The Timeless One
Page 22
“Which I’ll never tell you!” Cyrus shouted, in spite of Ember’s hissing. “Do whatever you want to me—I’ve already won!”
“Volcano it is!” Rachel shouted, and readied her teleportation slap bracelet.
Then she froze in a glow of blue light.
“Rachel?” Fort said, not understanding, only to go still himself. He couldn’t move his arms or legs but was still able to watch as Jia moved freely over to Cyrus, giving both Fort and Rachel a sad look.
“This was the deal,” she said softly to them as Cyrus flinched away from her. “This was the bargain the queen made. She wanted the Timeless One, and in exchange, she’d keep us from going to war.”
Fort tried to say something, to stop her, but his mouth refused to move. No! They couldn’t give Cyrus to the faerie queen, not like this. As much as he hated his old friend for what he’d done, Fort still couldn’t stomach just handing him over to his worst enemy, a faerie who’d hated him for thousands of years. Especially not without magic to protect himself!
A shimmer in the air appeared to Jia’s right, almost in the shape of a tall human of some kind. It reached over Cyrus, who tried to push himself away, but the shimmer was too quick. “Fort!” Cyrus screamed. “Please—”
And then the shimmer and Cyrus disappeared together.
Jia immediately released them from her spell, and Fort felt control return to his body. He ran over to where Cyrus had lain and bent down, making sure this wasn’t some illusion, some sort of glamour.
Then he looked up at Jia, who was covering her mouth like she might throw up.
“Was it worth it?” he asked quietly. “Tell me it was worth it. Tell me that the queen didn’t just trick us all.”
She looked down at him and shook her head, then began to quietly cry as Rachel hugged her close.
Fort sighed, rubbing his forehead. Maybe Xenea could find out what happened to Cyrus, try to keep him safe, but he doubted it. The faerie queen had been holding a grudge against Merlin/Cyrus/the Timeless One for centuries, and now that she had her old enemy in her hands, Fort didn’t think she’d ever be willing to release him.
And that meant they had no idea where Damian and Sierra were in time, or when they’d be reappearing with the books of magic, ready to summon the Old Ones.
“We might be in trouble,” Fort said, standing back up.
“Nothing new about that,” Rachel said, as she let go of Jia and turned to him. “Got any ideas?”
Fort swallowed hard, hating what he was about to say. “Just terrible ones. We’re going to need help. And there’s only one place left to find it.”
Rachel groaned, shaking her head. “They’ll never take us back.”
Fort nodded. “I know. But we still need the TDA and the other students at the Oppenheimer School.” He looked up at Jia and Rachel. “Hiding magic away for over a thousand years didn’t keep the Old Ones from coming back. If we can’t stop Damian before he summons them, then this time, we’ll have to destroy magic altogether.”
EPILOGUE
A TALL HUMAN MAN APPROACHED THE throne, trembling with each step. The queen beckoned him forward, looking impatient, so the man hurried a bit.
“I have done as you ordered, Your Majesty,” Fort’s father said to the faerie queen, bowing low. He nodded at the new “sculpture” next to her throne, that of a silver-haired human boy frozen in time. “You have the Timeless One for whatever revenge you desire. Now may I return to Avalon for good?”
The queen gestured, and the changeling magic disappeared, turning a human man back into a faerie boy, the very same faerie who’d accused Fort of injuring him back during the humans’ trip to Avalon. “I could not look at you like that for one minute longer,” the queen said. “It’s bad enough that I must keep the boy’s actual father in stasis here, but I did promise the boy I’d protect the man and must live up to my end of the bargain. Now, report. What have you learned?”
“Fort… the boy, he has a young dragon, just as you suspected, Your Majesty,” the faerie boy said. “Xenea knows of it, but is letting him keep it for some reason. I haven’t yet figured out why. Instead, she awaits the return of the older dragon.”
The queen’s eyes narrowed. “Perhaps she was the wrong choice for this task. I shall punish her upon her return.” She tilted her head. “But you have done well, my son. Not only have you given me my greatest enemy, but you have been a great source of information.”
The faerie boy nodded in thanks, then paused. “Your Majesty, I live to serve you. Might you take back the memories and feelings you gave me, then? I find it… difficult to betray Fort—the boy—when I have his father’s emotions and know their history.”
