Willow's Perfect Storm

by D J DuMont

  Willow gave Cayenne an affectionate pat and smiled broadly up at her dragon, but that smile froze on her face when she glanced over and saw Anjali walking across the meadow. Before Anjali even said a word, the look on her face told Willow all she needed to know: the mission to rescue Alexis had not succeeded.

  As the other students realized that Anjali was walking across the meadow, they fell silent as well. Even the dragons seemed to sense the seriousness of the moment, and quieted their happy grunting. Willow chewed her lower lip, conflicted between wanting to demand that Anjali tell them what had happened but being afraid to hear.

  Locke must not have been as conflicted as Willow, because he did blurt out a demand that Anjali tell them whatever news she had.

  “What happened?” he asked. “Did the mission to rescue Alexis fail?”

  To Willow’s surprise, tears filled Anjali’s eyes. The professor blinked them away, but not before everyone saw how emotional she was. In the two years that Willow had known Anjali, the woman had proven to be a steady calm in the midst of so many storms. But now, even Anjali’s serene façade was cracking. Even before Anjali uttered a word, Willow knew that the news was not good.

  “The rescue attempt failed,” Anjali said. “Stein somehow knew the Agents were coming, even though they used sophisticated invisibility spells. By the time the Agents arrived at the location where they believe Alexis was being held, she was gone. All that was left behind were a few rickety old chairs and what appeared to be some used laboratory equipment.”

  “Laboratory equipment?” Sylvie asked.

  Anjali nodded tiredly. “Yes. The sort of thing you’d find in a science lab.”

  Willow frowned. “Was Stein performing experiments on Alexis?” She didn’t want to think about what sorts of creative torture Stein might have come up with to use on Alexis, or to use on her father. But her mind would not stop racing, wondering what the gruesome possibilities were.

  Anjali rubbed her forehead tiredly before speaking again. “We have to assume that he’s using Alexis for some sort of experimentation. We don’t have any proof that she had been there, but it was obvious that Stein had been there. One of our Agents also found shrapnel from a destroyed jetpack that matches the jetpacks Stein’s Dark Sparks use.”

  “So where is Alexis now?” Willow asked, desperation creeping into her voice.

  “We don’t know,” Anjali said, her voice full of emotion. “We’ll keep looking for her, but we don’t have any good leads at the moment.”

  Locke had started pacing back and forth in front of his dragon. “Someone must have warned Stein. Whoever the traitor is in the Dragon Heart Agency, they must have told him the rescue attempt was coming.”

  “Yes,” Anjali said. “But as you know, the fact that that information was classified didn’t keep it from spreading quite quickly throughout the Agency. Your parents told you, and you told your fellow students. Who knows how many other Agents decided to tell ‘just one person.’ No one seems to be respecting their security clearances these days, a fact that has made the President quite upset.”

  Sam was shaking his head as he rubbed his dragon’s neck. “If you ask me, anyone who passed on classified information should be dismissed from the Agency. Leadership at Headquarters has become too lax. They don’t punish anyone for breaking the rules, so why are they surprised that there’s a traitor in our midst?”

  Willow saw Locke’s face go pale. “My parents only told me,” he said in a huff. “They shouldn’t be punished for talking to their own son.”

  Sam actually rolled his eyes. “I know you think your parents are perfect, Locke. I don’t agree with you, but don’t worry. They’re not going to get in any trouble for this. There were too many people whispering for the Agency to reprimand everyone. Not to mention that everyone in charge at Headquarters is too busy trying to figure out where Stein is to worry about tracking down the source of every information leak.”

  “They should be more worried about it,” Willow said indignantly. Her anger flared as she looked over at Locke. “If everyone kept their mouth shut when they were supposed to, maybe Alexis would be back here now, safe and sound.”

  Locke crossed his arms and glared at her. “You wouldn’t even know that any of this was going on if it wasn’t for the fact that my parents told me and then I told you. Besides—”

  “Enough!” Anjali interrupted, her voice loud and furious. “I don’t want to hear any more of these petty arguments. “I came to let you know the mission failed, but I don’t have anything else to tell you. I don’t know when the next rescue attempt will be, or if there even will be another attempt. All I can tell you is that this attempt failed. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go take another call with the President. I can only hope that he hasn’t requested the call to tell me that he’s closing the Academy. You all better hope for your own sakes that he’s still thinking of you as the Fearless Four, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. He isn’t happy with much of anything related to the Dragon Heart Agency right now.”

  With that, Anjali turned on her heel and started heading back toward the path that led to the main building on the Dragon Heart Campus. Willow, along with the other students, watched her go, unsure of what to say. Finally, Sam cleared his throat and spoke.

  “Well, I do believe you’re all done with classes for the day. I suggest you take some time to rest this evening. Things are quite tense around here, and it would do everyone good to relax.”

  Willow realized that Sam was just trying to smooth things over, but she wasn’t in the mood to relax. She’d never seen Anjali acting so negative and upset, and she didn’t know how any of them were supposed to rest easy tonight knowing that there was a traitor among them. Anjali seemed convinced that the traitor wasn’t someone at the Dragon Heart Academy campus, but Willow wasn’t so sure. Why did everything bad that happened always seem to center around the students or the campus?

