Book 1 Starts off in the alternate reality that was created by Mrs. Crowley and goes from there.
Further (Miss)Adventures of Sally and Susan continues the the adventure and we get to see the twins get into more mischief then the original story, and we get to meet new friends along the way!
True to Eva Crowley’s words, the part of Sally that she wanted to forget slowly started to fade from her mind. By the time they had finished setting up for Meghan’s party, almost all of Michael’s memories had faded, and what remained lingered like a dream at best.. The girls were having so much fun with the decorations that they completely lost track of time.
“Crap, we need to get home,” said Sally, looking at her lavender Hello Kitty watch.
Susan nodded and disappeared into the next room to find Lara, to ask her grandmother for a ride home. They were really tired from all their hard work that day, and spent most of the ride in peaceful silence. Their mother, Melissa, greeted them as they entered, calling from the kitchen.
“Dinner’s ready, girls. Go wash up!”
As the girls raced into the kitchen, playfully competing for water, she noticed Sally’s lavender watch again. At first she didn’t remember it, or the matching pink watch on her wrist, but as if on cue, the memory of their last birthday popped into her mind, how Lara had given them to the two, and how happy and excited it made them both.
“So tomorrow let’s go back over and help Lara again! That was so fun,” Susan mentioned, and Sally just nodded without replying. She was thinking about Meghan for some reason, but couldn't figure out why.
“Sally’s thinking about her boyfriend Tony!” teased Susan.
“Am not! Liar!” Sally shouted furiously.
“Now girls no fighting at the dinner table,” Melissa interrupted with the practiced calm that only a mother of twins could display, adding, “And besides, Sally, you’re to young to be thinking about boys.”
A flush came to Sally’s face as she replied, “I’m so not thinking about Tony, or any other boy!”
It was the truth, too. As the two girls ate their dinner in relative silence, Sally continued to think about Meghan. She wondered why she was on her mind so strongly. It made no sense. Meghan was Lara’s older sister, and while she remembered the girl always treating them nicely, taking them trick-or-treating with Lara when they were younger, she never seemed to stick so strongly before now.
The two girls finished their dinner, and raced upstairs to get ready for bed. Though still early, with only one full bathroom they had to allow for bath time for each while the other brushed her teeth and hair.
“So which one of us gets to use the bathroom first?” asked Sally.
Susan grinned evilly, “I think you should go first since you’re the youngest!”
Sally stared at Susan, “Oh no I'm not; you’re the youngest!”
In several aspects she was right. As Michael he was defiantly the oldest, and for some reason as Sally she was born about a half hour before her sister.
“Oh yeah,” Susan answered with a half-surprised expression. “Why’d I think you were younger?”
“Maybe because YOU were thinking about Tony?” Sally giggled. Susan balked, but giggled too, racing into the bathroom.
After the girls had taken their baths and dressed in their pajamas, they stood and exclaimed at once, “Let’s go help Mom!”
Sally stared at Susan for a long time, as this was the first time she could recall them saying something at the same time. Sally just had a dumb look on her face when Susan started giggling.
“Twin Powers Active!”
“What are you talking about?” Sally asked, still confused, but at least able to talk now.
“Never mind; it’s from a cartoon Daddy and I watched once.”
The two girls, giggling now, hurried down stairs to help their mom do the nightly cleaning.
“Hey Mom, we want to help”, both girls insisted at once.
During the night Sally had a weird dream of being an older boy and throwing eggs at Meghan, her best friend’s older sister. She tossed and turned a couple of times before sitting bolt upright, beads of sweat clinging to her. She blinked a couple of times, looking around the room.
“Susan are you awake?” she whispers.
“Yeah I’m awake. What’s wrong?”, came the reply.
“I had this weird dream that I was a boy,” Sally admitted quietly.
By now practically all of the memories of Sally ever being Michel had been washed from both girls’ minds. Sally still had some minor memories floating around, but Susan’s memories of her older brother were now completely gone. Sally scrunched her face and stared over at her sister.
“Eeewwww! If you were a boy that would mean I would be one too!”
“Oh God you’re right! That’s just a nasty thought!”
At that, both girls look at the clock, one of those old black-cat-with-a-clock-face clocks that hung on the wall between their beds, and stated at once, “It’s six in the morning.”
The two girls got up to start getting ready for school. Friday had finally come, which not only meant the weekend, but also Halloween, which really excited them both. They both finished their morning rituals of personal grooming when their Mother called from down the stairs.
“Girls, hurry up! I have some lunch money for you, and breakfast is ready!”
“Coming Mom!” they both yelled from upstairs.
Both girls grabbed their school bags and skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen, plopping down at the breakfast table. They smiled and giggled cheerfully, Sally’s unusual dream having already begun to quickly fade..
“You two seem to have a lot of energy today,” Melissa remarked as she set their bowls before them. Both girls just smiled at their mother as they picked up their spoons.
“You two are awfully quiet. You’re not up to something are you?”
