The Dragonstones Trilogy
Chapter 23

After running to the bathroom, throwing up, running back to the room Cole was in, and finally looking around, Sara decided that Cole had a cool house, even if black was the dominant color. Did all people with dark magic have a thing for that color?

“Feeling better?” Cole asked. “I know with most light magicians, traveling by dark magic is not ideal.”

“Yeah,” Sara agreed. She thought about the shadow portal, how she had fallen through it at an incredible speed. It had been so black, there was no light. Even with Sara’s dragon vision, she couldn’t see anything. Winds slammed into her as she fell, and normally that wouldn’t have bothered her, but the wind seemed off somehow. It seemed dark, and Sara guessed it was. It was created by dark magic.

Sara was jerked back to the present when she heard James and Cole’s dad arrive behind her. James, looking sick, ran straight for the bathroom. Sara didn’t miss the smirk on Cole’s face, his dark eyes watching James go. He glanced at Sara. “So you and James are looking for the Shadow Stones,” he said. He stepped outside onto his house’s black front porch.

The door shut behind Sara as she followed him. “Actually no,” she said. “We know Aevill has the Shadow Stones, thanks to you, but we heard about another Stone, one that can control light magic.”

“You had a vision.”

Sara looked at Cole, surprised. She had never told Cole about her visions, mostly because he had been forced to attack her every time he saw her. Seeing her surprise, Cole said quickly, “Aevill made sure I knew everything he did about you before he made me attack you.”

“Has he made you hurt anyone else after I left Mageton?”

“No.” Cole breathed a sigh of relief. “Aevill seems to have lost interest in me, for now anyway.” Cole looked at her. “I didn’t want to attack you, or James. You have to believe me.”

“Of course I believe you,” Sara said. “You’ve helped us before, and you held yourself back in some of our fights.”

“Your boyfriend doesn’t believe that,” Cole said bitterly.

“What?” Sara felt heat rush to her cheeks as she thought about James. “He’s not my boyfriend,” she said quickly.

Cole gave her a look that told her he didn’t believe her. “Whatever.” He quickly changed the subject. “Since you’re looking for that Stone, you might want to go overseas. Magic there is older than it is here.”

“Thanks Cole,” Sara said, grateful for both the change in topic and the helpful information.

Cole looked at her, then asked, “So what’s with the new eye color? You and your boyfriend wanted to have matching irises?”

Sara ignored Cole’s use of the word ‘boyfriend’ and said, “We actually don’t know. It happened sometime last night, and we noticed it this morning.”

“You two went to that cave a while back. When you came out, you both looked a bit different, even then. Maybe this is because of that cave.”

Sara nodded. “That’s the same thing we thought.” She stopped herself. “You were watching us that night at the cave?” she asked.

“Yep. I’m not proud, but I had to,” Cole said.

Sara sighed. “It’s okay. I believe you,” she said. Sara started to feel hot, and looked up at the sky. The sun was up higher, and the black porch was not helping with the heat. Cole must have noticed her discomfort, because he suggested that they go inside.

Sara found James with Cole’s dad in the living room. James was sitting down, but he didn’t look comfortable at all. In fact, he looked ready to run given the first opportunity. His bright green eyes and light hair clashed with the black decor around him. He relaxed visibly when Sara entered the room, then tensed again as he saw Cole.

“It was quite impressive to see you fight that magician. Until the very end, I thought you didn’t have magic,” Cole’s dad said, apparently talking to James.

“You fought without magic?” Sara asked James.

James looked down, then back up at her. “I was caught by surprise,” he said. “I didn’t have time to think of a spell.” Sara felt guilt stab into her. She didn’t know why she felt that way. It could be that Sara felt guilty that she had gone unconscious shortly after the fight began. Yeah. That had to be it.

Sara looked at James’s eyes, and was startled when she saw guilt. She looked at him closer, and saw that he was trying to hide it. A small idea formed in Sara’s head. What if the guilt she was feeling was not her own? Why would James feel guilty? Sara kept these questions to herself, at least until she could ask James about it later.

