by D J DuMont
“This was your father’s. He kept it here, and asked me to give it to you if anything ever happened to him. I think it will explain a lot. Look it over for as long as you need to, and then let me know what your decision is. Your suitcases have been delivered to one of the Dragon Heart guest rooms. When you leave this room, go right down the hallway and the guest room will be the third door on the left. You can review these documents in privacy there, and I’ll be waiting patiently for your decision. Just push the large purple button in your room when you’re ready to talk.”
With that, Anjali turned to leave the room. Willow watched, unsure of how to respond. Part of her wanted to go throw the bag at Anjali and tell her she could burn the bag and her lies, but part of her was curious.
What if her father really had left this for her? She had to at least look.
Her heart still pounding, Willow stood and clutched the bag to her chest. Was this some kind of hoax, or had she just stumbled on a side of her father she had never known?
“Wait! Anjali!” Willow called out, suddenly plagued by a troubling thought. “You haven’t taken a blood sample from me. How do you know that I have the Dragon Heart gene?”
Anjali turned back to her and smiled. “We analyzed a blood sample obtained during one of your routine physicals when you were a baby. But I would have known without that physical proof, anyway.”
“How?”
“You are your father’s daughter, Willow.”
Willow stood alone in the room long after the sound of Anjali’s heels clicking on the hallway had faded away. Eventually, she looked down at the messenger bag in her arms and wondered what secrets it might hold. There was only one way to find out, and Willow started walking down the hallway looking for the guest room Anjali had spoken of.
For the first time since she’d boarded the plane for Maine this morning, she felt closer to her father instead of further away.
Chapter Five
The room in the Dragon Heart building made an appropriate backdrop for the moment Willow’s life changed forever. A dresser, headboard, and footboard were all carved with exquisite scenes of dragons. The comforter on the bed glittered with silver threads set against a deep purple background, and across the room matching curtains covered the windows. A sparkling chandelier hung from the ceiling, sending twinkling light across the room. The décor exuded magnificence.
A full-length mirror stood in one corner, but Willow avoided looking at it. She wasn’t sure she could face her own eyes right now. The swirl of emotions that filled them would be too much to see. Instead, she sat sprawled out on the floor atop a plush, purple rug. The purple call button Anjali had mentioned glowed near the large, arched doorway, but Willow had not pressed it yet. She was leafing through the pages of an old Birch Point Academy yearbook, one of several that had been in the messenger bag.
It had never occurred to Willow to ask her father where he had gone to high school. She had always assumed that he’d attended one of the public high schools in Massachusetts, where he’d grown up. But unless all of these yearbooks were fabricated, it looked like her own father was an alumnus of Birch Point Academy.
His interests had been diverse. He’d played on the rugby team, as well as acted in starring roles for the theater department. He’d achieved top academic honors, and, it would seem, he’d been a favorite of the teachers. Several of them had left him heartfelt, handwritten notes in the yearbooks. It felt strange to see such a clear picture of her father in high school. Before he’d met Willow’s mother, and before Willow had been born, this had been who he was. He seemed different and yet the same, and this piece of her father’s past that she had never known made her heart ache even more at the knowledge that she was unlikely to ever see him again.
There was a completely separate set of yearbooks, though, and that set showed what seemed to be clear proof that her father had been part of this strange “Dragon Heart” program. The yearbooks weren’t like normal yearbooks. They were sealed with a lock that required a fingerprint scan to open. Willow had thought she wouldn’t be able to open them, but when she pressed her thumb to the seal, it whirred and unlocked. Someone, presumably her father, had programmed her fingerprints into the security system of the top-secret yearbooks.
Inside, Willow found more than just your normal, glossy photographs of classes and school activities. These “yearbooks” told the complete story of her father’s time as a Dragon Heart trainee. There were reports from different tests he had done, all of which gave him excellent marks. There were newspaper clippings of government officials being saved from harm with no reasonable explanation. On those newspaper clippings, there were often handwritten notes that read “Nice work, Sigmund,” or “Way to fly that dragon!” There were several medals attached to the thick pages of the books, and at least twenty certificates in her father’s name, congratulating him for things like “achieving dragon flight mastery” or “advanced alchemy skills.” And then came the photographs. Her dad, looking about the same age as Willow was right now, and standing proudly while a man in a black uniform presented him with a deep ruby ring that Willow now understood was his magic ring. Another picture of her father apparently causing a large box to levitate. And many, many pictures of him with a dark green dragon. Some of the photos were of him flying on the dragon, but others were of him playing with the dragon, giving the dragon a bath of sorts by hosing it down, or laughing as he fed the dragon some sort of food that Willow didn’t recognize.
After all these candid shots came more official photographs. Willow gawked at the sight of her dad shaking the hands of several former presidents. Other pictures showed her dad standing somberly next to other men and women in suits. They looked important, but Willow didn’t know who they were. There was even a professional-looking photograph of her dad in his Dragon Heart uniform, standing next to his dragon.
