by James Riley
“Ethereal Spirit?” Dr. Ambrose said, raising both eyebrows. “How did you hear about that? Wait, no, I don’t care. That spell is forbidden to learn anyway. Theoretically, since Ethereal Spirit turns your body ghostlike, you could pass a hand through the protective armor, but you’d be useless to the patient since you couldn’t touch the heart without solidifying again, which would kill them. Now, if I could return to something practical?” She turned back to her slide show.
Fort quickly reached down to grab the note, then unfolded it.
Meet me outside the girls’ dorm at lunch. We will get my spells back!
Fort turned and nodded at her, agreeing to her terms.
Between Rachel and Jia, it sounded like he’d have plenty of company in his search for Sierra.
- THIRTY-ONE -
CLASS ENDED, AND JIA WAS the first one out. Fort moved much more slowly but was stopped by Dr. Ambrose as he reached the door.
“One moment, Forsythe,” the doctor said, holding Fort’s shoulder as the other kids pushed past. When the classroom had emptied, the doctor sat down on one of the tables and began cleaning her glasses. “How exactly did you do that?” she said, not looking at him.
“I cast the spells just like you told me to,” Fort said, starting to get nervous. “I followed your instructions—”
“No. I mean, how did you master three spells that fast? Even if you spent all last night studying . . .” She paused, giving Fort a suspicious look. “You still shouldn’t have been able to learn them so quickly. In my experience, it takes even the more gifted students at least three days per spell.”
“I guess I’m just a quick learner,” Fort said.
“Mhm,” Dr. Ambrose said. “Or you’ve got a weird connection with a telepathic girl. I noticed that Mason couldn’t cast Heal Minor Wounds today. I wonder if there are any other students missing their spells?”
Fort fought to keep his face calm. Had Sierra really given him the first spell as well? He hadn’t even mastered one? “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said finally.
“I’m sure you don’t,” she said. “Everything I said last night still stands. Whatever’s happening to you and her, it’s just going to get worse the longer you’re here. And soon, Dr. Oppenheimer’s stopgap safety measures won’t be able to prevent that thing from finding us again. Is that what you want?”
“Of course not!” Fort said, louder than he intended to. “Why don’t you take me to Sierra right now, so I can talk to her and get rid of whatever this connection is? Wouldn’t that make everyone safe too?”
“Kid, believe me, you and her in the same room is on my list of worst-case scenarios,” Dr. Ambrose said. “Trust me. Colonel Charles might think you’re doing good here, but I don’t see it. Right now, all you’re doing is picking at some stitches, and they’re all that’s keeping you from bleeding out.”
That was a graphic metaphor. Fort nodded. “I should get to lunch,” he said, hoping she’d let him go.
Dr. Ambrose stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Just, please, be careful?” she said as he exited. As soon as he was out and inside the elevator with the door closed behind him, he let out a huge sigh of relief.
He wasn’t going to get kicked out of the Oppenheimer School. And that meant he could finally get some real answers.
The girls’ dormitory was opposite the boys’ dorm on the base, so it wasn’t too hard to find. From the outside, the buildings looked exactly the same, and Fort figured the insides probably matched as well. Nothing about this army base seemed to suggest that uniqueness was a positive trait.
Jia was waiting next to the door to the dormitory, casually reading a book. She didn’t look up as he approached, but instead just nodded her head to the corner of the building. He walked past her and around the corner, then waited in the shadows created by the small alley between the girls’ dorm and the soldiers’ barracks.
He didn’t have to wait long.
“What were you thinking?” Jia hissed, her voice low but threatening as she rounded the corner. She shoved him hard, knocking him back several feet. “I was helping you! And this is how you repay me, by stealing my spells? Do you know how long it took me to master those?”
“You know I didn’t do it,” Fort told her. “I’m not the one with psychic powers. That’d be your friend Sierra, who you knew all along but lied and told me she was just some student who got sent home.”
“I couldn’t tell you the truth, you jerk!” she hissed at him. “Dr. Opps said I’d get expelled if I told anyone about what happened with her and the others.”
