Part 1: Update 3

  Two months have passed since we apologized to Lay, and things have been a lot better between us. She started trying to teach me magic; it's really cute too. Whenever I read a spell to her and let her try casting it, she’ll try to teach it right back to me. Though, she's not very helpful... But she is progressing, albeit slowly. Her mana capacity seems to grow much slower than ours. We have no idea why that might be, other than the fact that we’re five people crammed into one body. Also, she started sleeping with us again, which makes Ogma and I happier. I really have come to love this little munchkin.

  We had to ease off going up to the attic so much over the st two months. Mom and Dad were clearly getting suspicious, and I couldn’t risk being caught just yet. So to avoid the heat, we only went up when we were absolutely sure we wouldn’t get caught. On top of that, we’ve sort of hit a wall with our progress… Our mana capacity is so stupidly high now that we can’t even burn through all of it in one day.

  Recently, I tried doing a rough estimate of what our mana capacity actually is. If we started with something like 10 out of 10 mana when we first began casting, and it doubled every time we pushed ourselves to exhaustion, then after about a week, we’d be sitting somewhere around 1,280 out of 1,280 total mana. In other words, theoretically I can cast around 128 Ice Bolts in a day. Which is PRETTY FRIGGEN COOL! (pun intended)

  Anyway, with the summer heat turning the attic into a sauna, our main focus became ice and water magic. At this point, we've gone through every basic spell in the book for both elements and pretty much have the incantations down by heart. Now, there's a beat-up barrel full of water and ice in the attic... so that exists. Oh! Apparently, I’m considered an elementary-level Ice and Water Mage, at least according to the book. I’m thinking of learning wind next; although, that's mostly because I'm putting off trying intermediate spells until ter.

  Last thing to cover. I’ve actually started spending more time with the other books we found, especially "Palthea's Monsters and Fauna." Which I used to just skim through, looking at the pictures. But now? I’m going out of my way to actually read it. And let me tell you, some of these creatures are either cute as hell or completely fucking terrifying. Seriously, one page I’m reading about these little orange fluffballs that roll around in the wind, munching on grass, and then on the next page I’m reading about a giant tortoise the size of our house that can unch itself at sonic speeds using magic. Hopefully, I never run into that thing... though I’m probably jinxing myself by saying that.

  The other book "we" started reading, and by we I mean only Celia, is called "The Art of Cross Magic Transmutation." I still don’t know why she wants to read the entire thing, considering Celia hasn’t even tried magic since we started learning it, and even Ogma tried it. Something about this book is making her put off trying magic... As for the contents of the book? From what I can gather, it’s about transforming states of mana into entirely new ones, but I’m not really sure why that would even be necessary, or why that's so helpful. Either way, it seems like a waste of time.

  That’s pretty much it for what happened over the st two months. Nothing too dramatic, just some simple progress.

  Part 2: Afternoon

  Currently, I'm sitting at the table, watching Lay across from me. She’s kicking her legs and ughing, rocking her chair side to side. Dad’s sitting next to her, leaning in close and whispering something that makes her burst out giggling every few seconds. I have no idea what he’s saying, but I hope it's not about me... Nonetheless, watching them makes me smile too. Mom walks over from the kitchen with two ptes in her hands, bancing a third one on her head. She sets them all down in front of us, lets out an exaggerated sigh, and says, "I tried my best to salvage this," before finally grabbing her own and sitting down beside me.

  I look down at the pte pced before me. I have no clue what kind of meat it is. Dad brought it in earlier, but I never got a good look at it. From what I can tell, it looks like some kind of chicken, but it's shredded and dumped on top of a bed of rice. I take a bite. The rice is soft and fluffy, honestly pretty good. But the meat? It's awful... all rubbery and hard to chew. Then the spiciness kicks in, and it's way too strong, clearly in an attempt to cover up how weird the texture is. I grab my water and chug half of it just to get the taste out of my mouth.

  Lay and Dad don’t seem to mind though. They both devour the entire thing without compint, while Mom and I just kind of sadly choke it down.

  Rose sighs way overdramatically at the taste. "This is... detestable," she groans, sounding disgusted. "Nyxie, please, I can’t take another bite... I’m begging you."

  "Yeah, me neither," I mutter, setting my spoon down and pushing the half-eaten pte away. "I reealllyyy can’t handle spicy food."

  "Are you kidding me? It’s not even that bad," Ashley cuts in. "You guys are such babies."

  "Oh, well forgive me for having a pate!" Rose snaps back. "How you can even tolerate this is beyond me."

  Ashley scoffs. "I’ve eaten live bugs off the ground before. This is gourmet compared to that."

  "Ew, ew, ew!" Rose cries. "Do not make me picture that!"

