The Timeless One Read online

  Just like he’d been for so long, Ember was basically an orphan. And the way she looked at Fort almost broke his heart. He imagined that was how he’d looked at his own father, when his dad had first awoken after everything in London.

  “I’ll do my best for you, okay?” he said, and smiled gently at her.

  She smiled back, then banged the book again, so hard it almost shook the whole cottage. Fort’s eyes widened at her strength, even in human form, but there was no time to think about it, as the force of her hit knocked Ember off-balance, sending her dangerously close to the edge of the table.

  Fortunately, Fort leaped forward and caught her before she could fall. “Whoa!” he shouted. “Can you turn yourself back into a cat? At least then you’ll be able to jump off things.”

  Human Ember pouted a bit, then glowed again and emerged as her cat self. He set her back down on the table, where she pawed at the page below her again. “Lesa kniha.”

  “Less a kinney ha?” he said.

  She pawed the page one last time, then stepped off into his lap and curled up, purring happily. He sighed, then turned to look at the book. “I don’t know what you want from me. It’s all complete gibberish, and I can’t—”

  Hrana, the page said now. Hrana—Food.

  The runes were gone, and he could read it! Not that he knew what language “hrana” was, but at least he could see the words in letters he recognized. What had changed?

  He stared at the book in shock, then looked down at Ember, who yawned widely, then gave him a I know—I was the one who told you to look at it! sort of look.

  “How did you do that?” he asked, turning the pages to find even more legible dragon words on the next few. “Was that magic?”

  She grabbed his hand and gnawed at his knuckles, forcing him to yank his arm away. “Okay, okay, I’ll read the book! I’m sorry!”

  He turned back to the original page.

  Hrana—Food.

  Food. Okay. Ember obviously knew what she was doing, opening the book to that page. He’d been joking before about her not being very smart, but that wasn’t true at all. Not only could his little dragon already cast spells, but she could read as well! Granted, she also liked to jump into boiling-hot stew, but not everyone was perfect.

  “Hrana?” he said to Ember, and her purring grew twice as loud. She hopped down to the floor and went to sit next to the bubbling pot by the fire, waiting expectantly for him.

  “Volai hrana,” she said, and he leaped up from his seat again, this time in victory. He understood that now! Well, part of it anyway. She’d been asking for food this whole time!

  … Okay, yes, he probably should have been able to figure that out from the fact that she was so hungry she ate everything in sight, but still!

  “No time for ‘hrana’ right now,” he said, quickly turning back to the book. “I’m getting the hang of this! What was the other word? Vole lei?”

  She began to growl, low and angry, and he realized maybe he shouldn’t leave the dragon hungry. He quickly moved to the pot, grabbed a nearby bowl, and started to fill it, only for the bowl to pull out of his hand and float through the air back to the pot by itself, where a ladle poured stew in instead. Apparently Fort wasn’t allowed to serve himself any more than Ember was.

  After the bowl filled itself, it floated to the floor just in front of Ember, and she began to lap up the stew happily, her purrs now filling the room. Good. That meant Fort had a chance to figure out the other word she was using. “Vole lei,” he repeated. Probably something along the lines of “Give me what I want or I’ll claw you to death.”

  He flipped through the pages, looking for “vole lei,” or something that resembled it at least, but as it turned out, the pages seemed to be in no particular order, and none of the dragon words around “hrana” matched the second word she’d said. Not finding what he needed, he began to randomly page through the book, finding the word for “fire” (“fio,” which he thought Ember had used earlier when talking about the pot… maybe she did understand it was hot?) and the word for “I or me” (“solip”).

  But the book was just too large to track down “vole lei” just yet.

  Still, he’d found a word she’d said, and that was a huge victory, considering the size of the book.

  “Ember, I can actually do this!” he told the cat as she ignored him, concentrating on her stew as more bowls floated toward the pot, ready to replace her dwindling supply. “I can learn your language and talk to you. As soon as I figure out more words, we can talk about Avalon, and where you need to go, and then you can go join the other dragons and be safe. Isn’t that great?”