They both looked at each other, and then at their mom. Again, they spoke in unison. “Somehow we’re saying the same thing at the same time.” Sally paused as Susan continued. “Or finishing each-”
“Other’s sentences,” Sally giggled.
Their mother stifled a giggle as she looked between both her lovely girls, shaking her head. After they had both finished their bowl of cereal and placed the dishes in the sink. The girls quickly grabbed their bags and headed for the door behind their mother.
“And to answer your earlier question, that’s just part of you two being twins. You always do it, and it annoys your father to no end. I’m surprised you’re just now noticing it. He swears you do it on purpose,” she laughed.
As if on cue, the girls not in unison this time responded.
“Where is,” Sally said.
“Daddy?” finished Susan.
Melissa just smiled again, happy to see her girls happy. Somethings changed in her house and she wasn’t quite sure what it was yet. She liked it, though, as it made her job all the easier.
“He had to go in early today: something about a big case.”
“Oh,” both girls chimed in disappointment, wanting a hug from their father before school.
Getting into the Suburban, Sally and Susan sat in the middle seats as to not argue over who got to sit up front with their mother. While she waited for Susan to get into the car, Sally looked over at her sister and smiled thoughtfully.
“We wore the same butterfly hair clips.”
Susan rolled her eyes and giggled at her sister, “We also wore the same clothes again!”
“You know what’s bad Susan? We talk almost the same, we look the same, and we have blonde hair. Don’t people think we’re stupid?”
At that comment Melissa glanced back at both her daughters, and shook her head.
“Do not ever let anyone tell you that blondes are stupid sweetie. You both are very intelligent.”
At that both girls giggled, cheering together, “Thanks Mom!”
School was about the same as Sally now remembered it ever being. She had two classes with her sister, and the rest she had alone. She sat in her fourth period class feeling mopey with something clearly on her mind. Weird thoughts raced through her head, and trying to forget, she found herself replaying that dream she’d had the night before about Meghan. Sally had some strange feelings about Meghan. She wasn’t supposed to feel that way about other girls, was she?
“Sally? or is it Susan this time?” her teacher called her out of her distant thoughts. The entire class broke into laughter.
“I’m Sally, I think.” came her reply.
“You think? You two are so bad sometimes,” the teacher sighed.
Mrs. Patterson had every reason to suspect that Sally and Susan switched places, it wasn’t the first time the two girls did that to her. It was like some sort of prank they liked to pull, and now that it was almost Halloween she figured they would do it again. ‘One of these days, ’ she thought to herself, ‘I’m going to learn their tells so I can figure out which is which.’’
“Young lady, I don’t care which one you are, you need to go down to the office now!” she commanded, and the class starts to laugh again.
Sally, feeling a bit dejected by being sent to the office again, stood up and grabbed her book bag, heading towards the door. Tony, sitting closest to the door looked up at Sally and smiled, but kept his silence. At least he didn’t laugh.
On her way down the hallway to the schools office, which had begun to feel like a second home to the girls lately, Sally stopped at the drinking fountain, when Jimmy Stone bounded by and knocked Sally’s bag out of her hand.
“Watch it blondie!”
“Hey! You knocked my book bag out of my hand you fatso; YOU watch it!”
“What did you just call me?” Jimmy demanded angrily.
“I called you a FATSO!” she replied defiantly.
Jimmy balled up his fist. “Take that back you blonde bimbo!”
Sally cringed in fear of being hit by Jimmy, and her finger started to glow at the tip, though she hadn’t noticed. As she opened her eyes again, she couldn’t see Jimmy anywhere. A low ‘ribbit’ at her feet where Jimmy was standing caught her attention. She looked down to see a frog staring back at her.
“Ribbit.”
Lara just happened to be walking down the hallway with a bathroom pass, heading back to her classroom, saw the whole thing though. A shocked look crossed her face as she raced over to Sally who was by now crying and looking at Jimmy.
“What did I do?”
“A very simple Transmogrification spell”
“A what?” Sally asked, confused by Lara’s answer.
“You simply did what witches in the books call turning him into a toad, But don’t worry, I can fix this. Grandma taught us how to do this.”
Lara’s finger began to glow, and suddenly where there was a frog, Jimmy now stood, blinking at the two girls, and not sure why he was standing there looking at them anymore.
“Out of my way. I’m headed back to class blondie.” Jimmy stormed by, taking great care to avoid Sally.
Lara giggled softly to herself then looked back at Sally, “Let me guess. You’re Sally, and you’re on your way to the office because you either switched places with your sister, or your teacher thinks you guys did? Am I right or am I right?” She grinned almost playfully.
“You’re a mind reader aren’t you?” Sally only half-joked.
“Nah, I just noticed that Susan has a freckle on the left side of her nose, and yours is on the right, that’s all.”
“We’d better get going,” Sally finally replied, “I don’t want to get you in trouble Lara. Oh, I don’t know what you did, but thank you!”
