APPARENTLY A FLU VIRUS WASN’T considered a minor wound in terms of magical spells. That would have been helpful to know before Fort cast his only spell on himself, since using it made it disappear from his head, and nothing much happened other than some temporary relief from the aches and fever, like he’d taken some aspirin.
“Don’t worry, I’ve already seen Jia fixing that for you tomorrow,” Cyrus told him as they faced each other from their beds. The lights had gone out a few minutes ago, and most of the boys were either reading or playing video games. “I’m sorry that you’re not going to get much sleep tonight, though.”
Tomorrow—when he’d be down to just one full day before the test. And here he hadn’t even mastered one spell yet. Fort sighed, shivering under his blanket. Even without the flu, he couldn’t imagine getting much sleep, not after everything that had happened today.
But even so, getting a prophecy of insomnia was something he could have done without.
“Something really did appear in the middle of the officers’ mess, Cyrus,” Fort whispered to his only friend, and filled him in about everything that he’d found out since he’d last seen Cyrus, from hearing Dr. Ambrose and Dr. Opps’s conversation about how both wanted him gone, to somehow hearing Dr. Opps’s thoughts at dinner about someone named Sierra, to the fact that the creature had been looking for Telepathy magic, which somehow it had felt Fort using. Or this Sierra girl was using it on him, from what he’d heard in Dr. Opps’s head.
Having finally caught up to the present, Fort pulled his blankets up closer to his face, trying to glean every last ounce of warmth out of them as his teeth chattered. “You believe me, right?”
“Of course!” Cyrus said, smiling supportively.
For the first time all day, Fort actually felt a bit better. “And you can use your powers to see all of it, and tell everyone else I’m not crazy?”
Cyrus’s smile didn’t fade. “Nope, not even a little bit. I can only see the future, not the past. And since you were just going to dinner, I didn’t bother looking to see what might happen there. Seemed like it’d be a fairly dull affair, to be honest.”
Fort groaned and rolled over on his back. What use was being able to see the future if you had to know ahead of time where to look? “Of course you didn’t. Tell me you at least know who Sierra is?”
“Never heard of her,” Cyrus said. “I can try looking in the future for her, but without knowing more about her, I’d have almost no hope of finding her.”
Fort scrunched his eyes closed as he shivered. “Is there anything you can tell me? Like, am I going to get sent home?”
The other boy paused, closing his eyes. “Tonight . . . no.” His eyes reopened and he grinned. “See, that’s good news! Do you want me to look ahead to the next few days?”
Fort sighed softly. “Nope. How about we just look up lottery numbers and call it a night.”
Cyrus shrugged. “The future isn’t good or bad news, it just is. Life is less about what happens and more about how you deal with those events. For some people, winning the lottery might end up ruining their life. And look at you, learning magic. You’re only seeing the obstacles, but lots of people, including most of the adults here, would kill for the chance to cast even one spell.”
“I get that,” Fort said, flopping back to face Cyrus in irritation, now sweating from the warmth of the room. What was wrong with the heating here? “But I’m not here for the magic. I’m here for what it can do for me. But now I don’t even know what’s going on. How could I hear Dr. Opps’s thoughts? And why did that thing show up, right after I did? It had to be connected, right?” His eyes widened. “Wait a second. Earlier today, I heard all the school administrators saying stuff during my test, but Dr. Opps said no one said a word. The lights flickered then, too. Maybe I was hearing their thoughts, and that thing was tracking me down somehow?” He shivered, and this time not from the chill. “What if it comes back, Cyrus? I don’t even know how I’m doing this! What if I do it again, and it hears me?”
“Could you two shut up?” Sebastian said from a few beds down. “If I hear one more word, I’m going to heal both your mouths closed.”
At least that had been out loud. Cyrus gave him an apologetic look, patted his shoulder, then settled into his bed. Fort sighed and flipped over, far too worried and apprehensive and flu-ish to sleep.
Minutes ticked by, and Fort got cold again, though he somehow still seemed to be sweating. The rest of the boys had turned out their personal lights now, and next to him, Cyrus quietly snored away. For a moment, Fort wondered what it would be like, knowing the future. Would it be comforting, since you’d always know ahead of time if something bad was going to happen? Or would you just be dreading all the worst things you knew were coming?
At least he’d know if that creature was coming back. Who could have sent it? Had it come from the same place as the creature who’d attacked D.C.? But that monster hadn’t seemed intelligent, while the horror in the mess hall clearly could think for itself.
Wait a second. All this time, he and everyone else had assumed that some foreign country had sent the creatures to attack D.C. But what if it wasn’t some other human being? What if there were creatures out there, creatures like the one in the mess hall, that were to blame? None of the adults in the room had been able to stop the thing tonight, and Fort doubted many of the students would have had any better luck.
If that thing wanted humanity dead, was there any way to even stop it? Colonel Charles had said something about awakening a power within him, which probably just meant Fort learning Destruction magic. But what if it didn’t? What if there was some other form of magic that he could learn, that might actually let him face these things?
Speaking of other magic, there was the Sierra problem.
You would be too, if not for Sierra, he’d heard Dr. Opps think. Meaning he’d have been dead in the attack in D.C. if not for this girl. But who was she? He had heard a girl’s voice in his head, both during the attack, and in his nightmares ever since. Was that what Dr. Opps meant, that her voice telling him to run was what saved him? But who was she?
More importantly, if she could take over people’s minds—which explained all the silent tourists fleeing in single-file lines during the attack—then she was the one who’d stopped him from saving his father. And that was something he couldn’t forgive.
Sierra, if you’re out there, we need to talk about some things, he thought about yelling out into the void, just to see if she heard him. But wait, what if that creature sensed her using her Telepathy and came back to the base? The last thing he wanted was to hear any more thoughts!
Sighing, Fort pulled his blankets up again, wondering miserably if sleep would ever come. At least if he stayed up all night, he’d avoid any of those really crazy fever dreams he always got when he was sick. . . .