Jarbidge to the Oregon Trail

The governor paced his office. He glanced down at his hands: the knuckles were swollen with arthritis, and age spots dotted the thin skin. He was bent over, his spine curling cruelly down from the scoliosis he had developed in his twenties. His joints ached.
There was a light knock on his office door and he hustled to the great chair behind the large desk. “Come in.” His voice still held power.
It was his press secretary, Fred Gist. Weasely looking, mouse-face, shrinking violet, Fred. The governor waited while the door closed behind Fred and the balding man made his way to the nearest high-back chair facing the governor. Fred waited to be asked to sit. The governor did not ask.
“Did you track them?”
“I sent a team, yes. Unfortunately, there’s a very active herd of elk in that area, and tracks were obliterated by their passing.“ Fred stared at the desk, not meeting his master’s eyes.
“What team?”
“Team C. Coyote. They’re not affiliated with the raven. He has not reported to me in days.”
The governor waved a hand, dismissing the topic. “Do we have a list of the missing, yet?”
“Of course. Some elementary school students, junior high, a handful of high school students. Mrs. West, Mrs. Woodhouse, old lady Sophy…”
“I thought we arrested Miss Sophy.”
“We did, but when the patrol car got to the detention center, she was gone. There was just a canary in the back seat of the patrol car. They put it in a cage, and we have the canary…”
“Then we have her. Pitiful attempt at shape-shifting.”
“Ah. Yes. Yes, sir. There’s an additional problem.”
“What?”
“Poachers. There’s a pair of yahoos who have been making potshots at everything that moves in the woods: coyotes, bears, elk, deer. They haven’t actually shot anything yet, but they’re making the rounds, and they have the game wardens up in arms. Pair of regular rednecks.”
“Well, they might accidentally take out one of our errant wizards. They’re of no concern to me. What was the last location of any magic activity?”
“Days ago. It’s like everything stopped. We’ve tracked possible sightings of mice, voles, rabbits, hares, owls, ravens -not King Raven – and any creature that walks or crawls. People just report any animal they see and we go to check. We can’t just shoot anything we think might be a familiar – there were too many complaints by law-abiding citizens, and then there’s Mrs. Swainson and her house of cats. We’re running in circles, sir.”
“Bring me Phoenix Peabody.”
“Yes. Sir.” Fred took this as his cue to leave the office. He closed the heavy door behind himself, glanced at the imposing mirror, and nodded at the brunette receptionist who was watching YouTube videos. She didn‘t look up.
He thought about how much older the governor looked this week: as if he’d aged twenty years.

Ella curled up next to Billie. They stared into the fireplace. “You remember when I thought noone believed in magic, except my parents and Aric?”
“Yep. Even when I gave you the newspaper and tried to make you understand we were in trouble.”
“Then Twerp – er, Deke – changed us into mice. How’d he do that, I wonder?”
Billie shrugged. “He said he’d been practicing. Do you think Richard is telling us the truth?”
“He didn’t try to turn us in, if you mean that. And Natalie seems to think he’s on the up-and-up. I just don’t know what I think.”
“I want my life back. My boyfriend.”
Ella was silent, thinking about Dish. She just wanted a boyfriend.
“Know what I think?” Billie whispered.
“What?”
“That whatever the governor wants, we should just return it to him. Make him swear a magic oath that he’ll let everyone go, and let him have his stupid talisman thing.”
Ella thought differently, but she didn’t say it out loud. She wondered what the morning would bring – and if they should try to get to Dish’s family’s cabin so they could go through everything from the attic. She decided she’d tell Richard about it in the morning. She trusted him.

