Lewis awoke to find Mr. Gray opening packets of sugar in the coffee condiments area.

"I prefer the cubes," he said.

Lewis couldn't respond with his family present, but he continued to watch Mr. Gray out of the corner of his eye while he ate breakfast. No one spoke. His family was still very upset with him for the role his negligence played in the fire. Lewis's father drove him and Jenny to school once they were finished eating. He'd taken the day off from work to focus on figuring out what was to happen next to get the house fixed. He handed each of his children some money as they got out of the car—they were to ride the metro bus back after school. They would be spending a lot of time at the motel while a construction crew assessed the damage and got started on the restoration.

With a little bit of extra time before class, Lewis headed straight to the nearest restroom. He was looking for an empty place to confront Mr. Gray. He peeked his head in.

Empty.

He sat down in the largest stall and placed his backpack, containing Mr. Gray, in his lap.

"I'm one of the Chosen, aren't I?" he asked.

If Mr. Gray was surprised at the question he didn't show it.

"You are," he said. "I told you, you are important later."

"So my destiny isn't decided?"

"You have several possibilities," said Mr. Gray. "Most are not good."

Lewis took a breath to settle his nerves. "And you are nudging me towards a good path?"

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"I am nudging you towards the only path that doesn't end in disaster for your race."

Lewis narrowed his eyes. "So, what? If I don't listen to you the world's gunna explode?"

"Not explode," said Mr. Gray. "Your realm will be snipped from existence. Erased. The energy will be repurposed by the Agares."

Lewis's jaw dropped open. It was difficult to take anything Mr. Gray said at face value since he didn't trust him, but it seemed too extreme a lie to make up. "Who or what are the Agares?"

"Another race," said Mr. Gray. "They are parasitic. Outgrew their own realm."

"Ok..." said Lewis. "So—?"

"—I already know all of your questions," interrupted Mr. Gray, losing his patience. "There is a war raging amongst the immortals. It is being fought in the Beyond, within your realm, and throughout many others. Some of my kind are working with the Agares to end your realm, others, like me, want to save it. It is a bad trend, repurposing timelines the way they do. It causes unbalance. I do not believe they will stop, even after all of the realms are snipped. I enjoy humanity. It is very important that you do everything I say. Your world's ultimate fate lies in the balance."

Lewis opened his mouth to ask one more question.

"No," said Mr. Gray, "I can't tell you your possible fates nor can I tell you what your pinnacle decisions will be. That would be cheating. I won't say anymore. You overthink things if I do."

Lewis had a lot to process.

The door to the bathroom opened as another student came in. "I'm going to nap now," said Mr. Gray. "You can be quite exhausting."