Willow's Dark Discovery

by D J DuMont

  “Concelo!” Willow yelled, making a careful sweep through the air with her magic ring. Almost instantly, she and Cayenne both disappeared from view. She could tell the spell had worked, because everything looked slightly blurry the way it always did when you were under an invisibility spell. Locke was also looking around in bewilderment at the spot where Willow had been flying a few seconds before.

  “Dang, girl. You’re good at that,” he called out. Willow felt her chest puff up with pride. Locke Nash was actually acknowledging that she was good at something! She ended the invisibility spell and came back into view.

  “Now your turn.”

  Locke tried and failed miserably at his first attempt. His face turned red again, but Willow called out encouragement as she swooped by him on Cayenne’s back.

  “Don’t worry. It’s a lot harder to do the spell right when you’re moving. But you’ve got the basics down. You just need to practice until you can adjust your spell casting speed to account for the fact that you’re moving.”

  Locke didn’t say anything, but he nodded and tried again. And again, and again. Each time, he managed to do a little better than he had before. Willow called out encouragement, and Cayenne and Yarrow roared back and forth at each other in their own excitement. Soon, Locke was casting the invisibility spell almost as well as Willow. Willow was so excited that she completely forgot that she didn’t like Locke. She swooped through the air with Cayenne, dipping over and under and around Yarrow. The two dragons seemed to be having the time of their lives, and Locke was laughing now, too. Willow felt sweaty from the exertion of riding at such a fast pace, but she hadn’t felt this free or happy for a long time. She forgot to worry about her father or exams as she twirled through the sky with Cayenne. All that mattered in that moment was holding on to Cayenne’s back and watching Locke master a skill that he’d found impossible only thirty minutes ago. Life was good.

  Finally, Locke and Yarrow slowed and started twirling back down toward earth. Reluctantly, Willow and Cayenne followed. She could have flown around all night, but she knew they’d already been up in the sky too long. Their laughter, and their dragons’ fiery roars, were loud enough that Sam or Anjali might have woken up. And even though there were no strict rules against being in the dragon stables after hours, Sam made no secret of the fact that he frowned on any trainees interacting with the dragons without his supervision.

  But everything was quiet as they landed in the clearing. Locke slid off of Yarrow’s back and patted the dragon’s neck affectionately. Willow did the same with Cayenne. Then Locke met Willow’s eyes, and there was a moment of awkward silence. He looked down at his feet for a moment before looking back up at her.

  “Hey…thanks,” he said.

  Willow shrugged. “No problem.”

  “Why did you help me? I haven’t exactly been helpful to you.”

  “We all need to work together to finish this practice mission. I want to move on to year two of training. Besides, it was just the right thing to do. I know there’s some competition between us here at the Dragon Heart Academy, but at the end of the day we’re all on the same team, you know? We’re all committed to protecting our country.”

  “Right. Well, thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Don’t think this means I’m going to go easy on you, though. I still come from a long line of Dragon Hearts, unlike you. And I’m going to win that Golden Dragon Heart award if it’s the last thing I do.”

  Willow sighed. “It’s fine, Locke. I really don’t care about the award. I just want to pass all the exams and continue on with training. Finding my dad is what’s important to me.”

  Locke nodded curtly, then abruptly turned to make his way toward the stables. Yarrow followed after him. But before Locke had gone too far, he turned around again and gave Willow a long, hard look.

  “Listen, when you make the truth potion, you’re adding way too much goosegrass. If you cut the amount by about half, you’ll do a lot better. And don’t hold the magic ball so tightly in divination. Just lightly touch it with your fingertips, and it will work a lot better for you.”

  Willow blinked at him in surprise. “Wow. Okay, thanks.”

  To her surprise, he smiled at her. A warm, genuine smile. She was struck by the fact that he looked quite handsome in the moonlight. In another life she might have actually had a crush on him. But here, she had more important things to worry about than boys.

