by James Riley
Branson in the year fourteen,” Kara said, grabbing Owen’s hand and hitting the bracelet.
They jumped forward in time, landing in the middle of several wooden huts, each about ten feet tall, arranged in a circle around a central open area. Though no one saw them appear, Owen could hear voices just on the other side of one of the structures.
“This might be a bit early for the founding of the TSA,” Owen pointed out.
“That’s the thing, though,” Kara said. “The founder could have traveled to the past in order to stay safe. Anyway, it was just the time and place that popped into my head. Should we try something else?”
“No need,” said a voice, and they whirled around to find Dolores with several robed guards. She immediately touched Owen and Kara on the neck, and they both collapsed to the ground.
The last thing Owen heard was Dolores’s voice getting farther and farther away. “Bring them, but keep them asleep. The Countess doesn’t want them to wake up before she disposes of them.”
Readers, turn back now! This is the . . . the wrong . . .
And then everything went dark.
THIS IS MESSED UP. DON’T SPLIT BETHANY, NOBODY. LET THESE TWO GO.
The thoughts echoed in Owen’s head, but without the force of a command. This was more like readers were speaking through him. He immediately opened his mouth to share the news with Nobody. “They said—”
“Oh, I heard,” Nobody said, his hands still raised over Bethany.
Owen let out the biggest sigh of relief, almost falling over onto his face.
“However,” Nobody said, “this isn’t your story, it’s mine. And it appears that the readers need a lesson in how an author actually controls everything.”
“What?!” Owen shouted. “You promised!”
“Did you really think I’d allow someone to change my story?” Nobody asked him. “This was a Pick the Plot book, yes. But there was only ever one path through, and it led straight here to me. I couldn’t just leave things to chance, now could I, Owen?” He moved his hands from above Bethany’s head to place them on both sides of her face, then shook his head. “Apologies if this hurts,” he said to her.
“No!” Doc Twilight screamed again, but it was too late. Nobody tore his hands apart, and Bethany split with a sound like a book being torn in half. Two Bethanys fell to the ground, each one looking like a whole person but somehow . . . not. Each one looked a bit dimmer than before, as if neither one was fully there.
“Bethany!” Owen screamed, and tried to push forward, but Fowen yanked his chains backward, pulling Owen to the floor.
“And now, the last portal,” Nobody said, opening another page in reality. Behind it lay a night sky, with stars shining over a pirate ship and a beautiful-looking island. Nobody pointed at one of the stars, then moved his finger to the next star to the left. “There we go, the second star from the right,” he said, then picked up one of the Bethanys. “And home you go!”
And with that, the featureless man tossed Bethany up through the page, into the night sky above the island, and straight at the star.
“You’ll kill her!” Owen shouted.
“Actually, I’m returning her to the nonfictional world,” Nobody said. “The portal to Neverland is the last one remaining open.” On the other side of the page, Bethany sailed toward the star only to abruptly disappear. “And there she goes.”
Owen couldn’t speak. There was nothing to say. Above him Doc Twilight moaned, and Owen could hear the sizzle of tears hitting the molten plastic.
“You’ve disappointed me, readers,” Nobody said to no one in particular. “Did you not see throughout this book that you were being taught a lesson as well?” His face grew a frown. “I hoped better of you, especially here, at the end. It can’t be helped, I suppose.”
“Don’t blame them for your lies,” Owen hissed.
Nobody paused. “You know, I did intend to leave you here in the fictional world as a gift, Owen. Reunite you with Kara and let you live out your proper story with her. You would have lived an eventful, adventurous life with her. But now I believe I’ll instead sentence you to your well-deserved nonfictional life.”
One of his enormous arms snaked out and grabbed Owen, cutting through the chains holding him. As Owen struggled, Nobody pulled him up toward the rip in reality. “Good luck,” the featureless man said, then threw Owen directly at the same star he’d sent Bethany toward.
Owen screamed as he soared out into empty night air, passing over the pirate ship anchored nearby a skull rock. Somehow, gravity wasn’t yanking him down, but that didn’t stop him from almost dying of fright.
The ship and island disappeared in the darkness, and for a few moments Owen couldn’t see anything but stars. He wondered if Nobody had thrown him out into space, but there was still air to breathe here.
And then something buzzed over his skin like he was passing through some kind of energy field, and suddenly, lights appeared out of nowhere below him. Lights from a city. A giant city.
“And now,” said Nobody’s voice from a great distance, “I close the last portal.”
Something ripped in space behind him, and Owen instantly began to tumble down toward the city, falling faster and faster as he went. Gravity seemed to have caught up to him now.
The weird thing was, Owen wasn’t afraid anymore, not even while tumbling to his certain death. It was as if all fear had just disappeared. Instead, he watched the ground rising toward him very matter-of-factly, counting down the seconds it would take until he hit.
But just before he crashed into a city street, some unknown force that felt very similar to the Magister’s magic grabbed Owen, slowing him down and carrying him into the open window of a large mansion within the city. That same force set him down on a very old bed in the middle of what looked like an abandoned nursery. Nearby, Bethany lay on another bed unconscious.
