Asa and Rose fell through the nexus. It was like jumping off a roof, thaumaturagical wind fluttering through Asa’s hair—and then Asa’s grip on Rose dissolved as they atomized through time-lines. He felt his demon guide them through the link, trying to find a stable time-line, until what little energy the demon had regenerated ran out. Asa couldn’t give the demon anymore energy since his power was restricted, and he had used it all on the wards.

  Asa desperately hoped they ended up somewhere safe.

  When Asa finally coalesced once more into a physical body on the other side of the nexus, he immediately sank to his knees because his legs couldn’t hold him. The adrenaline and fear in his body had abruptly cut off in the nexus when he atomized, but now these feelings re-coursed through him again, as if Namah was still present. This was why the military soldiers probably always looked so fucking stone-cold on the holo. His hands gripped onto metal flooring to ground himself.

  "Do you think she's going to follow us?" Asa said, looking up at Rose.

  Rose, of course, had his arms crossed, affecing cool boredom as he waited for Asa to stop having a panic attack. "Even Namah would need time to find our energy signatures through all the time-lines," Rose said dismissively. "But she doesn't have anything to track us."

  "Didn't you bleed all over her bridge?" Asa said, his tone dry. He sank backward onto his heels, shifting his weight as his heart-rate finally slowed. His demon shook his fur out like a dog after a bath while PQ-9 rebooted.

  Rose shrugged. "There's probably nothing left of the bridge after she did that stone spell," he pointed out.

  "That wasn't fun at all," his demon declared. "Let's never do that again."

  PQ-9 piped up in agreement. Asa frowned at PQ-9, but PQ-9 trilled in a question mark with an innocent tone. Asa frowned harder because there was no way they were going to create an alliance against him.

  Rose raised his eyebrows at Asa’s demon. "Shouldn't you go back in one of the pocket dimensions?"

  When Asa looked, sure enough, Rose had recalled both of his demons. Or maybe Rose’s demons had recalled themselves when they passed through the nexus, an easy checkpoint for a fully-powered demon to transport themselves wherever they wanted to go.

  Asa's demon snorted. "Yeah, no," he said, walking up to Rose with no fear. "I'm going to stay here and do whatever I want!" He placed his paws on Rose’s knees, and Asa winced. But Rose just looked amused. "Maybe your demons don’t want to go to the pocket dimensions. Have you thought about that, huh?”

  "You're going to spoil your demon," Rose said with an edge of disapproval.

  It was stupid how this was the same argument they used to have about Gemma.

  Asa hauled himself to his feet, ignoring his body’s spike in adrenaline as that name entered his mind again. He rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said, exaggeratedly crossing his arms to imitate Rose. The demon took Asa standing as permission to jump onto his shoulders again, PQ-9 held in his mouth. "Also, what the hells were you thinking making deals with Namah?"

  "It's not that simple," Rose said shortly.

  "Then what was it?" Asa said, exasperated. "You dragged me into your mess, the least you can do is tell me what the fuck you were doing."

  Rose turned his back to Asa and then started walking. "I think we're in the Station," he said, totally ignoring what Asa said. "If we're back in our time-line, then you can feel free to fuck off to whatever you were doing before you lost at 5-D chess. Again."

  Asa huffed out an irritated breath, hurrying to follow Rose before he could get too far ahead. "What time-line are we in, PQ-9?" Asa said.

  PQ-9 messaged him an instant reading with numbers that did not reflect the properties of their own timeline.

  Of course, Asa thought. Of course they wouldn't end up in their own time-line, and he still had to be stuck with Rose.

  Rose didn’t slow down at all, traversing the outer rings of the Station to the inner rings, and then to the downtown near the Ruby District. If PQ-9 hadn’t told Asa that they were in a different time-line, Asa would never have been able to tell. Everything looked exactly like home. The Station had the same neon purple lighting, the same street signs in the same locations—even NET and the other robots played poker at the same old metal folding table outside the pawn shop that NET owned.

