The Kids Aren't Alright (by Fall Out Boy)
"And in the end I'd do it all again. I think you're my best friend. Don't you know that the kids aren't all, kids aren't alright . . ."
Still a bit groggy from the bus ride and the events of the early morning, Kiel and Owen trailed behind Ms. Conners as they made their way to their hotel room, which would be their home for the next week or two. They were on the second floor, and the hallway had dozens of closed doors, each with a number on them. They reached the middle of the hallway, where the woman opened the door for them and left them with three cards.
Kiel was the first to go inside. Pushing past Owen in the doorway, he walked inside the room and was slightly disappointed to see two beds, a dresser, a closet, and a bathroom. Not much. Apparently, this hotel offered only what was necessary and not anything helpful or fun, like books that they could jump into.
"Put your things away," Ms. Conners said as she walked into the room, placing her backpack on a chair beside the window. "I guess we should follow that man's advice and go to the store."
"What about Spike and Bark Vadar?" Owen asked, peering into the bathroom.
"We'll keep them here."
"What?" he exclaimed. "But they've never been away from home before! What if they think we abandoned them?"
"Alphonse never missed me when I was away," Kiel said, earning a glare from Owen. Kiel gave a what? look in response, but his friend looked back at his mother.
"They won't think that. Don't worry about them," Ms. Conners said, running her hands through her hair. Her face was paler than usual. "They'll be safe here. Come on, let's get going before everyone gets to the store first. You boys ready?"
"I don't have any money with me, so I guess," Owen said, shrugging. He unhooked Bark Vadar's leash, allowing the dog to happily walk over to Kiel, where he scratched her head. Meanwhile, Spike retreated to sit on the windowsill, his black hair gleaming in the sunlight. It was seven in the morning, so the sun was low in the horizon, offering enough light to see by.
Kiel glanced around for somewhere to put his spell book and wand-knives. He didn't like the idea of leaving them behind, especially because he'd never been here before, but he couldn't risk someone finding his belongings. He stuffed them underneath one of the beds, hoping that that would be a good place to put them.
He was about to follow Owen and his mother out the door when Owen reminded him of something. "Uh, you know that you're still wearing your cape, right?"
Of course he knew. Did he want to take it off? Definitely not. He'd barely been able to wear it when he was in the nonfictional world. He missed it! Kiel crossed his arms, ready to protest, but Ms. Conners beat him to it.
"I don't think you should wear that, honey," she said gently. "Everyone's on edge right now, and I'm afraid what would happen if they find out who you are."
"I get it," Kiel said, forcing a smile as he tried to brush away the small twinge of annoyance he felt. It had came on so suddenly, once the realization came to him, that he might be staying in this hotel for longer than he'd like.
Why couldn't they just fight the monsters and have some fun? Why did this "military" have to take control of that? Didn't they know who Kiel Gnomenfoot was? He could handle anything these monsters threw at him and more. A part of him wanted to take that military guy down, steal one of those buses, then spout off something snappy and daring as he drove away. Just so these people knew who they were dealing with.
Unfortunately, Kiel knew that he couldn't do that. Not without his friends, at least. For now, leaving wasn't really an option. Although it left a bad taste in his mouth to think of someone else fighting those monsters instead of him, there was nothing he could do about it.
Kiel just didn't understand why the monsters — fictional, just like him — were escaping their books. It didn't help that Owen and Bethany didn't know, either. He had no idea what it meant, and it worried him. Last time he checked, the fictional world had been dying until Bethany and Owen defeated Nobody. Kiel had almost died because of the state that the fictional world was in. What state was the fictional world in now?
With the monsters jumping out of books on their own . . . it didn't make any sense. He had so many questions that just couldn't be answered. Was the fictional world worse than before? Was it better? Had something gone wrong in his own world? He might never know. With the way things were looking, he wasn't sure what the outcome would be.
"Sorry," Owen whispered as Kiel joined him at the door again, now cape-less. They started walking down the hallway. "I just don't think it's a good idea to wear that. I heard some people talking on the bus, and the man from earlier thought that the monsters could be jumping out of books. He wasn't sure, but he said that they'd investigate the libraries. And he said that if it was true, he'd destroy the libraries, and the books inside."
Kiel's eyes widened. "What? He said that?"
"Yeah," Owen said quietly, his voice faltering slightly. "I don't want that to happen. That can't happen! And if they find out those monsters are fictional, they'll find out that you're fictional, too."
"They won't find out," Kiel said, feigning confidence. He partially believed himself, only because he wasn't sure if that would happen. "I'll make sure they don't. And if they destroy the libraries, I'll turn them all into bugs or something." He winked, which always seemed to ease his friend. Owen smiled.
They ventured downstairs, where the lobby was still quite crowded. People were walking up and down the stairs, sticking in close groups. Some were heading down a hallway, where Kiel assumed was where they'd be eating breakfast. He searched the room for Bethany, but it was crowded, and he did not see her. He guessed she was already in her room. Or maybe not, given how many people were still waiting to be assigned rooms.
After informing a hotel worker that they'd be going to the store, the three left the building. The cold air seeped into Kiel's skin, causing goosebumps to form on his arms. He'd gotten used to having a coat with him when he went outside. He shivered, his face stinging from the cold. Hopefully this store would have a pair of shoes he could get, although he really preferred his black boots.
This whole situation was inconvenient. If he could go back to Bethany and Owen's town, he could put a stop to all of this. Not to mention, he could also fight the monsters if he was there. He was pretty sure he could handle them by himself, as long as he had enough energy. But he wasn't going to complain about it, even if he really wished that he could go back to the town.
They crossed the street quickly, setting off at a light jog. Once they finally made it to the store's entrance and shuffled inside, Kiel's entire body felt numb. He shook out his arms and legs, trying to jostle the warmth back into them as he looked around the store. It was brightly lit, with ten checkout counters at the front and a several hallways, which led to different sections of the store.
"Clothing section's this way," Ms. Conners said, pointing at a sign on the wall. Still shivering, Kiel and Owen hurried after her as she walked over to the clothing section. Maybe it was because he'd never seen this on Magisteria, but Kiel was surprised. He'd never seen so many different types of clothes in one area. Shirts of all sizes and colors were piled on tables and hanging on racks, practically overflowing.