Willow was beginning to feel like this could not possibly be a hoax. If someone wanted to play a joke on her, they could find dozens of easier ways to do it than by making fake news articles and photographs. But if everything Anjali was telling her was true…
Willow closed the yearbook she was looking at and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. She was only fourteen years old, just starting her freshman year of high school. Could they really expect her to join in on a top secret CIA program? Was she committing herself for the rest of her life if she did? Anjali had said this bag of stuff would answer her questions, but it hadn’t. She had more questions than ever now.
Willow rubbed her eyes, trying to rub away the bleary, exhausted feeling that filled her. She grabbed the messenger bag and started to stuff the yearbooks back inside. She could hardly keep her eyes open anymore, and figured it was time to sleep. Maybe in the morning, after a full night of sleep, everything would make more sense.
Willow carefully started putting items back into the bag, but stopped when her hand brushed what felt like an envelope. Frowning, Willow peered into the bag, wondering whether she’d missed something. Sure enough, a plain white envelope was pressed against one side of the bag. Willow pulled it out, and felt a flood of raw pain fill her when she saw her name written on the envelope in her father’s familiar handwriting. Heart pounding, she tore it open. Inside, a plain white sheet of paper was also filled with her father’s handwriting. Willow’s hand trembled as she began to read it.
Dear Willow, If you’re reading this, it means that something has happened to me, and I’m no longer with you. I always wanted to introduce you to the Dragon Heart Program myself, when you were old enough, but this can be a dangerous job and I had to prepare for the possibility I wouldn’t be around when your turn came. I know that you must feel overwhelmed right now. It’s not every day that you learn that magic and dragons exist, or that your dad had a secret double life. Please understand that I would have loved to tell you everything sooner, but I’m sworn to keep it a secret from those outside the program. Even your mother doesn’t know exactly what I do.
Willo
w paused for a moment. In all the excitement of being told that magic and dragons were an actual thing, Willow had never stopped to consider whether her mother knew about all of this. Her mother had often complained about her dad’s long work hours and frequent “business travel.” Willow wondered if her mother would have been happier or angrier about her father’s work if she’d known what he was actually doing. Now, it made complete sense that Anjali had refused to let her call home. Willow chewed on her lower lip, then went back to reading.
I want you to know that I am so proud of you. You show great promise as a Dragon Heart, and I wish I could be there to see how high you and your dragon soar. Learning to use magic and to work with a dragon won’t be easy, but it will be the most rewarding thing you’ll ever do. Be brave, be kind, and always remember that you have magic inside of you. You can do anything. All my love, Daddy.
Willow felt the tears coming again, and she set the letter aside. She didn’t want to ruin her father’s letter with tearstains. This was one of the only things she had in his handwriting, after all.
And the fact that she had a whole letter in his own handwriting was the final thing that convinced her that this was no hoax. It would have been nearly impossible to fabricate this. As crazy as it all sounded, Willow knew in that moment that everything Anjali had told her was true. And Willow knew she had already made her decision. What real choice did she have, other than to follow in her father’s footsteps?
With shaking legs but a sure heart, Willow stood and walked over to the purple button on the wall. She took one last, long deep breath, and then pushed it.
The time had come for Willow Ember to become a Dragon Heart Agent.
Chapter Six
A steady, soft beeping filled the air as Willow blinked her eyes open. The ceiling above her was a stark white, and she blinked a few times to try to get it into proper focus. Everything appeared a little blurry. Willow tried to sit up, then groaned. Every limb in her body ached. She waited a few moments, then tried again. This time, she managed to get herself up into a sitting position.
Disoriented, she took in the room around her. It was a hospital room of sorts. The soft beeping was coming from a machine that was connected to Willow’s arm and seemed to be measuring her vital signs. Willow herself was lying on a hospital bed, which was halfway inclined. A large window to her left had the curtains pulled back, letting in a large stream of sunlight. Willow was on the second floor of whatever building she was in, but she could still see a forest of thick pine trees in the distance. The pine trees jolted her memory, and that’s when she remembered where she was.
Birch Point Academy, home to not only her new boarding school, but also to the Dragon Heart Agent training program she had joined. Willow pulled back the sleeve of her hospital gown and looked at the skin on her upper right arm. Three large, angry red dots formed a swollen triangle where she’d received the Dragon Heart Virus injection. She knew the swelling would eventually go down, but a triangular scar would be left behind. Her father’s arm had borne the same three-pointed scar, but Willow had never thought much of it. She had asked him once a long time ago what had caused it, and he’d told her it was from a medical procedure he’d had done years ago. He hadn’t elaborated, and she hadn’t cared enough to press him for details. Now, she knew that the “medical procedure” he spoke of was actually the Dragon Heart shot. The large needles needed to properly inject the virus, combined with the inflammatory nature of the virus itself, left large scars. But Willow already knew it was a mark she would bear with pride. The mark of a Dragon Heart Agent.
Willow tried to swallow and realized that her throat was parched. She reached for a glass of water that stood on the bedside table to her left, and had just started to drink when a soft rap sounded at the door.
“Come in,” she choked out. Her voice sounded rusty from lack of use, and Willow wondered how long she’d been out of it. They’d warned her that the fever and delirium might last anywhere from two days to two weeks.