Cole asked her something, but Sara didn’t hear what he said. “Sorry, what?” she asked.

“Where do you and James plan on going next? Looking for that magic Stone.”

The hostile look returned to James’s eyes. “We don’t know yet,” he said shortly.

Cole looked at Sara. “He’s right,” she said. “We don’t know yet, although overseas seems like a good idea.”

“Overseas? Did I miss something?” James asked.

Cole smiled, his dark, almost black eyes flashing. “Yes you did,” he said.

Sensing another fight building up, Sara quickly intervened. “Cole told me that the Stone we’re looking for is probably not here. We should look for it where magic is older. We’ll have a better chance of replaceing it,” she said.

James shrugged. “I guess we'll go with that idea,” he said, though he didn’t look happy about it.

“How do you plan on getting there?” Cole asked.

“Airplanes are out of the question. We never know who will be on it. I can get us there, but I’d have to save up my magic for weeks,” James said.

“I could fly over there,” Sara said.

“No!” Cole and James said at once. They looked at each other in surprise, as if they had never expected to agree on anything.

James recovered first. “I know you can fly pretty far, but we’re talking about an ocean. You’d be exhausted half way through.”

“You’ll be exhausted if you transport us both over there,” Sara argued.

“I could try to get you over there, though the longer the distance, the more you’ll be affected,” Cole said.

Sara and James both groaned at the thought of more dark magic portals. “We’ll replace a different way,” Sara said. She rubbed the Dragon Stones absently as she thought. An idea suddenly struck her.

“James, when I talk to the dragons, do I disappear physically?” she asked him.

“Yeah. It’s kind of confusing sometimes. One minute you’re there, and the next, you’re not,” James said.

“When I come back, do I ever appear in a different spot than before?”

“No. Always the same place.”

Sara looked at them. “What if I were to fly there, but take breaks using the Dragon Stones when I need it?” she asked.

Cole nodded thoughtfully, but James still looked worried. “What if it doesn’t work?” he asked, “Would the dragons let me enter their world?”

The Dragon Stones glowed. “They trust you,” she said, and she meant it. Dragons were great judges of character.

“You should probably wait until morning, if you’re planning on flying across the continent, and over an ocean,” Cole said.

“We can replace a different place,” James said. Sara felt uncertain, though she wasn’t sure why. Was she feeling James’s emotions again? Why would he doubt his abilities to replace a hotel?

“It’s okay. James and I should leave as soon as possible. If I get tired, I’ll take a rest.”

Cole nodded. “All right. I’ll try to get you as far as I can,” he said. Although Sara did not look forward to more shadow portals, she needed to save her strength.

Cole pointed at a shadow, and it grew like it did before. He pointed to James when it was big enough. “You go first,” he said.

James looked like he wanted to argue, but didn’t. He jumped into the shadow, and disappeared from Sara’s view. Cole caught Sara’s arm before she could follow James. “Don’t keep him waiting forever,” Cole said. He smiled wryly. “He may not like me much, but he obviously cares about you.” He released her arm.

Sara looked at him, shocked. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“And you like him back, though you may not know it.” Cole smiled again. He had a very nice smile, Sara realized, but it was nothing compared to James’s.

“Just remember what I said,” Cole told her. He gestured to the shadow portal. “I can’t keep it open forever,” he said.

Understanding what he meant, Sara walked over to the portal. Wind howled somewhere inside of the blackness. Sara glanced back at Cole. He smiled. “If it helps, James is down there somewhere,” he said.

Sara rolled her eyes. “Bye Cole. Thanks for your help,” she said. She turned jumped into the portal, squeezing her eyes shut. Strangely enough, the thought of James did make the trip easier, even though it was still very uncomfortable.

Sara began to think it would never end, until it abruptly did so. Sara slammed into something hard, which on closer inspection she discovered to be concrete. Sara groaned as sharp pain shot through her. She had forgotten to change into a dragon before she jumped into the portal.

