Out Of The Old (by Olivia Rodrigo)
"Old of the old. I've gotta find my way, into the new. Give anything it takes . . ."
Even as Bethany heard the shuffling sounds of various policemen entering the library, it was like she wasn't really there. Like she was seeing it play out from far away, like watching a movie behind the safety of a flickering screen. She couldn't process, or even believe, that this was happening. It was too unreal. Too unbelievable.
This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. But it was, and for the first time, police were in the library. Out of the corner of her eye, Bethany saw Owen go rigid, his mouth hanging open. One of the policemen yelled for someone to put their hands behind their head. They were telling him to step away from someone — a girl.
Bethany realized they were talking about her. Right. Just a second ago, Nobody had been ready to shoot her. The very idea made her shudder. It'd been seconds ago, and she'd somehow forgotten. Maybe because of the shock of it all. If the police hadn't shown up, would she be dead right now? Would he have actually tried shooting her and Owen?
She glanced over to see that Nobody had put his hands behind his head. So had Owen, until the police had to tell him twice that he didn't need to, since he'd been the one being attacked. Blushing as bright as the sun, Owen called out an apology and slowly lowered his hands. If the police had asked, Bethany was pretty sure Owen would've volunteered to get arrested. Just to avoid getting into trouble.
The policemen ordered Nobody to drop his weapon, ordered him to stay where he was. Surprisingly, he listened. Despite looking like he'd rather do anything else, he allowed the gun to be taken from him. He kept his hands behind his head. Allowed himself to be handcuffed. From the look on his face, though, he was livid. But without the ability to rewrite himself, he was ultimately powerless. Especially against several policemen with guns.
But wait, who had called the police? Owen might've, but she was fairly sure that he hadn't, since he'd been helping her fight Nobody all this time. So who? No one else was in the library, so it seemed impossible that anyone could've known what was going on inside. Maybe someone had heard their fight from outside. Maybe that's why the police were here.
It didn't make sense. None of it made sense. As two policemen ushered Nobody away, towards the door, another police officer looked Bethany and Owen in the eye. "Are you kids hurt?"
His voice echoed in her ears. It took her a moment to comprehend what he'd said, and how to respond. Physically, she was pretty much fine. Exhausted, but fine. Not that she felt that way mentally. Her emotions were all over place, like a constant loop on a rollercoaster. She hadn't moved since Nobody had been handcuffed. Her heart was pounding so quickly she almost couldn't think straight.
"No, we're okay," Bethany said finally. Was that true? Now that she thought about it, her arm stung from where Nobody's sword had scratched it. She glanced down to see that it was bleeding a little, something she hadn't paid much attention to in her efforts to fight Nobody.
"But he's hurt a lot of people," Owen said quickly, his words stammering together. "Like, a lot."
"Did he do that to your nose?" the policeman asked, pointing to Owen's face. Bethany hadn't realized it before, but his nose was bleeding. Her eyes grew wider at the sight.
"Oh, this? Yeah. He slammed me into a wall. That's how my nose got like this." Somehow, Owen looked more nervous. "A-Are we gonna be arrested?"
"No," the policeman said gently. "Of course not. Unless you did something worth getting arrested for?"
They glanced at each other before quickly shaking their heads. The police officer nodded. "We're going to be taking this man into custody. We'll need you to come with us, too. We have several questions."
Beside her, she saw Owen gulp. Clearly, he didn't like the idea of getting interrogated by police officers. Neither did she. But they'd believe them here. Back when Owen had been arrested in Fowen's version of their town, the police had believed him and Kiel to be dangerous criminals. This time, Bethany just hoped they'd get out of this without too many problems.
"What's this?" The police officer picked up the broken time bracelet from the floor, only to immediately drop it, wincing in pain. Smoke was still coming out of it.
Owen flinched. "Uh — that's my — that's my watch. I broke it. Accidentally."
"And it's smoking?"
"Yes?" It came out more like a question.
"It just does that when it breaks," Bethany quickly told him, flashing a look at Owen. "It gets overheated."
"Huh." The policeman raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. I'll be taking this to the station, too. Once we can find a safe way to pick it up without burning our hands." He shook out his hand — the one that'd touched the time bracelet — as he said the last part. Whew. At least they had time before he took it.
This wasn't good. If the police got their hands on the time bracelet, who knew what might happen? They'd have a full investigation about where the time bracelet came from, and what it did. If that happened, they'd have a lot more to deal with than just Nobody getting arrested for his crimes.
The police officer looked away from the time bracelet, turning away to say something into his handheld radio. Bethany met Owen's eyes, who seemed to be thinking the same thing as her. They couldn't let the police find out what this really was. With a shaking hand, she pulled out the blank page from her pocket, throwing another glance at the police officer next to them to confirm that he wasn't looking. Thankfully, he wasn't.
Bending down, Bethany quickly touched the time bracelet with one hand, slammed the paper on the ground with the other. A hot burning sensation filled her hand, like she was touching a hot stove. She winced as the pain passed through, but it quickly subsided as the time bracelet passed through the page. She lifted the paper, exhaling in relief. The time bracelet was hidden inside.
At that moment, the police officer finished talking into the radio and turned to Bethany and Owen, who were trying their best not to look suspicious. To her relief, he didn't look at the time bracelet again. "Come with me. I'll take you to the station for questioning."
Questioning. The idea made Bethany feel more stressed out than she already was, if that was at all possible. She began to worry about what she was supposed to say when she was questioned. Would they put her in one of those rooms with a two-way mirror like on TV? If things went badly, there was no easy escape route. This wasn't a book, and she couldn't jump out of it.
