The Timeless One Read online

  Fort recalled the moment when he and Sierra were trapped in Colonel Charles’s office, Sierra’s mind in the body of Dr. Opps. The colonel had known it was her and used one of her own Mind magic items on her, trapping her in Dr. Opps’s body, which had been incredibly painful, and stopped her from using her magic.

  And yet, somehow, she’d broken free and used Mind magic she hadn’t ever learned, some kind of telekinesis, to destroy the amulet around Colonel Charles’s neck. So much had happened since then that Fort had almost forgotten about it.

  Rachel, though, barely seemed to have heard. “Thanks for keeping us in contact, Sierra,” she said, staring off into space. “She’s just so lonely there now, stuck in her room. She only ever sees Dr. Ambrose and that Sebastian jerk, who told her that Agent Cole is having the healers start learning spells that Dr. Ambrose banned previously. Things are falling apart there.”

  Banned spells? The only one Fort had heard about was Ethereal Spirit, which turned the caster into a ghost, basically, and let them pass through solid objects. That kind of magic in Colonel Charles’s and Agent Cole’s hands would definitely lead to bad things.

  But that was going to have to wait. First they had to figure out what to do with Ember, find Merlin, find Excalibur, make sure Rachel got trained with the sword, find the Timeless One so she could defeat him… there was so much to do that the Oppenheimer School just wasn’t the worst problem right now.

  Though who knew how long that’d last.

  “I’ll keep you two connected as much as I can,” Sierra told Rachel, who gave her a thankful smile. “At least Jia will have you around whenever she wants.”

  “You’re a lifesaver,” Rachel said. “Where are you, anyway, when you’re not meeting with us here? Still in the UK?”

  Sierra nodded. “I, um, am tying up some loose ends,” she said, looking down at the floor. “You know, the book of Spirit magic needs to be found. And we never did locate the Time book.”

  “Not to mention there’s an insane dragon somewhere out there still, since Damian got away,” Fort said, and frowned as Sierra winced. “What?”

  “Nothing,” she said, and his frown deepened. Considering how close they’d become since he’d accidentally gotten connected to her and seen her memories while she’d been in a coma when he’d first come to the Oppenheimer School, it seemed odd for her not to be telling him something. But whatever it was, it could wait.

  “Let us know if you find the books, and we’ll come grab them,” Rachel told her. “Or if your magic detects anything about Merlin or the Timeless One, of course. Or Ellora.”

  “Or Cyrus,” Fort said. “William used Spirit magic on him, making Cyrus send himself somewhere else in time, but it should wear off eventually, I’d hope. So wherever Cyrus is, hopefully it’s where he wants to be.”

  “I’m sure he’s fine,” Sierra said as Ember stirred on Fort’s shoulder, and he absently reached up to scratch her chin. She stretched as he did and settled back in. “For all we know, he’ll be waiting for us whenever we find Merlin.”

  “I really need one of those,” Rachel said, staring at Ember on Fort’s shoulder. She shook her head, as if pulling herself out of a daze, and clapped her hands. “Okay, then we’ve all got our jobs. Fort, you take care of Fort Jr. there for now. Then as soon as we can both get away, we’ll go to Merlin’s cottage, or whatever’s left of it, and see what we can find.”

  “It might be a few days,” Fort said, still rubbing Ember’s chin. “I’m starting at a new school tomorrow. You know, the nonmagic kind.”

  “Already?” Rachel said, her eyebrows flying up. “You just got home!”

  “I think my dad just wants things back to normal,” Fort said with a sigh. “And that includes school. I wouldn’t have minded waiting a few weeks, just to deal with everything else first.”

  “He just doesn’t want to go back to math class,” Sierra told Rachel. “I offered to Mind magic him into knowing everything that his teacher knows, but for some reason, he said no.”

  “You’d probably wipe my memories by accident,” Fort said. “Then you’ll have to change a dragon’s diapers.”

  “I’ll just Mind magic someone into being a nanny,” Sierra said.

