The Three Rules of Magic

By Aldric

Copyright 2015 by Aldric [email protected], all rights reserved
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This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY. It contains depictions of sexual activity involving minors. If you are not of a legal age in your locality to view such material or if such material does not appeal to you, do not read further, and do not save this story.
 
Comments may be made to [email protected]
 
This story depicts minors in unusual conditions that may include unprotected, unsafe sex or extreme humiliation. Obviously, this does not describe real life and should not be taken as such. In the real world, behaviors as described in the story are not acceptable, tolerated, or legal. The reader should never confuse the difference between fiction and real life. This story is fictional.

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The Three Rules of Magic part 1
 
Sofia studied the three kids in the shop. Two of them, a boy and a girl, were keeping her brother busy demonstrating how a few of the cheap magic tricks worked while the third, another girl was alone in the back, constantly scanning the store and watching to see if anyone was watching her. Girls in general had little interest in magic. To have two of them in the shop at the same time meant that one of them was planning to steal something. Sofia knew from experience that girl in the back was the thief. And she knew how to watch without being seen watching.
 
The shop belonged to their grandfather. He could work all of the magic items for sale in the store plus a whole lot more. He had tried stage magic, but although his ability was flawless he just didn’t have the stage presence necessary to be successful. So he and his wife opened “Greco’s Magic” forty-five years ago. Skilled stage magicians still came to him for help with complicated tricks, or to have him help with equipment, and he made far more money from that then he did from sales in the store.
 
He had been training Sofia on running the store since she was 11 and now, 4 years later, she was doing her best to teach one of her brothers. Their grandfather was 72 years old and when school was out he liked for them to take care of the store for a few hours so that he could relax. He was a remarkable man who had immigrated to America when he was 9, just before his magic came to him. Not tricks, not stage illusions, but real magic.
 
His wife died shortly after giving birth to a daughter, Bianca Greco. Bianca did not believe in real magic, even when he showed her simple things he could do. But she studied business and was the logical choice to take over the business end of the store. And although she never married she produced three wonderful grandchildren for him—Sofia, who was 15 and also had the gift of real magic and a love of stage magic; Antonio, who was 13 and had been practicing magic for almost a year now. And Luca, who was 12 and had shown no talent for anything except making Antonio angry.
 
The girl slipped one of the more expensive gifts into the back of her shirt. She must have signaled to her friends in a way that Sofia didn’t see because they suddenly lost interest in what Antonio was showing them and hurried to the door. Not that she needed it, but the silent alarm gave them warning that store material was going out the door unpaid.
 
“I need you to stay and watch the store,” Sofia said to Antonio. “I’ll see if I can convince her to come back and return what she stole. Maybe even pay for it.” In the old days, that was how it often happened with kids and their grandfather insisted on giving thieves, especially kids, a chance to make it right.
 
“I want to go,” Antonio said. “She won’t bring it back unless she’s made to. And I know her from school. Maybe I can convince her.”
 
Sofia thought for a second before she realized that this was probably the girl Antonio once had a crush on. Luca had been teased him about it for a week, and the girl matched the description Luca had given. But like most crushes, it must have passed on because it had been over a month since Antonio had sat dreamily thinking about her, or since Luca teased him. “Okay, go. But no magic. You know the rules.”
 
Antonio knew the kids who had been in the store. Trevor Adams and Kati Simpson were both in the same grade as his brother. They had been the two pretending to be interested in how the tricks he was demonstrating work. Heather Barkly was in the back, and a good thing too. He doubted he could have done the tricks properly if she’d been at the counter. She was the same age as him, and he liked her. A lot. But she made it clear that she did not like him. When an older kid picked on him, she was the one who laughed first and encouraged the kid to do more to him. That made his blood boil and his feelings for her quickly went from love to hate.
 
He hurried out the door to follow the kids before they got away. The gift of real magic was strong, but one of the first things grandfather had taught him when his magic came on was the three rules: 1-Never use magic on a non-wizard; 2-Don’t use your magic on yourself; and 3-Never use all your power, keep some in reserve.
 
He knew exactly how he was going to punish the thief. He knew the magic rules, and he was absolutely positive that none of the three kids were wizards. After all, true wizards were very rare and the chance that another would be in the same school as him was very unlikely. Heather Barkly had stolen from the shop. It was a $125 item. And he was about to make her very sorry she had ever laughed at him.
 
Antonio doubted the rules were really rules. After all, he’d been using magic on his brother for a year now, and Luca was certainly no wizard. But he had to be careful and make sure his grandfather didn’t find out he was using magic to torment Luca, so he kept it small.
 
Antonio had thought for weeks about what he wanted to do when the opportunity presented itself. He had practiced various ideas on his brother while Luca slept. He had turned Luca’s pajamas invisible, but he had to concentrate to maintain the spell or they became visible again.
 
Then one day he saw Sofia move a box from a high shelf to a table by magic. He practiced it for weeks until he could teleport first small items a short distance, then larger, and then greater distances. He then tried teleporting Luca’s pajamas off him, but because he had to keep track of two items of clothing and the distance and the spell, it failed.
 
But he didn’t give up, and a few weeks ago he had an idea. Concentrating on several items of clothing was at best difficult if not impossible, but what if he ignored the clothing and just teleported the person? An opportunity to try it and embarrass his brother at the same time came up the next night.
 