Sally quickly slipped off to the office, looking up at the clock as she entered. Thirty-five minutes left of class, she sighed to herself, muttering something to herself as she approached the front office desk.
“I’m here to see Mr. Tomes.”
The lady behind the desk looked up from her computer and smiled at Sally, studying her for a second. Having the twins at the school was a bit of exciting for the young lady. Every time one got sent down it was a chore to figure out which one was which, almost like a game.
“So Susan, what did you do this time?” she asked, hoping she got it right.
Sally let out a little giggle, “I’m Sally, Mrs. Evans.”
“Oh, please,” the woman smiled as she shook her head, “I’ve asked you to call me Jessica, remember?” She paused to laugh. “Or was that your sister? Anyway, he’s not busy right now, so you can go right in Sally.”
“Thanks,” Sally answered softly. “I didn’t actually do anything though. Mrs. Patterson just thinks I did.”
June 15th, 1990 1:30am - Alpine springs Woods.
Three green cloaked and hooded figures stood around near a stream, deep in the woods surrounding Alpine Springs, sharing quiet whispers amongst themselves.
“Did she say why we were to meet here?” one asked.
“No, she just said to meet here around this time,” another stated.
“Hmmm, she’s never late,” the third added.
“This must be important if she called us all here,” the first concluded.
A figure in a brown cloak and hood appeared seemingly from the surrounding shadows, walking towards the group and carrying something in her hand.
“Ah there she is.”
The brown cloaked figure stood before the other three, looking at them all as she spoke.
“No one knows any of you are up here do they?”
“No Eva, nobody followed us, and we never told our husbands what we were doing,” the ladies replied..
“Good. This is very important to the future of Alpine Springs.”
Eva pulled her hood back, revealing an older woman with greying jet back hair, and the rest of the ladies did the same. Much like Eva, they were all older looking.
“We can drop the guise. We are amongst only ourselves now ladies,” Eva instructed.
A sorrid of colors swirled around all four as their appearances suddenly shifted to look like teenage girls.
They all looked around and smiled at their leader.
“So we have an issue, sisters. Twenty-one years from now, there’s going to be a massive influx of power. This will cause the whole structure we have built to warp if we don’t move the bubble.”
Eva looked sadly to Micia for a moment, and then around to the rest of the group.
“Most of this news is Micia, but I did bring you others out for a reason as well. All will be told.” She paused a moment, looking back to Micia.
“Four years from now you will have a grandson named Michael. All things will go well for him until his sister is born four years after that. Near All Hallow’s Eve, a bit after your granddaughter’s 12th birthday, if your grandson isn’t transformed into your granddaughter, the flux in power will explode, causing the end of Salem, as well as the bubble.”
Micia looked solemnly at Eva , knowing full well Eva would never lie about such things.
“Then what should we do Eva?”, asked Lily-Rose, the other black-haired girl..
Eva just smiled at them, “For now, we must change the bubble.”
A bunch of whispers amongst the other girls erupted, and then Lilly-Rose looks up at Eva,
“The Bubble hasn’t been changed since we put it up.”
“There are many things are going to lead up to these events on Halloween, but we can change them, and this is how. First, Lilly-Rose, your granddaughter from Rebbecca needs to meet a girl named .. Robin I believe was her name. Micia,” she turned to the blonde-haired woman.
“I need your permission to turn your grandson into a girl. The goddess help us the universe doesn’t punish us for that one. Isabella, your granddaughter Katelyn, I think her name is... Names are so hard to hear in my visions,” she sighed, “Will have a girlfriend. Her name will be something like Sarah or Clara - probably Sarah.”
She paused for emphasis. “She’s not a user, but she will play a very important role in the future of Alpine Springs. You will have to save her life someday and give her a gift, but I will tell you about that later.”
Eva stopped to take a breath, looking at her Coven of users and smiling at each one of them, except Micia. When she stopped at Micia’s face she seemed deeply saddened again.
“Micia my sister, after today we all will never see you again, Your daughters and son will never see you again,” she spoke softly. “Everyone take your time before we work the spell to change the bubble, to say your last goodbyes to our sister.”
Everyone approached to give Micia a hug and tell her that they all will love her forever and miss her. When Eva came up to give her a hug , she leaned in and whispered something into Micia’s ear. Micia turned to the other girls and smiled broadly at them.
“Do not mourn my death. Do not be sad that I must pass on. The Universe wills it; however Eva made me a happy woman tonight, for before I must leave, I find that my granddaughters in the future will be powerful users! Twin magic will come back because of them, and that makes me so happy for them. I give you my permission Eva to use your Chaos magic to turn my grandson Michael into my granddaughter. I know that, if he knew what was at stake, he would gladly agree to the change.”
With that the ladies all smiled and nodded, beginning work on changing the bubble. The bubble began to shrink, leaving Salem. It grew smaller and smaller until only Alpine Springs, and small parts of New Haven still remained guarded. During the Ritual, Micia collapsed and Lilly-Rose knelt down at her side, checking her pulse. She shook her head as she carefully lay her brown cloak over the girl’s lifeless form.
