Pick the Plot

by James Riley

  The old man turned to Owen, and in the fire’s light, he could just barely make out the man’s face. “Hello, boy,” the Magister said to him. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

  “No,” Owen whispered, and slowly backed up, only to run into something uncomfortably squishy. Whatever it was wrapped around him from all sides, then picked him up and turned him around.

  “Ah, Owen,” Nobody said. “Your fictional self was wrong. You’re actually right on schedule.”

  Turn to page 241.

  NOBODY IS RIGHT, OWEN. THE WORLDS NEED TO SPLIT.

  This time, the thought didn’t hit his head very hard, but it still almost knocked him over. “No,” Owen whispered, shaking his head. “You can’t do this to her.”

  “The readers have spoken,” Nobody told him, nodding his head. He placed a hand on each side of Bethany’s face, then paused. “Apologies if this hurts,” he told 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 seemed a bit dimmer than before, if nothing else, 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 ground.

  “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 from Neverland to the nonfictional world 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.” He reached an impossibly long hand through the open page, then spread that hand out to cover the entire night sky. He grunted, looking like he was lifting something incredibly heavy . . . and then ripped something.

  “And the final portal is closed,” he said, sighing as he pulled his arm back in and closed the page to Neverland. “The worlds are now separated completely.”

  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.

  “And now, Owen,” Nobody said, “I have a special life planned for you. You’ve become so involved with Kara Dox’s destiny that I’m loath to separate you. So as a special gift to you, who have been through so much, I allow you to stay here in the fictional world. Enjoy your new life in her story, Owen. And hopefully now that the nonfictionals are no longer in control, your life won’t be in danger.”

  The words struck Owen but made little impact. He couldn’t even comprehend what had just happened. Not only had he failed at rescuing Bethany or stopping Nobody . . . but he couldn’t get home, either? And Nobody was going to leave him in a story where no matter what Kara did, Owen always died?

  “Enjoy your new life,” Nobody said, and ripped a page open in midair to what looked like a normal city street. He picked Owen up and pushed him violently through the doorway. “Oh, and watch out for that car.”

  Owen stumbled into the middle of a busy intersection as cars came rushing toward him. He screamed, raising his hands to protect himself, only nothing hit him. He slowly lowered his arms, his heart beating like mad, and looked around.

  “You almost got killed!” Kara said, staring down at him. “What were you doing in the middle of the street?”

  “Kara?” Owen said, looking around. Somehow, he was lying on the ground now, just feet away from the intersection, and Kara Dox stood above him. “Did you . . . save me?”

  Kara gave him an odd look. “Do I know you?”

  Owen’s eyes widened. Had Nobody inserted him into the story at the point that Kara first met him? What did that—

  Dear Readers,

  I hope this reaches you. I’ve spent the last decade and a half trying to figure out a way to communicate directly with you. It wasn’t easy, and I know you didn’t listen to me the last time, but I need to tell you something.

  The fictional world is dying. You won’t see it now, but in my time, in your future, the signs are everywhere. The infinite potential has become this reality’s undoing, and there’s no fixing it. The only way to save the fictional world is to change your mind. Please. Go back and fix things. Tell Nobody not to separate the worlds. Not just for me, but for all of you as well. Otherwise, all signs point to this reality being completely wiped from existence in the next few months.

  This is the doom that Kara blamed herself for, but it’s not her fault, it’s mine. It’s Nobody’s. It’s all of ours. To get you this message, I’ve had to put all of my life energy into this letter, trying to get it to the proper place and time, so that you still have a chance to change your minds. It’s a sacrifice, but one I’d make for the world (and Kara) a thousand times over, if only you listen and believe me.

  Please. If not for the fictional world, do it for yourselves. Go back and choose the other option. Choose to leave the worlds connected. Otherwise, we’re all doomed.

  Your friend,

  Owen Conners (age 27)

  —mean? Had he just been doomed to live out his life in Kara’s story? It wasn’t like he could ever get back to his own world, now that the worlds were separate. And there wasn’t anything he could do about that, not anymore. He just couldn’t beat Nobody. No one could, except . . .

  Except the readers. If they were still reading now, maybe he had a chance? As long as the story didn’t end here abruptly, he could still get them a message!

  “You might not know me yet,” Owen told Kara, feeling strangely optimistic. “But trust me, we’re going to be good friends.”

  She frowned. “This is one of those time travel things, isn’t it.” She showed him the bracelet on her hand. “My older self just popped out of nowhere to give me this yesterday. So you’re saying you met me in the future?”

  Owen couldn’t help but smile. “Um, not exactly. But don’t worry about that for now. First, we need to talk.” He paused. “Are you hungry? I haven’t eaten in days. Let’s get some breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day, I hear.”

  Okay, now all he had to do was ask the readers to change their minds, and everything could still work out okay!

  Readers, I . . .

  THE END

  And that’s the end of the Story Thieves series.