“So what did happen?”
“What did I just say?” Jia growled in frustration. “Look. This doesn’t feel like something that the Sierra I know would be doing. She wouldn’t be messing with you like this just for fun. There has to be some reason.”
“So take me to her, and we’ll ask,” Fort said, crossing his arms.
“I don’t know if she’s here or not,” Jia said, glaring at him. “Dr. Opps told me she was sent home the day after the attack in D.C. So if she is here, he’s hiding her, and probably for a good reason.”
“She has to be here. Colonel Charles wanted me to come just to see what would happen. I never had her memories appearing out of nowhere before I came to the school. And I certainly never heard anyone else’s thoughts.”
“Fine,” Jia said, throwing up her hands in surrender. “If he’s keeping her somewhere, there’s only so many places it could be. I think I might have an idea where to look.”
“Where?” Fort asked, leaning forward.
She shook her head. “We’re all going to get kicked out. The amount of security alone will make this impossible.”
“Not if we don’t get caught,” Fort said. “What if we use the magic I got from you, that Ethereal Spirit spell? From what Dr. Ambrose said, that’d turn us into ghosts. We’d be able to go anywhere in the base, right?”
Her anger reignited at the mention of her lost spells, and she looked like she had to hold herself back from punching him. “I can’t believe you brought that up. I wasn’t even supposed to learn it! It’s completely forbidden for that exact reason. What if Dr. Ambrose finds out I know it?”
“You’ll get it back if we find Sierra,” he said. “I’m sorry, I really am. But if that’s a way in, then we should use it.”
“Fine. Meet me back here tonight after lights-out. You’ll cast my Ethereal Spirit spell, and then we’ll go see if Sierra actually is here, so she can give me back my magic.” She stabbed his chest with a finger. “I shouldn’t be doing this. There are so many ways it could go wrong! At least it’ll just be the two of us. If anyone else found out, this whole thing would blow up in our faces.”
“Yup, just the two of us,” Fort said slowly, trying to figure out a way to bring up Rachel. “About that . . .”
“You guys should really learn to keep your voices down if you don’t want people listening,” said a voice above him.
Fort whirled around in surprise to find Rachel leaning out one of the girls’ dormitory windows, grinning at him.
“How much did you hear?” Jia asked her, completely freezing in panic.
“Oh, everything,” Rachel said with a grin. “Don’t worry, Jia. Fort and I already had a plan to do this, so we’ll just add you in. See you here at lights-out!”
- THIRTY-TWO -
FORT DIDN’T FEEL MUCH LIKE eating, not with his mind racing about what was to come later that night, so he didn’t mind missing lunch. Smelling whatever odor came from the Boneyard as he got off the elevator made him even less interested in food.
“What died?” Sebastian asked, looking more curious than horrified as he entered the room just in front of Fort.
“You’ll find out in a minute,” Dr. Ambrose said from the front of the room. “Come on in, everyone grab a table. Well, not you, Forsythe. Your three spells are pretty much useless still, so you get to keep studying.”
“What are we
doing?” asked a girl named Janna.
Dr. Ambrose strode to the nearest table, where a tray lay covered by a white cloth. “You, my little healers, are going to be bringing the dead back to life!” She theatrically whipped the cloth off, revealing a wet, red, disgusting mass.
A chorus of groans filled the room.
“Had these hearts flown in with the rest of today’s meat, all nice and fresh from the cow,” Dr. Ambrose said, breathing in deeply. “Ah, doesn’t that just reinforce your vegetarianism?”
Someone gagged, but Fort was too busy keeping down his own bile to see who.
“What . . . what are we doing with them?” Sebastian asked, and even he seemed a bit put off by this.
“Like I said, you’ll be bringing them back to life,” Dr. Ambrose told them. “Your Restoration spell should get these hearts beating again, so today’s exercise is designed to focus your energy on that alone. As we talked about this morning, there’ll always be a need for this sort of bandage on the battlefield.” She grinned. “Plus, it’s just good, clean fun.”
