Saving Fable

by Scott Reintgen

  Indira spun and screamed. The world spun with her.

  Maxi’s hand. It was Maxi’s hand on her shoulder.

  Indira was back in the Talespin. The voice continued echoing, but the Author was gone, and for some reason she could barely keep her feet. “Indira?” Maxi asked. “Are you okay?”

  She stumbled back and almost fainted. There was an intense pressure at her temples. As the room spun, she was thankful to discover Maxi’s arm hooked into hers. With surprising strength, her friend led her to the nearest seat and sat her down. Maxi’s eyes went conspiratorially wide. “You saw something. You totally saw something.”

  Indira shook herself. What had she seen? Like a dream, the images were quickly growing less and less clear. She remembered the Author and his hunched shoulders. But then there was the voice angrily yelling at her from every direction, the powerful shove out of that world and back into this one. “I saw an Author,” Indira said. “But…there was this voice…”

  Maxi raised a curious eyebrow. “Like the Author was speaking to you?”

  “No,” Indira said, trying to remember. “It was someone else. They shouted at me, and then I just kind of got shoved away.”

  Indira glanced around and noticed that the rest of the customers were staring at them. She steeled herself, stood, and headed for the entrance. Maxi helped her along, and the effect of the open air was instantaneous. Indira felt the tightness in her chest loosening. That voice haunted her, but at least it was gone now, and they could put the place behind them.

  Hoping to recapture the spirit of exploration they’d started the day with, Maxi announced they would be heading to the Librarian Hall of Fame next.

  “The map says it’s up there.” She pointed at the inverted castles. “Are you…I mean, do you think you’ll be okay? We can totally wait for another day.”

  Indira really just wanted to go home. She wanted to curl up in her nook of a room and get some much-needed rest. She didn’t want to think about her failed auditions or the strange voice or anything at all, but she knew Maxi had taken time to plan out a fun day.

  “I’m fine, really. How do we get up there?”

  “Come on,” Maxi said. The two girls linked arms and crossed the busy courtyard. At the mouth of a particularly wide alleyway, they found a square tile that had been painted a familiar color of bright blue. “We just have to take the dragoneye!”

  Both girls tilted their heads back. A security guard was walking along the rooftop of one of the upside-down castles. He saw them staring and gave a polite wave. Maxi set both feet on the painted square. Indira saw the eyelid split and the familiar eye appear. The creature considered Maxi unblinkingly. Then the deep voice bellowed: “What is your worst fear?”

  Clearing her throat, Maxi said, “Public speaking.”

  Indira raised an eyebrow as Maxi vanished. She was afraid of public speaking? Maxi? The blue square shivered with light. Indira tilted her head back. Sure enough, a smaller and harder-to-see version of her friend had appeared in the dangling city above.

  Indira stepped forward, and the same earthen voice asked, “What is your deepest fear?”

  “Failure,” she said softly. “I don’t want to leave David behind.”

  A flash, a pull, and she found herself staring at a new set of city streets. She looked up and realized, with a turn of her stomach, that she was actually looking down. The other half of Fable, the forest, the distant ocean, all gleamed like a too-solid sky. Before her stomach could fully settle, Maxi hooked her arm back into Indira’s and led them off once more.

  She played the role of dramatic tour guide very well. Indira couldn’t help noting how much Maxi already knew about the city. Some of the information she read from the margins of the map, but other bits were pulled directly from memory. Indira pointed to a building on their right that was cut off by a moat. The only way across was a very medieval-looking drawbridge.

  “What’s that one?”

  Maxi answered excitedly. “That’s the headquarters for the Grammar Police.”

  Indira frowned. “The Grammar Police?”

  “Law and order,” Maxi confirmed. “The Grammar Police handle all the small-scale crime in Fable. Missing commas, burglaries, trespassing. The Editors are the ones who tackle the really big stuff. Dark plots, global threats, that kind of thing.”

  “Cool. How do you know so much about them?”

