Coming soon....

Coming soon....

One year ago it was Christmas Eve... and James called all the Vanburens back to the mansion. He was talking about this huge Christmas party for a year now and was ensuring that all of them were there. And he didn't disappoint, every corner and inch of the manor was a reminder of Christmas. A Christmas tree strategically placed at every corner, Christmas lights all around the house, and garlands overhead - it was obvious that James and the workers put a lot of effort into this year!

The dining room had plate after plate of juicy food placed down, and the music was playing and there James was. Wearing a green sweater, jeans, sneakers, and having an expensive glass of whiskey in hand. Once they were all assembled, James gave them an exuberant speech, as per usual.

"Welcome, welcome, I know I've been harping on you all coming but it has been a while since we all got together," James started before he took a sip of his whiskey, "But, I just thought that I'd try to get us together just so we can catch up. So we can have a bit of fun because you never know what can happen next, after all. I know there's a bit of discord between some of you but I'm hoping that tonight we can work past it - or if I were to stop being idealistic, we can ignore it."

James took another long sip.

"I'll stop here so I don't bore you all," James said, "We've got games, music, and all of our family friends... that I could gather."

---

The cold winter air of Araminta hit Sabrina, even underneath this thick red sweater barely did much. Maybe she should politely ask the ghost inside of it to make it a little thicker. She stood on the deck of the mansion overlooking the garden in the back and it was coated with snow... which was usual for this time of year. Her hand touched the stone railing and she barely felt a thing underneath these thick gloves of hers - Sabrina would probably never get used to the cold again after living in LA for almost years now, and hopefully, it won't be an issue. The girl looked up at the sky and the sun was there, just barely piercing through the clouds, it wasn't that harsh so she could look directly at it.

It was a beautiful day but no matter how beautiful it was, it was still another day without him. Without father... Sabrina would always find the strength to keep pushing forward, but being here made those feelings worse. Every one of his things, every inch of this place; it reminded Sabrina of him - this was his empire, after all. Another wave of cold air hit Sabrina's face and she pulled the scarf that she had around her neck up closer towards the lower half of her face. She tucked her face in as she turned away, stopping herself from feeling the full brunt of the coldwave. She guessed that someone who lived here all their life would think this is nothing and walk around in shorts.

But Sabrina knew that there were greener pastures.

A greener pasture that desperately called out to Sabrina, telling her to go there... but she had to settle this curse that she was afflicted with. The idea of magic and being forced to turn into stone if they left the town seemed like it was straight out of a fairy tale. Things were crazy, but if it wasn't for her the Vanburens would have had a far worse time. That had to count for something, right? Though the Vanburens hadn't seen each other in a while, and there was always a bit of tension between the Vanburen children for one reason or another. Sabrina wasn't the type of person to hold grudges and that jazz but she was hoping that everyone would be able to put aside their differences. Just for now, because she knew that father wouldn't like them fighting each other but she sometimes wondered why they drifted so far apart. Guess it was just them all growing up.

A sigh escaped Sabrina's lips as she finally walked towards the exuberant front doors to the deck. She opened the door and glanced over her shoulder to get one last look at the horizon. Maybe she'd come to enjoy it in time if she wasn't practically being caged into Araminta.

Or maybe there's something else stopping her. She didn't know.

When she stepped inside, the girl was greeted by the familiar sound and pattern of their family pet: LeBeau the Ocelot. The feline meowed at Sabrina as she smiled and knelt, and then she pets him. Making sure to get behind his ears as he purred, and then she grabbed him by both sides of his stomach as she carried him with her to the dining room.

---

The Vanburen family had hastily assembled in the dining room at the behest of Oscar. Sabrina didn't know what he was getting into but he seemed to be the lead into the investigation of their little "problem". Each Vanburen and associate was seated in a different place on the table and in a different way. Sabrina in particular was sitting with her feet together in a very polite way... while she played with LeBeau, gently petting the Ocelot in her hands as the proud creature affectionately purred. She was going to give Oscar as much time as he needed to get his presentation ready, but the room was awkwardly quiet. Eventually, Oscar came walking up, and then Sabrina put her phone down...

Oscar took his time to get ready, not particularly attune to the fact that there was an awkward silence across the rest of the room. He was checking notes he'd made in a particularly worn-out notebook. Eventually, having properly got his thoughts together, he stood up and walked to the head of the table, clearing his throat to get everyone's attention.

"As I'm sure you're all aware or have guessed by now, I've been looking into the problem we've all been afflicted with," he started. "I've actually been researching the 'Supernatural' since before this began, and thanks to this I was contacted by two experts who want to help us out. I had a meeting with them just earlier, to discuss the situation and find out just how much they know. It was very interesting, and they know a lot more than I've managed to research- but that's going off track. After having had that meeting, I'm very confident that they'll be able to help and have invited them to the manor to talk with us. That is why I've asked you to all gather here."

"Um," Sabrina said as she stroked LeBeau, "... Just who exactly are they?"

"Ah, yes," Oscar paused, halting himself from going into the details that he'd learned while missing important points most people would want to know. "Their names are Justin Liao and Tuyen Doan." He realized he didn't really ask any particulars about them beyond that, so he'd just have to make a sophisticated guess or two. "I believe they're something like traveling experts in the magical."

This was definitely interesting, but Sabrina had her doubts about the whole thing. However, if Oscar was willing to give these two a chance, it was better than nothing. So, despite her reservations about working with them - James warned them far too often of scammers - it wouldn't hurt to hear them out. "... Okay, where are they?"

Oscar smiled. "They should already be here, right about now..."

"... hey there, hey there," Justin said as he came from out of the hallway wearing a leather jacket, black jeans, and black combat boots. With Tuyen at his side wearing a black pullover hoodie and Adidas track pants, and sneakers. "How's everyone doing? I heard about your little problem and we're here to help with any supernatural related questions you may have."

"Hey, before we start," Tuyen asked, "Can someone tell me where the bathroom is?" She asked.

"I guess while she's gone, you all can explain to me what happened and anything you might know."

After almost forty years, Ezra still took the same spot at the dining room table: the one at the bottom left hand corner of the table. What the other Vanburens didn’t know was that this was the primo seat in the room. Not only did it offer a quick escape through the service entrance or main door, it also provided a nice view of the fireplace and the large bay windows to stare at whenever there was a lull in the conversation or James started up one of his long-winded toasts. However, the key reason why Ezra had chosen that spot for his entire life was because it was the furthest he could get from where his father typically sat without having to look across the table at him for the entire evening. Some might have expected him to move up to James spot like a cousin at a large family Thanksgiving finally getting to move from the card table to an actual table after someone’s aunt died, but he didn’t want the chair. It was far too emblematic.

The fire was getting low. Perhaps he could shrink father’s seat and use it for kindling? Ezra tilted his head and smirked at the thought. Trisha might’ve been able to pull something like that off, but something destructive like that was a bit too dramatic for the man. Guess he’d have to take care of the fire the old fashion way. With a soft groan Ezra stood, smoothed out his sweater, grabbed his mug, and sauntered over to the grand fireplace. He moved the logs around with the poker and the flames regained a bit of spirit, cackling in gratitude as Ezra leaned an elbow against the mantle and observed the room. His chair might’ve been the best seat in the room, but right here was the perfect spot. It offered warmth, something that he almost never felt when surrounded by his family, and a way to immediately end any unwanted conversation by immolating himself by jumping into the fire. It was perfect.

The sound of the fire was soon the only sound in the room. It would’ve been peaceful if Ezra didn’t feel the weight of about a dozen or so eyes staring at him as if he’d been the one to call this emergency family meeting. Instead of enjoying the calm, Ezra spent the time actively looking bored, occasionally poking the fire, and not pulling out his phone because the moment he pulled out his phone he’d immediately be sucked into work. He had mistakenly set it to vibrate only instead of just turning the thing off, and every few minutes he felt his pocket buzz. Ezra didn’t have to look at the pile up of missed messages to know that there was currently a fire somewhere else in Araminta and he was the one expected to put it out.

Ezra took a sip of his mug. Somebody coughed into their hand. A log popped in the fireplace. An ocelot purred. Finally, Oscar walked to the vacant spot at the head of the table, cleared his throat, and began. Ezra watched his younger brother with intent, although his eyes kept drifting over to the ocelot sitting in Sabrina’s lap. He didn’t remember which one of his siblings had twisted James' arm into getting them an exotic animal instead of something normal like a dog, but he could’ve sworn he’d donated that damn animal to the local zoo already. Had he forgotten to finalize the deal or had one of the others swooped in to stop the pickup? Either way, it was another task for the list.

