Proto lurched through the wall of mists, and a giddy daze swept over him. He felt like he’d been flung headlong and topsy-turvy.

  Fortunately, this was not the first time he’d experienced this, as he remembered the instant he touched those mists. He suppressed his sense of disorientation and focused on landing a moment later. And this time, he didn’t even need to catch himself on his hands.

  “In seeming chaos—” Mercune was singing, then cut off as his feet scuffed the dirt.

  A hollow pain swept through him as he recalled all the Possibilities he’d experienced back at Somnus’ Palace—possible futures with Astrid, Lilac, Dahlia and more. It felt like too much for him to hold. Once again, he felt his heart tearing, like it’d been stretched too far. He felt his spirit leaking out.

  “You.” The freckle-dusted redhead leveled her green gaze upon him. Her fingers drummed upon the bunch of blood-red wildflowers they were holding.

  Then, she smiled blithely. “Hello there.”

  “Finally! I was afraid I was alone out here.” He tried to reenact what he’d said his first time here. “My car broke down out here. I went looking for the road, but now I’m lost in these mists.”

  She tilted her head at him. “Why are you saying that? We both know this dream for what it is.”

  The dream proceeded like the first time—like Version A—without any major deviations. Soon, they were walking together through the mists, cleared from time to time by a wave of Mercune’s red-glowing hand.

  “As for whether I’m a ‘visitor,’ I don’t know what that means,” Mercune was explaining. “But I take it that’s what you guys call yourselves.”

  “Right,” he said.

  “Yeah, I’ve had other ‘visitors’ like you. They sneak into my dreams and try to fit in, and I play along like I don’t know what they’re doing, and they get all flustered when I make the mist rise.” She waved a hand demonstratively, and, indeed, the mists rose up to waist level.

  “You, though, just look sort of sad.” She faced him, head tilted.

  And, with that, Proto’s assurance that all was going as planned went out the window.

  She’d never said anything remotely like this. And he wasn’t sure what he’d done to cause it. Had he made a grim face or something? Was that enough to change the future’s course?

  He’d planned to try to find out if Mercune was tied to Yemos and his role in the future. Should he still do that, now that the dream already had swerved to a new course?

  She blinked as she waited for a response. And in that time, he made his choice.

  “Just thinking of some old friends,” he replied, as honestly as possible given the circumstances.

  “Ah.” She peered at him like a grocery shopper studying fruit for bruises.

  Then, she smiled kindly and patted him on the back. And they walked on. The dream played out more or less as he remembered.

  “Question,” he eventually said, estimating that they were just a couple minutes from Flua-Sahng now.

  “Mm-hmm?” she answered.

  “This will sound random,” he said, “but I once read a news story about a hollow tree with a Viking axe inside. Any chance you read it?”

  “Mister Visitor, do I look like the sort of girl to read news stories about Viking axes?” She eyed him sidelong with a hand on her hip. “The answer is, I sure wish I’d read it! That sounds awesome!”

  “It was,” said Proto. “Tubular, even.”

  She squinted and tilted her head. “What?”

  Then, she laughed. “Yes, let’s bring back ‘tubular.’ I’m in!”

  “Together, we can do all things!” He raised a clenched fist.

  “That’s the spirit!” she cried, thrusting up her own fist.

  They laughed together, roving through the mists.

  After a moment, she faced him again. “Why’d you bring up that hollow tree anyway? Were you looking for a friend to go with?” She batted her eyes, then tittered. “Wait, no. I get it. This involves those old friends, doesn’t it?”

  She was quick, for all her lackadaisical teenage mannerisms. “I . . . guess it does,” replied Proto, once again being as honest as practicable. “A visit to that tree by those friends. Yemos, his girlfriend Ausrine, and his twin brother Mannus.”

  “Ausrine?” Mercune blinked at him. “Not the one who went to Atlean University?”

  “Huh. That seems likely,” replied Proto, “since that’s where Yemos went.”

  “Yay, what!” cried Mercune. “Ausrine was my babysitter! From when Fyrir took me in to when she left for college.”

  “Wow, small world,” Proto managed, trying to hide his excitement. Now, I’m getting somewhere. “So you know her then, this Ausrine?”

