by James Riley
“Hey,” Gabriel said, waving at Fort from a different table, where he’d already taken some cereal. “Did you know that there are a couple of suits in our room going through our stuff? What’s that about?”
“You don’t want to know, trust me,” Fort said.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow, then seemed to notice the looks from Fort’s table of friends. “Yikes. I can see why you don’t want to talk about things. What’d you do to them all?”
Fort sighed deeply and moved to get in line for food, ignoring the question. He grabbed a tray and slammed it down on the counter, not even sure who he was most angry at: Gabriel for asking more questions, Agent Cole for catching him, or himself for betraying his friends in the first place.
Himself. Definitely himself. With Agent Cole a close second.
After choosing something that he hoped was oatmeal, Fort slumped into a seat next to Gabriel, where he could still see his friends. Only Cyrus seemed to be looking, and he waved at Fort like he wanted to say something, but Rachel grabbed his hand and pulled it back down to the table.
Great.
“Listen,” Gabriel said. “I get that you don’t want to tell me what happened, and I accept that. But here’s what you don’t realize: I’ll stop asking about it if you tell me. That’s called a win-win.”
Fort dropped his head into his hands, groaning softly. “You know what? Fine. Here’s what happened: I did something… not so great. I lied to them about it so that they wouldn’t be in dan—in trouble too. And now they’re a little upset about it all. Understandably.”
Gabriel nodded, then dug into his own cereal. “And which part involves our room getting searched?”
Fort didn’t look up. “That’s somewhere in there too.”
“Are they going to find anything?”
“No,” Fort said, probably too angrily. “Because there isn’t anything to find, okay?”
“Smart,” Gabriel said. “But back to the death looks from behind me, it sounds like, if I’m hearing your incredibly vague description right, you were trying to protect your friends. Considering what’s going on in our room, you had good reason to. What’s the problem, then?”
Fort frowned. “The problem is that I didn’t tell them the truth. I lied to them.”
Gabriel took another bite. “Would they have gotten pulled away by agents too, if you’d told them the truth?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I wasn’t going to take that chance.”
“Then I still don’t see the problem,” Gabriel said, flying through his cereal. “You were trying to protect people you cared about, so don’t sit there and tell me you did anything wrong. You watched out for your friends, and they’re only mad because they wanted to watch out for you, too. But you did the right thing here. You kept them safe, even if it meant them getting mad at you. That takes guts.”
Fort frowned. “I guess. But—”
“There’s no buts here, kid,” Gabriel said. “Listen, Fort. You remind me of my little brother. He’s kind of a goofball and always getting into trouble. But I watch over him, because that’s what big brothers do.” Gabriel smiled, just a bit. “And wow, did he hate it. But I never let that stop me. Because I knew that if I ever looked away for just a minute and he got hurt…” He trailed off, looking into the distance for a moment before turning back to his cereal. “Friends are no different. It’s us versus the world, kid, and the world isn’t pulling any punches. You protect those you care about no matter what.”
Fort just stared at his roommate, his annoyance at Gabriel slipping away. “I really remind you of your brother?” he asked, a little surprised by that.
“Yeah, not so much in the face or anything,” Gabriel said, not looking up. “But he’s a good kid, and from what I’m hearing, you are too. Don’t beat yourself up for trying to help people, Fort, no matter how you have to do it. It’s not always pretty, but it’s still the right thing to do.”
“Um, thanks,” Fort said, and really meant it. For some reason, he actually did feel better, though he had to admit it was a bit new to him, having this semistranger say Fort reminded him of his brother. Maybe that was because Fort was an only child and didn’t really understand what having a brother or sister was like? Still, right here and now, with everyone else he knew angry at him, it didn’t feel that bad to have Gabriel in his corner.
Gabriel nodded, then rose to get back in line for seconds, while Fort got to work on his own breakfast, suddenly famished now that he felt a bit less guilty. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jia and Rachel leave, neither looking at him as they went. Cyrus hung around, like he was waiting for Fort, but a soldier came in and waved him out of the room.
