Reality Check

The Trojan Horse

Young Folks (by Peter Bjorn and John)

"And we don't care about the young folk. Talkin' 'bout the young style. And we don't care about the old folks . . ."

___

Kiel had blindsided the Magister only a few times in his life.

When he thought of the times he'd actually needed to, he made a clear distinction. The time the Magister had almost killed him — trying to take over the nonfictional world in the process — and all the events after. Before that, though, the thought of even lying to the old man used to make Kiel feel uneasy. Even if he'd had to learn to lie at a young age, just for a way to get by when he lived on the streets, a familiar sensation gnawing at his stomach, which meant he'd either have to find scraps in the trash disposals, or he'd have to trick someone into giving him food.

Not that tricking people had ever made him feel good. In reality, it kind of made his stomach hurt. Just like science did, ironically.

The only other time, probably, was when he first became friends with Charm. The Magister had just needed some convincing that not all Quanterians were evil. So upon meeting her, Kiel did the thing that made the most sense to him. The thing that any little kid would do when making their hopefully-future-half-robotic-best-friend. Thinking she could use a friend — and some reassurance as well — he took her back to his tower to meet the person he admired most in the world.

Needless to say, the Magister hadn't been happy. Not the first time meeting Charm, and not the second or the third or the fourth, when Kiel had snuck her into his room through one of the tower's windows. Eventually, something had stuck, and the Magister had allowed them to stay friends . . . only because he'd mentioned things about quests and keys, and how Kiel being Kiel, would need some assistance to handle it all. He'd never been able to tell if the Magister had ever warmed up to Charm (he knew Charm hadn't), but it'd still worked out . . . until it hadn't.

Years ago, the mere thought of betraying the Magister would've left knots in Kiel's stomach. He couldn't do that, not to anyone he loved. But there was the difference here. Kiel didn't care about the Magister, not after all of the stunts he'd pulled, taking Kiel's magic from him and his trust in the process. But as much as he told himself he didn't care for the old man, he still couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty for what he was about to do.

In order for their plan to work, it was necessary that someone distract the Magister, at least long enough for them to grab the crystal ball and leave. And Kiel made the most sense for the job. He didn't deny that. Of all people, the Magister would be most likely to welcome Kiel the most. Certainly not Bethany or Owen, who he'd probably attack on sight. No, it had to be Kiel, but that didn't mean he was happy about it, no matter how good he was at being a distraction. All he could hope for was that the Magister wouldn't suspect anything, because if the time came, Kiel would have no magic to defend himself with.

So there he stood, on the doorstep of the upside-down tower, which hung off the bottom side of a cliff. He'd never entered from the outside before, as normally, he would've just used his teleportation button to get inside. He was lucky Moira had had some rope in her backpack, which she and the others had tied to a nearby tree root, allowing Kiel to shimmy down it to reach the tower's front door. While he was entering through the door, his friends were sneaking in, courtesy of Bethany's amazing powers.

It was better that way, given just how many magical booby traps awaited intruders that tried breaking into the tower. Conveniently, Bethany had an extra page in her pocket, which she'd decided they could use as a way to smuggle her, Owen, and Moira in without being detected. Owen had referred to it as a "Trojan horse", not that Kiel understood what that meant. He knew what horses were, obviously, but was a Trojan? And why did that have anything to do with smuggling his friends in? He let it go for now, deciding he could ask the other boy about it later.