“I’ve got so much juicy info for you guys, it’s not even funny.”

Maxi’s voice had more energy in it than the rest of their crew combined. Indira glanced around at the others. Phoenix and Squalls were running through a few magical practice exercises. Gadget had finished programming her bees and was leaning over the computer, analyzing incoming intel with bloodshot eyes. Minerva and Cavern leaned on opposite sides of the call desk, looking like a pair of mismatched bookends. Indira answered when no one else spoke.

“Let’s hear it.”

“Well,” Maxi went on excitedly. “First, I think I know how Joey got here. There was a brief opening in the dimensions between the Real World and Imagination. I’m talking less time than it would take to snap your fingers. Your team took Group Port B Thirty-Three. Did you experience any issues?”

Gadget looked up sharply. Indira saw horror written on the girl’s face.

“We teleported to the wrong location,” Indira answered. She didn’t want to make Gadget feel bad. It had been an accident. “The machine was missing one of its location sensors.”

“Which created a tiny crack in space and time,” Maxi replied, as if that were an everyday event or something. “It just so happened that Joey fell asleep at the exact moment the gap opened. His subconscious slipped through the opening. He basically dreamed his way into our world. It had like a .00004 percent chance of happening.”

“Great,” Indira said. “How he got here doesn’t matter. Let’s focus on how to stop him.”

“I’m two steps ahead of you,” Maxi continued. “Let’s start with other examples of Authors entering our world. It’s happened three times before in the written history of Imagination. I researched all three—and let me tell you, I’m still coughing up dust from those books. Someone needs to copy those over to digital files like yesterday—”

Indira cleared her throat. “Focus, Maxi.”

“Right, of course. All three Authors dreamed their way into our world. It always happened that way. An accidental crossing of the borders, so to speak. All three of them were slightly more…mature than our current opponent. The method for returning the Authors was always the same. You have to scare them awake. It’s kind of like any dream, right? If you fall off a cliff or something super spooky jumps out, it startles you awake.”

The rest of the crew was paying more attention now. It was the first time they’d been offered a direct strategy for fighting someone like Joey. Phoenix was nodding.

“So we have to scare him,” he said. “Easy enough.”

“Pretty much,” Maxi answered. “But there are other factors involved. The longer they’ve been in this world, the harder it is to frighten them. I mean, one Author was in the imaginary world for about fifty-three years….”

Indira’s heart skipped a few beats. “Did you say fifty-three years?”

“Right? That’s like forever,” Maxi replied. “Anyway, let’s talk about Joey. It took some digging, but I located his file. He’s super new to writing. Our profile doesn’t have a ton on him. He’s eleven years old. He’s been writing for the past few months. He writes fan fiction based on video games that he’s playing. His current favorite is this battle thingy called Pirates versus Marines.”

Indira felt like she’d been hit in the head. Understanding echoed through their group. All the signs made sense. “That explains so much!” she said. “The pirate ship. The city’s streets being canals. That bunker. The parrot! Everything he’s summoned so far is either a pirate or marine theme.”

Maxi squealed with excitement. “Wait! Did you say canals?”

“Yes,” Phoenix answered. “Every street in Ordinary is a waterway now.”

There was a flurry of movement on the other end of the line. Indira imagined Maxi flipping through a messy desk of papers before surfacing victoriously.

“There’s a stage like that in the video game. It’s called Not Your Mother’s Venice. I’ll see if I can send over the schematics. According to the file, Joey spends hours playing this game. If he knows the maps, you’ll need to know them as well as he does….”

“Maxi,” Phoenix jumped in. “What’s the point of the game? Like, how do you win?”

“It’s a battle zone,” she replied. “Here’s the description: ‘Contestants are sorted into two teams: pirates or marines. Both teams start at a home-base location. When the game begins, players are able to travel throughout the map, with the goal being to eliminate the other team. Points and power-ups are awarded for sinking opponents’ boats, taking over key bases, or eliminating opponents. Each round ends when all members of the opposing team have been defeated.’ ”

Indira’s stomach sank. “That’s what Ledge told us. He said that Joey was making them play the same game over and over again.”

