The Dragonstones Trilogy

Mrs. Robinson looked up at the sky, darker than when they had started. “It’s getting time for dinner, so we have to go. We can talk later, if you want.”

“I’d like that,” Sara said, smiling slightly. She exchanged goodbyes with the family, and walked home. Sara fixed herself a small dinner, and ate quietly. When she was almost done eating, her mom walked in the door, back from work. Sara studied her mom while she ate, trying not to be too obvious about it. Her mother didn’t seem magical, not to her. It was weird to think that what James’s mom had told her was true.

More to break the silence than to relieve her conscience, Sara said to her, “I’m sorry.”

Her mom looked up. “For what?”

“The fight we had the other day.”

“Oh. It’s okay.” Sara had a feeling that she had been forgiven even before she apologized. She waited for the relief that the fight was over to bathe her in happiness, but she felt nothing. It was all very anticlimactic.

That night, Sara studied the necklace, ignoring how late it was. If it was as precious as Mrs. Robinson had made it out to be, Sara knew she had to keep it safe. For all she knew, Drusk was already thinking up ways to get it back. Sara fumbled with the clasp until she had it around her neck.

Sara thought about all she had seen, heard, and learned over the past few days. It seemed so unreal, like a dream. Sara hoped she would wake up soon, but something told her she wouldn’t. This was reality, and she had to deal with it.

That night, Sara’s dreams were more like random voices, brief memories, and images of the man oozing black, Drusk, reaching out for her, his black eyes filled with hate. Why did he despise her so much? She was only a teenage girl who could change into a dragon.

Sara woke up, not feeling rested at all. Her mom was eating breakfast, oblivious to the cheerios floating above her head. Sara glanced at the cereal curiously, then got her own breakfast. Sara considered asking her mom about the floating food, but then decided against it. It did bring up another question, though. Did her mom know about magic again? If so, when had she discovered it? She certainly hadn’t when Sara was a little kid. At least, that was what she had let on. . .

The morning passed by uneventfully, with the exception of Victoria’s getting caught texting in class. That lifted Sara’s spirits. She knew she should have felt guilty, but Sara told herself she couldn’t change how she felt, and that Victoria had had it coming.

Right before lunch, James asked Sara, “You wouldn’t miss anything if you were to skip out on class tomorrow, right?”

“Nothing I couldn’t make up,” Sara answered. “Why?”

“My mom figured that you could use some training.”

“You mean. . .that?” Sara asked, thinking about her changing ability. She wished she could have thought of a better word than “that” to describe it.

James replied, “Unless you want to learn the piano.”

“Do you know how to use your magic?”

“Sort of, I know how, but I’m still learning, if that makes any sense.” That made Sara feel better. The thought of just her learning to use her powers when everyone else knew how had seemed a bit scary.

Sara mentally rearranged her schedule. “Okay. So tomorrow?”

“Yeah. How about tomorrow, at my house?” Sara looked James in the eye, something she had avoided doing.

“Are you going to tell her about. . .you know, that thing?” Sara just had a way with words today.

James looked uncomfortable. At least he knew what she meant. “I haven’t really come up with a way to bring it up. What happened back in that cave isn’t really something you can just spring on your parents with superpowers.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Though he didn’t want to admit it, Sara could tell that the meeting with Drusk had really shaken him.

“She needs to know,” Sara told him firmly. “If you don’t tell her by tomorrow, I will.”

“And who knows?” she added. “Maybe it’ll be nice having some magical backup.”

James shrugged and said, “Sounds fair enough,” and they both walked into the art room.

Sara went home after school, and worked on her homework. She heard the door open as her mom walked in, looking stressed and pleased with herself at the same time. “Something happen at work?” Sara asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes,” Mom said, looking at her. Her eyes grew distant for a second, then returned to the present.

“What?” Sara asked, still not dismissing her theory that her mom had rediscovered magic by herself.

“I saved someone’s life today at the hospital.”

“That’s always good,” Sara said cautiously. “How did you do it?”

