The Dragonstones Trilogy
Chapter 15

Sara opened her eyes to see the roof of the cave. She waited for a few seconds, then sat up. Her head throbbed as she tried to look around. There was no sign of the huge mass of magic, only the usual small pools. She would have questioned whether the whole thing had been a dream, but she had her location to prove otherwise.

Sara heard movement next to her, and looked over to see James stirring. His breathing sped up, and James opened his eyes. He shouted something in another language, his voice going up and down. Apparently it was part of a song because flames appeared in front of him and shot straight up. He blinked, then sat up.

“What was the fire for?” Sara asked.

“Thought I saw something,” James shook his head, then took a deep breath.

“What did you see?”

“It doesn’t matter.” James stood up, and helped Sara to her feet. “Did you see anything?” he asked.

“Yep. Did someone talk to you?” she asked.

“Yeah. A woman, with blue hair. Did you see her?”

Sara nodded. “I saw a small bracelet. Black stones that looked like shadows. She said they were the Shadow Stones.”

“Same here,” James said.

“Do you know what they are?” Sara asked.

James shook his head. “I’d guess they are objects of power, like the Dragon Stones. I’ll ask Dad if he ever heard of them on one of his adventures.” James’s dad had once traveled from place to place looking for magical and other valuable objects. Sara’s dad had done the same, until he found the Dragon Stones, and gotten killed by Drusk’s men. Dreams of that night had haunted Sara for a very long time.

Sara thought back to her vision, where she had seen Aevill attacking James. James seemed calm for someone who had just seen himself near death. “Did you see anything else?” she asked carefully.

James looked up, then shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. We both saw it,” he said. That didn’t sound much like an answer, and Sara wasn’t sure that they had both seen the same thing. James looked around, then said, “I’d prefer to get out of here. After what just happened, I don’t want any more surprises.”

Sara turned in the direction of what she thought would be the way out. The entrance to the cave had not been visible for some time now. Sara looked at James. “Do you think you could get us out of here?” she asked.

James said, “I can try.” He closed his eyes for a minute, then opened them and started singing a song. The orange light shone around him, then spread to Sara. The image of the outside of the cave popped into Sara’s mind. It was fuzzy at first, but grew sharper as the song progressed.

Sara felt a tingly sensation at her toes. It spread to her arms and legs. The image of the outside of the cave looked real now. It was darker than before, almost night now. Sara saw the trees, the snow. She heard birds chirping in a nearby pine tree. Sara felt a wet coldness in her shoes and a cool breeze blowing her hair.

James stopped singing, and the orange glow around them disappeared. James glanced around. Then, seeming satisfied with his work said, “Done.”

Sara looked around as well. What he had just done was amazing. Sara was surprised at how effortless he had made it seem. From what she had seen of magicians, all magic took at least some energy. If they had traveled a greater distance, Sara was sure that would have drained James’s energy.

Sara looked up at the sky, now purple. It was almost completely dark outside. Sara felt eyes watching her again, just as she had earlier. She turned and scanned the trees and bushes, then gave up. It was too dark to see anything. Sara turned back to James. “Ready to go?” she asked. She didn’t wait for an answer as she shifted into a dragon and leaped into the air.

James was close behind her. Wind rushed past her as Sara flapped her wings. It got darker, and Sara’s vision took on a greenish tinge as her dragon eyesight kicked in. Sara couldn’t take her mind off of what she had seen in the cave, and didn’t try to. That information definitely would need processing. James didn’t say a word during the fly home, even though there were pauses in his song where he could have spoken.

Sara located her house, and said goodbye to James. As soon as she landed, Sara went inside, up the stairs, and dodged a flying dustpan. Sara was surprised no dirt fell out of it. Sara entered her room, and plopped onto the bed. She fell asleep soon after her head hit the pillow.

In her dreams, Sara saw the Shadow Stones again. She heard the same thing she had heard in the cave. This will lead to your victory, or be your destruction. Be careful with the Shadow Stones, and use them well.

