A/N - you'll get this soon! Here's a quote from AOGG that reminds me a ton of this chapter—
"Every day, I would pick a different memory of you and play it over and over and over again in my mind, until every hair, every freckle, every part of you was exactly as I remembered."
. . .
Hurricane (by Fleurie)
"Coming like a hurricane, I take it real slow. The world is spinning like a weathervane . . ."
Kiel had been confused on countless occasions in his life. More than the average person, he liked to think — and not to say that he was any less amazing. The obstacles piled up, throwing his whirlwind of a life upside down again and again. Keeping him confused, until he made sense of it all. And then, the next confusing thing happened. Or as Owen might call them: plot twists.
The confusion had started when he tried finding his parents when he was little, back when he didn't know he was a clone. And the confusion hadn't stopped there — it'd become more common once he first tried learning how to do magic. Hanging out with Charm, he had a hard time making sense of science and Quanterium.
Even more so when he discovered he was a clone. Then, again, when the whole character in a book thing happened. Adjusting to life in the nonfictional world was maybe his hardest feat yet, with it being so entirely different from what he was used to.
It took some time, but Kiel got through every obstacle with flying colors. Some things — like where his nonexistent parents were — had taken a lot of questions with no answers. The confusion about them hadn't stopped, not until everything clicked into place once he discovered he was a clone. Even that confused him at first, on a number of levels. It still did, since he didn't have all the answers yet.
But this situation topped everything he'd ever known to be confusing, because Kiel had no idea what was going on, or how to fix things. Just like countless times before, he had a thousand questions but no answers. And despite Kiel's belief that he could figure out anything he set his mind to, this wasn't something he could figure out.
As he tried to make sense of it all, it just became harder for him to wrap his head around. Instead of going to her friends, Bethany had gone back to the Boy Scouts camp — on purpose, and she was clearly on her own. But all questions of what she was doing and where she was going seemed ten times important once he saw the Magister. The once-kind man who'd taken him in from the streets, giving him a home and teaching him magic.
Never in a million years would Kiel have thought that the Magister would be looking for Bethany. Did he intend to hurt her? What did he want with her? Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. It'd given Kiel an all-too-familiar feeling of dread once he saw the look in the Magister's eyes. The same way he'd looked at them when he'd tried to kill Kiel and Bethany three years ago.
Not exactly a welcoming feeling.
This was not the version of the Magister Kiel had hoped to see. He had hoped for maybe some improvement from his old master's end, that at least the Magister would've stopped terrorizing people. What a dumb idea that had been! There wasn't a single reminder of the once-kind, caring man Kiel once knew.
A thousand questions swirled through his head, yet to be answered. Why was the Magister after Bethany? It seemed so random. He couldn't be after her powers again — Bethany's powers didn't work anymore! For some other reason, she was trying to get away from the Magister. She wasn't even using her shapeshifting powers to fight him like she usually would if confronted. The whole thing seemed strange to Kiel.
Maybe the Magister had done something to Gwen and Orion, which was why Kiel hasn't been able to see them. Or — another guess — they could've been on a separate quest somewhere else, although Kiel wasn't sure why they'd do that. The possibilities were endless. But any possibility he tried thinking of didn't make much sense to him. Until he fully knew what was going on, it would remain a mystery.
But amidst the confusion, there was one thing that Kiel was certain of: Bethany. While she'd hid beneath the bed of the boys' cabin, frozen in fear, Kiel had no doubt in his mind that she was in danger. And not the good, exciting kind of danger. She could get hurt, so he had to help her somehow.
And quickly, he realized that he couldn't do that at all. While in her head, he could only experience what she was experiencing. It made him feel frustratingly useless. After all this time he'd spent looking through her eyes, he still had no way to help her. Annoyingly enough, he couldn't even stop the Magister from here.
He tried his best to speak to her, to ask her what he wanted to know and try soothing her with kind words. Nothing seemed to work. Bethany couldn't hear him, apparently. It frustrated him. He just wasn't used to being helpless in this sort of situation. Kiel Gnomenfoot was never helpless, except for well, now. All he could try to do was figure out what was going on, and if he could help her, he would.
But, Kiel was growing aware that he'd probably stayed in her head much longer than he'd intended to. He tried to keep track of time, but with everything going on he'd forgotten how long he'd been in here. The consequences were far in the back of his mind, and while in Bethany's head, he hadn't thought once about them.
Still, he knew that he should get out of the spell. He should've left right after Bethany arrived in the Boy Scouts camp, like he'd meant to. And he had been about to get out of the spell, but once the Magister showed up, all thoughts of leaving went out the window. He had to be there for Bethany, and to see what would happen. If he could help her somehow by staying, he'd feel better.
Then again, wouldn't something bad happen if he stayed too long? Owen and Charm and Kara would worry. Kiel should go. He really should. Bethany's location was all he needed to know. He wasn't able to stop the Magister or help her while he was under this spell. He should get out of the spell and help her in person.
So what was holding him back?
When the world materialized, it took the form of a parking lot.
Owen, still clutching onto his friends, let go and stumbled to his feet. Panicked, he looked around him for a sign of the pure possibility, but it was no longer there. Instead, they were surrounded by parked cars, along with a wooden fence and a lush forest.
"Oh my god," Owen whispered, his voice an octave higher than usual. He glanced down at his hands, which were shaking immensely. "I — oh my god. W-We're alive!"
He didn't mess anything else up, and they'd gotten away from the pure possibility. Their luck had gotten so, so bad, but surprisingly, things had gotten better. From how his previous experiences usually went, Owen hadn't expected they'd actually make it out of there alive. He'd expected to mess something else up, getting all of them killed.
Charm rolled her eyes, but she looked pretty shaken, all things considered. "Hey, Owen, you do know that only bought us a few hours?"
"A few hours? T-That's great! Perfect!"
A wave of relief washed over him. The sun's rays filtered through the lightly-moving branches of the trees, casting soft animated shadows on everything below. He could smell the scent of fresh grass and pollen and flowers. His heartbeat began to slow, gradually getting less rapid by the second. For a blissful moment, there was nothing to be afraid of. Nothing around them, at least.
A few hours was all they needed to stop the worlds from getting destroyed. That could be enough time, but — oh, who was he kidding? Owen's doubts began to creep back in. Saving the world in that amount of time, when the pure possibility had been moving so fast? Was that possible when they still hadn't teamed back up with Bethany, Gwen, and Orion?
Owen didn't know if it was, but he could worry about that in a minute. The only thing he could feel at the moment was an intense sensation of relief. Relief that he was alive and that his friends were alive, and that the pure possibility hadn't swallowed them up. He started to grin. They'd escaped! They were okay! Thank you, Kiel's teleportation button!
His eyes widened. Kiel. That snapped him back to reality. He glanced down at his friends to see that they were propping Kiel up against a car, and that was enough to make Owen feel bad again. Kiel was still under the spell, and he hadn't woken up yet. That didn't make any sense! Why hadn't he?
"How long has it been?" Owen asked, trying to ignore the tremble in his voice.
Charm only shook her head, grumbling, "It has to be twenty minutes by now. I'm going to kill him if he stays under that stupid spell."
Owen paled. "Twenty minutes?!"
"That's what I said."
He kneeled down beside Kiel and gently shook his shoulder. "Kiel! You have to get out of the spell!" He shook him again. "Can you hear me?" He stared at his friend, hoping for some kind of reaction. But he remained motionless, not giving a single indication that he'd heard Owen.
"We can't wake him up, remember?" Kara reminded him, giving him a gentle nudge.
Owen looked over at her, shrugging. "I know." He crinkled his nose. "It was worth a shot."
Or a few more, if Charm's logic was off.
The bad part was: Owen knew Charm had been right. As much as Owen wanted to hope for the opposite, there wasn't a way they could wake Kiel up. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple.
He sighed, pulling his hand back. He wished he didn't feel so useless. The only thing they could do was wait for Kiel to wake up and hope that there was no damage to his memories. But would he ever wake up? Owen was starting to wonder that. As always, he couldn't do anything to help.
On top of that, the pure possibility was going to spread everywhere and Owen didn't even know what had caused it to move so much faster. And of course, they still didn't know where their friends could be. This was beginning to feel like a huge mystery. A mystery in a fantasy book.
