by D J DuMont
“Locke?” she asked.
To her right, she saw Sylvie sprawled on the ground. Willow’s heart leapt in fear. Sylvie wasn’t moving. Was she hurt? Unconscious? Or worse? She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to think about it. She didn’t want the last conversation she’d had with her friend to be an angry argument. Locke shook Willow, and she opened her eyes again. She saw Cara coming closer to them, crawling on her hands and knees with a terrified look in her eyes. For the first time, Willow realized that this wasn’t a natural earthquake. It was a magical one. Someone had used earth magic to set off an earthquake! But how? Anjali had set up the magical shields on campus to prevent any outside magic from penetrating them.
“Cara, do a stabilizing spell,” Locke yelled. Willow turned her eyes back to Locke, staring at him in confusion. Why was he telling Cara to do magic? They were on the Birch Point side of campus. Magic was forbidden here.
In a daze, Willow noticed that Locke’s eyes were filled with fear. That was strange. She’d never seen him look scared like this before. Usually, he was too busy sneering at everyone and acting superior.
“Here? I can’t do spells here,” Cara whimpered, apparently sharing Willow’s concern about magic being forbidden.
“It’s an emergency, so it’s allowed!” Locke yelled out. “Do it, now!”
He glanced at Sylvie’s motionless form, and Willow followed his gaze. Her heart felt gripped with fear, but she was unable to understand what was happening. She had the brief thought that she should help Cara do a stabilizing spell, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember what any of the stabilizing spells were. And why wasn’t Locke doing the stabilizing spell himself? He was the best out of all of them at magic.
“Willow! Willow, look at me!”
Dully, Willow turned her eyes back toward Locke. His face looked purple and otherworldly in the light of her ring.
“Willow, you have to cancel the spell!”
“Cancel the spell?” Willow croaked out, confused. Her head was whipping violently back and forth in Locke’s arms no matter how hard he tried to hold it steady. All around her, students were still screaming. To her left, she heard Cara screaming out a stabilizing spell, which only seemed to have a marginal effect on the violent earthquake.
“Cancel the spell, Willow! You cast it, so only you can cancel it.”
Willow frowned at him. “I didn’t cast a spell.”
His eyes were still fearful, but they had a determined look in them now. His arms felt so strong around her. She’d never thought about him as the strong type, but she could feel the muscles of his biceps flexed against her back as he swayed in unison with her and the trembling earth.
“Willow, you have to cancel it. Say ‘Terraemotus deleo.’”
Willow’s frown deepened. She was still confused.
“Say ‘terraemotus deleo!’” Locke repeated, his voice more urgent this time.
Willow was still confused, but Locke’s command was given so firmly that she obeyed. “Terraemotus deleo.”
The earth kept swaying, but Locke’s face looked a little less worried. “That’s it. Now repeat it again, like you mean it. Loud and strong, Willow. Yell it out! Terraemotus deleo!”
“Terraemotus deleo,” Willow tried, her voice a little bit stronger than the last time. Locke nodded encouragingly at her, so she repeated it again. “Terraemotus deleo. Terraemotus deleo. TERRAEMOTUS DELEO.”
And then, suddenly, the earth was still. Willow’s ring stopped sparking, and the room was pitch dark for a moment. She heard Cara beside her, whispering an unfamiliar spell. It must have been a spell to repair the power, because a moment later the lights came back on. Locke gently slid his arms away from Willow, and she was surprised at how disappointed she felt that he was gone. He went immediately to Sylvie and started checking her pulse.
“Just unconscious,” she heard him whisper to Cara. Then he whispered the words of a medical magic spell, and a few moments later Sylvie’s eyes blinked open.
Thankfully, in the chaos around them, no one seemed to have noticed the strange words that Locke had spoken. Several girls were crying. One of the rec center’s brand new televisions was smashed into thousands of tiny pieces, and several decorative framed posters had fallen off the wall.
