Worlds Apart

by James Riley

  The first Science Police robot that came running into the dungeon got Charm’s robotic fist right through its face. She yanked her arm free of the robot’s head, then shot the next one in the chest, whirled past it, and punched a third one into the nearby tower wall hard enough to crumple it into pieces.

  “Sorry about that,” she said, brushing wires off of her robotic hand. “What were you saying?” She glanced over at Owen, whose mouth was hanging open.

  “I, uh, wow,” he stammered, having trouble thinking. For once, it wasn’t just the fault of missing his imagination either, now that his heart wasn’t working well again. Though with Charm here now, at least he had someone fictional to jumpstart his imagination in emergencies.

  “Hey,” she said, glaring at him. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ve got some pent-up hostility. Feels good to let it out.”

  “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen you do,” Owen said, completely sincerely. “And I’ve seen you do a lot of cool things.”

  The slightest tinge of red bloomed in Charm’s cheeks, and she rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to say every single thought that pops into your head, you know. Some of them can just be for you.”

  Owen nodded a few times, then followed her out of the hallway. “Dr. Verity is at the top of the stairs,” he said, pointing.

  “Good,” Charm said, starting up the stairs. “He’s got my people somewhere, and I’m not going anywhere without them.”

  “He’s got my friend up there somewhere too,” Owen told her. “And something we’re going to need if we ever want to get home.”

  Charm raised an eyebrow. “He’s got Bethany? How did you turn her back from that ray of light?”

  Owen blinked. “Um, long story. But no, different friend. Someone who helped me escape from Nobody, actually.”

  Charm narrowed her eyes at the name. “Was he the reason you went missing in Jupiter City? I knew it wasn’t my fault. That’s another thing I owe that faceless piece of garbage-ridden—”

  “We should hurry,” Owen said, looking up nervously as the alarm blared. “There’ll be more Science Police on their way.”

  “Let them come,” Charm said, giving him another half smile. “I could use some exercise.” She began to climb the spiral staircase two by two, and Owen raced to catch up.

  “How did you get here?” he asked again, just before she shoved him backward against the wall. Lasers came sizzling past him, and she shot two more robots with her ray gun.

  “The Magister wanted some revenge, so he took it out on my people at our lowest moment,” she told him, eyeing the stairs for more Science Police. “I’d built an experimental machine to give myself powers just like Bethany’s, only without any restrictions. I wanted the powers so I could go after Nobody, only the machine didn’t work right, and then Nobody showed up anyway and used my invention against Quanterium.” She gritted her teeth, and her robotic hand dug into the wall behind them with a crunch.

  “What did the invention do?” Owen asked quietly.

  “It was supposed to let me turn into whatever I wanted, just like Nobody does. But it wasn’t controllable. When Nobody used it on us, it messed up the entire planet, making it too unstable to safely stay. I rounded up my people using our emergency measures, then went looking for help from the Magister.” She swore a few times under her breath. “He put some kind of spell on me, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in your stupid library again.”

  This time, she punched her fist into the wall just above Owen’s head, her arm shaking in rage. Owen waited as she calmed down enough to continue.

  “The magician turned me into a book,” she said finally. “Eventually the spell either wore off, or it was set to free me when someone opened my book, because the first thing I saw was some woman screaming. More of my people popped out in the same way, so I imagine they’re all around here somewhere.”

  All of that fit with Dr. Verity’s version of things. But it still didn’t answer one important question. “How could you have gotten here, though? To this world?” Owen asked her, hoping she knew of a way that Dr. Verity didn’t. Not having to fight the scientist to use the tower’s portal to get to the fictional world would make things a lot easier.

  “No idea,” she said. “Once we started waking up, or whatever we were doing, the people here got terrified. Called us an invasion.” She snorted. “Nice way to treat a bunch of people fleeing for their lives, by the way. They start rounding us up, bringing us here for ‘reprogramming.’ ”

  She dragged Owen up a few more stairs, then leaned out into the middle of the staircase, aimed her ray gun up, and took down two more Science Police a few floors above them. The robots tumbled down the middle of the stairwell, then exploded loudly as they hit the floor at the dungeon level.

