Magic Required

by Obert Skye

  Rin pulled off Jon’s mask and tried to assess how badly hurt he was.

  Jon smiled up at Rin.

  “You’re going to be okay,” the wizard promised.

  “I just wanted to believe in something.”

  “It looks like you do.”

  Jon smiled again and closed his average eyes.

  Rin looked at Ozzy. “You two need to stop Ray!” The wizard’s tone was one that made it clear how important it was to do what he was saying, while also letting them know it could be done.

  Ray had run back to the escalators and was now at the top near the second floor. Ozzy and Sigi gave chase. The trainee looked at the hovering people and decided to see what he could do. Words formed in his head and sprang from his mind like flowers.

  “Sagutuosldropus!”

  People above began to sag in the air and then slowly drop back down to the ground. A man painted red and yellow clipped Ray as he got off the escalator. A wet-blanket kind of person who had worn a polo shirt and chinos to a ComiCon dropped near Ray and caused him to stumble and fall. Ray rolled over twice and then got back on his feet.

  Ozzy and Sigi were coming off the escalators.

  Ray ran into the large convention hall. Like everywhere else in the building, most of the people were still hanging in the air. A few had dropped down and they were trying to figure out what was happening.

  Ozzy saw a huge stand of vinyl figures and more words popped into Ozzy’s head.

  “Tolifusdefunco!”

  Thousands of figurines came to life and sprang from their boxes and shelves directly onto Ray. He slid to the ground and was buried by toys.

  Ozzy and Sigi stopped at the pile.

  “I can’t hold it!” Ozzy yelled.

  The young wizard’s strength wasn’t strong enough to keep it up. The vinyl toys became lifeless and Ray crawled out from under them.

  He got to his feet and ran toward a wall of doors. It was a decent idea, but the doors led into a closed-off part of the Convention Center. So as Ray pushed on the handle, nothing happened.

  Ozzy and Sigi easily caught up to him.

  The man turned and growled. The two teenagers stood still as Ray pointed his gun.

  “You can’t win,” Ray shouted, wishing desperately that he had never left New York. “You can’t defeat me!”

  Ozzy and Sigi showed Ray their palms, hoping he wouldn’t do anything rash. The boy could feel magic building inside of him, swelling like a foam. He looked at his finger as he held up his hand. The purple was there, but in his mind, he now understood everything. He glanced at Ray knowing that it would simply take the right word to end it all. But Ozzy held his tongue. There was a more fitting way to finish this.

  “I don’t know what’s happening,” Ray shouted as more and more people dropped back down to the floor.

  “I do,” the boy said. “You’ve underestimated a wizard, and his daughter, and most importantly, a bird.”

  At that moment, a bullet of black shot through the falling people and hit Ray directly in the chest. Clark’s force and momentum sent the man flying backwards into the locked doors. The bird looped up and then came back down, jabbing Ray in the left shoulder. The extra hit wasn’t necessary, seeing how Ray was already down, but Clark needed the closure.

  The bird flitted onto Ozzy’s shoulder and cocked his head.

  “You okay?” Clark asked.

  “Now that you’re here,” Ozzy answered.

  Sigi patted the bird on his wing as more and more people fell back down to earth.

  “What happened here?” Clark asked.

  “It’s a long story,” Ozzy said.

  “Then don’t tell me,” the bird insisted. “I’m already bored.”

  A panting and confused Sheriff Wills came up behind them. He had his gun drawn and was pointing it at Ray. He looked at Ozzy and Sigi and Clark.

  “I have no idea what’s going on,” the sheriff admitted.

  Sigi pointed to the red-headed heap. “That’s Ray.”

  “Are you okay?” Wills asked Ozzy, staring at Clark.

  “Never better,” Ozzy answered.

  Ozzy reached for Sigi’s hand and together the two of them and one bird walked off and faded into a waterfall of humans and a swamp of vinyl figurines.

  The car stereo played as Rin drove. Clark sat in the passenger seat, making a nest out of old road maps and flyers he had found in the glove compartment. Ozzy and Sigi sat together in the back watching the landscape slide by like wet paint as the music filled the vehicle.

  “And all the deeds of yesterday, have really helped to pave the way.”

  The car they were traveling in was the same one they had taken to New Mexico. It was also the only vehicle to survive the garage fire. Because of that, it still smelled faintly of smoke. Ozzy had suggested they use magic to remove the odor, but Rin liked the smell, insisting it was a nice reminder of what they had overcome.

  “You won’t tell us where we’re going?” Sigi asked.

  “Not this time,” Rin said solemnly.

  “You never tell us where we’re going,” Clark pointed out.

  “Consistency is an admirable trait.”

  It had been over a year since the Portland ComiCon and life was beginning to settle nicely. There may be no way to describe what happened at ComiCon—unless, of course, you believe. Then the explanation is simple—it was magic. And when all was said and done, Ray was finished, and they had won.