  Willow didn’t want to spend her days glancing over her shoulder, constantly worried that someone who was supposed to be her friend was actually betraying her. But until the traitor was found and Stein was stopped, Willow didn’t dare trust anyone.

  The reality of it all felt like it was crushing Willow, and the urge to get away and be alone overwhelmed her. Without another word to her fellow students, she jumped back onto Cayenne’s back.

  “Let’s go, girl,” she shouted. Before Sam or anyone else could tell Willow to stop, Cayenne was flapping her giant dragon wings and rising into the air again. This time, there were no attempts at barrel rolls or any other fancy acrobatics. This time, there was only speed.

  Willow urged Cayenne to fly higher and faster, and she didn’t look back until they were a safe distance from the meadow where the dragon stable stood. Only then did Willow glance over her shoulder, half-expecting to see Sam chasing her down, demanding that she let Cayenne rest.

  But Sam wasn’t following her, and neither was anyone else. They must have all realized that trying to get Willow to calm down would be futile at the moment. Or perhaps they were too consumed with their own worries to care enough to chase Willow down. Either way, Willow finally relaxed and let Cayenne slow down a bit.

  They were several thousand feet above the Dragon Heart campus, and Willow looked forlornly down at the thick pine forest below her. The air up here was cold, but it felt fresh and calming. Willow wished she didn’t have to stay within the campus boundaries. Right now, all she wanted to do was let Cayenne fly forward for hours and hours. But in just a few minutes, they’d reach the boundary of campus and have to turn around. Willow could circle all night if she wanted to, but she couldn’t actually go anywhere, and that was frustrating.

  Perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea to go for a flight, after all.

  But then, it hit Willow. There was one place she could go that might make her feel better—one place where perhaps she would feel like she was actually doing something to help Alexis and her father. With a small smile, Willow gave
Cayenne a firm pat, indicating that the dragon should change directions.

  As Cayenne banked sharply to the left, Willow’s smile widened into a broad grin. Perhaps it wasn’t too late yet for something good to come of this day.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Willow felt a sense of sweet calm passing over her as Cayenne landed gracefully in the clearing next to the old well. Right now, the well didn’t look like much. No sparkling magic drifted up from its depths, and when Willow crept over to get a closer look, she couldn’t see any trace of the ancient dragon script she knew had been carved into its rim. The well didn’t look like much more than an ordinary old pile of stones, and according to Anjali, it wasn’t that much more. It was just an old portal that had been rendered effectively useless.

  But Willow couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to this well than Anjali realized. Why had Cayenne wanted her to see it? And why did she feel so drawn to it. There was something more here. She just had to figure out a way to find that something more.

  Unsure of what she could do to uncover the well’s secrets, Willow decided that it couldn’t hurt to try the magic revealing spell again. She pointed her magic ring at the well and said, “Prodo.”

  She held her breath, praying that the well would glow and the carved script would show up again. Even a few puffs of sparkling, magical air from the well’s depths would have made Willow feel better. She just wanted some sort of affirmation that she wasn’t crazy, and that there was still a great deal of magic left in the well.

  But as she continued holding her breath, nothing happened. She let out an exasperated sigh, and tried again. “Prodo!”

  She waited, but still nothing. Behind her, she heard Cayenne grunt, and she turned around to glare at her dragon.

  “I’m trying Cayenne. Don’t get saucy with me just because it’s taking forever to figure this out. It’s not my fault that none of my classes have covered ‘how to make a magical well spill its secrets.’”

  In response, Cayenne only dropped her head onto the soft grass in resignation. Annoyed, Willow turned her back on the giant beast to try her spell on the well once more. But when she turned, her magic ring held high, the words of the spell she had been about to speak stuck in her throat.

  The well had come alive once more. Perhaps Willow had just needed to give her spells more time, or perhaps the well just had a mind of its own and showed its magic only when it felt like it.

  Whatever the case, the well no longer looked ordinary. Instead, it dazzled. Sparkling magic shot from its depths like sparklers at a New Year’s party. The ridge had begun to glow once again and Willow ran over, eager to see whether the carved message was there. If it was, would it be the same, or had it changed? Since the message itself came and went, there was a good possibility it changed.

  As Willow studied the glowing rim of the well, the ancient script appeared once again. She was somewhat disappointed to see that the message was the same, and she translated the script in her head before speaking the words aloud.

  “All who are willing may pass. Whether or not magic flows through your veins, you must only believe it is possible, and the portal will open for you.”

  Willow sighed as she stared down at the wells depths, trying to think about what the significance of the words might be. It sounded like the well would allow non-wizards to pass through it, so theoretically any of the Birch Point students who found this well would be able to pass through. But the Birch Point Campus was huge, and it wasn’t likely that any of the students there would find this well, let alone realize that it was a portal and know how to use it. The well’s message said you had to believe it was possible to pass through the well, and how would anyone believe it if they didn’t even know that portals existed?

