The Revenge of Magic

by James Riley

Faster than Fort could see, she threw her hands out, sending a magic missile streaking toward the Old One.

  With barely a movement, the Old One flicked a tentacle out, slapping the missile back toward her, forcing Rachel to leap out of the way as it exploded into the ground.

  But even as it did, the Old One screamed in agony and pulled its tentacle up to find what resembled a medical bandage now sticking to its skin.

  WHAT IS THIS? it demanded, incinerating the bandage with a glance. YOU DARE USE CORPOREAL MAGIC ON US?

  In front of them, the portal began to waver, and the other two Old Ones pulled away from it. The pain must have disrupted the Summoning spell, just like it had the Old One’s control over the monster below the Training Hall.

  “You’re not supposed to burn it,” Sebastian said from behind Rachel. “But don’t worry.” He held up two duffel bags, one in each hand, both practically overflowing with Dr. Ambrose’s Healing bandages. “We’ve got more.”

  - FORTY-FIVE -

  THE OLD ONE SNEERED AT Fort’s assembled friends below. YOU WILL SERVE AS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT HAPPENS TO REBELLIOUS HUMANS, it shouted as an enormous fireball formed between its tentacles.

  “Run!” Fort yelled, but there was nowhere for his friends to go, and even fewer places to hide. Most of the school buildings were now rubble, and those that weren’t wouldn’t offer any protection against something so destructive.

  “We’ve got this, New Kid!” Rachel shouted, lightning sizzling off her fingers toward the Old One. The creature deflected the lightning into the remains of the mess hall, but the fireball it’d been creating imploded on itself, the magic absorbing back into the Old One.

  “Keep it distracted!” Fort shouted. “It can’t maintain all of the magic at once!”

  “Stop shouting our plans!” Sebastian said, holding a bandage out in front of Rachel, who shot another magic missile into it, aimed at the Old One.

  This time the tentacled creature sent the missile flying off into the now-burning forest beyond the school before it got anywhere near.

  THE PORTAL, said a strange voice in Fort’s head, one that was similar to the Old One’s, only a different tone, less painful somehow. WE WILL DESTROY THESE HUMANS FOR YOU IF YOU SOLIDIFY THE PORTAL!

  WE REQUIRE NO AID! the Old One within Damian hissed, but it turned one set of tentacles back to the portal anyway, and the shimmering doorway took shape once more.

  Fort groaned deeply, feeling like they’d just missed a huge opportunity. Distracting the Old One definitely seemed to work, but just throwing spells at it wasn’t the answer, not when the creature could deflect incredibly dangerous magic right back at Rachel and his other friends.

  No, they needed something more, something that the Old One couldn’t just flick away like an irritating bug.

  Sierra? Fort shouted in his mind at her. I know you can’t free Damian, but can you reach his consciousness in there?

  No response. Rachel, meanwhile, went to fire another magic missile, but before she could, the Old One thrust its tentacles down toward her, growing them impossibly long and hideously sharp as it did. One sliced into Rachel’s leg, dropping her to the ground, while the other hit Jia, who collapsed next to Rachel.

  Sierra! Fort screamed. We don’t have any more time! You need to—

  I’ve got him! she sent back, and abruptly, Fort could feel a third presence with them, though this one felt even weaker than Sierra was. Damian, can you hear me? It’s Sierra!

  I . . . I can’t fight him, Damian’s voice echoed in Fort’s head. Sierra, I’m so sorry, I should never have let it into our world in the first place. This is all my fault!

  So Damian was ashamed for all that he’d done? Good. But now wasn’t the time for that. Fort needed Damian fighting back, pushing against the Old One just like Fort had done against Sierra back in D.C. And for that, he needed Damian angry, not feeling sorry for himself.

  Damian, it . . . it wasn’t your fault, Fort said, clenching his fists just to get through it. He hated lying like this, but if that was what it took to save his friends, then fine. You’re not to blame. But right now, we need you to fight against the Old One’s control. Push back with everything you’ve got. If we can divide his attention, we might actually land a hit and free you of him!

