Who: Sebastian, Ophelia, and James Where: The McCarthy House When: Wednesday, November 1, twilight Status: Complete
Sebastian was liking this thing where his biggest worry of the week was the game on Friday. It was normal in a way that he’d missed, slightly superficial and not a real issue regardless of the outcome. He wanted to win, of course, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they didn’t. And there was no use in worrying because nothing really mattered till he got on the field. It gave him a chance to focus on his homework, which he’d finished early enough to spend some time looking at college applications. That was a little bit daunting, but he kept telling himself that he wouldn’t have to do it alone.
The sun was just setting when he felt a surge of magic rush over him, sudden enough that it made him gasp and left his skin tingling. It reminded him of how he’d felt that past Saturday, but this was far stronger and more abrupt in its appearance. He held out his hand, intending to summon his element, and it was there so fast, in such large quantities, that he splashed himself in the face. Sebastian cursed, jumping up from his bed and hurrying to the bathroom to grab a towel. By the time he got there the water in his hair and on his shirt had frozen solid. He stared at himself for a second, then left his room for Ophelia’s. On the way there, his door slammed open untouched, as did hers, and Sebastian cringed, standing in her doorway. “Are you feeling this?” he asked, eyes wide.
Ophelia had been having a perfectly normal post-dinner evening in her room. Listening to music and slowly doing some homework in between bouts of daydreaming about Greg. She could still feel his lips on hers if she concentrated enough, and she was really just biding her time until the family all stopped moving around the house so she could take care of some tension she’d been carrying for hours and hours now. At least, she was daydreaming until a strange feeling washed over her. It was almost related to the sweet warm throbbing she’d been having most of the day, but not quite. It was ... more sparkly-feeling. Like a buzz under her skin, running through her body like an electric charge. Phee looked up from her homework and saw all the plants in her room blooming at once, so fast, like they were on a time-lapse. Oh shit. Her magic was ramping up again.
She’d stood up by the time her door slammed open and Sebastian was standing there, and Phee looked at him with wide eyes. He was all wet. “Yes?” she answered, though she wasn’t sure why she’d made it a question. They were obviously both having a surge. She lifted her hands and gasped a little as vines started growing out of her palms. With a little squeak, Phee shook them off and a breeze from nowhere blew through the room. “What the fuck is it?”
“Oh my god,” Sebastian breathed as vines started growing out of Ophelia’s palms. He was fairly certain she’d never done that before, nor had she conjured them on purpose. But then he was literally sprouting icicles off his arms, so she wasn’t alone. “I don’t know. I didn’t do anything. It was just suddenly there and--” His words cut off as her desk chair slid across the room to him, hitting him in the shins. Had he even thought about sitting down? Possibly. But it should’ve taken work to do that. He gripped the back so that it wouldn’t go anywhere else and water started to creep down the back, immediately freezing into more icicles. “I can’t control this. It’s like-- like there’s too much, or something. It’s-- It’s never done this before.”
Phee winced a bit as her chair rolled abruptly over to slam into Sebastian. This felt very different than what had happened over the weekend, and it was scary. That had been a lovely-feeling boost in power. This felt out of control. “With me either,” she said in a rush, hugging herself and looking around her room like something might jump out and bite her. Her plants were going nuts, the green growing and spreading before their eyes, flowers blooming and withering only to bloom again. There was a steady wind now, even though her windows weren’t open and no fan was on or anything. “Should we get dad?” she asked, looking to Sebastian again. He was older, more in charge, he would know, right?
Sebastian knew that calling on their father was probably necessary, yet he hesitated anyways. It felt like an admission of weakness, as well as a confession to messing with powers they’d been strictly told not to, even though they’d done nothing to initiate the current surge. He suspected there would be questions that he didn’t want to answer, things he was sure had nothing to do with the current situation. But when he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair and the bulb in her lamp popped and shattered, he realized that was probably a good idea. “Probably,” he said with a cringe. At least when he looked at the shards of glass, they magically arranged themselves into a neat little pile, a trick that would’ve been way cooler if he’d done it on purpose.
The sudden shatter of glass made Phee squeak again and she winced. She strode forward and pulled her desk chair away from her brother, not noticing that she was leaving dirt footprints with every step. “Okay, let’s find him,” she said firmly. Since they’d decided and all. She grabbed Sebastian’s wrist to pull her along with him, thinking they should not split up, even though that was probably silly. She wasn’t sure what her father could actually do about any of this, but maybe he could help. Before they destroyed the house somehow. He would at least probably not freak out as much as their mother would, so that was something. Phee headed for the stairs, intending to head down to their father’s study to try and find him.
