Inheritance

Chapter 2: Jack (Part 1)

Jack floundered, trapped under the blankets, unable to use fingered hands with opposable thumbs which moments ago were paws. He shook his shaggy head and growled. What had he been looking for? Someone? Who and why? Frustration gnawed at him. He tumbled out of bed and, after figuring out how to walk on two legs, headed to the shower. A string of cats, the two skunks and one of the dogs tagged after him. Showered and dressed, he headed to the kitchen following the smell of breakfast with his cross-body bag, duster, and dark headscarf over his arm.

"Did you see the front yard?" Crow asked.

"Not yet," Jack said. "Did you hear them last night?"

Crow raised an eyebrow at him. "You seriously think I didn't hear them."

"I had a wolf dream last night." Jack decided to not go down that road with Crow.

Olive stopped and turned from the oven. Jack highlighted the dream as he poured himself some orange juice and sat down to a plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon. The food chased away the frustration and talking about the dream helped objectify his sense of hunting for someone.

"Do you want to talk with Dream?" Olive said. She sat down to her own large plate of food with Crow's help.

"Getting into a barstool at 36 weeks is a little hard on your own," she muttered.

"No. Not yet," Jack said. "It is just the first one. If it happens again, I will."

"Keep us posted," Crow said over his mug of steaming coffee.

Jack nodded and worked on his breakfast. They talked about the magical histories he studied last night until he headed to school. Loaded up on coffee and Olive's amazing food, Jack stepped out into a white front yard. The whole yard - lawn, trees and shrubs - lay under piles of damp toilet paper. Jack smiled. Olive would blow an autumn gale right through this mess in a second, no problem. He stepped down the walkway to his beautiful, '68 Camaro, glad Fortunatus had picked it up from school last night. Thankfully, not one square of toilet paper touched it. Jack was willing to resend his pledge of protection for all innocents due to damage of his vehicle, if necessary. He turned to look up into the front yard and saw someone had written 'You Suck' in what smelled like piss. Lovely. Olive and Crow stood in the window and waved to him as he walked away. A strong wind whipped his scarf and duster out. The toilet paper gathered in a large pile. Jack smiled. He left the one place he felt comfortable, accepted, and part of something, to go to a place which made him edgy, jumpy and irritable. At least, he got to start and finish his day in a good place, something his childhood missed until Crow came along.

With a thermos of hot coffee in hand, Jack headed to school. Olive's prophecy about the lines of magic which flowed towards the school energized him and he felt more purposed. But the wolf dream dogged him.

"Zephyr?" he asked.

She climbed from his pocket and fluttered over to the radio and sat on the volume knob.

"When was the last time I had a wolf dream?"

"It had been a few years maybe," she said.

Something nudged the back of Jack's mind and he shuddered.

"It was two years ago. Ronan called Stan the next day to say he had inherited Manson's powers. Well, to shout that he had inherited Manson's powers," Jack said. "It makes me just a little worried about what might be coming."

"Well, maybe it's a sign he is going to accept who he is finally."

"Let's hope so," Jack said.

Jack parked his car and they approached the squat brick building. Zephyr climbed back into his duster pocket. Jack examined the school building a little more closely than normal. He wished - not for the first time - that he could see the magical lines Crow, Olive, Fortunatus and Zephyr could see. But then again, magical beings each saw the lines a little differently due to the focus of the magic within them, so he might not see them, even if he had powers.