Being Chapter the First.

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They were brothers, the four of them, but, like any brothers, they had their difficulties. Sometimes the love had to be forced between them. Sometimes they were loyal only because they had to be. One is supposed to always love their family, no matter what.

But most of the time, they were inseparable. One was rarely seen without another lurking around. The bond between them all was quite obvious, and never questioned.

People had always said it was because of their close families: that they had grown up together and thus were automatically close. If only they knew what really had brought these boys together…

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Boredom would usually arise in school, as was common for students, but those who possessed certain ‘abilities’, it could be quite interesting given the opportunity.

Today, there came an opportunity.

During a particularly painstaking lecture on economic depression, Casper, the rebellious one, leaned to his partner in crime, Seth.

“Watch this,” Casper whispered, then closed his eyes so no one could see that they had gone completely black.

As the teacher was writing the stages of economic depression on the chalkboard, the words he wrote began to disappear, like an invisible eraser was following his scribbling hand.

Some kids around began to laugh, others began to gasp, but there was only one who began to glare.

Ethan looked up to his friend and brother Casper who was sitting in the row to his right and one down, sensing the power was coming from him.

Suddenly the stack of books on the teacher’s desk fell to the floor, as followed the pencil sharpener, the pencil holder, and the mess of ungraded test papers.

More laughs soon followed at the teacher’s surprise and confusion, and his rush to get it cleaned up and get back to the lesson.

“Alright, quiet, now,” the teacher commanded boldly, then went to the nearby window and closed it, figuring it had been a harsh breeze that had disconcerted his desk arrangement.

That’s when the bell rang.

“Be sure you’re caught up on homework by Friday,” the teacher called as he bent to finish replacing the items on his desk. “Be sure to have your reports handed in by then.”

Ethan dropped to his knees by Mr. Bishop, the teacher, and helped him pick up his stray books as the rest of the kids finished exiting the classroom.

“I’m really sorry about that,” Ethan said, feeling the immense need to remedy the mistake of one of his own.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mr. Bishop sighed with frustration. “It’s not like you had anything to do with the wind, right?”

Ethan smiled shakily, fighting his thoughts from showing on his face.

“Right…” he said reassuringly. Casper was surely going to get a stiff talking-to for this one. “Have a good day, Mr. Bishop,” he said good-naturedly, then took his leave.

-

Ethan Everson peered over the shelves of books in the library, quite bored of the school assignment before he even started. His search had led him off the path of the usually called upon books, to those that hadn’t been touched in decades, thick with a layer of dust. Since he was planning on researching obscure mythologies, a book with the name “New England Folklore and Legends” stuck out more than the rest. It was an old book, ancient really, perhaps having a green cover once upon a time but was now faded into a dull sage brown. He opened it and began to read somewhere in the middle.

“--Upon the madness and chaos of the Salem Witch Hunts, some say that the actual witchcraft practitioners lived on in secret, with covens that live on to this very day…”

It was fate that brought him to this exact page. There was no other way to explain it.

“Hey, Wayne,” Ethan nudged his fraternal twin, who was digging through books on the shelf behind him. Wayne was the long haired, leaner brother, who had a more tanned skin tone and lighter eyes than himself, but that didn’t stop people from not being able to tell them apart. Wayne wasn’t just a brother to him, he was his best friend, and one twin was rarely seen without the other.

“Wayne,” Ethan called again, pulling Wayne out of the concentration zone he was stuck in. “Look at this one.”

Wayne stood up to receive the book, reading the page Ethan showed him.

“Such power aroused fear in the hearts of the others, and often they would burn the accused at the stake…”

Wayne looked up at Ethan with condemning gaze.

“Yeah, I’d rather burn the book than get burned at the stake,” Wayne informed his brother, bagging the book to join several others they were taking from the library’s database. It was a new school, and they didn’t need books to support the rumors that would inevitably spread, now that the four magically inclined (and some magically reckless) boys had arrived. Being the responsible ones, the eldest of them had taken it upon themselves to empty the library of such books.

Ethan grabbed another suspicious-looking book to investigate.

SLAM!

Ethan jumped, as suddenly the book was ruthlessly slapped out of their hands to the floor below, causing a huge, booming sound to echo through the large room. A pale, biker-gloved hand was the culprit, and Ethan knew who it belonged to even before their eyes met.

Casper Reeve, blonde hair, icy eyes and a grin suited for a psycho. A foster kid and old family friend to the Eversman’s humble abode, due to their family’s common hereditary powers. Casper had been living in their household for the better of three years because his rich father had abandoned him for another woman and his mother was a crackhead. It made Casper the hothead of the group and about as rebellious as they came. He believed solely in a good time, no matter what it took. Casper left it to Ethan to keep the gang straight… and left it to himself to show them how to have a good time.

“You know what they say about ‘all work and no play’,” Casper said with a smirk.

