Max opened the blue book. "Look. What do you see?"

Darcy glanced at the book. "Blank pages."

Max shook his head. "This book can't be read by daylight. Under moonlight, firelight, broken daylight, and that kind, the writing appears."

Darcy looked at the colored beams from the prisms. "Like the light from these prisms?"

Max nodded. Darcy pushed the book under a green beam and read the words: "Maxim, my son, you will be 17 tomorrow. You will begin study with Dr. Sara Young, who will educate you in the ways of magic. Very little magic is left, and you, a finder, are vital to Avalon as we become ordinary, just another planet circling a sun, and magic turns to myth and legend. Prepare for the days when our world, and we magicians are ordinary. Your father and I, Olga, Conrad, you, my two cousins are one family. The other family, the Youngs, have one heir, Edgar. Edgar and Olga have married, and they will hold most of the magic when we parents are gone.

I warn you to take care, to find as much magic as you can, hide what you can use, and fasten the rest to the old magical landmarks, so only a hunter can claim it. A balance of power in magic has kept the peace these seven thousand years, and when one family, one person, holds most of the magic, the world is theirs to rule. When the magic is gone we will be safe, if ordinary. Your loving mother.

"Hmmmm." Darcy turned to the next page and read, "Little brother, I will spare your life if you return with the magics from Earth and give me what you hid here. Do this, or I will send after you. Olga.

Darcy shut the book. "This is too weird."

The lunch bell clanged, and she jumped. "I have lunch now. You'll be on the bus this afternoon, right?" I'll walk home in the rain.

"Yeah. This is my lunch period, too. Can I join you?"

"Uhhhh. I don't want people saying I'm talking to myself again. You know." Darcy shrugged.

"We can eat here. It's allowed, but hardly anyone but me does it." He looked at her hopefully.

"OK." She'd shake Max sooner or later. Maybe tell her mom she was too sick for school tomorrow.

"Willow, hide." The lizard leaped to the shelves, disappearing behind the books.

Darcy almost always brought her lunch, but she went to the cafeteria with Max to get milk. He got pizza and coffee. Mrs. Ross said "Hello, Darcy," when they returned. They sat at the same table under the colored beams of light.

Darcy unwrapped her lunch: one slice of bologna on white with mayo, and an apple. She started eating. Max took a plastic container from his pack and opened it. It held mealworms. Willow appeared and Max set the container on the floor. The lizard slipped off the table as Max bit his pizza.

Darcy started on the second half of her sandwich. Max asked, "Did you see me around Green Meadow before the school bus last August?"

"No," Darcy said. "Were you here long before school?"

"I came on the solstice, found Uncle Nash, told him what happened."

"I'm sorry." Darcy put her sandwich down. She was uncertain what truth lay behind Max's words. Whatever happened, he was mourning his family.

"Your lizard--"

"Dragon."

"Dragon?" Darcy shook her head.

"Willow is the last dragon. Aura sent hers to kill me, but Willow killed it."

"Willow looks like an iguana."

"She's a fire dragon. She can't breathe fire anymore. She gets hot and start fires. She's good at warming feet on cold nights."

Darcy laughed, then snorted, choking on her milk at the image of a small fire dragon curled up on a quilt. "You're crazy. I've gotta go."

"I can prove it. Put your hand on her."

He set Willow on the table, and said, "Warm." The dragon glowed red. Darcy put her hand on the lizard and felt a pleasant warmth. Willow opened her mouth, and a few sparks flew out.

"Yeep!" Darcy jerked her hand back.

"No fire." Max patted the sparks out. "Believe me now?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. How is it I can see you when others can't?"

"They don't notice me. I homeschool, but some days take the bus here. Students look through me in class, and the teacher reports my grades. In the cafeteria I sit by myself. They ignore me."

Darcy nodded. "Yeah, they either bully you or ignore you. Ignore is lonely, but less painful than bullying. The school really cracks down on bullies."

"The Ainsley sisters are in some of my classes. I've seen how they treat kids they've decided aren't cool. The way Dee Ainsley treated you this morning at the lockers." He smiled slightly. "I'm sorry. That may have been because of me."

"A little. She was pretty mild today."

"You must have run across some magic around here. Our people stored some here. My Uncle Nash runs Books and Brew."

"I've been there a few times. Good drinks and secondhand books. Mom bought a pendant there for my sixteenth birthday last July."

Max leaned closer. "May I see it? It may be magic."

"The bail that holds it on the necklace broke. I have to get it fixed."

"Uncle Nash does silverwork, and jewelry repairs. Would you let him see it? He wouldn't have sold it to you with magic."

I'd like to find out if I'm imagining you, Darcy thought. "OK. When?"

"This afternoon. Where is it now?"

"Home. Can you stop at home with me?"

"Sure." He smiled, and Darcy thought again how attractive he was. His face had a little more maturity than most of the senior boys, and he seemed very intelligent. And he had a lizard-dragon that spit sparks.

The school bell clanged, and Darcy jumped again. "I've got Advanced English. Gotta hurry. See you on the bus."

"See you," Max said. Darcy grabbed her pack and hurried from the library. Max watched her go. He liked her looks, smooth complexion, and brown eyes. She wasn't the cutest girl, but she was pretty. "It's been a long time since I had someone my own age to talk to," he told Willow. The lizard flicked her tongue at a pizza crust and Max took it away.

At the door Darcy turned around and gave Max a little wave. I'm starting to believe him. What's really going on?