Serena Robinson was normal.

Completely normal.

At least, that was what she would have told you.

She was twelve years old, lived in 2026, went to school five days a week, hated getting up early, occasionally forgot homework until the absolute last second, and had parents who somehow believed that saying we need to leave in five minutes meant Serena should already have her shoes on.

She did not believe in magic.

She did not believe in secret worlds.

She definitely did not believe in time travel.

And she had absolutely no idea that by the end of the morning, she would be missing first period because she had accidentally walked out of her own universe.

“SERENA!”

Serena opened one eye.

“WHAT?”

Emma Robinson's voice came from downstairs.

“YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!”

Serena looked at the clock.

7:31.

She closed her eye again.

“I HAVE TIME!”

“You said that ten minutes ago!”

“I STILL HAVE TIME!”

Mason Robinson called from somewhere downstairs.

“YOU DON'T!”

Serena sat up.

“Why is everybody yelling?!”

Emma answered immediately.

“BECAUSE YOU'RE UPSTAIRS!”

“Oh.”

Fair enough.

Serena got out of bed.

She pulled on a normal outfit, fixed her hair just enough that it didn't look like she'd slept directly on her head—

which she technically had—and grabbed her backpack.

Then she stopped.

She looked at her mirror.

For just a second, she thought something moved behind her reflection.

Serena spun around.

Nothing.

Her bedroom was empty.

She looked back into the mirror.

Normal.

Serena stared at herself.

“Okay.”

She picked up her backpack.

“You're tired.”

She walked out.

The mirror stayed exactly where it was.

“Toast.”

Serena walked into the kitchen.

Emma pointed toward a plate.

Serena grabbed the toast.

Mason looked at the clock.

“You have seven minutes.”

“I know.”

“You're walking.”

“I know.”

“It takes longer than seven minutes.”

“I know.”

Mason stared at her.

“Then why are you standing here?”

Serena took a bite of toast.

“Breakfast.”

Emma laughed.

“Go.”

Serena grabbed her backpack.

“Bye.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

“Don't forget we're going out later.”

“I won't.”

“And Serena?”

She turned.

“What?”

Emma pointed at her.

“Straight home after school.”

Serena nodded.

“Okay.”

That was the plan.

Straight to school.

Straight home.

Completely ordinary day.

Serena stepped outside.

She had walked this route hundreds of times.

Down the sidewalk.

Across the intersection.

Past a row of stores.

Then another few blocks toward school.

Nothing interesting ever happened.

Which was why Serena noticed the man immediately.

He was standing across the street.

Serena looked at him.

Something about him was familiar.

Not I know that guy familiar.

Different.

Like she had dreamed about him.

The man looked directly at Serena.

She slowed down.

He turned away.

Serena kept walking.

Then stopped.

She remembered him.

Or—

she thought she did.

A hallway.

A flash of light.

The same man walking beside a woman.

Serena standing somewhere—

No.

The memory disappeared.

Serena blinked.

“What?”

She looked across the street again.

The man was gone.

Serena stared at the empty sidewalk.

There wasn't anywhere he could have gone that quickly.

She checked the time.

“Great.”

Now she really was going to be late.

She kept walking.

Then she heard it.

A voice.

Very quiet.

Serena stopped.

She looked behind her.

Nobody.

She continued.

Another voice.

This one sounded closer.

“…Age…”

Serena turned again.

A woman was walking several feet behind her, looking at her phone.

An older man was crossing the street.

Nobody was talking to Serena.

She started walking faster.

Then another voice.

“…chosen…”

Serena's forehead wrinkled.

“Okay.”

She stopped completely.

“Who's doing that?”

Nobody answered.

Serena looked around.

“Very funny.”

Silence.

She walked again.

Then—

“Serena.”

She froze.

Her heart started pounding.

That wasn't distant.

That sounded like somebody had whispered directly beside her ear.

Serena spun around.

Nobody.

“No.”

She backed away.

“Nope.”

School suddenly seemed like an excellent place to be.

Serena turned and hurried down the sidewalk.

Then something caught her eye.

A mirror.

It was large, standing inside the display window of a small shop Serena had passed dozens of times.

She didn't know why she noticed it today.

She didn't know why she stopped.

She definitely didn't know why she walked toward it.

Serena looked at her reflection.

Backpack.

Normal clothes.

Confused expression.

Nothing unusual.

She sighed.

“I'm actually losing it.”

Serena turned away.

Her reflection didn't.

Serena stopped.

Slowly—

very slowly—

she looked back.

Her reflection was facing forward.

Serena wasn't.

Her stomach dropped.

“No.”

The reflection turned its head.

Serena didn't.

“NO.”

Serena stepped backward.

Her reflection stepped forward.

Serena's eyes widened.

The girl inside the mirror looked exactly like her.

But she wasn't copying her anymore.

She raised one hand.

Serena stared.

“What the—”

The reflection placed its palm against the glass.

And suddenly Serena heard dozens of voices at once.

“…not yet…”

“…the Age…”

“…impossible…”

“…passage…”

“…chosen…”

“…Time…”

Serena covered her ears.

“STOP!”

The sounds of the street began fading.

Serena looked around.

Cars were still moving.

People were still walking.

But everything seemed farther away.

Like she was watching 2026 through a window.

Serena looked back at the mirror.

The reflection was gone.

Now there was only Serena.

Normal Serena.

Copying her perfectly.

Serena swallowed.

“I need to go to school.”

She turned.

Something pulled her attention back.

Not her body.

Not physically.

It was a feeling.

A strange certainty that she needed to touch the mirror.

Serena shook her head.

“No.”

She took another step away.

Her mind felt foggy.

The voices returned.

Serena couldn't understand them.

She walked toward the mirror.

She knew this was stupid.

She knew she should leave.

She knew she should call Emma.

She knew she should probably call literally any adult.

Instead, Serena lifted her hand.

Her fingers touched the mirror.

Except—

they didn't.

Her fingers went through it.

Serena gasped.

She yanked her hand back.

“What?!”

She stared at her fingers.

Fine.

She touched the mirror again.

Her fingertips disappeared into the glass.

Serena immediately pulled away.

“Nope.”

She turned around.

She was leaving.

Absolutely.

Immediately.

She took two steps.

Then stopped.

The voices whispered again.

Serena turned.

She walked back.

“Why am I doing this?”

She put her hand through.

Then her arm.

Serena's breathing quickened.

“This is so stupid.”

She stepped closer.

“So, so stupid.”

One foot crossed through the mirror.

“This is literally how people die in movies.”

Then Serena stepped through.

For one second, she couldn't see anything.

There was light everywhere.

Then darkness.

Then something that looked like stars.

Serena felt like she was falling sideways, even though sideways wasn't a direction anyone could fall.

She screamed.

And then—

THUD.

Serena hit a floor.

“Ow!”

She lay there.

Her backpack landed beside her.

Serena stared downward.

There was definitely a floor.

Good.

Floors were normal.

She slowly looked up.

The floor was the last normal thing she saw.

Serena's mouth fell open.

The place was enormous.

It didn't look like a room.

It looked like an entire world had somehow been built

indoors and outdoors at the same time.

Huge structures rose in the distance.

Bridges crossed open spaces.

Lights floated without anything holding them.

People walked through openings that appeared in the air and disappeared behind them.

And everywhere—

crystals.

Small ones.

Huge ones.

Crystals inside walls.

Crystals floating behind barriers.

Crystals giving off light.

One enormous crystal stood far away, reaching several stories upward.

Serena slowly stood.

“What…”

A person walked past her wearing clothes Serena had only seen in history books.

Another person walked in the opposite direction wearing something that looked more futuristic than anything Serena had ever seen.

Neither seemed to think the other looked weird.

Serena turned toward the mirror.

It was still there.

“Okay.”

She hurried toward it.

“I am going home.”

But the mirror no longer showed the street.

Serena stopped.

It showed an ocean.

The image changed.

A huge city.

Changed again.

A forest.

Changed.

Serena stared.

A purple sky stretched over a landscape filled with plants she had never seen.

Something enormous flew overhead.

Serena's mouth opened.

“No.”

The image changed again.

Now she was looking at stars.

Then another world.

Then darkness.

Then—

herself.

Serena stepped back.

“Okay.”

She looked around.

“Somebody needs to explain this.”

A voice behind her said:

“I believe you need to explain yourself first.”

Serena jumped.

She turned.

Three people were staring at her.

“Hi.”

None of them smiled.

One stepped forward.

“Who are you?”

“Serena.”

“Serena what?”

“Robinson.”

“From which Age?”

Serena stared.

“What?”

The three exchanged looks.

“Which Age?”

“I'm twelve.”

“That isn't what I asked.”

“Oh.”

Serena thought.

“2026?”

Silence.

One of them stepped closer.

“How did you enter this realm?”

Serena pointed at the mirror.

“I walked.”

Nobody spoke.

Serena looked between them.

“Through that.”

“We can see that.”

“Then why did you ask?”

One of them frowned.

“Who opened the passage?”

“Nobody.”

“Who brought you?”

“Nobody.”

“What crystal did you use?”

Serena blinked.

“What crystal?”

All three went still.

Serena looked around.

“Are you talking about those?”

Nobody answered.

More people were noticing now.

Serena suddenly became very aware that she was a twelve-year-old standing in a place she didn't understand, surrounded by people who did not look happy to see her.

One of them raised a hand.

Something flashed.

Serena flinched.

A strange feeling passed through her head.

Then disappeared.

Serena waited.

Everyone stared.

She looked behind herself.

Then back at them.

“What?”

Nobody answered.

Serena frowned.

“Was that supposed to do something?”

One of the people whispered:

“That isn't possible.”

Another raised their hand.

Flash.

Serena felt the same strange sensation.

Nothing.

Serena crossed her arms.

“Can you stop doing that?”

The people around her began whispering.

“What is she?”

“Human.”

“Clearly.”

“Then why isn't it working?”

“Try again.”

Serena's eyes widened.

“No! Don't try again!”

Another flash.

Nothing.

Serena threw her hands up.

“Oh my gosh! Maybe you're just BAD AT IT!”

The room went silent.

Someone farther back gasped.

Serena immediately realized that might not have been the smartest thing she'd ever said.

Then a voice came from behind the crowd.

“Move.”

People moved.

Serena looked toward the opening.

A young man was walking toward her.

He looked older than Serena—definitely an adult, but young. Maybe nineteen.

Everyone treated him differently.

They stepped aside.

Some lowered their heads.

Others whispered his name.

Cassian Vale.

Serena didn't know who Cassian Vale was.

She didn't know that people throughout this realm believed he was destined to become the most powerful Time Traveler who had ever lived.

She didn't know about his dreams.

She didn't know about the Chosen One.

She didn't know that somewhere else in this enormous realm was a girl named Caroline who would eventually become one of Serena's closest friends.

She didn't know about the ranks.

The crystals.

The erased people.

The other Ages.

The other realities.

Or the nearly million lives that would soon depend on people restoring what had been taken from Time.

Serena knew exactly three things.

She was late for school.

She had walked through a mirror.

And everyone here was completely insane.

Cassian stopped in front of her.

He looked Serena up and down.

Then at the mirror.

Then back at Serena.

“You're human.”

Serena stared at him.

“So are you.”

A few people gasped.

Cassian's expression didn't change.

Serena looked around.

“Why does everybody keep gasping?”

Cassian ignored that.

“You shouldn't be here.”

Serena nodded.

“Finally, something we agree on.”

Cassian looked toward the others.

“Send her back.”

“We tried.”

Cassian paused.

His eyes returned to Serena.

“What do you mean, you tried?”

“The hexes aren't affecting her.”

For the first time, something changed in Cassian's expression.

Only slightly.

Serena noticed.

“What?”

Cassian stared at her.

Serena stared back.

“What?”

Nobody answered.

Serena sighed.

“Okay. Can somebody PLEASE tell me where I am?”

Cassian's eyes remained fixed on her.

Finally, he answered.

“You are standing outside your reality.”

Serena blinked.

She laughed once.

Nobody else laughed.

Her smile disappeared.

“Oh.”

She looked at the impossible realm around her.

Then at the mirror.

Then back at Cassian.

Serena swallowed.

“I'm going to miss math.”

And somewhere—far beyond Serena, Cassian, the crystals, and every person standing in that realm—

Time moved.

Serena Robinson stared at Cassian Vale.

Cassian Vale stared back.

Around them, at least twenty other people were also staring at Serena.

Serena was beginning to think staring was an important part of Time Traveler culture.

“You are standing outside your reality,” Cassian repeated.

Serena blinked.

“Yeah. I heard you the first time.”

“Then you understand the situation.”

“No. I heard the words. That's different.”

Cassian looked mildly irritated.

Good.

Serena was mildly irritated too.

Actually, Serena was extremely irritated.

She had been walking to school less than ten minutes ago. Now she was standing in some enormous impossible realm filled with glowing crystals, strange mirrors, people from who-knew-where, and a nineteen-year-old who apparently thought saying you are standing outside your reality counted as an explanation.

Serena adjusted her backpack.

“Can I go home now?”

Cassian looked toward the mirror.

It was no longer showing Serena's street.

At the moment, it showed an enormous ocean beneath a greenish sky.

“No.”

Serena's eyes widened.

“What do you mean, no?”

“The passage is unstable.”

“Then stabilize it.”

Cassian stared at her.

“That's not how it works.”

“Well, how does it work?”

Cassian didn't answer immediately.

Serena threw up her hands.

“See? You keep doing that! You say something confusing,

I ask you to explain it, and then you just stare at me!”

Someone behind Cassian made a tiny noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

Cassian turned.

The person immediately looked away.

Serena smiled.

“Oh, somebody else thinks you're annoying.”

“Enough.”

“That's not a no.”

Cassian turned toward two of the Time Travelers who had tried the strange flashes on Serena.

“Find out where the passage originated.”

“We already know the Age.”

“I don't mean the Age. Find out how it opened.”

