Jackie:

  As I flew through the Slipstream, fire portals attacking me from all sides, my brain throbbed with a warning.

  Billions of lives are at risk. Every probability matters. So which stream should I focus on?

  My mission was clear; eradicate Alpha from the Slipstream completely. My shoulders tensed, creeping up my neck, as the burden of responsibility sank its claws into me.

  Swirling vortexes demanded my attention, shimmering with colors I couldn’t name, suffocating me with countless new timelines to explore. Gravity bent around each portal, sound warping into low, resonant tones that shook my bones.

  Sure, I saved one timeline from global genocide at the hands of the killer drone, but could I do it again and again, throughout the entire Proba-verse?

  Can’t stop now. My stomach churned in response as I pushed ahead.

  “Firestorm? Where are you?” I looked around for his guidance as I barreled through the Slipstream tunnel pulsing with electricity from the hypnotic churn of endless portals.

  No sign of the phoenix; my mutated dad and trusty companion in this crazy game of fate.

  Every vortex tried to suck me in, each mysterious world hungry for attention. Tendrils of fire coiled from these gateways like cosmic threads being pulled, unraveling reality.

  Their flames singed my skin. “Ah! Leave me alone.”

  I held the power of fire within me, but was still burned by it. Even though I leveled up on my last adventure, the Slipstream’s secrets were hard to unravel.

  The nearest portals taunted me, displaying my worst fears: my mother giving me away as a child, Baxter dying in the street, Alpha coming into power because I failed to stop him. Abandonment, death, guilt, shame…

  Hadn’t I squashed those anxieties? Am I a glutton for punishment?

  I buried my head in my hands and ran my fingers through my hair.

  “Enough,” I screamed. “I defeated you once. I’ll defeat you again.”

  The power of my voice pushed the portals away, reminding me of an important truth.

  Fear isn’t extinguished in a moment. It always comes back for more. The work is never done.

  Alone in the vast Slipstream, I let the trapped breath slip from my lungs, easing the pressure in my chest.

  “I can do hard things,” I whispered, my voice wavering. “Can’t I?”

  “One step at a time,” Beatrice answered from the void.

  My grandmother and Firestorm emerged from a portal to greet me. Her signature white bob framed her angular facial features, skin glowing with an impossible youth. She looked tiny next to Firestorm’s large, scaly phoenix body.

  His mane radiated with blended streaks of gold, red, and orange energy.

  I wrapped them in the biggest hug. “Firestorm, where did you go? Beatrice, you’re both here… together? What’s going on?”

  They exchanged a knowing glance.

  He said, “There’s a lot going on behind the scenes.”

  “He had the audacity to throw me in a cage.” Beatrice crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. “Yet here we are.”

  “So you went through with your revenge plan?” My cheeks flushed. “Wow. Bold choice. How’d it go?”

  Firestorm sighed. “You were right, and I was wrong.”

  “What’s that? Can you say that a little louder?” I cupped my ear.

  Firestorm admitted, “I never would have thought the key to saving Grace lay in working with my enemy, but here we are.”

  “Now that we’re on the same team, we need to work together to heal the Slipstream. Alpha’s infection must be cured.” Beatrice pointed.

  My eyes followed her finger.

  Green diseased tumors, edges swollen and glistening with pus, bulged from the corners of the Slipstream tunnel.

  I threw an icy blue flame at an oozing node. It grew bigger, releasing a sour stench.

  I shot it again, and it popped.

  Its discharge burned my skin.

  “Ow.” I gripped my throbbing arm, examining my seared skin.

  “Careful,” Beatrice warned.

  My body temperature rose against the blinding pain. I closed my eyes and healed myself by harnessing the power of the phoenix gene.

  My skin knitted itself together, scabbing over. The tension in my body subsided as I sighed with relief.

  “Jackie, help Firestorm burn the infection away while I dive deep into the probabilities,” Beatrice said. “I sense another stream where Alpha can execute the Redistribution Program. Billions of people could die. We must stop it, no matter what the cost.”

  I wiped the scabs off my healed skin. “Yes, ma’am. Anything you say.”

  “My flamethrower chars the infection real good.” Firestorm blew his fiery breath with one long surge, and the disease melted from the Slipstream walls.

