After what felt like hours, Fort pushed the kitchen door open to find a darkened room lit only by two exit signs, their red light giving stainless steel counters around the room an eerie glow.

“Rachel?” he said as he helped Sierra to the floor, leaning her back against the wall. “Are you here?”

The lights turned on, momentarily blinding Fort. When he could see again, he found Rachel standing in front of them, her eyes on Dr. Opps, but her face expressionless. “That’s Sierra?” she asked.

Sierra weakly raised a hand to salute. “Mission accomplished.”

“You got the books, then?” Rachel said, turning to Fort. “Colonel Charles had them?”

Fort nodded. “We were right to do this. He was going to use them to teach more students.”

Rachel gave him a long look. “Yeah, and we all agreed we couldn’t let anyone else use the books. Right, Fort?”

UH-OH, Sierra said in his head.

“That’s right,” Fort said, slowly handing over the duffel bag to Rachel. “We burn them so no one can use them ever again.” What was happening here? Why was Rachel so suspicious?

She pulled the bag open and grabbed both books, letting the duffel fall to the floor, then opened them one by one. She glanced over the first few pages of both, then set them down on the floor. “They definitely look like the real thing,” she said, and stared at Fort again.

“They better be real,” he said, and forced a laugh. “Otherwise we just put Sierra through a lot of pain for nothing.”

YOU SOUND SO GUILTY, Sierra said.

“Then let’s get this over with,” Rachel said, and pushed Fort away from the books. “Take a few steps back. We don’t really know what will happen if we try to destroy these things. Let’s hope it doesn’t release evil ghosts that we end up having to hunt down for the rest of our lives.”

“Let’s hope,” Fort agreed, backing away to the wall to where Sierra sat. He glanced down at her in concern. Are you okay? You can still make sure she doesn’t burn the books, right?

She nodded, then closed her eyes. I THINK… I HAVE TO LEAVE DR. OPPS THOUGH. PUT HIS BODY OUTSIDE… FOR WHEN HE WAKES UP.

And without another word, Dr. Opps slumped over.

Rachel separated the books, kneeling down next to the Mind magic book first. “I’m going to do it,” she said, looking up at Fort as if for confirmation. When he didn’t say anything, her hands began to glow red, and she launched a small fireball directly at the book.

It hit the cover… and immediately went out.

“Okay,” Rachel said, furrowing her brow. “This might be harder than I thought. I didn’t even singe the thing.”