Pick the Plot

by James Riley

  Praise for STORY THIEVES

  “A droll and clever opener likely to leave readers breathless both with laughter and anticipation.”

  —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

  “Owen learns a lot about how to be a true friend and what courage really is in this fast-paced, action-packed tale.”

  —School Library Journal

  “A creative and adventurous romp, which will especially please the fans of Riley’s earlier series.”

  —School Library Connection

  Praise for THE STOLEN CHAPTERS

  “A fictional character’s megalomaniacal scheme to insert himself into every novel ever written precipitates a merry chase through meta-realms in this brain-cracking sequel.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “The twists and turns in this volume are sure to keep readers coming back for more.”

  —Booklist

  Praise for SECRET ORIGINS

  “A literary hall of mirrors, with plenty of thrills and laughs to keep ‘nonfictionals’ in the game.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Sure to entertain.”

  —Booklist

  Dear Readers:

  Thank you for joining me here, with Story Thieves: Pick the Plot. If you have followed the Story Thieves books, welcome back. And if you have decided to choose this book as your first, I will endeavor to catch you up on what’s been transpiring under your very nose, for your entire life.

  You see, if you are reading this book, you are fictional. You exist within the fictional world, and your life is controlled by the dictates of an author in the nonfictional world. This inescapable horror has been occurring since the very beginning of the fictional world, but the time has come to end it.

  First, though, I thought it appropriate to teach a nonfictional person a lesson. After all, they deserve to feel what it’s like to live under the control of someone else too, don’t they?

  In the Story Thieves books, I’ve chronicled the lives of two children: Owen Conners and Bethany Sanderson. Owen is a normal, nonfictional boy who has toyed with writing his own stories. Bethany, though, is half-fictional. Each of her parents comes from a different world, and because of this, she has gained the power to travel between them at will, as long as she has a book to pass through.

  Owen and Bethany, unlike the vast majority of us fictionals, know their lives are being chronicled. They learned of the Story Thieves books during their adventure that I recounted in Story Thieves: The Stolen Chapters, and were extremely unnerved by the discovery that fictionals could read about their lives just as they’d been reading about ours. As they should be.

  As of the last Story Thieves book, Secret Origins, Bethany has been lost to both worlds, after having used a newfound superpower to transform into a beam of light to save her fictional father, a superhero named Doc Twilight. Owen, having witnessed my transformation from fictional criminal into self-realized being, was then trapped within this very book with no knowledge of Bethany’s fate. He will most likely do his best to track Bethany down, in spite of his ignorance of her whereabouts (unknown, and heading even farther away with every second at the speed of light).

  For Owen’s education, I’ve chosen a book called The Time Prison, the second in a series about a time traveler named Kara Dox. The Time Prison would ordinarily never have been seen by you, a fictional reader, given that it was written by a nonfictional author for nonfictional readers. Even worse, this type of book is in the Pick the Plot category, meaning readers are given total control over the fictional people within.

  Using a process that would most likely bore you, I have freed this book from the control of nonfictional readers and am turning it over to you. Now you are in charge of what happens within. In other words, from here on, Owen’s fate is up to you, dear readers. Please try not to kill him if you can avoid it.

  However, do remember that everything you choose to do to Owen in this book has been done to our people countless times, and is most likely being done to you even as we speak. After all, though you control Owen’s life now, you are still not in charge of your own.

  Not yet, at least. But very soon.

  Enjoy yourself, fictional reader. It’s time to teach Owen Conners what it’s like to be fictional.

  Yours,

  Nobody

  A loud noise startled Owen awake, and he bolted up in fright, finding himself in darkness. The last few days came crashing back, and he squeezed his eyes shut. Wherever he was, he didn’t want to know. There were too many bad possibilities and not nearly enough good ones. The bad ones:

  1. He was trapped in a book. The last he’d seen Bethany, the Dark had defeated her. And then Nobody had thrown Owen into a Pick the Plot book. That meant Owen could be in a story where he had zero control over his own choices, with readers deciding for him. This was the worst of the bad possibilities.

