Indira found herself surrounded by heroes.

After she’d explained the plan, Maxi had rounded up a crew of characters she thought would have the best advice for Indira. There was Penelope—queen of Ithaca—who had dealt with all sorts of powerful people in a story titled The Odyssey.

Next to her sat Wendy Darling, who knew a thing or two about traveling between worlds with a boy named Peter Pan. Indira’s favorite of the bunch was a young girl named Juliet. It surprised her to learn that the girl had costarred in a story with Indira’s least favorite professor, Dr. Montague. The four of them sat around a fire, discussing strategies.

Penelope was working a loom as she spoke, her fingers guiding the thread along, nearly done with the piece of cloth Indira needed for her task ahead. “I’ve plenty of experience with gods. Not to mention unwelcome guests. I always found that the key to facing someone more powerful than myself was to distract them. Set them a task, or else invite them to a competition. Powerful people cannot resist a challenge.”

Juliet nodded in agreement. “I think that is how you can lure this Author of yours. Pretend that beating him at his own game would be the easiest thing in the world. No one can resist the temptation to prove their own ability. He’ll take you up on it, surely.”

Wendy smiled. “And then the real game will begin.”

The three advisors laughed. Indira had been mentally working through her role in the plan. She was doing her best to take their advice to heart, too. There were still so many ways it could all go wrong. The first part of the plan was one domino that would topple hundreds more. If just one was out of place…

Indira stood. “Any final words of wisdom?”

Penelope’s eyes shone. “Aim true.”

“It sounds like an awfully big adventure,” Wendy said. “Do not forget to have some fun.”

Juliet smiled. “Defy the stars.”

Indira grinned back. Adrenaline was pumping through her chest as she circled around the rest of camp. She felt like a general overseeing operations. The entire camp hummed with nervous, excited energy. All hands were on deck for preparation. Indira paused at each station to check in. “Gadget, how are those tutor devices coming?”

She glanced up. “I’ve coded them so they perfectly match Maxi’s description of the room. The only tricky part will be what happens when Minerva walks inside. The device will take a second to account for her presence. It’ll probably look like a glitch. Just a quarter of a second. She’s going to have to play her role convincingly if we want him to forget that detail.”

Indira nodded. “And we know she can do that. Great job, Gadget. There’s no way we could pull this off without you.”

She was surprised when the girl held out a fist. Indira reached out to bump knuckles. A second later, Gadget was back to crunching numbers and analyzing data, but Indira felt like they’d just become real friends finally. She smiled to herself before checking on the others.

Across the clearing, Minerva was hunkered down with a set of headphones on, staring at a screen on Maxi’s mobile console. Maxi had hijacked the necessary footage from the Editors’ databases, confessing she wasn’t sure how legal that was. So far none of her superiors had showed up to interfere. Maxi was busy analyzing the same footage as Minerva, providing pointers here and there.

Down the hill, Allen Squalls and Cavern were practicing their parts. She saw they were using a toppled oak tree for test runs. Allen’s new confidence had given him a little more control over his gift. As Phoenix had predicted, he no longer had to fall asleep to summon his powers. It was a huge step for him, and it couldn’t have come at a more crucial time.

She watched him use a practice gust to lift Cavern into the air. For such a massive character, Cavern’s landings were surprisingly graceful. There was one particular technique Indira had wanted to know more about. She’d asked him to explain the shadow-teleporting trick he’d used on them when they first met. He’d explained that he had to be within ten to fifteen paces to use it.

Indira had grinned back at him and said that would work just fine.

Characters kept appearing. Maxi’s best guess was that they had until sundown the next day before all their stories would be permanently altered. Every single story that involved the Hero’s Journey would be ruined permanently. No more adventurous quests. No more portals to other worlds. It would just be a bunch of characters—all dressed as pirates or soldiers—who remained in the Ordinary World. Every reader would be bored to death.

Indira knew that meant her own story would be corrupted. She also knew there was a chance that Joey’s magic could run deeper, destroying all of Plot. This was their last opportunity to stop him.

When all the pieces of the plan had been worked out, Indira found an empty blanket and lay down. The others eventually joined her, but there was a noticeable gap where Phoenix had been the night before. Indira could not help imagining him forced into flight, roaming the skies to the south, enslaved by their ruthless enemy. She whispered to the stars.

“We’re coming for you.”