The queen raised an eyebrow. “You suggest that serving me is a problem?”
The faerie quickly raised his hands in protest. “Of course not, Your Majesty! I will do anything you ask! I merely was requesting—”
“You will have your reward when I am finished with you,” the queen told him coldly. “Now, return to our former world, and continue your information gathering. Things seem to be coming to a head there, and it might create the chance we’ve been looking for. If humanity and the eternal ones go to war, perhaps the Tylwyth Teg will find an… opportunity.” She smiled, and the faerie boy shimmered as her magic changed him back into Fort’s father. “Now, go. I dismiss you.”
The human-looking faerie bowed low, then turned to leave.
“Child?” the queen said, making the faerie freeze in place just before he left. “Don’t let your human memories and emotions get the better of you. I wouldn’t want to have to punish you like poor Xenea.”
“Of course not, Your Majesty,” Fort’s father said to her. “No matter what human feelings I have, I am loyal only to you.”
“As it should be,” the faerie queen said, then sent her faerie back to Earth in a shimmer of glamour magic. “As it should be.”
Then she turned to stare at her newly acquired prize, a slow smile crossing her face. The eternal one’s punishment had been coming for over a millennium, but there was no need to rush it now.
After all, with the Timeless One in her power, she had all the time in the world.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Whoa, I did not see that coming! Fort’s father is a changeling? Who knew! (Well, okay, I did, because I can’t just let Fort have a happy moment. I’m so mean.)
Originally, I’d planned on Revenge of Magic being a seven-book series, one for each book of magic. But as we’ve been going, all the story I wanted to tell kept coming out faster than I’d planned, probably because Fort was so impatient. So instead of seven books, the next book, Revenge of Magic: The Old Ones, will be the final book in the series… mostly because there won’t be any story left to tell if the Old Ones make it back. Whoops!
That said, thank you so much for sticking with me this far, and I hope you enjoyed book four. None of these would exist without the following people, who all deserve more thanks than I can ever give them: Corinne, my own personal magic, Michael Bourret, my agent, and my two editors at Aladdin, Liesa Mignogna and Anna Parsons, whom you can thank for Xenea getting even more screen time than she would have.
I also need to give all my thanks to Mara Anastas, my publisher at Aladdin; Chriscyntheia Floyd, deputy publisher; the marketing team of Alissa Nigro and Caitlin Sweeny; Cassie Malmo and Nicole Russo in publicity; Elizabeth Mims; Sara Berko; Laura DiSiena, the designer of the book; Michelle Leo and the education/library team; Stephanie Voros and the sub rights group too; Christina Pecorale and the whole sales team; and especially to Vivienne To, still making my books look much better than they deserve with her cover art.
Well, there’s no delaying things any further… as some famous doctor once put it, we’re in the endgame now, so see you in Revenge of Magic: The Chosen One!
More from this Series
The Chosen One
Book 5
The Revenge of Magic
Book 1
The Last Dragon
Book 2
The Future King
Book 3
More from the Author
Worlds Apart
Pick the Plot
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JAMES RILEY is the New York Times bestselling author of the Story Thieves and Half Upon a Time series. Contrary to what his Story Thieves biography suggests, this really is James. Note to future authors: If you pretend you’re not real, you’ll get lots of questions.
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ALSO BY JAMES RILEY
The Revenge of Magic series
The Revenge of Magic
The Last Dragon
The Future King
The Half Upon a Time series
Half Upon a Time
Twice Upon a Time
Once Upon the End
The Story Thieves series
Story Thieves
The Stolen Chapters
Secret Origins
Pick the Plot
Worlds Apart
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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First Aladdin hardcover edition October 2020
Text © 2020 by James Riley
Jacket illustration © 2020 by Vivienne To
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Jacket design by Laura Lyn DiSiena © 2020 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Jacket design by Laura Lyn DiSiena © 2020 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Jacket illustration © 2020 by Vivienne To
Author photograph by Maarten de Boer
Library of Congress Control Number 2020940784
ISBN 9781534425811 (hc)
ISBN 9781534425835 (ebook)