MY HEART SKIPPED A BEAT when I saw a black escalade near the house we would be staying at for the night. As Cassandra parked and turned off the engine, I wondered if I should be scared. What if this was a setup? Would Bria go through all that trouble just to get us sent back to that horrid place?

"I don't like this, Cassandra," I said, meeting her eyes. "Whose car is that? You didn't say anything about someone else being here."

She shrugged and her hand was already going towards the door handle. "She wouldn't turn us in." As if she had read my thoughts, she gave me a reassuring smile. "Bria is a good person, Harry, and she put her life at risk to help get the four of us out of there. Why go through all that trouble just to betray us, hmm? It doesn't make sense."

My eyes locked with the other car in the driveway, "Let's just leave. I'm sure we can take care of ourselves." When Cassandra looked at me, my expression was desperate. Something about this had me on edge and I wanted to keep going until I knew we were safe.

"I know we can but—"

Just then the front door of the house opened, and a man walked out onto the porch as if he had been expecting us. I recognized him immediately, even through his mask, and the fear within me quickly transformed into anger. The sight of him brought a sick feeling to my stomach, confirming that something was indeed wrong. What the hell was he doing here? Cassandra never mentioned someone else being here with us and neither did Bria before we parted ways.

"What's he doing here?" I snarled.

There was a small smile on Cassandra's face, "To help us, from the looks of it." She was already unbuckling her seat belt and getting out the car. "I'm going to talk to him."

"What? No—"

"I'll be right back. Sit tight."

I groaned, "Fine. If I see anything strange, I'm getting us out of here. I'll throw you over my shoulder if I have to."

"Like some crazed psychopath?" she asked, one hand already on the door to close it and the other placed on the side of the car to support her as she leaned in to look at me. She looked amused and I fought back the urge to smile. Every time I looked at her, I thought of the Cassandra in my other life...the one who faked her death and betrayed me.

"Sure," was my response.

She slammed the car door shut and I watched her approach the man on the front porch. The wind blew at her hair and my attention went to the bushes on the sides of the porch. I half expected someone to jump out and inject her with some kind of sedative. I took a nervous glance back at Sydney and Amira, who were both knocked out cold.

When I turned back to look at Cassandra, her arms were wrapped around the man in a tight hug and I was able to see his lips moving as he spoke to her. She was the first one to break out of the embrace and my eyes widened at the sight of her suddenly hitting him with all her might, slapping him across his mask and on his shoulders. I found myself practically falling out of the car to get to them to see what the hell was going on.

"Don't you ever do that again!" Cassandra snapped, kicking at him now.

He grabbed her wrists, "I had no choice! You know I didn't!"

"Hey!" I yelled, marching up the stairs leading to the porch.

He turned to face me and smiled at me through his mask, "Ah, you must be—"

I punched him.

As soon as he fell onto the white wood, Cassandra held her arm out in front of me to prevent me from causing anymore damage. "Yep. He deserved that. But we still need him unharmed if he's going to help us."

"Do you honestly think he's going to help us?" I asked through gritted teeth. "Elijah, of all people? I could just—"

"Let me guess," she looked at me. "He was in the experiment, too? Like I was?"

"Yes!" I tried lunging at him but she wrapped both of her arms around me, holding me back. "And he deserves what's coming for him!"

"Whatever he did in there, you have to remind yourself that he didn't actually do it. Harry, you have to remember you're back in the real world now and what you thought your life was didn't actually exist." Cassandra said from behind me. "This is a completely different man...and he's gonna be a dead man if you don't back off!"

He was staring at me from the ground, a calm expression on his face. Clearly, the punch did not bother him like I hoped it would. I wanted to knock that pathetic mask off his face and watch him struggle to breathe as his insides burned.

"Harry," Cassandra tried again. "There's a lot you don't know about Elijah and you can't let your anger get the best of you. Think about your family. This man is your only chance at survival, all right?" My hands balled into fists at my sides. "I'm going to let you go now and you're going to be cool, am I correct?" I said nothing. "Letting go now. Make one wrong move and I won't hesitate to tackle you to the ground."

Her arms slowly released themselves from me and I nodded my head at Elijah, "How are you going to help us?"

"There are things Bria didn't tell you," he started. "Things she didn't think you could forgive. But she wanted more than anything for you to be happy and for you to run."

