Everything Lewis knew about his entire life since he was nine years old was a complete lie. A lie he told himself. He felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head. Everything he knew and felt about Landon was wrong. He was his own tormentor, his friendships stripped away by bullying of his own devise. He had sacrificed a happy childhood out of necessity. He was furious at this other Lewis, but he knew the feelings were futile. The other Lewis didn’t exist anymore. He had failed to save humanity and had chosen to erase himself—intentionally replaced himself with a new Lewis who’d been beaten down time and time again.

The new possibilities cost the other Lewis everything. He knew the decision had not been made lightly.

There was no telling how far down the path of new possibilities his current attempt at life resided, but he knew this was his last chance. The Agares were narrowing in on him.

Landon left the journal with Lewis and departed for the night. There was still a lot for Lewis to process. He couldn’t simply flip a switch and start acting like Landon was his best friend again.

Josie stayed with him until late into the night. They read through most of Landon’s entries in the journal and talked for hours about all the terrible things he’d caused for Lewis over the last eight years.

“Oh, geez, look at this one,” said Josie, holding up the journal.

“Entry #53: Buy a can of spray paint and draw a dick on my garage in the middle of the night. Bonus points if Melon comes out and you can spray him too. The more wary of the neighborhood I become, the better.”

Lewis frowned. “We had to shave him.”

“Poor kitty,” said Josie. She flipped ahead a few more pages.

“Entry #59: Take the large magnet from your birthday and swipe it over my thumb drive for the history project after I’ve placed it on Mr. Carmen’s desk. It’s the red one with the metallic swivel port cover. Skip last period and head to my house—my mom will let you in. She doesn’t know we aren’t friends anymore. Just say you’re planning a surprise for me. Use the magnet on my laptop too.”

“Creative,” said Lewis.

“This brings new meaning to being ‘Your own worst enemy,’” said Josie.

Lewis hadn’t even realized Landon had been responsible for half of the chaos he’d experienced at the time. He knew he only had himself to blame. Reading the entries wasn’t helping him come to terms with forgiving Landon for his actions.

After Josie went home to sleep, Lewis laid awake for hours. Tomorrow was going to be a big day according to the next journal entry. Entry #113 detailed the steps they needed to take to get Lewis locked in the basement of the creepy house. Each of them, including Landon, had their parts to play to lure Prime out of his home and into the abandoned house.

Lewis wasn’t technically supposed to have read the entry until they all were to meet up again in the morning, but he couldn’t help himself. He internalized the directions so that he was ready for the intricate dance ahead. None of them could be seen by Prime if he was to make the leap into the Beyond.

After reading the entry through several times, a nagging feeling planted a kernel of doubt in his mind. A piece of the puzzle of that night was still missing. Nowhere in all the instructions did the journal mention anything about Josie’s ransacked bedroom or the message that would be scrawled in blood across her wall. As far as he could tell, something unplanned was going to happen. The journal provided no foresight.

Sleep did not come easy.

Josie and Landon arrived before Lewis awoke the next morning. The heatwave was over, replaced with a bitter chill. Lewis could see his breath in the unheated house. He shared his concerns with the others after they read through the instructions.

“Do you think it’s the Agares?” asked Landon.

“What else could it be? The actions of the Agares are the only occurrences the alternate us couldn’t chronicle,” said Lewis. “Their presence here is new.”

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“We could just avoid my house,” said Josie.

Landon shook his head. “If we don’t do everything exactly as Lewis remembers it we’ll mess up the timeline and he might not go through the portal. What did the message say again?”

“Fate is what you make it,” said Lewis.

“You’re sure it was drawn in blood?” asked Josie.

“I mean, I didn’t taste it or anything,” said Lewis, “but it looked like blood. And there was more smeared on the side of the house before I climbed in.”

“It doesn’t say anything about that…” said Landon.

“It doesn’t say anything about any of it,” said Lewis. “Mr. Mays told me Josie had gone missing. He’d just finished talking to a policeman. Her room was wrecked with blood everywhere and the message on the wall.”

“Do you think Mr. Gray knows anything?” asked Josie.

“He definitely does,” said Lewis. “He was there for all of it, but I haven’t seen him in weeks.”

