"Where am I?" William asked, examining his surroundings.

He was in a dark place, lit with a few torches here and there. Ominous smoke filled the entire place; it seemed to be perpetually foggy. There was a faint odor of rotting flesh, but it didn't seem to come from any particular direction. In fact, it seemed that William was standing in the middle of nothing. There were no doors to other places, there were no openings in sight, and William had no idea of where he was. He felt disoriented and lost, until a voice called out to him.

"Hello, son," the voice said slowly, echoing through the room.

"Matthias!" William shouted, "what have you done to me?"

"The question is," the voice countered, "what have you done to yourself?"

"I have no time for games," William said, looking up.

He began to blink out of the room, but the walls briefly glowed red and William appeared on the ground. He stood back up and tried again, but the same things happened; he reappeared on the ground, shaken up.

"Show yourself, Matthias," William challenged. "Do not act like a coward."

"I am no coward," the voice boomed. "Do not forget that it is I from whom you come. I alone have the power to control you, and you will do as I say. Your power is great, but mine is unparalleled. And this is just the beginning..."

At that moment, all of William's fears had been realized. His warlock half, which he had suppressed all his life, was being forced back into action by Matthias. Now, it was only a matter of time before his witch half and his warlock half would come into conflict. Only one side would be able to win...

Days had passed and the three brothers had finished their first week of college. However, they spent most of their time worrying about William's strange disappearing act. Between classes, they were all absorbed in their Book of Light (even Wesley), looking for anything that could help get William back on their side.

"He was definitely being possessed," James said, using his power to flip through the pages quickly. "But by who?"

"Matthias," Matthew said. "It's obvious. If he's as powerful as William said, then he must be the one who is behind all of this. The big question is how do we get rid of Matthias?"

"Maybe if we figure out how he got here," Wesley suggested, "then we can work on shipping his ass back home."

"It's a start," James said. "Hey, didn't I tell you not to do that?"

Wesley was more engrossed in throwing things in the air and freezing them in time. It was just by coincidence that he had thrown in his suggestion at that time. He was having too much fun watching things hang motionless in midair.

"But you're using your power to flip through the Book," he protested. "Matt, what do you think?"

"I think that you're both being stupid and that we need to focus on the task at hand," Matthew said dryly as he took the Book from James.

"Jimmy," Wesley said, "stop bossing me around all the time. You've known me for a few days, not a lifetime! You can't just come in and...and...rule me!"

"I'm not trying to 'rule you,'" James said. "As your brother, I'm just trying to help you."

"And there's that word again," Wesley said. "You can't be my brother unless you're my friend. And lately, dude, you've been way too bossy for me."

"If I come off as bossy," James said in an intimidating tone, "then it's only because I don't want anything to happen to any of us, so..."

"So doing what you say will keep us all safe?" Wesley asked. "Meanwhile, William got taken right in front of our eyes. What do you have to say about that?"

"Okay," Matthew said, "that's enough now. Back to your corners. From now on I'll be calling the shots around here."

"Matt," Wesley started to say.

"I said sit!" Matthew exclaimed calmly. Both James and Wesley sat down. "You two have been getting on my nerves for a week now. It should be clear that all of our personalities are different. What's annoying is that you two take the simplest little thing and blow it up into something not worth anything. I've said this a million times already; I will not be playing the mediator in this relationship. Understand?"

Of course Matthew was right. Wesley and James had been getting into the pettiest of arguments for no particular reasons at all. Sometimes Matthew believed that they just wanted to hear themselves talk. He was starting to get sick of it. He wanted to just put his boxing gloves on and take both of them out.

In fact, that feeling shot through his mind every time James and Wesley argued. It was a strange feeling that almost seemed to overcome his senses. Sure, he had those feelings, but it was always out of brotherly love, wasn't it? He couldn't answer. He also couldn't account for the strange feeling. It was a feeling of pure malice, a desperate need for revenge, a want for power. It felt almost...evil.

At his last words, his eyes flashed red briefly and then everything was back to normal. He hadn't noticed, but both James and Wesley took a step back.

"What?" Matthew asked.

"Your eyes," Wesley said, "they turned red for a second, just the way William's did."

"No they didn't," Matthew replied. "I didn't notice anything."

"It definitely happened," James said. "Whatever got William is trying to get you, too."

Spooky, isn't it? What's wrong with Matthew? Why don't y'all come up with some ideas and review a couple hundred times and then I'll tell y'all! Or at least until I can figure out what's going on in the next chapter, whichever comes first!