Chapter 2 - Realizing (Posted 27 August 2011)

"I still can't believe it didn't work." Benny said as he walked up to Ethan in school the next morning. "I looked in the mirror when I woke up, and I think if anything it gave me less of a moustache. Look, there isn't even any fuzz!" Benny pointed to his face and then rubbed his upper lip. "It's completely smooth. Here, feel it." he stuck his face closer to Ethan's.

"I am not feeling your face." Ethan rolled his eyes.

"Fine." Benny pulled back. "But that's not even the worst part."

"What do you mean?" Ethan looked at his friend. He'd had a sinking feeling all night that there was more to this situation than a failed attempt to grow facial hair. He couldn't sleep because no matter how he laid, he couldn't get comfortable. And his stomach had been rumbling all night, causing him to have to make multiple trips to the bathroom for a few different reasons.

Benny got a hopeless look on his face. "I was looking through the book last night... and there are no x-ray vision spells!" he wined.

Ethan chuckled with relief. He should have guessed it would be something like that. "I'm sorry man. Maybe there's something else you'd like to try?"

Benny made a thoughtful face before coming to a decision. "Nah. Not today."

This confused Ethan. "What? But you always have something you want to try." He thought maybe Benny was starting to feel bad about himself since he couldn't quite get the hang of magic. And he couldn't have that.

"Yeah, well... I really wanted a moustache." Benny pouted and looked at Ethan through innocent, forlorn eyes.

Ethan laughed again, thankful that he was just disappointed in his lack of a moustache. "Don't get discouraged, Benny." Ethan said, being the supportive best friend that he was. "We can try again, okay? And there are a ton of other spells and potions we can experiment with until then."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Do you have the spell book with you?"

"Of course." Benny announced proudly.

Ethan smiled as he stuck out his hands. "Let me see it.

Benny reached into his bag and pulled the not-so-inconspicuous book that no one ever seemed to notice them with and handed it to Ethan. "Here ya go. But there aren't any that we could alter for x-ray vision. I did see one for invisibility though. But that one's way too advanced for me. Plus it only keeps people from seeing you if they're not looking for you. If someone is trying to find you specifically they'll still be able to see you. So I don't really know what good that would do us..."

"Um... Benny?" Ethan said as he looked through the book. "What page was the spell on? The one we tried last night."

"I don't know. Like 143 or something like that."

Ethan nodded, lips pursed as he turned the book around and pointed inside. "Is this the one?"

Benny examined it and nodded. "Moustache Growth Incantation. Yep, that's it."

"Read the instructions, Benny. This isn't what we did."

"What are you-" Benny stopped as he got about half way through the page and realized Ethan was right. "You're right. That isn't what we did. This says we're supposed to chant these lines here while rubbing our upper lips. Did we do that?"

"No. We didn't."

"I didn't think so." Benny looked up at Ethan, his eyes now filled with worry.

"So what did we do, then?" Ethan asked, mirroring Benny's worried expression.

"Well how should I know?" Benny shrugged defensively. Ethan's mouth fell open in frustration. He was about to say something, probably to scold him, but Benny cut him off. "Okay, okay. Look. I'll go through the book and see if I can find what we did. Whatever it is can't be that bad, I don't see any weird things happening or anything, so maybe there's a reversal spell. And if not we can always ask Gramma."

"You'll get in trouble for doing it without her permission."

"Oh well. I can handle it. The spell I wanted to do was my level, so I'm sure if I tell her that she won't be too upset."

"Let's hope so." Ethan rolled his eyes. "We should get to class."

Benny sighed. "I guess. Gramma said if she gets another call about me being late she's taking away my RC Tribble for a month."

"Ooh, that's harsh."

They started walking to class, but Ethan stopped and put a hand on his head when he started to feel dizzy.

Benny turned around when he realized Ethan was no longer aside of him. "Woah, Ethan, are you okay?" he said when he noticed he looked like he was in pain.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I think I must be getting the flu or something though. I was sick all night and I've been having dizzy spells since I woke up." Ethan admitted.

"Do you think maybe it's a side-effect of the spell?"

"Not likely. Wouldn't you be experiencing it too then?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe. But like you really never know how it's going to affect you."

"Well I'm better now. These things usually last like twenty four hours, so if it's not gone by tomorrow, I'll have Mom take me to the doctor."

"Good idea."

X

"Ethan," the boy's mother said as she was getting ready to leave the house that night, "your father and I are going to a company dinner tonight. Sarah will be here in a few minutes, so just sit still until she gets here, okay?"