  The only difference was that NET and the other robots didn't call out immediate, enthusiastic greetings to Asa.

  Rose marched into the Amethyst District from the Diamond District—which was still an expensive as fuck area, judging by the way people dressed and acted as they walked down the street. Except that no one chased out of the Diamond District, which gave Asa ideas until PQ-9 yelled at him. Even so, it was strange and a little disorienting because Asa had just walked this route several hours ago. It was as if he had gone back in time before the battle with Namah.

  Except Rose was here, his sweatshirt torn and stained with growing spots of red, and he was getting weird looks from civilians who weren't used to seeing signs of battle.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Rose strode up to his apartments, climbing the little steps to put his face to the retinal scanner, clearly expecting to be let in.

  But the scanner beeped and turned a lurid red.

  This was when it dawned on Asa that Rose didn’t realize he wasn’t in his own time-line.

  Rose froze. Then he scanned his retinas again, but the scanner stayed red. "PQ-9, is this thing broken?" Rose said, sounding frustrated.

  PQ-9 made a beeping sound that sounded extremely rude, even for PQ-9.

  Asa was just about to say that he thought they should go, when the front door of the apartments opened up. A girl about their age stood there, and Asa didn't recognize her at all. She had long blond hair in a high ponytail, blue eyes, and she wore a mechanic's jumpsuit. "What are you doing here, Rose?" she said, sounding gleeful. "Finally escaped your little red tower?" She gave Rose a once-over, her eyebrows floating higher. "And what the hell happened to you?"

  Asa would have given absolutely anything to see Rose's face in that moment, but Rose still faced away from him. "We're going now," Rose said in a weird tone, and then he turned to face Asa. His green eyes burned bright in his face, like jewels, as he walked past Asa again.

  "Try the House," the woman suggested, winking at Asa. "You should be able to find what you're looking for there!" The door slammed shut, which was impressive considering how automated Rose’s apartments were.

  Asa had to jog to catch with Rose, which was quickly becoming too familiar. "Do you know her?" Asa asked curiously.

  "You knew this was another time-line," Rose said pointedly.

  Asa started to smirk. "Oh?" he said. “Did the great and powerful Ambrose Thorne not know?” He gasped dramatically, placing a hand over his mouth. “I never thought I would see the day when the all-knowing Ambrose Thorne’s intuition would fail—“

  “Asa,” Rose said, sounding genuinely annoyed. “Why didn’t you tell me this was a different time-line?”

  “Well, you didn’t ask,” Asa said innocently.

  Rose shot an unimpressed look at Asa. "It feels like you're asking me if I want to kick your ass," Rose suggested.

  “Hmm,” Asa said, tapping his mouth with his index finger, as if he was pretending to consider a new idea. “Yeah, I guess it doesn’t feel good to be left out the loop, huh?”

  "Yeah, I’m definitely going to kick your ass,” Rose concluded, his tone conversational.

  "Gotta catch me first," Asa said cheerfully, turning to grin at Rose. But then he stopped, frowning. Rose didn't have any color in his face. "Hey, you're looking a little—"

  Rose dropped to the ground like a stone.

  Asa reflexively dove forward to grab Rose, who crashed into Asa with all of his dead weight. At least Rose hadn’t hit his head on the ground, but Asa’s shoulder hurt like a motherfucker from Rose collapsing on top of it.

  "Agh, fuck," Asa groaned. "How come you never say anything? Warn a guy!"

  Asa's demon hopped down from Asa's shoulders to inspect Rose and then bit Rose on the leg. Rose didn't move.

  "Yep, he's out," the demon reported.

  "Thanks for your hard work," Asa said, his tone dry.

  “You’re welcome,” the demon said, and Asa couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic.

  Asa checked Rose's back to see if there was an injury, but Asa could only see the wounds on his arm. When he turned Rose over to his front, Asa stopped.