He'd been to a few stores before with Bethany and Owen, but never one like this. Kiel was used to wearing one or two outfits, which were both black. Everything here was so colorful, looking like nothing he'd ever worn before. There were so many clothes, too. Almost too many to choose from!
Kiel moved his head around, looking for any black shirts nearby, but Ms. Conners' voice cut through his thoughts. "If you need me, I'll be over at the women's section. Come find me when you're done!"
She walked away, and Owen nudged him in the side. "Let's start looking. We can get something for you first." He started walking through the isle closest to them, looking through the shirts. "What size are you?"
Kiel chuckled. "Size?" He ran his hand along a long-sleeved green shirt, which had a symbol of a star on it.
Owen shook his head. "Never-mind. Um . . ." He turned back towards Kiel, meeting his eyes. "See anything you like?"
Kiel knit his brows, then shook his head. He hadn't seen anything that looked remotely black, so no. "I haven't. Does this place have anything black?"
Owen started to say something, only for his eyes to widen at something behind Kiel, and he ran over to it. "Wait . . . I think I see something!" Kiel's hope lifted, but once he caught up with Owen, he sighed. It was a black shirt . . . but it was several sizes too small.
"Guess we'll have to find you something in a different color," Owen said, stifling a yawn.
Kiel tried to push away his slight disappointment. In all honesty, as long as he didn't have to wear anything too bright, he would be fine. Maybe there'd be a light shade of gray? Or a very dark purple? Or even dark blue would work, despite the fact that he hardly ever wore that color. "Ah, it'll be fine. I look much better in black, but I'll have to work with it. I'll be okay if I don't wear black for a few days."
"Maybe this is a good thing," Owen said, prompting Kiel to raise his eyebrows. "Before you say anything, hear me out. Just in case the military discover that the monsters are fictional, it's better that you look as different from your real self as possible. Wearing black will make you look more like Kiel Gnomenfoot, and we don't want people to know that."
"But I am Kiel Gnomenfoot!" Kiel said loudly, earning a strange look from a woman walking nearby. He winked at her. "Oh. Hello, ma'am! We're just —" He cut himself off, quickly looking at Owen. He was the one with the best imagination, after all, and Kiel wasn't sure how he could make up a believable excuse on a whim.
"Practicing a . . . script! We're trying out for the Kiel Gnomenfoot: Magic Thief play at our school." Owen offered, cringing. He forced a smile at her. His statement sounded more like a question, but if the woman noticed, she didn't say anything. Instead, she continued walking at a quicker pace, looking very confused.
Kiel quickly lowered his voice, looking back at Owen. "Okay, but I don't see why I can't wear black. I just don't understand how that has anything to do with anyone finding out who I am. I've worn it all my life. No one suspected anything at school, and I wore black there."
"Yeah, but this is different," Owen said, glancing around. "We're actually in trouble now. Real world trouble."
"Relax, Owen," Kiel said, although he knew just how serious the situation was. He patted his friend's shoulder. "Trust me, it's going to be okay. I know how to hide my identity. If it makes you feel better, I'll wear a different color. They won't suspect a thing." Then, he added, "Not that I have much of a choice, anyway."
Owen smiled, his shoulders relaxing. "Thank you. Don't worry, though. I'm sure you'll get to wear black again soon enough, at least once we know for sure that no one knows you or the monsters are fictional."
"Sure," Kiel said, shrugging with a smile of his own. It wasn't much of an inconvenience, anyway. It was disappointing, sure, but it wasn't worth worrying over. As long as he blended in more, the people here wouldn't suspect a thing. As he scanned the area around them for something that looked appealing, a fantastic idea slowly formed in his head. He grinned. "Hey, I've got an idea. A really good one, actually."
"What is it?" Owen asked, not looking at him as he searched through a rack of clothes.
"I'm still kind of pretending to be German, so maybe we could find something . . . I don't know, German? That could help me blend in better too, since these guys are trying to get rid of fictionals like me."
Owen dropped his hand, stepping away from the rack. "Yeah, okay. But I'm not sure if there'd be anything in here that's German. Is there?" A thoughtful look appeared on his face.
"Maybe not," Kiel said. Just as he said that, he spotted a man in a red uniform walking past the men's section. "Hey, we should ask that guy over there. He looks like he works here." He flashed a wink at Owen and started towards the man, who looked over at them as they approached. "Do you have anything German?"
Owen coughed. "What my friend means is: do you have any clothes that might look German? Specifically, like, a shirt?"
"Wow, I never get asked that. As a matter of fact, we do!" the man said, giving them a large grin. "Follow me." He led them to the other end of the men's section, where piles — some neat and some messy — of clothes were on top of tables. The man started shuffling through one of the messier piles. "We only have a few clothes that have designs based on different countries, but no ones been buying them."
"That's perfect!" Kiel said, as the man retrieved a few shirts and handed it to him.
"Do you kids need anything else?" the man asked, straightening up as he finished rearranging the rest of the shirts back into their pile.
"Nope," Owen said, smiling. "Thank you, though. We're just looking for some new clothes."
"Wait . . ." The man looked them up and down, seeming to notice for the first time that they were both wearing pajamas. His eyes widened. "You're — you're from that hotel across the street, aren't you? Your whole town was evacuated there."
Owen's smile faded, and he exchanged a look with Kiel. "Um, yeah. We are from that town. But how do you know about that?"
"It's been all over the News," the man said, his friendly facade crumbling as he stared at them more worriedly. "Something about these . . . monsters appearing out of nowhere and attacking people. Believe me, it's hard for everyone to believe. Everyone who's up this early, anyway."
"Did the News say anything else?" Owen asked. "Anything about where they're coming from . . . or if it's happening anywhere else in the world?"
The man shook his head. "No, no. It's only happening in your town. All they're talking about is the destruction and the attacks, but no one knows where the monsters have come from. I can't believe that monsters are real. Actually real. I mean, who would've thought they were? I've only seen them in movies."
