l.o.v.e. spells trouble (and a horse)

chapter three

"Ike? Ike? IKE?!!! Please wake up..."
Tay was lightly slapping the unconscious Isaac's cheeks in an attempt to bring him back to earth. "It doesn't seem to be working," Tay said desperately. "I can't wake him up."
"I don't think he's asleep," said Aaron slowly. "I think he's just gone somewhere else for a while. Try calling him back, like a dog."
"Okay..." Tay wasn't so sure. "I'll give it a try. Here, Ike, Ike, Ike. Good, boy. Come to heel, boy. Here, Ike."
Isaac's eyelids fluttered. "Wha--?" He sat up. "We broke it, dude."
Taylor gave a sigh of relief, pulled off a pair of the rubber gloves people always wore when they had to touch Isaac, and threw them in the fire. Isaac always quoted Beavis and Butthead at inappropriate moments. That meant he was probably OK. Taylor turned to Aaron. "You are a genius, little buddy," he said, and patted Aaron on the head condescendingly. Aaron gazed up at him adoringly.
Suddenly, Tay remembered the reason for Isaac's dramatic faint. "Aaron... My God! What are we going to do?"
"It's all my fault," moaned Isaac. "I never should have blocked up the kitchen sink and left the tap running. It must have upset the spirits. Oh, no! The spirits! THEY'LL KILL US ALL!!!" Ike screamed once, twice, three times, then ran for his sleeping bag, his arms wrapped tightly around his head.
"What on...?" Tay was confused for a moment, then disregarded it as just more of Isaac's unique personality.
"Um, Taylor, sir?" asked Aaron politely.
"What is it, little buddy?"
"I think you should, um, check the kitchen sink... I mean, if it's not too much trouble..."
Tay decided all this "separation from family" business was getting to be too much for young Aaron, he was clearly off his rocker. However, considering his own relatives, Tay knew how to deal with someone two sandwiches short of a picnic, and realised the best thing to do would be to humour the poor boy. Yes, he thought. Humour him. It's the only way to cope with someone who's got a few screws loose. Tay had a mental picture of the inside of Aaron's head. Nothing much but a few cobwebs decorating the dark, echoey cavern. That was, apart from that huge pile of sawdust with a "For Sale" sign Taylor was sure had to be there, too. Feeling benevolent in his own superiority, Taylor walked over and opened the kitchen door--
--And was swept away in the huge deluge of soapy water that gushed out into the rec. room like the Nile in flood season. Balanced on a broken cupboard door, Tay was surfing the tidal wave through Bel's house, down the hallway, out the door, down the street, off the end of the bridge...

The next afternoon Tay was discharged from hospital with a warning to be careful and instructions on how to change his own chest bandages. Luckily, he had fallen on his head, and since it seemed to be full of nothing but ego at that moment, there were no serious injuries.
In the midst of all the fuss and wet carpet, no one had even noticed that Zac wasn't quite himself yet. Of course, it helped that Aaron, usually a fairly quiet and docile young lad, was going out of his way to act as hyperly as possible. He'd always known those acting lessons would pay off.
Tay wasn't exactly grateful to Aaron, though. "If you hadn't told me to open that door," he said belligerently. "I would have ignored Ike's comments and someone else would have all these stupid bruised ribs now! That's how things work in our family: NEVER listen to Isaac. It's the only thing that keeps us this side of insanity. Although I s'pose you're not really part of this family, though..."
"Tay," said Aaron softly. "I hafta get to Paris. The Backstreet Boys are doing a concert and I'm debuting my singing career as the opening act!"
"You can sing?" asked Tay. "Really? That's so cool. Your talent must be a really weird genetic mutation or something. It doesn't seem to run in your family, does it?"
Aaron assumed Tay didn't realise he'd unforgivingly insulted Nick, and asked, "So how am I going to get back?"
Tay waved a hand nonchalantly. "Easy. I thought it all over in hospital, when they thought I was unconscious. Basically, we need to get to Paris faster than a plane can go, right?"
Aaron nodded firmly.
"And no one can go faster than a witch, right?"
Aaron nodded less firmly.
"So all we have to do is go to the other realm to get Bel, then she can take us to Paris!"
Aaron shook his head.
"Why the hell not?!" asked Tay, annoyed, as he had been very proud of his plan.
"Because we don't have any magic, and we can't use witch magic 'cause then we'd have to be... (shudder) castrated." Aaron said the word with horrible finality.
Taylor wasn't fazed. "Duh! We just get Isaac to take us. Haven't you ever heard of Ike-Magic? My older brother is the reason the leaves turn brown and fall off the trees once a year!"
"Really?" Aaron was awed. "I thought that was because of Autumn."
"Nuh-uh," Tay asserted. "It's Isaac. Pretty freaky, huh? But that very magic is what's going to get us to the other realm to see Bel, to get us to Paris, to get you to your concert, and to swap you over for old what's-his-name..."
"Zac," said Aaron. "Your younger brother's name is Zac."
"Za-ac..." Taylor sounded out. "Oh, yeah. I knew that!"
Aaron rolled his eyes.
"So..." Tay rubbed his hands together in anticipation, "Shall we go see how Lord Isaac is doing? Something frightfully feeble, I suspect."
Aaron winced at Tay's put-on English accent and trailed him into the rec. room.

They found Isaac sound asleep in his sleeping bag.
"WAKE UP, IKE!!!" yelled Taylor.
"Ready to go?" asked Isaac.
"How did he know about the plan?" asked Aaron, stunned.
"Don't ask, little buddy," Tay warned him. "You don't want to know."
"Yes, I do," Aaron insisted.
"What if I said you don't want to know because Isaac can break pieces of himself off, plant them on people and use them as speakers?"
Aaron turned green.
"Can I've my left ear back, Aaron?" asked Ike.
"Wha--?" Aaron looked more closely and saw that Isaac's left ear was definitely not still attached to his head. "Where is it?"
"In your pocket."
Aaron reached into his pocket, pulled out Isaac's ear, and handed it back as quickly as he could. Ike fitted his ear into place and gave it a twist. Aaron could hear a 'click' when the ear joined back on seamlessly.
Ike grinned at them both. "Shall we leave, then?"
"Sure thing," replied Taylor. "I'll just tell Mom where we're going."
"You'll tell you MOTHER where we're GOING?" asked a very shocked Aaron.
"Haven't you ever heard of a white lie, little buddy?" Tay asked. "Is your family all completely open with each other the whole time?"
"Yes," replied Aaron firmly.
"Freaks," muttered Taylor under his breath. "Hey, Mom!" he called more loudly.
"Hmm?" Diana was watching Melrose Place and didn't want interruptions.
"We're gonna go play with Bel, 'k?"
"OK, dear!" his mother called back, completely forgetting which realm Belinda was in at that moment.
Aaron was shocked. "You almost LIED!" he accused.
"Did not," replied Taylor, sticking his tongue out at Aaron. "We are gonna see Bel, and if I'm lucky I might just get to... play with her! So there!"
"Play?" asked Aaron. "What do you mean?"
"Never mind, little buddy," said Tay, patting Aaron on the head. He ran out of the room, opened the front door, yelled, "Bye!", slammed the door and tiptoed back into the kitchen. "Ready to go?" he whispered.
The three snuck into the kitchen, Isaac cast a spell, they jumped into the toaster, and were gone.

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