Marcus came scrambling over to check on Willow, while Alexis helped another student who appeared to have injured her arm. Willow felt dazed, like she was watching a movie that she was somehow a part of. Her whole head felt like it was covered with a thick fog.
Sylvie was sitting up and rubbing her forehead while wincing. Cara was whispering something in her ear, and Sylvie looked over at Willow with wide, shocked eyes.
Locke stood, and reached out his hand to Willow. For once, he didn’t have some sort of derisive expression on his face. Most of what Willow saw in his eyes looked like relief. She took his hand and he pulled her up to her feet, then helped Cara and Sylvie up as well. Sylvie had to lean on Cara for support, and Willow felt both jealousy and relief that Sylvie had chosen Cara to help her instead of Willow. Willow didn’t like the idea of Sylvie choosing Cara over her, but she felt so unsteady herself right now that she was having trouble standing straight. Locke seemed to notice this, and he reached out an arm to steady her. Marcus was offering to help, and Willow tried to go to him. But Locke shook his head. “No, I need to get her out of here. She needs to talk to Anjali.”
Marcus frowned and began to protest, but Alexis had stepped up then and pulled Marcus back.
“Let them go,” Alexis said. “Trust me.”
Marcus gave Willow an uncertain look, so she did her best to smile and nod at him. She still felt completely dazed and didn’t understand what was going on, but she at least had the sense to know that if Alexis was encouraging her to go with Locke than it was probably a good idea to go.
With everyone around them still recovering from the shock of the earthquake, Willow, Locke, Cara and Sylvie made their way toward the rec room’s exit. Only when they were out in the hallway and away from all the other students did Willow dare to ask what was happening.
“What’s the matter? Why are we going to see Anjali?”
Cara looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Are you serious? You think that’s funny?”
Locke let out a long sigh. “She is serious. She doesn’t realize it was her.”
Cara frowned. “What do you mean she doesn’t realize it was her? How do you cast a Terraemotus earthquake spell without realizing it?”
“Mental magic,” Locke said, sounding weary.
“Mental magic?” Cara asked, in a tone of voice that said she clearly thought Locke was making this up.
“Yeah. It’s hard to explain and I don’t have the energy right now. Just trust me, she didn’t realize she did it. Which is…pretty impressive.”
Willow looked over at Locke, her eyes widening. Had he really just said something she did was impressive? That was completely unlike him. And what, exactly, had she done? She was still confused. Willow looked over at Sylvie, hoping for some explanation. But Sylvie looked just as confused as Willow did.
“Why are we going to see Anjali?” Willow repeated, looking directly at Locke this time and hoping he would offer a little bit clearer of an explanation.
He let out another long sigh, but did answer her. “You’re going to have to answer for unauthorized use of magic sooner or later. Better to get you over to Anjali before she comes over here. Turning yourself in will make things easier for you.”
Unauthorized use of magic? Willow thought. Terraemotus spell? Didn’t realize it was me? And then, suddenly, everything fell into place.
Willow’s eyes widened in horror. “I did that? I set off the earthquake?”
Locke only nodded. Willow felt sick to her stomach. So that’s why her magic ring had been sparking. She knew in that moment that Locke was right. She had somehow caused a huge earthquake in the middle of Maine. But she hadn’t been intending to. She hadn’t even spoken the word
“terraemotus,” so how had she set off the tremors?
And how in the world was she going to explain this to Anjali? Anjali was already furious enough with her for causing the cracks in the magic shield, which wasn’t fair since Willow definitely hadn’t done that.
Or, wait. Was it possible that she had also done some sort of magic that caused the cracks without realizing it, just as she’d set off the earthquake without realizing it? What was going on?
Willow looked down at her own hands in dismay. She shouldn’t have been able to do a terraemotus spell. That required years of practice, and strong magical ability. Willow struggled with even the simplest of spells.
