It’s a rare moment, dear reader, when someone can be right and wrong at the same time. Indira and Phoenix were leaving behind their loyal friends, to protect their loyal friends. Both of them felt the weight of guilt and honor, right and wrong. In such moments, we can only do our best to make sense of our own hearts.
They made an effort to approach unseen, but realized halfway to the gates that no one was actually standing along the watchtowers. The eyes of the town—and all its residents—were turned inward. Indira could hear cannons firing on the other side of the looming barricade. Another game, another round of torture for Ordinary’s citizens.
It was time to save them.
The Hero’s Journey was broken. Plot was on the verge of destruction. Fable could be next. Indira took her place at the base of the town’s outer wall and locked eyes with Phoenix again. “So my plan…”
“…is to use my dragon form,” he guessed. “I saw you looking at me when Cavern asked how we might scare Joey. And you asked about the highest point because you want Joey to fall. Falling always wakes people up. The roof is exposed, so we can attack from above. We’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t see us until the very last second.”
Indira was staring at him. He’d pretty much read her mind. She couldn’t help grinning.
“Right. Yeah. That’s the plan.”
He grinned back at her. “Let’s get going.”
The walls were high, but not high enough to keep out someone with a magic hammer. After locking arms with Phoenix, Indira took aim and launched the silver weapon in a measured arc. It spun upward and the magic snatched them both. She caught the hammer, feeling Phoenix’s weight against her, before ducking down along the ramparts.
“I’m not sure I’ve said it before,” Phoenix whispered. “But I love when you do that.”
Indira grinned at him as they crouched over by the wall, careful not to be seen. Their raised position offered a solid view of the rest of Ordinary. Indira saw a few buildings that stood higher than the outer wall, but none as high as the distant bell tower.
“There it is.”
Indira nodded. “Come on. We need a view of the front doors.”
The two of them circled until they were directly across from the building’s entrance. It was a gray stone structure with glass windows that reflected back the morning light. The streets surrounding them were silent and empty. She guessed that Joey had already come through this area.
“Time to lure him in,” Indira said. “I was thinking fire might do the trick. How’s your aim?”
Phoenix grinned. A slash of heat filled the air as he summoned a fireball. It spun to life between his palms. He took careful aim before shoving the flames forward. They spiraled out over the water, shooting like a rocket, and collided with the uppermost section of the bell tower in a burst of bright sparks. The two of them ducked back down as the flames began to spread.
“No way he misses that,” Indira whispered.
Every second felt like a minute, every minute like an hour. But eventually they heard the faint hum of an engine. She held her breath as Joey’s boat nosed into the intersection.
He was armored the same way he had been the day before, still gripping his lacrosse stick tightly. Ledge Woods hovered at the back of the boat like a shadow. Indira watched Joey point up at the visible flames. Indira’s heart leaped. Joey directed the boat toward the front of the building. The trap had been set. And he was taking the bait.
She smacked Phoenix’s shoulder excitedly as both Ledge and Joey disembarked, climbing up water-slick steps. They shouldered through the engraved double doors at the front of the bell tower. Indira knew they’d head straight for the roof.
Timing was important. She knew Joey could easily teleport, or summon an elevator out of thin air. She hoped, however, that he’d take his own game seriously enough to follow the rules. The building was five stories high. Indira knew it would take him at least a few minutes to reach the roof if he was taking the stairs.
“Ready?” she asked, backing away to give Phoenix space.
He summoned his fire again. “Let’s go over the plan one more time. I transform into a dragon. You climb on my back. We use the cloud cover to hide our attack, and then we both dive at him from above.”
Indira nodded. “Our attack forces him to the edge. He falls. It wakes him up. We save the world.”
“Don’t you mean we save the world again?”
He smiled at her before the flame in his hand began to spread, consuming his entire body. Indira backed up a step as the transformation burst to life. Great gasps of smoke poured into the air, and she could only hope there were no windows in the stairwell Joey was using.
She knew the element of surprise would be crucial.
In that sudden brightness, Phoenix had taken his new form: a great, sprawling dragon with twisting reptilian limbs. She stood there admiring the burnished scales until he lowered his front shoulder in invitation. Grinning, she said, “Don’t mind if I do.”
