Lewis felt like he was falling. There was no wind, but his stomach fluttered into his throat. With all the air out of his lungs, he didn't feel like he'd been smacked in the chest as hard this time. The temperature changed abruptly, growing colder as his head spun. Despite the chill, his face felt hot with increased blood pressure pounding at his temples. When he opened his eyes again, he was standing just across the street from his house. The gray light of dawn was beginning to flood over the horizon.

"This is the day we met," said Mr. Gray. "Look." He pointed up at Lewis's bedroom window.

Lewis flinched as the glass suddenly blew out with a bang. In the same moment, the portal he'd arrived through disintegrated behind him.

"That's me appearing. Quick, come hide." He trotted off and ducked behind one of the neighbor's bushes.

Lewis followed him. "Why are we hiding?" he asked. A moment later, Lewis watched as another version of himself leaned out the broken window and shouted into the early morning air.

"Who did that?!"

Lewis and Mr. Gray remained hidden until the other Lewis retreated back away from the opening. After everything that had happened, seeing himself from across the street was officially Lewis's oddest experience yet in life.

Lewis's cat, Melon, was standing in the grass across the way in his yard. He spotted Lewis and came prancing over. "Here, Melon," called Mr. Gray in a raspy whisper. He placed out a pale hand and allowed the cat to sniff him.

Lewis was confused. "I thought you didn't like Melon," he said.

Mr. Gray scratched the cat's chin, instantly producing a low, rumbling purr from the feline. "I didn't back now, but now now we have come to an understanding before."

Lewis blinked several times.

Mr. Gray continued, "I traveled back before now and watched you for some time in your past after our first meeting." He gestured up towards the broken window. "I needed to understand you better again after some changes to the timeline. Humans can be so volatile. Melon was very helpful." He stepped up to Melon's side and used the cat's collar as a handhold to pull himself up onto his back. "Follow me," he said. He pressed in with his heels and Melon started walking down the sidewalk with his tail held high in the air.

This must be why Melon was so friendly to Mr. Gray that first day. Later today....

He needed to reorient his sense of time.

Melon trotted down the block with Mr. Gray riding him like a horse. Lewis was barely able to keep up with the unlikely duo. When Melon came to a stop they were standing in front of the creepy house. Mr. Gray dismounted and patted Melon on the head before sending him off, back home by himself.

Mr. Gray proceeded on foot down the side of the creepy house. "I have something for you," he said. "Or more specifically, you leave something for yourself here." Mr. Gray pointed over to where a broken board formed a gap in the rotten fence. "It's in a time pocket." He took in Lewis's confused expression. "To follow the same metaphor as before, time pockets are like eddies in the river of time. They exist within the mortal realm but are outside of time as you know it. Humans cannot see them—not without special tools anyway—but my kind can spot them easily. Go ahead, put your hand in." He gestured towards the broken slat.

Lewis squatted down next to the gap. He felt hesitant. He didn't like the idea of shoving his hand into a random hole—especially one that existed outside of time.

"Don't worry," said Mr. Gray, "there probably aren't any spiders in there."

Lewis paused with his arm stretched out and turned towards Mr. Gray. "Why would you even say that!? Now all I can think about is spiders!"

A boisterous giggle escaped Mr. Gray throat. "I did find a lost badger in a time pocket once."

Lewis couldn't help but crack a smile. "Did you help him find his way home?"

"Oh, no," said Mr. Gray. "Orcus ate him."

Lewis clenched his teeth, his smile fading.

"Hurry, now," said Mr. Gray. "We don't have all year." Lewis reached towards the fence again. He did his best to ignore the twinge of nervousness that pinched at his insides. As soon as his hand crossed the plane of the barrier his fingers vanished into thin air, completely invisible.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Deeper," said Mr. Gray.

Lewis groped around as he reached deeper into the time pocket. It wasn't until his arm was all the way in to his elbow that he felt something other than dirt.

"Pull it out."

Lewis grabbed onto the object and pulled it back through the fence. A leather-bound journal appeared as his hand reemerged.