Luca had a sleepover at another’s boy’s house. Very early in the morning he snuck in and teleported Luca to the couch downstairs. His brother disappeared but his pajamas stayed behind. He went down to the couch and sure enough, Luca was naked. He used a little more magic to put Luca into a deeper sleep and left the house while maintaining his concentration. As long as he maintained his concentration, Luca would not wake up until he let him, and he maintained the spell until his magic was exhausted, a violation of rule #3.
 
Luca came home shortly after that. Tear tracks stained his cheeks. As soon as their mom asked him why he was home so early he said, “The asshole did something to me last night!”
 
“Luca, I’ve told you before about language,” their mom said. “Tell me what happened.”
 
“I woke up naked on the couch,” he said and his chin began quivering again as he fought to keep from crying. “He did it to me. And that’s not the worse part—Parker’s three sisters found me. They saw me NAKED!”
 
“Luca, how could your brother do such a thing to you?”
 
“He used his magic on me.” Luca said, eyeing his brother who was trying to picture his brother waking up naked in front of an 8, 11, and 14 year old girl.
 
“We’ve discussed this several times,” their mother said. “There is no such thing as magic. What your grandfather does is tricks, sleight of hand, not magic. He sells things that once practiced enough look to others like magic. I think that you must have been sleep walking.”
 
It was the same story every time Luca blamed him for something bad that happened to him. And the best part was that most of the time he was right. But as a non-wizard there was nothing he could do to stop him.
 
Later that day he confronted him. “You’ve been magicing me and I’m tired of it,” he said firmly. “I could tell grandfather, but instead I’m going to teach you a lesson.” He stared hard at Antonio for a few seconds and then said, “Next time you try to use your magic on me you’ll be sorry.”
 
But Luca didn’t have the ability to do magic. He was just pretending. Or trying to scare him. Antonio wasn’t worried.
 
He ran after the three kids, and now he could see them just ahead. He focused on Heather and teleported her forward three feet in front of where she had been walking. Only she didn’t teleport. He did. He didn’t understand. You can’t use magic on yourself, and besides, he had been focused on Heather. But then he noticed that he felt a breeze. He knew, but had to look down to believe it. He had teleported, but his clothes had not.
 
“Hey you guys,” Someone yelled at the three kids. “Turn around and look at this!” All three turned and saw Antonio standing there totally naked. It took a few seconds before Antonio got over the shock to react. He turned and looked for his clothes, but they weren’t there. But Luca was, and he was laughing his head off.
 
“You—you did this,” he yelled at Luca. But Luca couldn’t have. He didn’t have any magic. And besides, even Antonio had no idea how to make someone’s magic backfire. It had to be the rules. He had tried to cast a spell on a non-wizard.
 
“That’s not all I’m going to do to you,” Luca said. “Now, just turn and let my friends have a good look at you and I’ll tell you where your clothes are.”
 
Antonio didn’t need to turn, Heather, Kati, and Trevor were already next to him.
 
“Well, I’m glad to see that I made the right choice about you Antonio,” Heather said. “I’d never go out with someone who had a dick as small as yours. Here, I don’t really need this. You can have it back.” She handed him the item she had stolen from the store.
 
His clothes were nowhere in sight. He had to think. He decided the heck with the rules, he was going to get himself out of there. He teleported himself a block away. But it didn’t work, and the spell exhausted him much more than he expected. He had very little energy left and he could feel that slipping away. Then he remembered rule #2--Don’t use magic on yourself.
 
Luca was right there next to him too, and he was doing something, but Antonio didn’t know what. Except that it was leaving him light headed and he could feel his magic slipping away from him. Heather was talking, still making fun of him, but couldn’t think, couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything. And then it was gone.
 
“There, now I’ve got it,” Luca said. “All your power. I have your power and I’ll bet you don’t even know what that means.”
 
Luca turned and started walking away. He was right, Antonio didn’t know what he meant. But he felt different. Empty. For the first time in a year, he felt—totally without magic! Antonio pushed his way past the three kids and looked again for his clothes. “Where are they?” he shouted at Luca. “Where’s my clothes?”
 
“You can stop looking, I put them in your room,” Luca said without turning. “Three blocks home naked. Have a nice trip.”
 
Antonio tried running, but he felt weak, as if he’d already run ten miles. He remembered when he first started practicing magic feeling like this when he used too many spells. And rest was the only way to recover. He made it one block before he had to slow down and walk.
 
Luca was gone, Antonio hadn’t even seen where he went. He was just gone. Antonio could still hear the laughter from the three kids behind him, but at least they hadn’t followed him.
 
A couple of boys from around the neighborhood saw him. A naked teen walking down the sidewalk needed checking out, even if it was a boy. He was older than they were, but they were on bikes and made sure to stay out of his reach. After a few jokes and comments they rode away laughing.
 
When he got home Luca was on the front steps with two of his friends.
 
“What the hell?” he asked.
 
“Don’t play dumb, you did this. And I’m going to get you back.” Antonio pushed past the three boys and went into the house, only to be faced with Sofia.
 
“I see you got the stolen item back. But why did you trade your clothes for it?” she asked. It didn’t make sense. Antonio was very modest, he almost never left his room unless he was fully dressed. She hadn’t seen him in underwear or pajamas since he was little, and the only time she saw him without a shirt was when they went to the beach and even then he seemed uncomfortable.
 
Antonio had forgotten he was even carrying it. He pushed it into his sister’s arms and tried to go around her to get to his room.
 
“Antonio, why did you teleport your clothes to the shop?” she asked.
 
“I didn’t. Luca did. Let me past.”
 
“Luca has been right here since you left. And he has no magic. So what’s really going on?” Antonio ignored her and ran to his room. “After you’re dressed we need to talk,” she said to his back.
 
