WELL, BAND-AID?” THE BLOND BOY said, his hands glowing red with heat that Fort could feel from across the table. “I hear you were in D.C. in the attack. Were you as scared then as you are now? How much did you cry?”
Fort could barely hear him over the ringing in his ears. His face contorted with rage, and he pulled back his fist—
“Wow, you guys are pathetic,” said a voice from behind the three blond boys. They whirled around, revealing Rachel and two other girls, all staring in boredom at the boys. “Picking on the new kid. He doesn’t even know any magic yet.”
“So?” the second blond boy snarled. “Even if he’s new, he’s a healer, and they all suck. What do you care, anyway?”
Rachel flicked a finger, and a tiny magic missile slammed into the boy’s stomach, sending him crashing across the table, taking Fort’s burning-hot tray with him. He tumbled into the back wall as the soldiers nearby all leaped out of the way, their weapons now aimed at Rachel. She didn’t seem to notice.
“Our job is to protect weaker people, like Fort,” Rachel said as the two girls at her side pushed the remaining blond boys out of the way. “And I better not see you Chads or Blaines or whatever your names are messing with him again, or I’ll set fire to you all in practice and make it look like an accident. You know Colonel Charles will believe me too.”
The blond boy on the ground slowly picked himself up. “I’m Bryce, actually. And that’s Trey. And you know he’s the only one named Chad—” He pointed at the last boy.
“Quiet, Blaine,” Rachel said, and flicked another finger at him. The boy flinched, but this time nothing happened, and Rachel’s two friends laughed. “Now get me some lunch or something. I don’t have all day here.”
Bryce or Blaine slowly nodded, then moved quickly around the table, giving Fort one last death look before getting into line with the other two boys.
“See?” Cyrus whispered. “He’s going to be the reason you switch beds tonight.”
“I didn’t need your help,” Fort told Rachel, his heart still beating hard. “I could have handled him.”
Rachel grinned as her friends rolled their eyes. “Nah, you couldn’t. He’s a Discovery Day boy, so he’s more powerful. That’s just how it is. Even if not, you’re still just learning Healing magic, while he could electrocute you without a second thought. He won’t touch you while I’m around, but I’d watch yourself in the dorm.”
“Especially tonight,” Cyrus whispered. “It’s gonna be bad.”
“How are you doing, Future Man?” Rachel said, throwing Cyrus an amused look. “Still see me saving the entire world?”
Cyrus nodded. “It’s a bit hazy, but you definitely either save the world, or you buy a globe. I really do think it’s the former, though.”
“I’ll be sure not to buy any globes, then,” she said, grinning at Cyrus. She turned back to Fort and patted him on the shoulder. “You, try to stay alive. I like healers. You’re all a lot nicer than the meatheads in my classes. Speaking of . . .” She turned toward the cafeteria line. “Hey, Blaine, hurry it up! We’re hungry! And we better get chicken fingers!”
Bryce and the other boys threw her a disgusted look but pushed their way ahead in line, past several students who got annoyed, only to look back and catch a glimpse of Rachel. Immediately they all let Bryce and his friends pass.
Apparently being the best had some advantages. Or maybe they were all just terrified of her.
Cyrus and Fort sat back down at the table, Cyrus with his tray full of food, and Fort with nothing but the mess behind him and a group of boys ready to set him on fire later in the dormitory. “So you thought sitting at this table would be a good idea?” he asked Cyrus.
“Oh, definitely,” Cyrus said, handing him a chicken finger. “If we’d sat any farther from the door, Rachel wouldn’t have gotten here in time.” He picked up another and took a bite. “You two are going to be friends, once she decides you’re not here to destroy the school.”
Destroy the school? What was . . . forget it. It didn’t matter. And he didn’t need anyone protecting him. He’d be just fine on his own, as soon as he learned a little magic. The last thing he needed was someone watching out for him, or making him run away when he was able to fight for himself. If he hadn’t had to run back in D.C. . . .
“What about Blaine and those guys?” Fort said, trying to distract himself. “Are we going to be best friends too?”
Cyrus laughed, stopped for a moment to stare at Fort, then laughed again.
After a quick (and incident-free) remainder of their lunch, Cyrus led Fort out of the cafeteria, being careful to leave before the Destruction students finished eating. As they walked out, Fort noticed several new kids coming in, many of them looking sick to their stomachs. He stopped to watch as most of them glanced at the food line, then decided to just grab some water instead. Some didn’t even do that and instead just sat down at a table, looking queasy.
“Who are they?” he whispered to Cyrus.
“Oh, those are your new classmates,” Cyrus said. “The healers. I’m guessing they had some disgusting anatomy lesson in class. Something to look forward to tomorrow! I’ll go introduce you to your teacher, then see you back in the dorm later.”
Fort nodded, his eyes on the pale faces of the healers. Almost to a student, they looked like they’d never eat again. All but one, that was: A tall African American boy with buzzed hair had arrived with the rest of the healers but seemed to be the only one interested in lunch. Apparently, he hadn’t had any problems with the lessons.
