The entire nothingness around Owen crumbled like he was on the inside of a sand castle as someone kicked it down, to be replaced by the Magister's study.

"Okay, that was kinda cool," Owen said. n.o.body glanced around a bit, then walked over to the Magister's spell book. He stopped over the book, then pulled something out of the coat he had grown out of nothing, something that looked a lot like a hand mirror.

"Now," n.o.body said, holding a hand over the spell book. "What I'm about to do isn't exactly magic. It is, but not in the way you'd think. But this spell book is a good way of accessing the power I need. It unleashes magic in this story, and I can use that energy to open a doorway. Not like Bethany does, but it'll get you home."

Home? A few minutes ago that's all Owen had wanted, but a few minutes ago he wasn't standing unchained in the Magister's study again. There was so much coolness everywhere, and he had to immediately say good-bye to it all? How unfair was that?

"There's not really a hurry, is there?" Owen asked, his eyes pa.s.sing over Kiel's winged cat, Alphonse, who was currently curled up by the spell book. He hadn't even petted the cat's wings, which was supposed to be lucky. And what about all the weird magical experiments still bubbling merrily along, completely unwatched by anyone, which was probably a fire hazard, but still?

And then there was the spell book itself. Every spell that Kiel or the Magister had ever used, plus a bajillion that would never even get mentioned, all contained in that one book. And because of the whole tricking Bethany into using it, Owen hadn't even gotten to touch it, let alone learn any magic!

The hand mirror began to glow as n.o.body recited words over it. Was this really it? Owen had saved the Magister, and now he'd just have to go back home? Bethany would bring Kiel and the Magister back, the story would go back to the way it was meant to, and so would Owen's life? What about meeting Kiel's half-robot friend, Charm, or time traveling or something?

The glow intensified, and n.o.body held the mirror up toward Owen. On the other side, Owen saw his bathroom, and a kind of embarra.s.sing dirty towel on the floor. Whoops.

"This was as close as I could get it, as you don't have a mirror in your bedroom," n.o.body said. "Now, when you return to the real world, you can't speak about anything you've seen here. If you do, I'll come find you. Trust me, you don't want to see my formless face in a mirror sometime." He grinned humorlessly.

"You are just like Bethany," Owen said. "Neither of you likes anything fun."

n.o.body ignored that. "It's time, Owen. I have to get you out of here now, then go locate those two missing characters before they cause any trouble in your world."

"No, please, not yet," Owen shouted. "Have you seen everything here? I only got to see a little of it, not all the best parts! Can't you just let me stay and hang around?"

"Charm is on her way, and the final book is about to begin," n.o.body told him. "You must leave now."

"Charm's coming here? Now I can't go yet. I have to meet her!"

"You'd show up in the book, and I can't have that." n.o.body held out a hand.

Owen's mind raced as he took a step backward. "But . . . but Kiel's not back! If he's not here when she shows up, the book will start out wrong. Someone has to be waiting for her, right? That's the whole point, that readers don't notice anything's different?"

n.o.body gave him a questioning look. "What exactly are you suggesting?"

Owen didn't really know-he was making this all up as he went, but his eyes fell on the spell book, and suddenly an idea exploded like a lightbulb over his head. "There's a disguise spell in there!" he practically shouted. "Kiel's used it before! Use that on me, make me look like Kiel. I can do all the things Kiel would have until you bring him and the Magister back here. Then no one has to know!"

n.o.body just stared at him for a moment. "There are so many things wrong with that idea that I don't even know where to begin. Still, you're not wrong. She is about to arrive, and I'm not entirely sure how long it'll take me to return with Kiel." He sighed. "Perhaps this might give me some insurance. If I do this-"

"DO IT!"

"If I do this, you'll be completely on your own from now until I can find a safe spot to switch you out for the real Kiel. That might not be until the very end of the story, Owen. Do you fully understand what that means? Whatever would have happened to him will now happen to you, good or bad. And you'd have to act exactly like him, or the story could progress in a very different fashion. How well do you know these books?"

"SO well!" Owen shouted, realizing that wasn't exactly an amount. "Tons! I know them by heart. I've read them all a thousand times!"

n.o.body sighed. "This is a huge risk, and I doubt it makes sense-"

"Sometimes the impossible is the only thing that DOES make sense!"

". . . . Though it makes more sense than what you just said." n.o.body rubbed his eyes. "I would caution you-"

"I'm cautioned!"

n.o.body gave him a tired look, then began to flip through the spell book pages until he found what he wanted. "So be it. Stand still, please."

"We're doing it?" Owen said as n.o.body began to mumble something. "Are you casting-"

"Cast, past tense," n.o.body corrected as Owen felt warm all over. "Look at yourself."

Owen glanced down in midsentence and trailed off. Instead of his normal clothing, he now had on a black cloak, a black shirt, black pants, and two magic knife-wands in two sheaths at his waist.

