I could feel my nose running, but I couldn't move my arms. Hadn’t I been holding my hand up? The pain was gone, though, that was the important thing.

  No, that wasn't the important thing.

  What was important?

  Hold it.

  That was it. I closed my eyes, intent on holding it and not letting go.

  Then I fell, although I had been sure I had already been lying down.

  The shield flickered and died. People started moving instantly.

  Vincent was clutching his chest and he looked as though he were in pain. I could see some sort of battle going on inside his Path. Part of his Path was trying to escape, but he wasn't letting it go.

  Rider lay on the ground several yards away. He tried to stand, but fell back down again. I could see blood pumping out from a gash in his head, though it was already starting to heal.

  Already on his feet, Boone stomped out a small piece of burning debris. He checked on Renick, who lay on the ground not far from me. I could see the rise and fall of his chest.

  Vincent pulled himself together, although I could see the war still raging inside him. He came to me.

  My chest wasn't moving up and down.

  No wonder I felt unaccountably good. As I stared down at myself, it was a stark thought with no real emotion behind it.

  Vincent started CPR. Boone rushed over and helped, taking over chest compressions, trying to get my lungs working again.

  A whine from nearby made me look around. Fenrir was standing at the edge of what could only be called the blast zone. A disheveled-looking Logan was standing next to him, pale and shaky. I'd never seen the elf look so out of sorts.

  Fenrir came up to my body, crossing the scarred landscaping while fading in and out of our own world. Then he stopped and laid his head on my leg.

  Awww, he's so cute. It was a good thing he couldn't hear me. I doubt he'd appreciate the sentiment. I tried not to look at myself. I got a queasy feeling when I did and I wondered how I could have vertigo when I had no body. It didn't help that I had blood coming out of my ears, nose, and eyes. I seriously looked like crap.

  Boone gave the animal a sidelong look, trying to keep his eye on Fenrir without losing his rhythm. After a few seconds, he let his hand stray to his holster. Fenrir didn't raise his head, but he growled.

  "Leave him," Logan said, his voice every inch the leader I knew, even when he himself was still out of sorts.

  Logan watched silently. It surprised me that he wasn't checking on Rider. I turned around and found Rider standing directly behind me. Not my body me, but the me that was floating out in the ether.

  What was more surprising is that he was looking at me.

  And he was pissed off.

  Rider had his arms folded. Blood had stopped flowing down his face, although he hadn't wiped it clean. His glare added the finishing touches that made my friend look menacing—not at all like his normal self.

  He looked me up and down, and then nodded toward my body. That's when I realized he wasn't looking at me, not directly. He was looking at air, but he must have sensed my presence.

  He grit his teeth.

  "Fine," I muttered, walking away from him. I sensed him following behind, but didn't look at him again. Instead, I focused on my body. "It's not like I even know how this works."

  Vincent was stone faced and continuing to work with Boone to push my body back to life. I circled them, stopped, and was suddenly nervous. The one thing I knew, more clearly than anything else, was that this was going to hurt.

  I glanced at Rider, and he didn't look angry this time. He looked concerned, but still nodded once again to my body.

  Knowing it would suck, I closed my eyes and mentally felt for my body. I sensed it there, dimly connected to me. Much like I would tug on a Path, I pulled on the connection and let myself be drawn back into my body.

  My eyes flew open and I coughed a few times. Everything was still a bit blurry, but I had a vague idea that there was blood that might be causing the issue. I was starting to tear up.

  Vincent took a shuddering breath and leaned over me. He started wiping the blood off my face, but he wasn't talking. There was a bark from somewhere by my feet. For a moment, I worried about what Boone's reaction might be, but I could only see Vincent.

  His face looked carved out of marble, but I could see a flurry of emotions trying to lay claim to him only having his eyes as access to show the rawness he felt.

  Someone had my wrist in their hand.

