It took almost an hour to take everything out of the trunk, change the spare tire, and replace everything back into the trunk. It was annoying, but those types of things did happen. He also learned how to change a tire. He had never seen that done before. It might be something he might need to know in the future.

Unfortunately, that future happened less than a minute after they began driving again. They turned and looked at each other. One tire yes, but two? No, that didn’t seem to be quite so coincidental. How it had happened was another question.

Another problem was that they didn’t have another spare tire. It was almost too dark to look at the tire. They hadn’t really looked too hard at the first tire and had assumed it was a slow leak or a nail. With it being the second tire, however, they were more than curious as to what had caused two flats in as many miles.

Merlin made a motion with his head to get someone to take Shirley’s brother away for a short time. While he was with them, Merlin didn’t feel like letting him know about his powers yet. Robert got the message and took Shirley’s brother off to the side, saying something about Merlin being a wiz when it came to cars.

No one saw anything wrong with the tire, however. Not sure what to do, Merlin said, “I don’t see much of a choice guys. Let me see what I can do.” After that, he sat down and concentrated on what he would need to make the spell.

He mumbled to himself, thinking, “tire, fire, hire, sire, wire...nope...air, bear, care, dare, fair, hair, lair, mare, pair, rare, stare, tear, wear...hmm”

Merlin continued, thinking of the different combinations. “Let’s see, fill this tire with some air, because…no, wear and tear...hmm, that might work. Yes, seven syllables each. That works.”

“Fill this tire with some air,

Then fix all the wear and tear.

Fill this tire with some air,

Then fix all the wear and tear.

Fill this tire with some air,

Then fix all the wear and tear.”

By the end of the spell, he had begun to feel the pressure, but it wasn’t all that great. As they watched, the tire refilled with air. Merlin kept concentrating on the tire until the tire matched the others. Hesitantly, he stopped, allowing his concentration to fade. He smiled when the air stayed in the tire. Nodding, he motioned for the others to get into the car and try driving again.

A few minutes later, Shirley’s brother said, “Uh...that is strange. The engine is overheating. I’m going to have to pull over again.”

Everyone looked at each other, knowing something was definitely wrong. There was no way it could be a coincidence. Someone was sabotaging them somehow.

“More magic?” Arthur asked. Although whether he meant the problem was caused by magic or them trying to fix the problem with magic Merlin wasn’t sure about.

“I can try,” Merlin said, taking the hint. By now, he was starting to get into a habit. Leaning up against the car, he started talking to himself. “Heat, beat, feet, meet, neat, pleat, no, complete, seat….hmm, which ones would work...complete...heat...hmm, maybe.”

Merlin turned to the others. “You know, maybe I should try to cast a protective spell so nothing else happens in addition to fixing the overheating problem. I might need to concentrate on keeping the spells active, however.

“Now the protection spell, car, bar, far, jar, star, scar, tar…Hmm, maybe not...Let nothing happen anymore...more, boar, core, door, floor, lore, pore, store, wore...maybe, just maybe.”

Finally, he nodded, and began the chant, feeling the pressure increase faster since he was trying to cast two spells at once.

“Let this car not overheat,

Until this trip is complete.

Let nothing happen anymore,

By using this magical lore.

Let this car not overheat,

Until this trip is complete.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Let nothing happen anymore,

By using this magical lore.

Let this car not overheat,

Until this trip is complete.

Let nothing happen anymore,

By using this magical lore.”

By the time he was done with the spell, he was actually sweating despite the chilly air. Carefully, he continued to concentrate on maintaining the spells. He stepped back into the car, closed his eyes, and silently kept the image in his mind of a whole car where nothing more would happen.

The others got in the car as well, and within minutes they were driving again. This time, they didn’t have any problems.

When they got close to the first site, they decided to stop for gas and snacks. More than a few of them had to go to the bathroom anyway. Arthur paid for everyone’s snacks, and everyone filed back to the car.

Merlin had let his concentration slip once they stopped. Hopefully, the car would stay working. As soon as they were all in the car and about to head out, Shirley hissed at everyone to be quiet and not draw any attention to themselves. Then she pointed to someone who was coming down the street.