He just wished they could've found their friends right off the bat, when Kiel used his location spell. But all they had found was the stone. Owen didn't know why it'd led them to the stone in the first place, instead of to their friends. Now, thanks to that, they had no idea where their friends were, and had to risk Kiel's memories to find out.
Why did this all have to be such a mystery? After everything he'd gone through in Doyle's books, why did he have to go through another one? Couldn't he have all the answers now? Why spend an entire book waiting to find out what was going on?
Not that he'd never tried liking them. He'd read a bunch of mysteries, like Sherlock Holmes and Encyclopedia Brown. He'd even read the mystery books his mom recommended, but he just couldn't get into them. Fantasy always would be his favorite genre; it was way less confusing, and there was magic!
Even the book they were in seemed to have mystery. First, there was the Scouts camp, which seemed friendly enough. And then, there was the whole thing with evil mummies that put curses on you, and trees that tried to kidnap you. He wasn't sure if that was just bad writing or random plot twists.
Owen turned away from his friends, and for the first time, he realized why the place they were in looked so familiar. He hadn't been too focused on where Charm might've teleported them to, since he only cared about getting away from the pure possibility, and trying to wake Kiel up. But strangely enough, he recognized this parking lot.
Because just down the path was the entrance of the summer camp, looking a lot less crowded than it had two days ago. Just as before, there were two pathways, one leading to the Girl Scouts camp and the other to the Boy Scouts. He could just barely hear the sound of laughter, and he could spot one or two cabins from where he was sitting.
Surprised, Owen looked at Charm. "Wait, you teleported us here? To the summer camp?"
Charm raised an eyebrow. "What, you have a problem with that?"
Owen quickly shook his head, wishing Charm would stop acting so annoyed every time he spoke. "Uh, no! No, of course not! I'm just surprised that this is the first place you thought of."
"Well, it's the farthest place away from the pure possibility." She paused. "That I know of. It didn't seem like we'd have much luck escaping if we teleported to Toby's cabin."
"About that . . . I can't believe the pure possibility is moving so fast," Kara exclaimed. "For a moment I thought we weren't going to make it! That was freaky."
"It really was," Owen said, shuddering at the memory. "I still can't believe that really happened. Isn't it weird that the pure possibility just randomly sped up out of nowhere?"
Charm nodded, sitting forward. "I've been trying to study it for years, and it's only moved slowly . . . until today. Its chemical makeup must've changed somehow."
"Or Nobody just decided he wanted the worlds to disappear faster," Owen muttered.
"Or that." Charm glanced at Kiel, and Owen thought he might've seen a flicker of worry cross her face. But in an instant, it was gone. If she was worried about Kiel, she didn't show it. Owen, however, knew she did care for Kiel deep down. It just wasn't her style to portray it.
In a book or a movie, this would be a time where the main character gave a speech that inspired everyone else. Owen had never thought of himself as the main character — he was more of a sidekick. In this case, the perfect person for that would've been Kiel . . . if he still wasn't under a dangerous spell.
Owen threw another glance at Kiel. Please wake up soon, he thought. Every second that passed just made him more on edge. He wished he knew what was going on from Kiel's end.
"I'm getting worried about him," Kara said, as if reading his thoughts.
They all looked at Kiel, and Owen knew they were all thinking the same thing. "Me too," he agreed. "When do you think he'll wake up?"
"It depends if he's found out any information yet," Charm said. "But the minute he does wake up, we go straight to Bethany, Gwen, and Orion. That's our plan. We can worry about Kiel's messed-up brain on the way."
"And then we just have to save the world," Kara added. Meeting Owen's gaze, she nudged him with her shoulder, a small smile slipping onto her face. "That should be interesting."
"Yeah," Owen managed to say, his mouth suddenly dry. "Interesting . . ."
Save the world.
He'd heard those words so many times in books, in series like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and Narnia. And despite the heroes' struggles, they always won against the bad guys in the end. But did most books have villains like Nobody, characters who could rewrite themselves to be anything? No. Owen had read enough books to know that he'd never seen a villain like Nobody before.
The idea of 'saving the world' seemed so much easier when someone else said it. Especially when Kara said it, it sounded more like an adventure than something to dread. Then again, most things Kara said tended to sound that way. Owen doubted his words would have the same effect if he'd said the same exact thing.
As simple as their plan seemed, things were getting more and more complicated as the day unraveled. Teleporting away from the pure possibility had bought them some time, but Owen had a feeling that things wouldn't automatically get better from here. As he found out a second later, he was right.
From down the path, the crunching of feet against the dirt filled his ears. All three of them froze, sharing alarmed looks. Clenching her jaw, Charm motioned for them to get down. They ducked behind the car that Kiel was sitting against, their shoes scraping against the black pavement. Breathing hard, Owen fell down on his knees, Kiel and Kara at his right and left.
Slowly, he peered over the hood of the car to see four adults heading towards the parking lot. His eyes widened. They were camp counselors! He recognized one of them as the overweight counselor who'd been in charge of the boys' cabin that Owen had slept in.
One of the counselors looked his way, and Owen quickly ducked back behind the car. His heart raced. He turned to his friends, who stared at him, waiting for him to say something.
"What did you see?" Kara whispered. "Who was it?"
"Camp counselors," Owen whispered back, then reached up and tried to flatten his hair, which had been unhelpfully sticking up. No matter how many times he ran his hands over it, his hair refused to flatten. Holding back a groan, he gave up and pushed himself lower to the ground, hoping the adults couldn't see them.
How were they going to get out of here without getting caught? And if they got caught, what would happen? Although everyone in this book seemed pretty happy, he wouldn't expect that the counselors would take their appearance lightly. After all, when Owen, Kiel, and Orion had escaped from the Boy Scouts the other day, the campers had chased after them, trying to keep them from leaving.
Charm reached down, pulling out her ray guns. "I can handle them."
"Wait, don't do anything yet!" Owen hissed. He pushed her hand down. "They don't even have a reason to hurt us."
Charm glared at him, taking her ray guns out anyway. "I'm not taking those chances."
He gulped. That didn't sound too promising. As far as they knew, the camp counselors were completely harmless. But what if they weren't? There were always random plot twists in books, so that trope wouldn't be too surprising. Owen had seen it countless times, with background characters secretly being evil.
Though, he really doubted the counselors would do anything like that. After everyone in the camp being happy all the time, it wouldn't make sense. This book already had evil trees and mummies. Why have the camp counselors be dangerous, too? Then again, if they were, it'd be a really cool plot twist. Owen really needed to read this book if he ever lived past today.
As the footsteps grew louder, Owen could hear the camp counselors talking amongst themselves. He couldn't hear exactly what they were saying from here since they were still too far away. Something about an old magician invading their property, or whatever that meant.
"Any idea if they're coming into the parking lot?" Kara asked in a whisper.
"I'll check," Charm said, then lifted her head, peering through the window of the car. After a moment, she lowered herself down and looked at them. "Ugh. They're coming over here."
"Maybe they'll drive away in their cars without noticing us?" Owen said hopefully, though he really doubted that would happen.
The idea quickly died, though, once he heard one of the counselors speak. It was a woman. "Wait a second . . . I think I heard something."
"What?" a man replied.
"It almost sounded like voices up ahead."
What? Owen thought, his panic rising. How could they have heard us from that far away?
He clamped his mouth shut, not daring to make another sound. Owen's eyes landed on Kiel, then locked with Kara's. She slid her hand on top of his, her hand surprisingly still against his shaking one. Under different circumstances, a rush of heat might've flooded his cheeks at her touch. But here, it only brought him comfort.
"You're just hearing things," the man said, and Owen could practically imagine the man rolling his eyes.
"Well, we'd better keep an eye out for those missing children," a third voice said. Another woman. "Three boys, I heard, ran away while on a group hike. That was just yesterday. Clearly, they haven't been washed yet."
Washed? Owen exchanged a confused look with Kara. What did that mean? And could they be talking about the escape that he, Orion, and Kiel had made yesterday? It would make sense if they were, but what did they mean by 'washed'? Owen assumed they were talking about taking a shower, but the last time he'd taken one was at the summer camp.
