The Strange Life of Jonas Marks - 14. Chapter 14

“Well, once again you haven’t run screaming from the room. Therefore, I’ll take that as a good sign.” Opie sat at the edge of the desk and looked down at me.

I shook my head and stared up into his strange eyes. “You said that the first time I applied.”

Opie laughed. “Yes, I did, and it is still true. Do you realize how rare you are, Jonas?”

Me? Rare? I sat for a moment, thinking my boss had lost his mind.

“There are a small number of humans who have always been able to see through glamour. Some, to a small degree and others, well, with you, I might as well never have bothered to try to put on a glamour. You were able to pierce the spell, even if you couldn’t figure out exactly what you were seeing.”

“I doubt that.” I hadn’t expected to just blurt out what I was thinking, but I seemed to do that when I was nervous, and between Fire and Opie, I had to admit, I was nervous.

Opie smiled. For a moment, I swore his mouth had too many teeth and then he looked deep into my eyes. “Do me a favor, Jonas?”

“Um … what do you need?” I nervously wiped my hands on my pants, watching Opie lean back on the desk.

“Describe me.”

“Huh?” That caught me totally off guard.

“Describe me. Tell me what you see when you look at me.”

“Well … you … you’re tall. I’d say maybe seven foot. You're thin and muscular. You sort of have an orange tone to your skin.” I paused and really looked at Opie. “You have the strangest eyes I’ve ever seen. I mean, they remind me of cats’ eyes, but yours are purple - deep purple at that. They have a ring around them that is indigo. Your hair is red, blood red, but at times, I swear I can see scales in it. Then there are your finger nails. Why on earth do you paint them silver? At least, well, I think you paint them silver.”

Opie sat and nodded. “Anything else you noticed, Jonas?”

I started to shake my head, no, but then I remembered, once, swearing I had seen a tail. “Well, to be honest … if I didn’t know better … I’d swear you had a tail.”

Opie began to laugh so hard, I was afraid he would fall off the desk.

“Alright Jonas, you noticed, but I guess you never stopped to put it all together. Then again, most humans don’t believe in magic. You, however, do.” Opie leaned down and looked straight into my eyes. I swear, once again he, was looking right into my soul.

“I sort of do.” I blathered on like an idiot, “I mean, I have to. with the job and all. Let’s face it, there is Fire and everything else. Opie, I mean, Mr. Openseter, don’t you look like this to everyone?”

Opie sighed. “Jonas, my glamour is fairly strong. Most see me as a rather tall Irishman with dark red hair, pale skin with lots of freckles, and strange bluish eyes. You can nearly see through my whole glamour. I realized this when we met. Usually, in order for my glamour to take effect, I have to nearly over project it. With you, you seemed puzzled, unafraid, and basically, asked me why I didn’t look like everyone else. You had broken through my glamour immediately without even trying. That is a rare talent. I knew then that you would be a great asset to me, as I tried to bring some magic and life back into this world.”

“So, the things you are bringing here really are magic?”

“Don’t you think Fire qualifies as magic?”

I turned and looked at the sword, only to see the gem in the hilt seemingly twinkle. “Uh, oh yeah, she is most definitely magical.”

Opie laughed again.

“But why me?”

Opie shook his head. “Jonas, sometimes, the universe likes to make things hard, other times, it makes things easy. Rarely does it make things boring. You came in for the interview just in time. I had to have an assistant before the week was out, and with the sort of people applying for the job, I was running out of time. You needed the job, and to be honest, I needed you. You, on some level, realized I wasn’t fully human, but you were willing to work with me, anyway. We had barely become a team when you stood up for me to Mr. Anders. I could have easily charred that little bug of a man, but it would have ended what I was trying to accomplish.”

I watched as Opie cracked his knuckles as he talked about Anders. I knew the encounter had upset him, but not to this degree.

“Anyway, you’ve proven yourself over and over again. Whether it was cleaning that bowl,” he paused as he watched my face.

I couldn’t help but grimace as I remembered the odor coming from that damn pudding bowl.

Opie chuckled. “Or it is you going through the rest of the packages; you do it, and do it carefully. Now that you have Fire on your side, I know it is going to take a lot to hurt you. Fire is very protective of those she deems worthy.”

