Not much happened between the death of Eric and the dream. It had been quite a while since I had last seen Alfonso, but I had not expected our next encounter to be so vastly different from the others. I had certainly not expected to have heard what I did in that dream. But one thing became clear to me: Alfonso was possibly the most powerful person I knew, and I had to get to him.

It was the twenty-first of March, nearly three months since Henry and I had rescued Jay from Eric. In that time, Henry had recovered as well as a person could without an eye. The wound on his head didn’t really bother him, but he could not walk without a cane, and now had to wear an eyepatch, to, of course, accommodate for his lack of an eye. It didn’t even make him look like a pirate. It made him look like a valiant warrior, which is what I was beginning to see him as.

We had all gotten much closer to Henry since the fight, as well. He became like an uncle to us all. Like the uncle that everybody loves. The uncle that never seems to be unhappy. That’s who Henry was.

But the dream. The dream was the biggest issue. It was another instance where I became Alfonso, and the shorter man was also present in the dream, as he always made sure to be.

The two of us stood outside on a cold, quiet night, gazing up at the bright stars which stared right back at us. Looking at the man on my right, I saw that his greying brown hair seemed greyer, his green eyes more mystified, and his face older and more tired.

‘What did you find, Alfonso?’ the man asked quietly but angrily.

‘I said I wouldn’t-’ Alfonso began before being cut off.

‘But you can trust me,’ the shorter man said determinedly. ‘We’re the only one that the other can trust, right?’

‘George,’ I said gently, realising that this was the first time that I had heard the shorter man’s name. ‘Do you remember when I told you that Albert would beat Amy?’

George nodded slowly and then his eyes widened. ‘Wait…don’t you dare tell me…’

Alfonso nodded. ‘He will, George.’

‘You’re just repeating yourself,’ George growled. ‘I don’t need to hear it again.’

I stared at him blankly. ‘You have to believe me.’

‘He’s only five, Alfonso,’ Geroge said, turning to face me. His green eyes sparkled as he did so, not with joy or happiness, but with resentment. ‘Unless you have proof-’

‘I do!’ Alfonso said, raising his voice for the first time I could remember.

‘What proof then, Alfonso?’ George shouted.

‘I…When I went…to that place…Amy’s base…’ I began faintly, not looking at George. ‘I…I heard a prophecy, George.’

It felt as though George did not say a word for an hour, although it was most likely only about ten seconds.

‘Y-You’re making that up,’ he said finally. ‘Prophecies are never made.’

‘But Albert is special,’ I argued calmly. ‘He cheated death.’

‘You only went to their base two days ago, Alfonso,’ George said quietly, sounding utterly terrified. ‘The last time you said this you were making it up, right?’

‘Last time I told you, George, I had seen it,’ Alfonso mumbled.

‘What?’

‘I saw it…through Albert.’

‘What?’ George repeated, physically jolting his head back in shock. ‘What do you mean, you saw it through Albert?’

I shook my head. ‘I saw the world through Albert’s eyes. He will kill Amy.’

George stared blankly at me. ‘You mentioned a prophecy, Alfonso. What did that prophecy say?’

I seemingly began to sweat. I could tell that I was panicking, but I was not quite sure exactly why I was.

‘It- You have to promise not to repeat it, George,’ Alfonso said.

He stared at me. ‘You know I won’t. After all we’ve been through together, you know you can trust me, Alfonso.’

‘There are some things in this world that are out of the Gods’ control,’ Alfonso murmured. ‘Albert…Amy…they’re two of them.’

‘W-What?’ George said quietly. ‘Just recite the prophecy!’

‘George, can I ask you something?’ I asked, and I continued before even waiting for an answer. ‘How would you cheat Fate?’

‘What are you talking about, Alfonso?’ he said, evidently getting angrier. ‘Just, please, tell me the prophecy!’

‘Albert will,’ I continued, my mind blank. ‘Albert will cheat Fate more times than you can count. He is a miracle, George.’

As George opened his mouth to argue, Alfonso recited the prophecy. My words were mystical and sounded both distant and clear at the same time. The person speaking did not sound like neither me nor Alfonso. I mean, they had Alfonso’s voice, but he was saying the least Alfonso-like words. Words that sounded like they came from a magical being. Words that sounded like they came from the mouth of Titan himself.

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When it was over, George and I stood in a cold silence, staring at each other, my mind no longer blank. Both of us appeared to be sweating slightly, even though the night was cold. Neither of us could believe what we had just heard.

‘A-Alfonso…’ George breathed. ‘Will Albert really beat Fate?’

‘It appears so,’ Alfonso replied darkly. ‘Once he obtains my power, he will become a force unlike anything this world has ever seen before.’

‘B-But he’s just a normal kid.’

‘Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. Who really knows?’ I said calmly, before being hit by the cold punch of reality.

I stared at my ceiling for ten minutes, frantically trying to process what I had just seen. What I had just heard. Who I had just become. It took me a moment or two to fully grapple the fact that I was in my own body, which was standard after becoming Alfonso.

He had said that he saw the world through my eyes, and that made me uncomfortable to no end. Was he watching me now, as I tried to handle what I had just become?

Surely I would be able to feel him, right? He was me just as much as I was him. Whenever he came to my mind, it felt as though we were the same person. It felt like the two of us were inexplicably intertwined, like our fates were one and the same.

I had to tell everyone what I had just heard, that was for sure. I couldn’t keep something like that to myself. Not something that big. That was a prophecy, for the Gods’ sakes. I had just heard what would happen. What I would do.

