Josie sensed stillness around her as she awoke in darkness. She felt enclosed, as if in a tomb. Her neck twinged where Rebecca bit her, sending a spike of pain down her arm. It was unpleasant, but minor compared to the excruciating lava that had filled her body before she passed out.

She had no frame of reference, but it felt like it had been a long time since the attack. Her eyes were practically glued shut with crust. She rubbed them as she sat up, nearly bumping her head on a low rock ceiling.

“Welcome back,” said a tiny, high-pitched voice in the darkness.

Her eyes could just barely perceive the outline of the doll-sized Fate standing before her. Being in the presence of a Parca again after so many years of therapy filled Josie’s heart with dread. She began breathing quickly as a torrent of emotions crashed down upon her. Her parents were dead because of Parcae meddling. It was all too real.

“Where am I?” Josie demanded as she scooted away from the creature. She didn’t stop until her back touched the cave wall.

“Tucked away,” said the Parca. His eyes shined red in the darkness. “This is a time pocket,” he said plainly, as if that explained anything.

Josie stared back at the unblinking creature.

“My name is Mr. Gray. Not that you asked,” he said. “We are about to have a long history together—”

“—How do I get out of here?” Josie interrupted.

Mr. Gray took a step closer. Josie flinched. “Calm down,” said Mr. Gray. “Time pockets are like eddies in the river of time. You needed time. And it moves in circles here. So now you’ve had time to recover from your near-case of Vampirism.” Mr. Gray let out a chuckle. “Lewis, under my guidance, stuffed you in this hole to save your life.”

“How. Do. I. Get. Out?!” Josie felt pressure building inside of her; a claustrophobic twinge.

Mr. Gray sighed. “Now that you’ve awoken I can go tell Lewis to retrieve you.” The Parca began to recede into the darkness, but then paused. “You needn’t fear my kind—most of us, anyway. A war rages outside of your time stream, and the Parcae have not given up on the mortal realm just yet, despite the high cost.”

Josie didn’t know what to say.

“I’ll see you again soon,” Mr. Gray said ominously. His tiny shoes echoed against the stone of the cave floor as he fully disappeared into the darkness. “Oh, and don’t try to leave until you are retrieved,” he added. “Otherwise you won’t come out at the right time….”

Josie didn’t like the sound of that. “Retrieved? How?” But Mr. Gray was already gone.

Impenetrable silence fell across her. The stone crevice that surrounded Josie was cold and stagnant. It was an empty place. A dead place. A void outside of time itself.

There was nothing to do but wait. Josie focused on steadying her breath. She settled down to the cave floor and tried to pretend she was somewhere else—anywhere else. She squeezed her eyes shut and placed an ear to the ground.

The stone came alive beneath her. A low rumble grew like the dull vibration of a clamoring train in the distance. The rumble deepened until she could feel it clearly in her clenched jaw.

A bright light suddenly filled Josie’s vision, sliding steadily nearer. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, and then another moment for her to understand what she was looking at. A wooden pallet on wheels lurched to a stop beside her. A flashlight was strapped to it and a trailing rope attached it to the outside world.

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Josie sat down squarely on the pallet and gave the rope a quick tug to signal she was there. The rope drew taught and began to pull Josie up the slight incline of the bumpy cave floor. The flashlight shined across Rebecca, unconscious, lying against the opposite wall of the chamber. The pallet did not pause in its course. It was not yet Rebecca’s time to leave this place.

A shift in the air brought a condensing chill. It felt like stepping off a plane in Seattle; a sudden change in pressure and humidity. The sounds of the outside world fell upon Josie once more as if she’d just emerged from underwater.

Lewis, Channie, and Steph came into view, all lined up, hands working hard to pull in the rope. Sunlight streamed past foliage behind them and down into the crevasse. Mr. Gray was perched on a tree branch above. Lewis glanced over at the pale-skinned, flat-faced creature. Mr. Gray’s button-down patchwork jacket and brown trousers wrinkled as he crouched upon the branch in silence. Neither Channie nor Steph seemed to be aware of his presence judging by their unperturbed faces.