"That contains notes that you thought would have been helpful on your previous attempts at the journey ahead."

Previous attempts...? "How many times—?"

"—Give me your cell phone," interrupted Mr. Gray.

Lewis narrowed his eyes. "It's dead," he said as he took it out of his pocket.

"I know," said Mr. Gray. He snatched it out of his hand. "I'm going to swap it later with the other Lewis's." Mr. Gray started walking away.

So that's why it was dead on the first day of school and already had Kenzie's number in it!

"Where are you going now?" he asked.

Mr. Gray didn't turn around. "I must depart for some time. There is much preparation to be done."

Lewis scratched his head. "Well, what am I supposed to do? I can't exactly go home—I'm already there!"

"Of course not. Don't be silly," said Mr. Gray. "That would be disastrous. You stay here." He pointed at the creepy house. "Read your notes. You explain what must happen." He tugged at an invisible seam in reality and created another portal. He turned back towards Lewis and shot him a little wink before stepping backwards through the opening and leaving Lewis all alone.

Odd little guy. Lewis glanced around, unsure what to do with himself. I guess I go inside.... He wasn't looking forward to the climb through the broken window again—his ribs were still badly bruised from the beating Landon and Andrew gave him. He walked over to the window anyway and, to his dismay, found it boarded up. He proceeded to search around the entire house looking for another entry point, but every window and door was fully secured. The sun was starting its rise above the horizon. People in the neighborhood would soon be waking up and heading to work. He needed to break into the house before anyone spotted him.

With a broken piece of the dilapidated fence as a pry-bar, Lewis ripped the boards free one at a time from the window until it was left looking just as he remembered it before going to the Beyond. He climbed inside, being much more careful this time not to injure his ribs any worse. His shoes crunched across the broken glass that littered the empty dining room. He made his way to the front of the house, passing the doorway that led to the basement. Gritting his teeth, he eyed the door with a dark glower. He had truly believed he was going to die down there.

Once in the foyer, he sat down on the bottom step of the staircase that led up to the second story.

The journal from the time pocket called to him with its mysterious origins. He held it in his hands, feeling the residual heat of the leather. The pages felt thin as he flipped through them. The journal was tattered and worn out, but the binding still held strong. There was just enough light coming in through the entryway windows to illuminate the words. Turning to the first passage, he recognized the handwriting immediately. It was his own, written in faded pencil:

"Hello, me..." the passage read, "I'll do my best not to sound like Mr. Gray. Hopefully this won't be too confusing. There are some things you must do. I've already done them, and trust me, even though some will sound like the worst ideas ever, I need you to do everything I write down exactly as I describe. It will all turn out for the best. Trust these words over everything else, even over Mr. Gray if it comes down to that."

A note written in a blue pen but still his handwriting was scribbled in the margin and between several lines. "#2 here, I've made some changes. Ignore everything that's been crossed out and follow my new instructions. Things may have worked for #1, but either I didn't follow his (My? Our?) instructions well enough from his description or else external forces have made changes to the timeline that he did not account for. If you screw up, amend this journal and place it back in the time pocket. Good luck!"

The writing changed back to the faded pencil. "Do not read ahead. I've written different entries with tasks that must be completed before reading on to the next. Only read the current entry or else things may get too confusing."

The blue pen scribbled between the lines again. "Good advice. Take it one step at a time. It's tempting to read ahead, but DON'T!"

In pencil: "For simplicity, I will refer to the original me that is living in our house and just met Mr. Gray as Prime." Added in blue pen: "or just P. Short on space sometimes."

Lewis could already tell this wasn't going to be simple. Without actually reading anything, he flipped through the pages again. There was definitely more than just pencil and blue pen written across some of the pages.

How many times has this journal passed through my hands...?

He flipped back to the beginning and continued reading where he'd left off: "Entry 1: Today is Prime's first day of school. You need to go meet Josie at her house one hour before school. Tell her everything and have her read the next page so that she trusts you." In blue: "She knows more than she ever let on. She's on your side. Don't question her. Just tell her today is the day she's been waiting for and get ready for the ride of your life!"