“Willow! You’re awake.”
Anjali stepped into the room, a broad smile on her face. Willow tried to smile back. Now that she knew that everything Anjali had told her before was true, Willow actually liked the woman. Anjali, it turned out, was the main trainer for the Dragon Heart training program in Birch Point. Once Willow was recovered from the Dragon Heart Virus, and it was confirmed that she had magical abilities, Anjali would be teaching her everything she needed to know about life as a wizard.
Willow’s eyes suddenly widened. She’d been in such a fog when she woke up that she hadn’t even thought about the fact that, if everything had gone according to plan, she should be able to do magic now. Willow looked down at her hands, half-expecting them to look different or be glowing or something. But they looked completely normal, and she felt exactly the same. Was she supposed to feel different? Had the virus worked? Willow still didn’t understand exactly how all of this was supposed to feel. She looked up at Anjali, who was smiling warmly at her.
“How long was I out?”
“Ten days. The virus hit you pretty hard, so we kept you sedated for your own comfort. But you started to pull out of it last night, so we stopped giving you the sedation meds. How do you feel?”
“Groggy, and a little achy.”
“That’s normal. It should fade completely within the next day or so.”
Willow nodded, and gathered up her nerve to ask Anjali about the success of the virus. “Should I…should I be feeling something else? Something different? You know, so that I would know that…”
“That you can indeed do magic now?” Anjali finished for her.
Willow nodded, her cheeks burning. She felt worry creeping in. What if things hadn’t worked the way they were supposed to, and she couldn’t do magic? Her father had been so proud of her. Even though he probably wasn’t alive anymore, Willow wanted to believe that he was looking down on her from somewhere, proud of what she was doing. But he wouldn’t feel so proud if it turned out she couldn’t do magic. Anjali had assured her that the blood tests didn’t lie, and that Willow had the necessary genes to become a wizard, but Willow felt like she couldn’t believe it until she actually performed a magic spell.
Anjali smiled. “It worked great. The fact that you took so long to recover is a good sign, too. It means that the Dragon Heart Virus will have a strong effect on your DNA. I’d be willing to bet that you’ll be one of our best Dragon Heart Agents yet. Of course, it will take some time for you to be trained to use magic correctly, and to be ready to train with a dragon. But I’m looking forward to seeing how you progress.”
Willow sat up straighter and looked at her hands, turning her palms backward and forward several times. “I don’t feel any different,” she finally said.
“You might not feel different, but you are. Here, make a fist and point it at that glass of water. Then say ‘elevare’.”
Willow felt uncertain, but she did as she was told. She pointed her fist at the water and said, “Elevare.”
Nothing happened.
“Say it in a louder voice, like you mean it,” Anjali said.
Willow gritted her teeth and tried again. “Elevare!”
Suddenly, the glass of water started to vibrate. The water inside of it swayed back and forth, and the glass itself made a dull, scraping sound as it shook back and forth on the table. Willow’s jaw dropped, and she looked down at her hand in wonder. When she uncurled her fist, the glass once again stood still.
“It’s a levitating spell,” Anjali explained. “You didn’t actually lift the glass because your magical power is unfocused. You haven’t learned to cast spells properly yet, and you don’t have a magic ring to help you direct the power properly. But you can see, at least, that the potential is there. Congratulations, Willow, and welcome to the world of wizardry.”
Willow tried to think of an appropriate response, but she found herself speechless. Finally, she managed to squeak out a quick “Thank you.”
An
jali’s smile widened even more. “Don’t thank me. We should be thanking you. I know it’s not easy to go through everything you’ve gone through. And training won’t be a walk in the park, trust me. But it will be the greatest adventure of your life.”
Willow sat up straighter. “When does the adventure start?”
“After a good night’s sleep, of course. Our staff doctor will clear you for discharge from sick bay later today, and then you’ll be taken to your permanent quarters on the main campus of the boarding school. Tomorrow, you’ll receive your class schedule, which will list a long block of time as ‘study hall.’ During your ‘study hall’ period, you’ll actually come here to take classes on the use of magic and on interacting with dragons.”
Willow felt surprisingly disappointed. “I still have to go to the normal boarding school? I thought I’d be able to stay here and just take classes from the Dragon Heart Academy.”
Anjali smiled. “I hate to break it to you, kid, but you do still have to go to school. Even magic can’t exempt you from your Algebra and English classes.”
Willow groaned. “Fine. But how do I find my way back here?”
“In your debrief you’ll be given a password to the tunnel. You’ll learn the way soon enough, but in the meantime you can follow one of your fellow Dragon Heart trainees. They know the way quite well already.”
“There are other trainees? How many?” In the chaotic excitement of the last several days, Willow hadn’t stopped to think about the fact that there would likely be other Dragon Heart students training with her. Willow felt her stomach twisting up nervously. If there were other students, that meant there would be other people she’d be compared to. Willow hated being in competition with others, and she hoped her fellow students wouldn’t be the cutthroat types.
“There are three more trainees. You met them on the shuttle from the airport, remember? Sylvie Asher, Cara Moss, and Locke Nash. Sylvie is the one you saved.”
