Pairs of Pumpkins, Episode 11:
The Teleporting Tours of a Top-Heavy Teenager
by Jess Faulks
Chapter 6 of 13
Anastasia followed her half-brother Duodecaplet out of the lab and upstairs to the ground floor, to the nearest of one of the large manor's many water closets. She closed the distance between them with brisk walking after ascending the stairs and was close enough to him by the time it was obvious where he was going.
The house wasn't public enough to bother with different genders but not familial enough for them to all be common. The one he went to, she'd never been in as it was only for servants and lower-status guests.
When he pushed in the door, she was three steps behind him. Any closer risked running into him.
Anastasia could give the door an extra nudge to clear it without becoming visible again as long as he didn't look back and witness the door move on its own. He didn't and she twirled the moment she passed through the threshold, smashing her chest into one wall then the other. She quickly reeled in her own tail around her waist and clutched it against her. With a look over her shoulder, she watched the door closed behind her.
A glance down confirmed the spell hadn't broken.
These water closets were private and clean, kept spotless by low-level magics like the rest of the house but they were relatively spartan. The bathrooms attached to bedrooms and guest rooms were much more luxurious in space, materials and decor.
She waited by the door and pursed her lips, never intending to be this kind of voyeur.
The Duodecaplet stood at the toilet and relieved himself with his back to her, the length of the room between them. When finished, he turned back to the counter, in no hurry to put his sheathed cock away! It was like the brother's she'd seen so many months before: a wrist-thick tube of furred flesh containing the same familial abundance as the other males of their bloodline.
Her eyes latched to it, lingering for a moment. He approached the sink closing a dangerous distance to her. If she was going to reveal herself, now was the time.
"Duodecaplet!" she blurted out and he recoiled, taking several steps back and drew his blade from his hip in a smooth, honed reflex. His other hand joined his grip, brandishing it.
His eyes widened as she became visible then dropped like stones to her exposed breasts. None of them had ever seen her without clothes.
"Anastasia?!" His discipline didn't let his gaze linger for long and he squared back into a fighting stance.
"We're not going to fight. You know what I can do."
He paused, blinking in thought. "Why are you here? Sneaking around, naked?" His brow crinkled. "Are you trying to seduce me?"
"What?! No!"
She presented her palms up and outward, as if the sorceress concealing a palm-sized weapon was somehow a concern of his when he knew she could turn him inside out.
"I'm here to talk."
"Then talk."
"I need to explain some things. First, what Zarron considers my betrayal, was not a betrayal of any of you. And you're all in the middle of betraying him. Which is good. He betrayed you more than any of us. We have a common enemy."
His eyes narrowed and the grip on his weapon tensed. She glared at it.
"Stop it. I want to help. But Eva would sic you all on me before she would listen."
"You don't think you could take all nine of us?"
"I know I could. But you wouldn't all survive. We're not enemies, brother."
He blinked and exhaled. "Why did you leave?"
"I didn't plan it. I saw what Marmalade did to our brothers. Taking their souls. Zarron caught me spying. Forbidden magic. Things I wasn't supposed to know. I had to think fast. I fled. I teleported away before he could punish me."
"Where have you been?"
"I found our mother, east of here. And we're liberating our siblingsthat Zarron sold into slavery. Most of what he told us about her were lies. She is a good person."
"Even if I believed you, Eva won't."
"That's why I'm here. With you. In the bathroom." Her eyes fell to his cock again, hanging out of his pants. It was smaller now than his brother had been a year ago. He was afraid.
"We're allies. We all have the same goals. All of us. Even Eva."
"You don't have that kind of credibility in this house. Not anymore. You should've come back."
"For what? Zarron to kill me? Something worse?"
"He's barely been here."
"How could I have known that?" Her nostrils flared and her weight shifted. Β "It makes sense that for all your training, nobody taught you to question anything. You all trust Eva too much. Our sister is smart but she's impulsive. Emotional. She has every right to hate him. We all do. But she's wrong about mother and she's wrong about me."
He relaxed his posture and sheathed his sword. "What is it you want?"
Her eyes gestured to the sink. His brow crinkled before he obliged and washed his hands. "You were invisible with magic. You have to take off your clothes for that?"
She nodded. "I've been able to for years but no one knew. Zarron didn't til that night."
He went to tuck his maleness back in but stopped with his thumbs in the waistband of his pants. "Is that why this doesn't bother you?"
"Why should that bother me?" Those words sounded less confident than her last. "I've seen them before. I don't care."
He narrowed his eyes and pursed her lips. "You've watched us?"
"The ritual that stole our brother's soul: it was sex magic. With Madam Marmalade."