  “Oh. I read it. Somewhere.” Maxi let out a little squeal. “Look! We’re here!”

  Great Roman-style columns fronted the vast face of a very official-looking structure, complete with ghostly marble steps. It was the kind of building you had to stand and look at for a while to really appreciate. Maxi was right in the middle of reading an official plaque when a puff of dust shot out of an alleyway on their right. A dog-ear came skidding out with it. Indira heard a woman shouting before she rounded the corner. She realized it was the same pair from the day before, the same Mark who had claimed to have had her watch stolen.

  Other characters backed away as the dog-ear came tearing down the street. Maxi stumbled back too, muttering something about her new shoes. The woman shouted again.

  “Stop that dog-ear!”

  Before she could even think twice, Indira launched forward. The dog-ear adjusted, but not quickly enough, and Indira wrapped both arms around its neck and tangled it into a painful roll. Two rotations later she came to a stop with the dog-ear pinned and squirming beneath her. She held tighter, and it dropped the bronze watch to snap at her. She pulled back her face, and the dog-ear snarled, doubling its efforts to slip her weight.

  The Mark arrived, panting. Indira had expected all the Marks to look the same, but surely they didn’t all have freckles running down their arms or such distinctive light-brown eyes. Indira held the dog-ear tight as the Mark stooped to snatch her watch from the dusty street.

  Prize lost, the dog-ear gave up the struggle and let its head flop playfully back to the ground. It watched them, tongue lolling as though it found the whole thing very amusing.

  Indira scowled and sat up. The dog-ear scrambled to its feet, trotted a safe distance away, and turned to give Indira a piercing stare. She saw that a thread of her pink shirt had ripped free as they’d rolled around. Now it dangled from the dog’s collar like a ribbon. The creature huffed once before shooting out of sight.

  “How can I ever thank you, darling?”

  The Mark spoke with a thick drawl. It wasn’t hard for Indira to imagine the woman stuck between the pages of some historical romance with fancy dresses and horse-drawn carriages.

  “Some days I just don’t have the good sense the Authors gave a rock. I mean, really, taking my watch off in a public square. I was just asking for trouble.”

  “No worries.” Indira smiled politely. “It was kind of fun.”

  The Mark looked down at her watch. “Look at the time! Quick, honey, what’s your name? I clearly owe you a favor.”

  Indira hesitated. “It really wasn’t a—”

  “Oh, I insist, sweetie.”

  She sighed. “My name’s Indira Story.”

  “Oh, I could just eat that up!” the Mark said with a wink. “I’ll catch you later.”

  The slender woman glanced at her watch, smiled, and vanished. Maxi squeezed past the crowd of characters who had gathered as witnesses to Indira’s little stunt. She hadn’t quite realized just how many people were watching.

  “You’re such a natural,” Maxi said. “I can only imagine how your auditions went! The way you just went all instincts on that? I was seriously jealous. I might have made protagonist track or whatever, but it’s hard to feel like a real hero with someone like you around!”

  Indira nodded her thanks, but she didn’t know what to say. Should she tell Maxi the truth? She had failed. She wasn’t even allowed to be a protagonist according to the brainstorm
s. It was one thing to tackle a fleeing dog, but that was the same instinct that had gotten her in trouble against Peeve. Indira had been too eager to play the hero, so her old neighbor had known exactly what she was going to do.

  “Coming?” Maxi asked.

  Indira looked up. “Yeah, sorry, I’m coming.”

  The rest of the day ticked away quickly. They saw the endless statues in the Librarian Hall of Fame. They swung by to catch a movie at the Fan-Fiction Cinemas. All twelve theaters were featuring a different fan-written version of some book called The Lightning Thief. Maxi and Indira watched one where the story had been converted into a musical featuring a few too many tap-dancing centaurs for Indira’s taste.

  Even with all the distractions, Indira couldn’t stop thinking about how unfair her auditions had been. Peeve had watched her and studied her and used all that information against her. Was Maxi right? Was she really a natural? And if she was a natural, why had her auditions gone so miserably?