  2. He was back home, but Bethany was still missing. Maybe the whole Pick the Plot thing had been Nobody trying to scare him, and instead of a book, Nobody had sent Owen back to the nonfictional world. So he was now actually lying in his own bed, which was good . . . but there’d be no way he could help Bethany. Slightly less worse, only because at least he was safe in his own bed.

  3. He was back home, with Bethany still missing . . . and Nobody had completely separated the nonfictional and fictional worlds. Depending on what that meant, this might actually be the worst option.

  As Owen had learned while stuck in a sort of behind-the-scenes comic book land, Nobody had been trying to permanently separate the worlds, and Bethany was one of the last portals holding them together. So if Nobody had found Bethany, then split her in half like he’d said he was going to . . . what would happen? What if Owen opened his eyes and discovered a world without books, without movies, without anything made-up? Would that stuff all just disappear? And would the fictional people on the other side be okay too? Not to mention would Bethany be okay, split in half like that?

  All in all, that was three good reasons not to open his eyes, right there. Owen squeezed them shut even harder, balling his hands into fists, before taking a deep breath, trying to calm down.

  Just because the bad possibilities were awful didn’t mean there weren’t still good possibilities. He should list those off too, just to be fair:

  1. The last few days had all been a bad, bad dream.

  2.

  3.

  Okay, having only one good possibility wasn’t very encouraging. And things like this were never bad dreams. That was just lazy writing in books.

  Owen slowly lay back down on the bed, purposely not paying attention to how scratchy this blanket was, and how his blanket at home was definitely not scratchy at all. C’mon, bad dream.

  And then another loud, strange noise came from what felt like yards away, and Owen’s robotic heart began pounding. The sound had been a horrifying cross between a scream and a growl, and definitely wasn’t his fictional cat, Spike.

  He clenched his fists tighter, still not opening his eyes. Maybe the sound had just been some dog that needed to go out! Or a cat fighting something bigger, like a . . . a tiger, or a truck! Not likely, but still possible! Either way, there was no proof that he was currently trapped in a terrible book where readers could control his whole life. Nope. No proof at all.

  “I’m at home,” Owen whispered to himself. “Bethany’s at her house, and we’re both totally, completely fine. And soon Mom will be in to wake me up for school, because I slept through my alarm again, and she’ll yell at me for it, just like every morning.”

  A louder, more guttural roar erupted from even closer, and the entire room shook with its power.

  That was not his mom.

  Owen dug his fingernails into his hands, determined not to open his eyes
now, no matter what. “This isn’t happening,” he whispered. “I have to be dreaming. I’m going to wake up back home, and everything will be fine!”

  SHOW OWEN WHO’S IN CHARGE. MAKE HIM GET OUT OF BED.

  Turn to page 76.

  LET OWEN STAY IN BED FOR A BIT. HE SHOULD PROBABLY REST UP BEFORE THE CRAZINESS STARTS.

  Turn to page 141.

  Watch out!” Kara shouted, and pushed Owen out of the way of the dinosaur. He hit the ground to the side of the air lock hard, but realized she hadn’t come with him. Instead, she’d frozen in place where he’d dropped her hand, no longer having access to him speeding up her time.

  And now the Tyrannosaurus rex was bearing down on her, instead.

  “HEY!” Owen shouted, picking up a rock and throwing it at the creature. Though he’d aimed for the dinosaur’s mouth, the rock hit the creature in the eye, and it reared back just before it reached Kara.

  The T. rex roared in anger and pain, then turned to Owen lying on the ground.

  Uh-oh.

  Owen scooted backward as fast as he could, but the creature was just too fast, even with their time moving at the same speed. It roared again, and Owen began hyperventilating, looking around for something, anything he could use against it, but there was nothing but dirt and tree roots.

