by James Riley
Dr. Opps raised a hand. “Calm down, Forsythe. You’re perfectly safe.”
He stopped yelling as Rachel walked back into the room with a new shirt, staring at him like he’d gone insane. “You’re . . . you’re going to fight those things?” Fort said to Dr. Opps, not sure whether he was afraid or excited at the idea. “With . . . with magic?”
“Well, I will,” Rachel said.
“No, she won’t,” Dr. Opps said, giving her an annoyed look. “Not for several years, if ever. The books we found, Fort . . . they contained formulas. These formulas, when read out loud, unlock previously inaccessible powers within the human body. We think it’s a significantly advanced form of quantum communication with the environment and other living things, but yes, the public would most likely see it as magic, if they found out. Many already think that’s what the attacks were, some kind of magical creature.”
Fort just stared at him. “You run a school to teach . . . magic?”
“No,” Dr. Opps said. “I run a school to give our country the power to protect itself from any further attacks like the one that took your father. That’s why I’m here, Forsythe. I want you to have a chance to make sure what happened to him never happens to anyone else.”
Dr. Opps took his hand again, and this time Fort found himself standing in front of the devastated Lincoln Memorial as the creature attacked an empty National Mall.
“No!” he screamed, and bent over, trying not to throw up as the monster roared. He covered his eyes and shook his head over and over, just wanting it to go away. “No no no no no no no!”
“Forsythe, listen to me!” Dr. Opps shouted over the monster. “This isn’t real. We’re in your mind, in your imagination. You don’t have to hide from the creature here. Give yourself the power that you saw Rachel use. Fight back against it! You can do it!”
Fort clenched his teeth, focusing on the wall that Rachel had destroyed with one ball of energy. If he could do that too . . .
He slowly stood up, though the ground shifted dangerously below him. He opened his eyes, and the clawed fingers emerged from the ground right in front of him. For a moment, he dry heaved, the fear just too great. But reminding himself that this wasn’t real, he positioned his hands like he’d seen Rachel do and summoned a ball of energy.
The heat from the magic almost burned him, but that didn’t matter. Instead, he just imagined it hotter and hotter, until it scalded his skin. Finally, screaming as loudly as he could, he launched the power at the nearest scaled finger.
The blast tore through the monster’s entire hand, and it shrieked in agony. The noise reverberated in Fort’s chest, and he felt a chill go through him, though for once, it wasn’t from fear.
He could destroy those things. He could get justice for his father.
He could make them feel pain.
“That’s it,” Dr. Opps said, and the kitchen appeared once more. “That’s the power I can give you, if you decide to serve your country at my school.”
Fort’s heart raced with excitement as he replayed the creature shrieking over and over in his mind. But even through the sense of satisfaction he felt, some part of Fort knew this wouldn’t be how it’d happen. “You’d never send kids against monsters like that. Why would you teach us instead of adults how to do this?”
Dr. Opps sat back in his seat. “When I flip through the books, all I see are blank pages. The books are unreadable by anyone born before the day the books were found, Forsythe. There’s a theory that along with the discovery of the books, some sort of power returned to the world on the same day. Whatever the reason, only children born from that day forward have been able to use the information within.” He rubbed his forehead. “It took us almost a decade just to discover that. And we never even considered the need to teach the magic until the unfortunate attacks in D.C. and Maryland. I opened my school soon afterward.”
He leaned forward and showed Fort the silver ball again. “But until our students are old enough to take to the field themselves, we’ve found a work-around. There are lessons within the books about infusing everyday objects with the power, just like this one. Imagine how safe our country would be if soldiers could use weapons as powerful as Rachel’s magic. Or how much more humane warfare could become if we could drop a bomb that put everyone to sleep, like I did your aunt. The possibilities are staggering.”
Fort frowned. “So you need us to make you magical weapons?”
