Dr. Regardie beamed.
They’d all been called into the multipurpose room. Twenty-three kids sitting in metal folding chairs, facing the front of the room where Regardie stood, waiting behind a lectern. No one had told them there was going to be an assembly before they’d all been ushered out of their rooms and herded down the hall.
Ms. Fortune and two of the other teachers stood in the back of the room. They whispered to one another, all of them oddly animated. That made William nervous. He glanced across the aisle at Victoria and she crossed her eyes and scrunched up her face. But he could tell she was unsettled, too. Most of the other kids seemed apprehensive as well. They’d never been called to an assembly in the evening after dinner when they would normally be playing a last round of Merkaba or studying with their roommates.
Dr. Regardie rang a little bell and the children hushed up. He cleared his throat and smiled broadly. “Welcome, boys and girls. Tonight is a very special night for all of us”—he nodded to the teachers in the back of the room—“but especially for you. This is your graduation.” He let the word sink in. “That’s right, you have all passed your required examinations. Now it’s time to move on to the next phase of your work.” He waved to the back of the room.
Ms. Fortune waddled to the lectern. Someone farted, and a wave of giggling passed through the room. Dr. Regardie glared, but Ms. Fortune ignored them. “Nine of you have done exceptionally well and will be joining me for advanced lessons. If I call your name, please stand and remain standing.”
William’s throat tightened. The room went completely silent.
“Aaron Fowler. Please stand.” Fortune’s teeth were yellow in the light.
Aaron stood. William crossed his fingers under his legs. Please no. Don’t pick me.
“Regina Cicero.”
On it went. Everyone was keeping count. Then there were only two left.
“Victoria Firth.”
William felt woozy, his stomach in knots. Victoria stood. Behind her, Isaac chewed on his thumbnail, his eyes wide.
“And finally, William Davis. Please stand, William. Now everyone give them a big round of applause!” She slapped her thick hands together.
William stood, his legs shaking. Whatever this new thing was, at least he and Victoria would be together. The other kids applauded politely. But they were all clearly confused. “You may be seated,” Ms. Fortune said, huffing as she made her way to the back of the room.
Dr. Regardie wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. “For those of you who are not continuing your lessons with Ms. Fortune, I have some wonderful news.” He paused to let it sink in. “You will be going home!”
That got a big reaction. Colin’s smile couldn’t get any bigger, and a few of the kids who hadn’t made the cut started talking excitedly among themselves. But Victoria was just looking at Regardie and blinking, her face expressionless. Home? Were the other kids really going home? So the reward for being the smartest and the best at all the rituals and exercises was to stay here? Blood rushed to William’s face. This was not fair. Not fair at all.
Regardie knocked three times on the lectern. “You have all done exceptional work here. Each and every one of you. You should be very proud of yourselves. There has never been a school like this, ever, in the history of the world.” He held out his arms. “So tonight, we’re going to throw you a party.”
When Dr. Regardie handed William his small paper cup of punch, his first instinct was to slap it out of the man’s liver-spotted hand. Something was up with this punch. The way Ms. Fortune had poured it, eyeing the cups carefully so that it only came up to the bottom of the floral design, had made that clear. Then Dr. Regardie made everyone line up and watched them drink it all, at once.
Poison was his first thought. This wasn’t graduation; they were all going to die.
But he was one of the last in line, and the rest of the kids who had drunk it weren’t falling to the floor dead or even acting sick. If anything, they were all growing more boisterous, almost bouncing off the walls. So maybe they weren’t going to die, but his hands still shook as he took the cup from the doctor. The liquid was bright red.
“Drink it all up and you can have your cupcake,” Dr. Regardie said.
He could feel Victoria watching him from behind. He lifted the rim to his lips and tilted it back. The first taste was disgustingly sweet.
“All of it,” Regardie said.
William tilted the cup back. Swallowed.
Regardie peered closer. “Open your mouth.”
William opened wide.
“Good,” Dr. Regardie said. He handed William a pink-frosted cupcake. “Now go have some fun.”
When no one was looking, William spat out the little he’d managed to hold in his cheeks into a potted plant in the corner of the room. But he was already feeling strange. Like the time he’d drunk one of his aunt’s energy drinks and his mom had worried she’d have to take him to hospital. Only this was much weirder. When they were all being marched down to the playroom, Victoria poked him in the back and he nearly screamed. “Are you feeling something?” she whispered.
He nodded.
“Let’s make a deal. No matter what happens, we try to stay with each other.”
“Okay,” he said.
