Ben Braver and the Vortex of Doom

by Marcus Emerson

  Mary sobbed quietly.

  Saddest. Dinner party. Ever.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Everybody at the table stared at nothing as Mary cried. Donnie had started tearing up, too, holding his knees and sniffling.

  It was uncomfortable.

  Like, supes uncomfortable.

  Like, the kind of uncomfortable that made you wish your brain had a Delete button so you’d never have to remember how very uncomfortable it was.

  And so, like the idiot I am, I tried to lighten the mood. ‘We need Donnie to come back anyway cuz we could use his help to find the Reaper.’

  A record scratched somewhere in the distance. Pretty sure I even heard a small voice shout, ‘Say whaaaat?’

  Richard and the headmaster snapped their heads towards me. Even Mary stopped crying.

  The whole room was dead silent.

  ‘The Reaper is free?’ Richard asked.

  Headmaster Kepler pounded his fist on the table and then pointed at Donnie. ‘You’re going to undo everything I’ve worked for, you little brat!’

  ‘What’re you talking about?’ Donnie said. ‘Who’s the Reaper?’

  ‘You don’t know?’ Penny asked. ‘That makes two of us. Or … four of us actually.’

  ‘Who is he?’ I said. ‘A person? A monster? Some kind of invisible baby? He’s really tiny, so it’s possible that he’s a baby!’

  Kepler looked at Richard and Mary, who both nodded.

  ‘If he’s escaped, then the children need to know what they’re up against,’ Richard said.

  Kepler sighed, and then he explained EVERYTHING.

  Penny, Noah and I were speechless.

  ‘Sooo the Reaper is an alien,’ Penny finally said.

  ‘A squid alien,’ Noah added. ‘And he’s the reason people even have powers now.’

  ‘I did not see that coming,’ I said. ‘But why is he called the Reaper?’

  ‘Newspapers gave him the name,’ Kepler said. ‘He’s harmless by himself, but when connected with another human, he becomes extraordinarily powerful.’

  ‘Is that what happened to you?’ I asked.

  Kepler nodded. ‘Yes. He attached himself to me, not because I was special, but because I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

  ‘Did he overtake you? Is he that powerful?’

  ‘Quite the opposite,’ Kepler said. ‘He’s a weak creature without a host.’

  ‘But that means …’

  Kepler nodded. ‘I … allowed our bond. I was a different man back then … Our bond gave me new powers, which was exciting, but I eventually lost control to him, and before I knew it, he had used me to destroy the world as revenge for being experimented on. I managed to separate from him and then travel back in time to prevent all that from happening.’

  ‘And now we have to go back to the future and prevent it from happening again,’ I said.

  ‘Tell me there’s another way,’ Mary said softly.

  Richard shook his head.

  Mary’s face was strained, but she said nothing.

  ‘Way to go, Donnie,’ Penny scoffed.

  Donnie came out of his fog. ‘I’m not staying, am I?’

  ‘No,’ Richard said as he put his hand on his son’s shoulder. ‘This is bigger than us now.’

  Mary returned to the table. ‘When you first showed signs of having powers, I understood that it meant you didn’t belong to me. You belonged to the world. To humanity. You’ll always be my son, but you have a greater purpose because you are a descendant.’

  Donnie sniffled but didn’t break. ‘I know.’

  It was a lot like the conversation I had with my parents right before I left for the academy for sixth grade.

  After that, we finished our dinner and got ready to go back to the future.

  About an hour later, I was outside behind the cabin. Penny and Noah were still talking to the Keplers inside, but I just needed some me-time, y’know? Seeing Donnie having to deal with leaving his parents was a little much … It got me missing my own.

  There was an open spot in the trees where I could see the North Star clearly. FYI – my dad and I have this thing – we both look at the North Star when we miss each other. Knowing we both look at the same star in the sky helps the lonely times feel less lonely.

  I probably look at it way more than he does, but in 1963, I knew he wasn’t even around to look at it.

