by Obert Skye
“What money? I have never paid you.”
“That’s true. Maybe you should give me some so that I can give it back if needed.”
“That makes no sense,” Ozzy insisted.
“Reality rarely does,” the wizard spoke. “Sure, things fall when they are dropped, and get wet when they’re rained on, but hearts break in thousands of ways. Futures change with the wave of a hand. And minds never seem to settle in until it’s too late and life is waning in full.”
The four of them stared at the tombstone as the bugs continued to buzz and bite.
“That’s what makes life so fantastic,” Rin continued. “Most don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but there is always the guarantee of change.”
“How do we stop Ray?” Ozzy asked.
“We stop him with a bird, a trainee, a full-fledged wizard, and his remarkable daughter.”
“Seems like a powerful team,” Clark squawked. “Especially the bird part.”
“What about my mother?”
“I found her once,” Rin said. “I will do my best to find her again. Now, let’s make like a wizard and leave.”
“It’s ‘make like a tree and leaf,’” Sigi corrected.
“That makes no sense. Trees never leave. But wizards are constantly moving. Unless you’re talking about Spencer. He mistakenly turned himself into a mouthless mountain range. How can you turn yourself back if you can’t speak the spell?”
The bugs were growing thicker.
“Nature needs to knock it off,” Rin said, slapping at a mosquito on his left ear.
Having had their fill of the great outdoors, graveyards, and grief, they all made like a wizard and left.
Ray sat in his office fuming. If it were physically possible, his ears would have been smoldering from the intense anger he felt inside. The call from Ty had not been what he was expecting, because the call had come from another source, who reported that Ty, the pilot of the helicopter, and another man had been taken into custody by the local police. An anonymous call had been placed, and when the police showed up at WetLand, they found the three individuals tied tightly to the bottom of a rusty roller coaster.
Ray wished the wizard hadn’t broken his hourglass. Because had it still been on his desk, he would have personally picked it up and heaved it through a window.
Charles had failed.
Jon had failed.
Ty had failed.
Ray was running out of contacts he could trust with such an important task. The trouble with what he was trying to accomplish was that he couldn’t let just anyone find out what he was after. If others knew the power Ozzy possessed, the competition to get it would be out of control.
An idea came into his carefully coiffed head. There was someone else he could use. Someone who would make sure the job was completed as needed.
Ray pressed a button on his desk.
A mere moment later, Susan entered the office doors.
“Yes, Mr. Dench?”
“Sit,” he said. “I have some instructions that need to be followed.”
Susan sat on one of the leather chairs and took out her notepad. It was an antiquated way for someone to take notes, but once Susan scribbled anything on the paper it was always followed and executed to a T.
“Your instructions?” she said neatly.
Ray let her know what needed to be done.
The instructions were shocking, but ever the professional, Susan kept a straight face and jotted down every word.
The van was an upgrade from the little white ex-hybrid. Ozzy was able to stretch out on the padded bench in the back and Sigi could lower her seat all the way down. At the end of the bench near Ozzy’s feet, Clark made a nest from the wrappers of the snacks they’d eaten. It was comfortable and crinkly. Rin drove them north as he listened to a radio program about aliens. Every few minutes he would comment about what was being said.
“Some people are so gullible.”
“That doesn’t sound true.”
“If there were aliens, you’d see millions of pictures of them on Instagram.”
When they reached the turnoff for Otter Rock, Rin kept rolling.
An hour outside of Portland, the wizard pulled the van over onto a dirt road hidden by tall trees and thick brush. With the vehicle parked, he leaned back in his own chair and got comfortable.
“We’ll stop here for a few minutes,” Rin explained. “Wizards don’t need sleep, but we enjoy closing our eyes.”
He closed his eyes and instantly began snoring.
Three hours later they were all still sleeping, and Clark was bored.
The bird decided to wake everyone up by attempting to imitate a rooster. His efforts produced an unpleasant noise that any actual rooster would be ashamed of.
“For the sake of all things audible,” Rin complained. “What is that sound?”
Clark did it again.
Sigi blinked and glanced around the van. “Is something dying?”
“No,” Clark said with attitude, “I’m just doing what those fat birds do on farms.”
“Roosters?” Sigi asked.
“I don’t know whose farm they do it on.”
Clark tried once more.
“Stop it!” Sigi begged.
“It’s an awful sound,” Clark agreed. “How do they shut those other birds up when they do it? Rocks?”
Ozzy sat up on the bench. “You don’t throw rocks at birds!”
“Darts?”
“Would you like it if someone threw a dart at you?” Sigi asked.
“If I could keep it.”
Ozzy looked at the clock on the dashboard of the van.
“I think you slept for more than a few minutes.”
Rin adjusted his seat and straightened his hat and robe as best as he could.
“I was having such a good time with my eyes closed I decided to keep at it.”
“Where are we?” Sigi smacked her lips and looked at herself in the mirror on the visor. “I miss my toothbrush.”