It was a calculated risk. They could stay in their rooms and possibly destroy the house, in which case both their parents would definitely find out, or they could seek out their father and hopefully stop some of the damage before it happened. Sebastian was thinking along the same lines as Ophelia, that they should head straight to the study and hopefully he would be there. They left a soggy, muddy mess in their wake and when they approached the study the doors flew open on their own, revealing their father, thankfully alone. “Hey dad, do you have a second?”
James felt them coming before the door opened. It was magic in the air that to him felt like gusts of wind even if it didn't stir anything. He was looking at the door when it swung open, his brows furrowed. "I sure do," he muttered, getting up from his seat and slowly walking over to the door before stopping mid-way to look them both over. There were flowers and icicles and they both looked flustered and upset. "What did you do?" It was the only thing that came to mind, that they must have cast a spell and lost control because why else would they be walking in their elements - literally. Thank God Brianna wasn't home, it gave him some time to figure this out.
Their father didn’t look too surprised, which was kind of disconcerting. Phee realized she was still holding onto Bash’s arm, but it was freezing cold with icicles and stuff, so she let go and rubbed her hand on her pants, leaving a streak of mud that had no reason to be there. “We didn’t do anything,” she insisted, hating the note of whine in her voice. She couldn’t help it though! This was freaky. “Stuff just started happening!” And they were completely innocent teenagers who never dabbled in magic, no of course not!
“We were in our rooms, doing homework,” Sebastian said, glad that they didn’t have to lie in this instance. He really didn’t feel like fessing up to things tonight, sure that things would implode spectacularly if he did. “It was like, suddenly, it was too much. I didn’t even call my element and it was there, blowing up in my face. So I went to see if it was happening to Phee.” It clearly was. The most disturbing part was that it wasn’t just his element that seemed to be acting up. It was every little thing he’d started to mess with, techniques he hadn’t mastered, some that he barely knew existed. He cast a glance around his father’s library and books started to fall off the shelves. Sebastian focused back on his father. “It’s like it-- it has a mind of its own.”
James gave them a skeptical look because magic didn't just explode in your face for no damn reason. They'd sort that out later, right now he had to get a handle on things. Not inside the office though, his kids were a mess. "Guest bathroom," he said and pointed down the hall. "Go." He followed closely, all but ushering them along, still frowning though it was more in confusion than anything else. There was so much magic and they were clearly not trying to summon it. If anything they seemed to be trying to make it stop. He had to wonder if it had something to do with the flare in magic on Saturday. Wednesdays were powerful days to some witches and it was the day after Halloween, but he had perfect control over his own magic so maybe not.
It sounded like a lie -- most things that started with them innocently doing homework did that -- but it was definitely the truth this time. Phee shuffled along obediently as their father herded them into the guest bathroom. She wasn’t even sure if their mother was home, but she hoped not. It was in the bathroom that Phee realized she was leaving dirt-prints wherever she walked, and she groaned a bit. That was going to take work to get out of the carpet. Shit. More vines started to come out of the palms of her hands and she did her best to make them stop, pulling them off of her skin and tossing them into the bathtub.
Sebastian was dripping and the more he worried, the more he dripped. His hands felt like a running faucet and the best he could do was freeze them over. It wasn’t a great solution, but it made less of a mess, at least until he could get his hands over a sink. Doors opened for them on their way there, like the magic knew where they were going and felt obligated to assist. At least they’d stopped slamming. Sebastian sighed and looked over at his sister, tearing the vines from her hands. “You’re making it worse,” he said softly, immediately realizing how unhelpful that was. “Maybe we should just… try and calm down.” Easier said than done, of course, but he’d noticed that the more worked up he got, the worse his magic responded.
Calming down was definitely a start but James wasn't so sure that would help. If they were telling the truth - and he honestly doubted they were but still - that meant they'd been calmly doing homework when this started. So much for calm. No, James was blaming the fact they'd never learned to do anything with their magic. They should have started training the moment they first felt this rush but now they had no control and no experience. It made him want to tell Brianna a few 'told you so' choice words but right now he needed to deal with the mess right in front of him. "Both of you, listen to me," he muttered, reaching out for his kids and setting his hands on their shoulders. "Try to focus, you're in control of the magic, not the other way around."
