“So this is the end?”
End nodded. “What kind of ending remains to be seen.”
Indira took a deep breath. She was thankful not to be alone. She shifted her vision, squinting at the second sight of the tutor device, and located Joey’s glowing dot. Thankfully, he had not decided to depart for Fable yet. Indira approached the town, doing her best to remain visible. When she was in shouting distance, she raised her voice.
“Joey!” she shouted angrily. “Come out! Face me!”
The shouts echoed. End paused well behind Indira. She watched the scene unfold from the front porch of an abandoned farm. The towering walls of Ordinary loomed. The town was silent. No one came at first. All Indira could do was keep screaming her challenge to the sky. She raised her voice, shouting, until her throat grew raw and tired.
Finally, the glowing dot on her radar flickered with movement.
She heard the sound of wings first. Great gusts of wind rose. And then Phoenix’s clay-and-charcoal form launched over the walls. Indira lifted the flag up as high as she could. It was a challenge in Joey’s video-game world, one that he would understand.
Even at a distance, she could see Joey sitting on Phoenix’s back, squinting down.
“I challenge you!” Indira shouted. “Come and face me!”
Her chest was heaving. So much depended on what happened next. There had always been a small chance that Joey would take one look at her and open fire. She let out a held breath when he began his descent, leading Phoenix in a loop before touching down on the open road.
The Author still looked strange to her eyes. His features were so sharply real that she had to squint. The gold-glinting hair, the apple-red lips, the glacial eyes. Energy crackled dangerously around him as he disembarked. Indira shivered a little when she noticed that his footsteps left no trace on the dusty road. He was not truly part of this world. It was frightening to remember that.
“You’re that girl,” he said. “The one who brought me my dragon. Thanks again for that. He’s really awesome. There’s no dragon in the world as loyal as Vesuvius.”
Indira gritted her teeth. “His name is Phoenix.”
“He told me,” Joey replied, smirking. “Phoenix? That’s such a stupid name! He’s not even a phoenix! He’s a dragon! That’s why I renamed him. Vesuvius is a lot cooler.”
The dragon lifted his head at the sound. Indira had to swallow back her anger at the idea that Phoenix could be anyone other than who he was. She needed to stay focused. This moment could still go very wrong. She fixed her eyes on Joey.
“Do you recognize my flag?”
He grinned. “It’s the head-to-head emblem.”
“And? Do you accept my challenge or not?”
“Challenge?” Joey considered her. “From you? Is that some kind of joke or something? I’ve been running games in here for hours. No one can touch me. And the last time you faced me, you had a dragon and you still lost. I wouldn’t exactly call that a challenge.”
Indira recognized the patterns in his speech. Maxi’s research had been useful. She’d dug up old files of Joey talking smack to his friends and opponents. A lot of his early writing included similar dialogue. Indira decided to use the advice Juliet had given her. Make it seem as if beating him at his own game would be nothing to her.
“You’re right. It would be too easy.” Indira let the words float into the air. “For me.”
Joey’s attention sharpened. “Wow. Are you even serious?”
“I am serious. It’s okay if you’re afraid. Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.”
The calm expression on Joey’s face melted away. Indira knew she was walking a narrow tightrope. She needed to lure him into battle without making him mad enough to attack her here and now.
“I want a head-to-head,” she said. “The Venice map. You can choose what the power-ups are. No other players. No extra lives. First one to eliminate the other person wins.”
Maxi had spent nearly an hour going over all the rules with Indira. The surprised look on Joey’s face made her feel that that hour had been more than worth it. Joey looked impressed that she knew the rules at all. He considered her offer before shrugging.
“Wins what?”
“First place.”
Joey frowned. “That’s not enough. I’ve already proven I’m the best.”
Indira swallowed. She wasn’t prepared for this. What could she possibly offer someone like Joey? She knew it didn’t really matter. She wasn’t actually here to beat him. She was just here to lure him into playing one more game. What did he really want?
“If I win,” she said, “you go back where you came from. Free Phoenix. Free all of us and go back home. Leave us alone once and for all.”
Joey considered that. “And if I win?”
“I’ll take you to Fable.”
His eyes narrowed. “Ledge already told me about Fable. I can go whenever I want.”
Indira took a risk, inventing wildly. “Without the secret password to get into the city? Ledge clearly isn’t from there if he doesn’t know about that. If you want access to the best game—the biggest city—in our world, you’ll have to beat me to get it.”
Indira kept her face as calm as she could. Joey was watching her closely, and it felt like he could see right through her lie. A second passed and Indira decided to dig the knife in a little deeper, pulling out a line that would have made Juliet proud.
“What? Afraid to lose?”
He snapped back. “I’m not going to lose.”
“Prove it.”
The anger on his face was a good sign. Her taunts were working.
“Deal.”
Indira felt such intense relief that she nearly forgot the other instructions, the other dominoes that needed to topple for their plan to work. Joey was holding out his hand to shake on the arrangement, but she had a few more requests.
