Forced Magic (10 page)

Neither Michelle nor Johnathen would look me in the eye. I
slowly moved my hand to the top of my head. I was still wearing the red
stocking cap. I pulled it off feeling the strange new sensation of a cool
morning breeze blowing across my bald head.

“Fetch got these clothes for me,” I said. "He thought
it would be funny."

I could hear Fetch laughing, Johnathen was struck with a
sudden coughing fit that was not fooling anybody, and Michelle had turned her
head shaking with silent laughter. I was going to get Fetch back for this. I
didn’t know how, but I was going to get him back.

The park was starting to come alive as the early morning
walkers started to show up. Fetch was hidden, but with the limo, my tattered
appearance, and Johnathen and Michelle’s neat and well-pressed looks, we were
starting to draw attention to ourselves. In fact I was very conscious now of
how I was dressed. An elderly couple had gotten out of their car and was now
giving me a  strange look. Gaining some control Johnathen spoke quietly.

“I think for Fetch's sake, we should walk to the nearest
ramada and continue our talk."

I knew it was for my sake and not Fetch's. After all, he was
pretty much invisible with his chameleon-like abilities, a talent that wished I
had at this time.  The four of us walked calmly to the nearest ramada. We got a
lot of second looks from people as we walked over.  When we got to the ramada,
Johnathen stood there, eyes closed, whispering words very rapidly. All of a
sudden, a slightly dim shield began to appear from the ground. It reminded me
of a tinted car window being rolled up. When it covered all four sides of the
ramada, Johnathen opened his eyes and, smiling with satisfaction, said,
"That will keep people from seeing us or coming over here.”

As if in an answer to my puzzled look, Johnathen pointed to
a couple walking hand in hand toward us. All of a sudden they stopped in their
tracks, and with slightly puzzled looks, turned and started to walk in the
opposite direction. I didn’t know how I felt about the obvious manipulation
that was used to keep them from getting too close, but I decided to keep it to
myself.

“Now, let’s talk about you and Fetch,” said Johnathen.

Fetch had gone out of camo mode and was sitting next to
Michelle. She had her laptop out, and was absentmindedly scratching Fetch under
the chin with one hand, while tapping the keys of her laptop with the other.

“Ok," I said, "I have some questions I need
answers to. Could it be possible that the fairy meant for me to find Fetch's
egg?” 

Fetch opened his eyes and stopped purring at this. He looked
very intently at Johnathen. He apparently wanted answers to this question as
much as I did.

“No, Jack, you must know that you picked it up randomly.
There was no manipulation in you finding it. She appeared to you as soon as she
felt the dragon's egg begin to hatch. If she had manipulated you into finding
it, you would have been taken to a place to be watched and probably tortured.
The fairies are not above experimenting on people.”

I shuddered at this last statement.

“No, you found it on your own. Her presence when she lured
you out into the street was a result of the egg beginning to hatch.  Before
that she wouldn’t have been able to detect the egg at all. Dragon eggs have a
natural protection about them that keeps them from being found by magic. It is
just when the egg begins to hatch that it can be detected. She appeared to you
to lure you into the street to kill you, and perhaps to see if the egg would
still hatch from your dead body. Or, that’s what I’m guessing.”

 “You mean to tell me that she tried to kill us both?”

Fetch sat up again growling at this last statement.  Neither
one of us thought of the possibility that the fairy wanted us both dead.

"It would appear so. I’m sorry, Jack, but from what I
can tell, you were both just part of some sick game.  Why she was willing to
possibly kill Fetch along with you is puzzling to me. After you were almost
hit, she must have been pulled away by some force. Perhaps whoever sent the
goblins to attack you. Yes, this seems to make sense.”

It was like listening to Sherlock Holmes as he started
putting the pieces together. He seemed pleased with what he had figured out.