At first, everyone wondered what she was looking at, and then they realized. While it was dark, there was enough light to see it was Frank, one of the Monster Mob. Everyone looked at each with the same question. Why was he there?

Merlin thought furiously. So many questions raced through his mind. What was he doing? There was no reason whatsoever for him to be there. Could he have something to do with their problems? Were the other members of the Monster Mob here as well? Maybe they had seen the mirror as well and were trying to find it also? Should they try to join forces? What should they do?

Merlin wasn’t sure he wanted to find out why Frank was in Little Rock. Arthur was sure, and he wasn’t shy about asking. In fact, Arthur wasn’t shy or reserved about anything. Nothing fazed him.

Before even speaking with the others to see what they thought, Arthur got out of the car and strode forward to meet Frank. Seeing Arthur coming, Frank took a few more steps forward until they were only a few feet away. Not sure if Arthur would need backup or not, the others wordlessly got out of the car as well and joined him.

Arthur spoke first, “Hi there Frank. I hadn’t expected to see you in town. What are you doing here?” While it was politely said, there was little doubt that the question wasn’t so much as a please tell me as you better tell me or else. That was...a little more confrontational than Arthur usually acted. Not much, but a little.

Frank seemed surprised as well and just stared at Arthur for a second before responding. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Arthur frowned, obviously not liking the fact that Frank hadn’t answered his question. “We’re looking for something for Angela. And you?” This time there was a definite implied threat.

Frank frowned again and looked around. Nodding to himself, he walked over to the chain link fence and stood by one of the metal poles. “I don’t think it is any of your business. In fact, things happen to people who poke their noses into other people’s business.” With that, he reached down and with one hand, started bending the thick metal fence post.

Everybody but Arthur stared at the fence post with wide eyes. Arthur just snorted, “Strength isn’t everything. Being able to fight is better than brute strength. In fact, why don’t you try your strength against my skill?” Arthur said with complete confidence.

Everybody stared at him in surprise, even Frank. After what Frank had just done, Arthur was willing to go toe to toe with him in a fight. Hmm, okay. Even Frank didn’t seem to understand how his intimidation had completely failed.

“Well, uh...you better stay away from us and get back home. If you don’t, you won’t like the results. We’ll find out if you are as good as you think you are.”

With that, Frank turned around and started walking back to where he had come from, probably to tell whoever he was with about them. More than likely, it would be the rest of the Monster Mob. While Frank walked off, everyone looked at each other.

After a few seconds, Robert said, “He has to be speaking about his friends. Do you think they also looked in the mirror and are here for the same reason we are?”

Peter shook his head, “I doubt that. How would they even know where to go? It has to be a coincidence.”

Shirley said, “I disagree. I think they are here because of the mirror. Maybe they are here to get the mirror themselves for some reason, or maybe they are here to stop us from getting the mirror. After all, someone sabotaged the car on the way here.”

Merlin was about to say he agreed but then thought of something else. “Frank was dressed as Frankenstein’s Monster. Maybe because he thought it made him look strong. I don’t think any of his friends dressed up in anything that would make it possible to jinx the car. Two flat tires and then the car overheating?”

“That’s true,” Shirley said. “Obviously, someone else is with them. The question is who, however.”

“Whoever it is, we can take them,” Arthur said, smacking a fist into his other hand as if looking forward to a fight.

“Maybe we should have your brother wait here for us,” Merlin said, turning to Shirley. “The house we are looking for is only a block away. And judging from where Frank came from and is going back to, he is going there as well. We might want to follow him and see what he is up to.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Robert said.

“Agreed,” said Shirley. “I’ll go tell him. You guys get what you need out of the trunk.”

Merlin sighed at that. Oh, yeah, good idea. Two teenagers walk around with a giant sword and a bow with a quiver of arrows. Yep, they weren’t likely to stand out at all. Maybe he should be thinking about a spell to make the cops less likely to arrest them for carrying dangerous weapons around.

Robert and Arthur didn’t seem to have a problem with the idea and rummaged through the trunk to retrieve their weapons. In fact, they looked more comfortable now, as if they had felt naked without the weapons. Merlin could almost imagine Shirley saying something like boys with their toys. Hmm, that did rhyme, however.