Serena raised her hand.

Cassian ignored her.

Serena raised it higher.

Cassian continued ignoring her.

“Excuse me.”

Nothing.

“Cassian.”

His head snapped toward her.

Serena grinned.

“Oh, so you do hear me.”

“What?”

“What were those things you kept doing to me?”

“The hexes?”

“Yes! Those!”

Cassian glanced toward the others.

“They were intended to remove you from the realm.”

“By killing me?!”

“No.”

“Okay, good.”

“They would have returned you to your own Age and altered your memory.”

Serena's face dropped.

“YOU WERE GOING TO ERASE MY MEMORY?”

“Alter it.”

“That's the same thing!”

“It isn't.”

“It definitely is when it's MY memory!”

Cassian started walking.

Serena remained where she was.

He made it several steps before realizing she wasn't following.

He turned around.

“Come.”

“No.”

“You cannot stay here.”

“I don't know where you're taking me.”

“To someone who can deal with you.”

Serena frowned.

“Deal with me?”

Cassian sighed.

“Explain things to you.”

“Oh.”

Serena started following.

“That sounds significantly less threatening.”

They moved through the enormous hall.

Serena's head turned constantly.

There was too much to look at.

The realm didn't seem to have a normal ceiling. Parts of it did—enormous arched structures stretching hundreds of feet overhead—but other sections simply opened into something Serena couldn't describe. It wasn't exactly a

sky. There were lights, distant structures, and strange shifting patterns that looked almost like stars, except they moved far too quickly.

People were everywhere.

And they were weird.

Not monster weird.

Not alien weird.

Just—

different.

A woman passed Serena wearing a long dark dress that looked like it belonged in an old painting.

Then a man walked by wearing something that looked more futuristic than anything Serena had ever seen.

Then another person passed in perfectly ordinary jeans and a sweatshirt.

Serena looked down at herself.

“Okay, at least somebody dresses normal.”

Cassian glanced back.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

A glowing opening suddenly appeared several feet ahead of them.

Serena stopped.

A man stepped out of it.

The opening vanished.

Serena's mouth dropped open.

“Did you SEE THAT?”

Cassian didn't even turn around.

“Yes.”

“He just appeared!”

“Yes.”

“FROM NOWHERE!”

“No.”

“Where did he come from?”

“Another Age.”

Serena hurried to catch up.

“You say that like he went to the grocery store!”

Cassian stopped again.

Serena almost ran into him.

“Could you stop doing that?”

Cassian turned around.

“Serena.”

“What?”

“You need to understand something. None of what you're seeing is unusual here.”

“Well, it's unusual to ME.”

“That is precisely the problem.”

Serena narrowed her eyes.

“What does that mean?”

“It means you're human.”

Serena looked at him.

“So are you.”

Several nearby people turned toward them.

Serena noticed.

“There! They're doing it again!”

“Doing what?”

“Looking at me like I just said something horrible!”

Cassian's expression remained unreadable.

“We are not the same.”

Serena looked him up and down.

“You look pretty human.”

“That isn't what I meant.”

“Well, then explain what you meant.”

Cassian opened his mouth.

Serena suddenly held up a hand.

“WAIT.”

Cassian stopped.

Serena looked around.

Her eyes narrowed.

People were talking everywhere.

Two women nearby were having a conversation.

Farther away, several men were arguing about something.

Someone called to another person from across the hall.

Serena listened.

Then she looked at Cassian.

“Why is everyone speaking English?”

Cassian stared at her.

“They aren't.”

Serena waited.

“Yes, they are.”

“No.”

“I can literally hear them.”

“You hear them in your language.”

“My language is English.”

“Yes.”

“So they're speaking English.”

“No.”

Serena stared at him.

Cassian stared back.

“Okay,” Serena said slowly. “Either you're messing with

me or that made absolutely no sense.”

Cassian pointed toward the two women nearby.

“What language do you hear?”

Serena listened.

“English.”

Cassian called something to one of the women.

The woman answered.

English.

Serena pointed triumphantly.

“SEE?”

“She is speaking a language from an Age approximately three thousand years after yours.”

Serena's hand slowly lowered.

“What?”

“The other woman is speaking a language from an Age before yours.”

Serena looked between them.

“But they're talking to each other.”

“Yes.”

“In different languages.”

“Yes.”

“And I hear English.”

“Yes.”

Serena stared at him.

“How?”

Cassian looked almost relieved to finally have a question

with a simple answer.

“The realm interprets language.”

“The realm?”

“The same forces that allow people from separate Ages to coexist here also allow them to understand one another. Spoken language is interpreted for whoever hears it.”

“So you're not speaking English?”

“No.”

Serena's eyes widened.

“What are you speaking?”

Cassian answered.

Serena heard:

“Vaelic.”

She blinked.

“That's what your language is called?”

“Yes.”

“Say something in it.”

“I already am.”

“No, say something in Vaelic.”

“I am speaking Vaelic.”

Serena frowned.

“No, you're speaking English.”

“To you.”

“STOP.”

Cassian almost smiled.

Almost.

Serena pointed at him.

“Don't laugh at me.”

“I wasn't.”

“You were about to.”

“I wasn't.”

“You definitely were.”

Serena looked around again.

“So if I say something right now, everybody hears me in their own language?”

“If they're close enough for the interpretation to reach them.”

Serena immediately turned toward a random older man.

“HELLO!”

The man jumped.

Then frowned at her.

Cassian closed his eyes.

Serena turned back.

“He understood me!”

“Yes.”

“That's SO COOL.”

“You frightened him.”

“Sorry!”

The man continued walking.

Serena looked delighted.

“So I could go to, like, ancient Rome and just talk?”

“No.”

Her excitement vanished.

“Why?”

“The interpretation is strongest inside the realm and around certain Time Travelers, passages, and crystals. Outside of those conditions, you would hear whatever language is actually being spoken.”

“Oh.”

Serena thought about that.

“So if you came to my world and stood near me—”

“You would probably hear me in English.”

“But you're still speaking Vaelic?”

“Yes.”

“That is so weird.”

“To me, English is weird.”

Serena looked offended.

“English is normal.”

Cassian started walking again.

“You believe that because you speak it.”

“Yeah, because it's normal.”

Cassian sighed.

Serena smiled.

She was starting to enjoy irritating him.

They crossed a wide bridge.

Below it, Serena could see people moving between enormous circular structures filled with crystals.

“What are those?”

“Passage chambers.”

“What do they do?”

“They create passages.”

Serena stared at him.

“You know, sometimes I think you purposely explain things in the least helpful way possible.”

Cassian ignored her.

Serena leaned over the railing.

A crystal below suddenly flashed.

A doorway opened.

Through it, Serena saw snow.

Then three people walked through.

The doorway closed.

Serena's mouth fell open.

“Where were they?”

“An earlier Age.”

“How much earlier?”

“Approximately six hundred years before yours.”

Serena nearly tripped.

“SIX HUNDRED YEARS?”

Cassian kept walking.

“You're really not impressed by anything, are you?”

“I've seen it before.”

“Well, I HAVEN'T.”

They entered another enormous room.

This one was quieter.

Serena saw several people sitting at long tables covered with objects she couldn't identify.

A few looked up when she entered.

Then everybody looked up.

Serena sighed.

“Here we go again.”

Whispers started immediately.

“Is that her?”

“The human?”

“How did she enter?”

“She walked through a passage.”

“Without a crystal?”

“That isn't possible.”

“The hexes failed.”

Serena looked at Cassian.

“They know already?”

“Information travels quickly.”

“I've been here for, like, twelve minutes.”

“Fourteen.”

Serena stopped.

“How do you know?”

Cassian didn't answer.

“Of course.”

Then Serena heard a voice from across the room.

“Cassian!”

A girl came hurrying toward them.

She looked older than Serena, though Serena couldn't immediately tell by how much. Her clothing definitely didn't look like it came from 2026, but it also wasn't ridiculously ancient-looking. She had something strapped around one wrist and was carrying several objects that looked like thin pieces of crystal.

She stopped in front of Cassian.

“I heard somebody got through an uncontrolled passage.”

Then she noticed Serena.

“Oh.”

Serena waved.

“Hi.”

The girl stared.

Serena lowered her hand.

“Everyone here does that.”

“Does what?”

“Stares at me.”

“Oh.”

The girl immediately stopped staring.

“Sorry.”

Serena blinked.

That was the first apology she'd received since arriving.

She liked this person already.

Cassian handed the girl something Serena hadn't even

noticed he was carrying.

“She needs to be supervised.”

The girl's eyebrows rose.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“Why me?”

Cassian looked at Serena.

Serena crossed her arms.

“Careful.”

Cassian looked back at the girl.

“Because you're available.”

The girl frowned.

“I was working.”

“You're available now.”

Serena leaned toward her.

“He's annoying.”

The girl tried not to smile.

Cassian noticed.

“Her name is Serena Robinson. Human. Age designation 2026.”

“I know what year I live in,” Serena said.

Cassian ignored her.

“She entered through an uncontrolled reflective passage without a crystal.”

The girl's smile vanished.

“She what?”

“I WALKED THROUGH A MIRROR.”

The girl stared.

Serena sighed.

“Okay, that one was deserved.”

Cassian continued.

“Three removal hexes failed.”

The girl looked at Serena.

“All three?”

“Apparently.”

Serena shrugged.

“They weren't very good.”

“They were standard removal hexes,” Cassian said.

“Then your standard removal hexes aren't very good.”

The girl actually laughed.

Cassian looked at her.

She stopped.

“Sorry.”

Serena grinned.

Cassian turned away.

“Explain the basics. Do not take her near active passages. Do not give her a crystal. Do not allow her access to restricted sections.”

Serena frowned.

“Why would she give me a crystal?”

“Exactly.”

“And when can I go home?”

“When we determine what opened your passage.”

“How long will that take?”

“We don't know.”

Serena's face fell.

“I have parents.”

Cassian stopped.

Something about Serena's voice had changed.

She wasn't joking now.

“My mom told me to come straight home after school.”

Cassian looked at her.

“They're going to think I'm missing.”

For the first time, his expression softened slightly.

“We won't leave you here indefinitely.”

“That isn't an answer.”

“No,” Cassian admitted. “It isn't.”

Serena swallowed.

Cassian looked toward the girl.

“Keep her here.”

Then he walked away.

Serena watched him go.

“I still don't like him.”

The girl beside her said, “Most people wouldn't say that out loud.”

Serena turned.

“Why?”

The girl hesitated.

“You really know nothing, do you?”

“No!”

The girl smiled.

“Wow.”

“What?”

“Nothing. It's just strange.”

“What is?”

“Meeting somebody who doesn't know who Cassian Vale is.”

Serena glanced toward where he'd disappeared.

“Should I?”

“Everybody knows Cassian.”

“I didn't fifteen minutes ago.”

The girl laughed.

Serena smiled.

Finally.

A normal person.

Well.

Probably not normal.

But normal enough.

The girl held out her hand.

“I'm Caroline.”

Serena shook it.

“Serena.”

“I know.”

“Right.”

Caroline looked at Serena's backpack.

“What is that?”

Serena looked down.

“My backpack.”

Caroline nodded as if she'd learned something extremely important.

Serena narrowed her eyes.

“What Age are you from?”

Caroline smiled.

“Earlier than you.”

“How much earlier?”

“Later.”

“What?”

“I'll tell you later.”

“You people LOVE not answering questions.”

Caroline laughed.

“Come on.”

“Where?”

“If Cassian wants me to teach you the basics, we're starting with the basics.”

Serena followed her.

“Okay. First question.”

“You already asked one.”

“Second question.”

Caroline smiled.

“Go ahead.”

“What are you?”

Caroline stopped.

Serena immediately realized how that sounded.

“WAIT. I didn't mean—”

Caroline burst out laughing.

“I mean, like, are you human? Because Cassian keeps saying I'm human like he's not human, except he LOOKS human, and everyone here looks human, and then there are apparently aliens somewhere, and I'm very confused.”

Caroline nodded.

“That's actually complicated.”

“Of course it is.”

“We're human. Mostly.”

Serena's eyes widened.

“Mostly?!”

Caroline laughed again.

“Time Travelers begin human. At least, almost all of us do.”

“Begin?”

“When Time chooses someone, they change.”

Serena's smile disappeared.

“Time chooses people?”

“Yes.”

“Like the clock?”

“No.”

“The concept?”

“Sort of.”

Serena stared.

“That's not an answer.”

Caroline motioned toward a quieter area.

“This is going to take a while.”

They sat.

Caroline placed the pieces of crystal she'd been carrying on the table.

Serena immediately reached toward one.

Caroline slapped her hand away.

“Ow!”

“Cassian literally said not to give you a crystal.”

“He said YOU couldn't give me one. I was taking it myself.”

Caroline stared at her.

“You're going to be difficult, aren't you?”

Serena smiled.

“Probably.”

Caroline moved the crystals farther away.

“Okay. Time Travelers.”

Serena leaned forward.

Caroline thought for a moment.

“People exist throughout what we call the Ages.”

“Past and future.”

“Sort of.”

“There you go again.”

Caroline smiled.

“You call anything before 2026 the past and anything after it the future, right?”

“Obviously.”

“But if somebody is born in your year 4000, then 2026 is their past.”

“Okay.”

“And their future continues beyond them.”

“Okay.”

“And someone beyond that considers 4000 the past.”

Serena nodded.

“So?”

“So where is the future?”

Serena opened her mouth.

Then closed it.

Caroline smiled.

“Exactly.”

Serena frowned.

“I still think calling it the future is easier.”

“You can.”

“Good.”

“We'll make fun of you.”

“Never mind.”

Caroline laughed.

“We call them Ages. They continue. As far as we know,

there isn't some final Age where everything simply stops.”

“What about when the Sun explodes?”

Caroline shrugged.

“That's not the end of existence.”

Serena stared.

Caroline continued as though she hadn't just said something insane.

