“Move it, weirdo.” Jess and Ely passed by as they did every loop.

The usual morning cacophony of sounds and noises hit Will stronger than usual. Possibly because he’d been in a bubble of total silence before, he felt like the world was drilling into his ears.

Stepping aside, the boy took his earbuds and placed them in. That helped things a bit.

What the hell was that? He wondered. Was it possible that he had somehow managed to escape eternity, even if only for a moment? According to Jace and Helen, Danny had kept insisting that there was a way to escape eternity. Could this be it?

There were no calls or texts from the last few minutes. Whatever had happened, the others clearly didn’t seem impressed. Quite likely, it had to be a common occurrence. The snake had attempted to pull Helen in during the first battle against an elite. Even Alex had sent his copies into the hidden mirror without hesitation.

Come to think about Alex, Will looked around. Usually, this was the time at which the goofball would appear with a bag of muffins. Given that he had asked that they talk, one would assume that he’d be here already.

Will’s phone pinged, indicating he’d gotten a text. Chocolate moose place, bro.

There could be no doubt who the sender was, although it was curious why he’d decided for them to meet there.

“It’s mousse, you goof,” Will whispered to himself as he sent a text to Helen and Jace, telling them he’d skip school this loop. Then, before anyone could see him, the boy turned around and walked away from the school building.

By the time he arrived at the café, Alex had already covered the table with more food than anyone could manage to finish in the remaining seven minutes. Judging by the barista’s expression, the man didn’t seem to mind, but then again, he was so chill that he might be okay with most things.

“Bro,” Alex waved at him to sit down. “Lit! Glad you came.”

“You said you wanted to talk.” Will looked at the food. After some hesitation he decided to go with the classics, taking one of the cups of chocolate mousse. “Do I want to know?” he asked, taking a spoonful.

“It’s all good, bro. I paid for it,” the goofball grinned. “Cash.”

“I thought you said that cash was suspicious.”

“For real, bro. Isn’t it?”

The point was well made. Will would definitely think something was wrong if a random kid bought this much with cash. If he were in the barista’s shoes, he’d probably be phoning the police. Hopefully, they’d arrive after the loop had restarted.

“So?” Will asked.

“You started to see it, didn’t you?” he asked.

“See what?”

“The inconsistencies, bro. All the things that people know that happened, but they couldn’t have. Also, all the lies that everyone keeps saying.”

“Like you hiding that you were a looper?” Will took another spoonful of mousse. After all the recent loops of fighting, he had to admit he found it relaxing.

“That’s precisely the point. Everyone hides things to keep safe. You hide things, too.”

Will didn’t flinch.

“That’s common knowledge, bro. Secrets are part of eternity. You think Jace isn’t hiding stuff? The jock’s been disassembling and assembling things in secret every chance he gets. That’s not the point. I’m not talking about the small stuff. I’m talking about the big sus stuff—secrets that shouldn’t be able to exist.”

Right now, Will could think about two of those, both of which had happened in the last two minutes of the previous loop. There was the permanent skill he had obtained and also him entering the mirror world. Normally, he’d say that Alex wasn’t aware of either of them, but when it came to the goofball, it was difficult to tell. He definitely knew a lot more about everyone at school than was healthy, that was for sure.

“When you said you found Danny’s scribbles sus, I knew we had to talk,” Alex continued. “It just needed to test you.”

“You call that a test? Anyone would have reacted the same way.”

“Nah, bro. I tested Miss Perfect a while back. She failed.”

“How can she fail? She reacted just like me, only differently. She was a lot closer to Danny than anyone else.”

“Nah, bro. When I said I tested you, I didn’t mean then.”

“Well, when—” Will abruptly stopped. The smile on the other’s face, instantly made it clear. “Damn it, Alex.” Will slammed the half-eaten cup of mousse on the table. “How long have you been doing that?”

“An hour longer than anyone else,” the other replied.

It was to be expected. The goofball had an easy way of extending his loop, and possibly several more he was keeping secret. Everyone looked down on him because he acted like a clown. Helen didn’t trust him, but even she was confident she could win in a direct confrontation. Will himself continued to underestimate the boy. The two of them had been friends even before the start of the loop. Maybe that was the reason he couldn’t make himself be scared, but in truth, the person across the table could turn out to be a lot more threatening than any monster they had faced so far. There was a good chance that he was just as strong as the archer.

“Do you really think Dally had another team?” Will asked.

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“Yes,” he said. “That’s why I’ve been taking June’s notes. It’s difficult to tell for sure.”

Will froze.

“You never discussed things,” he said, realizing what the other was saying. “You never went to the councilor to exchange notes.”

“Nah, we did that. But that’s not why I keep taking the notes.”

Reaching down, Alex picked up his school backpack, then took out a large stack of pages from inside. All of them were standard letter size, stacked up neatly in one solid block.

“Danny’s file,” he said. “All of it.”

That was definitely a lot more than Will imagined it would be. In all honesty, he had seen books that big.

“All that?”

“Danny used most of his sessions to talk about his loops. He’d say they were dreams, so it wouldn’t be sus. Anyone who’s been through this will easily catch it, though.”

“I expect it gets to anyone after a while.”

“For real. That’s what I thought. I’ve no idea how long he’d been trapped in eternity before me. Was a lot. Half the things I know I got from him. There’s also a lot I don’t know.”

“Didn’t you say you found the fragment? That’s something he didn’t know.”

