Chapter 46
As the two boys walked through the halls of The Spire looking for balloons, Joel wondered how he was going to be at all relevant in this little game. The game didn’t really matter in the long run, and he was sure the prize would be dumb, but he still hated being useless. He and Bobby had collected a bunch of blue balloons, but they hadn’t found any yet that challenged either of them to use their meta abilities. Bobby had collected the last target, so Joel would have to recover the next one.
“Sorry if I’m useless today. Again.”
Bobby noticed the defeat in Joel’s tone. “First of all, both of us know you are far from useless at anything. Second, I don’t agree that the rules have tied your hands. I can think of several scenarios where your power could be useful.” Even though Bobby grew tired of Joel’s self-doubt, he still saw value in encouragement.
“Well, I’m glad you can. Because I haven’t thought of one way to use sleep powers to retrieve balloons.”
Just as Joel was saying that, they passed a door with a notecard taped to it. Bobby grabbed the card off the door and read: “Don’t be seen.” Joel peeked into the small leaded window that looked into a large open room filled with a bunch of office workers typing away in their cubicles, talking on phones, and generally conducting all types of business.
Joel perked up and looked at Bobby eagerly. He couldn’t say what he wanted to say because it would break the initial rule of: “You can’t suggest solutions to your partner.” So, he waited for Bobby to ask him to put the entire room of people to sleep so they could get whatever balloon was inside.
“What?” Bobby asked, noticing his buddy’s eagerness.
“Come on! This is perfect.” Joel enticed.
“Oh! You want me to ask you to use your sleep powers on all those people.”
Joel nodded impatiently.
“Well, I’m afraid you are going to be disappointed.”
“Wait, what?” Joel was confused. The solution was obvious.
“You seem to be too reliant on your power for my liking. Plus, I don’t want to risk you accidentally knocking me unconscious again.” Bobby grinned. He wanted to test his friend’s creativity in problem-solving.
“So, I can’t use my obviously, finally useful ability to get this balloon and move on?” Joel asked indignantly. “You suck, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told,” Bobby answered. “What else you got?”
“Well, I guess we could try something stealthy. You snuck in-” Joel caught himself from thinking out loud and giving up their extracurricular activities. “You have displayed that ability to sneak in places in the past. Can you gift that ability to others?”
Bobby looked pleased. “Why yes, Joel, I can gift that ability.”
“What story allows you to do that?” he asked in return. Joel had come to understand the basics of Bobby’s powers by now but hadn’t given much thought to the specifics.
Bobby took his leather-bound storybook out of its holster and handed it to Joel. “You’ve trusted me with a whole lot of secrets. I guess it’s my time to do the same. Find the solution zzz. You’re our only hope.”
Joel thumbed through the first few pages until he got to the first real entry in Bobby’s storybook. It was a page dedicated to “Through the Looking Glass.” There were quotations scribbled all over in Bobby’s chicken scratch handwriting. And a few pictures of cookies and bottles.
“Could you make me really small?” Joel asked.
“I could…” Bobby sounded a bit weary of that idea, so Joel kept reading.
Each page contained more passages from popular stories. From Greek myths, to fables, to nursery rhymes, Joel was captivated by the breadth of the ideas depicted in this book. He was just starting to feel overwhelmed when he got to a page titled “Jack the Giant Killer” and noticed a drawing of an item that could be the key to this little puzzle before them.
Joel turned the book, opened to its current page, to face Bobby and pointed at the fictional artifact in question, and said, “Can you make me one of these?”
“Why, yes, zzz. I can indeed make you one of those. Would you like me to?”
“Yes, please,” Joel nodded.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
At his partner’s command, Bobby began to tell the story of Jack, the giant killer, who encountered a three-headed giant. After robbing the giant, Jack was given a magic sword, a hat that gave him great knowledge, shoes that made him swift as the wind, and….. a cloak. One that allowed Jack to become invisible.
All four items had suddenly appeared before Joel, and Bobby started the passage over, making sure that the words remained conjured so that Joel could don the items and sneak through the office to grab the balloon without anyone seeing.
Invisible, Joel made his way through the door and into the large open office. He surveyed the room for a balloon. Nothing was hanging from the ceiling, so he figured it was likely hidden in one of the cubicles. Slowly, silently, Joel crawled, hunched under the invisibility cloak, around corners, careful not to bump or move anything that would be noticed. As he made his way into the center of the room, he saw it. Sitting atop a water cooler in the far corner, a red balloon in all its glory. Great! All he needed to do was make it past a dozen office workers, slip the balloon under his cloak, and make his way back to the door, all without anyone seeing.