What? Sara wanted to scream at the voice. What are the Shadow Stones? What does this have to do with me? Who are you?

She got no answer. She heard only silence as she slowly drifted from sleep to awareness. Sara heard her cell phone ringing, and struggled out of bed to silence it. Victoria was calling.

Biting back a groan, Sara realized she must have thousands of texts from Victoria and Aspen, asking where she was, and why she wasn’t answering. Sara pushed the answer button on her cell phone, and braced herself.

“Hello?” she said.

“Sara! Finally! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you ever since last night!”

“Sorry. Things got a little crazy.”

“Really? What happened? I thought you and James went to the cave. James hasn’t been answering his cell phone.”

“We did go to the cave.”

Victoria waited. “And...?”

“I’ll tell you when I get to school,” Sara said quickly.

“Fine, but I expect some answers,” Victoria said.

“Kay.” Before Victoria could respond, Sara hung up. It would not be pleasant retelling the story of what had happened in the cave, but maybe it would help her and James finally get some answers, maybe realizing what they hadn’t thought of before.

The morning dragged on as they always did for Sara, but it also seemed to go quicker than normal. Before she knew it, Sara was at her usual table in the cafeteria. Victoria and Aspen walked up to her.

Victoria wasted no time. “So what happened last night?” she asked. Sara glanced around. No one was going to come to her rescue. “James and I went to the cave last night,” she started.

Victoria impatiently said, “Go on.”

“And we ran into a little magic.” Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ FindNʘᴠᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“What do you mean?” Aspen asked.

Sara recounted the events of the previous evening as quickly as she could. She finished just as James sat down with their group. Aspen shuddered. “Creepy. And you have no idea who or what that was in the cave?”

“I guess she was some kind of fairy or something, and the lake was part of her magic.”

“Talking about the cave?” James asked as he took his usual seat next to Sara.

“Yeah. What do you think happened?” Victoria asked.

James’s gaze became distant. He glanced at Sara, then away. “I don’t know,” he said. Sara ignored his strange behavior for now. The feeling of someone watching her had returned. She turned around and scanned the room, and once again she saw nothing. Sara looked closer at her surroundings, and shrugged. Maybe she was becoming paranoid. It would make sense after the Drusk incident and the strange behavior of the cave.

By the end of lunch period, Sara was almost able to tune out the feeling that feeling of eyes on her. Though, the last time she had felt that feeling. . .Sara shook her head. No. Drusk was dead, unable to come after her. Someone else could be, though. She did have the Dragon Stones. Sara walked to her next class with James. Aspen was not far behind. No matter how hard she tried, Sara could not get those unpleasant thoughts out of her mind.

The door to the art room was closed, and James paused. Something didn’t feel right. Sara felt it too and looked around. The halls were eerily empty. She changed into a dragon, and Aspen started whispering to nearby plants after seeing how Sara and James were acting. Grass shot up around her, then Sara and James. Sara didn’t see how it could help. If she was attacked by dark magic right then, the grass wouldn’t be able to do much but cushion her fall, but now was not the time to think about what others were doing, and Sara had rarely seen Aspen use her powers for larger things than small talk and the occasional request from one of the plants.

James hummed a song under his breath, and reached with a glowing orange glowing hand for the doorknob. He turned it slowly, and quickly released it. Sara jumped when she saw what was inside. Students lay sprawled all over the classroom. Sara heard breathing, but saw what looked like shadows covering the students’ bodies.

Sara and Aspen started to back out of the classroom, but James shouted, “Look out!”

Sara turned around to see Aspen get hit by dark magic. She slowly fell to the ground, but the grass shot up, and prevented her from receiving serious harm. Sara blinked. So plants could grow fast if they wanted to. The grass grew longer, and formed a cocoon around Aspen. It continued to grow, making a stronger shield and removing any fears Sara had for her friend's safety.

