Chapter 30
“Iunderstand that you do not have any further tracking information than I do. I’m not calling about the tracking.
I want you to look into where the boxes went, not to tell me where your system thinks the boxes are.
Because the system thinks the boxes were sent out and delivered last year, when they were in fact shipped to me last week,” Ollie said, doing his very best not to get testy, as Jahla tugged him further into the forest behind the library.
They were following Annabel and Red, and Noble was right behind them.
That he was managing to hold his anger back was really a testament to his patience, considering the massive headache he had and his irritation at not one, but two boxes of newly cleaned books going missing in the mail!
Specifically, two boxes of rather rare and very out of print art books that would be a pain in the butt to replace…
The whole day had honestly been a train wreck.
From the missing books, to multiple library guests spilling drinks, to a child having a meltdown and throwing books, to one of the toilets breaking and gushing nasty water everywhere.
Like, it was only Wednesday and he was already feeling beyond done with the week.
“From our information, the two boxes you are talking about have already been delivered.”
Ollie’s left eye started to twitch. “Ma’am, the delivery date listed is from last year.
The boxes were shipped out this past Saturday, November 2nd of this year.
Unless someone’s invented a time machine, that isn’t scientifically or physically possible.
It’s just impossible! Please, put an inquiry in to have them search for my boxes. ”
“Unless there is proof of them not being delivered, I’m afraid it may not help.”
“Proof?! The proof is that I don’t have them!
What I do have is a photo of the receipt from the company that shipped them showing the date they were shipped, and when they were supposed to be delivered.
And what do you know, both are dated THIS year!
All things I mentioned before. And if I really need to explain further why it’s impossible for a package shipped this year to be delivered the year before, then—"
Ollie sputtered as Jahla snatched his phone from his hand when they came to a stop.
“Ma’am, stop playing. You know good and well that your company reuses tracking numbers, and sometimes fails to clear, scan, or update them.
Drop the script and put in the inquiry, or pass me over to someone who can,” she said calmly but firmly, staying silent for a moment after, obviously listening to the whatever nonsense the woman was saying now, before adding, “No, no, I’m one hundred percent positive you are wrong, as that is not how time works. ”
Huffing, he slowly deflated as his friend continued the conversation. It was somehow less aggravating now that he couldn’t hear the other side of it—just a little bit.
Noble tugged him to his side, before starting to rub his back. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure the books will turn up eventually.”
He sighed. “Yeah, but the question is…how damaged will they be when they do? I don’t doubt this means the boxes took a damn detour because someone placed them where they shouldn’t.”
“They could just be stacked in the original post office somewhere?”
“That’s not much better,” he grunted.
His gaze flicked around the area. They were about a quarter of a mile behind the clearing, and even further away from the library.
The moon was large in the sky, and there were no clouds blocking it, giving them plenty of moonlight to see by.
Annabel and Red waited nearby for the phone call to end, so they could start that night’s magic practice.
Yay, magic…he thought sarcastically as the throbbing in his head slid tightly behind his eyes.
“You too, you braindead cog,” Jahla said stiffly as she hung up before she'd finished talking. At least, he hoped she had…
Though, if she hadn’t, as mean as it was, he wasn’t sure he completely cared. Okay, he cared a little bit, because it was not nice to call someone a braindead cog. Yet, at the same time, maybe the woman shouldn’t act like a braindead cog if she in fact didn’t want to be called one!?
“An inquiry has been put in. Don’t ask me when we’ll hear back, as she didn’t say, and I couldn’t stand talking to her any longer. I figured we can bug them again in a few days if we don’t hear anything,” Jahla said as she handed his phone back.
Ollie took a deep, calming breath as he pocketed it, before eyeing Red and Annabel and asking, “What are we doing today?”
“Today is all about control. In this case, maintaining control of the spread of fire,” Annabel explained.
Instead of pointing out that his control had been poor at best, he just said, “Okay,” with very little enthusiasm.
Red let out a disapproving meow that likely was a statement about his attitude, but Ollie just couldn’t find it in himself to care thanks to his throbbing head. “Want me to pick a tree and set it on fire?” As that was pretty much all there was to burn…trees.