“Rest now, our sister,” she whispered softly.
Back in the Present, two days before Halloween Friday night.
That night the boys teased Marcus and dared him to go egg his girlfriend’s house. Giving in, Marcus grabbed the half dozen eggs from the refrigerator, and the boys left to stir up some mischief.
As Marcus was throwing eggs at the house Meghan stepped out on the porch, getting pelted with several eggs. She screeched, “Marcus I know that’s you out there! We are through you hear me asshole!”
Laughing at Marcus, the boys raced off down the street until they were all far enough away from the old Crowley house.
Later that evening, at Sally and Susan’s house, as the girls were getting ready for bed, Sally looked over at Susan and smiled. It had been an eventful night, baking cookies with Lara and their mother, Melissa.
“I love you Susan, and I don’t ever want to stop being your twin.”
“We can’t ever stop being twins, silly!” Susan giggled at her sister, throwing one of her pink fluffy pillows at her.
Throwing the pillow back, Sally crawled into her bed to get some sleep.
Halloween went off without any problems. Sally had lost all of her memories of being Michael, including those odd thoughts of Meghan. None of them remained, and again true to her words Mrs. Crowley took the two girls aside and started to give them some basic training in how to control their magic, so that it wouldn’t get out of control.
All throughout winter, the girls went over to the Crowley house after their homework was finished to learn more about magic. Perhaps Melissa should or could have questioned the twins’ spending so much time there, but then, they were growing into teenagers, and Lara was their best friend. Besides, things were peaceful, and that was good enough for her.
This story is a Continuation Story of A Trick … or a Treat
You can find A Trick .. or a Treat at the Following Locations at Robinverse and here at BigCloset
The First chapter is packed with some information that was previously unknown to the Robin universe and may or may not contain spoilers, I’ve taken liberties and named some characters in the story and was given permission by Zoe to change Sally and Susan’s last name from Bowen to Brown. It skips around a lot because I’m trying to catch my story up to Becoming Robin, and Everythings Sunny with Sarah but still trying to explain whats going on with the girls.
Chapter 2 thing will be a bit different and things with Sally will be worked out more.
Thank you Zoe for letting me run amok in your Story :)
Authors Notes:
Thank you all for being supportive and reading my stories and what not, I also appreciated all the comments left, and took into heart as I finished this chapter the biggest complaint you all had, so enjoy reading :)
Also I'd still like to thank Zoe for letting me write this and giving me a direction to go with this chapter :) *hugs*
Several days after the girls returned home from rock camp their dad dropped some good news on the family. Melissa had called the girls down for a family meeting, and they both reluctantly appeared in the living room, fearing the worst, until their father smiled.
“I’m leaving the regular police force to become a detective, and with this promotion my captain gave me the entire summer off to spend with you guys. Can you believe it?”
Melissa smiled at the entire family at the news. “We could go up to Alpine Springs and dust off my mother’s old house, you know. I haven’t been back there since I was in high school.”
With that the girls giggled and looked at their dad.
“Daddy,” started Susan
“Can we go?” finished Sally.
Jeff cringed a little at the girls finishing each others sentences but smiled at them and replied, “Sure we can go. It’ll be kind of nice to get out of Salem for a change. If you girls hurry and get packed, we can leave tomorrow.”
Melissa continued to smile at her husband and kissed his cheek. “Let me call my sister to see if we can meet her in town to get a key.”
The girls excitedly rushed upstairs to start packing their stuff for the trip. Sally grabbed her lavender suitcase, and Susan grabbed her pink one, and began packing some clothing into it.
Both girls grabbed a lot of identical outfits and some their favorite colors, Sally lavenders and purples and Susan pinks and reds.
“This is going to be so exciting! The the first summer holiday outside of Salem!” screeched Sally.
“Oh God I know it’s going to be great,” replied Susan.
Sally stopped packing suddenly, holding up an envelope with the twins’ names on it.
“What’s this?” Sally mindlessly asked nobody in particular. Susan glanced over at her, and quickly both girls gathered around the envelope, carefully opening it. Inside were two cards both say Alpine Bank, though one has Sally’s name and the other has Susan’s. There was also a letter.
Dear Sally and Susan,
If you’re reading this it is the summer of your twelfth year, and both of your 13th birthdays should be coming up soon - June 25th I believe. You two have never met me, but I’m your grandmother Micia Jewel, your mother’s mother,. I wish I could be there for you two, but I will have died a long time before you two were ever a twinkle in your mother’s eye.
I wanted to leave you this letter for several reasons. For one I wanted to say I’m happy you two are alive and are able to carry out the family line, and for two girls, I wanted to give you your share of the family’s money, Your Uncle is a bit of an ass when it comes to your mom, you know. It’s a good thing she and your aunts got the house isn’t it? Otherwise you girls wouldn’t have anything from me. For three, when you girls go to stay at the old house this summer, there is a lock box in the attic for you both. Its contents are yours.
