A loud pop sounded as a portal delivering Mr. Gray flew apart. The Parca ran frantically down the sidewalk towards them. Mr. Gray bent over when he reached the smashed cop car, leaning on his knees to catch his breath as his chest heaved in and out. “This is bad…” he wheezed. “This is very, very bad!” Everyone stared at Mr. Gray, waiting on bated breath. “Quick! Erase that lizard!” he ordered.

Landon pointed the Agares device at the dead basilisk and flexed his wrist. With another flash of light, the creature’s body was no more.

“This is a first…” said Mr. Gray. “Mortals don’t just go around erasing Agares!”

Landon had a smug look on his face. “Bro,” he muttered with a smile.

Lewis patted him on the back.

“The squad that attacked you has ceased to exist,” continued Mr. Gray. “That coil on your arm is now ‘checked out’ to no one at all! They will notice the discrepancy and figure out which target is missing a squad assignment… you’ve all just upped your profiles… gone from being somewhere around the three of hearts to the ace of spades!”

“What does that even mean?” asked Landon.

Mr. Gray locked his gaze on the jock. “During the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was the ace of spades for your people—you’ve all made Agares Most Wanted!”

Lewis and Josie shared a look of concern.

“No one’s ever erased an Agares… killed a few, yes, but never erased one.” Mr. Gray let out a giddy chuckle. “It’s bad,” he said with a smile. “But also, oh so tasty of an opportunity.” He waved off the confused looks that followed him. “The bad news is they will come at you hard, but the good news is you might stand a chance to win this war! They’ve no idea what I have planned!”

A second portal opened ahead, just off of the sidewalk. Adeona appeared before them. “They just erased Josie!” she screeched.

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Josie made a startled noise, then put her hand up. “I’m still here,” she said.

“They didn’t do it now,” said Adeona, “one year ago, during the summer. I’ve been monitoring your time stream. This is a splintered timeline now—like a bubble. You only exist here because you aren’t in your native time stream, but if you try to go to the Beyond, you won’t appear on the other side….”

Mr. Gray turned towards Josie. “This makes sense. You already had the highest profile of the three of you before today, so they would definitely send more squads to erase you when you were younger. We’ll have to move fast, before that can happen.”

Landon narrowed his eyes. “But didn’t it already happen?”

Mr. Gray wrung his hands together. “Yes and no,” he said. “We’re all in a bubble, as Adeona said, floating down the river of time, waiting to be reabsorbed. Josie’s presence here after the demise of her younger-self is what formed the bubble, and she’s stuck here now, but the two of you…” he gestured to Landon and Lewis, “you both are free to travel as you wish. You must go back and save Josie!”

A third portal opened in a nearby yard. Orcus soon emerged.

“Sup, Dorkus?” said Landon.

Orcus’s eyeballs slid slowly across Landon. “I told you not to call me that.” He walked over to Adeona and Mr. Gray, his frown intensifying. “They got him,” he said.

“Got who?” asked Landon.

“Same time frame as Josie,” said Orcus, ignoring Landon’s question.

Mr. Gray nodded stoically. “That makes things more difficult,” he said. “It looks like this will have to be a solo mission.” He turned towards Lewis. “The Agares erased Landon as well, so it’s up to you, alone, to go back and save them.”

Landon’s eyes grew wide. Orcus walked up to him and patted him on the back of the knee in consolation.

For Lewis, the thought of having to fight more Agares, this time all by himself, was about as dreadful a thought as he could imagine.

“We better go now,” said Mr. Gray, “before they get you too.”

“What about Prime?” asked Josie. “Don’t we need to get him to the Beyond?”

Mr. Gray shook his head. “I mean, yes, that must happen, but not until this bubble is reabsorbed. The other Lewis is in his native time stream… it would kill him to travel out right now while the timeline is still splintered.” Mr. Gray opened a new portal for Lewis.

Everything was happening so fast. Lewis looked over at Josie longingly. She stepped forward to offer a hug.

“There is no time!” shouted Mr. Gray. “Go now, before it’s too late! If they erase you, you’ll be stuck ‘til the bubble pops and then none of you will exist!”

“Here, take this!” said Landon, removing the coiled device from his wrist and handing it to Lewis.

Lewis hugged the weapon to his chest as he dove through the portal.