Worlds Apart

by James Riley

Bethany paused, then shrugged. “I’m sure they’d come up with something.”

  “What about throwing you into a lake of lava?” Kara asked, looking quickly between them. “Feeding you to land sharks? How about dressing you up like bananas and making you fight crime?”

  Owen snorted. “Those things aren’t real. But she’s right, Kara. We’re going to get in trouble. You probably should just go back to the fictional world. I’ll be fine.” He patted her arm, just to reassure her of that.

  As he touched her, a tiny little voice inside of him screamed, You won’t be fine, she just told you that! Go with her to the future to see what she’s talking about! But as soon as he pulled his hand away, the voice quieted, so he ignored it. Whatever did happen to him in the future, it was logical that doctors and technology of that time could fix it. And who cared if being near her restarted his imagination a bit? What use was it anyway?

  Kara turned to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, setting off the yelling in his mind again. “Don’t you see what you’re missing, Owen?” she said. “You just said ‘Those things aren’t real,’ but you’ve spent your entire life loving made-up stories and people.” She rolled her eyes. “Not that they were made-up, but you know what I mean. Listen to yourself! You can’t just think not having an imagination is okay. Your whole world lost their creativity, their curiosity, everything that lets people dream up new inventions, new technology, medicine, everything.”

  Bethany started to look panicked as Kara’s voice grew louder, her hands still locked on Owen’s shoulders. “Not to mention that our imagination is what keeps us from killing one another, since we can picture what it’s like to be someone else!” she said. “You wouldn’t think that’s such a big deal, but I’ve seen what happens to your world in just five years without it, Owen. Come with me if you think not having an imagination is okay!”

  She’s right, the voice in his head told him. You don’t dream anymore, either during the day or at night. You can’t read books or even things you yourself wrote. Remember that story you wrote about Bethany’s father as the King of All Stories? You couldn’t have done that now! And you barely even care what happened to your fictional friends, now that they’re gone. This isn’t you!

  “Things have changed, yes,” he said, taking a step back from her and pushing her hands off of him. Instantly, the inner voice quieted again. “But that doesn’t mean they’re worse. They’re just . . . different.”

  “They’re better,” Bethany said, looking pretty anxious now. “Seriously, Owen, your mom will hear her, and we’ll get in so much trouble. They won’t let us study together—”

  “Studying?!” Kara said, her voice rising even louder. “That’s what you’re worried about? Owen’s going to die if we don’t fix things!”

  “Owen? Bethany?” his mom called out from the front desk of the library. “Is there someone else back there with you?”

  “Yes, Ms. Conners!” Bethany yelled back, then winced, giving Kara an apologetic look. “Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything else to tell her. Lying’s gotten a lot harder since we got back.”

  “I didn’t see anyone go back there,” his mother shouted, and Owen could hear her making her way back to them. “Who is it?”

  Something smacked down on Owen’s hand, and suddenly the voice in his head grew so loud he couldn’t ignore it. “You’re coming with me,” Kara said to him as she closed her time bracelet around his wrist. “Bethany can study here all she wants, but I’m going to save your life and get you back to normal, Owen, no matter what!”

  “What are you doing?” he shouted at her, trying to pull the bracelet off. But it sparked as he touched it, and he quickly pulled his hand away. “Where are we going? Kara, what is—”

  “We’ll get to all of that later,” Kara said, grabbing his other hand. “Right now, Nobody messed up your entire world, and I’m going to prove it to you!”

  “Kara,” he said, “Nobody didn’t do anything to me. He just sent me back, and now—”

  And now you don’t ask questions. Now you don’t wonder about things, daydream about them being different. Now you have no curiosity, no creativity, no imagination. And what are you without those things? Ordinary, yes. But are you yourself?

  “Owen?” his mother said, stepping into the children’s section. “Who is this? What’s that thing on your wrist?”

  Kara smacked the bracelet, and the library and Owen’s mom and Bethany and everything around them changed before his eyes, replaced by . . . something very different.

  A huge crowd of people, all cheering. And a bonfire at least twice as tall as Owen.