  I followed his lead, throwing long flames from afar to rid the Slipstream of Alpha’s disease. My palms tingled as my inner fire seeped from my skin. With a grunt, I pushed my energy out, releasing fire to burn Alpha’s plague away.

  At least we’re starting off easy. I’m not ready to face the killer drone again…yet.

  My blue flames mixed with Firestorm’s red fire to create a purple stream of pure heat, roasting the diseased tumors to a crisp. They shriveled and fell away.

  As Firestorm and I worked together to heal the Slipstream, Beatrice closed her eyes and opened her hands. She mentally scanned the probabilities for the next stream to save.

  “Wish I could do that,” I whispered to Firestorm.

  “Someday, kid. If you stay focused, you’ll become a true Slipstream master.”

  “Let’s hope I can learn from the best.”

  Lost in deep concentration, Beatrice worked her magic. Atomic particles manifested and swirled between her palms, spitting mist.

  The energy vibrated and slithered like a snake, its life force creating a ring of fire that formed the edge of a portal. A blue laser grid covered the stream, locking its contents away.

  “I’ve got it,” Beatrice declared. “I’ve found the probability we need to fix next.”

  The air quivered, heavy and strange, humming against my ribs. Every instinct screamed at me to step back, yet something deeper, curiosity or madness, held me rooted. Another world waited on the other side of that portal, different from the others I’d lived in.

  “What’s the deal?” I asked. “It looks like the Grid is protecting the stream, except it’s blue.”

  Beatrice closed her eyes, feeling her way through the details of the locked portal in her hands. “Alpha will get into the Slipstream again if we don’t eradicate him from this timeline.”

  “Not on my watch,” Firestorm said.

  Beatrice nodded. “This alternate probability was created when I chose not to take the immortality serum.”

  My heart dropped into my stomach. “Really? The knock-on effect of every major decision must be insane. Paths not taken are still lying in wait, ready to manifest. Aren’t they?”

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  “You’re right, Jackie. In this new probability, I introduced Grace to Zayne, but they didn’t connect the same way as last time.” Beatrice explained with eyes still closed, her chest swelling with each word.

  “How can that be?” Firestorm asked.

  “She never saw him enslaved. Seeing Zayne in the cage gave Grace great empathy for him. In this new timeline, she didn’t have enough conviction to go against Mark’s wishes. Grace and Zayne parted ways soon after they met on Bennu Island.”

  “Sorry to hear that.” I put my arm around Firestorm for comfort. It must have been hard to hear that Grace didn’t choose him in every probability.

  His long neck drooped. “Can’t win them all, I guess.”

  Beatrice nodded. “At the end of that summer, Mark and Grace buried me in the volcano. Then they went home and got on with their lives.”

  “Unlikely to visit Bennu Island again,” Firestorm added, his deep voice laced with regret.

  “Mark visits my grave, but Grace doesn’t.” Beatrice bit her lip. “She attends a prestigious university in the city.”

  Firestorm nuzzled his head into the crook of my armpit. “Maybe that’s for the best. Grace is capable of amazing things.”

  Beatrice nodded, eyes still shut, reading the probability. “Indeed.”

  Firestorm added, “She doesn’t need some boy from Bennu holding her back.”

  My forehead and nose crinkled as I wrapped my head around this new probability. “If Grace is a university student, does that mean we’re going into the past?”

  “Time is not linear,” Beatrice explained, “but in a sense, yes, Jackie, you are going to the past, compared to the timelines you’re familiar with.”

  I scratched my head. “Is Life Rite still for sale? Are the Flyers rebirthing?”

  “Mark honored my wishes and didn’t move forward with the immortality serum, but he’s tinkering with the drone and… I get the sense that Alpha has a high probability of getting the serum some other way.”

  “Some other way?” Firestorm asked. “How?”

  “That is what we must uncover before it’s too late. We’ll enter this stream at a pivotal moment so we can change the course of its history.”

  “If Grace and Zayne never got together, was I even born?” I asked, clearing my throat.

  Beatrice opened her eyes. “No, Jackie, you weren’t.”

  My jaw dropped.

