Dan and his younger twin brothers, Pat and Simon, live in a fairly ordinary Yorkshire village and enjoy a mostly quiet life. The only unusual thing about them is their strong affinity for water, which has something to do with the special cottage in which they grow up. The cottage just so happens to sit over a natural source of magic that saturates the three brothers and primes them to reach their true potential. All they need is a magical makeover and they'll have a chance to make a difference in the endless conflict between good and evil.

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Trios
by Terry Volkirch

Chapter 3: A Taste of Darkness

The brothers bounced into the house later that day, taking a long way around the village to try to burn off more energy. They joked. They laughed. They found themselves giddy with the new skills they were acquiring. Magic was real!

Dan had been a little concerned when he saw the potential for harm, but the twins constantly reminded him that it was only the swimming attendant that got a little banged up by the wave of water. The young man had been strong though. He'd be fine. The sun had continued to shine and the world had never seemed more interesting and alive. The darkness that had awaited their future couldn't dampen their enthusiasm after their wild success in the pool.

When it came time for baths, they surprised their mother. They didn't fight at all. Simon, as the official youngest, went first, followed by Pat and then Dan. They spent a single hour alone in the tub, practiced what they'd learned and got out. While each boy sat in the water, he could hear the thoughts of his brothers but they couldn't hear him. The water increased his potential for telepathy.

Simon quietly mentioned it to his brothers right after his bath and the other two had the same result. They experimented a little by sticking their hands in the tub full of water at the same time and found they could just barely communicate mentally that way.

Dan got a bit of a shock right after getting out of the tub. Just before he put on his fluffy brown robe, he looked down and noticed the absence of something. After verifying in the mirror, he noted that all of his body hair from his neck down had vanished. Not only that, what little facial hair he noticed seemed much finer, shorter and blonde.

"That's odd," he muttered to himself. "I wonder if it's a side effect of the magic."

He compared his lack of hair to his brothers but being younger and not as far along into puberty, they didn't really notice much of a difference. It bothered the oldest boy enough that he made a mental note to ask Jenna about it during their next lesson.

George Green unfolded his newspaper like he did every morning before work. After scanning the headlines, he noted a familiar story, one he'd heard last night from Dan.

"Here it is," he said, pointing out the story to his wife who sat next to him, quietly sipping her tea.

"That's nice, Dear."

"It says here that they blame a localized earthquake. Very odd, that."

Sue furrowed her brow as her husband continued speaking.

"They evacuated the pool to check for damage but they didn't find any cracks. How is that possible? There's a lot of strange things going on around here."

His wife absently nodded, thinking about last night.

Dan had mentioned something about the water sloshing out of the pool, though the boy had made it sound harmless enough. No one had been seriously injured so it didn't bother her. At least it hadn't been an explosion or fire.

Sue shrugged it off and continued her normal routine, seeing her husband off to work and watching the Breakfast program on the telly while she waited for her boys to wake up. She thought she'd be able to have much more time to herself that morning. The three brothers would most likely sleep very well after having had a full day and a late night filled with excitement. They'd get out of bed very late that day.

Dan hurried down for breakfast just after 10 am, getting beat by his brothers again. They had plenty of cereal and milk so it didn't matter. What did matter was that the pool wasn't available for general admission for the next two days. The eldest son filled a bowl, splashed milk on it and rushed to sit across from the twins at the dining table. "Did Kate or Emma mention anything about what we're supposed to do today?" he asked.

Simon spoke up first. "Kate was too busy checking out those lads in the pool whenever she had a free moment."

"Emma never said much," Pat added. "She seemed like a kettle full of water just about to boil."

"Yeah," Dan agreed. "I got that impression."

"I say we go to the lake," Simon said. "Lots of water for practice there."

"Sounds good," the eldest brother said. "We might be able to contact the girls there too."

"Yuck!" Simon blurted out, surprising himself as well as his brothers with his outburst. They just stared back, prompting him to explain. "I'm not sticking my head in that mucky water," he told them.

The other two stopped and shuddered when they imagined the lake water. They spent many weekend afternoons walking around Askern Lake, watching people feed the plentiful geese and other water fowl. The large birds peppered the shoreline with droppings and swam enough to dirty the water and keep it very murky.

"It is as much a toilet for geese as it is a boating lake," Dan said.

They all laughed at that.

The three boys inhaled their cereal and cleaned their teeth before attacking their rooms. They spent a good amount of time cleaning, earning a surprised note of praise from their mother. She'd never seen the twins' room without several articles of clothing strewn about on the floor. That morning, there were no clothes to be seen. Clean clothes were put away in the closet and dresser while the dirty clothes were put in the hamper, ready for washing.

"We should have explosions more often if this is the result," Sue remarked as she inspected Dan's room.

"Mother!"

"You know what I mean, Dan. This is nice," she said, waving her hand around the room. "I hope it continues."

