The Last Dragon

by James Riley

  “Ow, hey!” Fort shouted. “I was just trying to wake you up! You looked like you were having a nightmare!”

  Gabriel’s eyes seemed to focus on Fort, and he instantly released Fort’s wrist. “Oh wow, I’m so sorry,” he said, and he really did sound sincere. “I was… Right. Bad dream.”

  “About dragons?” Fort asked, and Gabriel looked at him sharply. “You know, like in the display room. The skeletons.”

  Gabriel just stared for a moment, then fell back into his bed and turned toward the wall. “Gonna try to get a few more hours of sleep. Sorry again.”

  That was enough to keep Fort awake for the rest of the night wondering if Gabriel really was having the same dream somehow, and what that meant. Was there really some last dragon somewhere on Earth? And if so, what did the Old Ones want with it?

  More importantly, would Fort be willing to give those monsters something they wanted, something that might make them even more dangerous, in exchange for his father back?

  Eventually he gave up and tried to sleep again. As he turned over, he almost knocked his amulet off the bed, and something occurred to him: If these dreams were real, that meant the Old One was projecting them from another dimension. Gabriel had an amulet of his own. If he’d been wearing it while he slept, there was no way he could have seen the same dream.

  Except as he turned over, he found Gabriel’s amulet sitting on the nightstand.

  Uh-oh.

  The next few days settled into a kind of rhythm, not that Fort was particularly happy about it. Each morning Sebastian would try to get any information he could out of Fort about how he’d made up new spells without the spell book. Fort always refused, which just made Sebastian punish him in some way or another. Thanks to Gabriel, Sebastian ended up with two sore arms and one sore leg that week.

  The two actually seemed to be enjoying themselves after a while, with Sebastian trying to secretly give Fort some disease when he knew Gabriel wasn’t watching, then waiting to see how long it took until Gabriel discovered Fort convulsing on the floor.

  Good times all around, really.

  Weapons practice wasn’t exactly fun either. Fort didn’t seem to be making much progress working with the staff, but at least Sergeant Tower stayed supportive and positive the entire time. That was more than enough to make him Fort’s favorite teacher at the school, even with all the bruises he gained in the class.

  “Soreness is just a sign that you’re getting stronger,” Tower said in their third class, slapping Fort’s aching shoulders. “You’re hulking out already, look at you! You’re doing great, Forsythe. Keep it up!”

  Of course, Justine immediately knocked Fort to the floor as soon as the sergeant’s back was turned, but she liked to say that was to keep Fort humble.

  Cyrus seemed to have disappeared, just like he’d promised, and for all Fort could tell, so had Jia and Rachel. They were either steadily avoiding him, which was fair, or whatever special projects Dr. Opps had them doing were keeping them both so busy that they were never around. Fort wasn’t sure which he preferred, but he did feel thankful for Gabriel, secrets and all, especially at meal times. At least he didn’t have to sit alone, and in spite of it being a little demeaning, he found he sort of liked being seen as a little brother.

  “You want to see some real magic?” Gabriel asked at lunch one day, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

  Fort rolled his eyes. “No. No I don’t. Especially not if it’s just you pulling another coin out of my ear.”

  Gabriel frowned. “I don’t know what you’re suggesting, but that sounds like a trick. I’m talking about actual magic.”

  “You mean like the kind we’re studying? That actual magic?”

  “No, nothing so ordinary,” Gabriel said, then scrunched up his face. “Hold on, I have to sneeze.” He leaned back, then faked a sneeze, sending a rainbow scarf flying out of his nose and into the middle of Fort’s green beans.

  Fort just stared at his roommate, who wiped his nose innocently, then gave Fort a curious look. “You going to eat those, or can I have them?” Gabriel asked, pointing to the beans.

  Each night after dinner they would take the book of Healing down to the room with the dragon skeletons and practice Heal Minor Wounds. While Fort felt a bit more comfortable there with Gabriel around, since apparently his roommate had permission to do anything he wanted at any time, each hour Fort spent studying Healing was an hour he wasn’t practicing teleportation, so by the time they were done, he was practically ready to explode.

  Fortunately, Gabriel didn’t ask any questions about why Fort stayed behind after their study sessions. Of course he knew that Fort had another book of magic, but Gabriel didn’t ask, and Fort wasn’t going to share, at least not until he found out more of the other boy’s secrets anyway.

  As soon as Gabriel left each night, Fort would open a teleportation circle and retrieve the book, then get going. He’d experimented with a lot of different teleportation portals since the first night, from trying to high-five himself with two circles right next to each other, to seeing if he could keep a spoon he’d taken from the cafeteria falling forever by creating one circle on the ceiling, another on the floor right below it, and dropping the spoon in.

  It had worked for the first few minutes. Unfortunately, spoons moving that fast hurt if you try to grab them because you think you heard someone coming.

  He soon ran out of interest in these and instead decided to visit a new landmark around the world every night, just to clear his head. After that, he’d return to the dragon room and create as many portals as he could from one side of the room to the other until he either was ready to pass out, or he thought of a new place around the world to see, to get a second wind.

