Forced Magic (32 page)

She had her arms wrapped tightly around Fetch's neck,
sobbing uncontrollably. Her eyes were shut tight and I could see her sunken
face. Whatever Johnathen had done to her, had to be bad. She looked like she
hadn’t eaten in weeks. The way she looked made me think he had left her for
dead, but she had managed to survive. I was filled with joy. Tears stung my
face as I rushed up to throw my arms around both of them, just happy she was
alive. I began to cry in relief, sobbing and saying over and over again “Are
you all right?" I could hear a commotion down the hall as police were
trying to hunt down the source of the disturbance. Michelle was whispering in
my ear.

“He took it from me, Jack, he took it."

I looked at her. Her eyes were still shut tight, her body so
frail. I knew I had to get her out of here. I would take her to the fairies and
have them heal her. I would let Fetch do it, but he seemed so weak himself that
I didn’t think he could.

“Hang on Michelle. We’re gonna get you out of here.”

I went over to the door and peeked out. Two policemen were
attempting to get a nurse to calm down and point them in our direction. It
would be just seconds before they arrived. I turned to Fetch to see if he could
bust through the window and fly us all out of here. Michelle was staring at me.
She was shaking and her hands were curled up like claws on either side of her
face. She screamed. It was a long and loud scream of absolute terror. I swore
to myself that I would make Johnathen pay for what he had done to her. I didn’t
even have time to ask Fetch if he could get us out of there. The police ran
into the room, took one look at me and fetch, yelled and pulled out their guns.
I didn’t think they would open fire, but I didn’t want to find out. I pushed
some magic in their direction sending them flying out of the room. I turned and
shot another spell at the window. It flew outward in one piece, crashing and
breaking on the ground outside. Michelle had fainted and I grabbed her, holding
her tight. I picked her up and jumped onto Fetch's back. She was so light, as
if there was nothing to her. She was so thin and frail, I prayed I didn’t hurt
her when I picked her up. I ducked down close to Fetch's back as he clumsily
made his way out of the window. He took off into the air as shouts were coming
from the room behind us.

This time he remembered to cloak himself as we made good our
escape. There was something different about Michelle. I couldn’t quite put my
finger on it, but it was more than just her now ravaged body. Johnathen had
damaged her in a way that I couldn’t explain, but it was serious. She whimpered
in her sleep, mumbling over and over. “He took it. He took it.”  I held her
tightly in my arms using just my legs to hold on to Fetch. He was shaking under
me. This was really taxing his strength. I hoped we would reach the healing
fairies soon.

We landed roughly in the desert. There was nothing in sight.
I carefully got off Fetch's back, still holding Michelle in my arms. I was weak
from hunger and the battle with Johnathen. The last twenty-four hours had taken
a lot out of me.

I called out, “Hello! Help me please!"

Michelle moaned in her sleep. I wondered what she would say
when she found out I had brought her to the fairies. She had to realize by now
that they had not destroyed her family. But, years of mistrust and hate were
hard to overcome overnight.  I would deal with that later. Now I just needed to
get her some help.

Suddenly out of the darkness the fairies appeared. They
rushed over to Fetch who was coughing up blood again. He was totally exhausted
and just lay there breathing heavily. The fey were keeping their distance from
me and Michelle, staring at us with fear in their eyes. I figured we were the
first humans to find them.

“Please help us," I said, my words slurred strangely in
my mouth.

I started feeling lightheaded. My lack of sleep and hunger
finally caught up with me. I sank to my knees, still holding Michelle to me.
Finally the fairies came to our aid. They took Michelle away from me. They
helped me to my feet.

“Please," I said, "you need to find my friends. We
were attacked by a wizard."

An older looking fairy with white hair spoke up.

”We know all about it, Jack. Your friends are safe and on
their way here.”

Relief washed over me. They lead us to a grouping of tents.
Separating us, I was lead to one tent as Michelle was carried off to another.
She continued to moan in her sleep. There was something different about her,
besides how ragged and thin she was. Johnathen had changed her somehow. I just
couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

Inside my tent was a simple bed made of different colored
pillows.

”Please," I said, “you have to help Fetch.”

“We are attending to him now," the white-haired fairy
said. "Please drink this and rest."

He handed me a cup of blue-green liquid. It reminded me of 'Kool-Aid'
and tasted like honey. I felt better and lay down. The fairy stared at my face,
studying it carefully. I wanted to ask him what he was doing, but, before I
could, I fell asleep.