Owen slowly sat up and examined his surroundings. Somehow, he felt an odd ache in his mind, as if there was something missing . . . something that both asked and answered questions, questions like where he was and how he’d come from the second star on the right to what looked like present-day London. Questions of how he would get home, or what would happen to him and Bethany in a newly separated nonfictional world.
Fortunately, though, the ache was easily ignored. Owen pushed himself off the bed, checked to make sure Bethany was alive, then set out to find a phone. He’d have to call his mother to arrange for transportation, and then perhaps find something to eat.
It was the only logical thing to do.
THE END
I’m not thrilled with you, readers. But join me for Story Thieves: Worlds Apart, to see the new world of possibility and freedom you actively chose against. Perhaps you will learn the lesson I so fervently wished you to learn in this book.
First, there was nothing.
And then, there was light, light so bright that Owen had to cover his eyes with his arm.
Was he dead? Should he be heading toward the light somehow?
But the light dimmed as his vision adjusted, and he slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying on solid ground. Not only that, but time was moving forward again, as far as he could tell. At least, he could feel a breeze, and see weirdly vibrant trees of all varieties blowing with the wind. And the air! It almost had a taste to it, it was so pure and refreshing.
Owen pushed himself up on his forearms, then glanced down to see that he was lying on brightly colored warm tiles. The tiles had been decorated so intricately that for a moment, Owen was mesmerized by the pattern, and he had to purposely look away just to keep from getting lost in it. Nearby, ocean waves surged onto sand of different colors, including reds, blues, and even black. Between the ocean and the bright sun, this all looked like a vacation postcard, just from a planet more beautiful than his own.
Was this . . . heaven?
Something stirred to his right, and Owen glanced over to find Kara waking up, still holding his hand. He re
leased her gently and tried to shake off the cloudiness in his head. Where were they? Shouldn’t they have been sucked into the big bang? Had they been killed by it? Or did Kara manage to jump them over the nothingness and into . . . well, whatever had come before the beginning of the universe?
If this was a previous universe, Owen decided he wouldn’t necessarily mind staying.
“Wow,” Kara said, sitting up and looking around. “Can’t say I saw this coming.”
“You don’t think we died, do you?” Owen whispered.
She grinned at him, then threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him. “Nope, I think we’re both still pretty alive,” she said, putting her ear to his chest. “See? I can hear your heart beating. That same weird metallic thump as usual.”
Blushing as bright as the sun, Owen wriggled his way out of her grasp and pushed himself to his feet, wavering a bit as a bout of dizziness passed over him. He turned away from the ocean and steadied himself, then noticed what lay behind them.
Buildings thousands of feet tall and made of colored light swirled up into the sky, each one more beautiful and less possible than the last. It was as if builders had managed to construct them of rainbows. Every building was a piece of art, and yet stood so tall and strong that they could have been sculpted from stone or steel.
“Where are we?” Owen whispered to Kara, who stood beside him, her mouth hanging open.
“I really wish I knew,” she said. “This must be whatever came before our universe. Remember what I said, about how there are theories that societies millions of years more advanced than ours might have the power to build their own universe?” She nodded at the city before them. “This might be one of those.”
That idea made Owen’s head hurt, but also brought up a thousand more questions. Was this still part of the Kara Dox books? Or had they somehow gone beyond the fictional universe itself? Either way, what did this mean? And most important, could they get back?
“We can always ask someone where we are,” Kara said, pointing at the buildings. Owen looked closer, and realized that there were people walking between them . . . and not just at ground level. Some crossed on bridges at incredible heights, while others . . .
Others were floating through the air. They were flying.
“Maybe we should fix your time bracelet first,” Owen said, his excitement matching his terror at the scene before him. If these people could actually fly, then how advanced were they? What else could they do? And were they friendly?
Kara nodded, then looked down at her wrist and frowned. “Huh. Slight problem.” She held it up for Owen to see.
The time bracelet had cracked completely in half.
Owen’s entire body went rigid. “Tell me you can still fix this,” he said slowly. “Tell me we’re not going to be stuck here in this time.”
“There’s always a chance I can salvage it,” Kara said, then gently touched the bracelet.
It immediately cracked again, into four separate pieces, then fell to the ground.
“Hmm,” Kara said. “Maybe not a big chance—”
The pieces began to smoke before bursting into flames.
“Yeah, we’re not going anywhere,” Kara said, giving Owen a guilty look. “Not yet, anyway. But I will find a way to get you back to the present. Maybe the floating people can help us?”
Owen turned away, unable to respond. Had the readers done this to him? Purposely sent him here so there was no way he could ever get back and find Bethany? Who would do such a thing? And if they had, how could he fight it? He couldn’t control the story, not like the readers could. It was like Nobody had thrown him into a river, and every time he thought he could reach the shore, the readers added a waterfall. And now he was about to drown.
Owen walked toward the ocean, trying not to think about the majestic city behind him where he might be spending the rest of his life. He stared out into the deeply blue water, noticing absently how beautiful it was, especially compared to the ocean back home. The air seemed to shimmer above the water a few hundred feet out from shore, and Owen wondered what that could be. Maybe some sort of protective wall or force field? He wasn’t sure if that made him feel more safe, or more trapped.
