by D J DuMont
“Guys, stop!” Sylvie said, pounding her fist on the table. “Arguing about who has the best bloodline is a big waste of time, not to mention it makes you all look like a bunch of whiny children. There has to be a way to figure this out. Dragon Heart leadership would not give us an impossible task. Let’s put our heads together and think.”
Willow suddenly snapped her fingers. “That’s it. Let’s put our heads together.”
Her three fellow trainees looked back at her in confusion.
“No, really. Cara’s right. Don’t you remember at the very beginning of divination class? Anjali said that divination is the one type of magic where powers can be pooled by more than wizard. She said if your heads are all touching when you surround the magic ball, and you all concentrate on the same spell, the magic ball will respond to your combined magical energy.”
Locke still looked skeptical, but Cara was nodding excitedly, and Sylvie at least wasn’t laughing at her.
“I don’t remember that,” Sylvie said. “But if you think Anjali said that then it’s worth a try. Is there a special spell we need for that?”
Willow chewed her lower lip and tried to remember. “I don’t think so. I think we just have to literally put our heads together and perform the Summatim spell at the same time.”
“Let’s try it,” Cara said, her voice squeaking with nervous excitement.
Locke wasn’t so excited. “I can’t believe I’m stuck with all of you for this test. I mean, seriously? We’re just supposed to put our heads together and the answer is going to appear like magic?”
Willow frowned at him. “Yes. It is a magic test after all. Besides, I don’t see you coming up with any ideas.”
He rolled his eyes at her, but shrugged. “Whatever. Let’s get this circus over with.”
Sylvie glared at him, but then went back to reading the spell from the textbook. “Okay, so first we need to put the papers that we want summarized underneath the magic ball. After that, we have to place our magic rings so that they are actually touching the magic ball. Then we need to chant ‘Summatim, summatim’ over and over until the spell starts working.”
“How will we know when it’s working?” Cara asked.
“The pen should start moving and writing of its own accord on that blank paper over there,” Sylvie said with a slight shrug. Willow noticed that she sounded really nervous, too. If this didn’t work out, Locke was never going to let any of them hear the end of it, especially Sylvie.
Willow swallowed back her own nervousness and tried to look confident for Sylvie’s sake. “Alright then. Let’s get to it.”
The four of them moved to put their heads together, Locke muttering under his breath the whole time. Cara had already placed the magic ball on top of the thick pile of papers Anjali had given them, and the pen and blank paper sat nearby, perfectly still at this point.
“Ok,” Sylvie said, her voice shaking a bit. “Expergo.”
At Sylvie’s words, the magic ball, which had been an opaque black color, began to light up. The first step to a divination spell with the magic ball was always to “wake up” the ball, a task that even Willow had been able to do easily since about the second week of school. The ball turned a light purple as it continued to warm up, and swirls of shimmering white moved through the purple color. When Sylvie was satisfied that the magic ball was ready to go, she placed her magic ring against it. Cara, Willow, and Locke did the same, then they all bent their heads together over the top of the ball.
“Remember, just say the words ‘summatim, summatim’ over and over,” Sylvie said. “On three. One, two, three.”
All four of them began chanting together. “Summatim, summatim, summatim.” For at least thirty seconds, nothing seemed to happen, and Willow started to worry. Perhaps this spell was beyond what they could do, even working together. Or perhaps, Willow had remembered incorrectly and working together in this way wasn’t actually possible. But just as she was about to give up hope completely, she felt something like a sudden jolt of electricity flooding her body. The others must have felt it too, because she heard them gasp. The shimmering white in the deep purple magic ball started to swirl faster, and a soft hissing noise came from each of the four magic rings pressed against it.
And then, another sound filled the air: the soft scratching of a pen against paper. Willow turned her head just enough to see the pen and blank paper that Cara had set up, and her jaw dropped open. The paper was no longer blank. The pen rapidly scribbled line after line onto it, the ink glowing and shimmering for a moment before drying. For a full two minutes, the pen continued to write. Finally, when the page was full, the pen dropped to the table and the magic ball stopped glowing and swirling.