What were they going to ask, if Nobody had killed anyone? They probably would. No doubt about it. And when they did, how would Bethany respond? That he'd erased thousands of fictional people with a pure possibility wave? That would just sound made-up. They'd think she was lying, so that meant she'd have to lie a little if they were going to believe her.
She thought she was a pretty good liar, though she wasn't sure how to lie about what Nobody had done. In either case, he'd hurt more people than she could count. Saying that part mattered the most, more than anything. She'd hoped they could've defeated him once and for all, so he would just never exist again. Somehow, even going to prison for the rest of his life didn't seem like a good enough punishment.
Nothing exactly seemed like a good enough punishment for Nobody.
She was just glad that finally, something was being done about him. He wouldn't be able to hurt them anymore, not like this. And since he didn't have any power over them anymore, there was no way he could rewrite himself or others ever again. At the very least, Bethany would feel satisfied if he was placed in prison forever, forced to do the things he hated, like interact with authors twenty-four seven.
But there was still the other part, the voice in her head that told her not to get her hopes up. Nice things didn't tend to stick around in Bethany's life, so she didn't wholeheartedly believe that everything would work out. This could go any number of ways. Nobody could escape, somehow getting back to the fictional world — maybe through Dr. Apathy's portal. That wasn't likely, though. Not completely, when he couldn't escape in the first place without being able to rewrite himself.
That's what she told herself, that he'd be locked up forever and he'd never be able to free himself. Maybe that was true. Maybe it wasn't. But if one thing was for sure, Nobody wouldn't last in the nonfictional world — surrounded by the people he hated the most. Now that she thought about it, it was a good punishment for Nobody, to be trapped in the nonfictional world forever.
Though, unfortunately, Nobody wasn't the only person who could be in trouble.
What now? What would happen to her and Owen? Would they be in some kind of trouble too, or were they just witnesses in this? They couldn't tell the police everything. They just couldn't. She hoped Owen knew that, too. In all honesty, Bethany had done some possibly illegal things, like breaking and entering, or stealing (from books), or even the long list of crimes she may have accidentally committed trying to find her dad. Not that she was sure those were real crimes.
Did those crimes count if they weren't done in the real world? Unless it included hiding books from her mother and being the cause of a fictional invasion, which definitely seemed like a crime to her. But the police didn't know about her powers, or that she was in any way involved with the fictional monsters that'd been released from books.
So in other words, she should be okay. Hopefully.
The police officer motioned for Bethany and Owen to follow as he walked to the exit. Across the room, she spotted the sword from the Percy Jackson series on the ground, partly hidden behind a bookcase. She cringed at the sight. Uh-oh. She considered hiding it, but there was no way to actually get to it from here. Hopefully the police wouldn't notice it, since they seemed more preoccupied with arresting Nobody.
Up ahead, she saw Nobody walking out of the library, police surrounding him at all sides. It was weird seeing him resembling anything close to a normal human being, but that was probably the least weird thing about what was going on right now. She'd built him up as a monster in her head, but now that all his rewriting had been undone, he appeared objectively less terrifying.
For her and Owen's and the entire fictional world's sake, though, she hoped he would still look frightening to the police. They would be the ones to decide how long Nobody should stay locked up, so the more dangerous he appeared, the better. Even if he didn't look like a faceless mannequin or have this ability to rewrite himself anymore, Nobody was still scary to Bethany. Maybe just because of all he'd put her through.
As they reached the front doors of the library, Bethany gasped. Three police cars were parked at the front of the library, bright flashes of blue and red erupting from them. She was surprised there were only three cars, when it'd seemed like there were loads of policemen. She did a quick scan of the parking lot, even more surprised when she spotted only six.
Owen walked up beside her. His eyes widened, and he nudged her with his elbow. "Hey, look!"
Bethany followed his gaze. She did a double take. Nobody was being pushed into a police car, the door slamming closed behind him. He was saying something that must've been mean to the police officers around him, but they just ignored him. Through the glass of the window, Nobody's met Bethany's eyes. He did not look happy.
"You will pay for this!" Nobody shouted, loud enough that she could actually hear him through the window. "Whatever happens to me, I will ensure that you and those you love will get what you deserve!"
"Hey, no talking!" the police officer closest to him said, knocking his hand against the window. Nobody fell silent, but he continued to glare at Bethany and Owen. She shuddered. They watched wordlessly as two other policemen got into the car, starting to back out into the street.
The street, which — not to mention — had damaged houses and buildings practically everywhere. Just like how they'd left it when her, Owen, and Kiel had gone back to the fictional world. No monsters were in sight, just the aftermath of what they'd done to their town. Okay, that was a little weird. Bethany felt confused, on top of everything else.
Hadn't their entire town been fixed the last time they'd been here?
"Owen," Bethany said, just loud enough for him to hear. "Since when did everything . . . do you know what happened?"
Owen seemed confused, until she pointed to the clearly-destroyed buildings across from them. To her surprise, he nodded. "Oh! Yeah, I do. You know how things seemed kind of weird last time we were in the real world? We weren't really there. Nobody made it seem like we were there, but we were really in the fictional world."
Bethany's heart pounded faster. So, everything with Paul, with her mom, that had just been in the fictional world? None of what'd happened had been real? It gave her a weird sense of relief, because the next time she saw her mom, things would be different. Sure, her mom would be furious, but she could yell at Bethany all she wanted after she brought her dad home. The only man her mom loved.
Despite everything, she actually felt better with that knowledge. But what about their town and their missing friends? How were they going to fix . . . all of this?
Bethany started to reply, only to be cut off as the same police officer from earlier spoke up. "You two, come with me."
