Eighteen Again

Of course, Maisie completely dismisses your concerns. She is happy for her daughter to be with a guy she considers to be a cut above her usual boyfriends, and relieved that Jessie telling Craig about her curse seems to have worked out so well. She reminds you that the curse can be a bonding experience, and how quickly the two of you went from best friends to lovers in a very genuine way after she confided in you about it. She asks how you would have felt if her parents had questioned the validity of that, and assures you that she herself would have been livid with them. And of course, everything she says makes sense. But still, something about this whole situation really bugs you. There is a vague feeling of Jessie not quite being herself that you can't shake.

Your suspicions certainly aren't quelled a couple of months later when Jessie returns home wearing an engagement ring and, after excitedly making that announcement, tells you that she and her new fiance are now looking for a place together. How are they even going to afford that? It occurs to you that the curse can be very easily manipulated to turn Jessie into a money making machine in one way or another. And their own place? Of course Craig would want your beautiful, cursed daughter all to himself behind closed doors to do what he pleases with at all times. Again, Maisie sees nothing wrong with this though. They seem to be following the exact same trajectory you and she did, after all.

Deep down, you still feel something isn't right. If, as you suspect, Craig has taken advantage of Jessie's curse to make her fall for him, then who knows what else he might be doing to her when the two of them are alone? It could be just about anything, and he could easily command her to forget it, or enjoy it, or just never tell anyone, least of all you, about it. You can't get this concern out of your head. Maisie's near relentless optimism and trust in people are qualities you adore in her, and they provide a nice balance for your own natural cynicism and pessimism. But perhaps, in this instance, you need support rather than balance, and someone who has just as negative a view of basic human nature as you do.

---

"I'm really glad you came to me with this. You're right, it all sounds highly suspicious" Holly tells you between sips from her mug "This is going to feel like an ambush to poor Mais, but if we can make a good argument I'm sure we'll win her over, She always listens to reason in the end. It's probably best to let me do most of the talking though"

For a long time after Maisie told you about her curse, her older sister was openly wary of you. But over the years you and Holly have grown close, and trust each other completely by now. She has long seen that her sister fell for you without any need for magical manipulation, that you never **** the power over Maisie that the curse gives you, and is incredibly grateful that you have kept the family secret so well and never exposed her to any danger herself. The pair of you have often found yourselves as natural allies on many issues, and never more so than today.

When Maisie walks through the door, she immediately senses something is up. The mood is too serious, your greeting to her more anxious than warm, and it is pretty obvious you have orchestrated this to catch her alone, two against one.

"What's up guys?" she asks "Are two of my favourite people in the world plotting against me again?"

"Your husband and I share some doubts about this friend of Jess's, and her sudden, new found love for him right after he activated her curse. I also have great concerns about the implications for Tammy if he isn't being as honourable as he says he is. I know you made up a fake story about the curse, but he could very easily command Jess to tell him the entire truth"

Wow. Holly really went right in there, with not even so much as a hello. But when it comes to anything involving her daughter, she doesn't mess around. As far as you are aware, Tammy has never even been told about the curse, in case she got any ideas to do what Jess did. And with her eighteenth birthday only days away now, Holly will be even more on edge than usual about anyone else finding out.

"I don't see what choice we have but to trust them?" Maisie reasons "Like, literally what else do you suggest we do?"

"I have an idea, actually" Holly sips calmly from her mug once more "Mais, I hate to play this card, but I hope you would agree that I've always done everything I possibly can to look out for you, made certain sacrifices so I would always be close by if you needed me, and I have never asked you for anything in return. Well now I am, not for me, but for my daughter"

It would be almost impossible for Maisie to argue against that. Holly has been an incredible older sister to your wife for as long as you can remember, and a wonderful, doting aunt to your kids on top of that.

"Okay, so what do you want from me?" the younger sister asks.

"How would you like to be eighteen again?" you blurt out excitedly, before Holly shoots you an "I've got this, thank you" kind of a glance.

"What?" Maisie asks, wondering if this plan of Holly's is as nineties movie crazy as it is starting to sound.

"We have distant relatives in England, right?" Holly continues

"Yeah, somewhere called Lincoln. But I've never met any of them, and I only remember the name because it's the same as the President"

"Sure, but lets' say one of the Lincoln Petersen's has an eighteen year old daughter, let's call her Emily, who wants to visit the US, and go to college here for a semester. And let's say her family reached out to us about it, and we thought it would be nice to let her stay with us so she could get to know her US relatives of her own age. And let's say you had a project at work that required you going out of state for a while at the same time Emily was here"

"Let's say no fucking way, Hols" Maisie folds her arms and nods towards you "This is the kind of shit he would come up with, I'm amazed you're on board with it. It would be such a huge betrayal of trust of my own daughter. Jess would never forgive me if she found out. And besides, I don't want to go back to college and party with teenagers again, I've been there and done that already"

"It's not like you would have to be Emily for a whole semester, just until you get the information you need, then we can send her back to merry old England" you reason "And there's no chance of anyone blowing your cover. I can just command you not to be recognised. And we can give you blonde hair, an accent, maybe make you a little taller.."

"Bigger boobs?" Maisie suggests sarcastically as she places her hands on her hips and glares at you "Is this because you want to fuck me as a blonde British college girl?"

"What, of course not! Why would your mind even go there, Mais?!" you protest. Of course that would have been fun but..."We can change you back whenever it's just the two of us"

"Please Maisie, I'll beg you if I have to, but I'd rather not" Holly pleads "There is literally no other way I can think of for us to find out what's going on with those two. They will never tell us, ever, and we won't get close enough to them to see for ourselves. It's probably all fine, but if it isn't and we do nothing about it, then the consequences for Jess, Abs, Tammy and all of the nieces could be life destroying"

Maisie pushes one hand through her hair, puffs out her cheeks and shakes her head.

"I can't believe I'm actually going to agree to this. What the fuck is wrong with me?"

Holly puts down her mug, walks over to her sister and wordlessly pulls her into a long, tight, and heartfelt hug. It is a rare spontaneous outburst of emotion from her that seems to catch even Maisie by surprise. It also makes you realise, behind her calm and composed exterior, just how worried Holly is about all of this.

"I guess we'll need a few days to set all this up, right?" the younger sister asks, but Holly shakes her head.

"We need to move quickly. Tammy enters the danger zone on Friday, and Haley and Kelly will be in it within the next few days as well. In fact, the three of them are having a joint eighteenth party at the weekend. It would be good if Emily could be there for that to mix with them all and integrate herself"

"I see no reason why we don't just start tomorrow" you figure "We tell them the business trip was last minute, and Emily was a surprise. I can give you a command that your actual work don't notice you're away and you get to relax and have fun for a while. It might be nice for you to spend more time with Jess too, especially if she is talking about moving out soon"

"Holy shit, this is actually happening isn't it?" Maisie realises "Well, I guess I can probably have some fun with it"