by James Riley
“Meaning no offense, Your Majesty, I don’t believe I’m interested,” Fort said, hoping Rachel would have been proud of him for how he spoke to her.
“I believe you will be,” the queen said, and turned her palm over. Inside it, where nothing had been a moment before, now shone a bright green jewel, sparkling in the sun. It was almost as big as Fort’s palm and had to be worth more money than he’d ever seen.
With a jewel like that, Colonel Charles could send him home, and his aunt wouldn’t have to worry about money anymore. It’d solve so many problems for him!
“I, uh, don’t need any money,” he said, having trouble getting the words out. “But thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, this isn’t a treasure to be sold,” the queen said, picking the jewel up and holding it in the sunlight, sending beams shining into Fort’s eyes. “This is worth far more than any gold or silver.”
Fort nodded, believing her, but knowing he couldn’t make a deal. Whatever the stone was worth, the queen would want something of equal or greater value, and that wasn’t anything Fort could afford.
“I’m sure it is, Your Majesty, but—”
“This stone,” the queen said, looking Fort in his eyes, “will grant you your heart’s desire. Do you know what that is, child?”
He blinked, not sure he understood the question. Did he know what his own heart’s desire was? Of course he’d always thought about what it’d be like to be rich, or not have to do chores and save money for months to buy video games.
But those weren’t his heart’s desire. If there was one thing he wanted more than anything else, it was the only thing he’d been thinking about since the attack in D.C.
“I just want my father to be safe,” he said quietly.
“Then safe he shall be,” the queen said, holding it out to him. “Place this in his hand, and the stone will ensure your father’s protection no matter the danger. No harm shall fall him, neither mental nor physical, if you place this magical stone upon him.”
Fort’s mouth dropped open as he stared in wonder.
“And for this,” the queen continued, “all I’d ask is a simple favor, to be given at a time of my choosing.”
Part of Fort’s mind screamed out the warning the old man had given him earlier.
And under no circumstances should you accept any deal to save your father! he had said.
But the rest of Fort couldn’t stop looking at the stone. It would make his father safe … forever?
“I can see you are conflicted,” the queen said, and moved the stone closer to her own eye, appraising it. “And far be it from me to hold you up for any longer, not when you and your friends have an Old One to find. So take the stone with you. If you use it, then a favor you’ll owe me. If not, then there is no agreement.”
And with that, she handed Fort the stone with a smile. He looked down at it in wonder.
“I only owe you if I use it,” he said, almost not believing it.
“That’s the deal, child,” the queen said as the stone monuments around him disappeared. “That’s the deal.”
- THIRTY-THREE -
A CIRCLE OF FAMILIAR-LOOKING STONES faded into view, replacing the monuments at the edge of Avalon’s island. This was Stonehenge, or at least that was Fort’s assumption from all the photos he’d seen, as a semicircle of stones surrounded him, many with a horizontal stone on top of them.
As Fort appeared, he noticed Jia, Rachel, and Ellora all doing the same, as if they were just now arriving as well. Had the faerie queen made bargains with them, too? Or had they all turned her down separately?
He quickly placed the stone in his pocket, just in case the others had all said no. The last thing he wanted to hear was Rachel or Jia telling him why it was a terrible idea to owe the queen a favor. It wasn’t like he didn’t already know that.
But if it meant his father would be safe—from Colonel Charles, the Old Ones, anyone—wouldn’t it be worth it?
“I didn’t realize she’d send us here,” Ellora said, her eyes going black. “Maybe I wouldn’t have used it to fake Damian out if I’d known.”
“Can you even see anything around us now that we have the book?” Fort asked, holding up the book of Spirit magic.
She sighed, shaking her head as her eyes returned to normal. “I’d hoped I could see if Damian was tracking us, but no, you’re right. The book fogs it all up. But I don’t think we have much time.”
