Okay, this book might --
might -- be a bit longer than the requisite twenty chapters.
New chapter.
CHAPTER FOUR:
A Serious Drawback
Erisraptor was elated.
He could not remember when he had last felt this good, had last felt this strong, had last felt this . . . this . . . this
energized. It was something to be treasured, something to be adored, something to be cherished! He could not help himself from flying loop-de-loops and performing aeleron rolls, barrel rolls, and such midair with rather reckless abandon.
He could not believe that he was actually physically twenty-something again! Yet, he retained the mind and the knowledge of his previous aged self! It was absolutely wonderful! He did not care for the child he stole it from, he did not care what would become of the seven-year-old kid. He did not care what particular challenge the child would have had before he decided to reap the youth of the wee one.
"Ack!" Erisraptor sputtered suddenly. It was as if he had flown into a brick wall full speed. His body convulsed, experiencing wave after wave of pain. Not exactly an excruciating pain, but enough to get one's attention.
"No. No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!" he cried out, desperate, nearly in tears. He was feeling -- literally feeling -- his stolen youth being leeched away from him. There was absolutely nothing he could to stop it from slipping away from him, try as he might.
No!! This couldn't be! He couldn't have lost this youth so quickly!! It couldn't have been so temporary! He had just barely got to enjoy the full extent of it!
Well, the solution now was simple. He would simply have to find another appropriate victim.
***
"We didn't know who else to turn to," a woman, the victim's mother, was saying. "We couldn't just take him to the hospital. They would never believe us."
"Yeah, we could never adequately explain how a seven-year-old suddenly became older than
us," the boy's father put in. "We thought you'd be able to help -- they say that you deal with this kind of thing all the time. We didn't know what else we could do for Stevie."
"Don't worry about," Cloak said, stepping from the shadows.
"Really," Abby sighed with exasperation, "
must you do that hiding in shadows thing?"
Cloak ignored her. "The truth of the matter is we do handle all sorts of bizarre cases and missions."
"I do believe that this qualifies," Gaz said. Laserbeak chirped on her shoulder, causing Gaz to give a weary, but affectionate sigh. "Always have to have the last word, don't you, Beaky?"
Laserbeak gave an affirmative squawk. Gaz sighed again.
"Cool bird," Stevie said, with a raspy, octogenarian voice. Then, with shrieks from his parents and looks of concern from the three assembled RAFians, Stevie glowed just as he did when Erisraptor stole his youth.
Cloak was the first to assess what was happening, "The boy's youth is returning."
"But how?" Abby asked.
"Whatever means that was used to take it," Cloak said, as if trying to riddle out a problem, "must only be for a temporary measure, hoarded for but a brief time. But I could be wrong, it could easily be another reason."
"I feel different," Stevie said, frowning a bit.
"Well, you're back to normal now, dear," his mother cooed. It made Cloak feel discomforted somehow, and Cloak knew precisely why -- he never felt a mother's love. Closest thing to it he had ever experienced came from Faith and his aunt, his mother's younger sister and second eldest of the six girls of Sage. Stevie's mother said, calmly and sweetly, "It was a very odd experience, I assume."
"Does your son have any reason why he would be targeted?" Abby asked.
"No," his father said, thinking it over, "no, I don't think so. There's the dyscalcula, but --"
Cloak had a suspicion. He pointed to an analogue clock on the wall.
"Stevie, what time is it?"
"Adventure time?"
"Hilarious." Cloak said, dryly. "Okay, let's try again. Which is larger, ten or six?"
"What's this trying to prove?" his father leaped in defensively. "Are you just going to humilia--"
"Ten."
This stopped his father midsentence. Stevie had difficultly telling which number was bigger than another, difficulty reading analogue clocks, difficulty working backward with time, as well as general mathematical difficulties. This was how he was diagnosed with dyscalculia.
"Stevie, you just --"
"It is as I suspected," the Realm Walker declared. "Whoever or whatever sucked away your son's youth, also took away his dyscalculia."
"Not that I'm displeased with it, but why didn't it come back with Stevie's youth?"
"I cannot say," Cloak said, folding his arms, and rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"You don't know," Gaz said immediately.
"That too."