“I’m so sorry, Owen,” Kara said, moving to his side and staring out at the ocean as well. “I never would have sent us back if I had any . . .” She trailed off as she seemed to notice something. “Hey, are those boats?”
It took Owen a few seconds to realize she was asking him a question. “Boats? Where?”
She pointed off to the left, and Owen’s eyes widened.
Sailing toward shore from outside the shimmering light were more boats than Owen could even count. They extended off into the distance beyond what he could see, and they were coming in fast.
Something launched from one of the boats and sailed out toward the city, only to collide with the shimmering air and explode, sending light sizzling off in all directions. So it was some sort of force field.
“We should get off the beach,” Owen said, and Kara nodded. Before they could move, though, an odd, musical alarm erupted behind them in the city, and very human-looking people floated out of the buildings, each one wearing elaborate robes. Even from this distance Owen could tell that the humans seemed far too old and fragile to still be alive, let alone up and moving, while also carrying staffs or books . . .
Wait a second. Were these . . . magicians? And here he was, completely Kiel-less, without even a winged cat or spell book. Charm would so be laughing at him right now . . .
“You know, if this right now is some sort of final battle that ends their universe, we might have a problem,” Kara said, looking up to watch as the elderly city protectors floated over their heads toward the sea.
“A problem?”
“What happens if we interfere?” she said quietly. “If we mess something up, we might stop our universe from being created. We could be dooming everyone who’s ever lived. If it comes to a choice about whether or not we get involved—”
“It’s not a choice!” Owen said quickly, hopefully interrupting the readers before they decided anything. The last thing he needed was to give the readers the power to determine if Kara’s entire universe existed or not! “You’re totally right, we can’t get in the way. Whatever happens here needs to happen exactly the way it always did.”
“But what if they need our help?” Kara said, pointing at the apparent-wizards assembling just before the shimmering light out over the water. More shots rang out from the boats, hitting the protective wall in multiple places, and each one sent the same sparks sizzling away. More and more of the boats approached, starting to fill the horizon.
“I think they’ve got this in hand,” Owen told her. “Look at them. They’re floating and they have a magical wall. What could possibly hurt them?”
Something crackled loudly farther out than Owen could see, and an arc of lightning pulsed right through the shimmering light. It struck one of the floating humans in the chest, sending her flying backward to crash into the tile just feet from Owen and Kara, hitting so hard she left a smoking hole a few feet deep. Before they could even react, though, the woman stood up, looking merely dazed, and floated out of the hole. Considering she had to be over two hundred years old, Owen couldn’t help but be impressed.
“Are you okay?” Kara shouted, running over to her.
The woman looked them over with surprise, then waved her staff. Both Kara and Owen lit up briefly, and the woman sighed in what sounded like relief. “You’re not Naturalists, thank the source.” She paused, looking closer. “But you’re not from here, either. Who are you?”
Kara glanced at Owen, then shrugged as if to say, What choice do we have? “We’re from the future. We came back by accident, but don’t know where we are or what’s happening. Can we help in some way?”
The woman sagged, putting most of her weight on her staff. “I’m afraid not, child. I fear you’ve arrived just in time to witness the last days of Atla
ntis, as well as of all magic on Earth. The unbelievers have arrived in force to wipe us out, and they may have the power to do just that.”
Owen took a step back, feeling like he’d just been smacked in the face. He shook his head, unable to wrap his mind around what the woman had just said. This was Earth? Or some version of it? And the city behind them was Atlantis? But how could that be possible? They’d gone back beyond the big bang, so how could there even be an Earth? Did the universes just repeat themselves somehow and create the same planets over and over? If that was the case, why was this Atlantis still around at the end of their universe, when all of the legends of the city had placed it in the distant past on Owen’s Earth?
The woman, meanwhile, was staring at Owen intently. “You’re from the future, you say?” She took a step closer and touched her staff to his head. He glowed briefly again, and her eyes widened. She touched Kara as well, but this time frowned and turned back to Owen. “Come, I must bring you to the council. They must see for themselves what the future holds.”
Owen looked at Kara, who winced. “We really need to find a way back home,” Owen told the woman, backing away slowly. “The future doesn’t really wait for anyone. It’s a huge pain like that. And you seem to have a lot going on here—”
“I’m afraid I must insist,” the woman said, and raised her staff.
MAKE OWEN FIGHT THE WOMAN!
Turn to page—
The woman tilted her head, giving Owen a strange look. “I see we have witnesses,” she said, then began murmuring something while moving her staff around both him and Kara. Finally, she nodded. “You are free of their influence now, unless you grant them control again. Now, enough of this. We must be off.”
Again, Owen felt like he’d been hit. Witnesses? She couldn’t have seen the readers, could she? They did have influence over him, obviously, but how could she have taken that away, let alone even known they were there?
And if she could stop the readers from changing the very story they were in . . . what did she have the power to do to him and Kara?