"Yes! That they did!" the last man said, the counselor who'd been in charge of Owen's hiking group. "That boy with the black hair took off and ran, and then two other boys followed him. The shorter one had . . . sort of . . . brown hair. Kind of looked blonde. The other boy also had black hair. I tried to get them, but I was too slow."
"It's okay, Larry. We will get all of our missing Scouts back! They won't survive long with those trees coming alive."
Larry laughed. "None of them do! And if they're smart, they'll come back here. Where they won't ever have to think about leaving the camp again."
"Exactly," the first woman said. "We really need to start washing them the first day they come to the summer camp. Too many of the girls were crying about being homesick, and they didn't stop until the ceremony."
"So it worked?"
"Yes. Now, they're focusing on exactly what we need them to. It's so nice having obedient, carefree children around. They accomplish so much when they aren't focused on things outside Scouts training." She sighed happily. Then, her tone turned to annoyance. "I'm guessing those boys weren't washed yet? We'd better not let that happen again."
"It won't," the other man promised. "It was only the three boys. I dealt with the rest of the newcomers this morning. So far, none of the children have acted out of the ordinary. They've all been very happy here, just as they're supposed to be. All they care about now is the summer camp."
"Good. Let's keep it that way. The more undistracted Scouts we have, the better. Make sure they don't see anything that reminds them of home. I don't want to do another ceremony until July."
Owen listened, incredulous. He'd sort of predicted that the summer camp must've had some secrets to hide, but nothing like this. What ceremony? And what did washing mean? By that, did they mean brainwashing? Were they brainwashing the Scouts so they wouldn't want to leave the summer camp? This was crazy! And if the Scouts only cared about the summer camp, did that mean they didn't care about their homes?
Tons of theories went through his head, enough to give him a headache. If he was right, if the Scouts really were being brainwashed, then that meant Owen and his friends were in more danger than he realized. They needed to get out of here before the camp counselors found them. If they did, he wasn't so sure that the counselors wouldn't hurt them.
Charm held up her ray guns, and Owen shook his head. Not yet. Though, if the camp counselors did find them, he wouldn't be against ray-gunning them anymore. That would be much better than getting brainwashed, even if he wasn't completely sure that his theory was true.
He realized that the adults had stopped talking, but he could hear their footsteps. It sounded like they were getting farther away. That would definitely take care of everything, but Owen wasn't comfortable hanging around this parking lot any longer.
"We should get out of here," Owen whispered.
Kara nodded. "Yeah . . . I kinda have to agree on that one." She leaned closer to Owen. "There's something seriously wrong with camp counselors these days!"
"And you wonder why I never trust unusually happy people," Charm muttered.
"What about Gwen?" Owen asked.
Charm said nothing at that, but he already knew the answer from the look on her face.
Carefully, he retrieved Kiel's teleportation button again and tried to think of a safer place to go. But where could they teleport to? They could go back in the woods, but Owen wasn't sure what part of the woods they'd land in. He didn't want to go anywhere close to the pure possibility, and now that he knew about the crazy camp counselors, he didn't want to be near the summer camp, either.
It must've been the hundredth time he'd thought this in the past two days, but he should've read the book. He should've prepared, he should've known what he was getting himself into. The only thing Owen had that was useful was his knowledge of books, but if he knew close to nothing about this one, what was he supposed to do?
"Hurry, Owen," Kara said. "We really need to get out of here."
"One second!" Owen whispered back, as he fumbled with the teleportation button.
Take us to the safest part of the forest, he thought, as Kara linked her arm through his. Owen placed his other hand on Kiel's wrist, and in turn, Charm threw her arm over Kiel's shoulder. Closing his eyes, Owen imagined the least-threatening area of the forest, a place without pure possibility or any summer camps. Hoping it would work, he started to press his thumb down on the button.
Except that never happened, because Owen heard the shrill, high-pitched sound of a car beeping. The teleportation button slipped from his hands. He yelped, opened his eyes, and realized that the car they'd been leaning against had turned on. Even worse, he could hear the sound of various boots clomping towards them. And of course it was the car they were sitting against.
"Get down!" Charm hissed, and the three of them immediately lowered themselves to the ground. As for Kiel, they pulled him down with them, only for him to fall directly onto Charm, who sighed in aggravation as she tried pushing him off.
Kara looked at Owen. "Can you teleport us? Like, now?"
"Sure, um—" Owen lifted his hand, only to realize that the teleportation button had fallen out. Great. He scanned the ground, feeling around with his hands. "Bad news. I can't find it!"
"You lost it?" Charm demanded.
Owen averted her gaze. "I didn't mean to! Help me look for it!"
"Okay, okay," Kara said, and a few seconds later, he heard her exclaim. "I found it! It got under the car somehow."
"Can you get it?" Owen peeked around the side of the car, only to see that the counselors were getting closer. They had ten seconds at the most . . . until they got caught and were brainwashed into staying at a summer camp. Not that Owen wouldn't enjoy staying at summer camp, but not for these reasons.
When he looked back at Kara, she was halfway underneath the car, nothing but the lower half of her body sticking out. "I . . . almost . . . ah-ha! Got it!"
Without even backing out first, Kara smacked the teleportation button with her palm, sending it skidding back over to Owen. While Charm helped Kara get out faster, Owen took the teleportation button in his hand and grabbed Kiel with the other. But just as Kara managed to get out from underneath the car, the car doors from the other side opened.
The timing couldn't have been worse. The four counselors — two men and two women — looked straight through the car's windows and saw three teenagers gaping at them. For a moment, no one moved. Time seemed to be frozen, and Owen briefly (and hopefully) wondered if maybe his time powers had come back.
But that fleeting moment passed. The adults climbed back out of the car, heading over to them. Kara rose unsteadily to her feet, and Owen noticed that she stumbled ever so slightly on her injured leg. Charm, on the other hand, pulled her ray guns out first before getting to her feet.
Since he'd been holding Kiel up, Owen sighed and let go of his friend, letting him drop to the ground. His legs shook slightly as he climbed to his feet, turning to face the camp counselors. "This isn't what it looks like."
"Oh, really?" one of the women said, narrowing her eyes. "Because I see four children who aren't where they're supposed to be. What do you think you're doing in the parking lot?"
Kara stepped forward. "Our parents are picking us up. That's why we're out here — we're going home early."
The woman huffed. "No, you're not. No one here wants to go home. You must be lying!"
"She's not lying!" Owen said quickly. "It's true, our parents are picking us up." He forced a smile, trying to seem less nervous than he was. "W-We, um, we really don't want to leave but our parents made us."
"Come on, it's a family emergency," Charm told them, and for reasons Owen could guess, a weird expression appearing on her face at the word 'family'. "As you can see my, uh . . . brother is very sick." She nodded at Kiel. "He needs to be taken home right away. You wouldn't want to get our parents involved, would you?"
The camp counselors frowned, considering this. For a moment, Owen thought they might believe them and walk away, leaving them alone. But then, Larry pointed at Kiel, who was lying motionlessly on the ground. "Wait a minute, I remember him! He ran away from my group, and—" He pointed at Owen. "So did you!" He looked back at the other camp counselors. "These children always wanted to leave. They must've never been washed!"
Okay, that did not sound good. Owen's eyes widened, and suddenly, his ribs seemed four sizes too small. His words came out in a stutter. "Whoa, hey, um, actually, no l-let's not get into that—"
"Of course. It all makes sense!" the other man said, cutting Owen off. "Let's take them back to the camp and get them fixed tonight. They won't think twice about leaving again." Then, he moved forward and made the mistake of grabbing Charm's arm.
"Hey!" Charm shouted. Faster than Owen could react, she easily tore her arm away and pulled the trigger of her ray gun. A laser whizzed through the air, and a second later, the man collapsed to the ground. The other three adults stared at the man, wearing shocked expressions. But when they looked back up at Owen, Charm, and Kara, they looked angry.
"Get them," the first woman barked. "We can't let them get away again!"
Many things happened very quickly. The camp counselors dove forward, and Owen jumped out of the way as Larry reached for his arm. Lasers flew through the air, yet somehow, the woman that Charm was fighting seemed to have no problem dodging all of them. As the other woman tried grabbing Kara, Kara ducked under her arm, kicking her in the leg.