“By the time she got free from whatever pulled her away,
Fetch had already begun to hatch. To cover her own tracks, she must have been
the one to cast the pulse spell that made everyone forget you. I had no idea
that you were alive until one of my bobcats found you. I sent them out as soon
as I knew that a dragon was hatching. I was hoping to find out what was
happening to the dragons and to get some clue as to who was behind the whole thing.
I couldn’t have been more surprised to find you in the tunnel, covered by the
yoke of the dragon egg.”

My face wrinkled up at the memory of the smelly, slimy stuff
that I had been covered in. I always had an idea what it was, I just never
wanted to admit it to myself. Fetch snorted and gave me a dirty look.

"So those bobcats, are they real bobcats?”

“Yes, I raised them from birth and cast some spells over
time to use them as my eyes and ears. They can run very fast and get to places
that I can’t. When they found you, and I saw that you had survived, I sent for
them to return to me. I knew I had to get you the money and then talk to you. I
would have come myself, but, I was afraid I would draw too much attention to
you, and you would have been attacked. Just my presence in certain parts of
town can be felt by other wizards and magic users. I realize that my choice was
rather a stupid one, seeing as how you were attacked anyway. I feel that I owe
you both an apology.”

 “Hey, its ok,” I said. “There was no way you could have
known I would be attacked. I just wish I hadn’t fought with Fetch and then
allowed us to separate  for a time."

Fetch's eyes turned green at this last statement. I smiled a
little. It seemed like he thought what I said was a kind of apology. I just
didn’t want to get into it with him right then. After all, I would have never
gotten mad at him if he hadn’t picked out the God awful clothes I was now
wearing. My face flushed at the thought of what I was wearing. I pushed it
aside as wanting more answers from Johnathen was more important than my
embarrassment right then. Johnathen was staring at me. There was a strange
light in his eyes.

“Jack, I need to know what you did to those goblins in the
parking lot. Catching the dragon fire was amazing enough but the magic you
performed is something I have never seen before. When you told me about it, you
seemed to have difficulty describing what it was."

I though for a moment before answering. “Well, I guess the
best way to describe it is to call it a pulse. It kind of flowed out of me like
water. But, before it did, it was building up inside me during the whole fight.
At first I thought it was just excitement and fear at what I was facing. But It
kept on getting stronger until I pushed it out of my body.”

“Did you say anything that triggered it?” asked Johnathen.

“No, it just kept building up in my body. A tingling
sensation that made me itch all over. I had to get rid of it. It was driving me
crazy."

“Is that when you pushed it out of your body?”

“Yes, but it was more than a push. It felt like it wanted to
stay inside of me. I had to force it out of my body, and when it left my body
it did exactly what I wanted it to do."

My own words shocked me. I hadn’t realized that the strange
feeling in me had felt this way until I described it. Johnathen stared at Fetch
for a while.

“A natural magic. A forced magic," he mumbled.

He turned back to me, a very serious look on his face.

“Jack, you and Fetch are very special. There has never been
anyone like the both of you. You have survived hatching, and from what you
explained, you seem to be able to do some sort of natural magic. I would advise
you to use your forced magic with caution. We don’t yet know what it might do
to you. Your ability to catch Fetch's fire shows that you have a link with him.
Fetch, your ability and willingness to communicate with us is a power in itself
that no other dragon has ever had. The simple fact that you have a name and
that you possess the rare ability to heal with your fire makes you very
special. There are not many dragons that possess that power, and I have never
heard of one that has used it on a human. You are both unique to the magic
world. This makes you dangerous to people. The more they find out what you can
do, the more they will want to destroy you.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want to live my life in
peace. Maybe I could get to this council you mentioned and show them I am not a
threat.”

“I think you should, Jack, but not just yet.  With your
fight in the parking lot, and the mess it caused by being filmed, I think it
would be better if you stayed hidden for a while. Just until things get cleaned
up. I do have an honorary seat on the council, so I can help. But I am not
always happily received."

“You should be in charge of the council, with everything you
have done for them,” said Michelle. “If you were, you could get that fairy
kicked off."

