Kevin heard a "pfft" sound as air displaced in his room in the wake of Eyrick's unexpected magical arrival.
He looked past the young wizard, hoping to see his older brother. "Where's Jared?"
Eyrick looked at the 10-year-old and tried to judge whether to level with him. "He's still at my family's castle," Eyrick replied.
"Why didn't he come with you?" Kevin plowed directly to the heart of the matter, to Eyrick's slight irritation.
"Look, I've made a slight mistake," he began.
That put Kevin on full alert. "What sort of mistake?"
Eyrick explained, in as condensed a manner as possible, the nature of his mistake in reading the hieroglyphics on the page in the wrong direction. "It's the opposite of what I thought I had translated," he admitted.
"What's this mean for Jare?" Kevin already suspected he knew, but he wanted to hear Eyrick confirm it.
"He isn't going to be a dog only one day a month during the full moon," Eyrick said. "That's when he will get to be human."
"What about the rest of the time?" The boy's voice grew shriller by several octaves.
"He'll be a dog, of course." Eyrick saw Kevin's withering glare. "Look, do you think I am happy about this? I am really sorry."
"Take me to him," Kevin demanded.
"There's nothing you can do," Eyrick lamented.
"I want to see him!" Kevin insisted. He blamed himself... as well as his brother's wizard boyfriend.
Eyrick sighed...