This isn't good, Kiel thought. "Well!" he said, clearing his throat. "It certainly has been a crazy day, as you can probably imagine. We're just going to get the rest of our clothes and head back to the hotel."
"Yeah, we should get back," Owen added, looking nervous. "We're both really tired, and my mom will be worried if we're gone too long."
They started to back away. The man only looked confused, but he nodded in understanding. "Of course, go get some rest. I'm sure you need it."
"Yep, we do," Owen said, forcing a smile. Luckily, the man seemed to take a hint, and walked away from them, disappearing around the corner.
"That was close," Kiel breathed. A grin grew on his face as he realized that their secret was still hidden. "Good news, no one knows about them being fictional! Which means they will never know about me being fictional!"
"They still might find out," Owen whispered.
"They haven't yet," Kiel reminded him. "And I don't think they will. No one suspects anything, anyway!"
"There's still a chance that they could! I mean, I hope not, but with the way our luck is turning out lately . . ."
"I'm sure they won't," Kiel said in his most reassuring tone. "They're nonfictional, after all. What's harm could they do to a bunch of monsters twice their size?"
Owen grinned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Kiel only winked, then looked down at the clothes in his hands. There were three shirts in total, so he gave two of them for Owen to hold as he unfolded the other one, holding it up for both of them to see. "That's definitely German."
"What does it say?" Owen asked, peering at it. "I don't know any German."
Kiel stared at the unfamiliar word at the center of the shirt, which was bright red. On the numerous occasions he'd attempted to study German words, he'd picked up on a lot from the language. But although he recognized it as German, he had no idea what this word meant.
After a minute of trying to analyze what it meant, Kiel shook his head. "I really don't know. I'm sure I've heard of it from somewhere, but I've got no idea what it means." He glanced at Owen. "Should I get it?"
Owen nodded encouragingly. "Sure. Whatever it means, it definitely sounds cool. 'Scheisse'."
"It does," Kiel agreed. "Alright, I'll get it." He took the other clothes from Owen, placing them back onto the table. "We should get some new clothes for you, now."
"Don't you want more than one shirt?"
He frowned. "Should I get more than one?"
"Of course!" Owen said. "We have no idea how long we'll be here. It doesn't hurt to have some options." With that, he walked down the aisle, grabbing a few shirts and holding them up beside Kiel. Apparently deciding that they'd fit, Owen declared that they'd get those clothes, too. Not that Kiel was very happy about it, since they weren't black. But he'd have to work with it.
Once they were done picking out Kiel's new attire, they moved onto Owen, spending the next fifteen minutes grabbing an assortment of shirts and pants that looked like it'd fit him. As it turned out, they finished much quicker than Owen's mother, who'd been searching for some new clothes for herself. They stayed there for an hour more, waiting impatiently for Ms. Conners to finish. When she finally was, they bought their items and went back to the hotel.
"Too bad Bethany missed out on this," Kiel said, voicing his thoughts aloud as they carried their bags up to their shared room. "We should've gotten her something. She's probably going to need some clothes, too."
"That's very nice of you to think of her," Ms. Conners said, giving him a knowing smile that felt strangely similar to the looks Elijah used to give Kiel when he talked about Bethany. "I'm sure her mother will take her soon. Trust me, it'd be a disaster if you tried to get her something. You should never buy a girl any clothes."
Owen frowned. "Never? But . . . why not?"
"First of all, you're fifteen year-old boys. Do you think Bethany would like any random shirt that you get her?"
"I . . . maybe?"
"Sure she would!" Kiel said.
"The answer is no," Ms. Conners said with a small laugh. They continued walking down the long hallway, which had a few other people walking down it. Right before they got to their specific room, someone opened the door next to theirs. Someone recognizable. It was then that Kiel realized — it was the girl from his chemistry class.
"Kiel, du hier bist!" the girl with short brown hair exclaimed, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "Hallo. Du bist mein Nachbar!"
Her again? Kiel thought, rolling his eyes. Of all the people to be next door to them, it had to be the girl who spoke fluent German.
"Hallo," he responded, not knowing what else to say.
"Was passiert?" the girl asked.
As if he'd been cast with a forget spell, all knowledge of German words seemed to slip from his mind. So Kiel did the only thing he could do: he winked. Next to him, Owen awkwardly waved. "Uh, hello. Who exactly are you?"
"I'm Louis," the girl said in a completely American-sounding accent, surprising Kiel further. She didn't even have a German accent! He'd never even heard her speak English before. Or maybe he had, but he never payed much attention in Chemistry class — or in school, for that matter — so he wasn't sure.
"I'm Owen."
"Nice to meet you. I'm in Kiel's chemistry class! Are you from Kiel's German exchange family?"
"What exchange family —" Ms. Conners started to ask, but Owen quickly cut in, forcing a smile.
"We are! I'm guessing that you're German, too?"
"No." Louis smiled. "I'm just in a very advanced German class. I've been speaking fluently since I was in sixth grade."
"That's interesting," Owen said, which made Kiel want to roll his eyes again. He didn't often get annoyed, and he didn't roll his eyes very often, either, so this would give him a great reason to.
"We'd better get to our room," Kiel said in a fake German accent, and out of the corner of his eye, he could tell that Owen was trying not to laugh.
"Oh, okay. Bis bald!"
"Bis bald!" Kiel replied with a wink, forcing a broad grin. As Louis walked away, he told the others, "That meant 'see you later'."
"I hope that you have some explanation for what just happened," Ms. Conners said, looking immensely confused.
"It's better if you don't know," Kiel muttered. He glanced over at Owen, who was quietly laughing. Kiel glared at him. "We aren't telling Bethany about this."
"Trust me, we definitely are," Owen said, a grin on his face. Kiel sighed. It looked like he still would have to pretend to be German. He might as well put that shirt to good use, now that he had it.
They stopped in front of their door, and Ms. Conners pushed it open. After greeting Owen's pets, Kiel dropped the bags he was holding to the floor, feeling more tired than he wanted to admit. Even though he'd been awake for hours, he hadn't gotten much sleep. Once again, he felt exactly the same as he had a few days ago, when he'd been taking 5-Hour Energy just to stay awake.
