Willow's Perfect Storm

by D J DuMont

  Sylvie reluctantly agreed, and the two of them made their way to the secret tunnel that led from the Birch Point side of campus to the Dragon Heart side. They barely made it into their seats in time for Practical Magic, the first class of their third year. Locke and Cara were already there, and both of them gave Willow and Sylvie annoyed looks when they rushed in at the last second. Willow was tempted to make a snarky remark to Locke about minding his own business, but she bit her tongue. If she antagonized him too much, he might tell Anjali that he’d seen her with the lie detecting spellbook, just to spite her, and Willow was not interested in dealing with that mess.

  To Willow’s relief, Anjali seemed to be in a relatively good mood at the moment. She was staring down at her tablet with a smile, scrolling without looking up at the students. She hadn’t even looked up when Sylvie and Willow walked in, which was just fine with Willow. Dragon Heart students were expected to keep up with their Birch Point classes, so Willow already knew she was going to be in trouble when Anjali discovered she’d missed all her classes that morning. She didn’t want Anjali also thinking that she wasn’t dedicated enough to her Dragon Heart classes to bother getting there on time. Not to mention that if Anjali asked Willow any questions from the assigned reading, it was going to be obvious that Willow hadn’t read it.

  But whatever Anjali was looking at must have been quite interesting, because she kept scrolling for several minutes after class was supposed to have started. The students all shifted uncomfortably in their seats, and finally Locke coughed a few times to try to grab their professor’s attention.

  Anjali looked up, and seemed quite startled when she glanced at the digital clock in the back of the room.

  “Oh! My apologies. I was caught up reading some news from Dragon Heart Headquarters. It seems there’s finally been some progress in figuring out how Stein managed to get through the magic shield at the island.”

  Willow leaned forward, hoping Anjali was going to say more. When the professor didn’t elaborate, Willow couldn’t hold back her curiosity. “What progress?” she asked impatiently. “What have they discovered?”

  Anjali seemed to snap out of whatever happy trance she’d been in. She frowned at Willow, then set her tablet down as she went to grab a small burlap bag from the teacher’s desk in the room. “You students shouldn’t be worrying yourselves about what’s going on at Headquarters. You’ve got enough to do here, mastering your newest magical subjects. We have a lot to cover this semester, so let’s dive right in. Willow, I’ve got a bag of goat eyeballs here. Can you tell me what sorts of potions these are good for?”

  “Um…” Willow began, frantically searching her memory for any potions or spells she might have made in previous classes that had included goat eyeballs. She was coming up blank, and figured she might as well blurt out a random answer, even if it was wrong. Before she could say anything, though, Anjali was speaking again.

  “Willow, did you read the assigned chapter in your textbook?”

  Willow’s stomach clenched up into knots, and she hung her head. Whatever goat eyeballs were used for must have been discussed in the assigned reading.

  “No,” she said in a quiet voice. “I didn’t manage to get to the reading.”

  Willow expected Anjali to react in anger, slamming her fist on the table in front of her, or throwing the bag of goat eyeballs across the room. But instead, Anjali merely let out a long, tired sigh.

  “You’re digging your own grave here, Willow. You have a lot of potential, but you’re squandering it. I know you’re worried about your father, but it’s like you’re not even trying in any of your classes. Everyone at the Agency has given you a lot of grace, but if you don’t pass your classes, you’re out. That’s the most basic rule of the Academy.”

  “I know,” Willow said quietly. “I’m sorry. I’ll do better next time.” Her cheeks burned with shame, and she refused to look up. She didn’t want to see the disappointment in Anjali’s eyes, the worry in Sylvie’s eyes, or the disgust in Locke’s eyes. And who knew what Cara thought about all of this? Willow wasn’t interested in finding out. The only thing she was interested in at the moment was melting into the floor and disappearing. Was there a potion that helped with that?

  Maybe she’d know, if she’d actually done the reading.

  Thankfully, Anjali didn’t lecture her any further, choosing instead to continue on with the class. “Can anyone else tell me what goat eyeballs are useful for?”