She waited an hour but he didn’t come out of his room. She decided to go to him. His door was locked, but that was no problem for her unless he used magic to lock it, but she didn’t detect any magic. She quickly unlocked the door and entered. Antonio was sound asleep, still naked, his clothes right where she had put them after they suddenly appeared in the store. She was concerned about him, but decided to let him sleep. She engaged the lock on his door before leaving and closed the door behind her.
 
“How come he came home naked,” Luca asked. He was standing just outside the door.
 
“I don’t know,” she said. “He said you did it. Is there something you’re not telling me?”
 
“No! I don’t know anything about this, or magic, or anything else.” Luca ran off to his own room, but Sofia was sure that he was lying.
 
Dinner was much quieter than normal. Luca and Antonio were both silent, which was better than their normal constant arguing. After dinner, their mom asked them what was wrong.
 
“Nothing!” Luca said. “I didn’t do anything. I don’t have magic.”
 
“Of course you don’t have magic,” she said. “There’s no such thing.” Luca got up and left without asking permission, and she decided to let him go. He’d tell her what was wrong when he was ready, he always did. He was her baby.
 
She turned to Antonio. “I finished your costume for the play tomorrow. I made the changes you asked me to make. It’s on the back of the couch.”
 
“Changes? I didn’t ask for any changes.” Antonio looked totally confused.
 
“Of course you did, when you got home this afternoon. The changes were easy and it only took a few minutes.”
 
Now Sofia knew something very strange and wrong was taking place, for she had been with Antonio since he got home. And if mom had seen him come home naked there was no way she would have ignored that.
 
“Whatever,” Antonio said. “Can I be excused?”
 
“Yes. Pick up your costume and put it with your school stuff so you don’t forget to take it tomorrow. Your grandfather will watch the store after school so we’ll all be there to watch you.”
 
“It’s just a small role mom, you don’t need to come. I don’t even speak. I’m basically just an extra.” I’m really tired, I’m going to do my homework and go to bed early.”
 
As he left, Sofia thought how odd that was—Antonio never went to bed unless ordered to. And even then he would read or practice magic instead of sleeping. It was as though he had used all of his magic up. But he knew better, she’d taught him herself.
 
The auditorium was packed. About half the school population was there plus family members of the most of the cast. It was actually well performed. Antonio didn’t come on until the third act, and he was a prisoner to be executed. His costume, like most of the cast, was a toga. But it was loose on him and the very short, coming to just mid-thigh. It had surprised Sofia that he even agreed to be in the play once he found out what the costume was, but he wanted to be in the play enough to overcome his modesty. But he would never have asked his mother to change his toga to be shorter than it already was.
 
There were ten prisoners in all, and they were in the front on Stage Left. When ordered, they raised their hands above their heads, and for a second Sofia thought she saw her brother’s dick hanging just below the bottom of his toga. Then the strangest thing happened.
 
A breeze came up out of nowhere and lifted the togas on five of the prisoners, centered on Antonio. For the other four, it was no big deal, the toga was long and tight enough that it didn’t matter much. And besides, they had shorts on under the toga. But Antonio’s toga flew up over his body and started to wrap around his hands and the pole behind him. And Antonio had nothing on under the toga.
 
She could see him struggling to get free as everyone in the audience was getting a look at his naked body, but the toga was wrapped tight around the post, pinning his arms above his head. And the spot light was centered right on him. Sofia looked around and saw that a number of students now had cell phones out to record it, and dozens of parents had been using cameras to record their kids in the play but were now recording this strange event.
 
Everyone was focused on Antonio, so Sofia decided to use magic to uncoil the toga, only to find that it wasn’t natural, someone else was using magic to control the breeze and the toga.
 
Sofia looked at Luca, who was right next to him, but Luca had his hands across his eyes and was saying, “No Tres, don’t do it, don’t do it.”
 
She had to concentrate very hard to overcome the magic being used on the toga and was worried about using too much of her power. Whoever was doing it was much stronger than she was, but wasn’t using all of his power on maintaining the spell. She realized he was also using some to keep the spotlight focused on her brother.
 
“Look at all the cell phones and cameras,” she heard in her head. “The memories that will last forever.” And then the magic stopped and just as quickly as it started Antonio’s toga was released and fell back over his body. He ran offstage.
 
Sofia looked around, trying to see if anyone was concentrating on her. And then she saw Luca sitting three rows behind her, smiling at her. Luca was also sitting right next to her. The one in the back was a fake, she could sense powerful magic in him. She wanted to break through, to see who it really was, but she had spent too much magic helping her brother and couldn’t risk using more until she rested.
 
“Come,” her mother said to her as she grabbed her arm. “We’ve got to go and find Antonio and take him home. Bring Luca.” She didn’t resist. As they reached the end of the row she saw Luca look back and then suddenly look away. But she couldn’t have a conversation now in a crowded theater.
 
The director was trying to get her play resumed, and didn’t even slow the Greco family as they ran behind the curtain. They found Antonio in the changing room just as he was pulling on his boxers. He was crying.
 
“Why did you do that,” his mom demanded. “You asked me to make the changes, and then you wore nothing under it. Why?”
 
“I didn’t mom, it wasn’t me. Luca did it.” He turned his back on his family as he pulled his pants on.
 
“Come on, you can put your shirt on as we leave,” she said, pulling Antonio away from his locker. “We’re going home.” Antonio broke free from her grip long enough to get his shirt on. Then he grabbed Luca and started shaking him. “I’m going to get you for this,” he shouted. “You’re going to wish you had never been born.”
 
