by D J DuMont
“I know you’re busy, Locke. But I’ve come across some information that suggests that there are enemies of the Dragon Heart Agency using ancient magic capture plus projection. They have to be stopped, but it seems no one knows how to do that, or even how ancient magic capture works. I was hoping you might be able to tell me, since I know you come from such a long line of Dragon Heart Agents and know so much about magic.”
As Willow had expected, Locke’s chest puffed up with pride at these words. His eyes flickered with interest, and Willow knew he wanted the chance to show off how much he knew. But still, he looked suspicious.
“Is this some kind of trap?”
Willow glanced nervously around the rec center, hoping that no one else was listening too closely to their conversation. “No, it’s not a trap. And I have some inside information you might want to hear on how Stein is attacking the Dragon Heart Campus.”
Locke perked up with interest, and Cara’s eyes widened even more than they already had. Even Sylvie sat up and finally looked at Willow. All three students were interested in what Willow had to say, and Willow was counting on that fact to make it irresistible to Locke to agree to listen to what she had to say. Locke couldn’t stand it when someone else knew something that he didn’t.
Willow held her breath, waiting for Locke to respond. After a few moments of consideration, Locke slowly nodded. “Okay. I’ll come talk. But this had better not be a trap.”
Willow could have shouted with joy. “Come on. Let’s go over to the Dragon Heart Campus, where we’ll be sure no non-wizards will hear us.”
“You mean where we’ll be sure no non-wizards will be around when you accidentally set off magic spells,” Locke quipped. Cara laughed at this, and Sylvie looked down at her hands to avoid Willow’s eyes.
But Willow ignored the jab. Let Locke make fun of her. If that was the price to pay for getting his help with stopping Stein’s attack, then so be it. She finally had some hope of solving this puzzle, and she wasn’t going to mess things up by overreacting to a stupid insult from Locke.
The group quietly left the rec center and made their way to the building on the Birch Point Campus that held the tunnel to the Dragon Heart side of campus. They barely talked as they went through the tunnel and came out into the main Dragon Heart building. Willow didn’t want to talk in that building, though. She was afraid Anjali or Sam would be around and might see them. It would look awfully suspicious if the four of them were huddled in a corner after school hours, whispering and looking over their shoulders.
So, the group walked out to the forest path that led to the dragon stables. As long as Sam wasn’t hanging out by the dragons right now, the meadow near the stables should be a relatively safe place to talk.
The meadow was indeed empty. Even the dragons were already in their stables for the night, and Willow realized that it was starting to get late. The dragons had already had dinner, and were settling down. This was good, since it meant that Sam would probably not be coming by here any time soon. Willow took a deep breath, and tried to force a smile onto her face as she looked over at Locke, Cara, and Sylvie. None of them smiled back, and Willow realized that this wasn’t a smiling matter, anyway. This was serious. She straightened her shoulders, and began to talk.
“I’m not exactly sure where to begin, so I guess I’ll start by giving you the big news. It looks like Stein has somehow found a way to use magic, and he’s been attempting to break through the shields around the Dragon Heart Campus using that magic.”
“Stein Viker using magic?” Cara asked, her voice already sounding skeptical. “That’s impossible. He’s not a wizard.”
Willow bit her lower lip. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She knew how ridiculous some of what she was about to say was going to sound, but she had to at least try to make her fellow students believe that she wasn’t crazy. Their future depended on it.
“I know he’s not a wizard,” Willow said. “But I believe he’s discovered a way to use some ancient methods to tap into magical power.”
Willow shrugged her backpack off her back and bent down to pull out the case file from her father. She flipped to the back and found the page that had the words “ancient magic capture plus projection” written on it. Locke took the page and scanned over it, the frown on his face deepening as he read.
“This is the paper that officially shuts down the search for my father,” Willow explained. She saw Sylvie look up, and her eyes widen. Willow hadn’t told anyone yet that the search had been officially called off. It would make it all seem too real, and besides, she and Sylvie weren’t talking much these days. Willow hadn’t had much of a chance to tell her friend, even if she’d wanted to. But now, Willow was surprised at how genuinely distraught Sylvie was by this news.
“Oh, Willow! They shut down the search? I had no idea.”
Willow’s heart warmed at Sylvie’s words, and she tried to choke back the tears that suddenly welled up in her eyes. She had begun to wonder if Sylvie cared about her at all anymore, but Sylvie was clearly affected by the news that the Dragon Heart Agency had given up on Willow’s father. The heartwarming moment didn’t last long, though. Just as Willow was starting to feel like maybe she and Sylvie had only had some sort of misunderstanding that could be easily cleared up, she saw Locke give Sylvie a sharp look. Sylvie quickly looked down again, avoiding Willow’s eyes.
Willow could hardly believe what she’d just seen. Locke had realized that Sylvie was being nice to Willow, and had given Sylvie a look that clearly implied she should stop being nice. Realizing this felt like a knife through Willow’s heart. How was it possible that the girl who had been her best friend was now listening to the boy who hated her?
Willow swallowed hard and forced herself to stand tall. She couldn’t think about all of this right now. She had come here to get help from Locke, and that’s what she needed to do. Worries over Sylvie would have to wait.