  . . . Unless you want to listen to Owen and decide to save Bethany. If so, turn to page 224.

  The bald woman touched her hand to Owen’s neck, and instantly everything went dark. He didn’t even feel it as his head hit the jungle floor, and from there, Owen remembered nothing until midnight came and restarted the day.

  Ah, readers. Knocking Owen out might be fun, I’ll admit, but it’s hard to keep the story going that way. Either start over at page 1, or turn to the next page for a second try.

  AIR LOCK TWO.

  The thought banged around in Owen’s head so hard it echoed. That had to have been on purpose. He winced at the pain but kept his thoughts under control as best he could. Don’t blame the readers. This is Nobody’s fault.

  Besides, if this was the only way to save Bethany, then he didn’t really have any choice but to listen to them, did he? Assuming the readers hadn’t decided that for him too.

  “Let’s do the second one,” he told Kara, pointing at the stopped clock that only moved every minute or so. They walked over to where a small group of prisoners already stood, two of which were arguing loudly.

  “You’ll
do what I say in there, or pay the price!” snarled an enormous man, the same one Owen had seen before, with the digital clock tattoos.

  “That’s not going to work for me, actually,” a bald woman told him, her arms crossed, standing between the tattooed man and the air lock door. “So I might as well pay the price now, then.”

  The man snarled, then reached for her with both hands. So fast Owen could barely see her, the woman reached out with just two fingers and touched the man on the neck.

  He instantly collapsed to the ground.

  Every other prisoner in the group took a step back as the bald woman turned around. “Anyone else want time slowed down in the veins leading to their brains? If not, then stay out of my way.”

  She turned back and began turning the air lock’s wheel to open it as the man on the ground breathed deeply, though still unconscious. What was with everyone in here?

  Oh, right. They were time prisoners, so bad they had no chance of redemption. That was it.

  Owen glanced back at the prisoners who’d chosen to stay behind and just enjoy the food and entertainment. When this was all over, hopefully those prisoners wouldn’t turn out to be the smart ones.

  “See, I told you to eat,” Kara said, bumping him again with her shoulder. “Look at you, you’re practically drooling. Never miss breakfast, Owen. Most important meal of the day, I hear.”

  The bald woman opened the air lock, then moved inside. Kara grabbed Owen by the hand and led him in, the other prisoners pushing their way in too.

  Inside looked like every air lock Owen had ever seen in a science-fiction movie: basically a short room with large doors on either end, each one locked with a wheel. As soon as they were all inside, the door abruptly closed behind them and red lights began flashing as a siren rang out in short bursts, like an alarm clock.

  “We’re locked in!” one of the prisoners yelled, trying to open the door they came through.

  “Better in here than out there with the Countess,” another murmured.

  “What was that?” the bald woman asked, moving to stand next to the second prisoner. “Are you insulting the Countess?”

  “Never!” the prisoner said, holding his hands up in surrender.

  She stared at him for a moment, then shrugged and touched his neck. The prisoner collapsed immediately, and everyone else gave the bald woman a little more room.

  Apparently even the Countess had fans.

  At that moment the alarm and lights turned off, and the air lock door on the opposite side opened.

  A wave of humid air crashed over the group, bringing with it an assortment of odd odors—some typical jungle smells, others something like rotten meat. Owen swallowed hard, glad he hadn’t eaten. Rotten meat smell was never a good sign.

  Weirdly, though, there were no sounds at all. At least not in the first few moments. As they all moved to the open door, though, a sudden onslaught of buzzing and roars hit them. But after just a few seconds silence returned, like someone had turned off a speaker system.

  “What is going on out there?” Owen whispered to Kara.

  “Can’t be anything good,” Kara said to him. “And why are they letting us outside? That doesn’t seem right. Though I have always wanted to meet a dinosaur.”

  “Hope that you don’t,” the bald woman told her. “They’re among the most dangerous creatures in all of time. Not counting myself, of course.”

  Kara rolled her eyes and started to respond, but Owen quickly shook his head and pulled her away. “I hope she gets eaten,” she whispered to Owen. At his shocked look, she shrugged. “Okay, not really. Well, maybe a little. Besides, she’ll come back when the day is over . . . and then hopefully be eaten tomorrow, too.”

  In spite of himself, Owen shoved her with his shoulder, mimicking her move. “You’re in a good mood now.”

  “Horrible people bring it out in me,” Kara said.

  Abruptly sounds filled the air again, but just for a few seconds, the same as before. No one spoke until the silence returned, after which Owen noticed he wasn’t the only one letting out a held breath.

  The bald woman stepped up to the door and looked outside carefully. She turned back to the others and gestured for them to approach, which Owen and Kara did, along with one or two others. “You all should have noticed the stopped clock before we entered,” the bald woman said. “This must be what it meant.” She pointed out of the air lock.

  Getting closer, Owen looked outside to see a dragonfly about the size of his fist, completely frozen in midflight.

