Annie found all this very frustrating. She heard the words as Mr. Caramel said them and they did sound different than before. She thought she saw a reddish colored light coming in from under the closet door, but that was it. The key hole was too small and facing the wrong direction for her to see what happened. She was stuck there in the closet missing it all. She wished John would say something about what he saw. Much to her disappointment John was silent. Even when Mr. Caramel asked him questions his answers were silent.
She heard Mr. Caramel repeating the poem to John several times. He repeated it very slowly without even the slightest hint of emotion. He then instructed John to repeated the words and to be very careful to repeat them slowly, as much like a robot as possible. Annie found herself whispering the words along with her brother. She thought they did both sound a lot like robots.
“Now, John, I want you to think of something that makes you very happy. Something that makes you feel like you want to scream with joy or even laughter just thinking about it. Hold that image in your mind. Say the poem again and this time put all that joy into your words.” instructed Mr. Caramel.
John thought of the last day of school. He thought of running out the doors of the school yelling with joy to his friends, looking forward to a summer of fun without homework. He stood in front of Mr. Caramel keeping this image in his mind. He then shouted the words to the poem. A pale red light seemed to surround John. At first, it was not as bright as when Mr. Caramel said the poem and his feet didn’t leave the floor. Then something happened! Suddenly the glow got brighter. It turned an orange color and filled the room. Everything in the room rose a half inch off the floor including John and Mr. Caramel. This lasted for what seemed like forever to John but, in actuality, was only a little more than a minute. Then the light faded and everything came back to rest on the floor.
John stood with his mouth gaping open. He couldn’t believe he had made something like that happen. Mr. Caramel clasped Johns shoulder.
“Well done John! That was more than I had hoped for. You are a very talented young man,” he beamed. “I think it best that we stop here for today. After an emotional release like that you should rest. It would probably be best if you got yourself a snack. Then a nap or at least lie down and watch some television. I’m going to have a quick word with your parents before I leave.” said Mr. Caramel in a more serious tone. John suddenly realized that he was tired and kind of hungry. He followed Mr. Caramel down the stairs to the kitchen.
Finally, after hearing both John and Mr. Caramel walk down the stairs, Annie emerged from the closet. She was surprised she felt so exhausted. She went to her own room and crawled in bed for a nap. Only a few minutes later she was awakened by Zindle licking her. When she looked up she saw he was pushing a box of animal crackers towards her. She then realized she was very hungry and was very grateful for the snack. She ate them quickly while lavishing Zindle with hugs and kisses. She soon found the box empty and snuggled with Zindle for a snooze. Downstairs John lay on the couch munching on cheese and crackers.
Chapter 5
Mr. Caramel sat at the dining room table across from Thelma and James. His demeanor was very different than in the past. Instead of being stiff and self-assured, as was his usual demeanor, he looked both excited and nervous. It seemed like he could hardly bear to sit still in his chair. It is obvious with one glance at their faces that Thelma and James were more than a little shocked by this change in their son’s tutor.
“I am not sure where to start. I have to admit I was not prepared for this. I expected something but not this. I thought there would be time. I am very sorry. I expected someone more articulate than myself would be here to tell you this, but I am afraid that there may not be time.” stammered Mr. Caramel. James and Thelma stared blankly back at him. Mr. Caramel let out a long sigh.
“I know you will find what I am about to tell unbelievable but, I will show you proof. There is no other way to say it so, forgive me, I must be very blunt.” Mr. Caramel then paused looking wildly around the room to make sure that no one else would hear what he was about to tell them. “Magic is real!” he whispered.
Thelma and James looked at each other. “Mr. Caramel, you had us scared for a minute there. We thought something was really wrong. If you want to teach John some magic tricks…well it’s not exactly art, but, I don’t think we have a problem with it.” said Thelma trying to stifle a laugh. James was much less successful at holding back his amusement. He could not help letting out a little giggle when Thelma said magic tricks.
Mr. Caramel’s facial expression changed from fear to something that looked much more like anger. “I think you both fail to understand that this is a very serious matter! The safety of your family is at stake!” Mr. Caramel said in a very stern voice. He walked around the room pulling the window shades closed tight. Then he pulled the yellowed piece of paper from his pocket.
Thelma and James were now looking angry. It did not appear that they liked being scolded in their own home. They were also both beginning to wonder it Mr. Caramel was having some sort of mental break down.
“Please pay close attention,” requested Mr. Caramel. He then recited the poem in the same way as he had only minutes earlier in John’s room. The effect was the same. A warm red glow emanated from him and his feet rose above the floor a few inches. Needless to say Thelma and James were more than a little bit shocked. They were, in fact, speechless. This seemed to satisfy the tutor.
“Now, as I was saying, magic is real. We call it something else but, right now that is not important. I do not have time to go into all the details. There are some people in this world that can use magic. As you have just seen I am one of them. I have discovered today that your son is also one of them. He is able to use power far greater than I possess and that could be a problem. A very big and dangerous problem! There are individuals who would take advantage of him and try to use him for ill gains. Quite simply they would use him to do evil.”
