STAY AWAY FROM THAT GLOVE, IT’S PROBABLY DANGEROUS!
The words echoed in Owen’s head, as if he was screaming them at himself. He grabbed Kara’s shoulders and cautiously pulled her away from the woman and her glowing hand. “Do you know who she is?” he whispered, assuming she’d have to, considering the woman clearly recognized Kara.
“Nope,” Kara said, her fists still held up, ready for a fight. “Do you?”
“Oh, you wouldn’t know me yet,” the strange woman said, her glowing gloved hand stretched out toward them as she stepped closer. “No, it won’t be until your future that you’ll disrupt plans that I’ve been working on for over a half century now. Then you’ll turn me over to the TSA, who will send me here.” She smiled, showing all of her teeth. “If I’d known they were locking me up with you, however, I’d have killed fewer agents on the way.”
Whoa. She’d killed people? How dark was this Kara Dox series? “So what does the glove do?” Owen asked, not really wanting the answer.
The woman’s smile widened. “It devours time from your body, ravaging your physical form until it’s a husk of itself, desiccated and mummified, after which your remains will collapse into dust.”
Huh. Well, he had asked. “I thought it might just be for fashion,” Owen said, and out of nowhere Kara laughed. She immediately covered her mouth with her hand, but by then it was too late.
“You dare mock me?” the woman said, her eyes widening with crazed rage.
“Did you ever think that attacking me now might be what makes me come after you in the future?” Kara asked, thankfully changing the subject. “Maybe you’re creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s not too late, though. If you leave us alone now, then I’ll make sure to return the favor and not interfere with whatever your plans are.” She paused. “Though maybe I should ask what those plans are before I promise.”
“First, I made sure the TSA was never created,” the woman said, slowly advancing toward them. “Then, with no one to stop me, I sent my past and future selves elaborate plans and specific periods they should travel to. Hundreds of versions of me installed themselves into positions of power throughout history.” She curled her gloved hand into a fist. “I would have ruled everything, forever!”
Kara wrinkled her nose. “I’m not entirely sure that makes sense, but either way, that does sound like something I’d fight, just on principle.” She glanced back at Owen and smiled shyly. “How about you?”
Owen stared at her in shock. “Um, I’m good with it!” He lowered his voice and talked faster. “Especiallyifit’sjustsomethingwetellherrightnowsosheleavesusalone!”
“Ah, young man, I’d never take you at your word,” the woman said, smiling again. “If you honestly intended not to interfere, then I wouldn’t have been thrown in this prison. But since I’m still here, you clearly can’t be trusted.”
“But if you weren’t here, then we’d never be able to say we wouldn’t interfere to begin with,” Owen said, hoping his logic was correct. “Isn’t that a paradox?”
“Paradoxes don’t affect me,” Kara whispered at him.
“Paradoxes don’t affect her,” the woman said at the same time.
Um, okay. “I feel like I’ve missed something,” Owen whispered to Kara.
“I’ll tell you later,” Kara said, then turned back to the woman. “Okay, you’re right, I would normally stop you. But I’m not leaving here, so whatever my future self did in your time line, she won’t be doing it anymore. I gave myself up, and I’ll be staying in this prison for the rest of my life.”
The woman waved her glowing hand impatiently. “Again, if you did, I wouldn’t be here. No, clearly my only chance is to kill you once and for all. It might create a paradox, but I’m willing to take that chance. At the very least, it’ll be immensely satisfying. And if time starts over in the prison and I get to kill you day after day for the rest of eternity, it will be a small consolation for what you’ve stolen from me!”
Owen and Kara took another step backward, only this time Owen hit the wall at the end of the hall. They were out of room.
“I don’t even know your name, you know,” Kara said as the woman advanced.
The woman sneered. “Of course you don’t. You think I’m going to let you find out my real identity, then wipe me from time altogether? No. You can call me the Countess.” She stretched her glowing glove out toward them. “Now, please, beg for your lives. I would really like to enjoy this as much as I can.”
Kara stepped forward, turned, and gave Owen a sad look. She sighed, then turned back to the Countess. “Leave him alone, and you can do whatever you want to me.”
Whoa, what? She couldn’t be serious. Was this just a bluff? He didn’t even know this girl, and now she was sacrificing herself for him?
The Countess sighed. “It’s not begging, but it will have to do.” She brought her glove closer to Kara, who flinched but didn’t move away.
“No!” Owen shouted, leaping forward. The Countess immediately aimed her glove at him, and he raised both hands in surrender. “You’d be making a huge mistake if you, um, olden her!”
“Would I now?” the Countess asked with a smug smile, her hand getting closer to him.
“Yes,” Owen said, subtly pushing Kara backward again. “Because we’re going to figure out how to get out of here, and that means we can get you out too.”
The Countess’s glove froze in midair, and she began to laugh. “You have no idea how this prison works, do you?” she said. “The challenges will require a day to complete each, after which point time will start over, and you’ll forget whatever part of the code you found. It’s a system designed to keep you busy, you fool. There is no escape! Maybe with a week of regular time we could figure out how to shut down the twenty-four-hour reversal, but not if we have to start over every day.”
All right, yes, good point. But if this was Kara’s book, there had to be some way out of this. But how? If they really did forget every day, maybe there was some way of leaving a message, writing a note, something like that? If only they could call someone and report the exit door code digit after each challenge, or . . .
Wait a second. There was a way for someone to make a note about what the code was, even if all the prisoners forgot. This was a Pick the Plot book! That meant the readers themselves would see the code, and maybe they’d be able to input it into the book somehow!
Sure, Owen had no idea how that last part would work, but that had to be it. This was a challenge for both them and the readers. Which meant they actually could escape!
But how exactly could he explain that to the Countess?
“Let’s just say that we have a way of keeping track of the code digits that we find,” he said, sounding a lot less sure of himself now that he had to spell it out. “Outside of this, uh, time line.”
“And how exactly will you accomplish this feat?” the Countess asked.
“Um?” Owen said brightly, looking at the ceiling.
Kara leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Is this one of those nonfictional things I hate hearing about?”
Owen’s eyes widened, but he nodded quickly at her. She nodded back, looking uncomfortable with the whole subject, then turned to the Countess. “You know I’m immune to paradoxes. Well, I’m also immune to time distortions. I’ll keep my memory through each day of this prison, which means I’ll be able to remember the code.”
The Countess sneered, raising her glove again. “If that were true, they’d never have locked you in here.”
“They would if I turned myself in voluntarily,” Kara told her.
This made the Countess pause, as if she was considering. “I should just kill you now and take my chances.”
“You could, but we both know you’re not sure if my immunity to paradoxes will leave you locked in here,” Kara told her. “If you were positive, you’d have already done it. So what’ll it be?”
The Countess gritted her teeth, then lowered the glowing glove. “If you are lying, I will find out, and I will make you suffer. Then when I escape, I will wipe you from history, followed by your parents, and then all of your ancestors back to the dawn of mankind. This I swear to you now.”
“Then it sounds like we’ve got a deal,” Kara said, not sticking her hand out to shake.
YIKES. SOUNDS LIKE KARA AND OWEN SHOULD GO FIND THE CHALLENGES.
SNEAK ATTACK THE COUNTESS!