by D J DuMont
“It’s not my fault I couldn’t see you under your invisibility spell!” Kent countered. “At least I was visible. You should have been doing a better job of watching where you were going. And anyway, the reason I was going so fast is that we need to get Alexis out of here before more guards arrive. I’m surprised as it is that we haven’t been attacked again yet. Let’s get going!”
Locke’s eyes widened as he focused on Alexis’ limp body in Willow’s arms, seeming to notice her for the first time. “Alexis! You found her!”
“We did,” Willow said. “Now let’s get here out of here.”
Without waiting for Locke to reply, she started running down the tunnel. As much as she couldn’t stand Locke’s attitude, she was glad they’d run into him. It couldn’t hurt to have another wizard with her, helping her fight off any attackers.
And there would be attackers. She had no false hopes that there wouldn’t be. With another deep breath, she pumped her legs faster, holding Alexis with one arm, and reaching with her other hand to grab the radio chip pinned to her collar. She prayed that she’d be able to reach everyone else, with all of them spread out in this deep maze of tunnels. All she could do was try. She needed to let everyone know that she’d found Alexis and that they should all get out of there. As much as Willow had been hoping to find her father, she couldn’t spend any more time looking for him now. Not when she had Alexis, whose life clearly hung in the balance.
“Dragon Hearts, do you read me? This is Willow. I’ve recovered our target. Repeat, I’ve recovered our target, and she’s alive but in need of medical attention. All parties meet back at the rendezvous point as soon as possible. Do you read me?”
Willow held her breath as she waited for a response. Had anyone heard her? But then, to her relief, she heard Anjali’s voice crackling through her radio chip.
“This is Anjali. I read you loud and clear. Heading to rendezvous point now. Be advised, heavy enemy presence in the exit tunnel. Extreme caution advised.”
Willow’s heart pounded. She’d expected that she wouldn’t get out without a fight, but she still felt a fresh jolt of nerves at Anjali’s words. She glanced back at Locke and Kent. Would the three of them be strong enough together to win this fight and get Alexis out of there?
Time to find out.
Chapter Twenty-Five
What little light there had been in the tunnels had disappeared, and Willow expended even more of her magical energy on a light spell. The last thing she needed at the moment was to twist an ankle in the darkness, forcing someone to carry her out as well.
The first several minutes of the race to get out passed with surprising calm. It almost felt eerie how quiet things were in the tunnel. Where were all the enemy guards that Anjali had warned them about? Willow felt a rising sense of dread with every step she took. All of the guards must be concentrated in one spot. Perhaps by the hideout entrance? It would make sense for the Dark Sparks to concentrate all of their effort on the location where they knew the Dragon Hearts would be leaving. Willow wondered if she would be better off trying to find a different exit, but she quickly dismissed the idea. She might spend an unreasonable amount of time trying to find another exit and still not find one. Or, she might find one only to see that it was just as heavily guarded as the one she was heading toward now.
Better to fight the devil you know, she told herself.
But that devil was quite powerful. After another minute or so of running, Willow started to hear shouts, yelps of pain, and other sounds that indicated a fight was up ahead. She gritted her teeth together and ran forward. There was no way out but through, and she was determined to make it through.
She picked up her pace, as did Kent and Locke beside her. Willow chanced a glance over at first Kent, and then Locke. Both boys looked extraordinarily serious, their faces shadowy in the small amount of light that Willow’s magic ring was sending off. They must have felt just as nervous as Willow over the fight they were about to engage in, although they were trying to look tough.
Willow didn’t care about looking tough. She only cared about protecting Alexis and herself, and getting out of these tunnels as fast as she could. She’d been hoping that Anjali and the others might have already cleared the way, but as she neared the entrance, the sounds of battle grew steadily louder. When she finally reached the door that led back into the main tunnel, the noise had become deafening.
“This is it,” she said, glancing over at Locke and Kent. “When we go through this door, we’re going straight into the hornet’s nest.”
