Chapter Thirty-Two.

"All passengers leaving for New York City through St. Louis, your bus is ready," a voice went over the intercom of the bus station. "Please move to your assigned gate numbers and prepare for boarding."

Jenna and Tyler stood up from the cold metal bench they had been waiting on, pulled on their backpacks, and walked over to Line 1. They were fourth and fifth in line, and it was the first to board. As soon as they gave their tickets to the lady checking them, their stubs were ripped off and the rest was returned, then they exited through the door. Since they had no bags for the workers to load, they went straight to the doors of the bus.

"He's going to be mad," Tyler commented as he and Jenna stepped onto the bus. Making it into line early meant they were able to find almost any seat they wanted. "You know he was excited to see us after getting back from seeing if Kris's crush liked him back."

"I know," Jenna told her brother as they made their way to the back. "But it's better this way. If we stayed until after Jared returned from Kris's school tomorrow to say goodbye to him-"

"-then you might find it hard to leave," Tyler sighed. "I know. Jared's allure to you is just that strong that his goodbye might change your ability to resist staying."

"It's stronger because I like him," Jenna sat, and her brother slid in beside her, the pair of them setting their backpacks on their laps. "And now that he's unbound his divinity, it's even more potent than it was when we first met. Staying won't benefit us, other than in that way. The longer we're in an area, the worse things will get. We've escaped quite a few times, and you finally got caught. I almost did. The only reason you weren't platinum'd was because they didn't realize what you were."

"I know," Tyler said.

Jenna looked out the window. Cam was at Kris's house, something that would probably become a habit of his. He deserved to be happy, but a relationship with her, a child of chaos and destruction, could never be a happy one.

It was a curse all her father's children bore.

She had done her best to keep her feelings hidden, her plan to leave hidden, until after Cam had left, but she knew the chance was high he knew. Especially when he hugged her and told her to be safe. Cam was a good actor, after all, and his 'see you tomorrow' that sounded so genuine might not have been.

It might have been him hoping he would. Hoping that she would change her mind and stay behind. But neither of them had said anything concrete about her leaving, even though she knew she was and he probably did, too.

Jenna looked at Tyler. He probably wasn't handling the leave too well, either. It was the first time they'd really made friends, and he and Eden had a lot of fun training against each other. It was the first time she and her brother had friends their age, and she knew it was affecting him more than her, when ignoring her feelings for Cam.

As far as Eden knew, they were heading back to the apartment they were hiding out at. Everyone would realize they were gone the next day, when Eden went to pick them up to take them to his place, but by then, they would be hundreds of miles away.

"Where are we going now?" Tyler asked. "Because I don't believe for a moment you have intent on staying on all the way the ticket says."

"We're not going to New York," she confirmed. "We'll get off at St. Louis's stop, then head for Dallas. From there, Atlanta. I've always wanted to visit Stone Mountain."

"Same," Tyler said as the last passengers began to take their seats. "What about after that? I know we probably won't stay in either of those places long, especially you said 'visit' and 'from there'."

"Florida," Jenna told him. "We have a sister down there. She'll let us stay with her for a little bit."

They went silent for a little bit. Tyler knew she was having a hard time with leaving Tejina. Unlike him, who barely knew Eden, they had met Cam before, and Cam was easy to get to know, even with how guarded he was.

He was easy to let in, something inherent to children of Ulrima. If they wanted into someone's life, it was next-to-impossible to force them out. Leaving him and traveling across the country would cut into his sister, carve a wound so deep, it would take months or years to recover.

And their friend didn't even know he'd done it.

"Have you heard from Father?" Tyler asked.

Neither of them had ever truly heard from their father. The few times they had any form of communication with him, it was through his angels, but it wasn't ever much. They still had hope that one day, they would hear from him.

"No," Jenna answered, looking at Tyler with tears in her eyes. "I hate Jared for making me feel this way. We shouldn't ever come back, Tyler. If we do, I might not be able to leave again."

"It isn't too late to turn back," a voice said, and the pair turned to face the sole person sitting in the seat in front of the bus's bathroom, which they were seated beside. "The bus hasn't left yet, you know. If you want to stay, do so."

The twins took in the man. He was a little on the tall side, with jet-black hair and rich, blue eyes that spoke of an ancient wisdom. Despite that, he didn't look older than his early twenties. The man was dressed in black, reds, and blues, in an outfit that didn't clash, but fit.

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"We can't," Jenna shook her head.

"It sounded like you're in love," the man said. "If you are, stay for it. What reason do you have for leaving?"

"Those near us are bound to get hurt," Jenna told him. "It's not safe for us to stay in one place, much less get attached. Please, sir, mind your own business."

"I would," he said. "But time appears to have frozen and left the three of us out of the loop."

Jenna and Tyler quickly stood and looked over the bus, only then realizing that time had, indeed, frozen. There were seven others seated, and four were standing. Two were walking down the aisle, while the other two were putting their carry-on bags into the overheads. All of them frozen with time.

When the twins looked out the windows on the other side of the bus from them, which faced the bus station, they saw that everyone out there had also been frozen in time.

"Time is a finicky thing," the man told them. "It isn't always fluid. Sometimes, it decides to halt without warning or reason, leaving only a select few out of it. Perhaps it forgot us? Or perhaps it was fate?

