Seven

It was late afternoon when Millie and Audun returned to Greater Greensward. They flew to the cottage where Francis lived with his parents, but he wasn’t there so they continued on to the castle. Even from a distance Millie could see her cousin pacing the length of the curtain wall. He was wearing his armor as if expecting someone to attack the castle at any moment, and the polished metal reflected sunlight so that it hurt her eyes and she had to close her second set of lids.

“Any luck?” he called as she and Audun landed on the parapets.

Millie shook her head. “We know where Felix is, but we can’t find him.”

Francis looked puzzled. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Agitated, Audun opened and closed his wings, making a sharp snapping sound each time. “It was Olebald Wizard who took him. I should have done something more permanent to him when we captured him in Aridia after the war over the throne. King Cadmus was sure he could keep him locked up, but Olebald is slippery and can escape from just about anything. He’s been imprisoned in the dragon stronghold three times now. The last time he escaped, he sent two dragon guards to another time and place. No one has seen them since, and the king declared them both dead. After that the ice dragons were really out to get him. They’d be interested to learn what he’s been up to lately.”

Millie was changing back into a human even as she said, “Olebald turned Felix into a frog, Francis! He left him in a huge marsh in Soggy Molvinia. My brother is just a baby! He won’t know how to find food or stay safe or anything! We have to find him right away, except we don’t know how.”

Francis reached up to scratch his head, and his fingers hit his helmet with a clang. He winced and shook his hand. “I want to help, but I don’t know any frog-finding spells.”

“Azuria, Oculura, and Dyspepsia are already looking for Felix. We think the best thing we can do is get my mother, only I don’t know how to find the old witches’ island. I was hoping you could tell me where it is.”

“I don’t know, either. My parents have gone there a few times, but they’ve never taken me with them. Is there anyone else you can think of who might know?”

“Great-Grandmother, but she’s away with Great-Grandfather. There are probably some older witches in the retirement community who know, but I hate to waste time going door-to-door asking for directions.”

“We might have to do that,” said Francis, “unless … Does your mother still have the old carpet that used to belong to my mother? You know the one I mean—they used it the first time they flew to that island looking for Great-Grandmother.”

Millie nodded. “It’s in the back of her closet. At least it was when I went in looking for the basket with my old baby things. Mother saved all my clothes for when I have a baby, but she’s using them for Felix now.”

“You can use the carpet to find the island,” said Francis. “Just tell it to take you to where it took your parents.”

“That was a long time ago, Francis. My parents weren’t even married then.”

“Magic carpets never forget,” said Francis. “I think it has to do with the way they’re woven.”

“It’s worth a try,” said Audun.

“I’ll help you get the carpet started, then I’ll see if I can locate a spell that would help me find a particular frog in a marsh full of frogs. But I think you’re right; our best chance to find Felix is if your mother comes back.”

Emma’s storage room was nothing like Millie’s. True, they were both small and dark, but Millie usually tossed things into her room, then had to hunt around for them later. Her mother was much more organized and kept her storage room so neat that it was easy to find things. Millie located the rolled-up carpet leaning against the wall in the back of the room, a thick coating of dust dulling the vibrant colors on the outside. She could have sworn it shivered when her fingers brushed against it, almost as if it couldn’t wait to go flying.

The carpet was heavier than the one her mother had given her, and it proved to be much bigger once Audun and Francis wrestled it through the door and unrolled it. The scarlet, gold, navy blue, dark green, and cream were brighter than Millie remembered. She had ridden on the carpet with her mother when she was younger, but Emma had used it only rarely.

The old carpet would seat four people easily. Two heavy cords were attached to the carpet next to where the people riding in the front would sit. Grassina had put them there the first time Emma and Eadric had ridden on the carpet without her, but Millie had no idea how to use them.

“It’s awfully big,” said Audun, scratching his chin as he studied the magic carpet. “Will it fit through the window?”

Millie nodded. “When I rode on it with my mother, the window widened to let us through. Have a seat,” she said as she stepped onto the carpet and sat down cross-legged.

“You don’t happen to remember what your mother used to say to get this carpet to move, do you?” asked Francis as Audun joined Millie.

“Not really,” said Millie. “She hasn’t used it in a long time.”

Francis shrugged. “It probably doesn’t matter much. The older magic carpets are kind of funny that way. It’s more the magic and the intent behind it than what you actually say. I know something I can use that should work. Are you all set?” When Millie and Audun both agreed, he raised his hand in a dramatic gesture and said,

Take them to the island

That her parents went to see

When looking for the witches

Who had gone through trickery.

The magic carpet shivered just as it had in the storage room, only this time Millie could feel it through her whole body. When it rose from the floor, the movement was so smooth that she might not have noticed if her eyes hadn’t been open. Audun took her hand as the carpet rose higher, and she turned and smiled at him. He’d been so helpful ever since he arrived. She didn’t know what she would have done if he hadn’t been around when Felix disappeared. Just having him there was—

The carpet suddenly darted forward, only to slam into the sides of the window frame. Millie cried out as she nearly fell through the window, but Audun had a good grip on her arm. He pulled her back as the magic carpet backed up and prepared to try again.

“No! Stop!” shouted Francis.

“Hold on!” Audun cried, grabbing the edge of the carpet with one hand and wrapping the other arm around Millie’s waist.

Taking hold of one of the heavy cords attached to the carpet, she gripped it so hard that her knuckles turned white. The carpet quivered and took off, ramming the window frame with even greater force than before. Millie and Audun bobbed back and forth like a pair of children’s toys, but they didn’t fall.

“Jump off!” Francis ordered.