“There are Ages far beyond the one you know. There are other inhabited worlds. Other realities. Other—”

“WAIT.”

Caroline stopped.

Serena leaned forward.

“Other inhabited worlds?”

“Yes.”

Serena's eyes widened.

“Aliens.”

Caroline frowned.

“What?”

“ALIENS ARE REAL?”

“Well… yes.”

Serena stood up.

“ALIENS ARE REAL?!”

Several people looked over.

Caroline pulled Serena back down.

“Quiet!”

“You just told me ALIENS ARE REAL!”

“They don't like being called aliens.”

“What do they like being called?”

“Depends on who you're talking about.”

Serena put both hands on her head.

“I was supposed to be in math.”

Caroline laughed.

“I know.”

“No, you don't understand. I woke up this morning worried about a math quiz, and now you're telling me there are aliens.”

“There are.”

“Stop saying it so casually!”

Caroline grinned.

Serena stared at her.

Then slowly smiled too.

“This place is insane.”

“You haven't heard anything yet.”

Caroline leaned forward.

“Now we need to talk about Time.”

Serena looked around.

“Time travel?”

“No.”

“Time zones?”

“No.”

“Clocks?”

“No.”

“Then what Time?”

Caroline's expression became more serious.

“Time.”

Serena waited.

Caroline waited.

“That did not help.”

Caroline laughed.

“It's hard to explain.”

“Try.”

“Time is…”

She stopped.

Serena waited.

Caroline looked upward, thinking.

“Time is just Time.”

“That is the worst explanation I've heard today, and I've been talking to Cassian.”

Caroline laughed so loudly that someone shushed her.

“Okay. Imagine everything that ever happened.”

Serena nodded.

“Everything happening now.”

“Okay.”

“Everything that will happen.”

“Okay.”

“Every Age. Every moment. Every reality connected through existence.”

Serena's smile slowly faded.

“Okay…”

“Time is part of all of it.”

“So Time is the universe?”

“No.”

“A person?”

“No.”

“An alien?”

“No.”

“A crystal?”

“No.”

“A god?”

Caroline hesitated.

And Serena noticed.

“Oh.”

“The Time Travelers worship Time.”

Serena stared.

“As a god?”

“Yes.”

“Do you?”

Caroline looked down at the table.

“Not exactly.”

Serena leaned closer.

“What does not exactly mean?”

“It means I don't know what Time is.”

“But everybody else does?”

“They think they do.”

Serena liked that answer.

“So Time isn't actually a god?”

Caroline shrugged.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe calling it a god is just the closest word people had thousands of Ages ago. Nobody really knows.”

“And everybody worships something nobody understands?”

Caroline smiled.

“Don't say that around the higher ranks.”

“Why?”

“They won't like you.”

“They already don't like me.”

“Good point.”

Serena looked toward the crystals.

“And Time chooses you?”

“That's what we believe.”

“How?”

“Nobody completely knows.”

“What happens?”

“You become connected to it.”

“Then what?”

“You can learn to move through Ages. Interact with crystals. Survive things ordinary humans can't. And…”

Caroline paused.

“And?”

“We don't age the same way anymore.”

Serena tilted her head.

“What does that mean?”

Caroline looked directly at her.

“Time Travelers don't naturally die from age.”

Serena stared.

“What?”

“We can be killed. We can die from certain injuries or forces. But we don't simply get old and die.”

Serena stared at Caroline for a very long time.

“How old are you?”

Caroline smiled.

“No.”

“HOW OLD ARE YOU?”

“Not telling you.”

“ARE YOU, LIKE, FOUR HUNDRED?!”

“Serena!”

“ARE YOU A THOUSAND?”

“I'm not answering!”

Serena's mouth fell open.

“Oh my God.”

Caroline was laughing again.

Serena pointed around the room.

“So ANY of these people could be hundreds of years old?”

“Yes.”

Serena pointed toward a man who looked about twenty-five.

“Him?”

“Possibly.”

A woman who looked forty.

“Her?”

“Probably.”

Serena pointed in the direction Cassian had gone.

“Cassian?”

“Nineteen.”

Serena stopped.

“Actually nineteen?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

Caroline smiled.

“Disappointed?”

“I thought you were going to tell me he was six hundred.”

“No.”

“Too bad.”

Caroline rearranged the crystals on the table.

Serena watched.

Then she noticed Caroline's clothing.

Unlike some of the people she'd seen, Caroline didn't have the same markings or symbols.

“What rank are you?”

Caroline's hands stopped.

Serena noticed immediately.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You did the thing.”

“What thing?”

“The weird pause.”

Caroline sighed.

“I'm low.”

“How low?”

“Very.”

“Oh.”

“I wasn't chosen the normal way.”

Serena frowned.

“But you said Time chooses Time Travelers.”

“It usually does.”

“So how are you one?”

Caroline looked at the crystals.

“I earned it.”

Serena waited.

Caroline continued.

“I trained for a very long time. I learned how the passages work. I learned the Ages. I learned the crystals. I learned things people who were actually chosen never bothered learning.”

“And they still rank you low?”

“Yes.”

“That's stupid.”

Caroline looked up.

Serena shrugged.

“It is.”

A smile slowly appeared on Caroline's face.

“Thank you.”

Serena leaned back.

“So you're basically really good at everything, but they're like, ‘No, you weren't picked correctly.’”

Caroline laughed.

“That is an extremely simplified and slightly insulting version of several thousand years of tradition.”

“So yes.”

“…Yes.”

Serena grinned.

Then Caroline looked at her more carefully.

“What?”

“I'm trying to figure you out.”

“Good luck.”

“You walked through a reflective passage.”

“Mirror.”

“Reflective passage.”

“Mirror.”

“Fine. Mirror.”

“Thank you.”

“You walked through one without a crystal.”

“Yes.”

“You resisted three hexes.”

“Apparently.”

“And you could hear the realm interpretation immediately.”

Serena frowned.

“Is that weird?”

“For a human?”

Caroline paused.

“Yes.”

Serena looked uncomfortable.

“Maybe I'm just good at it.”

“At what?”

“I don't know. Mirrors?”

Caroline laughed.

But she kept looking at Serena.

Serena noticed.

“Don't.”

“What?”

“Don't start staring too.”

“Sorry.”

Caroline looked away.

For a few seconds, neither spoke.

Then Serena remembered something.

“Wait.”

“What?”

“You said Time chooses people.”

“Yes.”

“How old do you have to be?”

Caroline looked back at her.

“At least eighteen.”

Serena blinked.

“Exactly eighteen?”

“No. Older is normal. But nobody in the accepted records was chosen younger than eighteen.”

Serena looked down at herself.

Then back at Caroline.

“I'm twelve.”

“I noticed.”

“So I'm not a Time Traveler.”

Caroline hesitated.

“No.”

Serena relaxed.

“Okay.”

“But—”

Serena's head snapped up.

“Why did you say but?”

Caroline frowned.

“Because you shouldn't have gotten in here.”

“I KNOW.”

“And the hexes should have worked.”

“I KNOW.”

“And that mirror should not have opened for you.”

“I KNOW.”

“And—”

“CAROLINE.”

Caroline stopped.

Serena leaned forward.

“I am a normal person.”

Caroline studied her.

Then smiled.

“Okay.”

“Say it.”

“You're a normal person.”

“Thank you.”

“Who walked through a mirror into a realm outside her universe.”

Serena groaned.

“Come on!”

Caroline laughed.

Then something strange happened.

One of the crystals on the table flickered.

Caroline stopped laughing.

Serena didn't notice.

She was busy putting her backpack on the floor.

The crystal flickered again.

Caroline stared at it.

The light inside it shifted toward Serena.

Caroline's smile disappeared.

“Serena.”

“What?”

“Don't move.”

Serena froze.

“Why?”

The crystal brightened.

Serena slowly looked down.

“Oh.”

The light inside the crystal moved.

Not randomly.

Toward her.

Serena leaned away.

The light followed.

Serena leaned left.

It followed left.

She leaned right.

It followed right.

Serena stared.

Caroline stared.

“Is it supposed to do that?”

“No.”

Serena immediately stood up.

“GOOD TALK.”

The crystal flashed.

Every crystal on the table lit up at once.

Serena screamed.

Caroline jumped backward.

People across the room turned.

The crystals went dark.

Silence.

Serena and Caroline stared at each other.

Then at the crystals.

Then back at each other.

Serena slowly pointed at them.

“I didn't touch anything.”

“I know.”

“So that's not my fault.”

“I didn't say it was.”

“Good.”

Caroline looked at Serena differently now.

Not frightened.

Not suspicious.

Almost excited.

Serena noticed.

“No.”

“What?”

“Whatever you're thinking, no.”

Caroline smiled.

“I didn't say anything.”

“You have the face.”

“What face?”

“The ‘something weird just happened and Serena is involved’ face.”

Caroline's smile widened.

Serena grabbed her backpack.

“Nope. I'm normal.”

“Serena—”

“Normal.”

“Those crystals just—”

“Coincidence.”

“All of them?”

“Very coincidental coincidence.”

Caroline laughed.

Serena pointed toward the exit.

“Can we please figure out how I'm getting home before my mother calls the police?”

Caroline stood.

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.”

They started walking.

Caroline glanced back at the crystals.

One of them flickered again.

Serena didn't see it.

Caroline did.

And for the first time since meeting Serena Robinson, Caroline wondered something she wouldn't dare say

aloud.

Something ridiculous.

Something impossible.

Something that went against everything the Time Travelers had recorded for countless Ages.

Serena was twelve.

Time didn't choose twelve-year-olds.

Everyone knew that.

And somewhere else in the realm, Cassian Vale—the nineteen-year-old everyone believed had been chosen for something greater than any Time Traveler before him—stood among the highest ranks, completely unaware that the girl he'd just dismissed as an ordinary human

had made an entire table of crystals react without even touching them.

Caroline hurried after Serena.

“Wait for me.”

Serena turned around.

“You're supposed to be supervising me!”

“I know!”

“Then SUPERVISE FASTER!”

Caroline laughed and caught up.

And together, they disappeared into the halls of the Time Travelers.

Serena had been outside her universe for less than an hour.

She had already learned five things she really wished she hadn't.

Time Travelers existed.

Aliens existed.

People could apparently live forever.

Her new friend Caroline might secretly be hundreds of years old and refused to answer questions about it.

And glowing crystals had started following Serena with their light.

That last one was currently bothering her the most.

“Are you sure that happens sometimes?” Serena asked.

“No,” Caroline said.

Serena stopped walking.

“Caroline.”

“What?”

“You're supposed to lie and make me feel better.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Caroline cleared her throat.

“Yes, Serena. Crystals randomly light up and follow ordinary humans all the time.”

“Thank you.”

“They absolutely don't.”

“CAROLINE!”

Caroline laughed.

Serena groaned and continued walking.

They had left the quieter room and entered another enormous section of the Time Travelers' realm. This one looked completely different.

Circular platforms filled the floor.

Some were empty.

Others held groups of Time Travelers standing around glowing crystals.

Above every platform floated strange symbols Serena couldn't read.

Every few seconds, one of the platforms would flash—

and a passage would open.

Serena was trying extremely hard not to look impressed.

She was failing.

A passage opened twenty feet away.

Through it, Serena saw snow-covered mountains.

Another opened.

A gigantic city appeared on the other side.

Serena stopped.

The buildings were impossibly tall.

Flying objects moved between them.

Serena pointed.

“Future.”

Caroline kept walking.

“Age.”

“Future.”

“Age.”

“That's the future.”

“From your perspective.”

“Exactly. Future.”

Caroline sighed.

“Fine.”

Serena smiled proudly.

Then another passage opened.

Serena looked.

And stopped.

There was nothing there.

Not darkness.

Not a wall.

Not space.

Just—

nothing.

The passage immediately slammed shut.

Serena frowned.

“What was that?”

Caroline hadn't noticed.

“What?”

“That one.”

“What one?”

“The passage.”

Caroline looked toward the platform.

“There isn't a passage.”

“There was.”

“Where?”

Serena pointed.

“That one.”

Caroline's expression changed.

The platform Serena was pointing toward was empty.

Not just unused.

It looked old.

Dust covered part of its edge. The crystal in its center was completely dark.

Caroline walked toward it.

Serena followed.

“I saw something.”

“What?”

“I don't know.”

Caroline examined the crystal.

“This chamber isn't active.”

“Well, it was.”

“No, Serena.”

“I literally saw it.”

Caroline touched the edge of the platform.

“This chamber hasn't been used in—”

She stopped.

Serena leaned closer.

“In what?”

Caroline rubbed dust between her fingers.

“I don't know.”

“That's comforting.”

Caroline stood.

“Come on.”

Serena looked back at the platform.

For half a second—

the crystal flickered.

Serena's eyes narrowed.

Then it went dark.

She hurried after Caroline.

Their current goal was supposed to be extremely simple.

Find someone who could reopen Serena's passage to

2026.

Send Serena home.

Forget any of this ever happened.

At least, that was Serena's plan.

Caroline apparently had other ideas.

“So,” Caroline said as they walked, “what's school?”

Serena looked at her.

“What?”

“You said you were going to school.”

“Yeah.”

“What is it?”

Serena stopped.

“You don't know what school is?”

“I know what learning institutions are.”

“That's school.”

“Oh.”

Caroline nodded.

“Why do you go every day?”

“Because the government makes me.”

Caroline laughed.

“No, seriously.”

“I am serious.”

“What do you learn?”

“Stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“Math. Science. History.”

Caroline smiled.

“History.”

Serena immediately knew she had made a mistake.

“Don't.”

“What do they teach you?”

“Normal history.”

“What's normal history?”

“History.”

“Tell me something.”

“No.”

“Serena.”

“No, because you're going to tell me everything I learned is wrong.”

“I won't.”

“You absolutely will.”

Caroline smiled innocently.

Serena sighed.

“Fine. The pyramids.”

