Story Thieves (30 page)

As he reached the Audience Chamber, he slowed and carefully peeked out the doorway, but saw the same troop transport of soldiers that he'd come in with now lying on the floor of the chamber, unmoving. And there in front of the soldiers was Charm, floating on a stretcher.

He ran to her, completely unsure what to do. What
could
he do? He had no magic, no spell book. How could he fix her? Maybe the Source had ideas, but she didn't have time. He needed a doctor, medicine, something!

But what doctor would help a criminal like Charm, or even listen to Kiel's request in the first place? They were the most wanted felons in all of Quanterium.

There was just one thing to do.

Kiel pushed the stretcher out of the Audience Chamber and into the palace proper, stopping only when he found himself surrounded by shocked holograms of Quanterians.

“HELP!” he shouted. “This is Charm Mentum, the daughter of your former president. She needs medical attention now! She's no criminal. She's been a Quanterian spy since the day I met her, and actually just betrayed me, Kiel Gnomenfoot, to save your world. Please, call a doctor!” And with that, he dropped to his knees and held out his hands, waiting to be taken away by the Science Police as the holographic citizens of Quanterium gathered all around him.

W
ait, what?” Owen said. “That can't be the ending! He gave himself up to get Charm a doctor?”

“They thought she was a criminal,” Bethany said quietly, touching the page. “I guess he thought they wouldn't save her otherwise.”

“There has to be more,” Owen said, pulling the book out of her hand. “There has to be! What happened to Charm? Is she okay?” He seemed about as worried about Charm as Bethany felt about Kiel, honestly.

“There's an epilogue,” Bethany said, turning the page while he held it. “Five years later.” She paused. “But I don't think we should read it. I mean, after everything, it wouldn't be right to just finish the book that way, you know? That's no way to say good-bye.”

“Not
read
it?” Owen said, his voice rising as he stared at her
indignantly. “But I have to find out—” And then he noticed her hand in midair, waiting to take his.

He swallowed hard, gave her a thankful, relieved smile, then silently took her hand.

Together, they disappeared into the pages.

Five years later

“As you know, the tyrant Dr. Verity caused an accident six years ago that killed my parents and sisters,” Charm told the crowd before her. “That accident took my eye, arm, and leg. Science saved me, giving me robotic parts to take the place of flesh and bone. But it took magic to truly make me whole.”

She pointed at her now-human eye and held up both nonrobotic arms. “This is what magic and science accomplished together. But it won't stop there. Together, Quanterian and Magisterian will become one and whole, like science and magic healed me. We shall move forward together as one planet once more, with one people of both science
and
magic!” Charm said. The assembled Magisterians and Quanterians below her broke into cheers. She
grinned, and waved as she started to step offstage.

For just a moment someone in the crowd caught her eye. While most of the assembled people were cheering or clapping, one boy just stood silently, an almost sad smile on his face. She gave him a curious look, and he waved awkwardly, almost in embarrassment.

Did she know him? There was something about him that seemed almost . . . familiar. Something she hadn't seen in a long time. Years, even.

And for some reason, seeing the boy now, she realized how much she missed that . . . something.

Before Charm could do more than raise her hand to wave back, the boy disappeared into the crowd. She stepped forward, ready to say something, then sighed and let it go, turning back to step offstage.

“I'll never get used to that,” she told her assistant, a Magisterian boy just a couple of years younger than her. “I hate talking.”

“To crowds?” her assistant asked.

“Or anyone else,” she said.

“But you faced down Dr. Verity!” her assistant said. “Visited alternate dimensions! Fought off zombie magicians and deadly computer viruses!”

“None of those were scary,” she told him. “I had . . . company.”

She began to walk back toward the Presidential Audience Chamber, sighing at her list of upcoming meetings. It wasn't easy, bringing the entire population of Magisteria back to Quanterium where they belonged, then convincing two planets full of people that hated one another that they needed each other, that one side had grown complacent and unimaginative, while the other was nothing but imagination. Two sides of a whole, and neither complete without the other.

