by James Riley
His older self had predicted this. Owen would face Nobody, but he’d do it alone. To even reach the man, he’d have to abandon all of his friends, leave them behind, sacrifice them for the greater good.
Except he couldn’t, not this time. Not her.
“Shall I roast her for you?” Alexandria asked Gutenberg. “If you do have to eat such a foul thing, it might taste better cooked.”
“Please do,” Gutenberg said, then let out an enormous shriek as a metal sword sliced into his paw. He reared back in pain and searched the courtyard for the cause.
“If you’re not going to challenge me,” Owen said, Charm’s sword arm in his hand, “then I guess I’m going to have to challenge you. Now, like my friend said, come at me.”
CHAPTER 48
Alexandria reached down and grabbed the sword from Owen’s hand and flung it away so hard it embedded itself in the storybook wall. “Was this what you meant?” she asked him, bringing her enormous head within inches of his. “Or was there some other challenge you were referring to?”
Owen swallowed hard. That had gone about as well as he should have expected. But now he was left with only one option.
“Hold on,” he whispered to Charm, who was slowly crawling toward him. “I’ve got this.”
“I thought not,” Alexandria said as Gutenberg brought his head in too. “Since he hurt you, my dear, would you like to be the one to roast him alive?”
“I would indeed,” Gutenberg said, and inhaled deeply, the glow in his stomach promising to be the largest eruption of fire yet.
“This all could have gone a lot easier if you’d just asked me to identify book quotes,” Owen said, then watched as flames began to rise slowly up from Gutenberg’s throat. The fire slowly passed through the bookwyrm’s jaws, then froze in place. As they did, Owen doubled over in pain, the pain in his chest almost too intense to bear.
His heart racing, he wiped sweat off his forehead, then collapsed toward Charm, too weak to grab her hand.
As they touched, Charm began to move, and stared up in surprise at the frozen fire emerging from the bookwyrm’s mouth. “You’re using your powers? But you shouldn’t—”
“No choice,” Owen said, trying not to faint. “Not leaving you. But can you . . . can you carry me maybe?”
She nodded and pushed to her feet, a bit unstable as well. She picked Owen up using both her regular human arm and the remaining half of her robotic one, letting the latter hold most of his weight as she limped forward, moving carefully between the bookwryms’ heads. “You came back for me,” she said, sounding more curious than anything. “You didn’t need to. I had them distracted. Why did you come back?”
“I’ve left . . . too many friends behind. Not . . . not leaving you. Not you.”
She kept facing forward, but her human arm tightened around him at his words. “You might not be the absolute worst person in the world,” she whispered.
Owen almost smiled at such high praise, but his vision began to get blurry, and he wondered if he was even going to make it out of the courtyard. “Hurry,” he groaned.
Charm nodded and leaned forward on her robotic leg, then pushed off, leaping them both all the way across the courtyard. She landed just in front of the double doors, shoved the right one open with the side of her robotic arm, then slid them through. A moment later, she slammed the door behind them, and Owen released his hold on time.
“Can they break through these?” Charm asked, dropping a large metal bar across the doors to lock them.
Owen tried to speak, but the pressure on his chest hadn’t gone away for some reason. He shook his head, then gasped as another intense spike of pain shot through him. “I think I might . . . have made a mistake,” he said, his face contorted with agony.
Charm dropped to his side as they heard the bookwyrms begin to rage outside in the courtyard, realizing their prey was gone. “Stop it,” she told him, trying to sound meaner than her face suggested. “You’re going to be fine. It’s just a little pain.”
“Oh, really?” Owen hissed, clenching his eyes shut through the throbbing torture in his chest. “Feels . . . like a lot, actually.”
She pulled his hand from his chest as the bookwyrms began to beat against the double doors. Flames licked through the gap beneath them, only to stop within inches of entering the room as if they hit some sort of invisible wall. Whatever magic held the bookwyrms in the courtyard appeared to be keeping their fire out too.