Red sighed. “Yes. But what we want you to do is start with fire in your hand, and as you place it on the tree, try to control it and keep it localized to just under your palm.”
“Palm, fire, tree, localized, understood.”
Stepping away from Noble, as he was always hesitant to touch anyone else while starting fires, he moved to a tree further away from the others, and took a deep breath.
Having gotten at least the act of calling fire to his palm down fairly well, he mentally pictured the fire in his hand, feeling the first traces of warmth as he said aloud, “Flickers, flames, the spark of it all, come to me, fire. You are mine to call.” A flame sparked to life quickly after the last word left his lips, heat spreading from his center and directly to his left hand.
He whispered, “Okay,” to himself as he eyed the nearest tree. Carefully placing his fire-holding hand onto the trunk, Ollie winced as the flames instantly started to rapidly spread.
“Ollie, control, not wildfire!” Red snapped.
“I’m trying,” he snapped back, the flames flared a bit as the throbbing in his head worsened, becoming a loud, constant thumping.
“Yelling the word control at him isn’t exactly helpful, familiar!” Noble growled.
Thump.
“Rather than thinking you want to control it, Ollie, try to create a ball under your hand,” Annabel said.
Thump!
He barely suppressed his panic when the ball that appeared in his mind happened to be a giant fireball, like in the tabletop games of Pathfinder or DND. The fire beneath his hand flared larger with the image, and the sound of the wood cracking under heat filled the air.
“That would be the opposite of what we want you to do!” his cat hissed. “Stop thinking of a ball and just pull back! There's no point in you trying to make something you haven’t even managed to do without touching anything.”
“I’m trying,” he ground out.
Thump! Thump!
“Maybe you should have had him learn how to make a ball in his hand first?” Jahla grumbled.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
“We, technically, never asked him to try to make a ball, so whether he can or not is undetermined,” Annabel unhelpfully pointed out. Did it really matter right now?
He winced as the fire started to flare up, growing as the pounding in his head worsened, more sounds of cracking wood and flickering flames following it.
Thump, thump, thump!
Red let out another frustrated hiss. “He doesn’t need to create a ball to show control, he just needs to hold it back.”
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!
“Ollie, you need to calm down. The fire is reacting to your mood,” Noble had the audacity to say from behind him.
“Calm down!? I am calm! I am perfectly fudging calm! But I would appreciate it if you all would shut the heck up about fudging BALLS—” His words cut off on a frightened scream, as a sudden whoosh of heat hit his face, followed by a violent force that sent him flying backward as the tree beneath his palm exploded in a muted boom and a silent burst of fire.
Instead of hitting the ground as he expected, Ollie slammed back hard against a firm chest, Noble’s arms coming around him as the man caught him.
The air was knocked out of him, and he started coughing like a dying man, while Noble carefully set him on the grass and started looking him over. “Anything hurt, Baby?”
“Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck! Ollie, are you okay?!” Jahla squealed as she rushed to his side, her hands roaming over him as much as Noble’s were.
Was he okay? He didn’t actually know…but he now barely felt his headache because his back hurt worse, as did his lungs, of which he was currently attempting to hack out. Oh, his face also felt a bit toasty…
“Back—cough—lungs. Face?”
“Nothing seems broken. I think you just got the wind knocked out of you. Your face is a bit burned, but more minor sunburn territory than anything…” Noble wrinkled his nose. “You did lose more baby hairs.”
“Not my—cough—baby hairs!” he whined.
“They’ll grow back,” Noble chuckled softly. “Remind me to never tell you to calm down again.”
Ollie whimpered. “Sorry…my—cough—head hurts…”
“Baby, you should have said something. Though maybe I should have guessed by how much you kept squinting,” the man said sweetly.
Red sighed. “I’d say I’m surprised, but…”
Annabel let out a hesitant laugh. “It’s, um…a bit impressive.”
“A bit,” his cat agreed.
“Would you two stop being impressed and put the damn fire out before we have the Fire Department called on us!?” Jahla snapped.
Still coughing, Ollie looked towards the disaster, staring on in horror at where his tree used to be. Pieces of burning wood and branches littered the forest floor around them, and where the tree had once stood was a blackened, burning gouge in the earth, as if a bomb had gone off. “My tree!”