“I don’t want any of the townspeople in our way,” Indira said. “And we start on even footing! You can make Phoenix one of the power-ups if you want, but we both start in boats.”
Joey considered that request. Indira flinched a little when he raised one hand. She thought he was about to attack, but instead he snapped his fingers. A great slash of power cut through the air. Indira was forced back a few steps by the blooming energy. There was movement on her right. Indira looked over and found that the entire populace of Ordinary had appeared on the nearest hillside. All of them looked as shocked as she did.
“Back inside, Vesuvius.”
The command scraped through the air. Indira watched Phoenix take flight, and she had to resist reaching for her hammer and hitting Joey right then and there for trying to rename her best friend. Joey held out his hand again to seal their pact.
“You’re going down,” he said.
Indira reached out. “Bring it on.”
As their hands touched, there was an answering flash. Indira’s entire world spun and spun. When it righted itself, she was sitting inside a boat, floating on the canal.
She’d teleported inside Ordinary.
A great booming voice counted down. “Three! Two! ONE!”
And the game began.
A thundering shot rang out.
Indira didn’t hesitate. She snatched the controller and directed her boat to the nearest building. Maxi had explained the rules of the game and all the various strategies for a head-to-head match. Indira knew power-ups would be waiting on the roofs of certain buildings. She wouldn’t survive five minutes against Joey without them.
And that was the goal. Indira wasn’t the hero this time. She was the bait.
Indira’s boat skidded to the front of a familiar building: the courthouse. She leaped out, sprinted up the wide steps, and shouldered through the entrance. The interior was dimly lit. She assumed Joey had started on t
he opposite end of the map. It was likely he was doing the same thing that she was.
As she started up the main staircase, her eyes flicked briefly to the radar in her tutor device. Indira was in the western corner. Sure enough, Joey’s dot glowed at the eastern end. She noted that it wasn’t moving. Maybe he was going up through a building like she was?
Indira opened the door that led to the courthouse’s roof. As expected, an icon hovered in midair, glowing orange. Training had included Maxi teaching Indira about each power-up. Fortune was on their side—and Indira wondered if maybe Deus was out there pulling a few strings—because the first icon would be very useful. The image was a pair of feet splashing across the surface of a river.
“Water walking,” she whispered to herself. “Exactly what I need.”
The second her outstretched hand made contact, the power-up glowed, spiraled into a smaller form, and attached to her shoulder. It glowed there like a little blue pendant. Indira knew that a touch of that button would activate the power-up.
As she turned around, the sight of Joey’s glowing dot made her pause.
It still hadn’t moved. “What is he up to…?”
Her eyes scanned the distant building tops. Power-ups twirled here and there. It was far too quiet. Indira was moving silently back to the stairwell when a pair of military jets screamed overhead. Indira gave a shout of surprise as the two planes swung back around and took aim.
She slammed down the steps, leaping four or five at a time. The explosions came a few seconds later, shaking the entire building. Indira took the last flight of stairs as the entire ceiling caved in. Debris came spiraling down in dangerous shards, and she barely dove through the front entrance in time. Her boat was waiting right where she’d left it.
“Nice try, Joey,” she said through gritted teeth.
The jets continued firing on the building as Indira pulled out into the canal. She’d read about that power-up too. It was an air strike. The player picked a random section of the city to fire upon. Eventually, the jets would vanish from sight. She had to keep moving.
The second building she climbed was empty. The third—a small apothecary shop—produced another useful tool for the showdown to come.
“Explosives,” she whispered.
On the icon, there were three cannonballs with lit fuses. The power-up settled onto her shoulder beside the water-walking one, a glowing red dot waiting to be activated.
Now she just needed to find Joey.
Another glance at the radar had her worried. The Author’s dot on the map still hadn’t moved. She was starting to get the feeling that their tracking system wasn’t working. The realization sent a shiver down Indira’s spine. She’d been counting on that advantage.
Indira made her way to the next building as quietly as possible. Another icon waited there, and her heart beat faster at the sight. It showed an image of two parrots entwined with one another. She remembered that Maxi had thought the two birds looked totally adorable. Indira knew the birds would fly in the direction of her closest enemy.
She activated it immediately. Red light swirled as the two parrots appeared out of thin air. They flapped and fluttered, turning in circles. Indira watched them land on the edge of the building. Indira stared in confusion as they fluttered once before settling down on the ledge.
“Seriously? A glitch?”
But then she realized both birds were looking down. Indira darted across the roof, and slammed against the raised ledge, eyes searching below. Her boat was there.
Another had joined it.
Both rocked gently in the breeze. Indira panicked. Joey was here.
She turned in time to see the roof entrance blast open. Joey stepped out, thrilled by the sight of her trapped on the far end of the roof. Indira pressed her back to the ledge of the building, instinctively positioning herself. She raised her hammer slowly and put both hands above her head in fake surrender.
“You caught me. Nice work.”
