Escaping Ordinary

by Scott Reintgen

  It took effort to keep one hand pressing the B button down as she used the other to reach for her hammer. Ledge shouted louder and louder, and finally Indira understood. He wasn’t shouting at her. He was making noise, trying to get Joey’s attention.

  Indira reached for her hammer again. As she straightened, Phoenix came flying around the corner ahead of them. Those beautiful wings swept outward to block her path. They were wide enough that the tips grazed the buildings on either side of the road.

  Even at a distance, she could see the pain in his eyes. He was no longer controlling his own body. Joey sat on his back, lacrosse stick held up like a sword. It wasn’t hard to figure out what would happen next, what someone like Joey would force Phoenix to do in this moment.

  Indira’s boat was hurtling straight at them. She saw the flex of neck muscles, the jaw opening wide. Joey’s intentions were clear. Indira clutched her hammer tight and leaped over the side. Fire sprang out of Phoenix’s open jaws.

  She felt the heat of it press against her neck before she broke the water’s surface. The bolt hit her stolen vessel and she heard wood crack, exploding in every direction from the pressure. All the sound and heat, however, was cut off by the water around her.

  Her feet touched the bottom. Looking up, she saw that everything was chaos. Wooden pieces scattered. Ledge floated to one side of the wreckage, unconscious. Flames licked over the surface of the water. Above all of that, she saw a darker form hovering, waiting for her to surface. Indira felt like she was having a panic attack. There was nowhere to go. Eventually, she’d run out of air. Forced out of the water, she’d be captured by Joey.

  And then she saw it.

  The ping on the map in her second vision. It glowed as bright as a guiding star. She realized she was nearly standing in the right spot. Her eyes were drawn ahead. The dot was there.

  Gadget had marked an exit for her.

  It was not a typical grate. Indira swam forward carefully, staying as close to the canal bottom as she could, and trying not to make sudden movements that might stir the water. Each stroke brought her closer to a massive drainage grate. There must have been a creek that ran through the town, flowing out below this section of the outer wall. Indira reached it, lungs protesting, and realized the gaps were too small. Why would Gadget highlight this for her?

  Even a child couldn’t fit through the openings in the grate. She glanced up. The great shadow was still circling, wingbeats stirring the surface, searching for her.

  Indira was running out of time.

  But there was no latch on the grate. Nothing at all.

  And then a bright line of text flashed across her vision:

  Your hammer!

  It was a message from Gadget. Indira’s vision was starting to blur. Her hammer? How would that…?

  …The idea took root. Of course. She’d thrown her hammer plenty of times, but only ever through the air. That didn’t mean it couldn’t work underwater. Indira pressed herself against the grate and—with great care—slid her hammer through an opening.

  If this didn’t work, she’d drown.

  She released the weapon. It floated downstream, and she felt the familiar tug. The hammer’s magic dragged her across the barrier. She was still underwater, however, and it took all her remaining strength to reach out and seize the hammer’s grip. She nearly fumbled before grasping it again. Indira held the weapon as tightly as she could.

  And then the dark undertow claimed her.

  Indira opened her eyes.

  The sky was bright and blue; it was well past morning. Her entire body felt like it had been picked up by a giant, shaken soundly, and then tossed aside like a forgotten doll. She was lying on her back in the mud of a riverbank. Trees crowded around her like nosy neighbors. Her first efforts to sit up sent pain firing down her right side.

  She lay there for a while longer, taking in deep breaths, trying to remember what had happened. It was the sound of the river that connected those missing links in her memory. She knew the river led back to the underwater grate. Before she’d reached the grate there had been an explosion. Joey had survived their attack.

  Indira groaned with the effort it took to stand. She had several burns, a few cuts. The fall from Phoenix’s back had painted bruises down her right side. That final image of Phoenix pulsed back into her head. His eyes had been so sad and lost as Joey forced him to fire on her boat.

