Worlds Apart

by James Riley

  That was ominous. “But how could the Quanterians get here?”

  Dr. Verity waved off the question. “They used magic of all things. Which of course backfired and trapped them within a bunch of those horrible books about Kiel’s . . . about your adventures. Eventually, though, just like my science does in this infernal dimension, the magic gradually faded, the spell wore off, and BOOM, suddenly you’ve got people popping out of books left and right!” He cackled. “You should have seen it. Quanterians everywhere, confused and bewildered, begging for help, while I’ve got this world’s people convinced they’re being invaded by fictional monsters with incredible weaponry. The easiest time I’ve ever had taking over a planet, honestly.” He winked.

  Owen couldn’t even find the words to respond. The Quanterians had escaped to his world as refugees, and the nonfictional people had thought they were invading and therefore evil? That couldn’t have happened, it couldn’t! Yet he’d seen the mobs burning books, and the PFFIA seemed pretty convinced it all took place. And then there were all the tests to determine if he and Kara were fictional.

  “After the invasion, they gave me even more power,” Dr. Verity continued. “Resources. Anything I asked for! And what I wanted was this place, a replicated tower of that Magister fool. It still reeked of dead magic when I arrived, even after so many years. But it had what I needed to return victoriously to my planet. That idiot magician has a portal that spans dimensions in each of his towers. This one would lead me right back to the original one in Magisteria, if only its magic still worked. But thanks to you, I’ve found a way around that too. All that was left was needing an invasion force.”

  Owen shook his head, not believing it.

  “Oh, yes, my little clone!” Dr. Verity shouted. “I brainwashed all the Quanterian refugees and put them under my control. Those black helmets? They’re filled with tech that keeps my old people docile and ready to obey my every command.” He raised his hands toward the ceiling, thrilled at his own plan. “Soon I will get my revenge. Soon I will march my army back to my home reality, and use them to destroy Magisteria once and for all, before taking on the real enemy, that Nobody idiot!”

  “No!” Owen shouted. “You can’t do this. This is beyond wrong. You have to let your people go!”

  “Aw, is someone feeling left out?” Dr. Verity said. “Don’t worry, I told you, I’ll bring you back to Magisteria with us. You can ride with me at the head of the army, in chains of course, so I can show the Magister his favorite apprentice one last time before he dies. He might even surrender!” He clapped his hands again. “Won’t that be fun?”

  “They’re your people!” Owen shouted. “Don’t you care about them? What if they get hurt?”

  Dr. Verity rolled his eyes. “That’s why it’s called war. Anyway, I don’t have much longer to chat. Too much to do! Let’s get you ready to be brainwashed.”

  He picked up a black helmet and moved it toward Owen’s head.

  “Wait!” Owen shouted. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  Dr. Verity stared at him from behind the helmet. “Of course. It’s not even a question. This is the perfect revenge, setting you on your old master.”

  “But I’ll be brainwashed, so you won’t get to see the look on my face as it’s all happening,” Owen said quickly, hoping to appeal to Verity’s horrible nature. “Wouldn’t it be more satisfying if you made me watch all the destruction at your side?”

  Verity seemed to consider this, and Owen held his breath, hoping that the doctor would fall for the obvious trap. If Owen could just get back to the fictional world, then he’d have a lot more options. He could open pages to his friends’ stories and bring them all together. Rescuing Kara at that point would be easy, and then all they’d have to do was face Nobody—

  “Nah, this is a trap,” Verity said, then grinned. “Nice try, but I’ve been fighting you too long to believe you don’t have something up that stupid sleeve of yours. Still, you’re right that brainwashing you might not be much better. You’re bound to break the programming right at the worst possible moment.” He tapped his chin for a moment, then brightened. “Wait, I’ve got it!”

  “I don’t think you do,” Owen said, not liking where this was going. “Really, I’m sure I won’t escape or anything—”

  “I’ll freeze you here in the dungeons!” Verity said. “I had them put stasis chambers in where the Magister’s old cells were. Those things will keep you on ice for a thousand years, and by that time, you’ll be all alone on a sad little planet, with no way back.” He clapped his hands, definitely excited by the idea. “Oh, this is perfect! And by the way, before I forget?”