He grinned. “I thought you said this would be a challenge.”
Indira took a deep breath. It was all guesswork, but she held the hammer out behind her head, over the water, and prayed that her aim was true.
“It’s not over until it’s over,” she called back.
Joey activated one of his power-ups. An actual turret—complete with rotating weaponry—blinked to life in front of him. He was about to open fire when Indira let go of her hammer. Magic dragged her through the air, from the roof to a boat in less than a breath. In that dizzying moment, she barely had time to look up, locate the falling silver hammer, and lunge for it.
She caught it just before it could splash into the canal.
Breathless, she turned back to the boat’s controls. There was shouting above and the sound of Joey’s turret scanning for a target it no longer could see. But Indira was already on the move. She slammed down the B button on the controller, grinning as the boat thundered away.
“Come on,” she whispered. “Let’s have a little chase.”
It was time for phase two. Their chosen location was halfway across town. Indira didn’t waste even a second. She knew Joey would have tricks up his sleeve that he’d use to catch up with her. She just needed to reach the right spot on the map for the rest of their plan to work.
She darted down the first alley she saw, swung through a side street on the lower end of town, and thundered back up one of the main drags. Buildings and houses whipped by, and there was enough noise from her engine that she almost didn’t notice the great gusts of wind pressing down from above. Her eyes flicked up. Joey had found Phoenix.
“Fly, Vesuvius!” she heard him shout. “Faster!”
Wings spread. Indira took a narrow side street, ducking into a space where she knew they couldn’t follow. Her destination wasn’t far now. She just hoped she’d given the others enough time to get in position. A bolt of fire hit the roof of a nearby building. The explosion shook the frame, light dancing across the water, but Indira just kept speeding away.
She took a final turn and found herself racing down a familiar road.
A glance to the skies showed that Joey had been forced to swing higher into the air. She watched as he climbed up, trying to get her back in his sights. She had ten seconds at the most.
Indira cut her engines. Momentum carried her boat to the very center of the street. Indira tried not to look at the familiar house on her right. She needed to focus. She reached instead for the two power-ups on her shoulder. Blue and red lights swirled to life.
A trio of cartoonish explosives appeared in her right hand. In the same second, a pair of winged shoes molded over her current pair. Indira chanced another look at the skies. Joey’s flight had him wheeling back in her direction, preparing for an attack.
Now was the time.
Indira dropped the explosives inside her own boat. The fuses were still sizzling as she leaped over the starboard side. Her feet landed, but instead of splashing down into the water, she stayed atop it, the water-walking power-up carrying her across impossibly. She picked her angle very carefully, running in the direction of the sun, remembering their crew’s very carefully designed plan. She darted into the alley there and waited.
From that hiding spot, Indira turned. The explosives in her boat detonated first. As the smoke rose, Joey descended on Phoenix’s back. It was the most beautiful sight. The wooden shards of her boat had flown in every direction, leaving only a smoking pile floating over the water. Joey pulled Phoenix up sharply, hovering in the air, searching.
“Where’d she go, Vesuvius? Sniff her out.”
Indira waited.
Her water-walking power-up had thirty more seconds left before it ran out. The beating of Phoenix’s wings cleared away some of the smoke. Joey directed the dragon lower, still searching for some sign of her in the wreckage. The moment was coming
. Phoenix kept turning until he was at exactly the right angle, directly opposite the house that Indira had marked. Indira tightened her grip, raised her hammer, and sprinted forward.
Twelve paces. That was all that separated her from Joey.
Each lengthy stride swallowed that distance. Indira bellowed a war cry, her footsteps gliding impossibly over the water’s surface. Joey’s face twisted in surprise. His body turned instinctively. He brought his lacrosse stick swinging around as Indira leaped through the air to strike him. Her hammer swung back, and Joey did exactly what their team had expected him to do.
Faced with the prospect of losing, he cheated.
Indira hung in the air, immobilized, her hammer halfway to its intended target. She gritted her teeth for show and pretended to be surprised.
“Hey!” she shouted. “This isn’t one of the power-ups!”
Joey grinned. “You thought you could beat me? Seriously?”
Indira faked her resistance. She let out a snarl as if she were trying to throw that invisible weight from her shoulders. All her effort, though, was intended to keep Joey’s eyes fixed on her. Keep him distracted, no matter what.
“I escaped you before,” Indira grunted. “I’ll escape again.”
She tried to finish the swing of her hammer. It only moved a fraction of an inch. Joey saw her effort and started laughing louder. Phoenix’s wings beat steadily to keep both him and Joey airborne. All that movement and sound was likely the reason Joey didn’t notice a gust of wind rising up above the rooftops. His eyes were fixed hungrily on her instead. That was also why he didn’t see the other figure float through the air and land farther down Phoenix’s back.
Indira had chosen her angle of attack very specifically. Joey was squinting at her, the sun directly in his face. That was by design. It cast his shadow along Phoenix’s clay scales.
Escaping Ordinary Page 19