  She remembered that the river ran away from the city. Backtracking through the forest, she did her best not to make too much noise. The town came into view through a gap in the trees. At this distance, she heard no cannon fire. Nor was there any sign of Phoenix and Joey soaring through the open sky.

  Indira used the cover of scattered farms and barns to circle south. She hoped Gadget and the others would be waiting for her. She was sure they’d feel betrayed by her decision to attack without them, but that didn’t matter now, not with Phoenix in the hands of their enemy. They’d have to make a plan. “I have to save him,” she whispered to herself.

  Every step was its own punishment. Not just the bruises and the sore muscles, but the absence at her side. The smiling red-haired boy who’d been through so much with her already. The boy she liked so much. She’d taken him into enemy territory again and let him get captured again. Why hadn’t she thought through the risks of what they were doing? When she’d imagined the showdown with Joey, she’d never imagined them failing.

  A small part of her still didn’t understand how Joey had survived. He’d been standing almost within arm’s reach of her. She’d seen the look on his face. He had been afraid. The wide eyes and the gaping mouth. The fall from the building. Why hadn’t he woken up?

  As she navigated the final hill, Indira’s concerns doubled. The curtain of forest that had kept their base of operation out of sight had been reduced to char. Indira waited in the shadow of a battered shed. Her eyes were drawn past the still-burning stumps. Through all the smoke she could just make out the call desk they’d been using to contact Maxi.

  It had been destroyed.

  Joey had found their camp and he’d used Phoenix’s fire to destroy it.

  Indira eyed the city and the sky before picking her way forward. She half hoped someone would appear, that Gadget or Squalls would wave at her from the nearby forest to signal that they’d survived. But the only movement came as she was circling the grounds one final time.

  A familiar strutting.

  “Peck?” Indira called in surprise. “How’d you make it out?”

  She couldn’t have said why, but it was a huge relief to see the pet rooster. She didn’t know how the chicken had escaped the city, and she didn’t care. She collapsed to her knees and hugged the little creature, realizing Peck’s survival was the first thing that had gone right in days.

  “It’s so good to see you.”

  He ruffled his feathers pleasantly against her neck. The moment she released him he made a series of sharp noises before darting straight into the forest. Indira hesitated at first, but she remembered that this was the way stories worked. Strange events weren’t simply coincidence.

  Besides, she had no idea what to do next. It was easier to follow the chicken.

  Peck found a forest trail and took it. Indira did the same. It was almost pleasant to walk without knowing where she was going, without thinking of all that had gone wrong. Peck continued on for nearly an hour before stopping suddenly to nip at a few specks in the road.

  “Hello there, Indie.”

  If you’ve ever moved away—or been gone for a long time—and heard the voice of a good friend, you’ll know how Indira felt in that moment, dear reader. There was only one person in the world who called her by that nickname. And it was the one person she needed to see, even if she didn’t know it. Deus came striding forward. He was more commonly known as Deus Ex Machina, the provider of convenie
nt solutions. She’d been lucky enough to have him as a mentor during her first year of school, even if the two of them had gotten off to a rocky start.

  He greeted her with a grim smile. “One of these days,” he said, “we’ll meet in far more average circumstances. Perhaps for a cup of tea? An afternoon snack? Anything that doesn’t taste like the end of the world.”

  Even in the darkest hour, Deus could always make Indira smile.

  “That wouldn’t exactly be our style,” she replied.

  “No, it wouldn’t. Shall we go for a stroll?”

  Peck made a little noise before continuing down the path. Deus offered his arm and Indira looped her own through it, feeling safe and comfortable for the first time in days. Her mentor had that effect. He was the provider of convenient solutions, after all. It was his job to enter the plot when all looked lost and give characters the slightest nudge in the right direction. Indira found herself hoping that was the reason he was visiting her now.

  “Are you here to give me a pep talk?” she asked.

  “Would you like me to? I’ve got a few speeches about how the night is darkest before the dawn and all of that….”