Caroline's expression changed.

Serena pointed at her.

“THERE. See?!”

“What?”

“You made a face!”

“I didn't!”

“You did!”

“I just—”

“What about the pyramids?”

Caroline started laughing.

“Nothing.”

“CAROLINE.”

“Nothing!”

“You know something about the pyramids!”

“Everybody knows something about the pyramids.”

“Did Time Travelers build them?”

“No!”

“Aliens?”

“No!”

“Time-traveling aliens?”

“SERENA!”

A loud alarm suddenly blasted through the chamber.

Serena screamed.

Caroline stopped laughing instantly.

Every person around them froze.

The lights overhead changed.

A deep pulse traveled through the floor.

Serena looked around.

“What is THAT?”

Caroline didn't answer.

People were moving now.

Fast.

Time Travelers rushed toward the passage platforms.

Several crystals flashed.

A voice echoed through the chamber.

Serena heard it in English.

“Temporal disturbance detected.”

Caroline went pale.

Serena looked at her.

“Is that bad?”

“Yes.”

“How bad?”

Another alarm sounded.

“Unregistered alteration. Age classification pending.”

Caroline grabbed Serena's arm.

“We need to go.”

“Where?”

“Away from here.”

“Why?”

“Because this is an active passage hall!”

“So?”

“So if an Age is unstable, passages can become unstable!”

Serena's eyes widened.

“Oh.”

The floor shook.

“OH.”

Caroline pulled her.

“MOVE!”

They ran.

Around them, Time Travelers were shouting.

“Close the eastern passages!”

“Lock the crystals!”

“Where is the alteration?”

“We don't know!”

“How can you not know?”

“It isn't registering!”

Serena and Caroline reached the edge of the chamber.

Then every light went out.

Darkness.

Serena stopped.

“Caroline?”

“I'm here.”

“Where?”

“Beside you.”

“I CAN'T SEE YOU.”

“I know!”

A crystal flashed.

Then another.

Then hundreds.

The entire passage hall lit up.

Every crystal was glowing.

Serena stared.

Caroline stared too.

“No,” Caroline whispered.

Serena looked at her.

“What?”

Caroline wasn't looking at the active platforms.

She was looking behind Serena.

At the old one.

The dead one.

The platform Serena had seen open earlier.

Its crystal was glowing brighter than all the others.

“That's not supposed to be active,” Caroline said.

The crystal flashed.

A passage exploded open.

Wind ripped through the chamber.

Serena grabbed Caroline.

“What is happening?!”

“I DON'T KNOW!”

The passage wasn't showing mountains anymore.

Or a city.

Or nothing.

It showed a street.

A perfectly ordinary street.

Serena stared.

Cars.

Buildings.

People.

Sunlight.

She knew that street.

“No way.”

Caroline looked at her.

“What?”

Serena stepped closer.

“That's my world.”

“What?”

“That's 2026!”

Caroline grabbed her.

“Don't go near it!”

“But that's HOME!”

“Serena, WAIT!”

Serena looked through the passage.

It wasn't exactly where she'd entered.

But she recognized the cars.

The clothes.

The signs.

Everything.

“That's my Age!”

Caroline stared.

“How did an inactive chamber connect to your Age?”

“I don't care!”

Serena moved forward.

Caroline yanked her backward.

“OW!”

“You cannot go through that!”

“WHY?”

“Because we don't know what opened it!”

“I WALKED THROUGH A RANDOM MIRROR EARLIER!”

“And look how that turned out!”

“Pretty good!”

“YOU'RE OUTSIDE YOUR UNIVERSE!”

“Okay, medium good!”

A group of Time Travelers rushed toward them.

“Step away from the passage!”

Serena turned.

“That's my home!”

“Move!”

One of them reached for the crystal.

The second his hand touched it—

BOOM.

The passage changed.

2026 disappeared.

Now Serena saw a battlefield.

People were running.

Smoke covered the sky.

Then—

flash.

A huge ocean.

Flash.

A city Serena didn't recognize.

Flash.

A forest.

Flash.

A room.

Serena's bedroom.

“HEY!”

Flash.

Gone.

Then—

the passage showed something else.

A little girl.

Serena stopped.

The girl was standing alone.

She looked about seven.

Maybe eight.

She wore clothes Serena didn't recognize.

Behind her was a house.

The girl looked directly at Serena.

Serena's stomach dropped.

“Can she see us?”

Caroline whispered, “She shouldn't.”

The little girl's eyes widened.

Then she ran toward the passage.

“WAIT!” Serena shouted.

The girl reached out.

The passage vanished.

Serena stared at empty air.

“No!”

The crystal went dark.

The alarms stopped.

For a second, the entire hall was silent.

Then everyone began talking at once.

“What was that?”

“Which Age?”

“Who activated the chamber?”

“It wasn't connected!”

“Find Cassian!”

“Alert the higher ranks!”

Serena turned to Caroline.

“Who was she?”

“I don't know.”

“She saw me.”

“I know.”

“Who WAS she?”

“I don't know!”

Then Serena heard a scream.

Not in the room.

Inside her head.

Serena grabbed the sides of her face.

She gasped.

“Serena?”

Everything disappeared.

For one second, Serena wasn't standing beside Caroline anymore.

She was somewhere else.

She saw the little girl again.

Older.

Then older.

A woman.

Then an elderly woman.

Then—

nothing.

Serena saw a man.

A family.

Another child.

Hundreds of faces.

Thousands.

They flashed through her mind so quickly she couldn't

understand them.

People laughing.

People crying.

People holding babies.

People standing in cities.

People Serena had never met.

Then one by one—

they disappeared.

Not died.

Disappeared.

Serena screamed.

And suddenly she was back.

She collapsed.

“SERENA!”

Caroline caught her before her head hit the floor.

Serena gasped for air.

People rushed toward them.

“What happened?”

“Get away!”

Caroline held Serena upright.

“Serena! Look at me!”

Serena couldn't.

Faces were still flashing behind her eyes.

A man.

Gone.

A woman.

Gone.

Three children.

Gone.

A family.

Gone.

Gone.

Gone.

Gone.

Serena finally opened her eyes.

Caroline was kneeling in front of her.

“What did you see?”

Serena's voice shook.

“People.”

“What people?”

“I don't know.”

“How many?”

“I don't know!”

Serena squeezed her eyes shut.

“Thousands.”

Caroline went still.

“No.”

Serena opened her eyes.

“Maybe more.”

The room around them became quiet.

Someone behind Caroline whispered:

“That's impossible.”

Serena looked toward them.

“I SAW THEM.”

“Memories can be distorted during passage failures.”

“They weren't my memories!”

That silenced everyone.

Caroline stared at Serena.

“What do you mean?”

Serena swallowed.

“I don't know those people.”

“Then how did you see them?”

“I DON'T KNOW!”

A voice came from behind them.

“Move.”

Serena recognized it immediately.

Cassian.

People stepped aside.

Cassian entered the chamber with several Time Travelers Serena hadn't seen before.

These people were different.

Even Caroline straightened when she saw them.

Their clothing carried symbols Serena recognized from around the realm.

Higher ranks.

Cassian looked at the dead platform.

Then at Serena sitting on the floor.

His expression darkened.

“What happened?”

Several people began speaking at once.

“The chamber activated—”

“It opened without authorization—”

“It cycled through Ages—”

“The human approached—”

Serena stood.

“My name is Serena.”

Nobody listened.

Cassian looked at Caroline.

“You were told to keep her away from active passages.”

“It wasn't active!”

Cassian looked toward the platform.

Caroline pointed.

“That chamber was dead before she arrived.”

One of the higher-ranking Time Travelers walked toward it.

“How long?”

“I don't know.”

The man touched the crystal.

Nothing.

He examined markings along the base.

Then froze.

Cassian noticed.

“What?”

The man didn't answer.

Cassian stepped closer.

“What is it?”

The man slowly looked up.

“This chamber was sealed.”

“When?”

“Before my Age.”

Serena looked at Caroline.

Caroline looked worried.

Serena whispered, “How old is he?”

“Not now.”

The higher-ranked man continued.

“There is no active destination attached to this chamber.”

Cassian frowned.

“Then what did it open?”

Nobody answered.

Serena did.

“A little girl.”

Everyone turned toward her.

Cassian stepped closer.

“What little girl?”

“I don't know.”

“Describe her.”

“I can't! She was just a kid.”

“Which Age?”

“I DON'T KNOW.”

Cassian's jaw tightened.

Serena glared at him.

“Stop acting like I should know everything! I've been here for less than an hour!”

Caroline stepped between them slightly.

“She saw more after the passage closed.”

Cassian looked at her.

“What?”

Caroline glanced at Serena.

“Tell him.”

Serena didn't want to.

She didn't know why.

But something about those faces felt private.

Personal.

Even though she'd never seen any of them before.

Cassian waited.

Serena finally spoke.

“I saw people disappearing.”

“How many?”

“I don't know.”

“Hundreds?”

“More.”

“Thousands?”

“More.”

Cassian's expression changed.

Serena swallowed.

“Maybe…”

She stopped.

A number had appeared in her head.

She didn't know where it came from.

It simply existed.

Serena whispered:

“Almost a million.”

Silence.

Complete silence.

Cassian stared at her.

Caroline stared at her.

The higher-ranked Time Travelers stared at her.

Serena looked around.

“What?”

One of them spoke.

“There has been no alteration of that magnitude.”

Another shook her head.

“We would know.”

“Every crystal in the realm would register it.”

Serena pointed toward the dead platform.

“Well, that crystal just did something!”

The woman ignored her.

Cassian looked at Serena.

“You're certain?”

“No!”

That surprised him.

Serena shook her head.

“I'm not certain about ANYTHING! I woke up this morning, ate toast, walked to school, heard voices, got hypnotized by a mirror, fell outside my universe, found out aliens are real, found out you people live forever, and now I'm seeing a million people disappear!”

She took a breath.

“So, no, Cassian. I am not CERTAIN.”

Nobody spoke.

Then Caroline noticed something.

“Serena.”

“What?”

“Your hand.”

Serena looked down.

Something was glowing beneath her skin.

A tiny line of light ran across her palm.

Serena's eyes widened.

“What is THAT?”

Cassian grabbed her wrist.

“Hey!”

The moment he touched her—

Cassian froze.

His eyes went blank.

“Cassian?”

He didn't move.

Then he saw it.

A dream.

But he wasn't asleep.

He stood somewhere dark.

Reality was breaking around him.

He couldn't move.

Something enormous was collapsing above him.

He heard someone screaming his name.

Then a hand reached through the darkness.

A girl's hand.

Cassian reached for it.

Their fingers almost touched.

And for one split second—

he saw her face.

Then Cassian snapped back.

He released Serena so quickly that he stumbled backward.

Serena grabbed her wrist.

“What is WRONG with you?”

Cassian stared at her.

His face had gone pale.

Caroline looked between them.

“Cassian?”

He didn't answer.

Serena frowned.

“What did you see?”

“Nothing.”

“That was NOT nothing.”

Cassian turned away.

“Seal the chamber.”

One of the higher ranks stepped toward him.

“Cassian—”

“Seal it.”

“And the girl?”

Cassian looked back at Serena.

For the first time since she'd met him, Serena didn't see arrogance.

She saw fear.

“Do not let her leave.”

Serena's mouth fell open.

“EXCUSE ME?”

Cassian walked away.

“CASSIAN!”

He didn't turn around.

“YOU SAID I COULD GO HOME!”

Nothing.

“MY MOM IS GOING TO KILL ME!”

Caroline grabbed Serena before she could chase him.

“Serena.”

“What?!”

Caroline wasn't looking at Cassian.

She was staring at Serena's palm.

The glowing line was changing.

It twisted across Serena's skin.

Slowly forming something.

A symbol.

Caroline stopped breathing.

Serena looked down.

“What?”

Caroline knew that symbol.

Everyone who had studied the oldest records knew it.

It appeared in ancient Time Traveler writings.

On sealed passage chambers.

On forbidden records.

On stories so old that most people considered them legends.

Serena stared at Caroline.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Caroline whispered:

“Because I've seen that symbol before.”

“Where?”

Caroline looked toward the ancient, dead passage chamber.

Serena followed her gaze.

Carved into its base—

was the exact same symbol glowing on Serena's hand.

Serena went silent.

The dead crystal flickered.

Once.

Twice.

Then every crystal in the passage hall went black.

And somewhere across existence, in an Age nobody in the Time Travelers' realm had noticed changing—

another person disappeared.

For approximately thirty seconds after the ancient passage chamber went dark, nobody moved.

Serena stared at her hand.

The glowing symbol was gone.

That should have made her feel better.

It did not.

Because carved into the base of the ancient passage chamber was the exact same symbol.

Caroline stared at it too.

Then at Serena.

Then at the symbol.

Then at Serena again.

“Could you stop doing that?” Serena asked.

“Doing what?”

“Looking at me and then looking at the creepy ancient symbol like you're comparing us.”

“I am comparing you.”

“Well, don't.”

Caroline crouched beside the platform.

Serena immediately followed.

“What does it mean?”

“I don't know.”

“You said you'd seen it before.”

“I have.”

“WHERE?”

Caroline looked around.

The passage hall was exploding with activity again. Higher-ranked Time Travelers surrounded the dead chamber. Several were examining its crystal. Others were arguing about what had happened.

Nobody seemed to be paying attention to Serena and Caroline.

Caroline lowered her voice.

“In records.”

“What records?”

“Old ones.”

“How old?”

“Very.”

Serena waited.

Caroline didn't continue.

“Caroline.”

“What?”

“You're doing the Time Traveler thing.”

“What Time Traveler thing?”

“Giving me three words and expecting me to somehow understand everything.”

Caroline almost smiled.

Then her expression became serious again.

“The symbol appears in some of the oldest records about Time.”

Serena looked at the carving.

“Like your god?”

Caroline hesitated.

