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  Owen reached over and grabbed the book from her hand before she could turn the page. “See?” he said. “It’s the perfect time to sneak in. He’ll never even know, because he’s doing all kinds of magic and talking to Kiel. In and out, five minutes. Ready?”

  “Ready,” Bethany said, inwardly terrified. This was such a bad idea.

  But maybe . . . maybe things would go better than she expected. Maybe it’d even be fun to do a little magic, and they’d laugh and have a good time, and maybe—probably not, but maybe—she’d find that Owen really could be trusted, might even be a friend. That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? To have someone to hang out with in books? To talk about things? Maybe even help her look for her father?

  She smiled, strangely optimistic. Could this be the first time in her life where things actually went well?

  CHAPTER 7

  Bethany took the book from Owen at the marked page, then began to push in with one hand, holding the other out to him.

  Owen took her hand, and then as soon as her head went inside, grabbed the baseball bat he’d left on his bedroom floor. There was no way he was going to face down Dr. Verity without some kind of weapon. The guy had beaten Kiel Gnomenfoot like five times already, and had all the powers of science on his side. The least Owen needed was a bat. A metal bat. It was perfect.

  Now armed, Owen took a deep breath and followed Bethany in. This time they went slower into the book, and he could feel his fingers, then his arm, melting into words, then those words pouring out over the page like brownie batter. When his head went through, though, it was more like stepping through a bubble. First he was in his bedroom, then a tingling, and there he was, standing in the upside-down tower of the Magister.

  The Magister’s study could have stepped right out of Owen’s imagination, if rooms could step. Every wall had bookcases, and every bookcase overflowed with books, almost all of which held spells or potion recipes or a million other things that Owen would have given almost anything to read. Potions bubbled over small flames in various places, and dark shadows snapped and bit at the metal bars of their cages. Kiel’s winged cat, Alphonse, sat cleaning himself on a table, ignoring them. And the Magister himself stood staring into nothing, his mind communicating by magic with his apprentice beyond the end of the universe.

  Owen knew that above them, where the upside-down tower met the underside of a cliff, thousands of magical traps awaited any unauthorized visitor. He also knew that at this moment, Dr. Verity was working his way through them without a sweat. They only had a few minutes before the mad scientist showed up, which meant Owen needed to be in place. And that meant giving Bethany something to do.

  “Spell book,” Owen whispered, nodding toward the center of the room, where a monstrously huge book lay open on a pedestal. “In the Kiel Gnomenfoot books, you learn a spell by reading it, but can only cast it once without the spell book. Then you have to relearn it. So don’t cast the search spell by accident. . . . You’ll only get one shot.”

  “Does it have a table of contents or something?” Bethany whispered, her eyes widening at the size of the book. “How am I supposed to find the right spell?”

  Owen shrugged. “In the books, the spell book always opens up to whatever spell Kiel most needs. Maybe just try thinking hard?”

  Bethany nodded and slowly approached the book, trying not to make any noise. Not that the Magister would hear her, as intent on his magic as he was. That was the only way Dr. Verity had been able to surprise him.

  But not anymore! Owen shuddered at how amazing this was going to be. “I’m going to keep watch,” he told Bethany, then backed away into the shadows next to the door, giving himself a clear view of anyone who came in, as well as of Bethany and the Magister. He pulled the bat from behind his back and held it ready. Too bad he couldn’t use some kind of magic on Dr. Verity, but the doctor would expect that. Baseball bats, though, not so much.

  Bethany reached a hand out to the spell book, but before she could touch it, the book leaped to life, pages turning on their own, making Bethany gasp and step back in surprise. The book came to an abrupt stop, and she glanced down at the page. Immediately a warm glow spread from the book to Bethany’s hands, and she leaped backward.

  “What was that?” she whispered to Owen, her eyes still on the spell book.

  “That’s how it works,” Owen whispered back. “It’s teaching you the spell. That’s what the glow was. Was it the location spell?”

  She shook her head. “ ‘Amnesty of Amnesia,’ ” she read. “ ‘For removing memory.’ ” The glow began to light her up, and she quickly stepped backward again.