Dr. Regardie left them all alone, shutting the door behind himself. That was strange, as there was always an adult present when they had unsupervised play, but no one seemed to care. It was pandemonium when the door shut. Everyone was animated, wildly jumping around, laughing, screaming. One of the older girls did a series of cartwheels around the room. William’s body kept twitching and all he wanted to do was follow its urges. To jump, leap, run, and dance like everyone else. Victoria’s hands were slapping at her thighs, like she was playing Miss Mary Mack.
And the surges of energy felt so good. Good like nothing he could remember. The room around them had erupted in color, as if someone had turned on a light that made everything more sharply defined and vibrant. When he touched Victoria’s arm they both jumped like they’d been hit with an electric jolt. “Are we going crazy?” he asked. The answer seemed obvious.
Victoria pointed. “Look,” she said.
Everyone was looking at Aaron Fowler, a blond, pale kid, and one of the advanced students who had been picked for their new group. He had just finished tracing a pentagram from the Merkaba game in the air. Only this wasn’t a game. The pentagram hung in the air in front of him, glowing bright blue. It was wavering, like it was made of smoke that could blow away any second, but it was real.
William grabbed Victoria’s arm. “Do you—”
Her jaw hung open. “Yes. He’s doing it for real.”
Aaron, his eyes wide and mouth frozen open in an amazed smile, brought his cupped hands together in front of the shimmering star. The star faded and withdrew into the space between his hands, where the air seemed to thicken, as if his palms were concentrating it. He pulled his hands apart slightly and the space between them stretched, as if it had become a ball of taffy. “I’m doing it!” he screamed, sounding half-terrified.
“Is that punch making us see this?” William whispered. “Like drugs or something?”
Victoria didn’t answer. She just stared. The other kids were trying things now, too. Colin was making the symbols of the sixth level and smoky trails of red ran from his fingers. “It’s real,” she said. “The punch is just letting us see it better.” She pulled his arms. “Let’s try something.”
“I don’t know,” William said. The atmosphere in the room scared him. Maybe spitting out some of the drink had kept him from feeling what everyone else was.
“Isaac,” she shouted. Isaac came running over, his eyes wide. “Let’s do the hand-holding thing. Just the three of us.”
“Okay,” he said. “This is crazy!”
They all held hands. Isaac’s hand was so sweaty it was slippery. As soon as they connected, it was as if they were plugged into a supercharged current. Everything around the three of them dimmed, even the sounds of the other children. In Ms. Fortune’s ritual class they had formed a circle and imagined a sphere of energy surrounding them, but now it was happening for real. They were sitting inside what looked like a golden dome while the rest of the room dimmed until it seemed far away.
“This is real!” Isaac said.
“Shhh,” Victoria whispered. “Listen. Something is up. I don’t know what Ms. Fortune’s going to do with us but it’s not going to be good.”
“No,” William said. “It’s going to be bad. And it’s going to happen soon.” Victoria’s hand felt nice in his, but whether it was the magic making it tingle he couldn’t tell.
“I’m going home,” Isaac said, and then his face slackened. “I won’t ever see you guys anymore.”
William wanted to assure him that wasn’t the case, but he couldn’t lie. So he just glanced at Isaac, then back at Victoria. A tear ran from her eye. He was shocked. Victoria had never cried, or even acted like she was sad.
“You’re lucky, Isaac,” she said, blinking. “But we should make a deal now. Just the three of us. While we’re still hidden.”
William and Isaac both nodded.
“We need to stick together. And stick up for one another no matter what. And if something happens to one of us, we need to do that thing where we push our thoughts. Like this.” She closed her eyes and her face went smooth. For a moment she looked like a statue, and it scared William.
Inside William’s head a voice echoed, a mix of image and words: Dr. Dogturdy is a shithead.
Isaac laughed. William stared wide-eyed. “You’re good at that.”
“So are you guys. You just have to try. So no matter if we’re separated, we stay in touch like that. Just push as hard as you can. And deal number two: We do whatever we can to make their stupid plans not work. We do the opposite of what they want, right? We fight back. We mess things up the best we can and pretend it isn’t our fault.”
“Deal,” William said. Isaac echoed him.
“Ray’s coming to get us,” William said. “I know it. I saw him. He’s going to help us.”
Victoria looked at him without expression. “Well, I hope he gets here soon. Because school is going to end and I don’t know what’s going to happen after that.” She drew a deep breath. “Okay, let’s break the circle and then go play. Let’s see what we can do while this punch is still in us.”
The morning after the graduation party William awoke to someone knocking on the door. His eyes had crusted shut with sleep, and his head ached. He remembered his dad talking about hangovers, back before he had quit drinking. If this was a punch hangover, he never wanted to drink alcohol.