Willow stood tall, and continued her explanation. “I don’t agree with the decision to shut down the search for my father, which I’m sure is no surprise to anyone. But I think once you hear what I have to say, you all will agree that I’m right, too.”
At least I’m hoping you will.
“What is this magic capture projection note? Is that why they shut down the search?” Cara asked.
Willow shook her head. “No, the search was shut down because the Agency believes, without much proof, that Stein is no longer interested in trying to torture information out of my father. Stein briefly went chasing after another Dragon Heart Agent in Italy, and the Agency used this as proof that he didn’t care about my father. Long story short, the evidence is inconclusive and I believe Stein is still very interested in my father. You guys can look through the whole file later, if you want.”
“I’d be very interested in doing that,” Locke said. He was still scanning the report in his hand with great interest. He sounded genuinely curious, which Willow took as a good sign. When Locke thought that he could learn something new, he became much less obnoxious than usual. Feeling encouraged, Willow continued.
“There’s more news, too. This is going to sound unrelated to the search for my father at first, but it all makes sense in the end. At least, I hope it does. As you’ve probably heard, some cracks were recently found in the magic shields that Anjali put up around the Dragon Heart Campus.”
“Yeah, we’ve heard,” Cara said, looking slightly annoyed. “Anjali thinks you were responsible for the cracks, and she’s waiting for a team from the Dragon Heart Agency to come investigate. She wasn’t happy that she had to go make a bunch of repairs to the shield.”
Willow bit her lip again. “Look, I don’t know what, exactly, Anjali has told you about me. I will admit that I caused the earthquake, even though it was unintentional and I still don’t understand quite how it happened. But I’m sure the cracks in the shield were not me. In fact, I’d bet my magic ring on it.”
“Then how did they get there?
” Cara asked. “Anjali said they were made by magic.”
“Magic capture,” Locke said slowly, dragging out the words. Willow felt a rush of hope. Locke, at least, understood where this was going.
“Yes, magic capture,” Willow said. “I’m not clear on all the details, but my understanding is that there is an ancient technique that allowed non-wizards to pull magic from a wizard and store it for their own use. Locke can probably explain it better than me, but—”
“According to the ancient magical texts, magic capture was used all the time back when magic and dragons were commonplace,” Locke interrupted. “Non-wizards were jealous of wizards, and found a way to force them to give up their magic through forced magical projection. The magic can then be stored, in a gun or a sword or some other type of weapon, and used by anyone.”
“Really?” Cara asked, her voice trembling a bit with fear. “I thought only wizards could use magic. But if this is true then…then anyone could.”
“Well, strictly speaking, yes,” Locke said. “But magic obtained through magic capture techniques fades quickly. It can be stored for a day on average. Two days tops. Then it quickly degrades and is useless.”
Willow nodded. “That was kind of the impression I got from the little bit I read. It was hard to find much information on magic capture, though. There weren’t any books on it in the library, and it’s only mentioned briefly in most ancient magic texts.”
“Yeah,” Locke said with a derisive snort. “Dragon Heart Leadership isn’t a fan of ancient magic. They think most of it is made-up stories. Which is why they so easily dismissed the idea that Willow’s father was being used for ancient magic capture.”
“I am so confused,” Sylvie said, looking back and forth from Willow to Locke. “You guys think that magic capture does exist, and that Willow’s father is being used for that purpose? And that’s how the cracks in the magic shield are happening?”
Willow nodded. “I can’t speak for Locke, but that’s exactly what I believe is happening. Stein has been using my father to constantly replenish his magical weapons, and he’s been using those weapons to attack the magic shields around here. The Dragon Heart Agency is making a huge mistake by refusing to believe that this is possible.”
“But why attack here?” Cara asked, her voice trembling even more now. “We’re just a bunch of students? Why not attack the main headquarters…or try to interfere with some big mission.”
“I don’t know,” Willow admitted. “Maybe Stein thinks that this is headquarters? We don’t know how much he actually knows about the Dragon Heart Agency. All I know is that he’s intent on getting through the shields here for some reason. I flew up to the shield with Cayenne a few nights ago and saw that there are cracks all over.”
“But I thought Anjali fixed the cracks,” Sylvie said.
“I’m sure she did, but she probably doesn’t realize that there are more cracks now. Stein has been working hard to break down that shield.”
“How do you know it’s Stein?” Locke asked.
Willow shrugged. “I guess I don’t know for sure, but who else would it be? I talked to Marcus and Alexis at dinner tonight, and they casually mentioned they’ve been seeing a blue light flashing in the sky for several nights. They thought it was some sort of shooting star or comet or something, but I’m sure it’s magic. Magic that I believe was obtained through magic capture and is being used by the Dark Sparks.”
“It makes sense,” Locke said slowly. “There have been a lot of instances lately where attacks were unexplained, or seemed to use magic even though that should be ‘impossible’ for non-wizards. Someone is getting magic somehow. Remember the attack on the White House during the holiday break of our first year? That was never fully explained, and finally written off as a fluke. But the initial reports were that there was magic on the scene.”
