Forced Magic (25 page)

“What’s going on?” I asked. “Where is Michelle?”

Smith looked at me and said. “Your blade, I know you have
one as well. Let me see it.”

At first I didn’t know what he was talking about. Then it
hit me. Michelle must have told him about the dagger that Johnathen had given
me. It was identical to hers. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the pouch
that Johnathen had given me. I wasn’t concentrating hard enough and as I pulled
out the dagger money spilled out of the pouch too. I quickly handed the dagger
to Smith and bent down to hastily pick up the money and stuff it into my pockets.
I stood up and saw Smith sitting there with tears streaming down his face. He
was looking at the blades in his hands and nodding his head.

“Of course, it is all making sense now."

His hands began to shake and he shut his eyes tight. When he
opened them again, he began to speak to me in a low voice, completely unlike
anything I had heard from him.

“I was there, Jack. I was there the night Michelle’s family
was killed. I had a feeling that she was the girl that survived, but I had to
be sure. There have been many attacks on places like the one Michelle’s parents
owned. Magic attacks that needed to be cleaned up. No one knew who was involved
in those attacks. The only clue found was these daggers. Do you know what they
are used for?"

"Johnathen told me they could destroy a fairy," I
answered.

A chill was going up my spine. I had a feeling where this
was all going and I didn’t think I was going to like it.

“They disappeared after I found them. It was the only
evidence that the fairies might have something to do with the attacks. I was
told they were concealed to protect the fairies on the council. Their magic is
strong and can harm a fairy at a distance if in the wrong hands. I had no idea
they were given to Johnathen. Why he gave them to you is another mystery. When
I mentioned that they were found at the scene of the attack on her parents,
Michelle cast a spell, keeping me here, and ran off saying she would get
answers from Johnathen. These blades have a magic attached to them, Jack, a
dark magic. If a fairy was to just see one, it would mean their end. If
Michelle had revealed herself to them without even stabbing them, just them
seeing the daggers could have taken their very life force from their bodies.”

He looked around and quickly concealed Michelle’s blade up
his sleeve. He handed the other back to me. At first I didn’t want to touch it.

“It was given to you, Jack. I’m sure Johnathen had a reason
to give it to you. I imagine for protection. It is said that if a fairy were to
even suspect someone had one of these blades they would retreat and leave
whoever had them alone. With Johnathen's belief that the fairies have been
behind so much trouble in the magic world, I’m sure he meant for you to have it
for protection, you and Michelle.  She is so confused right now. I wish I could
have stopped her, Jack. She seemed to be realizing that not all fairies are
bad. There is trouble brewing and I think Johnathen suspects someone on the
council is the cause. Michelle is in danger now. Running after Johnathen the
way she just did can lead the unknown enemy to him. On her way out she bumped
into a goblin. I was unable to move because of her spell or I would have
stopped him. As soon as she revealed herself, the goblin got a wicked look on
his face and disappeared. I am afraid that she is in serious danger,
Jack."

I ran for the door cursing myself for not having Fetch with
me the whole time. He might have been able to stop her from leaving. I hoped he
saw her as she left and was with her outside right now. I knew that Michelle
was dealing with conflicting emotions and wouldn’t do anything foolish. As I
ran for the door, I bumped into a unicorn. It was blue with a red mane. As I
was revealed, it jumped back in surprise

”You are the dragon survivor!” it shouted.

I ran for the door bumping and brushing up against all sorts
of different things. I heard many different magic creatures yell and gasp in
surprise as I was revealed to all that I happened to touch on my mad dash for
the door. I could hear the unicorn still yelling that he had just bumped into
the dragon survivor as I made my way into the alley.