  “Why would it give you that?” Owen said, starting to worry. Bethany needed to be done before Dr. Verity got here, or the doctor would see her. The last thing they needed was a spell book that couldn’t do its job.

  Bethany glanced at him, and he quickly shoved the bat behind his back. “Uh, who knows,” she said, sounding almost guilty. “But I don’t remember the words to the spell, so I guess I didn’t give it enough time. Doesn’t matter. Let me try one more time to find the location spell.”

  She put her hands on her forehead and stared at the spell book, apparently trying to make it turn to the spell she wanted. The book complied, flipping its pages to a new spell near the beginning, and Bethany glanced down at it, then gave Owen a thumbs-up.

  She must have found it, because this time as the book began to glow, Bethany laid her hands on the page and allowed the light to slowly sweep up her arms and into her body.

  “It’s like hot chocolate on a cold day,” she said, a tiny smile on her face. The light quickly faded, and she turned back toward him. “That was almost . . . nice!”

  “Great,” Owen told her, nervously looking at the door, where he could swear he heard explosions getting closer. “You sure you have it? Like I said, all spells are one-time things if you don’t have the spell book, so let’s make sure before we go.”

  Bethany closed her eyes. “I think so. I can remember the words. They’re all here in my head.” Her eyes opened, and she held out a hand toward Owen. “Come on, let’s get out of here. This was much easier than I thought it’d be!”

  Owen bit his lip, then shook his head. “Hold on, just let me take this in for one more minute, okay? Since it’s my only chance to ever see it.”

  Bethany looked like she wanted to protest, but instead nodded. “Just don’t take too long,” she said, then went to hide from view behind the Magister’s desk, waiting for Owen.

  Perfect, because Dr. Verity ought to be coming through the door any—

  The door exploded out into the study, knocking Owen against the wall hard.

  “Hello?” Dr. Verity shouted, glowing with the light of his force fields and from the large green ray gun in his hand. “Sebastian? I rang the bell upstairs, but you must not have heard me, so I destroyed most of your tower instead.”

  From across the room and just out of Dr. Verity’s sight, Bethany’s eyes went wide with terror, and she frantically motioned for Owen to stay still. She had no idea what was happening, that the Magister sensed Dr. Verity was there, that Kiel was telling the Magister to save himself, but the Magister refused to stop his spell so the information about the Seventh Key would not be lost.

  “If you’re busy, I can come back later,” Dr. Verity said, then shot his green gun directly at the Magister’s giant spell book, which first exploded, then imploded immediately after. He stepped forward, aiming the gun at the Magister’s back. “Or, we could just take care of things right now, once and for all, my old friend.”

  Dr. Verity’s force field protected him from magic, fire, lasers, and a million other things. But one thing it didn’t protect him from was solid objects, especially metallic ones. For some reason the force field energy got disrupted by metal, which wasn’t a big problem when your enemies all used ray guns or magic.

  Of course, the doctor always had other protection as well, but here, after making his way through the e
ntire tower, all he had left was his force field and Owen knew it, since the book had been pretty explicit about that fact.

  Owen hefted his metal bat and took his baseball stance. Just like Little League.

  Bethany’s mouth dropped open, and she shook her head over and over.

  Owen just smiled.

  “Good-bye, Sebastian,” Dr. Verity said, and his gun began powering up to fire.

  “Hello, Dr. Verity,” Owen said, then swung his bat right at the doctor.

  The bat hit the mad scientist with a hollow metallic thunk, and the evil doctor actually spun around once before collapsing to the floor, hitting his head hard. The force field powered down with a whine, leaving just an old man in a lab coat lying on the floor of a magician’s study.

  For a moment there was silence, as Bethany was too shocked to even move. That moment quickly passed, though, and she stood up. “What did you do?” she asked in a tiny voice. “Owen . . . what did you just do?”

  “I saved the Magister,” he told her, raising the bat in the air like a sword. “Bethany . . . I just saved the Magister! Do you know what this means?” He shouted in triumph, then turned his gaze toward the ceiling and addressed his audience. “Hey, everybody reading the book! Don’t worry, the Magister doesn’t have to die now! I saved him! He’s going to be okay! You’re welcome !”

