Chapter Two

Frito made his way gingerly around GileSan. "Are you feeling-g-g-g anything different-t-t-t?" He asked GileS, his question accompanied by his usual stutter.

"Why would I feel any different?" GileS growled.

"It's j-j-just…" Frito paused, wondering how The Ranger would take it. "My…my magic-c-c can some t-t-times take away short time effects of pain-n, but it does so by pushing-g-g the pain to the back of the mind-d-d where you won't think about it-t-t-t."

"I feel fine," GileS told him, fighting off a slight spasm of pain.

"Well…" Frito sighed, walking towards the stairs. "If you insist-t-t-t that you're okay. Then-n I'll leave y-y-you alone." He hopped up the stairs to go to sleep. Frito entered the room, and was confronted by the John look-a-like.

"M-m-master John?" Frito asked. Then John did something that took Frito by great surprise. He pointed his wand at the fireplace, and a thin trail of dust spiraled out of it. It twirled towards John and encircled him, and as it did, his body faded into soot like the dust around him.

Within seconds, a small pile of dust lay where John had been. It took Frito a moment to work out what he had just seen. Then the intenseness of it came wafting over him, and he threw up. He wiped his lip with a shaking hand, and looked for something to put John in. He settled for a small bag, and scooped John inside. He ran down the stairs, being careful not to drop the dust. As he got to the bottom floor, he let out a scream and threw up violently again. Sam and GileS looked up from what had so far promised to be quite a romantic evening compared to the day's hectic events. Sam look startled, but GileS didn't seem too surprised. John somehow always was in trouble when him and Sam where on the verge of a breakthrough in their love life.

"Of all the stupid and idiotic things to do…" Sam was still saying to no one in particular, a couple of hours later. "Why would John turn himself into dust?" For once, Frito did not even have a smart-aleck answer, let alone a reasonable one. So, he let out a small whimper.

"Are you sure you know how to turn him back into a human?" Sam asked GileS.

"Of course I do," he grunted, as Sam watched him set up an odd tripod contraption. Frito stared on anxiously. Then, GileS started a fire in the fireplace and tossed the soot of John into it.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Frito screamed. "He'll fly out-t-t-t!" Sam couldn't help it. The idea of John hurtling up a chimney, as a great ball of soot, sent her into hysterics of giggles.

When she regained control of herself, she said, "Are you sure this will work, Ranger?"

GileS replied by saying, "He should be John again by morning. The spell takes twelve hours to be at its full effect."

"Tw-tw-tw-tw-tw-! A dozen hours!" Frito sputtered.

"Good evening, Mr. Starlight," Christopher grinned. "I do hope you are feeling well." John fidgeted in his chair, trying to free himself of his bindings.

"Shut up, you spoiled brat," John spat at Chris.

"Spoiled?!" Chris gasped. "I was not spoiled." He let out a long, fake sigh. "My father was never there for me." He wiped away a false tear.

"Only because you made sure he wasn't," John glared.

"My, my, my, aren't we brave? Especially for a man who doesn't even have his wand." Chris twiddled a long piece of wood in his fingers, laughing maliciously. "Speaking of bravery, I must applaud you on a job well done. Not even the truest of seers could have foreseen your defeat of Bill. He was genetically altered to be as strong as two of the strongest men alive."

John was struck by a sudden inspiration. "I didn't defeat Bill, GileSan did."

"Ah, of course, the San" Chris said. "I would be stupid to assume otherwise, wouldn't I?"

"He killed him with one blow," John continued, hoping to scare him.

"Luck," Chris breathed through gritted teeth, waving his hand impatiently. However, John was satisfied to see a spasm of fear flitter over the young man's face.

"And I bet," John hurried on, hoping he wasn't misreading the look on the boy's face. "I bet, that he's on his way right now with Sam and Frito to save me."

"Ah," Chris, all fear evaporated from his face and now smiling, began to circle the chair like a vulture. "That does always seem the way, doesn't it? John Starlight. The damsel in distress. Hey, you killed your old best friend for the same cause, why should now be any different?"

A hot feeling formed in John's throat. He didn't know what to say to this, so he just sat in silence.

"Speechless?" Chris gasped, with mock surprise. And with that, he left the room, leaving John wondering why Chris had not even asked him about the potion…

Sam, GileS, and Frito sat near the fire, waiting as the seconds ticked down towards twelve hours. Sam looked anxious, Frito looked nervous, and GileSan's expression was hard to read.

"Five…four…three…" GileS called off the time remaining on his strange watch. "Two-" There was the sudden, strong smell of burning flesh, and everyone took an awkward step back. The soot came swirling like snow out of the fireplace, and reorganized themselves on the carpet. Before to long, John's face was recognizable from the mass of black. Next second, color began dripping its way down the outline, and John was once again human. He looked about the same as he had before he had turned himself into ash, except his clothes where singed and- as Frito would have pointed out to Sam, if she hadn't lost control and hit him earlier- his skin was darker.

Sam and GileS left the room, most likely to engage themselves in something or other involving love, which left Frito alone with John. Frito noticed something peculiar about the way he was acting. John was picking up everyday items like a fork and examining them close to his eyes, with almost disbelieving curiosity. He pricked himself with the fork and went off to find something else to examine.
Frito set off after him, cautiously. He was just prying a napkin from other John's hands, when Sam reentered the room. She looked nervous and was ringing the bottom of her shirt in her hands.

"Uh…John?" She said, slowly, as though she was choosing her words extremely carefully. She looked over the fact that John was now looking at a bird outside the window as though it were a god. "I, uh…I…" She continued. "I… Oh, John! I hit Frito." She sighed as though a heavy weight had just been lifted off her chest.

"I am John," John recited. "Frito is my house elf." Sam stared at him. GileS walked in behind Sam.

"Uh…GileS, Sam asked, ("I don't like GileSan. I like Sam," John said)"What's the matter with him? Did your magic somehow, you know…?"

"If it is magic that is making him like this," GileS answered, as John began poking his the table with a straw,

"Then it was his." And Sam and GileS left the room, leaving John and Frito alone again. John peered outside, he saw the roofs of nearby stores, and it was as if someone hit a switch in his head. For within seconds he was out on the Three Broomsticks roof, searching every inch of it with his hands. Frito, with much difficulty, climbed after him. He patted John gingerly on the shoulder.

John suddenly stopped looking, his hand resting on the roof. He withdrew his hand, Frito had a split second to see a crude marking of the letters, S, M, and B intertwined together, on a tile, before a blinding blue light shot up John's arm. His arm was pulled back onto the roof, as though he was a magnet. And then Frito understood. The tile, somehow, was able to hurl you to across great distances in a matter of seconds. He launched himself at John, and had barely rested his fingers on the tile, before-

ZAP!

John and Frito disappeared.