Love you always
Grandma Micia Jewel
“Wow Grandma left us these?” the girls chimed together.
Sally handed Susan her card and smiled at her, looking hers over. From the looks of it it had never been used. A sticky note on the back held a hand-written four digit code.
After they finished packing for the impromptu trip, it was still close to midday, so both girls ran downstairs with their new cards in their new purses, an early birthday present from their mother..
“Mom!” both girls called out at the same time, but no one answered, so they went looking and found their dad sitting on the couch.
“Where is mom at?” both girls questioned their dad.
Cringing and chuckling to himself, he answered, “She went out for a bit to get food for the trip.”
“Can you”, Susan started.
“Take us to,” put in Sally.
“the Mall?” both girls finished.
He smiled at them both and shook his head. “I think you two do that just so you can give me heart problems, but sure, let me just get my keys.”
The girls excitedly left the house and waited at their dads car. Jeff sat down in the driver’s seat and smiled at them as he pulled the door closed. “I think it’s about time that you girls should be able to go shopping without supervision.”
The girls trying really hard to not upset their dad, squealed.
“Thank you daddy!” Sally said first.
“Your the best!” came Susan a moment later.
“However I’m going to give one of you a cell phone so you can call your mom when you’re ready to come home, ok?”
With that Jeff pulls out two brand new cell phones from the glove box and hands them to the girls. Unable to control their excitement the girls both squealed again and said at the same exact time, “Oh my God, thank you so much daddy!”
The first stop the girls made at the mall was Clairs, to get new earings, and after Clairs, they went off to Spencers to pick up some new shirts and skirts, and maybe some other cool stuff. Two shopping bags apiece later, the girls left Spencer’s and headed into Payless Shoes.
“Hey these are cute!” Sally held up a pair of purple trainers.
“Oh God they are! Is there a pink pair?” Susan asked as she came over to look.
“Over here there is a pink pair in our size,” Sally called to her sister.
After paying for their new trainers the girls wandered over to the food court. The girls ordered their cheeseburgers and fries with a coke and sat down to eat. Sally and Susan ate mostly in quiet, watching the people pass by. The mall food court was somewhat busy that day, but not too crowded.
Sally finally broke the silence. “I saw this really cool looking music shop here in the mall earlier. It must be new because I haven’t seen it before.”
Susan smiled brightly. “Great! I need some new sticks!”
Sally replied, “Yeah and I need new picks and strings for both parts of my custom guitar.”
Both girls finished up eating and headed to the ‘Music World’, a rather nicely setup Music shop, with displays of different instruments in the storefront, plus a few higher end instruments along the walls. Picks, sticks, guitars,, and electric bases, this place had it all. Sally wandered over to the display that had packages of strings, examining them carefully.
“I think I should have asked if the gold ones were any good at camp.”
Sally stopped and looked right at some bags of Aurora colored guitar strings, grabbing four bags of each in medium gauge then going over to the counter to the pick box, where she started to dig through it for some nice picks. Near the bottom of the box she spotted a pick that matched her guitar, metallic purple with sparkles in it.
“Do you have any more like this?” Sally asked the lady behind the counter.
“Sure, we got a few in the back,” she answered and smiled as she stepped away to look.
Susan grabbed a few drum sticks and a decal sticker of a pink bunny for her base drum, and came up to the counter with her sister. As they set their stuff on the counter to pay for it, the female cashier smiled at the two girls.
“Are you both enrolled in the youth music program we have?”
Both girls said at once, “No, what is that?”
“You get a discount on all purchases, and if your music talent’s really good and you bring in a demo mp3 of your music, we’ll play it on our store’s system.” The lady smiled at the two.
“That sounds great! Sign us up!” both girls announced.
Having finished their shopping the girls called their mom to come pick them up, and quickly left the mall to stand outside and wait for her. Standing near the mall entrance with four large bags of items apiece, Susan fidgeted a little before looking over at Sally..
“So um, Sally do you ever think about boys?” questioned Susan.
“Ewww no way boys are kinda gross. Do you?” replied Sally.
“No way!” giggled Susan, “What about girls?”
“Um, no I don’t think so. Why?”
“The other day while you were sleeping I heard you mention Meghan. That’s all,” Susan answered simply and shrugged.
“Oh, I think she’s got pretty hair, and she’s nice to her sister and stuff.” Sally blushed. “Do you think about girls?”
“I haven’t thought about it much really,” Susan answered honestly.
“Oh here’s Mom,” both girls announced as their mother drove up to the mall entrance.
After seeing all the stuff the girls bought, Melissa looked up at them both. “Been saving a lot of your allowance I see?”
“No Grandma gave us some money,” both girls said at once.
“Sweeties, Grandma Micia died before you were even born, and your dad’s mom doesn’t come around anymore after you girls were born.”
