by Obert Skye
The plane ride back to Oregon wasn’t pleasant. Feeling concerned and helpless, Sigi could barely stay seated. It was bad enough that Jon had escaped, but moments before they got on the plane, her mother had been notified that the garage was on fire. Sheriff Wills had told Patti that nobody was hurt, but Ozzy was missing.
“We shouldn’t have left him there,” Sigi said to her mother.
“He’s going to be fine.”
“You can’t possibly know that.”
Patti was stung by the words and Sigi tried to back her comment up.
“Sorry, it’s just that nobody knows that.”
“Ozzy is the most resilient person I know,” Patti said. “He’s been through worse than a fire.”
The flight attendant stopped the cart near their row and asked if they’d like something to drink. They both got ginger ale, hoping it would help settle their stomachs.
While sipping their drinks, Patti said, “Ozzy is smart enough to avoid Jon.”
“I know,” Sigi said, “but I’m not too worried about Jon. I’m worried about the man he worked for.”
“Ray?” Patti asked.
“Yes.”
“Sheriff Wills said he’s hodophobic.”
“I’m sure he is,” Sigi said with disgust.
“No, not that. He has a fear of traveling,” Patti clarified. “He can’t leave New York due to the condition.”
“Well, that’s why he has to get people to do his dirty work.”
Sigi finished her drink and leaned over her mom to look out the window.
“Can’t they make this thing go any faster?”
“We’re already going hundreds of miles per hour.”
“Reality is so slow.”
Sigi leaned back and tried to control her breathing to keep calm.
The sound of sliding metal had come from a gun being held by a hand attached to a man with more bulk than beauty. Ty stood in the doorway to the dining room, pointing a large handgun at the wizard. Clark tried to jump up and attack, but his wings were useless thanks to the few remaining pieces of dragon still stuck to them. Ozzy tried to clip into Ty’s thoughts and get him to drop the gun and back away, but it had no effect on the man.
Rin stood up. “You need to leave. This is my house. Okay, maybe some of the paperwork still lists my brother as owner, but when I finally get things taken care of, this will be my house.”
Rin lifted his staff to strike a blow, but before he could swing it, a second man hit him on the back of the head and sent the wizard and his hat sailing.
Rin fell to the floor, not moving.
Clark did his best to fly up into Ty’s face, but one of his spikes got caught on the long lacy tablecloth and he pulled the fabric up and over himself. Thrashing around, Clark chirped and tweeted wildly. One of the ogres kicked the thrashing tablecloth and sent Clark and the tablecloth flying against the wall with a crash. They fell to the ground in a heap of lace and material.
“Stop this!” Ozzy ordered.
“I’ll give the commands,” Ty said.
He grabbed Ozzy by the arm and dragged him from the kitchen and out a back door.
“Take the car!” Ty shouted to the second ogre. “We’ll meet you later.”
The second ogre ran off in the direction of the WetLand parking lot.
Ty pulled the boy down the stairs and into the grass behind the house. In the distance, Ozzy could see bits of the overgrown amusement park and wished his life was more fun than fear.
A powerful noise began to fill the air and as Ozzy looked up, he saw a helicopter descending from the sky, landing in the center of the Kick-Run field. The helicopter was painted green and had two open sides. A single pilot was flying it.
“Hurry,” Ty yelled as he pushed the boy toward the helicopter. “Move!”
Wind and noise circled Ozzy as he was shoved into the machine.
“Take us out of here!” Ty yelled at the pilot. “Now!”
As the helicopter began to lift, Rin came charging out of the back door of the house, his staff in one hand and the tablecloth in another. Clark was still trying to free his talons from the material as Rin ran. The wizard’s robe caught on the bottom of the back stairs and caused him to fly forward onto the ground. As he was flung down, the staff flew from his hands and went shooting through the air, the tablecloth caught on the back of it. Clark ripped free and spiraled down to the ground with his one good wing.
The staff connected perfectly with the back rotor of the helicopter. With a tremendous crack, the stick splintered into a thousand pieces and the tablecloth tangled in the damaged rotor.
The helicopter listed to the right. It was only fifteen feet in the air and as it spun out of control, the skids caught the Rain Coaster’s main loop. The machine was pulled back down to earth with an earsplitting screech. Ty flew out of the helicopter and landed on his side on the ground. The pilot slammed up against the windshield and cracked the glass with his helmet. Ozzy was thrown into a black netting at the back of the helicopter.
Rin got to his feet and took off running. He stopped just before reaching the downed helicopter to lean over and pick up a small piece of his staff.
“It was an original Gene Payton,” the wizard lamented.
“Leave that!” Clark screamed. “Ozzy!”
Rin helped Ozzy climb out of the helicopter and steady himself. The machine’s engine was still making an uncomfortable sound, and there was a large gash in the earth where the blades had come to a stop. Twenty feet to the right, Ty was lying peacefully in the long grass.
“Is he breathing?” Ozzy asked.
“Yes,” Rin said. “What a shame. That roller coaster was Woody’s life work.”
“Your brother’s dead,” Clark reminded the wizard.