“Sara! You okay? That looked like it hurt.” Sara’s pain seemed to disappear when she heard James’s voice.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” she said as she got off of the ground. “Where are we?” she asked him.

“I haven’t been here long enough to figure that out,” James said. Sara wondered why James hadn’t just used one of his spells to replace out where they were. She pushed the thought out of her mind. She didn’t need to think about that right now.

Sara looked around. They were surrounded by tall skyscrapers. People walked around them, apparently oblivious that two teenagers had simply appeared there. “Ah ha!” Sara heard James say from somewhere behind her. She turned to see him walking toward her, a triumphant smile on his face. “New York City,” he said. “The guy I asked looked at me like I was crazy, but at least we know where we are now.”

“Cole was able to get us that far?” Sara asked.

James shrugged. “I’ve heard that dark magicians are stronger than light ones. Light magicians almost always win, though.”

“Is that why Aevill’s so powerful?” Sara asked.

“Maybe. I doubt we’ll ever know the real reason, though.” James’s expression darkened at the mention of Aevill’s name. Sara blinked. His eyes had literally darkened. Sara looked up at the sky. It was cloudy, and getting darker. James’s eyes had been glowing, and had darkened along with his mood. Their eyes’ new glowing powers would make it harder for them to hide their feelings, which may or may not be a bad thing.

James caught her staring. “What? Are my eyes doing something weird, well, weirder than what’s already happened?” he amended.

Sara nodded. “They gave away what you were feeling.”

“I thought eyes already did that.”

“No. I mean, your eyes were glowing, and they darkened after you answered my question about Aevill.”

“Hmm.” James’s eyes went back to glowing as they had been before. “If you’re planning on crossing an ocean tomorrow, you’d better get some rest. Let’s go replace a hotel.”

They found one after walking for a couple of blocks. Sara and James both agreed that they were in a city with too many people that could be magicians, especially dark magicians that Aevill could control.

As James conjured up money to pay for the hotel, Sara didn’t pay attention. She had seen him do it so many times, the magic no longer amazed her. Her attention was drawn back to him when he started panting, though.

“James, are you okay?” she asked him. His eyes glowed brightly as he looked at her, even though they were not in a dark room. James closed his eyes, then opened them again. He looked down at his hand, and there was a credit card in it. He handed it to the lady at the front desk, never taking his eyes off of Sara.

“I’m fine,” he said, his voice shaky.

Sara didn’t believe him, but there wasn’t much she could do. “You sure?” she asked.

James nodded and took the keys given to him from the receptionist. “You want to get something to eat?” he asked her.

Sara smiled. “We already ate out once today,” she said.

James shrugged. “We got attacked. We should try it again,” he said.

“Um. . .okay,” Sara looked at James. He looked fine, just a little nervous. Maybe it was because of the visit to Cole’s house. He had been edgy the whole time they had been there. She nodded to herself. That had to be it.

This time James chose the restaurant, and Sara actually found herself having a good time. She lost herself in the conversation, and forgot why they were there in the first place. For the first time in months, she forgot about Aevill and the Stone they were searching for.

Eventually, it got late and James paid for the meal with the credit card he had created earlier. Sara wondered why he had had such a hard time creating it earlier. They were ready to leave when Sara heard a familiar voice. “Sara! James!”

Sara turned to see Victoria White standing behind her. Victoria had dark hair, and her eyes were wide. She smiled. “You two are on a date aren’t you?”

Sara and James tried to argue with her, but Victoria refused to listen to them. “I knew it!” she said. “You two are perfect for each other! I’ve told you that more than once.” Sara looked away from James, embarrassed. Back in Mageton, where Sara, James, and Victoria had met, Victoria had always tried to play matchmaker and turn Sara and James into a couple, mostly using not so subtle methods.

