I'd like to say that when the Grace family came back, I hadn't completely given up on having more magical adventures. But that would be a lie. Just like if I said I was hoping there would be no more magical adventures.
It has been three years since last time. Three years is usually plenty of time for things to change, especially when your dad is getting remarried, and you're suddenly living with a crazy girl who is apparently your new sister. Of course, Laurie isn't actually crazy. Or maybe we both are.
The biggest change is that Jules is gone. He managed to apply to a decent college (near the ocean, of course), and he's been gone more than a year now. He says he's going to propose to Cindy after he gets a reasonable job, but nothing's ever certain with him. I guess he kinda has to, though, since she's the only other person with the Sight.
Also, Laurie and I decided our parents deserved the Sight, too. It looked like they were in a pretty stable relationship after the first year, and we thought it'd be easier than sneaking around and making excuses for, say, pranks played by the boggart we had managed to piss off. And it was easier. By a long shot. After a few hours of screaming, arguing, and convincing each other that there was a perfectly logical explanation for the Spriggan that had just spit in their eyes, they cooled down and accepted it. Mostly.
Laurie is 15 now, a year older than me. Looking at her, you wouldn't suspect that there was anything in her head other than what, say, a cheerleader would think about. She lost the nerdy glasses somewhere along the line, as well as her braids. Most of the fairy memorabilia is gone from her room, save a new, signed copy of The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Sandspur. I hate to say it, but I think she's basically a normal person now. Although she's as brilliant as she ever was, and no one tries to tell her otherwise.
As for me, I've taken up football and tennis, in the interest of having a fighting chance if magical creatures ever attack me again. I've grown a lot - up, not out - which adults can't seem to stop commenting on, as if it's the most impressive thing about me. Imagine if they knew I lured an army of giants out to sea. Granted, that did just screw things up more. But I did hack a hydra to pieces.
Anyway, it's the third summer since the battle. Every summer, I've made it a point to do absolutely nothing, all the while being incredibly thankful that I haven't had to slay any monsters. You'd think a fairy-free, not-saving-the-world kind of summer would be incredibly boring after what I've done, but I just feel more grateful than I ever have for three months of laziness and no responsibilities.
Today, I was sleeping in. Again. If there is any one rule to my summer, it is that there's no point trying to wake me before noon. Dad and Charlene have learned it pretty early on, but Laurie is constantly making exceptions. Sometimes, it's to show me some new breed of fairy, or a trick she's taught Sandspur. Mostly, it's about Jared. She is constantly getting cool, funny, or otherwise important e-mails from him. He's the only one who had kept up correspondence for all this time. Mallory is off at college, doing serious, adult-like stuff, and Simon volunteers at animal shelters all summer. Sometimes, I think Jared wouldn't e-mail us either, if he didn't enormously like my sister. Which is still incredibly weird.
When the doorbell rings, I'm sure it's my alarm clock, until I roll over and realize I haven't set my alarm for several months. Laurie is nowhere to be seen, and neither is Sandspur. As it rings again, I groan and drag myself out of bed. "Coming!" I yell as I stumble, half blindly, down the stairs. I open the door, rubbing my eyes, and there, standing before me, is my worst nightmare.
"Please tell me this is a friendly visit. You know, like the things normal people do during their summers."
The look in the eyes of the Grace kids says it all.
I groan so loudly that Laurie is down the stairs before I can collapse onto the sofa.
"Nick, what's the - Jared!" My sister's eyes light up like the Fourth of July, despite the fact that the Grace family only comes with tidings of magical warfare. Somehow, I see the same reaction in Jared. Ugh.
I see Mallory pass a $10 bill to Simon, who is laughing silently, and I realize that they've been dealing with the same thing as I have for the last three years.
"This is just a wild guess, but I'm gonna say that there's been a catastrophic magical disaster of insane proportions. Am I right?"
"How'd you guess?" responds Simon dryly.