“With enemies out there capable of attacks like the ones six months ago, we need all the help we can get,” Dr. Opps said, then paused. “I will caution you, however. Whoever orchestrated the attacks might learn of the school and seek to stop us before we’re able to protect ourselves. We believe that chance is remote, but the possibility of danger exists.”
“Don’t worry about that. You’ll have me there to protect you,” Rachel whispered to him.
“You think those creatures might attack the school?” Fort said, his excitement starting to tumble off a cliff.
“It would be a prime target,” Dr. Opps said. “But the school’s existence is known to only a few of the highest-ranking members of the military and one congressional committee. And even most of them aren’t aware of its location. Beyond the secrecy, though, we have the best protection you could possibly ask for, not to mention that you’ll be learning to create defenses yourself.”
That was true. And even if the school might be more of a target, was anywhere really safe anymore? Fort nodded. “I understand.”
“Then tell me, Forsythe,” Dr. Opps said. “Would you be interested in joining my school?”
Fort stood up. He knew the answer but had one last question. “You said my aunt couldn’t know about any of this. What happens if I say no?”
Dr. Opps smiled slightly and tapped the silver ball. “You won’t remember anything after the pizza arrived tonight, and your aunt will never have heard of my school. As I said, the existence of the school has to remain secret, for the protection of my students.”
Fort nodded, still imagining the pained screams of the creature. “I’m in.”
- SEVEN -
SORRY ABOUT HITTING YOU WITH my magic missile, New Kid,” Rachel said as they sat on the curb outside the house, waiting for Dr. Opps and his aunt to go over some paperwork. “Dr. Opps said you might freak out a bit, and I wasn’t going to take any chances.”
“That’s what it’s called, a magic missile?” Fort asked.
She shrugged. “That’s what I call it. Stole it from Dungeons and Dragons and, like, every other role-playing game. Destruction spells are all named after whoever invented them, supposedly, but I’m not going to call it Backbinder’s Bolt of Magical Energy.”
“Sure,” Fort said. “That makes sense.” He went silent, picturing what could have been if he’d had a spell like Rachel’s magic missile back in D.C.
Her foot began tapping impatiently at the silence. “So . . . which specialty are you hoping for?”
Her question yanked him back to the present. “Specialty?”
“Right, Dr. Opps didn’t tell you,” Rachel said. “Maybe I shouldn’t say, then.” She paused, then shrugged. “Eh, you’ll find out soon enough. We’ve got two of the magic books at our school, Destruction and Healing. Destruction is just how it sounds: You’ve got your magic missiles, your whirlwinds, your fireballs, all the fun stuff. Basically, if it can destroy something, we’ve probably got it in our spell book. Healing, well, is pretty self-explanatory.” She grinned. “Makes the sniffles go away, that kind of thing. And then there’s a third book at a school in the UK, Clairvoyance. That’s got spells that will tell the future and stuff.”
Fort’s eyes widened. “No way. Does it actually work?” And if so, why hadn’t anyone seen the attack in D.C. coming?
“Barely.” Rachel snorted. “It’s not like Spider-Man’s spider-sense or something, where you’d get warned before someone hit you. Clairvoyants can only use the magic to look ahead to a specific time and place, and the f
urther into the future they go, the less accurate they get. Kind of useless, if you ask me. And it’s messed with most of the kids’ minds, from what I hear. We’ve got one clairvoyant at our school, and he’s just barely holding on as it is.”
Fort nodded, struggling to process everything she’d said. If they couldn’t look ahead without knowing when and where an attack might be, there’d be no way to see something unexpected. That limited the magic quite a bit. “So Dr. Opps said that four books were found. Or he thought it, in his memory, I guess.” Fort paused. “Which one could control a monster like the thing that killed my father?”
Rachel gave him a pitying look. “I’m sorry about what you went through, Fort. Everyone at the school knows about how your dad was the only casualty in the attack. I’m so sorry. But I honestly don’t know what could have done that. I’ve only heard of three books so far: Destruction, Healing, and Clairvoyance. I guess the memory magic that Dr. Opps uses must have come from somewhere too, but he’s never mentioned it, or any other book.”