  At the end of the day, the two girls walked silently back home. Maxi made sure to show Indira how to get to Protagonist Preparatory for classes the next day.

  “We should totally meet up and compare scheds.”

  When they reached the Skirts, Indira made sure to give Maxi the biggest hug she could.

  “See you tomorrow, Maxi.”

  Maxi clapped her hands together in delight and headed home. Indira watched her friend until she’d rounded a corner and vanished from sight. It had been a long day, but at least she had a friend who was willing to put an arm around her when she needed it. And she had a family waiting for her at home. As she walked back to the Penningtons’, she realized she also had determination. She’d come to Fable with a purpose.

  Get in a story. Be a hero. Bring David with her.

  One lousy audition wasn’t going to stop her from being the best character she could be.

  Indira dreamed about dragons with great marble eyes. Every time she spoke, one of the great dragons would unfold its wings. Before long their flight filled the empty sky like poetry. It wasn’t until the dream was nearly over that she realized she was one of them. She climbed up, up, up through the clouds before waking in a twist of covers.

  There are no fair trades between dreams and the waking world. After all, no one wants to trade flying for morning breath.

  Indira stared at the ceiling for a long time but couldn’t go back to sleep. Not with the first day of school looming ahead of her. She tried to keep in mind the words she’d heard when she’d arrived on the outskirts of Fable: Every cage has a key. She felt as if she were in a cage, and she was having a hard time imagining herself finding a key.

  Indira started downstairs but was cut off at the landing by Patch. Her adopted brother was already in his pirate attire, bent over a book of bright colors and funny shapes.

  “Morning, kiddo,” Indira said, ruffling his hair.

  He aaarrred in response, which was funny enough to untangle one of the five thousand knots in her stomach. A second knot unraveled at the sight of Mrs. Pennington. She had on a delightfully blue apron and dangling earrings. Indira’s adopted mother set down hot plates and fluttered forward with open arms. “It’s someone’s special day!”

  Indira smiled shyly. “It’s just school.”

  “Just school,” Mrs. Pennington repeated. “It’s your first day! You’ll meet your teachers and new students, and oh, it’s bound to be so exciting!”

  She sat Indira down in front of a full breakfast spread before glancing back into the living room and calling, “Captain! Your breakfast is ready in the main cabin.”

  Patch abandoned pirate decorum and allowed his mother to put him in a booster seat. He went straight for the apple pancakes. Mrs. Pennington poured him a generous portion of syrup and continued. “Now, from what I’ve read, you’ll have auditions first, right?”

  Indira’s stomach did a nosedive. “I already had them.”

  “Oh.” Mrs. Pennington assessed the look on Indira’s face. “And…”

  Indira moved her food around with a fork, unable to meet her foster mother’s eye.

  “They didn’t go as planned,” Mrs. Pennington guessed. “Not to worry! Because the next part matters just as much. Classes and practice and training. That’s what really makes a character into someone worthy of a story. It’s not as if you’re just stuck with your fate. Plenty of characters have carved themselves into something more after a poor audition.”

  Indira stopped chewing her sausage and said with a full mouth, “They have?”

  Patch mimicked Indira, showing them both a mouthful of pancakes before giggling.

  “Stop that, Patch,” Mrs. Pennington said. “Of course. I’ve read all about it! How was I supposed to give you good advice without reading about it?”

  Indira shrugged. “I just kind of thought I was stuck as a side character.”

  “For now,” Mrs. Pennington answered. “That’s just the school’s official classification for you, but if you prove yourself, there’s no telling what role an Author could have in store for you, Indira. I really think you’re going to be great. All you have to do is figure out your strengths.”

  Indira couldn’t help feeling as though Mrs. Pennington’s interpretation of things was very…motherly. Brainstorm Ketty hadn’t mentioned any of this, which had her feeling that it wasn’t an actual possibility. She took a little hope from Mrs. Pennington’s encouragement, but made sure to stay realistic, too. There was a lot of ground to make up after how poorly she’d performed in auditions.