Fort looked at Jia and Rachel, wanting to ask about the faerie queen, but not knowing how to bring it up without answering the question himself. Finally, he gave up and just brought up the other uncomfortable, awkward elephant in the room. “If Damian’s coming, I need to learn Spirit magic to use on him, then. That way we can keep him from destroying London before we figure out how to stop the war.”
Jia nodded quickly, but Rachel just stared at the book anxiously. “What about Excalibur?” she said, holding up the sword. “Maybe I could use it against Damian, to stop him somehow. Then we wouldn’t have to use the magic.”
“We don’t even know what the sword does,” Jia pointed out. “And the faerie queen said one scratch would destroy an Old One. Do you really want to do that to Damian?”
Rachel sighed loudly. “No, I guess not,” she said, then looked around hopefully. “Unless the rest of you think we should? Fine, okay, Spirit magic it is.” She gave Fort a suspicious glance. “But the first sign of it making you evil, I’m going to fireball you right in the chest.”
Fort couldn’t help but smile. “Just like when we first met. Jia, you should watch me too. I don’t trust this magic any more than you two do.”
Jia nodded, and both her hands and Rachel’s began to glow with their respective magic. “Ready,” Jia said.
“Let’s do this,” Rachel said, looking disgusted.
“You’ll see—it’ll be okay,” Ellora said quietly. “I think this could change the world if we use it right. Just give him a chance.”
Fort nodded and opened the book. A familiar poem appeared on the first page:
One for the body, bones and skin,
One for the spirit, its spectral kin,
One for the mind, thoughts and dreams,
One for the world, from dirt to streams,
One for all space, wide and vast,
One for all time, future and past.
Seven from six, the rest unearthed.
One saves all, if proved their worth.
Right. That was the prophecy Damian apparently was following, the one that appeared in every book of magic. When Fort had first arrived at the Oppenheimer School, Dr. Opps had warned him not to take it seriously, since all the other students wanted to believe it was them. Apparently, students believing they were the chosen one was a common problem, but that wasn’t something that had ever even occurred to Fort. He knew he was nobody, and besides, he’d never be as powerful as the other students, since he hadn’t been born on Discovery Day.
Even a magical sword knew he’d never be worthy. So saving everyone was already out.
Besides, believing in the prophecy was dangerous. Look what it had done to Damian, convincing him that he could defeat the Old Ones if he learned the six types of magic. Hopefully, he was still waiting beneath Glastonbury Tor and would never know what happened to them—
A green glow out of the corner of Fort’s eye caught his attention, but by the time he looked up, it was already too late. Hardened air slammed into his chest, sending him flying into one of the nearby stones, the book dropping where he’d stood.
As Fort looked up, he found Damian standing in the middle of Stonehenge, his face contorted with anger.
“Thanks for bringing me the book of Spirit magic,” he said, his voice bitter as he glared at them. “Normally I’d give you a chance to walk away from this, saying that I didn’t want to hurt you.” He slowly smiled, revealing some incredibly sharp-looking fangs even in his human mouth. “But after all the trouble you’ve given me today? That’d be a
lie: I actually kind of do want to hurt you.”
And then he attacked, flying into the air straight at them… .
Only to freeze in a burst of black light.
Fort just stared in surprise for a moment, then slowly picked himself up off his feet. Jia and Rachel were both staring as their magical light faded from their hands, apparently having been prepared for a fight. Fort turned to Ellora as well, but found her looking just as confused.
“That … wasn’t me,” she said, and continued on, but Fort didn’t hear the rest as Stonehenge faded out around him, replaced by a now-familiar-looking cottage.
“What did I tell you?” Cyrus said, sitting at the long wooden dining table in the middle of the cottage’s main room. “As soon as you get the book, come here. Now get everyone here already: Me in the past can’t keep Damian frozen for that long.”
- THIRTY-FOUR -
STONEHENGE FADED INTO VIEW ALL around him as Fort found himself back in the present, Damian still frozen in midair. The others were staring at Ellora in surprise, so she must have just shared that this wasn’t her doing.
