FORT FOLLOWED DR. OPPS BACK through the facility, completely confused. He’d definitely heard the officers talking, and not just once. How could he have just imagined it? He’d never done anything like that before, even when he was nervous.
“Let’s get you situated with a bunk and uniforms,” Dr. Opps was saying, and Fort realized he hadn’t heard much of anything else the doctor had said. “After that, I’ll have a student take you to meet your new Healing teacher, and she’ll explain what’s to come over the next few days.”
Fort nodded. “If I do well with Healing, maybe I could switch to Destruction? Honestly, I think that suits me better, and Colonel Charles said—”
“No, I’m afraid there won’t be any switching,” Dr. Opps said. “The test determined you have more of a facility for Healing. It’s a noble study, Forsythe. You should be proud.”
Proud? Fort clenched his fists, wanting to shout that he didn’t care about pride, that he had let his father down and wouldn’t be able to make those monsters pay for what they’d done to him. But instead, he just took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. If he yelled at the school headmaster, he’d be gone as quickly as Rachel thought he’d be.
Prove to them you can learn magic first, he thought. Then worry about showing them how powerful you’d be at Destruction.
In order to change the subject, Fort offered up another question he’d had from the test. “So that poem at the beginning of both books—what exactly was that?”
Dr. Opps coughed. “We, uh, don’t know. It seems to reference the books themselves, but we only know of four books, not seven. And the last line suggests some sort of savior type, but in my experience, that’s seldom how life works.” He gave Fort a side glance. “Every student here believes it’s referring to them, Forsythe. Don’t follow their bad example. Work hard, and you’ll succeed. We don’t need a hero. We need dedicated, reliable students working as a team.”
“Don’t worry,” Fort said. “I couldn’t care less about that.” And he meant every word. Let the other students worry about saving the world. He’d be content just making those monsters suffer.
They left the facility, and soldiers joined back up around them as they walked across the grounds. Something sizzled behind them from one of the upper floors of the Training Hall, like a burst of electricity, and each of the guards around them froze, immediately turning their weapons on the building. But when nothing else happened, they seemed to relax slightly and resumed their walk.
“Don’t worry,” Dr. Opps said, noticing Fort’s jumpiness. “You won’t be training with the Destruction students. Healing students practice on a different floor, and interdisciplinary interaction is carefully moderated. You won’t be getting electrocuted if we can help it.”
That “if we can help it” sounded a bit more ominous than Fort would have liked, but there wasn’t much time to question it, as he found they were almost to the building Dr. Opps had pointed out earlier as the boys’ dormitory.
The building where he’d be living now was long and narrow and had windows running the length of it. It had only one floor and was painted the same dull brown color as the rest of the base. Fort glanced behind him and noticed an identical building on the opposite side of the base, which was probably the girls’ dormitory.
“The dorm should be empty right now, but you can meet the other—” Dr. Opps stopped talking as they entered the dormitory and found a boy sitting on one of fifty or so bunks facing each other down the long building. “Cyrus?”
The boy looked up from a comic book he was reading. His hair was curly and bright white, almost glowing in the fluorescent lighting. The boy half smiled, his gaze a bit unsteady as he looked between Fort and the doctor, almost like he hadn’t had enough sleep.
“Hello, Dr. Opps,” Cyrus said with a British accent. Then he turned to Fort and grinned. “Fort! Nice to see you again!”
Dr. Opps just stared at him. “This is . . . uh, Forsythe, Cyrus. He just joined us today at the school. Would you mind showing him around the dormitory and helping introduce him to the students when they return?”
Cyrus hadn’t stopped staring at Fort, who had no idea what was happening now. “Oh, that’s right, we’re meeting for the first time,” the boy said, winking at Fort. “I can definitely give you a tour of the place. I can’t believe you’re finally here!”
Fort gave Dr. Opps a confused look, but the teacher just smiled. “Cyrus is a student here as well, in a way, but not in either of the two areas of study we focus in. He transferred here from a facility just like ours in the UK, after some issues arose.”
“I’m told everyone went quite insane except me,” Cyrus said to Fort, then seemed to consider what he’d just said. “Though I added the ‘except me’ part myself, which makes me wonder if . . . ah well.”
Dr. Opps sighed, but he clapped a hand on Fort’s shoulder. “He’s kidding,” he said out loud, then more quietly, “but try not to take anything he prophesies too seriously. We haven’t had access to clairvoyants long enough to truly know what they’re capable of.”
“Clairvoyants?” Fort whispered back, remembering what Rachel had said about a school in the UK, a school where the students—
“We see the future,” Cyrus said, moving next to them so quietly that Fort jumped. “And what we see always comes true. Unless we change it, of course.”
“We don’t know that for sure, Cyrus,” Dr. Opps said. “Certainly you’ve had some misreadings in the past.”