Fort frowned, sure he’d heard four. He went silent again, only to look up and find Rachel giving him a guilty look.
“Maybe I’m wrong?” she said. “I did hear once that when the books were first found, various countries shared them with each other, trying to figure out what they were. But as soon as someone realized they actually worked for kids born on Discovery Day or after, the sharing stopped, and everyone went all top secret.”
“Discovery Day?” Fort asked.
She shrugged. “That’s what the adults call it, ’cause they think they’re being all clever, talking in code. But it’s not like we discovered magic or something. It’s more like we dug it up. But Dug-Up Day doesn’t sound as important, I guess.”
Fort nodded. He took a deep breath and let it out. “Then to answer your question, I’m going to study Destruction magic.” If he couldn’t learn to control one of those creatures and stop it from harming anyone, then he’d just have to destroy it. Hopefully in the most painful way possible.
“That’s what everyone says,” Rachel said, and put her hands up in front of him. She concentrated, and a small ball of fire jumped back and forth between her palms. “But you have no idea what you’re getting into yet. Destruction is the most dangerous power, obviously. And until you learn how to control it, you’re more dangerous than you are useful.”
The fire died out, but Fort shrugged. “I don’t care,” he said. “I still choose Destruction.”
“You don’t choose, New Kid,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes. “There’s a test when you first get to the school. You cast the first spell in both books, Healing and Destruction, and they watch to see which one you’re better at. It doesn’t matter how much you want to destroy things if you’re better at Healing. Of course, once they figured out the birthday thing, they realized most of us were going to be good at either one.”
Fort raised an eyebrow. “Birthday thing?”
She sighed in annoyance. “Dr. Opps didn’t even tell you that? Anyone born on Discovery Day is a lot more powerful at magic. I was born a year later, and I’m one of the most powerful destructives we have.” Her tone made it sound like that was no big deal, but Fort could see from her smile that she was pretty proud of that fact. “Anyway, ever since they figured that out, they only took in kids born on May ninth.” She looked closer at him. “How old are you, twelve? You must have been born the same day as me, then!”
Fort immediately stiffened. “Yeah, I’m twelve,” he said, nodding much too obviously.
She looked at him strangely. “Don’t lie, New Kid. If you’re only eleven—”
“No,” he said, clenching his fists so tightly his nails bit into his palms. “It’s . . . it’s not that. I am twelve. But, um, my birthday’s in September.”
Rachel’s eyebrows shot up like rockets, and she leaned back, going silent again.
“Well,” she said finally. “I don’t know why Dr. Opps is bringing you in, but good luck, New Kid. You’re already behind, and . . . wow. They brought in some kids with other birthdays a few months ago for testing, and, yikes. It wasn’t pretty. Hopefully they don’t fail you out your first day.”
Fort turned to stare at the ground. “I don’t care,” he whispered. “I’ll catch up, I’ll work three times as hard as anyone else if I have to. I’m going to learn magic, no matter what it takes.”
Rachel cringed, then patted him on the shoulder. “Uh, yeah, that’s the spirit! Well, it was nice meeting you, and if nothing else, at least you probably won’t have to bother unpacking. See? Silver linings!”
- EIGHT -
THE GOOD-BYES WITH AUNT CORA the following day were awkward. Both of them knew this was the right decision, Fort leaving to go to the Oppenheimer School, but neither one could say that out loud. Cora hugged him and cried, promising she’d write to him. Fort said he’d do the same, but at that moment he couldn’t wait to leave.
If nothing else, this new school wouldn’t be filled with memories of his mom and dad. And if things went well, he’d be learning to destroy one of those monsters, to make it suffer like his father must have. The image that Dr. Opps had given him of the creature shrieking in pain propelled him now, keeping him going in spite of the fear of leaving his old life completely behind.
A black car had come the night before to take Rachel, and a duplicate vehicle arrived to drive Fort and Dr. Opps to a military base a few hours away. Fort spent the trip staring out the window, lost in thought about what was to come. Dr. Opps didn’t seem to want to talk either.
