He’s doing the best he can, but it’s a huge task. I’m sure when we finally see it, it will be amazing.

I don’t understand fans who have turned against him because the last book will publish later than originally planned. Even if there’s never an end to the series, I don’t care. It will never take away those hours of pleasure the books provided for all of us. I’m just thankful he’s given us what he has.

BOB

The Gun

The gun looked real. No orange tip, no obvious seams where molded plastic pieces had been glued together.

Although who was Bob kidding? He could tell a dirk from a stiletto, but modern weapons were a mystery.

Besides, the important thing about this gun was that it was pointed at his chest. The end of the barrel was just a few inches from his heart. Adrenaline jolted through him.

“Get in the trunk,” the young man ordered.

Bob raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Please, Derrick. I just—”

“Shut up,” Derrick barked. “I don’t want to hear another word out of you, understand?”

“But—”

The word hadn’t even left Bob’s mouth before the butt of the gun connected with his temple.

Bob’s last, half-formed thought was that the gun certainly felt real.

BRIDGET

Compelled to Change by an Outside Force

“Queen Jeyne regarded the assassin,” a voice murmured in Bridget’s left ear. “‘You must find the babe, and you must kill it. Or you and your family will die screaming.’”

Belatedly, Bridget realized Mr. Manning was eyeing her. She straightened up and looked at him attentively. She resisted the urge to check if her hair completely covered the single earbud and the short stretch of wire that disappeared under the collar of her shirt. Normally it wasn’t hard to listen to an audiobook and a teacher simultaneously, but physics was sometimes challenging.

“While it’s true that a falling apple got Isaac Newton thinking about gravity,” Mr. Manning said, “there’s no evidence one hit him on the head. But he did start wondering why apples always fall down, rather than sideways or even up.”

He still seemed focused on Bridget, so she tried to look intent as he explained how Newton had postulated that everything in the universe was attracted to everything else in the universe. Calculating the degree of attraction required a complicated formula, but it basically depended on how far apart the two objects were, as well as their mass.

Walker’s stage whisper came from the last row, perfectly pitched to reach the other students but not Mr. Manning. “If that’s true, then how come I’m not attracted to fat girls?”

As the offensive comment earned him a few snorts, Bridget exchanged an eye roll with Ajay, one row over.