Forced Magic

by Jerod Lollar

  "Hey, you want to see something neat?”

  Michelle looked at me suspiciously.

  "You are gonna love this."

  I jumped up from the bench with a smile. I had no idea if what I was about to do would even work, but I wanted to show off. I looked around and saw how light the park had gotten. The sun was starting to rise and soon the early morning park walkers would start to show up. With another quick look around the park to make sure no on was there yet I turned to Fetch. I raised a hand in the air looking and smiling at Fetch. He got what I was going for right away. He sent a stream of fire out of his mouth catching my hand on fire.

  "Great job, Fetch," I said.

  Just in the short amount of time since last night’s battle, Fetch's aim had gotten better. I kept my hand up for a while looking at Michelle and smiling. She sat there with her mouth hanging open.

  "Ha!" I laughed, “You should see the look on your face right now."

  I put my hand down, palm up, and looked at it. I had learned to juggle when I was about seven. It had been a while since I had done it. I stood there hoping I could do this. The last thing I wanted was to send fireballs around the park, catching it on fire. I focused on the fire, trying to picture a fireball in my mind. As I stood there, focusing on the flame, I started feeling all these different emotions. First curiosity, then pride, a fondness for Michelle, and humor at a joke that I didn’t seem to truly understand. It felt very strange, almost alien, like these emotions were not my own. All that was pushed aside as surprise and delight flooded my mind. I had formed the fire in my hand into a perfect little ball. I kept my eyes on it as I heard Michelle’s gasps of delight. I tried tossing the ball of fire gently into the air. It landed back in my hand. Picturing an image in my mind, I lobbed the ball of fire into my other hand. It split in two. I now had two balls of fire, one in each hand. I tossed one in the air and it split again. I was juggling three balls of fire. Michelle laughed and Fetch grunted with appreciation. They were impressed with what I was doing. I was feeling pretty good about myself.

  I heard a shout. It was Johnathen. Remembering my juggling lessons I had years ago, I turned slowly toward the limo. Keeping my peripheral vision on the balls, I looked over at Johnathen. He was waving wildly to his left. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a car pulling into the park. I dropped the balls at my feet. They quickly caught the dry grass on fire. I stomped quickly, putting the small fire out.

  Fetch had gone into chameleon mode. Becoming the brown and green color of the ground, he was soon undetectable. You could only tell that there was something there if you happened to catch the occasional silver gleam from his scales. Michelle had stood up and was stomping the ground, helping me put out the fire. I was embarrassed at how quickly we were almost discovered.

  “That was close," said Michelle. "You don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself."

  I remembered my battle from the night before and the people who had been filming it.

  “Huh, talk about drawing attention to us, I think we need to check your computer to see if there are any videos of Fetch and me fighting the goblins. There were a lot of people there, and I know I saw someone with a camera phone taking videos."

  Michelle's eyes got really big. “I didn’t even think about that," she said. We walked a little faster toward the limo.

  When we got back to the limo, Johnathen greeted us with a frown. I looked at him and shrugged my shoulders giving him a nervous embarrassed little laugh. He chuckled and shook his head. Michelle had gone back to her laptop. She was typing a mile a minute, talking to Johnathen the whole time.

  “There is a chance that Jack and Fetch might have been caught on video. I’m checking right now to see if they have gone viral.”

  Johnathen gave her a look of confusion. Michelle sighed.

  "To see if there is a video and if a lot of people have seen it. Yep, there it is."

  We scrambled to gather around the computer.

  “What? So fast?" said Johnathen.

  He was looking over Michelle’s shoulder keeping his hands clasped behind his back. It was like he was afraid to touch the computer. Michelle looked at him rolling her eyes.

  “Honestly, Johnathen, you really need to learn how to use it. We know that magic users can. You just have to take the time to learn how. I know you would enjoy it."

  Johnathen continued to look at it as if he was afraid it would shock him. I have to admit I was pretty excited to see the battle on film. Since I had never been in a fight before, I had been impressed by how well I had done against what I now knew were goblins. We all crowded around the small computer screen to watch.

  There I was in the parking lot. You could see the blue ball and the goblins running around. The camera jumped around a lot, so it was hard to get a clear look of what was going on. It finally focused on me. I was pinned to the ground by Booger. My face began to feel warm as the flush of embarrassment hit me. I remembered feeling like I had done so well. There I was though, on film, flaying wildly underneath Booger. I looked like a fish flopping around on a dock. My hit that I had gotten in was nothing more than a lucky punch. The most embarrassing thing of all was I had on that stupid red stocking cap with the fuzzy ball. As I swung my arms around wildly the little fuzzy ball wiggled up and down. The camera cut away from me as a screech from one of the other goblins distracted the cameraman. The video went on showing the choppy story. You could hear the goblins chanting "Booger, Booger" and the camera focused back on me as I used him like a club. Again, I was fixed on the stocking cap and the jiggling bouncing fuzzy ball. To my right I heard the sound of Fetch laughing. I took a guess as to where he was standing and elbowed him. The way he coughed and choked, I could tell I got him in the throat. I watched the rest of the video. Both Michelle and Johnathen gasped at me catching the fire, but went silent as they watched me panic and fling it all over the parking lot. They gasped again as a strange shimmer that was the pulse gathering in me, was forced out of my body. There was even a shot of me climbing awkwardly onto Fetch's back and picking up the duffle bag. There was one more shot; when I had passed out, I had fallen off of Fetch. He had swooped down and grabbed me, by the seat of the purple sweats, with his mouth. I could see me hanging there, as we flew off, mooning the cameraman. Finally it ended. I looked and saw that thirty thousand people had already seen it.

  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 wi
ll 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.”

  Chapter 15

  “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 t
o 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?"