by James Riley
Owen just stared at her. “No. I don’t.”
She looked away as Doyle stood up. “Payment accepted,” he said. “However, I regret to inform you that I won’t be handing over my findings.”
“What?” Bethany said, pushing past Owen. “But I paid you! I did exactly what you asked!”
Doyle hit a button on his desk, and the door opened behind them. Guards flooded into the room, one grabbing Kiel and another grabbing Owen. Bethany, though, they left free.
“That you did,” Doyle said. “But you’re a thief, Bethany Sanderson. You steal from books, you trespass in stories that aren’t your own, and you just paid me in stolen property. I can’t encourage that, now, can I?”
“Let them go!” Bethany shouted, moving toward Doyle. Was she going to jump him out and leave the two of them behind? Owen tried to free himself, but he couldn’t even budge in the guard’s strong grip.
“Ah-ah,” Doyle said to Bethany, and the guards holding Owen and Kiel began squeezing. Owen shouted in pain, while Kiel gritted his teeth. “Touch me, and your friends suffer. Now, let’s discuss your punishment for your crimes.”
“Punish me, but let them go,” Bethany said, practically begging the detective. “They didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Of course they did,” Doyle snapped. “Owen stole Kiel’s story. And Kiel was a thief for half of his life. All of you will be punished.”
What? How did Doyle know all about them?
“Jump out, Bethany!” Kiel shouted. “Don’t worry about us!”
“Worry about us a little!” Owen said. If she left them behind, Doyle might hide them somewhere. They might be stuck in the book forever!
Bethany turned to look at them and shook her head sadly. “I did this. This is my fault. I’m not going to just leave you two to pay for it.”
“Remove her,” Doyle told the guards, and they stepped forward to grab Bethany by her shoulders. Kiel struggled again, but the guard just held him tight enough to make the magician groan in pain.
“I’m not leaving without you two,” Bethany said as she passed between them, her eyes watering. “I promise.”
And then she was gone, the doors slamming behind her.
“And now, Kiel,” Doyle said, “you’re going to do a little magic.”
Magic? What was Doyle talking about?
“Gladly,” Kiel said. “Let me go and I’ll be happy to turn you into a toad and squish you.”
Doyle sighed. “How charming. No, you’re going to use your magic on yourself and Owen. You’re going to wipe your memories, all the way back to when you first moved to the nonfictional world, Kiel. All of those memories were made by breaking the rules, and I don’t intend to let you keep stolen property.”
Owen gasped. He couldn’t be serious. Their memories? “And why exactly would I do such a thing?” Kiel asked.
Doyle nodded at the guard holding Owen, and the guard squeezed until Owen almost burst. “And worse will happen to Bethany,” Doyle said.
Pain filled Owen’s head and he screamed, so he barely heard Kiel yell for Doyle to stop. “I’ll do it!” Kiel shouted. “Let him go!”
The guard stopped squeezing, and Owen would have collapsed to the ground if the enormous man hadn’t still been holding him. “Perfect,” Doyle said, then paused. “I shouldn’t do this. I shouldn’t gloat. It’s not becoming. But I can’t help it. You have to know. And besides, you won’t remember any of this.”
He gestured, and the guards holding Kiel and Owen both let go, then left the room. Owen, barely holding his feet, looked at Kiel. Should they attack?
Kiel barely shook his head. He was right. Doyle still had Bethany, and who knew what he’d do to her.
“You won’t appreciate this right now,” the detective said, his hands on his mask. “But trust me, I’m enjoying it enough for all of us.”
And with that, he pulled his mask off, and Owen found himself looking in a mirror.
What? Was that . . . him? Was this some kind of evil weird future time travel thing? “Please tell me you’re not my future self,” Owen said, practically begging.
“Oh, I’m you,” his other self said. “Just your fictional self. Impressed?”
Impressed? Owen could barely breathe! What was happening?
“How is this possible?” Kiel said, sounding as shocked as Owen felt.
