This won’t be easy,” Charm told Owen, her hands flying over holographic maps in the middle of her spaceship. “First, we’ll need a way to teleport down to Quanterium, breaking through the planet’s shield system that blocks teleportation rays, which they put up after we found the Fourth Key.”
“I’m okay not getting there right away,” Owen said, watching the stars fly past out the window.
“Second, we’ll need to make our way through Quanterium to the Presidential Palace, through Science Soldiers from a million different dimensions. And we’ll be entirely on our own, since anyone who might be willing to overlook the fact that we’re criminals is probably on the Nalwork anyway. Which brings up another issue: With everyone on the Nalwork, we’ll stand out just by walking around, no matter what our disguise.”
“Well, my spell book was destroyed, so I don’t have any magic to disguise us anyway,” Owen pointed out.
“Which takes away any chance of surprise that we had,” Charm said with a frown. “Still, you invade a science planet with the magic you have, not the magic you want. Once we reach the Presidential Palace, we’ll need to make our way down to the very bottom floor, where the Vault of Containment is hidden.”
“Are we sure that this mythical, magical weapon actually does anything?”
“All magical weapons are mythical. And no.”
Owen sighed. “I see what you’re doing. You’re focusing on how we’re going to die so you don’t jinx us, like back at the First Magician’s cave!”
She shrugged. “If that helps you.”
Ugh. Despite Charm’s estimation of their odds, Owen was actually pretty sure they’d make it to the vault. Dr. Verity had always enjoyed a dramatic confrontation, and what would be worse than letting Owen and Charm get right to the vault door before stopping them? That had to be the spot where the final confrontation would take place, and Owen would . . . He’d have to give up his . . .
Alphonse moved around on his shoulder, the cat’s wings rubbing up against his head. Owen absently scratched Alphonse’s neck, and the cat purred. “Charm, if things go badly down there . . .”
“I’m sure they will,” Charm said without looking up.
“Because of your positive attitude, right. But if something happens to me, I want you to take . . . what you need and finish the job. Okay?”
She turned around and gave him a curious look. “No.”
Owen’s eyebrows raised. “No?”
“That won’t happen,” she said, standing up. “I don’t have any misconceptions about what we’re about to get into, Kiel. Trust me on that. But I will get you to that vault. Doesn’t matter how many Science Soldiers Dr. Verity lines up between us and that door. You’ll get there and unleash the Source of Magic. I promise.”
He smiled, just a bit. “How can you possibly promise that, with everything we’re about to face? It’s not exactly a fair fight.”
She shrugged. “None of this is fair. It isn’t fair that you’re a clone, or what happened to my parents and sister. It isn’t fair that so many of your people are suffering, or that the people of Quanterium ever allowed Dr. Verity to take over. It’s not fair, Kiel. Believe me, if anyone knows that, it’s me.” She took a step toward him and laid her human hand on his arm. “You’re about to give up your heart, to save the world. I can’t imagine anyone who wasn’t named Kiel Gnomenfoot ever doing that.”
Owen forced a smile, very aware of her hand on his arm. “That doesn’t mean we’ll win.”
“It means you already did.” She paused, then made a disgusted face. “What have you turned me into? I had a whole speech planned about how I’d make sure you got there, no matter what, and you make me go and say something like ‘you already won’? Ugh!”
Owen laughed as she shook her head, smiling in spite of herself. She was right, though. This wasn’t the same Charm from the books. Something had changed.
Not that it mattered, though. She didn’t even know who Owen really was. The girl who grinned at him with the awesome robotic eye really did believe he was Kiel Gnomenfoot, not Owen Conners. Why couldn’t he just tell her, now that it was so close to the end? What would it change?
“Can I . . . tell you something?” Owen said. “A secret?”
She sighed, swatting his arm. “If you have to.”
It’d be so easy. Just say it, and she’d know!
But she’d also know. She’d know that the Kiel she thought she knew was actually some stranger. She’d know that the boy she was about to get into the fight of her life with was someone she’d never really met before. A boy who’d lied to her from the moment he met her, and even now couldn’t tell her the whole truth, that she was a character in a book.
And worst of all, she’d lose all hope that they might actually make it through this.
“I’m really happy to have gotten to know you,” he said finally, and quickly hugged her.
She gave him a surprised look, but accepted the hug, if a bit awkwardly. And for a moment things didn’t seem so bad.
And then something hit the spaceship, and the two were thrown into the wall hard enough to almost knock Owen out.
“What was that?” Charm shouted, pushing Owen to his feet and running back to the piloting computer as the ship tilted forward, falling out of control toward the planet below.
“I think we were hit,” Owen said, trying to shake the fog out of his head and grabbing for the nearest chair to steady himself with the tilted floor.
“Missiles from Quanterium!” Charm yelled, holding on to the pilot’s chair. “We’re going to crash in less than a minute!”
Before Owen could answer, a bright green hologram shimmered into place in the middle of the ship and turned to address them both.
“Ah, children,” Dr. Verity said, his hologram crackling as the ship began to hurtle to the ground. “I take it you have the Seventh Key and are on your way to open the Vault of Containment, then?”
Owen gave him a cold, hard, Kiel-type look, or as hard a look as he could give while desperately holding on to a chair to keep from falling forward. “So what if we are?”
Charm shook her head violently at him, but Dr. Verity smiled. “Indeed. I considered letting you reach the vault, as that seemed like the most fitting and enjoyable place to end all of this. Let you believe you’d won, then pull the rug out from under you. But then it occurred to me. Why take the chance? Isn’t it far safer to just do away with you here, now?”
“So you shot us down?” Charm shouted.
Dr. Verity shrugged. “Seemed a bit pedestrian, I admit, but it did the job. Speaking of doing the job, though: Just to make sure, this hologram will morph from soft to hard light when I finish speaking, then explode.” He smiled. “As I said, just to make sure.”
“Kiel, the keys!” Charm shouted, and leaped for the spot where the first six keys were hidden.
“It’s been a true pleasure, using you as my scapegoats,” Dr. Verity told them. “You really have made this whole starting a war against Magisteria so much easier for me. And for that, I owe you big.” He paused. “Let’s hope this is a big enough way to say thanks!”
And then he exploded.