"What's the date? The exact date," added the boy as he brought out a bag of sliced bread. He had introduced himself as Five. Stupid name, really. Who in their right mind named their kid "Five?" And who in their right mind accepted that name?

"24th," Asia mumbled through a mouthful of microwaved pizza.

"Of?"

"March," Vanya supplied.

"Good." Five nodded to himself, looking thoughtful.

"So, are we going to talk about what just happened?" Luther said,  breaking the long silence. Five just ignored him, dropping a wooden  cutting board on the table.

"It's been seventeen years," Luther said, standing up suddenly.

Five laughed humorlessly. "It's been a lot longer than that," he  said, suddenly appearing next to a shelf and pulling down a bag  of mini marshmallows. Asia made a face. She had never liked marshmallows; they were too sweet for her.

"I haven't missed that," Luther muttered under his breath, staring at the spot Five had been at only a moment ago.

"So where have you been?" Diego asked, leaning forward, and Five sighed.

"The future," he said, like that explained everything. "It's shit, by the way."

"Called it," mumbled Klaus, who was sitting on the table.

"I should've listened to the old man," Five continued, opening the nearly empty fridge and taking out a jar of peanut butter. "He knew. Jumping through space is one thing" —he unscrewed the jar — "and jumping through time is a toss of the dice." He looked up and said, "Nice dress."

Klaus looked down, surprised. "Oh. Danke."

"Wait, what?" Vanya waved her hand. "How did you get back?"

"In the end I had to project my consciousness forward into the suspended quantum state version of myself that existed across every possible instance of time." Five used a butter knife to scrape off a bit of peanut butter and spread it over a slice of bread.

"That makes no sense," Diego said.

"Well it would if you were smarter."

Diego stood up, but Luther put out a hand and stopped him. "How long were you there?" he asked.

"Forty-five years," Five said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Give or take."

"Forty-five years?" Asia echoed, stunned. "But — it's only been seventeen years!"

Five looked at her coldly, but Asia glared right back. She wasn't about to let this boy intimidate her. He sighed.

"Time is — complicated," he said finally. "It can go back, or forth, or bring you to another dimension entirely. It has nooks and crannies and turns and twists that can age you by a hundred years or make you as young as a baby. Look at you." He pointed his peanut-butter-smeared knife at her. "You should be thirty, correct? But you're fourteen."

"Fifteen," Asia corrected. But she understood what he meant.

"So what are you saying?" Luther asked. "You — you're fifty-eight?"

"No," said Five, looking like he was trying very, very hard to keep his temper in check. "My consciousness is fifty-eight. Apparently my body is now thirteen again." He picked up his peanut-butter-and-marshmallows sandwich and ripped off a bit of the crust with his teeth.

"How does that even work?" Vanya asked.

"Delores kept saying the equations were off," Five said. He shrugged and turned back to us. "Bet she's laughing now.

"Delores?" Asia inquired.

Five chewed on his sandwich. He picked up a newspaper lying on the table and said, "Guess I missed the funeral."

"How'd you know about that?" Luther asked quickly and Five gave him a disbelieving look.

"What part of the future do you not understand?" A muscle jumped in Luther's jaw as Five continued, "Heart failure, huh?"

"Yeah —"Diego started to say but Luther cut in. "No."

Five tilted his head smiling, a small smirk on his mouth. "Nice to see nothing's changed." Then he started to walk out of the room.

"That's it?" Allison turned toward him. "That's all you have to say?"

"What else is there to say?" Five called behind him. "The circle of life."

There was a long moment after Five had left and then Luther said, "Well. That was interesting."

Feeling his eyes on me, Asia crammed the rest of the pizza into her mouth and stood up. "I'll go now — "

"No," Luther interrupted. "I only let you in because Vanya said that you could be trusted, and Five seemed to agree. So now I want to hear your story." He leaned in. "Spill."

Asia snorted, getting to her feet and shoving her hands into her pockets. "I don't have a story," she said, rolling her shoulders in a shrug. "Not much to tell, really."

"Listen up, kid —" Luther began, but Asia silenced him with a glare.

"I'm not a kid," she said. "I'm just as old as any of you are."

"So why do you look as young as you do?" Luther challenged and Asia shrugged again.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she said. "I stopped aging when I turned fifteen, and for a while, I didn't notice. And then I got older and older, and before I knew it, I was thirty but still looked like a teenager." She spread her arms out. "That good enough for you, Luther?"

For a moment, he looked stunned that she knew his name, but he quickly recovered. "No, actually. What were you doing on the property?"

"Listening," Asia said vaguely.

"Listening? For what?"

"The violin. Vanya used to play it for me, you know," Asia said, almost wistfully. "I didn't expect to hear it again today."

"Wait. Vanya — you knew about her?" Luther turned to Vanya, glowering. "Why didn't you tell Da —"

"Don't." Asia slipped through the shadows, popping up in front of Luther, blocking his view of Vanya. Her voice had hardened. "Don't you dare make it sound like she was wrong! Do you know what you did to her? You treated her like dirt, and I really can't blame her for wanting to have a friend!"

Luther's mouth opened and closed, like a fish. It would have been comical if the situation wasn't so serious.

"You're like Five," he finally said. "You can jump through space."

"No. I can travel through shadows and to a certain extent, manipulate them to do my bidding." Asia rested her head on her fist. "Now, is there anything else you want to know?"