Kat flipped frantically through her spellbook. "There has to be something," she said over and over again. "There has to be something."
"Kat, I'm scared," Dan said.
"You're not the only one," Kat replied. "I'm absolutely terrified. I don't want to be your mother, and I don't want anyone thinking I put out, especially not for my brother."
"We didn't have sex," Dan protested.
"But when I turn up pregnant and you turn up missing, everyone will think you ran away because you knocked me up. You know how rumors get started. So be quiet while I find the right spell." Kat suddenly realized that, while she flipped through the spellbook with one hand, she'd started rubbing her belly again with the other. Remembering what Dan had told her, she sat on her other hand.
"Here we are," Kat said, feeling triumphant. "This one's called 'Removal,' and it promises to undo any spell that the spellcaster got wrong." She scooped up her wand and, skimming over the spell, pointed the wand at her womb. "Stellen Sie mich frei ein!" she called out.
Dan and Kat started feeling woozy. Kat clenched her eyes as the light in the room became painful. Everything swirled around them. After a minute, the room seemed to settle down, and she opened her eyes.
Beneath her eyes, her belly had grown huge. It pushed her jeans down and her blouse up. Her breasts felt tender under the movement of her bra cups. And she realized she smelled something.
"Oh my god."
"What is it?" Dan said, sounding panicked.
"Get ready, I think you're about to come out. The hard way."
"What do you mean by—"
Before Dan could finish, the first hard contraction hit Kat. She screamed. It felt like fire radiating from her pelvis up to her scalp. Everything hurt. She dug her fingers into the carpet pile and squeezed as hard as she could. She'd never believed there could be such pain in the world. After a minute, the contraction stopped, and she could catch her breath. She swiped her sleeve across her forehead, and it came away covered in sweat.
"Um, Kat? I see light."
"Good. Get ready. I want to get this over with as quickly as possible." Kat stood long enough to kick off her jeans and panties, both now soaked with her water, and flopped back on the floor. "I want you to know," Kat said, "that I don't enjoy this any more than you do."
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Kat rubbed her belly with both hands, which relaxed her, and she realized that, even if she was giving birth to her own brother, and it hurt like hell, being pregnant actually felt good. She wondered what Dan would be when he came out.
The next contraction hit. Brother and sister—mother and son—went through this several times over the next three hours, both of them suffering unimaginable pain as Kat slowly, steadily gave birth to Dan.
At last, Kat reached down and realized Dan's head was all the way out. She patted him. "Good boy," she said. "Almost done."
"Almost done," Dan said back. Kat noticed the sound was still in her head. Did that mean Dan would be unable to talk?
Forget it, she decided. When the next contraction hit, she pushed with everything she had, forcing Dan all the way out of her body. When he lay in her hands, wet and dripping, she lay back on the carpet and laughed. "Oh, my god," she said, and laughed and laughed. "Oh my god."
"I don't know what you think is so funny," Dan said. "Look at me. You've given birth to..."