The Curse of Magic Mansion Ch. 01

Seeing them, she leapt up and ran to her brother, hugging him. For a moment, the warmth was soothing, but she noticed that he didn't hug her back. Instead, he seemed to want to separate himself from her. "Hey," she said. "Is something wrong?"

"Wrong?" Tina said, lying badly. "No way! Nothing's wrong! Why would something be wrong?"

"It's just this place, you know?" Dan said. Normally, he was a better liar, but he eyed both his sisters awkwardly, and seemed to keep his distance from both of them. But his eyes caught hers, and he sighed. "It's the magic. Something happened, I think. Did you feel anything strange earlier?"

"I, uh, I don't know. Strange how?" But she remembered the feeling of arousal that had flooded through her when she'd laid down on the bed. Sexual arousal was no stranger to her, though. Not too long ago, it was as if a switch had been flicked inside her brain, and a big neon sign buzzed to life reading, "SEX." She often found herself thinking of nothing else. Boys, she knew, were often like this when they reached a certain age. She'd definitely noticed when Dan had changed. His room smelled different, and late at night, she could hear faint grunts coming from behind his door. Most girls she knew, her sister included, were, at least outwardly, able to balance thoughts of sex with everything else in their lives, and Jane's inability to do so made her feel a little like a freak. Still, she'd never actually done anything about her urges, except, of course to masturbate furiously at every opportunity. She desperately wanted to talk to her brother about her feelings, since he would most likely be the one to understand, but one didn't talk to their siblings about such things, did they?

"You said you were itchy earlier," Tina said. "Do you remember hearing or seeing anything else?"

"No," Jane said. "Wait. Did you guys get itchy, too?"

"Well, uh," Tina stammered, pulling her hands into the sleeves of her baggy sweater.

"Can we talk about this later?" Dan said, relieved, for the moment, that he'd found another point of concern. "What is this?"

The girls turned to him and saw him holding Jane's water glass. "Water," Jane said.

"How can you be sure?" he said, sniffing at the glass.

"Taste it," Jane said. "It's water."

"But what if it's evil magical water?" Tina asked.

Dan and Jane laughed out loud, grateful for a moment of levity, even if it did come from a very real concern. "Evil magical water?" Dan said, still laughing.

Tina shook her head and grinned, realizing how strange those words sounded. "Guys," she said as her siblings laughed, and as she began to laugh herself. "I'm serious."

"Evil magical water!" Jane roared, arms raised and fingers wiggling as if she were putting a heavy duty hex on the glass Dan held.

"Oh, man," Dan said, wiping a tear from his eye. "That was awesome. But seriously, if it is cursed, what are we supposed to do? We still need food and water. Tina, you've got the library next to your bed, maybe there's something in one of them about reversing spells. If we're still able after dinner, maybe we can do a bit of research."

"Wow..." Jane marveled. "This is really happening isn't it. All this magic stuff is for real."

"Seems that way," he said.

"We have to treat it like it is," Tina said. "At least until there's a better explanation."

"There is," Dan said. "This is all a very weird dream."

"Whose dream?" Jane asked. Faced in return by awkward looks, she waved off the notion. "Yeah. Never mind."

"Never mind what?" their father said from the doorway.

"Nothing," Jane said. "We were just wondering what's for dinner."

"An excellent question," d'X said from the opposite doorway, again seeming to have appeared from nothingness. "And I'm sure you are all famished, so if you will follow me, we shall sit." With that, he turned and left through the door. The servants who had stood in silent attendance finally moved and followed their master.

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The dining room was far more crowded than they had expected. The long oaken table, draped in deep crimson, could seat two dozen, and when the Wilder family sat, it did. The size of the mansion suggested that other guests might have been staying with the enigmatic magister, but Tina specifically remembered him saying that he did not entertain often. Did that mean that he had received a sudden influx of guests? she thought nervously. Or were these not guests?