I looked up for a sign of Fetch. I wasn’t paying attention
to what was around me. I was about to call out to him when it happened.
Something hit me on the back of the head. It was some sort of club and I could
tell that it was meant to keep me from getting up. I went to my knees wondering
if Booger and his friends had pulled a sneak attack. Whoever it was kept on
hitting me. I was in pain and shock but somehow I managed to stay on my knees.
I refused to go down all the way. I could hear the heavy breathing of my
attackers, and, through the haze of pain, I was amazed at how much I was taking
without going down. I had become stronger. Finally a blow to the kidneys
brought me down completely. My attackers continued to hit me. I couldn’t see
who they were. I had covered my head for protection and tried to call upon the
forced magic. That first unexpected blow kept me from concentrating enough to
get it to work. I was not doing well.

“Where is Fetch? “I thought.

If he was overhead, he would have been here by now. I was lying
face down on the street as my attackers continued to beat on me. I cursed
myself for not calling him on the cell phone tied around his neck, as my
attackers continued to beat me to a pulp. As I lay there, I began to feel the
first spark of the forced magic as it started to build in my body. I found the
strength to push myself up which only made them beat on me harder. Another blow
to the kidneys turned me around to finally face my attackers. They were
ordinary people. Three guys with hoodies and bandanas covering their faces beat
on me brutally with baseball bats. They stopped and looked at me for a second.
One of them spoke up.

“Man, I don’t know what you are on dude, but I want it. I
saw you drop a wad of money in the club and I’m gonna get that too.”

He and his two friends continued to beat on me as if they
felt they would get nothing from me until I was dead. This struck me as funny.
Here I was being so cautious about the magic world that I forgot about the
non-magic one. I began to laugh. I could taste blood in my mouth, and, in spite
of the changes my body had undergone, I didn’t think I was going to survive
this. How could I have forgotten about this world, the one I grew up in? Had
all the things that had happened to me changed me so much that the normal world
I had been a part of became completely foreign to me? Was this going to be the
end of it all? “No!" said a voice in my head. I refused to let this happen
to me. I had fought off goblins and even knocked out a wizard in a duel. This
should be nothing to me. I was stronger than this. I was stronger than they
were. There was no way they could win this. I just let them surprise me, but
that was never going to happen again. I felt a surge of strength and I began to
stand up. The blows kept coming from these guys but I barely felt them. I
grabbed one of the bats, twisting it out of my attacker's hands. I heard the
snap and the screech of pain as my grab cause him to break his wrist. I broke
the bat in two, and grabbed the next guy by the throat. I shoved him backwards
into a wall. He sank to the ground and just lay there. I turned to my last
attacker and received a new surprise. He had a gun. I heard the shot go off and
felt a strange tearing sensation in my shoulder. I ran at my attacker and
smacked the gun from his hand. Even though I could feel no pain, the loss of
blood from my shoulder wound was making me strangely dizzy. My attackers must
have been on something. Two of them started hitting me again with their
baseball bats. The lack of blood made me sink to my knees. I began to crawl
toward the club door. These guys weren’t giving up. They followed me step by
step in some sort of drug induced fury. I could see the purple troll doorman
looking at these guys. He looked confused. Because of the teardrop, he couldn’t
tell what they were doing. I imagined that it looked like two guys beating the
road with bats. The third one stayed crumpled by the wall where I had thrown
him. A wild thought entered my mind. Where were all the creatures from the
club? The ones who saw me? Why hadn’t they come out?

I continued to crawl toward the troll. I thought that if I
could get to him and touch him, he would see me and then I could get some help.
Not the way I wanted to reveal myself but I didn’t feel like I had too much
choice. I heard a commotion at the door of the club. The troll had barred the
door keeping everyone inside. He must have thought he was protecting the club goers
from the crazy guys hitting the ally floor and shooting in the air. This
thought struck me as funny. I started to laugh which just made these guys
madder. I continued to laugh as I crawled. Blood was now pouring out of my
mouth, and these guys were screaming in rage that I was not dying. As I reached
the troll, who, not wanting to get involved with these crazy humans if he could
help it, had flattened himself against the wall next to the door, I reached out
and was able to touch his big toe. I heard a grunt when I was revealed to him.
That was when I heard the roar. Fetch was back and he sounded pissed. He
dropped into the alley, completely visible to all. His face was contorted in
rage as he rushed at the muggers. Knocking them aside, he shot a flame of healing
at me. As it engulfed me, I could feel it start to work. The bullet in my
shoulder popped out. A very odd sensation.