  The door swung open behind me, and Headmaster Kepler stepped out. He was alone with a big ol’ Sherlock Holmes pipe that he never lit hanging from his mouth. He just chewed on the end of it. Then he dug something out of his pocket and held it out for me.

  It was a peanut butter cup.

  ‘Your friends told me these were your favourite,’ he said, stone-faced. ‘And Mother likes to keep treats around.’

  I think he was trying to be nice.

  I wasn’t sure what to say. In a little bit, we were gonna head back to our time, and I was never gonna see him again.

  The stars twinkled overhead as I stared past them into the blackness of space. The old man was still out there somewhere, all by himself behind the universe.

  That was how the guy next to me was gonna end up – trapped on the edge of outer space because of a split-second decision to save my life.

  Would he take it back if he could?

  I wasn’t even sure if I deserved it.

  I was just a nobody – a worthless, pathetic nobody.

  And he was a superhero who could travel through time.

  I couldn’t take it anymore.

  I had to tell him about his future, right?

  It was the right thing to do.

  Either that, or my guilt finally got the best of me.

  I turned to the headmaster and blurted out, ‘You’re gonna die saving my life!’

  Kepler stopped chewing his pipe. ‘Mmm, what?’

  My hands were shaking. My knees felt weak. I was losing it. ‘There’s a huge explosion in the future, and you take me outside the universe before it kills me, but it’s gonna kill you. Kind of. You’re gonna be stuck Outside forever because of it.’

  I’m not sure why, but I threw my arms around him and started bawling my eyes out. ‘I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry!’

  I waited for the headmaster to push me off, but … that’s not what happened.

  Instead, he knelt and looked me in the eye. Then he spoke calmly. ‘Whatever is going to happen to me isn’t your fault.’

  ‘But it is!’ I said like a blubbering idiot. ‘It’s because of me that the explosion even happened!’

  Kepler shook his head. ‘My path is mine to walk alone. And if it leads to my giving my life to save a student, then I will willingly walk that path every time.’

  ‘I never got the chance to thank you,’ I said, sniffling.

  He smiled.

  I’d never seen him smile before.

  ‘You just did,’ he said.

  I hugged the headmaster again. That time he hugged me back. He knew what was gonna happen to him, but that wasn’t gonna change what he did.

  He was a real hero.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  It was almost midnight.

  Noah, Penny and I were in front of the cabin, waiting for Donnie to come out. I think he was saying goodbye to his parents. It had to be hard – to know you’re leaving your mum and dad like that forever?

  Oof.

  We were going back to the future, but not all the way back – we’d get there during the memorial service right before the other Donnie showed up with the Elvis mask. It was the only place we knew the Reaper would be.

  ‘But what about the attack by the Abandoned Children?’ Penny asked.

  ‘That’s more than eight hours away from when we’re showing up,’ Noah said. ‘We’ll get the Reaper and get out of there before that happens.’

  ‘Okay, but can we at least warn the school that they’re coming?’ Penny suggested.

  ‘If we do that, then we risk changing th
e future,’ I said. ‘And that means we might not escape with Donnie. We have to wait until after our past selves escape, then we can do whatever we want.’

  Just then, Donnie rushed out the front door and down the steps with a beekeeper’s net in his hands.

  ‘Um, what’s with the net?’ Penny asked.

  ‘We’re gonna snag the Reaper with it,’ Donnie said.

  ‘Seriously?’ I said, taking the net. ‘We’re going up against an alien that destroyed the world, and all you got was a net?’

  ‘It’s all we’ll need! You heard the old man – the Reaper is a pathetic squid without a host. This’ll keep us at a safe distance.’

  ‘What about your dad’s Power Dampener crossbow thing?’ Noah asked. ‘That’d be way more helpful.’

  ‘Yeah, right,’ Donnie said. ‘I can’t sneak that thing outta his hands.’

  Penny was confused. ‘Sneak it out? Why not just ask him?’

