by D J DuMont
“I…I couldn’t tell what caused the cracks. I figured it must have been someone from the Dark Sparks. All I know is that I was out by the dragon stables, going to see Cayenne—”
“Which you’re not supposed to be doing, anyway,” Sam said.
“That’s not important right now,” Anajli interrupted. “Let her explain.”
Willow swallowed hard. She couldn’t remember ever hearing Anjali yell at Sam like that. Even Locke looked taken aback. The tension in the air hung heavy, but Willow had no choice other than to continue her story and hope for the best.
“Anyway,” she said, her voice sounding small even to herself. “I was about to sneak into the meadow when I saw a big flash and heard a loud boom. At first, I wondered if it was some sort of weird thunderstorm, but it sounded so much stranger than any thunderstorm I’ve ever heard. The dragons acted agitated, too. They were stomping and bellowing. I’m surprised Sam didn’t hear it.”
“I had taken some nighttime cough medicine,” Sam said. “I wasn’t expecting to have to chase down any students or repair the shield tonight, so I thought it was safe to take a little something to help me sleep deeply. Apparently I was wrong.”
Willow ignored the comment as best she could and continued. “Everything went quiet and I thought that whatever had happened was done, but then it started again. The booming sound came again and the blue light went off as well, making the dragons go crazy. That time, when things settled down, I went to check on the dragons. I wanted to make sure they were alright, because they’d sounded pretty distressed. When Cayenne saw me, she wanted to take me up flying. I got the sense that there was something she wanted me to see.”
Sam made a huffing sound. He didn’t believe that dragons could communicate as well as Willow always said they could. Willow didn’t understand how he could think that way, since he worked with the dragons on a daily basis and was actually quite a talented dragon trainer. But she wasn’t going to argue with him now. She was going to tell Anjali her story and get this whole misunderstanding cleared up.
“Cayenne flew me way high up into the sky, and I saw the magic shields. I also saw that they had cracked. That’s when I realized that the flashes and booms I’d heard must have been some sort of attack on the shield. I was flying back to find you and tell you when you intercepted me. I guess Locke here thought I was causing trouble, but I wasn’t. I didn’t do anything to the shields, I swear. The cracks were already there when I got up there.”
Locke snickered, and for once Anjali did not tell him to be quiet. Instead, she crossed her arms and gave Willow a cold, hard look. “Miss Ember, it’s really important that you tell me the truth.”
Willow’s jaw dropped, both from the look on Anjali’s face and from the fact that Anjali had addressed Willow by her last name. Things within the Dragon Heart Agency were generally very informal. Students even addressed their professors by their first names. Willow had never called Anjali “Professor North,” or Sam “Professor Fullmer.” The Agency believed in treating your fellow Agents as brothers and sisters, regardless of whether those Agents were above or below you in ranking. So for Anjali to address Willow as “Miss Ember” was a deliberate slight. Willow started to panic a bit for the first time. How could Anjali even suggest that she had cracked the magic shield, let alone that she would stand here and lie about it?
“I am telling you the truth,” Willow said in a tight voice. “I had nothing to do with the cracks in the shield.”
Anjali was silent for several moments, then let out a long sigh. “Very, well, Willow. You may go back to your dorm room, but you haven’t heard the last of this.”
“What do you mean?” Willow asked, relieved that Anjali had switched back to using her first name.
“I mean that there will be a full investigation into the cracks. Experts from Dragon Heart Headquarters will be coming here to inspect. They will be able to tell if you’ve done any magic spells on the shield, so I suggest you confess now if you have anything to say.”
“I’ve told you everything.”
“Then go. Get some rest. And don’t go riding on Cayenne again unless it’s for an official class activity.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Willow said, then turned to leave the room before someone else could think of something to say that implied she had done something wrong. She was careful to avoid Locke’s eyes, especially.
