Trefoil (8 page)

Once when they were kids, she had accused Meckenzie of being too weak.  She had locked Meckenzie in a closet by pushing a table in front of the door.  Kellan had then said she wouldn’t let her out that Meckenzie had to push the door open on her own.  Taggart tried to convince Kellan to move the table.  He had even tried to move it himself, but Kellan had been stronger than both of them even then.  She had pinned him to the ground and sat on his chest.  It had been Isabel who had finally come along and removed Kellan from Taggart’s chest and opened the closet door.  

Isabel had punished Kellan by sending her to her room for the rest of the afternoon.  Meckenzie hadn’t cried at all, that was until she snuck into Kellan’s room and told her she still loved her.  Kellan’s response had been that she didn’t care and she could never love anyone as weak as Meckenzie.  Meckenzie had snuck off and cried in her own room so Kellan couldn’t see her tears.  Then the next day Kellan acted as if nothing had happened.  Meckenzie just went along with it because she loved Kellan too much to ever hold it against her. 

Kellan had always pushed her siblings away.  Meckenzie had always thought that it was her way of seeking individuality in a situation where people always thought of them as triplets.  So this situation was no different, they were once again triplets in a situation where they were expected to act as a unit and not as individuals.  It would take a lot of love and patience to get Kellan through this. 

“I think we are going to have to be extra patient with Kellan.  She is going to resist this at every turn.  I think that we should do something special for her.  Maybe we can convert part of the gym into a boxing ring and convince Dad to hire someone to come in and teach us self-defense.  I think Kellan would eat that up.  She would love the physicality of it.” 

Taggart agreed.  They finished their lunches in silence.  Meckenzie could feel that Taggart wanted to sneak off to study or work in the lab.  Taggart was nothing if not predictable.  She felt like keeping him with her for comfort.  He relaxed her so much, especially knowing that somewhere on the campus Ty was lurking. 

Finally Meckenzie broke the silence, “I can tell you want to go study, so why don’t you go ahead and go.  I’ll go to the library; I want to find a book for that English paper we have to write.”

“That’s not due for six weeks, are you getting studious on me?”  Taggart asked.

“No, I just don’t want to be wandering around here with the chance that I might run into Ty.  So I’m going to go hide in the library.  I figure not too many people will be in there and it will be quiet.  I think I wore myself out from the telepathy this morning.”

“Are you practicing shielding your thoughts?  That could be causing you to get worn down too.”

“Yes, I’m trying not to broadcast my thoughts, but I don’t know how well I’m doing though.  Have you been able to hear me?”

“No.”  Taggart responded.

“Well it must be working.”  Meckenzie hoped no one was hearing her thoughts, but she still couldn’t be sure.  “When do you plan on going home today, should I wait for you or should I find the hot security guy and head out by myself?”

“I’ll leave with you; I can come in early tomorrow.  I kind of want to get home and read the book Isabel gave me some more.  I found a section on healing spells and potions and I want to ask her some questions.”

“Ok, I’ll meet you on the steps then.”  With that they both headed back towards the school to finish the second half of their day.  Meckenzie headed for the small library that the school had.  It was meager because the students had access to the New York Public Library system and most kids did the majority of their research on-line now. 

Meckenzie was looking for a literary classic that would be easy enough to get through, but would have enough material that she could write a term paper on it.  She had just begun to read through the first few pages of
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath when the buzzing started.  Meckenzie immediately began looking for Ty.  She worked diligently in her mind building a wall between her thoughts and the outside world.  She knew that Ty must have spotted her and thought that he would sneak into her mind while she was unaware of his presence.  Ty had no way of knowing she could feel him when he was near her. 

After several minutes of mental wall building, the buzzing began to dull.  She must be keeping him out.  Meckenzie continued to fortify her mental wall, which consisted of her visualizing a wall around her thoughts, and soon the buzzing stopped completely.  She thought that she would find Ty instead of running from him.  Maybe she needed to do a little recon on this guy.

Meckenzie found Ty standing two rows away in the non-fiction section.  He had pulled a book off the shelf on Biochemistry.  Meckenzie decided to approach this situation like a flirty teen.  She wasn’t really schooled in it, so she hoped it worked.

“I bet if you look in the front of that book, you’ll see my brother’s name on the check-out card.”  Meckenzie knew she was off to a rough start, but it was the only thing that came to her mind.

Ty turned and smiled, something was very off about his smile.  It always seemed like he was getting ready to eat her, like she was some tasty delicacy that he would consume.  Meckenzie felt her will faltering, but she knew she needed to know more about this guy.