It took Fort until just then to realize he didn’t recognize any of the remaining students in the cafeteria, which meant that all the old Oppenheimer School students must have left already.
And here was Fort, stuck with the new kids.
After Gabriel plowed through a second bowl of a cereal, two more soldiers entered the room, each holding a list of names.
“The following students should accompany me to the Destruction classroom,” one said, and read off a list of names Fort had never heard before. There seemed to be more girls than boys overall left in the cafeteria, and ten girls and five boys followed the first soldier out. That left about a dozen girls and ten boys, but instead of reading names, the second soldier just shrugged and told the remaining students to come with him.
Gabriel was also in the second group, which Fort figured would be the case, since Colonel Charles said Fort would be tutoring his roommate. After their talk just now, though, that seemed less of a pain than it had when he’d first heard about it.
As they exited, one of the agents who’d escorted Fort to Agent Cole stopped him for a moment. “Cole wanted me to tell you that your room is clean,” she said. “And that she knows the books are around somewhere, so she won’t stop looking until she finds them. In case you hear anything.”
- SEVENTEEN -
THE SOLDIER LED THEM THROUGH the halls, pointing out markers here and there to help them find their way toward what would be their Healing classroom. Each of the hallways was labeled with a number and letter, which Fort had noticed during his weeks here but hadn’t really taken into account every time he got lost. But now that they were getting farther away from the area he knew, he welcomed finding out that the base was built in a sort of grid, so at least he could find his way around better in the future. Hopefully.
Finally, the soldier stopped at a large theaterlike room with American flags surrounding the walls. Here and there a seat or two remained bolted to the floor, but it looked like most of those had been removed, and the room was now filled with familiar-looking steel tables.
Up onstage, right next to a podium, Dr. Ambrose sat at a desk covered in papers. She didn’t look up as the students filed in, each of the kids making their way through the tables to gather in front of her desk. When they had all arrived, and Dr. Ambrose still didn’t say anything, a few of the students began to talk quietly to each other.
Dr. Ambrose’s head immediately shot up. “Who said you could speak?”
The crowd went silent.
She narrowed her eyes. “So no one’s going to answer me? And here I had hope for you new kids. Assistant!” She clapped her hands.
Someone sighed heavily from offstage, and then Sebastian strode out from behind a curtain, looking no happier to be here than Fort was to see him. “Yes, Dr. Ambrose?” he said.
“Your students are here,” she told him, nodding at the assembled kids below the stage. “Get to it. I have things to do.”
Sebastian nodded, still looking annoyed, then stepped forward to address them. “Good morning. I’m Sebastian Thomas, but you can and will call me ‘sir.’ I’ll be teaching you, since as has been explained to you, none of you were born on Discovery Day, and therefore you need extra help.”
Fort glanced around in surprise. None of these new students we
re born on Discovery Day? The Oppenheimer School hadn’t taken that type of student before, so maybe he’d actually proven something, back at the old school.
Or maybe there just weren’t that many available kids born on May 9.
“Dr. Ambrose will be around for part of each class,” Sebastian continued, “but otherwise she’ll be occupied…”—he trailed off, like the next bit was painful for him—“with a special project, one that my class is helping her with. But instead of being there, probing the limits of Healing magic, I’m here, teaching you how to take out splinters.” He glared at them. “Which means you’re all going to work extra hard to learn your magic, or I’m going to be annoyed. And you don’t want to see me annoyed.”
One of the kids snorted at this, and Sebastian slowly turned his head. “You think I’m joking?” he said, his hands glowing with a blue energy.
The boy shook his head, suddenly nervous. All the students around him backed away, leaving the boy alone in the crowd. Sebastian jumped down from the stage and patted the boy’s shoulder, the glow flowing from his hand into the boy. “I hope you liked having your tonsils out, because now you’ll be going through that a second time.”