  “Well, I did. I haven’t seen her in years,” replied Mercune. “Wait. No, I take it back. I saw her last year. She was telling me about these twin guys who liked her, and they were both nice, but she was into the older one and—oh.”

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  She looked at Proto. “Yemos, Mannus . . . and Ausrine. Oh, my! Well, that sounds like a fun trip!”

  Proto still wasn’t looking forward to being smashed into a coma by a passing car. But at least he wouldn’t have to deal with that awkwardness. He wasn’t even sure whether he should be called a third or fourth wheel.

  “Anyway, she’s beautiful. Your friend Yemos is awfully lucky!” noted Mercune.

  “Maybe,” he replied noncommittally, recalling Dahlia’s shadowcasting about Yemos. All that stuff about “walking through flames” didn’t sound too lucky.

  “What you’re not into ocean-blue eyes? And dainty features? And long, glowingly blonde hair?” Mercune asked playfully.

  He shrugged. “More into red and black lately,” he replied without thinking.

  “Oh. . . . Really?” She tilted her head, blinking twice at him. She ran a hand through her red hair. “In that order?”

  Oh. Oh, shit. Glancing, he saw her brow had raised questioningly, and her lips had curved up.

  He could only imagine what Helen and Himari would be saying right now. He’d better stop this before he derailed the dream any further.

  “But black too, in any event,” Mercune noted thoughtfully, curling her hair around her finger. “And what color eyes?” She fixed a questioning green gaze upon him.

  “Eh, I keep an open mind!” He laughed nervously, trying to sound nonchalant. “Love knows no bounds, right?”

  Her lips quirked up. “Agreed. Not even the bounds of waking and dreaming! Not even the bounds of years!”

  He blinked and looked at her.

  Mercune’s lips parted and her emerald eyes widened upon him, as wisps of sunset hair waved across her face in the faint breeze.

  Then, she threw back her head and laughed. “Just kidding! Ha, was that sappy enough? ‘Love knows no bounds.’ I tried. Not sure I matched it though.”

  Proto felt relieved. “Yeah, pretty sappy, huh.”

  “Man, the look on your face!” cried Mercune. “Like your visitor friends when I raise the mists, but better!”

  “Yep. Just a sappy guy, I guess,” mused Proto.

  “Maybe. But that’s good though.” Mercune ran a hand through her hair again. “I’m always getting sappy too. And when I do, Flua-Sahng tells me, ‘Don’t ever change, Mercune. Fate is only as sappy as we are!’” Her eyes flicked to him, then bounced away to the stars overhead.

  Proto looked at her, but she just smiled up at the constellations.

  “Question,” he said after a moment.

  “Another one?” Mercune’s eyebrows arched. “Well, I’m all ears! And red hair and green eyes.”

  He blinked but pressed onward. “I’m thinking about buying a gift for someone, and I need some advice.”

  “Ooh, for someone, huh?” Her gaze glimmered conspiratorially. “Go on.”

  After hearing Himari’s remark about Mercune loving gifts, Proto had considered giving her one and seeing what she did. But he’d decided to save that for another night. Tonight, he’d just test how the dream’s outcome was affected by discussing the hollow tree and Yemos. That was the key to good A/B testing—just one significant tweak, no more.

  Asking her about gifts was technically another tweak. But it was such a small thing, it probably wouldn’t matter.

  “I want to make this special. Out-of-the-ordinary. But I need some girl-insight,” he said. “So, my question is, if someone were getting you a gift, what would you want?”

  The beauty of this question was that, next time he was here, Proto could give Mercune whatever gift she’d identified. And she’d think he thought of it himself.

  Why? Because as Flua-Sahng had said, the better he got along with Mercune in her dream, the better the future would go.

  He felt mildly genius for having come up with this.

  “Girl-insight! From me, huh?” Mercune peered at him. “I don’t need much. Like what kind of gift?”

  “I don’t know. Like . . . jewelry or something,” suggested Proto.

  “Well, I do like rubies. And emeralds,” she noted thoughtfully.

  He eyed her red hair and green eyes, lips quirking up.

  She pointed at him. “Don’t say a word!”

  Proto zipped his lips.

  She giggled, then thought more.

  Meanwhile, they’d slowed to a halt before a wall of mists with no more passages nearby.

