Sierra? he thought. I’m sorry. I hope you’re okay?

Again, there was no response, and Fort slowly sat up, grabbing the book of Summoning before it fell to the floor. He checked to see if Dr. Opps’s phone was still there and had any updates, but there was no sign of it, so Rachel must have taken it with her.

Rachel, whom he’d completely betrayed. Not to mention that Jia and Cyrus had heard the same things Rachel had. He’d effectively lost every friend he’d made at the Oppenheimer School, all in one night.

Even after all of that, though, Rachel had left him the book. For someone who’d attacked Fort when she’d just overheard Dr. Opps saying he was a danger to the school, leaving him the book was a sign of how much she trusted him.

Or had trusted him.

He groaned again, then turned to the book lying in the middle of a dusty kitchen floor, the book he’d given up everything he’d cared about just for this moment.

The Magic of Summoning, and Creating Gateways to Other Realities.

Even with everything he’d been through, Fort couldn’t help a chill going down his spine at having the book in his hands after all this time. In a matter of moments, he’d be off to the monsters’ dimension, and if everything went well, he might be back with his dad within hours. And maybe his friends would see that it’d all been worth it when he returned with his dad, safe and sound?

Probably not, but stranger things had happened.

But hadn’t he been right not to tell them? Rachel had admitted she would have come, and then he’d have been putting her in danger. And look what had happened with Sierra, when Colonel Charles had caught her in his trap. That was even in friendly territory, not some dimension of horror! He couldn’t imagine the terrible things that might have happened to his friends in the creatures’ homeworld if they’d come along.

No. He’d do this on his own, and keep his friends as safe as possible, whether they hated him for it or not.

“I’m coming, Dad,” he whispered. His hands trembling, Fort slowly opened the book, mentally readying himself for the monsters’ home domain. He took a deep breath, then read over the first page.

One for the body, bones and skin,

One for the spirit, its spectral kin,

One for the mind, thoughts and dreams,

One for the world, from dirt to streams,

One for all space, wide and vast,

One for all time, future and past.

Seven from six, the rest unearthed.

One saves all, if proved their worth.