  Donnie stared at the ground but didn’t say anything.

  Noah and Penny waited for his reason, but I already knew what it was. ‘Because you’re not telling them when we’re leaving,’ I said.

  Donnie nodded. ‘It’s easier this way. I know I have to go, but if I see my mum cry and say goodbye …’

  He got too choked up to finish his sentence.

  ‘Okay,’ was all Noah said.

  The four of us walked out to the middle of the yard and stood in a circle, holding hands.

  We had our mission.

  We knew what we had to do.

  Donnie sniffled. ‘Let’s go save the world.’

  And, in the blink of an eye, the four of us went outside the universe.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  We walked back to the future as galaxies silently floated in the water beneath our feet.

  ‘How close to the stage can you get us?’ I asked.

  ‘I can drop us under the stage,’ Donnie said.

  ‘Is there any chance that you’d drop us into the stage?’ Noah asked, worried. ‘Because I don’t want to die like that.’

  Donnie didn’t answer as he searched the water. He wasn’t much of a talker, but to be fair, his life was a hot mess at that moment.

  He was technically an orphan. Headmaster Archer would probably let him live at the academy – maybe he’d even adopt him – but Donnie was still a kid without parents.

  ‘Sorry about your mum and dad,’ I said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Donnie said.

  ‘I mean, if it helps, the history books say they disappeared in 1963, too,’ I said like some dude who always says the wrong thing.

  Donnie looked back at me. ‘What?’

  Of course, my mouth kept going without my permission. ‘I don’t know, the school’s history books say they disappeared a little bit after you did,’ I said.

  Noah and Penny looked at me, like, ‘SHUT YOUR MOUTH.’

  ‘Anywaaay,’ I sighed, desperately wanting to change the subject. ‘Hey, how come you didn’t freak out when you fell on the stage? I mean, the Reaper was on your head.’

  Donnie continued walking. ‘I didn’t know the Reaper was a thing until an hour ago.’

  ‘I can’t believe they’d keep that kind of secret from you,’ Penny said.

  ‘I’m sure there are bigger secrets than that,’ Donnie said.

  I hated that idea.

  Donnie stopped walking. ‘We’re here,’ he said, pointing at the reflection in the water. It was the memorial service for Headmaster Kepler. ‘You guys ready?’

  Penny and Noah stood on both sides of Donnie, but I kept walking. The reflections showed us the past, but they also showed us the future. It was like walking on top of a fortune teller’s crystal ball, and if I went far enough ahead, I could see what was going to happen after we caught the Reaper.

  I wanted to know if we won.

  Or worse, if we lost.

  In the water, I saw myself, Donnie, and Dexter getting zapped by Duncan. Me asleep in the nurse’s office. The Abandoned Children’s attack on the school. Our escape from the lab.

  But right after that, the reflections went wonky, flickering random images like a broken TV set. I couldn’t make sense of any of it.

  My friends caught up to me.

  Donnie thought for a moment. ‘Headmaster Kepler lived his whole life keeping this timeline in check, but … he’s gone now. The timeline isn’t protected.’

  The images in the water kept changing, morphing into different scenes, sometimes better, sometimes worse. A beautiful, futuristic city with flying cars melted into a city on fire with screaming people. Superheroes and supervillains battling in the clouds like warrior angels. Times Square getting swallowed up by a gigantic black hole.

  And then I saw me and my friends. We looked like the Avengers, wearing cool suits and saving the world. But then the image changed again, turning us from the good guys into the bad guys destroying the world.

  ‘What’s it mean?’ Penny said.

  ‘These are different possible versions of the future,’ Donnie said. ‘Anything can happen now.’

  ‘That’s just another way of saying we have no idea what’s gonna happen, isn’t it?’ Penny asked.

  The four of us walked back to the reflection of the memorial service. We all took a deep breath and nodded when we were ready.

  Donnie tightened his lips and then sank us into the water.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  We landed in the open grass with a soft thud, the sun shining brightly over our heads. We should’ve been under the stage, covered in shade, but we weren’t.

