Sophie didn't ask to meet a stranger from a completely different dimension on sunny morning, warning her that her story does not end well.

But that's what she got.

She'd simply been making herself a pot of coffee when there was a knock at the door. Sophie stuck a piece of toast slathered in orange marmalade in between her jaws and opened the door, thinking, Who's knocking at my door at ten in the morning on a Saturday? When she saw him, she simply stared at him in confusion.

He was a tall man, probably no more than twenty five years of age, with olive-toned skin and mid-length black hair that swept over his eyes in a shaggy set of unkempt bangs. He appeared to be Asian, with brown, almond-shaped eyes that angled upward slightly. He was lithe but appeared to be well-muscled, with thin yet firm arms. Sophie decided he was nothing like her; she was shortish, with wavy blonde hair that bounced around her shoulders messily. Her eyes were round and green, a light spattering of freckles dotted her cheeks, neck, and shoulders, and her skin was more of a surfer's tan than an oriental tone.

Besides all that, the man appeared to be normal. He was wearing a simple sweatshirt, a pair of shorts, and sneakers, yet he had a concerned look in his eyes.

But Sophie couldn't help thinking, He's cute...in a rugged way. The man held up a book.

"Okay, you probably won't believe this," he said, "but I love your story."

Sophie blinked. "T-thanks...they're not very popular, though."

"No, I mean your story, your life. See, I'm from a different dimension entirely, and where I come from, you're nothing more than a fictional character. And I know how your story ends...and I want to keep it from happening. That's why I came here."

Sophie busted up laughing. "Seriously?" she giggled. "Who's gonna believe you?" The man shoved the book at Sophie.

"You are." The way he said it made Sophie stop laughing, and she tentatively took the book from him. She looked at the cover, than gasped and dropped the book in surprise. With shaking hands, she bent down and grabbed it. Her heart pounded as she reread the title.

The Life of Sophie Carter. That was her. She opened the book and skimmed through the pages. Dread built up inside her. Everything that it said in here either already happened or was going to happen. The strange man grabbed the book from her before she got too far. "You don't want to see your future," he warned, "but after we get this fixed I'll let you read it. Now do you want to live or not?" Sophie nodded blankly and let the man inside. When he got to the dining room table, he set a laptop on it next to the jar of marmalade and sat down heavily. "I'm Zack, by the way."

"S-Sophie. Would you like anything?" Sophie wanted to smack herself. Of course this guy knew what her name was.

Zack shook his head. "Nah," he said casually. He seemed pretty calm for being the only way Sophie would live. As if reading her mind, Zack reassured, "Don't worry. The only reason I'm calm is because this is a comparatively small quest. I've battled things enough to give you nightmares and then give your nightmares nightmares. I single-handedly protected my entire planet from being destroyed by these double-nightmare-whammy creatures."

Sophie gave Zack an unsure nod. He produced a steaming plate of bacon and pancakes from his bag, tapped a button on the keyboard, and grabbed the fork and syrup packet that popped out of disk drive. Shoveling three pancakes at a time into his mouth--each saturated and dripping with syrup--he entered a search browser and began looking up "Mavian Current Events". A webpage popped up and Zack clicked on it. Headlines were in caps-lock across the top of the page, stating that "HOLOGRAOHIC DRAGONS DESTROY MAVIAN CITY". Zack frowned, stabbed a hapless strip of bacon, and shoved it into his mouth, scrolling down on the page. Multiple pictures showed huge semitransparent dragons ravaging a city, each a light, electronic blue. Zack inhaled sharply. Sophie peered at him, and he quickly scrolled down. Sophie could have sworn she saw tears well up in his eyes. She caught the name of the town as Zack read through the page: "Yungtao". The fact that it was actually Chinese surprised Sophie, though she didn't know why. She just expected it to be an extraterrestrial language since it was in another dimension.

Zack grunted, stuffed the last pancakes and slices of bacon into his mouth, and closed the browser. "That makes sense," Sophie muttered, lost in thought.

"What does?" Zack cocked his head. Sophie started. She hadn't realized she'd said that aloud.

"Uh...you with your magic restaraunt-satchel and computer that produces eating utensils. Being from a different dimension kind of coinsides with having cool gadgets." Zack nodded blankly. He tapped his pockets in thought. Sophie studied him carefully. Now that she thought about it, he seemed very familiar...

"Grab your library card," Zack ordered.

"What?" Sophie demanded. "Why?"

Zack gave her a sour smile, and his eyes glinted with sad yet malevolent realization. "We're going to the library."

Normally Sophie loved going to the library, and just thinking about it made her skin tingle.

But Zack, this stranger from another dimension who was gradually becoming more familiar, made it feel as though he was leading her to the gallows.

Zack gently pushed Sophie down into a chair and began hunting through the bookshelves. He quickly located the "U" section and began scanning vigorously. Sophie squinted at him. What author had a name that started with "U"? Zack returned, his expression grim, with a book in his hand. He slapped it on the table.

