Escaping Ordinary Read online

  Gadget nodded. “Well, that’s how teleportation works. The Illusion of Continuity states that when memory—”

  Indira cut the girl off. “Maybe just hit the go button?”

  Allen Squalls was searching for a way to undo his buckles. Indira heard Phoenix trying to calm him down as Gadget took her seat. The moment her harness clicked into place, the entryway sealed. Allen covered his face with his hands. Indira couldn’t help throwing Phoenix a little grin as the entire device hummed with energy. Adventure was waiting for them. Her eyes flicked back to the lone window. It offered a view of the square they’d just been standing in.

  Indira realized this was a good time to say something leaderish. Should she make a speech? The machine rumbled louder and louder. She was trying to think of something profound to tell the others when her eyes landed on the one detail she hadn’t noticed before.

  A small piece of metal sat on the ground outside.

  Sunlight glinted across its surface. Indira’s eyes widened.

  “Gadget!” She pointed. “Please tell me that’s one of your tools.”

  The girl was shorter than Indira and had to crane her neck to get a good look outside. Indira saw a flash of panic on her face. The noise in the cabin grew to a deafening volume. Gadget looked like she was running mathematical equations in her head. A moment later she lunged for the central console. But her harness was fastened too tightly. Her fingers fell just short of the controls. Desperate, the girl shouted across to Indira.

  “That’s one of the location stabilizers!”

  “How do we stop—”

  Maybe you know the feeling, dear reader. If you’ve ever sat on a roller coaster as it approached the summit. That sickening lurch as you realize you’re no longer in control of where you’re about to go. It’s a moment in which panic thrums in your chest like a drum.

  Indira’s sentence was devoured by a bright flash. Her teeth rattled. Her vision of the world—and the panicked faces of her team—all spun into a vortex of bright colors. Indira gritted her teeth as the B33 device sent them spiraling through space and time.

  Indira was in a tree.

  An actual tree.

  She blinked against the light that cut through the branches and leaves overhead. It felt as if several hours had passed, rather than just a few seconds. She tried to sit up, and the movement almost sent her falling to the ground. Her stomach tightened. The drop was about fifty feet, straight down.

  “I’m in a tree.” She was careful to keep her balance. “Why am I in a tree?”

  A flash of memory. They had been inside the group teleport machine. Their destination had been a town called Ordinary, located in the land of Plot. Indira remembered the look on Gadget’s face when the girl had realized one of the parts was missing. Clearly, their teleportation hadn’t worked as planned.

  “Hey! A little help here!”

  Indira’s eyes followed the voice. In the next tree over, Phoenix was struggling to keep his balance on a branch of his own. The only difference in their situations was that the branches above him were on fire. Indira shouted, “What happened?”

  “I saw you and Gadget panicking before we teleported,” he called back. “I guess it made me panic. And sometimes when I panic…fire comes out.”

  The flames were spreading. Indira glanced down. Gadget was standing well below them, safely on the ground. Allen was lying in a sprawl beside her. Indira cupped her hands to call down. “Gadget! Is he okay?”

  Gadget looked up and her eyes widened at the sight of the fire. “Allen’s asleep! What happened to—oh no…I think…Let me see what I can do….”

  The girl scrambled around the base of the tree, searching for ways to be helpful. Indira’s eyes were drawn back up. The branches directly beneath Phoenix looked too small for climbing down. He needed to go back to the main trunk, wrap around the other side, and go down that way. There was just one problem with that plan, though.

  “The fire is cutting me off!” Phoenix shouted. “What do I do?”

  Carefully, Indira stood. She waited a few seconds, fighting for balance, and called back. “Sit on your branch. I’m going to throw my hammer. When I catch it, you’re going to catch me. Got it?”

  He sat down, straddling the limb. “Are you sure about this?”

  Indira didn’t answer. A glance down showed Gadget circling helplessly. They were too high up for the girl to help them. There weren’t any other options. Indira took aim. Her hammer’s path would have to take her right between Phoenix’s branch and the limb above him. Her eyes narrowed. She took a deep and steadying breath. Before doubts could form in her mind, she flung the hammer through the air. Her entire body whipped forward as she teleported.

  And landed unsteadily on the branch next to Phoenix.

  There was a glint of silver in the air. She reached up on tiptoes and caught the spinning hammer. Phoenix barely managed to grab her. He held on tight as she lowered herself back down onto the branch with him. The first thing she noticed was the warmth.

  It was really hot now.

  Overhead, flames chased across branches, browning the leaves. Phoenix stared at her, clearly still panicking. “But now you’re stuck over here too! What was the point of that?”

  Indira couldn’t help grinning. “Do you trust me?”

  Fire was licking across the limb overhead. “It’s never a good thing when you ask that.”

  “Come on,” Indira replied. “Stand up.”

  It was hard to do more than crouch as the flames lashed overhead, but both of them got to their feet. Indira held out her hand until Phoenix grabbed hold of her.

  “I’m going to need you to stand very still.”

  He resettled his grip on her hand and nodded. Indira leaned out over the branches as far as she dared. The fire was really pressing around them now. She needed to work quickly. Pinching her hammer’s grip between two fingers, she held it out like a pin. It was a huge drop. She knew she’d only have one chance at this.