She soon went back to the sitting room to watch television, leaving her oldest son scratching his head.

'Maybe it wouldn't be so bad,' he thought. 'My room does look nice all cleaned up.'

The boy smiled and went to collect his brothers. They had a date with a lake.

The boys walked by the pool, giving it a fond look, continued past the cemetery where the girls would be buried next week and went on through Askern to the lake. They moved to the side farthest from the A19, the main road that ran by the west side of the lake. They wanted to keep farther away from prying eyes. It didn't take long. At a good walking pace, the lake could be circled in less than ten minutes. It was very shallow, more of a pond than a lake.

A steady rain started soon after they arrived. That helped keep foot traffic down for all but the geese that waddled behind, giving the boys hopeful looks. When it became apparent they wouldn't be fed, the geese and other water fowl took to the water to forage on water plants near the shore.

"Well?" Simon said after they stopped.

"Here we are," Dan answered. It wasn't much of an answer. The tall boy knelt down and peered into the murky lake, calling out to Jenna with his mind. After a full minute of trying, he stood up straight and stretched. "Nothing," he said to his brothers' inquiring looks.

"Are we just going to stand her all day and get soaked?" Pat asked. He dressed for the possibility of rain like his brothers but none of the three carried an umbrella. The rain would eventually soak through their water resistant outerwear.

"Give it a chance," Dan said as he scanned the surface of the lake.

Another five minutes and the twins walked back to a small building for some shelter, leaving their brother to wait for contact. It wasn't a long wait.

A faintly glowing circle of gold hair caught Dan's eye as it moved towards him from the center of the lake, and Jenna's form could soon be seen. She moved to just off shore and smiled up at Dan, who smiled back and absently waved his brothers over.

'Can you hear me?' Jenna called out with her mind.

The boy nodded, as did his brothers who caught up to him and stood to either side. It rained heavily enough that they could all hear her thoughts through the connection of rain to the water in the lake.

'Good. We know about the pool schedule. We'll have our next lesson this Saturday. As for the rest of today and tomorrow, just practice what we've taught you so far.'

"Here? At the lake?" Simon asked, speaking out loud for the benefit of his brothers. He tried using telepathy at first but they couldn't hear him as well as they could Jenna. The rain only helped enough that they could hear his voice without being able to quite make out the words.

Jenna heard him well enough, or she could read his lips. In any case, she answered. 'I wouldn't recommend practicing here. It's too public and I'm not sure how safe it is.'

"Oy!" Pat said. "You're concerned about safety?"

Jenna grimaced. 'You never know who might be watching or listening. I'm just not sure. The pool is safe because it's somewhat isolated from the ground. That and I think the chlorine repels most creatures. It might be safe enough to practice with rain in a field, but I'm a little wary of rivers and lakes.'

"I'm not afraid," Simon said.

'You should be,' Jenna told him. 'We need to keep you three a secret until you can learn enough to defend yourselves. If our enemies found out about you now, you could easily end up like me.'

"Just exactly who are our enemies?" Dan asked. "You've never been clear about that."

Jenna turned to look away. 'I have to go now. I'm too far from my body. I think it'll be easier once we're buried but for now I have to go. Sorry!'

The girl disappeared in a flash, leaving Dan's question unanswered.

"I say we practice here and go home for lunch," Simon said. "We can try practicing in the fields near our house after we eat."

"I don't know," the eldest said. "I think we should listen to Jenna. What about you, Pat?"

"Whatever," the older twin replied. "We're already here. Might as well see what we can do."

The twins out-voted Dan and they stayed to see what they could do with the water in the lake. The murkiness of the water seemed to slow them down a little but all three were able to repeat yesterday's accomplishments on a small scale. The fetch of the trio made sure to avoid connecting to his brothers' magic so they wouldn't create a miniature tsunami like they did in the pool.

Everything went so well that Dan eventually felt comfortable enough to try tapping into his brothers' magic. He made sure to use less magic than he did in the pool but he couldn't help wanting to disturb the geese a little. The birds had it a little too easy in his opinion. Wild animals should be wild. He used about a third of the magic power that he had yesterday and created a splash about a third as large in the center of the lake. By the time the waves radiated out to hit shore, they weren't more than about ten centimeters high. The geese weren't impressed.

None of the few people about noticed the splash and resulting wave. They were all distracted by the rain or their own errands. That left the trio a little disappointed, though they shouldn't have been. Their little display did attract the attention of a certain something that magically bubbled up into the lake from some dark magical dimension where it normally lurked.

As soon as the new arrival detected a few nearby geese, it swam up under them and exploded in a fury of water and feathers. The large serpent inhaled three frantic white geese before they had a chance to escape and then turned its attention to the three stunned boys.

"Oy!" Pat shouted. "What the flippin' heck is that, Dan?"

