by D J DuMont
Without another word, Willow turned to leave Anjali’s office. She closed the door behind her, and then sank to the ground, her back against the hallway wall as she tried to hold back tears. Part of her wanted to get far, far away from Anjali’s office and Agent Watford. But part of her felt too weak to move.
She clutched the folder to her chest, not sure if she would ever open it. This was her father, not just some random Agent. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go through these papers. She couldn’t bear the thought of seeing the final page, where some uncaring Agent would have stamped “Case Closed” on the file.
For Willow, the case would never be closed.
On shaky legs, she finally stood and smoothed out the fabric of her jacket. She wasn’t sure what to do next, but she didn’t want to hang around Anjali’s office all day. She wasn’t ready to go back to her dorm room either. If she did, she’d have to face Alexis, or Sylvie, or both. And they would bug her about why she looked so upset until she explained everything to them. Well, in Alexis’ case until she explained everything she could explain without giving away the fact that she was a wizard.
Willow could have gone to see Marcus, but even that thought didn’t make her happy right now. She couldn’t tell him the whole story, either. She needed someone who would understand her, whom she could tell the whole story to.
Then, it hit her. Clove. Her father’s dragon would understand. He couldn’t answer her in words, but he always showed her with his eyes that he understood what she was saying to him, and that he knew what she was going through. Willow would go and tell him everything. He deserved to know, anyway. And she could say hello to Cayenne, which always made her feel better. Sam wouldn’t be happy if he saw Willow at the dragon stables, but right now she didn’t care. She needed to be close to the beasts.
Willow felt instantly lighter as she turned to walk to the stables. But before she had taken a single step forward, she heard Anjali’s voice, loud and angry, coming from behind the office door.
“President Newson is a fool if he thinks getting rid of the Dragon Heart program is going to keep him safer!”
Willow’s eyes widened. President Newson was the new President of the United States. He’d gone from Vice President to President when the former President was killed. And, from what Anjali had just said, President Newson wanted to get rid of the Dragon Hearts. He wouldn’t really do that, would he?
Willow pressed her ear against the door, straining to hear.
“Obviously, I agree that it’s a horrible idea,” Agent Watford was saying. “But President Newson is unhappy that no one has figured out how the former president was assassinated. I guess he thinks we’re useless. Or maybe he thinks that threatening us will make us try harder to figure out what happened.”
“We are trying,” Anjali said. “We’re pouring all of the Agency’s resources into the investigation. Besides, if we close down the Dragon Heart program, what happens to the dragons, or the Dragon Heart virus? Who will regulate the wizards? It will be mass chaos. No good will come of that.”
“I agree. All it will do is give dark magic a chance to rise. But President Newson doesn’t understand that. All we can do is hope we can make him see how complicated this is. That, or hope that we figure out what did happen to the former president.”
There was a long pause, and Willow was about to leave to head for the dragon stables when Anjali spoke once again.
“I can’t believe we still have no leads on that.”
“I know,” Agent Watford replied. “I had hoped there would be something by now. But Stein has grown stronger, and Sigmund Ember had been our best chance of finding him.”
“You’re sure that Stein is no longer using Sigmund?”
“We’re sure. I feel badly for Willow, truly I do. And for you. I know you were good friends with him. But Sigmund Ember is a dead end at this point. We have to find another way to stop Stein, or the Dragon Heart program will be eliminated.”
Willow chewed on her lip in frustration as she listened to the discussion of her father. She had to remain quiet and calm. There’s no telling how she would be punished if Anjali and Agent Watford discovered her eavesdropping.
“I wish you could have explained that to Willow,” Anjali said. “Maybe she would have understood then that you’re only giving up on her dad because you’re in a race against time to solve the assassination before the entire Dragon Heart program goes away.”