  “Of course,” Locke said, jumping in without waiting to be called on. “Anyone who actually took a few minutes to skim over the reading would know that goat eyeballs are used in potions to increase the potency of the potion.”

  Willow grimaced at the know-it-all tone in Locke’s voice, but Anjali, for once, didn’t seem bothered by it. The professor must have been pleased that not all of her students were delinquents like Willow.

  “Very good, Locke. But tell me, if goat eyeballs increase the potency of potions, then why not use them generously in all our potions? Who wouldn’t want an easy way to make their potions stronger?”

  “It’s not that simple,” Locke said. “The goat eyeballs also make potions very unstable. It’s easy to accidentally throw everything off balance when you add them in, and some wizards have even caused fatal explosions by adding too many goat eyeballs.”

  “That’s correct,” Anjali said. “Very good work, Locke, as always.”

  Willow chanced a glance up at Anjali. The professor was beaming at Locke, quite pleased with his answers. Willow hung her head again. It was going to be a long couple of hours of classes. There would be more questions coming that she wouldn’t know how to answer, and she was sure that Locke would be more than happy to jump in and show off his knowledge. He never missed a class, never forgot about an assignment, and almost never got an answer wrong.

  No wonder he was so angry that Willow had received the Golden Dragon Heart award at the end of their first year of classes, making her student captain. He objectively would have made a much better captain then Willow, and sometimes she still wondered why she’d been chosen over him. She was happy to have the title of student captain, because she hoped that her father would one day soon be rescued, and would be proud to learn that she was her class’s leader. But with every passing day, she felt less and less deserving of that award.

  The rest of the Dragon Heart classes went by in an excruciatingly slow manner. Willow spent the whole time praying that Anjali wasn’t going to call on her and reveal that she hadn’t done the reading for each subsequent class, either. For a while her prayers went unanswered, and Anjali did call on her. But by Intermediate Earth Magic, the last class of the day, Anjali didn’t even bother asking Willow any questions. When class ended, Willow half-expected Anjali to call on her to stay behind. In the past, when Willow dropped the ball so badly on homework assignments, Anjali had lectured her about staying on top of her work, and how important it was to focus and learn everything she could about magic. Today, however, Anjali seemed too angry to do even that. Had she finally decided that Willow was a lost cause?

  Dejectedly, Willow made her way out of the Dragon Heart building. At least those long hours of sitting under Anjali’s disappointed gaze were over for the day. That didn’t mean it was time to relax, however. Willow still had to face Locke and Sylvie, and she still had no idea what she was going to say to them.

  She stalled for time by mumbling to Sylvie that she needed to go return a book to the library before the meeting. In reality, Willow disappeared into one of the restrooms and tried to keep herself from hyperventilating. She shut herself into a stall and took deep breaths, trying to figure out how in the world she was going to get herself through this situation.

  As she sat there, she suddenly saw her magic ring starting to glow of its own accord. Curiously, she watched it. Why was it doing that? Usually, a magic ring only glowed when its owner was performing a magic spell. But Willow wasn’t performing any spells right then. At least, she
didn’t think she was. She still didn’t have good control over her mental magic. But everything was quiet and still, and as far as Willow could tell she hadn’t set off any spells accidentally. So why was her ring glowing?

  As if in answer to her question, a memory from her first year at the Dragon Heart Academy suddenly surfaced. Willow had spent a lot of time asking Anjali questions about how magic rings worked, because she’d been disappointed to receive an amethyst ring, which symbolized loyalty. She’d wanted a ruby ring like her father, which symbolized intelligence. Anjali had told her over and over that loyalty rings were special and rare, but Willow had had a hard time believing that. Loyalty seemed like such a weak power when compared with intelligence, or even with bravery, which was what sapphire rings represented.

