by James Riley
“No, I don’t,” Fort said, his irritation rising with his embarrassment over several kids still looking at him. “But you can’t just use magic on random people!”
“Oh, it’s barely even magic,” Xenea said, shrugging. “It’s just a bit of a gentle push, really, to make them see what they want to see. That’s how I changed my skin color.”
“That’s still magic!” Fort said. “And people here are kind of freaked out by magic at the moment, so maybe don’t use any more?”
She sighed. “I’m telling you, it’s nothing. Watch. I’ll cast a real spell, and you’ll see the difference.”
She stood up and started to wave her hand, only for Fort to yank her back to the seat. “I said no more magic!” he hissed as more people turned to glare at him.
Xenea smiled at him. “That would matter, I guess, if I had to do what you said. But you’re the one who owes my queen, not the other way around. And since you’re currently failing to keep your side of the bargain, you’re basically useless to me.” She patted him on the shoulder, then looked out the window. “Ah, I see we’ve arrived. This is your school?”
He followed her gaze, only to drop his head into his hands again. “No. That’s the city dump.”
She frowned. “Huh. The smell reminded me of humans, so I just figured… oh well. That means I have time to interrogate more of these children. Be right back!”
And with that, she jumped up from their seat before Fort could stop her.
“Fellow normal human beings!” she declared from the aisle. “I am Xenea, and I have come to learn from you about your culture and habits. Please educate me, that when my people rule yours…” She coughed awkwardly. “I mean, when my people visit yours, we shall exist in harmony. Now, who here has seen any signs of a dragon around?”
- SEVEN -
SOMEHOW, XENEA’S GLAMOUR HAD BOTH charmed all the kids on the bus and convinced them that nothing was wrong with asking if they’d seen a dragon. In fact, they’d all been eager to talk about the one they’d seen flying over major cities on the news, which made Fort’s heart start racing again, considering he’d been in that dragon’s claws at the time. Fortunately, no one had been able to make out the features of the boy being held by the dragon, so he slumped back into the bus seat, agreeing with his dad that maybe he wasn’t ready for a new school just yet.
The only good part of Xenea meeting the other students was that it gave him time to himself, which he desperately needed if he was going to figure out how to get rid of her. Xenea wanted a dragon? Well, he knew someone who could find one for her.
Sierra? Fort shouted out with his mind. I need your help! Can you hear me?
Only there was no answer. That was odd… what could she be doing? Sleeping? How did the time difference work, anyway? Was it nighttime in the UK right now? No, not when it was morning where Fort was.
But then what was she doing? He tried a few more times and still got no response. Great. Hopefully she was okay, but now he had that to worry about too.
By the time the school bus pulled in to the school, Xenea had managed to win over half the bus, while at least that many kids now gave Fort dirty looks. Yejun must have spread the news around. Fantastic.
When they finally got off the bus, Fort had a tiny hope that a teacher or the principal might point out that Xenea didn’t belong, and she’d be kicked out of the place, but apparently her glamour power worked just as well on adults, as Fort’s new teacher, Ms. Switzer, welcomed her with open arms.
For the first time since he’d been kicked out of it, Fort missed the Oppenheimer School and their protective mind amulets. Whatever Xenea’s glamour was, it wouldn’t work on Colonel Charles. Though he’d love to lock them together in a room and see who annoyed who more.
For now, Xenea was sitting next to him at a group table, listening attentively as Ms. Switzer went over where the class had gotten to in American history. “Perhaps I should make notes,” Xenea whispered, then turned to Fort. “May I borrow some sort of writing utensil? In exchange, I can make you two inches taller.”
He took a deep breath, trying not to think about how much damage the faerie could do with the other students and her bargaining. “Here, just take it,” he said, handing her a pen. “It’s free. Keep it, and your deals.”
“Did you have something to say, Forsythe?” Ms. Switzer asked from the front. “I didn’t think I had to tell you not to talk during class.”