“Huh, his name is in the front of the book.”  Ty said as he closed the book.  “You always hide out in the library on your lunch hour?”

Meckenzie giggled not to convincingly, “No, I was just picking up a book for my English term paper.  I hate reading so much that I have to give myself enough time to plough through it.”  This was a total fabrication; Meckenzie loved to read, and had actually already read
The Bell Jar.
  She had chosen this approach because she had heard that guys don’t like smart girls.  Not that Meckenzie really wanted this guy to like her, or the real her at least, he was free to like the flirty teenage
dimbot
that she was creating in her mind to flirt with him.

“I’m glad you came over here.  I was hoping to run into you.”  Ty was staring into her eyes in a way that made her think he was trying to burrow into her mind.  Meckenzie smiled and continued to keep her mental wall up.  “I was hoping you might be interested in going out sometime, on a date.  I’d like to get to know you.”  He smiled that grin again and reached out to touch Meckenzie’s arm.

Initially she wanted to run as far away as she could get, but Meckenzie knew that this would defeat the purpose of her coming over here in the first place.  She knew she needed to learn more about this guy, one way or another.  Even though the thought of him touching her made Meckenzie sick to her stomach, she didn’t move away from him.

“I’d love to, though you will have to come by the house and meet my father first.  I am not allowed to go out with anyone that my father has not met.  When would you like to go?  So I can arrange a meeting.”

“I was hoping since tomorrow is Thursday night that I’d be able to meet your father tomorrow so we could go out Friday night.  I thought we could go get some dinner and maybe have a walk in the park, a chance to really talk.” 

“That sounds nice.  I’ll talk to my father tonight.”  As Meckenzie finished the sentence the bell rang.  She smiled and headed off to class, happy to be away from Ty.

Just three hours to go and she could go home and discuss this with Isabel and her father.  Meckenzie wasn’t sure she really wanted to go on this date.  Maybe her father would insist on sending the security guy with them; she would feel so much safer then.  That should have been her first clue that something was de
finitely wrong with this plan.

Chapter
11…

Meckenzie was sitting in study hall, her last class of the day, working on her homework when she heard Kellan calling her name.  She looked around the classroom but there was no Kellan in sight.  Meckenzie thought she might have imagined it.  Then the thought crossed her mind that Kellan might be calling her mentally.  She knew that Kellan was in her athletics class.  Kellan would be working out or practicing in the gym.

“Meckenzie I need you.”

That time there was no doubting that Kellan was talking to Meckenzie telepathically.  She was surprised that it was working at such a distance.  She was going to try to call back to her, when a girl that Meckenzie recognized but didn’t really know came into the room and began talking to the teacher and pointing at Meckenzie. 

Mrs. Thompson, Meckenzie’s study hall teacher called to her, “Meckenzie, your needed in the gym.”

“Yes ma’am.”  Meckenzie made her way to the front of the class to follow the girl to the gym.  “Is something wrong with Kellan?”

“Yes.  I don’t know what though.  We were running basketball drills and Sarah set a screen on Kellan that knocked her down.  It was kind of a cheap shot, but I heard that Jake, Sarah’s boyfriend has a crush on Kellan.  So anyways, Kellan got mad and then she started shaking.  Before we knew what was going on, she had locked herself in the equipment room.  She just kept yelling to get you and Taggart.”

“Do we need to get Taggart?  He is probably in the science lab.”

“No, Sarah felt bad so she went to get Taggart.  Though I think she may have a crush on him.  That brother of yours is super cute.  Is he seeing anyone?” 

Meckenzie could not remember this girl’s name, but she was sure that Taggart wasn’t interested. “Umm, I think he is seeing someone from another school.  He is kind of private about his romantic life.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.  I was sure he had to be seeing someone.  With all the girls that are interested, he could have his pick of almost any girl in the school.  He is going to Harvard right?”

Meckenzie just wanted to get to the gym and find out what was wrong with Kellan.  This girl was super chatty and Meckenzie wasn’t sure if she wanted her to date Taggart if he was available and willing 

“Yes, he is going to Harvard.  He is excited and we are all very proud of him.”

Finally they were at the gym.  Meckenzie ran across the gym to the equipment closet where Taggart was standing with the coach.  He seemed to be trying to explain that Kellan was not feeling well lately and may just need some time.

“I think if you just allow us to talk to her, we can probably get her out of the closet.  She really has been feeling poorly.  Maybe you could get us some water and a towel.  Kellan stomach has been really queasy lately.”  Taggart was saying to the coach.