He, along with one other police officer, headed over to one of the police cars. As he did, two more policemen piled into the last car, quickly following the one that had Nobody in it. Bethany was pretty sure Nobody couldn't escape that easily, but the extra backup couldn't hurt. If he'd been his usual self, there'd need to be much more than six policemen to arrest him.
The four of them reached the car, and Bethany pulled on the handle, opening the door and slipping inside. Being in the inside of a police car was somewhere she'd never expected to be, even though the police had showed up and clearly, they were only going to the police station to be questioned. Still, being inside one of these didn't make her feel too great. Like this was a trick and she'd get in trouble for real.
Owen and the two police officers got in after her, and before she knew it the car was set in motion. For obvious reasons, sitting in the backseat of the police car made her highly uncomfortable. Bethany stared at her hands in her lap, pretending not to notice each time the police officers glanced at her in the rearview mirror. She had a feeling witnesses weren't supposed to be panicking this much.
The only noises coming from inside the car exited some kind of radio that was attached to the car, voices laced with static. From time to time, the police officers would mutter something to each other. Whatever it was, Bethany couldn't hear it. Other than that, she didn't say a word since she got in the car. Neither did Owen, she guessed, for the same reason she wasn't speaking.
For one, she couldn't exactly talk freely about their whole situation with police officers right there.
Owen was in the seat next to her, so close that their arms were brushing. The backseat was wide enough that he could've sat on the far left side, closest to the window. But he'd stuck mostly to the middle. Usually she might've drew her arm back, since she wasn't a big believer in using much more than hugs to show affection to her friends. But now was different.
She reached out, squeezing his hand hard. He squeezed her hand back automatically. She didn't know why, but she still didn't feel completely relieved. But it helped to remind herself that Owen was okay, that they were both okay, because with all the exhaustion and shock it was almost hard to tell what was real. She had a feeling that her and Owen were in the same boat on that one.
She'd could've died any number of times in the past few days, but just ten minutes ago, when Nobody was pointing a gun at her? No way would she have survived if the police hadn't shown up. Okay, well, she could've ducked. She could've rolled over to where her sword was, using it to fight Nobody off. With Owen's help, they might've been able to disarm him on their own.
Except she just wasn't sure how likely those chances were. What were the chances they'd win? Even if she'd gotten hold of her sword again, it'd been across the room, and Nobody still had a gun. He could've easily shot them both with it, and she doubted it would just knock them out like Charm's ray guns did. Being pretty technological advanced and all, Jupiter City did have guns like that, she just really couldn't see Nobody having a gun that'd only be set to stun.
It was weird, though, knowing she could've been shot if the police had shown up even a split-second later. Wasn't her life supposed to flash before her eyes? She'd heard that saying in probably all the books she'd ever read, but ironically, nothing had happened. She'd just felt like she was frozen in time, unable to move or think or breathe. Maybe the only reason her life hasn't flashed before her eyes was because she wasn't actually about to die, so the rules just hadn't applied.
Barely ten minutes later, they pulled into their town's police station, reaching it just as the other two police cars cars did. Bethany was slightly surprised to find that the building was completely intact, but that must've just been because there weren't any books inside there. Just boring paperwork, if she could guess. So no monsters inside that.
Despite the close distance to her house, she'd never been to this police station before. Really, she'd never been to any police station before, unless you counted the one in Jupiter City where she, her dad, and Orion sometimes dropped off criminals. Compared to the one there, though, this police station was small. So small that it barely seemed big enough to hold their very huge problems inside.
"Let's go," one of the police officers said, the one in the driver's seat. He tilted his head back, looking at them. "Don't worry. You'll be out of here soon."
Bethany wasn't sure if she agreed with either of those last two statements, but she nodded anyway, hoping she looked like she believed him. First of all, worrying was her forte. It was practically in her DNA, so the phrase "don't worry" was almost laughable. And second, would they be out of here soon? She wasn't sure how this process worked, but they could be here all day. Maybe longer.
She shook off the thought. One thing at a time. The car had been turned off, so Bethany reached out, gripping the handle and pulling at it. Only, she realized that the inside of the car had no handle, as usually the criminals were the ones back here. Of course. She sat back, frustrated. Instead, she and Owen waited, not able to leave until the policemen got out first themselves.
Bethany slid out of the car, feet slamming into the black pavement. She tilted her head towards the car Nobody had been in — she wasn't sure exactly which. But no one got out, and when she walked past, she saw that the other police cars were empty. He was nowhere to be seen. She stuck close to Owen as they wandered inside, emerging in a room that looked strikingly similar to how they looked in movies.
Well, it was just a waiting room. With an officer sitting at the counter up front, filling out paperwork. But still, similar enough.
Bethany would've thought they'd stop to fill out some paperwork, maybe wait around in the waiting room like people did at doctor's offices. But instead, one of the officers motioned for them to follow as he led them deeper into the station, down a hallway until they came across a room. The room was empty, with two metal chairs, a table, and one light shining above it.
"Classic," Owen whispered to Bethany. "This is exactly how I'd expect to be interrogated. This would be so cool if it wasn't so terrifying."
She shushed him. Was this really the time to think a police interrogation was cool? Okay . . . he did have a point, but this still wasn't the time! No matter how strangely exciting this opportunity was — an opportunity to make Nobody suffer forever — Bethany was still undeniably terrified. Of saying too much, of Nobody not getting what he deserved, of all of this exploding in their faces.
"You'll go first, Ms. Sanderson," the officer said, gesturing for her to go inside.
Wait, what? By that, did he mean they'd be interrogated separately? While she trusted herself to say the right thing, she wasn't sure she could say the same for Owen. Knowing Owen, he'd definitely reveal something he shouldn't. They needed each other if they wanted to get through this. Getting interrogated separately might mean they'd give completely different answers to the officer's questions!
