Forced Magic

by Jerod Lollar

  I looked around me. The park was quiet, dark and kind of eerie. I wasn’t sure if this was the best idea, but, considering everything that happened, the idea of talking to someone who might be able to explain this craziness to me was a risk, at this point, that I was willing to take. I had a million questions about everything from the dragon to why my brother didn’t remember me. I felt depressed. “What am I going to do?” I said out loud.

  The dragon had been staring at me again. It seemed to sense my mood change. It reached into the bag and tossed a taco at me. I caught it and began unwrapping it. I decided to take this opportunity to ask some questions. I needed a distraction from thinking about my brother. I just didn’t know where to start.

  “Do you have a name?” I asked, as the dragon started eating tacos again.

  It gave me a sideways glance. It had an annoyed look on its face as I realized how stupid the question was. The dragon was still new to the world no matter how smart it was. I sat there for a moment.

  ”Do you want a name?”

  This question seemed to surprise the dragon. It stopped chewing and stared across the pond, its amazing eyes rapidly changing color. Finally the eyes went back to green. Slowly it nodded its head 'yes'. It wanted a name. The dragon got up and stood in front of me. I had its undivided attention now. Its tail was moving back and forth. I knew I had to do this right. One mistake, one bad name and I was sure I would get smacked again with that tail.

  ”OK, I guess what we have to think about is what is a good name for a dragon.”

  The tail twitched slightly then went back to swaying gently.

  “You’re not a pet, so Spot or Fido is out.”

  The tail swayed.

  “Even though you did fetch those green things pretty well.”

  The tail swung at my face, I closed my eyes flinching for the smack that never came. I opened my eyes. The dragon was looking at me with a thoughtful look on its face. Something I had said got its attention.

  “What? What did I say?”

  Something I said had caught the dragon’s attention. What was it? Was it a clue to what it wanted to be called?

  ”Green?”

  The tail twitched. I flinched again. I pushed the tail away and got up.

  “Look you stupid lizard. This is getting us nowhere. If you expect me to sit here, with the threat of being hit by your tail, as I try to guess what name you want, you are crazy. If it ain’t green, then what? Fetch?”

  The dragon nodded its head.

  "Fetch?” I repeated, ”But that’s ridiculous that’s not a….”

  “Fetch.” I thought. Looking at the dragon, it seemed to fit. It was a good name, Fetch.

  “Ok, Fetch, that’s now your name.”

  The dragon’s eyes turned blue for a second and its silver scales glowed. Fetch’s eyes went back to green and its tail twitched excitedly. It was great to see this dragon so happy. Fetch looked like a little kid who had just got news of a trip to a favorite amusement park. I had to smile a little.

  “Ok," I said. “On to the next question. Are you a boy or a girl?"

  I fell to the ground as the tail swung around and knocked me flat. I jumped up, my face stinging where the tail had hit me.

  “What did you do that for?” I said, “How am I supposed to know the difference between a male and female dragon?”

  Fetch swung his tail around again, but this time, I was ready for it. I jumped back. The tail swung by missing my head by inches.

  “This isn’t helping me learn, dragon.”

  Fetch stood there, muscles taut, ready to jump on me. I was ready for it, and, with a speed that surprised me, I wove to the right as he sprang. He jumped past me, and, before I realized what I was doing, I jumped on Fetch's back and wrapped my arms around his neck. I got close to the side of its face, trying to figure out where its ears were.

  “Now you listen to me. I am just trying to figure this entire thing out. I never asked for you to hatch on my leg, but we are in this together and we've got to stop fighting each other. Maybe this wizard can explain things, Ok? I am just asking questions so I can learn what is going on. So please stop smacking me with your tail.”

  I could feel Fetch's muscles relax a little, and when I was sure it wasn’t going to attack me, I let it go. When I got off Fetch's back, the dragon walked away. He stopped at the edge of the pond and looked across the water. What gave this dragon the right to be so sensitive and angry all the time? It had played jokes on me. Was it just a bad sport? I mean, I should be the one who was upset. After all, Fetch did fly off and leave me alone to face Booger and the snot brigade. Where was this dragon then? Where was Fetch when Booger broke my nose? My hand shot up to my face. My nose was fine now. In all the commotion I hadn’t realized that Fetch had obviously healed it. I felt bad. I realized I really had no right to be mad.

  I looked at the dragon. It sat perfectly still. It was hard for me to grasp that, just a few short hours ago, it was nothing but a lucky rock I had put in my pocket. Fetch didn’t have any more idea as to what was going on than I did. No matter how smart Fetch was, it was new to this world. I walked up to Fetch, standing a little behind it.

  “You know, I have always been embarrassed that I never learned to speak Spanish. I mean, here I am living in the southwest my whole life, and I never learned to speak a language that so many of my friends knew how to speak. I always felt dumb. That’s how I feel right now. I always loved reading about dragons, but never learned enough about them to help me know what they were. So I guess what I am saying is, I am an idiot, Fetch. Could you help me out?”

  Fetch looked back at me. Turning around Fetch nodded 'yes'.

  “Ok,” I said taking a deep breath, “Are you a male dragon?”

  Fetch nodded 'yes'. Relief washed over me. A strange rumbling sound came from him and he opened his mouth, letting out a loud burp. It smelled like tacos. Fetch walked over to me and sat down next to me. We both looked over the pond. Across the pond, you could hear the animals at the zoo moving around and making noise. I guessed that was a sign that the sun would be rising soon. I had no phone or watch, so there was no way of telling what time it was. I began to wonder if the wizard was going to show. I remembered his cryptic words. I had to believe he had some answers for me. I looked up and scanned the park around us, looking for another blue ball of light, or my beautiful assassin fairy ready to pounce on me, finishing the job that the smelly snot heads had started.

  “You fixed my nose?” I asked Fetch.

  He nodded his head slightly as an answer.

  “Thanks, great job on my hand too. You’re getting better! I still have all my clothes this time.”

  He looked at me for a second as if trying to decide how to react to my teasing comment. He ducked his head down and placed it against my chest and gave me a playful shove backwards. I fell back, almost completely flipping over off the bench. I laughed and sat up and gently smacked his snout. It felt good to play a little like this.

  I started worrying about this wizard. What was his name, Johnathen? We sat there for a while and I took time to take in everything that had happened today. My life had become a book. I think I would like this book if I was reading it, but it seemed a little different when you are living it. In the books you can say when a person is in pain. In life you feel it. The overwhelming sensation of pain. The gripping, strangling hold of fear. Just thinking about it gave me a new respect for the heroes in my favorite stories. A duck took flight across the pond. Fetch and I jumped, ready for action. Realizing it was a duck, I slowly sat back down on the bench. All the muscles in my body were stiff from tensing up ready to attack a duck.

  “Man. I’ve got to calm down,” I thought.

  I was getting tired of waiting. Where was this wizard? I wanted answers from this Johnathen. That strange pulse that I had forced out of my body. Was it some sort of magic? Then the simple fact that I had caught Fetch's fire and was able to use it. All of these things were amazing to me.
>
  "How could I fight like I did?"

  I had actually faced green monsters. I hit them. I actually did pretty well. Heck, with some help from Fetch we won the battle. Up until that moment I had never truly been in a real fight. I always avoided confrontation. Pretty much ran away from fights. But now, in one day, I had more than one scuffle with a dragon and fought off an army of green snot creatures. I felt a swell of pride and felt like I could take on the fairy on my own at that point. This felt great, but it also felt wrong.

  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.

  Chapter 13

  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.