  “Didn’t work on me, though,” Charm continued. “Probably too many computer parts in my head. But they brainwashed my people. Now they do whatever Verity says. How he got here, I don’t know either. But whoever sent him here instead of letting him die at the Source of Magic is going to talk to my fist.”

  “I bet,” Owen said, scrunching even farther back against the wall as more lasers went sizzling past.

  Charm went silent for a moment, holding up a finger for him to be quiet. She began to slowly climb the stairs, listening as well as watching for something, and then cursing under her breath. “Hear that?”

  Owen paused, trying to listen as hard as he could, but whatever it was, he couldn’t make it out. It probably helped to have robotic ears. “No, what—”

  “More guards. But not robots this time. I think he’s sending my people down after us.”

  And now Owen could hear it, footsteps from above them, but like Charm had said, not as heavy or metallic now. “We can’t fight them,” he whispered. “What do we do?”

  She sighed. “I’d normally say run for now, and then figure out a way to free my people before going after Verity. But if your friend is up there, then we don’t have a choice. We’re not leaving anyone behind.”

  Owen nodded. Though part of him did want to run, there was no way he was leaving Kara now. Charm returned his nod, then put away her ray guns. “I guess we go hand to hand and try not to permanently damage any of them, then.”

  A black helmet appeared above them, armed with a laser rifle. He fired, and the shot grazed Charm’s shoulder, in spite of the bit of shelter offered by the walls. She growled in pain as more appeared behind the first, and soon they were completely pinned down by all the blasts filling the air.

  This wasn’t going to work. Even if Charm could reach the black helmets through the laser beams, there’d be no way she could take them all down before one shot her. No, there was only one way through this.

  “Don’t let go,” he told her, and grabbed her hand in his. Her eyes widened, and she looked at him in confusion. “Might as well use that power you gave me,” he said, then sped up time.

  His heart immediately started racing as the lasers around them began to freeze in midair, shortening into smaller blasts of light now instead of a continuous laser beam. Considering the lasers were still moving at the speed of light, they weren’t stopping altogether, even with time moving this quickly, but they had slowed enough for Owen and Charm to dodge through them.

  Even if the lasers hadn’t frozen, the black helmets had, so the number of blasts lessened considerably as soon as they passed the first volley.

  “I knew I was good,” Charm said as they climbed carefully past the black helmets, “but I didn’t realize I was this good.”

  Owen tried to smile, but the pressure on his chest was getting worse. He looked up the stairs and groaned at the sight: There were black helmets all the way up to Dr. Verity’s office now.

  “Let’s just hurry,” he said, his voice breaking with pain.

  Charm looked at him with concern. “You okay?”

  “My heart . . . doesn’t do so great when I use these powers now,” he said, sliding past another
black helmet while making sure not to touch the Quanterian.

  Charm stared at him for a moment, then picked him up, threw him over her shoulder, and began to run. Even moving quickly, she still was careful not to accidentally bump a black helmet off the stairs, though she did come close a few times, especially as they neared the top.

  Finally, as the pain started turning unbearable, Charm reached Dr. Verity’s office. She threw her weight against the metal door, knocking it open in spite of the security measures, then jumped inside and slammed it shut, locking it. Owen immediately slid off her shoulder to the ground and released his hold on time, barely able to even think through the pain.

  “Oh, look!” said a familiar voice. “I love when unwanted guests just appear out of nowhere.”

  Owen looked up to find Dr. Verity standing over Kara, who was tied down on the same table he’d used when operating on Owen. Kara looked like she was frozen midscream, with wires attached to her head and monitors above them showing all kinds of different versions of her time bracelet. “I’d love to know how you did it,” Dr. Verity continued. “But no time for that now. I’ve got what I need, so enjoy yourselves here. I really have to be going back to the past, before the tower’s magic faded. The dimensional portal doesn’t work here in the future, and how else am I going to get back home? Lots of Magisteria to destroy, after all!”