The woman stumbled and bumped into Owen, who almost lost his balance. Again, Larry darted forward to grab him, and Owen backed away as quickly as he could. The only problem was, his feet came in contact with Kiel's legs, and he lost his balance completely. He winced as he hit the ground, only to glance up and find Larry standing over him.
"You don't want to take us," Owen said, trying to keep his voice even. He slowly stood up, untangling his legs from Kiel's. The man stepped towards him, so Owen took another step back, holding his hands up. "Seriously, you don't."
Larry laughed, as if Owen had just told him a hilarious joke. "Of course we do! There's no better place to be than the summer camp! Soon, you'll learn that too."
Owen let out a breath. "Right, but we can't stay! We're not supposed to be there! We're not even real Scouts!"
"Then why are you wearing that?" He pointed to Owen's clothes. "Only a real Scout wears badges. Everyone knows that."
Owen had never wanted to escape from a camp counselor so much in his life. Or punch one, if he had the upper arm strength to do it. He groaned in frustration. "Okay, I mean none of us are real Scouts. We got these costumes online! These badges are fake. This is all a huge mistake. I'm a normal kid!"
The man snorted. "But you won't know the difference, will you? Whether or not you're a real Boy Scout now, you'll officially be one soon. I'm sure you won't mind training to be a Boy Scout for a few months, would you?" He stepped forward, smiling. "At the summer camp, no one is sad. A smile will always be on your face. Your life will be an adventure, and you won't have to worry about anything outside of your life as a Boy Scout ever again."
Owen had to admit being happy all the time sounded nice, but not like this. Not when the only thing he'd care about would be the summer camp! Not when there was so much more at stake, like the fictional worlds getting wiped out and stopping Nobody. Apparently he wouldn't care about any of those things anymore. His joy wouldn't even be real.
Owen shook his head vigorously. "No, this — this isn't right. You can't do any of this!" He took another step backward, his eyes flickering down to Kiel for a moment. "Adults aren't supposed to kidnap kids and force them to stay at a summer camp. A-And brainwash them? Why do you even want to do that?"
"So there will be no distractions. The children here don't think of their life at home. All they care about is having fun, and learning to be a Scout. Even better, they never disobey. Who would when you're enjoying yourself so much? You see, nothing is better than life at the summer camp! Once you're fixed, you'll agree, too! You'll love it! You'll love everything, and you'll worry about nothing! Doesn't that sound nice?"
"Not really," Owen breathed, though he wouldn't have minded the not-worrying-about-anything part. He stepped out of Larry's reach, only to inconveniently fall back against a car. He was at a dead-end, and Kara and Charm were somewhere ahead of him, busy fighting the other counselors. He gulped, meeting the man's eyes again.
"No more rule-breaking for you, little boy!" Larry said with a smile, taking another step towards him. "Say goodbye to your disobedience."
"Goodbye!" said a voice, and a second later, one of Charm's ray guns came crashing over the man's head. The man crumpled to the floor, unconscious. Out of breath, Owen pushed himself away from the car, his eyes still on the man.
"Thanks, Charm—" he started to say, but when he looked up, it wasn't Charm who'd knocked the man out. It was—
"Kiel?!"
"Hey," Kiel Gnomenfoot said, winking at him. Patches of dirt had gotten onto his face, making his pale skin look darker than usual in some areas. Relieved and out-of-breath, Owen gave him a grin in return. At that moment, Kara and Charm ran over to them, the other adults having just been knocked out.
"Kiel?" Kara exclaimed. "You're back!"
"I am! And listen, I know where Bethany is."
Charm raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You do?"
"Yes. Long story, but she's in the Boy Scouts camp. Still don't know why she's there, but she's in danger. We should be able to get there if we . . ." Kiel stopped, then looked around in confusion. "Wait, you got to fight these guys and I missed it?"
"Trust me, you didn't miss anything," Kara said, poking the man at their feet with her foot. "They were trying to capture us."
"Still! All I got to do was knock a guy out," Kiel replied wistfully, before jumping back into the questions. "And would someone explain — where are we? Why did we go to this . . . car zoo? Last time I checked, we were in a meadow."
"And now we're in a parking lot," Charm said gruffly, grabbing his arm and starting to march towards the summer camp. "And don't them 'car zoos'. I'll explain what happened on the way. We have to move quickly."
Taken by surprise, Kiel stumbled but followed her. "Why? What happened?"
"I said come on!"
Owen didn't have time to register the fact that Kiel hadn't seemed to forget anything. Because the next thing he felt was a strange prick on the side of his neck. He winced. What had that been? He felt around on his neck, but his hand started to feel unusually heavy. Without realizing it, he dropped his hand back at his side. Not just his hand, but it felt like his entire body was getting heavier and heavier.
Kara pointed at him, her blue eyes growing wide. "Owen, what's that thing on your neck?"
"What thing?" Owen frowned, tilting his head down to see what she was talking about. For some reason, his vision was getting blurry. His thoughts slowed down, and he could feel the energy starting to drain out of him. What was happening? That's when he noticed the blow dart on his neck, but he was already too dazed to properly freak out.
His eyelids drooping, he looked back up at Kara. Her face was getting blurrier by the second, and her pink hair seemed especially brighter at that moment. He leaned in towards her, meaning to ask her why her hair was getting so bright. Even her eyes seemed to glow. She looked like a shining star, brighter than anything he'd ever seen. He stared at her, completely in awe. How was she able to do that?
Owen opened his mouth, and what fell out of it was, "Are you magic?"
She gave him a strange look. "What?"
"Yes?" he mumbled, stumbling over his own feet. Why was it so hard to walk all the sudden? And was he just imagining it, but did his legs feel like bowling balls?
Kara lifted her hands to his face. "Something's wrong with you. Keep your eyes open!" Her voice was anxious, but he could barely hear anything anymore. He could only focus on the feel of her hands on his face, making him more relaxed. Maybe he was in a dream. That had to be it! He was in a dream, and Kara was there with him.
Owen only smiled, his eyes barely open now. "It's . . . on your . . . your arm . . ."
Kara glanced down at her arm, and Owen could just barely tell that a blow dart was on there, too. She gasped. "These are blow darts! We have . . . have to get out of . . ."
He didn't hear the rest of her sentence as he collapsed to the ground, everything fading around him.
Bethany's heart hadn't stopped racing since she left the cabin. The cabin where the Magister could've caught her in, if she hadn't been able to hide at the last second. She kept checking over her shoulder, expecting him to appear out of nowhere. And maybe he would.
A disguise spell, she reasoned, would be incredibly helpful right about now. Both for blending in and for getting the Magister to stop following her. Apparently wearing a Scout uniform wasn't enough, not when she was the only girl for miles. And trying to look like a boy was definitely off the list, since Bethany wasn't about to cut off her hair (unless it actually came to that).
Which was why, she decided, moving as fast as she could away from the Magister would be her best option. And really, her only option.
One thing that kept her hopeful was knowing that the Magister was still stuck in that tree she'd left him in, which meant he didn't have much time. The pure possibility had been moving pretty fast, last time she checked, so when it reached the Magister, he'd disappear. One problem gone, and a dozen more left to go. But at least it'd fix her getting-kidnapped problem.
She glanced down at her feet, which felt considerably sore from all the running around she'd been doing today. That only made it harder to keep going, to keep running, when all she wanted was to take a break. To go back to the way things used to be. She missed how things were this morning, when she was with her friends and the only thing she'd been worried about was whether she could destroy the stone or not.
If she had a time machine, maybe she'd be able to go back and fix things. Make sure none of this would ever happen. Too bad they weren't still in Kara's world, where Bethany could've easily traveled back in time. At least just to save Gwen and Orion.
Above her, the sun sunk lower and lower into the sky, and an arch of summer clouds swam in the budding sunset. Bright hues of oranges and reds and pinks began dancing across the sky, getting brighter as the sun dipped towards the horizon. Sunlight framed the edges of the clouds, like a dazzling halo of gold.
When she looked up at the sky, it was easy for Bethany to pretend that it was just any other day. And when her eyes flickered back to the ground, she saw a sea of unfamiliar faces, completely unaware of what they were about to face. She wasn't sure how much time she'd have before the pure possibility rolled in, but with it getting dark soon, it would be much harder to find her friends.
