Cave of Nightmares by V. St. Clair

wasn’t until he pulled back the covers that he saw Bonk curled up beneath them, trembling. Concerned, Hayden pulled the dragon into his arms as he lie down, whispering softly to him.
    “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s okay now, he’s not here.” He stroked the dragon’s head until the shaking subsided.
    Even magical dragons are afraid of my father.
    Hayden sighed, recalling Torin’s explanation of how Bonk liked to sleep with people. He thought about getting him a perch like Conner’s owl had, but he was too tired to care tonight.
    “Come on Bonk, time to sleep now.” He watched the little dragon close his eyes lazily.
    He thought he heard Conner chuckle from his desk, but Hayden was asleep before he could think to ask what was funny.

5
    The Powders Effect
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Hayden dressed carefully the next morning, pulling on his mage-belt and prism-holder before double-checking to make sure he’d picked up all his materials the day before. This was going to be his first day of actual classes and he had no idea what to expect from them.
    Zane and Conner tried to reassure him during breakfast, telling him what the different Masters were like and promising that he wouldn’t be expected to know anything about magic on his first day, with the result that Hayden was feeling slightly less anxious as he followed their directions to his first class of the day, which was Wands.
    Master Willow’s classroom was in the same part of the cas tle where he’d been tested for his major. He still didn’t know his way around the school very well, but fortunately he fell in behind a few first-years who were going to the same place, and he tried to memorize the route as he followed them.
    The classroom was laid out much like the room he was tested in, with the desks angled so they formed a wide semi-circle that faced the front of the room. There were three rows of desks spaced concentrically, and the seats were filling rapidly. Hayden estimated that there were about forty people in this class.
    Not sure whether there was assigned seating, he waited awkwardly near the front of the room to see what was left over. By the time Master Willow arrived and shut the door behind him there were only four vacant seats remaining, and Hayden settled into one in the front row and unpacked his bag, preparing to take notes.
    A few people were staring at him but he determinedly ignored them, and soon Master Willow drew everyone’s attention as he began the lesson, turning back the sleeves of his long red robes.
    “Yesterday we discussed the basic properties of natural magic, and why different types of wood are used for different sorts of spells. Today we’re going to begin with birch, the most basic of the woods we use.” He paced across the length of the room, his red robes swishing behind him.
    If ever a man looked more like his name…
    The Master was tall and willowy, with grey-white hair even though he didn’t look old. His robes hung loosely on his thin frame, but he still gave the impression of great strength and intellect, as well as a reassuring steadiness that most of the others were lacking, like nothing could faze him.
    “You were each aske d to procure a standard level-one birch wand as part of your basic toolkit,” he continued. “Remove it from your belt and hold it in the air, if you please.”
    Hayden looked at the others to make sure he grabbed the right wand. He wasn’t the only one to do so. When they were all holding their wands in the air, Master Willow continued.
    “Look around at your classmates’ wands for a moment and tell me what observations you can make.”
    For a moment no one spoke, and Master Willow motioned for them to lower their wands. Hayden set his on the desk in front of him as Willow called on one of his classmates at random.
    “Alexi?”
    “All the wands are the exact same length?”
    Willow gave Alexi a wry look.
    “Are you asking me if they are the same