  From where she lay on the ground, Rachel sent dual sizzling lightning bolts at the portal, one from each hand. The fiery Old One inside the portal deflected the first, sending it into the Training Hall, which quickly caught on fire. The Old One within Damian stopped the other bolt in midair, then slowly turned it around and shot it back toward Rachel.

  She screamed, but the bolt stopped just inches from her face.

  REVEAL HOW YOU RESIST OUR MENTAL CONTROL, HUMAN, the Old One said.

  Her leg still injured, Rachel tried to push herself out of range of the bolt, but the lightning followed her, never moving from its spot right over her eyes. “I’ll never tell you,” she whispered, and the bolt sizzled dangerously.

  Damian, we need you now! Fort shouted.

  There’s nothing I can do! Damian said back. My magic is useless against it.

  It’s not about magic! Fort screamed, his heart racing as the bolt slowly pushed toward Rachel. It’s about you, your willpower, your own strength. Use that! Take all the anger, the injustice, everything that this creature has done to you, and use those feelings to fight! You can do this!

  THEN YOU SHALL PERISH, the Old One declared, and raised a tentacle to release the lighting bolt. Rachel covered her face with her arms as the bolt sizzled again. . . .

  But then the Old One hissed in pain. WHAT ARE YOU . . . YOU CANNOT RESIST OUR CONTROL! WE WILL WIPE THE REMNANTS OF YOU FROM YOUR MIND IF NEED BE!

  With the Old One distracted, Rachel rolled out of the way a moment before the Old One turned its concentration inside, unconsciously releasing the lightning bolt. The electricity exploded into the ground just beyond her, and Rachel cried out as her back was burned from the hit, but that didn’t stop her from readying another spell.

  “Rachel, now’s your chance!” Fort shouted, watching as the portal shuddered again, forcing the other Old Ones back within. Sierra, push back against the Old One too! The more we can distract it, the better chance Rachel has of hitting it with a Healing spell!

  Back on the ground, Cyrus grabbed bandages from the duffel bags and held one in front of both of Rachel’s hands. Two magic missiles launched from her fingers, sweeping the bandages along with them, straight at the Old One, as the creature hissed again, louder this time.

  It’s fighting back! Sierra shouted in Fort’s head. I can’t . . . it hurts so much!

  It’s . . . killing me! Damian shouted, then yelled in pain. His scream in Fort’s head matched the one from the Old One as Rachel’s twin missiles struck home. One of the bandages hit its chest and burned up on contact, but the other passed right through the opening in the skull helmet and into the mass of tentacles where the Old One’s face was.

  A shriek like nothing Fort had ever heard exploded in his head, and he almost blacked out. Through the agony, he could barely see the portal violently waver in place, then finally wink out of existence completely.

  And then Fort was falling, whatever magic holding him in the air now gone as well. He crashed hard against the ground, pain shooting through the arm and leg he landed on and into the rest of his body.

  Sierra landed at the same time, groaning loudly as she hit. A moment later, the creature itself slowly touched down, its descent wildly at odds with the screams of agony in their heads. It now had its tentacles frantically reaching into its helmet, trying to retrieve the bandage within, only to get burned by it.

  “Now!” Cyrus shouted, and two bodies sprinted past Fort and tackled the creature, slamming it to the ground. Jia first, then Sebastian slapped their hands onto the Old One’s tentacle hands, each one furiously casting Healing spell after Healing spell.

  NO, STOP! the monster shouted in all of their heads, and though Fort could see t
he pain its voice caused both of the other healers, neither paused in their spellcasting.

  The tentacles began to burn away beneath their Healing hands, slowly revealing human fingers, human hands, human arms. The opaque crystal armor crumbled at their touch, and human legs appeared below it.

  THE MAGIC RETURNED FOR US! the Old One shouted. IT SERVES US, NOT HUMANITY! THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO. WE WILL RULE HUMANITY ONCE MORE, OR WE WILL WIPE YOU FROM THIS EARTH FOR ALL OF—

  And then the voice in their heads went completely silent as the last tentacles disappeared, leaving behind a very uncomfortable-looking boy in a hospital gown.

  “YES!” Sebastian shouted, leaping to his feet. He turned and smirked at the others. “I just saved the whole world. You’re welcome.”