“We’re about an hour or so from where we need to be.” Rin shivered as he said the words.
“Are you cold?” Ozzy asked. The van was stuffy and hot, and the wizard’s shivering seemed out of place.
“No,” Rin said. “We should get going.”
The wizard shivered again.
“Are you sick?” Clark asked. “Your hair looks unhealthy.”
“I’m trying a new conditioner,” Rin replied. “But I’m not sick. I’m just aware that we are going to do what has to be done.”
“What has to be done?” Sigi asked. “Is it one of your list items? Because we still don’t know where we’re going.”
“We’re going to a spot just outside of Portland.”
“To see your sister?” Ozzy asked. “Because if we are, I’d like to get something to eat before we get there.”
“No,” Rin replied.
“What spot?” Sigi asked.
Rin looked around the van as if someone else might be listening.
“I need to tell you something,” he said seriously.
Clark squawked. “Before you tell anyone anything, could someone crack a window? I want to stretch my wings,” Clark explained. “Also, I don’t want to hear what the wiz is going to say. No offense, Riny.”
“Some taken,” the wizard said, nodding politely.
Sigi opened her door and Clark shot out into the forest. The fresh air coming in smelled of pine and grass and helped suppress the scent of morning breath.
Rin cleared his throat. “In the past . . .” He paused to sniff. “Well, it is important for everyone . . . for people to have answers.” The wizard adjusted his hat so that the brim came down over his left eye. “We are going to a place with answers.”
“Good,” said S
igi.
“But these answers come with a cost.”
“Like money?” Ozzy asked.
“If only. Then I could just pay and move on.”
“You mean Ozzy could pay.”
“You’re right, I do mean that,” Rin agreed. “But that’s not the case now. These answers could very well be the death of me.”
“Then don’t do it,” Ozzy said. “I told you, I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Rin looked at the boy and smiled. “It’s too late for that,” he said compassionately. “I still have a knot on the back of my head from where that ogre hit me.”
“I mean hurt worse,” Ozzy clarified.
“No,” the wizard spoke, “we will get what we need. We will tempt fate and be triumphant.”
“You can see that?” Sigi asked. “You can see that we’ll be okay?”
Rin shook his head. “I can only see that it will be worth it.”
Clark flew back into the van through the open door.
“Wow,” he said happily. “I can really move without all that gunk on me. What’d I miss?”
“My dad wants to tempt fate,” Sigi said.
“Who’s that?” the bird asked, trying to sound interested.
“It’s not a who,” Ozzy said. “It’s a thing.”
“Who’s it?” the bird said, sounding sincerely interested.
Rin fielded the question. “Fate is the very thing we have had on our side since the beginning.”
“Is it the thing that almost got me killed on that mountain?” Ozzy asked. “Or is it the thing that burned down the Cloaked House? Or is it the thing that blew up the boat?”
“It’s all of those things,” Rin said happily. “But now, we must head into the ugly side of it.”
“Must we?” the bird asked. “Really?”
Rin started the van and drove north toward the next item on his list.
Because everyone was feeling nervous both as individuals and as a group, Rin made a point to stop for breakfast in Portland first. They had a meal at a place called Biscuits I Love You. The food was as magical as breakfast food can be. The biscuits were football-sized and tasted like a soft bit of handspun heaven. The smell of all things fried and creamy filled the air. And the eggs and bacon they ordered were cooked to the kind of perfection that only a wizard could produce.
“I bet the chef is one of us,” Rin said as he pushed a bite of gravy-covered biscuit into his mouth.
“If he is, he’s certainly ranked higher than me,” Ozzy replied.
“I wish we could see his trousers,” the wizard added.
“Please don’t try,” Sigi insisted.
Rin took a picture of his meal to post on Instagram.
After a breakfast that none of them would soon forget, they climbed back into the van. Ozzy gave Clark a bit of greasy hash browns he had smuggled out. The bird couldn’t taste, but he liked the feeling of grease on his beak.
“Loosens me up,” Clark said as he mashed the fried potatoes around.
“Ready?” Rin asked them all.
Ozzy and Sigi nodded.
They pulled away from the café and drove down a city street lined with brightly painted buildings.
“I like Portland,” Ozzy said as they drove.
Rin didn’t comment.
After taking a wide street for a few miles, the wizard headed up a small street with thick brick walls along both sides. Behind the walls the tops of green trees stuffed with yellow and red flowers poked up. Unlike the road to Rin’s home, this thin street worked the opposite way—each few feet it got quainter and prettier and even more lush.
“If I could paint, I’d paint a picture of this street,” Ozzy said almost reverently.
“Remember,” Rin warned him, “it’s just as easy to choke on pretty food as it is to choke on ugly bits.”
“That’s a ridiculous statement,” Sigi said. “Just what are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying things that look beautiful and charming can often hide things that don’t have . . . I don’t know what I’m saying.”
Ozzy and Sigi had never seen Rin acting like he was.