Fort swallowed hard, incredibly happy not to be participating. “What should I do, Dr. Ambrose?”
The doctor gave him a long look, then waved at the Healing book. “Just go to the next spell in the book, Forsythe. It’s Heal Heavy Wounds. You won’t get to choose which spell to learn for a few more weeks yet, assuming you make it that far.” She walked behind the nearest student, Moira, who was tentatively placing her hand over the heart. Dr. Ambrose pushed her own hand down onto Moira’s, mushing them both into the muscle. “Really get in there, kids. If any of these hearts aren’t beating by the end of class, I’ll tell Colonel Charles you want Destruction training.”
Another round of groans went up, and Fort watched as several hearts began to glow, though none started beating. He quickly turned around, trying to breathe through his mouth instead of his nose, and thankfully took hold of the Healing book.
He grabbed a chunk of pages and flipped it open, expecting to only be able to see through to the fourth spell, Heal Heavy Wounds, just like when the book had only opened to the first page in the past.
This time, a good third of the book clunked down on the left side of the podium. And spreading out before his surprised eyes were dozens, maybe even hundreds of spells.
Quickly throwing a glance behind him to make sure Dr. Ambrose wasn’t watching, Fort paged through his options as quietly as he could.
Remove Fear: Take away the emotion of terror from any living thing for a period of one hour.
Restoration: Return a target to a previous state of health, including mending broken bones or undoing the ravages of disease.
Animate: Grant the power of movement to an inanimate object. Newly animated objects will operate under the spellcaster’s control.
Whoa. He could learn any of these spells? Was this because he had Jia’s spells in his head? Had he tricked the book? There were so many to choose from!
He took in Remove Fear and Restoration as fast as he could, then turned back to the Heal Heavy Wounds page, just in case Dr. Ambrose planned on checking on him.
“That’s a start, Kevin,” Dr. Ambrose was saying to another of the students, whose heart was now hopping all over the table. “Except you’ve overclocked it. That’d probably burst the victim’s chest open. Can we at least attempt to think practically here when restarting dead hearts?”
Fort turned back to the book, and this time flipped as far forward as it let him. If he was going to be of any use to the world, he needed powerful magic, not just healing random wounds.
Farther in, the pages felt heavier, like they were made of a different kind of paper. As he watched, the words seemed to shift on the page before finally settling into place, and his eyes widened.
Create Zombie: Revive any deceased creature into an undead servant under the spellcaster’s control.
Distort Body: Change the physical dimensions of any living being at the spellcaster’s discretion.
Cause Heavy Wounds: Cause physical damage to any living being—
The book slammed shut on Fort’s hand, and he bit his lip to keep from shouting in pain.
“What are you doing?” Jia whispered at him, leaning in close so Dr. Ambrose couldn’t hear. “You are not ready for those!”
Fort slowly pulled his hand out of the pages and cast Heal Minor Wounds over it, relieving the pain. “First of all, that hurt.”
“Good!”
“Second of all, this is exactly the kind of magic we need,” Fort whispered to her. “Have you seen what those spells can do? Create zombies? Tie a body in knots, literally? These are fighting spells!”
“And we’re healers,” Jia hissed. “You’re a year away at minimum from ever seeing these spells, let alone mastering them!”
“A year?” Fort blinked in confusion. “But you’re already there, or it wouldn’t have let me see them. How long have you been studying magic, anyway?” He looked closer at her. “When exactly did you start at this school? I thought it didn’t open until after the attacks.”
She started to say something, then shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Don’t look ahead today. Practice the Heal Heavy Wounds spell. After tonight, you won’t have mine to use anymore, and you’re going to need to have it mastered soon enough anyway. Once I get my spells back, you’ll be locked out of the rest of those spells, and hopefully everything can go back to normal.”
She stepped away before he could say another word, and he rolled his eyes, opening the book back to the second page again.
Heal Heavy Wounds. Not at all what he was here to do. Healing was all well and good, but he needed magic to take down a monster like the one that had attacked D.C. and killed his father. And the magic was there for the taking, right in the book! Why would he ever just stay with the restorative spells?