Willow was the first to raise her head away from the others.
“Wow,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. The other three just stared at the paper. No one seemed to be able to believe that the Summatim spell had actually worked. Finally, Sylvie let out a whoop.
“We did it! We actually did it!” Then, seeming to forget all about how much Locke had made fun of the possibility of using a Summatim spell, Sylvie threw her arms around him in a giant, celebratory hug.
“We did it!” Cara yelled as well, and joined in on the hug. Locke’s face looked so startled that Willow had to laugh. She caught Locke’s eyes, and he shrugged sheepishly. Willow shrugged back and joined in on the hug.
After a few moments of celebration, Sylvie stepped back and laughed. “We should probably check to see what the pen wrote. For all we know it’s gibberish and we’re sitting here celebrating for no reason.”
Sylvie moved to peer over the paper, her eyes quickly scanning. Locke forced his way in next to her, not wanting to be left in the dark about anything. Willow waited patiently as they read. Sylvie was the one who had remembered the Summatim spell, and so she deserved to be the first one to see what the pen had written. After just a few moments, Sylvie started summarizing what she was reading.
“There’s an ancient sword hidden deep in the forest, about one hundred miles north of here. The summary gives detailed instructions on how to get there. The ancient sword contains magical powers thanks to a spell cast on it several centuries ago by a wizard who wanted to store his powers for future generations. The sword has been lost for hundreds of years, but its location was recently discovered by a top research specialist at Dragon Heart headquarters. Our mission is to go find the sword and bring it back safely to Anjali and Sam.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Willow said, cautiously. Something told her there was more to this than a simple trip north to grab a sword and come back.
“Yeah, well, I don’t think it’s gonna be quite that easy,” Locke said, peering over Sylvie’s shoulder. “It says here that the sword is guarded by two giant moose who have been endowed with magical powers. They are able to withstand the strongest of magical attack spells, and they are supposed to be guarding the sword to the death.”
“To the death?” Cara asked, her voice squeaking nervously again.
Locke let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, Cara. To the death. What did you expect? Fluffy bunnies who would let us pass without any trouble?”
Cara looked hurt, and Willow jumped in to smooth things over. It was too early in the mission for Locke and Cara to be at each other’s throats. “Come on. Let’s get moving. We don’t have a lot of time, and the sooner we get to where the sword is hidden, the sooner we can figure out how to deal with these magical moose.”
“Willow’s right,” Sylvie piped in. “Let’s get our dragons, and we can fly to the location on the map. Once we’re there, we’ll figure out what to do. How bad could it be? Surely, even moose with magical powers are no match for four Dragon Heart Agents and their dragons?”
Cara let out a groan. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of this year, it’s to never ask the question ‘how bad could it be.’”
“Touché,” Sylvie said, but then shrugged. “Still, it�
�s only a practice mission. The sword’s not even real, and neither are the moose. There are bound to be Dragon Heart Agents around who will help us if things get out of hand. How bad could it be?”
Willow had a feeling they were about to find out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The only word that came close to adequately describing the aerial view of Maine’s forests was “magnificent.”
From her vantage point on Cayenne’s back, high above the trees and lakes, Willow could almost forget that she was on her way to take on perhaps the biggest challenge of her life. In front of Willow flew Locke and Yarrow. Behind her were Cara and Nutmeg, with Sylvie and Saffron bringing up the rear. They would have made quite a sight—four teenagers in crisp black uniforms on four huge dragons—but no one could see them from the ground. Dragon Heart trainees were required to use invisibility spells when flying beyond the grounds of a Dragon Heart training site, and Willow and her friends had long ago left behind the training site near Birch Point.