"Wait,” I said, “are you telling me that there is a
fairy on this magic council? I thought they were all bad."

“It's like I said, Jack, not all people in the magic world
see my point of view. The fey are clever and powerful. I have argued with the
council to investigate the many rumors about fairies attacking and destroying 
people’s lives. You, Jack, are the first victim of a fey messing with someone’s
life, that didn’t have their memory wiped. And now with your abilities, you
have the chance to be accepted by the council. You could be a voice exposing the
fey for what they really are. But until I can discover who else is after you,
and make sure you can keep from being manipulated by the fey, you need to stay
hidden, both you and Fetch."

It was a lot to take in. I seemed to be some kind of enemy
number one in the magic world. It was funny when I thought about how easily
everything was taken care of in the non-magic world by simply erasing the
memories and fixing a few tables.

“Why wasn’t my memory erased when everyone else's was?” I
asked.

"They thought you were dead, Jack. You weren’t added to
the spell. Besides, I have a feeling that magic like that might not work on
you. I mean, our unknown enemy could have easily wiped your memory making it
easy to get to you. It takes a lot of magic to convince a group of goblins to
work together the way they did. I can’t see the sense of going to all that
trouble, unless they couldn’t destroy you any other way.”

“Unless they were trying to test what he was capable of
doing,” said Michelle.

Johnathen looked at her in surprise.

“Huh. I hadn’t thought of that. Yes, I guess that is a
possibility.” 

All of this seemed so unfair to me. After all, I never asked
for any of this.  Now I had wizards and goblins and who knew what else after
me. I had to stop myself from falling into this kind of mind set though. I
realized that thinking this way wouldn’t change a thing. I had to find a way to
go on with my life and I needed my new friends to help me. I truly was lost in
this new world.

“Okay," I said, ”all of this is getting me no closer to
what I need to do. If all of this magic going around is not reversible, and it
isn’t the right time to meet with the council, what do I do now? Where do I
go?"

“You can’t return home, Jack. I hate to keep repeating
myself on this, but, I just want you to understand that your old life is over.“

"Yes!” I shouted, "I understand that!"

I was trying to not let it all overwhelm me. I didn’t mean
to yell. It was just starting to annoy me when the painful truth kept on being
thrown in my face.

“We are trying to help you, Jack," said Michelle.

“I know, I know.” I sighed. "I’m sorry. So what do we
do?"

“Well, you need a place to lay low for a while.”

“We could stay at the hotel down the street from here. I
used to work there. Or we could stay with you.”

I was hoping Johnathen would say 'yes'. Even with Fetch in
my life, I felt very alone. Having your whole life erased, even one as pathetic
as mine, can have that kind of effect on you. Michelle looked hopefully at
Johnathen. She wanted us to stay with them, more for the chance to get to know
Fetch better, than to get to know me, I thought. I couldn’t blame her for that.
Johnathen shook his head.

“If you were discovered at my place, before I had a chance
to find out what the council is saying about you, it could mean trouble for us
all. It was hard enough to allow Michelle to keep her memories and let her
become a part of the magic community. I have still had to shield her from the
fey. If the fairy on the council wasn’t under a spell of silence that keeps
anyone on the council from discussing what  goes on in the meetings, then she
would have been exposed to the fey and would be in a world of hurt right now. I
know it seems harsh but the further you are from me, right now, the
better."

Michelle had been digging around in a strange looking pouch.
She pulled out a cell phone and handed it to me.

"Here, Jack, we can stay in touch with each other this
way. Then we won’t draw too much attention to ourselves using the bobcats for
communication."

Remembering the bobcats, a thought entered my head.

“Are you the only one to use animals for
communicating?" I asked as I put the cell phone in my pocket, giving
Michelle’s hand a quick squeeze to let her know how grateful I was to her.

“No, a lot of wizards and other magic folk use animals the
same way. Why?”