  To the consternation of almost everyone, there was no security tape footage, cellphone videos, or pictures of any of it. It was as if all traces had been mysteriously erased. People swore they had been covered with blurry soda, lifted up, made mute, and dropped down, but there was no actual proof. Rin would have liked to have been caught on camera, but Bill didn’t like to be filmed. The only bit of video that survived was a short clip of security tape that showed Ray shooting Jon. It had helped nicely in the case against Mr. Dench.

  Jon had survived the gunshot. Like Ray, he was now in prison, but unlike Ray, he had a chance of getting out someday.

  “It’s beautiful here,” Ozzy said as they drove.

  “Yes,” Rin agreed. “Washington is a lovely place.”

  Clark looked out the front window. “Not enough objects.”

  The garage at 1221 Ocean View Drive had been rebuilt. The new one was bigger and much nicer. Rin thought it was vulgar, but Patti liked the space. And now that things were as they should be, there were no longer any cop cars parked in front—except for when Sheriff Wills dropped by. Wills always seemed to have one more question to ask Patti, and Patti always seemed to have one more answer.

  “Does Quarfelt have this many trees?” Clark asked.

  “You’ve been there,” Rin said. “You should know.”

  Clark jumped from his nest to the dashboard. “There’s a lot of things I should know.”

  They’d been driving for a couple of hours now. Nobody was complaining, but there was an unusual feeling of importance in the car. Over the last year, Rin had taken Ozzy and Sigi and Clark to several interesting spots. They had traveled back to Emmitt Toffee’s grave, this time with bug spray—and flowers. They had visited Omen twice, and both times the old man pretended to be unhappy about being bothered. They had stopped by Ann’s during non-mealtimes. Rin had shown them fields he thought were important, and mountains he claimed were just fat valleys. He had also taken them to visit Flora the Older, and Gemi the Younger, and Bill. They were planning to see Jayson at some point, but that point had not yet come about.

  Ozzy breathed in.

  The smell of the car reminded him of his room over the old garage. When the new one had been built, Patti had made sure there was a nice room above it. But Ozzy had never called that room his. No, the young wizard had happily moved in with Rin at WetLand. His bedr
oom was now an attic with an oval window that faced the forest and displayed stars in the same fashion the Cloaked House had. He loved the spot. The only negative to moving was that he no longer got to wake up and fight over bagels with Sigi. It didn’t matter, seeing how she spent most of her time at WetLand, helping her father and Ozzy clean up the place, and finding moments to be alone with the boy she loved.

  Clark liked the move to WetLand as much as anyone. The house and property were filled with new things for him to stare at and admire. He was currently in a somewhat serious relationship with an oversized ladle hanging on the kitchen wall.

  “You know,” Clark tweeted from the dashboard, “if you wanted to show us trees, we could have stayed in Oregon.”

  “But these trees are different,” Rin insisted. “They’re here.”

  Ozzy stared out the window, seeing the difference in each plant and tree. Recognizing the importance of every leaf and branch. He glanced down at his finger. The purple marking was still there, but he no longer saw it as anything other than a reminder of what his parents had tried to do, and how they had failed. His power to control minds was still there, but he knew now that it was an act of magic, not the discipline serum. He was growing stronger every day in his abilities. It helped, of course, to live with someone as proficient in magic as Rin was.

  “You seem serious,” Sigi said to her father as he drove. “I mean, more serious than other times.”

  “Sorry,” the wizard replied, reaching over to turn off the radio. “I think I must be nervous.”

  Clark tilted his small head. “You?”

  “I found something important,” he admitted. “I just hope showing you is wise.”

  The words Rin had said came out like an incantation; they drifted through the car and caused everyone’s thoughts to grow quiet. The car drove on without a bird tweeting or a boy asking or a girl commenting.

  There was only a thick silence.

  Rin slowed down the vehicle and turned off the road.

  Ozzy’s insides began to tumble.

  The wizard pulled through a large open gate. In big metal letters on top of the gate it said:

  Healing Winds

  “Wait,” Sigi said nervously. “Isn’t this the . . . ? Are you checking yourself back in?”

  The wizard’s daughter had long ago been filled in on the help her dad had needed in the past.

  “No,” he replied. “I’ve never felt better.”

  “Then why are we here?” she asked.

  “There’s someone I think Ozzy should see.”

  “A doctor?” Clark chirped. “He does get all weird around Sigi.”

  “No,” Rin said in a tone that told Clark to hold his beak.

  Ozzy could feel it. He knew exactly what was happening. His mind showed him everything and notified his heart of the possibility of new pain.

  “My mother’s in here, isn’t she?”

  Rin pulled into a parking space in front of the large stone building. Ozzy recognized the place from the pamphlet Ray had once shown him.

  The wizard shut off the car and turned to look at the boy who had changed his life. His eyes were red and worried.

  “I found your mother again months ago,” he whispered. “She’s not well. The years of testing the serum on herself have made her someone other than who she once was.”

  Clark chirped dramatically.

  Ozzy reached over and squeezed Sigi’s hand.

  “I want to see her,” he said resolutely.

  “She may not know who you are,” Rin warned.

  “I know who she is,” Ozzy said. “You paid to bring her here?”

