Forced Magic (4 page)

"Sorry about the burgers,” I said. 

The dragon looked at me. Its head nodded slightly. Having
nothing to lose, I asked the most important question I could think of.

“Um, do you know what is going on?”

The dragon’s head tilted slightly to the side. Its shoulders
moved up and down. It had just shrugged its shoulders. It was amazing. This
creature could understand everything I was saying to it. I gave it a little
thought and then went for broke. “Were you trying to kill me? “ It stared at
me, its eyes changing color again. It was almost like watching two big
Christmas lights changing colors at a very fast pace. After a few moments its
eyes went back to green and its head shook a slow 'No'. It seemed as if it was
not sure of what it was supposed to do.

“You’re just as confused by all of this as I am?"

Its head looked down at the ground. 

“You both seem to be a little confused,” said an amused
voice. “I think I can help."

The dragon and I jumped. We quickly turned to the mouth of
the tunnel, and from the remaining light of the day, I could make out the
bobcat from earlier. Another one had joined him. They were both laying on a
duffle bag. The voice had come from one of them.

“Did you just talk?” I asked.

The bobcat opened its mouth again and the amused voice came
out.

“If you mean the bobcat, then the answer is no,” said the
voice, “I am talking through the bobcat. It’s kind of like a speaker right now.
My name is Johnathen. I am a wizard and I have been looking for the dragon all
day. Not until my bobcat friend here reported to me about you, did I realize I
was searching for you as well, my friend.”

The bobcat closed its mouth as the voice of Johnathen the
wizard stopped talking. It was quiet now in the tunnel. The only sound I could
hear was the sound of the dragon’s breath. I took a guess that Johnathen was
waiting for me to say something.

“Why were you looking for the dragon?” I asked.  The dragon
looked at me, its eyes changing to blue for a second. I guessed it was grateful
to me for asking the question.

“Well, my friend, that is actually a long and complicated
story. I can sense when a dragon is about to hatch. I try to locate them and
keep them from harm. They are not seen much in this part of the world.
Unfortunately, I can only detect them when they are emerging from the host. It
is amazing that you survived the experience. It must have been very painful. I
have never heard of a host surviving before,”

“What do you mean? I was supposed to die?” I asked.

The bobcat laughed. “I can see you are having a hard time
with all of this. It would be easier to explain if I could see you in person. I
will tell you that you have been changed. You are now part of the magic world.
There are however, those in the magic world when they discover you are still
alive will not be happy.”

“Wait, what? What are you talking about? Changed?  In what
way? Who won’t be happy?”

“You survived a dragon hatching. You have changed.  Haven’t
you noticed that you are able to see my bobcat messengers?  You are in a dark
tunnel and the sun has gone down. “

He was right. I was able to see in the dark. I looked over
at the dragon. Not only could I see it, but I could see the smoke coming out of
its nose. It was green. I could even read the graffiti on the walls of the
tunnel.

“Amazing,” I mumbled to myself. This was like my comic books
and fantasy novels. I had gained some kind of power. My heart was pounding. I
was geeking out.

"Take my advice and come see me,” said the bobcat,
“Both you and the dragon will need my help.”

I looked over at the dragon. It looked at me for a moment
and slightly nodded its head. I breathed a sigh of relief. I wouldn’t have to
go see this guy alone.

“Ok, we will come see you, but before I do, I have to go
home and get some clothes. I have to explain to my brother where I have been
all day.”

“I’m sorry friend," said Johnathen, “you can’t go home.
You won’t be welcome there now. Understand that your life is completely changed
and it can be very dangerous for your loved ones to even be around you.”

“Why?” I asked.

The excitement at my new night vision faded away as the
wizard's words sunk in.

“What is going on? I never asked for this. First the fairy .
. ."

“You saw a fairy?" the wizard interrupted. “When did
you see a fey?”

“Yes, it started with a fairy, that led to me being here
naked and bald, talking to a bobcat, with a dragon that won’t let me leaves
this tunnel!”

By the time I got to the end of my sentence I was yelling. I
was tired, still hungry, and trying to maintain a grasp on reality.

“Are you sure it was a fairy?” asked the wizard.

