OK, how many times am I gonna be like “I’m totally finishing this soon,” but then I just… don’t? Anyway…
So, yeah, the Black Dragon showed up at noon. Instead of the cooler “it showed up at midnight.”
But the sun sets super early on the Island at the End of the World, so close enough, I guess?
And the Winter King is still planning on trying to use the dragons to take over the Archipelago, but the trolls’ support is like, an added bonus. Wanna bet he’s like “oh, cool, I have hired muscle now…”
John’s over here like “he’s got the Summoning instructions in the Geographica. Also, he’s got a Ring of Power.” And then the other leaders are like, “yeah, we’ve got Rings of Power, too. Dude ain’t shit.”
“Hey, can we close up Pandora’s Box to stop more Shadow-Born from getting made?” Yes. Do that, Artus.
And Charles and Tummeler are gonna be the ones to go to the Winter King’s camp do it.
Jack’s over here ready to fight more after the little ones on the Indigo Dragon. Dude’s also over here like “I’m good going out there. I mean, nobody’s died yet…” Oh, hun…
And now Aven and Nemo basically decided Nemo is gonna basically babysit Jack (not that Nemo’s gonna mind anyway).
John’s taking Artus to go find the Winter King. Right.
The battle’s starting, and the Shadow-Born haven’t shown up yet… which is a bad sign…
Also, of course Nemo’s got a steampunk gun…
Right as soon as Charles and Tummeler are about to leave, Charles is like “wait, hold up. Hey, Aven, what happened to Jack’s shadow?”
Of course the retreat of the Winter King’s army is a bad thing. And of course the Shadow-Born were waiting until full nightfall to attack.
Oh, fun. The Archipelago has a mix of familiar Earth constellations and some of their own.
Also, the fact that the trip between the Keep of Time and the End of the World was kinda boring compared to the rest of their time in the Archipelago is like… super suspicious. Calm before the storm cliches and all that.
So, like… the End of the World just past the Island is a huge waterfall. And I guess I did already reference that bit in Spy Kids 2 last chapter, but I forgot at first since it’s been months…
And now I’m wondering, since there are conspiracy theorists here on Earth who believe the world is flat, are some conspiracy theorists in the Archipelago Round Earthers?
And… now Charles thinks it looks like the Grand Canyon with a waterfall.
Oh, lovely. The Winter King’s super secret base camp is already on the island. And a shitton of troops are there. Everyone is screwed.
Tummeler to the rescue! With an army!
So, yeah, Ordo Maas’ sons went to Paralon after they permanently turned into birds and told Tummeler and Samaranth to get the army together. But then Samaranth disappeared, supposedly for reinforcements.
And apparently Tummeler hitched a ride with Nemo.
And now all the other armies are showing up.
Oh, fun. The Red Dragon used to be the Argo. And it hasn’t been seen in basically forever.
So it looks like most of the army representatives are cool with Artus being the New High King or whatever.
“I’m coming with you, Charles!” “You? Go into battle? Seriously, Tummeler? Aren’t you a bit, uh, small and friendly?” “I totally got this!”
And Tummeler’s secret weapons are blueberry muffins, because they’re awesome. And because he apparently made them rock-solid.
And the goblins rolled up to the party late, sans Starbucks, like “Hey, guess what, we’re siding with the Winter King now.”
Oh, fun. It’s a longer way down the Keep because it keeps growing into the future, but it still felt faster than going up.
And now everyone’s like “well, that was a wasted trip…” Was it, though?
“The Winter King probably woulda been too lazy to come up here…” “He probably wouldn’t have gotten in anyway without royal blood.” Oh, Charles, if you only knew…
“He does have the Geographica though…”
“Yeah, even with the book and the Ring of Power, he couldn’t get the summoning to work because he’s not the real heir to the throne.”
And of course they get down to the bottom of the Keep and find the Black Dragon pulled up.