“I’ll send one of the trainers over with some water and some towels.”  The coach walked back to practice and left Meckenzie and Taggart alone.

“Do you know what’s wrong?”  Meckenzie asked.

“I think she may have gotten mad and had one of her growing incidents.  Let’s go find out.”

“Kellan, it’s me and Taggart, let us in.”

Kellan opened the door.  Meckenzie slipped in and was astounded at how big Kellan was.  She had to be eight feet tall and was at least three feet wide at the shoulders.  Her clothes had been ripped apart, but she had managed to strategically place what was left so as not to be completely naked.

Taggart stood outside the door and waited for the water and towels.  The door was mostly closed, so that no one would be able to see the exact nature of Kellan’s “illness”.

“Oh Kellan, are you okay?”

“Yeah, except I’m freaking huge.  I almost didn’t make it into the closet before I exploded into she-hulk.  I don’t know what we are going to do.  Do you think we can do the spell?”

“I don’t know, I don’t remember all of it.  Maybe we can try to do it without the funky words.”  Meckenzie was sure that they could, she knew that they had a power to get this thing done, they had to.  She knew that they couldn’t get Kellan home like this, she was too big.

Taggart entered the closet with some bottles of water and some towels.  He immediately started laughing.  Kellan was getting more irritated by Taggart’s laughter and you could see the anger affecting her physically.

“You think it is funny.”  Kellan said with rage.

“No it’s not funny, it’s amusing. 
Amusing that your body reflects who you are on the inside.”
  Taggart said with a smile.

“What I’m a she-hulk? 
A huge monster?”

“No, you’re larger than life and your natural body can’t hold all of your personality.  So it creates this body that can hold all that you are.”  Lovingly Taggart added, “I think you are amazing.  I just find it amusing.  There will be a time in life where you will appreciate all that you are, I know I do.”

Kellan couldn’t help but feel a little better.  Taggart had a charm that was so much part of his personality that it didn’t come off as fake, or condescending.  He just really believed what he was saying.

“Well I think we should concentrate on getting her back to normal size so we can get her home.”  Meckenzie decided to get the three back on track.  “Do you remember the spell that we performed last time to get her back to normal?”

Taggart shook his head, “No, but I think we can do this without the spell.  I’ve been reading the spell books and I think I’ve determined that is not so much the words, but the intention and the power.  I think if say ‘Be calm, be still’ it should work.”

Kellan was not looking very trusting, “Should work?  What do we do if doesn’t work?  I mean how
can we
remedy this situation if it doesn’t work.”

“Let’s just try it.”  Meckenzie added.

The three of them joined hands and began to chant quietly.

“Be calm.  Be still.  Be calm.  Be Still.”  Over and over again they chanted with no results.  The chanting grew louder and more intense as they went on.  Meckenzie began slowly to feel a buzzing start in her hands.  She felt it flow through the connection she had with her siblings. 
Power flowing through her body and out of her mind into the ethereal.
   Still, there was no effect on Kellan.

Kellan interrupted the chanting, “I don’t think this is working.”

“Maybe we should try different words.”  Meckenzie said.

“Kellan, are you really concentrating?  You have to believe this is going to work.  We can’t do it without you believing in your power.  I know that it is hard right now.  You are really frustrated, I would be too.  We just need you to be totally with us on this.”  Taggart implored Kellan to concentrate. 

“I could feel the buzzing.  I just don’t know why it didn’t work.”  Meckenzie added.

“Hold on, I’m going to go get something.  Give me five minutes.”  Taggart slipped out the door and left Meckenzie and Kellan in the equipment room.

“Kellan, I know you aren’t happy right now.  I wish I could make this all better for you.  I know you just want everything to go back to normal, but we don’t have that option.  I hope you can find happiness in what we are and what we have to do.  I want that for all of us.  I think Taggart will be fine; he seems to adjust very well to any situation.  I just worry about you.”

Kellan let out of sigh, “You don’t have to worry about me Meckenzie,
your
not my mother.  Remember she ran away from us, and didn’t tell us anything about what was going on till it was already here.  Yes, I want everything to go back to normal and I don’t want any of this.  I want to live my life, not some life that everyone thinks I’m predestined to live.  I am not a hero, I am just me.  Why can’t you understand that?  Why can’t we just be normal?” 

Kellan’s large shoulders began to heave as tears rolled down her checks.  Meckenzie felt helpless, she knew she couldn’t comfort Kellan.  Meckenzie had always tried to protect Kellan.  It was such a funny thought now, with Kellan being so big, to think that she would need any protection. 