  She glanced up at him, then went back to her stew.

  “That’s fine—don’t be excited,” he told her, shrugging. “I don’t even care. ’Cause I’m on fire right now!” He paused. “Or in words you’ll understand, um, solip fio!”

  Ember reared back in surprise as soon as the words left his mouth, hissing wildly. But before Fort could figure out why, his entire body burst into flame.

  FIFTEEN

  AAAAH!” FORT SCREAMED, IMMEDIATELY DROPPING to the floor and rolling, trying to smother the flames like he’d been taught so many times in school. But for some reason, the fire didn’t go out, and he managed to spread it to the cottage’s curtains, which immediately went up as well.

  It took a moment through his panic, but gradually, as Fort slapped his burning clothes, he finally realized something: He couldn’t feel the heat, in spite of his skin literally burning. His clothes were fully aflame now, yes, but the fire wasn’t hurting him. What was going on?

  He stood up, still on fire, and looked down at himself in confusion.

  Ember, meanwhile, hadn’t moved from her stew, though she was staring at him with a fairly condescending look. “Tolsp marnequ frenoir?” she said, tilting her head.

  “I don’t know what you’re saying, but I’m on fire!” he screamed at her. “Why isn’t it burning me?”

  She blinked. “Tolsp tefen fio,” she said.

  Fort just groaned. Whatever she was telling him, it wasn’t helping. And the fire was spreading from the curtains to the walls now, so he had to do something quick.

  He started to run for the sink, before remembering what the situation was here. “Cottage!” he yelled. “Use the sink to put out the fire, please! ”

  Instead of the sink, though, jets of ice-cold water began shooting out of the ceiling throughout the room, making Ember screech in surprise and rage as they soaked both her and Fort to the bone. And yet, somehow, in spite of now being completely wet, he was still on fire, as were the curtains and the walls.

  So instead of helping, he’d just managed to drown the cottage as well. Perfect.

  “What is going on here?” shouted a voice, and Fort whirled around to find Merlin, Jia, and Rachel standing in the middle of the room, Merlin glaring at Fort with his mouth wide open. “You did all of this in that short a time?”

  “You have no idea what he’s like,” Rachel said, stepping forward. She raised her hands, and they instantly glowed a deep red as the fire and water all shot toward her, like she was vacuuming them up. Even the flames from Fort’s skin disappeared into her palms, along with all the water from his clothes and Ember’s fur.

  And just like that, the cottage was out of danger.

  “Are you okay, Fort?” Jia said, moving quickly to his side now that the fire was out, her hands glowing blue with Healing magic. “You must have at least second-degree… Um, how are you not burned at all?”

  “I don’t know,” he told her. “I just said ‘solip fio’ to Ember, and—”

  Just like that, he immediately burst into flames again.

  “Seriously?” Rachel shouted, and yanked the fire off him once more. “Maybe don’t keep repeating it!”

  “It’s not hurting you,” Jia said, inspecting him closely. “How is that possible? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad you’re okay, but how did you do it? You only
know the one Healing spell.”

  “I have no idea,” he said. “I didn’t even use Heal Minor Wounds.”

  Ember hissed. “Tolsp tefen fio,” she said, glaring at Fort. “Solip toloa frenoir tolsi!”

  Rachel looked from Fort to the cat, shocked. “Whoa. Did you hear what she just said?”

  “I only knew the one word,” Fort said. “I think ‘fio’ is ‘fire.’ ”

  “Of course it is,” Rachel said. “It’s one of the words in the fireball spell. But how does she know spell words?”

  Fort frowned, not sure what she was talking about. “She’s speaking dragon. That’s…”

  And then it hit him. Both the Old One of Healing magic and Merlin had said dragons were made out of magic and were inherently connected to it. So maybe it made sense that their language would actually be magic!

  Fort glanced down at the book on the table, his sense of wonder from his discovery quickly turning to horror as he realized what he’d been doing, randomly saying various magical words without knowing it. He looked back up at Merlin, barely able to speak. “You told me that book was a dragon dictionary!”