Frantic, Millie looked around. The carpet was already backing up to the rear wall. Then suddenly it shot forward and was nearly halfway to the window when it tilted onto its side. Millie and Audun grabbed the upper edge and held on, their feet scrabbling to get a purchase on the now-vertical carpet. This time it slipped through the window with room to spare, although both Millie and Audun scraped their legs against the windowsill. Once outside the castle, the carpet righted itself and took off into the cloudless azure sky.

“Be careful!” Francis called after them.

Millie glanced back, but the carpet was moving so fast that the castle was already dwindling in the distance. They were passing over the closest village when she let go of the cord and reached for Audun’s hand.

“Tell me about the island,” he said. “What was that about witches going there through trickery?”

“It happened before I was born,” said Millie. “Olefat Wizard, Olebald’s brother, tricked some witches into going to a tropical island. Some of the witches liked it there and decided to stay. Cadmilla, the witch who came to get Grassina, is one of the few who still lives on the island.”

“I visited a tropical island once,” said Audun. “It was too hot for my taste.”

Millie laughed. “Most tropical islands probably are.”

Although Millie had flown great distances as a dragon, she’d never grown tired of seeing the countryside change beneath her. She leaned forward now, watching the land below them. They flew past the Purple Mountains, where she’d often attended the Dragon Olympics with her friend Ralf and his parents. When she saw pink clouds rising from the volcanic bowl where dragons practiced flame-breathing events, she smiled and pointed it out to Audun. “I’ll take you there to look around sometime,” she said. “We can go to the Olympics, too, if you can stand the heat.”

Millie’s muscles became stiff long before they reached the desert, and she leaned back to watch the clouds. After a while her eyes closed and she dozed, waking with her head nestled against Audun’s shoulder in time to see the sky turn red and orange as the sun set. Night came and they watched the twinkling stars. They talked about their plans for the future, and the constellations above, but mostly about Felix and what they hoped Emma would do when she returned to Greater Greensward.

They drifted off to sleep, and when they woke they were flying over the ocean. Ralf’s parents had brought her to swim in the great rolling waves and she’d always loved the way it smelled. She sat up now, breathing deeply, and felt Audun’s gaze on her. He was still lying down and she turned her head to look at him. The warmth of his gaze made her blush, but she smiled at him, happy to have him along.

They both turned their heads at the sound of wings. A gull landed on the edge of the carpet. It tilted its head to eye them, then took off, leaving a single feather behind. “There must be land around somewhere,” Millie said, although she looked in every direction and couldn’t see anything but water.

“There are lots of islands,” said Audun, covering his mouth as he yawned. “The trick is finding the right one.”

They saw the occasional islands after that, but the magic carpet passed each one, heading farther and farther south. There were no clouds in the sky, and the sun seemed to burn brighter with each passing minute. Millie began to look at the water with longing, imagining what the cool depths would feel like on her hot skin.

She was considering tearing off a strip of fabric to protect her face from the sun when suddenly the magic carpet shuddered to a halt, flipped over, and dumped them off. “Help!” Millie screamed, tumbling head over heels. The skirt of her gown flapped in her face each time she turned right side up so that she had to fight to see where she was headed.

She turned over so that she was upside down for a moment. Her skirt gathered around her legs, allowing her to see Audun falling only a few yards away. “Change!” he shouted as the air began to shimmer around him.

When Millie flipped again, the fabric slapped her in the face; she shoved it out of the way and glanced down. The sight of the water rushing up at her with incredible speed was nearly paralyzing. The crack of Audun’s wing beat made her whip her head around so that she was looking away from the water … and then she changed, too.

Millie’s feet were aimed toward the water when her first wing beat cupped the air, pushing her higher. The next few beats carried her past Audun, who was flying so close that the scales on his wings brushed hers. “I was going to catch you if you didn’t change in time,” he said, his brow wrinkled with worry.

“Do you know what happened? Why did we fall?”

“I have no idea,” said Audun. “One minute we were flying along just fine, and the next the magic carpet was flipping upside down. I see an island ahead. Do you suppose it’s the one we wanted?”

“Do you think the carpet flipped on purpose? My mother told me that she and Father turned into frogs and fell off the carpet. I guess it brought us to the same spot where my parents got off. I just wish we’d had some warning. You don’t see the carpet anywhere, do you? I’d hate to lose it.”

“I think I saw it headed back the way we came,” said Audun.

“Maybe it’s going home. Mother might have put a homing spell on it in case it got lost or stolen.”

“About that island …”

“That might be it,” Millie said, squinting into the bright sunlight. “It certainly won’t hurt to go look.”

They flew to the island, startling a flock of seagulls headed in the same direction. Millie peered down at the ground, looking for the witches, but there wasn’t anyone on the beach or among the trees or anywhere on the island as far as she could tell. She circled around again and saw some debris just inside the tree line, but no sign of any people. Green crabs scuttled out of her way as she glided to a landing on the white sands of a pristine beach and raised her head to look around. Audun landed beside her, raising a cloud of sand with the last beat of his wings.

Millie closed her second eyelids until the sand settled. “I didn’t see any people from the air, did you?” she asked.

“Not one,” Audun replied. “And there’s no sign of humans near the water. Maybe this isn’t the right island after all.”

“But this was the closest island to where we fell off the carpet. This should be it.”

“Are you saying that because you have a feeling or because you want it to be true?”

“Both, I think,” said Millie. “Because if this isn’t the right island, I don’t know what we’re going to do!”

“I think we should look around some more,” said Audun.

“Fine, but we don’t have much time. If this isn’t the right island, we have a whole lot of ocean to search.”