  “Hm,” mused Mercune. “I guess what I like most is to be surprised. And I like when someone thinks of what I would’ve thought of myself. It’s like . . . you’re in tune. That’s the best part about getting gifts. Not the gift itself, but feeling like you’re in tune. And being surprised by that.”

  This wasn’t really helpful for Proto’s purposes. But if he pressed for more, she’d probably be weirded out. And he wanted to see how this dream ended without messing it up.

  So, instead, he raised his brow and smiled. “Now who’s getting sappy?”

  Mercune blushed. “Yep! Downright syrupy, huh? Told you so!” She waved a red-glowing hand toward the wall of mist. It parted in a swirl of wispy white. “Welp, at least I’m not the only one. We’re three peas in a pod here!”

  “Three what now?” came a queenly voice from ahead.

  Out of the dwindling mists emerged Flua-Sahng, garbed in her radiant raiment of star-like leaves. Her green gaze was leveled upon them.

  “Question,” said Proto to the Queen of Heaven. “Is Fate only as sappy as we are?”

  Flua-Sahng blinked twice at him.

  Then, she smiled and arched her brow reprovingly. “What have you been up to, Proto.” It was more an accusation than a question.

  Mercune looked back and forth between them. “You know each other?”

  “Why, yes! Proto and I go back a long way,” answered Flua-Sahng.

  Proto wasn’t sure about that—it’d just been a few dreams, right?—but the fact that he knew the Queen of Heaven at all probably was confusing for Mercune.

  “Wait. So he’s friends with you and your son Somnus? And my old babysitter?” observed Mercune. “Who is this guy?!”

  “Oh, just a sleepwalker who gets around. It’s a long story, and we don’t have time for it now.” Flua-Sahng gestured toward the reddening horizon, where white lights were streaking comet-like. “It’s almost time for us to foresee the future. Don’t you want to bid farewell before we do?”

  “Already?” complained the redhead teen. “We just got here!”

  “Yes, well, you two dilly-dallied on your way here this time!” observed Flua-Sahng.

  Mercune tilted her head. “‘This time’?” Mist swelled from the floor and swirled about their ankles.

  “It’s my fault. I kept asking her questions,” explained Proto to Flua-Sahng.

  “Did you get the answers you were hoping for?” asked Flua-Sahng.

  “Lots of words and maybe a few answers,” replied Proto.

  Flua-Sahng smiled. “Yes, that sounds about right.”

  “Hey now.” Mercune put her hands on her hips. “I’m still standing here, you know.”

  “Don’t be vexed. I hear the Queen of Heaven is the same way,” consoled Flua-Sahng.

  “I can confirm it,” said Proto.

  “Oh?” Flua-Sahng’s eyes sparkled. “I should banish you right now!” She raised a red-glowing finger, and mist swirled around it.

  “Your son said that to me too,” observed Proto.

  “Said? Or will say? Or would say?” questioned Flua-Sahng.

  “What? I’m lost,” remarked Mercune. “Also, shouldn’t Proto be leaving?”

  On the skyline, shining manlike figures with wings and horns could be seen streaking toward them.

  “Ah. Drat,” frowned Flua-Sahng. “Well, bid your farewells. Quickly now!”

  “Hm.” Mercune looked awry and pressed her lips in thought. “Aha!” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her dull red rock, which she held up triumphantly. “Mister Visitor, I have a gift for you.”

  “I’m flattered.” Proto received the familiar rock. It seemed to absorb both the starlight and the approaching ruddy radiance. “That’s quite a stone.”

  Mercune put her hands on her hips again. “Proto, are you mocking me?”

  “Not at all! I can tell it’s a special rock.”

  “It is a special rock! I found it a long time ago, lost it, and then found it again somewhere completely different. Weirdest thing that ever happened to me!” she recalled. “Except maybe meeting the Queen of Heaven.”

  “Maybe,” shrugged Flua-Sahng.

  “Maybe,” agreed Mercune.

  “Well, thank you. It’s a very cool rock,” said Proto.

  “Tubular, even.” Mercune giggled.

  “Yes! We’re going to bring it back,” he declared.

  “Yes!” Mercune raised a clenched fist.

  “And . . . cut.” Flua-Sahng waved a hand.

  Abruptly, Mercune misted away, drifting into the sky as whitish wisps.