by James Riley
Then he aimed his ray gun back at the Magister.
“Put it down!” Kiel shouted at him as more black helmets moved in around him.
“Wait, I thought you said to test you?” Dr. Verity said, looking confused. “That’s what I’m doing. Now, depending on where you hit me, my finger might pull the trigger reflexively. So be careful when you aim. Ready?”
“Don’t do this!” Kiel shouted.
“On the count of three,” Dr. Verity said. “One . . .”
“Three,” Bethany growled in her best Twilight Girl voice, kicking two of the black helmets into each other. She dodged a third’s laser blast, then swept his legs out from under him, tumbling him into the fourth. The fifth moved to grab for her, but Kiel kicked him backward straight into the door, slamming it shut as more black helmets tried to enter the room.
Bethany stood back up and moved to Kiel’s side, hoping she’d looked as awesome as she thought she did. “The Magister definitely deserves punishment, but that’s not your call,” she growled. “So step away from the old man unless you want this to end badly for you.”
Dr. Verity just blinked at her. “I’m sorry, do I know you? I like the colorful outfit, but you don’t even have a weapon. Also, you didn’t let me get to the count of two. What’s that about?”
The door burst open behind them, and black helmets leaped inside, firing their lasers. Bethany pulled Kiel down to the floor, using the unconscious bodies of the soldiers she’d already taken out as cover. “You take the doctor,” she told Kiel. “I’ll get the rest of these guys.”
“You can’t handle them all,” Kiel said, firing over the heads of the oncoming soldiers, purposely not hitting them. “If they’re Quanterians, we can’t hurt them. Beth, we need a plan.”
“Trust me,” she said, and winked at him. Before he could respond, she closed her eyes, ready to use her superpowers. The first thing that came to mind was a bulldozer, so she started to push herself into that image. But as she did, more ideas flooded over her, just like during her fight with the Magister: She could become sleeping gas, a tank, some sort of robotic dinosaur, a tornado, a large broom—
Gritting her teeth, she shook off the other ideas, and through sheer force of will, pushed herself into the image of the bulldozer, trying desperately to hold it steady in her head. Her body morphed into the construction machine, and she revved her engine, causing several of the brainwashed Quanterians to actually take a few steps back. She stepped on the gas and went racing toward them, planning on bulldozing them right out the door . . . only to shift into a giant broom at the last moment, crashing into the assembled black helmets with all the force of a stern sweeping. Her momentum carried them back out the door, and she slammed it shut again, wondering how she could get it to stay closed for once.
“Beth!” Kiel shouted, ducking behind the Magister’s overturned desk. “You’re losing control!”
But she could barely hear him as ideas completely filled her head, and she changed from a fiery sword to a baby bonnet to a guitar, not able to control it anymore. Each time something new popped into her mind, her powers pushed her into it, and she began to panic. This had to stop!
“Well, I can’t say I saw that coming,” Dr. Verity said, watching her changes with interest. “Who did you say she is?”
“I didn’t,” Kiel said, aiming his laser at the scientist again after one more concerned look at Bethany. “Put the weapon down now, Verity. I’m not going to ask again!”
“C’mon, really?” Dr. Verity said. “Where do you think I got all the Quanterians to brainwash, Kiel? The Magister sent them to the nonfictional world. He turned them into books, too, so that the nonfictionals would think they were being invaded by the fictional world.” He paused. “I mean, they might have had some help with that theory, but still. He did this!”
Kiel pulled the trigger, and a laser beam blasted the wall just inches to Dr. Verity’s right. “See, that right there is your problem,” Kiel said. “You can’t stay focused. I told you to put the ray gun down.”
Dr. Verity growled at him. “Focus? Wait till you’re my age, kid. You’re a clone, remember? This is what you’ve got to look forward to.” He sighed. “I take back what I said before. You used to be more fun when you were younger. Oh well. Be seeing you.”
Then he tossed something to the ground, and thick black smoke filled the chamber.
As Bethany continued morphing uncontrollably, she concentrated as hard as she could, just trying to aim changes toward something useful. Various ideas popped into her brain that might help, and she gratefully pushed herself into each one as they arrived, morphing into a whirlwind, then a giant fan, followed by a huge straw, and finally a vacuum cleaner, using each form to collect the smoke as quickly as she could. Finally, she’d removed it all and turned herself toward the door, blowing it open to expel the smoke right out of the room.
The effort seemed to have tired her brain out a bit, as the ideas came less quickly now, so she seized her moment and concentrated on turning back into a human. Even though this launched her brain into another wave of ideas (a human painting, or a human statue!), she ignored them and returned to her normal self, never more thankful to be flesh and blood in her life.
“They’re gone,” Kiel said, waving his hand around the room.
That caught her attention, and she quickly saw he was right. Both Dr. Verity and the Magister had disappeared. Most of the black helmets were still around, though they were unconscious, so they had a good excuse. “How did they escape?” she asked, wearily pushing herself to her feet.