“Remember what I told you. Nobody actually knows what Time is.”

“Right. The thing everybody worships even though nobody can explain what it is.”

“Please don't say that loudly.”

“Why?”

“Because I'd like to continue existing.”

Serena glanced around.

“Fair.”

Caroline touched the edge of the carving.

“This symbol doesn't mean Time exactly.”

“What does it mean?”

“That's the problem.”

Serena groaned.

“Of course.”

“It has different translations.”

“Like what?”

Caroline thought.

“Passage. Continuation. Beyond. Unbound.”

Serena frowned.

“Those aren't even the same thing.”

“They're ancient translations.”

“What does unbound mean?”

“Not restricted.”

“By what?”

Caroline looked at her.

“Time.”

Serena's face changed.

“Oh.”

Caroline stood.

“And that is why we're not touching anything.”

“I wasn't going to.”

“You licked your hand five minutes ago trying to remove an ancient symbol.”

“That was different.”

“How?”

“It was on me!”

A voice behind them said:

“Step away from the chamber.”

Serena jumped.

She turned.

A woman stood behind them.

Serena hadn't met her before.

She looked maybe forty, but Serena now knew that meant absolutely nothing in this place. She could have been forty. She could have been four thousand.

A silver marking ran down one side of her clothing.

Caroline immediately straightened.

Serena noticed.

“Who's that?” Serena whispered.

“High Rank.”

“That isn't a name.”

The woman heard her.

“Veyra Sol.”

Serena smiled awkwardly.

“Hi.”

Veyra did not smile back.

“Move.”

“Okay.”

Serena moved.

Caroline moved faster.

Veyra walked toward the chamber.

Three other Time Travelers followed.

One held a small crystal above the ancient carving.

Nothing happened.

Another touched the enormous crystal in the center.

Nothing.

Veyra looked toward Serena.

“What did you do?”

Serena blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“To the chamber.”

“Nothing.”

“You approached it.”

“Yes.”

“It activated.”

“Yes.”

“You witnessed multiple uncontrolled destinations.”

“Yes.”

“It reacted to you.”

“I guess.”

“And then the same seal appeared on your body.”

Serena crossed her arms.

“You just explained everything that happened and somehow turned it into a question.”

Veyra stared.

Caroline whispered:

“Serena.”

“What?”

“Maybe don't.”

Veyra stepped toward Serena.

“How did you open the passage?”

“I didn't.”

“Which crystal did you use?”

“None.”

“Which Time Traveler brought you here?”

“None.”

“Who trained you?”

“Nobody!”

Veyra's eyes narrowed.

Serena's voice rose.

“I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!”

The passage hall became quieter.

Serena noticed people looking at her.

“Oh, great. Everybody's staring again.”

Veyra continued.

“You expect us to believe an ordinary human entered this realm through a reflective passage without a crystal, resisted three removal hexes, activated a sealed chamber, and manifested a symbol associated with ancient temporal records?”

Serena stared.

“Yes?”

“That is impossible.”

Serena threw up her hands.

“THEN WHY DID IT HAPPEN?”

Nobody answered.

Serena looked around.

“Exactly!”

Caroline was trying extremely hard not to laugh.

Veyra noticed.

Caroline immediately became serious.

Then Serena remembered something.

“The people.”

Veyra's expression didn't change.

“What people?”

“The people I saw disappearing.”

“You were exposed to an unstable passage.”

“They were real.”

“You don't know that.”

“Yes, I do.”

“How?”

Serena opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

Because she didn't know.

She just knew.

The faces had felt real.

Not like dreams.

Not like random images.

Memories.

But not Serena's memories.

She looked at Caroline.

Caroline believed her.

Serena could tell.

Veyra did not.

“I saw almost a million people.”

Several nearby Time Travelers stopped talking.

Veyra's eyes sharpened.

“How many?”

Serena swallowed.

“I don't know exactly.”

“You just said almost a million.”

“Because that's what it felt like.”

“Numbers don't feel.”

“Well, this one did!”

Veyra stared at her.

Serena stared back.

Then—

a crystal somewhere behind them made a strange sound.

Not a chime.

Not a crack.

Something lower.

Almost like a heartbeat.

Thump.

Everyone turned.

Thump.

One of the active passage crystals had changed.

Its light was fading.

A Time Traveler hurried toward it.

“What's happening?”

Another looked at a display beside it.

“The destination is losing registration.”

Veyra turned.

“What destination?”

“Age 4812.”

Caroline's face changed.

Serena looked at her.

“What does that mean?”

“I don't know.”

The crystal dimmed again.

Thump.

The Time Traveler working beside it suddenly frowned.

“No.”

Veyra stepped closer.

“What?”

“There are twelve registered settlements in this destination.”

“Correct.”

“No.”

The man looked up.

“There are eleven.”

Silence.

Someone else immediately said:

“There have always been eleven.”

The first man shook his head.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No, there were twelve.”

“Which settlement is missing?”

The man froze.

His mouth opened.

Nothing came out.

“I…”

He looked confused.

“I don't remember.”

Serena felt cold.

Veyra walked toward him.

“Check the records.”

Another Time Traveler did.

“Eleven settlements.”

The first man shook his head harder.

“No.”

“The registry confirms eleven.”

“There were twelve!”

“What was the twelfth called?”

“I don't know!”

Serena whispered:

“Oh my God.”

Caroline looked at her.

Serena's heart began pounding.

“This is what I saw.”

Veyra turned toward Serena.

The active passage crystal went dark.

For one second, nobody moved.

Then Serena heard the whisper.

Serena.

She spun around.

Nothing.

“Did you hear that?”

Caroline frowned.

“Hear what?”

Serena.

She grabbed Caroline's arm.

“It's happening again.”

“What is?”

The room blurred.

Serena squeezed her eyes shut.

And suddenly—

she wasn't there.

A village.

Sunlight.

Children running between houses.

A woman carrying something in a basket.

A man repairing a roof.

A dog barking.

Serena could hear everything.

She could smell smoke from a fire.

She could feel warm air.

Then—

something changed.

The sky flickered.

A child stopped running.

Everyone froze.

A crack of black light tore through the air.

Serena screamed.

Nobody heard her.

The crack spread.

Through the village.

Through the houses.

Through the people.

Then—

gone.

Everything vanished.

Serena saw darkness.

Another face appeared.

A man.

Gone.

A woman.

Gone.

A baby.

Gone.

Families.

Hundreds.

Thousands.

More.

More.

More.

Serena tried to cover her eyes.

She couldn't.

Then she saw something different.

A person.

Standing in the darkness.

Serena couldn't see their face.

They wore black.

In their hand was a crystal.

But it wasn't glowing like the Time Travelers' crystals.

It looked wrong.

Dark veins ran through it.

The person raised it.

Another line of reality disappeared.

Serena heard voices.

Not Time Travelers.

Different.

“Again.”

Another voice answered.

“The correction is holding.”

Correction?

Serena tried to move closer.

She couldn't.

The person with the crystal turned slightly.

Serena saw a symbol on their clothing.

A broken circle.

Cut directly through the center.

Then the figure looked straight at Serena.

Serena froze.

They couldn't see her.

Could they?

The figure stepped closer.

Serena backed away.

The person tilted their head.

Then spoke.

“You shouldn't be able to see this.”

Serena's blood went cold.

“What?”

The figure moved toward her.

Serena stumbled backward.

“You're not supposed to remember.”

“WHO ARE YOU?”

The figure raised the dark crystal.

Serena screamed—

“SERENA!”

She hit the floor.

Caroline was kneeling beside her.

Serena gasped.

“Get away!”

“It's me!”

Serena scrambled backward.

“Caroline?”

“Yes!”

Serena looked around wildly.

The passage hall.

The crystals.

Veyra.

Time Travelers.

She was back.

Caroline grabbed her shoulders.

“What happened?”

Serena couldn't breathe properly.

“They saw me.”

“Who?”

“They SAW me.”

“Who, Serena?”

“I don't know!”

Veyra approached.

“What did you see?”

Serena looked at her.

“A person.”

“What person?”

“They had a crystal.”

“What kind?”

“Black. Or dark. I don't know. It looked wrong.”

Veyra's expression changed.

That was enough.

Serena noticed immediately.

“You know what that is.”

“No.”

“You just made a face.”

“I did not.”

“Everybody here is TERRIBLE at hiding things!”

Veyra ignored her.

“What else?”

“A symbol.”

“What symbol?”

“A circle. Broken through the middle.”

This time, Veyra couldn't hide it.

She went pale.

Caroline noticed too.

“Veyra?”

Veyra turned toward one of the higher ranks.

“Seal the hall.”

Serena stood.

“What?”

“Now.”

The entrances slammed shut.

Caroline looked around.

“What's happening?”

Veyra spoke quickly to another Time Traveler.

“Contact the Rulers.”

Serena's eyes widened.

“The rulers?”

“Now!”

The Time Traveler ran.

Serena grabbed Veyra's sleeve.

“Hey!”

Veyra looked down at Serena's hand.

Serena immediately released her.

“Sorry. But you know who they are.”

Veyra didn't answer.

“Who are they?”

“Not here.”

“Who?”

“Serena.”

“WHO ARE THEY?”

Veyra finally looked directly at her.

“The Erasers.”

Silence.

Serena blinked.

“The what?”

Caroline looked just as confused.

“I thought they were gone.”

Veyra looked at her.

“You know of them?”

“Only stories.”

Serena turned.

“What stories?”

Caroline swallowed.

“About an organization that believed Time shouldn't be protected.”

Serena stared.

“What does that mean?”

Veyra answered this time.

“They believe Time should be controlled.”

Serena's face changed.

“They're Time Travelers?”

“They were.”

“Were?”

“Long ago, a group separated from us. They believed the Ages contained mistakes.”

“What kind of mistakes?”

“People.”

Serena went quiet.

Veyra continued.

“Wars. Leaders. inventions. Families. Entire civilizations. They believed history could be improved by removing certain people before their influence spread.”

Serena thought about Mariel.

“One person disappears…”

“And thousands of descendants may disappear with them,” Veyra said.

Serena felt sick.

“So they're killing people.”

“No.”

Serena frowned.

“They're doing something worse.”

Veyra's voice lowered.

“They're erasing them.”

Serena looked toward the dead passage.

“Why doesn't anybody remember?”

“Because if someone is removed early enough from an

Age, everything caused by their existence changes with them. Records change. Memories change. Families change.”

Caroline stared.

“Then how would anyone ever know?”

Veyra didn't answer.

Serena did.

“You wouldn't.”

Everyone looked at her.

Serena's voice became quieter.

“That's the point.”

Veyra studied her.

Serena continued.

“If they erase somebody, the world changes so everybody thinks the new version is what always happened.”

“Yes.”

“But I remember.”

Nobody answered.

“I remember them.”

Caroline looked at Serena.

Veyra looked disturbed.

Serena's voice shook slightly.

“Why?”

Veyra didn't know.

That frightened Serena more than anything.

Cassian Vale arrived three minutes later.

And he was furious.

“You told her?”

Veyra didn't move.

“She saw one.”

Cassian stopped.

His eyes went directly to Serena.

Serena crossed her arms.

“Hi.”

Cassian ignored that.

“You saw an Eraser?”

“Apparently.”

“What did they look like?”

“I couldn't see their face.”

“Which Age?”

“I don't know.”

“What crystal?”

“Dark.”

“What markings?”

“Broken circle.”

Cassian went silent.

Veyra said, “It spoke to her.”

Cassian's head snapped toward her.

“What?”

Serena nodded.

“It said I shouldn't be able to see it.”

Cassian stared at Serena.

“And?”

“And that I wasn't supposed to remember.”

Something passed across Cassian's face.

Serena noticed.

“You know something.”

“No.”

“STOP SAYING NO WHEN YOU CLEARLY DO!”

Cassian stepped closer.

“You need to leave this realm.”

Serena stared at him.

“What?”

Caroline frowned.

“We can't even reopen her passage.”

“Then we find a way.”

Serena looked between them.

“Wait. Five minutes ago you said I wasn't allowed to leave!”

“The situation changed.”

“Oh, NOW you want me gone?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because if an Eraser saw you, then they may know where you are.”

Serena stopped.

Cassian continued.

“And if you can remember their alterations…”

He didn't finish.

He didn't need to.

Serena understood.

“They're going to come after me.”

Nobody answered.

“Oh.”

Caroline moved closer to Serena.

Cassian looked at Veyra.

“Open a passage to 2026.”

“We can't.”

“Use another chamber.”

“We tried.”

Cassian frowned.

Veyra continued.

“Her Age is accessible.”

“Then what's the problem?”

“Her location isn't.”

Serena raised her hand.

“I don't know what that means.”

Veyra looked at her.

“We can enter your Age.”

“Okay.”

“But the point from which you entered us has vanished.”

“The mirror?”

“Yes.”

“So just put me somewhere else.”

“We could.”

“Great.”

“But we don't know what would happen.”

Serena lowered her hand.

“Less great.”

Caroline asked, “Why?”

“Because Serena's passage wasn't created through a normal temporal route.”

Cassian looked toward the ancient chamber.

“The reflective passage.”

“Yes.”

Serena sighed.

“Can we please call it a mirror?”

“No,” Cassian and Veyra said together.

Serena rolled her eyes.

“Fine.”

Veyra continued.

“If we send her through an ordinary passage without understanding how she crossed realities, we could return her to the wrong point.”

Serena frowned.

“Like the wrong street?”

“The wrong year.”

Serena stopped.

“Oh.”

“Or the wrong reality.”

“OH.”

“Or—”

“I GET IT.”

Caroline whispered, “Probably don't send her through one.”

“Thank you.”

Cassian paced away.

Serena watched him.

Something was different about him.

He looked worried.

Not just about the Erasers.

About her.

Serena remembered what happened when he'd touched her earlier.

“You saw me.”

Cassian stopped.

Caroline looked between them.

“What?”

Serena pointed at him.