“Wait, what?” the boy said, then put his hands up to his throat. “What did you do?”
“You will listen when I speak, or you’ll be spending a quiet few days in the infirmary as the rest of your class leaves you behind,” Sebastian said to the others. “Am I clear about that?”
The students nodded, all except for Fort, who rolled his eyes.
Sebastian, of course, locked onto Fort immediately. “Ah, our former sole New Kid,” he said, moving toward Fort through the crowd as the other kids parted like the Red Sea. Sebastian’s hands began to glow blue again, and he reached them both out toward Fort’s shoulders. “So happy to be teaching you, Fort!”
Fort put his hands up defensively, but Sebastian was too quick, clamping his hands down on Fort’s shoulder before he could dodge. But instead of making him ill, the energy in Sebastian’s hands gave Fort a small burst of energy. “You looked like you were about to fall asleep on your feet,” Sebastian said, releasing his shoulders. “That better?”
“Yes, actually,” Fort said, not sure what he was being set up for.
“Good,” Sebastian said. “Because I need your help with something. Everyone else, grab a spot at a table and wait for my next instructions.”
As the other kids began to maneuver through the tables to find one near their friends, Fort just stared at Sebastian, not liking where this was going. “What’s this about?”
“I know you’re supposed to be tutoring someone,” Sebastian said. “Which kid is it again?”
Fort nodded at Gabriel, who’d waited nearby instead of taking a seat at one of the tables.
Sebastian nodded. “Yeah, okay. That’s not going to happen. I need you for something more important.”
As much as Fort hadn’t wanted to tutor Gabriel, the last thing he was going to do was admit that to Sebastian. “Well, you should take that up with Colonel Charles, since he was the one who ordered me to tutor Gabriel.”
“Don’t give me that,” Sebastian whispered, stepping closer. “You think I don’t remember how many rules you and Cyrus broke at the last school? You don’t care about orders. And this is important.”
“What’s important?” Fort asked, getting more annoyed the longer this lasted.
Sebastian nodded up at Dr. Ambrose, who was gathering her things just out of earshot. “Ambrose is working with my class to see if they can come up with spells without using the book of Healing, just like you did back when you fought that Damian kid. If they succeed, we’ll never have to bother with mastering spells again, and we’ll be free of that stupid book.”
Ah, so that’s why Sebastian needed him. He wanted to know how Fort had come up with the pain spells. “No way,” he said. “I’m not telling you how I did it. I don’t even remember what I did, so I couldn’t even if I wanted to, which I definitely don’t.” That was mostly the truth, since he really couldn’t remember the exact words to the spells he’d come up with. But he did remember how he’d learned them. All it’d taken was figuring out what each spell word had meant, and then mixing and matching.
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. “ ‘No way’? You do what I say here, New Kid.”
“Tell that to Colonel Charles, Teach,” Fort said, and turned around, only to stop as a cold hand pressed into his shoulder.
“Like I told the others,” Sebastian said, “you call me ‘sir.’ ”
And then he pulled his hand off of Fort’s shoulder, letting his magical flu hit Fort so hard it almost knocked him off his feet.
- EIGHTEEN -
GABRIEL GRABBED FORT AND PROPPED him up as the room chose that moment to start spinning. “Whoa, are you okay, kid?” his roommate asked, looking worried.
“I’m fine,” Fort said, his teeth beginning to chatter as it felt like the temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees. “Must have… eaten something bad.”
Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “I’m going to get help. You look like you’re about to pass out.” He put Fort’s arm over his shoulder and slowly led him to the theater stage, helping him sit down.
“Fitzgerald, are you kidding me?” Dr. Ambrose said, looking up as she packed her papers. “Did you already give yourself a disease? Class barely started!”
“It was that one,” Gabriel said, pointing at Sebastian, who waved back at them with a smile. “He did it.”
“Oh,” Dr. Ambrose said, then shrugged. “Sounds like it’s part of the lesson, then. Carry on.”