“I’m not sure that would have made her feel better. That girl loves her father, and with good reason. He wasn’t just a great Agent. He was a great man. But my orders are my orders. I have to do what I’m told, and I was told to close his case. Anyway, I couldn’t tell her even if I thought it would help. This information is only supposed to be shared with Master Dragon Heart Agents. The top Agents want to keep it as quiet as possible. The last thing we need is for all sorts of rumors to start flying about the Agency closing.”
“I understand,” Anjali said. “I’ll keep quiet about it.”
“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get out to the dragon stables. I want to see if I can catch Sam before I head back to D.C., and get an update on how the wounded dragons are recovering.”
Anjali was saying something else, but Willow took off down the hallway as fast as her legs would carry her. The last thing she wanted was for Agent Watford to catch her and realize she’d heard classified information.
“Guess I’m not going to the dragon stables right now,” Willow muttered as she raced down the stairs. She didn’t want to run into Sam or Agent Watford again, so she’d have to wait to visit Clove and Cayenne. But she vowed to visit the dragons soon. Maybe even tonight. She could sneak out here at night and see them when Sam was in bed. Willow had done that all the time last year, and had usually gotten away with it.
Willow rushed toward the conference room to take the tunnel back to the Birch Point Campus, wondering the whole time if she should tell Sylvie what she’d heard about the threats to shut down the Dragon Heart Agency. Probably not, since she herself wasn’t supposed to know. It was going to be hard to keep this a secret, but Willow was getting pretty good at keeping secrets. After all, she’d hidden the fact that she was a wizard from her mom all summer long.
Looks like she’d just have to add this to the list of things she couldn’t talk to anyone about. Hopefully, the possibility of the Dragon Heart Agency closing down would always remain a secret, and never become a reality. Willow wasn’t happy with the agency right now, since it had decided her father wasn’t worth searching for. But at the same time, she couldn’t imagine life without it.
After all, deep within her she had a Dragon Heart. In that moment, Willow Ember determined that she would find a way to save her father and the agency, if it was the last thing she did.
Chapter Eleven
“Willow! Wake up!”
Willow snapped her head up, trying to figure out where she was. Slowly, Anjali’s face came into focus right in front of her own.
“You’re sleeping in class, again,” Anjali said, narrowing her eyes at Willow. “This has to stop. We’re learning important skills here. If you don’t get a good foundation in Earth Magic, you’ll never be able to properly perform or control Earth Magic spells. You need to pay attention.”
Anjali enunciated every word of the last sentence, and Willow winced.
“Yes, Anjali. Sorry. I’ll, uh, do better.”
“Do better about getting some sleep at night,” Anjali replied as she turned back toward the front of the class. “You’re clearly not getting enough.”
Willow glanced over at Sylvie, who sat at the desk right behind her. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” she hissed in a whisper.
“Sorry,” Sylvie whispered back. “I wasn’t paying attention to you. Or to class, really. This stuff is so boring.”
“I heard that!” Anjali said sharply from the front. Willow whipped her head around and sat up stick-straight. How in the world had Anjali heard their w
hispers? She must have cast a spell on her ears to augment her hearing.
From the front, Locke snickered, while Cara turned around and gave Willow a disdainful look. Anjali ignored them, and pointed straight at Sylvie. “You think this is boring, huh? Well, I know learning the history and basics of Earth Magic might not seem all that exciting to you. But it’s an important foundation. And trust me, when you learn to do earthquake and volcano spells, you’ll be anything but bored. It’s worth a little hard work at the beginning for the eventual payoff.”
Willow meekly nodded her head. She couldn’t see Sylvie at the moment, but her friend must have nodded as well. Anjali relaxed a bit and walked over to her desk to look at her notes. “Alright, that’s it for today. For tomorrow’s class, please read pages seventy-five to eighty-four in your textbooks. It’s the section entitled ‘Magical Shifting of Tectonic Plates.’ For now, you are dismissed.”
Willow held her breath for a moment, worried that Anjali was going to want a word with her after class, as was often the case when Anjali was disappointed in Willow’s performance. But Anjali turned and sat at her desk, looking over some notes without glancing up or giving a second thought to any of the students. Relieved, Willow turned to scurry out the door. Her final class of the day was dragon flying. At least she knew she’d do well and stay awake in that class.