“Life’s a mystery, I suppose,” Owen/Doyle said, putting his mask back on. “Now it’s time for you two to forget.” He held up a small button on a thin box. “If you say any spell other than the forget spell, or aim your wands at anyone besides yourself and Owen, then I push this button. You don’t want me to push this button. Bethany doesn’t want me to push this button.”
Kiel gritted his teeth. “I’ll find her. Her and you. And I’ll make you pay for this.”
Owen/Doyle shook his head. “No, actually, I don’t believe you will. You’re not the hero anymore, Kiel. Not this time. This story is mine, from start to finish. But you won’t have to worry about that, not anymore.”
Kiel gave Owen/Doyle a look of pure hatred, then turned to Owen, his wand in his hand. “We’ll find her, Owen,” he said quietly. “And we’ll figure this all out. Trust me.” And then he winked.
The wink was the last thing Owen remembered before the spell hit. The magic filled Owen’s brain, and for some reason he lost control of his body, dropping to the floor. A familiar face leaned over him.
“Your story is mine now,” his other self said.
“No!” Owen screamed, but his clone’s hands reached for him, and then everything turned into a weird dreamlike fog.
The Amazing (But True!) Adventures of Owen Conners, the Unknown Chosen One
CHAPTER 132
Never wear a mask. That was the lesson of all of this.
“Put him right there, in the chair at the desk,” Owen said, trying to suck in air through the stupid question-mark mask. The guards carried Doyle’s limp body over to the chair and carefully arranged him in it so he didn’t slide off.
“Perfect,” Owen said, the mask changing his voice into the deeper, scarier version that he loved. Okay, so that part was awesome. “Now turn off the extra security. I’m going to have some visitors, and I want you to let them right in.”
“Mr. Holmes, are you sure?” one of the guards said.
Did he just question a direct order? Owen slowly turned around, doing his best Doyle impression, and stared in the guard’s general direction, not sure which had actually spoken. All four guards stared at the floor, silent. “Have I ever been unsure?” Owen said.
“Apologies, Mr. Holmes,” one of the guards said, and all four bowed, then left quickly, closing the office door behind them.
Owen quickly pulled the stupid mask off and sucked in air. He hadn’t been able to do that downstairs, while explaining everything to his nonfictional self, which had been annoying. But who else would appreciate his grand, complicated, amazing plan if not himself?
Well, he’d appreciate it after he’d calmed down a bit. When he realized how truly for the best it was.
Nowen (as Owen liked to call the nonfictional Owen in his head) couldn’t do anything right! Before seeing him fail all over town, Owen had been convinced Nowen would be able to find Bethany instantly. By the book. They were in a library ! What more of a clue did his other self need? Eventually he practically had to slap Nowen in the face with the clue.
Honestly. Other selves could just be such a letdown.
A noise from the desk chair made Owen turn. Doyle was stirring, moaning in pain.
Let’s see how he liked his mask back.
Owen untied Doyle’s gag as the detective tried to lift his head up, looking around in a daze. “Don’t worry,” Owen told him, sliding the mask down over his face. “In a minute, this is all going to be just a bad memory.”
He could have done this before, of course. There’d been plenty of time since he’d taken Kiel’s spell book and wands. But Owen wanted every detail just r
ight for when Bethany and Kiel burst in to find that he, Owen, had just beaten Doyle. And that meant that Doyle had to still be woozy from getting his memory erased.
Taking the wands and shrunken spell book from his Sherlock Holmes coat pocket, he laid them on the desk, then draped the coat over Doyle. Getting the detective’s arms into the coat was more annoying than Owen would have thought, but there wasn’t a whole lot of choice in the matter.
By the time Owen popped the deerstalker hat above the mask, Doyle was starting to stand.
“You,” he said, his whole body shaking as he made it to his feet.
“Yup!” Owen shouted, his grin about as wide as his face. “Sorry about these last few weeks. Really. You didn’t do much wrong, other than let me down completely. But like I said, you won’t have to remember any of it, so it won’t be so bad.”
“You moronic pustule of an excuse for a human being,” Doyle said, leaning heavily on his desk. “I will see you locked in the same cell you put me in for the rest of your days. I will personally —”
Then he paused abruptly and collapsed face-first onto the desk.