With this in mind, Bethany quickened her pace, her soaked shoes causing indents to form in the grass. As she got further into the camp, she noticed there were a lot more cabins. And with it, a lot more people. Boy Scouts were everywhere; it was so crowded that some of the boys shoved into her.
Laughter echoed across the fields, reminding Bethany just how deep the ache in her heart was. Everyone she saw seemed happy and relaxed, two feelings she hadn't had for . . . well, a while. Sure, she'd had many happy moments over the past few weeks with her friends, but relaxing? Bethany barely remembered the last time there'd been nothing to worry about.
Bethany kept an eye out for her friends, even though she didn't see them anywhere. Doubt crept into her mind. Was looking in the summer camp really the right thing to do? Was there even a chance her friends could be here? Or, would anyone actually know where they were? If Toby didn't, why would anyone here?
It was a long shot to come here. Maybe she should look somewhere else, try finding other options. But what was she supposed to do, look through the whole forest? That'd be crazy. Crazy and impossible. It would never work, not when she didn't have a location spell or even shapeshifting powers to help her look for them.
Really, she didn't know what to do. She felt more lost than ever. She was just searching with no clues. Coming here could've been a huge mistake, because there was a definite chance her friends wouldn't be here. Maybe if she went back to Toby's cabin, if she looked around some more—
And then, as she wandered past a soccer field, one of the cabins caught Bethany's eye. It looked like an information center of some kind. The strange part, though, was that posters covered every single window, not allowing her to see inside. Even the doors were made of wood, which she guessed made sense since it was a cabin. Still, it was a little unnerving that she couldn't see the inside.
If she wanted answers, she'd have to walk through that door. She could only hope that whoever was on the other side could give her information about her friends. But at this point, she wasn't sure that they'd have any answers. It was better to check, she decided. Just to be sure.
She stared up at the cabin, biting her lip anxiously. Okay, here goes. Before she could back out of it, she hurried up the stairs, the wooden planks creaking loudly beneath her feet. Once she reached the top, she yanked at the door, expecting it to swing open. But the doorknob only jiggled. It was locked.
Bethany paused, her brow furrowing. That didn't make sense. Why would a door to a cabin in a summer camp be locked? Unless the cabin wasn't being used anymore, but it didn't look like it was out of use. Raising her fist, she knocked a few times instead, wincing a bit as the wood camp in contact with her knuckles. Hopefully she wouldn't get any splinters from doing this.
Suddenly, the door swung open, catching her off guard. A woman stood at the other end, wearing a cap and an adult version of the Scout uniform. She looked surprised, and as Bethany started to go inside, the woman blocked her. Bethany frowned, taking a step back.
"Hello, young lady," the woman said, pasting a smile on her face. "I'm sorry, but you aren't allowed to go in here. We're closed for the day."
"Sorry, is this the information center?" Bethany asked, pointing behind the woman.
"Yes, it is, but—"
"I have some questions." She swallowed hard. "Can I come in? I just need to ask a few things."
Reluctantly, the woman nodded. She stepped away from the door, letting Bethany pass. Quietly, Bethany walked inside the cabin. The inside was even darker than she'd expected it to be, with all the windows being covered up. The only light came from the small chandelier that hung from the ceiling, which had candles instead of artificial lights.
Bethany inhaled, and the musty smell of dried wood hit her nose, a sign that the windows must've not been opened in a long time. She wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but the air seemed hotter, too. If this was the information center, why was it all boarded up like this? The locked door was one thing, but seeing the covered windows was another.
Catching Bethany looking at the windows, the woman said, "We don't like to keep the windows open here. You can't imagine how many spiders crawl in here."
Bethany gave her a weird look. Spiders sometimes crawled into her house, and that happened even if her windows were closed. "Um, why are they covered?"
The woman tilted her head, smiling. "We prefer to tape our posters to the windows. We don't like damaging the wood. Now please, come sit. What are your questions?"
The woman sauntered over to a desk next to the wall, which said 'information desk' above it. Scattered along the desk were folders and colorful stacks of information guides. Pictures of Boy Scouts and camp counselors lined the wall, most of them showing sports games and arts and crafts.
Walking over to the chair in front of it, Bethany hesitantly sat down, folding her arms in her lap. "I was wondering if my friends are here. There's four of them. Two girls and two boys. They would've just gotten here, maybe an hour ago? Or thirty minutes ago? I'm not sure."
The woman smiled, a little too sweetly. "Well, if you want to find the girls, I can point you back to the Girl Scouts camp. That's where you're supposed to be right now."
Bethany leaned forward, her frustration rising. "No, I'm saying that they wouldn't have separated. They'd either be here or there. You have information about everyone, right?"
"That is correct, but if they are in this camp, only the boys would be here. And I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to allow you to see them. You will have to go to the Girl Scouts camp, and you may look for the girls there. But if your friends are here, you should know that boys and girls are not allowed to visit each other, or leave the camp."
"Wait . . . what?" Bethany frowned. Her heart sped up. "You don't let them leave?"
The woman smiled. "It's not of any concern to them. They simply love it here—"
"Wait, what is going on here? This is a summer camp, not a prison."
"Interesting you think of it that way," the woman replied slowly, starting to stand. "None of the other children do." She glanced at the door. "Is that all your questions? The Boy Scouts are doing some very important training right now. If you don't go back to the Girl Scouts camp, which is where you're supposed to be, I'll have to—"
Bethany jumped out of her chair, putting her hands on the desk. "Oh, what are you going to do? Contact the summer camp authorities?!" She was getting angry, but she didn't care. "I was asking if you've seen my friends. You can't force me to stop looking for them while I'm here, and if you were more helpful, you could tell me if you've seen them!" She threw up her hands, exasperated. "What is with you people?"
The woman narrowed her eyes. "You're acting very strange. You shouldn't be upset. You must understand, that unless you are a Boy Scout, you aren't allowed to be here."
"No," Bethany snapped. "No, I didn't come all the way over here just for you to tell me I can't look for my friends. If they're here, I have to find them. Can't you tell me anything? The two boys, their names are, um . . ." She searched through her brain, trying to think of what Owen and Kiel's fake names had been. "Luke and Kyle! Have you seen them?"
"I have no idea who you're talking about." The woman was walking towards her now, the smile gone from her face. "Please sit back down."
"This was a waste of time," Bethany muttered, starting towards the door. "I'm leaving. Thanks for . . . whatever that was."
Then, a hand latched around her elbow, and she was pulled backwards. Bethany gasped. "Hey! What are you—" Still holding onto her, the woman shoved her back into the chair. Breathing hard, Bethany fought against her, but the woman pushed down on her shoulders with a surprising strength.
"Tie her up!" the woman shouted, and Bethany's eyes widened. What?
Suddenly, a door opened on the other side of the cabin, revealing two men. One was holding a rope. Bethany squirmed, struggling even harder as the men came closer. This was so bad! How had she walked right into a trap again?
The rope started wrapping itself against her body, and Bethany began to panic. The woman was still holding tightly onto her shoulders, keeping her from moving as the rope kept winding around her form. By the time they were done, her body felt like it was being squeezed, her ribs suddenly four sizes too small. The woman let go of her, and Bethany stared up at the people, on the verge of an anxiety attack.
"W-Why are you doing this?!" Bethany demanded, her voice shaking. "What's going on?"
Ignoring her, the woman said, "Hand me the pendulum. This girl hasn't been washed."
"Washed? W-What is that? What are you doing? Get away from me!" She leaned back as the man handed the woman a pendulum, the kind she'd seen in movies. Oh, this was so not good. She kicked her feet, trying and failing to move her arms again and again. The rope dug tighter into her body, almost making it hard to breathe.
"Try to calm down," the woman said, giving her a smile. "This doesn't hurt. All of the children go through the same thing."
"What does it do?" Bethany asked, her voice shaking. She glanced at the door. Her path was clear, but being tied to a chair would make it a lot harder to escape. She needed to get out of here somehow. She had to do something.
"It takes all your worries away. You'll only have fun here. You won't think of home or anything less important than your training as a Girl Scout. You won't care about leaving or going anywhere else. It's the perfect, most undistracting way to spend your summer."