  Breath held, she released the hammer.

  Her grip tightened on Phoenix’s hand. The familiar tug came as she teleported through the air, but she’d never tried to take someone else with her. It took all her focus to drag Phoenix out of the tree and down to the ground, where her hammer was about to land. Both of them blinked back to life on the forest floor. Allen was still lying just fifteen feet away. Indira could even hear him snoring. Gadget circled around in front of them, eyes wide.

  “Whoa! What? You were just…that’s not possible…how did you…”

  Indira ignored the girl. Her eyes darted up. And her stomach gave a sickening turn. There was one branch dangling above. Directly in the path of her hammer. The weapon nicked the limb as it passed. Instead of falling straight down, it bounced awkwardly out to the right. Indira held tight to Phoenix’s hand and pulled him into a run.

  “Phoenix! We have to catch the hammer to teleport. Jump!”

  As one, they took three giant strides and leaped through the air. Indira reached out to catch her hammer…

  …and missed. The weapon bounced out of reach. The magic that would have safely teleported them away undid itself. Indira stared in shock as the heat came roaring back to life all around them. They were back on the branch, surrounded by flames.

  “No, no, no…I missed it! What do we do now?”

  The hammer had been her only plan. Phoenix drew her lower against the branch. He unfastened his wizard’s robe and pulled it over both of them.

  “Try not to breathe in the smoke. There’s got to be something….”

  Indira squinted down. “Maybe Gadget can throw my hammer back up?”

  But Indira saw that that was impossible. She could make out the girl’s shape through the smoke, but they were far too high. A massive snap sounded overhead. Indira and Phoenix ducked closer together as a fl
aming limb crashed down to their right, barely missing them as it fell to the ground. Indira was still scrambling for a solution when a softer sound filled the air.

  A light pitter-patter. It was coming from above.

  “Rain,” she whispered. “It’s raining.”

  The sky had been completely clear a few seconds before. A typical afternoon blue. Now it was full of dark grays. Indira listened as the sprinkling rain turned into a downpour. It took a few minutes, but the fires overhead couldn’t fight the sudden drenching. One by one, each of the flames died away. Phoenix and Indira were still huddled together when he pointed down to the forest floor and let out a whoop.

  “Nice work, Squalls!”

  Indira saw it now too. Allen was no longer sleeping. His hands were both raised and his eyes glinted with light. She wasn’t a trained wizard, but it was pretty clear that he was performing a spell. She couldn’t believe it. He’d summoned an actual storm to life.

  “Squalls. I get it now.” She grinned. “So, I guess our crew has two wizards?”

  Together, she and Phoenix navigated their way to the ground. It took time to carefully test each branch, but eventually they set their feet back on solid earth. Allen Squalls was standing there, blinking around in confusion. He finally noticed their approach.

  “Sorry. Blanked there for a second. What just happened?”

  Phoenix grinned at him. “You saved us with a storm.”

  Allen blinked again. “I did what now?”

  “You really don’t remember?” Indira asked. “You just summoned a storm!”

  He shook his head. “We were teleporting. Gadget said she was going to cut us up into a million pieces…and then I was standing here. In the forest. Right now.”

  Very interesting. Indira wondered what the connection was between sleep and Allen’s magic. They’d have to figure that out as they went along, she guessed. Phoenix clapped Squalls on the shoulder, thanking him again, as Gadget joined the group, looking properly embarrassed.

  “Guys, I’m so sorry. I should have triple-checked everything. That missing sensor was clearly why we were off course. At least, I’m pretty sure the teleport wasn’t designed so that we’d land in a tree. I’m just hoping now that our location isn’t too far off. I installed all the other guidance sensors besides that one. Which means we should only be a little bit off course.”

  “All good,” Indira replied. “Let’s get our bearings. Where’d we land?”

  An answer came—not from the group but from somewhere deeper in the forest.

  All of them flinched at the sound of a loud and echoing howl.

  The howls were followed by footsteps and snapping branches. Indira turned in that direction, hammer out and ready. The rest of the crew circled to stand with her. A shadowy figure was pressing through the trees and closing in on their location.

  “Wolves,” Squalls muttered. “No one said anything about wolves….”

  But it was most definitely not a wolf.

  Indira squinted as one figure became three. It almost felt like she was looking into a fun-house mirror. Three women approached, their faces identical. Indira could not tell if they were sisters or clones or something more magical. Only their clothing and age didn’t match. The first girl could not have been older than ten. She wore a delightful sundress and an excited smile to match it.

  The second girl looked like a teenager. The sleeves of her more practical dress were muddy, and her hair had been thrown into a quick ponytail. Indira saw she was gritting her teeth, as if braced at any moment for an attack. And the final sister was nearly an adult. She wore majestic armor and—if Indira wasn’t mistaken—a matching crown.

  “Welcome to the land of Plot,” the youngest said. “We are the rulers of this region, and your official welcoming party. You may call me Beginning.”

  The teenager with the dirtied sleeves nodded. “I am Middle.”

