GRACE:

  “Keep going,” Jackie urged. “I’ve got to get out of here!”

  The keychain slipped through my sweaty palms and hit the balcony floor again. Being near my mother’s gravesite made me tense to begin with, not to mention a colossal Bennu bird blew its fiery breath at my boyfriend, who was unrecognizable as this hideous… monster. And my new potential love interest had wings. I scratched a dry patch of skin on my neck, wondering what I would become if my addiction to Life Rife consumed me. The heat from the battle made me sweat even more.

  “This is all my fault,” I told Jackie.

  She comforted me. “No, it isn’t. You’re a victim of the probabilities. We all are. We can only change them if we work together.”

  “You’re being nice. I suck.” The keys almost slipped out of my sweaty hands again, but I tightened my grip.

  Jackie struggled to stay calm. “I need to get out of this cage so I can join the fight.” A gash on her forehead healed as she gathered her strength.

  “How’d you get that?” I asked. “Let me guess, Feraz did that too?”

  “You sure know how to pick ‘em,” Jackie joked.

  I stayed focused on the task at hand. We went one key at a time, but none of them were a fit. I lost track of where I started each time I dropped them, so maybe the right key was skipped. Jackie’s face showed desperation when I started over.

  “Forget it. There’s no use in trying,” she said.

  “I’m not giving up on you!”

  Key after key, no match.

  “Grace, watch out!”

  I dodged the drone’s bullets. “Ah! Jackie, are you hurt?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “So that’s the drone my father built that’s going to end the world? Awesome.”

  Jackie winced. “Are there any other keys you know of?”

  I shook my head. “Every door in Camp Claudi scans your DNA Identifier?. This rickety old cage doesn’t have a place to swipe, and I probably wouldn’t have access anyway. These keys are probably decades old. Can we shoot it with our fire power?”

  “I already tried that. Didn’t work.”

  “Let’s try together.”

  Jackie and I both blasted the lock with fire, but the metal didn’t melt. It was a stubborn old cage.

  Jackie’s shoulders slumped with defeat. “It’s too late. The future is written. The timeline can’t be saved. I’m sorry, mom. I tried my best.”

  “Stay with me, Jackie.”

  She was ready to give up, but I wasn’t. I fumbled with the keys as angry roars reverberated behind me. It was easier to focus on the locked cage than on the battle of the mutants raging a few feet away.

  I slid another key into the lock. Not a match. Then another and another…

  Lo and behold, one key worked! The cage door sprang open.

  Jackie leapt into my arms. “What are the chances? I can’t believe it. Grace, you did it!”

  “Let’s never give up on each other.” We hugged, then Jackie went straight into battle.

  “Wait!” I called. “I can’t lose you. You’re my best friend, and I guess, my unborn daughter?”

  Jackie gave me another hug. “I’m a phoenix gene carrier. I will rise from the ashes.”

  With that, she flew into the air and shot fireballs at the drone and what had become of Feraz. I couldn’t believe his handsome face morphed into a drooling beast.

  “Jackie, watch out!” The drone shot bullets directly at Jackie.

  The most amazing thing happened. Instead of being hurt by the bullets, she absorbed their energy. Her body glowed, and then she released a bomb of energy back onto the drone. It sparked, and smoke came out of its back.

  Meanwhile, the Bennu bird and Zayne teamed up to take on Feraz. The three mutants fought in the sky above the volcano. A blur of tail whips, biting, and scratching made blood fall like rain. There was even a flamethrower in the mix. So much violence, yet Feraz wouldn’t back down. His snake-like body coiled around Zayne, strangling him.

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  Should I join the fight too? I couldn’t let Jackie clean up my mess. After all, she showed me the powers I had within.

  After a few deep breaths, I manifested a slew of fireballs and threw them at Feraz. Alone, they didn’t do much damage, but he recoiled when I hit his open wounds. He released Zayne from his mighty grip. After that, all of my focus went to his weak points.

  “That’s for lying to me. This one is for stealing my father’s research. And this one is for hurting Jackie!”

  I threw the biggest fireball I could muster. It hit Feraz in his gangly left eye. Zayne swooped in and kicked him in his other eye. As he covered his face with his mangled hands, the Bennu bird kicked him down to the balcony. Together, we cornered Feraz against the destroyed laboratory overlooking the volcano.

  The drone zipped in to protect him, but Jackie zapped it with fire. It fell to the ground. It’s inner workings sparked, but it didn’t power down. That thing was built to last.

  The monstrous Feraz was on his last legs. I finally saw him for what he really was; a parasite, an evil leech, a stain on my perfect reputation. Could I ever rid myself of the scent of him?

  I told the others, “I want to deliver the final blow.”

  They nodded, poised as back up. I walked over to Feraz and spit on him. “How dare you treat me this way. You used me. And for what? To turn your beautiful face and body into this? Feraz Tal, your parents would be ashamed of you.”

  Feraz’s voice cracked. “Immortality is mine.”

  “Over my dead body.” I threw a fireball into his ugly mug. I could hardly believe I, Grace Claudi, fell for such a hideous person.