“Supernatural experts?” muttered Ezra under his breath. He cocked an eyebrow, folded his arms over his chest, and stared his brother down as Oscar continued. Everyone, Ezra included, always said Oscar was the smartest one in the family, but that didn’t mean he was exempt from stupid ideas. Ezra highly doubted that anyone who called themselves supernatural experts were experts in anything but BS. Besides, this little curse of theirs was something Ezra thought was best kept within the family. They should be blathering about it to some weirdos who saw a couple episodes of Ghost Adventures and decided to emulate it. Ezra appreciated Oscar taking the initiative, but it would’ve been nice if the kid had come to him for some consultation before inviting what he imagined would be a couple of part-time Hot Topic employees into their house. Not to mention that Ezra had a feeling like he’d be the one to front the bill. He doubted that his siblings realized how expensive their silly whims ended up being.

"They should already be here, right about now..."

“Hold up. What?” asked Ezra, standing up from off of the wall. Anyone else would’ve betrayed their inner feelings at this point, but Ezra was a cool cucumber. For all the others knew he’d probably misheard Oscar instead of being upset. Ezra was about to dissuade his brother to call the whole thing off when Justin and Tuyen entered the room. He sunk back against the wall and gave the intruders a lookover. They weren’t the most professionally dressed and their all black everything getup made him inwardly laugh, but they weren’t as dumpy looking as he had anticipated.

Nor were they as old. Oh God, had Oscar hired highschoolers? Ezra felt something sink in the pit of his stomach. How much ridicule would the family face if word got out that they were now financing a couple that looked like they could’ve been cast in a Disney Channel original? The freshman girl asked for the bathroom. Perhaps she thought she needed a hall pass. Thankfully, there was a teacher present. Ezra turned to the girl and offered her tired, closed-mouth smile, as he gestured over towards Arabelle.

“It’s a big house. Arabelle will show you the way,” said Ezra. Despite his endless exhaustion his voice was as velvety smooth as ever, yet it still managed to sound almost dismissive. He shot Arabelle a look that said watch her. Ezra wasn’t about to allow a stranger walk around their house unsupervised after the break-in a few weeks ago.

"I guess while she's gone, you all can explain to me what happened and anything you might know,” said Justin.

“Perhaps you would like some introductions first? Ezra Vanburen,” said Ezra, offering Justin a firm handshake before leading him towards a chair. As he did he listed off the names of the people in the room and gestured towards them, ending with the one who had called the meeting in the first place. “...and obviously you already know Oscar. Now, I imagine he has already given you some of the details, but in case it his slipped his mind I suppose I can fill you in.” Ezra took his post back by the fireplace. “The short version of it is that my entire family is experiencing an extreme case of carpal tunnel, or perhaps a collective delusion, the moment they set foot outside of this town. Cursed, if you believe in that sort of thing.”

“And the long version will have to wait until you can prove this supernatural expertise of yours. While I trust Oscar, he can be a bit excitable when it comes to certain things. I believe my other siblings would feel more at ease if you can show us that you are what you say you are before we continue,” said Ezra. The thin smile on his face disappeared as he stared Justin down and looked for any signs of dishonesty.

---

He wasn't really sure what to expect when he'd first been contacted by Sabrina and Oscar. The funeral was easy, despite the situation. Everyone was wrapped up in their individual thoughts or grief, as was he, that he was able to exist and function without any real difficulty. But now that was not the case and a lot had happened between now and the funeral. Most of his family had the time to perhaps start coming to terms with father's death, this "curse" had started turning all of them to stone unless they remained in Araminta, Shane had awakened... Through circumstances that he wouldn't fully disclose to anyone, his family least of all.

He stood in the entrance hall for a few moments. Trying to discern exactly what his feelings were being back on the estate after promising himself that he wouldn't come back. Anger, calm, sorrow, happiness, peace, anxiety. Every conflicting feeling looped back in on itself and Shane found himself standing in his home feeling nothing at all. Save for noticing that the wood on the floor was beginning to show its signs of age.

Still, he lingered before entering the dining room. If nothing else it gave him a brief respite before having to share a room with his siblings. When Shane did finally enter he saw Ezra tending the flames of the fireplace, Oscar sorting through his notes but looking up to give Shane a brief smile and the majority of his sisters already sat at the dining table. He walked up and pulled out the chair that sat in the centre on the right side of the table. It's not one he particularly liked considering it placed him smack dab in the cross-hairs of just about everyone in the room, but it was the seat he always sat in growing up and the last thing he really wished to do was upset the harmony of the awkward silence hanging in the air.

Shane sat fairly stiff compared to his siblings. Folding his arms and maintaining his ever present neutral frown, with his eyes slanted downwards towards the table. He did look up briefly when Sabrina entered with LeBeau, to which the glorified housecat responded by baring its fangs at him, proving itself to be a Vanburen if nothing else.

Oscar began his presentation shortly thereafter. He'd found some supernatural experts to help deal with the Vanburen's "curse", causing Shane to inwardly cringe. He loved his brother and was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt considering he seemed to have a handle on this better than Shane did, but he also had a habit of getting too enamoured by things. Sure, Shane had the ability to probably withstand being hit by a car now, but the term 'supernatural experts' did not fill him with a great degree of confidence.

Shane felt his sentiments echoed when Oscar announced his "experts" were already here and the typically unflappable Ezra gave a "Hold up. what?". It was a subtle tell but Shane didn't need investigative training to tell his eldest brother had his own doubts about Oscar's people, he damn sure didn't mishear him considering Ezra's typical meticulousness and the lack of any other noteworthy sound in the room.

And in walked Oscar's experts. Two kids who looked about the same age as Georgie. One of whom immediately having to remove herself from the proceedings to use the bathroom. Shane was thankful Ezra took centre stage when Justin asked the Vanburens to tell him what they knew as Shane was still finding himself considering the slight possibility that Oscar had somehow crafted the most intricate practical joke Araminta had ever seen.

"I believe my other siblings would feel more at ease if you can show us that you are what you say you are before we continue.” Ezra stated at the boy, leading Shane to realise he'd been half focused while his brother bore a hole into the kid with that stare he'd get when trying to figure out if you were lying. God knows Shane had seen it more than once.

Briefly, Shane considered asking a question of his own, he certainly had a few he'd like to know, but found no immediate words to say. Better to let his brothers and sisters steer the conversation for now he thought as he reached for the silver flask in his coat pocket to warm up the cold from outside and in.

"Better to let them do all the talking, really." He concluded, quietly placing his flask back into his jacket.

---

Georgie sat in the Garden, rows and rows of flowers blossoms in every direction, all different colors, the sun shined bright; all a contrast to Araminta's cold winter. She's been in the city for over a week and it's more unbearable than when she stayed here over the summer when James was still alive. Not everyone was in the mansion at once if it wasn't the holidays. After taking off from school, until this stone situation was fixed, she doesn't have anything to do with her day. She still studies, but without assignments there's only so much she can read the same book before she gets distracted with her current situation or one of her siblings are being loud and obnoxious. The Garden was the only place she could escape to for peace and quiet. She didn't leave until it was time for lunch. She shook pollen from her black jumper with embroidered red roses she made herself, and swept them from her red trousers. She wiggled the finger her ring is on and a few seconds later a portal opened to her bedroom.

It was neat with flower pots on the windowsill, her lavender bedspread made up with five pillows piled in order at the end of her queen sized bed. Her walls had printed posters of her favorite artwork: "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat, "Waterlilies and Japanese Bridge" by Claude Monet, and "Prima Ballerina" by Edgar Degas were the ones she had multiple copies; a set for her room here and another for her flat in Edinburgh. She had plenty more back home, but she makes due with what she has now. If this isn't resolved in a month, then she may have to order more.

She wasn't able to eat her lunch, because Oscar called a meeting was supposedly important. A year ago she would have been interested in what he has to say, but he's squandered his future for non-sense. Non-sense that hasn't given him answers for their problem. She's sour about it, but no use bitching. She took a seat at the dining room table next to Sabrina. She had LeBeau in her lap and she couldn't help petting him. She made the mistake of inviting him into the Garden once. Her flowers screamed to get him out as he trampled them. So much for not being completely solitary in her space.

The wait for Oscar was awkward, she abandoned her meal and her space for this? Several minutes passed before he finally spoke up. She was excited at the prospect that he found answers. She wasn't excited about inviting strangers into their home without asking first. She was the type to hate surprise visitors. Did he even make sure the house was clean before inviting anyone over? Arabella does wonders for a mansion this size alone, but that's hours of work. She inspected the room, eyes barely sparing her siblings a glance looking for dust or something Alexander may have left around, but nothing stood out other than the fire place going. Suppose it's presentable enough.

When their guests walked in she nearly had a laugh. They were no older than her and looked like they belonged to the working class. The boy was reminiscent of 2012 Korean idols, and the girl looked like a mouser version of the mob in her tracksuit.