“You can’t just leave him like this!” Gabriel said. “Is there something I can do to help him?”
“Have you mastered Heal Minor Wounds yet?” Dr. Ambrose asked.
“I’ve got literally no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then no, you’re useless for now,” she said. “You won’t learn Cure Disease until your second spell. Sounds like you need an older student.”
“Jia,” Fort croaked, his mouth weirdly dry as all the moisture in his body sweated out his skin. “She’ll help. She… did last time.”
“Forget that,” Gabriel said, and helped Fort lie back on the stage, then turned away. As Fort stared in wonder at how the ceiling was breathing in and out, he heard shouting a little ways away. Dr. Ambrose said something, then someone yelped in pain, and Fort began to wonder if this was all the ceiling’s fault.
And then Sebastian appeared above him, looking even more annoyed than before, if that was possible. “You’re so lucky he’s got special treatment,” he whispered to Fort as he laid a glowing hand on his forehead, then pulled it away, disgusted. “Ugh, you’re so sweaty!”
Instantly his fever disappeared, and Fort sat up with a clear head, though Sebastian was right, he was covered in sweat. He found Gabriel standing behind Sebastian with a firm grip on Sebastian’s arm, in what looked like an uncomfortable position behind his back. “You fixed him?” Gabriel asked.
“Do you know who my mother is?” Sebastian said, looking over his shoulder. “She runs this place, and— OW!”
“I do know her, actually,” Gabriel said, so quietly that Fort almost couldn’t hear. “I also know she wasn’t going to let you come back here, not after the attack at the last school. That when she finally gave in, she told you that if there’s even the slightest hint of trouble, she’s going to yank you back home quicker than you can say ‘please stop hurting me.’ So I’m guessing this is the last I’ll be hearing about this. Am I right?”
Sebastian rolled his eyes. “You’re still lucky that you’re— OW FINE OKAY, you’re right!”
Gabriel released Sebastian’s arm, then patted him on the shoulder. “Glad we understand each other,” he said to the other boy.
“Who are you?” Fort asked, staring at Gabriel in astonishment as Sebastian began yelling at the rest of the class for staring. “How did you know that about Sebastian and his mom?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Gabriel said. “Now what are you supposed to be teaching me?”
“No, I’m going to worry about it,” Fort told him. “Why am I tutoring you? Why did Colonel Charles put me in a room with you? I’m only at this school because someone tried something like this before, and it didn’t lead anywhere good.”
Gabriel stared at him blankly for a moment. “I assume it’s a trick for learning healing magic, right?” he said, completely ignoring Fort. “From what I hear, it takes about a week to master each one, so if you can help me get done here faster so I can find a way out of all of this, that’d be great.”
Fort glared at him. “I just told you something personal at breakfast. You’re really going to hold out on me?”
Gabriel shrugged. “Guess I’m better at keeping secrets.”
Fort almost laughed. Was he serious? The whole stealing-a-book-of-magic thing had distracted him at first, but now that he’d be here for at least another week, the mystery of Gabriel was suddenly becoming a lot more important.
If Colonel Charles wanted Gabriel to become another savior like Damian, learning each kind of magic, that was going to be a problem, considering the book of Mind magic was now ashes.
But no, Gabriel wasn’t born on Discovery Day. That meant he wouldn’t be as talented at magic as those kids were. So what set him apart? Sure, he’d just intimidated Sebastian, which was amazing, but knowing how to pin an arm behind someone’s back didn’t really suggest magical savior.
Whatever was happening, clearly Gabriel wouldn’t be sharing. Fine, let him be secretive. That’d just give Fort more time to master teleportation, move on to the next Summoning spell, hopefully open a portal, and finally rescue his father.
“Okay,” he said to Gabriel. “I’ll teach you some of the tricks that I was taught, quicker ways to learn healing magic. But I don’t like not knowing what’s going on.”