Owen put down the wand, having cast the memory spell. His eyes wide, he shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m giving you guys up,” he told the wand and spell book. “Seriously. I want to keep you forever.”
Preparing himself, he tossed the wand into the air, caught it, and whirled around, expecting Bethany and Kiel to burst their way in, now that the school was open again.
Nothing happened.
He frowned. How bad exactly was their timing? Hadn’t they been waiting at the gates? It couldn’t have taken them that long to figure out they weren’t in Doyle’s office, like they thought they’d be when they jumped out of whatever book Owen had carried a page from. Why did they have to mess everything up?
A noise from outside made him stand up straight, and just as he thought the doors would open, Owen tossed Kiel’s wand into the air again, then caught it.
No one came in.
What was the problem here? Why weren’t they bursting in already? Were even they tired of rescuing Nowen, so taking their sweet time?
Suddenly Owen felt a chill go down his spine. What if they hadn’t been able to jump out of the unburned pages of that book? What if by setting that page on fire, Owen had actually trapped Bethany and Kiel in the book forever?
No, no, no, no. That couldn’t have happened. He’d been so sure, and it’d been such a cool thing to do in front of Nowen! Sure, it wasn’t the safest move, but honestly Nowen had surprised him a bit with the whole Trojan Horse plan. He’d assumed that all three would show up together, and he’d just use Kiel’s magic to knock Bethany and Kiel out first, then when they woke up, he’d be the only Owen around, with a newly beaten Doyle. But no, Nowen had improvised and messed everything up.
“Nooooo,” Owen whined, tapping his foot in annoyance. “Why does life have to be so hard?”
The doors burst open, and Bethany and Kiel stepped inside, followed by that annoying girl, Moira. Despite getting caught whining, Owen had to admit that their entrance was pretty cool. It was practically in slow motion, it was so awesome. If there’d just been an explosion behind them—
“Owen?” Bethany said, giving him a strange look as Moira closed the door, locking it. “You beat Doyle?”
Now this, Owen had planned for! He awesomely raised one eyebrow, tossed Kiel’s wand up, then caught it. “Someone needed to do it. And it might as well have been me.”
“Gasp!” Moira said, grinning widely. “Look at how cool my Sad Panda’s gotten!”
Bethany flashed her a look, and Moira looked embarrassed, then shut her mouth. Bethany then turned back to Owen. “What did you do to him?”
“I just used Kiel’s magic against him,” Owen said, shrugging. “No big deal. He took our memories, I took his. It’s called quid pro go.”
“Not really!” Moira shouted, and got another look from Bethany. What was happening here?
“So he’s forgotten everything?” Bethany asked as Kiel slowly stepped closer to Owen. “He doesn’t remember me, or what I can do?”
“Not a thing,” Owen said. Kiel reached out a hand, and Owen sadly handed over his wands and the spell book, which tried to bite both of them. Kiel shushed it, then began leafing through the book. Bethany watched him until he nodded, then sighed.
“Now,” she said.
“Now?” Owen said, raising his other eyebrow.
“Now,” said a familiar voice from right in front of him.
And then something punched Owen right in the face, so hard in the face that he spun around to land on the desk, staring right at the question-mark mask. He quickly looked over his shoulder. “Who did that?” he shouted.
“Just me,” said the same voice, and from out of thin air, a zipper appeared, then pulled down, revealing a very, very angry Nowen.
“I can’t believe you didn’t figure it out, Fowen,” his nonfictional self said. “Guess who’s here to take his life back?”
CHAPTER 39
Thirty minutes earlier . . .
These kinds of stories always need a double twist,” Owen said. “The plan has to look like it’s failing, while actually going exactly how you intended it to go.”
Owen walked up to the gate of the Baker Street School, holding an envelope with a book page in it.
At his side Bethany, Kiel, and Moira stood waiting in silence, all wearing heat-masking invisibility suits from Alpha Predator.
Owen reached out and pushed the intercom button.
