by D J DuMont
“I’m sorry,” Anjali said wearily. “But you’ll be spending Christmas in there. In all likelihood, it’s going to be a few months before we’re ready for the rescue mission.”
“A few months?” Sylvie asked, finally reacting. Her eyes were wide and full of despair. “You want us to stay in that tiny room again for months? And are Marcus and Kent going to be in there, too? It was cramped enough last time. Adding two more students is going to make it absolutely unbearable!”
“Marcus and Kent will be there, too,” Anjali confirmed. “And I know it’s not ideal, but this is what we feel is necessary to ensure your safety and the safety of Alexis. I do have Agents working right now on expanding the safe room. It still isn’t going to be palatial by any means, but it will be larger with separate bedrooms for each of you. It will be more of a safe house than a safe room.”
Willow frowned, fighting back the despair that seemed to be always trying to pull her under these days. “What about our dragons? We won’t be able to see them or practice our dragon flying if we’re holed up down there for months.”
“I know,” Anjali said. “But that’s just a price you’re all going to have to pay. I’m hoping Sam will be able to do some extra flying classes with you over the summer to make up for any class time you miss because you’re in the safe house. Of course, I’ll come down to teach you your other magical lessons, and we’ll ensure that you’re kept up on any work from Birch Point. Marcus and Kent will also be kept up on Birch Point classes, of course.”
Cara sighed. “You really think this is going to take months?”
Anjali nodded. “I hope it won’t, but there are a lot of hurdles to overcome before the rescue mission can move forward. Right now, it’s best if you all plan on spending the rest of the winter in the safe house.” Anjali reached for the radio chip on her Dragon Heart uniform’s collar. “That’s all I have to say to you all today. Give me just a moment to page the Agents who will be taking you to the safe house.”
As Anjali started speaking into the radio chip, Willow’s head sunk into her hands. The despair was coming faster now, in waves. She tried to fight off the feeling, but it wasn’t easy.
It was going to be a long, long winter.
Chapter Twenty-One
March 21. The first day of spring. But how would I know it from where I’m sitting? There are no windows here. No doors that open to the outside world. I’m a prisoner of magic. That’s what this place is: a prison. Anjali and the others keep insisting it’s not, and that we’re only here for our own safety. But whatever the reasons, those reasons don’t change the fact that we’re trapped here.
A loud shout interrupted Willow’s thoughts. She looked toward the door of the cramped bedroom she currently occupied, and listened with little interest as Kent and Locke yelled at each other about some perceived injustice one of them had committed. Willow sighed, then looked down to continue writing in her journal.
I honestly don’t know how we’ve made it almost four months without killing each other. In the beginning, everyone was mostly worried about me. They all thought that I was going to lose my temper and cast a bunch of mental magic spells that would wipe everyone out. But I’ve kept it together for the most part. All that mental magic tutoring must finally be paying off, because I haven’t set off any accidental spells the whole time we’ve been down here. It helps that I’ve spent all my free time trying to track down where Alexis might be, or learning about lie detector spells to figure out who’s the traitor in the Dragon Heart Agency.
More shouts sounded, suddenly joined by the shouts of an Agent. That was good news—the Agent would break up the fight. Several times a day, Dragon Heart Agents on a very small list of approved visitors came to visit the students. They brought treats, news, games, and anything else they thought might keep the students’ spirits up. But Willow’s spirits needed more than games and treats to be lifted. She needed fresh air. She needed her dragon. Sadly, she looked back down at her journal.
I wonder what Cayenne thinks of all this. I can’t believe I haven’t ridden her in so long. Will it be difficult to remember how? I was just getting good at some of those acrobatic flying moves! I know the other Dragon Heart students are anxious to get back to their dragons, too. And Marcus and Kent are going stir-crazy. What must they think of the world of magic, when so far all it’s brought them is the loss of Alexis and an all expenses paid vacation to this magical prison?