  A bonfire of books.

  And all around it, soldiers in all-black uniforms with black reflective helmets watched the crowd, holding scary-looking futuristic ray gun rifles.

  “See?” Kara shouted, pointing at the bonfire. “Now tell me that Nobody didn’t change anything. This is your future, Owen! Look at what’s coming if we don’t fix this!”

  CHAPTER 4

  Bethany stared in horror at her father and his sidekick. Neither of them had started shifting into different versions of themselves yet, like the Toad Prince’s henchman had. But it’d only be a matter of time. She had to do something, quick.

  “We’re getting you both to the Lawful Legion headquarters!” she shouted, then threw her arms around them as she used her superpower to morph into a Twilight plane. As her two superhero partners dropped into bucket seats in her cockpit, she clicked seatbelts over them, set her engines blazing, and took off straight through the roof of the warehouse, sending debris exploding out to the empty street below. As soon as she was clear of the building, she kicked her engines into overdrive, tearing across Jupiter City so quickly that they reached the Legion headquarters in a matter of seconds.

  Unfortunately, her sensors picked up a flash of light from the cockpit, and she knew that even seconds might not be fast enough.

  The Legion’s headquarters blipped on her radar, and she tipped her nose down toward it. Instead of coming in for a gentle landing, though, she plowed through the recently rebuilt glass wall of the Legion’s headquarters and skidded to a stop in the same hall where she, Charm, and Gwen had fought the Lawful Legion when the superheroes had been under the Dark’s mental hold.

  Weirdly, the hall was empty. Where were the heroes chatting with one another, ready for the next mission? Where was Athena, dispensing wisdom to the younger heroes? Or Captain Sunshine, his smile as bright as the star that gave him his powers?

  Morphing back to normal, she released Doc and Kid Twilight from her arms and stood back to see what she was dealing with. Doc Twilight now wore a Captain Sunshine costume, while Kid Twilight still had the Twilight symbol but now looked younger . . . and angrier somehow.

  “Don’t worry,” she said, glancing around at the empty hall nervously. “I’m going to find the Legion, and we’re going to fix you two!”

  “The Legion?” Doc Twilight said, floating up from the ground to grin widely at her. “Why, I’m the chairman of the Lawful Legion! What can I do for you, young lady?”

  “Who are you two jerks?” Kid Twilight said, glaring at them. “Where’s my dad, Doc Twilight?”

  Bethany froze at this, and just stared. His . . . dad? Was he serious?

  It didn’t matter. Whatever Kid Twilight had turned into, it’d only last a few moments before he continued evolving until he disappeared completely. She didn’t have time to waste.

  “Be right back!” she shouted, then took off running. Bursting through the double doors behind the strangely empty receptionist desk, she passed into the Lawful Legion’s inner sanctum, expecting to find at least some of the team. But even here, where a superhero was always on watch, the headquarters was empty.

  Instead, walls were broken, the floor was scorched in several places, and Athena’s staff hung embedded in the ceiling in the middle of the communications room.

  “Hello? I need help!” she shouted, but no one responded. The Lawful
Legion must have been attacked too, but by who? If it was the Toad Prince or someone with the same sort of weapons, then had the heroes already disappeared? If that was the case, was Twilight Girl going to end up the last hero in all of Jupiter City?

  A thrill of excitement passed through her at that idea, but she shook it off. Not now. She could save the city all by herself after she’d fixed her father. And, well, Kid Twilight, too, if she had time.

  She ran from room to room, doing a quick scan of each. There had to be something in the Legion headquarters that could help. Some kind of alien technology or mystical artifact, maybe? Or even—

  Something caught her eye as she passed the door to the medical bay, and her mouth dropped open. Inside the mostly destroyed medical unit, there were foot-tall letters burned into the wall.

  LAST ONE LEFT, the letters said. COULDN’T SAVE THEM. GOING AFTER THE SOURCE OF THE RAY GUNS.

