Chapter 1

The following characters appear in the first two chapters:

Kennard Curran O'Connell (Ken)

Mike and Clare's Son, 5'-10" tall, 142 pounds, 17 years old, red hair, green eyes, dual Talents

Kellen Conroy O'Connell (Kell)

Pat and Cathleen's Son, 5'-10" tall, 144 pounds, 17 years old, red hair, blue eyes, dual Talents

Mark Michael O'Connell

Mike and Shannon's Son, 5'-10" tall, 140 pounds, 17 years old, red hair, green eyes

Seamus Patrick O'Connell

Pat and Sheena's Son, 5'-10" tall, 142 pounds, 17 years old, red hair, gray eyes

Gwyn and Glanda O'Connell (G & G)

Mike and Gretchen's twin Daughters, 5'-6" tall, 120 pounds, 34D-22-34, 18 years old, dark auburn hair, gray eyes, very cute

Sererena and Saraid O'Connell (S & S)

Pat and Petra's twin Daughters, 5'-2" tall, 108 pounds, 34D-22-32, 18 years old, red hair, green eyes, very cute

Wolfgang Patrick O'Connell (Wolf)

Mike and Gretchen's Son, 5'-9" tall, 135 pounds, 16 years old, auburn hair, green eyes

Carl Michael O'Connell (Carl)

Pat and Petra's Son, 5'-9" tall, 134 pounds, 16 years old, reddish blond hair, blue eyes

Amelia and Anann (A & A)

Mike and Shannon's twin Daughters, 5'-2" tall, 104 pounds, 34C-22-34, 15 years old, long flaming red hair, deep green eyes, some freckles, and terribly cute

Meagan and Murine (M & M II)

Pat and Sheena's twin Daughters, 5'-2" tall, 104 pounds, 34C-22-34, 15 years old, long flaming red hair, deep green eyes, some freckles, and terribly cute

Cessair and Coleen (C & C)

Mike and Clare's twin Daughters, 5'-1" tall, 102 pounds, 34C-22-34, 15 years old, long red hair, gray eyes, a few freckles, especially on their breasts, very cute, both are Mages

Dealla and Dymphna (D & D)

Pat and Cathleen's twin Daughters, 5'-1" tall, 102 pounds, 34C-22-34, 15 years old, long red hair, gray eyes, a few freckles, especially on their breasts, very cute, both are Mages

Tuesday, 6 November 2085

It was my 33rd birthday, and I had risen early. As I looked out the chamber window of the tower house, I could see the sun as it rose higher over the fields around Glenquin Castle. The very same fields that my wives, Sunshine and Rose, and I along with our children, and Kell with his Daughters had spent the day yesterday going over to ensure that the crops next year would grow without any problems and that they would have the nutrients that they needed. We are all Mages and insuring that things are growing properly and are healthy is our main occupation. We would join Kell to do the fields around Fantstown Castle today.

As the sun rose higher, my thoughts drifted back to how all of this had started, and I remembered how young, naive, and excited we had been to begin the adventure that the trip to Ireland the summer after we graduated from high school had been. It had turned out much differently than we had ever expected.

Monday 2 June 2070

"Are you ready to go, Ken?" Kell asked excitedly, appearing in my room at 8:30 in the morning with his backpack.

"Almost," I answered, as I finished packing the last few items into my own backpack, and closed it up before turning toward him.

"Are you in a big hurry?" I asked my usually easy going Cousin, who was more like a Brother to me than my actual Brothers were, although we are all very close. You have to be when you have the kind of families that both of us do. Kell was closer than my other Brothers though, as he was almost my twin, and we both have dual Talents.

Let me explain a little bit about our families. My Father is Michael Patrick O'Connell. My Cousin Kell, actually Kellen Conroy O'Connell, is the son of Sean Patrick O'Connell, my Uncle. Oh yes, I'm Kennard Curran O'Connell. I'm called Ken most of the time.

Our Fathers, Kell's and mine, each have three Wives. Each of their Wives, our Mothers, have three children -- a pair of twin daughters and a son for a total of eighteen children, and we live in houses, large houses, right next to each other in the O'Connell Realm.

Our Dads are the heads of the Magic Program at the University of Georgia in Athens (UGA). They are assisted by two of their Wives, Mother Shannon and Mother Sheena, and also by our Great Aunt Grace, and our Great Uncle Gaelan. Both our Aunt and Uncle are actually a few months younger than our Dads are. (See Magic Ink III for the relationship)

My biological Mother and Kell's (Mother Clare and Mother Cathleen) are the heads of the Horticultural Department at UGA. They are Mages. The last of our Father's Wives are Mother Gretchen and Mother Petra. They both did a lot of the work raising us kids while our Fathers and other Mothers were at the University teaching. They also manage and keep track of the various O'Connell businesses here in our Realm, as they can do that from here at home.

Their Daughters, our older Sisters Gwyn and Glanda (G & G) and Sererena and Saraid (S & S) are a year older than Kell and I are. They are also a year older than our Brothers Seamus and Mark, and two years older than our Brothers Carl and Wolf.