“Doyle thinks he knows everything,” Owen said. “So let’s let him think that. Let’s give him a trick to see right through. Something just a step below obvious, so he can think we really thought we were getting away with something. He thinks we’re that stupid anyway, so let’s just confirm it.”
Doyle threw the envelope into the fire, and Owen, acting like he was truly horrified, leaped after it. Doyle tripped him, and through the suit’s special goggles Bethany saw Kiel start forward, but she grabbed his arm and held him back. It wasn’t time yet. Doyle hadn’t opened his safe, and they still needed Kiel’s wands and spell book. She watched as Doyle cruelly pulled Owen’s arms behind his back.
Just one more thing he was going to pay for.
“All we have to do is let him beat us,” Owen said. “Here’s the idea. I take a page from some random book and hide it in an envelope. I’ll tell Doyle that the envelope has, I don’t know, terms of surrender or something, from Bethany. But it’s going to look like I’m smuggling you in, like a Trojan horse. And that at the right moment, you’re going to jump out.”
“So let me see if I have the plan correct,” Doyle said. “You come in, ostensibly surrendering, but carrying a page from a book that Bethany and friends are hiding within. At a designated time, right now, it sounds like, Bethany jumps out of that page to take me by surprise, bypassing all of my security in one swoop. Do I have it correct?”
“But instead, you’re wearing the invisibility suits the whole time,” Owen continued. “But it’s not about just getting you guys inside. It’s about making Doyle think he’s won, so he starts doing stupid things, like revealing his entire plan, and hopefully opening his safe.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic,” Doyle said, using a poker to stir up the ashes from the book page. “It’s not like they’re trapped in that story. If they jump out now, they’ll just end up back with the rest of the book.”
Bethany narrowed her eyes. Was he right? Would they have been able to just jump back out of the other pages? Possibly, she guessed, but there was no way Doyle knew that for sure. Basically he’d just risked trapping them forever in that book, and that was something else he’d pay for.
Doyle bragged some more, and Bethany wanted to punch him. Open the safe, already! Show them how smart you were, and how little you had to worry about!
“Thought we’d get Kiel’s wands and spell book off of you and then make you forget any of this ever happe
ned,” Owen told him, and Bethany grinned. That was genius of him, bringing that up. But would Doyle take the bait?
Doyle snorted beneath the mask. “You never had a chance, Mr. Conners. None of you did. I was two steps ahead of you this entire time. Three or four, for most of it.”
And then he did exactly what they all hoped he’d do. He revealed the safe, and began opening it.
“This is the part I’m most worried about,” Owen said. “He’s going to really have to think he’s beaten us here, or there’s no way he’s just going to open his safe. It’s like his most guarded secret. I’m going to have to be as convincing as possible that he just utterly destroyed us here.”
“And before you move, you might want to consider that countdown band on your wrist,” Doyle said, his eyes on the combination locks. “Every student at the Baker Street School wears one. Most of the time it’s just a watch, but within the school grounds it also works as a deterrent. Try to leave the school or act up in any way, and you’ll be twitching on the ground in seconds.”
Uh-oh. That wasn’t part of the plan. She and Kiel looked down at the bands still on their wrists. But what if they just pulled them off?
Before Bethany could move, Owen touched his band, then began twitching and jerking, collapsing to the floor. She gasped, but the sound was covered by Owen’s painful flailing, and this time Kiel held her back.
Doyle. Would. Pay.
As Owen writhed in pain, Doyle pulled Kiel’s wands and spell book out of the safe. “Beautiful, aren’t they?” he said. “I know they shouldn’t exist, and that as a man of science I should reject them outright, but I simply can’t put them down.” The spell book tried to bite his head, but Doyle smacked it hard against the desk, and the book started whimpering.
“If he does reveal the spell book and wands, then we have him,” Owen said. “You guys just jump him invisibly, Kiel gets his magic back, and we wipe Doyle’s memory for good. Done and done!”
This was all getting to be too much. Bethany moved around behind Doyle, ready to grab him as Kiel silently got into place at her side, waiting for her signal. She nodded at him, then held up three fingers. Three . . . two . . .