“Good,” Locke growled. “Let’s get on with it. I’m ready to show those Dark Sparks a thing or two.”
Kent said nothing, merely nodded at Willow in silent resignation. Unlike Locke, Kent was mainly concerned with surviving. Locke didn’t just want to survive. He wanted to prove to the entire Dragon Heart Agency that he was the most promising young Agent coming up through the ranks. Willow knew that, in all likelihood, Locke had some grand plan for how he was going to save the day today and finally get the recognition he deserved. As far as she was concerned, he could get all the recognition there was to be gotten. She didn’t care about that. She only cared about getting Alexis out of there safely, and the sooner they got moving, the sooner that would happen.
“On three,” Willow said, taking a step toward the door. “One, two, three.”
She burst through the door, keeping the protective shield she had up around her, Kent, and Alexis as strong as she could. She didn’t worry about Locke. He could handle his own protective shield.
The noise in the room had been bad enough from behind the door. But now, the noise was downright painful. Willow’s ears rang, and she felt an instant headache coming on as the battle in front of her came into full focus.
There were Dark Sparks everywhere. Most of them wielded normal guns, but a handful of them had magic guns. Willow felt anger burning within her at the sight of those magic guns, knowing that the magic stored within them had been stolen from her father. It was one thing for a wizard to willingly give up magic, as one of the Dragon Heart Agents had done in order to fuel Marcus’ and Kent’s magic guns. But it was another thing for a wizard to have his magic forcefully pulled from him against his will. Willow knew her father would never have willingly shared his magic with Stein and the Dark Sparks. It had been forcibly taken from him.
And how much must have been taken! In addition to the three Dark Sparks with magic guns she could see, she knew that Stein would have a magic gun, too, wherever he was.
The coward can’t even show up to face us down? Willow thought bitterly. He’s just going to let everyone else do all his dirty work?
Willow didn’t have long to fume over all of this, however. Mere moments after making it through the door, she felt a sharp blow on her left shoulder that nearly knocked her over. Her protective shield kept the laser beam an enemy had launched at her from penetrating her skin and causing serious damage, but the force of the beam had still been like a punch to her shoulder. A moment later another laser beam blasted against her right leg, nearly causing her to drop Alexis.
“Oh, it is on!” Willow exclaimed as she raised her magic ring and shot an attack right back. The enemy who had launched the attack at her fell with a yelp of pain, but Willow didn’t have time to revel in her moment of triumph. The rest of the tunnel was packed with both Dark Sparks and Agents, all locked in serious fights.
“Come on, Kent. Stick close to me,” Willow yelled over her right shoulder. “I’m going to try to get to the exit door with Alexis as quickly as possible. If we can get out of here, we’re going to fly like the wind to get back to the Dragon Heart Campus. Alexis needs medical attention, and soon.”
Kent merely nodded again, his eyes wide but calm. Willow started fighting her way forward toward the exit, peering through the smoke and chaos of the battle in hopes of seeing whether her fellow students were holding up alright in the battle. But the only other student she could spot at the moment w
as Locke, who stood off to her left in an intense battle with a very determined Dark Spark. Sylvie, Marcus and Cara were nowhere to be seen, and Willow forced herself not to think about them. She had to focus on her own fights, and trust that they were doing okay.
A few moments later, Willow did spot Anjali up ahead, singlehandedly taking on a half-dozen enemy guards. Willow sighed in relief at the sight, feeling instantly better. Just knowing that her professor was there made her feel less alone. Somehow, they would all make it through this. They would get Alexis home and get her the medical treatment she needed to feel better, and then perhaps Alexis would be able to share some inside information about Stein that would help the Dragon Heart Agency finally stop him for good.
Willow swung her magic ring at a group of three guards in front of her, pleased to see that they all fell quite easily. They might have state-of-the-art weapons, but those weapons weren’t a match for the magical attack spells Willow could send their way. She raised her ring again, prepared to take more guards down, when she heard a sound that stopped her in her tracks.
