“That’s not all,” Cyrus said quietly. “If you bring them both along and you, Jia, Rachel, and your father all make it back safely… that’s when everything falls apart.”

“What?” Fort said. “You never told me that. I can make it back okay with everyone?”

“No, not everyone,” Cyrus said. “That’s not what I said. And if you do, the future looks awful, Fort. The worst-case scenario.” He shuddered. “I don’t even want to tell you some of the things I’ve seen. They’re terrifying. The Old Ones make it back, and that’s not even the scariest part.”

Fort went cold at the image of the Old Ones returning, but at least it confirmed what he had thought. “Okay. Then it’s back to my original plan, then. I just go alone.”

“What? No, you can’t!” Cyrus yelled. A guard looked into the room at the sound of his voice, staring at them both, then slowly continued on. “I must not have told you,” Cyrus continued, his voice lower now. “If you go by yourself, you might rescue your father, but you won’t make it back!”

Fort looked away. “I know. You told me that, too.”

Cyrus’s eyes widened. “Are you joking? You’re still going to do it, even if you know you might get trapped there forever? Or worse?” He grabbed Fort’s uniform and pulled him closer, more upset than Fort had ever seen him. “You can’t do that, Fort! Why are you—”

“If I take anyone, I lose one of them instead,” he said sadly. “Either that, or I cause some horrible future. It’s not even a choice, Cyrus. It’s my fault that my dad is there in the first place. If I had been closer, I could have helped him escape, and none of this would have happened. I’m doing this, and by myself. That way no one else suffers because of me.”

“So what then?” Cyrus asked. “How do you know we won’t all go after you, too? Things could end up even worse, Fort! There’s only one way to keep everyone safe here.”

“I agree,” Fort said, moving toward the door. “By me going alone.”

Cyrus just shook his head, looking a bit sick. “No. You’d have to… to leave your father there.”

Cyrus’s words hit him like a punch in the stomach, and Fort backed away, his mouth hanging open. “Not going to happen,” he said finally. “See you around, Cyrus.”

“Fort, wait!” Cyrus said as Fort turned around and made his way to the door. “I’m not finished! Rachel said I should come up with some story to make you take off that ‘stupid amulet,’ as she put it, or else she won’t be able to—”