  He touched the time bracelet on his hand, and everything in the lab, including the computers, the Science Police, and even Kara, all silently disappeared.

  CHAPTER 24

  Kiel?” Bethany said, her voice just above a whisper. “Stay here. See if you can get anything else out of the Magister.”

  “Where are you going?” Kiel asked her.

  “I just need a minute,” she said, then grabbed Fowen by his shirt and threw him out of the Magister’s office.

  “Whoa!” Fowen said, throwing his hands up in surrender as she slammed the office door behind them. “I get it, we didn’t leave things on the best of terms last time. But that’s all behind us now!”

  “How did you get out of the book I left you in?” Bethany demanded, bashing him against the wall. “How did you get here? Why is the Magister teaching you magic?”

  Fowen grinned. “Well, he had an opening, since Kiel’s not interested anymore—”

  Bethany shook him over and over, then threw him against the wall a second time. “Who set you free? Tell me or I will—”

  “You’ll what?” Fowen asked, giving her an almost pitying look. “You’re not exactly in a position to threaten me anymore.” He held up a hand and sent sparks flying from finger to finger. “But we’re getting off on the wrong foot here. I’m not your enemy, Bethany.”

  “Really? Because I remember you trying to drown me and steal my powers not too long ago!”

  Fowen actually looked a bit embarrassed by that. “Okay, yes, but in my defense, they were really awesome powers. But that’s all over now. I don’t need them anymore. I have my own!”

  Bethany glared at him. “Who. Let. You. Out.”

  Fowen sighed. “It was Nobody, okay? He came to get me not long after you left me there. I only got through, like, one Sherlock Holmes case as part of the Baker Street Irregulars.” He rolled his eyes. “I barely had any time to show off my knowledge of modern science!”

  Bethany let go of him and took a step back. “Nobody rescued you? Why would he bother?”

  Fowen gave her a pained look. “Ouch, first of all. Second, I think he was just cleaning up your mess, actually. For a long time, he just left me in some weird plane of all white where nothing happened and time didn’t exist. I just floated there, bored out of my mind.” He shuddered. “The worst torture you could imagine. But eventually he came back and offered me a second chance. Said that’s what the fictional world was all about—possibilities.”

  “Yeah, he definitely seems interested in starting things over,” Bethany said, narrowing her eyes. “And that’s when you, what, joined up with the Magister?”

  Fowen blushed. “Actually, that’s when I helped Nobody steal that light machine from your dad and his sidekick by pretending to be Nowen.”

  Rage flooded her mind, and Bethany grabbed for him again, but he quickly jumped out of the way. “Hey, we were rescuing you!” he said, backing away. “You could say thank you!”

  “Oh, I’ll be happy to thank you,” Bethany said, running through images in her mind. She could turn into a steamroller and drive over him. Or morph into a giant anvil and drop on him from above? That might be fun.

  “No worries,” Fowen said, staying just out of reach. “Besides, aren’t you happier now with the worlds the way they are? You’ve got your father back, and no one cares about your secret anymore.”

  “That’s not the point,” Bethany said angrily, though he wasn’t wrong.

  “I’d be mad too, I get it,” Fowen said. “But because I’m a nice guy, I’m going to do you a favor—”

  “A favor?! You tried to drown—”

  “Fine!” Fowen said, shaking his head. “I’m going to pay you back, okay? Is that better? Think of it as a peace offering.”

  “What could you possibly do for me?”

  He smiled. “I might have been listening at the door. And before you hit me again, I can help you. I know a way for you to not only rescue the Quanterians, but also gain the power to beat Nobody once and for all.”

  Bethany froze midgrab for him. If she could track down the Quanterians, maybe she’d find Charm. And if anyone could figure out how to fix the effect of the possibility rays, it’d be Charm and her scientists. She could cure her father and stop this insane plan of Nobody’s, assuming Fowen wasn’t lying about a new power.