“This place has answers?” Ozzy asked.
“But at what cost?” Rin replied.
The wizard pulled the van up to the front of a large iron gate. The gate was the only gap in a long brick wall that looked as if it went on forever. Rin rolled down his window and reached out. He pressed a few buttons on a keypad and the gate began to open.
“How do you know the code?” Ozzy asked.
“Wizards have access to information that not everyone else does.”
“You said I’m a wizard. And I don’t have the code.”
“I don’t know everything.”
Rin was on edge.
Inside the gate, the cobblestone path wound around beautifully manicured gardens and ended in front of a house twice the size of Rin’s, but not half as interesting. It was white and stiff; if a home could be starched and ironed, it would resemble the one they saw in front of them. Dark black shingles lined the roof with perfect spacing and symmetry. There were countless windows, and a tall front door that was the opposite of welcoming. Magnificent old trees surrounded the place, but they all were too scared to touch—not a single branch brushed up against the home.
“Wow,” Clark said. “I didn’t know a house could look stuck-up.”
Rin stopped the van near the front walkway and turned off the vehicle.
“Ready?” he asked with uncertainty.
“To go inside a beautiful house?” Sigi asked.
“No,” Rin said, “to meet my mother.”
Ozzy looked at Sigi. Sigi looked at him. Clark looked out the window and commented on the size of the garage.
“It’d be fun to see that one burn down.”
“Who knows what the day will bring,” Ozzy said sadly.
The wizard stepped out and bravely walked toward the home he had once lived in many years ago.
Ozzy wasn’t sure what they were walking into. He had met Rin’s sister, Ann, and she was both impressive and kind. He knew Rin’s ex-wife, Patti, and she was impressive and kind. He also knew Rin’s daughter, Sigi, and she was impressive, brilliant, funny, quick, strong, kind, and a whole list of other interesting things. He had also met Rin’s father in New Mexico. And even though the old man had been a bit rough, he had helped them get away from Charles. Ozzy had never met Rin’s brother, Woody, but anyone who builds an amusement park in their own backyard can’t be too bad.
So as they stood on the porch, in front of the tall unwelcoming door, Ozzy didn’t know what to expect.
“Get into Ozzy’s pocket,” Rin instructed Clark.
“Why?” the bird asked. “You want me to jump out and surprise her like I did to your sister?”
“No,” Rin said emphatically. “She hates animals.”
“The world can be so ugly,” Clark said before flying down and crawling into the front pocket of Ozzy’s plaid pants.
Rin rang the bell and a high-faluting chime went off inside of the house.
“Have I ever met her?” Sigi asked. “I mean, she is my grandma.”
“When you were very young,” Rin said. “She’s never wanted to be a part of my life or yours. And she didn’t like your mother.”
The door opened and a woman in her late forties with red-framed glasses and a white jumpsuit looked at them with a wary eye.
“Yes?” the woman said as she tried to visually digest what Rin was wearing.
“Is Candy in?” the wizard asked.
“Who may I say is calling?”
“I’m not calling,” Rin argued. “I’m standing right here. The name’s Rin. She’ll know who I am.”
“Do you mind waiting in the sitting room while I see if she
’s available?” the woman asked nicely.
“I mind a lot of things,” Rin replied, “but sitting’s not one of them.”
They all stepped into the house and took a seat in a room near the front door. The space was immaculately decorated and clean. Colorful art hung from white walls and above white modern furniture.
“I like when rooms are called what they are,” Clark said, sticking his head out of Ozzy’s pocket. “Sitting rooms make sense. Bedrooms make sense. But why aren’t kitchens called food rooms?”
“You can call them that if you want,” Ozzy said quietly.
“I heard some mention of candy?” the bird said.
“That’s my mother’s name.”
“Is she sweet?” Clark asked.
“No.”
“Is she a wizard like you?” Ozzy questioned.
“No. Her genealogy leans more toward the witch side.”
“Whatever she is, her home is so clean it’s suffocating,” Sigi whispered. “I feel like we should take off our shoes and burn the rest of our clothes. Then take a bath in bleach and get dressed back up in sterile plastic bags.”
The woman in red glasses returned.
“She will see you,” the woman reported. “Follow me.”
They walked down what appeared to be the main hall and then back to what could only be described as a bragging room. The space was the size of a small gymnasium with plush white carpet covering every inch of the floor. The walls were papered with white textured wallpaper and at least twelve feet tall. The furniture was opulent and excessive and uncomfortable looking. In the middle of the room, sitting on the biggest chair Ozzy had ever seen, was Rin’s mother, Candy. She was wearing a light blue shirt and white pants. Her hair was the color of the walls and longer in the front than the back. She motioned for Rin to move closer toward her.
“Hurry, hurry,” she said. “I don’t want to waste time with you taking little steps.”
The three of them scrambled closer.
“Sit on that couch,” she said, pointing to a long white leather couch festooned with leather-covered buttons.