“She had wings and she was flying. Yes I am pretty sure she
was a fairy!” I yelled.

The bobcat sat there for a second. “You should have told me
this before. You need to see me right away. You both are in great danger. I
will give you as much protection as I can. Take the dragon and fly to where I
am. “

“Where are you?”

The bobcats stood up. “At Reid Park. Go to the pond and I
will meet you there. Keep your head down and talk to no one. I don’t think the
fey realizes you are still alive.”

The first bobcat nudged the bag it was carrying, toward me.
“There is a gift for you in the duffle bag, now hurry.”

The bobcats turned and ran off into the night, leaving me
and the dragon staring after them as they ran off. I approached  the bag hoping
it would have some clothes in it. Opening the duffle bag I discovered a collar
made of leather with silver and gold studs. Obviously it was for the dragon.
Cautiously, I showed it to the dragon.  It took the collar and studied it for a
second, then dropped it.

“You don’t want it? I think you should take it.”

The dragon just stared at me with green eyes.

“You might offend him.”

Again the dragon stared. I wondered if it understood
anything I was saying. I had no idea how I could convince the dragon to do what
I thought it should do. I shrugged my shoulders and looked in the duffle bag
again. There was a note, which read:

“It is an old tradition for a wizard to give a gift of great
value when introducing himself to someone for the first time. I hope this seven
million dollars will help you adjust to your new life. Sincerely Johnathen”

Looking in the bag I could see it stuffed with money.

So, let’s go down the list.

One: a fairy from my past may be trying to kill me. Two: A
dragon hatched while attached to my leg. Three: A wizard has just given me a
bag full of cash. Yup, this was officially the strangest day of my life.

I stood there in stunned silence. One shocking blow after
another, in such a short time frame, took its toll on me. Everything from the
fairy, to the dragon, to a bag of money from a wizard seemed too much for one
day.

I looked around the tunnel. There was a cold breeze and my
body shivered a little. I felt very tired and a little freaked out. The last
words of this wizard were a warning. There must still be a fairy out there
waiting for me to show myself, and, as soon as I did, I would be dead. I knelt
down and looked out of the tunnel. I heard a dog bark. I jumped at the sound
and the dragon let out a grunt. It moved restlessly, head swaying side to side
as it made its way to the exit. It had fought me to keep me there, but after
hearing what Johnathen had to say, seemed eager to leave. It was if it had been
waiting for some kind of information to decide what to do.

It walked out of the tunnel and turned to look at me. I
stepped toward the exit feeling very vulnerable. I felt exposed. I didn’t know
what would be worse, the fairy finding me and killing me, or the fairy finding
me and seeing me naked. My face flushed at the idea and I knew I wasn’t going
anywhere without clothes. The dragon was out of the tunnel, stretching its
wings, getting ready to fly. It seemed much bigger with its wings spread out.

“Hey! Wait a minute! I can’t go anywhere like this.”

The dragon looked at me with its green eyes glowing. As
silly as it seemed, I knew the dragon could understand me. The way it listened
to the wizard, the way it reacted to my anger, how it had unwrapped those
burgers
(“How did it get those burgers?”)
I knew it could understand 
what I was saying.

"Come on, you need to get me something to wear. You
burned my clothes off so you have to find me new ones. Do that invisible thing
you did and swipe some. Oh! “

I had a moment of inspiration. I reached into the duffle bag
and pulled out a handful of money.  I was hit with amazement at the idea of how
much I had now.   Seven million dollars! It felt strange having all this money
given to me. I made a promise to myself to return it to Johnathen as soon as I
could. I felt weird using any of it, but this was an emergency.

"Leave this money behind when you grab some clothes,
ok?"

The dragon continued to stare at me, unmoving. I was
wondering what it was waiting for. Then it hit me. I didn’t want to believe
that was what it was waiting for, but I didn’t know what else it could be. 

I gritted my teeth and said “Please.”

The dragon stepped over to me and took the money.  It should
have struck me as odd that it would understand what money was.  He looked at me
and disappeared. No, it wasn’t that it disappeared, it was that its scales
changed color. They became the same color of the dark night skyline. It didn’t
have the ability to disappear, it had the ability to camouflage itself. Like a
chameleon. With a rush of air and a moment of silver flashing of its wings, it
flew off into the night.