Part of Ophelia wanted to yell about how calming down was impossible when her magic was going nuts, but she didn’t, because Sebastian’s was going nuts too. She squeezed her hands into a fist and did her best to focus on James and heed his advice. As far as she knew, he didn’t really practice, but he still knew way more about magic than they did. They hadn’t been able to find his book, but Bash was convinced he had one, and that was more or less enough for Phee. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to do what he said and focus on control. She just wasn’t sure what that felt like exactly, so it was a bit like groping in the dark.
Sebastian had a little bit better idea, but only because he’d been taking lessons from Reagan. He took a deep breath and reached for his element, trying to reign it in, even if he didn’t feel like he could shut it off completely. A ball of water formed between his hands, growing with each inhale, then shirking back down at he pushed at it. It felt like he was fighting with it, trying to shove it back in a place it didn’t want to be, a box that was too small for it to fit. “It’s not listening,” he said with a frown, trying not to grow frustrated. He really didn’t want it to blow up in his face again.
James was at a loss here and that was one of those forbidden feelings of his. There was always a way, always a method to resort to, he was not the one who felt helpless, ever. Yet here he did. He knew spells to dampen magic that was used against him, but that was a defensive maneuver and far more offensive than something he wanted to use on his kids. He didn't even know if it would work in this case since this wasn't directed magic, it was wild magic, something he'd never seen before. Anthony D'Onofrio might know, but James was reluctant to ask for help here unless things got even worse. For now all he could think to do was try to channel this magic, evaporate the water coming off Sebastian, still the plants coming off Ophelia. It wasn't his magic to control and neither were his element either so whatever he did was weak and barely efficient. At least it was somewhat contained now that they were in the bathroom, it would be easier to clean up. "You must have done something," he said, keeping his voice level and not accusing. "Think back, did you touch anything unusual? See anything?"
It was so surreal to watch her father do magic. And to know that was what he was doing and be able to feel it and see it, like some very faintly-colored disturbance in the air. It distracted Phee from trying to focus on trying to focus, which seemed to be marginally helpful. She felt like she had some grit between her teeth and like she could feel sand under her feet even though she was standing on cool tile, but nothing else was trying to grow out of her at the moment. “No, I swear it was just ... completely random,” Phee said. She tried not to sound defensive, but it was so hard, because they really hadn’t done anything this time. “It was like, like how I felt on Saturday, only times ten, and then ... this.” Phee cupped her hands together and conjured up a handful of dark dirt, perfect for planting. She didn’t even have to try to do it, and that was kind of amazing.
Sebastian watched as his father tried to pull the water off him, a little amazed only because he’d never seen him perform magic of any sort. He knew he could, technically, but it had become such a taboo in their house that it was still kind of shocking. “We weren’t even together. I was in my room, doing my homework,” Sebastian nodded along with Ophelia, still not sure what Saturday was about either. Maybe they were connected? “I could control it better on Saturday,” he added, watching as Phee conjured up dirt. If it wasn’t so out of control, it would’ve been really cool. Sebastian pushed the ball of water, trying to make it smaller, and then suddenly it worked, the surge of magic draining away just as suddenly as it had come to him. “Something just changed,” he said, looking down and purposefully sucking the water up off the floor.
James could feel the magic drain away or quiet down or whatever the hell it was doing. He couldn't help but wonder if it was just retreating to come back even stronger, like a wave, but seconds ticked by and it didn't feel like anything ramping up. He kept working on getting water and dirt and plants off his kids, mixed feelings swirling in his chest. On one hand there was pride, because despite not practicing his kids were strong, he could feel it in them. Then there was worry because Brianna would be upset about all of this and that only made him angry because really, what right did she have to be angry? Suspicion was there somewhere in the mix too, magic didn't just do this on its own but then James didn't know any other witches that didn't practice, maybe it was something that couldn't be smothered. He'd have to research this, that was clear. "Be honest with me," he said, trying to keep his voice neutral so they wouldn't feel attacked. They probably would anyway. Teenagers. "Has anything like this happened before?"
Ophelia felt the magic subside as well, and it was kind of a relief and a disappointment at the same time. Watching James start to clean up their mess -- what she and Sebastian couldn’t easily get rid of themselves -- was still fascinating. He seemed to do it with such ease, she had to think that Sebastian had been right and their dad knew more about magic than they’d ever suspected. At the question, Ophelia’s gaze ticked to Sebastian and then back to James. She shook her head solemnly. “I mean ... everything felt ... different, on Saturday. Like ... more? I dunno ... it was like a surge, all day. But I could control it too, it wasn’t like this.”