  “You two are so strange,” Rachel said, looking back and forth between Fort and Sierra. Then she turned to Ember and grinned. “But you, I want to eat for dinner! ”

  With that, she petted the cat on Fort’s neck, then stepped back through the portal to her bedroom at her parents’ house.

  “I’ll help you with your dad and aunt,” Sierra said as Fort closed Rachel’s portal. “You know, make them think Ember’s a stray you found, so they’re okay with taking her in. If you want me to.”

  Fort nodded. “That’d be good. I still need to figure out what I’m going to do with her, but at least this will be easier than living with a dragon baby.”

  Something sharp attacked his ear. “Hey!” he yelled, reaching over to pull Ember off him. “No biting, young lady!”

  “You know, I’m not sure she speaks English,” Sierra said with a smile.

  The cat stared at Fort for a moment. “Volai hrana,” she said, then closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

  - THREE -

  FORT AND SIERRA SPENT THE next ten minutes trying to wake Ember up, not even sure if they’d really heard her speak for real. But while they’d managed to annoy her a bunch, she hadn’t repeated whatever those words had been and instead just ended up shooting fire at them so they’d stop irritating her.

  How she could still do that as a cat, Fort didn’t even want to know, but it wasn’t going to make his life any easier.

  Now, an hour later, Fort lay on his bed, staring at the cat noisily inhaling wet cat food on the floor in front of him. He’d sent Sierra back to the UK and teleported himself to the grocery store to pick up food for the dragon, which apparently was working out okay. Ember had instantly woken back up as he opened the can, and had laid right into three of them so far, making Fort glad he’d bought as much as he had money for.

  But as busy as she was eating, she still hadn’t said another word, if she actually had to begin with.

  Fort shook his head, pretty sure he’d imagined it. How could Ember have spoken, after literally just being born earlier that day? There was no way, not even for a magical creature.

  Except she did understand her name already, which was pretty much impossible for any human baby. Not to mention the fact that she breathed fire, so maybe comparing her to other, nonmagical animals didn’t make any sense.

  But even so, she’d just emerged from her egg, like, six hours ago. And she was a cat. How could she be speaking?

  “Ember?” he whispered. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  Ember completely ignored him, working on her fourth can. Fair enough. Ignoring him was fairly catlike, especially with food around.

  He sighed and rolled over onto his back, staring at his ceiling. Sierra claimed she wasn’t getting anything from reading Ember’s mind. But who knew if Mind magic even worked on animals, let alone dragons, who were literally made from magic? Maybe they were resistant to magic, or their thoughts were so foreign that Sierra couldn’t even sense them.

  “I hope you can talk, Ember,” Fort said, sighing heavily as he lay on his bed. “Then you can tell me what to do with you.”

  “Oh, I thought we were keeping her,” said a voice, and Fort almost fell off the bed in surprise. He turned over to find his father standing in his door with a smile. “Sorry I didn’t knock,” his dad said, “but I wanted to meet your stray officially.”

  In spite of being surprised, Fort couldn’t help but smile back, still not believing that his father could be standing here, in his doorway. He’d wanted to come back and spend more time with his dad but wasn’t quite sure what Ember would decide to do, even as a kitten.

  At least things had worked out well with Sierra convincing both his father and Aunt Cora that Ember was a neighborhood stray a
nd had shown up at Fort’s window, meowing to be let in from the cold. She’d even pushed them to agree when Fort pointed out that he could use a pet after everything he’d gone through, which was nice, because the last thing Fort wanted to do at the moment was argue with his dad.

  “Her name is Ember,” Fort said to his dad, who slowly approached the cat and squatted down where she ate. Fort watched them both warily, waiting for the moment that he’d have to rescue his father from a plume of fire, but the cat just looked up briefly, hissed loudly enough to panic Fort, but then thankfully turned back to her food.

  “Huh,” his dad said as Fort’s heart rate slowly returned to normal. “Not so friendly, I see.”

  “She hates everyone,” Fort agreed. “You should have seen how she was around…” He trailed off as he realized he couldn’t exactly admit that Ember had met his friends. “Um, around the neighbors, according to Aunt Cora.”

