“Well, that will make spying a little harder.”

Allen Squalls was pointing out the obvious, but that didn’t make him wrong. They’d finally gotten a look at the town of Ordinary in the distance. It was standing right where they’d left it, but it was no longer standing how they’d left it. The outer wall had risen about thirty feet and Indira thought it looked larger somehow, with even more buildings than before.

That wasn’t the only change. Two flags flew on opposite ends of the town. One was a classic skull and crossbones, a pirate flag. The second flag was harder to identify. Phoenix made a guess. “I’d bet it’s military,” he said. “There was a bunker back there. A barracks, too. Pretty sure that’s what the other flag means….”

Indira felt a little twisting in her gut. It was hard to plan for someone with powers that felt as limitless as Joey’s. He could change things with a snap of his fingers, and those powers didn’t show any signs of slowing down. He’d transformed the entire town. Indira was scared of what they might find inside those walls. Luckily, their crew had a few tricks up their sleeves. As they circled around to discuss their plan to infiltrate the city, Gadget smacked herself on the forehead.

“The bees! Of course! The bees!”

Indira’s eyes widened. “You still have access to them? We could monitor the whole town….”

Gadget rolled back one sleeve to reveal a little data pad looped around one wrist. “If I had all three of them? Definitely. I’ll have to reprogram the other two.”

Indira winced. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Gadget replied, focusing on her task. “Remember? I need some of your instinct. You need some of my research and planning. I’m going to establish a new route for them around the town with new objectives. I think we’ll be able to get some good data.”

“But doesn’t the data feed back to your dad’s workshop?” Phoenix asked.

Gadget nodded. “It’s synced with a device that analyzes all the information. It’s kind of like a computer. If you can smuggle it out of the town, we can monitor everything without having to face Joey directly. We can even listen in on his conversations.”

Indira looked to Minerva now. “I can’t ask you to lead us into the town. Not in your condition. It’s dangerous. Can you map out the way through the underground you mentioned?”

Minerva frowned. “It’s complicated. There’s a town beneath the town. It’d be best if I go with you. I’m really fine, I promise….”

But Indira could see what a struggle it was for Minerva to remain standing. She was about to ask for a piece of paper for Minerva to sketch out a rough map when another voice interrupted. Their whole crew just about jumped out of their skin as a familiar young girl joined their circle. Beginning grinned like she’d been there the whole time.

“Don’t worry, I know the way.”

Half an hour later, Indira found herself crawling inside a huge pipe. Thankfully, the secret route wasn’t a sewage pipe, but it didn’t exactly smell like roses, either. Beginning crawled in front of them, leading her chosen crew down the route that Minerva could not.

Indira had drafted Cavern and Phoenix to come with her. Gadget stayed behind to reprogram the bees. She was more important to them safe and sound in the forest. Even with his recent boost in confidence, it was easy to convince Squalls that he should remain behind as well. Indira thought it made sense to separate their wizarding powers, just in case. He promised to summon a little rain in an effort to cover their movement in the city.

“Squalls seems to be doing a little better,” Indira whispered to Phoenix as they continued crawling. “More confident now. You’ve done a great job helping him.”

Phoenix grunted. “Thanks. I’ve been running him through a few drills, too. His magic…it’s like he’s separated from his powers. That’s why he keeps nodding off. It’s almost this hidden part of him that has to wake up, while the scared part of him falls asleep.”

“Is that normal?”

“No,” Phoenix answered. “It’s not. I’m pretty sure it’s the result of what Brainstorm Ketty did. She broke him last year. Bullied him into thinking he’d never be a good character. It will take a little time to get him back to who he was. If he regains his confidence, he’ll regain his control over it….”

“So it can be fixed?”

Phoenix nodded again. “Of course. He’s going to be really powerful, too. You’ve seen some of his magic. Imagine how he must have been when he first came to Protagonist Prep with power like that. I doubt he was the kid we know, always so nervous about everything.”

Indira tried to imagine that and couldn’t.

“If there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know.”

Phoenix’s eyes were like little rings of light in the otherwise dark passage.

“Keep believing in him. The way you believed in me. He’ll come around.”

Ahead of them, Beginning was lowering herself out of the pipe. Indira was not ready for the sight that greeted her at the tunnel’s end. She’d been expecting some kind of abandoned underground. Instead, it was buzzing with life. Lanterns glowed in every direction. Huge factories stretched as far as the eye could see. Indira saw Marks moving in and out of the buildings, their voices chorusing with the constant machine noises.

Cavern and Phoenix leaped down, shaking the platform. Cavern’s eyes went wide.