"I'm going to head down for breakfast," Ms. Conners informed them. "If you want to come, just make sure you take care of Spike and Bark Vadar first. I need to get some coffee."
"Okay! I'll be there soon!" Owen said, sitting on the bed as he scratched Spike on his belly. They watched as she walked out the door, closing it behind her. Owen looked at Kiel. "Want to get breakfast?"
Kiel yawned. "I would love to, but actually, I think I'm going to stay here for a little. I need to catch up on sleep."
"Me too," Owen murmured. He removed Spike from his lap, tossing the cat towards the floor, who landed right on his feet. He stood up. "Okay, I'll be back soon. I'll see if I can find Bethany, then. She's probably at breakfast." With that, he got to his feet and walked out of the room, leaving Kiel alone with his thoughts.
Bethany, as Owen soon realized, was not at breakfast. Neither was her mother.
After waiting in the buffet line for what felt like an eternity, Owen carried a plate of pancakes around the dining hall, looking for a place to sit. It was a huge room, almost as big as the school cafeteria back home. The dining hall was still beginning to fill up, and the families were already starting to sit down at random tables. He searched the room for Bethany or his mother, but for some reason, he couldn't see them anywhere. Maybe his mother had already eaten without him.
He considered one table with some boys his age, but they ignored him as he walked over, so he continued walking, pretending like he knew where he was going. He didn't, of course. There were so many strangers here, and although he recognized some of them from the library, he couldn't exactly sit with them. Many of them looked stressed or scared anyway, and Owen didn't know if he wanted to talk about the fictional monsters again. He'd rather take his mind off of that for now.
He found an empty table to sit at, then plopped down and starting eating. He felt a feeling of familiarity by being all alone at breakfast. It was similar to when he was at school, before he became friends with Bethany. Sitting by himself wasn't exactly new. Over the years, he'd become adjusted to it. He had passed the time by reading a book, but inwardly, he'd always wished that someone would've sat with him.
It was easy to get lost in fantasies of the fictional world, but once he tuned back into the real world, Owen would realize once again that he had no friends. Not ones that cared to hang out with him outside of school, at least. Remembering that time made him more grateful for his friends now. If he hadn't met Bethany on that fateful day, none of that would've changed. Becoming her best friend meant that he had someone to sit with, and that in itself had been life-changing for him.
He wondered if he should've followed Kiel's example by getting some rest. Normally, Owen never woke up as early as three in the morning to start his day. He was exhausted, and would definitely benefit from a few extra hours of sleep. Everyone was just as tired as he was after what had happened. Despite how tired he was, though, he doubted he'd be able to get any sleep at all if he tried. Not after the crazy day he had.
As he ate, Owen kept looking over his shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse of Bethany's bronze hair. He guessed that she was in her room or something, because he didn't see her anywhere. Oh well. It wasn't like this hotel would be impossible to navigate around. It was huge, but Owen felt hopeful that he'd see Bethany again soon. Of all the things to look forward to, that was all he got.
He was pretty relieved to hear what the store employee had said. It was good news that this attack was only happening in one spot. And they hadn't found out anything yet about them being fictional, which was a relief too. But it was hard for Owen to feel optimistic about that, when there was still the possibility that they would find out. And when they did, he'd be too late to stop them.
He was farther away from home than he'd ever been before, and that made him worried. If something worse happened . . . no, he couldn't think like that. Kiel was right. Owen couldn't keep overanalyzing this. Not when the military hadn't discovered anything about the monsters being fictional. So far, they were fine.
He just wished that they'd had time to put the creatures back into their books. Bethany was right; it would've taken forever to do. There was also the problem with the fictional characters still jumping out of their books, but if that hadn't been the case, the town would've been saved. Between Owen and his friends, they could round up all of the fictional characters and put them back into books. That would've solved everything!
Owen trusted the police and the military. Here in the real world, they solved problems. They weren't like the versions in the movies or in books, where there were too many cliches. They'd never fought monsters before, but they had the right equipment to do it. They had guns and other weapons that Owen had probably never heard of. If anyone could handle this situation, it was them.
There were dozens of them who could fight back better than Bethany could using only her half-fictional powers. Kiel had his magic, and although he was incredible at spell-casting, he always tended to get tired quickly when in the nonfictional world. And Owen . . . well, he only had his time powers, and he had no clue how that would help anyone.
Given that there was no one to talk to, Owen finished eating quickly. He stood up from the table and hurried across the room, adding his empty plate to the pile of dirty dishes next to the kitchen. He glanced around the room, taking in how crowded it was. People were continuously walking inside, and the room only seemed to grow more packed as the morning went on.
Not wanting to get stuck in the crowd, Owen squeezed past a group of men at the entrance and navigated through the people-filled lobby, which was somehow just as crowded as it had been an hour ago. Why were there so many people still here? He craned his head to look out the window, and he saw why. There were three more buses parked outside — just like the one he'd come from — and people were emerging from them.
Owen could hardly believe what he was seeing. He'd been here for an hour at the least, and people from his town were still being transported here! That was why it was starting to feel crowded. He hoped this hotel would be big enough to fit everyone. As far as he could tell, there were ten floors, which meant there'd be plenty of rooms for everyone to stay in. That should be enough to hold everyone, but if people kept crowding around the lobby, Owen wasn't sure if he'd even make it to the stairs.
Since the stairs had too many people blocking them, Owen pushed through the large group, making his way over to the elevators in the corner of the room. He mumbled apologizes as he squeezed past people, who glared at him, not seeming too happy about being pushed. Finally, he broke out of the crowd and arrived at the elevators, which were currently empty since the group was busy listening to the same man from earlier, who was informing them about their situation.
Owen hit the elevator button, and he looked back to the crowd, observing their reactions. All of them looked confused and scared, and a few even looked angry as the man continued talking. Owen felt sorry for them. As shocking as it had been for him, Bethany, and Kiel for this to happen, it was nothing compared to what the other people were feeling.
The people here had spent their whole lives living in a boring world where nothing unusual happened, only for something very unusual to happen. Owen knew exactly how they must've felt. Before he met Bethany, his whole life had been as predictable as everyone else's. The real world didn't have magic or anything very exciting. All it had was school and chores, along with the thousands of other normal, boring things it had. The only thing that had allowed Owen an escape from it was his imagination.