"What?" he said, barely able to contain his joy. "Are you kidding me?"

n.o.body handed him the hand mirror. Now, instead of Owen's dirty towel and bathroom, it showed KIEL GNOMENFOOT standing in the middle of the Magister's study! "I've never been this happy in my entire life," Owen said, touching his face-Kiel's face-then pulling out his twin knife-wands. "This is the greatest thing anyone's ever done for me, or anyone, ever."

"I'm glad you approve," n.o.body said. "Now, do you know what you're doing?"

"Doing?" Owen said, still distracted. He'd never seen such an authentic costume before, which just made sense, since it was magic. Wait, did he know magic now too? He tried to think of a spell, but nothing sprang to mind. Apparently, his mind hadn't been disguised into Kiel's. Which wouldn't have made sense anyway. Oh well, there was always the spell book.

"Charm is just about here," n.o.body said, walking back toward the wall that they'd emerged from. He gestured, murmuring some spell-sounding words. The entire tower glowed, then magically changed to look a bit more disheveled, as if someone had gone on a rampage through it. "Dr. Verity would have torn apart this tower if you hadn't interfered. Now, you as Kiel have arrived too late to save the Magister, so I'd suggest mourning when Charm arrives. She has the first six keys on her ship, but you'll need to locate the Seventh Key before Dr. Verity's armies of Science Soldiers destroy Magisteria. Finally, you'll need to face down Dr. Verity to stop him once and for all by unlocking the Source of Magic."

"Wait!" Owen shouted, shoving his wands back into their sheathes. "Dr. Verity was stuck in that same place I was, that blank place past the wall! What about him?"

n.o.body gave him a look. "I already brought him back where he was meant to go and wiped his memory of everything past the ending of the last book. The story must go on, even if that means setting villains free." He turned to leave. "I can't be present when the story starts. Charm is just about here, and that's where this last book begins. Remember, you came back to find the Magister missing, and presumed dead. That's all you know. The rest you'll find out as the book continues along. Don't mess this up, Kiel Gnomenfoot!"

"I won't!" Owen said. "I can't believe this. This is the greatest moment of my life!"

n.o.body smiled. "Good luck, boy. You'll be fine. How hard can it be to play the hero you always wanted to be, after all?"

And with that, he disappeared into the same nothingness that Owen had just been trapped in.

"I'm Kiel Gnomenfoot!" he said to n.o.body now. "Me! Kiel Gnomenfoot!"

Alphonse, Kiel's winged cat, looked up with an unbelieving expression, then began to aggressively lick his paw as his wings curled in around him.

"No one asked you," Owen told the cat.

Footsteps outside the destroyed door to the study brought him back to his senses. Owen glanced around, then suddenly realized what he was supposed to be doing. He'd read these books a thousand times. If Kiel Gnomenfoot had just found out that the Magister had potentially died, or at the very least was missing, he'd be completely crushed . . . but trying to hide it as much as he could.

Owen considered that for a moment, then fell to his knees, dropping his head into his hands. Only, instead of grieving, he was hiding a wide grin. This was so exciting! Kind of like acting, only this was playing a part in a story, instead of in a play or movie.

"Kiel?" said a girl's voice.

Don't get excited. Just because this is one of the coolest things you've ever been a part of.

Owen slowly lifted his head and glanced over his shoulder at the girl behind him wearing an all-black s.p.a.cesuit, her right robotic arm and left robotic leg uncovered. Two ray guns were strapped to either side of her waist, and her human eye looked at him with pity. Her robotic eye, however, just looked at him like a robotic eye.

"We were too late, weren't we?" said Charm, daughter of the now-deceased president of Quanterium, science genius, and half-robot best friend of Kiel Gnomenfoot. She looked around awkwardly. "I'm, uh, sorry."

Right, Charm hated showing any kind of emotion ever since the loss of her parents! She never knew how to be nice to Kiel, and usually just yelled at him instead. Feelings made her nervous, and she hated Kiel's jokes, or so she said. The book made it out like she secretly liked Kiel and his sense of humor, though.

Which meant she now secretly liked Owen, and his sense of humor. Which worked out pretty well, because Charm was kind of cute for a half robot with a red eye.

Stop that. Play it cool. Owen took a deep breath to steady himself, then forced a grieving sigh. "I'm sorry too," he said as gruffly as he could. "It's all my fault."

"It was Dr. Verity?"

He nodded as seriously as he could.

"There's nothing more we can do here, then," she said, yanking him up to his feet with her incredibly strong robot arm. "I was going to wait in the ship, but sensors detected one of the Science Soldier transport ships surrounding Magisteria now on its way down here, so I figured I should warn you."

"Warn me?" Owen asked.

Something exploded just above them, and Charm flipped around, her ray guns in hand, pointing at the stairs.

"That we're about to have company," she said.

Okay. Yeah, this was totally like living out an incredible action movie, only a million times better. Too bad Bethany had to hate fun so much, or she could have been there with him, disguised as a desk or Alphonse or something.

"Let them come," Owen said to Charm, narrowing his eyes in what he hoped was a dangerous way. "I'm in the mood to take down a few robots."

Awesome.

CHAPTER 15.

Write," the Magister told Jonathan Porterhouse.