Willow looked up and chewed thoughtfully on the end of her pen. The shouting in the main room had stopped, but sometimes the quiet made it harder to concentrate than the noise. Everything down here just felt wrong. Marcus and Kent must have felt that way even stronger than she did.
Willow hadn’t talked to them much. She hadn’t talked to anyone much since being escorted back to the safe room, which was indeed more of a safe “house” now since it at least had private bedrooms for everyone. The bedrooms were small, barely large enough to fit a twin sized bed. But at least they had doors that closed, and Willow had kept her door closed most of the time. Everyone down here was angry at everyone else, and tempers flared at the slightest cross word.
She’d managed to have one useful conversation with Marcus at the beginning of January. Marcus had told her that everyone at Birch Point had given up on Alexis. They’d expected to find her body in the rubble of the buildings that had collapsed in the earthquake, but Marcus had been convinced that they were wrong. Willow still remembered the fire in his eyes as he spoke on that bleak January day.
“I knew her body wasn’t in the rubble,” he had said. “She was with us in the rec center, and that building didn’t collapse. I couldn’t understand why everyone was insisting that she must be dead instead of just missing, but now I know.”
“The Dragon Heart Agency was trying to cover up the fact that its biggest enemy had kidnapped her,” Willow said.
“Exactly. I’m glad I didn’t give up on her. I knew something wasn’t adding up. When the earthquake happened, things were so chaotic and everyone was screaming. One of Stein’s Agents must have grabbed her then. I remember trying to hold onto her hand as the earthquake happened. When her hand was ripped away from mine, I assumed it was the force of the earthquake doing that. Now I realize that must have been the moment her kidnapper pulled her away.”
“You’re probably right. But how did you end up at the well?”
Marcus shrugged. “I spent every moment possible criss-crossing the forests around Birch Point. Initially, I worried that Alexis had been wounded when she fled the building in terror, and had bled out and died out in the woods somewhere. I dreaded finding her body, but I had to know the truth. Kent came with me most of the time. He’s a good guy.”
“Other than running away from a dragon and leaving it to eat me. At least you tried to save me.”
“You didn’t need saving,” Marcus pointed out.
“But Kent didn’t know that. I’m still miffed at him for leaving behind a damsel in distress.”
Marcus shrugged. “He’s not perfect, but he’s a good guy. And it’s hard to keep your head about you when faced with a dragon. He did help me a lot in the search for Alexis. The day we found the well, it was sending sparks up in the air. We went to investigate, and couldn’t understand where the sparks were coming from. We were worried that something was on fire inside the well somehow, even though we couldn’t understand how that was possible. We leaned over as far as we could trying to see, and then all of a sudden we were both sucked inside. We didn’t fall, exactly. It’s like the well pulled us in.”
“You activated the portal somehow.”
“So I’m told. And you pretty much know the rest of the story.”
The sound of banging on her bedroom door brought Willow sharply back to the present moment. She groaned, and closed her journal before standing to go answer the knocking. She’d told the others a thousand times already that she didn’t want to be bothered just because an Agent was there. She didn’t care about tre
ats or games, and she only wanted news if it was something to do with her father or Alexis.
She swung the door open with an angry scowl on her face, but that scowl froze when she found herself face-to-face with Sam and Anjali. Willow hadn’t heard them coming into the safe house, but they must have entered with the other Dragon Heart Agent a few minutes ago. If they were both here, then something big must be going on. Behind them, the faces of the other students looked drawn and pale. As it always did in moments like this, Willow’s mind immediately went to her father.
“What’s wrong,” she asked. “Is it my dad? Did something happen to him?”
Anjali shook her head. Her face looked determined, but calm. She didn’t look happy, but she didn’t look upset, either. “It’s Alexis. We think we have a way in, but we have to move now.”
Willow blinked. “A way in?”
Anjali nodded. “Our Agents have intercepted a large order Stein placed for jetpack parts. Most likely, he’s building new ones to try to launch a large attack with his Dark Sparks. We’re trying to get more intelligence on what those plans might be, but in the meantime, we know that the entrance to his hideout will have to be opened to allow the delivery of parts.”