"Ossie, sweetheart, you've bloody gone off the deep this time, haven't you?"

JJ did all the talking, introducing them and being vague about their situation, which was more than she would have said. Would have kicked them out without an introduction if she had it her way. Perhaps rude, but she doesn't want them here.

"I would've felt more at ease if Oscar talked this through with us first." She cut her eyes at Oscar, then looked back at their guest. She hardly paid attention when Oscar said their names. They aren't important, until they prove they're important. "You look no older than twenty and I doubt you've been at this long enough to be called experts."

"Georgie,"

Sabrina caught onto Georgie's rather unimpressed attitude, which wasn't entirely unfounded even to the rather idealistic Vanburen. While she knew better than to believe every lie that came their way (being wealthy, that happens a lot), that was no reason to be as rude as she was being. The girl stopped petting her ocelot as she looked at Georgie from across the table. Maybe Georgie wouldn't like what she was going to say but she felt as if it needed to be said.

"Let's hear them out," Sabrina pleaded, "It's not like we have any other options here." Sabrina shrugged as she let Ezra do the talking. She had her suspicions, but the eldest Vanburen would surely handle this, right?

Right?

---

Everything that Georgie said more or less was ignored by Justin as he focused on Ezra and what he had to say. Tuyen was lead out of the room by Arabelle, the little maid lady and he nodded his head.

"That," Justin said, "Sounds like a high-level curse... most curses can't affect people with magic." He started as he placed a hand on his chin. Before he shrugged as he looked back at Ezra, who seemed to be about damn near ready to stare a hole through him.

"I know you have your doubts about me and my friend, but we have your best interests at heart," Justin started, "I have my own theories about your curse but to explain them, I'm going have to ask how much do you all presently know about magic? Because there is a lot to know, and a lot of different beings out that." He said, completely and utterly confident or appearing as if he was confident in what he was saying.

Justin briefly looked back at where Tuyen and Arabelle went.

---

Arabelle lead Tuyen to the bathroom and the girl smiled at her as she said,

"Thank you."

However, she quickly closed the door and pulled out her cellphone. She looked around and realized that it was a pretty roomy rich people bathroom. She looked around as she walked over to the nearest wall and clapped her hands together with the phone in hand as she faced the wall. Her hands were surrounded by floating green sigils as the girl closed her eyes for a second. She opened her eyes as she parted her hands and on the wall, an oval-shaped green portal appeared.

"Tuyen" took a few steps back as somebody stepped through the portal - a tall and slender person wearing a black robe and a deer skull mask - the hood was up so it was hard to discern other details about this person. This stranger in the robe walked in and stepped aside and then six other people of various feminine sizes and shapes walked in, also wearing robes and an animal skull mask. The final person to step through the portal was another person with a feminine body shape that had the most ornate robe - a red one with golden symbols and accents all over it. She had a cow-skull mask and in her hands was an aluminum baseball bat that she held in both hands before she slung it over her shoulder.

"Haley," She whispered.

Another robed individual that was around the male height and wore a white robe and a ram skull mask. She reached from underneath her robe and pulled out a barbie doll - one that looked a bit old and worn and had blonde hair and a little dress - and various yellow sigils appeared like everyone in the room except for "Tuyen" disappeared.

Tuyen walked over to the bathroom and bumped into one of the invisible people - receiving an insult in Spanish - and flushed the toilet. She walked out of the bathroom and looked at Arabelle as she said, "Thanks again."

Before she was lead back to the dining room.

Nisha stepped off of the train that had come to a rest at Williams Station located in the heart of Araminta and adjusted the backpack slung over her shoulder. In comparison to the crowds she saw while travelling from her hometown, including a layover in both Heathrow and JFK, the station was basically a ghost town. She walked at a brisk pace through the largely abandoned station, passing by shutters pulled over storefronts that likely hadn’t been raised in years, the synthetic material of her tracksuit making a swishing noise that echoed throughout the hall. Now that she had finally made it in Araminta the girl only needed to find where the Vanburen mansion was and start integrating herself into the family. She had no idea on how she’d actually do that, but she figured she could get by with a wink and a bit of charm. Maybe Nel would come up with something once they were closer.

However, before there could be any time for scheming, Nisha needed to settle the growling in her stomach. She spied a vending machine, half-stocked with what she could imagine were potentially expired snacks. Although candy never went bad, right? Sure, why not. She could regret it later. Nisha slung her backpack off her shoulder, unzipped it, and felt around for her wallet. Panic hit her as she shifted through random toiletries still stuffed inside of plastic bags before she realized that she’d stuffed her wallet in her other bag for safe keeping. Nisha rolled her eyes at her own forgetfulness and—

“Ah, you stupid fucking idiot!”

A slapping noise echoed through the station as Nisha smacked her forehead, clearly remembering putting her suitcase in a storage compartment where she had left it when getting off of the train. She turned on her heels and broke off into a dead sprint back to the platform. She wasted no time climbing the marble stairs to the second level, instead willing a pair of phantom limbs to burst out of her shoulders and grab hold of the railing above. She hoisted herself over the railing and continued in her sprint, unaware and uncaring if any normal person had just witnessed a woman appear to leap fifteen feet up a wall. Nisha burst out onto the platform just in time to witness the train departing; she cursed loudly, the f-bomb carrying throughout the station like a cluster strike.

Nisha flopped onto a bench. Not only was her money gone, but so were her clothes and phone charging—not that her phone worked over here anyway. She tore her book bag from off of her shoulder, slung it around to the front of her face, and dove herself into it as she vented her anger into a long, muffled scream. She kicked and jumped up into a sitting position and slumped forward. Actually, this could be beneficial, couldn’t it? Make her appear a bit more helpless, right? Surely that’d tug on the heartstrings of a couple rich, spoiled elites and help sell the illusion. Yeah, this was a good thing. A happy accident. Just one problem—she didn’t know quite where she was going, and she likely needed money for a cab. Nisha sighed. Whatever. She’d improvise. It was more fun that way.

Already feeling a bit better because of the excitement caused by things already going off the rails, Nisha jumped up from her seat, scowled at the station worker giving her a weird look, and headed for the exit. A bad feeling hit her as she left the station and found herself smackdab in the epicenter of the rust belt. Nisha walked the block, her arms wrapped tight around her as the chill air proved to be too much for her light jacket, and admired the derelict around her as she searched for a cab. It was odd to think that one of the richest families in the world lived in this city, which so far to her was nothing but closed businesses and gutted warehouses. Nisha peered down an empty alleyway, disappointed to not see a couple of bums warming their hands around a burning trash can. Perhaps they would appear later, but this was the kind of place she knew she didn’t want to be walking around alone after dark. Especially not after the fascists at the airport had made her ditch her pocket knife.

With no cab in sight, nor any money for a fare anyway, Nisha kept walking. Worn down buildings spliced with railroad tracks on railroad tracks slowly gave way to nicer, newer looking residences and shops that were neatly decorated with Christmas lights and oversized ribbons. It was all very quaint and served as a stark contrast to her first impression of the city. The streets weren’t necessarily busy, but there were enough people running around doing their holiday shopping to create a kind of buzz. Outside of one of the stores was a man dressed as Santa if he had a liposuction. The bell in his hand was ringing nonstop and people were dropping money into the bucket next to him. Nisha eyed the bucket, accepting that she was fully willing to stoop low enough to swipe some cash from Father Christmas, when the sign for the store behind him caught her eye: Vanburen’s Hardware.

Nisha smiled and entered the store, casting one look back at the bucket flush with cash. Another time, maybe. The store was fairly small for a hardware place, but neatly organized and well-maintained. The middle-aged man behind the counter gave her a smile and a nod as she entered and then continued to check out the customer he was helping. It didn’t take genius to realize that, clearly, the man behind the counter must be a Vanburen, hence the store’s name, and Nisha had just come up with a genius plan to get herself pulled into the family. She rushed the counter and slammed her hands down on it.

“Oh gosh I am so happy to—”

“One second, miss. Let me finish—”

Nisha did not, wedging herself between the clerk and the customer.

“But you don’t understand Mr. Ezra,” she said, pulling the name of one of the Vanburens out at random. She had done a light bit of research into the family beforehand. “I’m—”

“Miss, please, if you would just—”

“But I’m your long lost sister, Mr. Ezra! Finally come home.”

The clerk gave her a confused stare, which she mistook for him taking the bait and she queued the waterworks and dumped out the sob story. Almost in one entire breath she said, “And oh gosh, Mr. Ezra, I must be the luckiest girl in the world. I always knew my real family was out there, but it was hard being an orphan and all, and when I finally got dad’s letter I couldn’t believe it, but I spent what money I had from working in the factory to get a plane ticket, but when I got here somebody swiped my bag and with it the letter from our dad but I can just tell by looking at you that we got the same eyes so we gotta be brother and sister and oh am I just so glad to finally have a family to call me own and—”

“Miss I am not Ezra Vanburen, I just work for him,” said the clerk. He handed the customer their bag and receipt as Nisha stared at him dumbfounded, her crocodile tears momentarily paused, “Sorry about that. Have a good one.”