  So far he’d been to the pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben in London, and the Statue of Liberty, not to mention a bunch of theme parks after they were closed, which was kind of thrilling. Part of him felt bad that he wasn’t finding cooler, lesser known spots, but for the teleportation spell to work, he needed to have seen the place, and there were only so many out-of-the-way local secrets that Fort knew about. Most of those were in his hometown, and that was one place he had no intention of visiting now. Not until his father was back, anyway.

  Studying as late as he could each night meant he didn’t get much sleep, so when he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer, he’d open a tiny teleportation circle back to his room to check to see if Gabriel was asleep, then widen it and jump through after relearning the spell again. It was taking a chance, for sure, but it was still better then getting seen by a guard or a security camera.

  And it’s not like he needed the help getting caught, if that’s what he’d wanted. If anything, as the days went by Agent Cole had gotten more intent on finding the books Fort had taken. Gabriel reported back one morning that two of the suited agents had shown up at their door the night before, checking to make sure Fort was there.

  Unfortunately, he’d been off in China somewhere, but Gabriel had claimed he was in the bathroom and told them to stop waking him up. Somehow, they’d listened to that, which made Fort wonder who Gabriel really was again, even as he grew more anxious about getting caught.

  The last thing he’d do every night before passing out was remove his amulet and try to reach Sierra. He’d call her name for what felt like hours, but there was never any reply, and he’d lie awake for longer worrying about her. But eventually sleep would come, and the nightmares with it.

  By his sixth night of practice, he could barely concentrate even an hour after Gabriel left, he’d gotten so little sleep all week. He slapped his face a few times to wake up, but that didn’t seem to be helping, which usually meant he’d gone on too long.

  Fort sighed and closed down a portal to the Hollywood sign, then glanced at the book to relearn the spell and finish up for the night.

  Except this time, there was no teleportation spell. The pages were blank.

  Ins
tantly awake, Fort picked up the book and quickly turned the page, his hands shaking with anticipation.

  The next page wasn’t blank anymore. That meant he’d mastered Teleport and now could access the second spell! Almost afraid to see, he closed his eyes for a moment, crossed his fingers for luck, and took a look.

  Restore Dimensional Portal, it said at the top of the page.

  If in such a time that a previously created portal between different dimensions needs to be Restored, the careful magic user may ascertain his transdimensional travel will return to an exact previous location by re-creating, instead of creating anew, a dimensional portal. By doing so…

  Fort stopped and reread those sentences again, just trying to figure out what they meant through his exhausted haze. When he first saw the name of the spell, his stomach sank, thinking he’d need still another week to learn the spell he needed. But after rereading the first paragraph a few times, his tired mind eventually realized that no, this was exactly the right magic.

  After all, he had no idea what it might take to open a portal to the dimension where his father was taken, one out of potentially millions or billions that existed. But this spell would just open an old portal, and he knew exactly where one leading to the right dimension had been: below the old Oppenheimer School, the one Damian had created when possessed. It led to the same monsters as the portal that his father had been taken through, so it had to be the same place.

  And if it wasn’t, well, he could always break into the dome the military had built over the hole in the National Mall if he had to.

  He quickly read over the spell words to Restore Dimensional Portal, because no matter what, he wasn’t waiting another minute.

  “Dad,” Fort whispered to the Gettysburg Address brochure he’d left in the Summoning book. “I’m coming for you. Tonight.”

  - TWENTY-FOUR -

  AS TIRED AS HE WAS, Fort wasn’t foolish enough to just jump into a strange dimension without any provisions. Given that he’d now mastered teleportation, Fort used the spell to gather up all the things he’d need for his trip into the monsters’ world.

  First, since he’d been training on it anyway and didn’t have much other magic to depend on, he went looking for one of the metal staffs Sergeant Tower had mentioned so many times.

  Finding where they were kept wasn’t hard, as he’d seen his old classmates carrying them through the halls to a room near Dr. Ambrose’s classroom. A few glances inside that room while walking by gave him all he needed to open a teleportation circle inside it now.

  He checked the room first using a smaller circle, then jumped through when he saw it was empty. He quickly made sure the outer door was locked, stumbling through the room in the dark just in case. Then he turned on the lights and sucked in his breath in surprise.

  He’d only been expecting staffs, but his eyes widened when he saw the awesome assortment of weapons and other magical items laid out before him. There in the corner were the bows that he’d heard Chad and Bryce talking about, the ones that shot fireballs. He grabbed one of those, and it glowed red at his touch. Next he took a nearby metal staff that had to be full of healing spells, considering the momentary blue glow when he took it.

  There were shields as well, but they looked heavy, and he didn’t want to get bogged down, especially since he already had two fairly large items. If the bow had been strung, he might have tried to sling it over his shoulder, but apparently fireballs didn’t need string.

  Instead, he found some duct tape off with some supplies in another corner and taped each end of the bow to the staff. Without the string, the staff wouldn’t get in the way of him firing the bow, and now he could carry the staff over his shoulder using the bow to hold it in place.

  Assuming he didn’t shoot himself with a fireball, that was.