“You wouldn’t believe it,” Mom said, smiling slightly. Her reply caused Sara’s thoughts to shoot off in every direction. Was healing part of Mom’s abilities? Maybe her mom had prepared some magic poultice. Sara’s mom went over to the stove to begin cooking dinner. Sara thought she saw her mom whisper, and a kind of pink mist enter into the soup she was cooking.

As they ate dinner, Mom asked, “So, how’s school been?” Her face was blank, and Sara knew she was trying to contain her emotions. She didn’t do it very well.

Sara briefly thought about what to say, then answered, “Oh, not much going on. Some people have been doing magic lately. I think it’s gonna be a new trend.” Sara intently studied her mom for a reaction. She was not very surprised when her mother’s eyes widened slightly, but only barely. If Sara hadn’t been looking for it, she would not have noticed it.

“Oh? What kind of magic?” Mom asked. Her expression was neutral, but her tone betrayed her interest. Sara tried to make her reply casual, but she knew she wasn’t a better actress than her mom.

“You know, the usual. Card tricks mostly, but one boy I know, the one I went hiking with, made himself glow. I’m sure it was just the light though.”

“That’s very interesting,” Mom replied, and quickly changed the subject to discuss Sara’s grades. All she had to do was mention math, and Sara couldn’t stop herself from voicing her strong opinion that whoever came up with math should never have been born.

Sara’s mom finished her dinner and excused herself. When she was gone, Sara made a mental note to talk to Mrs. Robinson about what had happened. There was almost no doubt that Sara’s mom was at least in the process of finding her magic. Sara hoped she would remember she wrote that mental note tomorrow.

Sara felt the dread that was almost becoming too common. She finished her soup quickly, and almost dropped her dishes. In a dark corner of the room stood Drusk, his dark eyes drilling into hers. Sara blinked, and he was gone. She shook her head. Now she was seeing things, she told herself. She tried to believe it. She had had a late dinner, so maybe it was just a shadow. Maybe she really was crazy, and this all was only a dream, especially the new weirdness with her mom. Never taking her eyes off of the corner, Sara left the kitchen and found sanctuary in her room.

The rest of the night Sara spent reading a fantasy novel. Sara was amazed how much of the plot sounded like her life. Around midnight, Sara reluctantly closed her book and turned off the light. She made sure that she was wearing the necklace. She didn’t know any better ways to protect it than to keep it on her at all times, like her father had. She was ready to lose herself to sleep when the window opened. Sara groaned. Why did it have to be now? A blanket of terror covered Sara. She was not safe.

There was a full moon outside, but Sara could barely tell. Her room was filling up with black, tangible darkness. Sara hoped that it wasn’t what she thought it was.

Drusk seemed to float in on a cloud as black as the shadows in her room. Sara didn’t feel herself change, but she knew her claws and fangs had replaced her fingernails and teeth. The glowing liquid on her claws and the shining stones on the necklace stood out against the darkness. Did that mean she wasn’t in enough danger to change into a whole dragon?

Drusk paused for a moment once he was inside her room. Sara felt a chill run down her spine as the realization hit her. He was in her room! After a while, Sara had enough courage to speak first. “Why are you here?” She resented how shaky her voice was. She cleared her throat as she tried again. “Get out.”

His voice grated on Sara’s nerves. “I come for the thing you wear around your neck. Give it to me, and I leave you alone forever.” Sara shivered. She could go on for the rest of her life without ever seeing him again.

Sara’s hand was halfway to her neck before she stopped herself. A sudden thought struck her. She said, “Why do I need to give it to you? Why don’t you just come and get it?”

Drusk didn’t reply.

“Why do you want it?” Sara asked. “It’s because it has more power than you, isn’t it?” Sara wasn’t sure if the necklace had power, but Drusk seemed to think it did. Sara wasn’t stupid. She had read her share of novels and seen enough movies to know that power hungry men always wanted more power, and would destroy anything or anyone that got in their way. Sara felt small, knowing that the necklace in her possession was all that was protecting her right now, and she didn’t even know how to use it! Sara forced down a surge of panic that told her to run, but Sara knew she couldn’t. If she ran, Drusk would stop her, or find her again. She would have to stand her ground.