“But you know him, right?” asked Nisha, trying to go at it the same way but from a different angle. She sniffled to really sell it and pitched up her voice as she spoke. “Look you just gotta call my brother Ezra and tell him I’m alive and that I need help and I’m sure he’d reward you greatly for finding his long lost sister and I’d be eternally grateful and—”

“Stop, stop. I’m not going to bother Mr. Vanburen just because”—Nisha erupted into the most obnoxious, fake wailing she could muster, making heads turn as the clerk pumped his hands to get the girl to hush—“Look I’ll call him if it just makes you stop.”

“Oh you’re just the best!” shouted Nisha, instantly dropping the act.

The beleaguered clerk grabbed the corded phone near him and hit the speed dial. Nisha leaned against the counter, her eyes wandering as she heard the faint sound of a ring bleed through from the phone. They settled on a display of box cutters on the counter. Not necessarily a knife, but a solid alternative. She glanced back at the clerk as a loud beep came through the speaker and he asked for Ezra to call him back. He set the phone down and gave the girl a shrug.

“Call him again!” demanded Nisha.

“Look, you can just wait in the breakroom and I’ll let you know when he calls back. Mr. Vanburen is a very busy man.”

“CALL HIM AGAIN!”



Ezra could no longer take it. He slipped his phone out of his pocket as it vibrated yet again, rejected the call—six missed calls from the hardware store. Six! He had a number of unread emails and text messages as well that were just begging to be opened, but he overpowered the temptation. Georgie voiced her displeasure with the whole situation. Ezra found that he agreed with everything she said, but wished she had a little more tact. Sabrina shutdown her sister, pointing out that they had no other options. The edge of Ezra’s mouth tensed. Sabrina was wrong there. They always had other options; they just haven't found them yet. In part due to some of us already giving up, thought Ezra, looking away as he caught sight of Shane’s flask.

Their expert spoke up, “...most curses can't affect people with magic."

Ezra sighed and glanced over at Oscar. Did he tell these people everything? For all they knew these kids could be tabloid reporters. Maybe they should table this conversation until he could have their lawyer draw up some non-disclosure agreements and...what? Sue them if they leak anything mentioning magic or curses? Nobody would believe it even if they worked for the Times. Hell, Ezra hardly believed it and he’d once shrunk his desk on accident. He swallowed his frustration at Oscar and continued to listen. The boy asked them how much they knew about magic. Ezra’s answer to that question was more than he ever wanted to, although he imagined it barely scratched the surface of the secrets their father had been hiding from them.

He was about to reply openly when his phone buzzed again. He had forgotten to silence it. It was the hardware store yet again. Family was more important than business, but he also never had a business call him so many times in such a short duration of time. Ezra looked up at his family. It seemed like they were all looking back at him expectantly. They all wanted somebody else to do all the heavy lifting. He expected as much. James had spoiled them. Only...the phone buzzed again. Ezra nodded to Oscar.

“I have to take this. This is your forte anyway,” said Ezra. He headed towards the door but stopped before leaving and turned to add, “Whatever we do, despite our supposed differences, we’re going to do it as a family.”

It was Ezra’s subtle way of telling Oscar and the others to not decide anything else until he was back. He stepped out into the entrance hall and pulled the phone to his ear. The other Vanburens could hear a faintly bored “What?” through the doorway and the creak of the front door opening, followed immediately by a second louder, almost agitated “What!?” cut short by the slamming of the front door.

This is just great.

A year had passed since the death of James Vanburen; an event that Alexander could neither confirm nor deny to be something that he had been waiting for to happen for a long time now. He had no love for the old man, at least after James had left him and his mother, Svetlana, to fend for themselves back in New York City. Everything that was wrong with his life, Alexander said, had something to do with that fateful day that James went away for another of his uncountable affairs, the volume of which would without a shadow of a doubt put even the great Genghis Khan himself to absolute shame. It would seem that he wanted to impregnate the entire world, to spread his genes far and wide. Alexander dared not to imagine how many affairs that this man had consummated over the six decades of his life; he would have had a rather long line of mistresses and failed marriages and so and so forth. At least that was what Alexander, or, Sasha would say when asked about his father. He would say that he was the single greatest mass impregantor that America has ever known.

For the last few weeks, the curse of stone that the death of his promiscuous father had triggered forced him to stay in this city. It was a far cry from the bustling urban sprawl that he had known for most of his life, as he was a New Yorker through and through. Araminta was very small compared it his past residence, though it did offer somewhat of an idyllic existence. He was no stranger to the cold, and actually revelled in it. Either way, he had a whole apartment suite set up in the inner parts of the city, where he would hold his lessons for the children and teens that he was going to tutor. Too bad this place did not have a big orchestra...

---

"Alexander Karamazov. Though I guess techbically everyone else in here is a sister or brother of mine."

Alexander watched from the corner that he had been leaning on, looking at his half brothers and sisters with an inscrutable expression. He did not know them as much as he would like, as most of those that he had known throughout his life so far were back in New York. It was quite difficult to tell those friends why he had to leave; none had anything like the Spectre flying around them. It wasn't like they were sired by an eccentric billionaire with a relentless compulsion to cause pregnancies. None would think to believe that Alexander needed to transfer to some unknown town because he was turning to rock.

Either way, Alexander was someone that the other Vanburens did not know very well, though the children did see him as a spoiler. At this time, he wore a black leather jacket with a grey shirt inside, matching black pants, white sneakers, and the pair of gloves he always has on. Plus he smelled of pizza.

Alexander did, however, respond to Justin. "I'm afraid I don't know a lot about this magic. It lets us do... um, wierd things, but other than what the Spectre told me, no, I'm at a loss."

A pause. "Well, I suppose you can give us a crash course."

---

---

Trisha very much did not want to be here. This feeling was made even worse when Oscar waffled on before introducing two teenagers. They looked younger than her, and she was already amongst the youngest in the family. She didn’t hide her displeasure, lips curling up into a grimace as she glanced between Justin and Tuyen. Judging. Neither were particularly attractive, so she dismissed any interest immediately and went back to her phone.

She could have stayed in her room rather than having to come sit surrounded by people she disliked listening to boring drivel. Sure, her room wasn’t a place she felt at home in, but it was better than this.

Oscar wasn’t at all taken back by the generally disapproving looks he got from various family members. Right, he’d not asked them, because he’d just latched onto what should be a great opportunity! He doubted any of them would understand, which was why he had gone ahead with it. Not that they would be able to stop him in his pursuit of knowledge anyway.

“Really, Georgie, I don’t think this is me going off the deep end,” Oscar laughed it off as if it was a joke rather than something his little sister probably genuinely meant. It didn’t really affect him but he was glad when Sabrina suggested they hear them out. He’d rather this meeting went well, but even if it didn’t he would continue to seek their help. If he had to do it alone so be it. “I can vouch for them.”

“I have my own theories about your curse but to explain them, I'm going have to ask how much do you all presently know about magic? Because there is a lot to know, and a lot of different beings out that.”

Oscar opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted before he could. First it was Ezra who executed himself. He noted his statement about doing it as a family and pretended he’d follow if they decided to not get the help.

Then Alexander spoke next, the supposed brother that he had very little knowledge of (and didn’t really care that much about, seeing as he didn’t know a lot about magic).

At the back of his mind he did consider that he’d already told them this before… but then again, it was likely they wanted to know what the entire family knew. Which was sadly substandard (though they hadn’t spent a year researching it like he had).

“I know a fair amount, as I mentioned before,” Oscar said after Alexander had said his piece, with a smile. His phone buzzed in his pocket a few times but he ignored it in favour of continuing. “I won’t bore everyone by going into the details of it all, but I would say enough. I know about the different types of supernatural out there, about Apparitions and methods to seal them. Sadly I have no knowledge about curses. I can go into more specifics, of course, but I think that summarises the basics I know.”

“Why does it matter what we know, anyway?” Trisha spoke up, not even bothering to look up from her phone as she did. “Just explain your theory and help us, or get out. We’re not here to learn about bullshit magic.”

God they just started and it's fallen apart, that's a Vanburen gathering for you. Messy, loud and someone out the door before you know it. Just like daddy's love life, so I guess it's genetics or something. Something like MAGIC! We know it's real. We've all had to live with it for a whole year, stuck with cool powers and some dumb stone curse that leaves all of us stuck together..