  “Whoa,” one of the prisoners said, stepping out of the air lock. “They’ve stopped time? This will be easy to find the code, then. How dangerous can it be if time is frozen?” He laughed, then looked up and screamed. The man fell to the ground, still screaming, then scraped and crawled his way back inside the air lock as fast as he could.

  The rest of the prisoners immediately pushed back against the entrance, one even trying to reopen the door again as the bald woman grabbed the screaming man. “What did you see?” she demanded.

  “A monster!” the prisoner shouted. “It was going to eat me!”

  “It sure was,” Kara said, poking her head out of the air lock. “Owen, look at this.”

  Owen slowly peeked his head out of the air lock, then almost screamed himself. Standing above them with its mouth opened wide was a Tyrannosaurus rex, so close they could have smelled its breath . . . if it had been moving, that was.

  “What if time restarts?” asked another prisoner, slowly making her way out of the air lock.

  Kara stared at her for a moment, then grabbed Owen and the prisoner and yanked them both back into the air lock. A moment later, the sounds all kicked in and the Tyrannosaurus snapped its jaws closed right where they’d been standing.

  And then the sounds disappeared, and the T. rex froze, his eye locked right on Owen.

  “Smart girl,” the bald woman told Kara, who was staring at the T. rex head in fascination. “Time is frozen, but only for fifty-five seconds. I’ve been counting. And when it starts, it’s only for five seconds each time.”

  Fifty-five seconds? That was all the time they had before dinosaurs had five seconds to hunt them down and eat them? That wasn’t enough time to get anywhere, let alone to wherever the exit code might be.

  But what choice did they have? It was either figure out how to use the fifty-five seconds they had, or stay in the air lock and be a free lunch when time restarted. Even if the dinosaur couldn’t fit inside, they’d basically be stuck there until midnight.

  Owen opened his mouth to ask Kara if she was ready, but the bald woman pushed him out of the way before he could say a word. “I’m getting all three exit codes tonight, before midnight,” she said to the other prisoners as she quickly moved to the edge of the door. “Interfere or jeopardize that in any way, and I’ll leave you to the dinosaurs. Now stand back, time’s about to start again.”

  No one argued. Behind her the T. rex unfroze, and immediately it came right at the woman, but smacked up against some sort of invisible barrier to entry. Something seemed to be keeping the creature out. The T. rex pulled away just as time stopped again.

  Without another word, the bald woman was gone, disappearing behind the T. rex. Apparently the barrier didn’t apply to humans.

  “Let’s go!” Kara shouted, and led Owen out the door as well.

  The feeling of walking right past an enormous dinosaur, even one frozen in time, made Owen’s toes go cold. The creature’s skin was like cracked leather and had various scars all over the place. As they passed by its feet, he couldn’t help but stare at the three six-inch-long claws on each one and imagine what those could do to a human being.

  “Forty-five more seconds,” Kara declared, looking around. “We should probably get as far from here as we can and then hide.”

  Owen glanced at the T. rex’s teeth and shuddered. “I’m with you there.”

  Together they set out at a run down the path, then pushed into
the jungle as they ran out of time. When the full fifty-five seconds passed, the sounds of buzzing insects kicked in all around them. From the pathway they heard the T. rex roar again, and the ground began thumping, but it didn’t seem to be moving quickly enough to reach them. Maybe it was confused about where they’d gone.

  Time froze once more, and Kara nodded. “See? We’ve got such a head start that it’s not going to catch up now. We’ll be able to beat it to the exit code, no problem. This challenge is going to be so easy!”

  “Will it?” asked a familiar voice behind them, and Owen whirled around to find the bald woman reaching a hand toward their necks.

  THE BALD WOMAN KNOCKS KARA OUT.

  Turn to page 126.

  THE BALD WOMAN KNOCKS OWEN OUT.

  Turn to page 316.

  FORGET ABOUT ESCAPE. YOU DESERVE TO TAKE IT EASY AND RELAX!

  That’s right, he did deserve that! After everything he’d gone through, between almost dying on Quanterium, his own fictional self trying to steal his life, getting stuck outside of the comic book world, and now being trapped in a time prison, wasn’t it fair for Owen to take a short break? Was that too much to ask?

  Owen turned to Kara, ready to make the argument that they should just have some fun for once, when he suddenly realized what he was about to do. What was he thinking? Bethany needed him! There was no time to sit around. He had to get out of here as soon as possible. And would the Countess let him sit around all day eating after almost killing him and Kara?

  Ugh. Where had that thought come from, anyway? Was he really that stressed out that his brain was rebelling? Something else played at the edge of his mind, something that he felt should have been obvious, but all the weirdness of the day wouldn’t let him grab ahold of it. What—

  “Are you okay?” Kara asked, putting a hand on his arm. He jumped at her touch without even thinking about it, and she pulled her hand away, looking hurt for a moment. Then she seemed to realize what she’d done. “Sorry. You must have been thinking about the Countess’s glove. I didn’t mean to scare you.”