  She waved the idea away. “I just need to know how to beat him.”

  “That’s a tad more difficult,” he admitted. “My talents are in keeping you alive. Daring escapes. Last-minute rescues. That sort of thing.”

  “Some help you’ve been so far,” Indira complained. “He captured Phoenix.”

  Deus threw her a stubborn look. “I’ve clearly spoiled you if you don’t see all the ways I’ve been working to turn the tides in your favor so far. Have my efforts really gone unnoticed?”

  Indira frowned. “You’ve been helping me?”

  “Of course!” he exclaimed, a little annoyed. “You’re up against a rogue Author! I’ve been pulling strings since the moment you set foot in Ordinary. Where do you think Peck came from?”

  Now Indira was really confused. “The rooster?”

  “The rooster who saved you once already!” Deus corrected. “He wasn’t part of your original scenario. I sensed you would need him, though, so I smuggled him in. Not to mention that first encounter with Joey. Who do you think was responsible for his cannon misfiring?”

  Indira nodded. She’d forgotten about that first encounter. Everything Joey had done since then had worked like a charm. “It was a little convenient the first cannon didn’t fire.”

  “My specialty.” Deus grinned. “I also provided the bee schematics for Gadget. Those certainly came in handy—and will continue to come in handy. But that’s the extent of my tricks, Indie. I sensed you would face a great threat, but I’d never imagined someone like Joey was on the way. I thought you were preparing to square off with some particularly nasty antagonists.” His grin faded. “Clearly, he’s more than that. Our entire world is in jeopardy.”

  “The Editors won’t come,” she said. “But what about the brainstorms?”

  Indira knew they possessed some of the most powerful magic in the world, but Deus shook his head sadly. “Their powers were altered after the Brainstorm Ketty incident. It was agreed that they should be brought under the same governance as the Editors. Now the two groups follow the same rule book during any crisis that occurs in the world of Imagination.”

  “Meaning they have to wait before they can help too?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  Indira took a deep breath. “So I’m on my own. Again.”

  “That was going to be my next topic of conversation.” He flipped a silver coin up into the air. Indira caught it instinctively. “You’ve fallen into the same trap you fell into last year.”

  She scowled. “No I haven’t. What trap? I didn’t fall into a trap.”

  But as she looked down at the face of the silver coin Deus had given her, she saw herself. The engraved image was of her standing triumphantly over a fallen bad guy, hammer raised in the air, all alone. It wasn’t hard to see what was missing on the coin: the rest of her crew.

  “You most certainly have,” Deus replied. “You are pretending—once again—that you must face every battle as the lone hero. Even though this whole training scenario was designed to teach you otherwise. You were not alone last year, Indira. You are not alone now.”

  Another glance at the coin showed all the other characters who’d come on this journey with her. They crowded around the victory scene like quiet reminders. Indira frowned.

  “I know I wasn’t alone,” she said. “Phoenix came with me.”

  “As you snuck out on the rest of your team,” Deus reminded her. “Just think about how you’ve approached every problem. Who led the first spy mission into the city? Who thundered down from the sky atop a dragon?” Her mentor sighed softly. “It is in your bones to play the hero, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m simply here to encourage you to make heroes out of everyone else on the next attempt. Let them shine beside you, rather than hover in your shadow. You made the mistake of thinking you and Phoenix could defeat him alone. It wasn’t a bad effort, all in all, but I promise you it will take the entirety of your crew’s combined talents to defeat this enemy.”

  For a few minutes, they walked in silence. Peck went on strutting ahead of them, winding through the forests, clearly with some distant location in mind. Indira’s initial annoyance had faded. She was starting to realize how right Deus was. Brainstorm Underglass had sent her here to learn how to be a good teammate. Her tutor device had even warned her every time she’d tried to play the hero without including the other members of her squad.