---

A whole year stuck with these idiots, two months was enough to drive Junior up the wall- and even that was generous. He sunk back into his chair, already bored of the conversation. Sure getting someone who knew more than Oscar seemed kind of fun, definitely after hearing they weren't gonna be another one of his siblings! Though now that he'd seen them, Junior was unimpressed. Two deadbeat looking teens barely older than him, one started talking about how "Magic was real and it's dangwous" like that wasn't the whole reason we called him out here.. And the other ran off to the toilet as soon as she came in. Probably pregnant or something, it's a skill you'd pick up with the kind of dad Junior had.

Between his legs was a football, which Junior traced his finger along from boredom. Wistfully- his gaze moved onto LeBeau, the family Ocelot which sat comfortably on the lap of his sister's lap. "Traitor." he thought to himself, the dumb thing could be by his side, he was comfy and soft.. and all he got was a stupid football. AND GOD THESE IDIOTS WERE STILL TALKING. Dishy Trishy was going on about something obvious again like she was saying a new, eleventh commandment. God if she didn't want this meeting that bad she could have left or maybe she was worried people would think she was copying Ezra. Not like anyone would compare her to him anyway.

"Ask him to dance too sis." he jeered at Trisha, an unamused look on his eyes only to look as intimidating as any fourteen year old could. He looked back away towards LeBeau, uncaring of what his sister had to say. The family pet seemed contempt where he was sat but Junior's mind thought back onto how soft and fuzzy the Ocelot felt, and again a pang of jealousy washed over him. He was just as comfy! And would pet him more! Maybe LeBeau would move to him in a second... ah god he trailed off again, and Junior realised they were still in a 'meeting' with some 'experts'. Maybe they should be more interesting if they wanted to be memorable! Even his brothers were thinking the same, besides know-it-all Oscow, one dipped, one was an alcoholic and the other had some headphones in. Even if they were years apart, it was oddly satisfying knowing his siblings had at least some common sense.

Ezra dipped and left the interrogation onto Oscar. The Vanburens were skeptical, that was something that Sabrina understood. Maybe she was playing the Devil's Advocate here, but she was giving them the benefit of the doubt at the very least. Alexander gave a very roundabout answer to Justin's question (that can be surmised as no) while Trisha was being a lot more negative. She wanted them to get to the point and Sabrina, again, understood, and she too felt that they should just get the point rather than just wasting their time - even if Trisha was being rude. Though Junior was, well, himself, and egging Trisha on and Sabrina had to do what a big sister does best when said she said:

"Junior, quit it."

She didn't get why exactly Junior had to be here. Even if it's a family meeting, town hall, etc, the youngest Vanburen had no real place there. He could just go play Fortnite on the big TV or something like he always did. Sabrina sighed as she was hoping that these two people would help them solve their problems, regardless of how young they were.

Justin was completely unphased by Trisha, it was almost like he ignored her when he spoke. Merely facing Alexander when he answered, "Well, my theories won't make sense unless you know about the world of magic. So, to start there are the Awakened who get..." Then Justin droned on...

"... Adepts are people who pass down a spiritual connection to this thing called Luminscience..."

... And on.

"... Apparitions are beings born from belief, emotion, or the emotions of the recently deceased..."

... And on.

Sabrina rolled her eyes as he kept talking, ignoring pretty much everything that the Vanburens said while he went on this huge rant. Eventually, Sabrina just gave up and leaned over on the table, Mary Roberts created a long strand of cloth as she started fiddling with it. Now, she was starting to understand the concerns of the other Vanburens, but as Justin rambled on. Oscar's whole demeanor changed after he got a phone call... he seemed to be confused about something? Even suspicious of the two all of the sudden, which Sabrina was about to ask Oscar about because all of this seemed strange.

However, it got even stranger when two more of these two made their entrance. Honestly, at this point, even Sabrina was getting annoyed when she scrunched her eyes and tilted her head. This had to be a joke. There was no other explanation for this circus that was unfurling before their eyes. Sabrina shook her head as she groaned,

"Oscar..." Sabrina said, "I've had enough of this circus-"

However, at this point the "imposters" dropped all subtly and hit them with a wave of water... it came so sudden that she had no time to respond. She was knocked out of her chair as LeBeau was launched out of her hands. Water went up to her nose as she managed to keep her mouth shut, but all she heard was the sound of the Vanburens muffled by water. She hit the ground as she was distracted by coughing up water.



Like many stories, this one began in the back of an Uber.

After the meeting with Oscar went well - the guy seemed nice, just a bit overenthusiastic about this - the two were set to meet with the rest of the Vanburens. Which, kind of had Justin nervous a little bit. He was hoping that he didn't set expectations too high if he couldn't come close to meeting them. While he was trying to figure out this new world he got shunted into, if he wasn't useful, what was stopping from finding somebody else? Justin was not going to ever come close to showing it, at least not in front of Tuyen. So, Justin was just sitting in the back of the Uber that somebody probably got a very shameful blowjob in, playing on his phone.

"So, uh," the Uber driver, some scrawny old guy with a goatee and a... MAGA hat. "What are you kids doing out here?"

Justin stopped as he looked up from his phone at the guy.

"Out here for an interview?" The guy asked. "Nobody really goes out here unless they're working for one of the rich folks."

"Yeah," Justin sharply answered, he wasn't sure what the hell to call this arrangement... he just hoped that he wouldn't ask just what-

"... So what are you doing?"

"Just gonna do housekeeping, you know," Justin shrugged. "Easy money."

He shrugged. "Know that's right." Justin was happy that he didn't make a vaguely racist comment
like he thought he was gonna do.

Though, the young Liao's attention and gaze drifted over towards his companion Tuyen who was mindlessly scrolling on her phone. He cleared his throat as he was glad that things between them didn't get too awkward. Though, he had to make conversation with anyone except a thirty-something uber driver.

"So, uh, hey, Tuyen," Justin asked. "How ya'... holdin' up? How ya' feel about all of this?"

"Oh, uh," Tuyen hesitated, locking her phone to look up and over to Justin. She smiled slightly even though she didn't look too comfortable (she couldn't wait to get out of this uber). "Alright. A bit nervous about all this, but that's to be expected, right? Hopefully, they won't take one look at us and tell us we're too young for... the job."

"Eh," Justin said. "I think we can at least bullshit our way through it." He shrugged.

"True, the one we met with seemed like he'd accept anything we said," Tuyen nodded, trying to ignore the anxieties creeping at the corners of her mind over it. "I doubt the rest know more than us. They know we're coming, right?"

"Yeah- well, they should," Justin shrugged as he crossed one leg over the other. However, it was around this time they were only a few minutes away. He scrolled down to his Contacts and phoned up Oscar. Hopefully, this will go smoothly.

The phone buzzed for quite a while, Tuyen watched with a frown as it did. Eventually, it got through. "...Hello?"

"Yo- Good afternoon, Mr. Vanburen," Justin tried to sound as professional as possible. "Just to inform you, we're right outside the gates."

"Outside the gates?" The voice on the other side of the line sounded very confused. "Are you-" Oscar cut off for a few moments, as if considering something, then spoke again much quieter. "But you're already here?"

"I... um," Justin felt the question marks fill his head before he asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you... well, someone who looks eerily identical to you, is already here. Inside with my family. Both you and your friend. How does that-" There was quiet, but audible, cursing on the other end. "Magic. There's two of you."

Shit. Justin thought to himself as he had to think fast, like really fast. "Don't make a scene," Justin started, "Send someone to let us in."

"Got it," Oscar hung up immediately, presumably to get someone to let them in.

Tuyen narrowed her eyes as she looked at Justin, having tried to follow along the one side of the conversation as best as she could. "What happened?"

"Um, apparently we have imposters..." Justin started. "Shit, this might get a little dicey, but, been through worse, right?"

"Imposters?" Tuyen's eyebrows raised. She'd expected a lot of questioning but not... this. "Yeah, if we survived that we can get through anything... But I don't think they'll be happy if we burn down their mansion."

"Eh," Justin shrugged and he gave her a cocky smile as he said. "They can just buy another one."

When the Uber stopped at the gates, they had to play this smartly. Now, the first thing that came to mind for Justin was causing a huge ass scene that'd make them suspicious. He had to think of something, he had to think what would his grandmother do? Well, she'd probably go on a huge self-aggrandizing spiel about how good looking she was. Then she'd maybe come up with a plan to out and handle these imposters.

Justin got out of the sedan and Tuyen followed as he wished that he wore some thermals under this fancy suit that he rented. He was used to Farmer Hill being a fucking freezer, thankfully. However, he still didn't like the cold much and then he activated his abstraction and his hands were surrounded with flames. He thought for a second.