"Run," I repeated. "For how long?"

"As long as you need to. Is that your family in the car?"

I nodded, "Yeah, and I don't think they can keep running for long. We don't know what Sydney was injected with. She hasn't woken up, yet, and...and I don't know if she ever will."

"Don't talk like that. I'm sure she's exhausted from the procedure she just went through. We'll figure it out."

"How are you so sure?"

"I just am."

"I don't trust you...any of you."

"And I don't give a rat's ass, thank you very much."

I tugged at the ends of my hair, "Why should I even consider trusting you?"

"I was off completing another job of mine when I got the call. Bria has been keeping me up to date about this entire thing—text, phone calls, emails that had to be erased. I knew about you way before you were put to sleep for the experiment. I knew you would be in danger the moment you woke up and I had to be around to help. My little sister can be helpful at times but she isn't enough." He looked over at Cassandra and she flicked him off, rolling her eyes.

I could understand why he was really helping my family out. His little sister—Cassandra—was now involved and he did not want to see anything happen to her.

"Bria was a great friend of ours," he continued and my body tensed at his use of past tense. "When I noticed she didn't get out the car with Cassie, I knew something was up. I'm sure that you're aware there is an Amber Alert out for the three of you right now." He motioned his hand toward the car.

"Excuse me?" I nearly choked. "No, I had no idea. I..."

And now I knew I had to be careful with every move I made.

"Of course you didn't," Cassandra said. "No one told you until now and that's our fault. We were trying to keep that a secret until we had you safe. Thanks, Elijah, for letting him know ahead of time. You're so helpful."

"Everyone is going to be looking for you and your family," Elijah said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's my job to get you as far away from here as I can. There are others and if I can get you to them without any trouble, you'll be safe and won't have to run anymore." He took a step forward and, despite that I just punched him, there was a wide smile on his face. "There are things you don't know about, Harry, things that can change your future and your past."

My eyebrows rose, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Elijah, he doesn't need to know about that today." Cassandra said through gritted teeth. "He's already been through so much today. You can tell him eventually...but not now. He needs to focus on his family and getting them to safety."

He glared at his sister, "But he can be the key, Cassie. Don't tell me you haven't thought about it."

"Thought about what?" I groaned. "Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?"

Elijah grabbed my shoulders and shook them roughly, "You can fix all of this, my friend. You won't have to worry about running for the rest of your life or anything like that. Harry, you can live a normal life."

"How?" I stammered, grabbing his hands and removing them from my shoulders.

"Every so often, we manage to steal new technology from the government. They're liars and they've kept so many useful things from us. We have a right to know as much as they do and we deserve to use the technology they use. Ever since the air went bad, they've been working on a device to fix it all...to change the course of time and prevent this from ever happening. And you want to know the best part?" He clapped his hands and pointed at Cassandra before pointing at himself. "We have the device."

"Elijah," Cassandra punched him in the arm. "What did I just say? He doesn't need to know about—"

"He can be our test subject. We'll see if the device actually works and send him back in time. He can come find us and tell us it works so we can prevent this shithole from happening ourselves. Cassie, this is our chance. Think about Bria. She would want this."

I frowned, "After everything I just went through, you want to use the device on...on me?"

"Yes," Elijah nodded.

"I won't be anyone's test subject ever again. I can't do it. My mental state won't be able to handle it."

"What you volunteered yourself for was not for the good of our world. This, Harry, can help save our already dying planet."

"What if it doesn't work and his brain explodes?" Cassandra asks. "Then we'll have to explain everything to his wife that her husband is dead and why we were stupid enough to try it out on him!"

"What other choice do we have? We have the device right now, sister, and he's the only candidate we have at the moment. You don't see anyone else here, do you? His wife is still knocked out cold, yeah? And I don't know about you, but I'm not comfortable using the device on a kid."

My eyes widened at the mention of Amira and I shook my head, placing a hand on Cassandra's shoulder. She slowly turned her head to look at me and I smiled at her briefly. Her lips parted and she took a step away from me.

"I will not be responsible if this goes wrong."

"It won't," I said, my voice somewhat confident and shaky. Elijah opened the door to the house and I took a deep breath. "I'm going to do this and it's going to work. Have some confidence, Cassandra. You're looking a little pale. Hey, do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Tell Sydney I love her, okay?"

It was her turn to punch me, "You tell her that yourself when you see her again, idiot."

