Chapter 3 - Detection (Posted 31 August 2011)

"Benny, is that you?" a voice called out from deeper within the house as they entered.

"Yeah, Gramma. And Ethan." Benny answered.

"Hello boys." she said sweetly as she came into the living room. "Isn't today Friday? I thought you'd be at Ethan's house."

"Well, we were..." Benny told her, "but... I need to ask you a theoretical question."

"Oh boy." she rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm really just curious."

"And it couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

"Apparently not." Benny said, earning a light smack on his shoulder from Ethan. "No, it can't wait. You know how these questions just bug me until I can't think about anything else."

"Alright, ask away."

"Okay. Um... you know the fertility spell on page 142?"

"Yes..." she said inquisitively.

"Well, um... would it... work on a man? Hypothetically."

"Not just hypothetically." she answered. "That spell is made for people who cannot conceive children. Males fit that description."

"Oh. I see..."

Suddenly she closed her eyes and inhaled sharply. "What did you do, Benny?"

Benny wrinkled his nose. "I may have... accidentally... used the spell. On Ethan."

"What!"

"I'm sorry!" he insisted. "I was trying to do a moustache spell! It was totally within the guidelines you gave me!"

"How did you manage to confuse the two?"

"It was on the page before it." Benny said. "That book is a hazard, you know. Those spells should be organized by level."

Benny's grandmother stared him down. "If you would pay attention, that wouldn't be an issue."

"I know that but it's not my fault the wind blew the page back!"

"Benny," his grandmother looked at him pointedly, "you really need to be more careful. Do you understand what you could have done to Ethan?"

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts." Gramma shushed him. "Ethan, go sit down on the sofa, please. Knowing my grandson, it probably didn't work, but I have to check just to make sure."

"Okay." Ethan paled slightly as he sat down.

"Benny, sit next to him, and then have Ethan lay back with his head in your lap."

"Aw, but Gramma, that's weird!" Benny whined as he sat next to Ethan.

"Come on, Benny," Ethan reasoned, "let's just do this and get it over with. Please? As soon as I know that I'm not... pregnant, everything can go back to normal." He chuckled a little when Benny rolled his eyes and sat back, giving Ethan space to lie back into his lap.

"Now," Benny's grandmother said, "just stay still while I recite the detection spell. If it's negative, Ethan's palms will glow green. But if it's positive, they'll either glow pink or blue; pink for a girl and blue for a boy."

"The spell can tell this early?" Ethan asked.

"Oh yes," the old woman explained, "the detection spell tells you the gender right away since it's a magical child. But you probably don't have anything to worry about."

"Wait," Ethan stalled again, "will the baby have special powers like me and Benny?"

"It could. The magical conception doesn't increase the chances of it having any sort of powers, but the fact that both of you do does make it almost impossible for it not to."

"Wow." Ethan thought aloud.

"Just relax, boys." Benny's grandmother tried to calm them, even though she herself wasn't quite sure of what the outcome would be. Then she proceeded to place a finger on Ethan's stomach and recite the spell. "Veritatem revelare uteri mei."

Both Ethan and Benny looked down at Ethan's open palms for a few seconds. Then their eyes met as they watched Ethan's hands begin to glow... a bright, radiating blue.