Sally and Susan both produced their debit cards, and Sally pulled the letter out of her little purse, showing them to their mother.
“My mother,” Melissa mused. “She’s still full of surprises to this day.” She shook her head, handing the cards back to her girls, though she held on to the letter, asking softly, “Can I keep the letter, girls?”
“Sure thing Mom,” both replied.
The next day the girls finished helping their dad pack the car for their vacation. Sally decided to take both her guitars - her custom twin head lead/bass and her regular lead, but Susan complained that she couldn’t take her drum set until her mom reminded her that her grandmother left the girls money, and if they had enough she could buy a set to keep at the new summer house. Happy with what they packed, the girls got in just as the weather started to change, large rain drops falling on their heads as they dove into the backseat.
The drive to Alpine Springs seemed like forever to the girls. Their parents stopped at a cafe just outside of town to meet Melissa’s sister, and they all get out to go inside. Melissa quickly spotted her older sister and waved to her as they approached.
“Oh wow Erica , you haven’t changed a bit,” Melissa greeted her sister.
“Neither have you Melissa, two girls at the same time, and hardly a stretch mark on you! Come here girls, and give your Auntie Erica a hug.” She smiled
Both girls rushed up to their Aunt Erica and gave her a hug then smiled, whining in unison, “Why don’t you come visit us anymore?”
“Oh I’ve been extremely busy sweeties, but I promise to make it out sometime this year ok? And I have a present for you both for your birthday,” she said smiling.
Erica reached into her purse and produced a key for everyone, “Mom would have wanted you guys to have the house. None of us other girls use it, and we won’t let him near it so it should go to you Melissa sweetie,” she said, smiling at her sister.
Melissa looked over at her sister. “What’s the condition of the house, and do we need to get food for our first night?”
“I try to keep the house clean at least once or twice a month dear sister, and there should be a lot of non-perishable foods in the house.”
Both ladies exchanged hugs and kissed each other on the cheek. “I hope we can have dinner over at Mom’s old place sometime this summer if you don’t live too far.”
“I’ll call you and let you know if its possible,” Erica answered warmly.
Everyone loaded up into the car and Jeff started to drive into town. It was an uneventful trip to the residential area of Alpine Springs. They pulled into a quiet neighborhood with lots of large houses, and Jeff looked over at his wife then back at the girls.
“Your mom grew up a in a rich neighborhood kids. Your grandma was loaded from what I hear,” he chuckled. Melissa smacked his arm playfully as the passed a few houses,and pulled into a circular driveway that didn’t go to far from the road.
“So looks like we don’t have too many neighbors. Who is that right across the street hon?” Jeff asked.
“That’s the Morgans. I used to be really good friends with Rachel growing up, but after high school we kinda lost touch, and I haven’t heard from her since.”
“Wow this is such a huge house.“ The girls exited the car quickly and looked around. “It’s bigger then our house.” they both said at the same time again.
“Go in girls,” their mother replied, “We’ll be right inside. Your dad will bring the stuff in.”
Both girls, approached the door and Susan pulled her key out, unlocking it. Sally turned around and called to her dad, “Daddy, be careful of my guitars!”
The girls entered the house. Inside the door was a large waiting room that lead off to the living room and the kitchen on either side, with another door to one side and stairs leading up on the other side. The door had painted in a two tone shade of lavender and pink, with a red light bulb above the door that was off at the moment.
“I think we should go check this out!” both girls exclaimed.
Sally standing closest to the door opened it and looked inside. Once the door opened an auto movement sensor picked up the movement and the lights turned on, revealing a huge sound studio setup, drum set , guitar stand, mic, and a lot of different guitar pedals. On one of the guitar stands was a black bass guitar, nothing too special, but nice anyway, and the drum set reminded Susan of the one she left at home, complete with pink decals already on it.
“Oh my God”, both girls almost fainted. The house door opened and their mother Melissa stepped inside. “MOM! Come here and look at this!” both screamed excitedly..
Melissa stepped into the garage and looked around, mouthing ‘holy fuck’ as she walked around the room. On one of the counters where there was a jar of picks sat a note, looking like it was written by one of her sisters.
Melissa,
This setup is for your two girls. I know how much they love music, and I figured I’d leave them this gift. You will be happy to know that it’s sound proof. You won’t be able to hear them inside the house unless they open the door or the garage door for that matter.
Love you always.
Jeff stepped into the house setting the girls’ luggage down along with Sally’s guitars. “So where you girls at?” he called out.
“In the Garage Daddy!” both girls chimed.
Jeff peeked his head through the door and whistled then looked at his wife and started chuckling. “Looks like we wont be seeing these two all vacation, hon.”
Melissa started to laugh at that.
“Can I get my regular guitar Daddy?” Sally asked.
“Sure sweetie. I’m not sure which one it is, so I’ll just bring in both ok?”
