Forced Magic (7 page)

This was really happening to me. I never asked for any of
this, even in my wildest dreams.  Even at my excitement at beating the crap out
of the green monsters, there was the feeling that this was some sort of
mistake. My brother didn’t remember me. There was a fairy that lured me into
traffic too and, oh yeah, I was about to meet a wizard that had given me a
duffle bag full of money. Seven million dollars. He had to be expecting
something in return. It was all so confusing. I looked over at Fetch. He was
staring across the lake. His mouth slightly open.

 “Hey Fetch. Maybe I was supposed to find your egg," I
said.

Fetch looked over at me with a blank green-eyed stare. He
seemed to have no answers himself.

“But why? Why me? Was I picked?”

Fetch looked down shaking his head. He sighed. I had the
feeling that he was asking himself the same questions. We needed answers. I
hoped that this wizard Johnathen would provide them. I was beginning to wonder
how much longer we would have to wait for this wizard.  He never really gave a
time. What if he came, waited, and thought we were not going to show, then left
before we got here. What if there really wasn’t a wizard? Maybe the bobcat was
just some kind of magic animal I had never heard of. What if it was the fairy?
She might have tricked me into coming here and was even now waiting to ambush
us. But why would she have given me the bag full of money? I just remembered
the collar that was left for Fetch. It had been left in the tunnel. I wondered
if the wizard would be mad that Fetch had not accepted the gift. All of these
thoughts swirled around in my head. I started looking around nervously. I
jumped at every sound.  Fetch looked at me annoyed at my agitated state. Time
seemed to slow down as we sat there waiting for this wizard to show up.

I was starting to get impatient. I needed answers and I
needed them now. The idea of waiting here until this Johnathen showed up was
becoming less appealing to me. The sun would be up soon. How long could Fetch
stay hidden? His camouflage abilities were an asset, but I had no idea how long
they would last, or if he would be willing to stay hidden like that all of the
time.

I thought of the fight and all of the camera phones. We had
to be all over the news by now and must be viral on the Internet. Someone might
recognize me if we had to wait here in the daylight. We were kind of like
fugitives. I felt exposed. If he didn’t show up soon, we would have to find a
hiding place. I was lost in all of these thoughts when Fetch tapped me on the
shoulder with his tail. I looked over at the pond and saw light in the middle
of it. It looked like someone had just turned on a light bulb. I jumped up
preparing myself for another fight with Booger. But this light looked different
from the other. Then all of the sudden the wizard appeared.

Standing in the middle of the pond, on a small island, was a
man that I figured had to be the wizard. He was dressed all in black. His hands
were clasped behind his back as he stood there looking at us. He motioned for
us to come to him. I guessed that he wanted us to fly over to him. I was just
about to turn to Fetch, and ask if he would take us out there, when I heard a
strange rumbling sound. The water rippled out like someone had thrown a big
rock in to agitate it.

Slowly a mist began to form across the water. It swirled
around and then formed a thick line. It changed color from white to black and
began to rise. As it lifted, a dry neat path appeared leading directly to the
wizard and his small island.  He was showing off. He could have met me easily
next to the pond instead of in the middle of it. He wanted me and Fetch to know
that he had power.  He had established right away that he was in charge of this
meeting; that we were here because he invited us. I looked at Fetch and saw how
cautious he seemed. We got the message.

“Ok,” I said turning to look at Fetch.

Even though I was not looking at him, I could feel the
presence of this guy. He radiated power.  There was a part of me that wanted to
run away, but I needed answers and this seemed to be the guy who could give
them to me. Besides, I had a feeling if I ran I wouldn’t get very far away from
this guy before he would catch up to us.

“Ok Fetch,” I whispered.

Fetch was looking at  the wizard as his eyes changed
colors. 

“This is it. We really need to stick together. Let’s calmly
walk out to this guy. We need to show him we are not afraid of him.  We need to
show him that we have some control and that we are in charge.”

I put my hand on Fetch's shoulder. His tail twitched and he
took off toward the pond at a galloping run.  He had moved so suddenly that I
lost my footing. I fell on my side with a clumsy grunt. Looking toward the
wizard I saw what appeared to be the reason why Fetch had moved so quickly.
Standing next to the wizard was a girl. She had on a tight, black, short dress
and from what I could tell from this distance was very pretty. If there was any
doubt in my mind that Fetch was male before it was now gone. I quickly got up
and grabbed the duffle bag, running to catch up to Fetch. I paused for a moment
before stepping onto the path. I looked up as I heard a gasp of delight coming
from the girl. Fetch had made it to the small island and she was scratching him
on the head.  The wizard was watching this and laughing. No one was even
looking at me as I made my way to the island.

When I reached the island, Fetch was sitting there looking
up at the girl. She continued scratching his head. There was a strange humming
sound coming from him. I swear he was purring. I gritted my teeth. So much for
looking even remotely dignified. I dropped the duffle bag and turned to face
the wizard.