“I can’t believe they’re taking his word over mine,” she muttered when she was out of earshot. She made her way back to the Birch Point side of campus as quickly as she could, occasionally glancing at the sky as if she might suddenly see another flash of light. But everything was silent now. The only sound was the soft crunch of Willow’s feet on the frosty cold ground, and the thumping of her heart in her chest.
She thought about waking up Sylvie to talk to her about what had happened, but she was worried that Alexis would wake up, too. For the first time since the second year of school had begun, Willow regretted deciding to room with Alexis again. Yes, she was nice, and one of Willow’s best friends. But the fact that she wasn’t a wizard and couldn’t hear about anything having to do with magic sometimes made life difficult.
There was no changing her roommates now, though. Willow silently slipped into bed, telling herself that she would talk to Sylvie in the morning. Sylvie would understand, and have good advice on how to deal with Locke. Comforting herself with this thought, Willow slipped off to sleep, where she dreamt of monsters made of blue lightning.
But monsters in dreams disappear when you wake up. There are other monsters, real monsters, that Willow knew wouldn’t disappear so easily.
Chapter Fifteen
“Willow, are you sure you didn’t accidentally do some sort of spell up there? I mean, no one except Dragon Heart Agents can do spells. And why would a Dragon Heart Agent be trying to break through a shield here?” Sylvie furrowed her brow as she spoke.
Willow threw up her hands. “I don’t know why. But I know those cracks were already there before I went up. Cayenne already knew about them and wanted to show me. And the only spell I did was a thermal heat spell. That’s not nearly enough power to crack a magic shield.”
Anjali walked into the classroom just then, followed by Locke and Cara. Willow abruptly shut up, and looked away when Locke sneered at her. She accidentally caught eyes with Cara while turning her head, and felt her stomach twist at the pitying look in Cara’s eyes. As for Anjali, she wouldn’t even look at Willow.
They all think I ruined the shield, Willow realized. Even Sylvie doesn’t believe me. Willow stared down at her textbook and tried to bite back tears. How had things come to this? Last year had been tough, but this year was simply unbearable.
“Turn to page one hundred and ninety-four in your textbooks,” Anjali said in a sharp tone. “I trust you all finished your reading last night, despite extracurricular activities.”
Anjali finally looked at Willow, and Willow tried to sink even further into her chair. She was already so low that she couldn’t sink much more, though, or she would end up with her face below her desk. She didn’t have to ask to know which “extracurricular activities” Anjali was referring to. Across the room, Locke snickered. Willow wanted to throw her textbook at him. Couldn’t that boy go five minutes without making that stupid laughing sound?
“This section of the book deals with advanced earthquake spells,” Anjali said. “They are much stronger than the initial earthquake spells we discussed several weeks ago. If you need a really big distraction, or are stuck in a really tight situation, these advanced earthquakes can be your salvation. They should be used sparingly, however. They can cause great damage to property, and will likely result in innocent lives being lost.”
“Sometimes you gotta sacrifice for the cause,” Locke said with a shrug. Cara nodded at him, like that was the most intelligent comment she’d ever heard. Willow wanted to puke, but she looked down at her textbook instead. The best thing for her to do for the next few weeks was li
e low. Anjali, at least, did not seem amused with Locke’s comment.
“Innocent lives should always be protected as much as possible,” Anjali said, slamming her fist down on the front-row desk where Locke sat. “If they must be sacrificed for the greater good, it should be a carefully considered decision, where the benefits to the country and world at large outweigh the loss of life.”
Cara squeaked and jumped when Anjali slammed her fist. Willow didn’t blame her. Anjali had never acted as short-tempered as she was acting today. Of course, everyone knew it was Willow’s fault. Cara turned around and made a face at Willow. Willow looked to Sylvie for support, but Sylvie was staring straight ahead, refusing to meet Willow’s eyes.