  “How will she get into the stream to enact change? We need her on the ground since I’m a little… distracting.” Firestorm pointed a wing at his oversized, dragon-like body.

  “Yeah, Beatrice, how will I enter this stream if I haven’t been born yet? I can’t just ride Firestorm’s stream if I’m going to change the timeline, can I?”

  “It won’t be easy. That may be why the portal is locked.” Beatrice nodded. “Riding Firestorm’s stream won’t be enough. You have to go deep into the probability to influence it. I need you to believe in your ability, Jackie.”

  “That’s not my strongest suit.” Hyperventilating, a cold sweat covered my body.

  Beatrice touched my shoulder. “You don’t have to do it alone. Firestorm and I are here to support you. Think of what form you’d take in this new probability.”

  “I would be Zayne, home on Bennu,” Firestorm said.

  “Yes.” Beatrice nodded. “Jackie, can you imagine what you would be?”

  I shrugged. “Non-existent.”

  “Energy cannot be created or destroyed. You’re in there, but not in the way you’d expect. Think harder, Jackie. You can and will figure this out.”

  I shoved my hands into my sweaty armpits. “If my mom never had me, then I’d be space dust.”

  Beatrice shook her head. “Not quite. Try again.”

  I ran my fingers through the red streak in my hair and worked the riddle in my mind. This was a difficult puzzle to solve…

  If I had never been born, who or what would I be? What form would I take?

  My heartbeat quickened when no clues came to mind.

  “Dad, do you have any ideas?” I asked Firestorm.

  He opened his cracked lips to speak, but Beatrice held up her finger to stop him.

  “No, he can’t answer for you,” she interjected. “This must come from within. You need extreme conviction to enter this remote probability.”

  I looked at the portal in Beatrice’s hands. Its surface glimmered from behind the blue laser Grid that imprisoned it. Within its walls, another realm lay in wait.

  What new realities does it hold? And how do I belong within it?

  “Let me think…” I paced the Slipstream, trying to ignore my family watching my every move, the pressure mounting in my chest.

  I imagined Grace without the burden of having a family. My mother would be a rich teen Flyer. Probably reckless, without a care in the world.

  Will she find someone else to fall in love, marry, and have kids with? If so, maybe I’d be born after all. Maybe some part of me is in there…

  “I’ve got it,” I declared proudly.

  Beatrice smirked. “Tell me.”

  “Maybe I’m an unfertilized egg in Grace’s ovaries, waiting for the chance at life.”

  “Well done, Jackie.” Firestorm clapped his wings.

  “You got it. Gather round.” Beatrice instructed us. “Close your eyes. Think of your potential in this probability. Feel it with your whole being. Immerse yourself in it mentally. Allow the stream to engulf you. Together, we will crack it open and clean out the infection.”

  “Wait a sec… You want me to become an unfertilized egg? That’s impossible.” I threw my hands in the air with a shrug. The knot in my stomach tightened.

  Beatrice looked at me deadpan. “Come on, Jackie. Have a little faith. Feel the potential within.”

  “What about you, Beatrice? Where would you be?” I asked, shifting the focus off me to buy some time.

  “I’d be dead, buried in the volcano,” she replied matter-of-factly.

  “Oh…” I gulped, wringing my hands.

  If Beatrice is strong enough to enter that state, I can tap into the energy of being unborn. Right?

  “This will be easy for me,” Firestorm admitted. “A new path to explore as Zayne.”

  “The path not taken is always intriguing,” Beatrice agreed. “But once inside, don’t ruminate on it. If the pull to experience that life is too strong, you won’t be able to break away to help us stop Alpha.”

  “Understood.” Firestorm nodded, the scaly skin on his mutated neck cracked and wrinkled.

  Beatrice instructed him. “Once you’re inside the timeline, find Jackie. Help her. We must all stay connected, okay?”

  “I’ll need you guys more than ever.” I swallowed the lump in my throat, but it didn’t budge.

  “We’ll never leave you.” Firestorm comforted me. “I’ll hide in the shadows so I don’t blow your cover, but I’ll be there. Give your mother a hug for me.”

  My blood pressure rose as my heart ticked faster. “Wait, so I’m going to rebirth into this timeline, and then what? How are we supposed to stop Alpha?”

