Inside the main wooden building, just as Ben had said, the scene was total chaos.
Roars, screams, and the crackle of flames filled the air—all coming from the dragons still trapped behind their barriers.
The on-duty keepers had already left with Charlie to hunt down the three escapees. The dozen or so witches and wizards left behind had just finished their shifts and were supposed to be heading to bed.
The sudden alarm sent them scrambling out of the staff dorms. One guy was still pulling up his pants while running. Another had his wand backward. A third burst into the building barefoot.
None of them noticed the burning tent far behind them.
"Three people to Sector Four—two Welsh Greens are panicking!"
"Reinforce the barrier! Whisky's breathing fire again!"
"Get to your assigned zones and calm them down!"
Lina, the youngest keeper at the sanctuary—twenty-two years old—ran while yanking on her protective gear. The zipper caught her hair; she ripped the clump right out and kept going.
"Leave the Bull to me! The rest of you help the others!"
She threw open the gate to Paddock 45 and stepped inside alone. The two keepers behind her nodded and sprinted off.
The Bull was a Hebridean Black—nastier and more aggressive than the Welsh Greens. It loved charging across open plains. Right now, flooded with fear-and-excitement pheromones from the other dragons, it was smashing itself against the magical barrier like a battering ram.
As its regular keeper, Lina had seen the Bull lose it before. Four years of experience let her stay calm enough to send the others away.
She clapped her hands sharply and shouted, "Bull!"
The raging dragon froze, swung its head, and fixed its blood-red eyes on her.
Lina crouched low, arms spread wide.
"Come on, big guy. Let's dance."
---
One by one the keepers worked together and got the situation under control. The fire in the juvenile area was out, the screaming hatchlings were asleep, and the Hebridean Black had sulked into a corner looking thoroughly depressed.
Eleven keepers gathered, reinforcing the main barriers, relief and worry plain on every face.
"Finally quiet again."
"Now it's up to Charlie and the others…"
"I counted the escapees—one Hungarian Horntail, one Peruvian Vipertooth, and one Romanian Longhorn!"
The group shared a grim laugh. Of course the three biggest troublemakers in the entire sanctuary had broken out. They were hard enough to handle inside cages. Loose? Charlie's search team was in for a nightmare.
While they were talking, every open side of the wooden building suddenly flooded with brilliant white light.
Everyone froze.
"Is… is it dawn already?" someone asked, stunned.
"No, it's only three in the morning…"
"It's a signal!" Lina snapped, eyes sharp. "Something's gone wrong outside. We've been warned. A few of you stay here—the rest, with me!"
She whipped out her wand. "Accio broom!"
A broom shot from the corner. She swung onto it and blasted out of the building.
The others stared for half a second, hearts racing again, then scrambled after her.
"Move!"
"Damian, Rash, Dylan—you three stay. Everyone else, follow!"
More brooms rose into the night.
---
"Lumos Maxima!"
Richie thrust his wand skyward. A blinding white orb shot from the tip and rocketed upward.
It didn't disperse right away. It climbed higher and higher, growing brighter every second.
Thornhead noticed the glowing sphere and fired a jet of blue flame. At the exact moment the fire left its mouth, Ben whipped his broom around and shouted, "Incarcerous!"
Thick ropes burst from his wand and wrapped around the dragon's horns. Ben yanked hard, wrenching Thornhead's head sideways. The fireball streaked past the light orb by inches.
"ROAR!"
Enraged, the dragon whipped its head again. Ben wasn't ready. The rope jerked him through the air like a rag doll.
Richie kept his wand raised, cheeks flushed bright red.
He had finally reached the limit.
He let go.
BOOM!
The orb exploded high overhead like a star going supernova. For one blinding instant the night turned to day. The entire sky flared white.
On the ground, Hagrid—still ripping burning canvas off the tent—stared up with his mouth hanging open, then clapped both hands over his eyes in pain.
Far across the plains, Charlie and his team had just netted the Peruvian Vipertooth and the Hungarian Horntail. They looked toward the sudden "sun" rising over the sanctuary, faces stunned.
"Main building's in trouble!" Charlie shouted. "Back now—go!"
They wheeled their brooms and raced toward the wooden building.
Richie couldn't think about any of that anymore.
His vision doubled, then tripled. Changing the Lumos Totem Charm like this had been far harder than he'd expected.
After a full year of study, he understood how spells really worked. The true source of magic was never the incantation—it was the wizard's own power. The spell was just a precise targeting system. Without it, magic leaked out only when emotions ran high. With it, the power knew exactly where to go. The final result—how strong, how shaped—came down to the caster's will and intent.
He hadn't been able to compress and guide the spell properly with the incantation alone. All he could do was pile on raw power: Maxima.
So he'd forced it through sheer willpower and burning determination.
The mental strain had been crushing. His magic was almost completely drained.
The moment the light burst across the sky, Richie's eyes rolled back. He collapsed onto the grass.
"Richie!"
Hagrid finally blinked away the glare, saw the boy on the ground, and sprinted toward him in pure panic.
At the same time, brooms streaked in from every direction—keepers finally arriving.
"Help—meeee!" Ben screamed from above, clinging desperately to his wand, voice raw with the pure will to live.