  “You’re welcome. You are right. We do have to work together, even if I am the best.” He winked at her, then turned again to walk off. Willow stood and watched him go until he had disappeared into the stables. Then she turned to give Cayenne a gentle pat on the neck.

  “Well, girl. Maybe this practice mission won’t be completely unbearable after all.”

  Willow turned to start walking toward the stable, but a slight movement in the woods caught her eye. Startled, she realized that Anjali was standing there, watching her from the edge of the clearing.

  “How long have you been there?” Willow asked, her heart pounding. Was she about to get in trouble again? Had Anjali seen Locke? Would he be scolded, too? But Anjali smiled, and Willow felt a little better. At least her teacher wasn’t angry.

  “Long enough, Willow. I’m proud of you. That was a very kind thing you did, teaching Locke the invisibility spell.”

  Willow shrugged. “Like I told him, we’re all on the same team.”

  “Indeed. Now, get that dragon back in the stables and get out of here before Sam catches you.”

  Willow didn’t need to be told twice. She nodded and turned to head toward the stables. But she was stopped again before she had taken more than a few steps.

  “Willow.”

  Willow turned back toward Anjali. “Yes?”

  “Your dad would be so proud of you.”

  Without another word, Willow nodded and turned toward the dragon stables. She was still holding onto hope that one day her dad could tell her that in person. But at least for now, she knew she’d done the right thing tonight in helping Locke. She knew in her heart that she’d done what her father had wanted her to do. And for the moment, that was enough.

  Now it was time to focus on preparing for the upcoming practice mission. If she didn’t pass that test, nothing else would matter.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Even though Willow spent almost all of her time over the next few weeks preparing for the practice mission, she still didn’t feel prepared when dawn broke on the day of the mission. She bounced out of bed and tried to get ready quietly without waking Alexis up, but it was no use. She was so nervous that she managed to loudly stub her toe and also knock over a water bottle within the first five minutes of being awake.

  Alexis sat up sleepily and raised an eyebrow at her. “More tests today?”

  Willow sighed. It had been impossible to keep Alexis from realizing that Willow had been taking extra tests the last two days. Each day, when Willow was finished with her “normal” final exams at Birch Point Academy, she had trudged over to the Dragon Heart building to take one of her magic exams. She’d done the best she could on all of her tests, both magical and non-magical alike. But the one exam that had been weighing heaviest on her mind was the practice mission.

  The practice mission was the final, big determiner of whether Willow would be allowed to continue on to another year of training at the Dragon Heart Academy. It would put all of her magical skills to the test, as well as her teamwork skills. There was no truly good way to prepare for the exam. Students were simply told to “practice everything.” But “everything” was a lot. Willow had learned more this year about magic, and herself, than she ever thought possible. As she looked over at Alexis, wondering how to answer her friend, Willow reached up and absentmindedly rubbed at the scarred spot on her arm. She’d come a long way from being infected with the Dragon Heart Virus. For better or worse, magic was a part of who she was now. It was time to prove that she had been worthy of the
education she’d received this year.

  But all she could say to Alexis was, “It’s complicated.”

  Alexis smiled ruefully at her. “Well, whatever it is you’re off to do today, good luck. Are you done after today?”

  Willow nodded.

  “Then let’s go into town and get some ice-cream or something when you’re back. This weather is gorgeous, and we should take advantage of our last day together before we leave for the summer.”

  “Alright,” Willow said, smiling gratefully. “It’ll probably be late afternoon when I get back, but I’d love to go hang out. Can Sylvie come, too?”

  “Of course. Now get out of here so I can go back to sleep.”

  Willow quickly slipped out of the room, a plain gray hoodie pulled on over her Dragon Heart uniform to hide the Dragon Heart emblem embroidered on the uniform’s left chest. It wasn’t likely that any of the regular Birch Point students would see her. They were all finished with exams, and sleeping in today. But still, she had to be careful.