For what felt like the thousandth time that day, Fort blushed. “Sorry, just giving Xenea a pen,” he said, and instantly Ms. Switzer smiled.
“Oh, of course, I’m so sorry,” she said, moving to her desk. “Xenea, do you need any other school supplies? I always end up having to buy extras for kids, so I’ve got plenty—”
Xenea was out of her seat in an instant and scooped up everything she was offered. “You humans are awfully free with your deal making,” she said, making Fort groan. “Didn’t you think about what you could get from me in exchange?”
This actually seemed to set Ms. Switzer back a bit. “Uh, no, actually. I do this for all my students. If someone doesn’t have what they need, I’ll make sure they get it.”
“But what’s in it for you?” Xenea said, sounding confused now. “Do your students become your minions, following your orders for all time? Do you use their youth to stay young? What’s the advantage for you?”
“There is none,” Ms. Switzer said, and from her reaction, Fort started to wonder if the glamour was wearing thin a bit. The harder Xenea pushed, the more their teacher seemed to react to what she was actually saying, rather than just see whatever Xenea wanted. “I’m doing it for you, all of you. That’s what I care about, teaching kids what they need to know in life.”
“That’s so strange!” Xenea said, then seemed to notice the teacher’s reaction, because she added, “But definitely good to know. Thank you.” She moved back to her seat and began making notes in a notebook one of the other kids had given her (or at least Fort hoped they’d just given it, not traded for it). “I’m sorry, your teachership, you should go on with your lesson. I’m interested in hearing more about these thirteen rebellious human colonies, and what tactics the English king used to crush their insurrection as I imagine happened. This could come in handy.”
The day only got more surreal as it went on. After history, an alarm started ringing, and all the kids immediately jumped up from their tables, everyone talking at once.
“This is just a drill, everyone!” Ms. Swizter said. “I warned you about this yesterday. Because of what happened in London, we’ll be doing these all week, just to make sure you all know what to do.”
The kids went silent and slowly ducked under the tables, bracing themselves there. “I should have told you this was coming,” Ms. Switzer said to Fort and Xenea, who were both looking around in confusion.
“What’s coming?” Fort asked, feeling his shoulders push up around his neck as the alarm sounded, making him feel like he was back at the Oppenheimer School.
“This is just a drill in case of an attack like the one that happened in Washing—” Before she even finished, she seemed to realize who she was talking to and immediately winced. “Oh, Forsythe, I’m so sorry!” she said. “It didn’t even occur to me that… oh, I’m just making it worse.”
But Fort barely heard her as he stared around at the other kids, all sitting silently under the tables, their hands covering their heads. He could suddenly feel his heart beating in his head, and his vision began to get darker.
All of this… because of the Oppenheimer School? There were kids all around the country who had to hide under their desks because Damian had summoned the Old Ones so many months ago?
But Damian wasn’t the only one to blame. D’hea had come back because Fort had tried to rescue his father. And William wouldn’t have been able to attack London if Fort, Rachel, and Jia hadn’t retrieved the book of Spirit magic.
The enormity of it all hit him out of nowhere, in a way
it never had before. Seeing the looks on the other students’ faces, some bored but others wincing in fear, even though it was a drill… all of this was in part because of him.
Almost from a distance, he saw Ms. Switzer gently help him up from his seat and lead him to duck under the nearest table. Xenea joined him, but he barely noticed, his eyes on the boy next to him, someone whose name he hadn’t learned yet. The boy was trying to look unconcerned, but he jumped at every little noise around the room.
This was too much. The alarm ringing, the other students all not knowing what was happening, it was just too much to take, and Fort began to feel dizzy, almost like he was going to faint—
“Are you ill, Forsythe?” said a voice, cutting through the terrible memories and pulling Fort’s attention back to the faerie girl sitting in front of him. But unlike before, Xenea seemed to glow now, though not like she was using magic. It was more as if he couldn’t look away and wanted to talk to her, to find out more about her—
And then the glow diminished, and the old Xenea was back, along with some of his fear and anxiousness. Still, whatever the glow had been, it’d calmed him down a lot and brought him out of his guilt, his realization of how much what he’d done had affected the world.