It was laughter. The long, loud, obnoxious laugh of Stein Viker.
Everyone in that tunnel, Dragon Heart Agents and Dark Sparks alike, turned to look in his direction. The fighting paused, as though Stein had everyone under some sort of spell.
Perhaps he does, Willow thought bitterly. Perhaps he’s learned how to use the magic he’s stolen from my father for more than just loading a magic gun.
Whether it was because of a spell, or just from the shock of seeing him sauntering through the room so proudly and unafraid, it took several more moments for any of the Dragon Heart Agents to gather their wits enough to attack him. But when they did finally attack, they attacked with a vengeance.
Willow joined in, aiming her magic ring right at Stein and yelling out “Invado!” She’d used just such an attack the last time she’d faced down Stein, and then it had worked quite well. Today, though, it did nothing. The force of the Invado spell seemed to merely bounce off an invisible wall surrounding Stein, as did the force of all the other attacks the Dragon Heart Agents had launched in his direction.
“Impossible!” Locke said from his position just to Willow’s left. “I don’t think magic capture and projection allows a non-wizard to put up shields, but even if I’m wrong about that, there’s no way he could get enough energy stored up from one wizard to put up a shield, and fuel all these magic guns.”
Stein was laughing again, the maniacal sound of it filling the air. Thankfully, the Dark Sparks seemed more interested in cheering for their leader than in resuming their attacks, which gave Willow a moment to recover her senses and think. How was Stein putting up this shield? And was there a spell—a powerful mental magic spell, perhaps—that she could cast to destroy that shield?
Then, suddenly, it hit her. She gripped the still-unconscious Alexis even tighter, and stared at Locke with horror in her eyes.
“The traitor!” she said.
Locke frowned. “Huh?”
“The traitor,” Willow repeated. “It’s so obvious. I can’t believe it didn’t hit me before. It’s not just my dad that Stein is getting magic from. Whoever has been committing treason and giving away top-secret Dragon Heart Agency information must also be giving Stein magic.”
Locke’s eyes widened as Willow spoke, but before he could reply, Stein was speaking again. His eyes had been scanning the crowd, and Willow felt terror crawling through her when his gaze stopped on her.
“You!” he said. “I should have known.”
Willow blinked, unsure of what he was talking about. “Me?”
She hated how scared her voice sounded as it squeaked past her lips. Why had Stein singled her out? Did he know she was the daughter of his prisoner? He must. The traitor at the Dragon Heart Agency had probably told him everything there was to know about Willow.
“Yes, you,” Stein sneered. “I should have known you’d be the one trying to steal my test subject. Give Alexis back, or I’ll blast you and all your friends here to an early grave.”
Willow’s heart twisted. Stein wanted Alexis, whom she was holding. That’s why he was staring at her.
Well, he wasn’t going to get his test subject back. Not on Willow’s watch.
“I’m not afraid of you!” Willow shouted. “And there’s no way I’m letting you hurt Alexis more than you already have.”
“Wrong decision, Willow,” a strange, new voice said.
Willow whipped her head around, looking in every direction in an attempt to see who was talking to her. Before she could figure it out, she heard a horrified gasp coming from Locke. Then, she heard more horrified gasps, these ones coming from Anjali and the other senior Agents.
“What is it?” Willow asked, the terror growing stronger. It wasn’t just crawling through her body now. It was racing through her body like a freight train. If something had shocked even Anjali, then it must be bad.
“Surprised?” the strange voice spoke again. “Only because all of you are too blind to see what’s right in front of you.”
“Father?” Locke asked, his voice trembling.
Willow felt her stomach churning. She’d never seen Locke looking so distressed, but as she looked back toward Stein, she immediately understood why. The man who had spoken, who must have been under an invisibility spell until that moment, looked like an exact, albeit slightly older, version of Locke. Beside the man stood a woman, with facial features that bore a remarkable similarity to Locke’s facial features.