“Oh. Well, um … Fire is really nice and all, but shouldn’t she go to someone who needs a sword?”

Opie looked at me through half lidded eyes. “Oh, I think Fire thinks you are perfect. I am not going to argue with her. You want to fight with her?”

I thought back to the way she moved as a woman and as a sword. No way in hell did I want to piss her off. “No. Just figured she was supposed to go to someone else.”

“Fire goes to whomever she chooses. Swords like her are destiny changers, and as such, they have a will of their own. She likes you, so don’t worry.”

“Okay, I guess.”

Opie patted my arm. “By chance, have you read many fantasy stories?”

I looked up at Opie, rather surprised. “What kind of stories?”

“Oh, you know, stories about elves, halflings, creatures of myth. That sort of thing, that most kids, at one point or another, read to amuse themselves.”

"Mom used to read me fairy tales by the Grimm Brothers. In school, I had to read Tolkien. I really didn't read much more fantasy. I was more interested in the biographies of sports stars. I wanted to know about Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Jerry Lawler, Jake Roberts, Shawn Michaels, Muhammad Ali, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordon."

Opie looked me over for a moment. "Guess I will have to look up those figures.” He smiled and shook his head for a moment. “The reason I asked you about what fantasy characters you might have read about is due to the fact, some of them may be coming through your door soon. I just didn’t want you to panic. A lot of what people call fantasy or make believe isn’t. There have always been creatures of light and dark. Even those that some would call dark are good, and some that people would call light are bad. I just don’t want you to worry when some of them come marching into your office. They all think their glamours will be working, but you, as we both know now, will be able to see them as they are, or nearly as they are.”

"Oh."

Yeah, I know. Still not the most enlightened thing to say, but hey, I am still trying to get a handle on all of this.

Opie stood up and smiled. “Don’t worry, Jonas. You will get the hang of this. There isn’t much left to do today. Why don’t you grab Dan and Chris and let them know it is time to close up.”

I nodded and watched as Opie walked toward my door. I couldn’t help but notice the slight twitch of what could only be his tail near the bottom of his left pants leg.

I stood and put the last few items in a neat pile on my desk. I would take care of them tomorrow. As I was preparing to leave, I spotted Fire still leaning against my desk. I couldn’t take her home, I didn’t want the boys to handle Fire, and I’m sure Mrs. Meyers didn’t want a weapon in the house. I didn’t feel right leaving Fire where she was. I realized there was a wall hook in my drawer. I removed it and carefully screwed it into the wall. Dan had left one in case I decided to add another painting to the office. I used that hook now to hang Fire carefully by her sheath.

“Night Fire. Sleep well.”

I was nearly out of the office when I realized I was talking to her. I shook my head and went in search of Dan and Chris. I found them sitting in the break room.

“Hey guys. We are done. I just locked up my office.”

Chris and Dan looked up and smiled.

“I’m glad. Thought you were never going to finish.” Dan stood up and stretched.

“He is just crabby. They left him all the crap work to do while he was in.” Chris stood and pushed his chair under the table.

“Sorry guys.” I shifted back and forth, feeling bad that they had to sit and wait for me to finish up.

“Don’t be.” Dan smiled. “Hey, we get time and a half for this, and I can really use the money. Just wish my boss didn’t decide to screw me over for taking the job.”

I stopped and looked at both men, and then sort of blurted out the question on my mind. “So, if both of you are sort of weirded out by Opie, why did you take this extra time with him?”

Chris looked at me and then at Dan. Dan shrugged.

“Something about your boss is just off. But, hey, if you are willing to work with him, and it doesn’t bother you at all, he must be a good guy.” Chris patted my back and began to walk toward the front of the store.

“Your boss gives me the creeps. I don’t know. Maybe something about his eyes.” Dan walked slowly, considering his words before he spoke. “However, he treats me better than any other boss in this place. Besides, I’ve seen how you get along with him. If you can trust him, and those people who go into his office can, well I can, too.”

The drive back to Jenny’s left me with plenty to think about. Working with Opie really was a dream come true. So he was a dragon? I guess that is no different from being from another country or a different color. Hell, I was thrown out of my house for being gay, so who am I to judge anyone else?