All of us also have four pairs of twin Sisters. They are two years younger than Seamus, Mark, Kell, and me. They were all born within a day or so of each other. Our Sisters Cessair and Coleen (C & C), and Dealla and Dymphna (D & D) are all Mages. The other four, Amelia and Anann (A & A), and Meagan and Murine (M & M II) are all Sorceresses.

You have undoubtedly noticed that most of our names bear a distinct Celtic / Gaelic flavor. Our mothers spent considerable time selecting just the right names for their children and drew on Irish mythology as they knew it. Well, except for Wolf and Carl that is.

That connection is even closer for Kell's and my Sisters. In Irish mythology, Cessair was the leader of the first inhabitants of Ireland, before the biblical flood. Dealla was her companion. What our Mothers could not have known when they named them, was that their Daughters Cessair and Dealla would share a mental link together just as they (Mother Clare and Mother Cathleen) did with Mothers Shannon and Sheena. Coleen and Dymphna also share a mental link with each other. Our other Sisters don't seem to share a link that any of us are aware of.

All of our Sisters also have fine voices and sing with the other women in the O'Connell family. It turned out much to Kell's and my embarrassment that we too have fine voices. Our Parents and Grandparents discovered this when we were about ten years old, and immediately insisted that we join the family singing groups. We are both Irish tenors and have to practice with the women. They now have an entirely new group of songs since there are males to sing the appropriate parts. While we were at practice, our Brothers and male Cousins, who don't have a talent for singing, got to enjoy themselves doing guy things. Such is the curse of being 'talented'.

"Let's go eat then we can be on our way," Kell told me as I hefted my backpack. It was all that either of us was taking for a trip to Ireland; since we could call anything that we needed to us with the use of a simple spell, packing had been rather easy.

In the kitchen, our families were already engaged in breakfast. Cessair and Dealla were there, as were Coleen and Dymphna. Our other Brothers and Sisters had already eaten or were at Kell's house for breakfast. It was hard to tell without checking on them.

"Are you boys ready to leave?" my biological Mother, Clare, asked as we sat down at the table.

"Yes Ma'am. Right after breakfast," I answered, as she put a plate full of bacon and eggs in front of me and then another in front of Kell. Mother Gretchen added a plate of buttered toast between the two of us. Our families had agreed long ago to feed whoever from the two families was at their house at meal time. It was simpler than trying to send them to their own house to eat, and it all evened out eventually, as we spent a lot of time at each others' houses.

"We wish we could go with you!" Cessair said with a long face, as Kell and I began to eat.

"You're still too young, dear," Mother Clare told her Daughter. "After you graduate from high school, you can go on a trip to Ireland, or visit the clans in Germany if you want to, but not this year."

"Yes Ma'am!" a very disappointed Cessair said, as Dealla grabbed her hand.

"Let's go check the berry patches," she suggested brightly, and the two of them disappeared.

"They sure were anxious to get to work!" Dymphna murmured.

"I think work was the last thing on their minds," Coleen told her cousin with a smile. Dymphna looked puzzled for a few seconds and then smiled.

"Yes, let's," she said, and they too disappeared.

"What are our Sisters up to?" Kell asked around a mouth full of food. I just smiled at him without saying anything. I could guess, but our Moms were here in the kitchen still and would be upset if they knew that their Daughters were out having sex, especially this early in the day.

Kell and I finished eating, grabbed our backpacks, and gave both Moms a kiss before we left.

"Don't be too long," my Mom told us. "Remember that you are both supposed to start college this fall."

"Yes, we'll remember, Mom," I told her just before we both disappeared. We reappeared in the Glade of the Eternal Flame here where services are held.

"Do you think that they suspect where we are really going?" Kell asked.

"I just told them that we were going to tour around Ireland for a few weeks. Just to see the country. I never mentioned that it would be the Ireland in the Other Reality," I told him.

"Yes. I told my folks the same thing. Do you think they would be upset if they knew?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. They have never objected to us visiting Great Grandfather O'Neill, or our Cousins and their children in the Other Reality. Or even said anything when we all visited our Grandfathers' clans there. We have never been to Ireland in the Other Reality, so it's kind of hard to tell, but it's better to ask forgiveness rather than permission," I told him with a grin.

"Yeah, forgiveness!" Kell chuckled before we began the long spell, and its glyph to transfer us to the Dublin in our own reality. We HAD been there before with our Parents and Grandparents.

When we appeared in Phoenix Park, it was already 2:00 in the afternoon in Dublin. We left the park quickly, as we had created quite a large Magic signature when we appeared, and we didn't know if anyone was monitoring that.

Within a mile of the park, we came to one of the rapid transit stations, but decided to continue walking rather than use it. We walked on and crossed the River Liffey. We continued on until we found a youth hostel not too from St. Stephens Green. It was less expensive than the local hotels would be, so we went in to get a room.

"We would like a room for two nights," I told the person at the registration desk in Gaelic. He looked at us critically before answering. With our red hair and freckles, jeans and work shirts plus the slightly dated Gaelic that I had used, he didn't doubt for an instant that Kell and I were Irish boys from the countryside. It was a good thing too, as we had neither passports, nor any Irish Government Identification cards with us. We both did have a confusion spell ready if he had asked for identification. It would have caused him to believe that he had already seen our IDs.