  - FORTY-SIX -

  JIA KNELT AT FORT’S SIDE and ran her hands over his broken arm and leg. Cool healing energy flowed into him, and the pain instantly disappeared. “That should feel better now,” she said, looking down at him with a mix of anxiousness and worry.

  “You lied to me,” he said, glaring up at her with a bitterness he was too tired to really feel. “I mean, not about the healing just now. It does feel better. You knew Sierra was here!” He pushed himself to a sitting position, but even that effort took more energy than he had.

  “I didn’t know she was here,” Jia said quietly, looking away for a moment. “I really thought she was sent home. But either way, I couldn’t tell you what happened, with the attack in D.C. and all. Do you know how many times Dr. Opps told me he’d wipe my memories if I said anything about what happened? If I shared one word, he’d have kicked me out. And while this school is pretty messed up, it’s also the only place I’ve got. At least until my parents come back, if they ever do.”

  Fort grunted, trying to stay annoyed but just thankful he was alive. “Oh, and you’ve been here since you were ten? No wonder you’re so far ahead.”

  “What?” Sebastian shouted from a short distance away where he was healing Sierra. He snorted. “I knew I wasn’t second best.”

  “No one’s better than Jia,” Sierra said, sitting up. “Thank you, by the way.”

  Sebastian just looked at her suspiciously. “And you are?”

  Sierra paused for a moment, staring at the bright medallion around his neck. “Did Dr. Opps give you that?”

  “No, Cyrus brought them to us an hour ago,” Jia said. “He said we’d need them: me, Sebastian, and Rachel. If the three of us didn’t follow him, we’d lose. Or that’s what he told us.”

  “And I was right,” Cyrus said, waving a hand at Damian. “I ran all the scenarios using my magic, and this was the only one where we had the slightest chance to stop the Old Ones from dominating the entire world within the next few days.”

  “Wait,” Rachel said, looking at him strangely. “I thought you said we’d win for sure if it was the three of us.”

  Cyrus winced. “Well, I didn’t see us winning, exactly. Everything was so chaotic, and the future got really hazy right around when the Old One attacked you and Jia. But I had faith!”

  “You what?” Rachel said. “The only reason I wasn’t terrified was because you had seen us defeat that thing!”

  “See, but that was good!” Cyrus told her. “If you hadn’t been so confident, maybe we’d all be serving Mr. Tentacles there for the rest of our lives.”

  Rachel just stared at him.

  “I did tell you that you’d save the world,” Cyrus admitted, blushing a bit. “Admittedly, that was just a guess. But if we lost, then none of us would have known it anyway, since our minds would have been taken over! Doesn’t that help?”

  Her mouth fell open at this, and she shook her head. “You and me, Future Boy. We’re not done here.”

  “Can I see this for a second?” Sierra said to Sebastian, then pulled the necklace off his neck. “Yours too?” she asked Rachel, who still indignantly glared at Cyrus. She shrugged, though, and tossed the medallion to Sierra.

  “What do you want them for?” Sebastian asked.

  “Shh,” Sierra said, then patted him on the cheek.

  He instantly collapsed to the ground, sound asleep. Rachel shouted out in surprise, only to follow a second later.

  “What are you doing?” Fort said, his eyes widening. “Those are . . . Rachel is my friend! They saved us!”

  “And now they’re getting a good nap,” Sierra said, tossing one of the necklaces to Damian, who caught it. She then turned to the slowly reviving soldiers and students all around them and held up her hands. Instantly, the murmurs and groans went quiet, replaced by light breathing and snoring.

  “What are you doing?” Fort repeated, slowly raising his hands to stop her . . . except how would he? He had no spells left. They’d all been removed by the Old One.

  “Jia,” Sierra said, stepping closer to the Healing girl and taking her hands. “It’s really good to see you. I feel like it was just a couple of minutes since we last talked, but it’s been . . . a while, hasn’t it?”

  “Six months,” Jia said sadly, then hugged Sierra. “It’s good to see you too, Erry. They never told me if you were okay, or what happened. I was so worried, and then everything started happening with Fort. I didn’t know what to think!”

  “You didn’t miss me?” Damian said with a half smile, carefully standing up in his hospital gown.