  When she arrived at the tunnel building, Locke, Cara and Sylvie were all there already, waiting for her. Cara was chewing her fingernails nervously, and Locke was tapping his foot impatiently. Sylvie was the first to see Willow.

  “Hey. You’re here. We thought we’d all walk over together, since this is a test we have to take at the same time.”

  Sylvie’s voice trembled, giving away the fact that she didn’t feel as calm as her facial expression tried to make her seem. Willow smiled in what she hoped was an encouraging way, but she herself was feeling more nervous with every passing minute.

  “Let’s go get this over with,” Cara squeaked out.

  “Yes, let’s,” Locke spoke up. He was the only one in the group that actually sounded confident. “I’ve been waiting all year for my chance at the Golden Dragon Heart.”

  Willow would have rolled her eyes if she hadn’t been too nervous right now to care about Locke’s overinflated sense of importance. Let him have his stupid Golden Dragon Heart. She just wanted to make it through this mission without flunking, or causing the rest of the group to flunk.

  They walked in silence to the main Dragon Heart building, where Anjali was waiting for them. She had a big smile on her face, like she was about to send them off to a day at an amusement park. Sam was there, too, tapping his feet impatiently as though he had better things to do with his day than see off a group of trainees. Willow couldn’t help but smile at him. He might act like all of this was an inconvenience, but she knew he was proud of them. He’d cheered them on quite loudly at the end of their dragon flying exam two days ago, whooping and throwing his newsboy cap up into the air when Locke managed to perfectly cast an invisibility spell over Yarrow while in flight.

  There was no whooping now, though. Despite Anjali’s smile, Cara continued to chew on her fingernails. Sylvie was tapping her foot nervously, and even Locke was starting to look a little less confident, now that the moment for the practice mission to start had arrived.

  “Welcome, all of you, to your final test of your first year of Dragon Heart training,” Anjali said. “Please, have a seat.”

  The four of them sat down at one of the long tables, and then Anjali continued her speech.

  “You should all be very proud of what you’ve accomplished this year. You have not only undergone a severe virus in order to be able to practice magic, you’ve poured countless hours of your life into learning how to control that magic. You’ve conquered your fears and flown on dragons, and you’ve even learned to conquer your misconceptions about your fellow students, and work together to help each other out.”

  Anjali looked at Willow as she said this, and Willow’s face turned pink. Was Anjali referring to the fact that she’d taught Locke how to do the invisibility spell? Willow appreciated Anjali’s praise, but she didn’t really want to be called out for anything right now. She just wanted to get their mission assignment and get this over with.

  “I know that facing down this final test can be frightening,” Anjali said. “But I have great faith in all of you. You have all shown yourself to have exceptional magical abilities, and I have no doubt that you will prove yourself to be Dragon Heart Agents of the highest caliber. I fully expect to see all of you pass this test with flying colors.”

  Willow chewed on her bottom lip until she tasted blood. She wished Anjali would hurry up and get to the point.

  “Now, the test you have been assigned is to find a hidden object and retrieve it within eight hours. I have a folder here with a mission briefing, similar to the type of briefing you would receive for an actual mission. The briefing will contain all of the details you need, and you may not ask for more help from Sam or myself. You may, however, consult with each other. In order to pass to year two of Dragon Heart Training, all four of you must return with the hidden object within the eight hour time frame. You will have access to your dragons and your magic ring, as well as to four backpacks of supplies that are waiting for you at the dragon stables. In the backpack, you will find radio watches. These watches allow you to contact us if there is an emergency. They also allow us to contact you, and to monitor your vital signs so that we will know if there are any emergencies or unexpected complications. We don’t expect there to be, but we use these watches as a precaution. One word of warning, though—using these watches merely to ask us for advice on how to complete the mission will result in automatic failure. The watches are only for extreme situations. Now, good luck, and have fun.”