  So it had been the Toad Prince, or someone like him. And Captain Sunshine must have left this message using his sun vision, which both gave her hope and disappointed her. With the Captain still around, she had no doubt they’d fix everything. But she wouldn’t be able to save Jupiter City all by herself, either. Lame.

  Now she’d need to track down Captain Sunshine and see what he’d found. She started to leave the med bay but skidded to a stop as she noticed something way in the back of the room.

  One of the stasis chambers had survived the destruction.

  Her eyes widened, and she took off at a run back to the hall where she’d left her father and Kid Twilight. The stasis chambers had been designed to freeze the occupant in time, meaning they wouldn’t age or even experience time passing at all, no matter what happened outside the chamber. The Lawful Legion had used a whole collection of them to travel into the future once, but thankfully, they’d negated that whole time line during the battle, or they’d still be occupying the stasis chambers now. Or so Bethany thought. Time travel was annoying.

  Yes, there was only one stasis chamber that hadn’t been destroyed now, but it was probably big enough to fit two people. Even if it wasn’t comfortable, Bethany would stuff them both in there. Then she’d turn it on and freeze Doc and Kid Twilight in time, so they wouldn’t get any worse while she found a cure for . . . well, whatever was wrong with them! She grinned widely, proud of herself for saving her father, and looking forward to holding this over Kid Twilight’s head forever.

  Bethany hit the central hall of the headquarters, then slid to a stop, her blood going cold as a very familiar wall of darkness enveloped her. She leaped backward out of it, her eyes wide, and quickly rubbed her arms, trying to restore their warmth. No. No! Not again! He couldn’t have come back. She’d destroyed his powers—this wasn’t possible!

  And then a figure emerged from the darkness, a figure draped in shadows with red, pulsing eyes, and all thoughts of saving her father went out the window.

  The Dark stared down at her with hatred, holding an unconscious Kid Twilight in his hands, though the boy now wore a lab coat and held a telescope, apparently just an astronomer now like his parents had been.

  “You thought you could defeat me?” the Dark asked, throwing Kid Twilight to the ground at her feet. “The more light you shine, the more shadows appear, you foolish girl!”

  “This can’t be happening,” Bethany whispered, shaking her head. “You’re not the Dark anymore. I saved you!”

  Her father laughed evilly, then launched a wave of shadows to strike out at her. She leaped away a moment before they slammed into the floor she’d been standing on, crushing it to pieces. Whoa. That was a new power. Maybe this wasn’t the same Dark she’d faced before?

  On the ground, Kid Twilight’s unconscious body flashed brightly as he changed, and the Dark reeled back as if in pain. Bethany used that to her advantage, grabbing Kid Twilight (now wearing Twilight scuba gear and holding a harpoon) and pulling him back into the inner sanctum.

  Groaning at his weight, she used her powers to give herself superstrength, and picked him up. That helped. Now it felt like he weighed nothing at all! She tossed him over her shoulder and ran him back to the medical area, where she unceremoniously pushed him into the stasis chamber.

  One down, one to go.

  “I will destroy all the light in this city!” the Dark shouted, crashing into the med lab like a wave of blackness. More shadows came screaming at her, and she dodged, leaving them to tear up the wall behind her, destroying Captain Sunshine’s message. That gave her an idea, and she quickly used her power to give herself sunbeam eyes, just like Captain Sunshine.

  “I’m sorry about this!” she yelled as she turned her new eye powers on her father. He shrieked in pain as the sun rays hit, and seemed to withdraw for a moment, only to grab at her again with an incredibly long arm.

  She started to leap out of his way, but then realized she was standing right in front of the stasis chamber. If she dodged, he’d destroy the one chance she had to save them both.

  Instead of escaping, Bethany gave herself the rest of Captain Sunshine’s powers and grabbed the Dark’s arm with her own sunlight-infused hands. Her father screamed, but she could feel the cold of his shadows seeping up through her fingers. She gritted her teeth at the deathly cold, but yanked on his arm, spinning him around toward the stasis chamber.