“Anything to do with the books will have to wait until we’re there,” he’d told Fort before they got in the car. “I’ve already shared more than I should have. This is all information that can’t get out to the public, Forsythe. Even your aunt can never know. Keep that in mind when writing letters. Any mail in and out gets read and censored if necessary to keep the school’s secrets safe. You won’t have access to a cell phone or a computer, either. There can’t be any trace of the school’s location leaked, for the safety of everyone involved.”
That made sense, but Fort did wonder what would happen if he was kicked out, like Rachel figured he’d be. What would it be like to have his memory wiped? Would he remember anything?
No. That wasn’t even worth considering. He wouldn’t fail, and he would learn magic. There was no other option. This was for his father, and Fort wasn’t going to let him down.
Not again.
When they reached the military base, Dr. Opps got out of the car to speak in very quiet tones to the guards at the gate. He gestured back at Fort a few times, and the guards checked three different IDs Dr. Opps gave them, then did the same for the driver. Finally Dr. Opps came back and the gate went up, allowing the car to drive across the base to a small airfield where a few helicopters waited.
“Have you ever flown in a helicopter, Fort?” Dr. Opps asked, as the driver opened the door for him. Fort shook his head. He tried to take his suitcase from the trunk, but the driver just smiled at him and waved him off.
“Has to go through security,” the driver said, and left carrying the suitcase to a smaller building near the airfield. Fort watched it go, wondering if he was going to see his things again.
Not that he’d taken much. Too many of his favorite books reminded him of his father reading them out loud, reciting them like he was onstage on Broadway. Most of those he’d left behind with Aunt Cora, who said she’d put them in storage until he came back. Same with all his photos, except for one of his mother and father, which he had brought. The Gettysburg Address brochure was in his pocket, as usual. But nothing else seemed to matter anymore.
As Fort watched his suitcase disappear, Dr. Opps pushed a helmet down over his head. Fort pushed up the visor, giving the doctor a questioning look. “Probably won’t do much if we crash,” Dr. Opps told him, putting his own helmet on. “But it never hurts to take precautions.”
That wasn’t reassuring, exactly, but fair enough.
; Dr. Opps led Fort to the nearest helicopter, which was just starting up. As the rotors whirled faster, Fort ducked beneath them to enter the helicopter, even if he was much too short to worry about getting hit. He felt a bit less embarrassed when Dr. Opps did the same.
“This everyone?” the pilot asked, turning around from the seat in front as Dr. Opps closed the doors.
“We’re it,” Dr. Opps said, and Fort realized he’d been right about not seeing his suitcase again. Part of him felt relief, like he was leaving even more of his old life behind. But the rest of him wished he hadn’t packed his most comfortable hoodie.
The pilot pulled back on a long stick in front of him, and the helicopter lifted into the air with a jarring jump. Fort quickly grabbed ahold of the handrail next to him tightly enough to turn his knuckles white. Dr. Opps just sat across from him, looking unconcerned. “Don’t worry,” he said. “The flight can get a bit rough, but we’ll be fine.”
“A bit rough” turned out to be incredibly bumpy, with abrupt drops out of nowhere every few minutes whenever they’d hit a pocket of rough air. They flew for a few hours, crossing land with almost no roads or houses. Trees spread out beneath them in every direction, missing only from some mountains they had to circle around. Fort wondered where they were, but decided the location of the school was probably something else he was better off not knowing, so he could never accidentally give it away.
By the time they reached their destination, Fort had gotten airsick, so had started focusing his gaze on the floor, hoping that’d help. That meant when the helicopter landed, he jumped in surprise. But Dr. Opps just smiled and opened the door as the rotors above them slowly began to wind down. Fort took a deep breath, trying to get his heart rate back under control before following the headmaster out.
No matter what else was to come, this was going to be his first glimpse of a real, live school for magic, and that alone was enough reason to be excited.