Lewis had never felt so defeated in his life. He hated that Josie thought he only kissed her because the journal said to. The evidence against him was damning—his own past selves telling him to lie.

He couldn’t blame her for being angry. Worse than that, he knew he’d hurt her. All the alternate versions of Lewis were just extensions of himself. They’d experienced different possibilities and twists, but ultimately each one was born Lewis Graham. They were all one in the same, deep down. Some may have been more jaded or less smitten, but they were all no more and no less than exactly what he was capable of being. Just because it wasn’t him directly didn’t change anything. An alternate Lewis suggested he use Josie and lie to her face, and it didn’t matter that the thought of treating her that way made Lewis feel sick to his stomach at the moment. He was still capable of such callousness.

Despite his mental anguish, he knew his past selves were only making him do what was necessary. Kissing Kenzie wasn’t about him. It wasn’t about Kenzie and it wasn’t about Josie either—it was about saving all of humanity. How any of them felt about any of it was entirely irrelevant. Kissing Kenzie was the only path Lewis was given. He didn’t have a choice. If he diverged now, the rest of the journal would immediately become useless as the timelines branched farther apart. Without the gift of foresight, the death that loomed on the horizon could very well become inevitable.

A little kiss and a little pain was worth it to save everyone. Save everything. But even so, he hated himself for it. Hurting Josie made him feel worthless.

Lewis waited through class. At the sound of the first bell, he left the restroom again and stood at the entrance of the cafeteria. It didn’t take long for Kenzie to arrive. She spotted him first and came over. Before she could even open her mouth to say hi, Lewis dove in tongue first. He just wanted to get it over with.

Kenzie moaned into his mouth. Her body melted against his. Lewis felt himself sinking. His heart ached for Josie. Kenzie’s lips were soft, but slid against his in an over enthusiastic, needlessly gratuitous way. Lewis pulled away briefly to remove the wad of gum from his mouth that Kenzie had apparently been chewing when they started. Before going back in, he checked to see if Landon had arrived to witness the makeout session and was pleased to find him casually approaching the cafeteria.

Lewis grabbed Kenzie’s face with both hands and went back in. He was a soldier on a mission, aggressively storming her ivory gates. He continued on despite the shrapnel that tore apart his insides, but his resolve was growing weaker with every passing second. He managed to push through, despite the guilt. He didn’t dare come up for air until they were both panting and there was no way Landon could have missed it.

His task was complete. Landon was glaring at him when he looked back over. Lewis just needed to get out of the cafeteria now before Prime or Josie exited the locker rooms and made their way over.

Kenzie grabbed his arm as he pulled away. “That’s it? You’re such a tease!”

Lewis felt dirty, as if he were coated in oil. He needed to get away from everyone. “I’ll be back,” he said. “Just gotta change. Save me a seat.” The meaningless words felt hollow as they left his mouth. He wouldn’t be coming back. Prime would be the one suffering through the next kiss.

Lewis left in the opposite direction of the gym, heading for the school’s north exit. There were several choices of fast-food restaurants across the street from the high school, any of which were better places to wait out lunch and final period than one of the restrooms. He decided to drown away his sorrows with some soft-serve ice cream, courtesy of the lunch money Josie gave him before the start of school. He found the treat did nothing to raise his spirits, but it did at least get the taste of Kenzie out of his mouth.

A pop outside sounded like a car backfiring, but Lewis knew better. He recognized the sound of a portal closing. He craned his head back and forth along the windows, searching for Mr. Gray. In an instant, all the chatter in the restaurant ceased. The various hums of fans and friers cut out simultaneously as well.

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Lewis put a hand to his head, checking his hearing with a double tap on his ear.

Thud, thud.

He turned around and found the other patrons frozen mid-bite.

The Agares are here!

He turned back towards the door and then pretended to freeze in place with everyone else. Movement in the street caught his eye. A huge reptile three times the size of a Komodo dragon sauntered past a frozen car. Upon the creatures back sat one of the Agares. His long scraggly beard was a dirty, yellowed color, tangled up like a mess of wool. He dismounted from the basilisk, his icy blue eyes searching back and forth as he approached the restaurant.

