Full Moon Over Ostara

                                                                              Chapter 1

    Ostara; the most beautiful time of all the Wiccan Sabbats, the leaves are starting to grow from the trees that so eloquently they fell, the air so brisk as to brush upon the face, chills the warmest of bones; a true time of renewal and growth.
         For on this special night the cosmic circle aligned with the stars, the planets burning brightly in unison, and the moon, so full, as to illuminate a darkened path. All signs converging in the anticipated arrival of three triplet boys, with powers unlike anything the natural world has ever seen..
         Dorian, Cornelius and Raziel Lucian were not your everyday, common garden variety brothers. In fact they possessed more greatness in one finger than any one person could in a single lifetime. Being the products of forbidden love, their parents, Twilana and Skylar Lucian were ordered by the council to give the boys away to the local orphanage and cease all contact.
          Hesitant to carry out these orders, Twilana decided to leave the boys on the doorstep of the women she trusted more than life itself--her aunts Astara, Constance, and Beulah Devoux. As Twilana reached the door of her aunts’ mansion, her heart jumped into her throat, for giving up one's children is the hardest thing for a mother to do. She reached for the bell, pressed it firmly, and disappeared into shadows--never to be seen or heard from again.
         As Beulah heard the bell she answered the door wearing a blue ceremonial robe, and holding an athame, as to attack anyone interrupting the sisters’ sabbat ritual. Beulah was surveying the front lawn for potential perpetrators to apprehend then kill, when the moon shined a bright ray of light upon the basket that contained three boys resembling someone she had known long ago. One of the boys held a letter, the writing on the envelope in a familiar handwriting she had seen so many years prior. It read TO BE OPENED AND READ UPON THE BOYS 13TH BIRTHDAY.
         Beulah swiftly grabbed the basket and carried it into the house. "Sisters," she yelled, frantic. "Get in here. We have a situation.”  First to respond was the eldest of the Devoux sisters, Astara. “For the sake of the goddess, Beulah, what is the situation?” Astara asked. "Look at the envelope Astara. They were sent to us for a reason.” Beulah replied. "Constance, you might want to get in here!” Astara yelled.“This better be good, Astara. I just had the ritual potion blow up on my yellow cere-mon-ial robe,” Constance said with her characteristic stutter. “Who do those belong too? You finally did it didn’t you Beulah, you adopted orphan ....” Before Constance could finish, Astara pointed to the envelope. “Recognize the handwriting Constance?” Astara asked, pointing at the letter “B”.“Is that ....” Constance began, when in unison they each said “Twilana.”          
        “Oh my goddess, I thought she was dead," Beulah sighed.“Guess the cats out of the bag with that assumption,” Constance replied.“Let’s just turn in for the night,” Astara suggested, trying to avoid a fight. “Flip you to see who the babies sleep with,” Constance said, racing to her purse to get a coin.“Wait! Beulah did find them,” Astara suggested. "But I don’t know anything about babies,” Beulah whimpered."Just because you are the baby of the family does not mean you have to act like one,” Constance said sternly. “Fine! We'll each take one!” Astara said as she picked up Dorian. "Fine, but if mine poops in my bed, you're cleaning it up,” Constance said as she took hold of Cornelius. "What else is new? She's always picking up your shit, Constance,” Beulah mocked as she picked up Raziel, and the sisters Devoux retired to their respective bedrooms for the night.
………………………………….................Two Months Later……………………………………
         Astara generally is the first one up, but today by some stroke of luck or possibly Raziel’s incessant crying, Beulah found herself in the kitchen; coffee started, her strawberry blonde hair in curlers, a baby in one hand and a box of cheery-mates in the other. While she was waiting for a bottle of formula to heat up on the stove, Beulah poured herself a bowl of cereal. "Cheery-mates. Who do they think eats this stuff--pirates?” At that moment Constance dragged her Wiccan butt into the kitchen--Cornelius nestled under her arm, and her Medusa-black stringy hair everywhere. “Do we have any more formula for baby Lucifer here?” Constance asked.
    “Baby Lucifer? That’s nice Constance.” Astara said, trailing her from behind.. “Yeah, that is because you didn’t have to listen to him howl all night long.” Constance said staring at Astara’s golden auburn highlighted hair. “Where are you going? Its Saturday?”  “Unfortunately, both of you are unemployed, so I have to pick up extra cases at the office." “Lawyers!” Constance and Beulah say in unison. “Sisters!” Astara mocked back as she headed for the door. “Oh wait! I have to talk to you guys before Astara leaves, where is Dorian?” Beulah asked, scarfing down her breakfast. “He's still sleeping, the baby monitor is in the foyer. Please listen for him” Astara replied. “Ok, back to me. We need to talk about a dream I have been having the past couple of nights.” Beulah began to say as the sisters sat beneath the stained glass window in the kitchen, commonplace for all witchy talk to occur.