Mr. Porterhouse, wide-eyed with fear, didn't move.

The Magister's eyes hardened, and he raised a glowing hand. For a moment it looked like he might attack the author, and Bethany could see the glow of magic reflected in Mr. Porterhouse's eyes.

But instead, the Magister lowered his hand, the glow dying. To her side, Bethany heard the boy in black quietly let out a huge breath he'd been holding.

"I have no desire to hurt you, Jonathan Porterhouse," the Magister said. He gestured, and the author began to sink into the floor. Mr. Porterhouse's face contorted like he was screaming, but no sound came out, given that he still had no mouth. "At least, not if you are innocent in this," the Magister continued. "If innocence is indeed a possibility. Consider your choices here, as I shall consider mine."

Mr. Porterhouse sank out of sight, his mouth reappearing just in time for his scream to be cut off as he disappeared, and Bethany shivered. "Where did you put him?" she whispered.

"He has no dungeon in this home," the Magister told her. "So the lowest floor shall have to suffice." He gave her a tired look. "I truly do have no wish to harm the man, if he is ignorant of his actions. In fact, I wish no harm upon anyone. But I have seen his library. Thousands upon thousands of stories lie within those books, and if each one contains a world like mine, existing solely to entertain your people . . ." He rubbed his forehead with his thumbs. "I cannot let this continue, Bethany. I cannot."

Bethany shook her head. "I don't know what you're saying, but you can't just change it. There's nothing to change. What could you possibly do?"

"Nothing," the Magister admitted. "Not without your power."

"My . . . my power?"

"Magi, let's discuss this," the boy in black said, but the Magister ignored him.

"Your father comes from a world like mine," the Magister told her. "Did one of your writers invent him, too? Were his actions his own, or forced upon him? Don't you see, Bethany? If your father and his world were created to follow a story, then he had no freedom! His will was not his own!"

"I don't like where this is headed," the boy said. "Maybe it's time we all relaxed and took a deep breath-"

"Help me!" the Magister shouted at her. "Help me free these worlds from living according to another's whims. Give them back control of their lives!"

"What are you asking me?" Bethany said, taking a step backward.

The Magister held out his hand, and a Kiel Gnomenfoot book flew into it from a nearby table. "I'm asking you to use your power and deliver the people of these worlds into your own, like you have for Kiel and me. Free them, that they might no longer be controlled and can live their lives however they wish, subjected to no one's whim or story!"

What? Bethany's mouth dropped open. Bring every fictional character into the real world? That was beyond crazy!

"Magi, there would be chaos," the boy said quietly.

"And what do we have now, Kiel?" the Magister asked. "I will not let myself be controlled! Not by Dr. Verity, not by Jonathan Porterhouse, not by anyone. How else do you propose to free us all, if not this? Destroy all writers on this world?"

"Of course not!" Kiel said quickly. "But-"

"I cannot let this injustice stand, apprentice. I cannot and will not."

As bad as things seemed before, this was twenty miles beyond that. Bethany concentrated on breathing in and out, desperate for someone, anyone to tell her that everything would be okay, that this wasn't happening-that she was dreaming or imagining it, or living out some kind of waking nightmare.

"There must be another way," Kiel said, holding his hands up for calm. The Magister sighed, dropping the Kiel Gnomenfoot book he was holding to his side.

And that's when Bethany realized that there might be a way out.

They were both right here, after all. With the book so close, maybe she could just grab it, then jump both Kiel and the Magister back into the story! At this point, even if they still knew they were characters, at least that was worlds better than unleashing every fictional character ever into the real world!

But to do that, she'd need to keep them talking, and paying attention to anything other than what she was about to do.

"You have no idea how many stories there are," Bethany told the Magister, her eyes everywhere but the book in his hand. "It would take us years to free all the characters. Centuries, maybe."

"Then we shall start this very moment," the Magister said, and laid the book down on a nearby table, then held out his hand to Bethany. "Help me. Help me right this enormous wrong. We shall free all the peoples of these worlds, and let them live their lives the way they wish, with no one telling them otherwise."

Bethany bit her lip and took a step forward. "Can I . . . think about it?" It was so close now, just a few feet away. She could almost jump for it at this point- The Magister's eyes narrowed, and the Kiel Gnomenfoot book burst into flames, leaving nothing but a blackened spot on the table. No!

"I believe you may not be treating this request seriously," he said, his tone sliding down in temperature. "Perhaps you should take some time to consider it, along with Jonathan Porterhouse."

"Don't do this," Bethany pleaded, but her feet had already begun to sink into the floor. She gasped, trying desperately to stop herself, but the marble floor felt like quicksand. The more she struggled, the faster she sank. "Please! Let me go, and I can still fix all of this!"

"I could just siphon your power from you," the Magister told her as she descended. "Simply free these worlds myself. But then I would be no different from a writer, taking away your choice." His eyes glowed as he stared at her. "I will give you time to make your decision, and hope you choose correctly. For both our sakes."

And with that, Bethany's head sank into the floor, and everything went dark.