Lewis’s fingers twitched as he thought about pulling out the odd whistle he received from Nona, but he ignored the impulse.

The Agares stopped outside the door. He was easily eight feet tall, with gangly limbs and a slender frame. His pointy face looked like a human face that had been distorted by a funhouse mirror. He hunched down and peered in through the windowed door.

Lewis held his breath, too frightened to move. His eyes were watering but he resisted the urge to blink.

A bell at the top corner of the door rang softly as the Agares slowly pushed it open. The creature’s body filled the doorway like a spider, his long arms gripping the frame as he pulled himself in through the opening.

Lewis’s heart was beating out of his chest. Blood pounded against the insides of his eardrums, filling his head with frantic thuds.

The Agares suddenly dropped to all fours and disappeared from sight behind a row of booths. He was moving like an animal, scampering effortlessly on both hands and feet. The unexpected positioning was an eerie reminder that the Agares were far from human.

The waist-high separator doors to the employee area banged open as the creature moved behind the counter.

Lewis watched as a pale hand reached up above the counter and pulled open the door to one of the freezers. A scrapping sound filled the otherwise silent restaurant—a cardboard box being dragged out of the freezer and then across the linoleum floor.

Standing back up with a slow rise, the creature remained at a hunch as the back of his head brushed against the ceiling. He hefted up the box—raw, frozen burger patties—and made his way back to the entrance.

Lewis didn’t relax from his tense pose until the Agares was back outside, remounted on his basilisk and out of sight around the corner.

They always come in pairs….

Lewis stayed still, but he did allow his eyes to search back and forth through the glass at the street outside. Minutes went by, but the world remained frozen around him. He considered moving from his table to get a better look around, but a creak behind him at the drive-thru window put the fear back in his stomach.

Every muscle in Lewis’s body tensed. Out of the corner of his eye he could just barely see the window slide open and an elongated form slowly rise into view and then silently drop down behind the counter. There was no sound to indicate anything was happening. Lewis counted the seconds in his head, trying not to let fear raise his heart rate. He could already feel the blood pounding at his temples.

Fifteen…

Sixteen…

Seventeen…

Lewis suddenly became aware of a presence close by. It wasn’t in eyesight, and it wasn’t making any noise, except that it was breathing ever so softly. The hairs on the backs of his arms rose up. Whether it was another Agares or some other creature, Lewis had no idea. Whatever it was, it was mere feet away, standing still, directly behind him.

Lewis wished he had the whistle in his mouth. If he made a move for it, he was certain he’d be dead before he even lifted his hand. The presence behind him continued to breathe, deep, soft puffs of air, mocking him; daring him to give himself away with the smallest of movements. Perhaps an uncontrollable twitch. That’s all it would take and Lewis would cease to have ever existed. Erased. Snipped from the timeline. It was the bleakest of all fates, to never be remembered, to ultimately have never been.

Fear overwhelmed him, screaming in his head telling him to fight or flight out of there, but a kernel of sanity—something primal and full of self-preservation—reached out with a clenched fist and held him in place, rooted to his seat.

You can’t move. You’ll die. His primal-self said to his body and mind. He didn’t move. He didn’t breathe. He didn’t even blink.

With pounding feet, the presence behind him charged forward. Lewis hadn’t time to even react. As it reached his back it turned sharply and crashed through a pair of chairs at the table behind him. It stayed down low as it scurried by the row of booths and then slammed into the main door and out into the street.

Lewis didn’t get a good look at whatever it was, but within moments of disappearing outside the restaurant suddenly snapped back to life. The dining area was full of noise as people laughed and talked and chewed. The register dinged and the engines of the refrigerators and freezers rumbled. Outside, the traffic was moving. No one noticed the newly overturned chairs or the missing hamburger patties.

Lewis didn’t move for another ten minutes, letting his ice cream melt into a puddle in front of him.