Tina immediately noticed that she and her family stuck out. The magister sat at the head of the table, near the Wilders, but the rest of the diners were dressed in silk, velvet and lace, faces hidden behind ornate masks. A woman, dressed in completely in black, wore a thickly obscuring veil that seemed somehow to be adhered to her face, but had a hole that revealed burgundy lips. As disturbed as she was, she found herself rolling her eyes. This was right out of some bad teen vampire novel. It did, however, make her wonder about that odd little musing they'd joked about. Could this be a dream? But whose? Certainly not her brother's. Jane didn't strike her as a moody goth girl. She discounted their parents on account of their seeming lack of concern about the whole affair. That left Tina herself. Could it be her own dream? She'd certainly read enough to create a bad gothic horror world in her head, but she'd never particularly enjoyed those kinds of books—she read them primarily to understand them. It could, then, be a collective nightmare, but again that led her back to how something like that might occur without magic or technology so advanced it might as well be magic. Around and around she went, until her brother caught her attention.

Dan's eyes shifted to the rest of the room. As the guests ate, there was conversation, but Tina couldn't seem to follow it. She could understand the words well enough, but they went in one ear and out the other, the thread of discussion unraveling. Her brother raised his eyebrows, and she frowned. Still, what was to be expected in this place? So she said nothing and ate, listening to her parents compliment d'X, and then immediately forgetting what they'd said.

This went on for another hour or so, but not without some measure of levity. Jane managed to sneak a second glass of wine, and then a goodly portion of a third before their parents caught on. Tina imagined the wine was of excellent quality, but had never really developed a taste for it, only drinking it because it was polite to do so. Dan, immediately upon receiving his glass, had drained it and complimented d'X, but said nothing for the rest of the meal.

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After dinner, Howard and Donna sent the kids to bed. The girls retreated to their room, and Dan to his. The fire in the girls' room glowed against the giant suits of armor that flanked the door. Each held an axe that looked as if it could cleave the family car in twain. Jane stood, admiring them, and wondered what kind of monster would fit into all that steel, but shifted her attention away when she heard shuffling behind her. Turning from the armor, she saw her sister drawing books from the shelves.

"These look promising," Tina said, backing down the ladder, arms full with a tall stack of books.

"We're reading all of those?" Jane complained.

"Just scanning," Tina said, setting the stack down on the floor by the bed. "Here." She tossed a thin one to Jane. "Start with that one."

The cover read: DREAMS AND THE MYSITC VEIL. "Why am I reading about dreams?"

"You're not reading about them," Tina said. "You're looking for anything that could cause someone to have one." Jane looked at her sister blankly. In school, she had always been better at the arts than the sciences. Research was not a strength. "Let's say someone had a dream or nightmare, right?" Tina encouraged. "And it was about something in particular. It doesn't matter what exactly. Maybe they touched something. I just need you to look and see if the book mentions that kind of thing."

"Is that what happened to you and Dan?"

"Maybe," Tina said carefully. "We aren't sure exactly what happened, but it was pretty scary, so we need to figure out how to reverse it."

"How come I didn't see anything?"

"I don't know for sure," the older girl said. "You kind of ran out of here earlier, so maybe you got a piece of it, but not the whole thing."

"Okay, fine," she grumbled, sat by the fire, and began flipping through the book. The memory of intense sexual desire made Jane fidget, though. She wondered if her siblings had felt it, too, and was curious about what they may have seen, but didn't feel comfortable asking her sister.

The older girl sometimes complained that guys didn't seem interested in her, but she had to know that she wasn't exactly the most inviting person. Aside from her crippling anxiety, the girl was just awkward. Her long legs and arms always seemed to be getting in her way. She imagined that, from a boy's perspective, they'd just as well make out with a scarecrow. A scarecrow with a pretty brown eyes and soft pink lips, but a scarecrow nonetheless. As Jane continued scanning, she remembered her own difficulty with boys, and was glad she was finally done with high school. Sometimes, she thought, they could be such animals. Suddenly, the text on the page began to glow. "Hey! I got something!"

"Shhhh!" Tina hushed her. Outside, footsteps in the hallway sounded against the stone floor. In a moment, they heard their parents' door thump shut. "What's up?" Tina said from her spot on the bare floor.

"The writing just lit up!" Jane whispered urgently.

Tina hopped up and came over to her. Indeed the letters were illuminated in an amber glow that nearly outshone the fire, yet somehow did not cast light out into the room. "When did this happen?"

"Just now."

"Okay, okay," Tina said thoughtfully. "Did you do anything? Say anything?"

"Uh uh." Jane shook her head.

Tina read the passage title: "'Man's Primal Transfigurations.'"