  The Dark crashed into Kid Twilight inside it, still screaming something about defeating all of Jupiter City, but she slammed the chamber closed before he could move, then quickly punched the on button. Instantly, both her father and his sidekick froze in place, and Bethany collapsed to the floor, frantically rubbing her hands together just to keep them from going numb.

  When she could almost feel her fingers again, she used her powers to turn herself back into regular Twilight Girl, before pausing to consider if she should at least keep the superstrength. That could have some advantages, after all. Maybe she could—

  Wait a second. Superstrength? Sunbeam eyes? Captain Sunshine’s powers? How had she done any of that?

  It hadn’t even occurred to her in the middle of the fight—she’d just . . . acted. But her superpowers had never been able to change her body that way before. In the past, she’d just been able to transform into inanimate objects. What was going on? Were her powers getting stronger? She flexed and considered herself in the glass wall of the med lab. Maybe she had just gotten better at using them? Either way, it was clear she was becoming more awesome. She grinned widely, then caught sight of her father in the stasis chamber and instantly lost all her excitement. Now wasn’t the time, not for figuring out superpowers or celebrating a temporary win.

  She walked over to the glass stasis chamber for a moment, staring at her father. “I’m going to fix this,” she whispered, reaching out and touching the glass. “I don’t care what it takes. I didn’t find you just to lose you again. I know I’m not always perfect, and training me wasn’t the easiest thing, but I can do this. I can be the hero you want me to be, both for you and Jupiter City.”

  Her father just stared out of the stasis pod with his red, hateful eyes, and she dropped her head, not able to look at him. This wasn’t fair. She’d gotten so little time with him, and already he’d been taken away from her? If she’d only done more to find him over the past few years, hadn’t let her nonfictional self hold them back with all those guilt-stricken, rule-following hang-ups, Bethany probably could have brought him back home years ago, and none of this would have happened.

  “I’m not going to let anything hold me back now, Dad,” she said. “Whoever did this is going to pay for taking you from me. You’ll see. Twilight will fall on Jupiter City’s criminals. And you’ll be there to see it, I promise.”

  Realizing her vision was getting a bit watery, she turned, then with one last glance back at her father, she left, ready to punch some justice hard.

  CHAPTER 5

  The heat from the bonfire radiated over Owen, making the scene before him feel more like a fever dream than real life. As people threw more b
ooks on the fire, others cheered, and the soldiers with black helmets kept an eye on the crowd, their hands on their laser rifles.

  And all of this was happening in what used to be the parking lot of his mother’s library.

  The library itself looked like it’d been set on fire, with scorch marks covering the few walls that still stood. The glass sliding doors had been shattered, and what was left of the library inside seemed to have been looted, as the building was completely empty now.

  “Burn them!” someone shouted from behind Owen, making him jump. He turned to find a mother holding a baby close to her chest, screaming and waving her free hand in the air. “Don’t let any more of those things get out!”

  “What is going on here?” Owen whispered to Kara, who hadn’t let go of his hand. She just shook her head sadly, her eyes on the crowd and the soldiers. Either she didn’t know or this wasn’t the place to talk about it.

  How could this be happening, just five years from the present? It wasn’t possible. Somehow, Kara must have taken them to another time, or another reality even. Could that be it? Had they traveled to the fictional world, and this was a dystopian future story?

  His eyes drifted back to the bonfire, and he swallowed a wave of revulsion at the sight. Even if he had no interest in reading books anymore, burning them still felt like an obscene act.

  A boy a few years younger than Owen walked toward the fire carrying what looked like an entire set of the Kiel Gnomenfoot books. He handed the stack to one of the black-helmeted soldiers, who seemed to tense up. The soldier carefully opened each book one by one, shook it, then threw it onto the fire. As he did, the other helmeted people tracked each copy with their weapons, as if the books themselves were dangerous. Finally, Kiel Gnomenfoot and the Source of Magic hit the bonfire, and the group of soldiers all relaxed a bit.

  The disgust he’d felt before hit Owen a thousand times worse now. Those were the stories of his friends. Part of it was Owen’s story too! To just set them on fire—