Bently McQuinn Saves Literature

It was very slow going up the mountain. Bently seemed to be completely sapped of energy, even worse than everyone else. ‘It must be a bit of whiplash from growing myself wings,’ he thought. He wanted nothing more than to lie down in the snow and sleep, even if that meant he would probably freeze to death. But that sounded nice right now.

‘No! I can’t think like that!’ Bently reprimanded himself. ‘Gotta keep going!’

But that got harder and harder to do. His face, hands, and feet were numb. The blizzard seemed to be getting worse. Bently glanced behind him. The others were just as cold, and beyond them, Bently couldn’t see anything but white after a few meters of road. Either the blizzard was getting much bigger, or the Blank World was creeping up after them. Bently assumed the latter.

“It’s gaining on us, we gotta hurry!” he yelled over his shoulder.

As they struggled higher and higher, Bently was suddenly reminded of his dæmon, Harlima. He closed his eyes and tried to focus within himself.

‘Harlima,’ he called out. ‘If you can hear me, please. I need help. Help keep me warm, I need to reach the top alright. And if there’s anything you can do to help the others, that would be awesome as well.’

‘Long time, no talk, Bently,’ came Harlima’s deep voice from inside his head. ‘I’ll keep you warm and let the others know.’

‘Thank you,’ Bently replied, extremely grateful for Harlima and pleasantly surprised to hear her voice. As they walked higher and higher, the storm got worse and worse, and the Blank World drew closer and closer, but Bently steadily got warmer. He also grew more hopeful and powerful, like a tiger. A large, white tiger, to be exact.

“Come on, we’re almost there!” cried out Duncan--or maybe Quigley, Bently couldn’t tell--and they all surged forward.

Everyone seemed to be feeling better now, and they traveled faster. Instead of the Blank World gaining on them, they seemed to move at the same rate now. Lucy’s face wasn’t blue anymore, King looked a little younger even, and Meggie had never looked so determined. Bently felt proud at the sight of them.

Finally, they reached the top. They had walked or rather, half ran, all day, and now the world was getting darker. Bently hoped they would have enough light to fight and get out of here in time.

They now stood at the edge of the crater Quigley had been talking about. Down inside it, at the very bottom, were three figures and a large rock. Or maybe it was a small person.

“There they are,” Quigley breathed.

“Let’s go get ‘em,” Bently said, eager to fight. And they started their decent.

The crater was coated in ice. All of them slid down the slope at one point or another. As they clambered down, the Blank World was catching back up. As soon as they reached the somewhat level floor of the crater, there was nothing but the crater. This needed to end now.

Jasper had a boy and girl tied up who Bently assumed were Violet and Klaus. On the ground next to them was a small child who couldn’t have been older than three, who was tied up as well. All three of the kids were looking blue.

“You’re too late, McQuinn,” said Jasper, his eyes red and skin whiter than the snow. “As soon as they’re frozen, all I need to do is take care of those triplets and this world will be completely gone. All the books will disappear.”

“It’s not too late yet,” growled Bently, and he pulled Gryffindor’s Sword and charged.

But Jasper was fast. Very fast. He was gone long before Bently even reached the spot where he used to be standing.

“I know your tricks, McQuinn,” Jasper shouted. His voice echoed around the crater from where he was standing on its slope, very far away. “I know all you need is to get that Medallion near me, but that won’t be happening. All I need to do is wait for the Blank World to just eat you up.”

“Good plan,” Bently said sarcastically. “But then, it’ll eat you too, and we both lose.”

“No, just you. Because my mistress will continue to destroy books, and soon, she’ll rule the world!”

“That’s what you’d like to think,” retorted Bently. He didn’t know what to do next.

The triplets had untied Violet and were now working on Sunny and Klaus.

“H-how can I help?” she asked Bently, shivering. He threw his cloak around her shoulders.

“Make sure you don’t lose my notebook, but I need to somehow get this medallion near or, preferably, on him,” he said, pulling out the Medallion from underneath his shirt. He started shivering almost immediately.

Violet frowned at the Medallion for a moment before pulling a ribbon from her pocket and tying her hair up with it. “These rocks…” she muttered. “If you heat them up, they’ll stick to cold things. We could wrap the medallion around a rock and then get the rock to stick to him.”

“Brilliant,” Bently said. “I need my notebook and pen.” Violet handed them to him, and he yelled, “Everyone huddle around me! He won’t come near as long as I have the Medallion!” And so everyone drew weapons and threw their cloaks around each other, trying to heat back up. The storm was raging even more, and the Blank World was starting to creep down and into the crater.

“Or…” said Lucy. “If we’re good, we could just wait until the Blank World forces him near us.”

“I think he’d rather sacrifice himself. Let me write.”

Bently scribbled furiously, ignoring the threatening frostbite on his fingers and the numbing of everything else on himself.

“Quick, Meggie!”

“Below the group, despite the blizzard, the ground was growing warmer and warmer. The volcano was waking up. The ice on the ground was melting, and their feet were starting to get some feeling back in them. Soon, there was steam around them, heating them. The rocks were almost hot.”

As she read, the ground indeed started to defrost. Bently gave Violet the Medallion, who chose a rock and wrapped the chain securely around it.

“You’ve got one chance,” she said, handing Bently the rock.

“Right,” he said, testing the weight in his hand. He had no idea if he could do this or not.

“Bently, let me do it,” said Lucy, her teeth still chattering slightly. “He’s coming closer, and I’m the best shot.”

He handed her the rock and Medallion with a, “Don’t miss.” She merely nodded.

Through the steam and blizzard and approaching Blank World, all they could see of Jasper was a grey outline. He didn’t seem to be trying very hard to escape.

Lucy threw the rock with all her might and it hit its target. Bently rushed forward, the Sword in his hands and found Jasper. He was struggling to pull the rock off him, which had stuck to his hands. The last expression on Jasper’s face before Bently ran the sword through him was a look of pure surprise. The rock and Medallion fell through the air and Bently caught it as the blizzard swept Jasper’s orange dust away. The Blank World had been at Bently’s toes and now it too retreated twice as fast as it had been eating the world.

The blizzard let up. The snow was falling gently, but didn’t stick on the ground because of the steam. Bently felt completely warm now, and he sheathed the sword again as the Blank World went zooming back.

“Thanks, Bently McQuinn,” Violet said, holding Sunny up in her arms. “We can start to fix things again.”

“Well, you know, we wouldn’t want for your world to disappear, that would be awful,” Bently said, smiling. “How many more books, Meggie?”

“Two,” she said, frowning.

“What’s wrong?” Lucy asked.

“Well, I just got another report from Hogwarts,” Meggie replied, holding up a sheet of paper. “They’re under attack again. We’re going to need to go help them after we finish up with Alice in Wonderland.”

“So make it fast?” Bently asked, throwing the Medallion and his cloak back on and shoving the notebook and pen into the hidden pocket.

“Yeup.”

Meggie put away the paper and pulled out Alice in Wonderland, turning to the passage that would let them into the book.

“Bye! Thanks again!” said the triplets as the characters began walking away.

“There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over it’s head.”