by Obert Skye
“Fine,” Ray snapped. “I have some calls to make.”
“Then I’ll leave you alone.”
“No. You won’t. Stay where you are until I say so.”
Ty stood there trying to look placid and bored as Ray called in some favors from people who both feared and owed him.
Rin set the toolbox down on the bench behind the quaint bread shop. Maple trees growing around the bench kept it well hidden, helping to create a private spot in a busy city.
The wizard opened the toolbox and pulled out Clark.
The trees blocked most of the direct sunlight, so Rin retrieved a flashlight from the same box and turned it on. He held the light over the silver strip on Clark’s back to speed up the charge.
Clark’s eyes popped open almost immediately.
The bird stood up on the bench and looked around. Remembering that something was different, he took a moment to stretch his wings and look at himself.
“I feel powerful,” the bird said.
The once-metal raven now appeared to be a small dragon. He had dark black spikes along his spine that stuck up five inches at his neck, decreasing in size until they met his tail feathers. His wings had been lengthened and transformed so that their now-longer span seemed to be less birdlike and more batlike. Two long horns spiraled out and up from above his eyes. The spikes and wings and horns were all adorned with a swirling textured pattern. The bird looked like a bulky but terrifying dragon—if that dragon lived on a world considerably smaller than Earth.
“I’m glad you like it,” Rin replied kindly. “It’s amazing what magic can do for one’s self-esteem. Look at Ozzy, for example—he’s much more confident than he used to be.”
Clark looked around anxiously. “Is he here?”
“No,” Rin said. “He’s back in Oregon. I’m referring to how he acted on the boat.”
“If he’s back in Oregon, where are we?”
“In New York.”
“How did we get here?”
“We took a shortcut through Quarfelt.”
“Is that possible?”
“All things are possible for those who are willing to throw out the stuffy confines of reality. Did you know they now have bacon-scented soap?”
“I’m not interested unless it’s metal.” Clark stretched his wings again. “These things are heavy. And my beak feels funny.”
“But you look amazing.”
“I bet I do.”
Clark jumped and shook proudly. He shot up into the trees, wriggled around in the leaves, and then dropped back down onto the bench.
“I like the changes,” he said, referring to himself. “Ozzy and Sigi need to see.”
“They will,” Rin said. “But right now we have a journey to complete.”
“And it’s in New York? Isn’t this where that pinched looking man with the cinnamon-colored hair lives?”
“Yes. And yes.”
A red sports car drove past, and the morning sun bounced off its windshield and flashed across Clark’s eyes. The bird tittered, tweeted, and twirled.
“Are you okay?” Rin asked.
“I don’t know,” Clark answered. “I think I’m having a flashback of that felt place.”
“Quarfelt?” Rin asked with concern.
“Did we fight something long and spongy?”
“Not that I remember.”
“And was there a man there with a bad combover and three arms?”
“You could be talking about Ned,” Rin said. “He wears glasses and has a really long nose.”
Clark shook his head. “I wish I could remember being there.”
“If wishes were fishes, we’d all have smelly hands.”
“I don’t have hands,” Clark said. “I have talons. So I’d like to remember.”
“Sometimes ignorance is necessary. Now focus.”
“On what?”
“The task at hand.”
“I’m not sure what that is,” the bird answered honestly, still looking at his strange new wings.
“I was hired to find Ozzy’s parents.”
“Are they in New York?”
“No, but Ray is. And I’m hoping he might have a few answers.”
“And my new additions are going to play a part in this?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s move,” Clark insisted. “I can’t wait to put my new personality to the test.”
“Okay,” Rin said. “Here’s what I want you to do.”
Clark listened and, upon hearing the plan, smiled as much as his golden beak would allow him to.
Patti was worried. Had she known all those years ago when she married Rin, who was then Brian, that things would turn out as they had, she might very well have said no to his proposal. Of course, then she would never have had Sigi, and Sigi meant the world to her. So much so that she was worried that her daughter was heading down an odd and unstable path.
Patti needed to spend more time with Sigi, but with Ozzy living at their house now, alone time wasn’t as easy to come by. She had taken her daughter to Eugene for the day a week ago, but that had ended in a fight and more confusion.
To make matters worse, Sigi had skipped school yesterday and gone to Salem with Ozzy to track down a dangerous person. Patti felt lucky that the police had found them and locked up Jon so quickly. She had raced home from a meeting in Corvallis but by the time she had arrived, Ozzy’s lawyer had already picked both kids up from the station and had gotten them back home.
Patti was worried that her daughter was in a bad place.
Feeling desperate, Patti decided to take Sigi away for a few days. She wanted to go on a small vacation to California. However, she knew that Sigi would insist on Ozzy coming along. So Patti decided to be proactive and squash the problem before she sprang the news on her daughter.
Climbing the steps that led to the room above the garage, Patti went over what she wanted to say to Ozzy in her head. When she knocked on the door, he opened it almost instantly. The boy was wearing an orange T-shirt, purple shorts, and a somber expression.
“Hi,” Ozzy said sheepishly.