“Come, it isn’t Luca who did it,” Sofia whispered to him. “But we can’t discuss it in from of mom.”
 
Antonio let his brother go and followed them out to the car. The ride home was made in silence. The only thing said was by their mother. “I am so ashamed of you. Doing that, letting everyone see you naked. And you don’t even have much to show off.”
 
When they got home she said she was going to bed and the rest of them should do the same. Sofia told Luca and Antonio to come with her.
 
They went outside, on the opposite side of the house from where their mom’s bedroom was and away from the store where their grandfather had his apartment.
 
“Okay Luca, who was that sitting behind us,” she asked. He just looked away from her.
 
“I saw him and he looked like you, but it was magic, and powerful magic at that. And you saw him too, only you knew who it was. So talk, or I’ll have to tell grandfather.
 
“No, don’t tell him,” both Luca and Antonio said at the same time.
 
“Why do you care if you didn’t have anything to do with it?” Antonio asked his brother.
 
“I did, kind of,” Luca said. “But I never wanted it to be like that.”
 
“Talk,” Sofia said. “What is going on?”
 
“Antonio had been picking on me, just like I told you and mom, but you didn’t believe me. He pantsed me a bunch of times in the hallway. He made me trip. Stupid stuff like that. I kept waiting for my magic to come on so that I could get him back. And it did, about two months ago.”
 
“You’ve got your magic?” Sofia asked.
 
“Not anymore.” Luca started crying now. “I was practicing, but I was too weak to do anything to Antonio. One of my friends saw me, and I had to tell him the truth.” Sofia started to say something but he continued. “Don’t worry, Trevor won’t say anything, he promised.”
 
“Trevor knew you had magic?” Antonio asked. “He was one of the kids who stole from the shop yesterday.”
 
“Really? I thought I could trust him, but I guess not. Anyway, a few weeks later a new kid came to me and said he had seen what my brother had done to me and asked why I didn’t use my magic to get back at him. I told him there was no such thing as magic, but he said he had the gift and could sense that Antonio and me did too. And he did it, he used magic to prove it to me. He said he’d train me. So I figured I’d get the hand of it faster with a teacher than on my own and we started working together. Only one day he had me try several spells in a row until I was tired, and he told me to use magic to recover my strength. He told me what to do and I tried it on myself, only I just kept getting more and more tired and now I don’t have any magic at all anymore.”
 
“He took your powers,” Sofia said. “He never taught you the three rules of magic. When you use a spell on yourself it won’t work but it keeps trying until you are nearly out of power. That made you weak and defenseless and he stole your magic.”
 
“I was even more stupid than him,” Antonio said. “He didn’t know the rules, but I did. But I was so angry at him, or what I thought was him, that I forgot. I tried to teleport myself home. And then he took my powers too. Please don’t tell grandfather. He said he’d take my powers away if I ever violated the rules.”
 
“And yet you used magic on your brother before he had his powers,” Sofia sad. “That’s almost as bad as using it on a non-wizard.”
 
“Yeah, I guess. I wasn’t thinking of it that way. Besides, I wasn’t sure the rules were really rules. I thought it was just something you or grandfather made up to make sure I didn’t show anyone that I had magic.” He saw the look of incredible surprise on his sister and said, “After all, when I used them on Luca nothing happened.”
 
“Did they use more energy than normal?” she asked. He hung his head. “You were stupid. The rules are real, and you had the proof right there every time you violated them. You deserve…” But she stopped. “No, you don’t deserve this. Grandfather would have taken them away. But he wouldn’t use magic on you to punish you further.”
 
She turned to Luca. “So who is this kid who took your powers?”
 
“I don’t know, he said his name was Tres. That’s all I know.”
 
That’s an odd name. In Spanish it means ‘three.’ Why would he use that?” Antonio asked.
 
“I don’t know, but we’ll look into it,” Sofia said. “But there is still part of the story missing. He must have known that you were going on use a spell on that girl. But how?”
 
“Me again,” Luca sad. He wouldn’t look at either his sister or his brother as he talked. “Antonio talks in his sleep. Sometimes I can hear him. And I knew he was mad at Heather Barkly because he liked her but she just made fun of him. And he was practicing spells. At first, when he tried them on me, I thought they were meant for me. But he didn’t do them in public, just when I was sleeping. So I put two and two together and figured he meant them for her. Then when he teleported me I knew what he planned. I might have said something to Trevor.”
 
“But just because he has my powers, how did he remove my shorts and boxers?” Antonia asked. “I know I had them on under the toga.”
 
“Just like I knew I had underwear on one day when you dropped my shorts in the hallway, only I didn’t. So I was seen naked in school too. That’s the day I swore I was going to get revenge on you.”
 
“Every time I did something to you I stayed around to watch,” Antonio admitted. “After all, it was because I was mad at you for something. And I never made you naked. Every time you had underpants on.”
 
“Was that before or after this Tres took your powers?” Sofia asked.
 
“After. But why does that matter?”
 
“If you have someone’s powers, you can control them. You can make them say or do things that they don’t remember. I’ll bet this Tres made you both decide not to wear underpants but left you believing you did. That’s why rule number 3 is so important—always leave a reserve of magic. It is nearly impossible to take someone’s powers if they still have magic left. You’d have to be as powerful as grandfather to do it. But if your powers are drained, it is easy. I could do it.”
 