  “And it is,” Merlin said. “I didn’t think I’d have to spell it out for you.” He chuckled low. “Spell it out. Where do I come up with these?”

  Fort’s eyes widened. “But I was just yelling random spells then. I could have killed someone. Or myself ! I set myself on fire! ”

  Merlin raised an eyebrow. “Well, what exactly did you say? In English, please. My cottage can’t take much more of your magic.”

  Fort angrily opened his mouth to explain, only to realize how bad this was going to sound, and his anger disappeared, replaced by embarrassment. “I was, um, happy that I’d figured out how to read the book,” he said so quietly that the others all had to lean in to hear him. “I was celebrating by saying I was on fire, like a metaphor.”

  Rachel snorted loudly, while Jia just stared at him sadly, shaking her head.

  “Ah,” Merlin said. “Well, you’re far from my first apprentice to regret words spoken without thinking. Let this be a lesson to you about being careful what you say. Still, all in all, you’re unscathed, and it all worked out fine in the end.”

  “That doesn’t… that’s not… it’s not fine!” Fort shouted. “Does that mean everything Ember is saying is a magical spell?”

  Merlin laughed. “Of course not! Not every word has power, Forsythe. Just… most of them.”

  Fort fell backward into one of the chairs, which was still a bit wet in spite of Rachel’s mopping-up spell. This was going to be so bad. He had to learn the actual language of magic just to speak to his baby dragon?

  “Wait, shouldn’t we be studying this book then?” Jia said, reaching for the dictionary. “If we knew every word of magic, we’d have a much easier time fighting the Timeless One.” Her eyes seemed to light up as she spoke. “And if we’ve got this book, we can share it with the world, so there’s no reason for anyone to go to war over the other books of magic!”

  “I’m afraid it wouldn’t help you much at all,” Merlin told her. “Imagine trying to build a house without any blueprints, just some wood or nails. The words to the spell are merely the foundation. To command the universe to obey you requires an exact phrasing, something magicians have been studying and experimenting with for thousands of years, and longer. The books of magic you’ve been training with in the past, and the ones that your school has, contain the blueprints. This book has the nails and wood.” He paused. “Not to mention Forsythe managed to set himself on fire in five minutes with it.”

  Training, in the past? With all the craziness over being on fire, Fort had barely noticed that Jia and Rachel both looked different. They’d been wearing regular clothes before, but now Jia had some kind of cloak on, with intricate sewing around the edges, covering what looked like some kind of medieval tunic. And Rachel was wearing pieces of leather armor, strapped into place over her arms, legs and torso, in just enough places not to restrict her movement.

  They also both looked exhausted, like they hadn’t eaten or slept in days. How long had they actually been gone, in the thirty or so minutes since they’d left?

  He also might have been imagining it, but Jia and Rachel both seemed a bit uncomfortable with one another, something he hadn’t seen since Rachel had first tagged along to try to find Sierra in the depths of the original Oppenheimer School. They’d gotten so close since then, but now there was a distance between them, both literally and figuratively.

  But whatever was going on would have to wait for a bit, as Rachel had more questions.

  “So Fort might accidentally cast a spell when trying to ask Ember what she wants for breakfast?” she asked Merlin, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure he should be studying this book?”

  “Trust me, apprentice,” Merlin said with a small smile. “I hope by now I’d know what I was doing.”

  At Merlin’s words, Fort caught Jia throwing a glance at Rachel, but Rachel turned away, leaving Jia to sigh and look away herself. Something had happened during their training, something that changed things.

  But he still didn’t even really understand where they’d been.

  “Can we back up please?” Fort asked. “You all just show up here a half hour after you left wearing different clothing, talking about training. Where did you take them, Merlin? Why are they wearing these costumes? And what did you show them about the Timeless One?”

  “Don’t worry about such things,” Merlin said to him. “You won’t be facing him, and the less you know about the Old Ones, the better.”

