honest. We were just talking, nothing has ever happened between us. The guy is just a dick. I mean, I've studied karate a bit but when it's three nineteen year olds versus one fourteen year old..."

"Was it that Anthony character?" his dad asked.

Eric didn't say anything.

"It was, wasn't it? You leave this to me son, I know his father, I'll get this sorted out."

"No dad, leave it alone. I will sort this in my own way and in my own time. If Anthony finds out that I even mentioned his name to you, he will be gunning for me big time."

"Well, if you're sure. I am still not happy about it though. I can't stand bullies. Now, which one of you is going to tell me what the hell was going on last night?" David asked as he looked from Eric to Olive and back again. "And I want the truth."

"All right dad, if you must know, the voice that I have had in my head since I was little suddenly decided that I needed some new magic powers. Last night she gave them to me."

David looked at his son incredulously. "I said I wanted the truth!" he shouted at Eric. "Not some mumbo-jumbo, hocus pocus witchcraft story. What lies have you been feeding him Mom?" he asked Olive.

"Dad, look at me." David looked at Eric. Eric let his glamour dissipate.

"Holy shit, how did you do that? What are you? Where's my son?"

"I am still your son, dad. I just went through a couple of slight changes last night."

"SLIGHT CHANGES!" his father boomed. "Getting a new hair cut is a slight change; wearing different colour clothing is a slight change. THIS IS NOT A SLIGHT CHANGE!"

"Dad, will you please calm down. DAD! Calm down!"

David was rapidly heading into a state of shock. Eric looked at him and realised that he could probably help. Focusing his mind, Eric gave his father a light mental slap. The effect was instantaneous, as his father sat down and sighed.

"Dad, nothing has changed. I am still your son, you are still my father. I still live in your house. I still live by your rules, although we may have to chat about one or two of them," Eric said with a smile.

"Eric, I want you too keep this from your mother and sister until I have had a chance to talk to them about it. Can you make yourself look like you did earlier again?" Before he had finished speaking the old Eric was sat in front of him.

"Nan thinks it is probably best if I allow my appearance to change over the course of time. She says people will be less frightened that way."

"That's probably a good idea, in fact, why don't you just keep looking like that?"

"No way dad! I finally have a body that doesn't make me sick to look at and you want me to keep looking like the neighbourhood fat kid? I will let people see what I really look like now within about two weeks. Maximum."

"So, what else can you do?" his dad asked, changing the subject.

"David, your son is the heir to the throne of the Fey. Given time, all be it a lot of time, there is going to be almost nothing he can't do," said Olive before Eric had a chance to answer.

David looked a little green around the gills.

"How can this be" he asked Olive.

"You remember the 'Daft' rituals as you called them that I performed on Eric when he was born? Well that was all leading up to this. Brianna had already picked him out to be her son and heir; I just made the transition a bit smoother for all concerned. David you are going to have to deal with this. There is absolutely nothing you, I, or anyone else can do about it. What's done is done."

"That doesn't mean that I have to like it though. I want no magic performed in the house. Do I make myself clear?"

"Wait dad. Before you decide that, look at your wrist." As he did, Eric changed his clothes so he was wearing a suit again.

"What have you done to my watch? Is this a Breitling?"

"Yes, and as you can see by looking at my clothes, you won't have to worry about buying much for me again. If you like, I can do the same for all of us.

"Ok, I see your point but you can't provide everything for us Eric, the world just doesn't work that way. There are always bills to pay, the mortgage and what have you."

"Ok, that's a fair point but I can help. I can pretty much fix anything that is broken, change things to fit, like my clothes and I'm sure there are other things I can do. I just need to figure them out. Surely that will help?"

"You could do that?" David was incredulous.

"Yes, but it means that I will have to be allowed to do my magic though. Really you will only need to buy stuff if you actually want something new. I still want a birthday present though." Eric said with a smile.

"Ok, point taken. Just be careful and don't do anything that will get us into trouble. You realise that if people knew what you could do, they would lock you up and throw away the key don't you?"

"Do you honestly think they would be able to?"

"No I suppose not. Just do me a favour will you? Please don't put us or yourself in a situation where we have to find out for sure," he said back to Eric as he walked from the room.

Olive smiled. "I knew I brought you up right David, I have just been having this very conversation with him myself."

"Oh, I feel rough. I think I over did it there. I feel sick and as weak as a kitten," said Eric.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you. Although I suppose it is better you learn your lessons here with us instead of when you are confronted with something that you don't know how to handle."

Eric rested for a couple of hours until his strength returned and then went to Robin's house to see if he wanted to hang out for the day. As he walked up the road, Anthony and his cronies rode past on their motorbikes and shouted some abuse at him. He just cowered against the wall until they left him in peace.

"What the hell is the matter with me?" he thought. "I am fairly sure that a fight between us would not end like the last one, yet here I am trembling like a frightened kid." As the thoughts began to run through his head, he clamped down on them. "No, it won't take them long before they decide that I am just the thing they need to liven up their day, but when they do..."

He arrived at Robin's and went in for a drink with his mate.

"I take it that is Anthony's handiwork?" Said Robin as they sat down in the kitchen.

"Yeah, apparently you were right. He didn't take kindly to me being mates with Jenny. The three of them lured Nero out of the garden and managed to get him run over and killed."

Eric paused to get his emotions under control.

"I went for a walk in the park last night and they found me, told me what they had done and then went to town on me. I tell you mate, I have never been so depressed in my life as I was last night. I almost killed myself it was that bad."

Robin was stunned and upset. He had known Nero since he was a pup and to think that the big loveable dog was killed out of spite was almost too much for him to comprehend. The fact that his best friend had almost killed himself was a revelation in itself.

"I can't believe it. Nero. Gone. Why would someone do something like that?"