"Oh," Jane said, feeling the blood run from her head. "Oh no." Tina turned to the girl, who said, "I was just thinking about, uh... things?"

"Things?"

"Yeah," Jane said. "You know... things."

"Men?"

"I was thinking how boys our age could be such animals."

Tina's eyebrow rose. "Any particular reason?"

"Uh, no," Jane said. "Not really. You know me: just thinking about things, all the time, day and night."

"Okay, whatever," Tina rolled her eyes and sat, instantly regretting it. The deep blue threads of the carpet, primed by their earlier encounter, began pumping out waves of energy into the girl. Tina felt her heart beating heavily in her chest. Her mind yearned for more knowledge. She had always craved information, but books could only satisfy her so much. She thought of all the things she'd read and how she'd never actually experienced any of the things she'd read about. And with her mind so recently trying not to think about sex, it was the first place her thoughts landed. All those erotic novels flooded back. She could imagine a scene, but never knew what it might feel like. Now, the urge to know flooded into her.

Tina leaned into her sister ever so slightly, closed her eyes, and smelled the girl's hair. Familiar, of course. She already knew what Jane smelled like, but she tried again, trying to smell what one of Jane's boyfriends might. A thought occurred to her: what if she was in love with her sister? Absurd, she knew, but then why had her eyes so often gone to Jane's young curves? Surely it was just jealousy, she told herself. "What's up, Tina?" Jane said. Tina's eyes shot open, and and the girl's were looking up at her.

"Oh!" Tina blushed. Her heart raced and she sank back into place, forcing the rising tide down as best she could. "I was just trying to think."

"About?"

"Uh, about why they haven't stopped glowing. I mean, it sounds like you started something, like a spell maybe?"

"Like, maybe?" Jane mocked her flustered sister. She didn't know why Tina was so off kilter, but she was such an easy mark.

"I don't know!" Tina blurted, feeling genuinely hurt for some reason. "I don't know magic!"

"Okay, okay," Jane said. "So how do we finish it?"

"Whoa! Finish it?" Tina wrung her hands. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Or just stop it?"

Tina shrugged and smiled meekly. "No idea. What's it actually say there?"

Jane scanned the page, but could barely understand the script, and told her sister so. Tina went to turn the page, and when her fingers touched the page, the script turned electric blue. Her thumb covered a letter on one of the spell's lines, and the blue light seeped into her hand. "What the hell?" Jane breathed in awe.

"I don't know," Tina said. "I'm going to try something. Hold on to the book." Jane gripped the book with her fingers, and Tina moved the rest of her hand over the glowing blue text. The light leeched into Tina's hand until it had been completely soaked up. Tina removed her hand from the page, and held it in front of her. It glowed, and then began to itch. "Uh," Tina stammered. "It's feels weird. What do I do?"

"Don't look at me," Jane said. "This was your idea."

Suddenly, the text flashed to life again, shining hot amber. Tina's glowing hand began to ache, as if cramped. "It hurts!" she groaned.

"What do I do?" Jane said, a little panicked.

"I dunno," her sister said. "But do something! You're the one holding the book, maybe you have to trigger the spell."

Jane looked at the page, and took a deep breath. "Okay," she said. "Here goes nothing." She pressed her palm to the page, and her own hand began glowing, this time fiery red. When she withdrew it, the page was blank. Somehow, the next step came to her naturally, as if the text itself had been written onto her eyeballs. "Give me your hand," she told Tina.

When the girls joined hands, a ripple of energy coursed through them, and for a moment they radiated pure white light that drowned out everything in the room. The girls had to clench their eyes shut. When the light died, they opened their eyes and found that the text was back on the page.

"What just happened?," Tina asked. Jane shrugged, and then looked down. They were still holding hands. It wasn't unusual for them to do so, at least when Jane was little, but now there was something just a little strange about how it felt. Something about the way Tina gripped her felt more adult, more sensual. She shook off the feeling, though, as just the remains of whatever energy had passed though them.

Tina, however, felt her sister's soft hand in hers and had trouble letting go. The magic carpet continued to pour erotic energy into her until she had to yank her hand away, lest she lose control. Taking the book from Jane, she clapped it shut, put it aside, and said, "I think that's enough magic for one night." She needed to get away from the carpet, and so she stood and stretched, stepping casually to the stone floor and feeling the surge abate. Unfortunately, the erotic energy in her was there to stay. "Boy, I'm beat. What do you say we hit the sack?"

