Pick the Plot

by James Riley

  “There’s the air lock!” Kara shouted, and sped up. The raptors began to split off into the jungle to the sides of the path, which was good, since Owen had no idea what would have happened if they’d actually caught up to the creatures. More prisoners popped up out of the woods, and Owen had to try really hard not to think of how many of them had been eaten during this challenge.

  “As soon as we get into the air lock, we need to lock the door!” Kara shouted as they got closer. Owen nodded, not sure he had the breath to answer, but ready to do whatever he could to keep the time prisoners from torturing them for . . . well, whatever the sign was. TAKE ME wasn’t exactly the clearest of instructions, but they hadn’t had much else to go on.

  They passed into the air lock, only to have another bright light flash over them, strong enough to stop Owen in his tracks. “Kara?” he said, her hand slipping out of his.

  “I’m here!” she said from his side as the light faded. “Also, uh-oh.”

  The light faded, and they found themselves surrounded by prisoners.

  “DINOSAURS ARE THE MOST EFFICIENT KILLERS IN RECORDED TIME,” TIME-R was saying. “I WOULD HAVE SUPPOSED THAT A HUMAN BEING MIGHT NOT WANT TO MEET SUCH A CREATURE, AS SHE WOULD SURELY BE EATEN BY IT.”

  Owen’s eyes widened, and he glanced around at the rest of the group. None of the prisoners seemed particularly interested in him or Kara. In fact, they were all staring out at the path beyond the air lock.

  “Well, let’s see what’s out there, then,” the woman with the eye patch said. “And hopefully there won’t be any dinosaurs.”

  The prisoners began to file out of the air lock, while Owen and Kara slipped to the back of the group, waiting for the rest to leave. Finally, when all had, Owen turned to her and gave her a look of terrified confusion. “Huh?!” he said.

  “I guess this is the forward version of what we just did backward?” she said. “I’ll tell you what, though . . . I say we just sit this one out. It might create a paradox, but stick by me and we’ll be fine.”

  “I’m down for waiting in the air lock until midnight,” Owen agreed, then noticed something. “Wait. How do you still have the sign if we haven’t started yet?”

  Kara looked down at it in surprise. “The writing’s changed too.” Instead of TAKE ME, the sign now just had a numeral “0” on it.

  “That’s the exit code,” Owen whispered, and grinned at her. “The challenge must be set up to finish it in reverse, and it leaves you with the code! So . . . we did it?”

  She smiled back, then hugged him. “Of course we did. What can’t we do?”

  Other than get out of the prison? Owen sighed, then turned his thoughts inward. Did you get that, readers? The third number is zero. Three is zero. Three is zero. Got it?

  There wasn’t a response, but right now, Owen’s brain couldn’t take a reader command anyway, so he happily slid down the air lock wall. Ignoring the screams outside, he and Kara waited out the rest of the day, until night finally came and reset the clock.

  WELL, THAT WAS WEIRD. TURN BACK TO PAGE 1 . . . OR CHEAT A BIT, AND SKIP TO THE DECISIONS ON PAGE 259.

  PUNCH YOURSELF IN THE FACE. HARD.

  Owen’s hand clenched into a fist, and before he knew what was going on, it swung for his face. He yelled in surprise and barely managed to get his other hand up to block it. He fought his fist back down to his side as Kara just stared at him.

  Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be? Two can play that game!

  And with that, he punched his rogue fist with his other hand as hard as he could.

  Pain shot through both hands, and Owen doubled over, keeping silent but screaming in his mind.

  “Something is very, very wrong here,” Kara said.

  “No, really, everything’s fine,” Owen told her from between clenched teeth. “I’m totally good. Now I’m going to choose which air lock to do first. Ready?”

  She just gave him a confused look, and he took that as the closest to a yes he was going to get.

  Real funny, readers. Great. You’ve proven you can mess with me. Now how about we get on with the choice? If not, we’re all stuck here, including you. So unless you want to keep reading about nothing happening, maybe choose something that will move this story along!

  HAVE OWEN PICK AIR LOCK ONE.

  Turn to page 260.

  HAVE OWEN PICK AIR LOCK TWO.

  Turn to page 317.

  HAVE OWEN PICK AIR LOCK THREE.

  Turn to page 110.

  About the Author

  Strangely enough, JAMES RILEY, bestselling author of the Half Upon a Time series, doesn’t actually exist. There’s no record of “James Riley” before his fairy tale series came out, and sources say that the man in his author photos is just an actor. It’s almost as if someone made up this fictional “James Riley” identity solely to hide his true identity. But why? And who would go to such lengths? Certainly Nobody comes to mind.

  ALADDIN

  SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK

  JAMESRILEYAUTHOR.COM

  VISIT US AT SIMONANDSCHUSTER.COM/KIDS

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/James-Riley

  ALSO BY   JAMES RILEY

  The Half Upon a Time series

  Half  Upon a Time

  Twice Upon a Time

  Once Upon the End

  The Story Thieves series

  Story Thieves

  The Stolen Chapters

  Secret Origins

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin hardcover edition September 2017 Text copyright © 2017 by James Riley

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2017 by Vivienne To

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN and related logo are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event.

  For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Jacket designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena

  Author photograph by Maarten de Boer

  Interior designed by Tom Daly

  The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Riley, James, 1977- author.

  Title: Pick the plot / by James Riley.

  Description: First Aladdin hardcover edition. | New York : Aladdin, 2017. |

  Series: Story thieves ; [book 4] | Summary: Owen is trapped in a time travel plot-your-own-adventure book, controlled by the reader, and a bizarre fellow prisoner, Kara Dox, might be his only hope for escaping to save Bethany.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016059513 (print) | LCCN 2017029665 (eBook) | ISBN 9781481461283 (hc) | ISBN 9781481461306 (eBook)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Books and reading—Fiction. | Characters in literature—Fiction. | Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. | Time travel—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Plot-your-own stories. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Friendship. | JUVENILE FICTION / Humorous Stories.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.R55 (eBook) | LCC PZ7.1.R55 Pic 2017 (print) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016059513

  br />   James Riley, Pick the Plot