by D J DuMont
Or had it? Willow had no idea what that boom had actually been. Had she set off some sort of alarm? Perhaps Sam had set up protective spells that would boom and flash if the perimeter to the meadow was breeched?
Curious, Willow decided to test her theory. She crept back toward the meadow, and then, holding her breath, stepped forward. She took several steps into the meadow, but no booms or flashes of light went off. The dragons were still bellowing, although even that seemed to be settling down a bit at this point.
Frowning, Willow turned to head back into the cover of the trees. Maybe that had been some sort of thunderstorm rolling through? She’d heard of thunder snow but she’d never actually experienced it. The boom and light hadn’t sounded very much like a thunderstorm, but Willow couldn’t think of anything else it might have been.
She scrunched up her brow and tried to think. The only other possibility she could think of was that the protective spells cast over the campus might be going a little haywire. Sometimes, if too many spells were cast at once in the same area, the spells could interact with each other and cause problems. Willow wasn’t sure how many protective spells were cast over the campus, but she knew it was a lot.
“But Anjali would make sure the spells were all safe to use together, wouldn’t she?” Willow whispered into the dark forest.
The dragons were almost silent again, and Willow peeked around the tree she was hiding behind. She hadn’t seen any signs of Sam yet, so perhaps the dragons hadn’t awakened him. Surely, he would have been here by now if he was coming.
Willow took a deep breath and was preparing to walk forward into the meadow when another bright flash lit up the sky. Then another, and another. Big booms that sounded like the loudest thunder Willow had ever heard echoed across the sky, and the dragons once again started bellowing. Willow shrank back into the woods in terror, but a moment later she couldn’t resist peeking out again.
What she saw unnerved her. Every few seconds, flashes of blue light could be seen high up in the sky. Moments after the flashes, booms would sound out, like someone was ramming full speed into a giant wall. The light and sound was too strange to be a thunderstorm. And the blue light looked awfully similar to the blue light Stein had used to attack the Dragon Heart Agents the day Willow was escorted to campus from the airport.
Willow felt a chill going over her that had nothing to do with how cold it was outside. Was it possible that the Dark Sparks were trying to attack the Dragon Heart campus? If that was the case, Willow had to go tell someone right away. Anjali and Sam should both know about this. In fact, she was surprised that Sam, at least, hadn’t already shown up by the stables. The dragons were bellowing at the top of their lungs, and Willow was pretty sure that their cries could be heard all the way back at the main Dragon Heart building.
But there was no sign of Sam as the attack continued. Willow stood frozen in place, unsure of whether she should stay to protect the dragons, or run to get Sam. Before she could make up her mind, the sound and light stopped. Willow stood perfectly still for at least fifteen minutes, waiting to see if the attack would start again. But no more flashes of light came, and eventually even the dragons stopped their bellowing.
When silence had been hanging in the air for several minutes, Willow decided to walk over to the stables and check on the dragons. She had been trying for quite some time to see Clove, after all. And she didn’t want to waste an opportunity to see Cayenne.
Even though everything was quiet now, Willow felt exposed as she walked across the open meadow. If anyone was watching and waiting to attack, she would make an easy target. Willow quickened her pace and made it to the huge stables in record time.
The stables looked somewhat like a horse barn, except several times larger. There was also a walkway near the top of the tall stables that allowed onlookers to peer in the windows and look down into the dragons’ quarters. A very long ladder led up to the walkway, and this was usually how Willow went to see the dragons when she visited. Today, though, the ladder was covered in ice and snow, and it wouldn’t have been safe to try to climb it without thawing it first. Willow didn’t want to take the time to thaw it with magic, so she decided to try walking directly into the bottom floor of the stables.
There were two main doors to the stables. One door took up almost an entire wall, and was obviously intended for the dragons. Next to it, a human sized door stood, and Willow walked up to it gingerly. It had been almost a year and a half since she arrived on the Dragon Heart campus, but she had never used this door. It was Sam’s door, for him to get into the dragons’ space and clean it up. He didn’t like students going into the stables, and usually the dragons were happy to come out or to come up to the window to see any students who came to visit them.
Right now, though, Willow didn’t care much what Sam thought. She wanted to make sure her dragons were safe, and she wasn’t going to try to lure them outside in the middle of the night. Slowly, with a trembling hand, she reached for the door handle and said “draco amicus,” which was the password required to open the door. The door creaked open and Willow stepped inside, surprised at how dark it was.
“Hello, dragons. It’s me, Willow.” She spoke in a gentle, reassuring tone, but loud enough that the dragons were sure to hear her. Startling dragons was never a good idea, so she wanted to make sure they heard her.
From somewhere in the darkness, Willow heard Cayenne’s familiar whine. The other dragons were stirring, too. Willow’s eyes were slowly adjusting, and she could make out several large dragon forms.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Cayenne. And the rest of you, too. I heard some noise up in the sky that sounded like…an attack.”
Cayenne whined again, and somehow Willow knew that the sound meant she understood.
“Lux,” Willow said, casting a light spell now that she was confident the dragons wouldn’t be too startled by it. Instantly, a flashlight-like beam flooded from her magic ring. The dragons all blinked at the brightness, but they did not turn away or act irritated.