"Because they are petty minded dicks with no regard for anyone else that's why," replied Eric bitterly.

"And you, don't you ever think like that again. Trying to kill yourself? What the fuck were you thinking? Why the hell didn't you come and talk to me?"

"Well, before I managed to do anything stupid, my Nan came round. I spent most of the night talking to her. I don't feel suicidal any more if that makes you feel any better." Eric reassured him.

"Yeah it does. I knew I liked your Nan for a reason. She was always so cool about stuff. Do you remember that trick she used to do when we were kids? Where she would get us to think of a word and then guess it? She was always right. How the hell did she do that?"

"Magic!" said Eric.

"Yeah right."

"No seriously, that was one of the things we were talking about. Magic. She even taught me how to do a bit."

"Bollocks, what can you do, pull a rabbit out of a hat?"

"I haven't got a hat, but I can do this though."

Eric waved his hand across the table and created an illusion of a small white rabbit. Robin just looked on in awe so Eric waved his hand again and it was gone.

"Wow, that was so cool. How the hell did you do that?"

"Like I said mate, magic."

"Can you do anything else?"

"Yeah, a few other things but that will have to wait for a while. I tell you mate, I learned so much last night, my head still hurts!" Eric told him. It was not exactly the truth, but close to it.

"Do you think she would teach me how to do some stuff?"

"I doubt it, she kept going on about the family secret but I will ask her if you like"

"Yeah, cool. It will have to be later though cos we need to be somewhere soon."

It didn't even occur to Eric that talking to Robin about this was a breach of the family secret. They had been friends for so long it just didn't occur to him to keep it from his friend. After all, they always told each other everything.

"Oh? Where are we going?"

"You'll see" Said Robin but refused to elaborate further.

Eric and Robin got off the bus on the Marine Parade, a small row of shops a few hundred yards from the sea shore.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Eric asked, looking around.

"Well, the way I see it, you got battered for something you didn't do. SO, you may as well do it. This is where Jenny works." Robin said with a mischievous grin.

"I thought you were happy I wasn't suicidal any more? Yet here you are trying to get me killed!"

"Just wait till Jenny gets to see your lumps and bumps mate. I recon she will be so pissed at Tony she will kiss them all better for you."

"Rob, you are totally deranged mate. I'm sure you think that life is just like a porno movie. Anyway, what's to say she won't just laugh at me and tell Tony that I was here?"

"Oh, come on mate, you said yourself Jenny is a good friend. She wouldn't do that to you and maybe it will help her see just what a prick that boyfriend of hers is."

Eric thought about it and decided that Robin was right. If for no other reason, she had to see what Tony was really like. "Besides, why worry? I am probably more than a match for Tony and his mob now. If they start on me again, I will just will them to go away and forget about me, or hold still while I punch the three of them to the floor!".

Robin walked off leaving him to decide what to do.

Eric went into the hair salon. Jenny was sweeping the floor and almost dropped her broom as she looked up and saw him.

"Eric, what are you doing here? What happened to you? You look terrible, come and sit down. I'll make you a cup of tea," she said with sympathy.

"No, I'm ok Jen, I just wanted to have a quick chat with you that's all. What time's your lunch break?"

"In about five minutes. Wait right there, I'll just finish sweeping this up and be right with you."

Eric spent his time leafing through one of the woman's magazines left for the customers to read, and wondered what the hell an 'active liposome with fruit micro oils' was and why he would want it in his hair.

"Come on then big boy, let's go," said Jenny

Eric blushed slightly but was also quite pleased when she took his hand to pull him from his chair. He was even more embarrassed and happy when she didn't let it go again as he stood up. Jenny went and got her coat and then took his hand again as they went back outside. She led across the road, heading towards some pavilions on the playing fields next to the beach. At this time of year there was no one around so they had the place to themselves.

"Ok, so what did happen to you?" Jenny asked him, and then a look of realisation passed across her features. "It was Tony wasn't it? When did this happen? Why did he do this?"

"Jenny, slow down. Yes it was Tony. He said that I was to stay away from you. I think that he was only going to hit me once but when he told me that he had killed my dog, I kind of lost it and attacked him."

"You attacked Tony? Are you mad? Did you just say he killed your dog?"

"Yeah, he killed Nero by getting him run over. I attacked him and him and his mates gave me a kicking I won't forget in a hurry."

"That fucking bastard! I am going to cut his balls off. I can't believe he would do that, to your dog or to you. Who the hell does he think he is trying to say who I can be friends with!"

"Jenny, I didn't come here to start trouble. I just thought you should know what he's like. You seem a little blinkered when it comes to him sometimes."

"Oh god Eric, I should have listened to people months ago. My friends have been telling me for ages what a tosser he is but I just put it down to jealousy and ignored them."

Eric didn't say anything. He stood up and sighed, leaning his back against the wall. He looked at her sitting there getting angrier and angrier. She stood up and walked over to where he was standing.

"Jenny..." he began.

When she was close enough to him that he could smell her perfume, she reached out and placed a single finger on his lips, indicating that he should be quiet. She took another pace towards him so her body was pressing against him and kissed him like he had never been kissed before.

Her hands came to the back of his neck and pulled him down to her level. She ground herself against him causing him to become instantly and painfully hard. Her mouth was a wonder of soft and warm caresses. Her tongue felt alive as she pressed it against his lips, gums, and teeth before he finally realised what she wanted and opened his mouth a little. Jenny quickly took advantage and forced her tongue fully into his mouth and began a wrestling match with his tongue. She was running her fingers through the back of his hair and her body felt like it was trying to permanently join with his. The pressure on his cock as she rubbed herself against him was exquisite and Eric began to fear that if she carried on he was going to have some explaining to do to his mother when she came to wash his shorts.