Susan sat down at the drum set where she found a set of sticks on the snare, and smiled, starting a beat. Sally went to her dad and grabbed the custom guitar case, taking it over to the amp. Opening her case she carefuly pulled out the custom lead/bass combo guitar. “I know I said I wanted my regular one, but I think I got an idea,” she giggled.
Plugging in her guitar, she walked over to a pedal and plugged it in as well then looked at Susan who nodded and grinned.
“A 1.. 2.. 3, and,“ Sally started to strum the intro to Metallica’s Enter Sandman.
Susan looked at Sally and started to giggle, “Wrong song Silly!”
Jeff looked at his wife and chuckled, “We got some talented girls you know that?”
Susan looked at their parents. “Can we open the garage door and practice a little? We haven’t had a lot of time to play since Rock camp.”
Jeff smiled and nodded. “Sure girls, have fun. Your mom and I will go setup your room, and the rest of the house. We’ll let you know when lunch is ready ok?”
Both girls giddily nodded, and Susan looked around. “How do we open the door?”
Melissa, holding a garage door opener that was next to the note, handed it to Susan, “With this sweetie,” she added, before turning to leave the girls to their practicing.
Sally tuned her guitar really fast as the garage door started to open, and both girls smiled and at the same time said, “I know what song we should play - pur favorite!”
When the door finally opened the girls smiled. Sally started to play the intro to White Stripes Seven Nation Army, the Volume on the amps up high like a concert amp should be, and Susan started in on the drum part. Sally approached the microphone as it started getting closer to the vocal. Beforehand she noticed someone standing in their driveway listening. Ignoring the newcomer Sally starts to sing,
I'm gonna fight 'em off
A seven nation army couldn't hold me back
They're gonna rip it off Taking their time right behind my back
And I'm talking to myself at night because I can't forget
Back and forth through my mind behind a cigarette
And the message coming from my eyes it says leave it alone
Don't want to hear about it every single one's got a story to tell
Everyone knows about it from the Queen of England to the hounds of hell
And if I catch it coming back my way I'm gonna serve it to you
And that ain't what you want to hear, but that's what I'll do
And the feeling coming from my bones it says find a home
I'm going to Wichita
Far from this opera forever more
I'm gonna work the straw, make the sweat drip out of every pore
And I'm pleading, and I'm pleading, and I'm pleading right before the Lord
All the words are gonna bleed from me and I will think no more
And the stains coming from my blood tell me go back home
As the girls finished the song, the black-haired girl standing in the driveway started to clap her hands. The girls started another song by the White Stripes, Icky Thump, but Sally didn’t sing this time. They just played the music part. After the song was finished Sally placeed her guitar in the stand and waved the girl over,.
“Hi, I’m Sally and on drums is Susan.” she introduced herself then suddenly stopped, recognizing the girl.
“Oh my god Nikki!” both girls screamed as Susan leapt from the drums, nearly dropping her sticks.
“Hey girls. I almost thought you were the real Jack White for a second there, “ Nikki teased, standing in the doorway wearing shorts and a black Heedless Despair t-shirt.
“Hey Nikki, want to hear what we have been learning to play for our Daddy?” Both girls smiled at Nikki.
“Sure, let’s her it.” she giggles to herself.
Going over to her guitar again Sally picked it up off the stand and changed the pedal to a different effect, and smiled brighter. “Susan, DP, Smoke?”
Susan giggled as Sally started to play the riff intro to Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water.
Sally nodded to the black bass guitar on the stand and to Nikki, and continued to play. Nikki smiled, walking over and grabbing it, plugging it in and joining jamming with the girls to the very great classic song.
Sally giggled as she played, “I don’t know the lyrics that well yet, but I like the riffs at the start of this song so much. It took me two days to learn them.”
Susan, not to be out done smiled and added, “I learned the drum parts in one,” and all three girls giggled.
After they finished playing the song, both Sally and Nikki put the guitars up and sat down on the stools, the twins stating, “We didn’t know you lived near here.”
Melissa opened the door and her Jaw dropped as she spotted Nicole. She looked to Melissa the spitting image of her friend Rachel Morgan. Speechless for a second, she continued to stare, finally finding her voice again.
“Oh my God, are you Rachel’s daughter? You look just like her!”
Nikki blushed a bit, shaking her head quickly. “I was adopted, actually. Rachel was my adopted dad’ss sister though?”
“Bob adopted you?” replied Melissa giggling a little. “Bob used to chase me and Rachel around the yard pretending to be Godzilla.” She sighed happily and smiled. “You should invite your family over for lunch, young lady. I’ve known them since I was little, and it would be kind of nice to see them again.”
“Nicole,” Nikki smiled at Melissa.
“Hmmm sweetie?” replied Melissa.
“You called me young lady, I just told you my name’s Nicole, but since you’re my favorite young guitarist and drummer's mom you can call me Nikki,” she giggled, finding since she got with Robin she’s been doing that more lately.
“Anyway, I’ll go tell dad that an old friend of his moved next door.”