Sara felt a piercing cold in her back, and turned her attention away from Aspen. She turned to see the same boy from her vision in the cave, the one who was shooting shadow flames at her. Sara looked into his eyes. They were black as coal, just as Drusk’s had been.

Before he could shoot any more flames at her, Sara leaped, spinning in midair to avoid the flames. She landed behind him. Sara lifted her claws, but hesitated. Her venom was deadly if she clawed him hard enough. Even if it didn’t kill him, it would cause him a lot of pain.

That second of inaction was enough. The boy turned, and shadow flames flew at her faster than she could think. Sara felt stinging cold hit her face, and for a second, her vision almost went black.

Sara jumped back into the air, and flew around the room trying to avoid the dark magic. Sara chanced a glance back down, and saw James sneaking up on him. She just needed to keep the magician distracted long enough for James to disarm him with a spell.

A strand of dark magic suddenly hit her wing, and Sara saw her dragon blood fall to the ground. As a dragon, her blood was the same substance on her claws and teeth, venom. The blood landed on desks and the floor as she flew, leaving small scorch marks behind. Sara tried not to drip on any of the unconscious students. Sara tried to ignore the pain and focus on healing. Dragons, as well as several magical creatures, could heal faster than humans.

James was right behind the magician now. He sang a lullaby, and the magician’s eyes drooped. Within seconds, the boy was snoring on the floor. Sara landed. James looked at her. “You okay?” he asked.

Sara looked at her wing. The hole the dark magic had created was already healed. Yeah. She changed back into a human. Sara and James watched the magician as he dozed. “Think Aevill sent him?” Sara asked. She didn’t want to believe it, but someone with dark magic had just tried to kill her. She only hoped that she was done fighting dark magic, that this would be the last one. Somehow, Sara didn’t feel that lucky.

“We’ll see,” James said. He carefully sang different songs, binding the magician, then waking him up. Sara held her breath. The boy’s eyes popped open, showing confusion, surprise, and surprisingly regret. They were still dark, but not black as they had been when he had attacked them. “Cole,” he said. “My name is Cole.” Without another word, he faded into the shadows until he was no longer there.

Drana and other dark magicians liked to use that form of transportation. The magician would focus on becoming part of a nearby shadow, then would dissolve into it. They could reappear anywhere they wanted after that, so long as there was a shadow there.

Sara looked at James questioningly. He said, “He shouldn’t have been able to do that. I did a specific spell against it. Someone was helping him.”

“Aevill?”

James shook his head. “I don’t know. Why did he tell us his name?” Sara didn't have an answer, and both fell quiet, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Sara heard movement behind her and turned to see Aspen stirring. The grass seemed reluctant to leave her, but shrunk away as soon as the other students started moving as well.

Sara walked over and helped Aspen up. “Where are we?” Aspen asked, still half asleep. “What happened?” Sara glanced back at the students. Some were moving, but all were still on the ground.

“James, is any dark magic still in her?” she asked. When Sara had first fought Drusk, he had shot dark magic into her. She and James had made the mistake of assuming she was fine. That had led to Sara getting very sick later on, coming close to death. Sara didn’t want to take any chances with Aspen.

James sang a quick song about health or something similar. Sara didn’t listen too closely. James finished, then shook his head. “Within a few hours, all traces of dark magic will have left her system. She should be okay until then.”

Aspen smiled, then collapsed onto the floor. Sara and James struggled to lift her. “Are you sure?” she asked.

James sang a quick energizing song. “Yep,” he said.

Aspen’s eyes opened again, this time alert and coherent. “What did I miss?” she asked.

“Just a dark magician,” James said, trying to make what had just happened seem light.

“Cole,” Sara said.

“What?” Aspen asked.

“He gave us his name. Cole.” Sara said.

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Sara said. She wondered if Cole had been the one to cause Sara to feel eyes watching her. As if just thinking about it could cause her to feel it, Sara felt somebody watching her.