So now they’re trying to escape up the tower. And the Winter King’s just chilling at the bottom, basically taunting them.
And now it’s on fire. Lovely.
“Why are we going back up? That doesn’t make sense!” “Because it doesn’t make sense! Duh!”
Of course the Shadow-Born are following them.
“Let’s try a door!” “How do you know it’s a good door?” “We just gotta believe it is.”
So… the las door before the Cartographer’s door now opens to right when they first showed up at the Keep. Because that’s apparently the closest Big Event the doors could pick to “the most recent past.” Well, that’s lucky, even with the possibility of weird time loops and paradoxes and stuff…
And now they’re going to the end of the world.
“Let’s try not to fall off!” “Good plan.” “Wait, hold up, I was kidding…”
Oh, fun. Apparently if you fall over the end of the world, you’ll be falling forever… which reminds me of the bit in Spy Kids 2 when Carmen and Juni fell into the volcano and thought they were falling for hours… (I couldn’t find any memes for it with good captions, and trying it myself was a bit tricky to get the timing right…)
But anyway, with the whole time loop thing, now they’ve got a few advantages over the Winter King. Like the Cartographer’s advice. And a head start, time wise.
So, apparently one of Ordo Maas’ bird kids followed them to keep an eye on when Big Things would happen.
So, the Cartographer’s room has maps and books everywhere. Sounds like my bedroom but just with the books…
And… apparently he’s been shut up for so long he forgot what year it is. And what day. I’ve been trying to finish reading this book for for this blog so long that this is more unintentionally relatable than ever.
“A Caretaker? Hmm… OK, cool.”
“How are the colonies doing?” “Uh, America’s been its own country for a few hundred years…”
OK, how did I miss the Cartographer’s “memory from the future” line about “How is that dear girl Rose anyway?” during my previous rereads?
“Hitler? Who’s that?” “Uh… never mind about that…”
“OK, y’all are Caretakers. Which is it? Geographica additions or Geographica destruction? That’s all I ever get from you guys.” “Uh… we kinda don’t have it.” *facepalm from the Cartographer* “So what do we do now?” “IDK, y’all, your families, your friends, and the whole world are all fucked.”
“Wait, how did y’all get in?” “Uh, the door?” “No, but seriously. The door’s supposed to be next to impossible to open for Caretakers without the instructions in the Geographica.” “Uh, well, Artus did it…” “Oh, shit, that makes sense…”
Ah, yes, Umbugartis, distant cousin of Dentarthurdent and Richardrichardmayhewdick.
“OK, sure, I might not have the Geographica with me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do my job… taking care or whatever.” “Yep. That’s good, exactly what a Caretaker should say.”
“So yeah, that’s what’s going on. Also, Magwich stole everything from us, and now the Winter King has the Ring of Power.” “Oh, he does, does he? Just wait until he reads the rest of the Summoning instructions.”
“One last thing. Choices are Super Important. I royally fucked up some of my choices, and then I ended up here.”
So, they gotta track the Winter King to the Island at the End of the World. That’s a mouthful.
OK, I think this is the longest Jack and Annie stayed while time traveling, even though time doesn’t pass at all back at home. It’s the next morning now.
So Slim’s dropping them off back in town on the way to sell the horses himself.
OK, so, Annie’s convincing Slim to finish writing his book instead of selling horses.
And they’re letting the horses go now.
So the riddle was about an echo in the canyon. I was thinking wind.
Where’s Blue Canyon? (Also, I’ve played the Nancy Drew games so many times, I keep wanting to call it Blue Moon Canyon.)
And now the horses are all OK.
And the ghost that was using the player piano and helped Jack escape the rustlers was Lonesome Luke.
Apparently Luke kinda lost it with grief after his girlfriend left him because living out west was too hard for her.
OK, so Jack was so tired he didn’t get to finish his notes or take off the cowboy boots that were hurting his feet so much before he passed out from being exhausted.
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