  Jia glared at him. “You, I never liked.”

  Damian shrugged. “Yeah, that’s fair. If it matters, I did always like you. Sierra, any chance you want to give us some clothes?”

  Sierra nodded and murmured something. Out of nowhere, jeans, T-shirts, and jackets suddenly appeared on both of them. “Just a Telepathy spell,” she told Fort. “People will see this until we can find some actual clothes to put on.”

  “I’ll get you some uniforms,” Jia said. “If any survived, at least.” She ran off, and Fort turned to Sierra for answers, but she had moved next to Damian and had her hand on his shoulder, her eyes closed.

  “The Old One is completely gone, Damian,” she told him, loud enough for Fort to hear too. “I think you’re actually free of it.”

  “For now, maybe,” Damian said, looking away. “They won’t rest until they find a way back into our world. And I’ll always be their first target.”

  “That’s why we’re going to hide you,” Sierra said, tapping his medallion. “No one will find you if you’ve got this protective medallion on. I should know, since I created it. Dr. Opps insisted once he figured out I could read his mind at will. With that on, no one should be able to sense your presence, let alone read your mind.”

  “Good,” Damian said. “This will help me track down the remaining books of magic.”

  Sierra frowned, staring at him. “You can’t still be taking all of this ‘chosen one’ stuff seriously.”

  Damian shrugged. “Who else is going to do it? We need the power to destroy the Old Ones if they come back. And that’s going to take all seven books. You heard it. Anyone with that power can save the world.”

  “I think it said rule the world,” Fort said, his anger rising again in spite of his exhaustion. “And who said you’re going anywhere? You can’t leave, not after everything that happened. The attack in D.C. happened because of you.”

  Damian gave him a confused look. “That’s not what you said in my mind, back during the battle there.”

  “I was lying,” Fort shouted. “I needed you to fight back, and that meant you couldn’t sit there feeling guilty, no matter how much you should feel that way!”

  Even as he yelled, part of him felt guilty himself. As much as he wanted to blame Damian for everything, the boy wasn’t any more responsible for the attack than the creatures had been.

  Damian’s face fell. “You’re . . . you’re right. I can’t begin to say how sorry I am. But you know it wasn’t me in control. You felt the Old One in your mind just as much as I did. I don’t—”

  The sounds of several helicopters in the distance interrupted him, an
d they all turned to look. Fires still raged in the forest around the base and in the Training Hall within the fences. Someone had either noticed the smoke, or reinforcements had been called before the Old One had taken control of everyone.

  “These might be big, but they’ll do the job,” Jia said, returning with some uniforms.

  She handed them to Damian and Sierra, who both put them on over what looked like their jeans and jackets. But the uniforms just disappeared into the illusion, and a moment later, two hospital gowns lay on the ground in front of them.

  “I need to go,” Damian said, and turned toward the broken gate out of the base. “If they find me here, they’ll imprison me, and then I’ll never find the power to destroy those things.”

  “You can’t just leave, not with that magic,” Fort said. “It’s too dangerous. Sierra can erase it from your mind instead. That’s the only way we’ll really be safe.”

  Fort, Sierra said in his mind, and he turned to look at her in surprise. What if he’s right? What if those things find another way through, and no one knows how to send them back this time?

  What? he sent back. This all happened because of him and that magic!

  Partly, she said. And partly it happened because of me. And because of Dr. Oppenheimer. There’s enough blame for everyone. But maybe this is how we all start making up for it.

  We? He looked at her in confusion. You don’t mean that you’re—

  I’m not letting them lock me up either, she said, and outwardly gave him a small smile. You know that Colonel Charles wouldn’t let a telepath wander around the school, not anymore. He’s seen the kind of power I have, and I know that’s why he brought you here, to wake up me and Damian. Well, he’s not getting either of us. He wants revenge just as much as you do, since his son was the first one who . . . who lost his life, in the attack at the NSA.

  I get it, Fort responded. I’m not saying Damian’s responsible, but what if one of those things takes him over again?

  That’s why we have the medallions, Sierra said. Besides, now that I’m awake and healed up, I can keep us out of sight. We’ll be safe, from them and the TDA.