Thankfully, Owen had the same concerns as her.
"Wait, we're not getting interrogated together?" he asked, his voice unnaturally high.
"No, it's against our protocol."
"But, can't we—"
"I'm sorry, but you have to answer questions separately so we get all the information we need."
Bethany wanted to protest, wanted to yell that her and Owen needed to stay together, but knowing better, she didn't. As much as she wanted to, arguing with a police officer might just seem suspicious. Then again, they were kids. And they were the witnesses, so it couldn't be that bad to argue a little, right?
"No, you don't understand, you can't separate us!" Bethany tried. "I'm not doing this without my friend."
"We have to listen to him," Owen hissed, eyes widening in horror. "He's a police officer!"
She ignored him, instead focusing all her attention on the officer. "And we'd probably be better at revealing information together."
"Well that's true."
"Like I said, it's against protocol," the police officer said. "You'll be out of here soon enough if you cooperate."
Bethany glanced at Owen, who mirrored her expression. But to her annoyance, he just nodded, urging her to go through with it. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. Did he want to get interrogated separately? Whatever. As long as nothing absolutely horrible came out of this, as long as they made Nobody seem as guilty as possible, then maybe, things would be okay.
"Okay," she said quietly. "I'll do it."
The police officer gave her a nod. He l looked at Owen. "Mr. Conners, I'll take you back to the waiting room. Ms. Sanderson, please go inside."
"I am really uncomfortable with this," Owen said, as the police officer escorted him away. So he felt uncomfortable, but didn't want to protest that they should be interrogated together? Wow.
Stepping into the room, Bethany swallowed hard. "Me too."
"Good luck!" he called, just as he disappeared down the hall.
She sighed, closing the door behind her and slumping into one of the cold metal chairs. Her eyes flickered up, and she was almost surprised to find her reflection staring back at her. Right. So interrogation rooms really were the same as the movies. It was probably one-way glass, with people on the other side watching her. A very discomforting thought, mostly because even the idea of being watched freaked her out.
But this wasn't a movie, or a book, either. At least then, she could jump out and let this whole mess sort itself out. Here, there were no books to jump out of. Nowhere to run. Nothing to look at, aside from a mirror. She crossed her arms, eyes flirting back to the door every few seconds. But it never opened. Apparently, the police were taking their time before they questioned her. Seconds bled into minutes, every moment seeming to stretch into an eternity.
For the first time since the fight with Nobody, she realized the face-paint was still on her face. By now, it'd completely dried up, feeling hard and crusty on her cheeks. With nothing to better to do, Bethany distracted herself by trying to peel the face paint off, but she was only successful in getting yellow paint under her fingernails. Not great, but it was worth a shot trying to get it off. Maybe the interrogator would take her more seriously without a Captain Sunshine design on her face, anyway.
A knock came from the door, and Bethany flinched, dropping her hands immediately in her lap. It was weird that she hadn't even heard footsteps before the door had opened. Maybe the room was soundproof, if that was an actual thing that police stations did. The door swung open, and a woman she'd never seen before walked in. In her hands was a clipboard, with a small notepad and pencil attached to it. She closed the door behind her, sliding into the seat across from Bethany.
"Bethany Sanderson, right?" She smiled at Bethany, who only half-managed to smile back.
She clamped her hands together to keep them from shaking more. "Yeah."
"I'm Inspector Jones. I understand you must be in shock, but I do have some questions for you, if that's okay." She folded her hands on the table, her eyes locked on Bethany's. "Is it alright if—"
"Yeah. Go ahead."
Before she even asked anything, the inspector opened her notepad, already jotting down notes. As she wrote, she glanced for a second up at Bethany. "How old are you?"
"I'm fifteen."
"Mhmm. It says here your birthday is in a month. Is that correct?"
They had a record of that? "Yeah."
"Oh, sweet sixteen. How nice!" The woman smiled, and Bethany just stared at her, gradually feeling more and more uncomfortable. The woman scribbled something else on her notepad. "And your friend is . . . how old?"
"He's fifteen, too. Um, don't you have a record of that?"
"We want to be sure our information is correct. A few days ago, Ms. Conners, who I believe is Owen's mother, called 911 and reported you missing. You, Owen, and another boy named . . ." She checked her notes. "Kiel. Said he was last seen wearing all black, along with some kind of cape. Or a blanket. I'm not sure. Weirdly, we couldn't find any records on him, only that he is a foreign exchange student at a high school near here. Do you know where this boy is?"
Bethany's breath caught. With everything going on, she'd forgotten that her and her friends running away might actually have some repercussions. And how could she explain that Kiel might not exist anymore? She was a pretty good liar, but she couldn't even think about an excuse for where he was that sounded realistic.
"He's . . . he's not here."
"Where did he go?"
"Germany. He went back to Germany — that's where he's from." Hoping that was a good enough lie, she quickly changed the subject. "Is that why the police came? Were they looking for me and my friends?"
"They were. Your mother believed you might've had a reason to come back here, despite our town being under lockdown. Ms. Conners thought so, too, and she told us the place you'd most likely be at was her library. You're lucky we came when we did."
She shifted in her seat, feeling a strange mix of relief. So it'd been Ms. Conners who called the police, probably because, even though Owen had told her the truth about everything, she was afraid he'd never come back. Last time he'd "run away", he'd been in a Pick The Plot book for the past three years. Bethany felt a little guilty for making Owen's mom go through that again. Not knowing where someone was . . . that probably hurt more than anything.