But perhaps she had some power within her she didn’t realize, and didn’t know how to control. Feeling frightened, Willow started to pick up her pace.
“Yeah, I need to get to Anjali,” she said. “I have to tell her that I don’t know how I set off the quake. Maybe if I get to her first, she’ll believe me.”
“Too late for that,” Cara said.
Willow’s heart sank at those words, and sank even further when she saw Anjali herself storming down the long hallway in their direction. Anjali had shown this year that she could have a temper, but all of the professor’s angry outbursts up until now had been nothing compared to this. Anjali’s face was a deep purple, and she was waving a fist in the air. When she saw the four Dragon Heart students, she looked like she might literally explode.
“Who was it? Which one of you did this? Don’t even think about lying to me! I will perform a lie-detection spell that will have you spilling your deepest secrets. Who did this?”
Anjali was looking directly at Locke as she yelled, and Willow realized that the professor must think Locke had been responsible for the quake. She probably assumed that he had been the only one with magical powers developed enough to cause such a huge disturbance.
As much as Willow hated Locke sometimes, she couldn’t let him take responsibility for her actions. Besides, it was no use trying to deny what she’d done. All Anjali had to do was the simplest of truth spells and she would know what had really happened. Taking a deep breath, Willow stepped forward in front of the other students.
“It was me, Anjali. I set off the quake.”
For a moment, the hallway was completely silent. Anjali’s eyes widened in shock, and Willow saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes. But Anjali quickly smoothed over the shock and set her lips in a hard line.
“All of you except Willow, go to your dorm rooms and stay there until further notice. As for you, Willow, come with me. We’re heading to my office on the Dragon Heart Campus. You have a lot of explaining to do.”
Willow followed Anjali without a single glance at the others. She wasn’t sure how she was going to explain when she didn’t know herself how she’d performed the terraemotus spell. But Anjali’s angry expression left no doubt in Willow’s mind that she was going to have to try.
How did I get into this situation? Willow asked herself, and wished more than ever that her father was there to help her navigate through this strange world of magic.
He wasn’t here though. She was going to have to do it on her own, and hope that her own strength would be enough.
Chapter Eighteen
“My god,” Sam said, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked over at Anjali. “You realize what this means, don’t you?”
Anjali had a shell-shocked expression on her face. “There’s no way. It’s impossible. Willow, are you sure you’re telling the truth?” The question wasn’t asked in a rage, as it might have been fifteen minutes earlier. Anjali had moved past her rage to pure shock, although Willow wasn’t exactly sure why. Everything about this situation confused her.
Willow shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Anjali’s office felt hot and stuffy, despite the cold winter outside. “I’m not lying to you. I know better than that. I know you’re one of the best wizards around at performing lie-detecting spells.”
Anjali looked over at Sam, who face looked just as shocked as Anjali’s. He shrugged, as if to say, “Willow has a point.” But no words actually came out of his mouth. Anjali frowned and tapped her fingers on her desk, but also did not speak for several minutes. Willow waited a full minute before she couldn’t take the silence anymore.
“What’s going on? What are you guys not telling me?”
Anjali let out a long sigh and turned to gaze at Willow. “I can’t say for certain. Only a group of investigators from Dragon Heart Headquarters can. But it sounds to me like you have mental magic abilities.”
“Okay,” Willow said slowly. All she knew about mental magic was what Locke had told her as they left the rec center, and that wasn’t much. She was growing more confused by the moment, and felt like everyone was in on some inside joke except her.
“Mental magic is rare,” Sam said, shaking his head again as he spoke. “There have only been two wizards capable of it in modern times.”
“Perhaps three,” Anjali said, looking at Willow as though seeing her for the first time.
Willow felt her heart pounding. They made mental magic sound like a special thing. Like an exceptional talent. But that couldn’t be right, could it? Whatever mental magic Willow had done had not been a good thing. She’d caused an earthquake without realizing it, and had probably caused a great deal of property damage. It’s possible she had even killed someone.