That meant he had time to get them to Cyrus’s cottage.
Or he could ensure that London wouldn’t be destroyed, once and for all.
“Ellora, can you unfreeze Damian?” Fort asked, walking back to where Damian had knocked the book of Spirit magic out of his hands.
“Um, what?” Rachel shouted. “Did the faerie queen take your brain in exchange for something? You want to release him?”
“I can, yes,” Ellora said. “And I agree, you should use Spirit magic on him.”
Fort nodded as Rachel ran over, shaking her head violently. “Whoa, no way, New Kid. We said we’d use it to stop the war. Damian’s not going anywhere. We don’t need to use it on him!”
“Cyrus did this,” Fort said, nodding at Damian as picked the book up. “And he just told me it was only temporary. He can’t keep him frozen forever.”
“Then Ellora can!” Rachel shouted. “Or all those other kids. They can let the dome go now, because we did what we set out to do: We stopped Damian!”
“Unless we take him out of time altogether, there’s no way to know for sure he won’t get free,” Ellora told her. “Damian is too powerful. Our spells don’t seem to work on him as well. It could be that dragons have some sort of natural resistance.”
“Don’t D and D me at a time like this!” Rachel shouted, but Fort barely heard her. Ellora saying they’d have to take Damian out of time brought to mind exactly why he needed to do this.
Damian had to be stopped. So did the coming war. If not, then his own father would have to be sent out of time as well. And there was no way he could let that happen.
“Same as before, keep an eye on me,” Fort told Rachel and Jia. “I’m just going to change his mind about wanting the books, that’s all.”
“And if that’s not the first spell?” Rachel shouted. “What then? What will you do to him?”
“Whatever it takes!” Jia shouted, moving to Fort’s side to face her. “Rachel, we can’t take a chance on London. If it starts a world war, so many people will be hurt, or killed! Including my …” She trailed off as she rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You saw what happened to Chicago, Ray. Just like I saw Hong Kong. I can’t let that happen, not if I can stop it. And we can, using this.” She pointed at the book.
“We could do a lot more with it too,” Ellora said quietly. “Change world leaders’ minds, make them help the poor and feed the hungry.”
Rachel whirled on her. “Not now, Ellora!” She turned back to Jia and Fort. “I get it, I really do. I’m all for changing the world and saving everyone. But you two don’t understand how evil that power is! And I don’t want you to find out. I don’t want anyone to find out!”
“That’s why you have my permission to take me down if I use it wrong,” Fort said. “We need to do this, Rachel. If we’re going to save my dad, and Jia’s parents, we need to!”
She groaned loudly, rubbing her forehead, then finally nodded. “I really will take you down, Fort,” she said quietly, her hands glowing red. “So be careful, okay?”
“I will,” he said, relieved that she had finally come around, while still feeling just as nervous as she was about the whole thing. Just because he didn’t have a choice didn’t mean he had to like it.
He opened the book past the poem, to the first page. For a moment, he was worried that the first spell wouldn’t be what he needed, just like Rachel had said. That had happened with the book of Summoning magic, and while Teleport had turned out to be incredibly useful, at the time, all he’d wanted was a dimensional portal spell. What if the first Spirit magic spell was about making someone’s bad day better, or—
Create Devotion in a Living Creature, he read. Be warned—this spell will ensure loyal obedience to any command of the spellcaster but has been shown to affect the temperament of the spellcaster the more it’s used. Spirit magic as a whole is intricately tied to the force of magic itself, and given what was hidden there, the user should be taking the utmost care whenever attempting any Spirit spells—
The book went on, but Fort didn’t care as he felt an odd sort of energy fill him. Summoning magic had felt kind of itchy, and Healing magic made him cold, but this wasn’t anything like those two: It almost made him feel … powerful.