“Yeah,” Ozzy echoed. “Just like we’ll be if we don’t get out of here.”
“That’s not happening,” a voice behind them said.
Rin, Ozzy, and Clark turned to see Ogre Two. He had gone for the car, but now he was pointing a gun at them. His sweaty face made it clear that he was confused by the turn of events.
“I don’t know how you did that,” the ogre said, “but you’re coming with me.”
“Let the boy go,” Rin said.
“It’s the boy Ray wants,” the man laughed. “Who wants a wizard?”
The ogre’s laugh was cut short by a blow to the back of his head. The man dropped like a fat sack of wheat and there, directly behind the fallen ogre, was Jon.
“I want a wizard,” Jon said, answering the now-unconscious ogre.
Ozzy was stupefied by the average man’s sudden appearance and help.
“Thanks,” Rin said, acting as if he had thought that would happen. “Now, if you could tie these two up and make sure the pilot’s okay, that would be much appreciated.”
It was Jon’s turn to look surprised.
“But I’ve been looking for you.”
“Well, here I am,” Rin replied. “But we have to run.”
“I want to go too.”
Rin looked at Jon. “You know the old saying . . .”
“What?” Jon looked thirsty for any knowledge the wizard might impart.
“I’m not sure,” Rin said. “Just think up something comforting in your head. Come on, Ozzy.”
“I’m not letting you go,” Jon insisted.
Ozzy took over the man’s brain and sent him walking to Ty.
“That’s impressive,” Clark said with a whistle.
“When it actually works,” Ozzy replied.
The three of them ran through the park and out the front gate. There was a white unmarked van in the parking lot that Ogre Two was supposed to have gone back to.
“We don’t have any keys,” Ozzy said.
Rin chanted a few words and held out
his hand. In his right palm was a set of keys.
“Stop saying don’t,” he lectured Ozzy. “It’s a word that doesn’t fit in the vocabulary of a wizard.”
Clark looked longingly at the keys as he stood on Ozzy’s shoulder.
“Get in,” the wizard cheered.
Ozzy and Clark climbed into the passenger’s seat as Rin took the wheel.
“Remember when we needed a car?” the wizard asked casually.
Ozzy nodded.
“Good times,” Rin said happily.
The wizard turned the key, threw the van into reverse, and then tore out of the parking lot and down the thin, overgrown road.
The ogres’ van was large, with two tinted windows on the back doors. There was a driver’s and a passenger seat, but in the back, there was just a long padded bench. The engine was powerful, which made it easy for Rin to drive along the highway at a speed much higher than the posted signs were suggesting.
“Is that the best you can do?” Clark asked as he sat perched on the dashboard.
“There’s no limit to the best a wizard can do.”
“There should be,” Ozzy said, acting like the only adult in the car. “You should slow down. You’ll get pulled over.”
“Normally wizards like to obey the law, but we have someplace to be.”
“Where?” Ozzy asked.
“Squeeze your brain,” Rin challenged. “I bet you can figure it out.”
“My brain’s not functioning right,” Ozzy said. “I couldn’t control most of those men back there.”
“It worked on Jon,” Clark said, hopping down onto Ozzy’s lap. The poor bird was a mess of gray plastic pieces falling off and tangling up his tail and talons. “Could you get this stuff off of me?”
“You don’t like being a dragon?” Rin asked, disappointed.
“I miss being me. Besides, dragon appropriation is not very BC—bird-culture,” he explained.
Ozzy began to pick at and pull off any bits of dragon he could get to. He pried a piece of plastic out of Clark’s left wing and the bird made a noise of relief.
“Why do you think what I did worked on Jon but not on the other men?” Ozzy asked.
“Are you asking me?” Clark said. “Because I don’t really know. Genetics?”
“No,” Ozzy said, patting the bird’s back affectionately.
“I have my suspicions,” Rin said. “But it wouldn’t be prudent to make guesses at this point.”
“I don’t mind guesses,” Ozzy said.
“Spoken like a true trainee.”
“Let me guess—you don’t have any idea why I couldn’t control them?”
“Duck!” Rin reached out with his right arm and motioned for Ozzy to get down.
The boy and bird both scrunched down in the front seat. Ozzy looked up and saw that Rin had taken off his hat.
“What’s happening?” Ozzy asked.
“There’s a police car on the highway up ahead,” the wizard reported. “Everyone’s looking for you. And since they’re aware that we know each other, I thought it best to take my hat off. It’s me being prudent again. Now, I’m going to pass them and see if it’s Sheriff Wills driving.”
“That doesn’t seem very prudent,” Ozzy hissed from his crouched position.
Rin pressed on the gas and sped up alongside the police car. The driver was a female officer by the name of Lena Smit.
“It’s not him,” Rin reported.
Officer Smit glanced over at the van and Rin smiled and waved at her.
“What are you doing?” Ozzy asked.
“It’s important to be nice,” Rin said defensively. “You never know who might be having a bad day.”
Ozzy stared up at him.
“I saw that saying on Instagram,” Rin informed them. He reached into his robe pocket and pulled out his phone.