“When you grabbed my wrist.”

Cassian's expression went blank.

“You saw something.”

“No.”

“Liar.”

Caroline's eyebrows rose.

Cassian turned.

“Serena.”

“You froze.”

“I was surprised.”

“You looked like you were about to pass out.”

“I was not.”

“You were pale.”

“I am pale.”

Caroline snorted.

Cassian glared at her.

“Sorry.”

Serena stepped closer.

“What did you see?”

Cassian didn't answer.

“Was it me?”

Silence.

Serena's eyes widened.

“It WAS.”

Caroline looked at Cassian.

“You saw Serena?”

Cassian's jaw tightened.

“In a vision?”

“Enough.”

Caroline's mouth dropped open.

“Oh my—”

“Enough!”

The entire chamber went silent.

Cassian took a breath.

Serena stared at him.

Cassian stared back.

Then Veyra interrupted.

“We have a larger problem.”

A Time Traveler hurried into the room carrying a crystal tablet.

“The discrepancy increased.”

Veyra turned.

“How many?”

“Thirty-one thousand.”

Serena's stomach dropped.

Cassian's attention immediately shifted.

“How quickly?”

“Less than twenty minutes.”

Caroline whispered, “That's impossible.”

The Time Traveler shook his head.

“It isn't stopping.”

Another person entered.

“Forty-two thousand.”

Everyone turned.

The first messenger stared.

“What?”

“Forty-two thousand now.”

Serena felt cold.

That fast.

People were disappearing that fast.

Cassian stepped toward Veyra.

“We need a mission.”

“We need authorization.”

“We don't have time.”

“The Rulers decide.”

“Then get them.”

Veyra stared at him.

“You are not commanding this mission, Cassian.”

The room changed.

Serena noticed immediately.

Cassian was clearly not used to hearing that.

“Why not?”

“Because we don't know what we're entering.”

“That is why you send the highest capable rank.”

Veyra looked at him.

“You are not the highest capable rank.”

Cassian's expression hardened.

Caroline quietly whispered to Serena:

“Ouch.”

Serena whispered back:

“I thought everybody worshiped him.”

“They basically do.”

“I heard that,” Cassian said.

Both girls went silent.

Veyra continued.

“If the Erasers have returned, we need someone who can trace damaged Ages.”

“I can.”

“No.”

Cassian's jaw tightened.

“Why?”

“Because your abilities haven't manifested.”

Silence.

Serena looked at Caroline.

Caroline looked uncomfortable.

Cassian's face went completely still.

Veyra had hit something.

Something important.

Serena remembered what Caroline had told her.

Everybody believed Cassian was the Chosen One.

Everybody expected him to become unbelievably powerful.

But—

Serena had never actually seen him do anything.

Cassian spoke quietly.

“They will.”

“That does not help us today.”

Cassian stared at Veyra.

Serena almost felt bad for him.

Almost.

Then the doors opened.

Everyone in the chamber turned.

Three people entered.

The entire room bowed.

Except Serena.

Caroline grabbed Serena's sleeve and yanked her downward.

“OW!”

“BOW.”

“WHY?”

“RULERS.”

“Oh!”

Serena awkwardly bent forward.

One of the three looked at her.

Serena smiled.

“Hi.”

Caroline closed her eyes.

The three Rulers approached.

Serena had expected them to look ancient and terrifying.

They didn't.

One appeared to be a woman in her thirties.

Another looked like an older man.

The third looked barely older than Cassian.

Again, Serena reminded herself that appearances meant absolutely nothing here.

The woman spoke.

“The Erasers have been confirmed.”

Nobody moved.

“We have identified the origin of the current alterations.”

Veyra stepped forward.

“Which Age?”

“Not one.”

Cassian frowned.

“What?”

“Seven.”

Caroline whispered, “Seven Ages?”

The Ruler nodded.

“Seven simultaneous points of alteration.”

Serena's mouth dropped open.

“How do you fix that?”

Everyone looked at her.

“Sorry.”

The Ruler studied Serena.

“So this is the human.”

Serena sighed.

“My name is Serena.”

A tiny smile appeared on the Ruler's face.

“So I've heard.”

Serena liked her slightly more.

The Ruler turned toward the room.

“A mission will depart immediately.”

Cassian stepped forward.

“I'll lead.”

“No.”

Cassian froze.

Serena's eyes widened.

That was the second no he'd gotten in approximately three minutes.

Rough day.

The Ruler continued.

“You will accompany it.”

Cassian relaxed slightly.

“Veyra will command.”

Veyra bowed.

“Caroline will accompany her.”

Caroline's head shot up.

“Me?”

Serena grinned.

Caroline looked horrified.

“Why me?”

“You have studied unstable passages extensively.”

Caroline's expression changed.

Nobody usually cared about what Caroline knew.

Nobody ranked her highly enough to matter.

Now a Ruler had just selected her for a mission.

Caroline stood straighter.

“Yes.”

Serena smiled.

Then the Ruler looked directly at Serena.

“And the girl goes with you.”

Every person in the room reacted.

Cassian spoke first.

“No.”

Caroline said, “WHAT?”

Veyra frowned.

“She is untrained.”

Serena pointed at herself.

“ME?”

The Ruler didn't change expression.

Cassian stepped forward.

“She is twelve.”

“Yes.”

“She is human.”

“For now.”

Silence.

Serena's face changed.

“For now?”

Nobody answered.

“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?”

The Ruler continued as though Serena hadn't spoken.

“She remembers the erased.”

Cassian shook his head.

“That makes her a target.”

“It also makes her the only person who can identify what

has been changed.”

Serena's stomach dropped.

Veyra understood.

“If our memories rewrite when we enter an altered Age…”

“She may retain the original history.”

Caroline looked at Serena.

Serena suddenly wished she hadn't been so excited about time travel earlier.

Cassian's voice hardened.

“She has no training.”

“Then protect her.”

“She cannot use a crystal.”

“Then don't give her one.”

“She cannot open a passage.”

“She already did.”

Cassian stopped.

The Ruler looked toward Serena.

“You wanted to return home.”

“Yes.”

“We cannot safely return you yet.”

Serena swallowed.

“But if we stop the alterations and locate the Erasers' passage network, we may discover what opened your reflective passage.”

Serena understood.

This mission might be her way home.

She looked at Caroline.

Caroline looked terrified.

But also—

excited.

Serena looked at Cassian.

He clearly hated this.

That helped.

“Okay.”

Cassian looked at her.

“No.”

Serena frowned.

“I wasn't asking you.”

“You don't understand what you're agreeing to.”

“Neither do you.”

“I have been trained for this.”

“And apparently I can remember stuff you can't.”

Cassian's jaw tightened.

Serena immediately realized she had won that one.

The Ruler spoke.

“You leave in fifteen minutes.”

Serena blinked.

“FIFTEEN?”

“Yes.”

“I need stuff!”

“What stuff?”

“I DON'T KNOW! I'VE NEVER GONE ON A TIME-TRAVEL MISSION!”

Caroline grabbed Serena's arm.

“Come on.”

“Where?”

“To get you ready.”

Serena let Caroline pull her toward the door.

Then she stopped.

“Wait.”

Everyone looked at her.

Serena looked at the Ruler.

“If we're going into the past—”

“An earlier Age.”

“Whatever. If we're going into an earlier Age, can I bring my phone?”

The Ruler stared.

Caroline stared.

Veyra stared.

Cassian looked exhausted.

Serena held up her phone.

“It has a camera.”

Caroline whispered, “What's a camera?”

Serena slowly turned toward her.

“Oh, we are going to have SO much fun.”

Fourteen minutes later, Serena no longer thought this was fun.

“This is horrible.”

Caroline tightened the strap around Serena's arm.

“Stop moving.”

“It hurts!”

“It isn't even tight.”

“It FEELS tight.”

“You're dramatic.”

“You're from the past.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing. I'm stressed.”

Caroline laughed.

They were inside an equipment chamber.

Serena had been given clothing designed for passage

travel.

She hated it.

Not because it looked bad.

It actually looked kind of cool.

Dark material. Light protective layers. A small symbol indicating that Serena had no official rank.

That part offended her slightly.

“What does mine mean again?”

“Unranked.”

“Can it mean something cooler?”

“No.”

“Temporary mysterious person?”

“No.”

“Special human?”

“No.”

“Extremely important twelve-year-old?”

“Absolutely not.”

Serena sighed.

Caroline attached a small device to Serena's wrist.

“What does this do?”

“Tracks you.”

Serena immediately tried to remove it.

Caroline slapped her hand.

“Stop!”

“I don't want to be tracked!”

“If you fall out of an Age, we'd like to find you.”

Serena stopped trying to remove it.

“Keep the tracker.”

“Thought so.”

The door opened.

Cassian entered.

He was dressed differently now too.

Serena looked at him.

“You look like you're about to fight someone.”

“We may have to.”

Serena's smile disappeared.

“Oh.”

That made this real.

Not fun time travel.

Not exploring.

A mission.

The Erasers had already removed tens of thousands of people.

And Serena was going toward them.

Cassian looked at Caroline.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

Then at Serena.

“No.”

Serena frowned.

“You didn't even ask me.”

“I didn't need to.”

“I'm ready.”

“You're wearing your equipment incorrectly.”

Serena looked down.

“What?”

Cassian pointed.

“That strap.”

Serena looked at Caroline.

“You said it was right!”

“It was!”

Cassian fixed it.

Caroline frowned.

“Oh.”

Serena smiled.

“High Rank Caroline.”

Caroline elbowed her.

“I'm not high rank.”

“Yet.”

Caroline paused.

Serena didn't know why she'd said that.

Neither did Caroline.

Then Caroline smiled.

“Maybe someday.”

Cassian headed for the door.

“Move.”

Serena followed.

“Do you ever say please?”

“No.”

“Thank you?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“When appropriate.”

“So never.”

Cassian sighed.

Caroline laughed.

The mission team waited around a huge passage crystal.

Veyra stood at the front.

Six other Time Travelers surrounded her.

Cassian stood to one side.

Caroline beside him.

Serena beside Caroline.

Serena looked around.

“Where are we going first?”

Veyra answered.

“Age 1774.”

Serena's eyebrows rose.

“Like the year?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

Of course.

Their Age numbers weren't the same as her calendar years.

Serena looked at the enormous crystal.

“What happens when we go through?”

“Stay close.”

“To who?”

“Caroline.”

Serena nodded.

“Easy.”

“Do not touch anything unless instructed.”

“Okay.”

“Do not speak to anyone unless necessary.”

Serena frowned.

“Okay.”

“Do not leave the group.”

“Okay.”

“Do not attempt to operate a crystal.”

“Okay.”

“Do not interfere with history.”

Serena stared.

“What does that mean?”

“It means don't change anything.”

“How would I know if I'm changing something?”

“You won't.”

“That seems like a flaw.”

Veyra ignored her.

The crystal activated.

Light filled the chamber.

Serena's heart began pounding.

A passage opened.

Through it, Serena saw rain.

A city.

Not hers.

Buildings crowded together beneath a gray sky.

People hurried through narrow streets.

Caroline reached for Serena's hand.

Serena took it.

“You okay?” Caroline asked.

“No.”

“Me neither.”

Serena looked at her.

“You've done this before!”

“Not an Eraser mission!”

“Oh.”

Cassian stepped toward the passage.

Veyra raised one hand.

“Remember. Once we enter an altered Age, your memories may begin adapting.”

Serena looked around.

“Except mine.”

Everyone looked at her.

Veyra nodded.

“Except, apparently, yours.”

Serena swallowed.

That meant if something changed—

she might be the only one who noticed.

Veyra stepped through.

The others followed.

Cassian went next.

Caroline squeezed Serena's hand.

“Ready?”

Serena looked through the passage.

Fifteen minutes ago she'd been trying to figure out how to get home.

A few hours ago she'd been walking to school.

Now she was about to travel into another Age to hunt an organization that erased people from existence.

“No.”

Caroline smiled nervously.

“Good.”

“Why good?”

“Because I'm not either.”

They stepped through.

Cold rain hit Serena's face.

She gasped.

The passage vanished behind them.

Serena turned.

Nothing.

Just an alley.

Old stone beneath her shoes.

Rain dripping from rooftops.

Voices somewhere nearby.

Serena's heart raced.

“We're actually here.”

Caroline smiled.

“Yeah.”

Serena looked around.

“Another Age.”

“Yeah.”

Despite everything—

Serena smiled.

“This is so cool.”

Cassian turned.

“Focus.”

“Can I enjoy ONE THING?”

“No.”

“See, Caroline? Annoying.”

Caroline laughed.

Veyra held up a hand.

Everyone went silent.

She looked toward the end of the alley.

Something was wrong.

Serena felt it too.

She didn't know how.

The city looked normal.

People moved through the street.

Rain fell.

Nothing was obviously broken.

But Serena felt something pulling inside her chest.

A memory.

Not hers.

She turned left.

“Serena?”

Caroline followed her gaze.

At the end of the street stood a building.

Serena stared at it.

“No.”

Veyra looked at her.

“What?”

“That shouldn't be there.”

Cassian frowned.

“How could you possibly know that?”

Serena didn't answer.

She walked toward it.

“Serena!”

Veyra caught her shoulder.

Serena pointed.

“That building.”

“What about it?”

“It isn't supposed to be there.”

Cassian looked at the building.

“It has been registered in this Age for over three hundred years.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Serena's head began hurting.

Images flashed.

That same street.

But different.

Where the building stood—

there should have been a house.

Small.

Blue door.

Flowers.

A family lived there.

Serena knew it.

“I remember.”

Caroline stepped closer.

“What?”

“A house.”

“There is no house.”

“There WAS.”

Cassian looked at Veyra.

Veyra's expression hardened.

Serena pointed toward the building.

“That's new.”

Cassian said, “It's three centuries old.”

“Because your memory changed!”

Silence.

Serena's heart pounded.

This was it.