The rest of the afternoon went like this. The accusing glances of Willow’s peers were only made worse by the fact that she couldn’t seem to get a single spell right today. She accidently blew up her cauldron in potions class, and she couldn’t do much more than get her magic ball to turn on in divination. The others all successfully completed a weather prediction spell—one of the easiest possible divination spells to do.
When they got back to the Birch Point side of campus, Sylvie mumbled something about needing to meet up with a study group for her Geometry class and disappeared without giving Willow a chance to reply. Willow strongly suspected that there was no study group, or at least that Sylvie didn’t actually care that much about it. Sylvie just wanted an excuse to not have to talk to Willow.
“Fine by me,” Willow fumed. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to spend some time with some of the “regular” students. The Dragon Heart students all seemed to think Willow wasn’t worth their time. Willow made her way down to the rec center, hoping there might be someone there that she knew.
The rec center was nearly empty, and the few students that were there looked completely unfamiliar to Willow. They must have been from a different class year than her. Judging by how much older they looked, she guessed they were seniors. They paid no attention to her, so Willow settled down into one of the giant beanbag chairs and pulled out her American government textbook. She tried to read, but the text was so boring that she couldn’t focus. Most of this stuff she already knew, anyway. Growing up in D.C., and with a father who worked for the C.I.A., Willow had learned early how the government worked.
At some point, she fell asleep on the beanbag chair, her book falling across her chest. When a gentle nudge woke her a few hours later, she sat up with a start, feeling disoriented. Blinking and looking around, she took a few moments to realize where she was—and to realize that Marcus was sitting in the beanbag chair next to her, a small smile on his lips.
“Hey, sorry to wake you. But it’s almost time for the cafeteria to close and I didn’t want you to miss dinner.”
Willow furrowed her brow in confusion. “It’s that late? I must have slept a long time.”
“Yeah. You were already asleep when I got here at seven, and it’s almost nine now.”
Willow felt her cheeks heating up with embarrassment. “Oh, god. You’ve been watching me sleep for two hours?”
Marcus laughed, and Willow felt her heart warming at the way his whole face lit up. “Well, I was mostly studying. I didn’t spend a lot of time actually watching you. I was hoping you’d wake up so I could ask you if you’d read the assignment for our literature class. I don’t understand it at all.”
Willow groaned. “I still haven’t read that. I haven’t done hardly any of my homework, in fact. It’s going to be a long night.”
Willow had double the homework of most students at Birch Point Academy, thanks to the fact that she was also taking magical classes. She needed to really buckle down on her magical homework as well, since she was always falling behind everyone else in those classes. But right now, the idea of dinner with Marcus was far more appealing than the idea of holing herself up in the library and reading another long chapter in her Earth Magic textbook. It’s not like she could use the spells in that textbook for another year or more, anyway. It wasn’t very much fun learning about all of these amazing spells that her magical ability was far too weak to handle.
“So, dinner?” Marcus asked, interrupting her thoughts.
Willow smiled and nodded. She had to eat, didn’t she? A quick break to eat dinner wasn’t going to make much difference in how much homework she got done tonight. Besides, the idea of spending time with Marcus made her happy. She told herself it wasn’t a crush, but maybe it was. It didn’t matter, either way. She couldn’t date him, not when she had so much going on over at the Dragon Heart Academy that she needed to keep secret. But just because she didn’t have room in her life for a boyfriend didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy spending time with Marcus.
The cafeteria was deserted. No surprise, since food service shut down in ten minutes. The cafeteria employees were already shutting down the salad bar, and the pickings were slim at the build-your-own-sandwich station. Willow didn’t mind, though. She was happy just to have a bite to eat with her new friend. She had meant to spend more time with Marcus over the last few weeks, but it hadn’t happened. Things had been so tense with the Dragon Heart Agents that Willow hadn’t had much time to catch her breath, let alone to nurture friendships at Birch Point.