  “Spiders too. Just scooping them up by the handful.” Ashley adds, clearly messing with her. "They were delicious. I miss the way they would pop in yo-"

  "Okay!" I yell, cutting her off. "Please, stop... it's affecting me too."

  Rose shudders, but she doesn't say anything further. She's clearly defeated.

  Across from me, Lay finishes eating, immediately holding up her empty dish with both hands towards Mom. "Can I habe mowre?" She says, mouth full.

  Seriously? She wants more? Lay must have an iron stomach. I've seen goats eat less than her. Although... this might be an opportunity. I perk up and slide my pte forward. "You can have the rest of mine," I offer, smiling.

  Mom just looks at me, then sighs understandingly.

  "Tank you!" Lay says, grabbing my pte and scarfing it down.

  Dad finishes his food and leans back in his chair, holding his hands behind his head. "I was thinking of taking Lay and Mira when I leave to go hunting next week."

  Huh? The idea catches Lay and me completely off guard. We’ve never even stepped foot off the property, and Dad’s talking about taking us hunting?

  "No," Mom says coldly, shooting him a death gre. "You’re not taking them."

  "But I-"

  "Not after what you brought home today," she interrupts, her voice dismissive. "If anything, I should be the one taking them."

  Hold on... so is the idea still on the table? Wait, I thought she was against it... This whole conversation is getting confusing.

  "It’s was fine!" Dad protests, he stops leaning back in his chair. "This one was just... a little damaged."

  "This one was obliterated, Zayd. You know what I had to do to salvage it?" she says, clearly annoyed, getting up from the table and picking up our ptes. "I just don’t want them picking up those habits in the future..." She pauses for a moment. "Also, you’re banned from using your spear while hunting. We’ll talk about this more ter."

  Dad goes quiet, sulking in his seat.

  Lay, clearly bored, hops off her chair and runs around the table. She skids to a stop beside me, taps my arm with her tiny hand, and looks up, her golden eyes sparkling. "Tag!" She says, smiling, before bolting out of the room. I watch in shock as she sprints out of sight and into the hallway.

  I sigh as I get out of my seat, "I never should have taught her that..." I think aloud, shaking my head.

  "Too te now," Ashley says happily. "Allow me." And then I am forcefully removed from control of our body.

  She falls down, but catches herself mid-fall with her hands on the floor, and pops back up like nothing happened. She stretches for a moment, cracking our knuckles. Then, breaks into a full-blown sprint down the hallway. She barrels around the corner, chasing after Lay, smming our shoulder into the wall hard enough to make a loud crashing sound. It stings, but she doesn't care.

  Lay is watching from right in front of us; she shrieks then turns and runs. Ashley takes off after her, much faster than the speed Lay is running at.

  Suddenly Lay veers left, ducking into the guest room. Ashley tries to turn, but we’re moving too fast, and there’s really no time to stop. She skids across the floor, slips, and falls on our side, nding on the hard wooden floor with a thud. "Ow," she mutters under her breath, picking herself up off the floor. Lay peeks out of the room just in time to see it, then sprints past us and back toward the kitchen.

  Ashley gets us back on our feet, then she continues, running into the kitchen. Lay tries to run around the table, but we're too quick, and we barely manage to touch her back. "HA! Gotcha!" Ashley yells.

  Lay turns around, touches us before Ashley could even try to run. "Tag!" She says again as she immediately takes off.

  Ashley sighs, "Alright, you have 20 seconds, then I'm coming for you!"

  "Okay!" Lay yells back as she vanishes around the corner.

  Ashley starts counting, taking her time with it. Eventually, she gets to 20 and takes off, frantically searching around. But I didn’t expect her to be so horrible at it…

  She sprints through the house, checking behind curtains, under beds, and in drawers. But she completely runs past other obvious hiding spots, not thinking to check them on the way. I watch as she throws open the closet, stares into it for a second, closes it and walks away. Then, for some reason, she runs back and checks it again. She then leaves the room only to come back in a minute ter and check the same closet again!

  "Ashley, what are you doing?" I say, because I’m genuinely concerned.

  "Looking for Lay." She says simply.

  "You've checked the same spot three times… how the hell do you even do that?" I say, voice raised. "Just… let me look for her."

  She returns control back to me. Immediately, I walk into the living room, scanning the furniture. I crouch down next to the couch and peek behind it... There she is. Curled up in the narrow gap between the couch and the wall. Her golden eyes widen when she spots me. "Found you," I say, smiling slightly.

  Before she can respond, a loud knock echoes from the front door. I gnce toward it. Wait a second... neither Mom nor Dad are downstairs. They're both upstairs... We've never had anyone come over. Who is that?

  "Stay here," I whisper, making my way toward the door.

  There's a brief pause, then another knock sounds, much louder this time.

  I rise onto my toes and reach for the handle...

  {TO BE CONTINUED}