Read Online Good Ogre by Platte F. Clark - Free Book Online Page A

Maelshadow, I’m sure of it.”
    â€œWhat does that mean for the rest of the town?” Sarah asked. “What about our families?”
    â€œThe Cataclysm will change them, too,” Dwight answered. “If not for Max’s spell you would have suffered the same fate. And Puff is right—the transformation still happened, only it was robbed of its dark magic.”
    â€œSo we became what . . . ? Characters?” Sarah asked. “I don’t get it.”
    â€œMe either,” Dwight admitted. “Maybe you became what the Codex wanted you to become. Or maybe you became whatever it was that Max was dreaming about while he slept. Magic is tricky business.”
    â€œDude!” Dirk exclaimed, swatting Max on the back of the head. “Why are you dreaming about me being a bard?”
    â€œI didn’t!” Max said. “Did I?”
    â€œGuys, we have to figure out what happened to our families,” Sarah said, trying to get them back on track. She turned to Max. “And Max, you have to find a way to fix all of this.” She didn’t need to say because it’s your fault . He had no idea how to stop a Cataclysm or what it meant to deal with Shadric magic, the umbraverse, or the Maelshadow. He just knew he had to do something about it.
    â€œSarah, everyone, look . . . I’m sorry,” Max said. “I didn’t listen to you, and I should have.” No one said anything, but Max knew his friends would forgive him eventually. Unless something terrible had happened to their families—he knew Sarah would never get over it, and it would be the end of their friendship. The thought of that was almost too much to bear. “Is there anything else we know about this Cataclysm?” Max asked, his voice wavering a little.
    â€œI’ll see what I can find out,” Dwight said. “I have a few more books in the back.”
    â€œI remember something, actually,” Puff said, searching his dragon-aged memories. “First the Cataclysm changes the substance of a thing. Later it changes its essence . Remember the one is not necessarily the other.”
    Dirk scratched his head. “Huh?”
    Sarah stepped in. “I think Puff is suggesting the changes aren’t permanent—at least not yet. Actually it’s a notion that goes back to Aristotle.”
    â€œYeah, I was just going to say that,” Dirk said.
    â€œYou wouldn’t know Aristotle if the Lyceum fell on your head,” Glenn replied.
    Dirk frowned. “That’s not true—it’s like my favorite band.”
    â€œMaybe we should be getting ready to leave?” Max interjected.
    â€œGood idea,” Dirk replied, reaching for Glenn. “And I think a packing-stuff-up montage song would do nicely here—”
    â€œNo!” everyone shouted at once.

    It wasn’t long before the others woke. Like Max and his friends, they’d been changed by the storm, but Max’s spell had altered the course of their transformation. Megan had become a priestess healer in a long white robe, while Sydney was a pixie about the size of Dwight, and with wings! Melvin had become an elf with a quiver of arrows and a longbow (Dirk immediately felt a wave of elf envy at the sight of him). Wayne had appeared dressed in chain mail and carrying a heavy shield and axe.
    They gathered at the front of the store and Max explained everything that had happened, which included going into his own history as well. They listened as he talked about the robot-fueled future that featured televised hunts and arena-style combat, the meeting with the dragon king Obsikar, and the perilous journey back in time to the Magrus to return the Codex to the Wizard’sTower and defeat Rezormoor Dreadbringer. Dirk interjected his own commentary along the way, including his bringing an online character to life and the fact that Princess the Unicorn and her wizard had decided to stay in Madison (and