“You left me drained a few times when you were teaching me,” Antonio asked. “Did you ever…”
 
“No! I would never. It is a very rude act. Evil. You don’t just get the person’s powers, you get their thoughts, their beliefs. Once Tres got your power he knew immediately how modest you were so that was the way he attacked you.” Sofia looked at Luca. “And once he had yours he knew how pissed you were at Antonio. He made you think Antonio had crossed the line.”
 
“So tomorrow we’ve got to find out who this Tres is. You,” she pointed to Luca, “Talk to Trevor. He knows. And you,” now she pointed at Antonio, “Stay calm. He’s going to strike again, but what he did yesterday must have drained him a lot. Those were big spells and he did two or three at once, which is really hard. So I think you’re safe at school, but be careful.
 
“There is no way I’m going to school tomorrow after what happened tonight,” Antonio said. “Everybody saw me naked. I’ll be ridiculed all day. If mom makes me go I’ll cut out and hide for the day. Maybe a whole week. In fact, I may never go to school again.”
 
“I can give you a fever tomorrow so that mom will let you stay home, but eventually you have to go back to school.”
 
“So it’s okay for you to use magic on a non-wizard but it got me into trouble?” Antonio asked.
 
“You are still a wizard, you’ve just had your powers taken. You’re an open target for any wizard out there. Fortunately, there aren’t many of us. That is why we have to find out who this Tres is so that I can try and figure out how to deal with him.”
 
They didn’t talk again until after dinner the next day. “Trevor said he doesn’t know anyone named Tres, but I know he’s lying,” Luca said. “Is there a way you could use magic to discover the truth?”
 
“First, he’s not a wizard, and second, it is a very difficult spell. If he were a wizard it would be easier to take his powers then to make him tell the truth.”
 
“I’m not so sure he isn’t a wizard. When he saw me using magic he knew exactly what it was. Even when I tried to tell him it was just a trick he knew. I’ve been kind of suspicious about him since then.”
 
“If he’s a wizard, couldn’t you detect the magic in him?” Antonio asked.
 
“It’s a spell. If he isn’t a wizard, then I’d be violating the second rule,” Sofia said. She looked at Luca. “What do you know about him? What’s his last name?”
 
“Grey, Trevor Grey. But he’s adopted, so the Grey’s aren’t his birth parents. He doesn’t know who they are, or at least he told me he didn’t.”
 
“So that doesn’t help,” Antonio said. “Did you find anything out about Tres?”
 
I found a couple of kids who met him. Apparently he just started recently. The kids who knew the name thought he was strange. And nobody had a name other than Tres.” She saw the look of desperation on Antonio’s face. “But tonight I’m going to use magic to do something I’m fundamentally opposed to and that grandfather would be very angry with me if he knew. I’m going to use magic to disable the locks and alarm system at the school and go to the records room.”
 
“Don’t forget the security cameras,” Luca said. “Can we help? Keep watch or something?”
 
“If you had powers you could be a big help. But no, both of you stay here. I’m going to go disguised and hope that I get away with it. Besides, if there’s no alarm and no evidence that someone entered the school there wouldn’t be any reason for them to look at the camera recordings.”
 
It was actually easier than she thought it would be. She quickly found the record for a new student. Dale Wentworth III. And the Wentworth family had produced several wizards in Europe, all of them evil and crude. And he was listed as a temporary student under the care of the Grey family. Trevor’s adoptive parents. It was coming together. The file even had a picture of him. She noted his locker assignment so it would easy to find him.
 
Knowing where his locker was made it simple, and she waited there until he arrived. “Tres, I presume,” she said to him. “Or should I say Dale Wentworth the Third?”
 
“Sofia Greco,” he said. “You made good time figuring out who I was. How can I be of service to you?”
 
“You know what I want,” she said. “Give my brothers their powers back.”
 
“We can discuss that, but right now I have to get to class. And unless I did my homework wrong, this isn’t your school. You need to get to the high school. I can get you there faster if you want.”
 
“Try it and you’ll see how fast powers grow as you get older,” she said.
 
“Ah but I have the powers of two other wizards,” he said with a silky voice. “But we’ll do it your way. Meet me after school and we’ll discuss terms and conditions.”
 
They agreed on a place and time and Sofia hurried of to her school. That afternoon he was at the spot waiting for her. He wasn’t alone, there was a boy who looked about Luca’s age with him.
 
“This is Trevor Grey I’m guessing?” she said.
 
“Actually, Trevor Wentworth,” Tres said. He was taken from our family as a baby but we’re working out arrangements to bring him home. And yes, he’s a wizard, just coming into his powers. But you aren’t here about him, you want to discuss Luca and Antonio and their powers.”
 
“Just give them back. You won’t be able to control them once you return to Europe, it’s too far away.”
 
“Ah, yes, but unfortunately Trevor won’t be able to come home for a while. You know, courts and things. And he has been begging me to let him have Luca’s powers. If we can’t come to an arrangement before I leave I just might give him control of both of them.”
 
“I could take them by force,” she said.
 
“Oh, aren’t you a feisty one,” he said. Then his voice changed, became less smooth and more unpleasant. “You could try. But you’d be battling not just me, but Trevor too. And your brother’s powers. Think what would happen if you were to lose.”
 
He was right. It would have been dangerous if it were just the two of them. But if Trevor really had come into power it would take a miracle or at least a mistake on their part for her to win. “Okay, I didn’t mean that. What do you want?”
 
“How about if your brothers walk naked through the park, holding hands and singing songs,” he said, turning his silky voice back on. “And you join them.”
 
“That isn’t going to happen.”
 