  Anjali set the mission briefing folder down on the table in front of them, then looked at her watch and pressed a few beeping buttons. “The timer is on. Ready, set, go!”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Willow, Sylvie, Cara and Locke didn’t move for a few moments. They all looked at each other in confusion. That was it? They just got a folder and a ticking timer? Willow had been expecting some sort of grand sendoff, where they would all ride their dragons off together while Anjali and Sam cheered. But Anjali and Sam waited, not cheering, while the trainees hesitated.

  “Timer’s ticking. I suggest you get moving,” Anjali said.

  Locke moved first. He grabbed the folder up and opened it. It contained a thick stack of papers, most of which were covered with dense text. Cara groaned when she saw it, putting her head in her hands. “How are we supposed to even read all of that in eight hours, let alone find whatever hidden object we’re supposed to find!”

  But Sylvie wasn’t panicking. “The divination room!” she said. “We can attempt a Summatim spell on this. That’ll give us the important pieces that we need to know.”

  “A Summatim spell?” Willow asked, almost at the same time as Locke. Willow didn’t remember any sort of spell that summarized thick documents, but if there was such a spell she wished she’d known about it before now. It would have come in quite handy while studying for final exams last week. Sylvie was looking at all of them in exasperation.

  “Seriously, did you guys not pay attention at all in class this year? Anjali mentioned the spell during our introduction to divination lesson at the very beginning of the year.”

  Willow was still drawing a blank. “Uh…”

  “Come on! I’ll show you.” Sylvie grabbed up all the papers and started running. Willow, Locke and Cara had no choice but to follow. They didn’t have any better ideas, anyway. When they reached the divination room, Sylvie started rushing around like a madwoman.

  “Okay, I need the magic ball, a pen, and some blank paper. And a copy of the divination textbook. Surely there must be one in here?”

  Sylvie started throwing books off of the shelves in the room, searching for a copy of the divination textbook they had all grown far too familiar with this year. After a few moments, she looked up to see them all gawking at her.

  “Well? Don’t just stand there! Start getting me all the stuff I asked for!”

  Cara sprang into action first, followed by Willow. But Locke still stood there looking doubtful.

  “
I don’t remember any Summatim spell,” he said grumpily. Everyone ignored him. Cara had found a magic divination ball and was setting it up on the table, while Willow had found a simple pad of paper and pen. A few moments later, a shout of triumph came from Sylvie as she found the textbook she was looking for and started flipping through it.

  “Okay. We need to find the instructions for the Summatim spell. I remember Anjali mentioning it, but it was apparently one of the rarer, more difficult spells.”

  Willow held her breath as Sylvie searched. The thick pile of papers that contained their mission instructions looked so intimidating. The first page, which Willow had started glancing over while waiting for Sylvie to find the spell, appeared to contain a long history of some ancient magical stone. The information was interesting, sure. But it wasn’t exactly helpful for finding that stone, if the stone was even what they were supposed to be finding. Willow crossed her fingers and hoped that the Summatim spell would work.

  “Got it! Okay, this is going to be difficult. It says the spell normally needs the power of a highly skilled wizard with years of practice.”

  Sylvie frowned as she read, and Willow felt her heart dropping. None of them were highly skilled wizards, and they all had less than a year of practice. But what other options did they have? Willow glanced at her watch. They had already burned fifteen minutes, which didn’t seem like a lot. But when you only have eight hours to complete a task that determines whether you get to continue with the most important program of your life, each minute counts.

  “What if we combined our magical powers?” Cara asked.

  Locke laughed. “Combine our powers? How? Should we all hold hands and merge into one person? What’s the magic spell for that? Wait, it doesn’t matter, because I don’t want to be turned into all of you. I’m happy being me, thank you very much.”

  Cara glared at Locke. “Look, mister. I know you think you’re so special, with your Dragon Heart pedigree and blah blah blah. But I come from a line of Dragon Hearts even longer than yours, so don’t think you’re better than me. In fact, I’m the one who should be complaining about having to work with you.”