Colin was already awake and dressed in his uniform, so he answered the door. William hoped it wasn’t another blood draw. It was Dr. Regardie, looking even more disheveled and paler than usual. Behind him stood one of the guards, holding a small duffel bag.
“Good morning, Colin,” Regardie said. “Are you ready to go home to your parents?”
Colin squealed and clapped.
Dr. Regardie took the duffel bag and handed it to the boy. “All you need is what you’re wearing and anything else you want to throw into the bag. You can take your notebook, if you wish, but anything you leave we’ll ship to your home.”
“Am I going to my dad’s? Or to my mom’s, in Hong Kong?”
Regardie waved his hands. “I’m actually not sure. Other people are handling the details. But I did hear that your mom and dad will both be there.”
Colin pogoed up and down. “William, I’m going home.”
William sat up and forced a smile. “That’s great, Colin.”
Colin ran over and squeezed him tightly. “You were the best roommate ever.” He turned to Regardie, but then back to William. “Can we FaceTime with each other?”
“Yeah. Definitely.” William studied the old man but Regardie wouldn’t look at him.
“Of course,” Regardie said. “You’ve all made some wonderful friends. Don’t worry, Colin, we’ll make sure you can get in touch.”
Liar, William thought.
The last thing Colin stuffed into the bag was a picture William had drawn for him—Colin the transforming robot flying like a superhero above a red planet, trailing multicolored stars. A juice stain from one of their late-night monster fights bisected the drawing. William felt tears welling up unexpectedly. Colin was a dweeb but he would miss him.
When the door closed, William shoved his face back into his pillow. Everything was going to be different now. He could feel it.
Ms. Fortune’s class took place that evening. It was only nine of them now, and they all shot uncomfortable, wide-eyed glances at one another. None of them spoke except for short whispers. The classroom had been rearranged, with the nine desks in a semicircle and an oblong, rectangular stone block standing in the center, lit by a dim spotlight from above. Ms. Fortune’s chair was pushed near the wall.
“Children, let me welcome you to your new class. I promise this one will be really fun and exciting. We’re going to do things no one else has ever done. And I mean no one. Ever.”
William shivered. Victoria was stiff in her seat beside him, expressionless.
“When this is all over—when our studies are finished…” She paused. “You will understand how important your education has been. For the future. For the world.” Her eyes were glossy with tears.
A hand went up. Lakshmi, with the crazy hair. “Ms. Fortune?”
The large woman blinked. “Yes, Lakshmi?”
Lakshmi fidgeted with her hands. “What happened last night? When we could see everything?”
Fortune’s eyes were nearly swallowed by her cheeks. “Well, you’d have to ask Dr. Regardie about specifics. There is a special medicine in the punch that helps you see the energy you’ve been working with. Some of you probably still feel some of that energy.”
“I do,” Lakshmi said. “I can still see the Merkaba symbols.” She traced a finger in the air. Symbol of the Gate of Sirius. William couldn’t see anything, but several of the other kids nodded.
“When will we get to go home, Ms. Fortune?” Victoria asked.
The teacher blinked. “After the work is done you will all get to go back home. Only Dr. Regardie knows when. But I know it won’t be that much longer. This class is the final preparation. We’re just waiting for things to align perfectly with Dr. Regardie’s calculations.”
“Thank you, Ms. Fortune,” Victoria said, folding her hands against her desk.
“So let’s get to work! In the folder in front of you, please take out the drawing of Duke Grimscrob.”
William didn’t expect it to work. Ms. Fortune lined them in a semicircle around the stone pedestal and lit some awful-smelling incense. When she chanted the Opening of the Gate, William quickly felt the pull of the ritual and went into a very deep state. When she told them to open their eyes, he immediately understood that this really was an advanced class. The room was pulsing with energy. Visible waves, like heat from hot asphalt, emanated from all of the other kids. He looked at Victoria and when her eyes caught his the space between them rippled wildly.
“Now, children,” Ms. Fortune said, “join me in the Invocation.”
They chanted in unison, in the practiced, droning tone she had taught them, stretching out the syllables. Ms. Fortune swore it was a real language even though it sounded like nonsense. And as they chanted, the waves of energy poured off them and converged on the space above the pedestal. At the center, where their energy pooled, something—blurry and amorphous—began to take shape.
“Now form him,” Fortune said. “Bring him into shape!”
The nonthing began to coalesce, first like a soft cloud, then filled in with color as it solidified. And although William kept up the chant, the part of him that remained detached watched in horror. It couldn’t be happening. It was impossible.
Goat hooves tapped on the cold stone.