To my surprise he didn’t look much older than I did. Tall
and lean with shoulder length hair, he was dressed in a black button up shirt
and jeans. I was expecting him to be in flowing robes with a pointy hat and
long white beard. His face was partly in shadow as he stood perfectly still. It
bothered me that I couldn’t see his whole face. His eyes were completely in the
dark and I could only see the straight line of his mouth. Even though I
couldn’t see his eyes, I could feel them staring at me intently.

We stood there for a while. He seemed to be studying me.
Taking measure of who I was. I was beginning to get uncomfortable at his
unmoving silence when we both jumped at a strange rumbling sound. Fetch had
finally gained some control over himself. He was now facing the wizard. The
rumbling sound was coming from him. He was growling. He crouched down as if he
was getting ready to pounce and the wizard, seeing this, cautiously took a step
back.

“He is very protective of you,” he said in that same
pleasant voice we had heard from the bobcat.

The statement surprised me. It hadn’t dawned on me, until
the wizard said it, that the dragon growled as a protective instinct toward me.

“Sorry for staring at you, I have a tendency to do that. My
name is Johnathen.” 

Johnathen had stepped more into the light and now I could
see his whole face. He had a broad grin. At the sound of Johnathen speaking,
Fetch stopped growling. He seemed to be satisfied by the fact that the wizard
had spoken first. He went back to paying attention to the girl. I shook
Johnathen's hand.

"I’m Jack,” I said, "Jack Dewitte."

The wizard shook my hand enthusiastically. "It is great
to meet you, Jack. Oh, I’m sorry, where are my manners?"  He nods his head
toward the girl, never taking his eyes off Fetch. "This is my friend and
assistant, Michelle."

It struck me as interesting that a wizard would seem to be
so amazed by a dragon. In story after story, wizards and dragons interacted all
the time. The way he was acting, you would have thought he had never seen a
dragon before.

I looked over at the girl. She was pretty with long black
hair and blue eyes. She was kneeling down staring into the eyes of Fetch. Her
hand was stroking his head. Fetch continued to purr. Any feelings of being cautious
toward the wizard didn’t seem to apply to this girl.  She had a look of wonder
on her face, as she stared at him. Fetch's eyes slowly changed from green to
the same color blue as hers. She gasped and a tear ran down her cheek. Fetch
smiled. He seemed quite pleased with himself and his little trick. The smoke
coming out of his snout turned blue as well.

“Show off.” I mumbled.

Fetch turned to me giving me a dirty look. The girl stood
up. She must have heard me. She smiled at me and offered her hand.

“Hi Jack. It's nice to meet you."

She tried to look at me but her eyes kept wandering over to
Fetch. I didn’t blame her, after all Fetch was a dragon. I wondered what kind
of magic creature Michelle was. A witch maybe? I wanted to ask, but I thought
it might be rude. I looked down at her arm and saw a tattoo. She had them going
up both her arms. It was very colorful and the design was really interesting. 
I couldn’t tell exactly what it was but it was very beautiful. Some people have
tattoos that stand out and just don’t look right. My brother had a tattoo of a
panther on his shoulder that kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. This tattoo
seemed to fit perfectly with Michelle. It enhanced her beauty and seemed to
tell a lot about who she was. I stared at it trying to figure out what the
design was.

Johnathen cleared his throat. We both looked over at him. He
was smiling at us, his eyebrows raised. He looked at our hands. We were still
shaking hands. Michelle had been distracted by Fetch, I had been distracted by
her tattoo. We quickly put our hands down, equally embarrassed.

“Hi, uh sorry, yeah, um I’m Jack . . . Dewitte, “ I
stammered.

I felt my face flush as I realized I told her my name, when
she obviously heard me talking to Johnathen and knew it already. I always felt
awkward around girls, never knowing what to say. I surprised myself that I was
able to talk to Michelle at all.  We stood there for a few silent uncomfortable
seconds. What a picture we must have made, me, a dragon, a pretty woman, and a
wizard, standing on a small island in the middle of a duck pond.

Finally Johnathen broke the silence. “Well, now that all the
introductions have been made let’s get down to business."

He clapped his hands together, rubbing them in an eager way.
He was obviously very excited by  all of this. There was a loud coughing
”Harrumph“ sound. We all turned and looked at Fetch. He was staring at me, eyes
red and narrow. He was upset, and the way he was staring at me let me know that
he was upset at me.

“What?” I asked.

He continued to stare at me, his tail thumping the ground
impatiently. He was starting to annoy me. I guessed that he must be upset
because he wasn’t the center of attention right now. 

“What did I do now?” 

Fetch's tail whipped around slapping me upside the head.
Johnathen jumped back a step and Michelle let out a little gasp. With my face
turning red, and my patience growing thin, I rubbed the side of my face.

“I thought I told you to stop hitting me with your tail?”

Fetch took another swipe. I was ready this time, catching it
before it connected with the side of my face. I held it tightly.