  “Well, she’s a cat,” his father said, leaning back against the wall a few feet away from Ember, which made Fort feel a little less anxious. “That’s pretty typical, I’m told. Me, I was always a dog person.”

  “Oh yeah?” Fort said, smiling. “So you’d be okay with us getting a dog, too?”

  His father shrugged. “Eh, dogs aren’t my thing. I’m honestly more of a turtle person, as you know.” He looked up at Fort. “Hey. You can tell me if I’m rushing you, going back to school already. We’ve barely had any time together, between the army doing all their tests on me, and then them sending us home from wherever they were. I think it’ll be good to get back to normal, but if you’re not ready…?”

  “Oh, I’m fine,” Fort said, figuring if he could handle a giant Spirit magic monster, he could probably handle a new school, but mostly just not wanting his father to worry. “And you’re right: Things going back to normal wouldn’t be the worst thing. All I care about is that you’re here, and safe.”

  “Ditto, kiddo,” his father said with a small smile, then sighed. “I can’t imagine how… unsettled you’ve been these past six months. And everything that’s happened since I’ve been gone! It’s all so unbelievable. Monsters in Washington, D.C., and now London? Some flying reptile in the skies over major cities around the world? I feel like I’m still asleep, still dreaming!”

  “Don’t even joke,” Fort said, a little more firmly than he’d intended. “You’re awake now, and home, and you’re not going anywhere. And any time you go to sleep, I’m going to be waking you up every hour just to make sure you’re still with us.”

  His dad smiled at that. “That might be going a bit overboard, but I’m okay with it.” His smile faded, and he gave Fort a serious look. “But you don’t have to worry. I’m not leaving you, Fort, not again. You’ve got my word on that.”

  “I better have it,” Fort said, forcing a smile.

  His father crossed his heart, then shook his head. “I wish I knew more about what was going on. Cora’s been telling me that the grocery stores basically empty out every time there’s a new attack, like there’s a huge blizzard coming or something. That’s why she didn’t have any food tonight, after everything that happened a few days ago in London. The whole city stocked up, and the stores have nothing left.”

  Fort nodded, not really knowing what to say. He could tell his father everything, from the Oppenheimer School to Damian summoning the Old Ones and causing the attack in D.C. to the part he played in it all, including the fact that it was him flying over all the cities in the world in the claw of D’hea, the Old One of Healing magic in the form of a dragon. Everything his father wanted to know, Fort could explain, probably in far too much detail.

  But the military had told his father that they’d be checking in on him in a few weeks, just to be sure he was okay. And what would they do if suddenly Fort’s father knew all about the books of magic? Colonel Charles would know that Fort had faked his memory erasure, and he and Rachel would both be caught. Not to mention that his father’s memories would probably be erased too.

  Besides, all in all, Fort was pretty sure his father wouldn’t love hearing how he’d been turned into a giant monster, the same kind that had attacked D.C. in the first place. And once Fort, Rachel, and Jia defeated the Timeless One, hopefully the Old Ones wouldn’t be a threat anymore, and everything could go back to normal, at least relatively.

  “I wish I knew too,” Fort said finally as Ember hiccupped on the floor, then leaped up to the bed next to him and settled herself on his legs, glaring at his dad. He rubbed her head, both to calm her down, just in case, and because she really was a cute cat. She purred loudly in response, making his heart almost burst from how adorable she was.

  “You’re sure about school?” his father said. “I really don’t mind telling them you’ve changed your mind and decided to wait a few weeks. We could take a trip, get out and see the sights before you’re back behind a desk. Wherever you want to go, it’s on me.” He frowned. “Or it would be if I had any money. Did you know when you’re assumed dead from a monster attack, they close all your bank accounts? Pretty rude, I say.”

  “So inconsiderate,” Fort said, wishing Rachel really could create gold. But his father would figure something out. Aunt Cora had talked about maybe starting some sort of fundraiser for them, since there wasn’t much money left over from Fort’s inheritance when everyone thought his father had passed away.