Then her thoughts drifted to her own mother, and Bethany's guilt grew. She'd left without saying goodbye, and they hadn't been on the best terms ever since her mom found out Bethany had been jumping into books against her wishes. She wasn't surprised both their moms had sent out a search party, but now this meant something else: possibly facing her mom today, before she had a chance to restore the fictional worlds and bring her dad home.
But if Bethany knew anything about her mom, it was that after everything that'd happened, there was absolutely no way she'd let her out of her sight again. Not after pulling a stunt like that. She only hoped that since the town was still destroyed, that meant her mom was still at that same hotel. The hotel that was an hour away, which she, Owen, and Kiel had ditched days ago in their rush to get to the library.
If her mom and Ms. Conners were still there, at the hotel, they probably were being notified around now that the police had found their kids. And then if they drove here — which they probably would — an hour would be enough time to deal with this interrogation and get back to fixing the fictional worlds. Before her mom got here, because if anything, she'd be here sooner rather than later once she knew they'd found Bethany and Owen.
The next time Bethany saw her mom, she didn't want it to be in the waiting room of a police station. She wanted to walk into their house with her dad. Her mother would be so overjoyed at the sight of her long lost husband that she'd forget ever being mad at Bethany, both for the jumping into books thing and the running away thing. Which was why, for obvious reasons, restoring the worlds and getting her dad back would be better to do as soon as possible.
Investigator Jones reached for something else on her clipboard, pulling it out and sliding it across the table. It was a photograph of Nobody. Well, Nobody as he was now. Not the featureless way he'd been before, which probably would've raised a lot more questions than there were already. She almost didn't recognize him without the face. And the hair. And even the clothes.
"Did you know this man before he tried to shoot you in the library?"
Bethany's mind circled through all the possible answers, but she decided on just telling the truth, since that seemed easier. "Yeah, I did."
"How?"
She frowned. "He knows my dad, but he hates him. He hates my whole family."
The investigator pressed her pencil down on the paper, back to scribbling again. The sound was getting on Bethany's nerves. She tried ignoring it. "Why does he hate your dad?"
Bethany couldn't say anything about the rewriting, obviously, or the superhero stuff, so she tried simplifying it in the shortest way possible. "I guess my dad . . . did some things that he didn't agree with, and that sent him over the edge."
Investigator Jones frowned, glancing up from her notepad. "So this man took it out on your family? For revenge?"
Bethany nodded. "Yeah."
"And where is your dad now?"
"Gone." The word caught in her throat. "He's just . . . he's been missing for a long time. Since my fourth birthday."
"Oh, I see. I'm sorry about your father." The woman sounded genuine, but it was difficult to tell with these people. "Him going missing, was this related at all to this man wanting revenge on your father?"
"Yes," she said immediately, then corrected herself as she realized how that might've sounded. "I mean— I think so. He's the only enemy my dad actually has."
Well, the only enemy she really knew about.
"Bethany, do you know for sure that your dad is missing? Do you think it's possible since this man tried to shoot you, he may have tried to shoot your dad?"
Bethany stared at her, her heart beating hard against her chest. "What do you mean?"
"I know this is hard to hear, but, well, sometimes when parents go missing, especially for long periods of time, we assume they are . . . not coming back."
"So, you're assuming my dad died." She swallowed hard. "Why does everyone keep saying that? First my mom, now you?" Her voice was rising, she realized. With anger. "He's never been dead!"
"Okay, he's just missing," the investigator said gently, agreeing with her. It was clear she was just trying to calm Bethany down, and she didn't actually believe her. "I understand this is hard for you, for your dad to have been missing for so long and to have this enemy of his try to kill you. But you are not responsible for fixing things. You can leave that to us. Let us help you. Will you do that?"
All her life, Bethany felt like the only person who could fix things. She still did. First there was just finding her dad, making her mom happy, fixing her family again. Then it was fixing herself when she'd been split, fixing the fictional worlds, and fixing the Nobody problem. The only thing that'd ever stayed the same was her family, who hadn't been in the same room in nearly ten years.
If it was something like a divorce, she understood that. Sometimes, her parents felt like they were divorced, they hadn't seen each other in so long. She only had seen them separately, but never together. Never at the same time. Maybe that was what it was like to have divorced parents, like being with either of them was like living in a completely separate world. Literally. She just couldn't explain that since she was half-fictional, she really was the only person who could fix things in her family.
"Okay," she muttered. She wasn't sure how else to respond, since telling this woman the truth was obviously a crazy idea. They wouldn't believe her if she said where her dad really was, and telling them she had the power to jump into books? It'd be going against everything Bethany had been trying to hide, so she was not about to reveal anything like that.
The next hour passed by in a blur. The investigator threw questions after questions at her. Most of them were about Nobody, some related to her family and her friends. She did her best to answer her questions without giving away too much information, which was hard given that most of the crimes he'd committed had been done to the fictional world. Since Bethany couldn't say that, though, she made her answers sound as realistically nonfictional as possible.
Be more nonfictional. That's what she was doing here.
She talked about Nobody's life of crime, how he'd been a crook before he'd done even worse things. She mentioned that he'd kidnapped her friends, Owen and Kiel, once. That was true, and she figured Owen might say something on that. She talked about everything, how Nobody wanted to control those around him. About how he'd hurt people to get his way.
She made sure the investigator knew that those people he'd hurt had been her friends, and when asked, Bethany briefly gave the woman their names. Only their first names, since giving out last names would definitely keep the investigator from believing her. Instead of explaining the pure possibility situation, she told her they'd been threatened by Nobody, and he'd ruined their lives. That seemed like the best way to explain things without it all sounding crazy.