"Right."

She rolled her eyes before I followed her brother into the house, goosebumps forming all over my arms.

"It's a minimal procedure," Elijah said from in front of me. "You'll still be the same person and you'll still remember everything that's happened before now, obviously, or else you won't be able to find my sister and I. Now, when you come here, I'll be on a mission someplace else. There's a red button, right, ah, here," he stopped and pointed to the red button on the wall, "and I want you to push it once you arrive. It'll take me a few hours to get here and Cassandra will get the message, too. Explain to us why we sent you into the past and make sure we don't kill you, kay?"

A lump formed in my throat.

We approached glass doors and Elijah began to mess with the lock. He pressed four numbers and there was a small beep before the doors unlocked for us to enter. I watched as he looked from left to right before pushing the doors open. I followed him inside and closed the doors behind us. I had no idea if Cassandra was coming or not but I had a feeling she knew how to get herself inside.

"Are you sure you can do it?" I asked.

He looked at the chair sitting in the middle of the room and I wiped the sweat from the back of my neck. Of course he could do it. The look on his face was barely convincing but I was willing to try. He nodded his head at the chair and I sat down, my hands sitting firmly on my lap and my back perfectly straight.

"Don't underestimate me," Elijah murmured as he placed something over my head.

It felt like cold metal and I shivered as soon as it touched me. I turned to see multiple cords attached to the device on my head and I constantly told myself to calm down and that this was for a good cause. Everyone's life depended on this.

"You sure you're up for this?" he asked, typing on the keyboard on the desk across the room. "I won't make you do anything you don't want to. My sister and I can always wait for someone else but who knows how long that'll be, you know?"

"I'm fine."

It was a lie. But everyone lied. Lying was normal. What was normal anymore, though? After everything I had been through, the word seemed to slowly lose its meaning and it would not be long before it was lost in history, no longer found in the dictionary. I was almost certain many people forgot the word even existed. I knew for a brief moment I had.

"I'm sending you back six years," he informed me. "Remember that. When you open your eyes again, you'll be six years in the past. I don't know where you were back then but I'm sure you do."

"Okay," I gulped. "So I just sit here? Nothing else?"

"Stop asking questions," he laughed. "Just clear your mind and don't think of anything. I don't want your thoughts to alter with the machine."

The glass doors opened and Cassandra rushed in.

"I swear to God, if he dies, you're telling his wife, Elijah. Do you hear me? You're gonna march right out there to that car and force her awake and tell her what foolish thing you did."

"Relax, sister," he reassured her. "We're just about to get started. How about you have a seat and enjoy the view?"

By the look on her face, I knew she was frightened. What if this went horribly wrong? There was a sudden pain in my chest as I thought about dying and never seeing my family again. Would it be worth it? Leaving them behind in this chaotic world while I took the easy way out? God, I could never do something so awful to them.

"Do you really want to be the guinea pig for this?" Cassandra asked me. "I mean, come on, dude. Bria wants you alive. Not dead with your brains all over these walls and floor."

"Aw, you really care about me." I said, trying to somewhat lighten the mood.

"Gross," she winced at my words. "I don't care about you. I care about that little girl outside waiting for her father to return. What if you don't, huh?"

"I will."

"But if you don't—"

"I'm going to come back." I cut her off.

"Cassandra, stop trying to jinx everything, you bitch. Sit down and keep your mouth shut before you actually mess something up." Elijah snapped. "I know what I'm doing. If you want to go outside and sit with his family in the car, I won't blame you. Besides, you won't even remember this conversation in a few minutes. All right, Harry, you're going to feel a slight tingle from the helmet, okay? Nothing to be worried about. I just turned it on."

As if on cue, I felt multiple vibrations going around the top of my head.

"You're going to help change the world, Harry," he continued. "Everything in this world is ruined and we can fix it. We can save everyone. Oh, and this might hurt."

"Wait, what—"

The room started to spin—clockwise, counterclockwise, repeat. Everything started to morph together to become one with many colors. Elijah and Cassandra were no longer near me but I heard them yelling off in the distance. Their words were unclear, almost as if they were yelling at me backwards. My hands gripped the arms of the chair as I felt like I was falling and my head felt as if someone was constantly stabbing it with needles. My mouth opened in a silent scream when everything got louder...louder...louder.

And then it all turned white.