“My maiden name is Jewel, but my married name is Brown, just tell him Micia’s youngest daughter is next door, and he’ll know who it is,” she giggled softly and went back inside to tell Jeff that an old family friend would be coming over for lunch.
After lunch with the Morgans, though Nicole was mostly quiet, apparently with a lot on her mind, the girls went to their parents.
“Hey mom, Can Susan and I ride to the mall on our bikes? Nikki says it’s not far!” Sally asked without Susan this time doing their weird Twin thing.
“Sure sweetie, your dad and I are going to go to the store anyway to pick up some groceries. This place is empty,” their mother responded.
“Thanks mom!” both girls chimed this time.
“Just remember you two, helmets, and don’t talk to any strange adults.” Melissa smiled at her daughters.
The two girls got their helmets and started to ride their bikes to the mall, except that for some reason they didn’t seem to be riding to the mall at all. Sally was riding her bike down a dead end road.
“Sally, stop!” Susan cried, seeing a young girl standing in the middle of Sally’s path.
Sally looked up just in time to stop before hitting the girl. The young girl looked deeply at both the twins, her soft pink eyes shining in the early midday light, and her long golden blonde hair flowing with the slight breeze. She smiled.
“Michael Brown, please watch where you’re going next time,” the young girl smiled, almost giggling as she talked.
“Who?” was all the two girls could respond.
“Oh my poor son, what has happened to you?” the young girl’s eyes widened as she moved closer to Sally and Susan.
Sally looked at the girl, confused. “I’m a girl, not a boy, and my name’s Sally Brown, not Micheal Brown!”
“Step off the bike my son, so I can see who did this to you.” the young girl half demanded half asked.
As Sally dismounted her bike , she was suddenly dumbstruck. She felt taller, and the tiny bit of weight from her chest was gone. Her hair felt different as well and there was something weird going on between her legs that was not there before.
“What did you do to me?” demanded the boy who was once Sally. Her voice was not even her voice anymore.
“Tell me my son, was this the work of Eva Crowley?” the young girl’s eyes started to shift from soft pink to a dark blue.
“I know Mrs. Crowley. She started to teach Susan and me how to use magic,” ‘Micheal’ responded, still carrying Sally’s memories.
The girl’s eyes burned with a deep purple, her anger brewing as the clouds started to form in the sky, “That woman is dead!” screeched the young girl, and as she screeched the weather turned really nasty. Heavy rain started pouring down and the winds started to blow as lightning raced across the clouds.
“EVA come to me now!” screamed the young girl, and lightning crashed again across the sky. The storm seemed to stretch on forever.
As the young girl grew even angrier an older lady appeared before the children. “You called for me Universe?” Eva addressed the young lady.
“Eva Crowley, I gave your kind magic to be used responsibly! What you did to my son was NOT responsible!” the young girl really sounded pissed off, pushing her finger into the old woman’s chest. “Give me ONE good reasons I should not end your life right now, daughter!”
Eva looked at the girl she called ‘Universe’ scared for her life at this point. She tried to reason with her. “Because I still must train the twins to control their magic responsibly, otherwise they will make the same mistake as me!”
“The hell you will teach them anything more Eva! I will give the job to someone more trustworthy!” The young girl’s eyes flashed deep purple still.
“I haven’t the energy to turn Sally back to her true form at this very moment,” the girl sighed, exasperated. “What she is right now is an illusion. I’m still recovering from your last stunt with Sarah.” The girl paused briefly, still scowling. “Eva, I will not kill you, but I will punish you for your trespassing on my Son this way. You have destroyed him, and for this you cannot go unpunished!”
Eva Crowley looked extremely scared at this point. “What is it you wish of me?” she asked, frightened.
Faith ignored Eva for the moment walking over to Micheal, “My son, if it is your wish to remain a daughter, then I will leave you as you were, but I cannot let Micheal die, for he was my son and deserved a chance that Eva wouldn’t let him have.”
Sally or Micheal looked over at Susan and nodded, turning her head back to the young girl. “I want to stay as Sally. I love my sister! We have so much fun together.”
The young girl smiled as she pulled Michael closer and kissed his forehead. “From now I have a new daughter, with two memories, instead of what the witch Eva gave you.” The illusion that made Sally look like Micheal faded, and the young girl turned to Eva and frowned, her eyes a deep blue now. The storm that raged overhead seemed to calm a bit as her eyes shifted color.
“As for you daughter, I’m going to punish you in the same way I punished the other girl that you ladies refuse to help - you know of whom I speak!” she growled. “But I’m going to make you a dog instead. Perhaps then you will learn some obedience!” The young girl pointed her finger at Eva, and suddenly where the old woman had been standing was a white show poodle.
“Sit,” the young girl commanded as she turned back to Sally. “I love you my daughters, and for you Sally, your memory will return, but since my powers are weakened it will take time. I am so sorry for what she has done to you. You need fear her no longer.”
Just as quickly as it happened, Sally and Susan were riding their bikes again, headed for the mall.