“You should have just gone on without me,” Charm told him, holding his hand tightly in hers. “That was really dumb, Owen. I would have been fine.”
“You would have . . . been eaten,” he said, trying to take in a deep breath, but the pain was too intense.
“But you didn’t leave me,” she whispered, staring at him. “Everyone leaves me, but not you. I don’t . . . I don’t know what to say to that.”
Something wet hit his cheek, and he looked up to see another tear fall from her human eye. He reached a trembling hand up to wipe it away, only to have her fade into darkness as he fell into unconsciousness.
Distantly, he could hear a voice screaming his name, but that didn’t matter anymore. Instead, he watched as memories floated past him, images of his friends, his family, his life. Bethany was there, and Kara, Kiel . . . Charm smiled at him, and he knew that this couldn’t be real, but it didn’t matter, everything was so peaceful . . .
Everything except the screams. And the pounding. What was this pounding—
“Aaaaaah!” he shouted, bolting awake as Charm slammed the side of her robotic arm down onto his chest. “Ow!”
“You’re alive!” she shouted, then grabbed him and hugged him tightly. “Never do that again! I thought you were gone!”
“I’m fine,” Owen said, not sure that was true. “But . . . thank you for . . . for that.”
She grinned at him, then hugged him again. “Come on,” she said finally, rolling up to a crouch. “Let me help you up.”
Between the two of them, they got Owen to his feet. But even with Charm’s support, he found he felt much weaker than normal. He’d gone too far with his powers, clearly. His heart wasn’t able to take anything else, even back here in the fictional world. It might not be degrading any further now, but the damage had been done. One more use of his time powers, and that would be it.
“So where is Nobody?” Charm asked, walking them down the hallway away from the double doors, which the bookwyrms hadn’t stopped trying to break through.
“You can’t handle him on your own,” Owen whispered. “We need to figure out another way.”
“I’m not alone,” she told him, giving him the slightest smile. “I’ve got you. Even if you’re not much help in a fight right now. Or ever, really.”
He laughed at this, then immediately regretted it as the motion sent pain radiating through him. “I do have a plan,” he whispered as they neared the end of the hallway leading to the throne room. “If you can just get us to Nobody, I might have a way to defeat him once and for all.”
“Deal,” she said. “I’ll get you there, no matter what. You’ve got my word on—”
A ray gun beam sizzled through the air, striking Charm in the chest.
She screamed, and a bright light emanated from her, blinding Owen.
“Charm!” he screamed, trying to hold on to her through the light, but she seemed to be disappearing from his grasp. He reached out blindly, hoping to find her, but soon there was nothing there within the light, nothing left of her.
Finally, the light dimmed.
Charm was gone.
Owen dropped to his knees in the spot where a moment before, she’d been standing. His mouth dropped in shock as tears rolled down his cheeks.
“You really messed this all up, didn’t you,” said a voice from inside the throne room.
Owen couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t even think. Charm . . . she was just gone.
Someone stepped in front of him and aimed a ray gu
n at his face. “Really?” the person said, and the familiarity of the voice pulled Owen back to reality. “Not even a hello for your favorite fictional character?”
Owen slowly looked up to find Fowen standing over him, the crown of stories from Owen’s fan fiction sitting on his head as he aimed a possibility ray gun right between Owen’s eyes.
“Guess not,” Fowen said, then pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER 49
Owen flinched as the beam hit him in the forehead, expecting to explode in a flash of light or turn into an alternate version of himself.
Nothing happened.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Fowen said, shooting a few more possibility rays at him. “These don’t work on nonfictional people. That makes sense, though. What else could you people ever be in your lives, other than the boring old regular version of yourselves?”
Owen just stared at him, rage fighting with grief over Charm. He pushed to his feet, his weak muscles barely able to hold him up, but the desire to destroy his fictional twin gave him the strength he needed.
“Oh, stop it,” Fowen said, and waved his fingers. Immediately Owen’s body froze, and he slowly floated into the air. “I’m not here to fight you.”
