{Earth}

“Andrew, what’s wrong?!”

Andrew knew it was Lynn without seeing her, but the rest of his brain couldn’t make sense of what was happening in front of his eyes. Neon halos surrounded the woman kneeling over him in varying shades of her vibrant lives. Her skin shifted in every saturation of brown. Her eyes were almond-shaped, perfectly round, hooded, deep-set, and almost feline all at once—every human color imaginable. Full lips on the verge of kissing, thin and bordering on angry, down-turned and surrounded by tears—every expression was on her shade-altering countenance at once.

Beyond Lynn, the scenery kaleidoscoped from a pagoda to a stone temple and into a Tudor palace. All of it grand, but none of it felt true. More faces surrounded him and churned in a cascade of vacillating features.

Andrew closed his eyes. Elden, what the fuck happened to the Probability Matrix?! What if Andrew reached out to Lynn and…

Get him some water.

Kiss him and tell him it’ll be all right.

Check his temperature.

Did Imminent do something to him here on Earth?

When a hand touched his arm, Andrew jumped three feet into the air and scrambled back. All her voices—all the very different emotions behind them—felt too strong with physical contact. Lynn was all of those thoughts, but only one belonged to the friend Andrew knew.

With his heart pounding in his chest, Andrew opened his eyes. All the Lynns and all the Lamassau’s held their hands up, trying for harmless. Colors lined their faces like Andrew forgot his 3D glasses at the movies. He shut his eyes again and shuddered against the solid surface behind him.

This was too much.

And to think, only yesterday Andrew died to see more Probabilities. Now…

“I take it back.”

A silence filled the room, which could only mean Lynn and Lam exchanged a “what should we do” glance. Andrew was fresh out of ideas to offer them. Because this was it. What Zero described to Sagan. Razor to Xelan. What Imminent was all about.

Chaos.

At once, Andrew was terrified and alive—more alive than ever in his existence. He felt the birth of a new star in the fiery waters of Cascading Light, and the essence of their promise seeped into him. It married with his soul and exacted only the price of a hunger he’d ignored until now. A desire—a need—to create more. To feed on it as the light fed on him when he joined the ranks of Imminent.

And this line would never end.

Andrew licked his lips, took a deep breath, and let it out on more of a shiver this time. An electric tremor. He pressed his head back against his only solid anchor—whatever it was—grateful for its sentry as his mind drifted along the waves of black flame.

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Who was this new initiate? Could Andrew see them? See their place in this fragmented world—

Blue eyes found Andrew adrift in the future-seeking sea. Bright blue and filled with tears. Not tears of joy or sadness. These were tears of pure fear and loneliness.

Rayne.

Those eyes glared with a white light—true, magnesium white. Brighter still. And brightest, until the light consumed her. One last breath and the light released what remained of his best friend—his sister, really—in tiny fireflies of pure phosphorous sparks. All of Enki was taken in her shine.

“No!”

A billion times, Andrew watched her die. The same way each time. It was the last sight on the edge of a lightning-struck horizon. Rayne died alone and afraid, and she destroyed Enki in the process.

It never changed.

“Andrew, how can we help you?” Lynn inched closer.

Andrew knew without opening his eyes that she’d stretched out a hand. By all that was Shadow, he took it this time. He opened his eyes to find hers wide and unsure. He pulled her in for a much-needed hug.

Lynn gripped tightly and muttered against him, “It’s okay. We won’t let anything happen to you. Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

Lamassau waved his arms across the room. “Yeah, is it safe for me to move yet?”

“Please,” Andrew started against Lynn’s locs. “Please, don’t let go yet.” The two friends weren’t really this close, but at the moment, her earthy moisturizer smelled like home. Like Shadow.

Someone entered the room behind Andrew. “Uh, does Doc Pablo know about this?” It was Cypher.

Lamassau dismissed the soldier with a wave. “I think her husband will make an exception just this once.”

Lynn sounded like she was rolling her eyes as she said, “There won’t be any exception to make if Conscience, here, can tell me what the fuck is wrong.”

Right. Andrew sniffled and let her go with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I… I don’t know how to describe it. Someone new touched Cascading Light, and I don’t think this is the only Probability in which this particular person joins Imminent. It felt so familiar. Anyway, I guess I’m affected when someone dives into the Probability Matrix.”

Cypher walked into Andrew’s line of sight and looked him over. “Are you okay?”

Andrew couldn’t imagine how he looked. Was he pale from the shock or radiant from the feeding? Overall, the only way to describe how he felt was alien. “I’m… alive, but I don’t feel quite right.”

Lamassau leaned back against the far counter of the Brethren’s lab facility and crossed his arms. “Well, can you tell us who it was? Or what you saw?”

Ashamed of his shortcoming, Andrew shook his head and grit his teeth. “No. Nothing, but the end.”

They all shared a glance. Everyone knew “the end” meant Rayne dying. Everyone looked equally sick about it, too.

Andrew met Cypher’s eyes and said, “Since we can’t reach our people on other planets, we need to get back to the villa on Reipon. I think something’s gone horribly wrong with our plan.” He checked with Lynn and Lamassau. “Any protests to returning?”

They exchanged a glance before Lynn answered, “You won’t see me complaining about checking on Pablo right now.”

Lam shrugged with a look of pure understanding. “Nor me on Tumi.”

They knew not to fuck with the Probabilities ever since Razor attacked the Shadow with copies of themselves from alternative universes where they defected to Imminent. Repeatedly stabbing someone wearing their own face had scarred them, with a particular trauma impossible to replicate outside of their special brand of bullshit.

Cypher headed for the door, where he paused and turned to say, “I’ll let Tempest, Dolor, and Colton know. We’ll pack you some goodies for the trip home. I hope everything’s all right.” With that, he left.

Lynn stood and shuffled around the lab. “I’ll pack these samples. Lam, grab the rifles.”

Lamassau did so without sass. Things really were taking a turn for the worst.

Each of them moved with a nervous energy and vibrated with apprehension. They felt it, too.

Something momentous waited for them at home.

Something that would change their lives.

Andrew only wished he could see it before it took them by storm.