  Rose had a stab wound on his stomach that was still leaking blood.

  "This fucking guy," Asa said blankly.

  As Head Apprentice for the Vermilion House, Asa had plenty of training in first aide. Asa shredded Rose’s sweatshirt with PQ-9’s help to make impromptu bandages and apply pressure to the wound. He had a bad feeling he was probably just introducing bacteria into the injury.

  Once Asa finished, he stood and tried to lever Rose onto his back, which forced the demon to jump off Asa’s shoulders. "Oof," Asa said, as he braced his knees against Rose's weight. Did the guy really have to build as much muscle as possible? He was heavy as shit.

  “Do we really need to take him with us,” the demon complained.

  "Unfortunately," Asa said in disgust. Ugh, Rose was probably staining Ase’s jumpsuit with blood. "Come on, let’s go to the House.”

  PQ-9 got them a hoverboard, but Asa was still dripping sweat by the time they reached the House. Rise still hadn't responded to his name at all. Asa hoped he wasn't losing too much blood.

  Nova stood guard at the House, but she didn’t appear to recognize him at all.

  "We need help," Asa said, wheezing from the effort of dragging Rose all the way across town. Asa was definitely going to have to work out more whenever he made it back to his own time-line. "He's been stabbed."

  "Name?" Nova said, sounding bored. She didn't ask why they didn't go to the hospital. The Vermilion House often treated those individuals who wanted extra...security. For a price, of course.

  Based on what the blonde woman had said, there was probably a Rose in this time-line that was somehow associated with the House. Maybe he was also a guard, or maybe he was stationed as a liaison to House activities from the Red Seal Syndicate. "Ambrose Thorne," Asa stated.

  Nova’s eyes widened. "Why didn't you say that first?" she said, looking panicked. "We need to get him inside immediately." Nova hit a button on the scanner and then tried to take Rose, but Asa kept hold of him.

  "My demon is feeding him energy to keep him stable," Asa lied. Asa’s demon was still too drained to help, but Asa didn't want to be separated from Rose in a strange place. Especially when Rose couldn't take care of himself.

  "Fine," Nova said, and then hustled Asa inside with Rose, where—Ariad took over.

  Asa was too stunned to stop Ariad from loading Rose onto a hover stretcher and transporting him to the infirmary. Asa finally jerked into motion after them, sliding into the room as Ariad manually checked Rose’s vitals. “This is neat work,” Ariad said suddenly, and Asa realized she was referring to the make-shift bandage. Asa suddenly remembered that it had been Ariad who had taught him first-aid.

  The infirmary was generally intended for House staff. Rich clients or very important persons that could pay for discretion and the expertise of those who worked with demons would have their own private and secure rooms. The infirmary was a small room, and most of the beds were empty. Asa had come here once or twice as a child when he become very sick or when he had broken his arm. "Put him here," Ariad said, gesturing to one of the beds.

  Asa carefully lay Rose on the bed, trying to be cautious of his stomach wound.

  A special monitor stood next to each bed with keys that corresponded to demonic script, providing standard formulas for magical healing wards. Ariad cut open the bandage, which had already been leaking through with blood, in order to clean and disinfect the wound. Asa felt strangely defensive of Rose, watching another Ariad from a different time-line interact with the Rose from his timeline. Especially since Rose wasn’t even awake to know it.

  Rose lay on the bed, completely still, with his eyes closed. Asa wished he would open his eyes. Rose was always in motion, always shooting Asa a disdainful look, always walking off, always saying something sarcastic and annoying. With Rose’s stillness, it was easier to notice the dark circles under Rose’s eyes and the thinness of his face.

  “Aunt Ariad,” Rose said. Asa jerked in surprise, blinking reflexively at Rose on the bed.

  But Rose was still unconscious.

  When Asa looked toward the infirmary entrance, another Rose stood in the threshold—dressed in the uniform of the Vermilion House’s Head Apprentice.

  [Timeline: 003]