“You killed Charm!” Owen roared, his mouth the only thing he could still move. His muscles clenched as he fought back against the magic paralyzing him, but it was too powerful, even if he hadn’t been weakened by using his powers. “Do you even understand what you’ve done?!”
“I do,” Fowen said, strangely calm as he dropped the possibility ray gun to the ground. “I don’t think you do. I didn’t kill her, you pathetic, sad, basic version of me.” He shook his head. “Wow, I hate admitting that we’re related in any way. You’re so useless, it hurts to even think that we could have anything in common.”
The insults flew by him as Owen latched on to four of Fowen’s words. “You didn’t kill her? But she . . . she’s gone, she disappeared—”
“I mean, to be fair, it’s not like she’s alive, either,” his fictional twin said. “She’s just pure possibility now. You can’t destroy energy, Nowen. Haven’t you learned that by now?” He clenched his fists and stepped in close, just inches away from Owen. “And you were supposed to be helping me defeat him!”
“What?” Owen said, still trying to work out what happened to Charm. “I didn’t—”
“Exactly!” Fowen shouted. “You didn’t ! I handed you all the information you needed, you and the boring version of Bethany. But you two didn’t do anything with it!”
“You what?” Owen said. “I haven’t seen you since Nobody split the worlds.”
“Not this me!” Fowen said. “The me in disguise!” He waved his fingers again and transformed into a tall, muscular man in a business suit. He tore the sunglasses from his face and glared at Owen. “How could you not follow one simple instruction? I told you to open the book. I even handed it to you! It explained the whole plan: how the books were actually Quanterians, how Bethany needed to rejoin with her fictional self, how I would get that version of Bethany to you through the Magister’s portal, everything. But you messed it all up!”
Owen glared right back. “We never even opened it.”
“Oh, well, that’s just great!” Fowen shouted, turning around and slapping his thigh. He waggled his fingers again, turning back into his usual self. “Here I am, trying to save the world, and I can’t even count on you people to do one simple thing. And I had to deal with two Bethanys, too! While you were accomplishing nothing, I had released Kiel from Nobody’s prison, so he’d be free to help too, while also tricking Bethany into coming to Quanterium. Don’t you get it? She’s the only one who could have beaten Nobody. Now he has her, and that’s it. We’re all gonna get erased into possibilities. And it’s your fault!”
“I brought Bethany here!” Owen shouted. “And you killed Charm! You don’t get to judge me. You don’t get to even speak to me! Now let me go!”
Fowen stared at him for a moment, then strode back over and punched him in the face.
In spite of the impact, Owen’s head didn’t move, as the magic held him in place, but he could feel a bruise rising on his cheek.
“You still don’t get it, Nowen,” Fowen said. “I’m superior to you in every single way. I convinced Nobody to let me join him, to help him, all to find out what he was doing. I learned his plans to restart the fictional universe by turning us all back into pure possibility. And I came up with a plan to stop him!”
“And here you are, still working for him,” Owen said. “You must be so proud.”
“I have no choice now!” Fowen shouted. “You and Bethany messed it all up, so I’m left picking up the pieces. You know, I’m glad I brought those possibility ray guns to Jupiter City. Nobody ordered me to leave Jupiter City until the end, because he wanted to be merciful on Bethany, now that she actually had her father back. But I knew we needed her, so I went behind his back and smuggled the weapons in.” He smirked. “I told her I didn’t know Doc Twilight had gotten hit, but that was a lie. I’d hoped that would happen. Even if I needed Bethany, I still owed her for what she did to me. And what better revenge than making her father disappear?”
Owen screamed in rage, pushing with all of his might against the magical bonds. “I’m going to erase you, Fowen!” he shouted. “I promise you that. I will use that possibility ray gun on you as soon as I get free!”
Fowen laughed. “Here’s the thing. Nobody’s expecting you to show up in a few minutes. I used a couple of spells to make sure he couldn’t see or hear what happens, but he’s going to get impatient if an Owen doesn’t show up soon. You have no chance, obviously. But I might have a way to fix all your mistakes still.” He wiggled his fingers, and suddenly his black pants, shirt, and cape all morphed into clothes that matched Owen’s exactly. “Maybe it’s not too late to save the universe. Maybe it’s just going to take a real hero to do it.”
