Willow's Perfect Storm

by D J DuMont

  Cayenne reached Willow in a matter of seconds, her large dragon nose sniffing at Willow’s hands and pockets. Willow couldn’t help but laugh.

  “I’m sorry, girl. I don’t have any coconuts. I didn’t have time to stop by Sam’s office and beg him to give me some, and I don’t think he would have given me one, anyway. I’m not sure he’s in the best of moods right now. I’m not sure anyone is in the best of moods right now.”

  Cayenne snorted sadly, as if to agree. Willow didn’t need to explain things to her dragon. The senior Agents had no doubt been patrolling the meadow nonstop since the earthquake. Dragons didn’t take kindly to a bunch of strangers in their space, even if those strangers were part of the Dragon Heart Agency. But the dragons didn’t have much of a choice. These were strange, dangerous times.

  A moment later, Willow’s view was suddenly filled with several more dragons. After the others had gotten over their initial annoyance at being awakened by Cayenne, they had bounded over, happy to see Willow, a familiar face. The first dragon to try to push its way in to make space next to Cayenne was Clove, and Willow reached out to give him a big hug.

  “How are you doing, old friend?” she asked him. He sighed in response and she hugged him tighter. “I know exactly how you feel.”

  Clove had been her father’s dragon, and he had been the one who had first made Willow realize that her father was still alive. Dragons and their riders had a special bond, and Clove had been able to sense through that bond that Willow’s father was not dead. When everyone else had given up on him, Clove and Willow had stood strong.

  Now, even though every day felt hard and was filled with uncertainty, Willow held onto hope because of Clove. As long as he believed that her father was still alive, Willow would not give up.

  “I thought I’d find you here.”

  Startled, Willow turned toward the voice. “Sylvie! I didn’t even hear you climbing up the ladder.”

  “I’m not surprised. The dragons were making a bit of a racket. Did you bring them coconuts or something?”

  Willow laughed. “No, I came straight here without stopping by Sam’s office. But Cayenne was stepping all over the other dragons in her attempt to come see me at the window, and they weren’t happy about the lack of coconuts. That must have been the fuss you heard.”

  Saffron let out a happy roar at the sight of Sylvie, and went over to plant giant, sloppy dragon kisses on her face. Sylvie laughed, and swatted her away. “Ugh, Saffron, lay off. You’ve got horrible dragon breath today.”

  Saffron ignored her and continued right on with her kisses. Willow laughed at the sight, feeling more lighthearted than she had in a week. It hadn’t been easy to be away from the dragons while in the safe room. Now that the students had been working with the beasts for two years, the bonds between them were strong. Being away from them for more than a few days left an empty, aching feeling inside Willow.

  She could only imagine how her father must feel. He’d been away from Clove for more than three years now, and he’d had many more years to build a strong bond with Clove than Willow had with Cayenne. Her father and Clove must feel unbearably lonely at the loss of each other.

  Willow shuddered and tried to push thoughts of her father away. For just a moment, she wanted to focus on something other than the sadness that was constantly trying to envelop her. Unfortunately, that sadness grew stronger with each day. Each day brought new reasons to despair, and it was getting harder and harder for Willow to keep that despair from swallowing her whole.

  “Want to go for a ride?” Sylvie asked, the question mercifully stopping the downward spiral that had begun in Willow’s mind.

  Willow frowned. She couldn’t afford to make Anjali angry. “Won’t we get in trouble?”

  But Sylvie shrugged. “No one said we couldn’t ride our dragons. As long as we don’t fly past the boundaries of the Dragon Heart campus, we won’t be breaking any rules. And after a week of being so cooped up, I could use some flying time with my dragon. The fresh air would do both of us good.”

  Willow nodded slowly. “I suppose you’re right. No one said anything about not flying around. Let’s go.”

  The other dragons whined and stamped impatiently as Cayenne and Saffron gleefully bounded out of the dragon stable to meet Willow and Sylvie. Willow promised them that she’d give them all good muzzle rubs when she got back, and then climbed up onto Cayenne’s back.