Fetch had turned his back on the boys and one of them took
his bat and with all his might brought it down on Fetch's head. It was just
enough to stun him and enough to piss me off. With the added fury of Fetch's
emotion I turned on my attackers. Hitting me was one thing, hitting Fetch was
something else. The healing flame had engulfed me by now and I was rapidly
gaining my strength. As I stood up, the color of the flame changed from a
bright orange to a deep black with a yellow outline. The troll and my attackers
all stood still in shock. Fetch's roar must have been heard by all the people
in the club. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that someone had finally
broken through the door and all sorts of creatures were pouring out. I could
hear the gasps as I stood there covered in the black flame of Fetch's fire. I
could see Fetch shaking his head trying to clear it.

The girl in the wheelchair came out into the alleyway
chanting “Fight, fight, fight” and I heard more than one voice calling me
'dragon survivor'. Not the best way to announce my arrival to the world of
magic, but at this point I didn’t care. I was still mad and I was ready to
teach these guys a lesson for attacking me.

I could feel the forced magic building up inside me. It
reached the middle of my chest and forced its way out. The fire that continued
to surround me added to the strength of my magic. It was now a ball of blue
flame about the size of my fist. Grabbing it like a baseball, I threw it in the
direction of my attackers. It engulfed them. I could hear them scream and
watched as they ran down the alley trying to put out the flames. By the time
they got to the end of the alley they were engulfed in it. The two who were
still standing fell down and then the flames went out.  I looked over at the
one I had thrown into the wall. One of the fairies was kneeling down next to
him, a strange light coming out of his hands. The fallen man twitched as the
light engulfed him.

I was struck with horror on what I had just done. Once again
I had shown that I could do amazing things, and, once again, my anger got the
best of me. Putting aside my fear that I might have killed them, I rushed over
to Fetch. He had passed out. He lay there, very still. I had never seen him
look like that before. His breath was shallow and I was afraid he wasn’t going
to make it. I put his head in my lap.

“Hey Fetch, wake up," I said. “You did good pal. Come
on and wake up.”

His silver scales glowed and his black ones changed colors
for a second, then with a sigh he opened his eyes. He looked at me as if he was
trying to remember what happened. I was so relieved he was all right. His eyes
drifted past my shoulder. He had a slight snarl on his face and I turned to see
what he was looking at. The entire club had seemed to empty into the alley. At
the front of the crowd was my fairy. I still didn’t know her name. I stood up
and realized that the spell had exhausted me. I swooned and then fell to the
street. Fetch turned me around and was staring at me, his look of concern was
matching the one I had just had for him. Other creatures came into view. I saw
the purple troll looking at me and could hear Smith calling out my name. I saw
my fairy. She was looking at me the same way she looked at me two years ago
when I broke my hip. A strange ball of light appeared in her hand, and, before
I could react, it hit me in the face. Darkness took me.

There were people talking. I couldn’t tell if it was a dream
or not, and I couldn’t tell what they were saying, but there were definitely
people talking. I was sore, not in pain, just sore, like I had been working
out. I remembered the guys with the baseball bats hitting me over and over
again. How could I not be in pain? Fetch . . . Fetch healed me again with his
flame. Why was he so late in finding me? Those guys really beat the crap out of
me. Fetch. Fetch? Fetch was hurt! He had been hit! Where was Fetch?

