Chapter #3Julie gets the stone by: Wassel "Cooool! What is this thing?" your youngest sister, Julie said, picking up the stone that had fallen from your pocket, her blue eyes wide as she watched it's surface shimmer and glow.
"It's nothing!" you barked, annoyed with yourself that you'd dropped it and even more so that it was your little sister who had picked it up; being the one most likely to figure out exactly what it was and what it did, due to her child like curiosity and over active imagination. "Now give it here will you?" you told her more than asked, holding out your hand.
Julie however wasn't going to give it up so easily, her interest having peaked, as she cradled it against her pink pajama top and told you quite firmly, "Nuh-uh, not until you tell me what it is."
This was typical of her, Julie being the most inquisitive member of your family (somewhat annoyingly so), always having to know what everything was all the time, especially when it came to you. You figured that this was perhaps because she was the youngest, being only 13 and not being on quite the same level as you or your 17 year old sister, Alice; the two of you being able to talk about things you both had a mutual knowledge of, such as school, teachers, friends, relationships etc., things that due to her age Julie hadn't yet experienced. Not that her immaturity was a huge problem or anything, still being rather sweet and innocent and enthusiastic about things, unlike Alice who could be kind of jaded and a real bitch from time to time, it was just at times like this when you'd really rather she'd just do what you told her and leave you alone, you found that it was almost impossible to get rid of her.
"It's nothing, I told you," you repeated, this time grabbing for the stone and missing, Julie dodging your grasp, "It's just something from work. Now stop fooling around and give it here."
"It doesn't look like nothing to me," Julie said, squinting at it suspiciously, "It looks weird...like it's magic or something."
"It's not magic. It's just some old fossil from an exhibit they were throwing out."
"Well if they were throwing it out, why do you need it so bad, huh?"
"Because I do. Now come on, hand it over," you told her again, pointing to the clock on the wall and adding threateningly,"You're not even supposed to be up anyway. I'll tell mom!"
"I was just getting a drink. There's nothing wrong with that."
Realizing that you were getting nowhere and becoming more than a little frustrated, worrying that with each passing moment she would say or do something that would set the stone off, you decided to try and appeal to your sister's more compassionate side."Come on, Julie, please," you begged, kicking yourself inwardly for doing so, the roles usually being the other way round, "Give it to me!"
That was of course when it happened, as she clamped both hands down on it's dark cyan surface and commanded, "First tell me what it really is!" causing both the surface to glow and the strongest impulse you'd ever felt suddenly begin to take shape.
"I'm not sure. I found it inside one of those fake meteorites at the museum and when I held it in my hand and thought of something, it made it come true. Like it granted my wishes," you suddenly found yourself saying, the words jumping out of your mouth almost completely against your will, as if someone else were talking.
Raising an eyebrow at this, clearly not sure what to think, the truth of course sounding like totally baloney, but the way you said it being anything but, Julie then queried, "It...grants wishes?"
"Shit!" you muttered to yourself under your breath, this being exactly what you didn't want to happen, realizing that you'd basically not only handed over the most amazing discovery in human history to your immature, 13 year old sister and pretty much given her the handbook too. Quickly trying to think of a way to throw her off the scent, you gave her a condescending little sneer and said, "No. Of course not. I was just joking. Magic and wishes aren't real." This seemed to do the trick and for a moment your sister looked quite hurt by your words, not liking being made fun of one bit, and as she let down her guard and grumbled to herself, you quickly made your move, diving towards her to wrestle the stone from her grasp, hoping that you could maybe wish away any knowledge of the stone from her head once you had it.
"HEY!" Julie yelped as you grabbed for the stone, pulling it from her small, thin frame with ease, leaving only her fingers clinging to it's surface, "LET GO!"
Once again, as if no longer control of your own actions, you let go of the stone immediately, falling backwards to the floor, Julie having managed to cling on long enough to issue another command. Realizing this, realizing what had happened, and what you had said earlier, she once again tightly clutched it back against her chest and shouted, "Nobody else can touch this stone but me!", sending out another flash of light from it's surface, and causing you to let out a loud groan of defeat as you lay on the floor.
"Well I guess it really is magic then," Julie said, her voice filled with a mixture of excitement and pride, as you remained on the floor, inwardly kicking yourself for letting this happen, having had possession of a stone that appeared to literally alter and control reality with but a thought for less than half an hour, and having had it taken off you and been outsmarted by a girl who had yet to even grow a pair of breasts. Babbling to herself and reeling off all the books and stories she'd read that were just like this, Julie spent the next several minutes unintentionally rubbing it in, before turning back to you again and commanding you to stand up, which you of course immediately obliged, giggling to herself as she watched you do it. "This is so cool!" she beamed, skipping up and down excitedly, her smile getting bigger and bigger with each passing moment, "Wait till I show mom!"
"No, no wait!" you told her, holding out your hand to stop her (finding that you couldn't actually touch her chest, there now being some sort of invisible barrier between you and the stone), "Don't tell mom, please!" It was bad enough that she had found out, never mind dragging the rest of your family into it. How long would it take before everyone knew about this reality changing magic stone and wanted a go of it? Or before the government came in and took it away? No, it was best to keep this just between you and her, at least until you could figure out someway to get it back.
Asking why not, you explained to Julie that the less people who knew about it the better, and after a brief discussion of the reasons why she agreed, thankfully still looking up and having some respect for her older brother, even if she could now literally make you do anything she wanted. Fearing this and hatching a plan to get the stone back, you decided to invite Julie up to your bedroom, a place which she was usually constantly being told to keep out of, assuming that if you were nice to her and treated her like an equal, then perhaps you could get her to hand over the stone willingly; that being the only way you were going to get your hands on it now. Your little sister seemed happy with this idea and the two of you quickly scampered up the stairs, making sure not to be heard by either your mother or Alice, who you assumed was already asleep, as you crept into your bedroom.
"So what now?" you asked her as she sat herself down on your bed, looking rather pleased to be allowed into your inner sanctum (not that there was much actually in your bedroom, other than piles of discarded clothes, your computer, a few old models, and a variety of half naked ladies plastered on the wall).
"What do you mean what now, silly?" Julie giggled, clearly having the exact same idea you had when you'd first entered the house, "We test this thing of course. Test what it can do."
"And uh, how do you plan on doing that exactly?" you said, feeling a little nervous about the answer.
"By seeing if this thing can make me bigger of course," came her immediate reply, having obviously been thinking about this as soon as she realized the stone was real, her desire to be no longer seen as just the 'baby' of the family, clearly going much further than just the dislike of the name...
indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |