by D J DuMont
“W-W-Willow?” Marcus finally stammered out. His voice sounded much higher pitched than normal, and Willow could almost see the fear emanating off his body in waves. Obviously, he and Kent had come through the well portal, but had they even intended to? Had they found the well by accident, and accidentally set it off? It seemed unlikely, but by the looks on their faces, they hadn’t had any idea of where they were going when they passed through that well.
Willow realized that both boys were still staring at her in frozen, fearful shock, and that she should probably say something.
“It’s alright,” she said, trying to make her voice sound calm although she herself was beginning to freak out, albeit for completely different reasons. Was she going to be blamed for the fact that Marcus and Kent were over here? She hadn’t done anything wrong. After all, exploring the well hadn’t been forbidden. How was she supposed to know that two non-wizards from Birch Point would suddenly come flying through the well when she was playing with it? And who was to say that her actions were even related to the fact that Marcus and Kent had come through the portal. It could have been a complete coincidence that they’d shown up when she was here.
It had to be a complete coincidence. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She just hoped that Anjali would see things the same way.
Willow’s heart lurched at the thought of Anjali. Even if this had all been a complete accident, and no one had done anything wrong, the fact still remained that two non-wizards were suddenly very aware of the existence of dragons. Anjali was going to have to deal with the fallout from that, and Willow knew that her professor had enough worries already without adding this situation on top. She resolved then and there to do her best to make things as easy as possible for Anjali. She just needed to explain to Marcus and Kent that they needed to stay calm and that Cayenne wasn’t going to hurt them. Anjali would have to decide what to do about the bigger questions, like whether or not to wipe the boys’ memories. Willow winced at the thought, but forced a smile onto her face. All she could do for now was to help the boys stay as calm as possible.
“It’s alright,” she repeated, more conviction in her voice this time. She could see that convincing Marcus and Kent that there wasn’t any danger from Cayenne was going to take some work. She would need to speak quickly, and calm them before the shock of the moment wore off and they truly freaked out. If they started freaking out, and any senior Dragon Heart Agents heard, all hope of keeping things calm would be lost. The Agents would probably drag Marcus and Kent to the main building, traumatizing them further before the two boys could even being to process everything that had just happened.
“I know this must seem completely crazy,” Willow said, putting an encouraging smile on her face. “But this place is safe, and everything is alright. I can explain everything. You see, when you—”
“Willow,” Marcus interrupted in a low, trembling tone. “I don’t mean to alarm you, but there’s a giant…dragon behind you.”
He said the word dragon as though embarrassed to say the word out loud. He must have expected Willow to laugh, and to tell him that he was crazy. To show him that she didn’t think he was crazy, and that none of them had anything to fear, Willow turned around and looked straight up at Cayenne. Then, with a smile, she turned back to face Marcus and Kent.
“I know. This dragon is mine. Her name is Cayenne, and I promise she won’t harm you.”
Kent was slowly walking backward, his eyes full of fear and never straying from Cayenne. “I think we should make a run for it.”
Willow sighed. As if running would do any good if Cayenne really did want to hurt them. Before she could say anything else, though, Marcus was speaking again.
“Don’t run,” he advised, his voice shaking even more now. “If it sees you run it will probably start chasing you on instinct. Just keep walking away slowly. Hopefully it isn’t hungry right now and will just let us go.”
“This dragon isn’t dangerous,” Willow insisted. “Listen, guys, it’s a long story, but I know this dragon really well, and she’s not going to hurt you. Not if I tell her that you’re a friend. Right, Cayenne?”
Willow looked back at Cayenne, who started back at her with docile eyes.
“See? She’s harmless.”
“She’s got you under some kind of spell,” Marcus said, his eyes wide. “She wants you to think she’s harmless so you won’t run away, but just look at her! She’s huge, and her claws are as big as your head.”
“I know her!” Willow insisted again.
Marcus shook his head, indicating that he thought Willow was crazy. Then, to Willow’s surprise, he began to walk toward her. “Come on, Willow. Come with me. Just walk toward my hand, and away from the dragon.”
Willow was touched. Marcus’ hands were shaking, and the expression on his face told her that he feared for his life. And still, he was walking toward the dragon instead of away, all because he wanted to save Willow.
She tried one more time to convince him that she didn’t need saving. “Marcus, it’s fine. She’s not going to hurt anyone.”
Marcus looked distrustfully up at Cayenne. “I already lost Alexis. I’m not losing you, too. Come on, Willow. Come with me.”
When he said Alexis’ name, Willow could hear the pain in his voice. Her heart ached thinking of how much he must have suffered over the last few months. Willow had barely any information on what was going on, but at least she understood a little bit of the circumstances. Marcus, though? Who knew what kind of stories he’d been told to try to deal with the fact that Alexis had suddenly disappeared. Who knew if he’d been told anything at all. Knowing the way the Dragon Heart Agency worked, and how hard they worked to keep everything magical a secret from non-wizards, Marcus probably hadn’t been told much of anything. In all likelihood, he only knew that Alexis had gone missing after the earthquake. Without more information, he probably assumed she was dead somewhere—lost in a pile of rubble, perhaps.
“Marcus, please, believe me,” Willow said, stretching out her hand toward him as he continued to take one fearful step after another in her direction. It occurred to her that the fact that he was trying to rescue her might be helpful in convincing him that Cayenne wasn’t dangerous. After all, once he reached her and realized that Cayenne hadn’t eaten either of them up yet, then perhaps he would start to believe Willow when she said the dragon wasn’t dangerous. As Marcus came within steps of her, she smiled encouragingly, hoping that he would soon start to calm down a bit and trust her.
And then, Cayenne ruined everything.
The dragon, probably bored with how slowly this whole scene was playing out, decided to spice things up. Cayenne had been aptly named, and Willow should have known the beast wouldn’t be able to stay calm and let things happen in a slow fashion. Just as Marcus’ hand was about to reach Willow’s, Cayenne threw back her head and let out a loud roar, shooting a stream of fire up into the air for good measure.
With a loud cry of terror, Marcus turned and fled. He tried to grab Willow’s hand as he left, but she pulled away and he didn’t fight her on it. He must have figured that if she had a death wish, he wasn’t going to stop her at this point. A little ways past Marcus, Kent also screamed and fled. Any notions the two boys had held onto about not running had gone out the window. Those two were booking it.
Willow turned and glared at Cayenne, whose sides were heaving with giant bellows of what Willow could only assume was laughter.
“What in the world did you do that for?” Willow asked in a furious voice. “You’ve just made things about ten thousand times more complicated.”
Cayenne continued to laugh, not looking the least bit remorseful. Willow gave her a frustrated push, but the dragon probably didn’t even feel it. What was a little human’s shove against a giant dragon, especially when that dragon was doubled over with mirth?
Willow looked forlornly at the spot in the forest where Marcus and Kent had disappeared. Since this spot was so far out from the main
Dragon Heart building, it wasn’t likely there would be too many Agents close by. Marcus and Kent could probably run for quite a while before anyone saw them, although there was always the chance they’d set off some sort of magical alarm. Willow would have bet that Anjali had scattered random magical “trip-wires” across campus grounds to alert her if any intruders somehow snuck past the heavy magical shields that guarded campus. In fact, Willow was surprised that no alarm had gone off when Marcus and Kent arrived via the well. Anjali must have really thought that portal was defunct, because she would have set spells to guard it more carefully otherwise. But no alarms had gone off when the boys crossed, not even silent ones. If they had, the area around the well would have been crawling with Agents by then.
Part of Willow wanted to fly back to the dragon stables with Cayenne and act like nothing had happened. Marcus and Kent would be caught roaming eventually, and in all likelihood they would be returned to Birch Point after a good, strong memory wipe. If they didn’t say anything about seeing her, then perhaps she wouldn’t have to explain or face any blame for this incident. She didn’t think she deserved any blame, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t get any if the higher-ups at the Dragon Heart Agency learned that she had been by the well portal when the boys crossed over.
Besides, there was a good possibility that Marcus would mention her. She might as well beat him to the punch and inform all of the senior Agents of what was going on. All she could do was pray that she wasn’t going to catch heat over the fact that two non-wizards were currently running terrified across campus.
“Come on, Cayenne,” Willow said in a tired voice as she started to climb onto her dragon’s back. “I know you think this is all hilarious, but I might be in a heap of trouble. We better go find those two.”
To her dragon’s credit, Cayenne stopped laughing and flew quickly up above the tree line as Willow had asked. Willow guided her dragon in a slow, steady flight over the tops of the trees, her sharp eyes searching for any unusual movement or color in the forest. Marcus ran fast, and from the looks of it, so did Kent. Still, they couldn’t have possibly gotten that far. The brambles on the forest floor were thick and hard to run through out here. Even at a slow flying speed, Cayenne would easily catch up with them.
Catching up was one thing, of course. Actually spotting them was quite another. Willow nervously bit her lower lip as she gazed down through the trees. If she didn’t find these guys first, she was going to get chewed out for not reporting them. Maybe she should just fly straight back to Anjali and explain things. She didn’t need to know exactly where they were to report them. It would feel more responsible to give Anjali their exact location, but Willow could only work with the situation she had. Right now, it looked like the situation she had was one where she wasn’t going to find the boys any time soon.
But then, just as she was about to direct Cayenne to fly fast and hard back toward the main Dragon Heart building, Willow spotted a flash of red below her. Marcus had been wearing a red shirt. Had that flash been him? Willow squinted and silently prayed that she’d see the flash again. A moment later, those prayers were answered. A break in the trees gave her a brief but clear view of Marcus and Kent, still running as fast as their legs would carry them. They didn’t look up, even as Cayenne flew over them. Perhaps they were too terrified to notice her, or perhaps they just didn’t want to see what they must have thought was certain death for them.
Either way, Willow was about to make their predicament a whole lot worse. With a sad sigh, she raised her magic ring high and said, “Scintillam.”
Bright purple, orange, and green sparks shot up from her magic ring high into the air above the Dragon Heart Campus. The sparks made popping sounds like fireworks, and continued shooting up faster and faster as Willow held her hand steady. Willow knew it wouldn’t take long for a response. The campus was crawling with Agents, and someone was bound to notice the distress signal within moments. It would be visible for miles, and not only that, but it also emitted a magical pull on any Dragon Heart Agent within a certain radius. That magical pull would warn everyone on campus that trouble was brewing.
Willow just hoped that she wasn’t going to be blamed for all this trouble.
Less than a minute after Willow sent up the distress signal, she saw Agents running toward her on the ground. Moments after that, she saw dragons in the distance, rising into the sky. She couldn’t tell from this far away who was riding them, but she figured one of the Agents must be Sam. He’d likely still been hanging around the dragon stables, taking care of the dragons after dragon flying class. Had Anjali still been there, too? Was she one of the dragon riders?
Willow never got to find out. Below her, a senior Agent yelled up at her, using an amplifying spell on his voice so she could hear him clearly.
“Willow Ember, you are ordered to land immediately. I repeat, land immediately.”
With a sigh, Willow lowered her magic ring and guided Cayenne down toward a small clearing in the trees. There, the Agent scrambled onto Cayenne’s back, and ordered the dragon to fly back to the main building. Cayenne balked, not accustomed to taking orders from anyone except Willow.
“What are you doing?” Willow demanded. She knew that challenging a senior Agent wasn’t the smartest move, but she couldn’t help herself. What did he think he was doing, trying to order her dragon around? He should know better. Dragons were fiercely loyal to their riders, and Cayenne was not the type of dragon to demurely accept orders from a stranger, even if that stranger was a senior Agent.
