“You promise you won’t tell anyone?”
“I promise.”
“It’s my mom. I’ve never told you, but we’ve been on the run from the Upholders for years. She had an accident and her magic is very volatile now. They are trying to take her away and put her in an institute somewhere she will never be allowed to use her magic and will never be allowed to leave ever again.”
“Willa, that sounds awful.”
“It is. When I was revealed as an animage, I knew we couldn’t keep running so I set her up in a place here in New York before I let the Upholders find me. They told me I had to come to the Academy, that all animages were required to. I told them Mom had left, and I didn’t know where she was. They seemed to believe me only now…” Willa paused again and began twirling her hair.
“Willa, what’s happening now?”
“I can’t find her. She won’t write and when I scry, I can’t see her. I went to check on her the other night and she wasn’t there. I’m afraid they’ve taken her. I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, let’s go find her.”
“Seriously? You mean it?”
“Yeah,” I said. “You said you went to see her the other night. Does that mean you know a way out of the school?”
“I do.”
“Then let’s go.”
Willa and I dressed in all black and headed out of the dorm room. We snuck to the edge of the trees behind our dorm.
“Wait,” I said. I pulled shadows of darkness around me to cover Willa and myself. Now no one would be able to see us.
“Wow, that’s cool.” Willa said.
“Dragons are creatures of darkness.”
“You sound like a fortune cookie.” I laughed.
“It’s something my dad likes to say. He’s basically a walking fortune cookie.” Willa led us through the trees to the furthest corner of the property. She placed her hand on the outer wall of the lot and pushed. A small opening appeared. Together we crawled through and out into the New York City night.
Covered in darkness like we were, no one paid us any mind as we carefully picked our way through people. The illusion would shatter if we ran into anyone. I kept the illusion on us until we were far away from the Academy and in one of the supernatural streets of New York.
“I’m afraid to ask anyone about her,” Willa said. “What if they tell the Upholders?” We needed a way to find where Willa’s mom was without alerting anyone. That would be difficult. Then it hit me.
“Willa, I’m so stupid. I know a really great Finder.”
“Sophie, I don’t know about telling anyone else.”
“Trust me, Willa. It’s Simon.”
“Can you contact him this late at night?” I nodded. We found a payphone. I spelled it to let me call without paying anything and dialed Simon’s number. Animage Academy students were the only ones not allowed to have electronics, the rest of the schools let students keep their phones and devices. Simon and I had a hurried conversation and then he was on his way. Thankfully his school was only a couple of blocks away, so we didn’t have to wait long before he found us. I hugged him.
“It’s good to see you,” I told him. He still smelled the same. Like potions and pine needles.
“You, too. Hey, Willa. What are you guys doing out? We are all going to get into big trouble if anyone discovers us gone.” I glanced at Willa, but she didn’t seem to be in any hurry to tell Simon what was going on.
“We need to find Willa’s mom. She could be in trouble. I thought maybe you could track her somehow?”
“Yeah, sure, do you have anything that belongs to her?” Willa handed him the charm bracelet she always wore. We found a deserted spot in an alley.
“I’ll need some fire,” he said looking at me. I nodded and breathed some fire into my hand. It burned there in a ball. “How long have you been able to do that?”
“About a month or so. It kind of happened on its own when I was arguing with Dad. It freaks people out, so I’ve been keeping it to myself.”
“You could always tell them you have really bad heartburn.”
I placed the fire in a metal hubcap Simon found and then he put the bracelet in the middle.
“Don’t worry,” he told Willa. “It won’t hurt the bracelet.” He knelt down and waved his palm over the fire, chanting words the whole time. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as he worked the magic. Finders were rare. Most witches and wizards could scry if they knew where someone was, but Finders were able to take an object and pinpoint the location of something. If they were strong enough, like Simon, they could even look into the future and the past of what they were looking for. It was powerful magic.
After a few minutes the fire split apart, opening in a circle and in the middle was a lady who looked just like Willa.
“Mom,” Willa whispered. She drew closer to the fire. The woman was standing in line at a store. She kept jumping and glancing over her shoulder at the smallest sounds. Willa let out a long breath. “She hasn’t been arrested. Can you tell where she is?”
“Yeah.” Simon closed his eyes for a moment. “A little grocery store about two blocks from here. We can be there in ten minutes.”
But as we watched her hands started to glow. First, they glowed red. Then green.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” she said. I jumped when the basket of milk and eggs she’s been holding crashed to the store floor. The eggs busted and scattered across the ground. People turned around to look. Willa’s mom shook her hands as they continued to glow in an array of colors. Purple. Gold. Blue. Pink.