“He could have been lying,” Cavern pointed out. “He lied about helping us.”

Indira shook her head. “Maybe, but I’m pretty sure he thought we were walking into Joey’s trap. He didn’t actually think we’d escape with any information. I’d bet that Joey is playing this game over and over with the citizens of Ordinary. Forcing the townspeople to fight each other.”

“And I’ll bet he never loses,” Phoenix said. “Not with his powers.”

Minerva asked the one question Indira hadn’t thought to ask. “Have any of Ordinary’s citizens appeared at the Ninth Hearth?”

Indira knew that at least death in their world wasn’t permanent. She’d been through the process once herself. After tackling Brainstorm Ketty off the highest ledge of a tower, she had appeared at the Ninth Hearth and had been slowly restored back to life by that magic. It wasn’t an experience she wished on anyone, but at least the citizens might escape from Joey that way.

“We’ve seen fluctuations,” Maxi said. “But instead of appearing in the Ninth Hearth, they’re returning to a starting point in Ordinary. It looks like Joey set up his own regeneration center. There’s a respawn zone. It must be a part of the video game he plays. And as an Author in our world, he’s powerful enough to do something like that.”

Indira grimaced. “So he really can make them fight over and over.”

“He’s basically torturing them,” Phoenix whispered. “We have to stop him.”

Before Maxi could relay her own advice, another sound echoed. Indira looked across the clearing and saw Beginning sitting by the fire. “It isn’t me this time!” Beginning announced.

Leaves crunched underfoot and twigs snapped.

A figure approached from the road. All of them turned as the kingswolf they’d left back at the memorial appeared. She was slightly out of breath. Indira guessed she’d run the whole way there in wolf form.

Half gasping, she said, “We’ve got a problem.”

Joey’s powers were making things worse.

“All the waiting characters transformed,” the kingswolf explained. “At the exact same time. We were all hanging out, trying to stay positive, when their clothing changed. About half of them are wearing pirate outfits. The other half have some kind of military armor. I wasn’t sure what was going on, so I wanted to come update you.”

“Pirates versus Marines,” Minerva said. “His game.”

The kingswolf frowned. “What game?”

“That’s not even the most important part,” Phoenix pointed out. “He’s breaking another step in the Hero’s Journey. Ordinary is supposed to represent the starting point, right? It can be anything. Authors can start their story in a city or on a farm or under the ocean. It can be wherever! Joey’s magic is forcing this theme to be the start of every story. Everything is Pirates versus Marines now.”

Beginning’s voice was a whisper. “So not only do the stories stop for no reason, but now they all start in the exact same place. If this magic holds, it will make for very boring stories. It won’t take long for the readers to abandon us entirely.”

“Unless they’re really into pirates,” Gadget noted. “Or marines.”

Indira considered her own attire. She wasn’t sure anyone could deal with a world that was only pirates all the time. “Maxi. What happens next? If we keep him distracted until the Editors can take action against him? What will the consequences be?”

“Well, I was running through some scenarios earlier,” she replied. “And—not to freak you out—but there’s a possibility he destroys all of Plot. The effects would echo into every story that’s ever existed….” She paused. “But that’s like worst-case scenario. The Editors will arrive and perform a reset. All the new stories will be fine after that.”

Indira’s stomach dropped. “But every story that existed before now?”

“Would be broken, yeah.”

“Thanks, Maxi.”

Indira hung up the phone. Her mind was racing. Every story that existed before now included her story. It was bad enough to think of all that Joey had already ruined, but now his presence in their world was personal. Indira looked around at the others.

“We need to get some sleep. In the morning, we can take a look at Gadget’s intel, make a plan, and wake Joey up before he can do more damage.”

Cavern nodded. “What’s the scariest thing we can show him?”

The others looked around, deep in thought. Indira’s eyes settled on Phoenix. An idea had been forming slowly over the last few hours. “I’m sure we’ll come up with something.”