Willow’s relief didn’t last long. Almost as soon as she was in the hallway, Locke stepped in front of her and blocked her path.
“We need to talk, Willow.” He was glowering down at her and had an all-too-familiar haughty expression on his face. Willow groaned. He was probably going to give her some lecture about how she couldn’t stay awake in class because she wasn’t a true Dragon Heart. Willow was not in the mood for this sort of thing right now, and she tried to shove past him.
“Enough, Locke. I’m not in the mood for your know-it-all attitude.”
But Locke held up his arm and wouldn’t let her pass. “I don’t care what kind of mood you’re in. You’re going to listen to me.”
To Willow’s surprise. Cara had stepped up to stand next to Locke as well. Cara looked a bit nervous—she was chewing her lip and kept looking back at the Earth Magic classroom as though she expected Anjali to come out and yell at them at any moment. But she stood beside Locke and crossed her arms, clearly intending to support him on whatever his latest complaint about Willow might be.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Sylvie said, coming to Willow’s defense. “Let her by. So she fell asleep in class. Lots of teens fall asleep in school. It doesn’t mean you’re any better than her. We’re all going to be late to dragon flying if you don’t stop this nonsense.”
“It’s not nonsense,” Locke said. “It’s an intervention.”
Willow choked in surprise. “An intervention? For what? Why?”
Cara stuck her chin out defiantly, took a deep breath, and then blurted out, “We think you should give up the Golden Dragon Heart award.”
For a few beats, everyone was silent. Willow’s jaw hung open as she stared at Cara.
“You can’t be serious? That’s what this is about? You want me to give up the Golden Dragon Heart Award just because I fell asleep in class? This is ridiculous. Let me by, or I’m going to yell for Anjali.”
Locke sneered. “Oh, you’re going to tattle on us to the teacher, are you? That’s so typical.”
“Leave her alone, guys,” Sylvie said. “This is really uncalled for. We’re all supposed to be a team here. We’re on the same side, remember?”
Locke rolled his eyes. “Yes, we’re on the same side, protecting our country and fighting evil and blah blah blah. But that doesn’t mean we have to put up with a failure of a captain.”
Willow felt her throat constricting. She felt angry and embarrassed and guilty all at once. She had no plans to give up the Golden Dragon Heart award now that she had it, but Locke had a point. She was supposed to be the “captain” of their group. The recipient of the award was supposed to be a leader, and an example of a talented wizard. Willow lagged behind everyone in every branch of magic except dragon flying. And she certainly hadn’t been a good captain. She hadn’t provided any leadership of any sort at all this year. Most of her time had been spent moping about, worrying about her father. But could anyone really blame her?
Suddenly, the anger in Willow overtook all of the other emotions. She didn’t have to put up with this. She didn’t have to sit here and listen to Locke and Cara complain, when they had no idea what it was truly like to sacrifice for the cause. Neither of them had lost a parent to the Dragon Heart Agency. And until they did, Willow wasn’t going to listen to them judging her.
“Enough!” Willow shouted at the top of her lungs, not caring if Anjali heard her or came out of the classroom to see what was going on. Locke took a step backward, apparently startled by Willow’s sudden outburst. She had never reacted so strongly to anything, and he must have been surprised by the sound of her yelling. Cara’s eyes had gone as wide as saucers as well, and even Sylvie looked uncertain of how to react.
“I have had it with you two,” Willow yelled. “You sit here and rant about how amazing your families are, but you have no idea what’s really going on in the Dragon Heart Agency. You have no idea what I’m dealing with. If you want me to be a captain, then I’ll be a captain. Here’s my first order: get out of my way so I’m not late to dragon flying class.”
Locke opened his mouth to say something, but Willow never knew what it was. At that moment, Anjali opened the door to the Earth Magic classroom and poked her head out.