 As soon as the dragon left I regretted it. I stood at the
mouth of the tunnel and held
 
the
duffel bag to my body.  I was not feeling particularly brave and I felt very
alone. Every sound was intensified and I jumped every time a car drove past me
on the street above. As I was just about ready to abandon the whole idea of
waiting for clothes, I prepared myself to run out to the street and flag down
the first car I saw. That is when the dragon returned, carrying a garbage sack
in its claws. It had another bag of burgers in its mouth. After dropping the
garbage bag in front of me, it took a burger out of the fast food bag and
tossed it to me with its mouth. I caught it in midair, the whole time amazed at
what this dragon could do. I ripped the paper off of the burger and practically
crammed the whole thing into my mouth. It was a little surprising to me that I
was so hungry again.

“Thanks,” I said to the dragon through a mouthful of burger.

I reached into the garbage bag to see what was in there. I
pulled out a pair of purple sweatpants, two mismatched flip-flops (one yellow,
one blue), a blue t-shirt with “It’s all good” written across the chest, and a
red stocking cap. I started to put the clothes on. It wasn’t until I put the
stocking cap on that I remembered that I was now bald. My hand went up to my
face feeling the lack of eyebrows. I moaned a little bit and wondered if my
hair and eyebrows would ever grow back. I looked down at the clothes the dragon
had picked out for me. The sweatpants were twice my size. The shirt was too
small, stretching tightly across my chest. And the red stocking cap had a fuzzy
ball on the top. The dragon seemed to be laughing at me.  It had picked this
ensemble on purpose. I knew I had to look ridiculous. The jerk had played a
joke on me.

“This is what you got for me?”

The dragon chuckled. Blue and green smoke came out of his
snout.  I was not going to let this beast get the best of me.

“I guess it's too much for me to think you would have any
sense of style. You probably can’t even see colors.”

The dragon stopped laughing. Its eyes narrowed and the smoke
started to look a little red.

“And this stupid hat? Only an idiot would wear this.”

I took off the hat and threw it at the dragon. It landed
right on its snout. With eyes changing color to purple and crossing to look at
the red fuzzy balled cap, the creature looked so comically surprised that I
started laughing.

“Yeah,” I laughed, “I think you should wear it dragon. It
looks much better on you.”

It walked over to me slowly, staring me in the eyes. The red
cap still dangled on the end of its snout. I was standing behind the duffle
bag, the dragon now on the other side, its eyes turned green. Reaching up, the
creature pulled the stocking cap off of its nose and handed it to me across the
duffle bag. I had stopped laughing not knowing what to expect next. A smile
played across its face. You could see all  the teeth in that smile. My blood
ran cold. I had reached the end of my rope with this beast.  I didn’t dare move
out of fear of what it would do to me next. Its mouth opened a little bit and a
short jet of green flame shot out, straight at the money in the duffle bag. It
caught fire and before I realized what I was doing, I was beating it out with
my hands. I got the small fire under control quickly. By the time the flames
were out, the dragon had walked down the wash a little way, and before I could
stop it, the dragon launched into the air, not even bothering to camouflage,
and flew off into the night.

I could have kicked myself. I was alone again and I got the
idea that the dragon was not coming back. I stood there searching the night sky
for any sign of the dragon. It was no use.  I was on my own.

I had decided to leave the wash. I needed to get moving. I
knew that Johnathen wanted me to stick with the dragon but I blew that.

“What is wrong with me?”
I mumbled as I made my way
to the side walk.
“I shouldn’t have lost my temper.  Not like me. I needed
that dragon."
I thought as I walked.
“That dragon could have killed
me at least four times over and I still pushed it.”

As I started walking down the sidewalk, I noticed I was
getting some strange looks from people. Who could blame them? I looked like a
clown in these clothes. Dumb dragon. I stopped walking and stood there, just
out of sight of the grocery store where earlier I had made such a mess of
things.