The elevator dinged, and the doors slowly slid open. Owen stepped through and hit the button that would lead him to the second floor. He shrunk back into the elevator, placing his hand on the rail and allowing the doors to close shut.
With the sounds from the lobby blocked out, Owen noticed for the first time that there was a small screen next to the buttons. On the screen was a woman holding a microphone, who was standing in front of a destroyed street. There were debris everywhere, and Owen could barely make out a few dragons flying around in the sky.
He gasped as the realization struck him. This was his hometown.
He recognized the street as somewhere he'd driven tons of times with his mother, since they used to come there often. Behind the woman was a row of stores, which looked slightly less damaged than the buildings with books in them. He recognized one of the stores as the Napoleon Bakery. Owen had been going there since he was little. It was hard to look at his town and remember that it was completely abandoned and destroyed. He'd grown up there, and seeing it now brought back so many fond memories.
"I'm here to report that all residents of the town have been evacuated to a safer, temporary place for them to live," the woman was saying, her microphone held close to her face. "In the meantime, the town is off-limits to everyone except the military and police, who have swarmed the area early this morning. They have started to try getting rid of these terrifying monsters, and as far as we know, this could take a matter of days or weeks, or maybe even months. We all have many questions about what's been going on, like, what are these monsters doing here? How did they get here? And what do they want from us?"
"Excuse me?" a voice asked, but Owen shook it off, assuming it was coming from the TV.
"Look out!" a voice from behind the camera said, and the camera suddenly crashed to the ground, showing a view of two huge, clawed feet. Owen gasped, trying to peer closer at it to get a better look. There were screams, followed by a few gunshots in the distance. He watched as the creature continued walking, it's huge feet inflicting loud tremors in the ground, causing the camera to shake violently.
"Excuse me, is this your floor?" a voice asked, and it took Owen a moment to realize that it wasn't coming from the screen. He glanced up to see a middle-aged woman, and quickly backed away from the screen.
"Oh. I'm sorry! Um, yeah, it is," Owen said, blushing hard. He'd gotten so distracted that he hadn't even noticed the doors opening. As the woman walked onto the elevator, he scrambled off of it, his heart pounding. His hands started shaking, so he slid his good arm underneath his broken one, attempting to support it.
Things weren't looking too good back home. It seemed even worse now that it was daytime. The events of this morning had felt like a dream, but this only confirmed that it was real. There was no imagining it. Monsters were all over the place, wrecking houses and buildings and even hurting people. And the only thing that Owen could do was sit back and hope that the authorities would handle this, just like they always did. With their fighting skills, they'd fix this problem in no time.
. . . Right?
It'd been four days, and Bethany was already sick of this place.
First, she'd been assigned to the ninth floor, which meant that she was not only separated from her friends, but the elevator was always crowded with people by the time she got to it. Second, no one was allowed to leave. Aside from going to the store across the street, everyone was forced to stay inside the hotel. According to a hotel worker, they were for safety reasons. But Bethany could care less about safety. Not when there were much bigger problems that she could be dealing with.
Being here made Bethany feel trapped, and it wasn't helping that every time she checked the News, the military was still struggling to fight against the fictional monsters. She couldn't tell how much progress they'd made. All she knew was that she needed to get out of here soon. It didn't feel right to be here when she should be out there, putting the characters back into their books. She was the only one who could do it. She couldn't take another week of being cooped up inside this hotel, where it was too crowded for her liking.
Early on Friday morning, Bethany awoke to the sound of rain pounding against the window. Despite the fact that it was morning, it was still a bit dark out, due to the gray clouds that covered the sky. Blinking slowly, she threw a glance at the alarm clock on her bedside table, which read 7:30 am.
Normally, she never woke up this early unless it was for school. But this wasn't normal, and Bethany often found herself waking up early, because she felt too anxious and restless while being here. How could she sleep in with fictional monsters roaming around? It was practically impossible, and it definitely didn't help that she didn't have any books nearby.
One way or another, she was going to get to the bottom of this. She was determined to. Neither her or her friends understood why this fictional invasion had happened in the first place. She'd had four days to think about it, and unfortunately, no solutions had come to mind.
Most of all, Bethany hated that she was forced to stay here, forced to follow the rules and watch her town crumble. There had to be something she could do to put a stop to this, but whatever it was, she didn't know. She was unable to leave, unable to jump into books, and unable to fix anything. It wasn't a very good feeling.
Tossing onto her side, Bethany stared out the window for a few minutes, watching the rain drip down the glass. She tried to focus on that instead of her worries, keeping her eyes only on the rain. Her stomach rumbled, and she sighed deeply, flinging the covers off of her and sliding out of bed. In the bed next to her's, she could make out the sleeping form on her mother.
After telling her mother about what she'd been hiding, Bethany knew that she'd lost a lot of her mother's trust. For years, she'd been keeping secrets from her mother, only to expose all of them merely four days ago. Like a bird being set free from it's cage, it had felt good to get them out. Bethany was officially done was secrets. They'd given her so much guilt, and she was relieved that she didn't have to keep them anymore.
But now, her mother had grown more overprotective and irritable than before, checking to make sure that Bethany wasn't going to jump into any books every time she left the room. As things cooled down, she'd grown calmer when Bethany was around, and was able to converse with her in a normal tone. Bethany knew that she should've expected this reaction from her mother. It was understandable, especially after the fictional invasion. If it weren't for the entire town being locked in a hotel, she would've probably been just as grounded as Owen was — if not more.
Pulling her hair into a ponytail, she threw on a sweatshirt and sweatpants, not feeling the desire to do much of anything. The only thing she wanted to do was get out of here and find a book to jump into, and unfortunately, that wasn't an option. Bethany pulled on a pair of sneakers — ones that she had bought on her first day here — and opened the door, shutting it as quietly as she could behind her.
Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Bethany walked to the elevators, which were empty for once. She jammed her finger into the button that would lead her to the first floor, hoping that maybe some breakfast would energize her. The floor dropped beneath her, quickly pulling the elevator downwards. Right before she reached the bottom, the elevator opened, and she looked up to see Kiel standing in the hallway.