“You can’t text and drive!” Ozzy insisted. “I thought your phone was broken?”
“It is,” Rin said. “This is a backup.”
He tried to hand the phone to Ozzy. “Could you take a picture of me driving?”
“No, just slow down,” Ozzy pleaded.
Rin let off the gas and dropped back behind the police car.
“Is she leaving?” Ozzy asked.
“No,” Clark said. “She’s slowing down.”
The police car decreased its speed until it was going so slow that Rin felt compelled to go around it. He pressed on the gas again and, without using his blinker, switched lanes and passed the officer up.
The lights on the cop car flashed on.
“Looks like we have company,” the wizard said, looking in the rearview mirror.
“Really?” Ozzy asked incredulously. “You pulled up beside her, showed your face, and now you’re surprised that she wants you to pull over?”
“I’ve told you before, I’m never surprised.”
Rin pressed on the gas and shot forward.
“This thing has some guts,” he said happily.
Officer Smit was in full pursuit.
“You’re going to try and outrun her?” Clark said excitedly. “Nice. Takes me back to the time we rode on that train. Hey,” the bird said, as if having an epiphany, “do you think you can drive us onto another train, or maybe a boat? Wait,” Clark said, jumping up onto the dashboard and looking out the window, “what about a blimp?”
“Don’t make this worse,” Ozzy begged.
Clark looked offended.
“We should just stop.”
“I think we should go faster,” Clark argued.
Ozzy stared out the tinted back windows at the police car racing up behind them. Seeing no other option, and despite his own wishes, he connected with Officer Smit’s mind. She pressed on the brakes and brought her car to a quick stop on the side of the road as the white van continued farther.
Rin glanced casually into the rearview mirror and witnessed the parked cop car behind them growing smaller and smaller.
“It’s amazing how magic works,” he said. “So reliable.”
“I did that,” Ozzy told him.
“I know.”
“It’s not magic—it’s my mind.”
“As if the two aren’t connected,” Rin said wistfully.
“We’re not out of trouble,” Ozzy argued. “She’ll shake that off in a few minutes and continue after us.”
“Look at you predicting the future,” Rin said proudly. “I think you’re having a magical growth spurt. You’re going to need new trousers soon.”
Ozzy’s head was spinning, but he couldn’t deny that the journey was beginning to feel magical. Rin never seemed to worry about the things that he did. And magically, events seemed to play out just as he always said they would.
“Don’t you ever worry about things not working?” Ozzy asked, putting Clark in his lap.
“Of course,” Rin admitted, “but only until I remember how much I hate the feeling. Now, let’s get to where we’re going.”
The wizard pressed on the gas and flew forward as Ozzy picked dragon bits off Clark.
Patti and Sigi were making good time. They had landed just over an hour before and were already past Corvallis and heading down toward the coast. They had been notified by Sheriff Wills that the fire had been put out and that there was no damage to the main house. They had also been told that Ozzy was still unaccounted for.
“This is too much.” Patti was frazzled from the quick trip home and the circumstances that had brought it about. “What’s happened to our quiet, simple life?”
“Sorry,” Sigi said, as if it were her fault.
“It’s your dad,” Patti admitted. “His illness is going to be the death of me.”
“He’s not ill,” Sigi said defensively.
“Yes, he is!” Patti shouted b
ack, no longer trying to speak calmly. “He needs help. He’s going to harm someone and then you’ll see that the magic he’s claiming to have isn’t real.”
“Can we please talk about this later?” Sigi begged.
“This is happening now,” Patti said with force. “We can’t find a solution to what is going on without talking.”
“This isn’t one of your lectures or a speech you give,” Sigi said. “This can’t be analyzed and charted. You don’t know what to do, because this is not a spreadsheet. This is something you don’t understand, so you refuse to believe.”
“You’re my daughter,” Patti said. “I’m going to put a stop to all this.”
“How? Are you going to keep me from seeing my dad, or kick Ozzy out?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I’ll do whatever I need to if it means keeping you safe.”
“You can’t stop this!”
Patti slammed on the brakes. It would have been a fitting thing to do to prove her point, but she had stopped for a different reason, and that reason was because she hoped to avoid hitting the car in front of her. She had been so involved in arguing that she hadn’t noticed the line of stopped cars. The Audi came to a halt just inches away from the back bumper of a blue truck. The jarring stop caused their seatbelts to lock up and stole their breath.
“Are you okay?” Patti asked.
“I’m fine,” Sigi insisted. “I . . . don’t believe it.”
Sigi pointed out the front window at a figure running up the road. Patti followed the finger and saw the same figure.
Sigi smiled.
Patti did not.
Running up the highway was Rin. His hair, beard, robe, and flared trousers were blowing in the wind. He looked both majestic and maladjusted. The stopped cars in front of Patti and Sigi were honking and yelling things at the wizard as he passed.
Patti and Sigi got out of their vehicle.
Rin wove through the two cars in front of them and ran directly to Sigi’s side.
“What are you doing here?” Patti shouted as she stood by her open door.
“Trying to find you.”