He was here to learn to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. That was all that mattered. And for that, he needed powerful attack magic, no matter what Jia thought. Fort glanced around to make sure he wasn’t being watched, then slid his fingers between two of the later pages.
He had just enough time to read over Cause Heavy Wounds before Jia slammed the book down hard enough to require a Heal Heavy Wounds spell.
- THIRTY-THREE -
FORT FOUND JIA WAITING IN the alley between the girls’ dorm and the soldiers’ barracks that night, an hour after the dorm’s lights had been turned out. He’d waited until he heard snores around the boys’ dorm just to be safe, only to have Sebastian pass his bed for a bathroom visit right before he was about to go. Fortunately, the other boy finished quickly and was back to sleeping soundly soon after, letting Fort finally sneak out of the building.
Well, letting them finally sneak out.
“What’s he doing here?” Jia said, pointing at Cyrus with a horrified expression.
“Hey, Jia!” Cyrus said, waving happily. “Don’t worry, I won’t give us away.” He turned to Fort. “By the way, did you notice Sebastian—”
“It’s a party!” said another voice, and they turned to find Rachel slipping out of the girls’ dorm. “Hey, Future Man!”
“He already knew it was happening,” Fort told Jia, who looked about ready to explode. Even if it made her angry, he was secretly happy that Cyrus had been awake and waiting when Fort had gotten up to leave. He hadn’t planned on telling Cyrus about the plan, not wanting to get the boy into trouble, but his friend had insisted on coming anyway. “And he can help us stay undetected.”
“And her job is?” Jia said, nodding at Rachel.
“Hey, I’m just here to save the school and everyone else,” Rachel said, grinning. “You won’t even know I’m here.”
“Fine,” Jia fumed. “Anyone else coming? Maybe some teachers, or a soldier or two?”
They waited for a moment, looking all around, but no one else seemed to be there. “Looks like we’re all set,” Fort said.
“Follow me,” Jia said, shaking her head in disgust. “And stay c
lose. If any of us get caught, we’ll all get thrown out.”
She started to leave the alley, but Cyrus grabbed her shoulder and yanked her backward. She looked at him in shock until two soldiers marched past the alley entrance.
“Okay, follow Cyrus,” she said, waving the boy forward. “Stay close to him.”
Cyrus smiled and shrugged, then strode out of the alley confidently. The others hurried to follow, then slammed to a halt as Cyrus turned back around. “Nope, we’ll get caught fifteen minutes from now if we go that way,” he said, gesturing toward the other end of the alley. “This path, we’ll get there with only three close calls.”
Twenty minutes later, they reached the side of the Training Hall, Fort’s heart beating a mile a minute. What Cyrus called a close call, Fort would have termed oh-no-WE’RE-ALL-CAUGHT-whoa-okay-wow-we-just-got-incredibly-lucky instead. There were either more soldiers out tonight, making getting around the security cameras even tougher, or it turned out to be a lot harder to hide four of them than just Fort and Cyrus alone.
“From here, Fort is going to use my Ethereal Spirit spell on us all,” Jia said, glaring at him. “With that, we’ll be able to walk through walls, and even float through the floor, though it takes some getting used to. You just keep in mind that gravity no longer affects you, and you shouldn’t have any problems.”
“I thought that spell was banned,” Rachel said. Jia blushed, looking guilty, but Rachel just grinned and slapped her on the shoulder. “No, don’t feel bad. I like you better knowing you break the rules every so often.”
“The rules are there for a reason!” Jia hissed. “I learned that when . . . it doesn’t matter. The spell looked useful, so I studied it. Case closed.”
“And now we’re using it to break into the Training Hall, so it’s definitely useful,” Rachel said.
Fort ignored them and concentrated on the spell. He ran through the words in his head, then held his hands out over the three of them and slowly let the cold energy flow from his hands and into the others, saving some for his own body. As the spell finished, Fort felt a bit weaker, depleted, like he’d just run a long race. Did more powerful magic take more energy from you?