Her words seemed to have the effect she wanted, though. His eyes narrowed as he hissed, “You could never comprehend how much power I have.” His words told Sara that the man in her room was crazy. Her instincts told her to be careful.

Not knowing what else to do, Sara put on a show of carelessness. She hoped that her pitiful acting skills would do the trick. “Look, I’m tired, so you need to leave.” Luckily, the necklace cooperated with her, and shined brighter than anything Sara had ever seen before. Her room was bathed in the awesome blue light. Drusk shrieked, and dissolved into small particles of blackness. Sara shuddered. It was unnatural.

Sara stared at the spot Drusk had been only minutes ago, wondering just what this necklace did. If it had protected her from dark magic, what else could it do? Sara tunneled back under her covers, but doubted that she would be able to get any sleep now. She was right. When her alarm went off, Sara was more than happy to get out of bed. Before class James leaned over and commented, “You look tired. Is everything okay?” Sara’s heart sped up for half a second. James was nice, but she knew he was only being polite. Sara had looked at a mirror earlier that day, and she knew she looked worse than tired.

“No,” she said as she grabbed books from her locker. “The person you call Drusk visited me last night.”

“What?” James struggled to keep his voice under control when some students looked at him strangely. “What happened? Why?”

“I’d rather not say,” Sara said evasively.

James looked like he wanted to push the issue, but said, “All right. My mom’s gonna get us out of fifth hour today, so be ready.” James started to glow, but didn’t seem to realize it. “I can’t wait to see your first day at magic school.”

“You mean you’ll be watching?” Sara feared the answer.

“Of course,” James said. He smiled optimistically. “Don’t worry. It’s not that hard.”

“The watching or the learning?”

“Both.”

“Okay.” Sara turned her attention back to the front of the classroom.

As James had predicted, Mrs. Robinson checked both James and Sara out of school, and ushered them into her car. She drove to a small neighborhood full of trees and children playing in the street. They narrowly missed hitting a dog.

Mrs. Robinson parked the car in front of a middle sized house. She led them downstairs to the basement, full of gym equipment.

“This is our gym. It’s where you will learn how to use your powers for the most part. I’m going to also teach you basic magic history, and other useful little tidbits of knowledge.” Mrs. Robinson seemed very eager to have a new student.

“You like teaching, don’t you?” she asked Mrs. Robinson.

“Of course I do. Before I got married, I was an elementary teacher. I mostly taught fifth grade.”

Mrs. Robinson led them to the back yard. It was freshly mowed but strewn the leaves strewn over the green made it hard to tell. “This is the backyard. Today I was planning on showing you the house so you can find your way around. Different rooms are better for different magics, so we’ll focus on that. Tomorrow the real learning will begin,” she said.

After the grand tour of the Robinsons’ house, Mrs Robinson drove Sara home. After thanking her for the ride and saying goodbye, Sara went inside. Drusk didn’t bother her that night, and Sara had mostly pleasant dreams.

The next day after school, Mrs. Robinson told her, “The first thing you need to know is how to control your powers. When do you normally change forms?”

“It’s usually when I’m in some sort of danger,” Sara said.

James and Mrs. Robinson exchanged a look. “I’ve been teaching James about magic, and he wanted to teach you today. I need to start cooking dinner. Have fun!” She was gone before Sara could object.

James took charge. “Okay. A good place to start would probably be the roof.” Sara followed James outside, and watched as he sang a song to get a ladder and prop it against the house. When they had both climbed up, James grabbed the top of the ladder, and pushed it away. “How will we get down?” Sara asked, feeling like she was missing something.

James smiled. “You’ll see,” was all he said. He started lecturing her on how shape shifters changed, and how sometimes they would change to protect themselves. His eyes lit up as he talked about magic, and his aura danced until suddenly it vanished. Without warning, James pushed Sara off the house.