"So you don't know who the girl was?" Wesley asked to make sure he understood. "And you don't know who the other guy was either?"
"No," James sighed, taking his last bite of cereal. "And another strange thing about it was that it felt…real. Like I was actually there."
"Well," Wesley said, "do you think someone or something sent you there? There could be a demon or warlock with that kind of power."
"You think so?" James asked.
"C'mon," Wesley said, "how many demons out there have us on the top of their hit lists?"
"Good point," James said, standing up. "I'll go look in the Book. You clean up in here."
"Me clean up?" Wesley asked. "Isn't that what I always do?"
"What do you always do?" Matthew asked as he rushed into the house through the back door, almost out of breath.
"Where have you been?" Wesley asked.
"Out," Matthew answered vaguely.
"So you did get lucky," Wesley said to him, shaking his head. "Whatever happened to chivalry?"
"Shut up," Matthew said. "We have more important things to deal with now. The worst thing happened to me this morning. I was having s…some breakfast, and then I got a vision."
"Damn," Wesley said, closing his laptop and gathering plates to wash in the sink. He had been waiting for some sort of supernatural happening ever since the earlier mentioning of having been magic free for a while. "Give it to me plain; what is it that's gonna keep me from enjoying this Spring Break?"
"It was a weird gorilla looking demon," Matthew described the vision. "It was kind of grayish brown, and it looked like it had scaly skin, which makes sense because it had these scary snake eyes."
"Wonderful," Wesley commented sarcastically. He turned on the hot water and lathered up a kitchen sponge.
"It's not like I'm happy about it either," Matthew said, sitting down at the table. "Where's Jimmy?"
"He's got problems of his own," Wesley replied. "He had a weird dream last night and now he's looking in the Book to see whether or not it's demon related."
"What's been going on down here?" Matthew asked.
"I was eating, then Jimmy came in all crazy and jumpy," Wesley explained. "Now I'm writing. I got a couple days to finish my story before the deadline passes, and I like writing down here. It's better than being cooped up in my room. As things go, though, it looks like I'm not gonna be able to finish this story right now behind this damn demon."
"I know," Matthew agreed. "It sucks. Well, the sooner we get rid of this, the sooner we can get back to enjoying the break."
Wesley finished the last of the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. He had a strange tendency to prewash dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. He dried his hands and sat back at the table as James reentered the kitchen, intently flipping through the Book of Light. He joined his brothers at the table. As he set the Book in front of him, he noticed Matthew sitting there. He smirked at him slyly and Wesley rolled his eyes.
"Anything?" Wesley asked, speaking before James could say anything.
"There are dozens of warlocks and demons with that kind of power," James said.
"What power?" Matthew asked.
"To create dream worlds, to change reality, yada yada yada," Wesley answered for James nonchalantly. "Look, why don't the two of y'all catch each other up and I'm gonna go work on my story. I'm close to finishing and I really want to get these ideas down before I lose them. Call if you need me, but don't call if you don't need me."
Wesley gathered all the loose papers from the table and stacked them neatly on top of his laptop. He made sure that nothing was on the floor before walking out the kitchen and upstairs to his bedroom. Matthew watched Wesley intently and waited until he was completely gone before turning to James. His conscience was getting the best of him and he needed someone in which to confide before he lost his mind.
"Hey," he said in a quiet voice, "I…kinda have something to tell you. I gotta tell somebody and since you're here…"
"What is it?" James asked, still flipping through the Book. "Don't tell me you're gonna give me a play by play of what you did last night. I can fill in the blanks; we're not that close."
"You wouldn't be able to keep up, even if we were that close," Matthew responded. "Anyway, you have to swear not to tell Homeboy. It's not the kind of thing he'll probably go for."
"What is it?" James repeated. He continued to flip through the Book. He was half-listening to what Matthew was saying, and paying more attention to the information in the Book than what was coming out of Matthew's mouth.
"I'm kind of dating Stephanie…" Matthew said slowly, looking to see if James had heard him. A couple minutes passed before James gave a response.
"His ex?" James abruptly stopped flipping pages and looked at his brother, not quite knowing what else to say. "You got lucky last night with your brother's ex-girl?"
"Not exactly," Matthew explained. "There's another girl too.
"Two girls at the same time?" James' eyes got wider as he smiled. "Way to go, bro!"
"Again, not exactly," Matthew repeated once more. He mentally slapped himself as he came more to his senses. This was James he was confiding in, someone who made a point of rarely thinking logically. "The thing is, I'm having a little trouble keeping up with the demands of two women. Got any advice?"
"Hmm," James thought for a minute. "The first piece of advice I'd give you is to not call one the other's name when you're bangin' her."
"That's a given," Matthew rolled his eyes.
"I don't know," James said. "I've never had two at the same time."
"That's a lie," Matthew countered. "Just last summer you told me about those two girls from your high school."
"That's different," James said. "I wasn't dating them. We were just fooling around. Seriously, though, if you want advice, here's the best way to handle this…"