“What am I going to do?” I mumbled to myself. ”I have to get
past the store. If I’m recognized as the guy who caused the damage I’m in deep
trouble.”

I quickly looked around when I realized I was talking out
loud to myself, embarrassed by my mumbling, even though no one was there to
hear me. I took a deep breath and decided to move forward. I hoped I looked
different enough that no one would recognize me. It was a long shot but it was
all I had.

Walking as normally as possible, I walked past the front of
the store.
“Maybe they won’t recognize me.”
  I thought
. “I’m bald now
and my goatee and eyebrows are gone.”

Looking up at the darkening sky, I hoped I would catch a
glimpse of the dragon's silver scales in the night sky.

Getting near the store front, I saw my brother's car. He was
probably looking for me. My cell phone was destroyed so I never got to call
him. Sometimes, when he would get off work, he would look for me at the store
coffee shop and give me a ride home. I started to head toward my brother's car
and then stopped. I stood there trying to figure out what to do. Johnathen's
words of not being able to go home came back to me. There might be a chance
that my brother could be in danger if I tried to get in contact with him. I
looked up at the night sky wishing the dragon would return. It could be helpful
to have a dragon on my side. Like it or not, I knew it was better to have the
dragon with me.

I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to let my brother know I
was ok. But I didn’t want to put him in danger. I wandered into the parking lot
trying to stay out of the overhead lights. I saw a silver flash up on the
roof.  It could be the dragon. I moved back toward the front of the store,
waving my arm and staring up at the roof, when my brother walked out of the
store. He was pushing a cart right toward me. He didn’t seemed concerned or in
a hurry. I guessed he hadn’t heard about the earlier excitement and probably
thought I was home. I had to talk to him and warn him. I didn’t know what
trouble it might cause, but he is my brother. I couldn’t just disappear without
telling him something. I decided to get a ride home from him. I could say
goodbye and get some different clothes before meeting the wizard.

He wheeled the cart over to his car, totally distracted by
the music he was listening to. He had the music turned up so loud on his iPod I
could hear it myself. He didn’t notice me until I walked up next to him.

“Hey Paul,” I said trying to sound as normal as possible, “I
need a ride home. It’s been a strange day.” 

Paul’s eyes drifted up to the red stocking cap on my head
with an odd look on his face. I had to look crazy. I decided that the direct
approach would be the best. I had to tell him as much as I could. Make him
understand somehow. If I could show my brother the dragon, he would have to
believe me. Looked like I was out of luck. I glanced up, trying to spot the
dragon when my brother held his hand out toward me. He had a dollar in it.

“Do I know you friend?" he said. “Can I help you?”

Did I really look so different? He seemed not to know who I
was.   I stepped more into the light, being careful that the store manager
didn’t spot me and call the police.

“Paul, it’s me!” I said,  “It’s Jack.”

Now that I was standing in the light he had to recognize me.

“I’m sorry; I don’t think I know you,” Paul said taking a
small step backwards.

“Very funny Paul. It’s me, Jack, your brother,” I said
trying not to panic.

This was really scaring me. After everything that had
happened to me today, the last thing I needed was my own brother not
recognizing me.

“Look,” He said, “You obviously know who I am but I don’t
know you. I don’t have a brother. If you are trying some kind of scam, I really
don’t appreciate it. “

I felt like I’d been slapped.  I backed away from the car as
my brother got in. I kept on backing away and bumped into a parked car behind
me. The car's alarm started beeping as I watched my brother drive away. He
really didn’t recognize me. He had no idea that I was his brother. Trying to
take all of this in, I didn’t notice the store manager coming up behind me
until I heard his voice.

“Is everything ok?” he asked me.

That seemed to be the question of the evening. I turned
around to face him and saw that he was the man I had knocked down earlier that
day.  He seemed unhurt, which surprised me. I had knocked him down hard. He
also acted like he didn’t know me.

