Forced Magic

by Jerod Lollar

  Fetch huffed in anger at my lack of words, and in true Fetch fashion slapped me in the back of the head with his tail. I could tell that he was still upset at Johnathen, but I had a feeling that what we witnessed was a defense mechanism of some sort, that an unconscious Johnathen had no control over. I wondered if he was even aware of what he did at all.

  “I'm so sorry, Fetch,” said Johnathen.

  It was pretty obvious that Fetch was the one who was really upset.

  “Please, it was my fault. I underestimated Jack and in my impatience to see what he could do, I almost destroyed us all. I was careless and I beg your forgiveness.”

  Johnathen's voice was shaky and weak. I didn’t like to see him this way. It didn’t seem right for someone with such power to appear to be so vulnerable. After such a display of power I felt very uncomfortable by his display of such raw emotion. Fetch turned to look him in the eye. His eyes were rapidly changing color as he stared Johnathen down. Finally they went to green again. He reached out and took one of Johnathen's hands. He took his tail and smacked Johnathen's hand, like you would a little kid's hand after he reached for the cookie jar after being told no cookies before dinner. Johnathen laughed shakily at this.

  “Point taken,” he said to Fetch.

  Michelle let out a little hiccup laugh as tears ran down her face. Johnathen put a hand on the side of her face and the other one on my shoulder.

  “Look at the four of us. What a team we make. If we are not careful, an emotion pixy could take us out with one swoop.”

  We all laughed at this. I wanted to ask what an emotion pixy was, but I thought it could wait for another time.

  “What was that?” I asked. “Those things that came out of you, are they part of you?”

  Johnathen smiled a little at this. ”A long time ago, wars were fought in the magic world. They were pointless battles and there were no real winners. I cast powerful spells that would protect me if I was ever hurt, or knocked out, on a battle field. I've had them in me for so long, I pretty much forgot they were there. Your attack triggered them, Jack. You are a very powerful magic user, and you are becoming an excellent fighter. I only wanted to help you bring out your full potential, but I went too far. I can never apologize enough for what I did. I just felt that there was no other way to test your abilities. I thought you had to reach a point of pain and hurt that would release the magic, without any real focus to it. You are much better than I gave you credit for, Jack."

  “Tell that to my ribs.”

  Johnathen's eyes got wide.

  “I really did hurt you, didn’t I?” He looked over at Michelle again. “I could have killed you all. This was stupid. I should have known better. You are such an enigma, Jack, both you and Fetch. Your power is so different from anything I have ever seen. I should have taken it slowly. Again, I'm sorry."

  He hung his head down, not wanting to look at us. Once again, I saw just how old he must really be. There was a burden of responsibility he seemed to think he had to shoulder. Most of it seemed to center around Michelle and me. Truthfully, all he wanted to do was teach me how to better use my abilities, but it seemed that my magic was different from anything he had ever seen before. He just didn’t know how to fully test or train me. I felt bad that he had put so much pressure on himself because of Fetch and me. I had to find a way to relieve some of that pressure. It wasn’t fair for him to take responsibility for me. It wasn’t his fault that Fetch hatched on my leg. It wasn’t his fault that I picked up Fetch's egg to begin with. I had to find a way to help him. I somehow had to introduce myself to the magic world. I had to do it on my own. Not because I was being impatient, but because I didn’t want to be a burden to Johnathen, Michelle, or anyone else again. I needed to take responsibility for my own life, no matter the cost.

  Chapter 22

  Johnathen got up and sent a pulse out, just in case someone saw any of our battle. Michelle was going to check online later for anything that mentioned a possible sighting of fire balls or jets of water. It was confusing how some magic, like the gnomes cleaning up messes, could stay hidden and how others, like attacking goblins, could be seen by everyone. It had to be a constant undertaking to keep it cleaned up and forgotten. With the lack of computer and technology experience, I wondered just how much got past the magic world on the Internet. Michelle had mentioned someone who was good with computers, but they couldn’t stop all of it could they? There just seemed to be too much of it.

  I pushed aside these thoughts for now. We spent the remainder of the day practicing and showing off what we could do. Johnathen stood there and watched for the most part. Michelle found a way to roll up dirt in a tight ball and threw it at Fetch as he dodged and swirled to avoid the missiles, smacking them with his tail. We all laughed and continued to act like we were having a good time, but there was a tension in the air. We all found out new things about ourselves that day. Discovery can leave you feeling strange sometimes. I know that Johnathen didn’t mean to hurt me or anyone else, but in his speed to discover new things he seemed to get a little careless.

  We left as the sun went down. Johnathen must have cast a spell that kept people away from that spot. We ended up making a lot of noise and for us not to have drawn any attention to ourselves seemed impossible without magic. I drove the Jeep back to the hotel and I don’t like to drive. I never really owned my own car, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t do it. Besides, if I was to ever own a car, it would be a Jeep. Michelle sat next to me and Johnathen stretched himself in the back seat. He looked exhausted. I was a little worried about him. So was Michelle. I could hear Fetch scrape the hard top as he settled himself down on it. He was still a little moody over the whole day. He had forgiven Johnathen, who continued to apologize for what happened all day, but I had a feeling it was going to be a while before he trusted him again. It was a strange awesome display of power, and I think it bothered Fetch that Johnathen went as far as he did when trying to provoke me into using the forced magic that was part of whom I had become. We drove in silence for a while. We were all tired and seemed at that point of trying to find something to talk about to keep our minds from wandering. Michelle broke the awkward silence.