Mr. Caramel checked Thelma and James faces. Both seemed to be frozen trying to take in what he was saying. He raised his eyebrow and then continued. “Until now John was safe from them. We do not believe they were aware he existed. Even we did not know the amount of power he could tap into. Until today we were not completely positive he could use magic at all. The problem is that during our lesson today your son summoned great mystical forces. I must take full responsibility. I should have been more careful. I just never would have imagined with such little training…well, when your son used that mystical forces today the burst was so great that I do not think they could have missed it.” Mr. Caramel sank, exhausted, back into his chair.
James and Thelma sat with mouths gapping open in disbelief, looking at one another and then back at Mr. Caramel. Neither was sure quite what to say. Finally, James broke the silence.
“So, what should we do now?” James asked.
Thelma looked at James seemly in shock at what she had heard her husband say. James knew his wife well and guessed her objections. James took her hand.
“Honey, this is all very confusing and overwhelming for me too. I don’t know what to make of all of this. What I do know is that my first priority is keeping my family safe. Mr. Caramel said that our family could be in danger. I need to know what to do to make sure my family stays safe.” Thelma grasped her husband’s hand tightly. She turned to Mr. Caramel.
“Tell us what we need to do.” She said in a clear confident tone.
Mr. Caramel looked up a little alarmed. “I…Well I am not entirely sure…” he stammered. He put his hand to his head as if trying to gather his thoughts. After a moment, he lifted his head with determination and gave them instructions. “I must go right away to get help. You should stay here. I think it will be best if you stay where we will be able to find you. I think it would take those I spoke of, the evil one, quite a while to trace the burst and even longer to travel to its source. So, you should be safe while I am gone. Just in case, pack the essentials t
o travel quickly if the need should arise. Make sure John gets plenty to eat and is well rested. I am going to try to put a quick enchantment on the house to ward off intruders. I must warn you, however, my control of the mystic echoes is very weak and I do not know how well it will hold. Once I have gone do not open the door of your home to anyone you do not know. Wilhelmina, Helga or I will return to you as soon as is possible.”
Mr. Caramel had said this so rapidly that he was out of breath. He took a strange ring with a very large stone out of his pocket and placed it on his finger. He walked to the front door. He began muttering something under his breath and walked around the house in a large circle ending back at the front door again. He turned to Thelma and James. “It is done.” he said and then headed out the door.
John had been listening in on all this and watching what he could from his spot on the couch. He couldn’t believe it. Magic? He had done magic? And people would try to come after him because of it? He was having a lot of trouble wrapping his head around all this, a whole lot of trouble. Actually, it was kind of hard to think at all. His head was feeling very fuzzy. It almost hurt to try and keep his eyes open. He struggled to stay awake, but it was no use.
John and Annie awoke to find themselves nestled snuggly together in their parent’s large antique sleigh bed. They could smell something wonderful cooking in the kitchen down stairs. Still groggy with sleep, they looked at each other. “How did we get in Mommy and Daddy’s bed?” asked Annie rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “I guess they must have carried us up here. Probably because of what Mr. Caramel said.” answered John. “What did he say?” asked Annie very interested in the answer. John didn’t answer his sister right away. He was trying to decide exactly how much he should tell her about what he had overheard downstairs. He didn’t want to scare Annie. Besides he was the one that had done magic and he was the one the bad people would be looking for. He tried not to look directly at Annie while he pondered all this. While looking around the room he noticed several large bags sitting packed and ready to go.
Annie tugged at John’s arm and repeated her questions. “John, what did he say!?” she was practically yelling at her brother, desperate for a response. Her brother had no clue what had happened to her in the closet during the lesson. It was so incredible she could hardly believe it herself. She needed to know more about it. Whatever Mr. Caramel told Mommy and Daddy she needed to know it too. She was sure it was very important that she know it. She did have to be careful though. She couldn’t let John know that she was in that closet during his lesson. He would never forgive her if he found out.
John decided that it couldn’t hurt to confide in his sister some of what Mr. Caramel had said. After all the bags where packed. If they had to leave Annie would find out soon enough anyway. “Okay, Okay!” John said in an annoyed tone pulling his arm away from Annie. “In my lesson today with Mr. Caramel I did real magic. Really real magic Annie! Only he said they don’t call it magic. He said I summoned great mystical forces.” he looked at his sister’s face hoping to find her very surprised and impressed. Oddly enough she didn’t look surprised or impressed at all. She just continued to stare at him wide eyed waiting for more. John was a little disappointed but, he continued. “Mr. Caramel told Mom and Dad that there are bad people that will try to find me. They want to make me do bad things with the magic. We might even have to leave so they can’t find me.” He pointed to the packed luggage in the corner of the room. “See, Mom and Dad already packed bags just in case.”
Annie felt her stomach do a little flip flop. If bad people were coming for John because of what he did they might be coming for her too. Then it occurred to her that John still didn’t seem to know what had happened inside his closet. Mr. Caramel had told their parents bad people were coming for John. So, Mr. Caramel must not have known what she had done. If he didn’t know, and he was in the room, the bad people couldn’t know either. Her stomach began to settle. It was scary enough that bad people might be coming after John but, he was her big brother. He was older and stronger than her. Besides everyone would be trying to protect him since he was the special one.
