AS TIRED AS HE WAS, Fort wasn’t foolish enough to just jump into a strange dimension without any provisions. Given that he’d now mastered teleportation, Fort used the spell to gather up all the things he’d need for his trip into the monsters’ world.
First, since he’d been training on it anyway and didn’t have much other magic to depend on, he went looking for one of the metal staffs Sergeant Tower had mentioned so many times.
Finding where they were kept wasn’t hard, as he’d seen his old classmates carrying them through the halls to a room near Dr. Ambrose’s classroom. A few glances inside that room while walking by gave him all he needed to open a teleportation circle inside it now.
He checked the room first using a smaller circle, then jumped through when he saw it was empty. He quickly made sure the outer door was locked, stumbling through the room in the dark just in case. Then he turned on the lights and sucked in his breath in surprise.
He’d only been expecting staffs, but his eyes widened when he saw the awesome assortment of weapons and other magical items laid out before him. There in the corner were the bows that he’d heard Chad and Bryce talking about, the ones that shot fireballs. He grabbed one of those, and it glowed red at his touch. Next he took a nearby metal staff that had to be full of healing spells, considering the momentary blue glow when he took it.
There were shields as well, but they looked heavy, and he didn’t want to get bogged down, especially since he already had two fairly large items. If the bow had been strung, he might have tried to sling it over his shoulder, but apparently fireballs didn’t need string.
Instead, he found some duct tape off with some supplies in another corner and taped each end of the bow to the staff. Without the string, the staff wouldn’t get in the way of him firing the bow, and now he could carry the staff over his shoulder using the bow to hold it in place.
Assuming he didn’t shoot himself with a fireball, that was.
His next stop was the cafeteria, since he wasn’t sure how long he’d be gone. He gathered together a bunch of protein bars (the only dessert the cafeteria offered) in a bag with some bottles of water and hooked that over the end of the staff, leaving his hands free for magic.
It was a bit awkward, with the bag of food hitting his back every few steps, but he felt better being able to cast Teleport at a moment’s notice.
Was that everything? He patted himself down, trying to think of what he’d forgotten. He had food, weapons, his amulet, which hopefully would actually hide him from the Old One… was there anything else he needed before going on a long trip?
Oh, right! He’d almost left out the most important thing of all! He quickly teleported to the bathroom, considering there probably weren’t great facilities in a monster dimension, and with that, he was finally ready.
He teleported back to the display room, bringing with him a pen and paper he’d found with the tape, so he could leave a note. The Gettysburg Address brochure was already back in his pocket, for luck.
Gabriel, he wrote. If you’re reading this, then I’ve been gone long enough for you to come looking for me. If that’s the case, I’m probably not coming back. I’m leaving you the book of Summoning, which I stole from Colonel Charles to use to find my father after he was taken by one of the creatures that attacked D.C. I know he’s alive, and I’m going to find him… but I had to go alone. It’s the only way to keep everyone else safe, just like we talked about. Give this book to Rachel, in the Destruction class. She’ll know what to do with it. Tell her, and Jia, and Cyrus…
He paused, tapping the pen. Hopefully none of this would be necessary, but he wasn’t going to jump to a strange dimension with the book of Summoning on him, considering what the Old Ones might do with it. And if he didn’t come back, he wanted everyone to at least know what had happened. The last thing he wanted was for his friends to think he’d just abandoned them and left.
But it also felt really weird to say good-bye. It felt like he was giving up before he’d even started.
Tell them I’m sorry, he finished, and tucked the note into the book.
If you go by yourself, you might rescue your father, but you won’t make it back! Cyrus’s voice rang through his head, and he hesitated. Was he really ready to get stuck in the monsters’ world forever? Or worse, not survive the trip?
Stay safe, his father would have told him. I’m the parent, and you’re the child who will become the first Fitzgerald to be president. You don’t have to do this.
Fort rubbed some wetness from his eyes and clenched his fists. Maybe Cyrus was right. Maybe he wouldn’t make it back, or see his friends ever again.
But there was no way he was leaving his father there, no matter what it took. And they’d changed the future before, every time Cyrus had maneuvered them around guards at the old school. Why couldn’t Fort change it now, knowing what was coming?