The spell words, “gen ly’la,” appeared in his head, and some part of him wanted desperately to shout them out to the world, to turn them on the nearest person and see what happened. That made him even more nervous, but somehow, the warmth of the magic comforted him, told him everything would be okay.
And besides, he did have a perfect target for the magic.
Fort looked up at Damian in the sky and quietly whispered the words, grinning in spite of himself. Orange light surrounded the dragon boy, then slowly faded, leaving Damian still frozen.
“Close the book, Fort,” Rachel said to him, a spell at the ready. “You got your one spell. Close it.”
He nodded, though part of him was annoyed. Nothing had gone wrong, and the magic had been so comforting. Why did she care so much? She had no idea what it was like to have the power he did now.
He could even use it on her, ask her to relax a bit, and then he could learn more spells. Why not? It was obviously nothing bad.
“Fort?” Rachel said. “Did you hear what I said? You haven’t closed the book yet.”
He rolled his eyes but closed the book. He had asked her to watch over him, so he’d have to do what she said, for now at least. And then when everyone realized there was nothing bad about Spirit magic, he could dive into the rest and learn it all.
“Did it work?” Jia asked as he closed the book.
“Only one way to find out,” Fort said. “Ellora, will you release him?”
Rachel turned to face Damian now as Ellora unfroze the boy. Immediately Damian’s momentum kicked back in, sending him straight at them, an attack at the ready. He landed just in front of Fort, glowing with multiple types of magic.
“Stand down, Dragon Boy!” Rachel shouted. “Drop the magic or I’ll make you wish you’d never left your cave!”
Damian sneered, then slowly looked up. His eyes locked on Fort, and the sneer immediately faded, along with his prepared spells.
“Forsythe!” he said, almost as if in surprise. “I didn’t mean … I’m so sorry that it looked like … I apologize! I never meant to attack you. I would never!”
Fort just stared back joyfully, enjoying how this was going way more than he’d even hoped.
“You should probably call me sir,” Fort said. “Or, you know, Your Majesty.”
“Anything you want, Your Majesty, sir!” Damian said, bowing low. “Is there any way I can possibly help you? I can’t believe I was even considering taking your book of magic from you. I have to make up for that, please ! Anything you need, I’m your servant, sir, Your Majesty, sir!”
“Fort, stop this, now,” Rachel hissed, and he
looked over to find a nauseous look on her face. “You don’t need to humiliate him.”
“He was going to do far worse to us!” Fort shouted back. “I think he could stand a little humiliation.”
“I was going to do worse, and I do deserve all the punishment for it,” Damian said, his face contorting wretchedly. “Please, tell me what I can do to make up for it. I’ll do anything!”
“Fort, seriously, get this over with quickly,” Jia said, not looking much better than Rachel.
Fort sighed loudly, not understanding why they were so against a little payback. The magic had just felt so good, and now he had Damian groveling in front of him. Why was that so bad? Maybe he should show them what the magic felt like, just so they could see it wasn’t as bad as they thought.
And then Damian looked up at him with true despair in his eyes, and a small, quiet part of Fort felt true revulsion. What was he doing? Humiliating Damian just for kicks, all without the other boy having any sort of control? This wasn’t who he was. This was sick!
“Don’t … don’t try to steal the book of Spirit magic from me, okay?” he said, not even able to look at Damian now, even as part of him couldn’t believe he was letting Damian off the hook. “Just … just go back to the Carmarthen Academy and turn yourself over to William.”
Damian nodded, his sneer coming back a bit. “He was the one who tried to keep me from getting the book of Spirit magic.” For a moment, he looked tentatively excited. “Shall I interrogate him for you, sir, Your Majesty? Stick him under the earth for a few months or teleport him to the Arctic until he tells us everything he knows?”
“No!” Fort shouted, even more of him now terrified of his own power over the other boy. “Do none of those things. In fact, he’s in charge.” He glanced over at Ellora. “William will know what to do, right?”
She nodded. “He should be able to see the future and figure out what has to be done to keep … what we saw from ever happening.”