I opened my eyes, coming out of my half sleep dream. Smith
was there along with three fey. Fetch was nowhere in sight. I recognized the
place as Smith's little cave under the park. When I first met Smith, I thought
he was just a type of janitor for the magic world, cleaning up magic messes so
the real world would not discover that magic was real. So the real world
wouldn't know that the fey, gnomes and dragons were something more than
fantasy. Looking at him sitting in his wooden easy chair with three fey circled
around him, listening with rapt attention to his whispered conversation. I
wondered again if it was an accident when I saved him. It could have been
planned. I lay there as still as I could, wanting to hear what he said. I still
didn’t know so many things I needed to learn about this new life I was in.
Smith glanced over at me and smiled.

“Ah, our good friend is finally awake,” he said. “Jack, I
would like you to meet some very good friends of mine. This is Molly, Peter,
and I think you already know this lovely lady, Samantha.”

There she was. My own personal fairy. She was as beautiful
as she was on that first day long ago. She was staring at me with hands on her
hips and her mouth a thin line. Molly was looking back and forth between the
two of us. The male fey named Peter was standing there, not making eye contact
with anyone at all. Slowly, Samantha floated across the room toward me. I sat
up and tried to think of something to say. All this time I had thought that she
might be trying to kill me. Seeing her here made me feel like I had been wrong
the whole time. When she reached my bedside she stared down at me with her eyes
narrowed. Any look of concern I remembered her having when she kneeled over me
in the alleyway was gone. I had a flash of a thought of the alley, and the
strange light that had knocked me out, that had come from her hand. I had a
moment of panic as I started to think that maybe she had tried to kill me on
the street that day. She definitely was staring at me like she could kill me
right now.  She was mad and I had no doubt she was mad at me.

“Uh, hi," I stammered.

I heard a familiar 'HUH' from over my head. Looking up I saw
a long shelf and Fetch's snout peeking over the edge.

“Fetch!” I said in relief. “You’re ok. Man, you had me
worried, you stupid lizard. What took you so long to get to me in the alley? What
were you waiting for? They were beating the snot out of me. Do you only attack
goblins?”

I was hyper aware of Samantha and the others staring at me.
I could hear Smith chuckling.

“You see? I told you,” he said. “They are connected and the
best of friends. All the rumors are true. I have witnessed them with my own
eyes and now so have you. Now do you believe me when I say he has a name?”

Samantha looked at us in complete shock. When she noticed
that I was looking at her, the look of anger appeared on her face once again.
Looking at me, she spoke in a low controlled voice.

“How dare you suggest that I was trying to kill you? I was
trying to save your life, you smelly Flap!”

There was that word again. I was beginning to think that it
wasn’t a nice word. I had to find out what it meant. I stared at her, and, to
my surprise, I started to feel angry. I mean, who did she think she was talking
to me that way? Gritting my teeth and looking into her blue eyes, I spoke in a
low voice trying matching her fury.

“Well, what am I supposed to think? You just appeared out of
nowhere and lured me out into the street. I was almost hit by a truck. In fact
every time I see you, there is some sort of truck involved. The first time I
saw you, I ended up with three pins in my hip. The next time I saw you, Fetch
hatched on my leg. What kind of sick game are you playing with me, you fairy
tease?”

I heard a strange metal sound and saw Pete with a large
sword in his hand. I remembered him from the club. I didn’t see the other one
with the white hair. He looked like he was about to say something when Fetch
jumped from his perch, and, quick as a flash, was crouched in front of him
growling. Pete had a look of surprise on his face and didn't seem to want to
move. Keeping his eyes on Fetch, he spoke to me.

“No one speaks that way to Samantha. She has sacrificed much
for you and is next in line for the council.”

These words meant nothing to me, so I just sat there staring
at Samantha.

“Put it away, Pete,” she said. “It is obvious that Jack here
was hit a little too hard to realize what he said. I will let it go this time.
His apparent stupidity is enough of an apology for now.”