"Alright, we gotta smartly handle this," Justin said to Tuyen, who nodded. "I have a feeling that we're not getting... impersonated... for... the hell of it..." Justin raised off as a lightbulb went off in his head and he felt a sense of dread.

Justin quickly pulled out his cellphone and dialed Oscar again.

"I already sent someone out to let you in," Oscar picked up instantly, straight to the point. "Is there a problem?"

"Um, yeah, I hate to alarm you," Justin said, "But, they're probably after something -I don't know what but keep on your toes and uh... can someone let us in?"

"I'll keep an eye on them, make sure they don't do anything until you get in. I've sent someone, they should be there soon."

"Okay, stay safe," Justin said, as he hung up the phone and wasn't going to do it again. Now, they had to think. "Okay, um, fuck," He cursed out loud.

"Someone definitely has been watching us," Justin said to Tuyen. "Hopefully, it's not a huge deal like an assassination plan, or a heist... fuck. Okay, let me think, how do you think we should handle this?"

"An assassination is something we can't deal with," Tuyen shook her head, internally beginning to panic much more than she wanted to. Her shadow curled around her, instantly latching onto it and adding to it. "We need to act calmly because only Oscar knows we're the real us. Maybe we can talk to them? No, scrap that, that's a terrible idea. If we get to him before the rest of his family... and just go in ready for anything."

She frowned. "That's not really much of a plan though, is it?"

"Nope," Justin chuckled. "You know what? We're overthinking this waaaaay too much. Let's just go in and pull the rug from underneath them."

"You're right, we're good at that, huh," Tuyen smiled, shoving her hands in the pockets of her thick jacket. She was still anxious, but he was right. "They won't be expecting us. Assuming we ever get in..."

However, their conversation was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps and they were introduced to the tall, aging, Leonidas Klein. He was wearing a black winter coat, obviously thrown on over his fancy black butler suit. Leonidas raised an eyebrow as he asked,

"... Didn't I let you two in earlier?" He asked.

"... Nah, I don't think so," Justin shrugged.

"Ah, it seems my eyes are failing me again," Leonidas said with a deep voice as he opened the gates for the two. "Come on in."

Justin felt a little nervous as he stepped through the gates and then hoped that this wouldn't go tits up. Like everything else in his life tend to do. However, Justin had a plan... not a good one, but he was going to make it work. He was lead through the building by Leonidas as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the steel bearing balls. He only brought them just in case but he didn't know that he'd be impersonated. He walked through the front doors of the place and then took a deep breath as he tried to hold his metal balls out of sight. He didn't want to give off the wrong idea to the Vanburens, after all.

Then, the two approached the dining room where they heard small amounts of chatter. Justin had a cocky look on his face that he hoped betrayed the nervousness that was on his mind. He hoped that this wouldn't end in blood or something crazy! As he stepped in, he had this cool little one-liner in his head - this epic speech.

That was when Justin finally stepped into the confusion of the Vanburens... and his imposters.

"... Well, well, well," Justin started as he clenched the balls of steel in his hand as hard as he could. "If it isn't- Dude." Justin tilted his head as he looked at his "imposter".

"... What the fuck are you wearing?" Justin chuckled for a second as he looked at the guy. "You look like a gay Hells Angel, and that's coming from a gay guy. And her!" Justin pointed at "Tuyen".

"She looks like she's an Asian-mobster, cosplaying as a Russian mobster!" Justin chuckled as he held the steel balls in between his fingers.

"I literally never wear black, you're not even trying," Tuyen piped up from beside Justin, arms folded. "Nevermind whatever that," she gestured to her "imposter", "is."

"If you're gonna impersonate us, at least get the outfits right."

As the two were called out in front of the whole family, they were looking around nervously. Before their eyes landed on each other. "Tuyen" whispered to her partner,

"... I thought somebody was supposed to be distracting them."

"That somebody was Elize,"

"Of fuckin' course," The Tuyen-imposter said before she sighed and that disguise started fading away. Before she screamed, "Plan B!"

That was when the imposter quickly swung both of his hands out and he summoned water out of thin out. In all directions in front of him, he sent out a powerful wave of water that would definitely knock everyone into the wall. At least off balance for a moment.

"Ah, fuck!" Justin shouted as he was swept away in the wave of water and hit the wall. Knocking the wind out of him, as he realized that they'd ruined his good suit. At least he was more than certain that the Vanburens figured out who the imposter was. He coughed up water as he started shivering as he was already cold from outside and of course the water was cold. Just his fucking luck. What was worse was that water cut off his abstraction.

The disguise on the two imposters wore off and the guy that was impersonating him transformed into some white kid with brown hair all tidy and stuff. Probably the same age as him which was odd.

The Tuyen impersonator transformed into some Twenty something chick with long black hair and pointy lips. However, she had turned around and pulled out her cellphone, and clapped her hands together before she brought them apart. When she brought them apart, she opened a glowing purple portal.

Alexander listened rather intently to what the two experts on magic said to all of them, hand on his chin and the other on the phone, taking down notes. From what he could gather, the Spectre was probably an Apparition, given that it was a strange being composed purely out of magical energy and not from flesh and blood. Though, no one would really expect something called the Spectre to be a creature made from organic material, given that its namesake was a ghost of legend. At least these two magical experts were giving them a crash course on magic, just as he had requested, giving a lot of clarity to what he had been experiencing in the last few weeks. The curse of stone, the Spectre taking a liking to him, his power to bring back the ghosts of the dead, and all that jazz.

Of course, there was that annoying kid in the middle of them... what was his name again? Junior? Junior Alexander? Ah, hell. What a shame for this petulant child to bear the same name as him; even when Alex was 13, he wasn't such an insufferable dot. Nadoyedlivyy durak." Alex grumbled lowly as the exposition about magic continued in earnest, though Oscar seemed to be taking quite a few calls... and it wasn't long before he looked at their guests with suspicion. Anything wrong now?

And then these two others came in. Did these guys have twin siblings each?"

Of course, that wasn't the case, as the fake Justin released a wave of water now that their cover was blown. It happened at such a speed that Alexander wasn't able to turn intangible in time in order to neutralize the effects of the surge, but he was already leaning on the wall, lessening the impact of the attack on him. He was, however, very much displeased as his clothes just got wet. Shivering slightly, Alexander glared at the imposters, who had just opened a portal. A pair of chains, glowing with green eldritch magic coursing through their metal, materialized from his bracelets, before lashing them out against the fake Thuyen in an attempt to capture her by wrapping the chains around her body.

“No, no, tell the officer that won’t be necessary. It wasn’t James' way and it won’t be mine.”

Ezra heard the front door unlatched and quickly darted around the side of the house, careful not to pass by the windows of the dining room, as a trail of cigarette smoke followed behind him before quickly dissipating. As far as he knew, he’d kept his little habit secret from the family all of these years and he wasn’t about to be outed now just because they were all hovering around him like a bunch of blood-sucking mosquitoes. He poked his head around the side to see it hadn’t been one of his siblings coming for some inane request or storming out of the meeting in a huff, but Leonidas who had opened the door. He sighed and returned to his phone call, the voice on the other end asking him a question.

“Yeah, not the first time it’s happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Look, I’m in a meeting right now. Have her wait at Café, Oh Yay and I’ll take care of it as soon as I can. Oh, do me a favor and give Cherry a heads up. Let her know that I’ll cover whatever the girl wants. Thanks, Arnie. No, you did the right thing. I got to go.”

Ezra leaned his head back against a pillar and took a long drag. Well, today had just got even more complicated and he hadn’t even had lunch yet. He took a moment to collect his thoughts. He wasn’t in the slightest bit dressed for the chill December air but enjoyed the momentary escape from the family nevertheless. His keys were in his pocket. He could just hop in his Civic and leave...and go where? The moment he was out of Araminta he’d start looking like that statue of the WWII soldier that James had commissioned. He had tested it, naturally, after his family started reporting their strange condition. It was real, and until it was fixed he was stuck.

Ezra shivered. It was time to rejoin the siblings. He turned to walk back around the house when an alarming sight immediately had him twist back around the side of the house, the cigarette dropping out of his hand and dying on the icy grass. A chill ran down his spine. His eyes must’ve played a trick on him, because he swore he’d just seen Leonidas open the front gate for the two kids that his family was having a meeting with. He poked his head around the corner. They were dressed differently, but there was no question that it was the same two people. He didn’t know what it meant, but he had a sinking feeling in his stomach—he didn’t need supernatural experience to know that sudden doppelgangers was never a good thing.

As the doubles went for the front door, Ezra popped a mint into his mouth and headed towards the side entrance. It was used primarily by the kitchen staff when they had dinner parties to bring in supplies or by James to escort out whatever mistress he was hiding from his then-wife. Now, it was being used by Ezra to sneak into his own house because a pair of teenagers had thoroughly startled him. He walked over to a knife block, slid a chef’s knife out of its cradle, and slowly turned his head towards the cough that came from behind him. The actual chef, whose actual knife that was, gave Ezra a confused look as he stood over the stove where he had been portioning a finely crafted bisque.