“Here,” Kiel said, and ran to a hole in the floor right where the Magister had been. “Verity must have cut it,” he said, glancing down inside it, only to immediately pull his head back as a ray gun beam ripped through the spot he’d just been in.
“You’re not invited!” Dr. Verity shouted from below. “The Magister and I have some adult matters to discuss!”
“The stairs,” Kiel whispered, and quickly raced to the door, with Bethany right behind him. They surprised several of the black helmets, who’d just emerged from the black smoke Bethany had blown outside. Kiel knocked them back to the ground and pulled Bethany through the doorway to the stairs, which they now saw were covered with troops. One flight down, Dr. Verity emerged with the Magister floating behind him on some sort of metal platform, bright lights glowing on the bottom.
“For some reason, I’ve changed my mind!” he shouted. “Instead of killing him outright, I think I’m going to find a parallel dimension that’s deadly to humans and send the Magister through, just so he can suffer before he dies. Or maybe one where there’s only science, and magic has died out.” He laughed evilly. “Where did all of these ideas come from all of a sudden? So many options!”
Lasers began pounding into the stone above them, and Bethany pulled Kiel back into the relative safety of a doorway. “Are there really dimensions like that?” she said, ducking as a beam of light sizzled past.
“I don’t know,” Kiel said. “There are an infinite number of realities out there, though, so probably. Where did Fowen go? I don’t like him running around without supervision.”
“Dr. Verity brought him into the office,” Bethany said, then realized that he hadn’t been there when the smoke cleared.
Uh-oh. Where was Fowen? Had he escaped? Or more importantly, was he going for reinforcements?
If so, whose side would they be on?
CHAPTER 31
The portal to Magisteria sparkled in the light of the storage room as Owen stared at Bethany in horror. “Why would you do that?” he shouted at her.
“To protect you!” she said. “I couldn’t let you go. I couldn’t let either of us go, even if I wanted to. I’m not losing any more of my friends or family. I’ve given up too much for the fictional world, and I’m done with it. It just takes everything you have!”
Owen watched as a shard of the mirror fell to the ground, shattering. Around half the glass had remained
in the broken mirror’s pane, but what did that matter, when the portal wasn’t working anymore?
Then some movement caught his eye in the glass, and he realized it wasn’t a reflection. Leaning closer, he gasped.
The glass still in the mirror was swirling with mystical energy. Instead of a gentle breeze, it now looked a lot more like a thunderstorm, wild and unpredictable.
But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t still get him where he needed to go.
Without a word, Owen took a step back from the mirror and prepared himself. There wasn’t enough glass left to walk through, so the easiest thing would be to dive into the remaining mirror and hope he made it.
“What are you doing?” Bethany asked. “Owen, you can’t be serious.”
“I talked to my future self, Bethany,” he said quietly, not looking at her. “He told me that if I don’t face Nobody, then the future I saw is going to come true, and even worse things will happen in the fictional world. I can’t just let that happen.”
“You’re talking about future selves again?” she said, gritting her teeth in frustration. “Didn’t Kara say he was dying? Is that because he faced Nobody?”
“Yes!” Owen shouted. “He lost, okay? Just like I have, just like a thousand Owens have, apparently. But it’s the only way. He told me himself. He and I and the rest of us need to keep trying until we figure out some way to defeat Nobody, or—”
“Or what? A bad future might happen that you said already has? Then what use is it to fight someone if you know you’re going to lose?”
Owen clenched his fists at his side and turned to look at her. “I know I’m no hero, Bethany. I know that. I learned that lesson back when I almost died fighting Dr. Verity. You and Kiel rescued me, because you two, both of you, are heroes. You’re people who do what you have to do, no matter what. Kiel still is. I don’t know which part of you has that bravery now. But even if I can’t make a difference, I’m going to try. I’m going to go face Nobody and do my best. If it’s not good enough, the next me can try again, over and over until one of us finally succeeds.”
“Do you hear how ridiculous and impossible you sound?” she said, her voice cracking with what sounded like sadness. “Just let it go. Stay here, and we’ll figure out how to make the future better in normal ways. But we’ll stay safe while we do it.”
“And how would we do that without an imagination?” he asked. “How will we ever change anything if we can’t even imagine a better future? No, we’re stuck in this time line, and I’m not just letting it go.”
“Owen,” she said, but he shook his head as another piece of glass fell from the mirror.
“Good-bye, Bethany.” Without another word, Owen started a run toward the portal.
“No!” she screamed, and he heard her footsteps just behind him. He doubled his speed, then just before he reached the mirror, he dove forward, aiming for the only bit of glass still big enough for his body. His foot struck something as he passed through the mirror, slowing him down, but he made it through . . .
And found himself falling.
Owen screamed, and around him, a line of Owens extending into infinity screamed too. Before he knew what was happening, the mystical energy storm swept him away, buffeting him around like a tornado, swirling and tossing him until he had no idea which way was up.
“Owen!” someone screamed, and he looked down to find Bethany holding tightly to his ankle. His eyes widened, and he realized it wasn’t him hitting something on the way through, it’d been her grabbing him. “We’re going to die!” she said, looking terrified. “Where is the other side?”