  Beatrice grabbed my shaky hand for support. “The way forward will present itself as the timeline unfolds.”

  I shook my head. “No way. That doesn’t sound like a solid plan. Let’s think things through a bit. Strategize together.”

  Beatrice squeezed my sweaty hand. “Unfortunately, that’s not how this works. We learn the truth of each probability by experiencing it. Boots on the ground, let the story play out. Only then will we know how to fix it. Remember, Jackie, you can do hard things.”

  I pulled my hand away and rubbed my throbbing forehead. “Yeah. Sure, of course. This is a terrible idea.”

  Beatrice clicked her tongue at me.

  I sighed. Examining the Grid-covered portal, I imagined Grace as a teenager living an opulent lifestyle with an effortless confidence that comes from having every desire within reach.

  Bennu Island was just a bad summer vacation for her, the summer her mom died. She didn’t know her father had made an immortality serum because it never saw the light of day.

  As the probable details of this stream played in my mind’s eye, the portal expanded, large enough to step into, but the blue Grid didn’t budge. Instead, it grew with it, omnipresent and unyielding.

  “This won’t work,” I cried.

  “Don’t give up, Jackie.” Beatrice explained, “We’re working on this together. It will open with our powers combined. Keep going. Stay strong.”

  We encircled the portal, focusing our energy to smash the Grid and enter.

  A tear fell down my cheek as I thought about a world without me in it. Yet, I was in there as a speck of potential, lying dormant in my mother’s body.

  “Amazing how the seeds of life work…” I rubbed my sweaty palms together.

  Technically, the potential for my life was alive in Beatrice’s ovaries and my great-grandmother before that. My unborn child lies dormant inside me.

  As the power of that struck me, my head felt strangely hollow, my vision blurring at the edges.

  The Slipstream tilted, Alpha’s inflamed disease growing in the corners, puss-filled and revolting.

  My stomach churned, making me uneasy.

  “I am Zayne,” Firestorm reminded himself.

  If Firestorm can overcome his physical limitations, then so can I.

  “I will be born,” I declared.

  “Yes, that’s it.” Beatrice grabbed my hand again.

  Our combined strength coursed through my veins, lifting my spirits.

  The Grid covering the portal cracked, steam seeping through the crevice.

  I bounced on my toes, pumped to experience a new timeline.

  “I feel it opening. Yes, stay focused. You’ve got this, Jackie.” Beatrice cheered me on as we all concentrated on the locked stream.

  I stepped closer, reaching my hand toward the portal.

  The Grid’s blue lasers stretched, its beams slicing through the air, reforming its impenetrable barrier. The geometric web hummed, making the hair on the back of my neck stand.

  “Careful, Jackie,” Firestorm cried.

  I snapped my hand back to avoid getting hurt by the reforming Grid.

  Each laser beam pulsed as if alive, the dynamic pattern both mesmerizing and menacing.

  I swallowed hard, doubling down on my vision of this probability.

  I am a seed of potential, a spark yet to be ignited.

  Opening my hand, I conjured a fireball and held it close to the Grid. Smoke curled and spiraled between the lattice, diffusing its energy.

  “Yes, Jackie, good. Focus!” Beatrice yelled. “We can and will break through.”

  “I’m a phoenix gene carrier, ready for battle.” Sweat dripped down my forehead as I flexed every muscle in my body, eager to ignite my untapped potential to become a Slipstream master.

  “Alpha doesn’t stand a chance against us,” Firestorm declared.

  “Watch out. Here we come.” I licked my lips, focusing on this brave new world.

  My eyes crossed. My body relaxed as my mind cleared.

  The center of the Grid cracked as the vortex expanded, opening a doorway into another dimension. The unknown beckoned me forward.

  The portal blossomed like a flower in spring, ready to consume me.

  Our collective determination pierced the veil. Together, we entered the locked stream.

  As I whipped past the Grid surrounding the portal, a blue light blinded me.

  “What’s happening to me?” A deafening ring screamed in my right ear.

  Nausea struck as time and space tilted and warped into nothingness, turning me into atomic soup. If I didn’t make it to the other side, billions of people, including me, would perish.