The close call at the fast food restaurant tied several additional tendrils of self-doubt to Lewis’s already troubled thoughts. It was hard not to display his internal panic outwardly. He swallowed hard on a dry lump in his throat. The enemy before him was menacing and truly horrifying; an overwhelming opposition. The whistle dangling on the chain around his neck felt about as useful as holding up a pen to face down a tank.

The threat before him wasn’t some bully at school. He wasn’t facing a pair of kooky criminals that he could thwart with toys in a humorous way. He couldn’t call the police, or run to his parents. This was John Connor facing down a cybernetic organism from the future kind of odds. Except that Lewis didn’t have Hollywood logic and storytelling on his side.

He didn’t have a magic wand, or the force. He didn’t even have a computer virus to take down the alien mothership. Nothing he’d seen at the movies was going to help him now.

There was no wacky professor with a time traveling car… except he did have Mr. Gray. Lewis hadn’t seen all those movies, but he doubted any of them would have helped anyway.

He walked back across the street to the high school with the whistle held firmly between his lips. If the world froze around him again, he would at least be ready to give it a blow. He blew into it softly now, testing it out, but no sound came out in any registry he could hear.

He continued on around the school and past the parking lot and sports field to the small greenbelt at the edge of the property. He knew Josie was already scheduled to meet Prime there after class, and Lewis was finally coming to the realization that during the first time around when he’d seen a flash of blue disappear into the trees it must have been his own blue hoodie. Prime would be just barely catching him talk to Josie in about ten more minutes. When he reached the small clearing where Prime would soon be attacked by Landon and the other bullies, he was surprised to find Mr. Gray, Adeona, and Orcus all already standing there waiting for him.

“Hello, Lewis,” the Parcae said in unison.

“You know it’s creepy when you guys all talk at once, right?”

The Parcae looked at each other and then back at Lewis.

Mr. Gray frowned at him. “Please don’t blow that whistle when you don’t have to,” he said. “We could hear it all the way over here.”

“—It was quite unsettling,” added Adeona.

“It made Orcus expunge his lunch,” said Mr. Gray.

Orcus’s expression remained downturned and pouty as Lewis’s eyes flicked across him.

“I’m sorry,” said Lewis. “I didn’t know you guys would be dropping by…. Why, exactly, are you all here…?”

Mr. Gray frowned. “We are not here for you,” he said. “We are here for Josie. A terrible event must occur.”

“Josie must be the one to allow this event to transpire,” said Adeona, “or I shall not agree to participate.”

“And this must happen,” said Mr. Gray.

“Or all is lost,” added Orcus

Lewis narrowed his eyes. He rarely liked what Mr. Gray had to say these days. It was always bad news after more bad news.

Orcus and Adeona stood back as Josie’s footsteps approached the clearing. She didn’t see any of the Parcae at first as she pushed past the branches and her eyes fell across Lewis. Her face dropped as she took in the blue hoodie and realized he wasn’t Prime. Her expression soured further when she saw Mr. Gray beside him. It wasn’t until she noticed Adeona standing off to the side that her face contorted into a rage-filled scowl. “You!” she shouted. “How dare you show your face to me again!” Josie pushed past Lewis as she stomped over to Adeona.

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“Eeep!” Adeona squeaked as she sprang sideways off the balls of her feet and launched herself behind a tree trunk.

“Josie! Stop!” cried Mr. Gray. “She hasn’t met you yet! It hasn’t happened yet for her!”

Josie grabbed at either side of the tree as Adeona dodged back and forth several more times before Mr. Gray’s words finally registered with her.

Her eyes went wide with understanding and she stopped trying to capture Adeona. Her chin lifted up, no longer looking down at the Parcae as she stared off with unfocused eyes into the trees.

“Hello,” said Adeona tentatively as she stepped back out into the clearing like a wary deer. “I know this is very difficult for you. I’ve just been told what must happen when you are young.” She gestured over at Mr. Gray. “Longinus, here, has tracked the energies of your realm quite extensively and says your past must happen the way you remember it or the time-stream will divert to a path where the Agares cannot be defeated.”