“Oh, it might. At least for your brothers. I can make them do it. But if I have to expend that much energy I won’t be in a mood to give them their precious powers back. So you’d have to join them and make them do it so I don’t have to expend any magic on them.”
 
“This is not going anywhere, so I’ll be back. But I won’t be alone.”
 
“Oh, I’m shaking in my boots,” he said. “I’ll be sure and tell my parents. They are both here too. So bring your grandfather. I’m sure my parents would love to meet him.”
 
Now it really was getting dangerous. She wasn’t sure what to do.
 
“But I can see that idea doesn’t appeal to you either,” Tres said. “So how about this. You come and do a private showing, just me and Trevor. One hour with us, doing whatever we want. In exchange, I’ll give your brother’s powers to Trevor. Once I’m gone it should be easy for you to get them back from him. But in the meantime, he has a lot of things he wants them to do. And he’s got a sicker mind by far than I do.”
 
She saw Trevor’s eyes light up as Tres made his offer. She wondered what excited him the most-seeing her naked or getting the powers. It was dangerous, but not as dangerous as a wizard war involving two families.
 
“I see you’re at least considering it,” Tres said. “Do you know how to erase recordings of an event from all cameras at once? I do. Take my offer and I’ll teach you. Then every recording made of poor Antonio naked on the stage will suddenly disappear.”
 
“I won’t do whatever you want,” she said. “For example, I won’t have sex with you.”
 
“Oh, such a pity. But I submit. However, you don’t have to worry about having babies if we have oral sex. And you really don’t need to worry about Trevor here, he isn’t capable of fathering children yet. To young I guess. Or maybe he just isn’t into girls.”
 
“Shut up about that!” Trevor said. “Especially in front of her.”
 
“But what’s the use of having her naked if we don’t get some personal enjoyment from it?” Tres said to Trevor. “And to do that, she’s going to know you have thus far missed the puberty train.”
 
Trevor blushed. “And then I get their powers?” he asked.
 
“I have given her three choices, one where they get their powers back, one where we have a wizard war, and one where you get their powers. It is up to her to select one.” Tres looked at Sofia. “And if he gets the powers, I will protect him until I leave. You will not get them from him while I’m around. So which option do you choose?”
 
 “We’ll see you in the park Saturday at 10 A.M.,” she said. And she truly hoped that a friend she had called at lunchtime had the solution she said she did.
 
 
 
 
 
The Three Rules Of Magic, Part 2

 
Sofia called her brothers to the shop right after her grandfather left. The shop was empty, but she was expecting her friend to show up at any time.
 
Antonio and Luca got there first. She explained the three options the Tres had offered.
 
“Obviously none of them are acceptable,” Antonio said. “You aren’t going to show up in front of them naked and there is no way Trevor is going to get control of me or Luca. So what did you tell him?”
 
“I told him we would meet him in the park Saturday morning.”
 
“No way,” Luca said. “I’m not walking through the park naked singing songs and holding hands with Antonio. Not even to get my powers back.”
 
“Think about it Luca,” his brother said. “People have already seen you naked.”
 
“Not like you. Everybody has seen you naked. There’s videos of it all over the place. But only a few kids in the hall saw me naked. I’m not going to do it.”
 
“What if there was a way we could fight them?” Sofia said. But she was worried, her friend should have been here by now.
 
“How?” Antonio asked. “It isn’t us, it’s you, and you can’t beat both of them and you know it.”
 
The bell on the front door rang and they all turned as two girls and three boys entered.
 
“Harper, I’m so glad you came,” Sofia said.
 
“Sorry we’re late, Bennett wasn’t on board with my plan, but I convinced him.”
 
“Yeah, like three-to-one was really fair,” the oldest of the boys said.
 
“Boys, this is Harper Mackay, a friend of mine,” Sofia said to her brothers. “She and her brothers and sisters go to a private school and they don’t socialize much around here, so you probably don’t know any of them. Harper, these are my brothers Antonio and Luca.”
 
“And this is Tess and her twin brother Bennett, I think they’re the same age as you Antonio,” Harper said. “And behind them are River and Rory. Rory’s twelve and River is ten. River won’t be helping as his powers haven’t come on yet, but the others are all on board.”
 
“Help us how?” Luca said. “Wait a minute, you said his powers haven’t come on yet. What exactly does that mean?”
 
“We’re all wizards,” Harper said. “Well, expect for River, but we have high hopes for him.”
 
“So you’re going to help us fight?” Antonio asked.
 
“Not exactly,” Sofia said. “They know the Wentworth family and they don’t want them to know they were involved. Until these guys came along, the Mackay’s had all but run out of magic. Now suddenly they’ve got four new wizards and hope River will make it five.”
 
“So how are they going to help?” Luca asked.
 
“We are going to give our powers to you,” Harper said. “Of course, only until you win. We want them back.”
 
“And we will never attempt to control them in any way,” Sofia added, speaking to her brothers.
 
“And you guys are okay with this?” Antonio asked. “Because I know how it feels, and it isn’t pleasant.”
 
“They forced me,” Bennett said.
 
“That isn’t fair,” Antonio said. “I was tricked because I was stupid. Forcing him to give them up against his will is worse.”
 
“We need him Antonio,” Sofia said.
 
“Only if he agrees,” Antonio said. “Without being forced or tricked into agreeing.”
 
“How does it feel,” Bennett asked him. “Did it hurt when they were taken?”
 
“It didn’t hurt, but I felt weak, sick, and light-headed. I still feel like I’ve lost something. I miss my powers a lot now that I don’t have them. And so will you.”
 
“How were you tricked?”
 