"You're up early," she said, raising her eyebrows.
Smiling, Kiel went to stand beside her in the elevator. He was wearing a bright red shirt, which had a word printed in white that she didn't recognize. It looked like it could be in a different language, but she was too tired to properly analyze it.
In a tired voice, Kiel explained, "I tried going back to sleep, but I couldn't, so I decided to get some breakfast."
"Good choice," Bethany said, smiling back. "Honestly, the only thing I like about this place is the food. That's the only thing."
"Not the incredible people?" Kiel asked in a joking tone.
Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, she didn't respond as the elevator shuddered to a stop, and the doors slid open. They walked out into the lobby, where hotel workers and a few older people were walking around. The rain seemed to be even louder down here, and it was all Bethany could hear for a moment.
As they crossed the room on their way to the dining hall, the sound of the door opening made Bethany's head turn. Automatically, her eyes landed on the man entering the lobby, who seemed to be soaking wet. Her feet suddenly stopped working, and she stopped in her tracks. It wasn't just any random person. It was Mason Black.
"Beth?" she heard Kiel ask, but she wasn't focused on him. She hurried over to the author, who looked exhausted and worn out. Mason's eyes landed on her, and he grabbed her arm urgently.
"Bethany," Mason said, stumbling a bit. "Something happened. Something bad."
"What?" Bethany asked, her ears ringing loudly. She stared at the man, her heart rate increasing. What was wrong? Had something worse happened? Why was Mason here, looking like he'd just run ten miles through the rain?
"The chains you used to lock up Nobody," he said, his eyebrows knitted with worry and regret. "They . . . failed."
"What?" Bethany repeated, feeling suddenly faint. Her world began to spin, and she took a step away from him, letting his hand fall to his side. The other noises around her seemed to fade away as her mind swirled like the chaos of a tornado. "No. No! I locked him up. Everything's fine now. There must be a mistake."
He shook his head weakly. "There was no mistake. Nobody has gotten too powerful. He rewrote himself to be immune from the chains, and now he has escaped."
As bad as things seemed before, this was twenty miles beyond that. It was like a dozen of bricks had fallen on top of her. He had escaped? There was no way. There couldn't be! It was impossible, wasn't it? This had to be a joke!
Bethany wanted to scream, but instead, she concentrated on breathing in and out, desperate for someone, anyone to tell her that everything would be okay, that this was all a lie. But deep down, she knew it wasn't a lie. She had locked Nobody up, hadn't she? She had seen him fail to fight against the chains with her own eyes! How had he managed to escape?
"That can't be possible," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "You have to be lying. You have to be."
"I'm not," Mason croaked. He slumped into a chair that was next to the door, looking exhausted. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do now. He's too powerful."
"No!" she shouted, her breathing becoming less steady. She felt her body heating up as anger filled her from head to toe. She felt much too hot, all of the sudden, as if her entire body was on fire. Rage filled her, as she thought of the faceless man — alive — who'd caused so much harm to her, her family, and her friends. "That can't be true! You're lying! You're lying!"
"I'm sorry, Bethany." The man sighed. "But it's true. It's why your town was overcome by fictional characters. It's because of him."
Suddenly, everything made sense. All this time, she'd thought that the fictional monsters escaping their books had been a random occurrence. She hadn't stopped to think that it could be linked to Nobody. But fictional characters had never managed to escape from their books before. It couldn't just be a random coincidence. It made sense now, because when Nobody had escaped from captivity, he likely would've been angry at Bethany and Owen, and wanted to have revenge.
Maybe it was an accident or maybe it wasn't, but his escape from the chains must've caused this whole fictional invasion to happen. That meant it was her fault, after all. She'd caused this. There was nothing left to do now except go back to the fictional world and put a stop to this. With Nobody still alive, he would destroy the fictional worlds. Bethany would have to defeat him, for good this time. And she would.
She set her jaw. "There has to be another way. Isn't there? Aren't there any other weaknesses you know —"
"I don't." Mason sighed heavily. "I'm sorry. You'll have to find another way to stop him."
Bethany could only stand there, shocked into silence. What other way could she stop him? She couldn't think of one. She'd never planned for this to happen, and it felt like her nightmares were becoming real all over again. Only this time, it was worse. She opened her mouth, trying to form an answer, but Kiel grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the side. "Bethany, are you alright? Who is that? What's wrong?"
"You know how I locked Nobody up with those chains? Yeah, um . . . he escaped."
Kiel's eyebrows shot up. "He did? But — but how?"
She only shook her head, still shaking from anger. She clenched her fists, trying to ignore the tightness in her chest. "I don't really know. But we have to tell Owen. We need to get out of here and go back to the library."
He frowned. "I thought the military said that your town is off-limits to everyone."
Bethany looked at the ground, her mind running in circles. "They did say that. But we don't exactly have any books with us. The only place that I know we can go to is the library. And we have to go now, before it's too late."
"This can wait, you know," Kiel said, but Bethany could see him practically dancing from foot to foot, anxious to finally get on with it. "We don't have to go over there just yet."
"We can't wait. He's too dangerous. The longer he's roaming around the fictional world — doing who know's what — the more damage he can do. Come on, we gotta get going." She threw a glance at Mason Black, who was still slumped over in the chair, then started to walk away. Kiel grabbed her again, gently fitting his hand into her's. She turned back to him, an unexpected shiver going through her.
"Just relax for a minute, Beth," Kiel said in a gentle voice. "Don't worry. We'll figure out our plan for how we're going to escape this place, and then I promise we'll beat him."
Bethany nodded, offering him a strained smile. She squeezed his hand, and a warm sensation pulsed through her arm, all the way up her body.
"I still don't get why you didn't tell me or Owen about this Mason Black guy. And then you went off on your own quest to chain Nobody up," Kiel said, stepping closer to her with a frown. "Why hide it? Why not tell me? You even hid it from Owen, until he caught you on your way there."
Bethany sighed, dropping his hand. She couldn't look him in the eye. "You wouldn't have agreed with me. You would've said I was being stupid for believing him about Nobody. And then . . . when I went to lock up Nobody with the chains, I couldn't tell you about it because you only would've gotten hurt. I thought doing that would change things, but I was wrong."
