Prologue:
The owl swooped through the open window of Ellie's room, dropping a letter on her bed before leaving without stopping.
"That was the longest semester of my life, but it's going to be a good summer. I think the beach is calling our names," Jonathan said, walking up the stairs to his room with Ellie and Thomas in tow with Thomas laughing in excitement.
"Blue skies and sunshine, baby," Thomas yelled enthusiastically, passing both of his siblings to enter his room.
"That's what you think," a voice from down the hall yelled, causing Thomas to pause. Their older brother, Jacob, popped his head into the hallway. "Apparently, we're going to be spending most of our summer building some shed thing dad wants for a man cave. I doubt we'll get many days off."
Thomas groaned in response as Jonathan nodded in defeat. Their step-father was always building things around outside. They had enough money to hire people to do the job right, but he said it built character in all of the children.
"Lucky y'all get to go to some fancy school during the year. I spent my weekends working on a greenhouse," Jacob fake-cried. Thomas joined in the wailing as Jonathan went to his room.
Ellie just shook her head, smiling as she entered her own room. She threw her things by the door, not bothering to resize and unpack her things. The warm southern heat was wafting in from her window and she quickly shut it.
As she was about to lay down on her bed, she noticed the letter in familiar script. This caused her to sigh as she opened it, already knowing what it would say.
To the Stone triplets,
Your presence is requested.
Thank you.
Great, she thought to herself. She made her way to the room the twins shared and without knocking, she walked right in. Thomas was hanging off his bed up-side-down throwing a baseball in the air and catching it, making weird noises as he did so (the aftermath of the news that he would be building a large shed this summer). Jonathan was reading a book and ignoring the other boy's constant noises. At her entrance, their heads snapped to her in attention. She simply held the letter up and they both sat up, quickly getting ready.
Ellie made her way back to her room, changing into clothes more appropriate for her audience that she knew would be there. Donning her black jeans, a simple black t-shirt and her black tennis shoes, she shoved her wand in her hidden pocket. She quickly walked down the stairs, throwing her hair into a ponytail on the way. She met her brothers at the door where they all linked hands and apparated away.