"Whatever it is," he pointed at the twins. "It left the two of you out in addition to me. Perhaps it was at someone's design? Or perhaps it was simply chance. Whatever it is, the three of us are exempt. I estimate we've got plenty of frozen time, children.

"You both seem to be fine young youth," he said. "And from what I heard, you're doing something you don't want to. Why not give in to your desires and do what you wish instead?"

"Who are you?" Tyler demanded.

"Simply a man caught outside of time," the man answered. "With a pair of young siblings who seem troubled. I bear you no ill intent, do not worry. If you want to stay, why don't you?"

"You obviously know about magic," Jenna said. "And the supernatural. My brother and I are chased quite often. The longer we're in a town, the more likely this is and the more likely someone is to catch us by surprise and capture us. It gives them time to plan around the surroundings."

"Yet you stayed long enough to make friends?" He asked.

"I didn't have a choice," she said. "My brother was captured, and I needed help rescuing him. We came across someone we used to know, and he helped."

"Jared?" The man asked, and she nodded. "This Jared… he helped you alone?"

"No," Tyler answered. "He and his friends came to my rescue."

"So then why leave?" The man asked. "If your friend gathered his to rescue you, it sounds like you have a good friend, there. And one who would protect you."

"He might want to," Jenna told the man. "But in the end, danger is everywhere. Even those close to him aren't safe from it. Even he isn't safe from it."

"Who is truly safe?" The man asked. "The tiniest event can spiral into chaos, leading to injury, death, and destruction. Even an ordinary, plain person can find themselves launched into a world of magic because they were held up at gunpoint during a bank robbery, causing them to manifest the ability to teleport. Or they could find their life gone, because a sinkhole formed in the road as they drove, or the bridge they were driving on suddenly collapsed because it hadn't been properly maintained.

"Tell me," he said. "Does this friend of yours, the one you're in love with, does he fear danger?"

"Yes," Jenna nodded, only realizing after that he was having an effect on her.

She was too guarded to just talk like this, to just answer someone's questions. She and Tyler both knew better, and they both had mental barriers up at all times. Yet this man was bypassing them without either twin being aware of it.

He was using some sort of compulsion on them to get them to talk, and was powerful enough and skilled enough to slip past their shields undetected. Deciding to see where he would go before using her power on him, she waited.

The moment she felt him trying to make them doing something they didn't want to do, she would use her flames… in her mind. They would leave her unscathed, of course, but any foreign minds in it would feel the fires of chaos and destruction for their intrusion.

"Has he faced danger?" The man asked.

"Yes," Jenna nodded. "A lot. I don't want to put him in anymore just because of being close to me."

"Did you ask him how he felt about it?" The man asked.

"No," Jenna answered. "But we know how he feels. He wants me around, no matter what. He wants to date me, and he doesn't care about the danger it would bring."

"Perhaps you should listen to that," the man said. "Perhaps it's not that he doesn't care, but that he'll simply face it when it comes. After all, he's rescued your brother for you. It sounds like his friends would help keep you safe, too."

"He'd do anything for friends," Jenna shook her head. "He doesn't think about his own safety. And his friends… yeah, we made friends with some of them, but that's different. If we didn't hang out with Jared, we'd probably lose our connection to being 'friends' with the others. It's all through him."

"Do you like him?" The man asked.

"That doesn't matter," Jenna shook her head. "My brother and I are… special. We're doomed to never find a fulfilling relationship. A relationship that lasts. It's always doomed to end in disaster and chaos. In heartbreak. It's a form of curse we're bound to. So we have to leave, to prevent that."

"Did you tell him that?" The man asked.

"No," Jenna answered. "Of course I wouldn't tell Jared that a relationship between us would end in disaster and chaos! He'd only say I was making it up, even though his power would let him know I was telling the truth! He'd refuse to accept it and say I was just trying to find excuses to deny my feelings!"

"Perhaps he's right," the man slid out of the seat and stood upright. "And not all are doomed to disaster and chaos. Sometimes, there are those who can overwhelm such things. A child of Ulrima, King of the Gods, is a child of love and romance. It can overpower any curse regarding love and romance, and not just for themselves, but for their closest friends, too."

Jenna and Tyler froze up. They had specifically referred to Cam as 'Jared', the name they knew him by before they reunited with him there in Tejina, yet the man seemed to know exactly who they were talking about.

Neither of them believed for a moment it was coincidence he had brought up Ulrima.

"I'd say," the man brushed imaginary dust off his pants and the lower part of his shirt. "That you have around ten more minutes of frozen time. You'll have until then to decide if you truly will leave love behind. Ten minutes to decide if you want to continue running and hiding from organizations after you, or if you want to stay behind, build a life up with your friends and romances, and damn the consequences that may, ultimately, fail to affect you. Ten minutes, Jenna and Tyler."

As the twins tried to figure out who the man was, he disappeared. No warning, no sense of magic, nothing of the sort. They blinked, and when the blink had finished, the man was no longer there, as if he had never been.

All that was left were the ten minutes of frozen time they had to decide if they wanted to listen to the mysterious man's advice and stay behind, or if they would continue with their plan and travel far, far away from there.

Ten minutes to decide if they wanted to stay on the run forever, or if they wanted to finally settle down and need to occasionally deal with issues they currently dealt with only if they couldn't avoid doing so.