Josie’s expression remained distant. She didn’t make a sound, but her eyes welled with tears.

“I don’t like it at all, any more than you do,” Adeona continued. “I will only go back now and do what is asked of me if you allow it. It would weigh on me too much otherwise, even with all this at stake.” Adeona gestured around in the air at the universe in general.

Lewis’s heart broke for Josie. She had to allow Adeona to go back in time and change events so that her parents would end up dying in a car crash and Josie would be sent across the country to live with her grandfather. There was no real choice. By not killing her parents she would still be killing her parents along with the rest of the universe. It was cruel of Adeona to even ask.

Josie understood the reality of the situation as well. “What do you want me to say?” she asked through her tears. “‘Yeah, please go ruin my life. Oh, and don’t forget to make sure little-me feels extra responsible for distracting everyone and causing the crash!’? Do you want me to say, ‘No, stay here, let everyone die. We had a good run while it lasted.’?”

Adeona stood in stoic silence, staring up at Josie.

Josie shook her head in disgust. “You’re going to do it because it has to be done. You don’t need my permission. We all know it has to happen. Don’t pretend I can change the past!” She threw her hands up into the air.

“Um, well, technically…” said Adeona, “I actually really do need your permission…. In order for a Parca to intentionally derail the original fate of a Chosen, the Chosen must first choose for their fate to change. It’s just how it works….”

At Lewis’s side, Mr. Gray was looking off towards the field. Prime was fast approaching.

Josie turned towards Lewis silently asking for help. Her eyes were flooded with tears.

The three Parcae stood at the far side of the clearing, waiting for Josie to approve Adeona’s terrible mission.

Lewis embraced Josie in a tight hug. She knew she had to say the words, but at the same time couldn’t muster the breath. She wiped her tears into Lewis’s hood.

Lewis pulled back from the hug and placed his hands on Josie’s shoulders. Prime was close, he needed to leave immediately. “You have no choice,” he said, “it has to happen.”

Josie’s expression hardened into a small frown—as neutral a face as she could muster under such heavy strain. She turned her head towards the Parcae and gave one pained nod that took every ounce of strength in her whole body.

That was enough for Adeona. She slinked back into the brush with Mr. Gray and Orcus.

Josie vocalized her frustration with a high-pitched whine—just a tiny piece of her agony leaking out. Lewis leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. He wiped her eyes one last time with his sleeve and then ran out the opposite side of the clearing from where Prime was entering.

“Lewis!” Josie exclaimed a second later to Prime.

Not a moment to spare.

Lewis continued running until he was sure Prime couldn’t see him any longer. The Parcae retreated alongside him.

Mr. Gray stopped suddenly as the others exited the greenbelt. “Go on without me,” he said. “I must oversee the beating.” He turned back around and headed into the trees without further explanation.

Orcus and Adeona traveled off to the Beyond together, leaving Lewis to himself. He looked around, feeling aimless. A tug at his heart made him want to go back for Josie but he knew that was out of the question. The added trauma she was about to experience from being restrained by Jeremy while Landon and Andrew attacked Prime was just a drop in the bucket compared to the knowledge of Adeona’s task, but that didn’t make leaving her to suffer through the ordeal alone feel any less terrible. He wished he could help ease Josie’s pain somehow, even if it was just by providing a shoulder to cry on.

But he needed to go. He couldn’t let any of the bullies spot him after they finished with Prime. The nearest bus stop was back across on the other side of the student parking lot. He drew up his hood and walked away from the greenbelt.

Josie’s muffled screams behind him made his chest hurt. He looked back one last time as he reached the parking lot. He didn’t know when he would get the chance to see her again. She would soon have the aftermath of the attack to deal with—getting Prime to the hospital and staying with him for hours.

Lewis boarded the next bus that came by, heading back towards the creepy house with a heavy heart.