Feeling a bit more confident, he hid the book of Summoning where Gabriel had seen it last time, in the corner under some packing material, with his note sticking out from the front cover. Then he took a deep breath, turned to the nearest wall, opened a teleportation circle, and jumped through to the cavern below the old Oppenheimer School.
He landed on stone, but it was so dark, he could barely see beyond his feet. He considered that for a moment, then closed the portal he’d jumped through, and opened one higher, on the ceiling above him, leading back to the ceiling of the display room. Both portals were small, but the light from the display room now passed through the circle to illuminate the cavern, too, enabling Fort to see it clearly for the first time since the monster attack.
Rubble filled most of the area below the old school. There wasn’t too much space in the open cavern around him, and he hoped that wherever it had been, the old portal would be close enough for him to still reach.
As far as he could tell, there weren’t any dangerous cracks or holes in the stone below him, which was fortunate, as he didn’t want to accidentally trip or fall into one while bringing his father back.
Out of curiosity, he checked above him too, up around the open teleportation circle. It was harder to see from the glare of the light, but he didn’t find any holes or tunnels leading up out of it.
That was good. If there wasn’t any way up, that meant that no soldiers from the base had explored down this far, not since the school had been destroyed. And if no one had discovered the cavern, then Fort could leave the portal open without worrying about someone finding it. After all, if he closed it, he had no way to reopen it, unless he chanced potentially losing the book of Summoning to the Old Ones.
Fort turned back to the floor and readied himself. The memory of fighting the creature was still crystal clear, as it had only been a few weeks before. Damian had opened the portal to the monsters’ dimension, and the creature had emerged, digging its way up to where Fort had waited, deep in the basement of the old school. Its hand had burst through the floor and grabbed him, then dragged him back down here.
Fort had fought the creature off, and it had tried to escape back into the portal, but he’d almost not let it. He’d felt so much rage toward the creature for taking his father from him that he’d almost killed the thing before finally letting it go, realizing that the Old One was the one in control, not the monster.
Time to see how true that was. If the Old One had kept his father alive, like he’d seen in his dreams, then Fort would find him. If not…
“Gen urre’otre platrexe phor,” Fort said softly, and the rock and rubble glowed from an eerie green light in his hands. He concentrated, closing his eyes, and in his mind’s eye a glowing circle appeared on the stone just in front of him. He opened his eyes, confused, and the circle disappeared. But closing them again, he could see it clearly, like he’d stared at the sun and burned its image into his eyes.
Moving his head around, he could see another circle hundreds of feet above him, this one also bright, but much smaller from a distance. That had to be the portal Damian had opened when trying to bring the other Old Ones through.
And there were more, many more, in almost every direction, some so far away they were just tiny specks of light, like stars in the dark. A whole bunch of them were grouped off in one direction, and Fort wondered if that was the NSA, where Damian had originally practiced his Summoning magic.
It didn’t matter. The only portal Fort was concerned about was directly in front of him.
He turned back to this one, and slowly unleashed the magic, feeling the itchiness of the Summoning power flow out of his hands and into the ground. The glowing circle in his mind disappeared, and he took a deep breath, then opened his eyes to find the portal now glowing in real life, lighting up the rubble all around him.
At first, it was just a circle of magical fire, but soon he could feel something opening, splitting the barriers between dimensions, creating a doorway to another world.
Another world where his father had been waiting for almost eight months now.
No. Don’t think about it. He couldn’t let the possibilities stop him. He was so close! Fort took a step closer to the edge of the chasm, his heart racing. No matter what he found below, he’d be bringing his father back.
Another step, and he stood directly over the glowing circle. The darkness around the flames was so intense that he couldn’t see much in the other dimension, but he knew this was where the creature had come from. It had to be. It was also strangely quiet, but that was probably for the best: The last thing he wanted to do was land in a nest of the creatures.
He checked to make sure his staff and bow were secure, and that the bag of food wouldn’t bounce around too much. This is it, he thought, quickly removing his amulet. Sierra, if you can hear me, I hope you’re okay. I’m going to get my father, and I’ll be back soon. Stay safe.
But no response came, and he put the amulet back on, unwilling to wait another moment. Instead, he closed his eyes and stepped into the portal.
But instead of passing through it, his foot came down on solid rock.
Rock that filled the entire portal, completely closing it off.