”Do you know of someone using a squirrel that way?"

I looked at Fetch who quickly looked away. The little
confrontation with the squirrel in the tunnel wasn’t one of our proudest
moments. In fact I had kind of skipped over the whole laughing squirrel thing
when I had told my story.

"No, no one that comes to mind, Jack, but again I ask
why? Did someone talk to you through a squirrel the way I talked to you through
my bobcats?"

"No," I said.

Both Fetch and I were avoiding looking at anyone. I really
didn’t want to go into too many details about our embarrassing fight, in front
of Michelle. It was bad enough that she saw my clumsy attempts at fighting off
Booger and the snot brigade. The whole mess in the tunnel really wasn’t mine or
Fetch's proudest moment.

"What are you not telling me, Jack? Everything that has
happened to you is important. It could lead to a quicker end to this mess.
Please tell me.”

I looked at Johnathen and could tell that he was upset. Here
we were becoming friends and now I left him with the idea that I didn’t trust
him. I looked at Fetch. The smoke was purple but he nodded 'yes'. I felt bad
that I hadn’t asked him before I told Johnathen so much. After all this was just
as much his story as it was mine.

"Did this squirrel talk to you?” asked Johnathen.

”No,” I answered, ”it didn’t talk. It, uh, laughed.”

 “Laughed?”

“Yes, it laughed at me and Fetch when we were fighting in
the tunnel."

“Oh, I see,” said Johnathen. ”Just laughed?”

“Yes, he pointed and laughed.”

"Oh well, if that was it, I doubt it was a messenger
for anyone. I’ll check it out to make sure, but I wouldn’t worry about it. It
does bring up a point though. You will begin to see things, Jack, things that
were hidden from you in the past. Now that you have been touched by magic, your
eyes, mind, and, most importantly, your heart, will now see what was unseen.
But, just like you will be able to see many things now, many things will notice
you. Fetch will be able to hide from these things, but you will not be able to
on your own. So I’m going to give you a few things to help you out.”

Michelle reached into her small bag again, pulling out
another small bag. She handed it to Johnathen. He reached inside it, pulling
out a leather choker with a teardrop-shaped piece of turquoise tied to it.

“Here," he said. "Put this on. It will hide you
from people in the magic world."

"Will it make me invisible?“ I asked.

“No, just overlooked. It sends out a tiny pulse that makes
anyone who sees you forget that they saw you as soon as they look in your
direction. It won’t work on non-magic people, but with you basically being a
new person, you really won’t need to conceal yourself from them. Fetch, the
collar I gave you in the tunnel is designed to do the same thing. I didn’t know
you would have your natural talent to hide yourself."

As I tied the choker around my neck, the teardrop felt warm
against my skin.

“As long as it stays warm, it is working," said
Johnathen. "When it gets cold, it means that it needs time to gather more
magic."

Michelle pulled out a similar looking teardrop to show me
that I wasn’t alone in using such magic.

“Don’t bump into anyone, Jack. If you make physical contact
with anyone then the spell is broken and they can see you.”

"Ok," I said. "This is great, but what if
someone recognizes me from the video on YouTube?”

Johnathen put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. “You need to
relax. Worrying about things too much isn’t going to help you. All you need is a
change of clothes. In a few days, when your hair starts to grow back, no one
will be able to tell that you were the one in the video.”

I had to laugh just a little. I mean, after all, I had dark
forces who could use magic after me.

“You really think my hair and eyebrows are going to grow
back?" I asked, touching my bald head.

Fetch made a coughing sound. It was so obvious he was trying
not to laugh at me. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was Fetch's inexperience
that cost me my hair and eyebrows, or if he did it on purpose. I wouldn’t put
it past him, twisted lizard.

“Sure,“ said Johnathen. He didn’t sound too convincing.
“Now, let’s do something about those clothes you are wearing."

