Once Upon Magic

Siblings

By the time that Tim and Brooke both dried off, Nancy and Dad had decided that wizardry lessons were over for the day. All four began to pack a backpack for their upcoming trip to the Other World. Nancy and Brooke were in their shared room, debating which shirt was whose, when the elder sister left to speak to their father. Brooke continued packing, wondering where The Other World was located. She asked her brother, using her mind, only to have him say that he was listening to their father and older sister talk in hushed voices. They were discussing someone they knew in The Other World. Tim recounted the conversation to one of his triplet sisters.

“…  fifteen years, Dad. That’s fifteen years too long to not see your best friend, especially if he’s your brother. I just want to try to find him while it’s not too –“

“You want to find someone who left our family when we need him? What are you thinking? What good would it do?”

“Maybe he tried to contact us, but couldn’t find out where we moved to. In a distorted kind of way we abandoned him too.”

“WE abandoned HIM? He betrayed our family! He left us to satisfy his power-hungry cravings!”

“He was only ten! How do you know he wanted to leave? Maybe he was kidnapped. Did you ever think of that, Dad? All we know is that one day Philip was here, and the next he wasn’t.”

“Listen to yourself! You’re defending him!”

“Of course I am, Dad! You should be too! He’s your oldest son! He didn’t betray us! What proof do you have that he wasn’t kidnapped?”

“Think about it Nancy! If some one wanted to kidnap one of my children, either to use for a ransom or to train them in evil, why would they go for the ten year old who could hardly think of nothing? They’d go for one of the triplets – powerful babies who wouldn’t remember their first few weeks with their real family! No, Nancy, he was not kidnapped. He left us, and there is nothing we can do to change that fact. If we wanted to talk to us, he could have used magic. For all we know, he died years ago.”

“Dad, he’s my big brother. I need to at least look for him.”

“What do you expect to find?”

“I don’t know, maybe my brother? Maybe news about him. Or, maybe, just maybe… the date of his death. Maybe you’re right: he’s dead. But shouldn’t we at least try to find out?”

Dad slowly took a deep breath. “What about Tim and Brooke? What would you tell them –“

Brooke hesitated, not knowing why the conversation was cut short. Then Tim thought, “Nancy said that this guy who disappeared, Philip, was her older brother. That’d make him our older brother too.”

The dark-haired girl shook her head. She had a triplet sister AND an older brother, neither of whom she’d ever heard of before today? Yeah, right. This must be some sort of twisted joke. She and her two siblings and two parents had lived contentedly together for as long as her memory went. But, according to her sister and father, it was true. She spoke to Timothy. “How many more siblings do we have? I thought one brother and one sister was enough. Do you think our older brother could have betrayed us?”

“I’ve never met him! How would I know his personality?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t want to believe that we have a traitor as a brother.”

“Agreed. Should we ask Nancy and Dad about what we heard?”

“Maybe. Not now, though. Once we’re on the road to The Other World.”