“Smells wonderful. Sadly, lunch will have to be delayed. Oscar’s guest won’t be with us long,” said Ezra, pulling the knife the rest of the way out of the block with an audible shink. “Clean up and take the rest of the day for yourself.”

Before the cook could give any protests or questions Ezra was out of the kitchen. There was an orange glow around his wrist as the broken wire puzzle/makeshift bracelet twisted and melded itself back together as Ezra cast a Configure spell. In a matter of seconds the knife in his hand, that also radiated the same orange light, shrunk down to about two inches. He hid it in the palm of his hand, careful not to cut his flesh with the still sharp blade, as he turned down the hallway. He could now hear the raised voices coming from the dining hall, followed by what sounded like a wave smacking the shore.

Ezra doubled his pace, rounding the corner and stepping into the dining room. His family appeared to have been knocked to the sides of the room and their clothes were soaked; the fire Ezra had so ever lovingly brought back to life had also been murdered by the tidal wave. The original teen couple shifted forms. The girl clapped her hands, ripping open a purple tear in reality next to herself as Alexander lashed out at her with green chains that he seemed to simply materialize from nowhere. It momentarily caught Ezra off guard, the seemingly unflappable man’s jaw going slack for a moment, before he pulled himself back together. Ezra slid the tiny blade forward and cast Configure again to increase its size, simultaneously flourishing his hand out to the side as the weapon quickly grew from the about the length of a toothpick to a chef knife shaped longsword.

“Okay, I believe this meeting is over,” he said with a calm air of authority and a withering stare at the four intruders. He lifted the blade. It was already at its maximum size, but they didn’t know that. Ezra kept channeling a Configure spell, increasing and decreasing the size of the weapon by such a small fraction it was unnoticeable. It gave the oversized chef’s knife the bonus of constantly glowing a radiant orange light, Ezra’s attempt to bluff the home intruders into thinking that the blade was more dangerous in his hands than it really was. ”Get out of my house.”

The halls of the Vanburen estate, while quiet, had seen more activity within them over the past week than it had in a year. Fires burned strong in the rooms that needed it. The scent of pinewood turned ash lingered throughout the estate and yet it did not overpower the usual smell of the Vanburen home. The fire’s heat travelled only so far from their mantles, so some places of the manor still felt the cold winter outside.

Arabelle wrapped her cardigan further around her body as she made her way towards the kitchen. She was at the manor for the meeting, of course, but she had come early to help prepare a meal for the event. A warm beef and vegetable stew for the main course, baked bread and butter to eat with it, and a rich tea to sip until or after the meal was served. Arabelle made idle chat with the other workers as she prepared the china and silverware. The head chef always had a story to tell, and Arabelle listened closely.

Preparations were quickly managed. Arabelle found herself with a moment of time alone, so she took her tea to a quiet reading room. She sat in a chair close to the window and peered out into the wintery grounds. The chill from the window reached her face, but her toes stayed warm thanks to the nearby fire. She didn’t mind the cold. Araminta always had a perfectly white Christmas. She preferred fall and spring over winter and summer, but she would rather be bundled up than sweating in the summer.

Five minutes before the meeting started, Arabelle filled her cup with tea once more before taking the tray into the dining room. Once she’d counted enough cups for the Vanburen’s, she took her seat at the end of the table and rested both elbows on it’s mahogany surface. One by one they all gathered. Arabelle smiled a greeting to each of them, but she kept quiet. She was never very good at small talk.

Oscar began his meeting. Arabelle tried to listen closely, but she didn’t understand what the “affliction” they were all suffering from was exactly. She wasn’t even sure why she was at the meeting in the first place. They were just lucky that the meeting was called on a Saturday.

Even so, Arabelle tried her best to be a part of the meeting. She took every detail in, and politely nodded a greeting to the two young “experts” as they walked in. She’d just taken a sip of her tea when the girl asked to use the restroom. Arabelle was already standing when Ezra gestured her way. If anything, this was a chance to uninvolve herself from the Vanburens’ problem.

She smiled at Ezra before she walked over to Tuyen. The look in his eyes was suspicious, and rightfully so. After the break-in, Arabelle found herself more on edge around strangers in the manor. It could have been anyone. While Arabelle had a feeling it was the Harrisburgs to blame, she couldn’t blame every malicious act on that family. “Right this way, Ms. Doan.”

Arabelle was quick to move out of the dining room. She took Ms. Doan down the hall to the left, and then to the downstairs powder room. For Ezra’s sake, Arabelle stood against the wall opposite the bathroom while Ms. Doan was inside. For her own sake, Arabelle pulled a compact mirror from her pocket. She slowly opened it, and found her own eye staring back at her. She wasn’t sure if she would catch anything if she looked. She was sure that it was 100% creepy if she did, but there were many suspicious things that could happen in a bathroom when magic was involved. These experts could have something up their sleeve. Hell, they could even be here to steal more sealed objects. She couldn’t risk it.

So, Arabelle gently touched the screen with her pointer finger. It shimmered for a moment as the magic activated, but once it cleared Arabelle saw something within. It wasn’t Ms. Doan. Out of shock, Arabelle snapped the mirror shut within her hand. The image of a cow skull remained fresh in her mind as the door to the bathroom opened. As much as she wanted to glance behind Ms. Doan, she didn’t want to give herself away. Instead, she kept her eyes on Tuyen as she walked out. Once Ms. Doan turned back towards the dining room, Arabelle turned her head to look within and found nothing.

Something was up.

The two women slowly made their way back. Arabelle saw Ezra walk out of the room with phone in hand. She heard the front door shut before they stepped in the threshold. They made it just in time to hear Oscar mention his knowledge of the supernatural. Arabelle hung back at the doorway. Something about the bathroom didn’t feel right, and she wanted to keep the hallway in her peripherals.

The conversation between Mr. Liao and the Vanburens continued. Arabelle only paid attention to half of what was said. Instead, she found herself watching Oscar as he answered the phone. He looked confused for a moment. That was a rare thing for the young Vanburen. Arabelle couldn’t hear what he was saying, but the way he acted after the call finished set her more on edge. First the skull in the bathroom --she looked back into the hallway but saw nothing-- and now this mystery caller?

Arabelle heard the front door open again and turned her head towards the other side of the hallway. Just in time to see another Justin Liao and Tuyen Doan walk towards the dining room. Instead of raising an alarm, Arabelle simply stepped further into the hallway to let the two “real?” experts walk inside. Her head turned back in the direction of the bathroom, but she still saw nothing. Had the skull just been a trick of the mind? Had she tuned into a different mirror by accident?

The two imposters weren’t even phased that they’d been caught. The second they yelled “Plan B!” Arabelle knew they’d been prepared for this to happen. The man thrust his arms out and suddenly a mini tsunami erupted through the dining room. Arabelle ducked to the right and pressed her back against the wall of the hallway. She heard the grunts and splutters of the Vanburens, and soon after she saw water slowly rushing out of the room until the carpet swallowed it up.

Ezra was quick to return to the chaos. Arabelle wasn’t sure what to do. This wasn’t something she could call the police to handle. At least the real magic experts were here. Surely they would be able to handle this. Arabelle peeked her head around the wall to see Alexander wrap chains around the girl with the portal.

Arabelle blinked. A portal? Of course!

“There’s more of them down the hall! She let them in with a portal in the bathroom.” Arabelle shouted towards the real Liao and Doan. “They must be using some sort of cloaking spell so that I couldn’t see them, but I know they’re here.”

---

Where before there was a heavy silence that had Shane on edge, now he felt himself longing for it. The surrounding faces of his siblings, Oscar and Sabrina's naive but hopeful optimism meeting Georgie's insufferably smug but probably not unfounded skepticism. Trisha and her usual annoyance clashing against Junior and his peculiar talent for being an irritating presence.

'Least Ezra stepped out.' Shane thought to himself, counting the absence of his eldest brother's constant nonchalant and indifferent gaze as a blessing considering Shane's slowly eroding patience.

Truthfully, Shane had not even been fully aware of the Vanburen's "curse" until he received the letter from Sabrina. He already lived in Araminta after all and wasn't exactly one for travelling anymore. Were he not confused yet fascinated by the strange power that he and his siblings had obtained, there's a good chance he wouldn't have shown up at all. Aside, of course, out of love for his "wonderful" family who currently argued among themselves.

In spite of his interest, he struggled to really comprehend much of what the boy Oscar brought was telling him. As far as he could glean before they were interrupted, there was many different types of magic. Not information that sounded particularly integral for fixing their current situation but it's more than he knew a few minutes ago at least. Shane tried to internally memorise the names of these different magic... Schools, or whatever. When his train of thought was halted by another pair of the same two teenagers entering the house.