“Hello.”
“I’m still sorry about going with Sigi to Salem,” he apologized for the tenth time.
“Me too,” Patti said.
“We thought it would help.”
“It was dangerous. We’re lucky no one was hurt.” Patti smiled to ease the mood. “Actually, I’m here for another reason. I have something to talk to you about. Can I come in?”
“Of course,” Ozzy said sincerely. “After all, you do own this place.”
Patti came into the room and closed the door. She took a seat on the desk chair and Ozzy sat on the edge of the bed. The two large windows lit the room completely and made the blue interior walls shine.
“Do you like living here?” Patti asked kindly.
“Yes,” Ozzy answered. “I miss the Cloaked House, but this is a perfect second best.”
“You’ve had an unusual life.”
“It doesn’t seem that way to me,” Ozzy said. “It’s all I know.”
Sitting in the desk chair, it was easy for Ozzy to see how much Patti and Sigi looked alike. Patti’s hair was short and neat while Sigi’s was wild and full, but their dark eyes and strong cheeks had been set using the same mold.
“You’re remarkable, Ozzy,” Patti said sincerely.
“Thanks,” Ozzy was confused. “Is that what you came to tell me?”
Patti laughed. “No . . . I came to say I need your help.”
“You name it.”
“Things seem kind of heavy recently.” Patti held her hands in front of her as if she were lifting something weighty. “It just feels like life is more stressful than it should be.”
“Sorry.”
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��You don’t need to apologize,” Patti said. “But because things are nuts, I was thinking I’d take Sigi on a trip with me to California. No business, just to get away for a few days. We would leave tomorrow.”
“That sounds good.”
“I feel like I need some alone time with her. You know, just mother and daughter.”
Ozzy nodded even though he had no idea what it was like to spend some alone time with a mother or father. But being of above-average intelligence, Ozzy didn’t need anything spelled out.
“Do you want me to stay here and watch the house?”
“Yes,” Patti said sounding relieved, “but there’s more. You know Sigi will insist you come along. And normally that would be fine by me, but you’ll probably need to persuade or convince her that you want to stay here and that she should go without you.”
“Nobody persuades Sigi,” Ozzy said in a complimentary tone. “She’s really good at doing what she wants to do.”
“Right,” Patti said. “But maybe you could nudge her, ease her mind about you staying here. Of course, there will still be officers watching, so you won’t be alone.”
“I’ll see if I can nudge her.”
Ozzy smiled and Patti smiled back. Both smiles were sincere. Patti was pleased that her plan to have some quality time with Sigi might happen, and Ozzy was thrilled at the possibility of having a few days by himself. He had grown up alone and isolated, and he missed the long days he used to spend in his own head.
“Thank you,” Patti said standing up.
“There is one condition,” Ozzy said. “Sorry, but if Sigi asks me point blank if you told me not to come, then I’ll have no choice but to tell her. She’s the one person I’ve never kept any secrets from.”
“Fair enough,” Patti said.
Ozzy stared at her. “Do you say ‘fair enough’ to upset your ex-husband?” he asked without sounding like the jerk most people would. “Because Rin always says, ‘More than fair.’”
“I’m aware of what he says.” Patti was suddenly acting like she had a splitting headache. “I say it that way because it’s just fair enough.”
“I was only wondering.”
Patti sat back down on the chair. “Look, Ozzy, you’re a wonderful kid, and I know I’m not your parent, but I care about you. And sometimes—actually, a lot of times—Rin says things that aren’t right, or shouldn’t be taken seriously. It’s not healthy to live a delusional life. Do you know where my ex-husband went for all those years he was gone?”
“Quarfelt?”
Patti looked at Ozzy and took a moment to breathe. “No, Ozzy. He was getting help.”
“Where?”
“It’s not important now. Maybe you can ask him next time he returns,” she said softly. “If he returns.”
“I don’t understand,” Ozzy said honestly. “Do you know for a fact that he wasn’t in Quarfelt?”
“I know you’ve been through enough already,” she said. “And I just don’t want you to spend your life walking the wrong way.”
Ozzy looked out the window toward the sea.
“What kind of help was Rin getting?”
“Life can be hard, Ozzy,” Patti said gently. “Sometimes people need others to help them through it.”
“And Rin needed help?”
“You’re smart,” Patti said sadly. “You must know what is real and what is pretend.”
“I don’t,” Ozzy said. “I grew up alone in a forest with a metal bird. I have been picked on and worked over by people my parents shouldn’t ever have hung out with. I hired a wizard. The line between real and pretend is a blur to me.”
“Sometimes knowing what’s real requires closing your eyes and using only your mind,” Patti suggested. “You’ll figure this all out.”
“I will?”
Patti smiled. “Now, I’m going to be telling Sigi about the trip at lunch. So it would be nice to have you there to encourage her to go. It’ll be good for all of us.”
Ozzy looked back toward the ocean, hoping the view would help steady the strange new thoughts that were swirling up inside of him.
Patti got up, patted him kindly on the right shoulder, and then left the boy alone.