“Is there a problem out here?” she asked, in a tone of voice that clearly said there had better not be a problem.
Locke lowered his eyes. No matter how arrogant he was, Anjali could always get him under control. He knew that she was the one who ultimately decided whether he passed or failed each year of the Dragon Heart Academy of Magic, and he didn’t want to give her any reason to fail him.
“No, Anjali,” he muttered. “There’s no problem.”
“Good. Then all of you get to your dragon flying class and away from this classroom. I need some peace and quiet so I can plan next week’s lessons.”
The four students obediently turned and started walking down the hallway. Willow walked slowly, staying next to Sylvie and avoiding eye contact with Locke and Cara. She felt miserable and confused. Since the very day she’d won the Golden Dragon Heart Award, she had never stopped questioning whether she was worthy of it. Apparently, neither had Locke. He turned to glare at her one last time now.
“You haven’t heard the last of this, Willow Ember. Golden Dragon Hearts can be revoked, and you’re giving the school a lot of reasons to revoke yours.”
With that, he turned and stormed far ahead of the others.
“Don’t listen to him,” Sylvie said, reaching over to give Willow’s arm an encouraging squeeze. Willow gave her a grateful smile, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Locke had meant what he’d said.
This year was not going at all according to plan, but Willow had no idea how to fix things.
Chapter Twelve
Even though Willow knew that staying up late would make it hard to stay awake through class the next day, she decided to sneak out that night and see the dragons. She hadn’t had a chance to see them alone since the meeting with Anjali and Agent Watford, and she wanted to tell Clove the news about the search for her father being called off. It wasn’t happy news, but she felt her father’s dragon deserved to know. And with Sam guarding the dragons like hawks during the day, her only chance of talking to Clove was to sneak in during the middle of the night.
Willow pretended to go to sleep in her dorm room, then waited until after one in the morning to sneak out. She hadn’t told Sylvie where she was going, which she knew would upset Sylvie if her friend knew. But Willow was still afraid to tell Sylvie what she’d overheard outside of Anjali’s office, so she had to go to the dragon stables alone if she wanted to talk to Clove.
Campus was eerily quiet, and Willow shivered as she rushed toward the building where the tunnel to the Dragon Heart campus was located. By the time she made it through the tunnel and out to the forest path that led to the dragon stables, snow had started to fall. Giant snowflakes fluttered lazily down, lit up by the occasional moonbeam when there was a break in the clouds.
Willow stumbled slowly along the path to the stables, wishing she dared to use a light spell to guide her way. But she didn’t want to take any chances on being seen, so she did her best to take her time and avoid the largest tree roots that crisscrossed the uneven path. It took her much longer than usual to reach the meadow where the dragon stables were located, and she was shivering violently by the time she got there. Willow hadn’t realized how much cooler the temperature would be in the middle of the night than in the day. The Maine winter was setting in, and would not let up for several months.
Willow tried to ignore the chill in her bones and peered across the dark meadow, hoping for a bit of moonlight soon. Without at least a little bit of light, the meadow looked as dark as black ink. The dragon stables themselves seemed to be completely quiet, which was good. Hopefully that meant that all of the dragons were sleeping, and that Sam had left them alone for the night to go to sleep himself.
Willow waited about ten minutes, shivering and peering into the darkness. No moonlight came, but neither did any sounds. Deciding that it must be safe to continue, Willow started walking out into the meadow. But then, a sudden boom sounded off followed by a bright flash of light, and she nearly screamed as she raced back into the woods.
With her heart pounding, she hid behind a tree and looked out into the meadow. The light had disappeared nearly as quickly as it had appeared, but the silence was gone. The boom had awakened the dragons, and Willow could hear them bellowing restlessly in their stable. With a frustrated grunt, Willow took another step backward into the forest.
She didn’t dare go out there when the dragons were being noisy. Sam was watching them so closely these days, and he might have a sound monitor on them. Willow did not want to be here if Sam came by. He would probably blame her for waking the dragons up, even though it hadn’t been her fault.