Now, in that empty cafeteria, Willow finally had a chance to talk to Marcus. He told her stories about his childhood, and Willow was surprised to find that most of the stories were happy ones. She’d thought that the loss of his father would have colored his memories with an impossible sadness, but on the contrary, his loss seemed to intensify the happiness of the good memories he did have. Willow found herself laughing the whole way through dinner, enchanted by his accounts of earlier days.
But when he finally asked her about her own childhood, she found herself tongue-tied. She shrugged and looked helplessly at him. “What is there to say?” she said, keeping her voice light and joking. “My mom was too busy for me, and my dad was gone a lot for work. He always made time for me when he was home, and he took me on some amazing trips all over the world. But that all seems like a strange dream now. The more time that passes, the more I feel like none of it was ever really real. And that scares me.”
Marcus nodded at her, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I went through a phase like that. It scared me, because I thought I was going to completely lose the memory of my dad. But looking back now, I think it was just a coping mechanism to keep from crumbling under the pain of it all. If none of it was real, then I hadn’t really lost anything, and I didn’t need to feel pain.”
Willow attempted a weak smile. “Maybe that’s it. Maybe it will eventually get easier to think about the memories and embrace them instead of hiding from them.”
“It will,” Marcus promised, then took a long sip of his soda and stared off at the television on the wall, which was playing a late night newscast. The cafeteria was shutting down in earnest now, and the lights had been turned off in the kitchen. The employees buzzed about, cleaning up tables and getting things ready for breakfast the next morning. They didn’t pay much attention to Marcus and Willow, the last two stragglers in the room. Willow was glad they weren’t getting kicked out yet. She didn’t want this dinner to end.
For the first time since she’d come to Birch Point, she almost felt like a normal student. She’d wondered many times what it would feel like to be just Willow Ember, an everyday teenager making her way through high school. Marcus made her feel the closest to normal that she’d felt here. He didn’t make a big deal over the fact that her dad was missing. He understood, and let her talk about it when she needed to. But he didn’t get all weird about things and try to say things to make it better that only made it worse. He knew, better than anyone else here perhaps, that there was nothing that could be said to make it better. And so he didn’t even try. He was comfortable with the silence.
He didn’t know about her magical abilities, either, so Willow could sit here and pretend that she was a completely normal student. She could pretend that she d
idn’t have to go to the library later to hide in a corner where no one could see her reading an Earth Magic textbook. She could pretend that she hadn’t accidentally blown up a cauldron today. She could be normal, for just a few moments.
Whenever Willow had thoughts like this, though, she felt ashamed. What would her father think of her, sitting here wishing that she didn’t have magic in her DNA? He had probably had higher hopes for his only daughter. He had probably expected her to follow in his footsteps as one of the top Dragon Heart Agents of modern times. She could almost hear his voice now, lecturing her about how she had great power, and she had an obligation to use it for the good.
Marcus suddenly sucked in his breath, causing Willow to abandon her self-pitying thoughts and look up. Marcus’ eyes were fixed on the television nearest them, where a report on the President’s assassination was being played. Apparently, there had been a development in the case which implicated top C.I.A. Agents in the crime.
“Whoa. That’s like some spy-novel material right there,” Marcus said, leaning forward in his chair.
Willow felt her heart pounding as she listened to the report.
“Sources inside the White House have confirmed that the assassination of the President last August was connected to several top Agents at the C.I.A. The Agents apparently leaked information related to security procedures, which allowed the assassin to get past the President’s security detail. No specific details have been given, and the director of the C.I.A. could not be reached for comment.”
Willow felt an uneasiness growing in the pit of her stomach. The Dragon Heart Agency was a part of the C.I.A. Was it possible that some Dragon Heart Agents had leaked information related to magical security? The idea seemed preposterous. Dragon Heart Agents went through rigorous testing and training, and had to pass strict security checks before being given access to the higher levels of magical security procedures. The security checks included magical lie detection tests, which were virtually foolproof. No, it couldn’t have been an inside job.