  Another, darker possibility was that the traitor was using the well to smuggle someone from the Birch Point campus into the Dragon Heart Campus. Anjali didn’t think this was possible, with all the protective spells and Agents guarding the Dragon Heart campus. But what if Anjali was wrong? What if the traitor had smuggled one of Stein’s men over? Or perhaps the traitor had captured Alexis and used the portal to smuggle her over, although Willow wasn’t so sure why anyone would do that. If the goal was to capture Alexis, it would be easier to escape from the Birch Point Campus than from the Dragon Heart Campus.

  Willow’s mind swam as she mulled over the possibilities, and it took her a few moments to realize that something about the magic drifting up from the well had changed. It was no longer just sparkling light emanating from the well’s depths. Instead, purple smoke was rising as well.

  Willow frowned slightly as she watched. This was new. What did it mean? The smoke thickened, curling upward from the well in darker and thicker circles until Willow could hardly even see the sparkles anymore.

  She could hardly breathe, either. The smoke was thick and irritating, like real smoke. Willow coughed and took a step backward, reluctant to move away from the well but desperate for a breath or two of fresh air. The smoke seemed to follow her, though, and she took another step. That’s when she realized that the smoke wasn’t exactly following her. It was just so thick and widespread that she couldn’t escape it.

  But she didn’t want to escape. She wanted to know what the well was doing. She wanted to catch a few breaths of air, yes. But then she wanted the well to spill its secrets. She wanted to know if it knew anything about who had kidnapped Alexis, and if they had been the same person to cause the Terraemotus earthquake.

  “If only you could talk,” she whispered to the well.

  As if in response, a deafening roaring sound suddenly rose from the well’s depths. It sounded like a train barreling down a tunnel, and Willow took a step backward, fearing that a train might literally come bursting from the well.

  No train appeared, but the roaring grew louder and the purple smoke rose higher and thicker. Willow was beginning to fear that the smoke was enough to be visible from the main Dragon Heart building. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, technically, but she still didn’t want to have to explain to Anjali or anyone else what she was doing out there.

  Before she could figure out how to ask the well to tone it down a bit, she felt herself suddenly flying backward through the air, and an invisible force field of some sort had rammed into her and pushed her violently away from the well. She landed with a thud against Cayenne’s side, and winced as all of the air went out of her lungs.

  She didn’t stay down for long. Scrambling to her feet, she held her magic ring in front of her, ready to defend herself if necessary. She had no idea what, exactly, was going on here, but it felt like something big. Willow wasn’t taking any chances.

  But even as Willow’s heart pounded, she realized that things seemed to be settling down. The purple smoke was slowly thinning, and the roaring, oncoming-train noise had stopped. Willow took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and wondered whether she should attempt to approach the well again. She didn’t think that the well had purposefully thrown her back as some sort of attack. It had felt more like she’d just been caught up in a rush of power. The well wasn’t necessarily aggressive, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous.

  What magnificent powers were at work here, and what was Willow risking if she tangled with those powers?

  Willow didn’t have long to decide whether the risk was worth it. The smoke was clearing faster now, and she worried that if she didn’t get closer to the well now, she would lose whatever chance she might have today to see its magic up close. After all, when she’d been out here with Sylvie, the well had only responded to the Prodo spell once. After that, it had been quiet, refusing to put on any sort of display of its power.

  Willow took a step forward, her mind made up. She was going to see what was going on here as best she could. That’s why she had come, wasn’t it? And how risky could it be? She could always throw some really strong shield spells around herself if needed. She might not be the best student at the Dragon Heart Academy, but she c
ould at least manage a decent shield spell.

  Willow took another step forward, confident in her decision. But before she could take one more step, she stopped in her tracks, her jaw dropping open.

  She had to blink several times to believe that she was really seeing what was in front of her. She looked back at Cayenne, thinking that perhaps this had all been a dream. She had to be imagining this, right? She couldn’t possibly be seeing what was right in front of her.

  But Cayenne was still there, very large and very real and not looking the least bit surprised by what had just happened. Willow reached down to pinch the back of her hand, trying to wake herself up. The pinch hurt, and didn’t bring her suddenly out of some strange dreamland.

  No, Willow was standing firmly in the real world, although she shouldn’t be looking at what she was looking at. It shouldn’t be possible.

  And yet, it was. There in the dissipating purple smoke stood Marcus and Kent. They both looked as gorgeous as ever, especially Kent, whom Willow had tried not to think of since the night of the earthquake. He was the handsomest boy she’d ever seen, but he moved in a different world than hers. Sylvie had been right when she’d insisted that only trouble could come of a relationship with him.

  And only trouble could come of the fact that he and Marcus stood here, their feet firmly on Dragon Heart soil, their mouths gaping as they looked at Willow in her black Dragon Heart uniform, and then at Cayenne behind her. They were well and truly speechless, and Willow couldn’t blame them. Her own introduction to the fact that dragons existed had been quite a bit more gradual, and she had still felt shocked at the truth of it.