  “Let’s go!” she told her dragon, and in a matter of moments she and Cayenne were flying high up into the air alongside Sylvie and Saffron. As the world below them fell away, Willow got a bird’s eye view of the Dragon Heart Campus, and couldn’t help widening her eyes.

  There were Dragon Heart Agents everywhere. In theory, Willow had known this. But seeing from the air just how many there were still gave her a bit of a shock. Their black uniforms made them look like ants crawling all over the place, and Willow didn’t think it was a pretty sight.

  “Crazy, isn’t it?” Sylvie called over from Saffron’s back. She must have seen Willow’s downward gaze and realized what she was looking at.

  “They’re everywhere,” Willow called back. “And yet I still don’t feel safe.”

  “I know what you mean. If there’s a traitor on the inside, one breaking through magic shields and causing Terraemotus earthquakes, then is anyone really safe?” Sylvie and Saffron banked sharply to the right and dove downward a bit to fly low over the trees. Willow followed, breathing in the strong scent of pine that wafted up to her.

  “On the subject of whether anyone is really safe,” Willow said, once they were flying close together again, “Don’t you find it concerning that no one seems to know anything about Alexis? I’m worried about her.”

  “I’m very worried,” Sylvie agreed. “Anjali must know something. It’s not like her to be so evasive. She doesn’t always share information freely, but when she doesn’t want to tell us something she usually flat out says it’s none of our business. It’s weird for her to hedge around and avoid the discussion of Alexis altogether.”

  Willow frowned. “Maybe we should try to contact Marcus, now that we aren’t cooped up in the safe room anymore.”

  For security reasons, all outbound communications by the students had been blocked while they were in the safe room. Anjali had assured them that their parents were being told that they were safe—not that Willow’s mother would have been that worried. Ever since her father went missing, her mother didn’t seem to want to have much to do with her. Willow couldn’t understand how her own mother could be so heartless, but after a few years of being kept at arms’ length, she’d grown somewhat used to the coldness. It hadn’t even bothered her that much that she hadn’t been able to contact her mother herself while in the safe room.

  What had bothered her was that she hadn’t been able to contact Alexis or any of her other friends from the Birch Point Campus. But she’d been in such a rush to get to Cayenne after the meeting with Anjali that she hadn’t even wanted to take time to pull out her phone or tablet and send a message. Now that she’d calmed down and was thinking clearer, trying to contact Alexis directly seemed like the logical next step.

  But Sylvie was shaking her head. “I already tried. Our phones and tablets are still blocked from outbound communications. The only messages we’re allowed to send right now are to other Dragon Heart Agents.”

  Willow’s heart sank. “Why are they cutting us off completely? It’s not like we’re going to tell anyone from Birch Point where we are. I just want to get in touch to make sure everyone’s okay.”

  “I know,” Sylvie said, letting out a sigh so loud that Willow could hear it even over the sound of the wind that was gently whistling past her face. “It’s a really frustrating situation.”

  Willow was about to say that she would have chosen a stronger word than “frustrating” to describe the situation, but before she could speak, Cayenne was banking sharply to the left. Startled by the sudden movement, Willow grasped frantical
ly to hold onto Cayenne’s iridescent scales and avoid falling off. “Whoa, girl! What are you doing? I didn’t tell you to turn.”

  Cayenne ignored her, and kept flying to the left, going lower and lower until her dragon feet were skimming the tops of the pine trees.

  “What are you doing?” Willow asked her dragon in an exasperated voice. She glanced over her shoulder at Sylvie and Saffron, and saw that the pair had changed directions to catch up with her.

  “Looks like Cayenne wants to show you something,” Sylvie shouted.

  Willow shrugged, then looked forward again. Cayenne had a mind of her own, and it wasn’t completely out of character for her to randomly switch directions while Willow was riding with her. Over the last few years, Willow had come to expect a few surprises from her dragon now and then. In fact, the dragon had been named Cayenne because of her spicy personality. She liked to keep everyone, especially Willow, on their toes. It was quite possible that there wasn’t anything in particular Cayenne wanted to show Willow. The more likely scenario was that she simply wanted to surprise Willow with a direction change for the fun of it. Sylvie, with her demure dragon, didn’t understand that.