Sophie was really starting to hate books, which, as an author, would have gotten her mobbed if she'd said that. The book Zack returned with was one of Sophie's favorites: Programmed Demise. A science fiction novel about holographic dragons, mechanical alien things, demon computers, monsters, and a planet called Mava.

Wait a minute. Sophie began piecing everything together. She wanted to slap herself. How could she be so ignorant? This was one of her favorite books, one that she knew everything about. And now she remembered a minor character whose name was Zack Tsung.

Zack nodded as he saw realization dawn on Sophie's face. "Yes, I'm Zack Tsung. And to you, I don't exist...same with you to me. I never played a big role in that story...read it, wanted to change who I was. Thing was...I kind of visited another dimension to get this book. See, this book exists in all dimensions except mine. Same way your story," he held up The Life of Sophie Carter in his hands, "exists everywhere but here. I'd been traveling through the dimensions--it's part of my job. And I came across this book. Being a bookworm, I automatically took it in. I'm the only one in my dimension who owns it. Anyway, I read it, and as I read it, strange things started happening. Weird creepies kept popping up all over the place. By the time I finished reading the story--which freaked me out, being as I was in it--holographic dragons had started appearing. I didn't like how I played such a small role in the book and then ended up being viciously ripped apart by two Carydinthian bearskaws--"

"Yes, those terrifying space-alien-bird-things," Sophie interrupted.

"Yeah. So I went and changed it. I destroyed the enemy...for now at least. The Author isn't very pleased with me, number one for owning a book I wasn't even supposed to know existed, number two for not getting viciously ripped apart, and number three for going out and ruining her story by changing it to the way I wanted."

Sophie frowned. "Wait," she said slowly, "who's this 'Author'?"

"The one who writes about you," Zack said, as if this should be obvious. "She only writes about people that scare her and threaten her existance. She's this powerful, magical being, and whatever she decides that will happen to her characters happens to them in real life. So you...you interested her the moment you were concieved. She knows the future, Sophie. And she goes and changes it...just like I did, and just like I want to do for you."

"What about her side characters? You were a side character."

"If she includes living persons as side characters, it means they threaten her but not as much as the main characters. Also, I found the book in the 'U' section. In the category 'Unknown'. Look here; there's no author name." Sophie gulped and tapped nervously on the table; the Author had no name. And she didn't understand why she, a humble, very non-threatening author, would scare an evil presence. She also didn't understand why Zack--that lovable character who ended up dying in a book--cared enough about her character to come to her dimension and save her. Sophie was nothing more to Zack than a figment of the imagination as far as she was concerned.

"Zack...what was so special about me that made you come here to save me?" Sophie queried quietly. Zack focused on his sneakers. His bangs hung low in front of his face, but was that...blushing that Sophie saw under there?

"Your personality. Your bravery. The way you help others. You're a subtle hero, Sophie." Now Sophie was blushing.

"I'm not that heroic," she mumbled. She'd heard of kids getting crushes on fictional characters; her niece was obsessed with Percy Jackson, and Sophie's friend's daughter had a crush on Hiccup from the movie How to Train Your Dragon. But this was taking it to a whole new level. She'd kinda fancied Zack in Programmed Demise, and Zack obviously was crushing hard on her. Sophie tried to shake it off, but it kept nagging at her like a fly on a hot summer day.

And, like the victim of a fly on a hot summer day, Sophie futilely swatted at it in an attempt to keep it away.

Zack stood up suddenly and grabbed his bag. "Sophie," he whispered, "get up, slowly."

"Why?" Dread crept up in Sophie's chest. Slowly she stood, and risked a glance behind her. A computer had turned itself on, and the mouse was moving as if it had a life of its own. The keys were clicking themselves repeatedly and a grim message had popped up on Google documents: "Zack Tsung shall pay, and those he saves will die with him." Sophie watched in horror as the computer grew legs of cables and stood up on its desk. The keys clicked again and another message was written: "Ready to die, Sophie? :)" The stupid piece of technology even had the nerve to type a smiley-face emoticon, which insulted Sophie and disturbed her at the same time.

Sophie wanted to be the brave author The Life of Sophie Carter portrayed.

Instead she shot through the library, yelling, "NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE!!!" The computer chased her, trailed by Zack, who was furiously waving his arms and hissing at Sophie to be quiet. Several librarians glared at Sophie as she ran by, then saw the demon-possesed computer and screamed. Kids cried and mothers screeched, keeping their children from the scary computer typing morbid death threats at the woman it was chasing.

Zack whipped out a flat sheet of bluish metal about five inches square, ran his finger across it a few times, and tapped it as he ran. White lines appeared, glowing. Zack chucked the metal like a boomerang, and it lodged itself in the back of the computer. Then a white flash exploded into view, and suddenly the computer collapsed on the floor, its monitor shut down and cables smoking. Zack picked it up and examined it. He grunted and turned to the horrified people in the library. He bowed. "Sorry about that. Minor computer malfunction. It's fixed now, but this computer is as good as trash now." With that, he followed the still-screaming Sophie out of the library.