Cyrus led Fort from the cafeteria over to the Training Hall, the boring five-story office building where Fort had his test earlier. This time, once they got through security, Cyrus stopped him at the elevators instead of taking him back through the glass-walled offices to the auditorium where he’d first seen the books of magic.
Once the elevator arrived, Cyrus hit the button for the fourth floor, then stepped out. “Only healers allowed up there,” he said as the doors banged against his shoulder, then reopened. “Just follow the signs for Dr. Ambrose. She’s your new teacher.”
Cyrus stepped out of the way of the doors before Fort could object, then let them close with one last wave. Fort sighed, alone for the first time since he’d arrived at the Oppenheimer School.
Well, this was going great. First, he’d completely failed at Destruction magic, the one thing he’d come here to learn. Then he’d made some enemies without even trying, only to be rescued out of pity. What was next, forgetting to wear pants tomorrow? Assuming he lived through the night to even see the next day?
The door opened on the fourth floor, and Fort stepped out, finding himself in an ordinary hallway lit with fluorescent lights overhead. Several plaques in front of the elevator had names and arrows, so he located the one for Dr. Ambrose and followed it down the hallway to the right.
As he walked through the mostly quiet hallway, he could just make out voices at the end from an open doorway. He slowed, realizing that one of the voices might belong to his new teacher, and he didn’t want to interrupt her in their first meeting.
“This is insane, Oppenheimer,” a woman’s voice said. “Do you know how dangerous this is? You’ve seen the reports we’ve been getting from all around the world. They’re looking—”
“I don’t want him here any more than you do,” Dr. Opps said. “But Colonel Charles insisted he come. He think there’s a possibility that Forsythe—”
“Gets us all killed, maybe,” the woman said. “I can’t be a party to this. He needs to go home now, before more damage is done. I’ve seen the charts. Every minute he’s been here, the activity has increased. And what do you think happens if we’re discovered, Oppenheimer?”
Fort’s heart began to pound in his chest. They were talking about him, but none of it made any sense. Dr. Opps didn’t want him at the school? He’d only been invited because Colonel Charles wanted him here? What did that mean? Why would the colonel care about him?
And apparently his new teacher thought he might get everyone killed. But how? He wasn’t even being allowed to learn Destruction magic!
“Give me the three days we agreed on,” Dr. Opps said. “If I send Forsythe home early, Colonel Charles will just remove me from my position and keep him here anyway. The rest of the administrators think he’s just here as an experiment, to see if kids not born on Discovery Day can effectively use magic. So lean into that. Test Forsythe. Give him the challenge we talked about and make sure he fails. Then we’ll have a cover to send him home and keep the kids safe.”
Fort’s breathing quickened, and he had to reach out to steady himself against a nearby wall. Dr. Ambrose was going to make sure he failed? They were going to cheat to make sure he couldn’t stay at the school!
“Do you know how crazy you sound?” the woman said. “This is beyond dangerous!”
“You think I have a choice here? Colonel Charles is looking for the slightest reason to fire me, and the moment I’m gone, he’ll be prepping those kids for the front line of any future attack. This is the best idea I’ve got right now, the only way I know to keep the students safe for as long as I can.”
“Remind me how safe you’re keeping them when one of those things comes climbing up from beneath us.”
Dr. Opps sighed. “Rebecca—”
“No, just go. The kid’s supposed to be here any minute.”
Fort couldn’t breathe, and could barely even think. And after all of that, now he had to go meet Dr. Ambrose and look her in the eye, knowing she was going to make sure he failed out of the school. All because she thought he was dangerous somehow? That didn’t even make sense.
And what reports had she seen from around the world? Someone was looking for . . . something. But what, or who? And what did that have to do with Fort?
Footsteps sounded from the office next door, and Fort panicked, then pushed into the darkened room next to Dr. Ambrose’s office, just as Dr. Opps emerged. Fort went absolutely still, not daring to even breathe until he heard the headmaster pass. A moment later the elevator dinged, and the doors opened, then closed again, and Fort let out his breath.
This was too much to handle all at once. He’d left his old life behind to come to learn magic, but it’d all been a lie. Even the administrators at his testing earlier didn’t know the real reason he was here.
But Colonel Charles wanted him here. The one person at the school who’d actually believed in him and thought he might switch into the Destruction school. Maybe that was why he wanted Fort there to begin with, because he knew how strongly Fort needed this, after the attacks. A soldier like Colonel Charles would know what going through an attack felt like.
The image of his spells hurting the creature, making it cry out in agony, filled his head again, and he clenched his fists.
If he let Dr. Ambrose and Dr. Opps fail him out of the school, he’d never make that monster feel the same pain he had when it’d taken his father. And that was not going to happen.
Completely lost in thought, Fort leaned back against the door of the office he’d been hiding in, only to have it loudly squeak as it pushed open farther.
“Who’s there?” Dr. Ambrose shouted from the next room over.
“Uh, it’s . . . it’s Forsythe,” Fort said slowly, his face burning with embarrassment.
“Congratulations,” Dr. Ambrose yelled. “Do you want a medal? Get in here already. I swear, you kids these days.”