Willow’s stomach turned. She hoped with everything in her that she hadn’t killed anyone. If Anjali had heard any reports about how many students had been harmed, she hadn’t shared them with Willow.
Willow felt confused about so many things right now, and she wished she could sink into the floor and disappear. It’d be nice if there was a spell for that. The thought almost made her giggle, but she caught herself just in time. She didn’t want to have to explain to Anjali why she was laughing at such a serious moment.
What else could she do but laugh, though? Anjali and Sam were talking about things she didn’t understand, and Willow had the feeling that she was going to be in big trouble with Dragon Heart Leadership for what she’d done. No one was explaining anything to her, and she was beginning to wish she had never learned that magic existed. In fact, she was wishing more and more these days that she could go back in time and never hear about the Dragon Heart Academy of Magic in the first place.
She knew that if she left the Dragon Heart Agency, she would be forced to succumb to a memory wipe. She would lose all memories of this place, of Sylvie, of the dragons, and of finding out who her father had been. But perhaps it was worth it. This year had been the unhappiest of Willow’s life. Her father was slipping away, her friends weren’t happy with her, and she was accidentally setting off earthquakes. Things were not going well.
Anjali still hadn’t said anything, so Willow decided to press for details.
“What is mental magic?” she asked.
Anjali looked up, startled. She’d been so deep in thought that it was almost as though she’d forgotten Willow was in the room. But after a moment to recover, Anjali started speaking. She leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling as she spoke, as though telling a long story to an old friend.
“Mental magic, in a nutshell, is the ability to perform spells without actually speaking the words of a spell. It’s a very rare ability, usually discovered in a moment of anger. When someone with the ability to do mental magic loses their temper, they might set off a violent spell, as you apparently did with the earthquake today. They didn’t intend to do the spell, and might not even realize they did it. At least not at first.”
“But how is it possible that I set off such a powerful spell without even thinking about earthquakes? It’s weird enough to set off a spell without speaking. But wouldn’t I have had to at least been thinking about the spell?”
“Not necessarily,” Sam piped in. “Not consciously, anyway.”
“Sam’s right,” Anjali said. “Mental magic is very powerful, and very sensitive to a
wizard’s thoughts. In moments of anger, you sometimes think things you don’t even realize you’re thinking. You said that you and Sylvie were fighting. As far as I can tell, Sylvie is your best friend, so a huge fight with her must have been very unpleasant. Somewhere deep inside of you, that fight probably felt like your whole world being shaken up.”
“Like an earthquake,” Willow said softly.
“Exactly. And your strong emotions plus your thoughts of everything being shaken up caused you to cast a terraemotus spell without realizing it.”
Willow swallowed hard, feeling ashamed. “So I’m liable to just set off random spells whenever I’m upset?”
Anjali actually smiled. “Well, yes. If your mental magic abilities are left unchecked. But the nice thing is that you can learn to control your own thoughts, and your ability to do spells by your thoughts. Just as you can learn to improve the magic spells you do with your ring, you can improve on magic spells done by thoughts.”
“The difference, though,” Sam said as he paced the office, “Is that mental magic is several times more powerful than normal magic.”
“Sam’s right,” Anjali said. “Suddenly, everything makes sense.”
Willow blinked. “It does? Because I’m still completely confused.”
Anjali smiled again. “Remember how everyone said that you were going to be so powerful and talented at magic, because the Dragon Heart Virus affected you so strongly?”
Willow nodded. She remembered all too well. The Dragon Heart Virus, which caused a severe fever and illness, altered the DNA of those with the Dragon Heart gene so that they could do magic. Willow had willingly succumbed to the virus in order to gain magical abilities, but she had not been prepared for how sick it would make her. The illness affected her stronger and longer than any of the other students, and everyone had told her that was a good thing. They told her that the stronger the virus’ affect on you, the stronger your magical powers would be.