Cayenne walked up and nuzzled Willow, as did Clove. Even Saffron, who was Sylvie’s dragon, came up to say hello. Willow hugged and patted all their necks, feeling comforted by the presence of the large beasts. The other dragons hung back a little, but they all seemed to calm down somewhat at Willow’s presence.
“You guys are all nervous about something, huh? What’s bothering you?”
Cayenne whined again, then looked up toward the sky.
“I know. Something wasn’t right up there. But I’m not sure what the problem was. Maybe one of the magical shields around the campus is malfunctioning?”
At this suggestion, Cayenne bellowed and shook her head no. Willow herself didn’t believe that the strange light and noise was caused by a shield malfunction. She was trying to be optimistic and think of best case scenarios, but she knew in her heart that the campus had been under attack. Someone was trying to break through the shield, and that’s what had caused the ruckus.
Cayenne snorted at Willow, bent low to the ground, and used her giant muzzle to point toward her giant dragon back.
“You want me to get on?” Willow asked.
Cayenne snorted again, then nodded her head. Willow hesitated, and looked around nervously as though Sam might show up at any second. But if Sam hadn’t shown up by now, after all that ruckus, he probably wasn’t coming. And Willow did love any chance to ride on her dragon.
“Alright, Cayenne. Let’s see what you have to show me.”
Willow climbed onto Cayenne’s back, and the dragon moved toward the dragon door. Willow reached up and unlatched the door, then Cayenne pushed it open. A blast of cold air hit Willow’s face, but she hardly noticed. She was too excited to be on her dragon’s back. It would only get colder as they flew higher into the air, but Willow didn’t care.
Flying on her dragon was her greatest joy in the world, and knowing that Cayenne had something specific to show her only added to the excitement.
>
“Let’s see what’s up there,” Willow said, giving Cayenne a firm pat on the side to let the dragon know she was ready to go. Cayenne grunted and took off into the sky, heading straight toward the spot where the strange blue light had been flashing only thirty minutes before.
Chapter Thirteen
Willow had never flown quite this high before. She was beginning to worry that if they went any higher there wouldn’t be enough oxygen for her. She might also lose her nose to frostbite. She was dressed warmly, but still not warm enough to be fifteen thousand feet in the air on a winter night in Maine.
Over and over, she cast a thermal warming spell over herself, but she was having trouble maintaining the spell. She wasn’t used to casting that type of spell at all, let alone while in motion. The spell was a difficult one she didn’t usually bother with, and tonight she kept losing her focus and losing the spell.
But she forgot all about being cold when Cayenne stopped flying upward and instead began to hover in midair. The sight in front of Willow was nothing short of spectacular. Cayenne had flown her so high that they were only a few feet away from the magical shields that Anjali had erected around the campus. But these shields were so strong that they were actually visible to the naked eye, unlike normal magical shields.
“Wow,” whispered Willow as she reached out to try to touch the shield. Her hand went right through it, which wasn’t surprising. The shields were designed to let people out, but not in. That way whoever was inside the shield stayed safe, but wasn’t trapped.
From the ground, the shields weren’t visible at all, but up here it looked to Willow like she was directly underneath a dome of iridescent glass. The moon was out now, and shining in full force on the “glass.” The effect was beautiful. Willow could have stared at it for a long time.
But Cayenne was beginning to move again. Willow had a feeling that the shield itself wasn’t what Cayenne wanted to show her. About a minute later, she got confirmation that her feeling was correct.
Cayenne stopped to hover again. But this time, instead of a smooth, iridescent sheen of “glass,” the shield was cracked. It looked just like a car’s windshield might when it had been struck by a pebble and not repaired. Long, streaking cracks ran out in several directions from one central point, and Willow felt her blood running even colder than it already was.
Someone is trying to break through the shield, Willow realized. It must be the Dark Sparks. Stein had to be behind this. And he must be using the same weapon he had used when he attacked Willow at the beginning of the school year. After all, the blue light looked the same. But what was that blue light? Nothing that Stein was using should be able to break through a magic shield, especially not one as strong as this one. Something strange was going on here.
Cayenne flew on to another spot, and another, and another. There were about seven spots in all where the shield was cracked in the same way. Willow suddenly felt sick to her stomach. What would happen if Stein did manage to get through? Did he have power strong enough to take down Anjali? Surely not! But Willow didn’t feel as confident as she normally would have. After all, Stein shouldn’t have power strong enough to break through the shield.
But apparently, he did.
“I have to warn Anjali about this!” Willow exclaimed, then gave Cayenne a few firm pats on the side. “Cayenne, let’s fly to the main Dragon Heart building. I have to see Anjali tonight.”
Willow didn’t even want to wait until morning to discuss this. What if Stein and his men came back tonight? Would they be able to break one of these cracks into a full-sized hole? Willow had no way of knowing how long the Dark Sparks had been trying to take down this shield, but she knew it was important to bring an immediate stop to any further progress. And she needed Anjali for that.
