MEET GABRIEL,” FORT SAID, SIGHING deeply as he gestured to the taller boy next to him. Two soldiers waited just behind them for Fort and Gabriel to sit down together, something that wasn’t voluntary, according to their orders. “Gabriel, this is Jia, Rachel, and Cyrus. Gabriel’s my new roommate, and he’s going to be sitting with us for… well, until we’re told otherwise.”
Jia’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and Rachel looked suspicious, but Cyrus stood up solemnly and offered his hand. “Nice to finally meet you, Gabriel,” he said, more serious than Fort had ever known him to be. “I’ve seen a lot of you in the future.”
Gabriel frowned as the soldiers finally gave them some room. “You mean, you’ll be seeing a lot of me in the future?”
“Not exactly,” Fort told him as they both set their trays down. “I’ll explain later.” He turned to Jia and Rachel, who were both giving him questioning looks with varying levels of annoyance. “Colonel Charles assigned me to Gabriel, since he’s new. Not only are we roommates, but we’re going to be hanging out pretty much all the time, including at meals.” He let his long stare illustrate exactly what he thought about that. “And I’m going to be tutoring him too. You know, just like how all new students are given tutors?”
“None of this was my idea,” Gabriel said, starting in on his meal. “Including those soldiers making me sit with you all, so I’m sorry about that. Just pretend I’m not here.”
Rachel gave Fort a pointed look that said everything he was already thinking, but Jia tried to change the subject. “If you remember, Fort, you got some tutoring when you first came to the Oppenheimer School,” she said. “Not that you needed it, since you had your… friend.”
“Let’s not bring her up again,” Fort said, hoping Jia picked up on the fact that Sierra as a topic was way off limits. “I got enough of her at the other school.”
“Did you?” Sierra said, sitting down in an empty spot at the table. At Fort’s surprised look, she gave him one back. “What? It’s a long ride to the airport, and I’m not even sure we’ll get on this flight, so I told Damian to wake me when we’re there. I want to make sure I know everything that’s happening too.”
“Anyway, I know we all had plans for tonight,” Fort said. “But I wouldn’t want to abandon my new roommate, so let’s maybe talk about those later.”
“Later?” Cyrus said. “But tonight’s the only—”
“The only night we won’t be tired from classes,” Jia quickly interrupted.
“No, that’s not what I was going to say.” Cyrus looked confused. “Are we really not going through with the plan? Because I still see us—”
“Having fun anyway?” Fort said. “I’m sure we will! Let’s all talk to Gabriel now, so he doesn’t feel left out.”
Gabriel, though, hadn’t looked up from his food since he’d sat down. “Eh,” he said, shrugging slightly. “I say go through with this plan of yours. Like I said, don’t worry about me. Sounds like you’re breaking rules, and I’m all for it.”
“Oh, we are,” Cyrus said. “Almost all of them.”
Jia snorted water out of her nose, and Rachel quickly jumped in. “He’s kidding,” she said, handing Jia her napkin. “He thinks it’s funny to make things up like that, don’t you, Cyrus?”
“Do I?” Cyrus asked, looking even more confused now. “I’m not sure I know what’s going on here.”
“I do,” Gabriel said, looking up from his burger. “You all had something planned for tonight, but you don’t know me, so you can’t talk about it in front of me. Like I said, don’t worry about me. I’m not going to snitch to anyone.”
“We’re not doing anything that’s actually wrong,” Jia said. “Besides, some rules were meant to be broken.”
Rachel sighed. “Don’t listen to her. She’s looking for her next thrill after trying to take down an Old One.”
“Um, succeeding in taking one down, thank you,” Jia said.
“It was just going to be one last night hanging out before classes start,” Fort said, not sure how much worse this could get.
“Just the four of us,” Rachel said quickly. “It’s like we’re a club or something. No new members until school officially starts.”
Sierra dropped her head into her hands. “You guys are so bad at this, Fort. Do you want me to just wipe his memory of this whole meal?”
Maybe? he thought at her, clueless about how to bring this back under control. And more importantly, they really did need to go over the plan, just in case this was their last chance before Dr. Opps brought the book of Summoning out of hiding. Can you just make him hear a fake conversation for a minute or two?
Sierra frowned. “I was kidding. You really want me to do this? I’m not entirely —”
I don’t want you to, I need you to! We have to have that book if we’re going to get my dad back. Nothing else matters, okay?