  "Cassie—"

  In that one moment, my mind caught up with my body. Pain lanced through me and exhaustion clouded my mind. I took my good hand away from Boone. I was weak, but when I tugged, he let me go.

  "—I need you to tell me your name," Boone continued.

  I rolled my eyes and groped around until I found Vincent's hand. He wrapped his fingers in mine.

  After that, exhaustion pulled me into sleep. I let my partners take over from there.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I smelled the smoke before I saw him. This time, though, Gran's crazy ex-boyfriend had another old man with him. Fenrir was there as well, wagging his tail. It took me a few moments to recognize the second old man. We had met in the park back home, what seemed like ages ago. He had stopped time, warning me about Einar, the crazed golem that had been killing people, although the old man hadn’t actually said much.

  I crouched down and held my hand out to Fenrir.

  "How did you find me?" I asked when he licked my fingers. He let me run my hands through his silky coat, but I didn't push my luck.

  "You were lost and then found," Gran's ex said. "Then lost and found again."

  "Patterns," the other old man said. "The Patterns that cross through time and space. They found you."

  "Hunh," I said, half laughing at them. "It was Gran, wasn't it?"

  "She had a bee in her bonnet, make no mistake," Gran's ex said.

  "I think I should be resting," I said. "I don't know if I'm doing that when I'm here. Wherever here is."

  Gran's ex exhaled smoke, but I couldn't help but think that he hadn't yet puffed on his pipe.

  "Who are you all?" I asked. "And what do you want."

  "You may call me Chronos," the other old man said.

  "Chronos? Wasn't he a Titan or something," I asked.

  Fenrir barked sharply twice.

  "The titan is Cronus. I am Chronos. Named after a god of time."

  "Because you can stop time?" I asked. "I really never expected to see anyone else be able to do that. Although, I guess Renick didn’t stop time, he really just slowed it down."

  "We will be asking him to join us," Chronos said.

  "Join you doing what?" I asked.

  Gran's ex cackled and it felt like my skin crawled. I concentrated on Chronos, trying to ignore the crazier of the two.

  "We are asking your human friend to join us as well," Chronos said.

  "Join you in what?" I repeated.

  "And it is time for you to join us," Chronos said.

  "Ha," Gran's ex muttered.

  I crossed my arms and glared at them. "If you're not going to answer me, I'm going back to sleep."

  "You will heal. In a month’s time we will return, and you will join us," Chronos said.

  I turned my attention to Fenrir, ignoring the others. "I wanted to thank you for being there today. Or was it yesterday?" I looked at Fenrir, wishing there was actually a way for me to understand him.

  "You may wish to warn your friends that we will be contacting them," Chronos said. “We have a job for them.”

  "What? Contacting them how—" I started, but when I looked up, Chronos was gone.

  Gran's ex was still there.

  "How's Gran?" I asked.

  "Fired up. Trying to find a way to keep you safe."

  "I'm just doing my job."

  "Your government tried to kill you."

  "That had to have been some sort of mistake," I said. It sounded hollow, even to me.

  "Believe as you wish. One survived. They don't want to deal with that and they certainly don't want proof of their little experiment going wrong."

  "How do you know?" I asked.

  The old man cackled, but sounded a little less crazy this time. "Time rolls on and turns back in on itself. We want their experiment."

  "What are you going to do with Renick?" I asked.

  "He will be on our side now."

  "And what is your side?"

  The old man grinned and puffed on his pipe. Much too soon, he was obscured by smoke. I coughed and choked on the smoke. I couldn't see Fenrir anymore, but when I felt around, there was soft fur.

  I'd been put in a similar position before. This time, I closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths, and willed myself to wake up.

  I expected pain, but there was none. The heat was there. The blasted heat of the summer in the jungle.

  But no, the air was dryer.

  Fur rubbed against my hand, and when I opened my eyes, it was to find Fenrir curled up beside me, still in his dream—maybe still talking to the old men. Who knew?