He looked at me for a few minutes. He walked all around me
whispering something under his breath. I felt a tugging of the sweats, and I
had a moment of panic when I thought they were going to be pulled off my body,
leaving me naked in front of Michelle. But instead, they began to change. It felt
like they were folding upward, a kind of waving sensation, and when it reached
my neck it stopped. I was now dressed in a pair of black jeans and a long
sleeved, black, button up, oxford shirt. I had on black leather boots and a
leather belt with a silver buckle. Michelle whistled.

”Not bad,” she said, giving me an appreciative nod.

The clothes fit well and made me feel a lot better about my
appearance. I smelled a faint odor of cologne and realized that Johnathen had
cleaned me up a bit, as well as changed my clothes. A part of me wondered why
he couldn’t have done that in the tunnel when I was left naked, but I was too
grateful to him for all he was doing to say anything.

Johnathen looked at me for a moment. With another wave of
his hand, and a whispered word, a bandana appeared on my head. Another wave of
his hand and sunglasses appeared. I couldn’t see the bandanna, but I figured it
was black. It seemed to be a theme for Johnathen. He smiled, a little pleased
with himself.

“Now, Jack, for some real magic," he said with a
crooked smile and a gleam in his eyes.

He took the pouch in his right hand and passed his left hand
over it. Reaching in, he pulled out a red box and a flat metal rectangle about
the size of a credit card. The red wooden box was the amazing part of the
trick. It was too big for the pouch, yet somehow, Johnathen had pulled it
through. He set the box on the table and handed me the metal card.

“This has a special spell placed on it. Michelle helped me
come up with it. It is a universal I.D. card. If you are ever in a place where
you are asked to show your identification, hand them this. It sends out a pulse
that convinces them that it is a real I.D. It will give whoever touches it a
feeling of peace and will reassure them that you are ok."

“It’s gotten me out of a traffic ticket or two,” said
Michelle.

She was holding up a similar card. She had a guilty smile on
her face. I took the card from Johnathen and put it in my back pocket. 
Johnathen walked over to the duffle bag, waving a hand over the top. It opened
and all of the money began to flow out of it.  It flew around Johnathen's head
before it began to disappear into the small pouch. In just a few seconds, all
of the money had disappeared into the tiny pouch.

“Show off,” said Michelle.

Johnathen laughed, handing me the pouch.

“Reach inside and pull out some money," he said.

I took the pouch expecting it to be heavy. It had no weight
to it at all. I reached inside it. I could only get about three fingers in it.
I touched the bottom of it, not even able to get my fingers in very deep. It
was just an empty pouch.

“Ok, what’s the trick?"

Johnathen smiled. There was a gleam in his eyes. He was
enjoying showing off.

“Just picture what you want to pull out of the pouch. Make
sure you have a clear image of it. It helps to close your eyes and get the
image first, until you get the hang of it. Then just reach in and pull it
out."

I closed my eyes for a second, getting an image of a hand
full of cash. When I felt I had a good picture in my mind, I opened my eyes and
reached into the pouch. My whole hand fit inside. It wasn’t like the pouch had
grown, but more like my hand had shrunk. It was the strangest feeling. I
quickly pulled my hand out holding a wad of cash.

“You’ll get used to it,“ said Michelle. “It’s just one of
the things that people use in the magic community."

I had to start getting used to all of this. It was now my
life. I placed an image in my mind of me putting the money back into the pouch,
and reached inside again letting go of the cash. I made a point of slowly
pulling my hand out, not wanting to appear too freaked out by the strange
sensation.

“Now, Jack, I have one more gift for you.”

He reached over and picked up the red box. Michelle had
stopped working on her computer and was watching me very closely. She seemed to
have an idea as to what was in this red box. I got the impression she was very
interested in my reaction to this last gift. Johnathen opened the box. Inside
was a dagger. It was silver and covered with strange symbols. At the base of
the hilt was a blood red jewel.  The dagger was long and sharp on both sides.
Lying next to it was a leather sheath.