It seemed like ages before Bethany was finally let out of the room, where she was led back down the hallway. They headed back down the way they'd come in. The investigator called over Owen, who was sitting down with his head in his hands, looking bored. He must've washed his face while she was gone, because it was now free of the Future Soldier face paint that'd been on it earlier. That, and the blood under his nose was gone.
As she walked in, his whole face lit up, and he immediately jumped to his feet, meeting her halfway. "How did it go?"
Bethany shrugged. "It went okay, I guess."
"Did they say anything about what'll happen to us?"
A few other people were in the waiting room, too, so she stepped closer to him and lowered her voice. "What do you mean?"
"I mean is anything bad happening to us? Like, are we getting arrested?"
"What?" She couldn't believe he thought that. They were in trouble, sure, but not getting arrested trouble. "No, we weren't the ones doing anything illegal."
"Well last time I was in a police station, I got arrested for no reason, too!" he said, his voice raising dramatically before he quickly lowered it.
Bethany huffed. "You were fine. It's not like you were arrested for that long."
"That's because Moira, a super-criminal genius, broke us out! Do I need to remind you of the super-criminal part?"
"Yeah, we don't need her." She waved a hand, trying to sound more confident than she felt. "We're just witnesses here. It's not — it's not as bad."
Okay, it was bad. Worse than bad, but at least they shouldn't be in too much trouble. They looked innocent, didn't they?
Owen gave her a look. "You know, I've been arrested before. In the fictional world. It's not even close to fun! Do you know how much less fun it'd be here, where we live? Worse, our moms would know."
"They already know we're here, Owen."
"What? How?"
She sighed. "They — they're the reason the police came to the library. They were looking for us because our moms sent them."
Owen's eyes widened. "That's bad. Good . . . and bad. At least we know why they were there." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Um, did the inspector say anything about what'll happen to Nobody?"
"No." Bethany shook her head. "I have no idea what's going to happen now, but I tried to make my answers sound as nonfictional as possible. So please, Owen. For my sake, for everyone's sake, don't mention the fictional world."
"Hey, I wasn't going to! I'm not that bad under pressure."
"Really?" She raised her eyebrows. "So you're not going to say stuff like 'I didn't do it!' to the police?"
Owen made a face. "No! If anything, I'll be saying 'Nobody did it!', because he actually did try to kill us. If you forgot. And that's illegal."
"Whatever. I'm just trying to tell you this so our answers match up, 'cause I feel like—"
"Mr. Conners?" Inspector Jones said from behind them. She was standing in the doorway, arms crossed over her clipboard. "We'd like to question you."
"That sounds a lot better than 'interrogate'," Owen said to Bethany, who rolled her eyes.
"Don't forget what I said!" Bethany reminded him.
He nodded, looking nervous. "I know. Wish me luck?"
"Nope." Bethany couldn't help smiling. Seeing the look on his face, she sighed and said, "Fine, good luck. Just please don't make this worse for us."
Owen gave her a thumbs-up. He turned to follow the investigator, who led him back down the hallway, to the same room she'd been in. Their footsteps faded as they got further away, and all Bethany could hear were the noises of police officers working at the counter. Hopefully, he wouldn't be in there as long as she had. But given their situation, she would be surprised if he wasn't.
Bethany sat in the waiting room for a long time, maybe longer than she'd been interrogated for. It felt like she was waiting forever, and she found herself wishing she had a book to jump into the pass the time. At least that way she could try figuring out how to restore the fictional worlds ahead of time, something she, now that she thought about it, had no idea how to do. It wasn't like there was some magical red button she could push that'd reset everything.
She didn't even know where to start. Then it occurred to her — someone already knew how to do it. The last person she'd ever expected to ask for help in a situation like this, and ironically, it might be the only person who could help her. Nobody. He'd thrown the worlds into this mess, so he must've known how to reverse it. But Bethany hated this idea, probably more than anything she'd ever come up with.
If she was really doing this? She could not tell Owen. Or she at least had to get him to agree to it, which she didn't think would be easy. He'd think she was crazy for even considering this, and honestly, she knew she was crazy for thinking of it, too. But it was their only option. Better than trying to figure it out themselves, anyway. She'd talk to Nobody while he was safely behind bars, and having failed in his plan, he'd tell her exactly how to turn the fictional worlds back to how they used to be.
And then, Bethany would never have to look at his stupid face again. It actually seemed like a good plan. Maybe not the best, but good enough. Because if anything, he'd be the only person who knew exactly how to reverse the damage he'd caused on the fictional world, so if he didn't help her, well, she might just lose it. That was only implying she hadn't lost it already, which she definitely had sometime within the past day or two.
The exhaustion she'd been feeling all day must've finally caught up with her, because sitting in the chair, she realized it was the first time she'd been able to rest all day. Her eyelids felt like they were being pushed down by boulders, and she was unable to keep them open. She rested her head against the hard surface of the wall. She probably shouldn't fall asleep in a police station. She really shouldn't.
But she must've done just that, because the next time she opened her eyes, it was to someone shaking her awake, followed by a man's voice. "Ms. Sanderson? Someone's on the phone for you."
Bethany's eyes shot open, focusing on the person standing in front of her. It was one of the police officers. "Sorry to wake you, but we've got someone who wants to talk to you. They've been persistent."
She sat up from where she'd been slumped over in the chair, blinking slowly. "Who?"
But the man must've not heard her, because he avoided the question. "Come with me."
He gestured for her to follow, and after some reluctance, Bethany peeled herself out of the seat. To her disappointment, there was no sign of Owen; he must've still been in his interview. She followed him to a phone that sat on the wall, connected with a cord. One of those old-fashioned phones, which she guessed only places like this used now. The police officer gave her a smile as he handed the phone to her, and Bethany hesitantly lifted it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Sweetie, is that you?"
