GRACE:

Jackie led me into a ring of fire.

I hesitated. “Will it burn?”

“Nothing comes out of the fire unchanged, but we’re stronger if we face it together.”

She pulled me onward. Despite the fear gnawing at me; I continued onward. Curiosity kills…

When we stepped onto the other side, a new dream world formed around us. I found myself on the balcony overlooking the volcano on Bennu Island, where we buried my mother after she died.

“What is this place? It feels so real.”

“This is the most probable future.” Jackie explained, “This is what will happen if we do nothing to stop it.”

My mother’s final resting place called to me. I walked to the edge of the balcony and looked down at the bubbling lava below. My hands sweat as I gripped the railing.

“Mother, are you there?” I held back tears. Of course, she wasn’t there. She was dead.

A low hiss made the hair on my neck stand on edge.

“What was that?” I stole a glance toward the slithering sound and spied a grotesque creature lurking in the shadows.

I gasped and gripped onto the railing for dear life.

The ugly creature was ready to attack me with its razor-sharp nails. It was like nothing I’d ever seen; the long twisted body of a snake, the face of a dragon, the eyes of a human. It looked at me, hungry for flesh, judging by the green saliva dripping from its sharp beak.

I froze, stiff with terror.

Jackie screamed from inside a nearby cage. “Help Firestorm! He’s a monster!”

I snapped around, shocked to see my friend locked in a rusty old cage. How did she get in there? Wasn’t she just next to me? It was like a dream where one moment didn’t line up with the next.

“Jackie, what’s going on?” I asked. “Why are you locked up?”

“Grace! Please, get me out of here.”

Hoping it was a dream, I ignored the creature and walked toward Jackie. My legs trembled as I scurried over to examine the cage’s lock.

“Every door in Camp Claudi scans your DNA Identifier. This rickety old cage doesn’t have a place to swipe, and I probably wouldn’t have access, anyway.”

Jackie’s eyes welled with desperation. “Know where the key is?”

I shook my head. “No clue. Can’t we shoot the lock with our firepower?”

“I already tried that. Didn’t work.” Jackie’s shoulders slumped with defeat. “It’s too late… Grace, watch out!”

I screamed and ducked to avoid getting hit by a mechanical drone’s bullets.

“Where did that come from?”

“It’s Alpha!” Jackie cried.

I didn’t understand what that meant.

The monstrous creature laughed maniacally as it sprang into action, joining forces with the high-tech device that spewed ammo at us with a vengeance. Fighting against such things would be useless. I was a rag doll compared to them.

“Why is this happening?” I asked. “Jackie, what kind of drug is this? Make it stop!”

The demon-like creature flew toward me, poised to devour me whole. Its hot breath made my body tingle. I covered my eyes with my shaky hands, unable to face my fate. I was too afraid to be torn limb from limb by such a beast.

Jackie reached out for me from within the cage. “Grace, look at what will happen. Don’t avoid it. Watch the future unfold!”

“I don’t want to!”

“This is only the beginning,” Jackie declared. “Alpha will enact global genocide if we don’t stop it! Grace, please. You have to see.”

Guttural grunts of intense battle forced me to uncover my eyes, but when I looked up, the world faded to black.

Darkness surrounded, protecting me from the violence unfolding around us. The sounds of roars, bullets, blood splatter; I heard every one. But I saw nothing.

“Jackie? Are you still there? Where did you go?”

I was alone in the void. Where had she gone? Was she actually imprisoned in a cage? Who put her there and why? And what kind of ungodly creature was that???

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Sparks of light swirled around me. Dizzy, I wanted to vomit.

“Jackie, help! Make it stop!”

I heard her, but didn’t see her. “Stay with me, Grace. Watch the consequences of inaction, even if it hurts.” Jackie’s voice sounded distant.

“I can’t see anything. Where are you? This is all too much.”

“Firestorm, why can’t Grace see? This isn’t working!” Jackie sounded as distressed as I felt.

An invisible force pulled me deeper into the dark void.

Jackie cried out for me. “Mom! Help! Don’t leave me in here!”

I couldn’t save her or myself, so I let go of all hope.

“The drug will wear off soon,” I promised myself. “This isn’t real.”

As darkness crushed me, my dead mother appeared with open arms. I tried to hug her, but she was out of reach.

“Mother! Help! I miss you so much.”

Beatrice said, “Grace, my dear. Tell Jackie everything. You need each other. Trust is the glue that holds families together.”

“You know what I’ve done?” I choked back a guilty sob.

“There’s always time to fix the mistakes of the past.” My dead mother faded away like a ghost.

“Wait, don’t go.”

“I’m always watching over you. I love you, Grace. No matter what.” My dead mother disappeared, leaving me alone in the dark.

“What comes next?” I asked aloud.

The answer brought more dread. The Grid appeared and inched closer, threatening to overtake me. One of my greatest fears, being extinguished by the nature we don’t understand. Would I ever fulfill my dreams of unlocking the secrets of the Grid? Or would my addiction prevent me from having a successful life? Consumed with worry about my uncertain future, I ran.