“I'll bite it again man, I swear I will. Now what is your
problem?"

Fetch whipped his tail out of my hands. He rolled his eyes
back in his head shaking it in frustration. He was upset by something, that was
for sure, but I just couldn’t tell what it was. Then it hit me. I felt bad.

“Oh man,” I said to him. “I’m so sorry. That was stupid of
me."

Fetch nodded his head in agreement.

“Sorry you guys. I forgot to introduce you. This is Fetch,”
I said, turning to face Michelle and Johnathen.

I stopped midsentence. Both Michelle and Johnathen were
standing there with shocked looks on their faces.

“You named the dragon?” Jonathan whispered.

"Yeah,” I responded “Well actually when you come right
down to it he named himself.”

 Both Michelle and Johnathen stood there shocked expressions
on their faces. Something I had said had really surprised them. I glanced at
Fetch and saw the confusion on his face mirroring the confusion I was feeling. 

"Yeah, I had to call him something, and, since he got
the clothes and food for me, I joked about how he fetched them and it
stuck."

This wasn’t necessarily how it happened, but, just like
anybody does when they meet people they want to impress, you make a story more
interesting. I glanced over at Fetch again. He made no move indicating he
disliked what I had said. Michelle and Johnathen continued to stare at us,
mouths slightly open. They both seemed to be in shock.

“He presented you with clothes and food.”

This was a statement, not a question. I found myself nodding
my head "yes" anyway. He had a look of amazement on his face. The
broad smile came back and he shook his head in disbelief.

“I think you need to tell me the whole story from the
beginning,” he said. “I need to know everything that happened to you. You can’t
leave out one detail. You are unique, Jack. As far as I know there has never
been a person like you. And there has never been a Dragon quite like you Fetch."

“Why are we so special? “I asked.

“Simple,” said Johnathen. He pointed at me and stated. “You
are not supposed to be alive. No one, as far as I know, has ever survived a
dragon hatching. Your friend Fetch here, according to his very nature as a
dragon, should have killed you. He should have eaten you after he hatched.”

I didn’t know what to say to this. I thought back to when I
was in the tunnel and how I was sure Fetch was going to kill me. I had been
right all along. According to Johnathen, I was supposed to die. I could feel
Fetch at my side but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I was more
confused than ever. The same paranoid feeling about the fairy trying to kill me
came creeping into my mind.  The fairy! I hadn’t given her too much thought
since the fight in the parking lot, but now the thought that she caused Fetch's
egg to hatch and kill me came creeping back into my mind.

I turned to Fetch, looking at him. He gave me a level look
waiting to see how I was going to react. His eyes had gone back to green. I
looked at him standing there; I wanted to say so much. I couldn’t be upset at
him. Whether he was supposed to or not he didn’t eat me. I had to thank him for
that. The whole ridiculousness of this situation came rushing into my mind and
I started to laugh. I didn’t want to but I just couldn’t help it. I laughed
long and hard and pointed at Fetch.

“Dude!” I said, “You were supposed to eat me?”

Fetch turned his head away. He seemed confused. It must have
been extremely hard to fight against his nature and spare me. I felt bad for
laughing.

“I’m sorry Fetch, but this is all so confusing.  I mean, you
know that I thought you were part of some kind of plot by the fairy to kill
me."

At these words, Johnathen grabbed me by the arm and spun me
to face him.  He looked like someone had drained all color from his face. His
upper lip twitched.

“What fairy? Trying to kill you? What are you talking about?
You mentioned a fairy in the tunnel Jack, what do you mean plot?“

He squeezed my arm tightly. He definitely was strong. I
pulled away from him, not liking how his mood had changed. I could hear Fetch
growling. He wasn’t happy with the way Johnathen had reacted to the news of the
fairy. Neither did I. He took a step back giving me some space.

“I’m sorry Jack," he said, "but the more I hear
about this fairy, the more I am convinced you are in a lot of danger. I have a
spell of protection in place at this park right now, but, if a fairy has tried
to kill you, we will have to get moving soon."

Once again I started to feel frustration and anger swell up
inside me. All of this seemed so unfair. I looked over at Michelle. She looked
scared and angry.

“Johnathen, you didn’t tell me anything about a fey being
involved.”

She stared at the wizard. Her voice had a slight tremor to
it and her hands, clinched into fists, were visibly shaking.

“I didn’t know all of the details,” said Johnathen, “but
does it surprise you that Jack here was targeted just like you were? “

Tears welled up in her eyes and she turned away. Fetch had
stopped growling at Johnathen and was staring at Michelle. He was obviously
concerned about her. I reached a boiling point. I was supposed to get some
answers from this guy and now I seemed to have more questions.

“Ok man, what is going on?" I shouted. “You freaked in
the tunnel when I mentioned the Fairy and now you've freaked again. I've been
targeted by the fey now?  Was this some sort of plot? Was I supposed to find
Fetch? What is going on?"