“I don’t know!” he shouted back, looking around in every direction as the magic threw them around. And then a light shone up through the mystical storm, and he realized that down in the eye of the whirlwind, there were people moving.
Another portal, in another tower. And that entrance was still open.
“We have to get down there!” he shouted to Bethany, trying his best to point in the same direction as they swirled around.
“How?” she shouted.
“I have no idea!” he said.
“You’re the one with the imagination. Can’t you use it?”
Weirdly, here surrounded by magical forces and intense winds, he did feel like his imagination was back, as strong as ever. But what could it do to get them out of the wind and safely to the other side?
Control it, his mind said. This is magic, right? So make it do what you want it to. That’s all casting spells does.
Owen flinched, not really liking the odds of this working. But his imagination wasn’t coming up with much else.
“Magic!” he shouted to everything around him. “I don’t know the right words, or even if you’ll listen to my commands, but if I have any power over you whatsoever, carry me and Bethany down to the portal below, safely and calmly!”
“You’re just going to yell at it?” Bethany said. “That’s what your imagination came up with?”
“I don’t think it had a whole lot of options!” Owen shouted back at her. But when he looked down, he noticed something odd. The light from the portal below them seemed closer.
The whirlwind around them slowly lessened in speed and intensity, gently dropping them toward the portal as it did.
Wait a second. Had his horrible idea actually worked? “Look, Bethany!” he shouted, laughing crazily. “See what an imagination can do! I’m controlling the magic and the storm. We’re going to be fine!”
“No, you’re not!” Bethany shouted up at him. “Look above you!”
Not liking her tone, Owen followed her instructions and winced. The portal they’d jumped through had just one, narrow pane of glass left. It had been the broken mirror falling apart that was ending the whirlwind, not his pathetic attempt at talking to the storm.
And as he stared in horror, even that last bit of glass fell to the ground, shattering. Instantly, the portal back to the nonfictional world closed off forever, and the magical storm disappeared completely, sending them plummeting straight toward the Magisterian portal, screaming at the tops of their lungs.
CHAPTER 32
As lasers sizzled through the air around them, Bethany took a deep breath, wondering if she could count on her superpowers anymore. “Don’t worry, I can take care of them,” she told Kiel, not sure she was telling the truth. Still, she had to try.
The stairs were covered in Quanterians, so she needed something quick, painless, and immune to lasers. A thousand images began flashing through her mind, and her head began to ache like someone was hammering her skull. She groaned and dropped her head into her hands, only to feel Kiel’s tap on her shoulder.
“I think I have a way around this,” he said, then hit a button in his hand.
The Magister’s tower disappeared around them, replaced by Charm’s ship, the Scientific Method.
“What are you doing?” Bethany shouted, barely able to think with all the possibilities still running through her mind. “We can’t run away!”
Kiel glared at her. “We’re not. And don’t think that I’ve forgotten that you knocked me out while you fought the Magister, Bethany. Whether or not you agreed with what I was saying, that wasn’t okay.”
She sighed, her head still throbbing, but the images at least had started to fade. Even with the pain, though, she noted he used her full name. That wasn’t a good sign. “I know, I get that,” she said, gritting her teeth against the pounding. “But can we save the guilt for . . . I don’t know, my nonfictional self? I’d already decided not to join back with my other self, so I didn’t want to have a whole argument about it.”
“Sometimes there are arguments worth having,” he said, shaking his head as he looked at her with disappointment. Anger, sadness, and guilt blossomed inside her chest, and for a moment, she remembered very clearly what it’d been like before Nobody had separated her.
It wasn’t a feeling she enjoyed.
“Can we save everyone first and then talk about
this?” she asked, hoping he would forget about it if everything ended up okay.
Kiel paused, then nodded and clicked the button again. The spaceship transformed into the same dusty, cloth-covered room with the magical portal that Fowen had shown her earlier.
Unfortunately, they appeared at the same time as Dr. Verity reached the doorway, with too many black helmets to count just behind him.
“Wait!” Dr. Verity shouted as his brainwashed troops all raised their lasers to fire. “You can’t just kill them without letting me gloat for a bit. Do you people not understand how this is done?”
“See, this kind of thing makes me think we really are being written,” Kiel said to Bethany. “Who takes the time to brag instead of just doing away with us? We’re definitely going to find an opportunity to beat him now.”
Bethany grinned in spite of herself, her head feeling slightly better now that she wasn’t trying to use her superpowers. She readied some Twilight throwing stars and prepared for a fight.
“You think I can’t hear you, you little monster?” Dr. Verity snarled. “No one wrote me this way. No one could ever sculpt the purity and greatness that is me! I am Verity, the genius and the truth, and there is no one in the infinite universes that could contain me in their mind!”
“You know I’m a clone of you, right? So aren’t you just insulting yourself when you call me a monster?” Kiel threw Bethany a quick wink, a sign that he would distract Dr. Verity while she got the drop on him. It was a solid plan, one her father would approve of, for sure.
Except Kiel didn’t know what a mess her powers were right now. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, then opened her mind.