Worlds Apart

by James Riley

  “That I do,” the scientist said. “The Magister and I tried it on our home worlds, but we were too late. He disappeared into possibility right as he sent me here in order to warn you, and maybe offer you a bit of hope.” He looked around. “Though we might not have what we need here.”

  “We’ll figure it out, just tell me the plan,” she said, shaking her head. To have come this far and defeat Nobody, only to lose Owen and then still fail . . . it’d be too much to take.

  Dr. Verity’s goggles spun and clicked as he focused on her. “Ah, wait a minute!” he said. “I take that back. It looks like you are just what we need. I’d thought my plan would require Nobody, but it seems that you’ll do just fine. Do you remember when I shot him with my ray gun? How he absorbed all of the possibilities I gave him?”

  Bethany nodded, weirdly remembering it from two different spots in the room. Being whole again was apparently going to take a little getting used to.

  Dr. Verity pointed up at the sky. “Well, that up there is just more of the same. If you can absorb it into yourself—”

  “If she can what?” Kiel shouted. “You didn’t tell me that was the plan. Absorbing that much would be impossible. It’ll destroy her!”

  “I’d hoped we’d be able to either convince or compel Nobody to do it, honestly,” Dr. Verity told him, actually looking sad. “But perhaps with your nonfictional anchor, you’ll be able to control it.”

  Bethany just stared at the scientist, not sure what to say. She could absorb the possibility wave . . . into herself? Yes, that’s what Nobody had done against both Dr. Verity and Owen. But this was different. The wave in the sky above them was everywhere, and on all worlds. It’d already erased entire planets! She’d definitely lose herself in the possibilities. There was no way she could do this!

  Kiel ran over to her and grabbed her shoulders. “Beth, you can’t do this,” he said, more serious than she’d ever seen him. “There has to be another way.”

  “I’m open to suggestions,” she told him as the wave began to slice into the remnants of the castle above their heads.

  Kiel took her hands and held them tightly. “What if you don’t come back? I can’t let you do this. Let me go instead.”

  She stared at him for a moment, then broke out laughing. Kiel looked confused at this, and a little hurt, but this just made Bethany laugh harder. “Oh, Kiel,” Bethany told him. “That’s sweet, but you can’t do this. I’m the only one who can.”

  Kiel slowly nodded, pointing down at the symbol on her superhero costume, which she hadn’t even realized she’d kept when she merged. “Your father would be proud,” he whispered. “He trained you well.”

  She glanced down at the symbol and smiled. “He did, didn’t he? But he wasn’t the only one.” She ran a finger over the Twilight icon, and quickly rewrote the costume to now include a picture of the planet Earth next to the moon and stars. “Sometimes you have to learn how to look past your own mistakes and forgive yourself.”

  Kiel furrowed his brow, probably having no idea who she was talking about, but there wasn’t much time to explain. Bethany raised her head toward the wave of nothingness above them and clenched her fists to keep from screaming.

  This was going to end her, erase her entirely. There was no way she’d come back from it.

  But if she didn’t do it, the entire fictional world would suffer the same fate. And there was no one else who could.

  So that just left her. Twilight Girl. The half-fictional girl.

  Bethany Sanderson.

  “Find Owen for me,” she told the others as she began to rise up off the ground, having rewritten herself the power to fly. “I . . . I don’t know if he made it. But if he did, make sure he’s safe. I couldn’t stand it if . . . if neither of us got back.”

  Kiel nodded, and Dr. Verity did too. “You’re saving us all,” the scientist said quietly. “Thank you.”

  She didn’t know how to respond. “Just trying to be me,” she said, then gave Kiel one final look.

  Then she soared up into the possibility wave.

  From below, Kiel and Dr. Verity watched as Bethany hit the wave and immediately disappeared, dissolving into the same nothingness as everything else it touched. “No!” Kiel shouted. “It was too much for her!”

  “Maybe,” Dr. Verity whispered. “Maybe not. We have to have faith, my boy.”

  The wave grew closer, now just a few yards over their heads. There’d be no escaping it now, even if there was somewhere to go. As it drew closer, Dr. Verity sighed and lowered his head.

  “I must have been wrong,” he said. “I’m so sorry, Kiel. For you and her. I thought she could handle it. But maybe she never had a chance after all.”

  “If she didn’t, none of us did,” Kiel said, still watching the sky as it pushed forward, now just a foot over his head. “Good-bye, Dr. Verity. I’ve enjoyed the new you much more than the old version.”

  “Me too, my boy,” Verity said, crouching to avoid the nothingness. “Me too.”

  As they both shut their eyes, waiting to be erased, something strange began to happen in the sky above them. The wave, invisible except for where they could see it dissolving the world around them, started glowing bright white and getting brighter by the moment. The light was blinding, but both of them looked up from behind raised arms.

  “What’s happening?” Kiel shouted at Dr. Verity.

  The scientist slowly smiled. “Well, I don’t have all the data, but my best guess is: She did it.”

  The sky continued to brighten, now too much for even their covered eyes. Both Kiel and Dr. Verity turned away, unable to watch, but even that didn’t block out the light.