"So this is like a prison," Bethany said quietly, trying not to appear as terrified as she felt. "Okay, you can't do this. You can't just force people to stay here just so they can be a Scout! Please, I have to leave! I don't want to be a Girl Scout. I need to find my friends before something terrible happens! Just let me go."
The woman smiled, almost sympathetically. "Oh, honey, you know I can't do that." She nodded at the men. "It's time."
"No!" Bethany said, trying again to get her arms free. "Stop! I have to—"
Shushing her, the woman swung the pendulum before Bethany's eyes. She tried to look away, but for some reason, her eyes were glued to the object in front of her. She watched it swing right, then left, everything becoming very blurry. Her eyelids started to droop, and all the while, her brain screamed at her to snap out of it.
But she couldn't.
When Kara cracked her eyes open, she found herself in all-too-familiar territory: a jail cell.
Getting hit with a blow-dart in the arm hadn't been Kara's preferred way to spend her possible last-day-on-Earth, but being back in a cell made it all the worse. The last time she'd been in one had been during her days under solitary confinement, and before that, she'd spent even longer in the Jules Verne Memorial Time Prison.
So being locked up again wasn't exactly comforting, to put it simply.
Kara slowly pushed herself off the floor, feeling a bit disoriented and confused. And a little panicked, if she was being honest. How had she gotten here? A terrible thought came to her head. Had time agents found her and taken her back to prison? Was that why she was in jail?
Breathless, she raced to the bars and pulled on them. "Hey! Let me out!"
"Can you try not to yell so loud?" a voice said from behind her. "My head kind of hurts. I've fainted a lot in the past few months. Kinda does something to a guy, y'know?"
Kara whirled around to see Kiel sitting on the ground, his hair a disheveled mess. Her eyes widened. If Kiel was here, then Kara had a feeling they weren't captured by the TSA. "Oh, my gosh! Kiel, what happened? Do you know where we are?"
Kiel sighed. "Got hit with a blow dart and woke up here, same as you did. And I think we're in the summer camp, but I don't know why they'd want to lock us up."
Kara cringed. "We should get out of here."
"No problem, you're with me! I can get the door open," Kiel said, winking at her. He stood up. "Do you have a bobby pin or something?"
She deadpanned, a smile creeping onto her face. "Do you assume that all girls have bobby pins in their hair?"
Kiel shook his head, smiling. "Uh, no. Usually, she does. That's why I asked." He lowered his head to the ground, peering all around the wooden floor. "Okay, with any luck there should be a wire around here somewhere . . ."
Kara moved to help him look, then paused. "She?"
He turned to look at her, his brows knitted. "What? Oh, yeah, um . . . I was talking about her."
"Who's 'her'?"
Several emotions crossed Kiel's face. Confusion melted into realization, then disbelief, and a sudden wide-eyed look of fear. He staggered backward, lightly hitting the wall. But he barely seemed to notice as he muttered, "No . . . no, this wasn't supposed to happen. This can't be happening."
Kara stepped closer to him. "Kiel, what's wrong?"
"I can't say her name," Kiel said quietly, shaking his head in disbelief.
Kara's eyes widened as realization dawned on her. He must be talking about Bethany. If he couldn't say her name, that had to mean he was forgetting her. Shock filled Kara, along with a pang of sympathy as she stared at the dark-haired boy in front of her. She knew what it was like for someone to not recognize you. She didn't want that for Kiel.
"Bethany?" Kara said softly. "You can't say Bethany's name?"
Kiel shook his head, his hands opening and closing at a fast pace. "This has to be a joke!" He scoffed. "I never thought that the spell would actually — how could I be so stupid? I'm an idiot for thinking this couldn't happen! I thought this wouldn't even—"
Kara grabbed his arm, trying to steady him. "Hey, just calm down. You just can't say her name. That's it. You still remember stuff about Bethany, right?"
Kiel took a few deep breaths, looking like he was trying to calm himself down. "I should, but I can't completely tell. Um . . . let me sit down for a second."
She nodded. "Sure."
He slid to the ground, and Kara sat beside him. It was almost a full minute before he spoke. "I . . . yeah. I remember who she is." His eyes slowly closed. "I can remember how we met. I remember her face . . . how angry she can get sometimes . . ." A wisp of a smile came to his face, like he was lost in a dream. "I remember our adventures, which is good. Pretty much every moment we shared I can still remember."
"So . . . you're not forgetting her?"
He opened his eyes and stared at her. "I don't know. I-I have this weird feeling. Like when I think of her, it's starting to get all foggy. What if . . . that might mean . . ."
"You're not going to forget her," Kara said, shocked by just how little confidence he had at that moment. "Is there anything we can do to stop it?"
"No idea," Kiel said, not looking too hopeful. "The only thing that might work is if I see her in person. But I'm not sure if she's still in the Boy Scouts camp. Or if she's in the same area I saw her last. All I knew was that she was in danger, because the Magister was following her."
Kara bit her lip. "And now I think she's in more danger than that."
"Wait, what?" Kiel tensed. "What do you mean?"
"It's kind of a long story, but remember when you woke up and saw all those camp counselors we knocked out?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"While you were under that spell, we overheard the camp counselors saying that they brainwash all of the campers. As it turns out the counselors want to do the same thing to us! They've been brainwashing everyone in the summer camp, so they don't want to leave. That's why everyone is so happy here, apparently. And that's also why they kidnapped us. To brainwash us, I think."
Kiel made a face. "Yep, that's not great. So you think she might get . . ."
"Brainwashed? Yeah. Maybe."
"Gwen and Orion weren't with her. Maybe she was looking for them — I don't know. The Magister was following her for some reason, too." He shook his head in disbelief. "So now she might get brainwashed and killed?"
"Hey, it's going to be okay," Kara told him, patting his shoulder. "This gives us an even better reason to get out of here, before any of us get brainwashed. Come on!" She got up and searched the ground, and finally, her hand came in contact with a small piece of wire. She waved it to him. "This work?"
Kiel took it from her hand, giving her a shaky grin. "Perfect."
He ran over to the bars, sticking his arm through and placing the wire through the lock. He bit his lip in concentration, and after a few seconds, Kara heard the lock click. The door swung open with a loud creak. Kiel glanced back at her, and they shared a triumphant smile before eagerly rushing from the jail cell.
"Good work!" Kara said, putting her hands on her hips. "Think Owen and Charm might've broken out yet?"
"Owen, probably not," Kiel said, bouncing from foot to foot. "And even though Charm is like, the smartest person in the whole universe, she doesn't have my lock-picking skills. They'll definitely need our help." He paused at the doorway. "I hope we can find them quickly. I need to find her before I forget her completely."
Kara blinked, surprised. She hadn't known Kiel for long, but even in the direst situations, he'd never sounded like this. Desperation was in his tone, laced with fear. It was as if he was close to a breaking point. His expression was completely unguarded, and when she looked him in the eyes, she saw fear.
She recognized that look. She'd seen it in her own eyes countless times. Every time she tried to stop the world from ending, or when she'd tried saving Owen, it was there. It was always there. Even now, Kara felt that desperation. And while she hadn't been able to stop the bad things from happening, Kiel could.
"Don't worry about Owen and Charm," Kara assured him. "I'll find them. We can meet up later once you find Bethany."
Kiel looked surprised. "Once I find her? Kara, I can't leave—"
"Listen!" She put her hands on his shoulders. "If you stay to look for Owen and Charm, you might never remember Bethany again."
"But—"
Kara gave him a smile. "Nope, you have to find Bethany. I'm not kidding. Go to her."
Kiel only took a second to register what she had said. He nodded firmly, determination and something like hope emerging in his lilac eyes. Before Kara could blink, he'd already begun sprinting like a madman for the door.
"Excuse me, excuse me. Coming through!"
As soon as Kiel emerged from the jail (which had only been guarded by two counselors), he ran through the summer camp, which was filled everywhere with Scouts. He was still confused about many things — like why on Magisteria would this summer camp have a jail?! — but he tried shaking it off, focusing on where to find Bethany.
It was dark out, which surprised him. When they'd been in the parking lot, the sun had still been up, although it had looked like a sunset had started to emerge. Apparently, he'd been knocked out for a few hours. Long enough for things to turn even more upside-down than they already were.