In fact, Willow was starting to feel like they had been flying too long. They had been in the air about three hours, and it had taken them an hour to figure out the Summatim spell and get to their dragons. That meant they had already burned four hours of their eight hour time limit, and they still had to fly back. Even if they found the sword right now, they would need three hours to get it back to Anjali and Sam. That only left them an hour to deal with the magical moose and whatever other obstacles they encountered along the way. Every minute that ticked by was one less minute they had to complete their mission.
Willow knew she wasn’t the only one who was worried. Ahead of her, Locke pushed his dragon to fly faster, even though Yarrow’s wings were already flapping as quickly as they could. Locke had insisted on leading the group, and the three girls had let him. It didn’t matter that much to them who was in front, but Locke thought that being the “leader” made him more likely to get the Golden Dragon Heart award.
Willow didn’t care about the Golden Dragon Heart. All she wanted right now was to get the sword and get back before their eight hours was up. She was a bit angry at Locke for being so focused on himself. If they didn’t complete their mission, none of them would be able to move on to the next year of Dragon Heart training, let alone win some stupid award.
But Locke had a one-track mind: a mind that was always fixated on getting glory for himself. As he continued flying faster, Willow felt herself getting more and more annoyed with him. Who did he think he was, acting like he deserved to be singled out as the best in their group? So far, Sylvie had done the most to move this mission along.
Willow’s thoughts were interrupted when Locke made a sudden dive downward. Her heart leapt with excitement and she forgot to be angry for a moment. Were they finally here? Had they arrived at the spot where the sword was hidden?
As soon as the dragons made it below the tree line, Willow knew they had arrived. Through the thick branches of the trees, which were being snapped off by Yarrow’s giant dragon form as he flew through them, Willow could see two giant moose standing at a cave entrance ahead. The moose seemed to glow and sparkle as they shook their heads back and forth, angry at the intrusion.
“Whoa, girl,” Willow said to Cayenne, slowing her down as they got closer. It wouldn’t be smart to approach at full speed. First, they needed to determine what kind of magic attacks these moose were capable of, and then they could plan how to get past them and get the sword. At least, that’s the course of action that made the most sense to Willow. But ahead of her, Locke was only pushing Yarrow faster. Yarrow roared in protest, but Locke ignored his dragon’s warnings.
“Faster, Yarrow! They can’t stop a dragon like you!” Locke yelled. His voice carried back to Willow, who had brought Cayenne to a halt now. Willow turned to look behind her, and saw Cara and Sylvie coming to a stop with their dragons as well.
“Locke’s out of his mind!” Cara exclaimed, wringing her hands nervously.
“He usually is,” Sylvie said, shaking her head in disgust. “Well, let’s hope he gets the sword for us, although I have a feeling speed alone isn’t going to be enough to fool those moose.”
Sylvie’s feeling was correct. As the three girls watched Locke and Yarrow flying faster and faster, they saw Yarrow suddenly come to an abrupt halt. Yarrow yelped in pain, and the force of the stop threw Locke flying forward off his dragon. Locke didn’t fly far, though. A split-second later he ran into some sort of invisible wall, and then slumped to the ground.
The dragons all seemed alarmed at this turn of events, and started stomping their feet.
“Whoa, girl,” Willow told Cayenne again. “Stay here, and let me check on Locke.”
Willow slid off of Cayenne’s back and ran toward Locke. Behind her, Sylvie came as well. Cara held back, muttering something about staying to take care of the dragons. Willow wanted to roll her eyes. Why that girl had been chosen for a courage ring was completely beyond her. Willow had no idea how Cara was ever going to handle a real mission in the real world, if this practice mission was causing her so much distress. But that was Cara’s problem, not Willow’s. Now, Willow needed to see what was wrong with Locke, and why Yarrow had stopped so suddenly.
Before Willow and Sylvie even reached him, Locke had jumped to his feet and was letting out a stream of curse words unlike anything Willow had ever heard.
