“Ace woke up when I hit Paul. I knew he was following me, but I didn’t think it mattered. Madison, I’m sorry. I thought we had failed!”

Ace began moving, and all three of us shifted to stay with him: me, Nakita, and the guardian angel. “Shoe, you’re pathetic,” Ace said, and I wondered why he was limping. “Girls guarding you? Get away from the computer or I’m going to pound you.”

Yeah, like that was going to happen. “Don’t stop, Shoe!” I encouraged. Ace took another step forward with his hands fisted, and Nakita drew her sword. I felt dizzy. Everything was spiraling out of control.

“You crazy chick!” Ace shouted, knowing he had a guardian angel, but not ready to trust it. “I’m not afraid of you!”

“Come closer,” she encouraged, her hair falling about her face to make her look dangerous.

Shoe was clicking and clacking. Then he stopped, and as he whispered a hushed, “Yes!” I heard the whine of the CD tray slide open. We’re going to do it! We’re actually going to do it! I thought, elation filling me.

But Ace heard Shoe, too, and he gritted his teeth, a wild look coming over his face. And suddenly, as I stood between Ace and Shoe, I felt the strength drain from me.

A thin tracing of blue spun from the overhead lights to pool on the morgue’s floor.

Not now!

Frightened, I dropped back, holding my stomach as if I could keep myself in. Nakita turned to me, and I panicked as the lights filled the entire room with a blue haze, spilling out from the fixtures in a flood. I was going to flash forward. Ace had made a decision, and his future was changing. This was not what I needed right now!

“Madison?” Nakita called, but her voice sounded tinny, as if from far away.

Dizzy, I looked at her. I could see her wings behind her, existing an instant in the future and therefore invisible to everyone except perhaps the guardian angel hovering over all of us. Her eyes were silver. Nakita was almost too beautiful to look at, and it took several tries for me to whisper, “I’m going to flash forward, Nakita. Don’t let me go!”

Her blade drooped in her confusion, and, seeing an opening, Ace moved.

“No!” I shouted, but I collapsed as the world turned inside out. Nakita lunged for me, her hands catching me just before I hit the floor. Shoe was shouting, but my head was turned to the ceiling. And as the blueshift intensified, the ceiling, the walls, everything melted away…and the beauty of the stars slammed into me.

I gasped, the pain of so much beauty slicing through me like fire. The ringing of sounds never before heard exploded within my soul. Tears filled my eyes, and I shook in Nakita’s arms.