"Yeah, you were wrong," Kiel said. "I would've agreed with you if you had told me. Sure, I'd still be a little annoyed that you kept something like that from me, but I would've gone with you. You know that."
"I know," she said, looking back at him. "That's what I was afraid you'd say."
He gave her a confused look, tilting his head slightly. "What? Why?"
She let out a short laugh. "You're Kiel Gnomenfoot, remember? You wouldn't even question it if came to you putting yourself in danger."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"No." Bethany shook her head. "It's not bad to be selfless. But I don't want you or Owen to get hurt because of me."
"Beth, you can't control whether we get hurt or not. I'm your friend, and so is Owen. We're in this together. This is too big to handle on your own. Besides, I've been itching for a good fight. This Nobody guy has been really getting on my nerves, and it's been a little boring around here."
She smiled slightly at his words, then tilted her head towards the ground. "It's just that . . . this whole thing was my fault. I needed to fix it by myself, you know? I became too reckless. I know I should've stopped jumping into books, but then I found my dad, and nothing else mattered besides that. I just wish that I'd been more careful. Maybe if I was, Nobody wouldn't have separated me. I went a little crazy when you went back to your world."
Her eyes widened at the last thing she'd said — about her going crazy when Kiel was back in the fictional world. Was that true? She figured that the only reason she was feeling that way was because she had vowed to never jump into the fictional world again. Of course, there was also the fact that Kiel had been gone.
During those few months, she was so, so tempted to jump into his book, just to see him, to hug him, to talk to him without Owen hovering around. But she had made a promise to herself, and it was to give up on the fictional world. The fictional world had only brought her peril, and after Fowen tried drowning her, well, that was that. She was completely done endangering herself and her friends. Bethany was glad that she'd made the decision to go to Jupiter City. If she hadn't, she would never have found her father.
"I went a little crazy, too," Kiel admitted quietly, surprising Bethany. She wasn't used to him being so open about his feelings. He cleared his throat, flashing her a wink. "But all of that is behind us. We have a world that needs saving, and we have your father to find. Defeating Nobody should be easy if we get enough people to help us."
Nerves ran through Bethany's body. Her heart pounded harder the more she thought about facing Nobody for the final time. "But what if we can't defeat him? What if this is all just too big for us? What if he's too powerful?"
"We're gonna figure it out," Kiel said. He smiled at her. "I didn't come all this way to rejoin your two halves for nothing."
She didn't know what to say to that, so she only nodded, her throat suddenly tight. Hoping she wasn't about to start crying, she threw a glance back at the author of the Doc Twilight comics. He was still sitting in the chair, his eyes closed as he leaned his head against the wall. Clearly, it'd taken him a while to get here. Bethany didn't know how any of this had happened, but she did know that they would need to go back to the fictional world, one way or another.
Not bothering to wait for Owen to wake up, Bethany and Kiel went to his room as fast as they could, knocking loudly on his door until he answered it. The sound of barking hit Bethany's ears, and she smiled in spite of herself as she heard groaning from the other side of the door.
"Owen!" Bethany shouted, pounding her fist against the door. "Open up! It's me and Kiel, and we have something really important to tell you!"
"I think he's awake now," Kiel whispered, then added in a louder voice, "Owen, can you open the door?"
"Getting it!" a voice from the other side grumbled, and they both stepped back as the door swung open, revealing a grumpy-looking Owen with very messy, bedridden hair. He stared up at them with half-lidded eyes, a frown on his face. "What was so important that you couldn't wait to tell me?"
Bethany sighed. "This is going to sound crazy, but you have to believe me anyway. Mason Black showed up, and he said that Nobody has escaped from the chains we put him in. Nobody's alive, Owen. That's why all of this is happening, with the monsters escaping from their books. It makes so much sense now! But now, Nobody's free, and he's going to keep destroying the fictional worlds with his pure possibility, or whatever that was called. This is really bad. We need to come up with some type of plan and get out of here right away. As soon as possible, if we can."
She stared at Owen and waited impatiently for him to respond. Instead, of a panicked reaction that he'd normally give in this type of situation, he blinked slowly, his frown deepening slightly. Finally, he seemed to somewhat understand what she'd said, and rubbed his eyes. "Oh, no. Okay. Wow. This is horrible, but can we please talk about this later? I'm hungry, and I'm pretty sure I'm too tired to interpret anything you just said. What's for breakfast?"
Thirty minutes later, Bethany, Owen, and Kiel were sitting together in the dining hall, eating food as they started to go over their plan. They were all considerably more awake than before, so Bethany went over everything that Mason Black has told her, not leaving a single thing out.
"So?" Bethany said, looking at Owen as she placed her hands on the table. "Got any ideas?"
Her friend looked puzzled. "Why are you asking me?"
"Because you always have ideas with that huge imagination of yours, and we can't just sit here and do nothing while Nobody is free," she told him.
"Don't make fun of my imagination," Owen said, although he didn't look too confident as he said it. "My mom says it's a gift."
"It is," Kiel said from next to Bethany as he ate an apple, which made Owen smile.
"Also, you always make up the most genius, villain-proof plans," Bethany said, trying to grab Owen's attention again. Once he looked at her, she leaned back in her chair. "So, can you think of anything?"
Owen looked thoughtful, biting his lip as he looked around the room. "Well, I think we definitely need to find an easy way out of here — without getting caught by any of the hotel workers. They're everywhere, so we'd have to navigate around them somehow. That'll be hard. And . . . I'm not sure if trying to escape is the best option, either. I'm still grounded, and now that my mom knows everything, she'll —"
"We can't worry about that," Bethany interrupted. "We just won't tell our moms about it, and by the time they find out we're gone, we'll already be in the fictional world."
Owen sighed. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I feel really bad about running away again. Not that I ran away before, but, you know. She'll think that I'm never coming back."
"She won't think that," Kiel said. "I'm sure that neither of your moms will. Besides, it's for a good cause! They can't keep you here."
"I guess not . . ."