Sylvie was nodding too, now. “Yeah, and I’ll bet magic was involved in the President’s assassination. No one could figure out how the assassins got through security, but I think magic was involved and they’re just reluctant to tell us.”
Willow suddenly felt a rush of relief. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been keeping all of her worries inside, but it felt so good to get them out in the open. “I agree. Anjali has been awfully tightlipped this year. So has Sam. But the more I look at the situation, the more I believe that the Dark Sparks have access to magic through my dad, and are using it to attack us. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.”
“We have to go tell Anjali right now!” Cara said, wringing her hands as she spoke. “If Stein is trying to break through and he has magic, he could get in at any moment!”
“No! We are not going to Anjali about this.”
The group fell silent and turned to look at Locke, who had just uttered this sentence in an angry, determined tone.
“But, Locke,” Cara said, “Our whole campus is in danger, and we can’t handle this on our own. We’re just students!”
Locke shook his head. “I know we’re just students. But we are going to have to figure out a way to handle this. Going to Anjali won’t do anything except make her angry. None of the older Dragon Heart Agents believe that magic capture is possible. They’ll laugh us out of the room and nothing will get done. The only thing that will happen is they’ll watch us closer than we’re already being watched.”
“But what can we do?” Sylvie asked. “We can’t just sit around and do nothing!”
“We chase him down ourselves,” Willow said quietly.
“What?” Cara spat out. “Are you out of your mind?”
Willow shook her head. “No. Hear me out. Locke is right, I think. As you can see from the report from dad’s case file, the Dragon Heart Agency doesn’t take reports of magic capture seriously. They don’t think it’s possible. If we want them to believe that this is actually happening, we have to find a way to convince the Agency that magic capture can actually be done, and that Stein is doing it.”
“How?” Sylvie asked.
Willow stood tall. For the first time this year, she felt like a leader. Like a captain. She wasn’t sure whether the Agency was going to let her keep her Golden Dragon Heart Award once they finally got around to investigating the charges against her for unauthorized use of magic, but as long as she still had the award, it was time to act like it. It was time to be the leader she should have been this whole school year.
“We have to stake out the magic shield. If what Marcus and Alexis saw so many nights in a row really was Stein and his Dark Sparks, then it shouldn’t be too hard to catch him in the act. We’ll take videos and photos, and we’ll have four eyewitnesses to the fact that non-wizards are using magic. Then, the Dragon Heart Agency will have to take the claim seriously.”
“That sounds really dangerous,” Cara said in a trembling voice.
Willow nodded. “It is. But we all have Dragon Hearts inside of us! We’re brave, and we don’t back down from doing what is right. We have a chance here to make a difference. We could protect the Birch Point and Dragon Heart campuses, solve the President’s assassination, and hurt Stein’s operations all in one fell swoop. So who’s with me?”
Willow held her breath, waiting for a response. She hoped Sylvie at least would go along with her plan, but Sylvie looked over at Locke. Willow swallowed back the stab of pain she felt when she realized that her friend was waiting to see what Locke would do first. There was a time that Sylvie would have stood up to Locke for Willow’s sake, even if Willow was wrong. But those days were long passed. Willow had to make do with what she could get.
To Willow’s great relief, it looked like what she could get would be enough. Locke was slowly starting to nod his head.
“I think this is a good plan,” he said. “Even if we are just a bunch of students, we have to show the agency that they’re wrong about magic capture. Willow’s right. The future of the Dragon Heart Agency depends on it. Besides, when we prove that magic capture exists and is still being used, we
’ll get a lot of recognition. It’ll be really good for our careers as Agents.”
Willow wanted to laugh. She should have known that Locke’s decision to participate in her plan would be in large part because he wanted fame and glory for himself. She didn’t care. Let him chase after glory, if that meant that he would help her with this.
Sylvie was nodding now, too. “I’m in.”
Cara still looked nervous, but she shrugged. “Well, I guess if everyone else is doing this, then I am, too. I wouldn’t want to be left out of all the fun.”
She laughed nervously, in a way that made it sound like she would have been quite happy to be left out of all the fun. Cara had been given a magic ring imbued with the trait of courage, because the ring cauldron had supposedly seen a great deal of courage in her. But some days, Willow wondered if the ring cauldron had made a mistake. Cara almost always had a terrified look on her face. Willow wasn’t sure how much help Cara would actually be on their little quest, since the girl jumped at her own shadow. But the most important thing was that all four students were doing this together. They all knew that Anjali would not approve of what they were planning to do, but if all four of them were in on it, no one would be tempted to go tattle.
“When do we start?” Sylvie asked.
“Tomorrow night, I think,” Willow said. “We should prepare backpacks like we’re going on a mission, just in case. If something happens to us, we want to make sure we have supplies. And we’ll need to make sure we have cameras, of course.”
“We’ll want to practice a bit, too,” Locke said. “What if we meet on the top floor of the main Dragon Heart Building right after the end of classes? No one ever goes up there, so we could have privacy to plan out how we’ll communicate with each other up in the air. I’m assuming the plan is to take the dragons up and watch the shield?”
“Yes, under invisibility spells,” Willow said.
“What if we get attacked?” Cara asked in a quiet voice.