“I haven’t seen Orcus in months,” said Landon. They wouldn’t be able to rely on the Parcae for answers. “I say we just pretend like nothing is going to happen, but keep our eyes open. You said the whistle hurts them?”

“I don’t know exactly what it does, but the Parcae certainly didn’t enjoy it,” said Lewis.

“Okay, keep it ready then,” said Landon. “I’m gunna run home and get my sword.”

Lewis blinked several times. His eyes flicked over to Josie.

“Your what?” asked Josie.

Landon laughed. “My sword. I have a samurai sword. It’s for decoration, but it’s still sharp.”

“Do you know how to use a samurai sword?” asked Josie.

“Stick’em with the pointy end,” said Landon.

Josie didn’t look impressed.

“What?” asked Landon. “You plan to sass the Agares to death?”

“I plan to not cut my own arm off,” said Josie.

Landon laughed again. He left immediately to retrieve the weapon. Lewis and Josie waited until he returned with the sword strapped to his back and a duffle bag strung over his shoulder. He barely managed to stay on his bicycle as he swerved back and forth, steering with only one arm. Inside the duffle bag was a whole knife block’s worth of kitchen knives and a set of walkie-talkies.

Having already memorized the next entry, Lewis left the journal behind as they all headed over to Josie’s house together to wait for trouble to arrive. Mr. Mays was gone for the day at work by the time they pulled up on their bicycles. Landon immediately began scoping out the house and yard for the most “tactical” positions. He decided the maple tree in the front yard was a great lookout point. With its branches reaching nearly all the way to the roof above the porch it also provided a second route down from Josie’s room if they were trapped and needed to go out the window.

Despite Josie’s reservations about the samurai sword, she kept a chef’s knife and a cleaver within reach at all times. Lewis left the whistle out over his shirt, and kept a carving knife clutched in his fist.

Come late afternoon, Landon decided he should test out the roof access from Josie’s bedroom window. He sat crouched on the overhang while Lewis described all of his past encounters with the Agares and the basilisks in extreme detail.

“What do they use to erase people?” Landon asked. “It’s not some innate ability, I assume. That would be strange.”

“I honestly have no idea,” said Lewis.

“I mean, would it really be any stranger than the Parcae forming portals with their hands?” asked Josie.

“Orcus explained that process to me, once,” said Landon. “He let me go through a portal with him one time when I was a kid. The portals are always there, weak spots in the universe, I guess. They use some gland in their brains that manipulates energy fields—makes the portals become active for a moment.”

“The only time I saw someone get erased was when they got Mr. Bradley,” said Lewis. “The Agares was at some distance, and it had to aim. Missed me and hit him. That’s all I know.”

“Mr. Bradley? Oh, damn!” exclaimed Landon. “Those bastards… he was a good guy.”

“You remember him?” asked Josie.

“Yeah,” said Landon. “This isn’t my native time stream by about an hour. That’s total crap man. Mr. Bradley helped coach the team occasionally. He played ball back in college.”

“I just realized something,” said Josie. “How are we supposed to know if time freezes? We’ve all been to the Beyond. All three of us are immune to being frozen!”

Wide-eyed concern was visible on everyone’s faces.

“A clock!” said Lewis. “We need a clock with a second hand!”

Josie scrambled over to her bedside table. All she had was a digital clock. The seconds were not displayed.

Lewis put the whistle in his mouth and Landon unsheathed his sword with his good hand. They all stared at the clock, waiting to see if the time would change.

The time, 4:53, sat steady, glowing with red bars. Landon shifted over, watching the door. Lewis stood beside the window, searching outside for any movement. Everything was motionless, but there hadn’t been much of a breeze for hours. Josie stayed with the clock, waiting nervously. Lewis’s heart was pounding out of his chest.

After about forty seconds of silence, Josie gave a sigh of relief. “It changed,” she said.

A car drove by on the street a moment later. Everyone was able to relax again. Lewis helped Landon put away his sword—it was difficult for him to maneuver it with only his left hand.

“We need to find something better,” said Landon.

“My grandfather has another clock downstairs that shows seconds,” said Josie. “I’ll go grab it.” She hurried out her door and across the landing. She returned shortly with an analog clock that would do the job much better.

The audible ticks were a constant reassurance that they were still safe.

At five-thirty sharp, the clock stopped.