Her first thought was that it was Owen, because who else could it be? Her second thought was — Owen would never call her "sweetie". That'd just be too weird. He didn't even have a nickname for her — that was Kiel's thing. It wasn't like Kiel called her "sweetie" either; that'd probably be more embarrassing to think about. The only people she knew who called her that were her parents, and since her dad was in the fictional world and she was in the real world, then that meant . . .
Oh no.
That confirmed everything. It was Bethany's mom. She was calling the police station. They must've notified her that Bethany was here. Ms. Conners, too. She felt a weird kind of relief that neither of them were here in person yet, that she couldn't actually see her mother's face. But she didn't have to see it to know her expression. If anything, a look of worry was painted across her face, something Bethany knew she'd been the cause of. She had no trouble imagining that when she'd seen it plenty of times herself.
"Mom?" She couldn't breathe. Couldn't say anything else, out of shock. Or panic. Or maybe both. She shouldn't be here. This was the worst place for her mom to call her, and somehow, that was all she could focus on about this situation.
"Bethany, oh my god. I've been trying to reach you as soon as the police called! Are you hurt?"
Bethany blinked. Why wasn't she immediately furious? There'd been the discover of her book-jumping, and their fight, and the running-away, and now . . . she'd kind of just expected her mom would ground her on the spot. Ground her forever, until she was old and gray. But while that still was probably true, that hadn't been the first thing her mom had said. She'd just been scared.
Bethany tried to speak, but for a moment nothing came out. All she came up with was, "No, I-I'm fine. I'm okay, I promise."
Her mom audibly sighed. "Thank god. Is Owen with you?"
"He's still being interrogated."
"Wait, interrogated? Why?"
It suddenly occurred to her that they didn't know about Nobody. The police must've not told them anything, aside from the fact that they'd found their kids. This was bad. Really bad. Bethany and Owen had explained a lot about what they'd been doing to their moms, except for the really dangerous stuff. Like Nobody. That'd been a necessity, to keep their moms from panicking more. But now, there was no way they could leave out details like that. Not when he'd almost killed them and the police had arrested him for it.
"The police didn't tell you?" Bethany managed to ask. Just to avoid answering right away and revealing more than she should.
But she'd already revealed more than she should days ago, because of her own stupid mistake after trying to defeat Nobody by herself the first time around. Getting back to the fictional world would be harder now. There was no way her mother would let her out of her sight, let alone to go back to the one place she'd almost died several times at. More likely, her mom would lock her in her room without even a school book to jump into. After her mom remembered she was angry, that was the only way Bethany could imagine this would end.
Her mother sounded confused. "They just told us they found you, and that we should come to get you."
Seriously, the police couldn't have told their moms anything about Nobody? Of course they didn't. They'd left all the explaining to Bethany. She slowly breathed in. "It wasn't just that. There was a guy there with us. He tried to shoot us."
"What?!" Bethany's mom shouted, so loud that Bethany had to pry the phone away from her ear. Although she rarely saw her mom have an outburst like this, causing a scene, Bethany realized, was definitely something she'd inherited.
Bethany heard some conversation on the other end, which she could just make out as Ms. Conners' voice. She must've been there with her. Bethany could hear her mother giving a rushed explanation of what'd happened to Ms. Conners. Both of their voices sounded slightly muffled over the phone, but it was clear enough that Bethany could tell what they were saying. The last thing she heard was her mother explaining the part about Bethany and Owen almost getting shot.
"In my library?" she heard Ms. Conners ask, as if she was more astonished by that than anything else.
Bethany cringed, remembering all the damage they'd caused to the library, despite not even being there for long. It was a good thing they weren't there now, since she remembered one of the bookcases had toppled over when she'd been fighting Nobody. If she knew anything about being Owen's best friend (that came with getting a full scoop on how libraries functioned), it was that a lot of work went into them. Even more when books got damaged.
In other words, their moms not being here yet was kind of a blessing in disguise. Bethany's sword was back in the library, too, so seeing that would surely lead to all kinds of questions. She didn't think her mom would find it as cool as she did that she'd been sword-fighting a villain today. She had to admit — that'd be pushing it. Just another thing to make sure her mom never knew about.
"Bethany? Are you still there?" Bethany's mom asked.
Bethany held the phone closer. "Yeah."
"Owen's mom and I are trying to get a ride over there. We'll be there as soon as we can. And don't think that we're not having a conversation! I can't believe you'd just run off like that for days without telling me. Where did you even go? Why didn't you answer my calls? Do you know how scared I was?"
No, no, no.
Panic rose in her chest. Their moms were coming here? That wasn't good, not when they had the fictional world and Nobody to deal with! Since her mom letting her go definitely wasn't an option, they'd have to get back to the fictional world before their moms got here. That was considering they had a plan, and right now, they didn't. Great.
"I-I—" Bethany cringed. A thought came to her, the best thing she could think of to say to avoid that topic. "Can I just explain everything later, when I'm not in a police station?"
A sigh came from the other end. "Fine. But once I see you, you have explaining to do, got it?"
"Got it," she said after a pause, while half-hoping she wouldn't still be here when her mom got here. "I'll see you when you get here."
"Okay, Beth. Love you."
At least her mom sounded sincere about that.
". . . Love you too."
Bethany moved to put the phone back in its holder, only to almost jump out of her skin as a hand clamped on her shoulder. It was Owen. "I'm done."
"Don't do that!" she shouted, whirling around to face him.