“You can’t win against him, Fowen!” Owen shouted. “None of us can! A thousand Owens tried, and they all failed. Some of them even tried using magic, but it didn’t matter. He defeated them all!”
“Those were all nonfictional Owens,” Fowen said, looking disgusted. “All versions of useless old you. Of course they failed.” He grinned, then waved his fingers, and the floor below Owen split in half. “Before I seal you up in the castle and go save the universe, I want to hear you say one thing. If you do, I might even remember to come back for you when this is all over.”
Owen screamed incoherently, trying one last time to break his bonds. This effort exhausted him, though, and he gave up, breathing hard as he stared at the floor.
“That was incredibly sad to have to watch, Nowen,” Fowen said. “Anyway, all you have to do is say the words ‘Fictional Owen is the greatest Owen of all.’ That’s it. Do that, and I’ll come back for you. Don’t and, well, maybe the wall of nothingness outside the castle right now will free you. Or maybe it’ll erase you, too, nonfictional or not.”
Owen slowly looked up at him, his mouth dropping open. He began to laugh, softly at first, then louder and harder until Fowen’s eyes hardened and he held up his hand, ready to cast another spell.
“Shut up!” Fowen shouted. “Why are you laughing?”
“Because . . . ,” Owen said, trying to catch his breath. “Because you actually care that you’re the best Owen. You really do! That’s so humiliating for you!”
“Right,” Fowen said, and waved his fingers. “Enjoy your time in the castle.”
And with that, Owen slowly lowered into the floor of the castle, now potentially his tomb.
CHAPTER 50
You can’t beat him!” Owen shouted at his fictional twin as he slowly descended into the mouthlike chasm in the floor. His mind raced, trying to think of a way out, but all he could come up with through his terror was a bargain. “I’ve got the only thing that might have a chance!”
“What, your little time powers?” Fowen said, snorting. “I know he can
match those. Nice try.”
Time powers? That wasn’t what he’d meant. But wait a second . . .
Time powers.
“That’s before I learned how to stop other people’s time!” he shouted as Fowen moved farther away. “I learned it with Kara, while in the time prison.”
Fowen took another step, then stopped and turned around to stare at him as Owen’s entire lower half now passed into the floor. “It could work,” Fowen said, tapping his finger against his chin. “He never mentioned that power, so it’s possible he has no idea. And if I could get in close enough . . .”
There it was. Fighting back a smile, Owen pretended to be freaking out as he proceeded to reel Fowen in like a fish. “You?” he said. “I’m the only one with the power, Fowen. Magic can’t recreate it. Charm made it. She modified my DNA. You have to let me go, or Nobody will win.”
Fowen slowly grinned, and Owen knew he’d fallen for it. “Maybe I can’t give myself your powers,” Fowen said. “But if I used magic to put my mind in your body . . . I’d still remember all my magic, but have your time powers too. I’d be unstoppable!”
Owen was now up to his neck in the floor, and he winced, wishing Fowen would just get on with it. “No, please, don’t,” he said, trying to act as scared of that idea as he was of being entombed in a castle made from picture books.
Fowen grinned even wider. “Oh, this is brilliant, Nowen. I’m actually a little impressed that you thought of it. Granted, you knew about it and I didn’t, but for you, that’s still saying something.” He gestured, and Owen flew up out of the castle floor.
He let out a huge sigh of relief, but made sure to still look scared. “You can’t take my body!” he shouted. “Please, Fowen! I’ll say you’re the best. You are the best! You’re the best Owen of all Owens!”
“That’s right,” Fowen said, closing his eyes to take in Owen’s praise. “I am. And you’re easily the worst. But that’s all about to change. Because from here on out, I am you.”
“NO!” Owen shouted, but Fowen wiggled his fingers, and both of their heads began to glow.