Chapter 6: Shocking Surprise/Going On a Quest

A little while later, Ian and Alana sat at the desk. They sighed sadly, then they looked at the spell their dad wrote.

"Only once … is all we get, grant me this rebirth." Ian and Alana said in unison. Then they heard a rattling sound next to them. They looked at the wizard's staff, and gasped when they saw the Phoenix Gem rattling and glowing.

"Till tomorrow's sun has set,…" Ian and Alana continued. Then they noticed objects starting to float around the room. The staff rolled off the desk. Ian and Alana caught it, and the staff shined a blue light as they gripped it.

"One day to walk the earth.!" Ian and Alana finished. Then objects started to spiral in the air around the twins.

Then, Barley started to enter the room.

"Holy tooth of Zadar! How did you two…" Barley said in surprise.

"We don't know, it just started!" Ian said.

As objects kept flying around the room in circles, a ray of magic shot out from the staff. Then, the ray of magic formed feet on the floor. Ian and Alana watched as the magic rises up from the floor as it formed the bottom half of a person. Then, the blue ray of magic turned red. Ian and Alana were beginning to struggle holding up the staff as they felt themselves sliding against the floor.

"Hang on! I can help!" Barley said as he tried to rush to his younger siblings.

"Barley, no!" Ian and Alana shouted in unison. Then, the Phoenix Gem exploded, filling the room with smoke.

Ian and Alana were on the floor. They coughed from the smoke in the room as it started to fade away. Barley helps them up, and the siblings look in front of them to see nothing. Then, they heard a noise from Ian and Alana's closet. They look towards it and see a foot sticking out from underneath clothing. Ian, Alana and Barley looked at each other and they slowly headed towards it.

"Daddy?" Alana calls.

Then, legs stood up with a pile of clothes on top. The clothes fall down, only to reveal legs. Ian, Alana and Barley shouted in surprise.

"It's just legs!" Barley said in surprise.

Then, the legs started to move.

"There's no top part.! I definitely remember Dad having a top part.!" Barley said frantically.

"Oh, what did we do?! This is horrible.!" Ian said frantically as the legs came closer to the trio.

Ian and Alana each put a hand over the ray of light from the top of the legs.

"Hello?" Ian and Alana said in unison.

The legs moved around as Ian, Alana and Barley moved out of the way.

"It's really him." Barley quietly said to his younger siblings. "Dad, you are in your house!" He shouted out to the legs as they bumped into Ian and Alana's shared desk.

Ian, Alana and Barley rushed over to the legs as they got back up and moved around the room.

"Aw, he can't hear us." Alana said.

Then, Barely got an idea. He got closer to the legs, got on his knees, and tapped his hands on one of the feet of the legs. The legs moved in surprise.

"What are you doing?" Ian asked.

Barley tapped his hands to the first part of Shave and a Haircut on one of the feet of the legs. The legs moved back in surprise, and then tapped a foot on the floor, finishing the song.

Then, the left foot of the legs touched Barley's own foot and repeated the first part of Shave and a Haircut.

"That's right, Dad. … It's me, Barley." Barley said as he tapped his hand on the foot, finishing the song.

Then the legs moved around towards Ian and Alana and placed a foot on one of each foot of Ian and Alana.

"Yeah, that's Ian and Alana." Barley said as Ian and Alana smiled.

"Hi, …. Dad." Ian said as Alana said "Hi, …. Daddy.". Then, Ian and Alana each placed a hand lovingly on their dad's foot.

Then the legs moved back, and Ian and Alana groaned.

"We messed this whole thing up.! Now he's gonna be legs forever!" Ian said in panic.

"No, not forever. The spell only lasts one day. At sunset tomorrow, he'll disappear, and we'll never be able to bring him back again." Barley noted to his younger siblings, showing the spell to them.

Ian and Alana looked out the window and saw the sun setting.

"Okay, twenty four hours, that doesn't give us much time, but…" Alana said as both her and Ian set up a 24-hour timer on their watches. "Well, we'll all just have to do the spell again." Alana said.

"You mean the two of you have to.! One or two people can only do magic if they have the gift.! And my little brother and little sister have the magic gift!" Barley said excitedly.

"But Alana and I couldn't even finish the spell.!" Ian said.

"Well, you guys will have plenty of time to practice 'cause we have to find another Phoenix Gem." Barley said as he held the wizard's staff, brushing little pieces of the Phoenix Gem onto his fingers. Then, he gasped as he had an idea.

He went to grab his Quests of Yore cards, and he searched through them until he found two specific cards.

"A-ha! We'll start at the place where all quests begin: The Manticore's Tavern. It's run by a fearless adventurer. She knows where to find any kind of gem, talisman, totem…" Barley explains to Ian and Alana showing them the two cards that he grabbed.

"Barley, this is for a game." Alana stated.

"Based on real life." Barley replied to his younger sister as he continued looking through the cards.

"How do we know this tavern is still there?" Ian asked.

"It's there. Look, my years of training have prepared me for this very moment. And I'm telling you guys, this is the only way to find a Phoenix Gem." Barley said as he showed them the card of a Phoenix Gem.

Ian and Alana thought about it for a few seconds.

"Trust me." Barely said to his younger siblings.

Ian and Alana looked at each other, then they looked at their father's legs. Both of them knew that meeting their dad was their greatest wish.

"Whatever it takes, we are gonna meet our dad." Ian said, referring to him and Alana.

"Yeah, let's do it." Alana said, agreeing with her twin brother.

"You hear that, Dad? We're going on a quest." Barley proclaimed as he put his arm around both Ian and Alana.

Then, the trio got into Guinevere. Barley tried to start the van, but the engine was stalling.

"Come on, Guinevere." Barley said as he tried to start the van.

"Uh, maybe we should just take the bus." Ian and Alana suggested in unison.

"She's fine." Barley said as he finally got the van started. He put an audio cassette in the van's cassette player, and rock music started playing as Barley drove off from the driveway and towards The Manticore's Tavern.