"I guess," Jane said, but remembered the brief feeling she'd experienced when she'd sat on the bed. "But do you mind if I sleep on the floor, next to the fire?"

Tina felt a both relief and yearning tugging at her. While she so badly wanted to feel a body next to hers, she knew that she wouldn't be able to restrain herself for long. "Of course not!" she said. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," Jane said, and then to Tina's horror, stripped off her shirt, revealing a red bra that covered smallish, but firm and pleasantly proportioned breasts. The older girl stood transfixed. Turn away, she thought. Run. Run. But her body refused her commands. She watched as Jane, oblivious to her sister's ogling turned and stripped off her white cutoff shorts. Black panties covered a cute rounded ass, and Tina began to shiver nervously. Jane bent to dig through her suitcase for her pajamas. When she had changed, she, to Tina's relief, removed her bra through the armhole of her flannel button-up pajama shirt. Dressed now in pink plaid flannel, she looked more like the girl Tina remembered. Jane turned back, and Tina willed herself to look busy doing something else. "You gonna change?" Jane asked.

"Yeah!" Tina said a little too enthusiastically. "Yeah, uh, just give me a moment. I'm having trouble finding my bedclothes." She really was, and the longer it took her to find them, the more panicked she became. "I swear I packed them!"

"Dude," Jane said. "Chill. You got the bed to yourself. Go commando if you want."

"No!" Jane snapped at her. "You don't understand!"

Jane recoiled. "Okay, okay," she said, taking a pillow from the bed and tossing it down on the floor by the fire. "Whatever. Be a freak about it. But if you want, I've got a shirt in my bag. Got it at a metal concert, but it's too big for me. Kind of my last-resort shirt."

As Jane settled in by the fire, Tina dug through her bag some more, got frustrated and dumped its contents onto the stone floor, but after minutes of searching in vain, sighed and stood. "Ok," she said. "I give up."

"It's in the bottom of my bag," Jane said. "Please don't dump out all my stuff to get to it." Tina found the shirt and held it up. It would be big, even on herself. As if sensing her sister's thoughts, Jane said from the floor, "They were out of my size, so I bought a size up. Turns out, I bought a men's size up. You're okay looking like a metalhead for a night?"

Tina regarded the black t-shirt. Skulls, skulls, skulls. Lightning. Skulls, skulls. One giant axe. An indecipherable band name written in jagged lettering. "It's cool," Tina said shrugging.

"Cool," Jane said.

Tina waited until she knew her sister wouldn't see her, and then stripped, slipped on the shirt, and practically leapt into bed, touching as little of the carpet as she could. The bed itself was as comfortable as the rest of the mansion was creepy, but even still, she found herself unable to sleep. The sexual energy was built up so much that when she closed her eyes, her mind flashed images of lips, hips and tender flesh. Most of it was of her sister, but Tina suspected this was only because the girl was so close. She felt like she would have sex with anyone, or anything, if given the opportunity, but she doubted anyone, or anything, would yield to her touch. She ran her hands over her body and found only fault. Her hips were less pronounced than her younger sister's, and while her ass wasn't as round, it was, she felt, firm. She did have full breasts, but she hid those under baggy clothes, because to her, they looked a little freakish on such a thin frame.

When her hands brushed her nipples, she arched her back slightly in pleasure, but ended up feeling only more frustrated. She held her breath for a moment, listening, and when she heard Jane's steady, shallow breathing, she slipped her fingers into the front of her panties. Smooth and hairless, just as she liked it. She'd started shaving her pubes a year ago, and it was what kept her sexually sane. There was just something about smooth skin that made her soaking wet. She briefly wondered what, if anything, that meant, but then realized she was just too horny to psychoanalyze herself.

Just as Tina was getting ready to dip a finger into her aching slit, she heard a scratching at the door. She pulled her hand from her panties, and listened. Nothing. She began easing her hand back under the thin fabric. The scratching came again, this time followed by what sounded like a low growl. Tina sat up, frustrated. "Who's there?" she called.

Jane started and grumbled, "What's going on?"

"There's something at the door," Tina whispered.

"Of course there is," Jane yawned. "It's a haunted castle."

"Shh!" Tina hissed. "Did you hear it?"