“We could sneak in while it’s open,” Willow said, understanding dawning on her. “When do we think this delivery is going to be made?”
“In less than twenty-four hours.”
Willow choked in surprise. “But the hideout is several hours away, as the dragon flies.”
Anjali nodded. “I know. That’s why we’re leaving now.”
“Now? As in today?”
“Now as in right this minute. All of you need to get your Dragon Heart uniforms on and meet me at the dragon stables within fifteen minutes. This senior Agent here will escort you over. For whatever reason, the President is still convinced that all of you need to be the ones to perform this mission, even though I don’t think it’s the best mission for students.”
Willow felt her heart thumping with excitement. “We can do this, Anjali. I know we can.”
Her professor gave her a reluctant smile, and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “I hope you’re right, Willow. If any students have magical abilities strong enough to handle this, then it’s definitely the four of you.”
Marcus coughed loudly. “Don’t you mean the six of us? Kent and I are coming, too.”
Anjali glanced back at him with a sigh. “Yes, you’re coming, per the President’s orders. But you don’t have magical abilities.”
Willow resisted the urge to ask what Marcus and Kent could possibly do since they lacked magic. They’d probably be given some sort of non-wizard weapon to try to provide cover for the others. It didn’t seem like the smartest idea to her, but she wasn’t going to argue with the President, especially not when the President was ordering Anjali to let the Dragon Heart students take on this mission.
Willow knew they could do it. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, but that was nothing new. Nothing had been easy at the Dragon Heart Academy thus far, so why would she shy away from something just because it was difficult?
Besides, no matter how dangerous and difficult rescuing Alexis proved to be, anything was better than sitting in this safe room another day. Just the thought of breathing fresh air again made Willow giddy. She could hardly wait to see the sun. And the stars. And her dragon! She wondered how much snow still blanketed the world outside. She hadn’t cared enough to ask, but suddenly, she was curious what kind of winter it had been.
The others must have been just as eager to know the answers to these questions. They all changed into their Dragon Heart uniforms in record time, eager to make the dizzying journey across the safe room’s portal and out into the world beyond.
Ten minutes later, the six of them stood in front of the dragon stables, where Anjali and Sam were almost finished prepping the dragons for the long journey. The students’ black uniforms gleamed in the late afternoon sun, sparkling now and then when a sunbeam caught the golden threads interwoven into the fabric. As they waited for Anjali to brief them on the mission, Willow turned to look at the other students.
Pride filled her heart. These were her friends, her fellow students, and her future colleagues. True, sometimes some of them drove her crazy, especially Locke. But they were all talented wizards, or, in Marcus’ and Kent’s case, they were loyal friends willing to give their all for the cause of magic.
Willow suddenly regretted the fact that she’d been so closed off the whole winter. She’d been trying to lie low to keep the peace, but perhaps that had been the cowardly thing to do. She was, after all, supposed to be the student captain of this group.
Better late than never, she decided. It was time to step up and lead. She turned to the group with a determined smile on her face.
“Listen, everyone. I know this mission is going to be difficult, but I want you all to know that I believe in you. This winter has been hard, to put it mildly, and I know I haven’t always been the best captain while we were down in the safe house. But no matter our differences, no matter the disagreements we might have had in the past, we’re in this together now. We’re strong together, and we can do this. We can do this for the Dragon Heart Agency, we can do it for Alexis, and we can do it for ourselves. We’re not just the Fearless Four anymore. We’re the Unstoppable Six.”
Willow paused and looked at each student in turn, then smiled and said something to them that her father used to always say to her. “Be brave, be kind, and always remember that you have magic inside of you. You can do anything. Even you, Marcus and Kent. You might not be wizards, but you’ve aligned yourselves with us, and you have strong hearts. I know all six of us working together can get Alexis back from Stein. Let’s do this!”
Willow let out a whoop, and the other students whooped with her.