“They were misinterpreted, that’s all,” Cyrus said to the doctor, then turned to Fort and grinned. “I can take a look at your future, if you’d like?” He leaned in closer, reaching for Fort’s hand.
Dr. Opps pulled Fort just out of Cyrus’s reach. “Let’s let Fort get settled in first, Cyrus. He has plenty to get accustomed to without worrying about what’s coming next.”
“Of course, your bunk!” Cyrus said, and motioned for Fort to follow him. “Follow me. I’ll show you which one is yours.”
Fort just watched the other boy walk away, barely able to keep up with what was happening. “Are we . . . assigned beds?” he asked Dr. Opps.
The doctor shook his head. “Pick whichever one you want, assuming it’s not occupied already.”
“Here, it’s this one,” Cyrus said, pointing at a bed all the way at the end. “Next to mine.”
“I think I’d prefer this one, near the door,” Fort said, just to feel like he’d had a say in it. He patted the perfectly made bed closest to him with no signs of anyone’s things. “Is this free?”
Cyrus shrugged, moving back toward them. “It is for now. But you’re going to choose the one in the back later tonight. Why not save yourself the trouble of moving your things?”
“Cyrus, how about you take Fort over to get sized for uniforms before lunch,” Dr. Opps said. “And I’m going to see about getting your training courses developed a bit faster. We can’t have you sitting around unsupervised like this.”
“They won’t be ready for another week or so, but they’re not going to be needed anyway,” Cyrus told him. Then, to Fort’s horror, Cyrus grabbed his wrist, and he braced himself to hear something awful coming in the future.
Fortunately, the boy didn’t start spouting archaic language foretelling an ancient prophecy. Instead, he just yanked Fort toward the door. “Let’s get you your uniform. You look so odd to me in regular clothes. I’m just used to you in the green, I suppose.”
“We’ll talk again at dinner, Fort,” Dr. Opps said. “I’ll answer any further questions you have at that time.”
“But—” Fort started to say, then Cyrus pulled him out the door.
“It’s not far,” Cyrus told him, releasing his wrist as he led Fort across the yard. This time six soldiers fell in around them, most of them keeping their eyes on Cyrus, which actually made Fort much more nervous. Who was this kid? There was no way he could actually tell the future . . . right?
“So you’re from the UK?” Fort asked.
“London,” Cyrus answered. “But the school was in Carmarthen. It’s one of the oldest cities in Wales, and where Merlin was from, in legends.” He winced. “When they found the Clairvoyance book, and you Americans found yours, there was a bit of talk about how if magic had come back, this must be some sort of return of Merlin, especially because he was meant to have lived backward in time, whatever that means. And if Merlin was returning, so must King Arthur be on his way, arriving with Excalibur to save all of Britain.” He waved an imaginary sword around majestically.
Fort stopped in place. “Um, did he come back?”
Cyrus laughed. “Not that I noticed. I’m fairly sure that King Arthur was no more real than your magician Harry Houdini.”
“Um—”
“Anyway, after the other students lost their minds, I think all the Merlin stuff suddenly looked like pure vanity, and the government got rightfully embarrassed about the whole thing. I got sent here because I think they wanted to forget it ever happened.” He paused. “Are the others still there, though? It’s hard to remember. I get confused sometimes between what I’ve seen to come, and what I’ve lived already, but I’m fairly certain I’ll be seeing the school again in the months to come. . . .”
“Oh, so you’re heading back?” Fort asked, feeling slightly less nervous if Cyrus was leaving.
“Not the way you’re thinking,” Cyrus told him.
Uh, okay? “So someone told me that you have to look at specific dates and times to see the future. That means you don’t just automatically know what happens to random people, right?”
Cyrus grinned. “Are you asking me to look into your future? I’m happy to, if you’d like!” He closed his eyes for a moment, mumbling some words Fort couldn’t hear. “Oh wow. That’s just gruesome. How are you still able to stand—”
Fort’s eyes widened, and he shook his head violently. “No, not mine, I just meant in general. I’d rather not know what’s coming for me.”
This seemed to confuse Cyrus. “But it’s so helpful. Like your bunk. You end up choosing the one I pointed out for a good reason. And the table at lunch. If you knew ahead of time what’s about to happen, you’d make different choices. Why wouldn’t you want all the information?”
Fort just stared at the boy for a moment, not sure how to respond to that. If Cyrus knew every decision Fort was going to make, then was Fort really the one making the decisions? If his whole future was already mapped out, could he still change it? Could he—
“Oh yeah, you can definitely still change it,” Cyrus told him. “It happens all the time.”
This was too much for Fort to handle, and he started to wonder if he was the one going insane. “Did . . . did you just read my mind?”
“Oh no, I’ve never studied that magic,” Cyrus said, laughing. “No, you were just going to ask me that question a minute from now, and I wanted to prove the point. See? Now you won’t ask! Future changed. Come on, let’s get you a uniform before lunch. I’m famished!”