Before he'd gotten hit by a blow dart, Charm had filled him in a little bit on what he'd missed out on. She'd told him about the pure possibility spreading everywhere, which he found hard to believe at first. But if Charm was saying it — and she was usually always right about these things — that meant it was true.
It also gave Kiel even more reason to find Bethany, before the pure possibility got here. The only problem was, he wasn't sure how to find her, or what direction she'd been in. But all he knew was that he had to see her. He had to see her before he forgot her. That was one of the worst things imaginable. It was unimaginable, really.
Because if it were between forgetting her or disappearing, he'd rather let every cell in his body fade away before forgetting the sight of her face, or the sound of her voice.
He usually always prided himself on doing the right thing and being the hero, but he couldn't do that anymore. This had been a mistake. He never should've done that spell, even though he had just assumed the forgetting-part would never happen. He'd just brushed it off, telling himself he had everything under control.
But for once, nothing was under his control. He should've gotten out of the spell sooner. He should've listened to his friends' warnings, but he hadn't. It was the first time his recklessness had backfired in a bad way — at least the only time that Kiel could remember. If there was a problem, he was used to making an easy solution. Though for this, he wasn't so confident that things would work out as well as he'd hoped.
Kiel flew past the campers, the wind whipping through his hair as his feet propelled him forward. Growing anxious, he looked everywhere around him, looking for the Magister, Bethany, anyone. His eyes scanned the sea of people — all Girl Scouts, he noticed — searching for one face in particular. Searching for a sign of long red hair, which was a little hard to find when it was dark out.
And then, near the dining hall, he saw her. Her back was turned to him as she talked to some other girl. Wasting no time, Kiel caught up to her. "Hey!" He grabbed her by the hand, pulling her towards him. "Thank Magisteria I found—"
She gave a surprised shout, pulling her hand away. She turned to stare at him, and that was when Kiel realized that the girl was not Bethany. It was just another girl with red hair. Disappoint blossomed in his chest. Maybe even a slight pang of relief, because Kiel was still working through what he was going to say once he found Bethany.
Normally he just said things without really thinking them through, but this . . . this was important. There were millions of things he wanted to tell her, and he wasn't sure how — or if he was ready — to say them. But he would have to be if this was his last shot. And it was. If this was really going to be his last moment with her, he wanted it to be special.
Or maybe he wouldn't say anything at all. Maybe he'd see her face, and that would be enough to stop his memories from fading. As long as he was able to see her, maybe even talk to her, then he still had a chance. He wouldn't give up until he found her.
Kiel gave the girl an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I thought you were my . . . have you seen a girl around here? She has red hair, she's about . . ." He gestured with his hand. "This tall. Pretty. Rolls her eyes a lot. Her name is, um, well . . . I'm not really able to say it. All I can do is describe her."
The girl shook her head, looking like she could care less. "I have no idea who that is."
". . . Right! Thanks anyway."
Giving her a wink, Kiel went back to running. His chest was tight with worry. He looked all around him, trying to spot her in the crowd. But there were so many people everywhere, making it hard to search for her. He was running out of time. Where could she be?
Wait . . . he was still in the Girl Scouts camp. Hadn't Bethany been in the Boy Scouts camp when he'd last seen her? Kiel's eyes widened, and he immediately sprinted in the direction of the Boy Scouts camp. She had to be there! He remembered it being near the entrance of the girls' camp, separated by a gate.
Luckily, it didn't take too long to get there. It was probably from all the adrenaline he had, or maybe the pressing anxiety, but Kiel felt he could run ten marathons. He bounded past a few more cabins and climbed the tall fence at the camp's exit, sliding over the top and landed on his feet. The impact sent a jolt up his legs, but even then, he didn't stop going.
Taking a shortcut through the soccer fields, Kiel started to sprint. A group of boys were already there, in the middle of playing a game. Why they were playing a game at nighttime, Kiel didn't know. Shouts followed him as he flew past, nearly tripping over the soccer ball. The impact sent the ball spiraling into the air, where it landed on the opposite end of the field.
If he wasn't on a time crunch, Kiel wouldn't have minded playing soccer. Really, the best thing that nonfictional school had introduced him to was soccer. It was fun when he flawlessly scored every goal, since he was amazing at pretty much everything he came across.
Okay, he reminded himself. Don't get distracted by soccer. Remember to find Bethany!
He broke out of the fields, stumbling down the path through the woods that'd lead him to the cabins. A group of boys shoved into him, and Kiel stumbled. He kept going, heading for what he assumed was the direction of the cabins. That was where he'd seen Bethany last, after all. But which way was he supposed to go? Was he going the right way at all?
"Excuse me!" Kiel said breathlessly, stopping one of the boys. "Can you—" Another deep breath. "—tell me where the cabins are?"
"I'd be happy to!" the boy said cheerfully. Everyone was always cheerful here, and Kiel really liked that. "They're that way." He pointed in the complete opposite direction.
Kiel smiled appreciatively. "Thanks!"
Once again, he set off running. Cabins whipped past him left and right. He raced past the kids doing arts and crafts, and sure enough, there was a sign pointing him to the cabins. They all had different names, but it didn't matter. Whatever cabin that Bethany had hidden in, she couldn't have gone far, right? That had to mean Kiel would find her.
Don't forget her.
He didn't stop running, not until he reached the first cabin. Panting hard, he bounded up the steps and threw open the door without as much as a knock. He glanced around, only seeing two surprised-looking boys in the corner.
And for a dreadful moment, Kiel forgot who he was supposed to be looking for. He stood there, a blank look on his face. Wait, who had he come here for? It was a girl, wasn't it? His friend. Started with a B . . . Beth? Bethany! That was it. Bethany, Bethany, Bethany. He repeated the name in his mind over and over, afraid he'd forget it again. But what was her last name? Did she even have a last name? She must've, but Kiel couldn't remember.
Uh oh, he thought. That couldn't be a good sign.
"Wrong cabin!" Kiel announced to the boys, quickly closing the door.
As he darted to the next cabin, he had a cold, sinking feeling. His memory was getting worse. He was forgetting her, and if he didn't find her soon, he'd forget her altogether. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't picture what the color of her eyes were. Blue? Green? Maybe gray? How could he forget her eyes, when he'd looked into them thousands of times?
Don't forget her.
Everything about this terrified him. His worst fear, being forgotten? Kiel wanted to laugh. It didn't seem true anymore. Not when Bethany was slipping out of his mind like sand slipping through his fingers. He swallowed down the lump in his throat, trying to remain hopeful. But it was hard to when he didn't know where to find her.
If he forgot her now, he'd lose her. And even worse, he wouldn't know he lost her. He had to admit that he couldn't imagine a life without Bethany; it was like a life without magic or dragons. He loved those things. If he forgot them, it was like forgetting a part of himself. It was like forgetting how to breathe, or how to eat. He'd never realized how much he needed her until now, until he was about to lose her. And she, in turn, would lose him too.
He hurried up the next cabin's steps, turning the doorknob and opened it. A few boys were inside, who all looked over when Kiel appeared.
"Hey!" the boy magician said, trying to catch his breath at the same time. "Have you seen a girl around here?"
One of the boys nodded. "With red hair?"
Kiel's face lit up. "Yes! Have you seen her?"
"We let her hide under our bed earlier," the same boy said with a laugh. "This magician guy was trying to find her for this magic trick they were doing, but he disappeared a few hours ago. Into thin air, too! Really cool magic trick, but we all thought he was supposed to do a magic show tonight!"
"This magician is gone?" Kiel asked, blinking in disbelief. "Actually gone? He never came back?"
"No, he didn't. He vanished out of nowhere. Super weird!"
The Magister was gone? Kiel felt a weight lift from his shoulders, though he wasn't sure yet if this was good or bad news. Hopefully good. Whatever he'd wanted Bethany for, maybe he'd given up. Or maybe he'd disappeared to go look for her. There were too many options, but once he saw Bethany, he'd know if the Magister was still trying to find her.
"So can you tell me where that girl is?" Kiel asked eagerly. "I really have to find her."
The boy started to say something, then looked out the window and pointed. "Hey, there she is!"
"What?!" Kiel didn't bother looking out the window. He was already racing out the door. He clambered down the cabin's wooden steps, turning his head in every direction. And then, a figure hurried past him. The light that hung from the cabin's porch cast a faint glow on the girl, and more noticeably, her reddish hair.