“Mother?” Locke choked out. “I don’t understand. What are you doing here?”
“Joining the winning side of history, dear,” the woman said with a smile. “As should you.”
Locke made a strangled sound, and might have fallen completely to the ground if Kent hadn’t caught him just in time. Willow could only stare, open-mouthed, as all the pieces started falling into place.
Locke’s parents were the traitors the Dragon Heart Agency had been trying so hard to track down. And now, Locke’s father turned to glare at Willow.
“Turn Alexis over to us, Willow, or die. You know I’m a talented wizard. You know I can penetrate that measly protective shield you’ve got up.”
Willow only stared, unable to process everything going on around her. Locke’s father sighed, and raised his magic ring to point it directly at Willow’s heart.
“Fine, we’ll do this the hard way. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
A voice somewhere deep inside of Willow’s head screamed at her to do something. She needed to launch a counterattack, or strengthen her protective shield. At the very least, she needed to duck and roll, and get out of the way. Locke’s father was liable to kill her and Alexis with one fell swoop. But she stood, frozen. She just couldn’t believe that not one but two Dragon Heart Agents had betrayed the Agency. Not only that, but she couldn’t believe that those traitors were the parents of one of her fellow students. She’d never met Locke’s parents, but she’d heard plenty about them. She knew that, according to Locke, at least, his parents were talented Dragon Heart Agents who came from a long, proud line of wizards. How was it possible that they were the traitors?
As these thoughts ran through Willow’s head, her feet refusing to move, she barely registered the sound of Sylvie’s scream from somewhere to her left. Anjali’s voice was a bit clearer as it ordered her to move, now! But still, Willow only stood and stared, the world moving in extreme slow motion as Locke’s father sneered at her and opened his mouth to start speaking the words of an attack spell. Willow wondered what it would feel like to die. Would it hurt, or would it be over before she felt any pain? What would they tell her mother? What excuse would they make to explain away her death without giving away the secrets of the Dragon Heart Agency? And what of her father? Would he be disappointed that she hadn’t done a better job of saving Alexis? Would he be ashamed of her? Or would he understand that this had been a big job for an Agent who hadn�
��t even graduated from the Academy yet?
“No! Stop it!”
Willow was pulled abruptly back into the present moment when Locke himself suddenly jumped in front of her. She blinked in surprise. Didn’t he know his father was about to kill her? He was putting himself in harm’s way.
If he’d jumped a split-second later, it would have been too late for his father to stop the attack, and Locke would have been dead. As it was, Locke’s father cursed and jerked his hand to the left to avoid sending the Flamma attack spell into his son. The powerful laser beam still shot out from the man’s magic ring, but it went into the crowd at random instead of into Locke’s chest. Willow winced as she heard one of the enemy guards cry out in pain and fall to the ground with a thud. At least it had been an enemy killed at random instead of a Dragon Heart Agent.
“Locke, step aside,” his father said in a steely voice. “I need to take care of Willow.”
“No!” Locke said, much to Willow’s surprise. “I’m not going to let you just kill one of my fellow students in cold blood. Willow is my friend! She means something to me!”
“I am? I do?” Willow asked, surprise filling her voice. There were days Willow had thought Locke would have gladly killed her himself, if he’d thought he could get away with it. But here he was, standing up to his own father and risking his own life in the process, just to save her. Maybe he didn’t hate her quite as much as he acted like he did.
“Locke, your parents have been a great help to me,” Stein said in what was probably supposed to be a soothing tone, but still sounded grating on Willow’s ears. She couldn’t stand the way the man spoke.
“Then they’re traitors!” Locke said, his voice catching in his throat—the first hint at how upset he truly was by all of this. Willow was still holding Alexis in one arm, but she put her free hand on the small of Locke’s back, a silent show of support for the boy who had just saved her life.