Sebastian tried to think if anything like this had happened before, even in his lessons with Reagan, but was pretty sure it was still a good, solid no. He’d never been able to summon his element from thin air before, and he’d had to work to move things with magic. He definitely hadn’t done either by accident. “Saturday felt good,” he added to Ophelia’s statement. “Like I was more powerful, but not wild.” It would’ve been exciting if it hadn’t felt like it had a mind of its own. “Nothing like this has ever happened. I swear,” he insisted. If it had, then he probably wouldn’t have freaked out and run to his father. He’d know how to handle it, especially if it was going to go away on it’s own like it had now.
James felt like he probably shouldn't be happy to hear about Saturday from his kids but he related to that feeling so much and he knew how good it had felt - how powerful. Now was not the time to bond over magic though, they needed to clean up this mess and hope it wasn't coming back. "You're both going to have to learn to use your magic now," he muttered and that was the only explanation he could think of, that untapped magic got a little wild on its own - or maybe Bash had bought something other than that safe bracelet at the witches' festival. He glanced at his son with a quirked eyebrow. "More than you have so far at least."
Phee’s eyes widened a bit as she looked at her brother. There was no way that their dad knew about Bash’s magic lessons, right? He hadn’t even talked any more about them to her, she didn’t even honestly know if he’d had another one. She tried to make the glance quick so as not to be super obvious, then looked at James with a spark of hope in her eyes. “Does that mean you’re going to teach us?” she asked, trying not to sound too enthused in case the answer was a resounding No. But what else could he mean? They obviously hadn’t learned enough on their own to get this kind of thing in hand when it went wild.
Sebastian stared back at his father, careful not to look at Ophelia, his face an unreadable mask for once. There was no way he could possibly know about the lessons and Sebastian never practiced in the house if either of his parents were home. He told himself his dad was assuming they knew something because they had to at least know their element, plus they’d felt it on Saturday. Looking down at his hand, he summoned a little ball of water out of thin air, something he’d not been able to do until he’d done it on accident just minutes before. It had given him a feel for it and now it was easy. Flipping his hand over, the water disappeared back into his palm. “It’d be easier to control if we knew something,” he agreed. “Does this mean you’re not gonna tell mom?”
The looks on their faces were kinda priceless and James had to watch that he didn't smirk. If he hadn't suspected before, now he knew for sure. "I guess I am," he told his daughter with a little sigh and then thought about Bash's question. "Not yet at least, not if we can clean up this mess before she gets back." He really didn't feel like dealing with his wife if she got upset about this so if he could avoid it that'd be preferable. It did make him wonder if Trip was having similar problems far away from home and he decided to call him soon if Trip didn't call first. Though if his loss of control had been this big it would be far more destructive considering his element was fire.
Phee clapped a hand over her mouth so her squee wouldn’t be quite so loud, and she bounced a little, gripping at Bash’s arm. Their dad was going to teach them. Learning from her brother who was learning from Reagan Kelly wasn’t nearly as awesome as that. Their own flesh and blood teaching them real magic was way better. “We’ll clean it!” she insisted excitedly, tugging at Bash as she started out of the bathroom. “She’ll never know!” She wasn’t quite sure how that was going to happen, but it totally was, especially if it meant they wouldn’t get in trouble with their mother.
Sebastian knew he shouldn’t smile, but it was so hard not to, especially with Ophelia bouncing beside him. This had been a total fluke, but what a bout of good luck! If he’d known this would be the result, he might’ve planned it, but he could never have imitated the chaos that has struck them both. Still, maybe the mess was worth it. “It’ll be spotless,” he agreed, then started laughing as she pulled him from the room. He knew this couldn’t last forever, that their mom would have to find out eventually, but he was thinking that was their dad’s problem now. If all they had to do was get a little water and dirt out of the carpet, he was sure the two of them could manage in record time.
It was hard to be irritated when his kids looked so damn happy. James couldn't remember when something he had said or done made them this happy - both of them. It made him feel good, accomplished in a way that had very little to do with actual achievement or effort. He chuckled as they sprinted out of the bathroom and of course he'd help, make sure it was indeed spotless. Brianna didn't need to know about any of this just yet.