Richard listened thoughtfully, his hands folded over a steaming cup of tea. The six former mice looked expectantly at him. Maddy, Dylan, and even Natalie, looked surprised. Ella finished up with, “and I think we should go to the cabin and look over everything to see if there’s any clues.”
“Oh, too dangerous,” Natalie objected.
“I agree,” Richard said, pausing to lift his tea to his mouth.
Ella and the others groaned. “But we -”
Richard lifted one long finger at her. “Patience. If young Mr. Smith could send those items to the cabin, he should be able to bring them here.”
“Where would we put them?” Gran asked. “It was a lot of stuff.”
“Where did Deacon put them when he sent them to the cabin?” Richard looked intensely at Deke, who felt his face redden.
“I shrank them. I didn’t want them to crush something in the cabin. I had a picture of a cabin and a room, so I just set them under a chair, all mouse-sized.”
“Can you really bring them here?” Gran asked.
Deke squirmed. He didn’t like being the center of attention just now. “I s’pose, but… I’ve never practiced bring things to me…”
“You told me how to move us all from one place to another, so we wouldn’t have to cross the BMX trails in the open. I never practiced. I just did it.”
“Yeah, and Kitsune showed up, telling us all to quit practicing magic.”
Richard cocked his head. “You think I came because of that single use, Mr. Smith?”
Deke shrugged. “I guess not.”
All eyes were on him. Aric reached out and lightly punched his shoulder. “You can do it, dog!”
Deke plunged his hands into his pockets. He scrunched close his eyes. “Okay. Everything magic that I sent to Dish’s cabin, come back here, stay small, and land under the sofa, safely.” He bit his lip.
There was a small thumping and scraping under the sofa. Deke held his breath.
Everyone else turned on their heads and peered under the sofa: there were several trunks, boxes of holiday decorations, a sewing bust, an old free-standing mirror, and two wooden chairs stacked on each other. All eyes turned to Deke who was breathing now, and who had his eyes open now.
“Did I do it?”
“YES!” Aric jumped up and held his had up for Deke to hit back. Deke pulled out his hand and slapped five.
“I did it!” Something clattered to the floor, and Deke looked down. Elation faded from his face, along with any color. “Oh. That.”
There, on the floor beside his seat, was a short red wand. Deke picked it up and played with it nervously. “I never stole it,” he whispered. “I found it in the middle of the road.”
“May I?” Richard held out his hand. Deke laid the wand reverently on his palm.
“I knew it,” Gran muttered, his tone dark. Dish just shook his head. Billie glared. Deke felt very, very, very small.
Aric sat down next to him and punched him lightly. “You dog. Should’a showed me.” He gave his friend a small smile of support.
Richard held the wand up. “Fascinating. It has runes carved into it. The red seems to be the wood, not paint.”
“Is it the missing talisman?” Madison was leaning intently forward.
Richard shook his head, “No, no. It is not even close to the missing item, but I am surprised that the former owner of this wand is not looking high and low for it.” He looked at Ella. “Miss Peabody, in the third drawer down next to the sink, you should find a magnifying glass. Bring it to me, please.”
Ella was in the kitchen, pulling open the drawer, when something tapped on the window. She jumped and squealed, “Eek!”
Dish and Dylan ran into the kitchen. “You okay, El?”
She stood with her hand over her heart. “Something big just tapped on the window.”
“I’ll check.” Natalie had followed the boys into the kitchen. “You all just return to the great room.”
“Can I go with you, Mom? Just to make sure you’re safe?” Dylan hesitated while Ella found the glass.
Natalie touched her son’s shoulder. “I am much safer than you think I am.”
She pulled open the back door, but before she could step outside, there was a rush of grey and brown feathers as Horace dove inside.
“I FOUND YOU DEACON!” he hooted joyfully.
Ten minutes later, after everyone had calmed down, and Horace’s feathers had been unruffled, they watched as Richard examined the red wand under the magnifying glass.
“it is not runic alphabet, as I thought,” he said. “But I believe it is a cryptograph.” he took a pen from his pocket and scribbled on a napkin.

CR KNO RCIQ LTCG C HE QMHQ
CR KNO HUM TNIMST CL PCVV PNUE
CR KNO HUM INL BK GNOV PCVV CUE
LTAL CG HVV – BK GCIXMUMGL RUMQ

Everyone stared. “That’s impossible,” Billie groaned.
“Maybe there’s a hint to the key,” Ella muttered. “Can I see the wand?”
Richard handed it to her. “Of course. I did not see a hint.”
Ella turned it over in her hands. This was her element. Not magic, but logic. She ran her fingers over the worn wood, looked at both ends, then gasped. She lifted the magnifying glass and peered at the slightly rounded tip.
“Guys, there might be a hint. Here, on the tip. DQ/QD I think either the ‘Q’ stands for the ‘D’, or the ‘D’ stands for the ‘Q’, Definitely the ‘Q’ stands for the ‘D’…”
She grabbed the pen and took the napkin, setting the wand back down. She began scribbling on the napkin. Words began to form and she scribbled faster as it came to her.
IF YOU FIND THIS, I AM DEAD
IF YOU ARE HONEST, IT WILL WORK
IF YOU ARE NOT, MY SOUL WILL IRK
THAT IS ALL – MY SINCEREST, FRED
Ella leaned back, surveying her work. “That explains why it works for Deke: Fred is apparently dead.”
Slowly, the words sank in, and everyone turned to look at Richard, who looked stricken.
“That explains why he did not acknowledge me at the debriefing. He isn’t Fred.”