Sunny blinked her eyes open and groaned at the bright sunbeam that was shining directly on her face. Why was the sun so strong so early in the morning? She turned over and buried her head under her pillow, wishing that she had already found and put up her blackout curtains.
And then, she sat up suddenly and threw the pillow off her face. “Shit!” she said, scrambling to find her cell phone. “What time is it?”
When she found the phone, buried under newspaper scraps that had piled up from her unpacking efforts last night, she cursed again at the time on the display. “It’s already five past ten? Shit, shit, shit!”
Sunny began scrambling around like a madwoman, trying to find a clean t-shirt and her barista apron. She stubbed her toe at least half a dozen times as she ran around the small house in circles. Mocha sat up and gave her a look of mild concern, but soon decided there was no real emergency and settled back down on the sunny spot she’d found on the living room floor.
For, Sunny, however, this was an emergency. Her shift at the Bewitched Bean started at ten-thirty, and she didn’t think that being late on her second day would look all that great. She had a feeling that her coworker yesterday would have been happy for any opportunity to throw her under the bus.
“God, I hope I’m not working with her again,” Sunny said aloud as she pulled her hair into as neat of a bun as she could manage. Then she applied some deodorant and a few sprays of perfume before splashing cold water on her face. Another glance at her watch told her she had no time for makeup if she wanted to have any chance of getting to work on time. She brushed her teeth quickly and shrugged at her reflection in the mirror. Maybe everyone would be too interested in getting caffeine to notice what a mess she was.
Sunny ran to the kitchen and quickly dumped dog food and water into the dog bowls, then grabbed her keys and headed for the door.
“Bye Mocha, be good! And stay out of the neighbor’s flowerbeds.”
Mocha gave her an innocent look, and Sunny sighed. She had a feeling she was going to come home to an angry neighbor once again, but she would have to deal with that later. Right now, she just needed to get her ass over to the Bewitched Bean.
After another glance at the time on her phone’s screen, Sunny cursed and made the decision to take her broomstick into work. She’d be in trouble if she got caught, since she didn’t have a Torch Lake flying license yet. But better a ticket, even an expensive one, than losing her job. Besides, Sunny knew she could fly safely. She was probably better at magic and broomstick flying than everyone in this city, except maybe the High Council members.
“Magicae volant,” she said, pointing her magic ring at the broomstick as she ran to grab it from where it rested against the side of the house. She never slowed her stride. She grabbed the broomstick as she ran past it, then hopped on it in one smooth, running leap. Instantly, she was airborne, soaring high above the trees and houses. And for a brief moment, she forgot to be stressed out. She forgot to worry about money, or her grumpy neighbor, or her wayward dog, or even about the possibility of a ticket. She just breathed in the fresh spring air and leaned into her broomstick as she zoomed toward the coffee shop.
By some stroke of luck, she managed to get to work without getting pulled over, even though she had been blatantly speed flying. The time on her punch card when she clocked in read 10:30:59. She had made it with one second to spare.
“Ridiculous,” she muttered under her breath. “Tomorrow I need to set an alarm.”
She made her way to the front counter, where things were surprisingly slow at the moment. Yesterday at this time there had been a line out the door, but right now there was no one waiting to place an order. There were, however, quite a few people clustered around the one television in the far corner of the room. Usually, the television only played music on one of those curated playlist channels. But now, the news was on and everyone seemed quite interested in what the reporter had to say. Even Sunny’s two coworkers were leaning against the counter, straining to hear. Thankfully, the coworker who didn’t seem to like her wasn’t here right now.
“Turn it up,” one coworker said. “I can hardly understand what the guy is saying.”
The second coworker reached for the remote underneath the front counter and punched the volume up several notches.
“That’s better,” the first one said, and then seemed to notice Sunny for the first time. “Oh, hey, Sunny. Did you already clock in? We probably won’t be making any drinks for the next ten minutes or so, but I don’t want you to get in trouble for being late.”
“What’s going on?” Sunny asked, trying herself to hear what the reporter was saying. Something about how Councilor Morgan would be appearing at any moment now.
“The High Council called an emergency press conference. Something about the dragon recruitment situation.”
Sunny’s thoughts immediately went to Clint. If something was going on with the dragon recruiting efforts, he must be involved. She leaned forward, straining to hear along with everyone else. A tinge of worry twisted up her stomach. She didn’t know Clint all that well, and he could certainly be aloof when he wanted to be. But she was surprised to find that she did care about him quite a bit. Normally, she would have tried to analyze her feelings to death, but now her thoughts were interrupted by Councilor Morgan appearing on the screen. The old wizard looked tired, and the strain on his face was unmistakable. Sunny felt her heart pounding. This was not going to be a happy announcement. She thought of Clint again, and wished she had his number to text him and check up on him. Not that he wanted to be checked up on. He seemed like the independent type.