Sara and James helped Aspen to their next class, found some empty seats, then sat down. The rest of the day, Sara couldn’t get rid of that feeling. Was it Cole, observing her from the shadows? Sara guessed that her friends felt the same. Whenever she glanced at them, they were looking nervously around the classroom. Sara was glad when the day was over.

She flew home, through her open bedroom window, and landed on her bed. She walked downstairs to eat dinner. Her mom was home. They sat at the table quietly until her mom stiffened. Sara looked up from her plate. “What?” she asked.

Her mom relaxed. “Nothing. Some shield spells around the house were acting up. No one’s there,” she said. Sara wasn’t too sure. It could have been Cole, waiting to attack her again, or someone worse.

Sara couldn’t help thinking back to when Cole had given her his name. Why would he have done that? Drusk had been controlled by Aevill when he was alive. Maybe Aevill could control unwilling people. Aevill was the most powerful dark magician to walk the earth. In that second, Sara knew it. Cole was being controlled against his will.

Before she was done thinking the thought, Sara had whipped out her cell phone, and was already calling James. When he picked up, Sara immediately said, “I know why Cole gave us his name.” She told James her theory. “Next time he attacks us, we will have the advantage. We just need to come up with a spell that stops Aevill from controlling him.”

“That’s a great plan, but we’re talking about Aevill,” James said, sounding doubtful over the phone. “We would need a way to control Aevill or magic itself.”

The image of the Shadow Stones popped into Sara’s mind unbidden. The fairy had told her that the Shadow Stones would lead them to victory, or be their destruction. It was possible that the Shadow Stones could control dark magic. They could defeat Aevill and never have to worry about him again. Something in the back of Sara’s mind told her it couldn’t be that easy, but it was worth a shot.

“What about the Shadow Stones?” she asked.

“The Shadow Stones, the ones we saw at the cave?”

“Yeah. What if they are the key to stopping Aevill?” Sara asked.

“What if they aren’t?”

“In the vision at the cave, the fairy told me that the Shadow Stones would lead us to victory or be our downfall.”

“Exactly.”

“If they lead us to victory, they could somehow defeat Aevill,” Sara persisted.

There was silence on the other end. “James?” Sara asked.

“Are you sure you want to go after the Shadow Stones? We would probably have to fight Aevill to get them,” James said finally.

Sara felt eyes watching her. She looked around. There were a few windows, but it was black outside, and impossible to tell if someone was peering through. She could tell that James was reluctant to go, for some reason. “I’ll think about it. I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Sara heard yelling in the background. Mrs. Robinson shouted something. James said, “My siblings are fighting, and they’re using magic. Gotta go.”

“Kay. See you tomorrow,” Sara said.

“Bye,” was James’s only response. Before he hung up, Sara heard someone yell, “Benson, stop throwing your mud at Julie!”

Sara chuckled and hung up the phone. Her thoughts flew back to the Shadow Stones at once. She wasn’t even sure what the Shadow Stones did, and yet she was already thinking of going after them. There was a chance they couldn’t defeat Aevill. Was she ready to take that risk?

Sometime during her conversation with James, her mom had finished eating. Sara heard her go upstairs, saying goodnight to Sara. Sara looked outside and shivered. The feeling of eyes watching her had come back. She quickly turned and followed her mother up the stairs.

Sara quickly threw on some pajamas, then lay on her bed. James was not sure if he wanted to go after the Shadow Stones. Sara couldn’t blame him, but James seemed like the kind of person who was willing to take risks to help a greater cause. Stopping Aevill should have had some influence. Maybe it did, but James knew something that Sara didn’t.

Sara slowly fell asleep with thoughts about the Shadow Stones in her head. Should she wait? Should she go after them? Should she stay where she was at? Black consumed her vision. Sara spared a moment to remember she had not turned off her light, but was so tired, that it didn’t matter.

If she knew what she was about to see, she wouldn’t have been so eager to sleep.

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