      “Ok, you do know the difference between dreams and reality, don’t you Beulah” Constance joked. Beulah responded by blowing raspberries.“Come on you two, grow up!” Astara shouted, pounding a paperweight on the table as to redirect the attention to Beulah’s dream.“She started it”, both Constance and Beulah said, each pointing a finger at the other. “That’s mature, girls. Seriously, let's get back to Beulah’s dream,” Astara suggested. “Right. Ok, you know how I always wait to see if I have a dream more than once before I come to you guys? And even if that dream doesn’t make sense I still wait ....” Beulah rambled. “Rambling!” Astara and Constance pointed out. “Did you understand anything she just said?” Astara asked Constance. "Does it look like I brought my dictionary on Beulah-ese?” Constance replied playfully. “I am serious, guys. This is serious,” Beulah said, stomping her feet. “Ok, we're listening,” Astara said, holding her hand over Constance’s mouth so she wouldn't interrupt again.
    “In my dream we were all here sitting around the table. There was a birthday card in the middle, and I was holding the envelope found on the boys. We were debating whether or not to open the letter before they got to see it's contents. We wondered if we should let them read it for themselves first.” “Ouch!” Astara shouted as Constance bit her hand. "That’s for covering my mouth,” Constance said.
         “Boom!” The bottle had exploded; formula coated the ceiling. Checking to see that Cornelius was ok, Beulah noticed that Raziels right hand was in the air. “Wow, well, ok, either he was really hungry and could not wait, or he was really PO’ed, either way I am not cleaning that up its Beulah’s baby. See ya!” Constance said jokingly while making a poorly dramatic exit. “Yea, I second that, got to go sis, the office waits for no witch especially this one.” Astara grabbed for her keys and kissed Beulah on the cheek. “Yeah, thanks for nothing!” Beulah shouted.
         Turning around to check on Raziel to see if he had any formula on him, she noticed that he was not crying, rather cooing and giggling. “You think that’s funny huh? Let’s get you cleaned up and see about fixing you another bottle.” Beulah said playfully in an infant style voice as to comfort, not scold Raziel [whom coincidentally knew what he was doing; for it was not a freak accident the bottle blew up, it was actually Raziel channeling the emotions of all his great aunts’ and redirecting it into something he could use to get attention.]
         All the excitement somehow upset the cosmic balance in the Devoux household, for not but seconds later; a distant sound came protruding from the foyer. “Sounds like Dorian finally woke up.” Beulah said picking up Raziel and rushing to the foyer. Suddenly the sound stopped, Beulah looked around to see if maybe by some shear luck Dorian had an ability no one knew about. Walking up the stairs to Astara’s room to check on Dorian, Beulah spotted, perched cross-legged on the wooden floor just outside her door was Cornelius, whom like his aunt Constance is very elusive. Beulah stood at the doorway pondering the possibilities that Cornelius could have conjured enough energy, from them to actually teleport himself to Dorian. “You sly devil’s wait till your aunties here about the day you two have had. Constance I am going to need your help!” Beulah shouted. 
         That instant, entering Astara’s room, Beulah noticed Constance standing over Dorian’s crib making funny faces and noises as to comfort him. “Where in the world did you come from? I thought we promised no magic till the boys were older?” Beulah asked. “Oh you know, I came in that witchy abracadabra way that we do.” Constance explained. “You can’t abracadabra your way out of this one missy.” Beulah said. “Yeah well…well…well you’re….”Constance struggled. Beulah was enjoying this too much so in response she said “is that the best you’ve got, oh my god, call Guinness, I am sure they are going to put this in the history book that the great Constance Agatha Devoux does not have a quirky come back for her little sister.”
         Beulah’s constant insults to her older sister tended to add fuel to the already infurious fire, but she decided to pester her even more. Before she could get a word out, Constance blurted out “Oh no you didn’t.” “Oh yes I di’id.” Beulah mocked. “You did not just call me Agatha!” Constance shouted. “That is your last name is it not?” Beulah said acting half-cocked. “Yeah and it is a heck of a lot better than Marnietta” Constance painstakingly revealed. “Yeah well you’re a poo-poo head.” Beulah improvised in reality she did not have a good come back. “That’s original Beulah” Constance said childishly.
         Beulah picked up Raziel and Cornelius and laid them in the play pen with Dorian in case the argument was to get ugly.  Astara was outside, getting all her effects out of her car, as she went to lock her doors she heard yelling coming from what could only be described as her bedroom “uh-oh” Astara whispered. “What in the world is going on in here?” Astara asked with a puzzled look at she entered her room from the front lawn. “Astara! Where in the world did you come from?” Constance and Beulah stop bickering long enough to be startled by their eldest sisters’ appearance. “Outside…Seriously girls you need to switch to decaf.” Astara said with a snicker.  “You two follow me!” Astara raised her voice a little above octave as to not upset the babies, the sisters congregated in the solarium which was located just outside the kitchen doors.