At these words, Pete put away his sword, and, with a puff of
red smoke in Pete's face, Fetch turned his attention to Molly. He slowly
crawled up to her, and, bowing just a little, put his head under her hand and
gently gave it a nudge. Molly let out a little squeak and looked over at me,
not knowing what to do.

Glancing at her I said, “He likes to be scratched on the head.”

I looked back at Samantha. In my mind, all sorts of clever
comebacks for her 'stupidity' comment were swirling around in my head, but,
after looking in her eyes for a while, all I could manage to come up with was
two words.

“Fairy tease,” I repeated.

I heard Pete’s sword come out of its sheath again. It was
really odd knowing that there was a fairy, standing there in an Armani suit,
threatening me with a sword. Samantha raised a hand signaling him to put it
away. Fetch was too busy getting his head scratched by Molly to come to my
rescue this time. Samantha turned her hand in the air palm up. A strange glow
appeared in the center of her hand. It was a ball of white light. She looked at
this ball then back at me. She smiled. It was a sweet smile, one that could
melt your heart. I felt my own heart skip a beat and I was about to apologize
for my 'fairy tease' comment. I even opened my mouth to begin to apologize,
when she gently flicked her hand. The ball of light shot out of her hand and
hit me square in the forehead. It knocked me back and flipped me over Smith's
small bed. There was a loud clatter as I landed on the shelves, knocking down
and breaking dishes and bottles. I heard Molly let out a little squeak and the
familiar 'Huh' from Fetch. I was SO glad he was enjoying this. Samantha’s face
appeared above me. Hovering in the air, she had the same sweet smile on her
face. I didn’t find it so appealing anymore. It was silent in the den, and, as
I lay there, sprawled in an awkward position, Samantha spoke.

“So,” she said in a sweet voice, “call me a tease again,
Jack. I dare you.”

You could have heard a pin drop. Nobody moved. Nobody
breathed. I realized that this was a defining moment for me. This would
determine how the fey in this room would treat me. Perhaps it would determine
how all fairies would treat me from now on. I looked at Samantha carefully.

I opened my mouth and with apparent slowness I said,
“Fairy---Tease.”

The air seemed to go out of the room. The look on Samantha’s
face made me think that she had never been talked to that way. All the color
drained away from her pretty face. No one had challenged her to this point, and
I had crossed some line and could not come back from it. I knew I had gone too
far, but I was not about to back down now. I felt a stubborn pride as I lay
there staring defiantly into this fairy princess's eyes. Her beautiful face
contorted into a mask of rage.

“This is going to hurt,” I said to myself.

Before anything could happen, a high-pitched laugh rang
through the air.

“Friends, friends, please,” said Smith. “This must end. I
don’t think my home can take much more of this. Samantha, please, Jack has been
through so much and you did startle him with your appearance that day. Can you
blame him for thinking you might try to do him some harm? Jack, you must
forgive me as well. If I had known it was Samantha that was your fairy, I would
have reassured you that she meant you no harm. Now we must start over and all
be friends."

Samantha backed up a little as I scrambled around trying to
get on my feet. After I slipped around trying to stand, she offered me her
hand. Reluctantly I took it. There is no way to describe the sensation of being
given a helping hand from a fairy that is hovering in the air. As I stood up,
she leaned in close and whispered in my ear,

“This isn’t over, you flap."

"Not by a longshot,” I retorted.

I made a promise to myself to ask Smith what flap meant.

“Now that you have met Jack, Samantha, it is your turn to
meet Fetch, “said Smith.

