Alan closed his eyes to concentrate, holding out his hands as he did. "Perspicuus," he whispered, then paused, repeated it again after a second. "Perspicuus." Another second passed. "Perspicu -"

Julia elbowed him lightly, and Alan cut off, then opened his eyes, looked to her. She pointed down, and Alan followed her pointing arm... then put his hand to his face, holding back a sigh.

Down on the floor, Hayley had found Julia's discarded panties, and was looking at them curiously. "Now why would these be on the floor here?" she asked aloud, shaking her head. Alan stuck out his hand toward his underwear, but even as he did, Hayley looked around and spotted them, then started to walk toward them. "And Alan's?"

She picked up Alan's boxers, looked at them curiously, then sniffed them cautiously. "And he's worn them," she said, while Alan blinked in frightened astonishment and Julia covered her mouth with both hands, trying not to laugh.

"Oh!" Hayley said then, snapping her fingers. "Alan must be doing laundry, and these fell out of the basket! Well, I'll just go down and say hi, then." Smiling brightly, she started toward the stairs again.

As Hayley started down the stairs, Alan carefully let out a slow, relieved breath. Julia breathed out as well, muttering curses as she did, since Hayley still had her cell phone, and, more importantly, her wand. Once Hayley was out of sight, Alan turned to Julia. "Okay. Cancel the spell," he whispered. "Then we can get upstairs, grab my wand, and zap some clothes on quick."

"Your wand's upstairs?" Julia blinked. "Why did you leave it upstairs?"

"Not the time to discuss," Alan said through gritted teeth. "Cancel the spell."

Julia rolled her eyes, then quickly said, "This situation's pretty sick, so cancel this spell and -" With a look of horror, Alan tried to reach to stop Julia, but before he could, she finished, "do it quick."

Gravity asserted itself in the normal direction, and Julia cried out as the two of them fell to the floor. "McReary Time-re - Ahh!" Alan's attempt to stop their fall was cut off as his arm broke under the impact of Julia landing on it.

"Ahh, fuuu -" Alan managed to stop himself, gritting his teeth hard.

"I'll get your wand and fix your arm," Julia was saying, starting toward the stairs, but Alan shook his head.

"No time," he ground out through his teeth, eyes screwed shut. "McReary Timereary."

Nothing happened, and Julia frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but as she did, Hayley's voice came from below. "Julia? Alan? Are you okay?"

"I can't do the arm motions," Alan got out. "You need to cast it. Now."

Julia cast a glance toward the stairs and nodded quickly, then stood up straight. Just as Hayley topped the stairs, her eyes going wide at the sight of Alan naked on the floor and an equally naked Julia standing over him, she said, "McReary Time-reary!"

Everything rewound immediately, Hayley running backward down the stairs, Julia crouching back down, falling back onto Alan's arm, which then un-broke as the two of them fell back up to the ceiling.

It stopped then, just before Julia cancelled the spell, and she and Alan looked at each other. "Uhh… sorry about that."

Alan nodded, then said, "Take us down to the floor, but slowly now, not like before." They fell again, this time in slow motion. As they started down, Alan put a hand against the ceiling, rotated himself to an upright position, then reached for Julia and turned her as well.

A few seconds later, they landed on their feet. Alan let out a breath, said, "Okay. Now we just -" Julia's eyes opened wide as the front door swung open, and she grabbed Alan's arm and hauled him around the kitchen island with her, going down onto her knees as she did.

"Alan?" It was Zack's voice that called out, and Alan put a hand to his forehead as Julia looked at him. "Hello?" Zack continued. "The door wasn't locked…."

"Zack?" It was Hayley's voice, coming from downstairs.

Alan bit his lip, closed his eyes, whispered, "Stay here"… and then stood up and walked around the island. Julia turned around and crouched behind it, blinking and listening. "Zack, no time to answer questions, just - please, stop Hayley from coming up here!"

Julia could almost hear Zack blinking in surprise. "Alan? But -"

"Zack! Please! Now! I'm naked here!"

"Yeah… about that -"

"God," Julia said under her breath. "Count on Zack to not be able to do anything in an emergency…."

"Zack, do you know where - Alan!" Shaking her head, Julia stood up from behind the island. She took a moment's enjoyment as Zack's jaw dropped what must have been a good four inches and he went through six shades of red in the space of two eyeblinks.

"McReary Time-reary," she said then, and everything rolled back….

… and Julia and Alan touched down on the floor. Julia immediately broke into a run, heading to the stairs and up them, while Alan headed for the door, getting to it just as Zack opened it.

Stopping the opening door with one hand, Alan leaned so Zack could see his face and shoulder. "Hey, Zack - I need your help."

Zack blinked at this unusual greeting, but then nodded. "Of course. You know you can count on me. What do you need?"

Alan gestured for Zack to be quieter, then said, "I'm… practicing for a marathon, and I'm doing it Greek-style, to be historically accurate."

"Greek-style…." Zack blinked quickly, then said, "You mean, nude?"

"Yes," Alan said quickly. He cast another glance toward the stairs, ground his teeth for a moment as he imagined Hayley already coming up the stairs….

Opening the door the rest of the way, Alan gestured Zack in, speaking as he did. "Hayley came in looking for Julia. I hid, and she's gone downstairs, but I need you to go distract her while I get dressed. Can you do it?"

Stepping in, Zack held a hand up to the side of his own face, blocking Alan's naked body from his sight. "Of course! I'll head right down there and -"

"Yes, please," Alan said. "Talk about it later, go do it now, please."

"Oh, right!" Zack circled around Alan, keeping his face averted, hand still up, and started down the stairs. Alan let out a breath then, started toward the stairs, then smiled as he saw Julia standing there. She waved Alan's wand, and clothes appeared on him.

"I'm heading back up. I've been asleep all this time. Got it?" she said, and Alan nodded quickly. He let himself pause a moment as Julia turned and ran back up, looking at his sister's naked ass, and then shook his head and started down the stairs slowly, thinking about what he was going to tell Hayley and Zack.

End.