Ozzy closed his eyes and let his mind try to figure things out.
Ozzy sat at the table in the kitchen feeling like an invisible weight had been wrapped around his neck. What Patti had said about Rin sat in his gut like a wad of wet cheese. The way she had said with such conviction that Rin had not been in Quarfelt made him uneasy. The whole world had become a ship and the motion of events was making him seasick.
“Are you okay?” Sigi asked as she sat on a tall barstool at the bar. “You look un-Ozzyish.”
“I’m fine.”
Patti was at the stove cooking some rice in a pot.
“Good,” Patti said. “Because I have some news.”
Sigi stopped what she was doing and directed her gaze toward her mom.
“We’re going on a trip.”
“We just went on a trip,” Sigi reminded her.
“That was a one-day work trip. This is a four-day fun trip,” Patti said, sounding like a mom who was trying to sell something lame to her child. “I’ve already alerted Sheriff Wills and we’re leaving tomorrow.”
“What about school?” Sigi asked. “More importantly, where are we going?”
“Well, since we’re leaving on Saturday, you’ll only miss Monday and Tuesday. And we’re going to do a lot of shopping and brave the crowds at Disneyland.”
Sigi acted mildly intrigued. “I haven’t been to Disneyland since I was eight and I threw up on the elephant ride.”
“Sounds magical,” Ozzy said.
“All right,” Sigi said happily. “I guess that would be fun. You’ll love it, Ozzy.”
“Actually, if it’s okay, I think I’ll stay here.”
Sigi looked shocked, and Patti did her best to appear likewise.
“What?” Sigi asked. “Why would you stay here?”
Ozzy was torn. Patti hadn’t told him that they were going to Disneyland. He had never been there, but he had heard people claiming that it was the happiest place on earth. It’s one thing to skip out on a mother-daughter outing, but it’s quite another to forgo a visit to the earth’s happiest spot.
“I know it sounds weird,” Ozzy said. “But I would love to have some time by myself.”
“We bother you?” Sigi asked.
“No, but I could read a ton of books and not miss the math test I have on Tuesday. I guess solitude sounds more interesting than crowds of people.”
“Okay,” Patti said, pretending to sound surprised by Ozzy’s wishes. “If he’s out, then you and I can go.”
“We can’t leave Ozzy,” Sigi protested.
“I’ll get Sheriff Wills to add extra protection.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Ozzy insisted. “I’ll be fine.”
“We could do a ton of shopping,” Patti said.
“I’m definitely out,” Ozzy added.
Sigi looked at Ozzy and questioned him with her brown eyes. He answered her back with his deep grey ones.
Turning to her mom, she asked, “Could we go to Harry Potter World?”
Patti didn’t look happy about the request. “I guess.”
“There’s a Harry Potter World?” Ozzy said, trying not to sound excited.
“Yeah,” Sigi said. “Now do you want to come?”
It was one thing for Ozzy to bow out of going to Disneyland, but it was another thing altogether to bow out of visiting the world of Potter.
“No,” Ozzy said firmly, wishing he was alone and in front of a computer so that he could see what Harry Potter World was and what he’d be missing. “I have the books.”
“Wow, you really do want some time away from us.”
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“Can I sleep on the couch in the living room while you’re gone?” Ozzy asked.
“Of course,” Patti answered.
Sigi shook her head. “It sounds like you’re going to have a wild time.”
“We leave early tomorrow,” Patti told her daughter. “Bring an extra suitcase for any new clothes or souvenirs you’ll be bringing home.”
“California has souvenirs?” Ozzy asked.
“Yes,” Sigi said. “I’ll bring you a wand from Harry Potter World.”
“They have wands?”
Ozzy was feeling less and less happy about the agreement he had made to stay home.
Patti left the kitchen to go pack.
“You’re sure about this?” Sigi asked. “It seems like you’d want to go.”
“I’m super sure,” Ozzy said. “I hate shopping.”
“Well, I don’t. You won’t get in trouble, will you?”
Ozzy held up his purple finger. “No.”
“Right. I don’t know why I worry about you. Oh, that’s right, because you’re constantly in trouble.” Sigi smiled, put her plate in the sink, and then slipped away to do some packing of her own.
Ozzy left the kitchen as well—he had a need to look up a few things online. First, he wanted to see what he would be missing at Harry Potter World. Second, he wanted to see if there was any mention from anyone, at any time, regarding a realm called Quarfelt.
Sheriff Wills was not thrilled with the idea of Patti taking Sigi to California and leaving Ozzy alone. But he reluctantly agreed to park an extra officer in front of the home and contact the police in California so that they would be aware and ready to help. It may have seemed like overkill, but Wills knew that Ray was the kind of person people shouldn’t turn their backs on.
The sheriff hadn’t talked to the two teenagers since he’d questioned Jon. He wanted to confront them with the new information he had, but he also wanted to do some of his own detective work before doing so. What Jon had told him had opened dozens of new leads. The one that intrigued him most was the one he was pursuing now. He looked at the GPS on the dashboard screen in his car. At the top in bold type was the address he was heading toward.