Chapter 7

Friday 2 October 2043

We awoke in the morning in a pile of bodies and even later than we usually did. At least it was warm in the house as the programmable thermostat had raised the temperature in the house to the morning setting at 6:00 that morning. The Sisters sat up, sniffed, and made a distraught face at the smell.

"We need to shower!" they both informed me before throwing the blanket off and dragging me out of bed. The exposed sheets were a disaster of dried areas of cum and pussy juice.

"I'll need to use a cleaning spell on the sheets," I told them on seeing the mess.

"Shower first, Magic later," they told me and led me to the shower stall. I turned on the water and adjusted the temperature before we all entered and stood under the spray for a short time. There followed considerable time spent rubbing soap on and into each of the Sisters' skin.

I worked on Lesia first who worked on Laura who was working on me. Later we switched, and I worked on Laura and Lesia worked on me, while Laura worked on her. We were all breathing hard when we finally exited the shower stall some time later. The women insisted that we dry off separately because of the lateness of the morning. It was Friday after all and the end of the week. There would be a lot of customers picking up their weekend orders at the store today.

Returning to the bedroom, I used a cleaning spell on the bed linen while the Sisters dressed and then I dressed.

"We need to wash the sheets tomorrow," Laura told me, as we were leaving the bedroom.

"I just used a cleaning spell on them. They're clean!" I protested.

"Still we need to wash them tomorrow. They won't be clean then," Lesia said, agreeing with her Sister. What could I say? The Sisters did have questions while they were preparing breakfast, however.

"Why were Christopher and Harriet so shocked last night, and why did they back down on their demands so quickly?" they wanted to know.

"They weren't expecting the response that they got. In the past, most challenges were answered by both parties assuming their Were-form and fighting it out. It was often bloody and destructive of the furniture, but not protracted.

"C & H probably believed that the two of them could deal with me in my Were-form, it being two against one. They were wrong, of course, but it didn't really matter.

"When I appeared in the Warrior-state and was also able to talk, they instantly knew that I had raised the stakes considerably.

"But why?" Lesia asked softly.

"There is something that you need to understand about the Warrior-state. While most Weres have some amount of the Talent, for most it is not that strong. First and Second Level is about all that most of them can do. This enables them to change easily, but most cannot achieve the Warrior-state. Those few who can manage to achieve it are mostly just wild killing machines with little or no ability to think, plan, or speak. They usually can't maintain that state for long either.

"It is the ability to think, plan, and speak that separates the leaders in the Warrior-state from the remainder including the normal Weres. When I instantly went from my human-form to the Warrior-state without assuming the Were-form first, and could speak, they knew that they had overplayed their hand and were deep in trouble.

"When the two of you joined me seconds later also in the Warrior-state and talking, they realized that not only could they not beat me, but they would be defeated handily. This is not something that an alpha can accept and remain an alpha.

"Your assuming the Warrior-state really changed the entire situation. They had expected to win two eligible females for their clan by facing me down. Now, however, it not only looked like they would not only not win the females, but they would be easily bested by the three of us. This could lead to their being replaced as the alphas of their clan, and that possibly by the three of us. This was not a situation that they had any interest in, and they backed down on their demand," I told them.

"But we didn't find it difficult to achieve the Warrior-state. Why is it so hard for others?" Laura wanted to know.

"It's because of your level of Talent. As I told you previously, I am a Third Level, but my Talent isn't sufficiently strong to pass the test for Master. That doesn't mean that I can't do some of the spells that they can. I just can't do enough of them to pass the test.

"The two of you have much stronger Talents than mine, and I am sure that you will be able to achieve Master Level or even Senior Master. That is why you were able to achieve the Warrior-state so easily. This too was something that C & H weren't aware of, or counting on, when they issued their challenge. They only saw you as additional clan members and breeding stock," I told them.

"They would have gotten a real surprise, if they had gotten their way," Laura told me with a grin.

"Yes, Harriet's days would have been numbered," Lesia agreed with a smile.

Following a nice breakfast that included the last of the scrapple from the Sisters' current recipe, we transferred to the office at the store to save time. Later when I went to check things on the cutting floor, I got a bit of good natured ribbing from some of my men about taking the Mountain Lion Clan down a few pegs last night. I needed to remind several of them that I was also a feline.

"Yes, but you're one of the major cat species and can roar, boss," they said in excuse.