  His next stop was the cafeteria, since he wasn’t sure how long he’d be gone. He gathered together a bunch of protein bars (the only dessert the cafeteria offered) in a bag with some bottles of water and hooked that over the end of the staff, leaving his hands free for magic.

  It was a bit awkward, with the bag of food hitting his back every few steps, but he felt better being able to cast Teleport at a moment’s notice.

  Was that everything? He patted himself down, trying to think of what he’d forgotten. He had food, weapons, his amulet, which hopefully would actually hide him from the Old One… was there anything else he needed before going on a long trip?

  Oh, right! He’d almost left out the most important thing of all! He quickly teleported to the bathroom, considering there probably weren’t great facilities in a monster dimension, and with that, he was finally ready.

  He teleported back to the display room, bringing with him a pen and paper he’d found with the tape, so he could leave a note. The Gettysburg Address brochure was already back in his pocket, for luck.

  Gabriel, he wrote. If you’re reading this, then I’ve been gone long enough for you to come looking for me. If that’s the case, I’m probably not coming back. I’m leaving you the book of Summoning, which I stole from Colonel Charles to use to find my father after he was taken by one of the creatures that attacked D.C. I know he’s alive, and I’m going to find him… but I had to go alone. It’s the only way to keep everyone else safe, just like we talked about. Give this book to Rachel, in the Destruction class. She’ll know what to do with it. Tell her, and Jia, and Cyrus…

  He paused, tapping the pen. Hopefully none of this would be necessary, but he wasn’t going to jump to a strange dimension with the book of Summoning on him, considering what the Old Ones might do with it. And if he didn’t come back, he wanted everyone to at least know what had happened. The last thing he wanted was for his friends to think he’d just abandoned them and left.

  But it also felt really weird to say good-bye. It felt like he was giving up before he’d even started.

  Tell them I’m sorry, he finished, and tucked the note into the book.

  If you go by yourself, you might rescue your father, but you won’t make it back! Cyrus’s voice rang through his head, and he hesitated. Was he really ready to get stuck in the monsters’ world forever? Or worse, not survive the trip?

  Stay safe, his father would have told him. I’m the parent, and you’re the child who will become the first Fitzgerald to be president. You don’t have to do this.

  Fort rubbed some wetness from his eyes and clenched his fists. Maybe Cyrus was right. Maybe he wouldn’t make it back, or see his friends ever again.

  But there was no way he was leaving his father there, no matter what it took. And they’d changed the future before, every time Cyrus had maneuvered them around guards at the old school. Why couldn’t Fort change it now, knowing what was coming?

  Feeling a bit more confident, he hid the book of Summoning where Gabriel had seen it last time, in the corner under some packing material, with his note sticking out from the front cover. Then he took a deep breath, turned to the nearest wall, opened a teleportation circle, and jumped through to the cavern below the old Oppenheimer School.

  He landed on stone, but it was so dark, he could barely see beyond his feet. He considered that for a moment, then closed the portal he’d jumped through, and opened one higher, on the ceiling above him, leading back to the ceiling of the display room. Both portals were small, but the light from the display room now passed through the circle to illuminate the cavern, too, enabling Fort to see it clearly for the first time since the monster attack.

  Rubble filled most of the area below the old school. There wasn’t too much space in the open cavern around him, and he hoped that wherever it had been, the old portal would be close enough for him to still reach.

  As far as he could tell, there weren’t any dangerous cracks or holes in the stone below him, which was fortunate, as he didn’t want to accidentally trip or fall into one while bringing his father back.

  Out of curiosity, he checked above him too, up around the open teleportation circle. It was harder t
o see from the glare of the light, but he didn’t find any holes or tunnels leading up out of it.

  That was good. If there wasn’t any way up, that meant that no soldiers from the base had explored down this far, not since the school had been destroyed. And if no one had discovered the cavern, then Fort could leave the portal open without worrying about someone finding it. After all, if he closed it, he had no way to reopen it, unless he chanced potentially losing the book of Summoning to the Old Ones.

  Fort turned back to the floor and readied himself. The memory of fighting the creature was still crystal clear, as it had only been a few weeks before. Damian had opened the portal to the monsters’ dimension, and the creature had emerged, digging its way up to where Fort had waited, deep in the basement of the old school. Its hand had burst through the floor and grabbed him, then dragged him back down here.

  Fort had fought the creature off, and it had tried to escape back into the portal, but he’d almost not let it. He’d felt so much rage toward the creature for taking his father from him that he’d almost killed the thing before finally letting it go, realizing that the Old One was the one in control, not the monster.

  Time to see how true that was. If the Old One had kept his father alive, like he’d seen in his dreams, then Fort would find him. If not…

  “Gen urre’otre platrexe phor,” Fort said softly, and the rock and rubble glowed from an eerie green light in his hands. He concentrated, closing his eyes, and in his mind’s eye a glowing circle appeared on the stone just in front of him. He opened his eyes, confused, and the circle disappeared. But closing them again, he could see it clearly, like he’d stared at the sun and burned its image into his eyes.

  Moving his head around, he could see another circle hundreds of feet above him, this one also bright, but much smaller from a distance. That had to be the portal Damian had opened when trying to bring the other Old Ones through.