“What is this place?” he asked.

Beginning favored him with a smile. “Wonderful, is it not? Fable and Fester train characters, but Plot gives birth to the actual stories and journeys those characters go on. What you saw on the surface? That’s more of a pretty costume than anything. Down here is where the real magic happens. In Plot, we like to say that it’s all about the details. Come on, I’ll show you what I can as we head to Minerva’s tunnel.”

The grinning girl led them forward. Seeing all the workers, Indira couldn’t help asking the obvious question that came to mind. “Should we tell them there’s an emergency? Joey took over the town right above them! Maybe there should be a temporary evacuation?”

Beginning shrugged. “The enemy is a relatively young Author. I suspect he’ll have a hard time making his way this deep into Plot. Don’t get me wrong. Any Author who enters the world of Imagination is powerful. But this particular area is less about power and more about experience. Joey is likely to do his damage to the most basic elements of our world, which is no less frightening.

“Besides, this place is very well hidden. And an evacuation would set back production. These crews are fueling every single story that’s currently being written in the Real World. Can you imagine all the Authors out there suddenly not knowing where their story should go?”

She let that question linger in the air.

“Ah! Here’s our World-Building building. Say that three times fast!”

The crew sidestepped a few Marks who were taking a water break. The front entrance of the nearest building confirmed the name of the factory in bright letters. Beginning opened the door wide enough for all of them to get a glimpse inside. A huge conveyor belt was churning through the main section of the building. Indira squinted.

“Are those…”

“We’re currently making a batch of dystopian societies!” Beginning confirmed. “We ship them to the Authors in miniature form.”

Sure enough, each of the little squares contained a perfectly scaled miniature world. Indira couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There were futuristic space stations, abandoned planets, ghostly small towns. Each one had been reduced to about the size of a microwave.

Beginning explained, “This factory is responsible for every dystopia that’s ever existed. Societies run by massive spiders. Communities controlled by genetic code. There was even one society that forced teenagers to fight to the death because of food!”

Cavern shook his head. “How barbaric.”

Beginning ushered them out. Indira followed her down catwalks, ducking to avoid a sudden burst of steam from one building. A turn brought them around to the front of a smaller factory. Indira noticed that the building was strangely designed, its sides narrowing like an hourglass halfway up.

“What’s that one?” Phoenix asked.

“Plot Twist,” Beginning answered. “Always working overtime in there. The current crew are the ones who came up with He Was Dead the Whole Time. It was an instant classic.”

As they approached the center of the massive underground city, the noise became deafening. Indira saw signs for the FLASHBACK FACTORY, the RED HERRING REDISTRIBUTION CENTER, and an entire building dedicated to POETIC JUSTICE. Hundreds of questions came to mind, but she left them unasked. As curious as she felt, she realized her job was waiting for her in Ordinary.

She needed to stay focused.

Beginning seemed to sense her urgency. The young girl dropped the tour-guide act and quickened the pace. Indira was thankful she’d come, as the winding route would have certainly been difficult with just a map. Eventually, they passed through the main section of factories and out the other side. Beginning led them up a final catwalk before gesturing to a latched gateway.

“This leads to Ordinary,” she announced. “I wish you luck.”

Indira frowned. “You aren’t going with us?”

The girl shook her head. “It’s far too risky.”

Phoenix snorted at that. Indira understood how he felt. It was risky for all of them. She kind of thought the person who ruled over Plot would be willing to go with them at least.

“We know it’s risky,” Indira pointed out. “But we’re still going.”

Beginning frowned. “Perhaps I have been unclear. I do not mean that I fear for my own personal health. It’s the same reason you did not see Middle when this rogue Author first appeared. She did not want to take the risk either. Sometimes our appearance can be deceptive. It is easy to think of me as a child. But do not be fooled. I am as old as time itself. I am the first line in every story ever told. I am the opening image. I am the sound of pages turning, the quiet sigh that can be heard whenever someone sets their feet in a new world. I am BEGINNING.”

That word echoed louder than even the distant machine noise.

“Our mutual enemy has already broken steps in the Hero’s Journey,” Beginning reminded Indira. “His dark magic has tainted hundreds of stories. Middle and End have already suffered significant injuries because of it. Can you imagine, though, if he found me? The beginning of all? No, I cannot risk entering the city.”

Indira took a deep breath. “But we can.”

Beginning grinned. “Precisely. Onward, my champions.”

They weren’t going to get a better pep talk than that. Taking a deep breath, Indira worked the entry hatch open. A ladder was waiting. She exchanged nods with Phoenix and Cavern, and started the ascent.