  Fort just stared at him as his cheeks slowly flushed, all the embarrassment from their arrival at the cottage returning in a wave. Right. He’d gotten so wrapped up in the dragon dictionary that he’d forgotten he wasn’t good enough to stand by his friends.

  “Okay,” Fort said softly. “But if there’s anything I can do to help, please tell me. I’m already figuring out the dictionary, and I’ll have Ember gone soon enough. Then I could—”

  Ember hissed at him, then sent a small plume of fire into his face. He jerked back so quickly he almost toppled over, but the flame struck him anyway… yet didn’t cause any more damage than the previous magical fire had.

  “Hey!” he shouted at her. “What was that for?”

  “Tols’unt sol pare!” Ember shouted, followed by more fire. “Solip volai nen plat tolsi!”

  “She’s saying she wants to stay with you, Forsythe,” Merlin said quietly. “Because you’re her father.”

  Fort looked at the cat in surprise, and she shot another burst of fire at his face. “Hey, Ember, no!” he shouted, then turned to Merlin. “And it sounds like you can speak her language. Why don’t you convince her to go to Avalon before I accidentally set fire to the world?”

  “You think a dragon would do what I say?” Merlin asked, his voice rising in surprise. “She’s made from magic, the opposite of natural laws. You believe a creature formed from pure chaos would listen to anyone, except maybe the one she sees as her parent, her guardian?” His face clouded over with irritation. “Besides, this child is your responsibility, Forsythe. You were the one who suggested D’hea create it. I cannot clean up all of your messes for you.”

  Fort winced at that, knowing Merlin wasn’t wrong. Fort had convinced the Old One of Healing to create Ember, back at the La Brea Tar Pits, when they’d found the shell of the last dragon’s egg—Damian’s shell.

  “Okay,” he said. “But if I destroy the cottage, that’s not my fault.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time this week,” Merlin said, just as Ember shot Fort with more flames.

  - SIXTEEN -

  YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING to face,” Merlin told Rachel and Jia after they’d returned from changing back into their normal clothes in one of the cottage’s bedrooms, preparing to go home for the night. “The more you train, the better chance you’ll have, so I want you two back here as often, and for as long, as you can manage. No
excuses, my apprentices.”

  Rachel and Jia both nodded, still not looking at each other. “We’ll be here,” Rachel said, sounding a lot less excited than she had before the training had begun. She opened the door to lead the others out, only to stop. “Um, something’s off, I think?”

  Fort looked past her out the open door, only to find that the clearing had disappeared. Instead, the door now opened onto the treetops and sky, as if it were lying on the ground.

  “Oh, the door must have fallen over when we closed it,” Rachel said, leaning outside to look. “We should be fine if we just jump.” She illustrated by leaping forward through the open door, only to immediately fall right back into the cottage, where she skidded to a halt on the floor.

  “Or maybe we could climb,” Jia said, giving Rachel a smile, which Rachel didn’t return. Jia’s face fell again, but she knelt down to the floor, grabbed the bottom of the door, then slowly pushed herself forward, crawling out of the door when gravity shifted on the other side. It hurt Fort’s brain to watch, but Jia managed pretty easily, then stood over the door and waved for them to follow her out, as if she was standing on the outside wall of the cottage.

  “Climbing it is,” Rachel said, and followed Jia’s example, with Fort right behind her, Ember on his shoulder. Passing through the door to regular gravity was an odd shift, especially when half his body was still inside the cottage, but he quickly kicked himself the rest of the way through and picked himself up from the clearing floor to look back down into the cottage.

  “Next time, prop me up good and well!” the imp door knocker shouted, its voice muffled with the front of the door now on the ground. Fort quickly turned the door over to close it, the imp giving him a dirty look as he did. Ember hissed at it, which at least helped a bit.

  “Fort?” Jia said, grabbing his arm to turn him around, as Rachel moved toward the center of the clearing. She looked nervous now, combined with whatever was going on with her and Rachel. “There’s… something we have to tell you. About the Timeless One—”