  He snapped his fingers, and an image of Kara’s time bracelet appeared in midair.

  “Thank your little friend for me,” Verity said. “I’ve been trying to make a time machine for years, but couldn’t ever get the sad local technology to withstand the pressures of time distortion. Finally, I gave up and set up a tractor beam, just in case anyone traveled through the fourth dimension anywhere close by. Had just about given up on my whole invasion plan too, when your friend finally got sucked in by my tractor beam.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Sometimes, I do wonder if that faceless guy wasn’t all wrong. I mean, think about it: If someone is writing this stuff, the way things are going, they must love me!”

  CHAPTER 20

  What’s happening to me?!” Bethany shouted as she grabbed the remains of her cape from Kiel and watched it slowly dissolve in her hands, only to gasp as her fingernails began to disappear as well. Horror filled her as the tips of her fingers soon followed, dissipating into nothingness.

  Kiel grabbed her hands and squeezed them tightly, forcing her to look at him. “Concentrate on who you are,” he said. “You can fix this! It’s going to be okay. Just bring yourself back.”

  Bethany shook her head, barely able to think. What was going on? Why was she disappearing? Where were those parts going? “I can’t—”

  “You can.” He squeezed her hands again. “Focus. You can do this.”

  She reluctantly closed her eyes, her heart racing as she began to breathe faster and faster. She tried to think about awful, nonfictional Bethany, but the image in her head kept fading away, even as she tried her best to hold on to it. Not only that, but now she couldn’t feel her fingers at all anymore, and Kiel moved his hands to her wrists. Was the rest of her body dissolving too? Why was this happening?!

  “Kiel,” she said, her eyes flying open as panic filled her. “I can’t do it. I can’t!”

  He shook his head. “Nonsense. You’re Bethany Sanderson, and right now, that’s all you need to worry about. Just, you know, be less fictional.” In spite of the situation, he grinned.

  A short, almost hysterical laugh escaped her. She closed her eyes, trying to picture the whole Bethany she’d been before Nobody separated the worlds, Bethany Sanderson. The Bethany who had been filled with guilt over losing her father, but went looking for him every night. The Bethany who constantly worried that her mother would find out she’d been jumping into books against her wishes, but checked out new ones from the library every day. The Bethany who had been obsessed with rules, but broke them constantly.

  The Bethany who somehow had held two very different people in one body, even as she almost ripped herself apart with contradiction.

  To turn back into her regular body before, she’d basically rewritten herself into her nonfictional self. But this time, she remembered what it felt like to be half-fictional once more, two halves that didn’t quite line up, but still came together, fused together, becoming whole—

  “See?” Kiel said, releasing her hands. “I told you!”

  She opened her eyes, and almost cried in relief when she saw her that all ten fingers were back, nails and all. She reached behind her and felt for her cape . . . but it was still gone—not like it’d been cut, but more as if she’d never had it to begin with. “My cape didn’t come back?” she asked, starting to panic aga
in.

  “Don’t worry about that now,” Kiel whispered to her, grabbing her hand and pulling it back around her. “You’re okay, and that’s what matters. But it definitely looks like there’s a price to pay for . . . well, whatever that was, when you were changing everything.”

  “I really was rewriting myself,” she said, shaking a bit. “My father told me Nobody taught himself how to do it, and I guess now that I’m one hundred percent fictional, I can do it too. You could too, if you wanted to disappear.” She laughed softly without humor. “But this can’t have been this easy all along. If it had been, any fictional people wanting to be different could have just transformed like I did.”

  “I wanted to be different, and it took me months of trying,” Kiel said, still holding her hands. “Trust me, it wasn’t just a matter of wishing. I think you’re right that something’s changed.”

