DJ MacDonald has discovered that he has supernatural powers but he has yet to master control of this awesome force. His first attempts at harnessing the magic range from comical to terrifying. Is it a blessing or a curse?
Magic Spells and Tragic Smells
(Chapter 4)
"That's all you can say? 'Sorry.' Huh, loser?" Captain Eyepatch tried to incite a fight. His mangy crew played along and backed his story.
DJ said, "Look guys, it was an accident. You heard him—he's sorry." DJ tried to defuse the situation. Nevertheless, Captain Eyepatch was determined to start a fight and he would not ease up.
The pirate crew closed in on them. DJ and Nick had never seen them before. Since they were on so many sports teams together, they knew most kids their age in town, but these guys were not from here.
"This is not your fight, so shut up. You think because you're tall, you can scare me ... us?" Captain Eyepatch said, gesturing to the other boys backing him.
"Look, we really don't want trouble here. Why don't we forget about what happened," said DJ, trying again to calm the situation. Nick was sweating. He found it difficult to handle bullying.
"Did you hear that, guys? This giant and his shadow are scared. Boohoo," he taunted. DJ looked at Nick and signaled him to calm down.
The instigated gang swarmed them. They pulled off DJ's cloak and one of them grabbed his iPod. DJ tried to grab it back but five of the gang members tackled him and then pinned him down.
He saw that Nick was struggling as they pinned him down on the ground, too. He suddenly remembered the magic wand. Where was it? Then he saw that one of the pirates was tossing it up in the air. DJ was furious but he could not get free.
Then he noticed a van across the street. He closed his eyes to concentrate and mumbled something. All of a sudden, the van steered toward them. Its brakes did not work and it was speeding uncontrollably toward the crowd with the horn honking.
"Get out of the way!" shouted the driver. The crowd scattered in all directions. Then there was a big crash. DJ looked for Nick but he could not find him. The van had run over the bully. He was screaming. His left leg was crushed. Others were slightly injured. Then DJ spotted Nick lying a few inches away from the van where it had come to a stop when it hit a tree. Steam was rising from under the hood of the van. DJ ran to Nick.
"Nick, are you okay? Please don't move," he said. His mom had made sure that he had learned first aid at an early age. Nick was trying to stand up.
"I'm okay ... just a few scratches maybe," he said.
DJ went to see if he could help the bully who was still screaming. Blood was pouring out of his leg wound. DJ felt guilty. He had wished for the van to break up the crowd but he did not expect it to hurt anyone. He applied pressure directly to the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding, just as he had learned.
The ambulance came, siren blaring, emergency lights flashing. The paramedics thanked DJ for his quick thinking. They told him that he may have saved the boy's life and sped away to the hospital with Eyepatch.
"How ironic," thought DJ, but he did not say anything.