Owen's eyes widened in surprise. "Whoa, sorry! It went better than expected, in case you were wondering." He paused, frowning. "Okay . . . I did ramble a lot, but I definitely didn't reveal anything about the fictional world. Just about how terrible Nobody is." He pointed at the phone. "Who were you talking to?"
Bethany groaned. "My mom. She said she and your mom are coming to pick us up. Do you know how horrible that is?"
"At least we're not going to be arrested when they find us. That'd be a lot worse."
"This is still worse! Don't you get it? If our moms see us before we get back to the fictional world, they'll never let us go back there. And we'll never get to save our friends!"
Owen winced. "Oh, yeah. I didn't think of that. I guess I was just thinking that after we explain things to them, they'd let us go back anyway." He smiled a little. "Or we could do what we used to — jump into books at midnight!"
"There's no time." She shook her head, starting to walk back to the chair she'd been sitting in earlier. "We have to fix the worlds right after this."
Owen followed her. "Uh, in case you're forgetting we still need a plan, Bethany. We can't just jump in there without knowing what we're doing, especially when we don't know what to expect. Imagine what else Nobody's done to the worlds. What if they're all like, worshipping him?"
Bethany dropped into the seat, and Owen fell into the one beside her. "They just did that in Jupiter City. He made himself a superhero there."
"So? A basic villain rule is that they go over-the-top to get what they want. When it comes to conquering the world, they want everyone on their side."
She slowly nodded. "You're right."
He blinked. "Wait, I'm what? Did you just say I'm right?"
Bethany smiled. "Don't push it. You want a plan? I have one." She leaned closer to him, talking even quieter. "I . . . I was thinking that we should talk to Nobody. We don't know how to fix the worlds, but he does, you know? He's really our only option here."
"Our only option?" Owen said loudly, only to quiet down as Bethany shushed him. "That's your plan? To talk to the guy that just got arrested for almost killing us?"
"Yep." She gave him an annoyed look. "Don't look at me like that. I don't like it either."
"Then we don't have to do it!"
"We have to. He's the only one who knows how to reverse everything."
"Do you really think he'd tell us?"
No, Bethany wasn't sure he would. But they had to try asking. Going to the fictional world now, without even a clue of how to fix things . . . she wasn't sure they'd find the answer at all. If there was an answer. That's what she was afraid of. That there was no reverse button. No off-switch. Just a rewritten world, forever the way Nobody wanted it.
Bethany opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off as the door swung open — the one next to the counter. She sat up a little straighter. Her heart quickened in her chest. It was the inspector. Bethany and Owen fell silent, watching in anticipated silence as Inspector Jones read something on her clipboard. They sat there. Waiting for an answer. Hoping for something like good news. The inspector met their eyes and smiled.
"Owen and Bethany, please come with me."
Their feet led them back down the hallway, to a different room that looked like an office. The inspector fell into the desk chair, and Owen immediately dropped into the seat in front of it. With more reluctance, Bethany stood there for a moment before sitting down beside him. The soft, cushiony fabric of the chair dug into her back. It was supposed to be comfortable, but she felt like she was sitting on rocks.
"After talking with both of you, we've started to formulate how we're going to go about this process. Normally, I wouldn't tell the witnesses straight away what our plans are, but since this . . ." An odd look crossed her face. "Nobody . . . has had such a big impact on your lives, I'll give you all the information we can right now."
Bethany's chest tightened. Her fingers dug hard into the arms of the chair. "What is it?"
"We're going to have to look more into our decision for how long he'll be in prison. Sounds like he's done some serious crimes. For now, our main source of proof is that—" He glanced at his notepad in confusion. "This . . . Nobody had illegal possession of an assault weapon, which he used — or attempted to use, to hurt you two. We'll have to look more into the kidnapping and identity theft, but for now, he should be going away for a few years. Most likely a lot more."
Whoa, did they mean . . .
Just like that, something like relief filled her body. A few years. Maybe more. More. The word danced across her brain like the best thing she'd ever heard. She relished in the moment, but even as she did, she prayed that it'd all be enough. So this meant at some point, Nobody would get out of prison. Weirdly, she thought he'd just stay trapped there forever, but she guessed she hadn't thought of that part. It depends on how many years the inspector was actually talking.
Bethany found the words tumbling out of her mouth, the question heavy on her mind. "How much more?"
"Well, it could be anywhere from one year to twenty-five years, depending on how serious his crimes were."
"Trust me, they were super serious," Owen said. "Like, supervillain serious."
Inspector Jones nodded knowingly. "Like I said, we'll have to investigate a bit more before we officially decide how long he'll be in prison."
"Why can't you just decide now?" Bethany demanded, surprised by the annoyance in her voice. "You have all the proof you need! Look at your notepad and tell me he doesn't deserve to be in prison."
"I never said he doesn't." The inspector gave her a sympathetic look. "Believe me, he will be in prison for many years. You won't have to see him ever again."
There it was again. Hope. Bethany wholeheartedly believed, for once, that her days of facing Nobody were over. But the inspector was wrong about one thing. If they wanted to find out how to save the worlds, she would have to see him again. Just once. And after that, she could go on and do just that. Live in a world where Nobody wasn't in it.
She glanced at Owen, who gave her a wide grin. Before she even realized she was doing it, Bethany was grinning back.
Sure, there were worlds to save and one last conversation to have (with her greatest enemy, of all people), but in that moment, none of that mattered. This was proof. All of this, it was going to be okay. It was okay, or well, it was getting there. One thing was for sure: Nobody had lost. Officially. She was sitting in a police station, her best friend beside her, and Nobody was finally paying a price for everything he'd done. For the first time all day, Bethany felt like she could breathe again.
And that was something.
"I wanna know, if no one knew my name. Would my wildest dreams feel like home?"