  “It must have to do with Nobody separating the worlds.” She pulled her hands away, watching as they still shook a bit. “He warned me, when we first got here, remember? He said that I wouldn’t be able to hold myself together.”

  “Looks like he might have been right,” Kiel said. “But Nobody still does it without having this problem. What’s his secret?”

  “You know who might know?” Bethany said. “The Magister. He helped Nobody separate the worlds. And that gives us another reason for a visit.”

  “If nothing else, we can probably grab a location spell from his spell book and track down your man in the suit,” Kiel told her. He held out his hand. “Not that this will be easy. He did try to kill us last time. Are you ready to face my old teacher again?”

  She took his hand and snorted. “I beat him once, I can do it again. But how are we getting there?” She pointed at the wall of white nothing that had inched closer. “I hope you didn’t park a spaceship on the other side of town.”

  “No, but I might know of one that’s parked a little higher,” Kiel said, and pulled out a small button from his pocket. “Let’s hope it’s still there, or we’re not going to be getting off Quanterium anytime soon.” He pushed the button, then grinned in triumph as a small light began buzzing around their midsections.

  Bethany smiled too as she realized what was happening. The destroyed science center disappeared around them, replaced by what looked like the interior of a spaceship the size of a tour bus. Over Kiel’s shoulder, an enormous view screen showed twin planets orbiting around each other: Magisteria and Quanterium.

  “I’ve missed teleporting,” she said, moving to the view screen to get a better look at the planets. “It’d make crime fighting so much easier.” She glanced around. “This is Charm’s ship?”

  Kiel moved to the computer and began typing. “Yup. And if it’s still here, then that means she hasn’t gone far.” He frowned as various information scrolled over the screens. “She went to Magisteria, but beyond that, I can’t tell much. There are a lot of teleportation records of trips up to the ship, more than I can even count. But strangely, only one down to Magisteria. What do you think that means?”

  “It means we’ve got another question for the Magister,” Bethany told him.

  He nodded. “Just don’t underestimate him, Beth. He might be old, but he’s been practicing magic for thousands of years.”

  “Um, I’m the one who stuck him in a textbook, and that was before I had superpowers,” Bethany told him. “Besides, you’re talking to Twilight Girl here. If saving my father means I have to punch out an old magician, then I’ll just try not to enjoy it too much.”

  He grinned, shaking his head. “Fair enough. Let’s go see if my old teacher is home.” He took her hand and hit the button again. A moment later, the spaceship around them morphed into a cozy, bookshelf-filled magical study, one that was much too familiar to Bethany.

  An old man with a long beard sat at a desk, his fingers steepled in front of him.

  “My old apprentice? Is that really you?” the Magister said, his voice emotional like he was welcoming back an old friend. Then he noticed Bethany, and all the emotion dropped away, leaving behind a cold, threatening tone. “And look. You’ve brought an old friend too.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Science Police robot led Owen into the dungeon of the Magister’s tower, which looked nothing like the one in Magisteria. Instead of bars and hay on the ground, Dr. Verity’s cells were each gutted, then fitted with high-tech freezers designed to put a prisoner into stasis. Each cell was then enclosed by an enormous metal door with only a small frosted window for light. The entire dungeon was chilled to the point Owen could barely stop shivering, and he wondered if he’d freeze on his way to being frozen.

  Only one of the cells seemed to be in use right now—a soft glow shone from within, while all the other windows were dark. Owen paused at this door and tried to look in, but the Science Police robot just dragged him past. “CONTINUE WALKING,” it said, pulling him down the hallway toward an open cell door at the end.

  In spite of the cold, a panicked sweat rolled down his face. If the robot put him in stasis, that’d be it: He’d be completely at Dr. Verity’s mercy, and all his imagination would be good for would be dreaming (if you even dreamed in stasis). No, he needed a way to fight a robot, just without any weapons. Could he rewire the robot somehow? Or trip it through the open cell door and trap it inside before the robot could stop him? Maybe if adrenaline gave him superstrength, and he punched the robot in the head so hard he put a dent in it?