And yet it had happened, despite the hiccups. Still, there were always more meetings.

“Company?” her assistant said. “You mean Kiel Gnomenfoot?”

She stopped, then turned to face him. “I might,” she said.

“What do you think ever happened to him?
After you proved him innocent of crimes against Quanterium right before his execution?” her assistant asked.

She raised an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

“It's been five years, and no one's seen him since the trial,” her assistant said. “If anyone would know where he is, I'd think it'd be you, right?”

She sighed. “The Ice Giants claim to have captured him and are holding him for a million frozen fires as ransom. I've also heard that he's King of the Infinite Nothingness, beyond the universe that exists. Some even say he took the books he found in the vault and used them to open a school to teach people about the true Source of Magic.”

“But those books were just details of scientific lab experiments,” her assistant said. “Right? About how scientists actually developed the first magic spells, which were really just quantum connections used on a larger, practical level? That's how he was able to use magic to communicate with every Science Soldier at once, because science at its core is magic, and magic is science?”

“So it stands to reason that a school teaching both magic
and
science might have some use for them,” she said.

“But what do
you
think?” her assistant asked. “Where do
you
think he went?”

Charm sighed. “I like to think that somewhere, somewhen, Kiel Gnomenfoot is annoying someone else, with his stupid magic and his stupid arrogance, just like he did me all those years.”

Or maybe saying good-bye in the middle of a crowd, the least Kiel Gnomenfoot thing he could ever do.

She smiled, then shook her head and straightened herself, ready to continue bringing together science and magic into one, whole world.

With that, Bethany and Owen slowly pulled themselves out of the book. Bethany closed the cover and looked at Owen. “Well?”

“She's okay,” Owen said to himself with a goofy grin, then noticed Bethany smiling at him. “Uh, I mean, I'm glad it ended happily. You know, for, uh, everyone. Charm. And the rest.
Like, everyone else. Kiel. You know.” He stopped, realizing something. “So where
is
Kiel? Isn't it a little strange that after seven of these books we don't even get a concrete answer as to what happened to him? I mean, maybe Charm thought that I was him. . . .” He couldn't stop himself from grinning wider. “But that was me, not him. Shouldn't the real Kiel have turned up somewhere?”

“I guess,” Bethany said, smiling with him. “Listen. Owen. I've been thinking about things.”

Owen nodded, his grin fading. “Me too. You go first.”

“Okay,” she said, then paused, taking a deep breath. “I've been thinking. I might try looking for my father in some Sherlock Holmes books next, since I used up my magic spell on finding Jonathan Porterhouse. It's been a while since I tried anything from the early twentieth century, so maybe he ended up there somehow.” She looked up at him almost shyly. “And I was also thinking, maybe, um, that it might be nice to, I don't know, have some company. Might be more, you know,
fun
that way.”

Owen's eyes widened. “You want me to go with you?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. I don't know. If you want. I'm just saying.”

He smiled, then shook his head sadly. “I really appreciate the offer, Bethany. You have no idea. But I . . . I think I'm done with all of this.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You are? But why?”

“The idea of an adventure just seemed so exciting from this side of the book,” he told her, looking at the ground. “But people get hurt. It's
dangerous
in there. And everything you do can put other people in danger too. I almost . . . Charm almost . . . It was too much. I think I'm ready for some regular, boring, quiet life right now. To just read books the normal way, you know?”

She nodded, then reached out and hugged him. He hugged her back, a little surprised, then got up to leave.

“You saved them,” Bethany told him as he reached the door. “You know that, right? You saved both Kiel and the Magister. Jonathan Porterhouse told me that originally the Magister did get killed by Dr. Verity, and Kiel died in the end, giving up his heart. Charm never even thought about giving him a robot heart, since he never let on that sacrificing himself even bothered him. All that arrogance, you know.”