I woke up slowly. My eyes opened just a crack and I could
see the sunlight of an early morning sunrise. I had been wrapped tightly in a
blanket, from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet, like a giant baby.
It felt comfortable, and, in spite of the fact that I was anxious to find out
how Fetch and Michelle were, I found myself reluctant to get up. I looked over
at a small table next to the bed. There was my laptop. It was open and my story
was writing as I lay there. It had almost caught up to the current time, as I
saw the description of how Johnathen looked on the mountain.

“Well, it looks like he is starting to stir," said a
familiar voice.

I turned to see Smith sitting at my side. Next to him was
Samantha. Smith had his usual smile, but Samantha was keeping her head down. I
was relieved to see that Samantha's face was as beautiful as it had always
been. Fetch's fire had done its job and healed her.

“Hey," I said, “I am so glad you are ok. I thought you
were dead.”

“Well, my boy, as you can see, we are fine," said
Smith.

“You are a hero, Jack," said Samantha, "both you
and Fetch. You prevented Johnathen from destroying our whole way of life. Thank
you.”

She was treating me nicely. This had me worried.

"We managed to stop Johnathen, though he did escape.” Said
Smith. “The last thing he said was to look to the skies. Very cryptic of him,
if you ask me. I'm afraid he is still growing in this strange new power he has
found. It is a mystery where it came from. We are hoping to get some answers
from Michelle when she wakes up. We won this battle but I feel there is more to
come. You should have seen the fairy army, Jack. They just appeared on the
fields. Why, the very presence of them sent the goblins in all directions. Not
many were hurt except for . . . "

Smith paused there. The way he just blurted everything else
out, made me think he was trying to hide something.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Smith's face sank into that familiar, droopy, sad look. He
looked at me and in a shaky voice said.

“There is no easy way to tell you this, Jack. Fetch is
dying."

I bolted up, not wanting to believe it. “How do you
know?"

“He is spitting up a lot of blood and he gets weak. They
think it is because he didn’t devour your life force, Jack. He is also not
maturing the way other dragons do, and without a full life force he cannot
survive for very much longer.”

I was in shock. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How
could this be happening?

"What can we do?" I asked,”There must be a way to
save him. It can’t end this way. “

You and Fetch are enigmas, Jack. There has never been a
dragon who refused a life force before Fetch. We have no idea what to do. With
your abilities and the changes you have gone through, we are concerned about
how it will end for you.

“Do you mean I am dying too?” I asked.

“We don’t know, Jack, but that isn’t what I meant. You don’t
know it yet but you have cha . . . "

Smith never finished his sentence. A blood curdling scream
came from the tent next to mine. It was Michelle. I jumped out of my bed and
ran over to the next tent. There was Michelle, with Fetch resting his head in
her lap.

“Why am I here with fairies?" she screamed.

She looked over at me in shock. Fetch had buried his head in
her lap. All the anger she had directed at me drained out of her face.

“Oh Jack, I thought it was a nightmare. I’m so sorry.”

I thought she was delirious. I had no idea what she was
saying. She reached out to me and I finally realized, in horror, what was so
different about her. The words she kept repeating over and over again last
night made sense to me now. Her tattoo was gone. Her skin was red, scratched
and swollen. Johnathen had taken her tattoo away. With how weak and sick
Michelle looked I figured that it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

I started to cross the tent to go to her when I caught a
glimpse of my reflection in a mirror. I looked at my reflection not believing I
was seeing what I thought I was seeing.  My heart was beating so hard and fast
it felt like it was about to explode. My face was a hideous mask. The left side
looked as normal as ever, but the right side was covered with a jagged line of
green and white scales. The hair on that side of my head was gone and my right
eye was now bigger and was rapidly changing color. My mouth drooped down in an
arc that went back to my jaw line. My ear came to a point. It was a twisted
horrific face out of a nightmare. I raised my hand toward my reflection, as if
I could touch the mirror and change it. My hand had changed too. It was two
times bigger than my left hand and it curved slightly inward like a claw. The
green and white scales went up my arm. I tore open the thin cloak they had put
on me in my sleep, and saw that my chest on the right side was covered in
scales too. I looked down at my clawed, scale-covered foot, and realized that
this stuff covered half of my body.

I had become a monster, a freak, I was now a vision of
horror.

                                                      TO BE
CONTINUED