DR. AMBROSE TURNED OUT TO be a middle-aged woman wearing a lab coat and glasses, her dark hair tied up in a ponytail. She glared at him through the thin lenses, shaking her head.
“Do you always hang around outside doors without saying anything, kid?” she said. “Just because I knew you were coming doesn’t make it not creepy.”
“I’m, um, sorry,” Fort said, his mind still reeling from the conversation he’d overheard.
“I’m Dr. Ambrose,” she said, and Fort stuck out his hand. She stared at it for a moment, then rolled her eyes. “You can call me Dr. Ambrose. Sit down and pay attention. I’m too busy to get you fully caught up, so the less time we waste here, the better.”
Fort quickly took a seat. “Thanks for, uh, allowing me to join your Healing class.” The one she was going to make sure he failed.
“Don’t thank me,” Dr. Ambrose said, turning away to glance at papers on her desk. “I don’t want you here. I think you’re going to distract my students who actually have potential, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s reason enough to send you home right now. But unfortunately that’s not up to me. So here’s the deal: You have three days to master the first three Healing spells. If you fail, you’re going home. If you succeed, pigs will be flying, which I imagine will make for some fun photos. Do we understand each other?”
“I don’t . . . what?” Fort said, sitting up straighter, just trying to follow.
Dr. Ambrose sighed. “What did I say about paying attention? I swear, you kids will be the death of me. Three days, three spells. Heal Minor Wounds, Cure Disease, and Cause Disease.” She half smiled. “And try not to follow the example of a truly stunning student who mastered Cause Disease first, only to end up with a case of walking pneumonia that he couldn’t cure.”
This was a lot of information at once, so Fort focused on the last thing she’d said, just to buy some time. “What, um, happened to him? Did someone use magic to cure him?”
“If antibiotics are magic, then sure,” Dr. Ambrose said. “They’re not, by the way. I shouldn’t have to clarify that, but I never know with your generation. Now, most kids have taken a week or so to learn each spell, and you’ve got only a fraction of that time, not to mention barely any power, given your birthday. In order to make this vaguely less of a joke, I’ve agreed to allow my best student to tutor you. Of course, that’s going to waste her time, but does Oppenheimer care about that? Nope.”
Fort just nodded along, unsure what to say. He had to master these spells in three days when it had taken the other kids three weeks? And if he failed, that was it, he’d be sent back home to live with his aunt.
That was not going to happen, no matter what Dr. Opps and his new teacher wanted.
“I’ll master them,” Fort said, his anger rising. “Whatever it takes, I’ll do it. I won’t be going home.”
Dr. Ambrose rolled her eyes. “Actually, you probably will, so you might want to get used to the idea. Just try not to monopolize all of Jia’s time. Her bandages are the best we’ve got right now, and the way things are going, we’ll probably need them soon.”
“Bandages?” Fort blurted out.
Dr. Ambrose stared at him for a moment, then gestured at a clear plastic case behind Fort. “In spite of what Colonel Charles believes, we can’t send kids out onto a battlefield. At least not until you’re eighteen. So instead, my healers infuse bandages with their magic. Easy to apply, and you can stack them.”
Fort turned to find a small number of what looked like large pads in clear bags lined up in rows inside the case. Each pad was labeled with a different injury, like BROKEN BONE, BULLET WOUND, BURNS, and more. There were easily three times the number of burn bandages as others, which didn’t make Fort feel great about the Destruction students.
“Generic Healing spells are all well and good, but we’ve found that making spells specific to different injuries enhances their restorative properties,” Dr. Ambrose said. “A generic spell might set a broken bone, but it’d still be fragile, while a bone-specific spell would heal it completely.”
Fort stared at her in wonder. “So that bandage right there can heal a broken bone? Just by touching it to someone’s arm or whatever?”
“Did Oppenheimer not tell you what happens here?” Dr. Ambrose said. “This is a school for magic, kid. Broken bones are the tip of the iceberg.” She sighed, turning away from him. “I could be pushing the field of medicine to new heights, but no, here I am explaining myself to a twelve-year-old.”
“Sorry,” Fort whispered, turning back around.
“Just . . . just don’t talk,” Dr. Ambrose said. “Jia will be here shortly, at which point you’ll be wasting her time instead of mine. Until then, if you have any questions . . . don’t.”
Except he did have questions. Too many to even know where to begin. But if he asked about the conversation he’d overheard, she’d know he’d been listening, and might just send him home right then and there. But maybe he could do it subtly? “Um,” he said, “I was wondering—”
“Nope,” Dr. Ambrose said.
“But—”
“What does ‘no questions’ mean to you?”
“You’re my teacher, though. Shouldn’t you answer questions?”
“I’m sorry, are you telling me how to do my job?” Her eyebrows shot up.
“No, of course not!” Fort said quickly, his face flaming hot. “I’m just—”
“Dr. Ambrose?” said a voice from behind him, and Fort turned to find a girl with long braided black hair standing in the doorway uncomfortably. “You wanted to see me?”
Dr. Ambrose kept her narrowed eyes on Fort for another moment, then turned to wave the new girl in. “Jia Liang,” she said. “Meet Forsythe . . . something. Doesn’t matter. You’re going to be tutoring him to the best of your abilities for the next three days, before he fails and is sent home. Try not to let him be too much of a distraction.”
Jia glanced down at Fort like she wasn’t sure what to make of him. “Tutoring? Is he a new student?”
“Yes, but he wasn’t born on Discovery Day, so he won’t be staying long,” Dr. Ambrose said, then gestured for them both to leave. “Now get out. I have important things to do.”
Fort stood up and followed Jia out. “I’m sorry about—”
“And close the door!” Dr. Ambrose shouted. Jia quickly did so, then turned to Fort, visibly relaxing.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said, shaking her head. “She’s like that to everyone. Don’t let it bother you.”
“I’m fine,” Fort said, just trying to collect himself after everything that had just happened. “And my last name is Fitzgerald. Fort Fitzgerald.”
“That sounds like a Civil War garrison or something,” Jia said, smiling slightly. “I’m Jia, like Dr. Ambrose said. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m sorry you have to help me, but honestly, it sounds like I’m for sure going home if you don’t.”
She frowned. “I was going to ask. What’s in three days?”
“Dr. Ambrose said I needed to master the first three Healing spells by then,” Fort said. “What does that mean, mastering the spells?”
Both Jia’s eyebrows raised. “Three days? Wow. There’s no way. To master a spell means you’ve internalized the magic inside your mind, so you don’t need to use the words anymore. Before you master it, a spell disappears from your head as soon as you cast it, so you constantly have to go back and read it from the Healing book. To master it, you’ve got to cast it a few hundred times minimum. No one’s ever mastered one faster than a few days before!”
That sounded about right. Dr. Opps needed an excuse to send him away, so this would be an easy one. “I have to,” Fort told her quietly. “Please, I can do this. Just tell me whatever I need to know, and I’ll learn, I promise. I just . . . I can’t go back home.”
Jia went quiet and looked away for a moment, then turned back to Fort. “Okay. I’ll do whatever I can to help you, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. We’ll start in training today, which begins in, like, a half hour. They’re just working on broken bones anyway, which I’ve got down, so I can afford to miss it.”
“Working on them?” Fort asked. “What does that mean?”
“You’ll see when we get to training,” Jia said, and started walking toward the elevator, making Fort hurry to catch up. “You’re going to love the Boneyard.”