Kiel's eyes focused on the girl walking ahead of him, and he did a double take. He exhaled, relief washing over him like a wave. It was her! The boy had been right! It was Bethany. This time, he knew it was her. From the way she held herself, Kiel had no doubt in his mind that it was Bethany. He didn't have to see her face to know; he just knew. It was more of an instinct than anything else.
But where were Gwen and Orion? Kiel looked at the people around her, but she was alone. Maybe they'd gone somewhere else? Or she could be meeting them somewhere. Either way, he had to catch up with her first. There wasn't much time to wonder where Gwen and Orion were when at least Bethany was right there. He was thankful just to see her. Even if he hadn't seen her face yet.
He stood there for a moment, watching her travel down the pathway. Despite there being people everywhere, the only thing he was able to look at was her. His heart skipped a beat inside his chest. Then, remembering the stakes, he hurried after her, knowing all along that wherever she went, he would follow.
He would always follow her.
Moonlight shone down on the world below, bright enough that he could still see, even without any lights around. There seemed to be even more people around than before, making it hard for him to get to her faster. He kept his head up, not daring to take his eyes off of Bethany. If he did, he might lose her in the crowd.
From what he could see, she was heading directly for one of the nature trails in the woods. Why would she be going there? There was no way to know. His legs started to burn from all the running he'd been doing, but he didn't stop once. He had to get to her. He could do it, and he would. He couldn't lose her, not when he was so close.
Kiel's lips moved to form her name, but for some reason, it was hard to say it. It was hard to even remember what her name was. Despite her being right in front of him, it was becoming more difficult to grasp who she was. Like a fog was passing over his mind. His memory was fading fast, so Kiel ran faster.
He pushed Boy Scouts aside left and right, doing anything he could to make it to her in time. His heart raced. He was only a few feet away now. He kept running, leaping over a log and almost knocking several people over. His distress heightened, his breaths coming out faster. He was so close, and still, he was too far. He wasn't able to reach her before she entered the trail, disappearing behind the tall trees.
"Hey! Hey!" Kiel shouted, desperation in his voice. Finally, miraculously, he managed to spit her name out. "Bethany!"
But Bethany had already run into the woods, apparently not hearing him. He pushed on, finally making it to the tree-line. He bounded across the forest floor as fast as he could, ready to finally catch up with her and risk it all. Whether it was just to see her face or to say something quick, he wasn't sure. And what would he say?
How could he tell her that he was about to forget her? That he'd chosen the very last second to tell her . . .
To tell her what she made him feel.
And what did he feel? He'd felt a certain way about her since he was twelve, before he even knew what it meant or what to do about it. The truth was, he'd known it since the very day Bethany had been kidnapped by Fowen. The feeling had crept up on him very subtly, but recognizing that she most likely just thought of him as a friend, he'd never acted on it. Because she was one of his closest friends, too.
Maybe that was why he'd always just pretended the feelings weren't there. If he showed his true feelings all the way, he would've found the courage to tell Bethany what she meant to him long ago. He was young — both of them were. He didn't understand his feelings all the way, only that they were growing. Always growing, like how a flower slowly bloomed in the spring.
Last night, when they'd sat on the porch together, it'd been the only time Kiel had ever tried to act on his feelings. With the pounding rain above their heads, he'd felt the urge to lean in. Her eyes bore into his, bright and shimmering. That moment hung between them, and if Kiel had been braver, it could've revealed the truth. The truth that after all this time, from the moment he saw her, his feelings had swelled into something close to love.
It'd happened right under his nose, before he was able to fully realize it. When they'd walked back into the cabin together, Kiel had noticed that Bethany didn't talk to him for the rest of the night. She probably felt awkward about what had happened, or maybe she just didn't want to talk about it. Because what did you say to a friend who you almost kissed? A friend who most likely just thought of you as a friend?
Kiel had wanted to bring it up at some point, and hoped to do it the next morning. But once she, Gwen, and Orion left, he lost his chance. It was the only chance he'd ever tried taking with her, because for a while, he'd only thought of her as a friend. A friend who stirred up unfamiliar feelings in his heart, feelings that had resurfaced when he saw her all those months ago.
Who cared if she didn't feel the same way? Of course, he did care but right now the stakes were too high. He couldn't back away from this, because if he did, he'd forget. Kiel wanted to tell her — to show her — what she meant to him, just like he'd always held back from doing in the past. Especially last night on the porch, when he'd held back from . . . well, he wasn't willing to hold back anymore now. He couldn't lose her, not when he'd come so close.
He kept running until he heard voices up ahead, followed by laughter and the crackling of a fire. He might've imagined it, but he thought he heard Bethany's voice, too. Whether he had or not, he knew she was here. A shiver went down his spine. She was just a few feet away now. He could reach her in moments.
Kiel pressed his hand against a tree, and for a second, he hesitated. And that one second was all it took. Before he could take another step, Bethany slipped from his mind. It was like a veil had been thrown over his consciousness, blocking her from his thoughts and his memories. Within seconds, all of their shared moments floated from his head. He blinked, suddenly confused. Wait, what was he supposed to be doing?
He stepped to the side of the tree, peering around it. In front of him was a huge bonfire, with sparks that flew high into the air. More noticeable, though, was the group of Scouts that surrounded the fire. Some were roasting marshmallows, others were talking, and some were even dancing, despite there not being any music. If he had nothing better to do, he might've joined them.
As if by a magnetic force, Kiel's eyes were instantly drawn to one person specifically. A girl. She was spinning around, her arms swinging loosely in the air and a joyous smile on her face. Her laugh carried into the wind. In Kiel's eyes, she seemed to be moving in slow motion. Her hair was as fiery as the flames behind her, illuminated in its orangey glow. She was like a beacon that Kiel could not look away from. For some odd reason, the sight of her made his heart burst.
Kiel stared at her, and the rest of the world faded away. Laughter echoed across the summer camp, along with the shrill noise of crickets chirping. But the sounds seemed farther away, like a distant melody ringing in his ears. He felt like he'd looked at her a thousand times before, although he never remembered seeing her before. That was strange.
Then, from across the forest, their eyes locked. It was dark enough that Kiel was sure she couldn't see him very well, but he noticed that the girl's smile wobbled as she looked at him. She swayed slightly on her feet, looking out of breath and dizzy from her dancing. She looked almost dazed at the sight of him, as if she was waking up from a dream. By the time she would realize it was him, though, it'd be too late.
Something stirred inside Kiel's heart, urging him to walk over to her. But for once, he didn't follow his instincts. Slowly, he let his hand slide from the tree, falling back at his side. He turned away from the girl, shaking off the weird feeling he'd gotten at the sight of her. He'd better go find his friends before the pure possibility got here. That sounded like the right thing to do.
He thought nothing more of the girl after that. He wouldn't see her again, so it didn't matter. He wasn't even sure why he'd been watching her, to begin with. Why had he run all the way across the camp just to get to that bonfire? It wasn't like anything important was there. Why was he doing that when he should be looking for his friends? He'd wasted plenty of time already.
With this in mind, he walked away, leaving the bonfire behind him. He didn't realize or understand it, but he was walking away from the only girl he'd ever loved. Maybe if things had gone differently, if he'd run a bit faster or if she'd heard him when he called her name, their fate would've been avoided. But the truth was rarely so simple. It was always meant to go this way, from the moment Kiel had used the soul-connecting spell. Yet, he didn't remember that, either.
Without knowing it, he was walking away from Bethany for the second time — and for a very different reason. But this time around, it wasn't her mistake.
It was his.
"Falling slow, falling slow in the pouring rain. Watch it go, watch it go, we stay the same . . ."
. . .
A/N - gotta love parallels. First Bethany's mistake then Kiel's. I had to :')
p.s, if you listen to this song (which i highly recommend bc it just gets me in my feels with that last scene) skip towards the ending where the buildup of the song happens
Here are some songs that really remind me of this last scene bc writing it! Was! Super emotional!
1) Daylight by Taylor Swift
2) Close As Strangers by 5SOS
3) The One That Got Away by Katy Perry
4) It Will Rain by Bruno Mars
5) Payphone by Maroon 5
6) Lose You To Love Me by Selena Gomez
7) Compass by Zella Day