'...Wonderful.' Shane thought to himself. The two teenagers who arrived seemed unfazed by encountering, well, themselves. With the both of them going as far as to mock the impostors' choice of clothing. Rather than attempt to dispute this, the two impostors conceded their disguise and transformed before Shane's eyes into two completely different looking people. So, shape-shifting was another thing magic users were capable of doing, another thing to jot down in the memory for later.

The male impostor sent forth a wave of water at the Vanburens, Shane felt himself become enveloped with the blue aura of the Guardian Angel a second after the water hit the table. He was pushed back slightly but managed to hold his ground and be the rock in the water standing against the current. Albeit one with an incredibly wet suit that basically meant Shane was out of formal wear after this.

The water dispersed and Shane took quick stock of his siblings, wet as he was and mostly thrown against the walls but seeming not much worse for wear. He narrowed his eyes back at the two impostors, the female tearing a purple hole from thin air. Ezra returned from his call and clutching a kitchen knife that he'd expanded to the length of a sword, while the Russian, Alexander, had green chains wrap around his wrists.

Arabelle entered from Shane's right, yelling to the real (?) Justin and Tuyen that more of these pricks were apparently coming through the bathroom. Shane would object with entrusting so much to teenagers they had just met, let alone ones that had just been imitated and could be more imitators themselves for all they knew but he found himself too focused on the imitators that had shown their true forms. He flicked his wet hair back and out of his eyes as he frowned at the two of them trying to leave through the portal.

"Get out of my house." Ezra said with his standard intimidating stare.

"Fuck that." Shane snarled as he quickly grabbed the, now fairly damp, chair he'd been sat on and threw it with all the considerable force at his disposal towards the head of the boy who had previously pretended to be Justin.

"What's it look like we're doing, dipshit!"

The mysterious girl gave Ezra the middle finger as she put her cellphone up at the chair that Shane chucked their way. The chair floated in the air, illuminated by a purple glow as her cellphone was covered in sigils. The chair was sent right back to Shane as the girl jumped into the portal, the boy was about to jump in after him but a chain wrapped around his arm. He looked over his shoulder and attempted to pull free and get into the portal but... the girl had closed it.

Now, Justin was shivering. That water was freezing cold and he also hit the wall. He hopped back up to his feet and tried to catch the chair the bitch threw right back at Shane-

Oh right.

Water shuts off his abstraction.

Justin snapped his fingers and it was like a lighter that wouldn't ignite, he saw some sparks but no fire. He shook his head as the two disappeared and he really would like to have a word with the two. Well, he'll have to settle-

“There’s more of them down the hall! She let them in with a portal in the bathroom.” Arabelle shouted towards the real Liao and Doan. “They must be using some sort of cloaking spell so that I couldn’t see them, but I know they’re here.”

... Of course.

Justin hoped that crazy shit happening where ever he went was not going to be a trend. Okay, from the way this skinny white girl was talking to him - and looking at him - she was expecting him to solve all their little problems here. Which was not what he wanted here, especially right when he couldn't use his abstraction-

Oh, yeah, he still had his grandmother's abstraction.

Not a whole lotta stone in here so its usefulness will be... limited. However, would he be the great and powerful Justin Liao if he just gave up when removed from his greatest tool? He sighed as he looked around - he should try to look like he's the one who has the right idea. The first thing that comes to mind would be to charge these intruders head-on, but that was really dumb. Maybe he'd do well channeling his grandmother or his own mother and thinking about what would they do.

He could hear his mother's voice in his head, that very same annoying, commanding, and kinda bitchy voice. It was almost like she was speaking over him...

"... How many of them did you see? And do you know if they have any weapons?" Justin asked, but the words weren't his own.

Then he thought about it for a second: the first thing that came to mind was why the hell was she telling them this now. While he channeled his mother, he wasn't as rude as she was. They're (as in the Vanburens) probably are expecting him to figure out what the hell is going on, or what the best course of action is. Honestly, he had no clue so he was gonna wing it. He faced the guy that was chained down and looked down at an expensive-looking chair that was kind of broken at his feet. So he did the sensible thing, picked it up, and then slammed that bitch onto the ground as hard as he could.

Then he got a table leg to use as a weapon while he figures out what the fuck is going on. He was still shivering but he wasn't going to cry or bawl about it. Now, he faced the guy.

"Take him down!" Justin commanded the Vanburens... before realizing that he didn't get his intention across. "But like don't knock him out or kill him! We need to ask him questions."



After Arabelle and "Tuyen" left, the robed strangers quickly ran out of the bathroom into the halls of the mansion. The spell was dispelled after a certain point, as they ran through the halls. However, whenever they found one of James "artifacts", they would take it apart and then check... and then throw it on the ground. They moved through the seemingly endless halls of the mansion, methodically tearing it apart hoping that their distraction would help them.

"Holy fuck," One girl, very short, rotund, and had on a deer-skull mask and a red robe... with a very annoyingly high-pitched voice. "Do we even know what we're looking for?"

"Just keep touching stuff," The Cult Leader said as she held the baseball bat in both hands. "We'll find him eventually."

However, the purple portal opened up behind her, and the cult leader grit her teeth from underneath her mask. The girl with black hair stepped through... sans another member, and she looked at the girl that was around her height. She slung the baseball bat over her shoulder before she asked, "... Where's Daniel?"

"They grabbed him," The girl answered back.

"The fuck Tegan?" The short girl asked. "You just left him?!"

"What the fuck was I supposed to do, Penny?" Tegan answered her. "Stand around and get bum-rushed!? But, that's not important- I don't know how but one of them saw us and they know we're here."

Tegan shook her head as she watched their fearless leader walk back towards the main hall where they came from. She had the baseball bat over her shoulder and her other hand hung... until a strange fire appeared in her palm and out of that very fire came a chain. It wasn't like any chain, it was made out of black metal and it was thorny, jagged as if it was carved from the fires of hell itself. The lady walked forward to the confusion of her two allies.

"... Morgana," Penelope asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

"The Goddess did tell us they do have abstractions," Morgana said from underneath her mask as she shook her head, "Obviously, we should have been a bit more prepared for that."

"... Which is what I was saying all along," Penelope answered.

"Get back," Morgana commanded them and Penelope knew exactly what she was going to do.

"Are you really going to give away our fuckin' position like this?" The girl tilted her head, "They know we're in the building but not where we are."

However, Morgana didn't answer and Penelope rolled her eyes up into her head as she got back and covered her ears. Morgana slammed her foot onto the ground as she faced skyward... before she let out a scream that was so loud that it could be heard from all the manor - perhaps even beyond. It sounded less like the scream from a girl and more like the scream from a demon, screaming on and on and on. Morgana came to a stop as a massive thud came from the basement.

Another boom came from the basement. Almost like something was trying to get out.

Then there was a final boom, it came with demonic growling and barking... then three massive beasts burst from the basement floor. They leap out in a fiery display as Morgana didn't move an inch as they stood behind her. They had the girth of a car and they absolutely dwarfed Morgana... and then they sat down as the chain that Morgana summoned wrapped themselves around the neck of the one closest with her. She looked over her shoulder at the cult.

"Maxine, Penelope," She looked at the two, "With me. We're going to go get Daniel."

The two nodded their head.

"Thea," Morgana said and a girl with a blue robe and a rabbit mask over her upper face that was fairly tall, "Take everyone and go find the Horned God."

Thea nodded her head as she gestured for the rest of the cult to come along, as the three - plus Morgana's minions - marched back towards the Vanburens.

Alexander looked down at the man that he had captured through his chains, scoffing as Justin bashed his face with a broken table leg. That was probably expensive wood, and it was a shame that the altercation that these imposters have caused in this house has cost them what was probably an antique chair and table. Either way, Alex had come all the way here, seeking to avoid being turned to stone, just for this kind of idiotic mess to happen. Coughing, he forcibly took the imposter's hands and bound them with his eldritch chains, as they needed to extort information out of this bad boy, and they could ill afford to take away their chance of knowing what, or who, is behind an apparent conspiracy.

"I could phase through you and let these chains be inside your internal organs...", Alexander whispered to the imposter, eyes burning with a metaphorical fire as he hated that his clothes got wet, and that there could very well be a plot to kill everyone inside this house, with the two shapeshifters being the distraction, perhaps. "Start talking."

Unfortunately, there was a scream. A blood curdling, daemonic scream that shuddered its way through the entire mansion, and perhaps, beyond. Alexander was almost unnerved, but if the Spectre was right, everyone in here has their own magical abilities. Surely they can defend themselves from a bunch of magic thugs?