“Jeez,” Sylvie said as she caught up to Willow. “That boy knows how to cuss.”
Willow sighed. “Yup. Although I’m beginning to wonder if that’s the only thing he knows how to do. What an idiot, plowing ahead like that. At least he doesn’t seem to be seriously hurt.”
Locke was now trying to move forward, but he couldn’t. It only took Willow a few moments to realize that there was indeed some sort of invisible wall there. When she reached Locke and tried to move her hand past the point where he stood, she felt like she was pressing against bricks, even though all she could see was open space.
“It’s a protective force field,” Sylvie said. “One of the dragons will be able to get through it. Yarrow, try to burn it down.”
“Hey, you don’t tell my dragon what to do,” Locke said angrily. Then he turned to Yarrow. “Yarrow, try to burn it down.”
Yarrow gave Locke a look that said his patience with Locke was running thin, but he did as he was asked. With a roar, the dragon breathed out a long stream of fire. The invisible magic force field didn’t budge. Locke, Sylvie, and Willow all tried to push through it, but the wall was still there.
“Maybe acid,” Sylvie said. “Cara’s dragon breathes acid. Cara! Come over here with Nutmeg.”
Slowly, with trembling steps, Cara started toward them. Nutmeg, Cayenne, and Saffron all followed her.
“Nutmeg, breathe acid on the force field,” Cara said. Nutmeg did as she was told. A stream of bright green acid spewed forth from the dragon’s lips, but still the force field remained.
“See, it’s not so easy,” Locke said, crossing his arms and glaring at Sylvie. Sylvie ignored his ridiculous jab and started rubbing her forehead, no doubt trying to think of what else might work.
“Cayenne and Saffron both breathe fire, too,” Sylvie said. “So that’s no help. Yarrow has already shown us that breathing fire isn’t going to destroy this wall.”
Willow furrowed her brow and began absentmindedly rubbing Cayenne’s neck. It did seem unusual that neither dragon fire nor dragon acid would take down this force field. Willow remembered learning in her Defensive Charms class that dragons could break through most force fields. Was there another way, though, since the dragons hadn’t been able to break this one? Willow mentally ran through every spell she could possibly think of, but none of them seemed to make sense.
Cayenne seemed to grow impatient at this point, and nudged at Willow. At first, Willow ignored her. “I know, girl. I know. This isn’t fun for any of us. But we have to figure this out or you and I might not get to work together again next year.”
Cayenne roared
and then swung her head to nudge Nutmeg. The two dragons let out a series of grunts and squeaks, and seemed to be telling each other something important. Willow watched them, but not very closely. At least, she didn’t watch very closely until the two dragons suddenly roared and both took a step forward toward the force field at the same time.
“What in the world!” Cara shrieked. “Nutmeg, what are you doing?”
Nutmeg didn’t answer. Instead, Nutmeg let out another stream of acid at the same time that Cayenne let out a stream of fire. When the acid and flames mixed, an awful, chemical-like smell filled the air. The smell seemed to agitate the moose a great deal: they started bellowing angrily and pawing the ground.
Willow snapped her fingers. “Of course. The dragons needed to mix their powers together to get through the force field.”
When Cayenne and Nutmeg paused their fire and acid breath, Willow tried to move her hand forward through where the force field had just been. This time, nothing stopped her.
“That’s it!” Cara said excitedly. “That did the trick!”
Sylvie cheered, and the dragons all seemed excited, too. The only one who didn’t seem happy was Locke. Once again, the day had been saved, but not by him. He didn’t seem too happy with how this whole ordeal was turning out. Willow, on the other hand, was growing more excited by the moment.
“Guys, I think I’ve realized the key to this practice mission. Every obstacle we face will somehow require us to work together. It’s why we all had to perform the spell on the magic ball at the same time to do the Summatim spell. It’s why it took two of our dragons to break down the force field. I’ll bet there’s some other magic we’ll need to do together to get past those moose and get the sword.”