Seth, his naïve blue eyes shining with mischief, was standing behind Casper with a grin of his own. Seth had a bad case of youngest child syndrome, and tried hard to fit in with the rest of his brothers he looked up to so intensely. Then Casper moved in, and Seth had become his personal sidekick. While Seth was once a shy, quiet type, he was now armed with obnoxious high school humor and a bad streak obtained by Casper’s influence, and Seth came out of his shell only to idolize the blonde rebel.

Casper stood up straight, and snapped his fingers and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder in a motion for Ethan to hurry up and get out the door.

“I’m off to Daley’s,” Casper commanded. In Casper’s usual caveman speech, Ethan derived that he wanted them to join him on a trip to a popular teenage hangout down the road.

Ethan sighed and bent over to retrieve the abused book from the floor.

“Can’t party right now, guys,” he shook his head. “Wayne and I have a boatload of homework, after we finish covering our magically inclined butts, which is more than I can say for you, Caz.”

Casper rolled his eyes and waved him off.

“You still on about that thing in class this morning? Look, I said I was sorry. It’s okay, it was funny.”

“Exposure is not funny, Casper,” Ethan stressed. “Addiction… is not funny.”

Casper didn’t argue that point with Ethan, knowing the past behind it. Ethan, Wayne, and Seth’s father had died due to using the power too much. Something in the power gave it an addictive quality, more potent than any drug, so that when their eyes went black, they went up to Cloud Nine.

“Whatever, you old misers,” Casper turned to leave them behind. “Have fun with your hardcovers while Seth and I party it up with your girlfriends.”

“Tessie said she was going?” Wayne perked up, immediately checking his cell phone for a text he missed from his girlfriend. He immediately abandoned the book he was holding to follow Casper out.

“Wayne!” Ethan spat in protest.

Wayne walked backwards to face his twin as he shrugged to him in reply, before he left him behind. Ethan sighed once more, before continuing his search.

So, the boys lived among the other civilians as ‘normal’ kids, going to school, and simply living out their lives as one of them. For all they knew, they were the only ones of their kind…

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Ro hurried through the arched hallways of the Guild, taking the headmistresses spiraled staircase two steps at a time. She put her hand on the antique silver handle of the old oak door, pulling hard to open it enough to squeeze inside. She tried to tiptoe as quietly as possible, sliding into a seat closest to her. Her two closest friends, Fin and Kitty, sat in the two chairs beside her.

Together, they had formed a group that the news scroll headlines had called the ‘Syrens’, and had earned a reputation as heroes among the locals. It was why when there was something important in Guild matters, they were now the first to be called upon.

“Late again, Rowena?” Sybilla said over her shoulder. “You’re making a bad habit of this.”

Ro cowered a bit in her seat.

“Sorry, Headmistress, I got held up.”

Sybilla turned and faced them, and even though Ro knew the old woman was blind, she still could swear the headmistress was giving her a scolding gaze.

“This may very well be the most important task I ever bestow upon anyone. Our spies have finally reported sightings of the Chosen Four on the Earthen side. I’m sending you three to guard them until we can convince them to come to the safety of our Guild. Be warned that they have no knowledge of our world, so have patience and try to remain understanding.”

“But ma’am…” Fin started to protest.

“I know you are to be married soon, Fin, and I am truly sorry for your inconvenience, but considering that these boys carry the fate of our known world in their hands, it shall have to wait. You must leave as soon as possible.”

Fin slumped a bit in her chair, her disappointment obvious.

“Step forward, girls,” Sybilla ordered.

The three Syrens rose from their chairs, stepping closer to Sybilla. The blind woman held her hand out in search for Fin’s, who obliged her. A spark of red erupted from their touch, followed by a glow that drifted from Sybilla’s hand to hers.

“Fenix Howlett… To aid you in your mission ahead, I heighten your powers of the Telepath and grant you empathy.”

Fin bowed in gratitude, and Sybilla moved toward her right to move on to Kitty. A blue spark emerged when Kitty’s hand met hers.

“Katherine O’Hara, I bless you with heightened powers of the Ghost, so that you might fall invisible to add to your intangibility.”

Ro couldn’t help but be a bit excited as Sybilla moved on to her next, praying that Sybilla would grant her flight as she had always wanted, after envying for so long the shape-shifters turn into birds or the magic-wielders and telepaths lifting themselves up with their minds.

As Sybilla neared her, Ro thought she saw a flicker of pity in her blank whiteout eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. Ro obediently placed her hand on Sybilla’s smooth, copper palm, and a flash of green light exploded out from the contact.

“To you, Rowena Darkholme, to add to your invincibility and inhuman strength, I give the curse of poison skin, that you may never know touch to another being again.”

Ro yanked her hand from the headmistress’s hold, holding her newly singed hand, and looked to Sybilla as if screaming: Why?!

Sybilla looked down upon Ro with a sympathetic yet resolved expression, letting Ro know that her decisions always had purpose. One simply had to trust in her ability of foresight.

“Do us proud, and hurry,” Sybilla commanded. “Roarden is sure to have gotten wind of our discovery by now.”

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RedRogue55