"Am I dead yet?" Wesley asked, uncovering his face.
"No, wimp," James said. "You're still alive. Matt, what was that thing you just did?"
"What did he do?" Wesley asked.
"I don't know," Matthew said. "I think that maybe my powers are getting stronger or something."
"He did it again?" Wesley asked. "Good job!"
"Two in one night!" Matthew said. "What's next?"
"I think he picked himself up and left," James said as he peered out of the doorway. There was no sign of the warlock anywhere.
"Are you kidding?" Matthew asked. "What's he trying to do to us, wear us down?"
"Where'd he go this time?" Wesley asked.
"Nowhere," Thomas responded, standing behind the brothers.
Matthew jumped upon hearing the warlock's voice. He leapt into the air and kicked the warlock in the stomach before he could be attacked himself. He backed away slowly, waiting for Thomas to make the next move. Thomas gathered himself and looked around to see Wesley and James, standing next to a bookshelf, ready for action. With a wave of his hand, Thomas caused the bookshelf to telekinetically topple over onto them, keeping them occupied.
Matthew ran towards Thomas, preparing to jump kick him. But while in the air, Thomas waved his hand again and Matthew veered off-course and landed on the coffee table, breaking it. While James and Matthew were out of commission, Wesley suddenly reappeared in a shower of blue lights, standing in the same place. He was, as usual, oblivious to the fact that he had even disappeared in the first place. Thomas was taken aback at seeing this; he hadn't figured that any of them would be able to do that. Wesley took the chance to freeze him. This time he stayed frozen. Slowly, books began to fly in every direction as James used his power to fling them away. Meanwhile, Matthew had come to and was making his way to the sofa to sit.
"Jimmy!" Wesley shouted, ducking. "Watch out, man! You almost hit me with a book over here!"
"Sorry," James said, emerging from the mountain of books piled on top of him. "How did you get out of here so quickly?"
"I don't know," Wesley said. "Maybe I'm just better than you are."
"I don't think so," James said as Matthew stepped in.
"Not now, guys," he said. "We need to find a way to vanquish him."
"He won't stay vanquished," Wesley complained. "What can we do?"
"Well," James said, "for one thing, we can't stay here. And we can't stay with my dad, either. We can't go back to the school since it's closed for the break. We'll have to find a motel or something."
"A motel?" Wesley asked in disbelief. "That sounds so sleazy. Wesley does not do motels."
"Then Wesley must want to stay here with the warlock," James countered.
"Maybe if we say the spell a third time," Matthew suggested abruptly, changing the subject. "Three seems to be our number these days."
"I'll run and get the Book," Wesley said.
"He'll be unfrozen by then," James said. "I'll do it."
James motioned with his hands and seconds later, the Book of Light was floating into the house, past the frozen warlock, and into James' hands. He smirked at Wesley, who only rolled his eyes.
"Abolish his powers.
Banish his hours.
Within this time and space,
Send him away forever from this place."
Thomas came out of Wesley's freeze and began to shake uncontrollably as the vanquishing spell took effect for the third time. Thomas screamed one last time as flames consumed him, leaving nothing behind.
"Did we really kill him, though?" James asked.
"We should have," Matthew said, looking at Thomas' entry in the Book of Light. "According to this, we should've killed him the first time."
"Let's find out what went wrong, then," James said, taking the Book from Matthew.
"Do you think he's after this?" Matthew asked.
"Probably," Wesley said nonchalantly.
"Of course!" Matthew exclaimed. "This Book has been in our family for literally generations, right? All of our ancestors wrote all these spells and potions and information and stuff. Think about it; I don't think we'd last long without it."
"I see your point," Wesley said, "but if all of these Thomases keep popping up, then what are we gonna do? I mean, we can't keep killing one warlock forever. Think of all the wear and tear."
"And that's just the beginning," echoed Thomas' voice as the brothers turned around.
Thomas stood on top of the bookshelf that had just fallen on James and Wesley earlier, his eyes fixed upon all three of his targets. James tucked the Book of Light under his arm and he and his brothers prepared to fight. Thomas flicked his hands, intending to freeze them, but nothing happened. Wesley inadvertently laughed at him.
"Silly warlock," he said. "You can't freeze us."
"But I can do this!" James added.
He waved his free hand and Thomas went flying into the kitchen. They turned and left the house without a second thought. Moments later, they were speeding down the street in James' truck, never looking back. Meanwhile, Thomas stood up and smiled evilly as he walked out of the door and took to the skies.
James drove, all the while trying to concentrate after what had just happened. Matthew was in the passenger seat, also irritated at the situation, but choosing to say nothing. Wesley lay in the backseat, talking up a storm as usual.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"I don't know," James answered. "I'm trying to think of some kind of hotel or something."
"Great," Wesley said sarcastically. "First, we find a warlock that just won't die, then we can't even stay in the brand new house that we just got. By the way, I think I'm gonna take that huge room upstairs on the left."
"I've already marked that territory," James said.
"Marked?" Wesley asked. "What did you do, pee in there or something?"
"We'll see how funny you are when you find yourself walking down this street," James threatened.
"You don't have it in your heart to do something like that," Wesley said.
As the arguing went back and forth between James and Wesley, Matthew was busying himself by looking through the Book of Light, hoping that there was something in there that they might have missed. He examined the entry on Thomas intensely, spending minutes on each word, figuring that there may be some hidden message.
I'm really starting to get annoyed with this Thomas character, aren't y'all? I hope the brothers figure out some kind of way to take care of him because he's getting more and more dangerous by the chapter! So, coming up next: James, Matthew, and Wesley are off trying to find a place to stay, since they can't stay in their own house obviously (hence, evicted). But can they find a place in time?