“What do you think Taggart’s up to?”  Meckenzie subtly tried to change the subject as much as the subject could be changed.

“I don’t know.”  Kellan said through tears.  “I hope he thinks of something soon.  I’m getting cold.”

“We are going to have to get you some more clothes before you can come out of
here,
you’ve ruined your work out clothes.  We will have to ask Isabel how this is going to work if you are to use this power.  You can’t be destroying your clothes every time you get big.”

“I have no intention of using this.”  Kellan said dismissively.

“Then you will need to figure out how to control it.”  Meckenzie was trying not to become frustrated with Kellan’s petulance.  It was hard to not grab Kellan by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. 
Though it would be quiet impossible for Meckenzie to reach Kellan’s shoulders right now.
  The idea made Meckenzie laugh out loud.

“What?” Kellan asked.

“I just had an image of me trying to shake some sense into you.  I’m not sure that I could have ever done it, with you being almost eight feet tall it would be impossible.  It is a funny thought though.” 

Kellan began to laugh.  “I can only imagine you climbing up on the equipment box over there and trying to reach my shoulders.”  She began to laugh harder and the sadness went away from her eyes.

Just then, Taggart slipped back into the room.  He had retrieved what looked like a sheet and his backpack. 

“Okay, I think we should wrap Kellan in the sheet and we will wrap our arms around her as best we can and perform the spell that way.  Maybe with my healing touch and your mental abilities we will be able to amplify the spell and make it work.”

“Why the sheet?”
  Kellan said.

“Well I figured with the clothing issue, you wouldn’t want us hugging you.  So here’s a sheet to wrap you in.  I also got my backpack, because my phone is in there and if this doesn’t work, we will call Isabel.”

Kellan took the sheet and wrapped it around her body like a sarong.  She tried to look confident by smiling, but the smile didn’t quiet reassure anyone.

Meckenzie and Taggart stepped in and placed their arms around Kellan.  They tried to place their bodies against Kellan’s so all the energy would flow from them into Kellan.  It was a long shot, but it was really worth trying anything at this point.  Meckenzie was sure that if this didn’t work, someone was going to have to go get Isabel.

“Let’s try saying ‘Be calm, be still’ again.”  Taggart said from the other side of Kellan. 

“Okay.”  Meckenzie and Kellan responded together.

Once again the three siblings began chanting, “Be calm,
be
still.”  This time Meckenzie closed her eyes and imagined Kellan in her natural state.  She saw in her mind’s eye Kellan shrinking back down to normal size.  Meckenzie felt the buzzing begin again in her hands and flow through her body.  She focused her energy and tried to push it out of her mind into Kellan’s body.  Without opening her eyes, Meckenzie could feel Kellan changing before her.  Kellan’s body began to move away from Meckenzie’s as if she were stepping backwards.  Taggart pulled Meckenzie closer, forcing her body to continue touching Kellan’s.  Meckenzie focused again on visualizing Kellan’s body gradually returning to its natural form.  Meckenzie felt the power flowing between the three of them, she felt it working. 

Kellan was the first to break the chanting, “You guys can stop now.”

Meckenzie opened her eyes and standing before her was her sister, normal.  They had done it!  She didn’t know if the change in positions had accomplished this, or if it had been her visualization.  Maybe Taggart’s touch had been the key, or maybe it had been a combination of many things that they had not had going for
them the first time around. 

Whatever the circumstances, the results were amazing. They had managed to return Kellan to her natural state without the spell from the book or Isabel’s supervision.  Meckenzie felt amazing.  She wanted to run home and tell Isabel right away.  First though, she should get Kellan some clothes.

“I’ll get your clothes from the locker room.”  Meckenzie made her way to the door and let herself out into the gym, immediately all the girls turned to look at her. 

“She’s doing better.  Just something she ate at lunch I think.  I’m going to get her clothes and let her change.”  She didn’t ask for permission, Meckenzie just headed to the locker room and went to where she knew Kellan’s locker was.  She removed all of Kellan’s clothes and placed them in her bag.  Meckenzie felt a power flowing through her still.  She reached out her mind and searched for Kellan. 

“I have your clothes and your backpack, is there anything else you need?”

“Meckenzie that freaks me out a little.
  How do you telepathically talk to me from so far away?” 
Kellan had an edge to her voice as if she was ready to scream.

“I think I’m still super charged from the bit of magic that we performed.  I thought it would be easier to ask you what I needed to get out of your locker rather than forgetting something.  Now your clothes and your backpack, is that all you need?”