Indira climbed his foreleg easily and settled into a comfortable nook behind his neck. Her stomach turned a little as she remembered what Brainstorm Underglass had told her about there being two competing romantic interests for the role in her next story. It was hard for her to imagine anyone she could like more than a boy who transformed into a dragon.
“Let’s go scare this kid back into the Real World.”
Indira tightened the grip of her knees, settled in low, and still nearly tumbled off sideways as Phoenix swept into the sky. His wings stretched out like a pair of smoke-black blades. It took great effort not to shout wildly with the sheer thrill of the wind rushing past her. Instead, Indira hovered against his neck, doing her best to focus on the watery streets below her.
Phoenix pressed higher into the sky, fighting gravity with each beat of his wings. She saw that their flight was getting attention. The citizens who had survived the game so far all stopped to stare. She wondered if perhaps they thought the Editors had finally sent someone to save them.
And she hoped she could save them.
The citizens weren’t the only people who noticed. Indira’s tutor device suddenly spun to life. There was a little message on the center of her screen that had just been delivered:
What are you doing? What’s the plan?
Indira guessed that was Gadget, hacking into her device. She pushed away the guilt. Now wasn’t the time for hesitation. She needed to trust her instincts. Indira and Phoenix had made this decision to keep their friends out of harm’s way. She could only imagine how it looked from outside the city to see Phoenix rising up above the clouds. With a swipe, she dismissed the message. She needed to stay focused and calm.
She tucked herself against Phoenix’s neck as he leveled off. Below them, the bell tower looked like a giant fist raised to the sky. She saw that it was a narrow building with a roof that connected the doorway and the part they’d set aflame. Phoenix circled slowly, waiting for signs of movement, and Indira had to wipe away the tears that formed in those cold, sweeping winds.
Several seconds passed. She was nearly shivering, her hands growing colder.
And then movement.
Indira and Phoenix saw it at the same time. She tapped the side of his neck. The very second her hands resettled in their grips, the great dragon began a hurtling dive. Indira saw the two figures edging out onto the roof. Naturally, Joey was in the lead. Ledge followed. Neither of them saw the great beast approaching from above. She realized Joey would not look up. Why would someone with his powers ever look up?
Indira pressed into Phoenix’s neck and whispered the command. “Now!”
Phoenix’s wings swept wide. The sudden gust finally got Joey’s attention. He looked up at the exact moment Indira had hoped he would. Phoenix opened his terrifying dragon jaws and loosed an earth-shattering roar. The sound thundered. Indira’s heart leaped as she saw Joey’s reaction. It was going to work. The rogue Author stumbled back, eyes wide with fear. Indira knew he was only a few paces from the edge of the building. Just a small, hip-high barrier. It couldn’t have been more perfect.
“Fire!” Indira commanded.
Phoenix took in a breath; then fire raced out in bright streaks toward an already startled Joey. Indira knew they needed that first startled reaction to become fear, and they needed that fear to drive through Joey deep enough to wake him from his slumber in the Real World.
Ledge shouted something, but too late. The burst of flames forced Joey against the hip-high wall. His backpedal was fast enough and frightful enough to send him toppling over the edge. Indira roared her triumph at the final look on his face.
Eyes wide with fear, Joey tumbled out of sight.
Phoenix swept overhead.
Indira whipped her head around to get a look. There were strange ripples in the air and near the water. She didn’t see a splash, though. “It worked!” she shouted. “He woke up!”
If he hadn’t, she knew he would have hit the water for sure. Indira was still shouting triumphantly as Phoenix circled back around for another look. She couldn’t believe it had worked. She was about to shout a command for Phoenix to land when something heavy fell on her shoulder. The grip tightened.
“I’ve always wanted a dragon!”
She spun instinctively, but Joey was faster. He used her own momentum to give her a shove. The force of the blow sent her sprawling off Phoenix’s back. Her hands grasped desperately at scales and missed. She was falling.
The breathless, pit-in-the-stomach feeling was not new to her. She’d experienced a drop just like it during her auditions. And again when she’d fallen over the ledge with Brainstorm Ketty. Only this time it wasn’t part of the plan.
Indira screamed as the ground swallowed her whole.