"He's right, Owen," Bethany insisted. "And this quest is more important than probably anything any of us have ever done. We have to go, and we can't worry about the consequences of our actions. Yeah, my mom will be furious when she realizes I'm gone, but I'd rather deal with that after we get back."
Their table went silent for a few long seconds, and Bethany stared at Owen, waiting expectantly for him to agree. He really wasn't going to back down from this, was he? She didn't think so. She knew Owen better than anyone, and she also knew that he'd want nothing more than to save the fictional world.
Suddenly, Owen's eyes lit up, and a small smile came to his face. "Actually, I do have an idea. What if we searched around? You know, to see if there's any books that we can find?"
"Are you serious?" Bethany deadpanned. "Right. You are." She sighed. "I've looked everywhere in this place for books, but I haven't seen any. I'm pretty sure the hotel doesn't have any."
"You never know," Kiel said. "Maybe you weren't looking hard enough. Or maybe one of the people from your town has one. We should ask someone."
Now that she thought about it, it did sound like a good idea. It would be convenient, too, since then they wouldn't need to try finding a way to escape the hotel. If someone here owned a book, they could easily get to the fictional world that way.
Feeling a bit hopeful, Bethany stood from her chair. "I'll be right back," she told Owen and Kiel, then made her way around the tables, towards the first one that was occupied.
"Excuse me, sir?" Gathering her courage, she stepped in front of a middle-aged man, who was drinking coffee. "Do you happen to have any books?"
The man looked up at her with a confused expression. He shook his head. "Sorry, I don't."
Forcing a smile, Bethany turned around and walked to the next table, where a group of older women were. She clasped her hands in front of her and cleared her throat, hoping that these women would have something useful. "Hi, sorry to interrupt. Do you have any books?"
"No," one of the women said, after glancing at her friends. "Sorry."
"It's fine," she muttered, trying not to lose her patience. She went to the next table, and then the next, then the next. To her great frustration, none of the people here — not one — had a book that she could borrow. Well, that was just great. How was that possible? Didn't anyone read these days? Did anyone here own a book?
"Hey, what's wrong?" Kiel asked, his concerned tone irritating her even further as she stomped back to their table.
"Did you find any books?" Owen asked.
Bethany glared at them, unable to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She waved her empty hands at them. "Does it look like I found any?"
"Well, no—"
"Are you kidding me?" She groaned, slamming her hands on the table. A few people glanced her way, giving her alarmed looks, but she ignored them. She collapsed into the chair. "There's not a single book in this place? No one thought to grab one? No one thought they'd want something to read?"
"Not when they were running for their lives!" Owen said, which made her roll her eyes. "So this just means that we don't have another choice. We don't have any books to jump into, so we have to get to my mom's library." In a quieter voice, he added, "I just hope it's not destroyed."
"It won't be," Bethany said. "And even if it is destroyed, the books will probably still be there."
"True," Owen muttered, not looking too hopeful about the idea.
"Enough thinking!" Kiel said, a gleam appearing in his eyes. "Let's sneak our way out of here and get going! I can cast some spells that'll distract them, and we can sneak past them while their preoccupied with that." He grinned. "Sometimes it's good to just take action."
"We need to have a plan, though!" Owen said. "Our town is filled with the military, not to mention tons of fictional monsters. We could get caught easily, and then we'd never get to the library."
"So we use magic, then."
"Only for emergencies," Bethany said, crossing her arms as she leaned forward. "Owen's right. We have to be careful. And it'd probably be better to leave once it's dark out, so we can blend in. But if we find a way to get there — maybe by car — I think we can get into town without anyone noticing."
"By car?" Owen repeated, dumbfounded. "Who would drive us? We took a bus here, and I didn't see any cars in the parking lot. And if there were, my mom wouldn't drive us, and neither would yours!"
"I've driven a police car before," Kiel said.
"Wait, what? You have?" Bethany asked, her eyebrows shooting up.
"In Doyle's book. It's kind of a long story. You weren't there," Owen whispered to her. "How about Mason Black?"
"I don't think he drove here," she said, feeling like they were running out of ideas. "He seemed pretty exhausted when he got here, almost as if he ran the whole way here. I didn't see any cars in the driveway, either."
"Okay," Kiel said. "So all we have to do is sneak our way out of the building and find some way to get back to town. Shouldn't be that hard."
"Yeah." Bethany huffed, mulling over his words. The idea sounded good enough, but she just didn't know how they'd sneak out of the building. It was risky. There was also the factor that they needed to find a way to get to town, and she didn't see any cars or buses laying around. If they managed to get to town, they'd also have to sneak around the military and police, along with the fictional monsters that were definitely still roaming around.
It wasn't going to be easy, but Bethany knew that they had to get back to the fictional world as soon as possible. One way or another, Nobody was going to destroy the fictional world with his pure possibility, and he'd rewrite it the way he wanted. She couldn't let that happen, especially when her friends lives were at stake, along with the other thousands of fictional worlds out there.
Most importantly, her father was still there. If Nobody finished what he started, she'd never see her father again. If that happened, she would be devastated. She would've fought for nothing, and Nobody would've won. She was determined to put a stop to Nobody's plan, before it was too late. It wasn't a choice.
Someone cleared their throat from behind them, and all three of them turned around in surprise to see none other than Liz, looking shocked.
Bethany cringed, her stomach twisting itself into a knot. "Hi, Liz."
Owen's eyes widened. "H-How much did you hear?"
"Just enough to know that you're running away," the girl said, crossing her arms. She stared at Bethany with a hurt, maybe even betrayed, expression. "And something about going back to town, where all of those monsters are. Why would you do that? That's so dangerous!"
Bethany exchanged a look with her friends, swallowing hard. They only stared back at her with a cautious expression, waiting for her to say something. If Liz had heard everything they had said, then there was no point in lying about it. Bethany had never wanted to tell her the truth, since she wanted to keep her powers a secret for as long as she could. But at that moment, she knew that she didn't have a choice. She couldn't just pretend it never happened.
She took a deep breath. "Let's go somewhere private. It's . . . kind of a long story."
"And with the black banners raised as the crooked smiles fade. Former heroes who quit too late . . ."