The Parcae were invisible to humans. It was only after choosing to reveal oneself that the species could be perceived at all. That was how Adeona had explained it to Josie anyway. Adeona’s presence in her childhood meant that the Parcae could no longer hide from her.

Everyone stopped pulling on the rope as soon as Josie was clear of the tight opening. Lewis rushed over and helped her climb to her feet.

Still crouched nonchalantly above, Mr. Gray cleared his throat. “Send me back down for Rebecca,” he said.

Lewis reached up and retrieved him. He placed Mr. Gray on the wooden pallet.

“She’s not conscious yet,” said Josie.

“Time flows differently in there,” said Mr. Gray. “She’ll be ready.”

Lewis gave him a shove. The pallet bounded back down into the crack like a bobsled.

“You shouldn’t trust him,” said Josie as soon as Mr. Gray was out of earshot.

Lewis smiled to himself, dismissing Josie’s concern. “He’s fine. It’s the Agares we need to worry about.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Channie.

“I really don’t understand what’s going on,” said Steph.

Lewis grimaced. It must have looked strange to the other girls—as if Lewis had mimed his interaction with the Parca.

Josie shook her head. “He’s dangerous….” Her voice faltered, the words bubbling up meekly.

Lewis gripped onto Josie’s hands and locked eyes with her. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “I know what you’ve been through, but he’s one of the good guys. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

Josie felt the urge to shy away from Lewis’s gaze, but she held strong, searching his face for any sign of insincerity. He released her hands but stayed close to her.

“That’s some intense eye contact,” said Channie.

Lewis’s cheeks turned pink, but a tiny smile cracked his lips. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

A tug at the rope signaled that Rebecca was in position. Everyone began pulling again. Josie joined in, heaving Rebecca out of the time pocket.

When Rebecca emerged she was sitting cross-legged with Mr. Gray in her lap. She was still looking unusually pale, but beamed a smile up at Josie as she came into view.

The bite mark on Josie’s neck twinged.

“Hey,” said Rebecca, “I’m really sorry… I don’t remember much, but this little demon says I’m a Vampire now.”

“I’m going to have to insist that somebody explains what is going on,” said Steph.

“Could you just reveal yourself to them already?” Lewis asked Mr. Gray.

Mr. Gray hopped out of Rebecca’s lap. “Fine,” he said. “But then it’s time to hustle to the ferry.” Mr. Gray spun in a quick circle before posing with wiggling fingers. “Ta-dah!”

Steph screamed as Mr. Gray appeared in front of her.

Channie stared wide-eyed at the tiny creature.

“He’s a friend,” said Lewis.

Channie blinked several times in dismay.

Steph quieted down and moved in for a closer look despite her shock. “A tiny man!”

“He’s a Fate,” said Lewis. “He knows the future, and will be helping us survive.”

“I know I’m a novelty,” said Mr. Gray, “but if you all don’t make haste to the ferry, your futures will be disappointingly short.” He marched off into the woods without another wasted moment.

Rebecca, looking particularly spry, jumped up and hurried after the little creature. Lewis and Josie were not far behind, leaving Channie and Steph exchanging bewildered expressions.

I didn’t want to frighten the children too much, but they tend to chatter less on the next leg of the journey when they are a bit scared. Less small talk isn’t really an advantage to the outcome, but it is a reprieve to my ears. One can only listen to teenage girls squabbling over the same social drama so many times before silence really does become the greatest virtue. That’s not to say the net isn’t closing in on the children though. The danger is real. New occurrences are rare when you’ve been through it all before like I have. A new occurrence usually provides opportunity to a Parca, but the Agares horde pouring into the mortal realm is not a welcome addition to this day. So much is changing faster than I can keep track of it! I wasn’t even supposed to be here for this part of the journey!

Keep vigilant,

-Mr. Gray