This was exactly what Veyra had warned them about.

The Time Travelers remembered the altered version.

Serena remembered the original.

She walked toward the building.

This time, nobody stopped her.

On the door was a symbol.

A circle.

Broken through the middle.

Caroline whispered:

“Oh no.”

Cassian reached for the crystal at his side.

Veyra raised her hand.

Every Time Traveler prepared themselves.

Serena stared at the broken circle.

Then the door opened.

A man stood inside.

He looked completely ordinary.

He looked at Veyra.

At Cassian.

At Caroline.

Then—

at Serena.

He smiled.

The door slammed shut.

For one second, nobody moved.

Serena stared at it.

Cassian stared at it.

Caroline stared at it.

Veyra stared at it.

Then Serena pointed.

“He knows my name.”

“Yes,” Cassian said.

“HOW DOES HE KNOW MY NAME?”

“We heard him.”

“That wasn't the question!”

Not kindly.

“Serena Robinson.”

Serena's blood went cold.

Caroline grabbed her arm.

Cassian stepped in front of her.

Veyra's hand moved toward her crystal.

The man smiled wider.

Serena whispered:

“How do you know my name?”

The man looked directly into her eyes.

“Because we've been waiting for you.”

And the door slammed shut.

Cassian grabbed Serena's arm and pulled her backward.

“Hey!”

“Move.”

“Why?”

“Because somebody inside an Eraser stronghold just said they've been waiting for you.”

Serena looked at the door.

“Okay, when you say it like that, it sounds bad.”

“It is bad.”

Caroline hurried beside them.

Veyra raised one hand.

The other Time Travelers immediately spread throughout the street.

People continued walking past as though absolutely nothing unusual was happening.

Serena stared at them.

“Can they not see us?”

“They can,” Caroline whispered.

“Then why does nobody care?”

“Because as far as they know, that building has always been there.”

Serena looked at it again.

She remembered the little house.

The blue door.

The flowers.

A family.

But now there was a massive stone building standing in its place.

“How can everybody just forget?”

“They don't know they've forgotten.”

Serena looked at Caroline.

That sentence bothered her.

A lot.

Veyra approached the door.

“Cassian.”

“Yes?”

“If anything happens, take Serena through the emergency passage.”

Serena frowned.

“Why does everybody keep deciding where I'm going?”

“Because you're twelve,” Cassian said.

“I can make decisions!”

“You walked through a mysterious mirror because voices told you to.”

Serena opened her mouth.

Closed it.

Then pointed at him.

“That was one time.”

Caroline snorted.

Cassian looked at her.

“Sorry.”

Veyra raised a crystal.

The door exploded inward.

Serena jumped.

“OH MY GOD!”

Veyra entered.

The others followed.

Cassian turned toward Serena.

“Stay behind me.”

Serena immediately walked beside him.

“Behind.”

“I heard you.”

“Then why are you beside me?”

“Because I don't like being behind people.”

“This is not optional.”

Caroline stepped between them.

“I'll stay with her.”

Cassian looked at Serena.

Then Caroline.

“Fine.”

Serena smiled.

“See? Caroline trusts me.”

“No,” Caroline said. “I just trust myself to grab you.”

Serena's smile disappeared.

“Oh.”

They entered.

And immediately stopped.

Serena looked around.

“No.”

Caroline whispered, “What?”

“Nope.”

The building was impossible.

From outside, it had looked maybe three stories tall.

Inside, the ceiling disappeared into darkness.

A massive staircase twisted upward.

Hallways branched in dozens of directions.

Doors covered the walls.

Some were upside down.

One was floating.

Serena pointed at it.

“That door is floating.”

Cassian kept moving.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“No idea.”

“Great.”

They followed Veyra.

Serena looked back toward the entrance.

The street was gone.

There wasn't even a door anymore.

“Uh…”

Caroline turned.

“What?”

“The exit disappeared.”

Caroline looked.

“Oh.”

“Why did you say ‘oh’ like that?”

“Because that's bad.”

“CAROLINE!”

Veyra stopped.

“Quiet.”

Serena lowered her voice.

“The exit disappeared.”

“We know.”

“And we're just continuing?”

“Yes.”

“Fantastic.”

A noise came from somewhere above them.

Tick.

Serena looked up.

Tick.

Another.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Hundreds of ticking sounds filled the building.

Serena shivered.

“I hate this place.”

Cassian glanced back.

“For once, we agree.”

They reached the first hallway.

Seven doors.

Veyra approached the nearest one.

“Don't open that,” Serena said.

Veyra stopped.

Everyone looked at her.

Serena blinked.

“What?”

“Why?” Veyra asked.

“I don't know.”

Veyra looked at the door.

Then Serena.

“What do you remember?”

Serena stared at it.

Nothing.

Then—

a flash.

A room.

People screaming.

Dark crystal.

Nothing.

Serena stepped backward.

“Something bad.”

Cassian frowned.

“That's extremely specific.”

“Okay, YOU open it.”

Cassian went silent.

Serena smiled.

“Thought so.”

Veyra moved to the second door.

Serena felt nothing.

She opened it.

On the other side was—

sunlight.

Serena's mouth dropped open.

A gigantic city stretched into the distance.

People flew through the air using machines Serena couldn't understand.

Buildings reached into the clouds.

Serena slowly walked closer.

“Whoa.”

Caroline grabbed her shirt.

“No.”

“I wasn't going through!”

“You were leaning.”

“I was LOOKING.”

Veyra studied the city.

“Age 19,882.”

Serena's eyes widened.

“How far is that from 2026?”

“That number doesn't correspond to your calendar.”

“I know, but still.”

Cassian closed the door.

Serena frowned.

“I was looking!”

“We're not sightseeing.”

They opened another.

A forest.

Another.

An ocean.

Another.

A city on fire.

Then another.

Serena froze.

Her street.

She rushed forward.

“HOME!”

Cassian caught her around the waist.

“NO.”

“LET GO!”

“Serena!”

“THAT'S MY STREET!”

Caroline ran forward.

“Wait!”

Serena struggled.

“My house is right there!”

It was.

Across the street.

Her house.

Her driveway.

Her neighborhood.

Everything.

“Mom!”

Serena tried to break free.

Cassian held her.

“Serena, stop!”

“THAT'S MY HOUSE!”

Veyra stepped toward the doorway.

“Something is wrong.”

Serena stopped struggling.

“What?”

Veyra pointed.

Serena looked.

Her house was there.

But the windows were dark.

The yard looked different.

Then somebody walked out.

Serena stopped breathing.

A man.

Not Mason.

A stranger.

He got into a car parked outside.

Serena stared.

“Who is that?”

Nobody answered.

“That's my house.”

Caroline squeezed Serena's hand.

Veyra closed the door.

“HEY!”

“That was not your reality.”

“It looked exactly like it!”

“Almost exactly.”

Serena stared at the closed door.

“Another reality?”

“Possibly.”

Serena's stomach twisted.

Somewhere there was a 2026 where her house existed—

but she didn't live in it.

She didn't like that.

At all.

“Keep moving,” Veyra said.

They continued deeper.

The ticking became louder.

Then Serena heard voices.

Everyone stopped.

Cassian raised his crystal.

Veyra motioned toward the others.

They spread out.

Serena whispered to Caroline:

“What happens if there's a fight?”

“Stay with me.”

“What if you fight?”

“Stay behind me.”

“What if something happens to you?”

“Serena.”

“What?”

“Please stop creating situations.”

“I'm preparing!”

A voice echoed through the hallway.

“You brought quite a few.”

Serena recognized it.

The man from the door.

Veyra shouted:

“Show yourself.”

A laugh.

“You already know we're here.”

“We?”

Serena whispered.

The lights went out.

“OH, COME ON!”

Caroline grabbed Serena.

Something moved in the darkness.

Then—

FLASH.

Veyra's crystal lit up.

Figures surrounded them.

Serena's stomach dropped.

There were at least twenty.

All dressed differently.

Some looked like they came from Serena's Age.

Some from earlier ones.

Some wore clothing Serena couldn't even begin to place.

But every one carried a dark crystal.

And every one wore the same symbol.

A broken circle.

The Erasers.

The man from the doorway stepped forward.

“Serena Robinson.”

Serena stayed behind Caroline.

“Hi.”

Cassian looked at her.

“What?”

Serena whispered, “I didn't know what else to say.”

The man smiled.

“You're younger than we expected.”

Serena frowned.

“Everybody keeps saying stuff like that.”

“We assumed someone with your resistance would be…”

“Important?”

“Older.”

“Oh.”

The man tilted his head.

“Twelve?”

Serena's face changed.

“How do you know that?”

“We've been watching.”

Caroline stepped in front of Serena.

“For how long?”

The man's eyes moved to Caroline.

Then back to Serena.

“Longer than she realizes.”

Serena felt cold.

“Have you been following me?”

“Not exactly.”

“Did you open the mirror?”

The man's smile disappeared.

“No.”

That surprised everyone.

Veyra stepped forward.

“Then who did?”

“We hoped you knew.”

Serena blinked.

“What?”

The man looked genuinely interested now.

“You entered their realm without a crystal.”

Serena said nothing.

“You resisted their removal hexes.”

Nothing.

“You activated a chamber sealed before most of them were born.”

He looked at Serena's hand.

“And you carry a mark that hasn't appeared in recorded Time for longer than you can comprehend.”

Serena instinctively covered her palm.

Cassian stepped forward.

“Enough.”

The man smiled at him.

“Cassian Vale.”

Something about the way he said Cassian's name was different.

Almost amused.

Cassian noticed.

“What?”

“The great future of the Time Travelers.”

Cassian's expression hardened.

“Who are you?”

“Someone who stopped believing their lies.”

Cassian raised his crystal.

The man laughed.

“Oh, don't.”

“Answer.”

“You really believe it, don't you?”

Cassian went still.

Serena looked between them.

“Believe what?”

“Nothing,” Cassian said.

The Eraser smiled.

“Everything they've told him.”

Cassian's voice dropped.

“Enough.”

“The dreams.”

Cassian froze.

Serena noticed.

The Eraser continued.

“The prophecy.”

Caroline looked confused.

Serena's eyes widened.

“The Chosen One thing?”

Cassian turned toward her.

“Not now.”

The Eraser laughed.

“Chosen One.”

Cassian's grip tightened around his crystal.

“How fitting.”

Veyra interrupted.

“You're stalling.”

The man's smile vanished.

“Correct.”

Veyra's eyes widened.

“MOVE!”

The floor exploded.

Serena screamed.

Caroline grabbed her.

Dark light ripped through the building.

Time Travelers scattered.

Crystals flashed.

A doorway opened in the floor.

Another appeared in the ceiling.

Veyra threw up some kind of glowing barrier just as dark energy slammed into it.

Serena fell.

Caroline caught her.

“RUN!”

“WHERE?!”

“I DON'T KNOW!”

An Eraser appeared in front of them.

Caroline shoved Serena backward.

The Eraser raised a dark crystal.

Caroline grabbed something from her side and struck the person's arm.

Serena stared.

“CAROLINE!”

“GO!”

“But—”

“SERENA!”

Serena ran.

She made it six steps.

Then turned around.

Caroline ducked beneath another blast.

“Whoa.”

Serena had not expected Caroline to be good at fighting.

Apparently low rank did not mean helpless.

Caroline knocked the crystal from the Eraser's hand.

It hit the floor.

Serena smiled.

“YES!”

The Eraser grabbed Caroline.

“NO!”

Serena ran back.

Cassian appeared from nowhere and slammed into the Eraser.

Caroline stumbled free.

Serena grabbed her.

“Are you okay?!”

“Yes!”

“That was AWESOME!”

“THANK YOU!”

“STOP TALKING!” Cassian shouted.

A dark blast nearly hit them.

They ducked.

“RIGHT!”

Veyra shouted:

“FALL BACK!”

The Erasers were everywhere.

Serena couldn't tell what was happening.

Passages opened and closed.

Time Travelers disappeared through doors.

Someone screamed.

A wall became a completely different wall.

Then Serena saw the man again.

The one who knew her name.

He wasn't fighting.

He was watching her.

Serena stared back.

Then he raised his crystal.

Not toward Serena.

Toward Caroline.

Serena saw it.

“CAROLINE!”

Caroline turned.

Too late.

Dark light struck her.

Caroline gasped.

Everything stopped.

Not literally.

But to Serena, it felt like it did.

Caroline looked down at herself.

Her hands were becoming transparent.

Serena's eyes widened.

“No.”

Caroline looked at Serena.

“Serena?”

“No.”

“What's happening?”

“NO!”

Serena grabbed her.

Her hands passed partly through Caroline's arms.

“CASSIAN!”

Cassian turned.

“What?”

“HELP HER!”

“Help who?”

Serena froze.

Caroline stared at Cassian.

“What?”

Serena looked at him.

“CAROLINE!”

Cassian frowned.

“Who is Caroline?”

Caroline's face went white.

Serena's heart stopped.

“No.”

Veyra looked toward them.

“Serena, move!”

“HELP CAROLINE!”

“Who?”

“No!”

Caroline was disappearing faster.

She looked terrified now.

“Serena…”

Serena grabbed her hand.

“I'm here.”

“I don't—”

“You're okay.”

“Serena, I—”

“YOU'RE OKAY.”

Caroline's fingers vanished.

Then her arms.

Then—

Caroline disappeared.

Serena's hands closed around empty air.

Silence.

“No.”

Cassian grabbed Serena.

“We have to move!”

Serena shoved him away.

“WHERE IS SHE?”

“Who?”

“CAROLINE!”

“Serena, I don't know who you're talking about!”

Serena stared at him.

Veyra shouted from across the room.

“Cassian! Get the girl out!”

Serena looked at Veyra.

“CAROLINE WAS WITH US!”

Veyra looked confused.

“There was no Caroline.”

Serena's face crumpled.

“No.”

The Eraser man watched.

Serena turned toward him.