  Over time, Willow had come to more or less accept her fate. She couldn’t change which ring she’d been given, and so she might as well make the best of it. She still thought the ruby and sapphire rings were better, but a wizard couldn’t change his or her ring once the ring cauldron had assigned it. What was sticking out in Willow’s memory at the moment, however, was an offhanded comment Anjali had made to her during one of those many conversations about magic rings and their powers. Anjali had informed her that a magic ring would glow when a wizard was either struggling with the ring’s character trait, or showing exceptional strength in that character trait.

  Willow stared down at her ring, watching it glow. She didn’t think she was showing exceptionally strong loyalty right then. In fact, she felt like she was doing a lousy job of being loyal. Was that why her ring was glowing? Because she wasn’t being loyal?

  But to whom should she be loyal? To her father, who needed rescuing? To Anjali, who had told Willow in confidence about the leak at the Dragon Heart Agency? Or to Sylvie, who was one of Willow’s dearest friends and was genuinely worried about her?

  Willow stared down at her glowing ring, her heart heavy. She needed to stay loyal, and she knew deep down what that meant.

  She knew what she had to say to Locke and Sylvie, and she knew they weren’t going to be happy about it. But happiness mattered less than loyalty, and Willow would do what she needed to do.

  She would stay true to her Dragon Heart.

  With a heavy sigh, she stood and left the restroom to go face down Locke and Sylvie.

  Chapter Nine

  Willow’s confidence waned a little with each step she took toward the spot where she’d promised to meet Locke and Sylvie. She wondered if she was truly making the right choice, but then decided it didn’t matter. She was out of time. She had to face whatever consequences might arise from whatever she did or didn’t tell Locke and Sylvie.

  But her confidence waned even more when she arrived at the meeting spot to find that Cara had joined the group as well.

  “What’s she doing here?” Willow asked. “I never agreed to speak with her, too.”

  Locke smirked. “Oh, you don’t want to talk to Cara, too? Well, I already told her that I saw you studying lie detection spells. I suppose you can refuse to speak with her, but if you do, she might go to Anjali and tell her about your extracurricular studying. I could be wrong, but I got the impression that you didn’t want Anjali to know about that.”

  Willow took a long, slow breath to try to calm the rage rising within her. She looked at Sylvie, hoping for some sympathy. But Sylvie mostly looked confused.

  “Willow, what is going on here?” Sylvie demanded. “I’m worried about you.”

  Locke snorted. “You’re worried about her? You should be worried about yourself. Isn’t it obvious, Sylvie? Your friend here is trying to get a leg up on us by studying advanced spells. She doesn’t care about normal classes. She thinks she can skip over all the normal, basic spells that lay the groundwork for a good wizard, and go straight to the advanced spells. She’s trying to impress the President and Dragon Heart leadership by secretly mastering lie detection spells. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. She’s a cheater, and not a very good one.”

  Willow stared at Locke for a moment, hardly able to believe the ridiculous accusations he’d just hurled at her.

  “Well?” he demanded, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “It’s true, isn’t it? Don’t tell me it’s not.”

  Willow stared at him one moment longer, and then burst out into laughter. She laughed long and hard, and when she finally managed to settle down and wipe the tears of laughter from her eyes, she saw Locke glaring back at her, looking like he wanted to kill her. Sylvie and Cara just looked confused.

  “What is going on here?” Cara asked. She looked impatiently over at Locke, tossing her perfectly flat-ironed fiery red hair over her shoulders. She’d always been the pretty, social butterfly of their little student cohort, but this year she seemed to be especially concerned with her appearance and social status. Locke used to hold a lot more sway over her than he did now, and she looked like she was ready to roll her eyes at all of them and saunter off. That would have been fine with Willow, but Locke only grew angrier at Cara’s annoyed questions.

  “What’s going on?” he roared. “Willow is cheating and no one seems to believe or care. That’s what’s going on.”