“What did you do?” he whispered to her, finally not meaning it in a bad way.
“You looked like you went somewhere bad,” Xenea said. “The glamour’s good for pulling people out of their heads.”
He blinked. “Um, thank you. I… I actually really appreciate that.”
“You can owe me,” she said, and grinned far too evilly for Fort’s liking.
Still, she had been nice to do that. And what was even more surprising, Fort now realized that other than changing her skin color, Xenea hadn’t been using her glamour on him at all.
That was probably because she didn’t need to: He didn’t have a choice and had to help her, to fulfill his favor to the queen. The last thing he was going to do was put his father at risk again for not following through on his bargain.
But still, wouldn’t Xenea’s job have been easier if she’d charmed him like everyone else? And she still hadn’t done so. Huh.
The piercing alarm went silent before he could ask her about it, and everyone climbed out from under the tables.
“We’ll have another drill each day this week,” Ms. Switzer said, giving Fort a pitying look. “But maybe I’ll speak to Mrs. MacNamara about you, Forsythe. You shouldn’t have to, you know…”
“It’s okay—I’m fine,” he said, forcing a smile. The last thing he needed was the other students thinking he was getting special treatment, not after many of them already had a bad opinion of him from the bus. Four more drills like that one sounded pretty terrible, yes, but he’d have to get used to it. This was how normal life was.
It wasn’t until lunch that he finally had a chance to talk more to Xenea about things. But after following him through the cafeteria line, she got pulled away to a table full of their classmates, taking the last seat.
Fort sighed, far too aware that only a few hours earlier, he’d been walking out the door to his normal school in his normal life. Sure, a cat-dragon was waiting for him back home, and they still had to find Merlin and defeat an Old One, but for just one day, Fort had been a bit excited to have things back like they were supposed to be.
But instead, there was Xenea and drills in case of monster attacks. The latter he could handle, assuming he could get his panic under control.
Xenea, though? He glanced over to where she was sitting, as all the other students stared in wonder at her.
Xenea was going to be a problem.
Sierra? Fort tried again, but still received no response. He began to worry even more about his friend. The only times she hadn’t responded in the past were when she was in trouble, or asleep. He hoped it was the latter, because at the moment, there wasn’t much he could do if she was in danger, not without knowing exactly where she was.
He sighed, dropping his head into his hands. He’d keep trying Sierra when he got home from school, when Xenea would go back to wherever she came from, hopefully, and he’d have more time to think of how to handle all of this.
And then a horrible thought occurred to him: What if Xenea didn’t go back to Avalon? What if she really meant it when she said she had to stick by Fort until she found a dragon? What if she barged into his aunt’s apartment, too?
No, there was no way, not with Ember there. He’d just have to find some reason that she couldn’t come in.
- EIGHT -
IT’S NICE TO MEET YOU, Xenea,” Fort’s aunt said as she welcomed the faerie girl into the apartment. “I’m so glad Fort’s already making friends at his new school!”
“He is?” Xenea said, frowning as she sat down at their dinner table. “It didn’t look like that to me. He mostly seemed worried the whole time. Thank you for offering me sustenance for the evening, though, especially without asking for anything in return. You… I mean, we humans seem extremely gullible in that way!”
Fort clenched his jaw, wanting to punch something. After school, Xenea had followed him to the bus, then straight up the stairs to his apartment. “Well, this was a fun day,” he lied to her, then reached out to shake her hand. “See you here tomorrow? Hopefully, I’ll be able to find Damian for you then, and you can go home.”
She just laughed. “Ah, no. Where you go, I go. Imagine how much trouble I’d be in if the dragon turned out to be hiding in your domicile here! So let’s go in, Forsythe. Unless you’re not planning to pay my queen back for her favor?”