  CHAPTER 8

  Bethany stared at Owen, her mouth hanging open. How could he have done this? He changed the story! He changed the story ! In all her years of visiting books, she’d never interfered with the story, not once. She’d avoided the main characters, no matter how much she wanted to see them, just so there wasn’t even a chance of this happening.

  Owen must have come in specifically to do this, to save the Magister. He’d tricked her. He’d tricked her! Had he said all that stuff about the location spell as a way to fool her into bringing him into the book?

  “I know what you’re going to say,” Owen told her, backing away from what must have been a pretty upsetting look on her face.

  “Oh, I don’t think you have any idea what I want to say,” she told him, her voice dangerously low. How could this have happened? Would the readers see them, after he’d just yelled out to them? Would it change the next book that hadn’t come out yet?

  Owen held up both his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, I really am, but it had to be done! He was going to kill the Magister! How could I let that happen? Besides, as of right now, I don’t think anyone’s even noticed that you’re here, so your secret should still be safe—”

  “And who might you two be?” said an old, half-amused voice. Owen flinched, while Bethany spun around, hoping that whoever it was intended to shoot fireballs or something at Owen.

  A man wearing robes down past his feet and a beard past his robes stepped over to them, his eyes twinkling, his hat twitching like a living thing. “Visitors!” the Magister said with a wide smile. “And I hope with no intention of killing me? That’s my favorite kind of visitor. And what brings you to my tower?”

  “Don’t. Say. Anything,” Bethany whispered, trying to step back into the shadows. “We’re going. Now.”

  She grabbed for Owen’s hand, but he pulled it just out of reach. “I came to save you, Your Magister-ness,” Owen said. “It was all me. My plan, no one else’s. I heard about Dr. Verity trying to kill you, so I figured I should stop that.” He shrugged. “You know, no big deal. Something anyone would have done, if they’d thought of it. And been brave enough. Like I pretty much was.”

  “Saved me?” the Magister said, then gave him a curious look. “Then you have my everlasting thanks. But you also have my curiosity.” He sniffed the air. “You don’t smell as if you’re from Magisteria. Or Quanterium, for that matter. You smell . . . distant.”

  Despite his friendliness, the Magister’s tone gave Bethany a chill. She grabbed for Owen’s hand again, but this time he smacked her hand away, and she almost punched him.

  “Distant is a good word,” Owen told him. “Where I’m from, we’re all big fans of yours. And Kiel’s.”

  “I have fans, do I?” the Magister said, his eyes twinkling. “What a curious thing. And how did you learn of me? I don’t recall visiting a land with people like you in my travels. Perhaps Kiel has?” He gestured for them to sit down. “He should be back in a moment, if you’d like to wait.”

  Dr. Verity moaned, and the Magister’s gaze fell on the scientist. “Ah, my good doctor,” the Magister said. “This boy seems to have done me a great favor. Not only did he protect me, but he left you vulnerable to my tender mercies.” The Magister gestured, and the mad doctor’s body sprang into the air. Snakelike chains slithered up from hidden parts of the study to wrap themselves around the scientist until no part of him except his head was uncovered.

  Dr. Verity screamed in rage, jerking his head around to no avail. “You couldn’t have seen me coming!” he shouted. “It’s impossible! I had this planned out, and you were meant to die, tonight!”

  The Magister looked him right in the face. “Oh, but I didn’t, Doctor. See you coming or die, for that matter. In fact, I still don’t know how these children knew of your attack.” One finger flicked on his right hand, and invisible hands yanked Bethany out into the light. “The boy has spoken, but you have not, my dear,” the Magister said, turning to face her. “What can you tell me about all of this?”

  Bethany went absolutely silent, her face bright red. Anything she said now would be seen by every single reader of the book, from now until forever. This was her worst nightmare, worse than forgetting to wear clothes to school or the one where she dreamed that her father was actually Mr. Barberry.

