Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 1: the Tawny Owl: Part 3

What in the world? Jackson thought as he finished the letter. Are Tom and Mitch pushing their trick even further? But how would they ever even think of such a thing, much less pull it off. Reading through the letter again, Jackson remembered the look of surprise on his dad's face when his birthday candles had lit back up, and how Tom's face had turned white when he saw the cards.

"Hoo!" the tawny owl called again.

Jackson realized his breathing was too rapid, and he was getting light headed.

"Hoo!"

"Wait!" Jackson yelled at the bird as he rushed to his dad's office. He wasn't supposed to go in there during the day, while his dad was working, but right then Jackson didn't care. "DAD!"

"Jackson, what's the matter?"

"Dad, look at this," he said, holding the letter out to him. He found himself bouncing on his heels while he waited for his dad to reach the end.

"It looks like someone's playing a joke on you, son," his dad laughed.

"You didn't put trick candles on the cake," Jackson blurted.

His dad thought a moment before saying, "You're right, I didn't. I forgot to buy new ones. But your mom must have got some."

"I don't think so, Dad," Jackson said, shaking his head. "And Tom and Mitch's cards."

"What about them?"

"Suddenly they all changed to be my card, and when they saw it they were so terrified they left without having cake."

"Now, that was odd, but how do you know this isn't all a trick from them."

"The cards changed back to normal about ten minutes ago!" Jackson insisted. Then he took the letter back. "And look at this. 'Please send back your response by owl'." Jackson pointed back toward the library. "There's an owl outside the library window that's been looking at me since the letter arrived!"

"Hmm!" Jackson could tell his dad was chewing on the inside of his lip as he thought. "Now that is strange. Tom and Mitch couldn't do that, but maybe somebody else is helping them. But why don't we write a response saying you'd love to go. We'll give it to the owl and see what happens. If it flies away with it, then we can try to get the books and things it says you'll need. By the time we're done doing that we should know the truth of the matter."

Jackson smiled as they typed up a response, printed it, folded it up, and slipped it into an envelope. Then they walked to the library window. Jackson's dad carefully opened the window and the tawny owl hopped in and held its leg out toward Jackson. Jackson hesitated, uncertain what to do. Finally, the owl hopped closer to him and took hold of his letter with its claw before leaping into the air and flying out the window again.

Jackson grinned as he looked at his dad, whose mouth hung open as he stared after the owl. "I guess we need to go get my books and equipment."