There it was, the flying spaghetti feeling again. I couldn't believe how easy it'd been to steal a time machine.

I felt nauseous. I hadn't the first time.

I needed to get home. Would Reese be disappointed in me? Or would she not care? I wondered. I hoped I'd get paid.

I could smell the familiar burning. What'd she do now? Had she burned a hot pocket or had she done some more world-changing experiments?

I was back there, back in the metal bucket that'd started this whole thing. I closed my eyes, trying to pretend that it had all been a dream. But I couldn't pretend that Sonnet had never existed. A thought occurred to me. Her ancestors would be here, walking around. Would I know them if I saw them? Would I be able to say, "Hey, you have the potential for making my future girlfriend who's not actually my girlfriend?"

I had known what I was ginging up in coming back, but it still hurt. None of them would exist now.

I was aware of my surroundings now. I tried to door of the metal tin. Why wasn't Agatha Reese monitoring the door? Why wasn't she there, peering in?

I banged on the door. How much air could be in here? I wouldn't die with my phone on the bench, still showing that it was playing a Justin Bieber song. I furrowed my eyebrows. It'd been at 80% before. Now it was at 2%. That didn't seem right.

How long had I been gone?

I banged on the door again. There was Reese. She peered in again, her eyes wide in surprise. I gripped the prophecy, holding on as though it were life and death.

She opened the door and I took a deep breath.

"Rob?"

I smiled. "I didn't finish cleaning up."

Reese laughed, the kind of relieved laugh that told me she had thought she'd killed me.

"Where did you go?"

"The future."

"Was it nice?"

"It wasn't home."

"Why'd you come back? Why not just stay in the utopian future?"

"It wasn't perfect. Far from it."

She stood quietly, as though expecting me to say something more. I handed her the book. Her prophecy. It had her name plastered on it. She flipped through it.

"Rob, does all this actually happen?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"We're rich. It has everything from lottery numbers to major events in it. This changes everything."

"Reese." I looked at her, smiling with the innocence that had sent me to the future. "Did my parents sue you?"

She nodded. "But it doesn't matter. We've struck rich."

"Is my family okay?"

"Yeah, they're okay."

I nodded. "Reese, the prophecy says I can't go home."

She looked up. "Why not?"

"I don't think I can go back to the way things were anymore. I think I've seen too much."

Reese nodded, as though she understood. Maybe she did. What had she seen? Why hadn't I ever noticed how much knowledge she had locked away, under that childish nature?

"I need to do something."

Reese handed me back the book. "You wrote this, didn't you?"

"No. But I will. Right now."

She looked at me in wonder.

"What did you see?"

"That's a story for another time."

Reese looked disappointed but she didn't challenge me. I was glad for that.

I sat down at Reese's workstation. She stood, looking stunned. I looked to the microwave.

"Your food burned."

She started, rushing toward the plastic container of prepackaged food.

I sat down, taking a deep breath. I needed to write a book that could change the history of the world. I would start with the prophecy. I chuckled. I hadn't realized it, but I was the chosen one because I'd chosen myself. I wondered what would happen if I didn't write the book.

It wouldn't matter. If I didn't write it, Agatha would. I knew that.

I opened the book, running my fingers along the ink.

A traveler will find his rest,

Upon the sands of time

Torn between a war

Never to happen, a traveler

Will chose a winner

A side to triumph

And a world never to live in

It was short. It left out Sonnet, but I liked it that way. Sonnet hadn't been my destiny, and I wouldn't write it like she had been. That would be doing us both a disservice. I wondered where she was, but there was no time for that.

I turned around.

"How long have I been gone?"

"86 days."

I nodded. "I'll be right back."

I walked outside. It was summer now. I felt the sweat coming. I knew these streets, like I might have known Bellmouth's streets. I would never know them now. They didn't exist yet. Now all that existed was the edge of the suburbs.

I walked toward my old house. No one was home. How little I'd ever really lived in that house. It was a place to sleep, a location to flaunt. Little more. I hadn't been sure what I would find. It hadn't been this.

I turned, ready to walk by my old school. There was my little sister, handing upside down from the jungle jim. I waved, but she didn't look at me. It was like I was a ghost, not even there. She was safe. That was what I had needed to know.

I stood there, letting the summer sun bore down on me.

I'd traveled through time, just to be left there. I knew I couldn't go back home. Home wasn't for me anymore. I couldn't risk the future like that. Agatha was meant to know the future. My mother was not.

I stood there, watching my sister. Watching her life move on without me. I looked up at the sky.

What would become of me?

I stuck my hand in my pocket.

I would find out, Reese by my side.