It was time to save Alexis, and to show Stein what they were made of.
Chapter Twenty-Two
As twilight settled over the forests of northern Maine, ten giant dragons sliced through the cold air, heading north as fast as their wings could carry them. Civilization was nearly nonexistent in these parts, save for the occasional cabin of a loner who was trying to live completely off the grid. There weren’t many people around to look up toward the dragons and their riders, but even if there had been, it wouldn’t have mattered. The dragons all flew under heavy invisibility spells, both to avoid non-wizards seeing them, and to keep any guards Stein might have posted from being alerted to the fact that an attack was coming.
Willow smiled as the forest zoomed by below her. Perhaps she should have been more frightened of what lay ahead. This wasn’t some practice mission to show off the magic spells she’d been learning in class. This was a real mission, with real lives at stake, one of which was her own. Any of them could end up dead, and it was possible they might not even be able to rescue Alexis in the process.
And yet, somehow, Willow felt calm. She felt conviction deep down in her bones that this was all going to work out. It had to work out. Alexis needed them.
She flexed the fingers on her hand that wore her magic ring, itching to use it to attack Stein. She’d faced him down before, about a year and a half ago, but she’d been much less experienced with magic than she was now. What she wouldn’t give for a chance to repeat that showdown, and to wield powerful attack spells in his direction. She wanted to pay him back for all the pain that he’d caused her father, Alexis, and many others.
Willow glanced behind her to where Kent sat on a dragon saddle. Sam had put the saddle on for Kent’s benefit, since he wasn’t used to riding a dragon. The saddle kept Kent stable and secure without his needing to hold onto Cayenne’s scales, which was how Willow rode. At the beginning, when Sam forced Willow and the other Dragon Heart students to learn to ride bareback, they had all balked. Now, however, sitting in a saddle felt so restrictive to Willow, and she preferred to ride without one.
Kent didn’t look like he felt restricted by the saddle, but he did lo
ok terrified. His handsome face, normally a perfect golden tan, had drained of color. He looked as white as the snow that still clung to the treetops. In his arms, he cradled a large gun that had been loaded with magical powers using magical capture and projection. This process allowed non-wizards to temporarily store and use magical powers, and until last year the Agency hadn’t believed it was possible. Stein, unfortunately, had proven them wrong when he stole magical powers from Willow’s father to use against Dragon Heart Agents. Once the Agency had realized the possibilities of magical capture and projection, they’d gotten on board with it—using wizards who willingly supplied magical power, of course.
“You alright, Kent?” Willow asked.
Kent nodded and forced a smile, but he had the same terrified look on his face that he’d had the first time he saw Cayenne. Willow gave him a thumbs up sign and turned back around. She had a feeling that her watching him was only making him more nervous.
Up ahead of her, Marcus rode on Nutmeg with Cara, flanked by Sylvie on Saffron and Locke on Yarrow. Anjali and Sam led their way on their dragons, and behind Willow four senior Agents brought up the rear. Together, they made a small but formidable group, a group that would hopefully be able to rescue Alexis and get home without any casualties. Willow gulped at the thought, and forced herself to concentrate on flying instead of on all the things that could go wrong.
They flew like this until just before sunrise, when Anjali and Sam circled down to land in a clearing that seemed unnaturally cut into the forest below them. Willow knew from the mission briefing Anjali had given them that this clearing was one of three entrances to Stein’s underground hideouts that the Dragon Heart spies had found. As best the spies could tell, this was the only entrance big enough to handle a delivery as large as the one that Stein had coming. The plan was to wait by the entrance, under the cover of invisibility spells, of course, and dismount from the dragons to sneak in behind the deliveries. Once inside, the group would be running a bit blind, since no one knew how many tunnels were in Stein’s underground hideout, or where they all led. The Dragon Heart group would spread out and search, hoping that nothing would compromise their invisibility spells. If all went according to plan, they would find Alexis and get out of the tunnels before Stein even knew they were there.