WELL, FORSYTHE?” DR. AMBROSE SAID. “Let’s see a disease. If you’re not able to do the spell, just say the word and we’ll end this right now.”
Sweat rolled down Fort’s neck, and he swallowed hard. He glanced quickly at Jia, not sure what help she could be, but she just looked away. The rest of the class had no problem staring, though, and Fort could feel their eyes burning into him as he tried to think of what to say next.
“Just give me . . . one minute,” he said instead, not even sure why. What was the point of delaying things if he hadn’t mastered the spell?
Dr. Ambrose sighed, but she crossed her arms and waited. Jia turned back to look at him almost curiously, like she wanted to see what he was stalling for. If only he knew. But he couldn’t just give up! He wouldn’t. Why couldn’t he have mastered the spells last night—
Something slammed into Fort’s mind with the force of a hammer, almost knocking him back.
The Cause Disease and Cure Disease spells were now in his mind, front and center.
So were four others.
Fort’s eyes widened in surprise. Without any idea how, he now had the spells Heal Heavy Wounds, Paralyze, Ethereal Spirit, and Protective Armor all swirling around in his head, in spite of never having heard of half of them before, let alone seen them in the book.
He almost dropped the bandage, completely confused. Where had the spells come from? It was like someone had just downloaded them right into his head. Had Sierra done this somehow? But if she’d used her Telepathy magic on him, wouldn’t she have had to copy the spells from someone else’s brain? If so, then whose?
Looking around the room, his eyes fell on Jia, who was now staring at him with horror, her mouth hanging open. She reached up to touch her forehead, then mouthed, What did you do?
“Forsythe,” Dr. Ambrose said, and Fort nodded, closing his eyes again. He quickly cast Cause Disease on himself, and the fever and aches began almost immediately. He coughed once, then cast the same spell on the bandage, and opened his eyes to watch as it glowed brightly only to fade away just as the last one had.
“This can’t be,” Dr. Ambrose said, her eyes widening. “How did you do that?”
“I . . . I practiced,” Fort said, feeling miserable. “Now Cure Disease?”
“It shouldn’t be possible,” she said, still shocked. She took his arms and pulled up his sleeves. “Did you write the spells down? No, that doesn’t work. How could you—”
The class seemed to realize things were getting uncomfortable, as they began to shift and whisper to each other. “Um, should I do the next spell?” Fort asked again.
Dr. Ambrose just nodded silently, still looking utterly baffled. Fort quickly cured his flu, then concentrated on the third bandage and cast Cure Disease a second time, letting the magic seep in until the spell was complete.
“No,” Dr. Ambrose whispered so that only Fort could hear her. “You were supposed to go home. To be safe! How could you do this? It simply isn’t conceivable that anyone—”
Fort flashed a look at Jia, who looked like she wanted to strangle him. “I had . . . help,” he said, just as quietly.
Dr. Ambrose went silent for a moment, then fell onto her stool next to him, almost deflating before his eyes. “Well, do you want a medal?” she said, her voice returning to its normal tone, though she still looked haunted by the results. “Take your seat, student. You more than anyone need to hear today’s lesson if you’re going to earn your place in the Oppenheimer School.”
Fort slowly walked back to the tables, choosing an empty seat behind Sebastian, who glared at him as Fort passed him. Fort fell into the chair, still in a daze about what had just happened. He’d actually managed to pass the impossible test, which meant he wasn’t going to get kicked out of the school!
Except he hadn’t done it himself. Somehow, he’d stolen Jia’s spells and definitely didn’t deserve to have passed. Granted, the whole test had been a sham, but still. It was hard to feel victorious when he’d passed by cheating, even if he had no idea it was happening.
Would Jia’s spells just disappear now, and hopefully reappear back in her head? Or had he taken them for good? And if that was the case, what did that mean for Jia?
As Dr. Ambrose began talking about the various sections of a human heart, showing far too graphic slides of each part, Fort laid one hand over the other and gave himself the flu. As the chills began, he quickly cured himself, then concentrated and repeated both spells again.
Cause and Cure Disease weren’t disappearing from his head. He really had mastered them.
“No magic during lectures!” Dr. Ambrose shouted, not even turning around. “That’s rule number one. I don’t care if you just passed a test or not, one more time and we’re having a pop quiz on healing bedsores!”
The other kids all turned to stare at Fort, and he quickly placed both hands up in surrender, then dropped them to his desk.
Was Telepathy magic really powerful enough to copy, even steal someone else’s spells for good? That could mean anyone who knew mental magic could learn . . . well, any other spell from someone who’d mastered it. That kind of power was terrifying—
Something smacked him in the back of his head. He turned to find Jia glaring at him with her teeth clenched, and he slowly reached to the floor to find whatever she’d just whipped at his head.
It turned out to be a piece of paper folded into a triangle. As quietly as he could, Fort unfolded the paper and laid it on his lap to read.
You IDIOT. You stole those spells from me. I had mastered them, and now they’re gone. GIVE THEM BACK NOW.
He looked up at her again, and for a second he thought she might attack him then and there, she looked so furious. He tried to give her an apologetic look, but she just gave him a death stare, her knuckles white as she grasped the edge of her desk.
“And of course the pulmonary arteries carry blood from your heart to your lungs,” Dr. Ambrose said, advancing a slide to show a pair of lungs on a table. “Now, if the heart stops and there’s a Destruction student nearby, a burst of lightning might get it going again. . . .”
Fort pulled a pen from his pocket and quickly wrote down his reply on the note.
You of all people know I didn’t have anything to do with this. It was Sierra. Why don’t you tell me where she is, and maybe we can fix this!
With that, he folded the note back up, and as soon as Dr. Ambrose wasn’t looking, he tossed the note to Jia.
A few moments later the note hit him in the head again, this time even harder. He groaned a bit, and Dr. Ambrose turned around. “Was there a question?” she asked.
“What if . . . um, there’s protective armor around someone’s body?” Fort asked, using the name of one of his new spells. “What would we do then? Would a spell like Ethereal Spirit work?”
“Ethereal Spirit?” Dr. Ambrose said, raising both eyebrows. “How did you hear about that? Wait, no, I don’t care. That spell is forbidden to learn anyway. Theoretically, since Ethereal Spirit turns your body ghostlike, you could pass a hand through the protective armor, but you’d be useless to the patient since you couldn’t touch the heart without solidifying again, which would kill them. Now, if I could return to something practical?” She turned back to her slide show.
Fort quickly reached down to grab the note, then unfolded it.
Meet me outside the girls’ dorm at lunch. We will get my spells back!
Fort turned and nodded at her, agreeing to her terms.
Between Rachel and Jia, it sounded like he’d have plenty of company in his search for Sierra.