  More importantly, at the moment, we were in a bed. Not mine, and not a particularly comfortable one, but it was a real bed all the same.

  I expected to see Vincent, but he wasn't there. One thing I never would have thought to see at that moment, however, was Taylor.

  "I think I’m still asleep," I murmured and closed my eyes again.

  "No, no," Taylor said quickly. "I need you awake."

  Reluctantly, I looked at him, trying to decide if I was awake or not. In the end, I decided I must be awake, because it was too unlikely for a dream.

  "How are you here?" I asked.

  "Hank got me here, and your grandmother," Taylor said. "She was adamant and she wasn't wrong."

  I had been attacked by changelings in the past, so while I was pretty sure he was there, I wasn't as convinced that he was really Taylor. "There's no way Gran could have told you where I was, or even what happened."

  "She didn't, but whatever she did see disturbed her enough to press down on Hank pretty hard."

  That could be Gran. She was good at getting her way. "Where is everyone?” I looked around the room, which had a door and a little balcony outside. "Where am I?"

  "Brazil," Taylor said. "Do you remember how you got here?"

  "Where is everyone?" I insisted.

  "Boone, Renick, and Logan are outside of town. We’ll meet up with them shortly. Rider is outside the building and I told Vincent to get some rest. He refused, but settled for taking a shower. He's down the hall. Now, do you remember how you got here?"

  "The last thing I remember was waking up after the missile dropped."

  "Good. That's good. Now, how are you feeling?"

  "Tired, confused, and aggravated. How did I get here?"

  "What's your level of discomfort?"

  "It's growing," I snapped, then I moved and pain jolted my arm and radiated out. Looking at it, I saw that it was thickly wrapped in gauze. Even though I stopped moving, the pain remained in a dull form.

  "Pain levels?"

  "Bearable, but it sucks when I move my arm wrong." Or at all.

  "I need the truth here," Taylor said. "No bravado or holding back."

  "If the muscle gets clenched, it hurts," I said. "That's all I have."

  There was a tap at the door and Vincent stepped in, not waiting for an answer. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. When he saw me, his face remained stoic save for the tiniest unclenching of the jaw. His eyes seemed to light up, though.

  Some of the anxiety that I had begun to fade away.

  "Let Rider know that we'll be leaving soon," Taylor said.

  Vincent looked surprised, though it was possible I was the only one who would have noticed. "She just woke up," Vincent said. "Isn't that a bit soon?"

  "We have to weigh the risks," Taylor said. "She'll be okay to travel as long as we keep her arm steady."

  "As long as I keep my arm steady," I mumbled, not liking the sound of it being done for me.

  "That, too," Taylor said. "I'll do one last exam to be certain."

  I felt movement next to me and Fenrir laid a head on my stomach. It wasn't until now that I truly realized how large he was. Larger than any wolf I've ever seen outside of movies or TV.

  Except maybe for Rider.

  I patted his head, loving the feel of soft fur beneath my fingers.

  Vincent seemed to ignore Taylor's haste and came over to see me. "How are you feeling?" Vincent squatted down next to the bed, not disturbing it, but he took my hand and looked me over. For the first time since waking up, I worried about how I looked. Was the blood gone? Were my clothes...?

  Where were my clothes? The t-shirt certainly wasn't mine.

  "Cass?"

  "Confused," I admitted.

  "Do you feel up for traveling?"

  Taylor's distress hadn't had time to soak in fully, but I still sensed his urgency. "I can travel."

  He rose, but didn't drop my hand. "Don't push yourself."

  I grinned. "Who, me? Seriously, though, what's going on?"

  He smiled. "We'll explain on the way."

  Vincent went to the door, but then held it open and waited. Fenrir, got up, stretched, and jumped off the bed, following Vincent out.

  "We asked him to leave during examinations," Taylor said in response to my quizzical look. "He seems to understand everything we say."

  "He's a person. He knows our language, even if we don't know his," I said.