Simon silently stared, still somewhat in shock but he did still manage to keep his magic flowing in the lake. Pat kept his spinning vortex available as well. That just left Dan barely enough time to act, assuming he could keep from panicking.

"Serpent," the eldest boy muttered. "How do you stop a serpent with water?"

"Dan?" Simon said, finding his voice and sounding more than a little concerned.

"Keep your magic going, Simon. You too, Pat. I'm thinking."

"At least slow it down!" Pat shouted again.

"Just hang on!" Dan shouted back, then muttered a bit more, thinking out loud. "It's long, like a sausage... or a balloon animal. Balloon! Got it!"

Pat had already pulled Simon's magic stream into his vortex to whip up a significant amount of magic. That just left the inexperienced fetch to tap into it, which he did, using a simple spell from his short list of known spells. He created a narrow and very powerful stream of water, spraying it into the serpent's open mouth. The force of the water began to inflate the huge creature, blowing it up like a water balloon, and after a good blast of twenty seconds, something had to give. The serpent exploded, splattering the boys with small, bloody chunks of flesh and bone.

After being a little disgusted at first, the three brothers then started worrying about being discovered. They didn't have to worry though. The rain took care of the blood and the remaining geese and a score of ducks soon overcame their fear and gobbled up anything too large for the rain to wash away. In less than fifteen minutes, there was nothing left to give them away, not that anyone noticed anyway.

The twins stood there in shock for the longest time. Dan tried not to laugh as he went up to them and gently lifted their chins to shut their mouths. "Oy," he told them. "Wasn't that exciting?"

All during the walk home, Dan and the twins swapped roles in exaggerated fashion. The twins flinched at every little sound, worried about an imminent attack, while Dan laughed and shouted at the sky about the wonders of magic.

"Do you have to make so much noise?" Pat complained.

Dan looked a little hurt but did tone down his enthusiasm a little for the sake of his brothers. He decided to put more energy into analyzing their encounter with the serpent. "I guess we do have to be careful," he admitted. "And it would appear that the more magic we use, the more likely we are to attract some nasty creature."

"You think?" Simon said, trying not to sound too sarcastic.

"He thinks," Pat said, lightly slapping the hat on his twin's head. "Remember we were the ones who wanted to stay and practice at the lake."

"I know," the youngest said.

The three of them spent their remaining walk in silence, staying very close together with Dan, who used a spell to deflect the rain and keep them all dry. The twins had enough water for the time being and their protective big brother showed them some much needed compassion.

As they hurried home, Pat's thoughts turned to what the night might bring. He wondered about what dreams he'd be having that night and hoped he'd be able to get enough sleep. Simon tried not thinking but his emotions betrayed him. Flashbacks of the serpent swimming towards him upset him enough to cause a few tears to roll down his cheek. He made sure to walk slightly behind his brothers so they wouldn't see his face.

Sue watched from the kitchen as her three sons quietly entered through the back door and removed their shoes, coats and hats. They seemed so much more subdued than yesterday.

"Simon?" she said, giving her youngest a good look. "Are you crying?"

"What?! The boy looked horrified. "It's just rain. It's raining out, you know."

Sue frowned. She knew crying when she saw it, and she knew just what to do.

"How would you lot like some hot choccie?" she asked them, receiving vigorous nods. "Okay then. Go change into some dry clothes and I'll have it waiting for you along with lunch."

"Thanks, Mum," Simon said. He gave his mother a quick hug and then quickly followed after his twin.

The woman shook her head, not quite believing what she saw but happy that she saw it.

He's still my darling baby boy.

She blamed her son's emotional display on grief for his dead schoolmates and got on with making lunch.

The boys returned to the dining room and devoured their meal in silence. The hot chocolate disappeared much more slowly. They all wanted to savor every sip. It never seemed more delicious.

After lunch, Simon received a little good-natured teasing from his brothers.

"Come on, Simon," Dan said. "We need more practice."

"No, thanks. I'm going to my room to read."

Pat laughed. "Still reading that same stupid book?"

"What's wrong with Princess Arwen of Mars?" the boy asked.

His twin laughed. "You need to read some real science fiction. But I'll let you off this time." He ruffled his brother's hair and went to get ready to go out with Dan.

Simon refilled his mug with hot chocolate and went to sit by the window in his room. "I'll practice through the window," he said to himself. "Right after I finish reading another chapter."

He opened his book and began to read, thinking how beautiful the rain sounded as it pattered on the window pane before he immersed himself in the story. The boy read about daring adventures of a beautiful woman on another planet and sighed. The book just kept getting better. He didn't normally care for romance but for some reason, what little romance there was in the story felt right. He even thought it could use more.

While he read, certain aspects of the science fiction reminded him more of magic. His mind occasionally wandered a little, and as it did, he didn't notice the water drops on his window, glowing and swirling in reaction to his thoughts.

 © 2013 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.