  Willow stood straighter and glared at Locke. She had already decided she wasn’t going to tell him what was really going on, but his attitude only cemented her decision. Her loyalty was first to her father, and then to Anjali. Telling Locke and the others about the leak in the Dragon Heart Headquarters would only get Anjali in trouble. Willow had promised not to tell, and so she wouldn’t. Not only that, but telling the others about the leak wasn’t likely to help her much in her search for answers. None of them knew any more about lie detection spells than she did, so it wasn’t like she would be helping her father by saying anything to them.

  “I’ll tell you what’s going on,” Willow said. “I’m doing some research on the side into something that I think might help me find my father. That’s all I’m going to say about that.”

  Locke narrowed his eyes at her. “Oh really? If you don’t say more, I’m going to go to Anjali and tell her what you’re doing.”

  Willow took a deep breath. This was where she had to bluff a little bit, and hope that Locke lost interest in talking to Anjali. “Go ahead and tell her. Do you think it’s any secret to her that I’m searching for my father? Do you think it’s news that I’m neglecting my regular coursework to work on finding my dad? You saw me in class today. I couldn’t answer any of her questions. Anjali herself told me I need to worry less about my father and more about my coursework. She already knows what I’m doing.”

  Locke looked uncertain, and Willow felt encouraged. She had him. He was buying her story. The realization gave her a confidence boost, and she plowed ahead.

  “You’re so full of yourself, you know that? You think that because all you care about is having the best grades and impressing everyone at the Dragon Heart Agency, that that’s all that anyone else cares about, too. But you’re wrong. My grades don’t matter to me. Mastering all this basic magical crap doesn’t matter to me. The only thing that matters to me is rescuing my dad. I’m only doing enough at the Academy to avoid getting kicked out. Go ahead and tell Anjali that. See if she’s impressed with your tattling.”

  Willow crossed her arms and tried to look like she could care less what Locke thought of her. In truth, her heart was pounding with worry that he wasn’t going to buy what she was saying. If he went to Anjali and told her about the lie detecting spells, Willow was going to be in even more hot water than she already was. But Willow would not betray Anjali’s trust by telling Locke what she was really doing, just to buy his silence. She was holding out hope that she could convince him that Anjali already knew everything she was doing.

  Cara was definitely convinced. She let out a long sigh, and tossed her hair over her shoulder again. “This is such a giant waste of my time. It’s not news that Willow is unhealthily obsessed with searching for her father.”

  Willow
felt her cheeks instantly burning with rage. “What is unhealthy about wanting to find my own father? Wouldn’t you do the same, if your own dad had been captured by the CIA’s number one enemy?”

  Before Cara could respond, Sylvie was speaking up. “No one blames you for missing your father, Willow. But you aren’t sleeping and you aren’t eating. That isn’t healthy. And if you keep missing classes and homework, you’re going to fall hopelessly behind. Your dad wouldn’t want you to risk your place at the Dragon Heart Academy for his sake.”

  Willow turned to glare at Sylvie, feeling betrayed by her friend’s words. Everything Sylvie said was technically true, but that didn’t mean that Sylvie had to say it all in front of Locke and Cara. Willow didn’t want to admit any weakness in front of them.

  But Locke didn’t need any encouragement to consider Willow weak. He was shaking his head at her, already formulating a counterattack. “Fine. So Anjali knows about your hopeless side quest to find your dad. If that’s how you want to spend your days at the Academy, then whatever. I don’t care if you fail all of your classes. What I do care about is the fact that you get to be student captain when you’re not leading us at all. I think you should step down from your post if you’re not going to even bother making an effort.”

  Willow’s blood boiled. She had never cared about the student captain position, but now that she had it, she didn’t want to give it up to Locke. Not when he treated her so horribly and took every opportunity to insult her. He might be better at magic than her, but he wasn’t a leader any more than she was. He had no idea how to treat people or motivate them. All he did was cause trouble and arguments.

  “I’m not stepping down from anything,” Willow said, sticking her chin out defiantly.

  But Cara had suddenly taken a renewed interest in the conversation. “He’s sort of right,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “The only time you seem interested in actually being a leader is when you’re leading us into a battle we’re not supposed to be fighting.”