  And yet, Willow needed to rein in Cayenne’s directional change a little bit. The dragon was getting dangerously close to the boundary between the Dragon Heart campus and the Birch Point campus. Willow didn’t even want to think about what the punishment would be for straying beyond the boundaries, even if it had been Cayenne’s fault. Anjali wouldn’t think that Cayenne’s stubbornness made a good excuse for Willow’s transgressions.

  “Cayenne, please! You’re going to get me in trouble!”

  Cayenne ignored her and kept flying. Willow grew frantic and resorted to speaking in an ancient dragon language.

  “Navat!” Willow cried out, a word that meant “stop” in an old dragon tongue. Willow had been working on learning the ancient language ever since she discovered its existence. She’d learned that her father had spoken ancient dragon languages fluently, and that the ancient words were a better way to communicate with the dragons. Learning ancient languages had proved difficult, however, and Willow felt shy about trying to actually speak the difficult words.

  At the moment, she didn’t care how ridiculous she sounded, or how bad her pronunciation was. She just wanted Cayenne to stop. Unfortunately, even the ancient word didn’t seem to be enough to sway Cayenne. The dragon kept flying, faster and faster, directly toward the boundary between campuses. Behind her, Willow could hear Sylvie yelling at them to stop. But if Cayenne wasn’t listening to Willow, she definitely wasn’t going to listen to Sylvie.

  Just when Willow thought she was truly doomed, Cayenne abruptly changed directions and dove downward. Willow held on tightly as Cayenne zoomed down through the trees and came in for a landing next to a small clearing, right on the edge of the boundary between the Birch Point and Dragon Heart campuses.

  Adrenaline still rushing through her veins, Willow slid off of Cayenne, grateful beyond measure that her feet were touching down on the Dragon Heart side of campus.

  “Cayenne! What were you thinking! I told you I’m not allowed on the Birch Point side of campus right now. If I cross that boundary over there, I could get expelled! How am I supposed to trust you if you don’t stop when I tell you to?”

  In response, Cayenne merely blew a long, defiant puff of smoke in Willow’s face. Willow felt her blood starting to boil. It wasn’t often that she got mad at her dragon, but right now she was furious.

  “If you ever want me to take you up for fun again, then—”

  Cayenne roared, cutting off Willow’s rant. As the roar continued, long and loud, Sylvie and Saffron came in for a landing right near Cayenne. The two dragons nearly filled the small clearing, and Willow took a step back to avoid being run into by Saffron.

  Sylvie jumped off her dragon and came to stand in front of Willow with wide eyes. “What in the world was that all about? I can’t believe how close you came to crossing the boundary! You shouldn’t be so reckless!”

  “It wasn’t my fault!” Willow fumed, then pointed an accusing finger in Cayenne’s direction. “My crazy dragon decided to take me for a joyride right on the edge even though I yelled at her to stop.”

  Cayenne roared again, her glittering green eyes looking impatient as she stared unapologetically back at Willow. Saffron flopped on the soft grass of the clearing with a huff, as if realizing that this little argument between Cayenne and Willow might take a while to resolve. But Sylvie got a thoughtful look on her face.

  “I think she’s trying to tell you something.”

  Willow snorted. “Tell me what? That she’s crazy?”

  Cayenne let out what sounded like a growl, then flopped down next to Saffron as if to say that Willow was hopeless. Willow was about to give her dragon another earful, but Sylvie spoke again before Willow could get a word out.

  “There must be some reason Cayenne stopped here. Do you feel that hum in the air?”

  Willow frowned. “Hum?” The only hum she felt at the moment was a hum of anger toward Cayenne.

  But Sylvie was starting to slowly pace toward the edge of the clearing, holding her hands up the way one might when trying to catch raindrops. It wasn’t raining, though, and Willow was beginning to think Cayenne wasn’t the only crazy one.

  “Stop being annoyed with Cayenne for a moment and pay attention,” Sylvie said. “There’s a hum in the air. I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s like some sort of strange vibration.”

