Chapter 8

I awoke sometime later, when Margie was returning to bed.

"Oh God! My head is awful," Margie told me on seeing that I was awake, "But I had to pee something terrible. What time is it? How long have I been asleep?"

"I have no idea," I answered just before the clock in the sitting room sounded ten o'clock.

"It must still be night. It's dark out," she said, as she plopped down in bed next to me.

"Katie fucked you, didn't she?" Margie asked.

"We made love!" I replied, indignantly.

"Yea, she fucked you!" Margie persisted. "It's my turn again. Love me like you did Katie," she demanded. I had a piss hard-on and moved over next to her.

"OK," I told her after a minute or so of fooling around, "but this is the last time tonight." We never made it. I got on top of Margie and tried to enter her, but I guess I was still too drunk and went to sleep. Apparently Margie was already asleep, as she never said anything.

I awoke later, half on Margie. I had a raging need to take a wiz, and staggered to the bathroom. When I got back, I crawled over Katie and lay down between the two sisters and was gone in sleep again.

None of us awoke again until six the next morning, when the clock in the sitting room woke us.

"Oh God, my head!" both sisters said, as they tried to set up, but didn't have much luck in doing that. I wasn't in much better condition, but needed to take a wiz again.

"Help us up, Mark," Katie asked. "I need to pee again."

"So do I," Margie said from my other side. I managed to get up, by crawling over Katie, and helped both sisters get out of bed. They hurried toward their bathroom and I turned to go to mine. That was when the 'Book of Dreams' moved from under the pillows on the sisters' bed directly to my right hand. Margie saw the flash out of the corner of her eye, as the book moved through the air, and she turned to stare at me and it.

"How did that get in here?" she asked in confusion.

"I have no idea. It was in my room yesterday," I told her.

"How did what get in here?" Katie asked from the toilet in their bathroom.

"We had the 'Book of Dreams' under our pillows," Margie told her sister.

"What?" a startled Katie demanded.

"I'm going to pee," I told them. "We'll discuss this when I get back." I pulled on some clothes after doing my business and returned to the sisters' bedroom to find them in bathrobes. I still had the book in my right hand for some reason. Neither sister looked to be in very good shape when I returned to their room, but they weren't the only ones.

"What was the 'Book of Dreams' doing in here?" Katie demanded, but winced on hearing her own voice.

"I have absolutely no idea," I told her, and didn't. "It was under my pillow yesterday afternoon."

"You didn't bring it in here?" Katie asked, somewhat confused.

"It was all I could do to bring you in here last night," I told her.

"Oh yes, we weren't too steady on our feet, were we?" she asked.

"No, we weren't."

"Then how did it get in here?" Margie asked again, weakly.

"I have no idea, other than by itself," I answered. "I read in the book that it could follow its Master where ever he or she went," I told them.

"In the book?" Katie asked.

"Yes," I answered, and the book opened to that page by itself, and I held it out for the sisters to see.

"Is ... isn't that written in Ogham?" Margie asked on seeing the page.

"Yes, it is."

"And ... you ... can read it?" Katie asked, uncertainly.

"Yes, I started reading it on Tuesday night and then again on Wednesday night. That's why I was late on Wednesday morning," I explained.

"But where did you learn to read Ogham? What language is it in?" Margie asked.

"It's in old Gaelic, and I have no idea how I learned to read it. I just opened the book and started reading," I told them. "It all seemed perfectly natural. I wasn't even aware that it was in Ogham until I put the book down and then glanced back at the page a minute or so later."

"The book is much thicker now," Katie observed, looking more closely at it. "It was thinner when we had it."

"Yes, I noticed that it was thicker, but didn't think anything of it until now," I told her.

"But how can that be?" Margie asked in fear.

"Because it has more for me to learn," I answered in the old Gaelic, as the words came into my mind. "But how did I know that?" I asked in the next breath in English.

"Because you truly are a Master Sorcerer!" Katie said in awe, and followed that with, "What have we found and unleashed, Margie?"

"I ... I don't know, Katie. Maybe the answer to our quest," Margie said in a very frightened voice. "Maybe more than we, or anyone else, know how to deal with."

"But I don't feel like a Master Sorcerer," I told them. "I feel badly hungover right now." The words were no more out of my mouth than the spell came into my mind. Something really bizarre happened then. ALL THREE OF US RECITED THE SAME SPELL TOGETHER, and all of our headaches and hangovers were gone in an instant.

"How did we do that?" both sisters asked, aghast. "We don't know that spell and never have before now."