  “Bethany!” Kiel shouted into the nothingness. “Come back to us!”

  But there was no response.

  Just as he thought the light was going to sear right through his eyelids, it abruptly cut out entirely, and everything went dark.

  Kiel blinked hard, waiting for his eyes to adjust, but all he could see was a bright streak wherever he looked. “Is it gone?” he asked. “Beth? Are you here?”

  Dr. Verity clicked his goggles a few times and scanned around. “The wave is gone, my boy!” he said happily, then sighed deeply. “But so is Bethany.”

  CHAPTER 57

  Nothing existed.

  Everything was possible.

  Anything she could possibly want . . . was she a she? . . . was up to her. She could become whatever. She could control all things. All she had to do was decide, and everything and anything could be hers.

  But how did one decide things? Where did you even begin? She could decide to know how to decide, but that involved a decision. And without deciding, there was still endless potential, so there was no hurry. Besides, deciding things just felt so . . . permanent. Why bother when anything could be . . . anything? She’d have to think about it to be sure, at least. A few million years could pass, and she could decide at that point.

  Maybe by then she’d know who she had once been?

  Except why did she have to be whoever she’d been? She could change everything. She could be anyone, or anything. There was nothing beyond her, and no possibility out of her power. Why be dragged down by the past? Here, there wasn’t any past, just potential.

  Bethany. You can fix this. You’ve got the power to make it right!

  She heard the words, but she wasn’t sure who or what had said them. Make things right? What did that even mean? Here, everything was right and everything was wrong, all at the same time. How could someone make anything right? Why would you take away the possibility of it being wrong? What if right actually was wrong, and she made a mistake?

  Worlds were erased. You can bring them back. The nonfictional part of you gives you that power. I believe in you!

  Worlds erased? But what about the worlds that had never been? None of that mattered. The only important thing was what could have happened, what could happen now, or later. What actually happened was the boring part.


  This isn’t reality, not the one you know. You can beat this, I know it.

  Reality? Who cared about reality? She had the power to make any reality. All reality was formed from chosen possibilities, and she had the power to choose whichever one she wanted. But when she could have infinite realities, why pick one? Why not just enjoy the idea of them all instead?

  They need you And you need help, someone who knows them, as much as anyone can. Bring him back.

  Him who? Him . . . that could be an infinite number of possibilities as well. She started to sort through them, but a name kept appearing over and over, from wherever the voice was coming from.

  . . . Owen? That was the name. Owen.

  A flood of images appeared before her. A normal-looking boy, with brown hair and a goofy smile. A friend. Someone she’d been on . . . adventures with. What adventures? She wasn’t sure. She looked back through the possibilities and felt something like joy. There were so many of them! And all of them would be so entertaining to explore.

  He knows stories, so many stories. Use his knowledge to restore the worlds. Bring him back!

  Back? Where had he gone? But it didn’t matter. This Owen brought her joy, so it was an easy choice for once. She wanted an Owen, and so, an Owen would now exist, just like the one that seemed the most likely in her mind. Flying through possibilities, she quickly found one that said Owen had lived through his fight with someone named Nobody, and she chose that.

  Owen appeared just like the images, floating in nothingness. “Whoa!” he shouted. “Where am I?”

  She looked at Owen and knew that had been the right decision. Within his head, she could feel . . . ideas. They were possibilities, yes, but possibilities with direction, with focus. And this focus . . . it was intriguing.

  But who was the other voice? She decided that she needed to see that person too, to better know why they were speaking. So she decided to make that person known.

  A middle-aged man in a purple cape and red costume appeared in the air right next to Owen, who jumped, though he couldn’t really go far, given that he was floating. “Gah!” he said, then seemed to realize something. “You’re . . . Doc Twilight?!”

  The caped man smiled. “We’ve never officially met, have we?” he said. “My daughter’s told me all about you, though. And I couldn’t be more proud of you than if you were my own son.”

  Owen turned a deep red color, which seemed odd. What other colors might he turn? So many possibilities. “But what are we doing here?” Owen asked. “Where is here?”

  The man’s face fell. “Bethany managed to save the entire fictional world, Owen. But to do that, she absorbed an infinite number of possibilities and is having some trouble making up her mind about what to do with them.” He looked around in all directions, as if he were searching for someone. “She has the power to restore all the stories that were erased by Nobody’s wave of infinite possibility. And I suggested she bring you back because you’ve read so many of them.”

  “Wait. Bethany’s here?” Owen said, looking all around him.

  She watched and listened and understood, or didn’t. That wasn’t entirely clear. This caped man seemed . . . special to her. But partly unknown, as well. Who was he?

  The man looked up from Owen, and she heard his voice in spite of his lips not moving. I am a memory you created, Bethany Sanderson. You needed a trusted voice to help guide you, and so you brought me here. But you can recreate the true version of your father. You can bring us both back to where we belong.

  Where she belonged? She could literally belong anywhere she wanted!

  The man smiled. You’re right about that. But you weren’t always what you are now. Once, a version of you saved an entire universe, kept it from dissolving into what you are now. That version of you still exists, somewhere in here. You can bring it back and fix things. You can even reconnect two realities that desperately need each other.