“Aren’t you supposed to be back in Mageton keeping an eye on things?” Sara asked. “And where’s Aspen?” Aspen had been a member of their group as well, able to speak to and control plants through magic. When James and Sara were getting ready to search for the Stone, Victoria and Aspen had volunteered to stay behind in Mageton.

“Aspen’s back in Mageton. One of my classes had a thing here, so I decided to come. It was just luck that I noticed a bunch of confused looking New Yorkers.” Victoria’s magic was perception. She was able to see magic, and things other people would not normally notice. Victoria explained, “Whenever normal people are confused, it means that some magician used magic. It was just by chance that I came across you here. I was just planning on eating something, but I found you two here! How’s the search going?”

Seeing her chance to talk, Sara said, “Not very good. We’re planning on crossing the ocean tomorrow.”

“You’re taking a plane right?” Victoria’s eyes grew as she said, “You’re not, are you? How are you getting over there? Is James teleporting you both there?”

“I’m flying over,” Sara said, hoping that she would be able to.

“What? Are you crazy?”

Sara shrugged in response.

Victoria sighed. “Whatever. If I tried to argue with you, you’d both do it if you thought you had to.” She looked closely at Sara for a moment, then asked, “What happened to your eyes?”

“What?” Sara asked. She turned to James. “What happened now?”

James shook his head. “Nothing. She was talking about the color, and they’re glowing slightly,” he said.

Victoria looked at James. “You too! What happened?”

“Remember when I told you about the visit to the cave?” Sara asked, “Last time we were in Mageton?” Sara glanced at James, then said, “We think that James and I formed some kind of magical connection. It’s been happening for a while now. Every now and then, I can hear James’s thoughts, and lately I’ve been feeling what he feels. It’s been the same with him.” Sara glanced at James again. He nodded. “We can trust her,” he said.

“Can your new eyes do anything besides glow and look cool?” Victoria asked.

“They help me see better at night, though Sara probably hasn’t noticed a difference. At night, her eyes always turn this color. I was just surprised when they stayed that way in the morning,” James said.

“My eyes glowed at night?” Sara asked.

“Even when you were in your human form. I didn’t want to freak you out.”

Sara guessed he was right. It would have scared her to know her eyes glowed. “I probably would have,” she said. Sara smiled.

“Well that’s awesome,” Victoria said. She looked at something behind James, and her tone changed. “Sara, James, get out of here now.”

“Why?” Sara whispered, though she didn’t know why she was whispering.

“There’s a couple of dark magicians back there, looking for you,” Victoria said urgently. Sara heard her mutter something under her breath. “They’re pointing at you. They know who you are.” She pushed Sara into James, who was closer to the exit. “Go! I’ll cover for you,” Victoria said. Sara didn’t know how Victoria would be able to do that, but saw the determined look on her friend’s face, and didn’t argue.

“Thanks,” Sara said to her. Victoria smiled back. “Just don’t forget about James,” she said teasingly.

Sara laughed and followed James out the door. She glanced back and saw Victoria’s face turn serious. She walked toward the supposed dark magicians with purpose. She didn’t look back at Sara. Reluctantly, Sara turned back and followed James, who was waiting for her. His green eyes glowed as the sky got darker, and the clouds above them threatened to rain.

Sara and James hurried back to the hotel, blending in with the crowds. They decided not to use magic, knowing that the dark magicians would notice a bright orange light, or a green dragon flying toward a hotel.

Sara got to her room and looked around nervously. She didn’t feel any eyes watching her, but she still didn’t feel comfortable. That was the second time they had been attacked by magicians that day. Sara admitted to herself that it had been nice seeing Victoria, even though they had almost gotten attacked.

Sara heard a knock on the door, then James’s voice. “Sara, try to get some sleep. I’ll take care of the extra protection tonight.” Sara relaxed when she heard that. His voice by itself was comforting, but knowing that he could do what he promised calmed her down even more.

Sara made her way over to her bed. She was more tired than she had realized. She got under the covers, and within seconds was asleep.