Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 1: the Tawny Owl: Part 1

Disclaimer: I didn't do any research into England or British culture for this story. I wanted it to be fun, but I didn't want to spend time on research. I'm just going on what I already know, which isn't all that much for that kind of thing.

Second Disclaimer: Also, as my wife tells me, this is an abnormally long blog post. I'll try to break it up more for the next part, but I couldn't think of a good way to break this one up any more than this, but this doesn't actually take long to read. It's like two and a half pages in a normal book.

"Make a wish, Jackson," Jackson's mom said as she set the birthday cake on the table in front of him.

Jackson smiled as he absent-mindedly counted the candles. Eleven. Eleven years old.

"Did you make a wish?" his dad asked.

Jackson had decided on his wish the day before. Not that he believed in that kind of nonsense, but he figured it couldn't hurt. So, he'd decided to wish for the one thing he really wanted. Friends, Jackson thought. I wish for friends.

Jackson didn't really know what it was like to have friends. He'd always been curious about them, but there were no other kids near his age in their London neighbourhood, and his parents had decided they were better suited to teach him than the public education system.

He had to admit that his parents were excellent teachers. His mom was actually a music professor at the university, but she also taught him language and history. His dad was a software developer and taught him math, science, and computers. The plan was for him to get his diploma in about another year and a half, and everything looked to be on schedule, but of course that was part of the reason he never got more than a two week break. Even now, the rest of the country was beginning their summer break, and he was still having his daily lessons. Not that Jackson resented his studies. He actually enjoyed them. But he did want to know what it was like to have friends.

Jackson looked over at his cousins across the table. They were his dad's brother's, and they were the only other kids at the party. They were older than him, but he thought they were kind of slow. They were always showing him card tricks, but Jackson always figured out how they worked before they finished. He couldn't think of them as friends.

Sighing as he turned back to the cake, Jackson took a deep breath and blew out the candles, making sure to get all of them so he could get his wish.

Everyone clapped, and Jackson smiled. Then the candles sparked and all lit back up. Jackson laughed as he looked up at his dad, but his dad looked surprised. Hmm, Mom must have done the trick candles this year.

They put the candles out again in water, and his mom cut the cake and dished up ice cream with it while his dad began bringing over presents. Jackson looked at his cousins as they came at him with a deck of cards.

"Have you got a new one?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah, and it took us forever to get it," Tom, the older one, who'd recently got glasses, said as he shuffled.

"You'll never figure it out," Mitch, the younger one added.

"Well, let's see it then," Jackson leaned forward in his chair.

"Okay, pick a card." Tom held the deck out toward him, spreading the cards out like a fan face down for him to choose one. Jackson noticed that one of the cards in the middle was slightly farther out than the others. That had been their trick two years before. He hadn't fallen for it then either, but his cousins weren't so dense as to think it would work this time. It was a distraction.

Jackson took a card to the left of the middle. He carefully covered the back so his cousins couldn't see it in case it was marked. He pulled it out of their view and searched the back before looking to see what card it was. King of Spades. He looked around him for any other way they may have been determining what card it was, but he couldn't find anything.

Tom adjusted his glasses before he cut the deck and held the bottom half out for Jackson to put his card on top. Jackson did as he was supposed to, carefully watching both Tom and Mitch. Tom put the other half on top, then began shuffling. Jackson watched as carefully as he could, but he couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary.

Finally, Tom stopped shuffling, then he flipped over the card on top. "This is your card."

King of Spades, Jackson thought. How did they do that? They've never stumped me before... How did they... Jackson felt himself getting frustrated, and he looked at the cards. They must be trick cards. There must be something I missed. Something... An image popped into his head of an entire deck full of the King of Spades.

Jackson reached for the deck, his anger building at their trick. As he grabbed the cards they felt momentarily warm to the touch. He flipped the deck over and laid them out on the ground. All of them were the King of Spades. "You guys are such cheaters," Jackson mocked.

"What are you talking about?" Tom asked before looking down. Tom's face flushed of all its color. "Wha- How- How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Jackson asked. "All I did was turn your cards over. You had a deck of all the same card."

"No, I didn't."

"No, he didn't," Mitch put in. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Jackson insisted. "You did."

Tom stared at the cards on the ground, his eyes wide. Then he looked up at Jackson, fear in his eyes. Finally, he stood up and walked back to his dad. "Dad, can we go now?"

"Are you sure? You haven't even had cake yet. And Jackson's going to start opening his presents."

"I wanna go now."

Their dad looked at Mitch, who was nodding his head. "If you really want to, we can go."

Jackson watched them pack up and go, feeling confused. What was that about? Are they just still trying to trick me?