Cayenne dove downward at top speed, causing Willow to instantly lose her thermal spell. She started shivering again, but did her best to push thoughts of pain out of her mind. There were things much more important than her comfort right now. Cayenne kept picking up speed, and was soon going so fast that Willow had to shut her eyes against the wind. It felt a bit strange to be plummeting toward earth with your eyes closed, but Willow trusted Cayenne. Her dragon was one of the best flyers in the group, and would take good care of her.
But much sooner than Willow expected, Cayenne was pulling up to a halt. Surprised that they were stopping already, Willow opened her eyes. When she did, she found herself face to face with Anjali. And Anjali did not look happy.
Willow guessed that they were still about five thousand feet in the air. Cayenne was hovering, as was Jade, the dragon Anjali was riding. Anjali must be really angry if she was taking her dragon up to chase after Willow in the middle of the night, a realization which annoyed Willow. Maybe if Anjali and Sam spent more time worrying about how to stop the enemy instead of about who was spending “unauthorized” time with dragons, then the Dragon Hearts would actually make some useful progress. Willow didn’t want to anger Anjali more than necessary, though, so she refrained from saying this. Instead, she tried to look as apologetic as possible.
“Anjali, I’m sorry I took Cayenne out in the middle of the night. But it’s only because—”
“I don’t care your reasons at the moment. You are to land right this instant, put Cayenne safely back in the dragon stables and come directly to my Dragon Heart office. Do I make myself clear?”
Willow’s eyes widened in surprise. She’d never heard Anjali sound so upset, and she wasn’t sure how to respond. Cayenne didn’t hesitate, though. The dragon started flying downward toward the stables before Willow could get a word out. Cayenne wasn’t interested in dealing with Anjali’s wrath.
Willow glanced over her shoulder as Cayenne flew, expecting to see Anjali following them. But Anjali was now flying upward, toward the magic shield. Something flashed in Willow’s peripheral vision and she turned to look. Her heart sank at what she saw. Sam was flying toward Anjali at full speed. His magic ring was lit up like a flashlight beam, and he was riding on the back of the dragon named Pepper. Sam didn’t even glance in Willow’s direction, and Willow knew he must be horribly angry with her as well. She expected that from Sam, though. He’d always been so overprotective of the dragons.
Cayenne was nearing the ground now, and Willow had to strain to see the little specks of light that were Sam and Anjali. They looked like they were going higher and higher, just as Cayenne had done earlier. Willow realized that they must both be going to look at the magic shield, and she suddenly felt more at ease. If they saw the cracks with their own eyes, they would take things more seriously. Hopefully, they would even forgive Willow for sneaking out with Cayenne.
After leaving Cayenne at the dragon stables, Willow turned to walk back toward the main building with a spring in her step. For the first time since this school year had begun, she felt like she had done something truly right.
She had no idea how wrong she was.
Chapter Fourteen
When Willow reached Anjali’s office, she was surprised to see that it wasn’t empty. Locke sat in Anjali’s chair, his face in a wider smirk than Willow had ever seen—and that was saying something.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him.
He laughed, and leaned back in the chair. No doubt, he was fully enjoying the moment and Willow’s flustered reaction.
“I’m just waiting for Anjali and Sam to get back after tracking you down. Really, Willow, I knew you weren’t the smartest of the students here, but I didn’t expect even you to be this dumb.”
Willow blinked at Locke, trying to understand what he meant. Was he calling her dumb just because she’d snuck out with Cayenne? Locke himself had snuck out with his own dragon, Yarrow, on more than one occasion.
“It’s not that big of a deal,” Willow said, crossing her arms and trying to sound stern. “And I still don’t get why you’re here. Did you tell on me?”
“Of course I did. What did you expect? That I was going to let you g
et away with putting all our lives at risk? I would have told on anyone who’d done what you’ve done. Even Cara. I have to admit, though, that it was pretty gratifying to realize that you were the cause of all that ruckus tonight. Maybe now the Golden Dragon Heart will finally be awarded to me, like it should have been in the first place.”
Willow frowned, growing more confused by the second. “You would have told on Cara just for sneaking out with her dragon?”
Now Locke looked confused, but only for a second. After a second, his face scrunched up into an amused expression, and he started laughing.
“No, Willow. Not for sneaking out your dragon. We all do that now and then. For messing with the magic shield.”
“I didn’t mess with the magic shield!” Willow exclaimed.
“Then why are there cracks in it?” asked a sharp voice in the doorway. Willow turned slowly to see that Anjali and Sam had both returned, and they both looked like they were ready to punch a hole in the wall. Willow would have preferred to be able to explain things to them under calmer circumstances, but since this was her opportunity to speak up, she was going to make the best of it.
“The cracks are from some outside attacker. I was actually on my way to find you and tell you about them when I met you in the air out there.”
“An outside attacker?” Sam said. “There’s no way. The cracks are caused by magic. Strong magic. No one but a trained wizard could have done that.”
Willow hesitated. She hadn’t thought about what type of power had caused the cracks. If it was a trained wizard it, would have to be someone from the Dragon Heart Agency. But it would be nearly unthinkable for an Agent to turn against the agency. Each Agent was so carefully screened and thoroughly trained. During the entire history of the Dragon Heart Agency, not a single Agent had defected.