  “Cora said she’d been in touch with the people at my old job, but they’d already rehired for my position,” his dad said, shrugging. “I guess they couldn’t wait for me to miraculously reappear. They just have no faith in your old man. But we’ll soldier on.…” He paused, as if considering his own words. “By which I mean I could join the army and become a soldier. Pay them back for finding me, wherever I was, and bringing me home. They’d get me into shape, at least. Think I could jump in as, like, a major or a colonel or something?”

  Fort’s blood froze in his veins. “Colonel? Why did you say that? What about a colonel?” And then he realized what his father had said and turned bright red. “I mean, um, they’d just make you a joint chief or something!”

  His father cracked all of his knuckles, then looked down at his hands sadly. “Maybe a joint apprentice, until I get better at that.” He laughed at his own joke far too hard.

  Fort groaned loudly, glad he’d been able to cover his outburst, and his father tousled his hair just like he’d always done. Even that small a gesture made Fort’s chest tighten, and he had to stop himself from jumping up and hugging the man.

  “I really am fine, Fort,” his dad said. “Whatever happened to me, wherever the army found me, none of that matters now, because I’m home. And from here on, the two of us will always be together. You know, along with my sister-in-law, until we find a place to stay, and probably for the holidays. And that cat, too, of course.” He glanced down at Ember. “Is it me, or does she look like she wants to eat me?”

  “Volai hrana,” Ember said, glaring at his dad.

  Fort’s heart immediately began to race again.

  “Whoa, was that her stomach making that noise?” his father asked. “She must really have been hungry!”

  “Yup!” Fort said, quickly standing up and pushing his dad toward the door before Ember could say anything else. “Very hungry. Which means I should feed her again! And don’t worry about me, school will be fine, you’ll find a new job, everything will be good, all good, nothing bad. Anyway, I’ll feed her now and go to bed. Early morning with school, good night, Dad!”

  And with that, he pushed his father out of the room, then closed the door hard, wishing it had a lock or something.

  “What was that?” he whispered at Ember. “You can’t just start talking whenever you want!”

  “Sa, solip puv,” the cat said, then nodded at the empty dish on the floor. “Volai hrana!”

  - FOUR -

  FORT DIDN’T GET ANY SLEEP that night. In a normal world, knowing he’d be starting a new school in the morning would have been enough to keep him
awake, but this time, it was the thought of leaving a wild baby dragon—one who spoke an unknown language—in an apartment alone with his father and aunt.

  What if Ember tried talking to them? Or worse, straight-up attacked one of the two?

  “I left the cat in my room with a clean litter box and food,” he told them both the next morning at breakfast. “I think she’ll be more comfortable there while I’m gone. You know, with my scent on everything and all. So maybe don’t go in there, just so she can get used to things.” He waited nervously, hoping they wouldn’t object.

  Fortunately, neither his aunt nor his dad seemed to even give it much thought. “Makes sense,” Aunt Cora said absently as she looked at a list the school had sent over. “Are you sure you have everything you need, Forsythe? Pens, notebooks, money for lunch?”

  Fort patted his backpack behind him on the chair as he cut into his pancakes, just relieved that Ember’s imprisonment wasn’t going to be a problem. “All set,” he said, shoving a bite in his mouth.

  “You sure you don’t want me to drive you?” his father asked, then turned red. “Ah, not that I have a car. I could ride to school with you on the bus, though! Sit next to you, share all the fun gossip, that kind of thing.”

  Fort almost choked on his pancakes before realizing his father wasn’t serious, then rolled his eyes reflexively. As far as Fort was concerned, his dad could make all the terrible jokes he wanted, now that he was back, and Fort would enjoy every one of them. But he wasn’t going to let his father know that. “No, I’m good, thanks. Those bus seats aren’t that big.”

  “Your loss,” his dad said, but grinned at him.

  Good-byes took longer than Fort had expected on both sides. At first, his father wouldn’t let him out of a hug, but when Fort was finally released, he found he wasn’t ready to go yet either. This would be the first time he’d be leaving his father—other than by teleporting—and part of him worried about what might happen if Fort wasn’t there to watch over him.