  “What’s happening?” Owen whispered.

  “Bethany’s trying to figure out if she should rebuild the fictional universe and reconnect it to the nonfictional one.”

  “I don’t hear anything,” Owen said, giving the man an odd look. “How can you know what she’s thinking?”

  “Because I’m not really me,” Doc Twilight said. “I’m just the memory of her father, not the true thing. She needed someone to guide her, and she subconsciously brought me here to help talk her through this.”

  Owen slowly nodded. “I have no idea what that means,” he said, but he turned around. “Bethany?” he shouted. “You should listen to him! He knows what he’s talking about, even if he is just a memory! Also, um, thank you for bringing me back?”

  This Owen made her want to laugh, whatever that was. And this memory raised interesting possibilities. But why stop at connecting the two realities? Why not rejoin them completely? There could be one reality, united, just like she was. It’d be easy to do with the power she had now. And that felt right, like a good decision.

  Whoa, uh, we might not be quite ready for that, the man said without moving his lips. Maybe someday, but for now, we still have a ways to go. But if you come back, there’d be no one more suited to helping them get where they need to be. And then you could fully join the worlds.

  This caped man seemed intent on her returning somewhere. But why would she return? She was perfectly happy here.

  “Bethany?” Owen said. “You should come back to us! Whatever you have to do to fix things, that’s great, but come back, okay? I want you to. So does Kiel and EarthGirl and—”

  The names immediately filled Bethany with strange feelings, and she instantly knew that they represented correct decisions, both of them. Even with an infinite number of other possibilities, she knew that there could be no two more important than whoever this Kiel and EarthGirl were. . . . Gwen? Yes, that seemed right.

  They would have to come back, she decided. And to do that, they would need worlds.

  And those worlds would need more worlds, if just to stay in their proper place. She reached out without hands and pulled image after image from Owen’s mind, using his knowledge of stories to rebuild world after world, fictional after fictional, moving more and more quickly so she could get back to the magical boy and the superhero girl.

  If you don’t anchor them, these worlds will disappear once more, the caped man told her. You’ll need to build portals between them and the nonfictional world.

  Portals. Those felt like good decisions as well. She passed through each possibility, liking what she saw, then found hundreds more just like them and decided to go with all of them.

  Wait, you can’t create so many—

  She ignored the caped man as joy filled her. The portals were too much fun, and now she knew what she wanted to do.

  I will send you, the real you, back, she told the caped man in his mind. Back where you belong. But do not worry. I will come too, when I’m done here.

  The caped man grinned, and she saw that his face was wet. “That sounds perfect,” he whispered out loud, then disappeared as she returned him to his proper story.

  “Where did he go?” Owen asked, looking all around. “Bethany? Are you still there?”

  She was Bethany, that was clear. And if she wished to see those other humans again, to once more be friends with this Owen, she would have to return to being Bethany again, just as she’d promised the caped man.

  But what about all of the possibilities she’d be leaving behind?

  Of course, even as a human girl, she would still have possibilities, wouldn’t she? She followed that idea, what she would become if she returned to being human and found a string of possibilities that stretched out even farther than she could see. That made her feel joyful, so it was correct.

  So yes, she would become this Bethany again. And she would bring this Owen back to his friends.

  But first, she decided on one last possibility, one last choice she had to make before she left.

  She decided that this, of all po
ssible endings, would be a happy one.

  THE END

  UNCHAPTERED

  Ugh,” Bethany said, reading the last line of Story Thieves: Worlds Apart. “I never said that! I never even thought it. I even told this James Riley guy exactly how it went, and he made me sound all corny!” She groaned. “I never should have let him finish the series and publish it over here in the nonfictional world.”

  “Oh, I love it!” Gwen said at her side, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “It was the perfect way to end things. I was so worried about Owen, too!”

  “You love everything,” Bethany said, hugging her with one arm. “That’s my favorite thing about you.”

  “Did I really help you forgive yourself?” Gwen asked her, blushing slightly.

  “More than I even told Mr. Riley,” Bethany said.

  “I’d like to know why I was out of the story for so much of it?” Kid Twilight said from the roof of her house, where he was keeping watch over her quiet, nonfictional neighborhood. “And why do you always call me Kid Twilight? Use my real name.”

  Bethany slowly blushed. “Um, I’m not sure I know it?”

  “What?!”

  “You want me to know your secret identity?” Bethany asked. “And would you come down from there? There’s no crime happening around here, at least not until Kiel shows up.”

  Kid Twilight snorted. “That’s what the criminals want you to think. That’s how they get you.”

  Someone opened the door behind them, and Bethany and Gwen both turned around to find Bethany’s father and mother standing there, her father’s arm around her mother’s waist. “Did you finish the book?” her father asked.

  “Yes, and I loved how it all ended!” Gwen said.

  “It was kinda clichéd, I thought,” Bethany told him with a shrug. “That guy needs to work on his writing if he’s ever going to get anywhere.”

  “Did you know she doesn’t know my real name?” Kid Twilight said from the roof above them.

  Doc Twilight grinned. “Oh, come down from there, Orion. The city can take care of itself for a bit.”