  Rin nodded. The wizard never asked to borrow money anymore—unless he had forgotten his wallet. The account book he had taken from his mother’s safe had changed all of that. Years ago, Candy had let him know it was there and that she would hand it over if he would beg for it. Well, since wizards are proud, in a non-offensive way, he refused. The money was his, but he couldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing him grovel. Now, however, knowing that his future would require him to be around a bit more than in the past, he realized that for the sake of all things Sigi and Ozzy, it would be wise for him to retrieve what was his all along.

  The four of them got out of the car and Clark tucked himself in the front pocket of Ozzy’s new shorts—the same shorts that had arrived a month early by courier. They were knee-length, with random stars in random colors stitched on them.

  Inside the facility, everything was old but clean. The halls were wide, and the floors were a green linoleum. Rin checked in at the front and they were led to a small bedroom on the second floor. The orderly let them in saying, “She’s not a risk. You should be just fine. I’ll be here if you need me.”

  Ozzy followed behind Sigi, who was following behind her dad. The orderly shut the door after they had entered.

  The room was plain, with a barred window. There was a sterile bed and a small dresser attached to the wall. A big pink padded chair sat in the corner of the room.

  In the chair there sat a woman.

  She had dark hair pulled back into a bun. Her features were soft and familiar. Her eyes made it obvious that Omen was her father, and her ears made it clear that Ozzy was her son. She looked both beautiful and lost.

  “Hello, Mia,” Rin said, taking off his hat. “I brought you someone.”

  The wizard stepped aside, and Ozzy walked closer.

  Mia Toffy looked up at her son.

  “Hello,” Ozzy said softly, his heart on the verge of stopping—or beating out of his chest.

  Mia stared at him intently, turning things over in her mind.

  “Do you remember me?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure,” she replied.

  Ozzy turned to look at Sigi, who had tears in her eyes and an expression of wonder. When he turned back, his mother was standing.

  Mia touched Ozzy’s cheek as the boy trembled.

  “Wait a moment,” she said with a gasp, “you’re Ozzy.”

  Mia Toffy put her arms around her son and began to sob.

  The rest of the room joined in, Clark wailing the loudest.

  Amidst the noise and emotion, Rin pulled out his to-get-done list. “Check,” he said softly.

  And just like that, the wizard had completed the job he had been hired to do.

  1.Clark gets a chance to be something a little different than he’s used to, but it doesn’t work out. Would changing something about your appearance affect how you act? Why or why not?

  2.Ray Dench is obsessed with obtaining the serum so he can control others. Even if he had good intentions, would it be a good thing or not to be able to control the actions of other people?

  3.Jon has spent most of his life working for other people. Does the change he makes seem like he’s following his own path, or is he still stuck in someone else’s orbit? Do you think that will be good for him or not?

  4.Ozzy learns some things about Rin from Ray Dench that throw him for a loop. What are some of the ways we can react when people we trust disappoint us? Which ways do you think are best?

  5.Rin’s mother, Candy, is a pretty horrible person, and it seems like she either doesn’t know she is, or she doesn’t care. What’s the best way to deal with someone like that? If you found out later that Candy’s actions were caused by a mental illness, how would that change your answer?

  6.Sigi and her mother, Patti, have a pretty good relationship, but also some pretty intense discussions about how each of them see Rin. Can good friends have different, strong opinions and still be friends? How does that work?

  7.Patti, Sigi, and Ozzy have all had serious doubts about whether or not Rin is a wizard or has magical powers. When that question was answered, how do you think each of them felt?

  8.Ozzy has several of his most
important questions—about his parents, about magic—answered. Have you had any important questions answered? How did the answers come? How did you feel when they came?

  9.What do you think will end up happening with Ozzy, Clark, Sigi, Rin, and Patti? What about some of the other characters (Jon, Ann, Ray, Candy, Sheriff Wills)?

  Obert Skye is not who you think he is—unless you think he’s a best-selling author of over thirty books. Also, if you think he’s not great at whistling, or that he’s discovered cures, or that he once broke his collarbone while walking, then he’s exactly who you think he is, and you’re psychic. Among the books he’s written are the Leven Thumps series, The Pillagy, The Creature from My Closet, Mutant Bunny Island, and Geeked Out. Among the cures he’s discovered are the cure for boredom, a cure for ignorance, and a half-decent recipe for the curing of a ham. Obert is also a presenter and champion of both words and paper. If you have time on your hands you might look in on some of the other things he’s done at obertskye.com. If you’re out of time, then take comfort in the fact that you spent your last few moments reading something worthwhile.

  Contents

  There’s Only Need

  I Find It Hard to Tell You

  Can’t Operate on This Failure

  Watched Over

  The Table Is Not Bare

  Speechless in a Most Peculiar Way

  Just Hoping You Will Play

  Completely in Command

  Your Mind Is Weak

  I Cannot See the Reason for the Pain

  Say What You Want

  Could You Please Explain

  Scars Still Linger

  Need Is Great

  It’s a Sad Affair

  Lack of Details

  Just Talk to Him

  Feeling and Not Believing

  So Good

  An Only Child in an Only Room

  I Can’t Understand You