He quickly shook his head, not even willing to consider that. If the queen had given him his father back, she could take him away just as easily… or even just restore his ability to do magic, and who knew where that would lead. He couldn’t risk a world war just because this faerie girl wanted to follow him home after school.
And now here he was, his aunt showing Xenea to the kitchen table, with his baby dragon just down the hall. Fortunately, Ember hadn’t made any noises yet, but Fort knew that would only be a matter of time: He had to find a way to sneak away from the table and get her somewhere safe, at least as long as Xenea was here.
Though if he knew of a safe place to send her, then he wouldn’t be having this problem in the first place.
“I’m afraid it’s just pizza for dinner,” his aunt told them, back at the dinner table. “What do you like on it, Xenea?”
“What is pizza?” she asked, tilting her head. “Is it some sort of plate? If so, I’ll have food on it, please.”
Fort blinked, then leaned in closer. “Do you eat meat? Are you a vegetarian?”
She leaned in as well, looking horrified. “What kind of beast kills and eats another living thing? Of course I don’t eat meat!”
“Just cheese, please,” Fort told his aunt, pulling away again as Xenea stared at him in disgust. His aunt nodded with a smile, then left to get her phone and call in the order.
“Tell me that this cheese you mention isn’t some sort of thinking, feeling creature,” Xenea said to Fort.
“No, it’s just a mold made from the milk of a cow,” he whispered back, then enjoyed her reaction.
“What is wrong with you humans?” Xenea said, looking sick. “Tell me I didn’t eat a mold today at the school.”
“No, those were tater tots,” he told her. “Just potatoes, fried in oil.”
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “And the white drink in the box?”
He couldn’t stop his grin. “That’d be the milk of the cow again.”
She gagged and shook her head. “Perhaps I’ll skip this meal. I don’t know how you people grow so large, eating such things.”
Before Fort could encourage that, maybe suggesting she just find somewhere else to go for the night, the front door opened, and he heard footsteps coming toward them.
“My boy returns victoriously from his first day at school!” Fort’s father yelled as he stepped into the kitchen. “Did
they give you medals yet, or will that come later?”
Fort turned his usual red, then stood up to introduce the faerie girl to his father. “Dad, this is Xenea, a friend of mine. Um, from school.”
His father took one look at Xenea, and his smile disappeared. An odd, surprised look passed over his face, but he quickly covered it by replacing his smile. “Xenea, welcome!” he said. “Any friend of Fort’s is a friend of Fort’s, as I always say. I hope you like pizza, because the grocery stores are still out of everything except anchovies and olives.” He winked at Fort. “Don’t worry—I got you enough of both for your usual lunch.”
“Yes, we already resolved the pizza issue,” Xenea said, her eyes on Fort’s father. Fort hadn’t known the faerie girl long, and for most of that time he’d been incredibly embarrassed by everything she’d done, but one thing he’d never seen was her looking like she was now. It was almost like she had been surprised by something as well, just like his father had been. What was going on?
“Fort, why don’t you give Xenea a tour?” his aunt said, returning from placing the pizza order just in time to suggest the worst possible thing. “I’ll call you two when dinner’s here. I’m guessing you’re going to want to play with Ember?”
Fort’s blood went cold. “Ember’s my cat,” he told Xenea. “My perfectly normal house cat. Nothing weird about her at all. We don’t even need to see her if you don’t want.”
Xenea shrugged, barely even looking at him. “Yes, let us see your cat, if you want.” She walked into the hallway and stopped just out of earshot of the kitchen, giving Fort a strange look. “What is going on here? Why do I smell magic?”
“What do you mean?” Fort asked, his eyes widening. “No magic here. Just completely normal, everyday nonmagic here!”
Her eyes narrowed, and she turned to look back in the direction of the kitchen. “Your father reeks of my kind. Is he involved in the bargain you made with the queen?”