  “What if I don’t have any strengths?” Indira asked.

  “Stars and skies, you’re a Pennington! Of course you have strengths.”

  Indira forked another sausage and nodded tightly. She hadn’t realized how much faith Mrs. Pennington had in her. Even if Indira didn’t know what her strengths were, at least she had made the right decision at the Adoption Agency. Wasn’t that a strength? Good decision making?

  Before Indira could ask another question, the telephone rang. Indira fumbled her fork in surprise. She hadn’t even known they had a telephone. Mrs. Pennington bustled over to the receiver and answered in a cheery voice, “Pennington residence!”

  Indira couldn’t hear the caller, but she listened as Mrs. Pennington mm-hmmed her way through the conversation. She ended by saying, “Of course. You take care of yourself, doll.”

  She watched Mrs. Pennington take a deep and steadying breath. “All right, loves. That was Mrs. Stevenson. She’s had an emergency and needs me to take her shift at work. Indira, I meant to walk you to school….”

  “I already know how to get there,” Indira said quickly. “I’ll be okay, I promise.”

  Mrs. Pennington looked grateful, but her eyes settled on Patch next. “Little captain, how would you like it if your sister walked you to the park? The Baker twins wanted to play with you today, remember?”

  Patch set down his fake pirate’s hook sadly. “You can’t walk me?”

  “Little pirates have to be brave,” Mrs. Pennington answered. “Indira’s a part of your crew now too. Don’t you think she deserves some attention from the captain?”

  Patch accepted this explanation gladly. “Can I at least recite my colors?”

  Mrs. Pennington’s eyes darted to the hanging clock, but after the briefest hesitation she sat down. “Let’s hear red.”

  Patch sat up a little straighter. “Red is an enemy ship. Or a rose! But I don’t like thorns.”

  Mrs. Pennington smiled. “And green?”

  “Green is land ho! Or seasickness.”

  Mrs. Pennington swept over and pulled him into a hug. “That’s my little captain. Keep practicing on the way to the park. Indira will help you with any colors you don’t know.”

  Before Indira could ask where the park was, Mrs. Pennington had sketched out a quick map o
n a napkin. It was only a bit out of the way, and Mrs. Pennington assured her that she had plenty of time before school. She apologized for the inconvenience as she gathered papers and work identification. Mrs. Pennington was set to walk out the door, but Indira stopped her so that she could fix a twist at the back of Mrs. Pennington’s collar.

  “Don’t worry about us,” Indira said. In the background, Patch was making cannonball noises. “Thanks for the pep talk. I really needed that today.”

  “Did I do all right?” Mrs. Pennington asked. “I’m trying to do it the right way.”

  “You were great,” Indira whispered.

  Mrs. Pennington gave a wide smile before swinging open the door. She turned back and asked, “Who has it better than us?”

  “Nobody!” Patch and Indira answered together.

  With that, Mrs. Pennington headed to work and left the two of them home alone. Indira sat Patch down with a book and went upstairs to get ready. Exactly two minutes later she realized there was no getting ready. She had no notes to read through, no clothes to change into, no possessions to gather. All she had was her new uniform and the knapsack of supplies Brainstorm Ketty had given her. She slid the gorgeous navy-blue jacket over her normal shirt, tightened her belt, and hung her hammer from the belt loop.

  She pulled her dark hair into a ponytail. There, she was as ready as she’d ever be.

  Patch followed her out of the house, a favorite toy clutched against his shoulder. As they walked to the end of the street, he pointed out colors from his book in the bright Fable morning.

  “Sidewalk is slate,” he announced proudly. “Trees are olive. And that’s a cerulean jay!”

  A blue bird fluttered by. Indira ruffled his hair again as they reached the end of the street. She looked left and right, but there was no sign of any foot traffic. She started leading Patch across the road, but he stopped unexpectedly on the sidewalk.