  “Next time, I want to show off a little bit myself. You boys got to play. All I did was throw dirt balls at Fetch."

  I laughed at this comment. I appreciated her attempt to make light of what happened that day. Johnathen was silent for a while, then, after a few minutes, he spoke.

  “No. I don’t think it is a good idea. You need more time to practice before you attempt any spells. It's too dangerous.”

  “I need to try and see what I can do, Johnathen. It isn't right to teach me how to use magic and then not let me use it.”

  “It’s too dangerous and I forbid you to use it! I wish I had never taught you any of it."

  There was a long tense silence as we drove down the road. Michelle stared ahead, frowning. Her jaw was tense and she seemed to be clenching her teeth. I had the feeling that this was an argument that the two of them had before. I couldn’t think of a thing to say to break us out of this moment. I looked in the mirror. Johnathen was lying down so I couldn’t see his face, but, by the tone of his voice, I could tell that the shadow that seemed to pass over his face when he was upset was back.

  “You know why you taught me magic, Johnathen. You know that it's right for me to learn it. Without it I would be an outcast. I would have no way to be fully accepted in the magic world. You know that."

  “I could have protected you. I could have sent you into the non-magic world with money and a life, and erased all memories of what happened to you, but I chose to keep you close. When I discovered the elf blood in your veins, I gave you the opportunity to learn magic and be a part of finding those who destroyed your family and bringing them to justice. Sometimes I feel that I was foolish. My need to see change made me careless when it came to you. I should have known better."

  This whole conversation was intense. I wanted to l
ighten the mood. I was all right, Michelle was all right, and Fetch was fine too. We needed a way to get over this or things could fall apart very quickly.

  The sun was going down and the road in front of us stretched for miles and miles. I wanted to say something but I couldn’t think of anything. Fetch was moving around on the roof of the jeep. I knocked on the roof hoping he would get the message and stop moving around up there. I was afraid he would scratch up the roof. Then he did it. As the sun began to set Fetch slowly peeked over the front of the car, his head was on Michelle's side. He slowly slunk down like a snake. When he was half way down, he stretched his neck out turning his head to look at Michelle. He took turns looking at Michelle, me, then Johnathen. When he was sure we all saw him, he got the most satisfied look on his face and, with a little nod, gave us all the biggest, toothiest grin a dragon could give. We all busted out laughing. It was exactly what we needed. I don’t think I was ever more grateful for Fetch's sense of humor. I turned on the radio. 'Twist and Shout' was playing. Fetch must have been able to hear it. You could hear his tail thumping to the beat. I started singing and by the end of the song we all had joined in.

  We pulled into the nearest fast food drive thru. Just the idea of having a dragon on the top of the jeep was a story to share with the grandkids one day, but to order food for one was a whole other adventure. The girl's voice through the speaker sounded board and tired. This just made the situation even funnier. I hoped Fetch remembered to go into camouflage mode. It struck me as funny that most people never spotted Fetch in cameo mode. It didn’t make him completely invisible. He just blended in. It had to be like the trolls I would see from time to time. They weren’t hidden and non-magic people seemed to ignore magic most of the time. It just didn’t register in their minds. Maybe that was why it was so easy to erase their memories when they were affected by magic. Maybe the pulse just gave them the nudge to get them back on track, back to what they saw as normal.

  I ordered myself a number five. Fetch's tail thumping on the roof indicated he wanted one too. This started Michelle giggling. I asked Johnathen what he wanted. He responded by thumping the roof with his hand.

  “Ok three number fives. And you Michelle?”

  She thumped on the roof too, still giggling. Johnathen was beginning to chuckle and soon we were all laughing. When the laughter died down a bit, the girl read the order of four number fives back to us. She asked if we needed anything else. Fetch thumped his tail again. It took a little time to figure it out, but by the time the ordering was done, we had seven number fives, three fish sandwich meals, two special order number sixes, and ten apple pies. Michelle and Johnathen couldn’t stop laughing and the look on the girl's face when we pulled up just made it worse. When we finally got all the food double checked, to make sure we got everything, and all of the drinks checked out, I handed the girl some money. She smiled, looking a little puzzled. I looked at her straight faced and said in the calmest voice I could.

  “This isn’t all for us. Most of it is for the dragon on the top of the Jeep.”

  This sent Michelle and Johnathen into peals of fresh laughter, as I pulled away from the place. Fetch was banging his tail. He was hungry. As I pulled out onto the street, Michelle rolled down the window. She had a fish sandwich and a double cheeseburger in her hand. After reaching up to the roof, her hand came back empty. Man, was my life different. We drove back to the hotel. I decided it was time to change rooms. Fetch was careful not to do any damage, but I felt the less we stayed in the same room, the better. Johnathen and Michelle checked out that night. I could tell there was still tension between the two of them. I hoped they could work it out.