And Alfonso had said that I was out of the Gods’ control. I was free. I didn’t act by their will. They could not contain me. That served as a good confidence booster, but it certainly did not help clear up the prophecy in the slightest.

The one thing that was puzzling me was who to tell first. Ethan? Grandad? Henry? Maltor? All of them at once? Should I arrange a meeting for later that day just to tell them all what I had heard? I was sure that they would want to know. No - I was sure that they needed to know. That…thing that I had just heard emerge from Alfonso’s mouth…that was not the sort of thing that I should keep hidden. But it was also not the sort of thing that everybody should hear. They would have to swear by everything they know that they would not tell a single soul. I trusted them.

I slowly sat up in my bed, staring at the dark wall before me, cautiously planning my next step. I had a dark feeling about the next few days. An inexplicable gut feeling that the next week or so would be so terribly crushing. A looming sense that I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life.

You have to do it, Albert. You have to tell them.

It was that voice again. The voice that showed itself whenever I apparently needed it, no matter how much I thought I could think on my own.

Then something strange happened. I could see myself, but not from my eyes. It was like being in third person. I was watching myself from above whilst also being able to move my real body. It was almost as though some invisible person were standing next to me and I was looking at the world through their eyes. I saw my own blue eyes stare into my soul in nothing short of confusion.

You have to let them know. You have the power to dictate Fate, Albert. So do it. Change the past. Change the future. Tell them.

My breathing became shaky. Whatever this voice was saying, it fitted in nicely with what Alfonso had said in my dream. What did it mean? What was I going to do that would change Fate? Not just change Fate but change the past, change the future? Taking a deep breath, I stepped out into the living room, my mind made up. I was going to tell everyone what I had heard. They had to know. And this voice in my head would not go away until I did.

I was suddenly sucked back into my own body. It was strange for a few moments, as my mind was not only reeling with the effort of trying to process everything going on, but I had just switched between two bodies, and one of them was invisible; there was definitely nobody standing next to me.

I walked down to the lobby of The Tower, where Quinn and Maltor were engaging in yet another hushed conversation. I sauntered over to them and the moment they saw me, they both fell silent.

‘Are you both free tonight?’ I asked coolly.

‘Yeah. Why?’ Maltor asked quickly.

‘I saw something,’ I said, avoiding his gaze.

‘Saw wh-’

‘A prophecy.’

Quinn’s eyes widened. I could see his arms faintly trembling. Maltor, too, had gone pale. The two of them looked as though I had just revealed something that they only would have seen in their worst nightmares.

‘Don’t tell anyone, please,’ I begged. ‘I’ll do it myself.’

‘What do you mean?’ Quinn asked immediately.

‘I’m gonna ask everyone else if they’re free, and I’ll tell you all tonight,’ I replied, confused. Something was wrong. They were talking too quickly.

‘Why can’t you just tell us now?’ Maltor said, bouncing on his heels. But he was not excited. ‘Why do you have to wait?’

‘Because I want to tell everyone at once?’ I said, raising an eyebrow. ‘What’s-’

‘You can trust us,’ Quinn said, avoiding my stare. ‘Just tell us now.’

‘No. I will tell you tonight, at a safer location,’ I said. ‘Besides, I can’t have Amy hearing about it.’

‘Yeah, you’re right,’ Maltor said, a shadow coating his face so that I could not see his expression. ‘We don’t want Amy knowing that you’ve heard something like that.’

Quinn stared at the ground. ‘Just let us know when and where you need us. We’ll be there.’

I exited The Tower swiftly. Maltor and Quinn had definitely not helped calm me down. I had never seen anyone so suspicious as the two of them.

I went from house to house, telling Ethan, Natasha, Asbel, and Jay about what I needed them to do. I told Henry and Charlotte, and then even met with Tom and Heather, who were the other two that had rescued me and my friends that day at the house.

I had felt bad interrupting Henry and Charlotte, as when I had found them, they had been slowly walking along the street, coffees in hand, smiling and laughing with each other. Henry had bought a hook to sit at the end of his wrist in replacement for his left hand, and the greatest thing about it was that I was sure he did it for the laughs, not because he thought he’d ever use it in combat.

And as I’d been walking back to The Tower to see Grandad, I saw the two of them again, exiting a jewellery shop together, and this time Charlotte was wearing a golden necklace. They seemed to be so happy in each other’s presence that it was upsetting. They were so happy and yet they spent every other day of their lives risking them.

When I broke the news to Grandad his eyes widened.

‘A-A prophecy?’ he had breathed shakily.

‘Yes, Grandad,’ I assured him for the third time. ‘Do you have any idea of a place we could meet?’

‘There’s a small shack of sorts in the Forest to the south,’ he said, staring at the photo on the wall. ‘It has enchantments around it, so nobody can Apparate inside or nearby, and it’s in a discrete place, so they should have trouble finding it unless they have inside information.’

‘Do you think you could tell everybody else that’s where we’re meeting?’ I asked, hoping it wasn’t too much.

‘How would everyone get to such a place?’ he asked himself.

‘I mean, surely you can Apparate to outside the enchantment boundary,’ I said. ‘And Maltor and I can fly there.’

‘Genius!’ Grandad exclaimed heartily. ‘How did I not think of such a thing?’

He hugged me. A cold grip encased my heart, nearly making it hard to breathe. I was about to do it. I was going to make the biggest mistake of my life, past and future. I was going to set things in motion that could not be undone. I shivered at the visions swirling around my mind.

Grandad and I untangled from each other and he smiled down at me, nodding.

No. I told myself. You’re doing the right thing.

And with that, I promptly exited the office, heading down to my bedroom, where I shoved my face deep into my pillow and screamed as hard as I could.