“What did you do?”

He smiled.

“Corrected an error.”

Serena ran at him.

Cassian caught her.

“LET GO OF ME!”

“Serena!”

“HE TOOK HER!”

“There is nobody!”

“YES, THERE IS!”

Serena kicked him.

“Ow!”

“LET GO!”

Then something hit Serena's foot.

She looked down.

A small wrist device.

Caroline's.

The tracker she'd been wearing.

Serena froze.

She picked it up.

“Caroline.”

Cassian stared.

“What is that?”

“It's hers.”

“Whose?”

Serena squeezed it.

“CAROLINE'S!”

The Eraser's smile faded.

He stared at the device.

That wasn't supposed to remain.

Serena noticed.

“You didn't erase everything.”

The man stepped toward her.

Cassian moved between them.

Serena clutched Caroline's tracker.

“She's still somewhere.”

The Eraser said nothing.

“She isn't dead.”

Nothing.

“You didn't kill her.”

The man finally spoke.

“Death is simpler.”

Serena's stomach dropped.

“Where is she?”

“Nowhere.”

“LIAR!”

Serena squeezed the device harder.

Something inside her pulled.

She gasped.

The room shifted.

Every crystal flashed.

Time Travelers and Erasers alike stopped.

Cassian turned toward Serena.

“What are you doing?”

“I DON'T KNOW!”

The tracker became warm.

Then hot.

Serena almost dropped it.

A memory flashed.

Caroline laughing.

Caroline explaining languages.

Caroline slapping Serena's hand away from a crystal.

Caroline saying:

I believe you.

Serena squeezed her eyes shut.

“CAROLINE!”

The building shook.

A crack appeared in the air.

Not in a wall.

In the air itself.

Everyone stared.

Through the crack—

Caroline.

For half a second.

Cassian gasped.

“Caroline!”

Serena's eyes snapped open.

“You remember!”

Cassian looked confused.

“I—”

Then his face changed.

“Who?”

“No!”

The crack vanished.

But Serena had seen her.

Caroline existed.

Somewhere.

The Eraser man looked at Serena differently now.

Not amused.

Afraid.

“What are you?”

Serena stared at him.

“I don't know!”

The building shook violently.

Veyra screamed:

“THE AGE IS COLLAPSING!”

Passages burst open everywhere.

Cassian grabbed Serena.

“We're leaving!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“CAROLINE'S HERE!”

“She doesn't exist!”

“YOU REMEMBERED HER!”

“I don't remember what you're talking about!”

Another passage opened.

Serena heard something.

Very faint.

“Serena!”

She froze.

Caroline.

Serena looked toward a passage twenty feet away.

Nothing but white light.

“Serena!”

There.

Cassian pulled her toward Veyra.

“MOVE!”

Serena looked at the safe passage.

Then at the white one.

“Serena, don't.”

She looked at Cassian.

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

“Because you're looking at the dangerous passage.”

“Good point.”

“Don't.”

Caroline screamed again.

“SERENA!”

Serena pulled free.

Cassian's eyes widened.

“No!”

Serena ran.

“SERENA!”

Veyra turned.

“What is she doing?!”

Serena jumped.

Cassian lunged.

His fingers missed her by inches.

“SERENA!”

She disappeared into the passage.

Serena fell.

And fell.

And fell.

Then—

THUD.

“Ow!”

Serena rolled onto her back.

Her entire body hurt.

She opened her eyes.

Blue sky.

Birds.

Trees.

Serena sat up.

“What?”

She knew this place.

She stood.

A street.

Her street.

Serena's mouth dropped open.

“I'm home?”

“SERENA?!”

Serena spun around.

Caroline stood behind her.

Serena screamed.

“CAROLINE!”

She ran toward her.

Caroline barely had time to react before Serena hugged her.

“OH MY GOD!”

“WHAT?”

“YOU'RE HERE!”

“Yes?!”

“YOU REMEMBER ME!”

Caroline pulled away.

“What are you talking about?”

Serena grabbed her shoulders.

“Cassian forgot you!”

“What?”

“Veyra forgot you!”

“What?!”

“EVERYBODY FORGOT YOU!”

Caroline stared.

“Serena, what happened?”

“You got erased!”

Caroline's face went pale.

“I got what?”

Serena held up the tracker.

Caroline stared at it.

“That's mine.”

“I KNOW!”

Caroline looked around.

“Where are we?”

Serena smiled.

“My home.”

Caroline blinked.

“2026?”

“Yes!”

Serena laughed.

“We're in 2026!”

For the first time since this nightmare started, something

had gone right.

Serena grabbed Caroline.

“Come on!”

“Where?”

“My house!”

Serena ran.

Caroline followed.

They turned the corner.

Serena stopped.

Her smile disappeared.

Caroline almost ran into her.

“What?”

Serena stared.

Her house wasn't there.

Not a different house.

Not an empty house.

There was no house.

There was an enormous building in its place.

Serena slowly walked toward it.

“No.”

Caroline looked around.

“Are you sure this is the right street?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe—”

“This is my street.”

Serena ran toward the building.

“No, no, no.”

She looked for the neighboring houses.

Some existed.

Some didn't.

The park down the street was gone.

Her school wasn't visible where it should have been.

Serena pulled out her phone.

It turned on.

“Okay.”

No signal.

“Fine.”

She checked the date.

Her eyes widened.

“What?”

Caroline stepped closer.

Serena showed her.

2026.

Same year.

Same date.

Serena looked around.

“This is my Age.”

Caroline whispered:

“Maybe not your version of it.”

Serena ran toward a woman walking nearby.

“Excuse me!”

The woman stopped.

“Yes?”

“Do you know Emma Robinson?”

The woman frowned.

“No.”

Serena's stomach dropped.

“Mason Robinson?”

“No.”

“Serena Robinson?”

The woman looked at her strangely.

“No.”

Serena backed away.

“Okay.”

The woman continued walking.

Caroline approached.

“Serena…”

Serena shook her head.

“No.”

“Maybe they're somewhere else.”

“No.”

“We don't know—”

Serena looked at Caroline.

“My parents aren't here.”

Caroline said nothing.

“They erased them.”

“We don't know that.”

Serena's breathing quickened.

“They erased me.”

Caroline's eyes widened.

Serena looked around at a world that resembled hers perfectly.

Cars.

Phones.

Buildings.

People.

But not Serena's 2026.

A version where Emma Robinson wasn't here.

Mason Robinson wasn't here.

Serena Robinson had never existed.

Caroline reached for her hand.

Serena held it tightly.

Then—

someone across the street stopped walking.

Serena noticed.

A man in a dark coat.

He stared directly at them.

On his wrist was a broken circle.

Serena's face changed.

“Caroline.”

“What?”

“Don't look.”

Caroline immediately looked.

“Why do people always look when I say don't look?!”

The man smiled.

Then three more people stopped walking.

Another.

Another.

Broken circles.

Caroline grabbed Serena.

“We need to run.”

Serena backed away.

The first Eraser called across the street:

“You weren't supposed to find this reality.”

Serena tightened her grip on Caroline's hand.

“Yeah?”

The Eraser smiled.

They ran.

Serena had absolutely no idea where they were running.

But they ran.

“LEFT!” Caroline yelled.

“WHY?!”

“I DON'T KNOW!”

“THEN WHY LEFT?!”

“IT FELT RIGHT!”

“THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!”

They turned left.

A blast of dark light struck the wall behind them.

Serena screamed.

Serena stared back.

“Well, I wasn't supposed to find the Time Travelers either.”

Caroline looked at her.

“Serena.”

“What?”

“Run.”

They ran.

“OKAY! LEFT WAS GOOD!”

“I KNOW!”

They tore down the sidewalk.

People jumped out of their way.

A car slammed on its brakes.

The driver leaned on the horn.

Serena and Caroline darted across the street.

“Sorry!” Serena yelled.

“SERENA, RUN!”

“I CAN APOLOGIZE AND RUN!”

Behind them, the Erasers weren't running.

That was somehow worse.

They walked.

Slowly.

Calmly.

Like they knew Serena and Caroline had nowhere to go.

Serena glanced over her shoulder.

“Why aren't they chasing us?!”

Caroline looked back.

“I don't know!”

“THAT'S CREEPIER!”

“I KNOW!”

They rounded another corner.

Serena stopped so suddenly Caroline slammed into her.

“Ow!”

“Sorry.”

“Why did you stop?!”

Serena stared ahead.

“My school.”

Caroline looked.

There was a school.

Just not Serena's.

The building was different.

The sign was different.

Even the road beside it was different.

Serena slowly approached.

“This isn't right.”

“Obviously.”

“No. I mean…”

Serena looked around.

“I know this place.”

Except she didn't.

Her memories seemed to overlap with what she was seeing.

There should have been a fence there.

A parking lot there.

A huge tree beside the entrance.

But none of those things existed.

Serena pressed her fingers against her forehead.

“It's like I can see both.”

“Both what?”

“This reality and mine.”

Caroline looked worried.

“Does it hurt?”

“A little.”

“How much?”

“Like when you stare at your phone too long.”

Caroline stared.

“What?”

“Never mind.”

Then Serena noticed the school's name.

WILLOWBROOK ACADEMY

“No.”

Caroline followed her gaze.

“What?”

“That's not my school.”

“I figured.”

“No, I mean this school shouldn't exist.”

“How do you know?”

Serena stared at it.

Another memory flashed.

A field.

A construction site.

A woman standing there.

Then—

gone.

Serena gasped.

“What?”

Serena pointed at the school.

“Somebody was supposed to build something else here.”

“Who?”

“I don't know.”

She squeezed her eyes shut.

The memory came harder.

A woman.

Glasses.

Dark hair.

Blueprints.

Serena knew her name.

“Rachel.”

Caroline went still.

“What?”

“Rachel…”

Serena struggled.

“Rachel Mercer.”

“Who is she?”

“I DON'T KNOW.”

A headache pulsed behind Serena's eyes.

“She designed something here. Not a school. Something else.”

“What?”

“I can't see it.”

Serena opened her eyes.

“She's gone.”

Caroline looked toward the school.

“Another erased person?”

Serena nodded.

“I think so.”

Caroline swallowed.

“Then this entire reality…”

“Is what happens after they erase people.”

Neither spoke.

That was much bigger than Serena had understood.

The Erasers weren't just making people disappear.

Every person they removed changed everything after them.

Buildings.

Families.

Schools.

Jobs.

Cities.

Maybe entire countries.

A person didn't just exist alone.

They affected other people.

Those people affected other people.

And those people affected more people.

Serena stared at Willowbrook Academy.

“One person can change everything.”

Caroline nodded.

“That's why altering Time is forbidden.”

Serena looked at her.

“Then why would the Erasers do this?”

Caroline's expression hardened.

“Because they think they know better.”

A voice behind them said:

“Exactly.”

Serena froze.

“Oh, come on.”

They turned.

The man in the dark coat stood across the road.

The other Erasers had disappeared.

Just him.

He stepped forward.

Caroline moved in front of Serena.

“Stay back.”

He smiled.

“You're very protective for someone who doesn't exist.”

Caroline's face changed.

Serena stepped beside her.

“She exists.”

“Not here.”

“She exists to me.”

“That's precisely the problem.”

Serena's fear turned into anger.

“What do you people WANT from me?”

The man looked around.

“Look at this world.”

“I've seen enough.”

“No, you haven't.”

He raised his hand.

Serena flinched.

But he didn't attack.

Instead, a dark crystal appeared between his fingers.

Caroline grabbed Serena.

The man touched it.

The world—

changed.

Silence.

Serena opened her eyes.

The school was gone.

The street was gone.

Everything was gone.

She and Caroline stood in darkness.

“Caroline?”

“I'm here.”

Serena grabbed her hand.

The Eraser stood ahead.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing.”

Serena looked around.

“This seems like something!”

He moved his crystal.

Images appeared around them.

A city.

Not Serena's.

People walked through crowded streets.

“This is Age 9904,” the man said.

Serena frowned.

“Okay?”

“In the original version of this Age, seventeen million people died.”

Serena's expression changed.

“Why?”

“A war.”

The image shifted.

Fire.

Buildings collapsing.

People running.

Serena looked away.

The Eraser continued.

“One person started it.”

The image changed again.

A man standing before thousands.

“We removed him.”

The image disappeared.

Another appeared.

The same city.

Peaceful.

No fire.

No war.

People laughing.

Children playing.

The Eraser looked at Serena.

“Seventeen million lives restored.”

Serena didn't answer.

Another image.

A hospital.

“A scientist created a biological weapon in Age 12,110.”

The image shifted.

An empty laboratory.

“We removed her.”

Another.

“A ruler ordered the destruction of three settlements.”

Gone.

“A murderer killed forty-seven people.”

Gone.

“A commander destroyed an inhabited world.”

Gone.

Serena stared.

“You erase bad people.”

“Sometimes.”

Caroline shook her head.

“You don't have the right.”

The Eraser looked at her.

“Why?”

“Because you don't know what happens afterward!”

“We calculate.”

“You guess.”

“We correct.”

“You destroy.”

The Eraser smiled slightly.

“Spoken like a Time Traveler.”

Caroline stepped forward.

“I am one.”

“No.”

Caroline stopped.

“You wanted to be.”

Serena looked at her.

Caroline went pale.

The man continued.

“You trained. You studied. You devoted yourself to them.”

“How do you know that?”

“And they ranked you beneath people who never wanted their gifts.”

Caroline's jaw tightened.

“Stop.”

“They told you Time didn't choose you.”

“Stop.”

“They made you believe you were less.”

“STOP.”

Serena grabbed Caroline's hand.

The Eraser smiled.

“And still you defend them.”

Caroline stared at him.

Then said:

“They're still better than you.”

Serena's eyebrows shot up.

The man's smile vanished.

Caroline squeezed Serena's hand.

Serena whispered:

“That was cool.”

“Thank you.”

The Eraser looked at Serena again.