The car alarm had stopped blaring as the manager asked me
again, “Is everything ok? You seemed confused. “

I was sure this guy would recognize me. I had torn through a
table, knocked him down making a public nuisance, and I was sure I remembered him
shouting out to call 911 when I ran out of the store. This thought gave me some
hope. I could find a kind of acceptance at my brother not knowing who I was if
I looked completely different. But if that was it, then why did he say that he
didn’t have a brother at all? I cursed the dragon I was so willing to apologize
to just moments before. This was its fault. I needed to get to a mirror. I
needed to see what I really looked like. I found myself wanting the dragon
back. No such luck, I was alone.

“Do you know me?” I asked.

The manager smiled and stuck out his hand to shake mine. I
shook his hand wanting him to recognize me.

“My name is Jack. I was here earlier today.”

He smiled and said, “That’s nice Jack. I’m afraid I am going
to have to ask you to not ask people for money in the parking lot. We have a
strict policy against panhandling on our property. I could give you information
for a shelter if you need a place to stay for the night.”

He thought I was a homeless person. And if my brother didn’t
recognize me I guess I was.

“I’m not homeless and I didn’t ask anyone for money.” I
reached into the duffle bag and pulled out some money.

“I am going to shop now,” I said, “Did you get that mess
cleaned up from earlier today?”

He gave me a blank look. He had no idea what I was talking
about.

“Sorry dude,” I said, “Look I just need to pick up a few
things in the store. I won’t be any trouble.”

I stuck the money back into the duffle bag, slung it over my
shoulder, and with one quick look around in the sky walked quickly into the
store as the manager stared at me. I got the shock of my life. Everything was
normal. The table I had ripped off of its base was fixed. What was going on? My
hand shot up to the top of my head rubbing the hat back and forth. I could hear
the store music playing gently in the background. I swayed back and forth
trying to piece it all together.

“What if I don’t look the same? What if the dragon
hatching on my leg and his dragon fire that he used
to clean me and heal
me changed how I looked?
”

I needed a mirror so I could get a good look at myself.
Making my way to the back of the store to the restroom I kept my head down. I
knew I needed to buy something in the store before I left. I knew that the
manager had to still be watching me. But I had to see if there was any change
to me other than the fact I had no hair. I decided to go to the bathroom to see
what I looked like. I was having a hard time finding the courage to walk in the
bathroom.

“What if I was some hideously deformed person now. What
if all that had happened to me today had
changed me into some kind of
monster?”

I resolved to find out the truth, no matter how gruesome. I
pushed open the bathroom door. My heart was pounding and at first I kept my
head down not wanting to look in the mirror.   Then I looked up. Yes, I was
bald with no eyebrows. I looked tired. But it was the same face as always
staring back at me. My face was filthy with black dust and soot. I took off the
stocking cap and rubbed my smooth hairless head. I mourned my hair. But it was
the same brown eyes that I had always had looking back at me in the mirror.  I
washed my face in the sink and took another look at myself.  I could see my
belly button. Stupid shirt was too short.

“Why didn’t Paul recognize me?” I asked my reflection.

My brother had no idea who I was. I had to go home. I had to
make him recognize me in some way. If I didn’t, I would be alone. The wizard
can wait. My brother was more important. After splashing more water on my face
I walked out of the restroom. The store manager was still keeping an eye on me
so I decided to do a little shopping. After grabbing some 'Top Ramen', an
energy drink and some turkey jerky, I headed for the cashier. As she rang up the
items, she gave me an awkward look.

“Not nice to stare," I said to her through gritted
teeth.

She stammered an apology.  I gave her some money and left
the store. I felt a little guilty at my reaction to the cashier, then a thought
hit me. I turned around and walked back into the store, straight to the table I
destroyed earlier.  It was fine. It was not a new table but the same one. There
was the letter "H" that some kid had put there in an attempt to write
his name. I had thrown down that table so hard that it had broken into a
million pieces.  Weird. I turned and walked out the front doors again.

I paused outside of the store, not sure what to do next or
where to go. I had the invitation from the wizard and I knew I had to
eventually go see him.  His sense of urgency all but forgotten, I wasn’t sure I
was ready to do that yet. Looking around in the sky for the missing dragon once
again, I finally spotted the glowing silver scales in the sky. It was back. It
hovered over the parking lot. It must have been camouflaged in some way. All I
could see was the silver from its scales. It floated down, resting about four
feet off the ground.