“Jackie, Mother. Someone please help,” I cried.

There was no answer. No help. Nothing but the crushing shame and regret that comes with making the wrong choice. Consequences were coming… How could addiction control someone privileged like me? Would it cut my life short?

The red laser Grid caught up with me. It got so close; the Grid seeped into my skin. It burned as I became one with it. A blood-curdling scream escaped from my throat until it went hoarse.

Any remaining light extinguished. All sights and sounds disappeared. The world went black once more.

But then a low rumble shook me to my core.

“Mother? Jackie? Is anyone there to save me?”

From the darkness sprang that monstrous creature. It roared and opened its mouth, revealing fangs.

“No, please don’t!”

The creature snapped its jaw shut, consuming me whole.

I snapped awake with a gasp and found myself back on the couch in the Arts and Sciences library. The terror was over.

“What the heck was that? What a nightmare.”

My heart pounded in my chest, and my throat ran dry. I felt disoriented and groggy, like waking up with a terrible hangover. I shivered despite the warmth of the fireplace.

Jackie snorted as she came back to reality. She was funny like that. Despite her taking me on a drug-induced journey through her slipstream of madness, I was glad to have her as a friend during this difficult time. Things hadn’t been the same since my mother died and life was spiraling out of my control. Maybe I could trust her…

My heartbeat slowed as I felt the leather of the couch beneath me. I wasn’t in that nightmare anymore. I was safe in my bubble at Hampshire University.

“Whoa. That was so trippy!” I pushed Jackie playfully. “For real, tell me. What did you slip in my coffee at the cafeteria? A psychedelic?”

“The slipstream is a side effect of being a gene carrier. Your version of Life Rite doesn’t seem strong enough to get you into the slipstream on your own, but maybe you haven’t had enough doses? I’ve got to figure that part out. Can you give me a vial of the serum so I can study it?”

“I don’t know about that, but what… is the slipstream? How does it work? It gives you crazy dreams, that’s for sure.”

“Grace, that wasn’t a dream. The slipstream is a place where we can explore the probabilities.”

“And you think these probabilities are real?”

Jackie struggled to explain. “They are all possible, but the more you focus on them, the more real they become. Some… events and details… are the most probable, making them hard to change. But reality is malleable, different shades of the same thing.”

I shook my head. “You expect me to believe this crap? You sound like a madwoman again. No way that was real. Just a night terror that felt real-ish.”

“Please believe me. That wasn’t a dream. It’s the most probable future. That nightmare, as you call it, will come true if you don’t let me help you.”

Jackie looked around to make sure no one was listening. She leaned close and whispered, “Everything’s possible, but your… reality… is probable. One of many timelines that need to be healed. I don’t make the rules… Did you sense the destruction that’s coming? We can stop the violence if we work together.”

Her words felt earnest. Jackie believed in the slipstream, so maybe what I experienced was real. Stranger things were possible. After all, I was addicted to a drug that made my body burn and float like ash. Then again, maybe it was all a drug-induced hallucination.

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

Had I really seen my mother? I liked the idea that Beatrice was watching out for me, and Jackie seemed to know some of my family’s secrets…

Jackie touched my hand gently. “Trust is the glue that holds families together…”

My breath caught in my throat. “Where did you hear that?”

Jackie locked eyes with me. “From our family.”

I examined her facial features. We looked similar, but magic like this didn’t really exist, did it?

I played devil’s advocate. “Okay, so if this is all real. You’re my… unborn child from another dimension?”

Jackie nodded for me to continue, excited that I was finally getting it.

“And the serum has created some rip in the time-space continuum?”

“Yeah, you’ve got the gist. We need to tell your snot-nosed boyfriend to back off. I’d bet the whole Claudi estate that brief glimpse of the future was only the tip of the needle of what will happen if we don’t prevent the Life Rite serum from leaking out.”

“That disgusting creature… What was that?”

Jackie shook her head. “I’ve never seen that in any probability, and I’ve seen some pretty nasty mutants.”

“Mutants?” A chill ran through me. “It was terrifying, and someone locked you in a cage!” Tears came to my eyes, thinking about it.

Jackie put her hands on my shoulders. “We won’t let any of that happen, okay? We can change things, but Grace, tell me. How are you getting the Life Rite serum? After Beatrice refused to take it, Mark did the right thing in this timeline. He shut down operations. Please, we don’t have much time left.”

Part of me wanted to change the subject, avoid and deflect. This was heavy stuff. But the other part screamed for help to get out of this mess. Father would kill me if he found out what I was up to. His daughter, the apple of his eye, Grace Claudi, addicted to drugs? Not in any lifetime. Yet, it was true. Addiction can happen to anyone, even me.

“Fine, Jackie. I’ll show you what’s really going on. Do you promise you won’t tell anyone?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“For real, Jackie. This is top secret stuff! Life or death… If Feraz finds out I showed you, he’ll murder me!”