"Yes, it is strange that all three of us spoke it at the same time," I allowed. "I'll need to think about this. How about we get some breakfast. I'm feeling hungry about now."

"Not until after we all shower," Katie told us. "We all smell of sex and too much wine."

We all showered together in the sisters' large shower. It was as amazing an experience as it had been the first time. I helped the sisters wash their long red hair this time also, but that was after rubbing soap into both of their skins for some time. It was quite chilly when we got out of the shower after all of that time under the hot water, but the sisters' hot air spell came unbidden to my mind instantly, and I repeated it again before thinking. In no time at all, it was warm in the bathroom and the bedroom.

"You know that spell, too?" they asked, dumbstruck.

"Yes. It came into my mind when I was cold," I told them. We dried off then, but the sisters seemed much more reserved than previously. I still enjoyed helping them dry off, immensely.

During breakfast both sisters were very quiet and sat further away from me than usual. I finally realized that they had serious reservations about how to deal with not only what I was, but how to deal with me personally.

"I'm going upstairs to read more of the 'Book of Dreams'. Perhaps I will be able to determine what is happening and how to deal with it," I told them.

"Yes, go ahead and do that," Katie said. "We have some cleaning up to do from yesterday."

I returned to my room, took the book from under my pillow, and began to read. I was there for most of Friday.

"Have you learned anything?" Margie asked when I came down for supper.

"Yes and no," I answered. "I learned quite a bit about Magic, and what I need to do at present, but no, I didn't learn how you knew that spell or how the book got into your room last night. What I did learn is that this is only the first book of Magic that I will need to read and learn from. It's the first step, as it were.

"You apparently found many of the pages blank when you read it because you had already learned what was to be taught on them. There are things that you are capable of, but you are not aware of, as you have had no need to use that knowledge yet," I informed them.

"Where are these other books?" How will you find them?" Katie asked.

"They are in Ireland, but the book would not disclose their location yet. It appears that I must finish what this book has to teach me first before it will disclose where and by whom the other books are held."

"How long will that take?" Margie asked.

"I don't know, but apparently I have made good progress this week. However, I don't see how I could go to Ireland. I don't have that kind of money and I'm still in school. Plus I need to earn enough money to help pay for my schooling next year."

"We could all go over the summer," Katie suggested.

"Yes, we would pay for the trip," Margie continued. "If you continue working for us, we'll pay for your schooling as well."

"I don't ... know if I could accept that," I told them. "You have been more than generous already, and I ... I couldn't accept it as ... as charity."

"We would not offer it as charity," Katie, always the business woman, said. "We would make a bargain with you. You will obviously be a much more powerful Sorcerer than we are. If you will agree to help us lift the curse we are under, we will pay for the trip and your school expenses, plus we will use our contacts in Ireland to help you locate the right people, and the needed books. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes. I believe I can accept that, but I would have helped you anyway. What the Witch did wasn't right. However, I now realize that it will take some very powerful magic to reverse the spell and its effects. I do not know how to do that yet, or how long it would take to acquire enough skill to do that," I told them.

"We have plenty of patience. We have waited a hundred and sixty years already," Margie told me with a sob.

"Come eat dinner," Katie told me. "You were up in that room most of the day and missed lunch." Dinner was much better than breakfast had been, and the sisters sat near me again. Apparently, my agreeing to help them had restored their confidence.

"What do you have planned for tomorrow?" Katie asked during dinner.

"There are still the rest of the accessories that need work. After that, I thought I would plow under all of the cover growing in the fields now. Then let the soil rest for a few days before planting. I'll run the harrow over them again before planting though."

"Yes, that sounds good. We'll need to get some seeds, as we don't have enough to plant all of the fields. We haven't planted all of the fields in some time. We'll also need to get fertilizer when you're ready for that," Margie told me all excited. "We do love planting time. Everything smells so good then with the earth all turned up."

There was a movie on after dinner that the sisters wanted to watch, and they invited me to watch it with them. By the middle of the movie, Margie was cuddled up to me on their sofa while Katie sat at the opposite end of the sofa.

"You still owe me," Margie said, as she leaned against me and placed my hand on her breast. "Will you sleep with us tonight, Mark?"

"Us?"

"Yes, both of us. We won't bite, honestly," she murmured and smiled.

"Yes, all right. I can do that," I answered.

"Good. We'll go to bed after the movie. Katie was afraid that you might not want to sleep with us again after last night," Margie told me before she turned and kissed me.

"Are you all right with this?" Katie asked, when we came up for air. She had moved closer to me by then.

"Yes," I told her. "I don't have a problem sleeping with both of you or loving both of you. Why did you think I did?"