  Willow shook her head at Sylvie. She had no idea what her friend was talking about. She didn’t feel any sort of hum. But Sylvie’s back was turned toward Willow now, and she didn’t notice Willow’s annoyance. Instead, she continued walking, looking around as though searching for something. Willow was about to tell her that she was wasting her time when Sylvie suddenly stopped and changed directions.

  “Interesting. What’s this?”

  As much as Willow wanted to stay angry and pretend like she wasn’t interested in whatever it was that Sylvie was looking at, she couldn’t help her curiosity. She walked over to the other side of Saffron where Sylvie was now walking toward the edge of the forest.

  Sylvie glanced up at Willow, then pointed toward the tree line. “Do you see that?”

  Willow looked in the direction Sylvie was pointing to see what looked like an old stone well. She furrowed her brow as she studied it, trying to see if there was anything special about it. As far as she could tell, it was just an ancient well. It looked like it hadn’t been used in about a hundred years.

  “What’s the big deal? It’s just an old well that probably belonged to someone who lived here long before the Dragon Heart Academy was here.

  Sylvie didn’t look at Willow. She kept her eyes trained on the well, and simply said. “Watch. Watch what it does.”

  Willow stood looking at the well, not sure what she was supposed to be seeing. The well wasn’t doing anything but standing there looking old, as far as she could tell. But now that Willow had stopped being mad at Cayenne for a moment, she could feel what Sylvie had been talking about.

  The air hummed. It was a strange sort of current, like there was an electricity in the air, flowing through everything around Willow. She’d never felt anything like it before, yet she knew exactly what it was.

  “There’s some sort of magic in the air.”

  Sylvie nodded, still not looking at Willow. “You feel it then? The humming? Watch the well. See if it does it again.”

  Willow looked skeptically at the well. “Does what?”

  She didn’t have to wait for Sylvie to explain. In the next moment, the humming in the air grew stronger at the same moment that a burst of shimmering crystals shot up from the well. The crystals caught the sunlight streaming down on them across the meadow, glittering brilliantly for a few moments before they disappeared, seeming to melt into thin air. As the crystals disappeared, the humming grew less intense, although it never completely stopped.


  “Whoa,” Willow said softly. “What is that thing?”

  “I’m not sure,” Sylvie said in a voice that was just as soft. “But I think that Cayenne wanted you to see it.”

  “Let’s take a closer look,” Willow said, starting to walk toward the well.

  Sylvie didn’t follow her right away. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

  “Cayenne wouldn’t have brought me here if she didn’t think it was safe.”

  Behind her, Willow heard Cayenne let out a loud huff. She turned and looked apologetically at her dragon. “Sorry for doubting you, girl. I should have known you had a reason for flying so crazily.”

  Cayenne huffed again, causing two plumes of smoke to rise from her gigantic dragon nostrils. But then she lay her head down with a contented sigh, and Willow figured that her apology had been accepted.

  Sylvie joined Willow in walking right up to the well, and the two of them tentatively peeked over the edge to peer inside. From their vantage point, it looked like nothing more than an ordinary well. Aside from the low hum of magic, the well seemed like any other old well.

  Sylvie glanced over at Willow. “What now?”

  Willow fingered her magic ring. “I wonder if there’s some spell that would reveal what this is. A divination spell, perhaps?”

  Sylvie creased her eyebrows. “A magic revealing spell? I seem to remember something of the sort from our very first semester. But what was the spell?”

  Willow chewed her lower lip, trying to think. So much had happened since their first semester. Those early days of learning magic felt like a lifetime ago. And yet, somewhere at the back of Willow’s mind, she could remember the spell Sylvie was talking about. “Exsero? No…Pando? Wait! I know it!” she pointed her ring at the well, taking a deep breath and hoping for the best. “Prodo!”

  For a moment, nothing happened, and Willow thought that she hadn’t remembered correctly. But then, the rim of the well began to glow, as though it was being heated red hot from within. As it glowed brighter and brighter, scripted words appeared, etched into the stonework.