  “And I am End,” the queen said crisply. “We were worried when you didn’t arrive at your scheduled time, or at your scheduled location. It was a wonderful idea to send up flares! We saw the fire and headed straight here to welcome you.”

  Phoenix glanced over at Indira before shrugging at them.

  “Er. Yeah. Flares. Those were flares.”

  Indira had to hide a laugh. Gadget, meanwhile, was studying the three of them like a science exhibit. “You’re the same person, aren’t you?”

  “No,” End answered with a sly smile. “And yes.”

  Beginning looked like she might burst from all the excitement. “Is anyone the same person they were at the start of the story? So much can happen! So much can change! I am the same as them, and at the same time I am who I am now. The three of us have ruled Plot for centuries. You’ll start your adventure in my neck of the woods, obviously.”

  “And then you’ll pay me a visit,” Middle added. “Don’t expect it to be fun.”

  End smiled. “And I am the final chapter of your story. We will not know how your journey ends until the very last page. Exciting, is it not?”

  Beginning lugged a briefcase forward and set it down on the ground in front of them.

  “No time to waste!” she exclaimed. “I want you in place by nightfall. You’re here for the Hero’s Journey tutorial. Every story has a Beginning, Middle, and End. But we’ve developed some more specific strategies for storytelling in Plot over the last century. The Hero’s Journey is our most popular method. We’ve got some top-of-the-line tech for teaching the method.”

  Indira and the rest of the crew crowded forward to get a look. All except for Squalls, who was still nervously eyeing the woods behind them for any sign of approaching wolves. The interior of Beginning’s briefcase had a black velvet surface. Six dime-size devices were set into the padded material like precious jewels. Gadget let out a gasp at the sight.

  “No way,” she exclaimed. “We get to use tutor devices?”

  Indira had never heard the term before, and she was thankful when Middle explained what Gadget already seemed to know. “Tutor is short for tutorial,” she said in that steady voice of hers. “These devices are teaching instruments that will walk you through each step in the Hero’s Journey.”

  Gadget was nodding excitedly. “They record everything, too. So we can analyze the data later. And tutors provide graphics as we go through the quest. It’s like a video game. So cool.”

  Beginning smiled. “I have a device for each of you. The tutor will begin with a description of your role in the upcoming story. Most of the time you’re just following your instincts and playing out the scenario you’ve been given. If you start to get away from the classic Hero’s Journey story line, these devices will help you get back on track. It’s like one giant training session.”

  Indira nodded. “That’s actually pretty cool.”

  Beginning carefully lifted out the first device. It was just big enough to cover the tip of her finger and—to Indira’s untrained eye—looked a lot like a contact lens.

  “Let’s start with you, Gadget, since you’re obviously the most excited.”

  Excited was an understatement. Gadget was gripping the young emissary’s elbow and actually leaping up and down like a little kid. She didn’t even need instructions on how to use the device. She simply pulled down one eyelid and slid the lens inside.

  After a few rapid blinks, she let out a delighted squeal. “Wicked! I’ve been dying to get my hands on tech like this!”

  Beginning turned to Phoenix, offering a device. “Naturally, we designed yours to be fire-resistant.”

  Allen Squalls was next. The emissary handed his over, and he promptly fumbled it. Indira watched as he snatched it out of the dirt. He did his best to wipe the device clean on his shirt, even blowing on its surface. And then, lifting it up, he fumbled the device a second time.

  “Slippery little suckers!�
�� he complained.

  Indira couldn’t help smiling. Allen was a little bumbling, but at least he would add some humor to the trip. The emissary approached Indira next.

  “You’re the leader,” she explained. “All the devices will calibrate to yours. So if you change the direction of the story, the advice the others receive will adapt to what you’re doing.”

  Indira nodded. “Makes sense.”

  Middle had marched over and was attempting to roughly jam the device into Allen’s eye. Indira pulled down an eyelid. It was horribly uncomfortable to try to touch her own eyeball. She flinched and blinked and grew annoyed before finally opening her eye and sliding the device inside. She’d never worn contacts before, and the feeling was incredibly invasive. It took her several blinks and a few tears to situate the lens properly. Glancing up, she was disappointed to find that the surrounding forest looked exactly the same as it had a moment before.

  “How does it—”

  Indira fell silent. Words and objects were appearing in thin air. The curtain of trees was still there, but now little icons were imposed over her view of them.

  “Wow!” she said. “It really is like a video game.”

  At the bottom center of her vision, Indira saw her own name floating in the air. The number zero glowed beside it. In the left corner, there was a neatly formatted list running down in an organized column. Indira read the first few items curiously:

  THE ORDINARY WORLD

  THE CALL TO ADVENTURE

  REFUSAL OF THE CALL

  SUPERNATURAL AID

  Indira noticed that the first line was glowing and bold. The other items in the list appeared to be slightly faded. She was half listening as Beginning started giving instructions.

  “…go ahead and read your introductory paragraphs,” she was saying. “I’ll escort you into town when you finish the orientation process.”

  At the very center of her vision, Indira saw a slightly faded paragraph of text. She squinted, trying to bring it into focus. The response was immediate. The words glowed bright enough to read. Gadget wasn’t kidding. These devices were wicked cool.