  Jackie joined my attack with a blast of fire, and the Bennu bird blew its flamethrower on him. Feraz withered and died under the blaze of our combined powers.

  Stopping Feraz only felt good for a second. The guilt and shame would last lifetimes.

  Sensing my emotional tumult, Zayne wrapped me in his winged arms. I melted in his warm embrace. He felt safe, like home. Why hadn’t we connected sooner? Regret consumed me.

  “Zayne, are you alright?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I will heal.”

  “Firestorm, let’s deal with Alpha,” Jackie said.

  Firestorm must have been the Bennu bird’s name. I wondered how she tamed one. Why hadn’t I believed her sooner? She was magnificent.

  Jackie talked to the phoenix as she powered down the drone. Said something about how stopping Alpha seemed too easy. No clue what that meant. They burned the drone to a crisp to be sure it wouldn’t come back to life.

  Zayne’s wings felt like a blanket, and a nap sounded good. I’m ashamed to admit that I also craved another hit of Life Rite, a little pick me up after the intensity of the battle.

  I caressed Zayne’s arm to let him know there was more to come for us. He flinched and retracted his wings. He looked at me with those deep eyes.

  “Together?”

  I smiled, glad someone would still have me. As my mouth moved to form the most romantic words, vomit came up instead. My insides cramped, and I doubled over.

  “Grace, you okay?” Zayne bent down to comfort me.

  I curled into the fetal position, wracked with agony. My skin tinged yellow. Wrinkles and dark circles appeared under my eyes. I aged a decade in front of Zayne. What did he think of me? Could we still be together?

  “I have a shadow too,” Zayne whispered.

  A tear streamed down my cheek. It sizzled at Zayne’s hot touch.

  The Bennu bird, Firestorm I think he’s called, he looked down on me with compassion. He had the same deep, dark eyes as Zayne. I could feel how much they both cared for me, even if we’d only just met.

  Jackie joined my side. My misfit crew encircled, all there to support me. I had quite the entourage.

  “Grace, I…” Jackie didn’t know what to say.

  Firestorm stated the obvious. “She’s bonded with Feraz. When he dies, she takes a hit.”

  Zayne looked like a forlorn puppy.

  Jackie examined Feraz’s dead, snake-like body. “He will rebirth. We probably don’t have much time. He might have even gained access to the slipstream, which would make him even more dangerous…”

  The consequences were obvious. “If you keep killing him, I will die too.”

  “No, Grace,” Zayne assured me.

  Jackie and Firestorm shared a knowing look.

  “We can put him in a cage to rot forever,” Jackie suggested.

  “What kind of cage could hold… that?” I asked.

  Firestorm contemplated. “It does increase the probability of error… The mission from Beatrice was clear. Eliminate all paths to the intended probability.”

  “What does my mother have to do with this?” I asked.

  Jackie bit her lip. “Let’s just say she has a guiding presence. When you saw her in the slipstream, that was really her. She sent us here…”

  I stumbled to my feet and walked over to the balcony railing. A bouquet of burnt flowers marked her gravesite.

  “Mother, are you there?”

  No response.

  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I missed my mom. Guilt consumed me because I felt immense relief when she passed. Watching her waste away was harder than the final goodbye. But now, eternity felt too long. We needed to be together again soon.

  My steady stream of tears fell into the volcano. My inner thoughts went with them, and I imagined the most wonderful conversation.

  “I messed up, mom. I thought he loved me… All I ever wanted was a marriage as strong as you and father shared. Dad’s not the same without you…”

  My mother’s voice purred in my mind. “The probabilities were stacked against you. We tried to help, but… It’s not your fault.”

  “Is Jackie really my unborn daughter from another dimension?”

  Beatrice cooed. “Jackie searches for you across all slipstream realities. She longs for a connection with you.”

  “Will I die for my mistakes? I’m not ready yet.”

  The volcano sighed. “If you live, the global population will be annihilated in a redistribution program.”

  “What? No. That’s awful.”

  “Life Rite makes it possible, probable, I should say…”

  “Jackie was telling the truth… But there’s so much I still want to do with my life. Daddy said he’d let me run the Institute. Somebody’s got to examine the truth behind The Grid. Uncover its secrets. It’s supposed to be me… That’s all I ever wanted besides a family of my own.”

  I sobbed at the missed opportunities, the fantasized future that would never come true. Forget Feraz. Zayne and I could make a life together. Never mind what Father would say…

  The question was, could I give up my hopes and dreams for nameless, faceless strangers? Maybe a redistribution program would benefit mankind somehow in the long run?

  No… What good would unlocking The Grid do if most of the people in this world were dead?

  Feraz’s dead body burst into flames. His scaly skin melted. Whatever was left, quickly turned to ash. It happened so fast. What I witnessed next horrified me because I recognized it from his experiment at Jenkins Hall. Feraz was rebirthing.

  Energy particles rose from the ashes. These glowing specs danced through the air and collided like fireworks. The explosion reproduced Feraz, in human form, completely consumed by fire.

  I gasped as he morphed into something else… As he transformed, it began to resemble that hideous creature once more. The monster would soon be ready for round two.

  Time to make a life and death snap decision… My life or countless others?

  If you were Grace, what would you choose?