Fetch had stayed by Molly’s side during the altercation and
he moved over to Samantha. She had a look of complete wonder on her face as
Fetch, in what I understood as a complete, over the top, grand gesture, bowed
low to her. Then, looking her in the eye, he lowered his head like he had with
Molly and nudged her hand. She gently scratched his head, a true smile on her
face. There was a look of complete joy in her eyes, and, once again, I was
mesmerized by her absolute beauty. Mentally I slapped myself in the face. I
needed to keep it cool. I knew if she ever found out how beautiful I thought
she was, it would be the end of me. Smith had told me something that came back
to mind 'Never make a fairy angry'. I had done just that, even though I felt
that it wasn’t fair. After all, how was I supposed to react to a fairy
appearing in front of me in the middle of the day? I began to realize it was
just my attraction to her that had mesmerized me to the point of wandering into
the street.

This only made me more angry and stubborn. I made a promise
to myself that I would not let her beauty affect me that way again. In my mind
it was still her fault I was almost hit by that truck. It still wasn’t clear
why she had appeared to me that day, or why she was there the day I broke my
hip. She saw me staring at her and the look of wonder left her face.

“You are a lucky person,” she said. “By all rights you
should be dead.”

 “Yeah,” I replied, “that’s what everybody keeps telling
me.”

“Come to the table, you three,” said Smith. “We must plan
our next move.”

Fetch and I hung back for a second. Once again I had a
moment of disbelief. All of this was so strange. I looked over at Fetch. He was
staring at me intently. He looked from me to Samantha and back to me. He kept
on doing this back and forth for a while. I knew what he was doing. I pushed
his head over to the side.

“Shut up. There is no way, stupid lizard.”

I walked to join them at the table with Fetch following
close behind me.

“Now,” Smith started, "I believe Michelle has gone to
confront Johnathen. At the mention of Michelle’s name, my stomach dropped to my
feet. I had run out of the club to stop her. So many twists and turns in this
new world. One of my best friends had told me how dangerous and evil fairies
were, and now I found myself almost trusting them. I had a flash of anger as
something was revealed to me about this crazy world, something that I should
have been told from the beginning. Smith knew these fairies. I was pretty sure
he knew they would be at the club last night. I felt I was a pawn in some sort
of game and I was getting sick and tired of it.

“Michelle, I believe, is safe for now,” continued Smith. “I
think the best thing to do is to present Fetch and Jack to the council. They
would be under their protection and it would give Jack a chance to persuade
them to act against the forces that seem to want him destroyed.”

“No,” I heard myself say.

This was it for me. We had been lead around by all of these
forces and it hadn’t gotten us any closer to the truth of what was really going
on. It wasn’t fair for me and Fetch to have to defend our right to exist in
front of a group of council members who would treat us like most of the magical
creatures had been treating us so far, with fear or wonder. Why should we have
to defend our right to live when it wasn’t the fault of either of us that we
were here in the first place?

“Fetch and I are not part of your world. We are not part of
the world I left behind. From what I have learned from all of you, we are
something new and unique and I refuse to allow myself to be controlled by a
council that might very well decide to kill us.”

There was silence in the cave. Smith had a peculiar smile on
his face.

“What do you want to do Jack?” He asked. “What do you and
Fetch want to do?”

I looked at Fetch. I could see a look of pride in his
ever-changing eyes and I could tell that he would support whatever I had to
say.

“We’re gonna go confront Johnathen. Ask him what is going
on. I'll go see your council after that, maybe. I'm beginning to think that
Johnathen has been keeping things from me and Fetch. I hope Michelle is with
him and safe. That is another reason I want to talk to him, to make sure she is
safe. What Fetch decides to do is up to him. I never claimed to own him and he
never claimed to own me. I hope he stays with me. With everything that has
happened, he is the only one that truly understands what I am going through. I
would like your help. I feel you owe us.”

Pete spoke up at this point. "We owe you nothing!"
he shouted.

“My brother has no memory of who I am. No one I knew before
this mess knows me anymore, and, from what I understand, that is because of you
fairies messing with his memories. I never asked for any of this at all. Fetch
didn’t either. It blows my mind that he decided not to eat me, but, in my
opinion, he has shown that we all have a choice. Heck, for all I know, he is
waiting to eat me in my sleep one night.”