Antonio explained the whole story, even how he had used his magic on Luca when Luca had no ability to defend against him.
 
“If you had my powers, would you promise to give them back?”
 
“Absolutely. I promise. As soon as I can. Except…”
 
“Except what?” Harper asked.
 
“Except I don’t have the slightest idea how to do that. Give or take someone’s powers.”
 
“Oh, that part is easy, I’ll teach you. It requires almost no energy at all, and any wizard can give up powers. It’s taking them that is harder. And that’s why you need Bennett. Even with him, you’ll probably have to battle them until their powers are weakened enough for you to take them. And at the same time you have to hold enough of your power back to be able to do it. Without Bennett, I won’t put Rory or my sister’s at risk.”
 
Bennett stared at the ground for a few minutes before lifting his head and looking at Antonio. “Tell your brother you’re sorry for what you did and promise to never do it again, or at least make it fair. Rory and I spell each other all the time. It makes both of us better wizards. But I make it fair, and when he wins I accept the forfeit for losing.”
 
“What’s that?” Luca asked.
 
“It varies, depending on what type of battle we set up,” Bennett said. He blushed as he thought about it. “Losing the big ones is the worst, but knowing that makes us both work harder to get better.”
 
“If what my sister told me is true, if you give me your powers I’ll know anyway. She said I get your thoughts and beliefs.” Antonio sighed, knowing that Bennett was going to back down now that he knew the truth.
 
“Is that true?” Bennett asked his sister. She nodded her head. “Do you promise to keep it secret? Maybe even play? You and Luca against me and Rory?”
 
“Yeah, I do,” Antonio said. He looked at Luca.
 
“I don’t even know what you guys are talking about, but yeah, me to. I’ll keep your secrets.”
 
“Then I’ll do it,” Bennett said. He saw that Antonio was about to say something and beat him to it. “Don’t ask me if I’m sure or I might change my mind.” He looked at Harper and said, “Show me how, right now. If I start to think about it I’ll probably chicken out.”
 
It took him less than two minutes to learn and he immediately transferred his powers to Antonio. He had to sit down once he was done. Antonio sat next to him. “I promise again, I’ll give them back as soon as I’m done.” He sat there for a second before saying, “Hey, you’re a lot more powerful than me. And that thing with Rory, that’s uh, never mind. I won’t tell anyone.”
 
Rory went next and transferred his powers to Luca, who also said that Rory was stronger than he was. And when he looked for the ‘secret’ he just smiled.
 
“I’m going to take Harper’s powers,” Sofia said. “But Tess, if you don’t mind I want you to give your powers to Luca. He hardly knows any spells or defensive moves and more power will allow him to last longer. And he’ll surprise them the most if he’s stronger than they are ready for. Are you okay with giving your powers to a boy?”
 
“Will he know stuff, like, uh, how I look and stuff?” she asked.
 
“I don’t know, I’ve never given or taken anyone’s powers,” Harper said. “But I’ve never heard anyone mention it.”
 
Antonio thought about it for a few seconds and soon he was able to see what Bennett saw when he looked in a mirror before a bath. “Yeah, he will,” Antonio said. “And I’ll be the first to admit that Bennett is not only stronger than me, he’s uh, bigger too. You know.”
 
“Everyone is bigger than you are.” Luca said. “And since Rory has seen River naked, I can tell you that even River is bigger than you.” Everybody, including Antonio, laughed. Antonio and River both blushed, but the laughter was real, not faked.
 
“If you give your powers to me, I promise that when we’re done I’ll give you my powers. Then you’ll be able to see as much of me as I see of you.”
 
“It would be a lot easier if I could just see you naked without trading powers all over the place,” Tess said, but she moved over to Luca and said, “But I’ll trust you either way.” She transferred her powers.
 
“Okay, before Harper gives me her powers she’s going to teach us some spells that we probably don’t know,” Sofia said. “Especially you two,” she added while looking at her brothers. “You guys, especially you Luca, don’t know many spells. I only taught a few to Antonio and made him practice them to make him stronger. So she’s going to teach a few basic ones. I want you to learn and practice them, but don’t get too weak. We all need to be at full strength again by Saturday morning. Remember, we can’t just win. If Tres gets away before we get you’re powers back this will all be for nothing. And he won’t fall for a trick like this again. So we have to be quick and accurate.”
 
In addition to practicing spells, they rehearsed their battle plan. When Saturday came, they didn’t feel ready, but it was time to go and do battle. When they got to the park they saw it was packed with kids.
 
“I sure hope this works,” Luca said as he saw several kids from his grade eyeing him, hoping to see him naked.
 
“I really didn’t think you’d be brave enough to show up,” Tres said. “But now that you’re here, why delay? Everyone is waiting, so strip and give them the show they want.”
 
“Sorry, but there’s been a slight change in plans,” Sofia said. “We’re not here to frolic naked, we’re here to battle you.”
 
“I thought as much,” Tres said. “I hope you brought your best because I’m ready for you. But not here with everyone watching. Let’s go to the rest room and lock the door behind us. Just you three and me and Trevor.”
 
He was right, they couldn’t have a wizard war with all these non-wizards around watching, so they followed him. A few kids tried to follow but were quickly pushed out by Tres. And there were two boys at the urinal, but when they saw Sofia they quickly finished and left. Once the last non-wizard left Tres locked the door and then used magic on the lock.
 
“Just to make it fair, why don’t you also use your lock spell on top of mine,” he said to her. He was surprised when she did. He thought about how easy this was going to be. While her back was still turned he began firing spells at her, catching her off guard and weakening her.
 