  You did this to me, didn’t you! Owen yelled in his head as the dinosaur attacked. You chose to have it—

  His thought was cut off as massive jaws closed all around him, and everything went dark.

  Ah, readers. This is Nobody. I believe I mentioned teaching Owen a lesson, but nowhere did I say that you should have dinosaurs eat him whole. Luckily, he’ll be alive when time restarts in the prison on page 1 (or you can skip back to the last chapter on page 260). Please, though . . . let’s try to keep Owen in one piece, if at all possible? He’ll never learn his lesson otherwise.

  TELL KARA TO COME WITH YOU, THAT LEAVING THIS STORY  WILL LEAVE HER DESTINY BEHIND. SHE CAN’T DESTROY THE FUTURE IF SHE’S NOT IN THIS STORY’S UNIVERSE.

  The thought overwhelmed Owen, and he opened his mouth before he even fully understood what he was about to say. “Kara, if you come with me, you’ll be leaving this universe altogether,” he told her, holding his hand out to her. “There’ll be no way for you to destroy the future, then, at least not this one. It might be cheating, sure, but it’ll still free you from whatever destiny you have here. And isn’t that better than locking yourself away for the rest of time?”

  Kara’s hand froze over the time bracelet, and she glanced up at him, a tentative hope in her eyes. “We don’t know that would work. Maybe I’m cursed to unleash evil and end all of reality no matter where I am.”

  “Maybe,” Owen told her, not moving his hand. “We don’t know for sure, you’re right. But we’ll never know if you don’t come with me now.”

  She swallowed hard. “There’s no way,” she whispered. “I can’t just leave my entire universe.”

  “This from the person who was never going to see the outside world for the rest of eternity,” he said, grinning at her.

  She sighed. “You don’t need to do this for me.”

  Owen shook his head. “You’re the one trying to avoid ending the universe, Kara. I think the least I can do is help you with that. And you can help me. Nobody tried to trap me here, but with your help, I got free, and now, I finally get to strike back, yes, just like in that Star Fights movie. Nobody’s trying to . . . well, I can’t really explain it without getting into a lot of nonfictional stuff, but it’s not good. Universe-ending not good, ironically. The only thing is, I have no idea if I can actually stop him by myself.” He raised an eyebrow. “But maybe with your help . . . ?”

  Kara sighed again. “If I go, it’s just to check things out, okay? You have to promise me that if everything goes wrong wherever we go, you’ll bring me back here and let me turn myself in to the TSA. I need your word, Owen Conners.”

  “I promise, Kara Dox.” He crossed his heart, then put his hand back out.

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” she said, eyeing him nervously. But she took his hand.

  “Deal,” Owen said, then closed his eyes. He imagined Jupiter City as it was the moment he and Bethany had first seen it, from the top of the Apathetic Industries building. Raising the hand not holding on to Kara (just so she wouldn’t change her mind, he told himself), he grabbed a page in midair, then brought his hand down.

  He heard reality rip apart, but paused before opening his eyes. Last time he’d been there, the Dark had been in absolute control, and shadows had taken over half of the city. If the Dark had beaten Bethany, would it be worse now? Would the entire city be covered in darkness?

  Except Kara had brought them to his present, and since his ripping through stories stayed in the same time period, maybe not enough time had even passed for anything horrible to take place?

  Sadly, that seemed like a hopeful possibility right now.

  Owen slowly opened his eyes, then immediately covered them again. Not only wasn’t the city covered in darkness, but the sun shined so brightly it almost blinded him!

  “Is that . . . a museum honoring a man in a duck costume?” Kara asked, peering through the tear in reality.

  Owen shaded his eyes and looked, then broke out into a huge grin, not able to help himself. After everything the Pick the Plot book had thrown at him, he’d actually made it back to Jupiter City. He was going to be able to find Bethany! “Oh, it so is. You’ll love it—it was built by people from the future.” Still holding her hand, he led her through the torn page in reality, then closed it behind them.