  “I . . . ,” she started to say, then froze, her mind blank.

  The Magister smiled gently. “Don’t be afraid. I mean you no harm.” He sniffed the air loudly again. “You smell distant too, though not from as far as your friend. In some ways, you could be from Magisteria. But in other ways, not.” He raised an eyebrow. “You glow with power as well, my dear. Now which would that be? Magic or science?”

  The invisible hands held her tighter, and something electric and cold shot through her spine, giving her the chills.

  “No time for explaining, sorry,” Bethany said quickly, shaking off the odd feeling as she frantically reached for Owen.

  Owen, though, just shook his head, an excited look on his face. “Are you kidding?” he whispered. “We’re not going yet. Kiel is coming. We have to meet him!”

  “You’ll pay for this, Sebastian,” Dr. Verity said, almost spitting with hate. “My infinite armies will attack Magisteria with or without me! I don’t care where you imprison me. I’ll find a way out and will destroy all who profane reality with that blasphemy you call magic. You, that boy of yours, this whole science-forsaken planet of Magisteria—”

  The Magister sighed. “I take no pleasure in doing this, Verity. But you leave me no choice in the matter. You’re far too dangerous.” The Magister gestured, and the destroyed spell book on the podium popped back into existence, then flipped pages faster than Bethany could see, finally landing on a page called “Exile from All Reality.”

  Dr. Verity’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t! Kill me instead!”

  “So your death can trigger further clones of yourself, as it has for centuries?” the Magister asked with his gentle smile. “I think not. In exile, you’ll never age, or hunger, or thirst. Time will stand still, and you’ll find yourself with far more freedom than those you would make war against. Freedom to reflect on the choices that have brought you here.” He patted Dr. Verity on his cheek. “After all, freedom is the right of all beings, is it not?”

  “I think Optimus Prime said that,” Owen whispered to Bethany. Bethany elbowed him in the gut, hard.

  The Magister began his spell. Dr. Verity tried to scream, but the sound was lost as the scientist slowly faded away. The chains, having nothing to hold on to, fell to the floor with an enormous clatter.

  “Um . . . I thought
there was supposed to be a seventh book,” Owen whispered to Bethany. “It’s coming out in a week, and Kiel was supposed to have a big final battle with Dr. Verity. How’s that going to happen now?”

  She shot him a look of pure hatred, but it didn’t even register with Owen. The Magister, however, registered just fine. “A book, you say?” the old man asked. “With Kiel and Dr. Verity? What book would that be, then?”

  This was all far too far. Whatever spell had been holding her had disappeared when the Magister had exiled Dr. Verity, so Bethany leaped right at Owen, her hands spread wide. The boy jumped backward in surprise, but she tackled him around his waist and kicked them both right up out of the book.

  They crashed out of the book’s pages and onto the carpet of Owen’s bedroom, landing hard enough to knock the air out of Owen. Bethany quickly sat up, grabbed Owen’s shirt, and shook him back and forth. “WHAT DID YOU DO?” she screamed.

  “Boof !” Owen said, not able to form words yet.

  “YOU JUST TOLD A CHARACTER IN A BOOK THAT HE WAS IN A BOOK!” Bethany couldn’t even think, she was so angry. “Do you have any idea what that means?”

  “No?” Owen squeaked.

  “ME NEITHER!” she shouted. “And that’s what scares me!”

  She leaped off of him and grabbed the book, frantically turning back to the last page.

  “Good-bye, Sebastian,” Dr. Verity said, and his gun began powering up to fire.

  . . . . To be continued in Kiel Gnomenfoot and the Source of Magic.

  Bethany let out an explosive breath. They weren’t there! The book ended too soon!

  “What does it say?” Owen asked her, looking nervous.

  “It says you are so lucky!” she shouted, then threw the book at him. He flinched, and the book fell back to the floor, falling open. Bethany yanked him up by his arm and stared him right in the face, so close she could feel his breath. “You don’t ever speak to me again, do you understand? And if you ever tell anyone about me, I’ll find the deepest, darkest math book I can find, and drop you into the most boring part!”