John’s hunger was getting the best of him. He hopped out of bed to find out what smelled so good. As he opened the door he turned to his sister. “You coming?” he asked her. “I’ll come down in a minute.” She replied. John shrugged his shoulders and headed down the stairs. Annie’s probably scared to come down after what I told her. She’ll see everything’s okay. She just needs her big brother to go first, he told himself as he cautiously walked down the stairs. He was putting on a brave face, despite some lurking doubts about his own safety, and let his growling stomach lead his to the kitchen.
Annie took this time to herself to confide in her faithful companion, who was still keeping a protective watch over her. “Zindle, can you believe everything that happened today? I want to tell John, but I don’t think he’ll believe me. He’ll probably just think I’m trying to be like him. I think it’ll be better to keep it a secret. If no one knows I can do it too then I’ll be safe. Then everyone can just worry about keeping John safe.” she whispered. Zindle licked Annie’s hand in his usual sign of approval. Annie then followed her brother’s example hopping off the bed and heading down to the kitchen for something to eat.
Annie found her family preparing to sit down to a late dinner. The table was set as if for a holiday. There was a delicious looking roast chicken surrounded by mashed potatoes and several other delicious looking side dishes. It was very strange to be eating dinner after dark. Everyone seemed slightly on edge and no one said much as they consumed their meal trying to act as normal as possible. Dinner was nearly finished when Zindle began to run around the kitchen nervously barking. Everyone at the table jumped. Thelma nearly choked on a bite of chicken. “Everyone stay where you are.” commanded James as he headed for the front door. They sat in silence hardly daring to move. All straining to hear what was going on in the hall.
They heard James open the door. It sounded like someone came in. Then they heard voices. It was hard to make out just who it might be. James laughed a high pitched nervous sounding laugh. Finally, they heard footsteps heading back down the hall toward the kitchen. It sounded like several people. They held their breath as the footsteps neared the kitchen doorway. James entered the room first. Everyone craned their necks to see who was following him. They all began to breathe again at seeing a familiar face. It was Wilhelmina. She was followed by two others they had never met before. The first was a short round man dressed in a funny pair of oversized sweat pants and Hawaiian style shirt. His balding head made him look even more round. The second was a young woman who looked like the female version of Mr. Caramel. She was dressed in a blue business suit. She had very straight shoulder length brown hair. If you saw her walking out of a large office building you would never give her a second glance.
Wilhelmina went around the table giving everyone hugs. “I am so glad to see you all safe. We had a little scare tonight.” She winked at James and Thelma. Annie wanted to ask all about the little scare but, she knew better. Adults never discussed that kind of stuff with kids. Especially little kids like her. Nope, she knew she was just going to have to be sneaky again.
John also wanted to know more about the night’s scare. John was used to being treated in a very grown up way when it came to his arts tutoring. Since this whole mess was because of his tutoring and because of something he had done he saw no reason why he shouldn’t ask about it. “What about the scare?” John asked expecting an answer. Uncomfortable glances were shared between the adults. Wilhelmina answered “Oh, don’t worry yourself my dear. It was as I said, just a little scare. Everything is going to be fine. We just have a few things to discuss with your parents.” Her tone was very reassuring, but her body language was not. Wilhelmina always seemed strong and in charge. The way she wrung her hands as she spoke made her seem unsure. “It’s getting late. You two must be getting awfully tired.” finished Wilhelmina plac
ing a hand on each of the children’s shoulders.
James and Thelma agreed with Wilhelmina that it was time for John and Annie to head off to bed. Thelma quickly ushered them out of the kitchen toward the hall stairs. “Don’t forget to brush your teeth and I’ll be up to tuck you both in shortly.” Thelma said as she gave them a little nudge toward the stairs.
Annie kept one eye on her mother as she started up the stairs. As soon as her mother was out of sight she grabbed a hold of her brother’s shirt. “We have to figure out a way to hear what they’re talking about.” She told John in a loud whisper. “Shhh! We’ll talk about it upstairs.” John cautioned his sister. As they reached the top of the stairs John pulled Annie by the arm into his bedroom. “I have a plan.” John announced. Annie was relieved. She was good at being sneaky but, she could not think of a way to hear what was going on downstairs.
“You know how I knew what we were getting for Christmas?” asked John. Annie shook her head. She had no clue and it had been driving her crazy for months. “Well, one night when I was getting a blanket out of Mom and Dad’s room I thought I heard Dad but, he was down stairs. You know the old fireplace mantel in their room. The old chimney’s still behind there. They just put a thin piece of wood over the opening. The chimney goes down to the kitchen. There used to be a fire place down there too. If you put your ear against the wall you can hear everything in the kitchen. So, I snuck into their room one night when I knew they would be talking about our Christmas presents and I heard everything.” John explained to Annie. “You can be the look out and I’ll listen. I’ll tell you everything I hear.” John finished. Annie thought this sounded like a great plan except for one thing. She didn’t want to be the look out. She wanted to hear everything.
A Mystical Journey Page 4