***
Meanwhile, outside the office area, Bobby was repeating the passage from Jack’s story over and over and over, under his breath. He needed to focus on the words, which he could do by just thinking. However, mouthing the words, or even saying them out loud, helped him stay on task. If he depended on just his mind to keep the items conjured, other thoughts could creep in, disturbing his focus instantly. In this case, that would mean exposing Joel and failing the challenge, so Bobby stayed on task, repeating the tale, line by line, while pushing his power through and maintaining concentration on the crucial words. That was until he felt someone bump his shoulder.
“Hey, dipshit,” A voice came from behind Bobby. “Hope you liked Hanzel’s performance. I assure you, it won’t happen again.” Fucking Artie. Of course, Hamster would show up right now.
Bobby kept muttering but put his index finger up in the direction of Artie’s voice as if to indicate that he was busy and would be a minute.
“Oh, so now you’re too good to talk to me? You know, I have more points than you right now, asshole,” Artie seemed to not care about the cameras whirling around them, capturing their every conversation. Maybe he just trusted that The Show would show him in the best possible light. After overhearing The Show talking to Solomon the other night, Bobby couldn’t be sure.
Artie shoved Bobby. “Whatever, dude. Ignore me if you want. We’ll see who wins the war.” He started to walk away, but the damage was done. Bobby’s focus had dropped.
***
Joel was reaching out for the red balloon when he felt the scratchy fabric of the conjured cloak disappear. Realizing the implications, he dove under the nearest desk in the closest cubicle. Luckily it was empty at the moment, allowing Joel to remain unseen. But he was a sitting duck now. Without Bobby here to direct him, Joel wasn’t allowed to use his power. If they were to get this stupid balloon, he would have to figure out how to get to the water cooler, grab the target, and weave his way to the entryway, all while avoiding the office’s workers. It was likely impossible, but like Jax, Joel had played a good many video games in his day and figured if he used distractions and worked methodically, that it was doable. He popped his head up for a split second to take in his surroundings.
Well, that was pointless. Joel hadn’t been trained to assess an area in a split second. He had no idea how many people were in each quadrant, who was standing or sitting, who was distracted and who wasn’t, or even which pathway was clear through the farm of cubicles. Tucked back under the desk, Joel shifted a rolling drawer cart to hide him even further. Right now, all he could do was hope that Bobby had an idea of how to save him.
***
“...so get in there and shout, ‘Kidd Grimm says, It’s time to sleep!’ Got it?” Bobby held Artie by his shoulders and was nearly yelling in his face. He knew that he couldn’t be noticed himself, so he needed Artie to deliver publicly his message. He just hoped that Joel would be able to take in the directive and that Jax would allow an intermediary to deliver it. That’s why he made sure Artie knew to specifically say the message came from Kidd Grimm, from him.
“What’s in it for me?” Artie asked. “The way I see it, you need me right now. I’m not sure what has all you noobs running all over the Spire acting all crazy, but I don’t really care. If you want me to go in there and do what you say, I’m gonna need a little incentive.”
“Ugh,” Bobby released Artie. “Fine, what do you want? Make it quick!”
Artie was like the dog who caught the car, visibly scouring his brain for some sort of big ask.
“How about this,” Bobby interjected, worried about how exposed Joel probably was. “If I ever have the choice, at the next available challenge, I’ll pick you as my partner or try to lobby any of my friends to do so if you’d rather work with one of them.”
“You think they will be pairing All-Stars with noobs? What makes you think I’d want to partner up with one of you anyway?”
“Look,” Bobby was sensing time running short, “Who knows what the future will bring. But if you are ever forced into a scenario where the teams are mixed up, I’m telling you, I will help you get whatever team or partner you want if you just go in there and help me right now!”
It seemed to work. Artie nodded and moved toward the door.
“Remember, Kidd Grimm says…”
“I remember,” Artie interrupted. “I’m not an idiot. Any team I want?”
“Any team,” Bobby confirmed.
***
Joel was about to risk it. It was just one balloon. Granted, it was a ten-pointer. Plus, Joel liked to think this was good practice for the real trials and didn’t want to fail. His tentative plan was to grab the balloon and dive back under his current desk. He would then make his way from cubicle to cubicle, searching for empty desks. He even considered using the phone system to start paging people to the lobby if he could overhear their names while taking cover. He built up his courage and was about to dive for the balloon when a familiar voice shouted, “Kidd Grimm says it’s time for sleep!”
That was all he needed. From under the desk, Joel sent out a wave of energy that washed over the whole room, causing every single occupant to fall into a deep slumber. After he was sure he had knocked out the whole room, he stood up, dusted himself off, grabbed the red balloon from the water cooler, and walked confidently out of the room straight to his beaming partner.