  The next few weeks were spent in working on improving what Fetch and I could do. We would meet Johnathen every other day, down in the lobby, then go into the desert, or up on Mount Lemon, to spar and train. I began to feel like a soldier getting ready to go off to war. I didn’t like the feeling, but knew it was necessary if I was to discover my potential and my limits. Fetch began to show some amazing flying abilities and a new level of control of his fire. Johnathen cut his hand on purpose to see if Fetch could heal it. It slowly healed and left a scar on his hand. Fetch's ability to heal had its limits. We figured that because Fetch hatched from my leg, his magic worked better on me.

  We had agreed to keep our mind link through the fire a secret between the two of us. It wasn’t a trust thing. It was just that it seemed so personal. The more we used it the deeper our thoughts would combine. It was kind of entertaining. Fetch discovered things about me I had never shared with anyone, and, I in turn, learned new things that he would never share with anyone else. Fetch was more than a friend to me now. He was like a brother. Our uniqueness kept us separate from both worlds, and that gave us a bond that couldn’t be broken. I couldn’t imagine my life without Fetch now, even when he would smack me with his tail.

  We didn’t see Michelle during this time. Johnathen told us that she was busy working on a project that the two of them started a few years ago. I had the feeling he kept her away to keep her from getting hurt. The training never got as intense as the first time, but I think Johnathen was worried about what could happen. I would call her and check up on her Facebook page to see how she was. She sounded a little tired at times. I noticed on her Facebook page that she had more friends from different tattoo shops in town than she had before. I had the feeling she was searching for information that could lead her to answers about her family's deaths. I hoped that she wouldn’t let this drag her down.

  Johnathen was not looking his best during these times either. He looked tired and stressed and, on more than one occasion, he would stop what he was doing and just stare off into space. The last time I caught him doing this, he was looking up into the clouds. His lips were moving and, after a quick debate with Fetch, I decided to walk over to him. When I got close to him, I heard what he was saying.

  “Watch the clouds. Watch the clouds,” he was repeating over and over.

  I put my hand on his shoulder, and his body jerked a little. I immediately let the forced magic form in my body. I was ready for another defense attack, but Johnathen just shook his head and yawned like he was just waking up.

  “Ah Jack, sorry. I’m a little tired today. Would you mind if we cut it short?”

  “No, not at all," I responded. "Are you ok?”

  “I’m fine, Jack, just a little tired that’s all." He smiled at me and patted me on the arm. “Let’s get back to the Jeep.”

  We walked through the desert toward the Jeep in silence. Fetch stayed in the air, flying low. He was just as concerned about Johnathen as I was. Right before we got to the Jeep, Fetch let out a little hiss. I looked up and saw him hovering in the air. He had a snarl on his face and was staring at a point over the Jeep. Hovering above the Jeep was a blue ball of light. The goblins had found us.

  Chapter 23

  Johnathen spotted them at the same time he mumbled a word, sending a flash of what looked like lightning at the ball. He missed. I could hear squeaks and growls coming from the ball as if the goblins were running down a long tunnel toward us. The magic building up in me jumped into overdrive. As I saw the first arms and faces of the goblins start to come out of the ball, I sent a pulse of magic toward them. Fetch sent a burst of fire at the pulse. This always seemed to strengthen my magic. As more of the pulse left my body, I wondered if I would ever get used to the feeling of it leaving me. It always felt as if part of me was being torn apart when I forced the magic out of me. It was an uncomfortable experience every time I used it.

  My forced magic hit the goblins as they came out. It pushed them back into the ball. Johnathen had recovered from his earlier attempt and sent another flash of lightning. This one hit the center of the ball. With the frightened squeals and grunts of the goblins the ball imploded on itself. There was a pop as air whooshed back into the space that the ball had left. I was seeing spots before my eyes.

  “Jack. We have got to move. Whoever is tryi
ng to destroy you has discovered you again. There were too many goblins coming out of that hole to believe it was just a random attack. We have to get back to the hotel.”

  We jumped into the Jeep and sped off down the road. Fetch stayed in the air while staying in cameo mode. He sent a spark of fire that landed on my pinky as we sped down the road, that way I could tell what he was doing. Johnathen was too focused on looking at the sky to notice.

  “You focus on the road. I’ll keep an eye out for more portals."

  As I drove down the highway, I was looking through Fetch's eyes as well as my own. I was grateful that the road was empty during this time of day. I might have gotten distracted and caused an accident otherwise.

  Fetch spotted a glowing ball. He sent a blast of red fire into it and it closed immediately. Johnathen shot another one that shrunk with a pop. One more appeared and Fetch got that one too. Whoever wanted me dead or just captive didn’t seem to want to give up.

  “How did they find us?” I asked.

  “They found me,” said Johnathen. “I let my guard down and they found me. Whoever this is, has figured out that I know you, Jack. They must have figured wherever I am you would be there too."

  Another flash from Johnathen's hands blew up another ball.

  "I've been careless, but now you can see why I kept you away from me and Michelle. They would have eventually traced you and Fetch to me at my place."