Previously, I had started the twins on the basic series of Magic books from O'Connell Press. This was shortly after we had returned from Wyoming. They had time to go through them when they weren't busy taking care of the paperwork. They had gone through them rather quickly, but I hadn't started them on the advanced series in Gaelic yet since I wasn't sure if they would be able to read them.

From what they had said this morning, it appeared that the 'Book of Dreams' had continued to instruct them at least a part of the time. Since I had no right, nor the ability, to control or summon the 'Book', I decided that I needed to talk to the Sisters and determine what they knew about the 'Book of Dreams'. On returning to the office to speak to them, you can imagine my shock on seeing Lesia sitting there reading from the 'Book of Dreams'.

"What? ... How?" I started in shock on seeing the 'Book' there.

"How long have you been reading from the 'Book of Dreams'?" I managed to ask them before noting that the page Lesia was reading from was written in Gaelic, and not just any Gaelic, but to my shock what I recognized as a very old dialect of Gaelic.

"You can read that?" I added in surprise.

"Yes, why?" Lesia asked looking up from the page.

"It's in Gaelic ... a rather old dialect of Gaelic. One used only by Third and higher Level Sorcerers," I pointed out.

"Yes, we know. We haven't had any trouble with it," Laura told me, joining us.

"How long have you been reading from the 'Book'?" I managed to remember to ask.

"Only for a week or so," Lesia told me casually.

"So you could read the other Magic books in Gaelic then?" I asked.

"Yes! Do you have any?" they asked excitedly.

"I have a couple and can get more, but I'll need to go to Georgia and see the O'Connells to get them. I was going to take you to see them later, but it appears that the schedule had been moved up," I told them.

"Good! When can we go?" they asked eagerly.

"It may have to wait until next week. I need to contact them first," I told them.

"How do you contact them?" Laura asked.

"When I was going to school at UGA, they gave me their phone number at the University. I'll need to find it in my papers and then call them, but they aren't always in their office, so it may take several tries to reach them," I told her.

"Do you mean this phone number?" Lesia asked with a smile, holding out a piece of paper. I took it and looked at it. It was a piece of letterhead paper from the Department of Magic at the University of Georgia, Athens campus.

"Where did you find this?" I asked in amazement.

"It was in your desk drawer this morning on top of everything else," she told me. Now I was shocked and had no idea how it could have gotten there for several seconds. Then the light came on. The light that subtly said the 'Book of Dreams' and the Eternal Flame were involved. I was still in shock for several seconds following that revelation. I was brought back to reality by Laura's voice.

"Are you going to call them?" she asked.

"What?" I asked coming out of my stupor.

"Are you going to call them?" she repeated.

"Yes! What time is it?"

"It's just after 11:30," Lesia informed me.

"They might be there then!" I told her as I picked up the phone and dialed the number on the paper. The phone rang several times before someone picked it up.

"Good afternoon, Department of Magic," someone said.

"Good morning. This is Conrad Turner. I graduated from UGA several years ago with a degree in Magic. Would it be possible to speak to Professor Gus or Sean O'Connell? I have a bit of a problem."

"Oh Conrad! This is Annie. How are you? I'll have to find Gus. He's here somewhere. Can you hold for a few minutes?" Annie asked.

"Yes. I can hold for a while if necessary," I assured her.

"Just a minute then," she said and the phone was put down. Shortly a male voice came on the line.

"Hello! Is this Conrad? This is Gus. What's up?" he asked cheerfully.

"Gus! Hi! Yes, this is Conrad out here in Wichita. I have a bit of a problem."

"What kind of a problem, Conrad?"

"Two young ladies with strong Talents," I told him.

"Really! What's the problem? That sounds like a good situation to be in," he told me, and I knew there was a smile on his face.

"They need more training. The 'Book of Dreams' has taught them to read in Gaelic, and they need more books than I have access to," I told him.

"Wow! Hold on there for a minute, Conrad. Did you say that the 'Book of Dreams' was teaching them?"

"Yes. It started the night that I rescued them in the outback of Wyoming several weeks ago and has continued on and off since then," I told him.

"That is a bit unusual! The 'Book' doesn't usually assist those with minor Talents," Gus said.

"They have stronger Talents than mine. Both of them," I told him. There was another pause on the phone.

"Can you transfer out here? Do you remember how to transfer to our Realm?" Gus asked.

"Yes, I believe I could do that. I can draw on the women's Talents to help power the spell. When would you want to do this?" I asked.