“… Okay, Fort,” Sierra said, and he could feel the worry coming off of her, but he couldn’t let that bother him now. “But he’s still wearing that amulet, so you’re going to need to remove it first.”
Ugh, right, the amulet. Fort winced, then turned to Gabriel. “Hey, what’s that chain thing you’re wearing? Can I see it?”
Sierra groaned loudly as Gabriel slowly turned to stare at Fort. “Excuse me?” he asked.
“It just looks like one of the protective ones that Colonel Charles wears,” Fort said, which was true, since the colonel always wore his, probably ever since he heard that Sierra wiped his memory. “I’ve always wanted to see one.”
Gabriel snorted. “That’s what he said. I kinda doubt it does anything. Take it if you want it.” He yanked it over his head and tossed it to Fort, who missed it, letting it hit the table loudly. He quickly grabbed it as the guards turned to stare, and he nodded at Sierra.
“I really don’t feel good about this,” she said. “It’s the thing with Cyrus all over again, and I still don’t like that we did that.”
You’re going to be doing it to Dr. Opps later!
“Yeah, but he deserves it,” she said. “This kid hasn’t pushed anyone into experimenting with magic to the point they get possessed by ancient evils. Well, that I know of, I guess.”
He gave her a long look, and she rolled her eyes. “Fine!” Her image wavered for a moment as she cast the spell, only to solidify a moment later. “Happy? Now all he’s hearing is a fascinating monologue from you about your most embarrassing memories. I made sure to give him the greatest hits.”
“Great,” Fort whispered to himself, then turned to Gabriel, needing to test things. “Gabriel? Hey, Gabriel? Can you hear me?”
But the other boy just continued eating, completely oblivious.
“Okay, Sierra’s fixed things so we can talk for a moment,” Fort told the others. “Cyrus, what time is Dr. Opps bringing the books out?”
“Just after curfew,” Cyrus said, looking at Gabriel with some confusion.
“What does he think we’re talking about?” Rachel asked, waving a hand in front of Gabriel’s face. The other boy immediately looked up and stared at her curiously.
“He can still see you,” Fort hissed at her.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” Sierra said, looking even more annoyed. “I had Rachel tell him that she wanted to share embarrassing things too.”
Fort sighed. Glad you’re having fun at least.
“Oh, always.”
“Everyone just pretend like you’re eating, okay?” Fort told them. “Sierra’s got him listening to… our life stories. Just act casual. Cyrus, where’s the best spot to grab the books?”
“There will only be one hall along his path that will be empty at the time and doesn’t have cameras installed yet,” Cyrus said. “It’s two floors up, just before an elevator. After that, he and the guards go down to a basement level and things get really fuzzy, so I think that’s our only shot at this.”
That was what Fort had been afraid of. “Okay, so the hallway it is. Everyone’s clear on their jobs, right?”
Jia nodded. “I cast Paralyze on Dr. Opps and the guards with him, so that we can remove their protective mind amulets.”
“Then I grab the books and replace them with the fakes,” Fort said. “Sierra will convince them the books I give them are the real books of magic, as well as make them forget we were ever there.”
“That spell on the books won’t last for more than a couple of days, so you better hope they don’t check in on them after that,” Sierra pointed out.
It won’t matter, Fort thought at her. I only need the book of Summoning long enough to open a portal and find my dad. After that, they can throw me in jail for all I care. All that matters is that he comes back safely.
“That’s not all that matters,” Sierra said, but Rachel was talking over her.
“Cyrus, did you find somewhere for my part of all of this?” she asked.
He nodded. “There’s an unused kitchen on that floor with some strong ventilation. If you do it in there, it’ll carry away any smoke.”
Rachel nodded, leaning forward. “Okay then. So for my part, as soon as Fort brings me the books, I burn them both with fireballs until they’re ash. Everyone still agrees that this needs to be done, right? That they’re just too dangerous for anyone to use their magic ever again?”
First Jia, then Cyrus nodded. Rachel turned to Fort, who nodded as well.
“Agreed,” he lied. “They need to be destroyed.”
“Oh right,” Sierra said, dropping her head into her hands and groaning. “I’d almost forgotten about the part of the plan where you betray all your friends. Great. This is going to go so, so well.”