Owen just looked at her. “It wasn't right, how I did it. Even if it ended well.”

“I just wanted you to know that,” she said, smiling slightly. “You and I changed the story, together, and saved Kiel's life. No matter what else, don't forget that.”

He paused, then nodded, returning her smile. Then, turning to go, Owen said good-bye, leaving Bethany with her books. He was ready for a real, boring, completely safe life again.

M
ultiplying fractions is one thing,” Mr. Barberry said. “But dividing fractions is where life just gets
crazy 
!”

It'd been a week since
Kiel Gnomenfoot and the Source of Magic
had come out, and the library's two copies hadn't been in stock once. Owen's mother had surprised him with a copy she'd bought, and Owen had smiled and thanked her, keeping secret the fact that Jonathan Porterhouse had signed a copy to him a few days earlier. Owen had brought the signed copy to school, planning on showing everyone, but for some reason hadn't ever taken it out of his locker.

Just like he hadn't mentioned anything about Nobody to Bethany. How did Nobody know about her? Could he actually be her father? If he wasn't, and Owen told Bethany about him, what would that do to her? Was that just cruel? Maybe Owen could just keep an eye out for Nobody in
books, and see what he found. The last thing he wanted to do was get Bethany's hopes up, after everything that'd happened.

“It's really not that different from multiplying, honestly,” Mr. Barberry said, turning to the board. “Just the opposite, in fact!”

On Owen's right, Mari sighed, dropping her head into her arms. Owen smiled slightly at this, remembering the feeling. Still, right now, boring just wasn't that bad.

On his left, something hit his arm. He looked down to find a folded note on the floor. He reached down slowly to pick it up as Mr. Barberry continued.

Okay, no Holmes. How about Narnia?

—B

Owen grinned and threw a glance back at Bethany, who was pretending to pay attention to the lesson. It meant a lot that she asked, and really did want him to come. She'd changed so much since he'd caught her in the library, popping out of Willy Wonka. So had he, if he was being honest. But right now, there
was no way he could go into another book. It was just too much. Not with how things had ended, with Charm almost dying, with him almost dying, with a robotic heart in his chest now. All just too much!

Still. NARNIA.

He tossed the note back.

I'm in.

—O

You couldn't just say no to
Narnia.

A few minutes later, something else tapped his arm.

We might have another friend coming too.

—B

Huh? Another friend? Who was she talking about?

“Mr. Barberry?” said the principal, Mr. Wilcox, from the door. Mr. Barberry looked up from the board. “Class?” Mr. Wilcox continued. “I want to introduce you to a new student. He's going to be joining your class today. Everyone say hello to Kyle!”

Mr. Wilcox stepped aside, and Kiel Gnomenfoot walked into the classroom, a half smile on his face.

“Hey,” Kiel said, and waved.

Owen's mouth dropped open, and he slowly turned to look back over his shoulder.

Bethany looked at him for a second, then winked.

Mr. Wilcox started to leave, then turned to give Owen a look. Owen might have imagined it, but just for the briefest of moments, it almost looked like the principal's face melted into nothing, like a mannequin's face, or the face of Nobody.

Owen blinked, and Mr. Wilcox stared back at him, a hint of a grin on his face. The principal's eyes shifted to Bethany quickly, then back to Owen, and the man slowly shook his head.
Not just yet,
the look seemed to say. Then Mr. Wilcox held up an old-looking math book and tapped it twice.
Study hard,
probably.

With that, the principal left the classroom, and Owen turned back to welcome Kiel Gnomenfoot to reality with the rest of the class. Even after everything, he couldn't help but smile as “Kyle” gave him a wink.

Sure, this was the fictional former hero of a series of children's books, now joining the class of a real school in the nonfictional world. But it's not like that
automatically
meant things were going to get all crazy.

After all, how much damage could one boy do?

I never know who to thank,
James thought, then paused.
Or why I narrate my own life like this.
He sighed, tapping his pen against his cheek as he thought.