"Yeah, Mom." Ethan sighed heavily. As much as he liked Sarah coming over every Friday, he hated the fact that she was only there to babysit them.

"Is Benny here? I thought I saw him..."

"He's upstairs, studying." Ethan said. It wasn't a total lie. He was studying, but not any text book.

"Alright, well, you two better behave."

"We will, Mom, don't worry." Ethan insisted.

"And I know you mentioned feeling sick, so there's some medicine out on the kitchen table if you need it."

"Okay, Mom, I get it. Thanks. You're gonna be late." Ethan said and his dad emphasized his point by honking the horn in the car.

"Alright. I just hate leaving you when you're sick." she said as she backed out the front door.

"I'm sure I'm fine. Have a good time with Dad."

She smiled. "Thanks, sweetie. Bye." She waved as she closed the door behind her.

Ethan was about to go back upstairs when the doorbell rang. He opened it and saw Sarah standing there. "Hey, Sarah. Come on in." He stepped aside to let her inside. "Jane is in the living room watching television. I have to go upstairs and talk to Benny about something really important."

"Okay." she eyed him suspiciously. "You're acting kind of strange..."

"Strange? Me? No, there's nothing strange about me." Ethan declared, earning a raised eyebrow from Sarah. "You know what I mean."

"Okay, well, I guess I'll just go watch some t.v. with Jane then."

Ethan watched her go sit down before walking carefully up the stairs. He didn't want to run since he'd been getting dizzy spells all day.

"So," Ethan asked as he walked into his room, "have any luck?"

Benny was sitting at Ethan's desk, examining a page in his spell book. "Yes. But good or bad, I can't really tell."

"What? Did you find the spell we used?"

"Yeah." Benny's voice cracked. "It was on the page before the moustache one. The wind must have turned the page."

"And you didn't notice?"

"I guess not. I mean, I did look at the spell just before that, so I should have noticed that something was off, but I was just so excited..."

"Benny, it's okay, just tell me what spell we used and we can fix it." He reached over Benny's shoulder and took the book.

"No, Ethan." Benny whirled around and tried to rip the book from Ethan's hand.

"Come on, Benny, just let me see..." Ethan finally pulled the book away from Benny and began reading. "What... is this?"

"It's not as bad as you think." Benny pleaded.

Ethan looked up with wide eyes. "What did you do to me?"

"It probably didn't do anything."

"This is a fertility spell! Couples use it to get pregnant. What the hell, Benny!"

"Ethan, would you chill for just one second?" Benny asked. "We're both guys, remember? There's no way this spell worked on us."

"Benny, you don't understand." Ethan protested. "I felt sick in the stomach all night last night. Then I threw up like fifty times before school and I've been dizzy all day."

Benny eyed him. "Not to mention cranky."

Ethan glared at him.

"Dude, you don't seriously think you could be... pregnant, do you?"

"I don't know! You're the one who did the magic!"

"But... my magic never works. So you're safe."

Ethan pursed his lips and looked back at the book. "Did you translate this yet?"

"I was just about to when you came up here." Benny grabbed the book back and turned back to Ethan's computer. "Okay, so the first thing means... child. Well, that seems reasonable, I mean these things usually have you visualize what you want when you-"

"Would you just finish translating, please?"

"Fine. Nobis ubertatem. We will be fertile. and nobis paritura. We will bear a child. There, are you happy now?"

"No! I am not happy!"

"Why not? I did what you asked me to!" Benny defended. "I found the spell. And I translated the latin. What else do you want from me?"

"I felt something, last night, Benny. When the spell was over, I felt like... this energy moving through me."

"So did I..." Benny admitted.

"You see? That means something happened. And now I'm sick. The only logical explanation is..."

"No. It has to be something else. There's no way it's that."

"Well is there a way to tell if it worked?"

Benny looked at the book once again. "There's a detection spell. But it can't be performed by the couple who did the fertility spell."

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

"Gramma?" Benny suggested.

"I guess she is the only person we know who could do it. But how are we going to ask her? I don't want you to get in trouble."

"Look, I am positive that it didn't work. But to put your mind at ease, we'll have Gramma prove it and then I'll get scolded for not paying attention and that'll be the end of it. Okay?"

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely sure."

"Is she home?"

"Right now?" Benny pouted. "Can't we wait till tomorrow?"

"No. I need to know now. And if you're as confident as you say you are that this spell didn't work, you should have no problem."

Benny sighed. "Alright, fine. But only because I know I'm right about this."