  "Rider seems to understand him," Taylor said. "Mostly, anyway. Now, let's take a look at that arm. I don't have much in the way of equipment here, but we'll do the best we can."

  When I saw what was under the gauze I scrunched up my nose and looked away.

  "It's not too bad," Taylor said. "The infection is almost gone. There's some muscle damage, but with a bit of physical therapy, you should be okay. It will leave a scar, though. I'm afraid I made things a bit worse there."

  "What do you mean?" I asked while Taylor wrapped the arm back up."

  "These weren't exactly ideal conditions for surgery."

  "Surgery? You mean you took the bullet out here?"

  "Not here, a small village near where I picked you up. If I’d left it in, there would have been a higher chance of more damage, or possibly losing your arm if the infection became any worse."

  I shivered despite the heat. "I don't remember any of that."

  "It's for the best."

  Taylor performed all his doctorly duties which—even in the middle of nowhere—included trying to blind me.

  "Tell me about your powers," Taylor said. "How are you getting along?"

  "Some strange things happened out here. I don't know if they were because of the nightmare or because of the changes from re-breaking my soul. The headaches are almost gone, though. At least they were until I was drugged."

  "Hopefully that’s temporary. I can't exactly say you're fit, but I think you're in good enough condition to get out of here."

  I could have done without the 'I think' part. "What's the hurry?"

  "News and rumors spread fast, even out here. You’re here without a passport, in odd circumstances. Once the local authorities or the military find us, there will be trouble. And that's saying nothing about the drug cartels. If someone thinks we're here to mess with their business, they'll do whatever they can to make sure we don’t live long enough to leave."

  "Why did we stop here, then?" I asked, throwing back the blankets with my good hand.

  "It was a necessity. You and Vincent weren't in great shape."

  "He's hurt?" I asked while sitting up, suddenly worried I had missed something. "I thought... I mean, I remember him being okay." But was he? What happens if one part of your soul starts raging against another half? At least that’s what I thought was happening when I died.

  "I won't know for sure until we are back in the states. Here, put this on." Taylor handed me some sort of long skirt that looked as though it had seen better days.

  "You can't expect me to run around in a skirt if there are people after us." This should have been logical for anyone in their right mind.

  "It's all we could get. You can't go around in fatigues out here."

  "Fine," I muttered and slipped it on. It fit like a sack, but beggars can't be choosy. "How are we getting out of here?"

  Someone rapped rapidly on the door and Vincent stepped in again. "We're ready."

  "We'll explain on the way," Taylor said. “Let's get the others and get out of here."

  A few miles out of town, our van pulled to a stop and waited. It was an old van with bucket seats up front, one small bench seat, and a lot of floor space.

  Tiredness was already starting to sneak in, but I was determined to stay awake until I found out what the heck was going on. Logan, Boone, and Renick came out of the forest a few minutes later. The three had a bunch of bags between them, which they threw into the back of the van before crawling in themselves.

  “You’re looking better,” Logan said to me, settling down. “We weren’t expecting you back so soon, doc.”

  “We’ve still got a long way to go before we get home,” Taylor said.

  “How are we getting home?” I asked.

  “MyTH and Hank are helping us out with that,” Logan said. “Along with a big assist from Boone here.”

  “I’m still not sure going back is the best idea,” Renick said. “The government tried to kill us, after all.”

  “Do they know they failed?” I asked.

  Rider shifted uncomfortably and no one said anything.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, getting a sinking feeling in my stomach.

  “Only a few people at MyTH know we’re alive, along with Hank,” Logan said. “And it needs to stay that way until we know more about what’s going on. It’s possible they didn’t try to actually kill us—”

  Renick snorted.

  Logan pretended not to notice. “But if they did and found out they failed, they may try again.”

  “That’s understandable, I guess,” I said.

  “That means no one else knows,” Logan said after a few moments. “Hank is keeping it very low profile. It’s important that everyone else thinks we’re dead until we can be there in person.”