  Donnie messed up.

  I knew we were at the funeral because I could

  hear the same boring story about the old headmaster buzzing through the speaker system. I just didn’t know where we were at the funeral.

  I got on my knees to take in our surroundings. Hopefully, we weren’t anywhere close to our past selves.

  But, of course, we were right behind the last row where they were currently sitting.

  ‘Wait, we’re—’ I said, but Penny put her hand over my mouth.

  ‘They can’t know we’re here,’ she mouthed.

  She was right. When we were sitting there earlier, we didn’t turn around and see ourselves, so if they did, it would lead to all kinds of problems, jacking up the timeline.

  Suddenly, my past self shifted in his seat and started looking over his shoulder. The four of us immediately scooted against the back of the last row, hoping he wouldn’t see us.

  He didn’t.

  He’s an idiot like that.

  Wait, I mean … never mind.

  Just then, there was a loud crash on the stage, and everything happened exactly the way it did the first time.

  Our past selves jumped up from their seats and ran down the aisle as someone up the front shouted, ‘Get it off me! Get it off!’

  I tried to run after them, but Noah pulled me back. ‘Not yet, dude! If we go now, everybody will see two versions of us!’

  I yanked my arm away. ‘But if we don’t go now, we’ll lose the Reaper!’

  ‘It’s too risky!’ Noah said. ‘Just wait, like, thirty seconds!’

  Didn’t he realise that every second counted? That waiting was a bigger risk? He’d understand after I had the Reaper in custody.

  I acted cool, like I was gonna duck down again, but then I grabbed the beekeeper’s net from Donnie and took off down a different aisle.

  The past versions of ourselves were already at the stage, and I even heard myself say, ‘Holy donks,’ from the speakers.

  I slid to a stop behind the first row so they wouldn’t see me. Another second passed, and then they all made their way to the buffet tables.

  I was clear.

  And it was go-time.

  I crawled around, searching for any signs of a slithering squid, but there was nothing.

  The Reaper was invisible when he got me Outside, and he was invisible when he came back with Donnie. I was trying to find a patch of grass that moved
unnaturally.

  ‘Where is he?’ Noah said when he finally arrived. ‘Do you see anything?’

  ‘Nothing yet,’ I said.

  ‘You probably scared him off by going all gung ho,’ Noah said, annoyed.

  ‘We probably lost him because you didn’t,’ I said, even more annoyed.

  Noah pushed his fingers through the grass. ‘You’re gonna get us all killed with that attitude.’

  What was his deal?

  We were running out of time, and all he wanted to do was lecture me?

  If we didn’t find the Reaper now, then he’d be gone forever. Or at least until he decided to destroy the planet again.

  I watched the ground carefully for movement. The wind blew gently, making the grass blades sway softly.

  I figured one of two things – one, if the Reaper was crawling around, then we’d see grass bend as he pushed it aside. Or two, if the Reaper was keeping perfectly still, then only the grass underneath him would be frozen, like a dead spot.

  But then I realised a third option – squids don’t become invisible. They use camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. They make themselves look like the things around them. I learned that on a little something called the internet.

  I was super into squids for a while, don’t ask why.

  If that was the case, then the Reaper’s body would look like gently blowing grass. The only way to see him would be to lay my head on the ground and look for a small hump of earth that was out of place.

  My only hope was that the Reaper’s alien squid body acted like an Earth squid’s body.

  And that’s when I saw it. A smooth lump that wasn’t moving, except it looked like it was. On the surface were patches of green and brown colours, quivering like the grass around it.

  I slowly raised the beekeeper’s net as Noah, Penny and Donnie watched with wide eyes – they knew it was about to get real.

  Then I screamed, slamming the pathetic net down over the lump.

  The Reaper’s skin flashed red, and his eyes opened like two huge bulges on his head. He tore right through the net and shot through the grass like Sonic the freakin’ Hedgehog.