Lewis snatched Adeona off the ground and held her under his left arm as he yanked the door to the school open and ran inside.

“What the hell was that!?” asked Lewis as he clamored down the hallway as fast as he could. “What happened to Mr. Bradley?”

Adeona climbed up Lewis’s body so she was looking back over his shoulder. “Agares,” she said.

Behind him the door banged open. Lewis didn’t look back. He focused on moving forward as fast as he could.

“We must lead them away from the other you and Josie,” said Adeona. “Just keep running.”

Lewis reached the doors to the student parking lot and burst through them. Everything and everyone was still frozen in place. The sound of claws skittering across linoleum behind him put a healthy fear in his stride. Lewis ran through the parking lot and out the other side. He was breathing hard and his bruised ribs were aching terribly but he pushed onward, not stopping until Adeona told him to put her down.

“You run fast,” she said. “I am glad for it. The Agares aren’t slow.” She quickly opened a portal and gestured for Lewis to go through. Lewis didn’t hesitate. He exhaled hard to empty his lungs and lunged across the threshold.

He didn’t think he would ever get used to the strange sensation of traveling to the Beyond. He fell into oblivion. Nausea suddenly gripped him. He closed his eyes. The sensation of solid ground beneath his prone body settled against him. The nausea passed. When he opened his eyes he found Orcus staring at him, a tiny fishing rod in his hands. The line of the pole ran down into a wide pond of perfectly still black liquid. The swirling energy of the Beyond danced above. Orcus frowned at him.

Lewis sat up and found Adeona beside him once more. Orcus turned his attention back to the pond.

“What happened to Mr. Bradley?” Lewis asked again.

Adeona’s face held a worried frown. “He was erased. You are quite fortunate, that Agares was aiming at you and they do not often miss.”

A shudder ran down Lewis’s spine. He blinked several times. “What does that mean, erased? Why didn’t I hear about Mr. Bradley going missing my first time through that day?”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Orcus turned his head slightly, listening in to the conversation, though he pretended to not be paying attention.

“That man was removed from existence. No one will remember him. The only reason you do now is because you came to that moment through this realm. You were not native to the timeline. Regardless of who can remember what, there was never any Agares there at that moment in past variances.” Adeona wrung her hands together nervously. “Longinus would be furious if you get erased….”

Orcus placed the end of his pole down in a crack in the rocks and turned to face them again. “A new happening?”

Adeona nodded enthusiastically, her eyes lighting up as the wheels in her mind began turning.

“Could be good, could be bad,” said Orcus. “New things mean new possibilities to play with.”

“Dangerous possibilities,” said Adeona.

Orcus gave an unreadable expression.

Lewis didn’t like when the Parcae talked amongst themselves. He hadn’t the context to really understand what they were talking about. He tried to turn the conversation back to his immediate concerns. “So there was a basilisk there with the Agares. And that’s what froze time?”

“The native time stream, yes,” said Adeona.

“And I wasn’t frozen because…?”

“Because you’ve existed outside of your time stream—you’ve been here before, so their innate abilities do not work on you. The other you was frozen, though.”

Orcus interrupted. “If the Agares didn’t know before that we were meddling in the affairs of humans, they certainly do now. You should have just pretended to be frozen, boy, and they may not have noticed you at all.”

“At least they didn’t find the other Lewis,” said Adeona. “You wouldn’t exist anymore, even here, if they had. Come now.” Adeona opened another portal right next to where they’d entered the Beyond.

Lewis passed back through. His heart began beating faster before his feet even touched the Earth. The transition itself was becoming easier every time, but fear of another attack kept him on edge. He’d only seen a flash, but the illustration of the creepy, pointy-faced old man atop a monstrous lizard in A Secret History of Parcae was still ingrained in his thoughts. He did not get the impression that the basilisks or the Agares were small creatures.

Lewis found himself sprawled out on the floor of the empty woodshop with Adeona by his side. “You must quickly place the key,” she said. “We have traveled forward several hours. You will be here shortly.”

Lewis slipped off his shoe and pulled the key out. He hurried over to the cabinet where Mr. Gray would find the key and placed it inside.

“Good,” said Adeona. “I must leave you now. Longinus must be informed of the new happening. Continue on with your instructions.”

Lewis didn’t like the idea of being left alone without any Parcae to ferry him to the Beyond if the Agares showed back up, but Adeona was gone before he could get a word out.

Lewis walked over to the woodshop door. A nearby bang sounded. Lewis’s heart leapt into his throat. His frayed nerves were making him too jumpy.

“Stay away from my girl, Lewis,” said Landon’s voice from around the corner.

Oh, crap! I’m already here!