A large smile emerged on the goofball’s face. His mouth opened to say something, when his phone rang. Both boys glanced at the screen of the device on the table. It was Helen—or Miss Perfect—as Alex had added her in his contacts.

“She’ll be pissed next loop.” Alex sighed. “Pissed at you too, bro. Being with me will seem pretty sus. Will be worth it, though.” He took the stack of pages, skimmed through a few, then handed a section to his friend.

“What’s this?” Will glanced.

The pages were a photocopy of handwritten notes. On the top there was a date, a set of numbers, and Daniel’s full name.

“When I found the fragment, I gave it to Danny. But the bro described it in his sessions two months before I entered the loops.”

Will started reading. June’s handwriting was worse than any adult’s had a right to be. There were entire paragraphs which only made sense thanks to a few legible words floating within the sea of scribbles. Even so, there was a section that made some sense.

…dreamed of a rectangular fragment that contained all answers of life. Possible metaphor? Call for escape? Insists that the fragment could reveal everything, but one must already have the knowledge to uncover the secrets. When confronted with the paradox, retreated into circular logic.

Isn’t the first time he’s mentioned the rectangle. It appears to be present in most of the other traumatic dreams. Parents insist that there are no issues at home. Social services? No visible scars or bruises lately. Hands and fingers seem fine. As usual, refuses to take medication.

An entirely new picture of Daniel emerged from the two paragraphs alone. Will was no longer looking at the person with all the answers, but someone who’d gotten in too deep and was just putting up a brave front in an attempt to hide it. In the process, he also kept plenty of secrets.

“You think that’s a mirror fragment?” Will looked up.

“That’s not the only place, bro. Pretty sus, right? He had it before he could have it. And there’s more. Remember when he bust up the toilets?”

“Sure. It was—”

Will paused. When had it actually happened? Everyone referred to the incident. The nurse had mentioned it, the vice principal would repeat it non-stop. It was even the talk in class. And still, he couldn’t remember the exact day.

“I’m sure it happened. The loops are messing my memories up.”

“Then ask someone who’s out of eternity.” Alex smirked. “I did. None of them can remember.”

“You’re saying it didn’t happen?”

“Oh, it happened, same as happened last loop. I was there when it did.”

If he were a few years younger Will could have gasped. He didn’t see that coming.

“I used to bust mirrors all the time. A lot easier than grabbing car mirrors. Danny did it a few times for experimentation. No one was supposed to remember that.”

“Well, wasn’t Danny’s last loop really long? The events must have remained the same because—”

“Are you sure, bro? It can’t be. Even if the loops are messing with my memory, it’s still pretty sus. And it’s not just that. There’s all these things out of place. It’s like an onion of sus—the more you peel, the more there is, the more it makes you want to cry.”

The goofball paused to take a chocolate croissant from the assortment on the table and take a bite.

“The fragment,” he began, mouth half full. “The permanent ability to freely leave the area, the permanent ability to leave notes behind, the certainty there was a way to escape eternity. How’d he get all that? Once he told me that I’ve been in eternity longer than he had before meeting me. Then how was he so OP and me—unable to figure out half the stuff?”

There was a large suspicion that the boy knew a lot more than he was saying. Despite that, Will couldn’t catch him in a lie. There were a lot of little things that didn’t make sense, as he had noticed on many occasions. Up till now, he had disregarded the notion, explaining it away with his inexperience and novice status. If Alex was equally in the dark, though, there had to be a lot more to things.

“Is that why you didn’t want Helen to get hold of the notes?” Will asked. “She wants answers, too.”

“She wants answers to different questions. Until she shares what she knows, I’m not giving her what I have.” His expression abruptly hardened. “I’m trusting you with this, bro. Don’t oof me.”

So, that was the ultimatum: choose the goofball’s side over the girl. On the surface, it seemed the better deal. Was it really, though? Will didn’t seem to think so. To him, it was like being asked to solve a jigsaw puzzle while having to choose between two groups, each having half of the pieces. Plus, he liked Helen.

“Why don’t you trust her? Because she was Danny’s girl?”

“Nah, bro. She was perfect before she was Miss Perfect.” Alex gobbled up the rest of the croissant. “It’s what she does, bro.”

“What’s that?”

“Summersaults aren’t part of the knight’s skills,” the goofball said flatly. “I know. I’ve played enough with that class as well. Immunity to pain is nice, but I prefer the class I have.”

Will was just about to ask the obvious question when his mind answered it for him. Helen had used the skill in the last fight. Of all the loops, that was the one time that it was guaranteed that she couldn’t have gotten the skill as a green mirror reward. For her to have it, she either was insanely talented and athletic, or she’d somehow acquired a permanent skill in the past.

“She didn’t say where she got it from, did she?” he looked at Alex.

“Knew you’d get it, bro. She told me she didn’t have any permanent skills. Hundreds of times. That’s more than sus, bro.”

Less than a minute remained until the ten-minute loop limit. If there was a mirror within view, Will was tempted to fight off ten packs of wolves just for the chance to extend his current loop for one more hour. The goofball had dumped so much information on him and with so little time to do anything about it.

“So, what’s your plan?”

“For now, nothing, bro. Seeing each other like this will make us sus. We keep on exploring the tutorial and when—”

Restarting eternity.

A new loop started. Within seconds, Will’s phone rang.

“Hey,” he said, instinctively accepting the call.

“Will,” Helen said on the other side. “We need to talk.”