  Or how about something really wild, like taking a long shot to see who was out there?

  Readers, I don’t suppose you’re still out there, choosing the story? Owen thought. Because now would be a really great time for a random ray gun to fall from the ceiling or something.

  He crossed his fingers, but sadly nothing awesome happened, and instead, they reached the open door. The robot pushed Owen inside a tiny cushioned room filled with little nozzles that probably produced whatever freezing gas it was that kept prisoners iced up, and he cursed his useless imagination.

  The one time I need you, you completely let me down! he shouted at his brain.

  “STEP INSIDE,” the robot ordered, and gestured for Owen to go in.

  Owen sullenly stepped in, reminded of just how useless he was against anyone fictional, imagination or not. He wasn’t a hero and never would be. He was just too normal and regular a boy.

  The Science Police robot began to close the door, and Owen frantically wracked his brain, taking any idea his imagination could come up with, no matter how ridiculous. Invisible gnomes? The robot breaks down from staying in the nonfictional world too much? Kiel Gnomenfoot shows up out of nowhere? Argh, none of these ideas were possible!

  The robot seemed to slow down in front of him as it pushed the door closed, which was good, as it gave him more time to think. Inside his chest, his heart began to race, probably from fear, and . . .

  The robot creaked to a halt, the door propped open just enough for Owen to slip through. He stared at it in shock, not sure what was happening. Had it just broken down? Could it be possible?

  His heart beat so quickly that he started to worry about it breaking down again. He put a hand over it, wondering why it was working so hard, only for realization to slap him in the face.

  He was using his time powers . . . and there wasn’t any pain! His time powers weren’t killing him anymore!

  Owen gasped audibly, then slapped the robot before him, now frozen in time. Of course. Dr. Verity fixed his heart, so of course it’d work again!

  But for how long?

  That was a question for later, though. The powers worked now, which meant he had to escape while he could. Sticking out his tongue at the robot, Owen carefully pushed past the machine and stepped into the dungeon hallway. Not able to help himself, he shoved the stupid robot as hard as he could into the cell.

  “Oh no, did you trip?” he shouted, doing a quick victory dance over his fallen enemy. Then, not wanting to waste any more time (or break his heart any more th
an he had to), Owen went to work.

  It took several stopped minutes to get the robot into the tiny freezing chamber, considering the thing weighed half a ton. Once the robot was seated properly, Owen closed the door and hit the lock button, then slowed down his personal time to give his heart a break, and watched as jets of gas came pouring out, freezing the robot as it tried to reorient itself.

  “Ice to freeze you!” Owen said, banging on the window as ice formed on the robot. Okay, it wasn’t the greatest line, no, but he’d just gotten his imagination back, so he was a bit rusty. Besides, no one was around to hear it anyway. For once, things seemed to actually be going his way, and stupid pun or not, why shouldn’t he enjoy it?

  That’s when alarms went off throughout the dungeon.

  Owen slapped his forehead. The robot must have some sort of shutdown warning! Which meant Dr. Verity would know that Owen hadn’t been frozen. And that meant more Science Police.

  Or in other words, time to go.

  As he ran down the hallway, the light in the other cell caught his attention, and Owen stopped short, even with the alarms blaring. Dr. Verity had someone else trapped here, and Owen couldn’t just leave them in there. Besides, it might be Kara! She seemed like the most obvious choice.

  He banged on the cell door’s unlock button, but nothing happened. The alarms continued blaring, and he glanced around in rising panic at the other doors. Were they all locked down? That’d make sense, considering Verity wouldn’t want anyone letting his prisoners escape. But how to open the doors, then? Did the robot have a key?

  If it did, there was no way Owen was getting it back now.

  From the direction of the exit, metallic footsteps clanked on the stairs. More robots, and they’d be here soon. Owen banged his hand against the door in frustration. If only there was some way to unlock it, or at least break it down. But the doors had to be pretty strong and durable to resist the freezing cold gas inside the cells. If that kind of cold couldn’t break the metal, then what would?