  Sneaking off with Phoenix to save the day? It was hard to admit now how foolish she had been. If she had just waited for the rest of her team, they might have formed an even better plan. It was time to actually take the lesson to heart. She needed to be a new kind of hero.

  The forest path wound on until they reached the main road. Indira recognized the location. It wasn’t far from the memorial they’d left behind. Indira realized that if her team members had survived Joey’s attack, they would have come here. This was where Peck had been leading her. Deus paused at the edge of the clearing.

  “One more piece of advice. I am not allowed to interfere. I can only nudge. So let me give you a polite shove in the right direction. The key to defeating Joey is to figure out what he fears. You must wake him with something he’s actually afraid of in the Real World. Savvy?”

  That sent Indira’s mind racing through possibilities. She looked Deus in the eye and nodded. “See you when I need you,” she said with a smile.

  Her mentor gathered up Peck in his arms, winked once, and vanished into the shadows. Indira wasn’t completely sure what needed to be done, but she had a feeling her crew would know. They were going to rescue Phoenix. They were going to defeat Joey.

  And they were going to do it as a team.

  Indira followed the road.

  Around a familiar turn she saw the monument. She hadn’t quite been prepared for just how many people would be there. Characters of all shapes and sizes had been kicked out of their stories. Far more than when Indira had last seen the location. It looked like some kind of awkward costume party, too, as all of them had been refitted in marine gear or pirate attire.

  Thankfully, her crew was waiting near the front of the gathering.

  “Indira?” Minerva rushed forward, all motherly instinct, and embraced Indira in a huge hug. Her pretend mother couldn’t have known how much she needed it. “We were so worried.”

  “I made it out.” Indira’s eyes found Gadget. “Thanks to you. Good job with the underwater grate. It’s the only reason I didn’t get captured.”

  She swept forward and hugged the girl. Gadget went stock-still in her arms.

  “Hugging. Right,” she said, trying to wiggle away. “Not my thing.”

  Indira pulled back and nodded. “S
orry about that. I just—I wanted to say thanks for saving me. You were amazing.”

  Gadget looked a little embarrassed. “I thought you might do something more…instinctive. So I made a backup plan in case you did. It’s the only reason I had that location ready. We’re just glad you made it out alive. The plan was to come collect you downstream, but Joey attacked before we could rendezvous. Thankfully the radar gave us enough time to escape.”

  “We watched the footage,” Cavern said in that deep voice of his. “We were a little surprised the scare didn’t wake him. It looked like you succeeded to us.”

  Indira shook her head. “Wait. Before we talk plans, I just want to apologize. Phoenix and I snuck off because we thought we were doing all of you a favor. We wanted to end this without anyone getting hurt. Now he’s been captured. The clock is ticking. We’re running out of time to save Phoenix, to save everyone. It wasn’t smart of me to go in there without the best possible plan. I’m sorry we didn’t wait. Leaving you all out of the loop…it just made our effort weaker than it could have been. We’re stronger together. I know that now. And I’m sorry.”

  Some small part of Indira hoped they would argue with that, tell her that none of it was true. But the crew stood there in silent agreement, avoiding eye contact, and it felt like a punch to the stomach. Deus had clearly been right. She’d neglected her team. That wasn’t the kind of hero she wanted to be. One by one, Indira looked her trusted teammates in the eye.

  “Squalls, you’ve got some serious magic. We’re going to put your storms to good use this time. And what Phoenix said was true: You could have left a long time ago. You’re here because you were brave enough to stay. Brave enough to go where other people wouldn’t go.”

  He took a deep breath. “I want to stay. I know Phoenix would stay for me.”

  Indira nodded. “And Cavern, I’ve never seen anything like your cave magic. I should have realized that would be useful. Gadget, you’re pretty much a tech genius. You’re half the reason we’re still alive. And Minerva? You’re as fierce as any of the mothers I’ve had since arriving in Fable. I promise that when we take Joey on this time, we’ll all play our parts. No more of the Indira show.”