  Wait a second. This was Fowen. Of course he was lying! “No deal,” she said. “I’ve got no reason to believe you.”

  “See, that’s where you’re wrong,” he told her. “You think I want to get turned into pure possibility and get erased? There’s no way Nobody would be bringing me back. I want to take him down the same as you do!”

  “Fine,” Bethany said. “But if this is a trap, one of us won’t be walking away from it.”

  “That’d be more threatening if what you said wasn’t the exact definition of a trap,” Fowen said, then ducked as Bethany punched right where his head had been. “Okay, I’m sorry! Follow me.”

  He led her down the stairs in the tower, passing door after door with weird lights and odd noises coming from within. Bethany recognized a lot of it from her time in the nonfictional version of the Magister’s tower, back when he’d been trying to unleash fictional monsters on nonfictional people.

  Wait. She never used to call it the nonfictional world. It’d always been the real world to her. When had that changed? Was the fictional world the real one now? The idea both startled and thrilled her.

  They continued downward in silence, Bethany watching Fowen for the slightest hint of betrayal, while he seemed to be counting doors as they descended. Finally, he stopped in front of one close to the bottom and murmured some words that Bethany couldn’t hear as he shook his finger at the lock. “I decided I didn’t want to learn using wands,” he said, looking back up at her as he pushed the door open. “They get lost too easily.”

  “Or someone steals them and erases your memory,” Bethany said, glaring at him.

  Fowen coughed. “Yeah, that too. Anyway, it’s in here.” He entered the dark room and murmured another spell. One by one, his fingers began to glow. The small lights then rose off his fingertips toward the ceiling, illuminating what looked like a storage area.

  “Charm and Kiel used this room back when they were looking for the keys to the Source of Magic,” Fowen said. “There’s a special item in here that’s going to solve all of our problems. Come on.”

  He led her farther into the still-dim room, past several objects covered by large cloths. One of the objects moved as they approached, but Fowen just shushed it, and whatever it was seemed to calm down.

  “At one
point in their adventures, Kiel and Charm had to travel to other dimensions in order to find one of the keys,” Fowen said, stopping in front of a large mirror on the wall. “And this is what they used to travel between those alternate dimensions.”

  “A mirror?” Bethany frowned. “Kind of . . . ordinary.”

  “No way, mirrors are classic portals,” Fowen said, touching a hand to the glass, then pushing through it as if the mirror were no more solid than the surface of a swimming pool. “This one’s special, too. It needs a twin on the opposite end to work, so you can only go where there’s another mirror just like this one. The mirrors aren’t connected like the nonfictional and fictional portals used to be, but think of it like needing an airport to land at the end of a flight. Without one, you’re probably going to crash.”

  “But you said they traveled to other dimensions to find a key.”

  “Maybe ‘alternate dimensions’ is the wrong way to put it,” Fowen said. “Think of them as parallel dimensions, other realities where another Magister built another tower with a mirror just like this one. The key was hidden in one of them, so Charm and Kiel had to search through a bunch.” He shrugged. “At least that’s the understanding I got from the Magister. Not like I ever read the books.”

  “So what are you saying? I should use this mirror to travel to a parallel dimension? What good does that do me?”

  “You’re not seeing the possibilities,” Fowen said. “Think about where you could go.”

  “Fowen,” Bethany said, getting angry again.

  “That’s not my name,” Fowen hissed, before catching himself and forcing a smile. “Let’s back up a second. Do you know what the Quanterians planned in case of a planet-wide emergency? They were at war for years, so had to prepare. Any ideas?”

  She just stared at him.

  “Right, moving on,” Fowen said. “Well, you’ve teleported before, obviously. The fun thing about teleporting is that basically it beams you up into a computer by turning you into pure information, then sends that information wherever you’re teleporting to and reverses the process. Now, if your whole planet was disappearing, what do you think would be the fastest way to get everyone to safety?”