         “Ok, we need to figure out why the sibling rivalry is coming out now in our 30s instead of, oh I don’t know….Our teens!” Astara was getting annoyed at this point, for this incessant bickering back and forth has continued for far too long. “You guys know that tomorrow is a very important day for the boys it is Beltane, but it is also a full moon so it is the proper time to do a wiccaning, so we need to conserve all our energy to focus and rise.” Astara explained. “I am sorry Astara” Beulah began to say. “It is not me you need to apologize to, it is each other.” Astara said peering at both Constance and Beulah.
         “I am sorry I called you a poo-poo head Constance” Beulah said. “Yeah I am sorry I called you a self-righteous fraud with a hidden agenda.” Constance whimpered. “You never called me that.” Beulah said. “Oh, guess I was thinking it, now you know, see we are all happy!” Constance said prancing around, at that instance like a puma on the prowl Beulah grabbed Constance by the neck, grasping it tightly.
         “Blessed be sister neighbors! How are thou this evening?” Cosmycus stated in his characteristic high pitched voice.  “Oh thank goddess, finally a queen I want to see” Constance said while trying to wrangle herself free from Beulah’s honky-tonk death grip. “No more pro-wrestling for you missy” Constance said sticking her tongue out as she darted out the solarium doors to the rose bushes of her best gay neighbors Cosmycus and Lunas Bloodbayne. “Oh sweetheart you are too much, smooches.” Cosmycus said. “My goddess girl, you look like you need a stiff drink or maybe a stiff…” He winked. “OK! Hold that thought sweetie, this is a family show” Constance said laughing hysterically. “Really Constance. Seriously I have heard you say worse” Astara said coming from behind, in that abracadabra witchy way the sisters’ tended to do. “Hello, not your conversation” Constance peered. “Oh my goddess, Cosmycus Bloodbayne, how is Lunas and Amara?” Cosmycus looked at Astara with a concerning eyes, “oh my goodness, he is getting so big, he may only be two months old, but he is coming into his powers very fast.” Astara perked up and with sympathy in her voice asked, “You seem worried about that.” Cosmycus looked off in the distance as to add to the effect of his next statement. “I just don’t know how Lunas is going to act when I tell him; you know mortals are these days.”
         “Oh! Snap! That reminds me, I think Raziel can channel and Cornelius can conjure and I would have told you, but I thought you would have freaked out and never speak to me again.” Beulah blurted out of place, rambling incessantly. “What about Dorian?” Astara asked excitedly. “Oh he didn’t do anything, just slept and pooped.” Beulah said crushing Astara’s hopes. “Half-Breed” Constance said. “May I remind you that all three boys are half-witch, half-mortal?” Astara said. “If memory serves Astara you were also a late bloomer in the magic department” Constance pointed out. Astara crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue. “Talk about us not being mature, get real sis” Constance stated.
         “Hi! Could we possibly get back my dilemma here ladies, thank you” Cosmycus snapped his fingers as to redirect the sisters back to his reality.  “Of course, I am sorry Cosmycus, were listening” Astara said. “Kiss ass” Constance murmured.  “OK! How do I tell the man I love, oh by the way baby our son can levitate objects and summon Atlantian sea creatures in the bath tub!” Cosmycus asked. “Get out, he can do that?” Constance asked “Yea that is just the latest installment of his ever growing powers, what you girls suggest? Cosmycus said with a tear in his eyes. “Might I suggest a good divorce attorney?” Constance joked.  “How is that funny Constance?” Beulah asked. “OK! Both of you just go inside and check on the babies I will be in a minute” Astara commanded. “Ok, Cosmycus, my dear, when Lunas gets home, sit him and delicately explain to him that he knows about your family history and that sooner or later you were going to find out if Amara would show possibility as a witch and explain to him that he bloomed a litter sooner than anticipated, however there is a binding potion that will make his transition easier, if he so desires” Astara began to explain. “Thanks! Girl, I am sure once he knows that I have considered binding as an option he may be more perceptive to the idea of seeing this thing through” Cosmycus sighed making his way for the front door. “Your welcome sweetie” Astara replied walking backwards towards her front lawn.
         “Constance, Beulah where are you?” Astara shouted entering foyer from the lawn. “Up here” Constance and Beulah shouted in unison from Astara’s bedroom. As Astara headed up the stairs she heard a faint singing coming from her room, as she entered her room she saw her two sisters standing over the play pen where Raziel, Cornelius and Dorian were all sleeping soundly. “Are they not the most precious jewels” Astara whispered. “Wait till they wake up…Not precious anymore” Constance mocked. “You are just jealous Constance because you know you are not precious especially when you sleep, miss snor-a-lot” Beulah raised her voice. “Ok, you two lets just leave them alone to rest, from the sounds of it they had a very busy day” Astara whispered as the sisters departed from the room, and congregated in the living room to recap the days events.
         “What the hell was Twilana thinking leaving those boys to us?” Constance said flopping on the couch. “Maybe she could not take care of them anymore” Beulah suggested. “You would think that Beulah” Constance expressed. “No they are more special than we think and if I know Twilana, she sent them here for us to protect and train” Astara said. “We have to keep them from ever knowing the secret of their parents, at least until they are ready.”