  They emerged right in the middle of a sidewalk, making several people jump. That by itself was amazing, since the last time he’d been here, the streets had been absolutely empty. But now, there were people walking the streets, sitting on benches, chatting and talking to friends, all just like any other city.

  And there weren’t just regular people either.

  “Look!” someone shouted. “Captain Sunshine!”

  Owen, Kara, and everyone around them looked up into the sky, while some people even started clapping. A man in a yellow superhero suit flew by overhead, waving at the people below. “Keep up the good work, citizens,” Captain Sunshine said with a bright smile, and his voice boomed through the streets. People began shouting back compliments and praise.

  All in all, this was not The Dark comic anymore.

  “That looked suspiciously like a superhero,” Kara said, her eyes on Captain Sunshine as he flew off. “Where exactly are we?”

  “I could tell you,” Owen told her, “but this is definitely some of that nonfictional stuff.”

  She cringed. “Ugh, fine, I don’t want to know.”

  Now that Captain Sunshine had passed by, the crowds went back to whatever they were doing, though a few children kept laughing and pointing. A strange feeling welled up inside of Owen, and it took him a second to place it. Was this . . . hope? Yes, that was it exactly! This was the comic book world Owen had always wanted to visit, not the dark, dystopian nightmare that the Dark had brought about. And just being here seemed to give him a weird feeling of optimism.

  Even with Bethany missing, even with the threat of Nobody hanging over him, even with the possibility of the fictional and nonfictional worlds forever separating, Owen couldn’t help but smile. And it was all thanks to Jupiter City.

  “Okay! We need to find someone named Doc Twilight,” he told Kara. “Or more specifically, his hideout. Then we can use your time bracelet to go back in time and rescue Bethany from . . .” He paused, realizing he had no idea what had happened to her. “Well, we’ll see when we get there.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” Kara said. “Any idea where it is?”

  “Not even a little bit,” Owen said, inwardly wincing. He would have, if he’d read forward in the comic page world, instead of investigating Nobody’s past.

  “What about the guy who just flew off?” Kara asked, nodding into the sky. “He migh
t know this doctor you’re looking for. If he doesn’t but he really is a superhero, then he probably has vision powers or something and could maybe find the guy for us.” She paused. “What’s he a doctor of, anyway? Nighttime?”

  “Basically,” Owen said. “I’d try that, but Captain Sunshine didn’t exactly hang around, and I must have left my signal watch at home.”

  Kara turned him around to point at a sign on a street lamp. “I might know where he’s going.”

  The sign showed Captain Sunshine and other members of the Lawful League standing majestically in front of a domed building.

  Come meet the Lawful League at their headquarters!

  Thank them for saving Jupiter City from the Dark!

  Autographs today only from 1–3 p.m.

  (No supervillains or evil clones, please.)

  “That’s so . . . friendly of them,” Owen said, loving how different this version of Jupiter City was from his last trip. “I guess we need to figure out where the headquarters is?”

  “Just a few blocks over, friend!” said a man walking by. He pointed diagonally through a building. “Can’t miss it. Just go with the crowds. Everyone’s going to be heading over there. They rescued us all from the Dark!”

  “Oh, thank you!” Owen said, giving the man a big grin.

  “Gotta watch out for each other!” the man said, and tipped a nonexistent hat at Owen before walking off, whistling.

  Kara just stared. “Everyone’s so weirdly happy and nice,” she said, a nervous look on her face. Owen didn’t really blame her, honestly. After everything she’d been through, this much lighthearted joy had to seem a bit odd.

  The stranger who’d helped them was right: The crowds were mostly heading in the direction of the Lawful Legion event. Following along with Kara, Owen could make out the Apathetic Industries skyscraper that he and Bethany had first appeared in when they’d taken a portal from what turned out to be her sort-of grandfather’s house into Jupiter City. Now it was covered in celebratory lighting, cheerfully shining in the midday sun.