“I’ve been ordered to get you to safety,” the Agent roared at her. “The President has made it clear that protecting you students is the top priority.”
“Fine, but let me give Cayenne the orders. She doesn’t like to be bossed around. And I’m not in any danger. I sent up the distress signal because two non-wizard students from Birch Point have infiltrated the Dragon Heart Campus.”
Willow saw a look of genuine shock cross the Agent’s face. “Non-wizards? But how?”
“It’s a long story. But they saw my dragon and freaked out. Now they’re running wild through the forest and should probably be stopped.” Willow sighed. “I imagine they’ll have to have their memory wiped.”
The Agent stared at Willow for a moment, still looking a bit shell-shocked. But then, years of training must have kicked in, and he nodded. “Roger that. Hold on just a moment before you tell your dragon to fly.”
The Agent pressed a pin on his uniform that served as a radio transmitter. The students didn’t usually wear these pins, but all the other Agents did. The little radio chip allowed the Agents to communicate with other nearby Agents, and Willow listened in as the Agent beside her explained to the other Agents that they were looking for two non-wizards running loose in the forest. As soon as he’d given the basic details to his fellow Agents, he turned and nodded at Willow.
“Alright. Tell your dragon to take us back to the main building.”
Willow nodded and gave Cayenne a nudge. She knew better than to argue. This Agent had his orders, and he wasn’t going to go against them simply because Willow insisted that she wasn’t in any danger. The Agent had relaxed a little bit, though, once he’d heard what the problem was. Two non-wizard students on campus was a problem, and indicated a security breach somewhere. But it was unlikely that those two students posed any serious threats to Willow or her fellow Dragon Heart students.
Willow hoped that meant that she wasn’t going to have to endure another round of being locked in the safe room. That wasn’t an experience she ever wanted to relive.
When they landed at the main Dragon Heart building, the Agent marched her up to her dorm room and told her she was not to leave the hallway where the room was located until further notice. Several senior Agents guarding the hallway were given orders to notify Anjali immediately if any of the students tried to leave.
Willow flopped down on her bed, rubbing her forehead and hoping that the Agents chasing down Marcus an
d Kent would be gentle with them. Those two had already been through enough today without having to deal with Agents yelling in their faces.
Before Willow could dwell on these worries too long, however, a sharp knock sounded at her dorm room door. With a groan, she sat up. Was a group of Agents already coming to interrogate her about what had happened? She had hoped that she’d have at least a few minutes to sort out her thoughts before they came in, demanding that she explain what happened.
But when Willow croaked out an unenthusiastic “Come in,” it wasn’t a group of Agents at her door. It was her three fellow Dragon Heart students. They all stared at her with wide, questioning eyes.
“What in the world is going on?” Sylvie asked. “We heard that Marcus and Kent are here, on the Dragon Heart campus?”
“That can’t possibly be correct, can it?” Cara exclaimed, wringing her hands.
Locke didn’t say anything. He just looked at Willow with a skeptical expression on his face, as though waiting for her to debunk the whole ridiculous notion of two non-wizards being on campus.
Willow let out a long, slow breath, and gestured toward Sylvie to shut the door behind her. “It’s a long story. Come in and sit down, and I’ll tell you. And I mean it when I say ‘sit down,’ because you’re definitely going to want to be sitting down for this.”
Willow glanced out her window at the darkening sky, shivered, then glanced back at her friends to begin her tale.
Chapter Eighteen
Willow had long since finished explaining Marcus’ and Kent’s appearance at the well when another knock sounded at the door, and Anjali stepped into the room. Willow had been expecting their professor to show up sooner or later, and she’d been expecting the simmering anger and frustration that she saw in Anjali’s eyes. But even though none of this came as a surprise, Willow still found it hard not to cower under Anjali’s intense gaze.
Anjali looked sharply across the room, making eye contact with each student before speaking. Finally, she crossed her arms and said, “I suppose Willow has already informed all of you that Marcus and Kent were found on Dragon Heart grounds?”