As soon as Antonio and Luca saw it had started they both closed in on Trevor. By prior agreement, they didn’t use any spells. It was a risk, but they wanted to be able to surprise him. To their complete surprise he didn’t hit them with a single spell.
 
Luca pretended to kick at Trevor’s groin while the real attack was from Antonio, who was aiming a punch at Trevor’s belly. They expected him to have a shield in place and again were surprised. But Trevor fell for Luca’s fake and tried to protect his groin with his hands, allowing Antonio’s punch to hit him full in his solar plexus. Trevor dropped to the floor struggling to breath.
 
Luca studied him for a second before realizing something important. “He doesn’t have any magic,” he said to Antonio. “Tres must have his powers.” The both looked at the battle between Tres and Sofia and saw that their sister was slowly losing.
 
“Start hitting him with easy spells, one after another,” Antonio said. “But keep some in reserve.” But instead of doing the same, Antonio ran over to his sister and without hesitation gave her Bennett’s powers.
 
With a surge of new energy and help from Luca the battle turned quickly. Trevor recovered enough to try and attack Luca but without spells Antonio had nothing to do but watch for it. He flattened Trevor again before he even caused Luca to slow down.
 
Sweat was pouring down Luca’s face from the effort of casting so many spells. But he had the power of both Rory and Tess, and that was a lot of power. It ended quickly, with Sofia calling him and Antonio over. “Quick, he’s done. Take your powers back.”
 
Antonio had his own powers back within seconds and took Tres’ power as well while Luca got his powers and Trevor’s. It was over.
 
“You two have a choice to make,” Sofia said. “You can leave here naked, holding hands and singing songs and when you’ve made a complete tour of the park you can have your powers back. Or, I’ll let them control you and you’ll do it anyway, only they can keep your powers.”
 
“Oh, my, that is a very big secret,” Luca said as he looked at Trevor. “I never would have guessed. And what my sister says doesn’t matter anymore. You’re going to have your dream fulfilled. Get naked and get out there and don’t come back until I call you.”
 
Tres was still just standing there as Trevor slowly stripped. “Antonio, he said he knew a spell that would erase all recordings of a certain event. If that’s true, find it and delete the recordings from your play.”
 
She saw Antonio close his eyes and concentrated. “There it is,” he said. “And if it works the recordings should be gone.”
 
“If he’s not naked and outside in 60 seconds, delete that spell,” she said.
 
“I can do that? How?”
 
“It’s just the opposite of learning one,” she said. “Take one of his bigger ones and try it.”
 
Again Antonio closed his eyes and after a few seconds he said, “Hey, it works. Only I kind of wanted to keep that spell.”
 
“If he’s forgotten it, then so have you,” she said. “But when he goes outside everyone is going to be taking pictures. If he wants the ability to erase them he’d better hurry and get out there.”
 
Trevor was already naked. His dick was small and he had no visible hair. But small as it was, it was standing proudly at attention. He looked at Luca, hoping for a reprieve.
 
“Don’t let that sad face of his fool you,” Luca said. “This is actually something he fantasizes about sometimes. But I want to make him even happier. Is there a way to freeze his arms so he can’t cover up?” Luca asked. Sofia explained how and Luca did it. “Now get,” he said to Trevor. “Find out what it’s like when it’s not just a dream.”
 
Wanting to be able to delete any pictures of him, Tres had completed stripping. He was also hard, but at least his dick was average for his age. “You too, get out there and don’t come back until we call you,” Sofia said. She used the same spell on his arms that she had explained to Luca.
 
“Are we really going to give them their powers back?” Antonio asked. “Now that I can read his mind I see that Tres never planned to give ours back. He was going to give them to Trevor.”
 
“Well, there’s an idea,” Sofia said. “Don’t give Tres his powers, give both his and Trevor’s to Trevor. But can you clearly tell with spells are yours and which are his?”
 
“Yeah, no problem,” Antonio said.
 
“Then use all of his before they come back. It will take Trevor a week or more to get that much power back at his age. Even longer if Luca does the same to Trevor’s spells.”
 
Both boys got busy firing spell after spell. Antonio had to stop and rest before he could delete them all and Luca could barely stand before he stopped. But they both proudly announced that they had a reserve.
 
They went outside and watched as Trevor and Tres were surrounded by the crowd of kids who were laughing and taking pictures and having a wonderful time. “It’s been long enough,” Sofia said. “Call them over and give Trevor their powers. But leave their arms frozen. The spell will end once we’re far enough away. Until then they can’t even get dressed.”
 
“Tres has a lot of spells, I couldn’t use them all,” Antonio said.
 
“So what. It will still take Trevor time to figure out how to undo the freeze spell. And if he uses his brain he’ll realize he can’t use it on himself. And I don’t think he trusts Tres enough to give him his powers back when he has no spells of his own left. So they won’t be able to get dressed until we’re out of spell range. And we can walk very slowly.”
 
Sofia was right. Trevor did not give powers back to Tres, nor did he use the powers he kept from Tres to undo the freeze spell on him. The crowd was still enjoying the two of them and they left their clothes behind and ran to Trevor’s house.
 
The Greco clan went straight to the Mackay’s house and, as promised, gave back their powers. Antonio had more respect for the three rules of magic now. He and Luca practiced together using the rules and methods that they learned from Bennett and Rory. And they also practiced against Bennett and Rory. Losing the big battles did suck, especially when they battled the other two boys. Oh, it was great when you won a big battle, but when you lost, ‘suck’ was taken literally.
 
 



 

   
   
(End of File)