“Ladies and Gentlemen of Torch Lake, I come to you today to bring you grave news. As many of you know, it has been quite some time since we have been able to recruit new dragons to Torch Lake.”
“I’ll say,” one of the coffee bar customers said. “Those clowns at the Dragon Recovery Bureau and Dragon Utilization Department need to get their shit together.”
“Here, here!” shouted some other customers, all raising their coffee cups for a toast. Sunny wanted to tell them off, out of some strange feeling of loyalty to Clint, but other customers were already shushing them so that everyone could hear what Councilor Morgan was saying.
“We have refrained from making any official announcements about the situation because we were unsure of what, exactly, was causing the problems. Now, we have more information, and are passing it on to you. We ask that no one panic, but that we all use this information to work together to find a solution.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” one of the customers said. He was promptly shushed.
Councilor Morgan cleared his throat before continuing. “As you all know, there is unfortunately an underground group of dark wizards known as the Dark Warriors, who have tried on a few occasions to cause problems with some of our Torch Lake citizens. We have been able to hold them back, but it appears that they are now causing trouble for us where it really hurts: in Dragon Recruitment. The Dark Warriors stole information on dragon shifter whereabouts from our vaults several months ago, and have been using that information to make the dragons disappear.”
A murmur went up in the crowd at the coffee shop.
“What does he mean by disappear?” someone asked.
“Is that like an invisibility spell, or does he mean they’re killing them off?” someone else asked.
Sunny, however, stood perfectly still and silent, her jaw dropping slightly. She had a sinking feeling that she knew what Councilor Morgan was about to say. “But it’s impossible,” she whispered, her low voice completely drowned out by the din of the crowd. “I’m the only one alive who knows how to perform that spell.”
“After careful research into this problem, we believe that the disappearances are being caused by an ancient form of magic previously thought extinct. This is not dark magic, but merely a very old, very difficult type of magic that not many have been able to learn in our modern times. There was one place left where these spells were taught, but that clan and its Academy of Ancient Magic were fully destroyed in the Great Dark War. We had previously thought everyone in that clan died, but it appears someone may have survived and may be using their Ancient spells to thwart our dragon recruiting efforts.”
Sunny could literally feel the blood draining from her face. She gripped the counter with shaking hands. Someone from her old clan was alive. But who? And why were they using their magic to help a group of dark wizards? Sunny had known everyone at the Academy of Ancient Magic quite well, and none of them had been the type to work for evil. At least, she hadn’t thought so. She also hadn’t thought anyone else from her clan was alive. Now, she wasn’t sure of anything.
“Our energy all is focused now on finding any information possible on these ancient magic spells. We must learn the counter spells and train a wizard to do them, or all our chances at finding a dragon will be lost. However, this is not going to be an easy task. No records exists of ancient magic anymore, at least none that we know of. We are asking anyone with information on ancient magic, however trivial you think it might be, to contact us immediately. This matter is of utmost urgency.”
Murmurs went through the coffee shop as people started to understand the High Council’s dilemma. Several people declared that all hope was lost, and that there was no way the High Council was going to be able to piece together any ancient magic spells. Others started to say they had distant cousins or old friends who had know a bit about ancient magic, and that maybe those people could help. And still others were complaining loudly about the incompetence of the High Council and declaring that the military should be sent in to destroy the wizards responsible for the dragon disappearances. Never mind the fact that no one actually knew where the Dark Warriors were located right now. Sunny took it all in without saying a word. She was afraid that if she spoke, someone would know that she was hiding her true abilities, and march her right over to the High Council.
Councilor Morgan was wrapping up his speech, and the din in the coffee shop grew louder as the speculation about the announcement continued. Sunny didn’t want to join in on the discussions, not even with her coworkers. She turned away from them and tried to look busy rearranging some boxes of tea, but she knew they would be asking for her opinion before long. Luckily, with the announcement over, customers were starting to line up at the counter again. Sunny went to take their orders, praying that the coffee shop would stay busy for her whole shift so that she didn’t have to think or talk about anything other than Hocus Pocus lattes.
She hadn’t told anyone who she was, or what clan she’d come from. When she left Eagle Thicket, she’d promised the High Council there to maintain utmost secrecy. They had wanted her undercover, and, after the town was destroyed, she had wanted to be undercover, too. She hadn’t wanted anyone to know who she was.
But now, the future of her new clan might depend on her. No matter how much Sunny tried to concentrate on taking coffee orders, she could not shake the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She had some big decisions to make. Life never stayed calm for long, it seemed.