I don't remember saying goodbye to anyone, even Luca.

I don't even remember leaving the library or flying back to Balthazar. I might have teleported back to school for all I know.

All I do remember is joining the rest of the school in the auditorium while Dr. Saltz announces that Paul is still alive and recovering in the hospital in Bearville. (Thanks to certain experimental water-elemental therapies, it's possible in Heavenly and Hellish hospitals to re-attach certain accidentally-dismembered body parts. So, even though this was no accident, Paul hopefully won't be forced to wear an eye patch or a glass eye for the rest of his life.) Saltz also tells everyone that the police are investigating (like they'll be able to figure out anything, since they got nothing right about Steve's death) and that the whole school is on lockdown until further notice (again).

Afterwards, we all go back to our dorms, and Luca fills me in on what is known about the...erm...incident. Apparently, Paul was helping out in the kitchen, using a melon baller to make fruit salad for dessert, when suddenly he turned the melon baller on himself and took out his own eye. Or something. It all happened so fast that the few eyewitnesses still have no idea what it was they saw. The melon baller to the eye is the only thing everyone agrees on. How it got there, though, is anyone's guess.

And I think mine might be the closest to the mark.

"Was he near a sink or something?" I ask, pacing the floor like a caged animal. "Any source of water?"

Luca shakes his head. "Dude, you're not still thinking about that Aqua Killer, are you? I mean, that's the first thing I thought of too. But Paul's still alive...you don't really think it's him again, do you?"

"What else makes sense?" I ask. "Paul would never do that to himself, not willingly. I'm sure of it. The Aqua Killer made him do it. I can't see any other explanation." I check my watch. "Six-twelve. How long are visiting hours at the hospital again?"

"I dunno...till seven?" Luca frowns deeply. "Dude, don't tell me you're gonna go see Paul. You know they've got us on lockdown, right?"

"Lockdown, schmockdown," I say, turning to the window. "There's only one way to figure out for sure if the Aqua Killer tried to get Paul."

"Alex," Luca says, grabbing my arm. "Alex, stop. Why do you need to keep pursuing this? Since when do you got such a raging hero complex?"

I pull out of Luca's grasp. "I can't tell you everything right now, but I'm invested in this thing like you wouldn't believe. Seriously, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. Just let me go now. I'll take care of this."

I open the window and fly out, heading straight for Bearville. Even though it's past sunset, if I fly high enough, there's still a bit of sunlight off to the west to guide my way. I land in front of the hospital and walk through the sliding doors, then turn towards the information desk.

"Paul Smythe?" I ask the middle-aged blonde receptionist.

She checks her computer screen. "Yeah, he just got out of surgery. He was very lucky they were able to reattach his eye." She turns back to me. "Room 353. You know, you're the first person to come visit him so far. Isn't that something?"

"Yeah, that's interesting," I say vaguely. "Thanks."

I take the elevator up to the third floor and go down the hall, at first in the wrong direction. When I figure out my mistake, I turn around and walk all the way to the end of the hall, then enter Room 353.

Paul lies in one of the room's two beds, staring through one blue eye at the fluorescent lights. His other eye, his right, is covered in a bandage. He turns to see who's coming in, then sits up in surprise. "Alex? What...what are you doing here?"

I sigh heavily before launching into my little interrogation. "Paul, I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, but I...I need to ask you something. I need to know everything that happened wh-when you got hurt today."

Paul rolls his eye. "You and me both, guy," he says, wincing and touching his bandaged eye. "God damn, that hurts."

"So what are you saying?" I ask. "Tell me you remember something that happened."

"All I remember is holding the melon baller, then I have it in my eye, and people are telling me I put it there." Paul's eye moves from side to side for a moment, making him wince again. "It's really scary, dude. It's like there's some kind of gap in my memory."

"Okay," I mutter. "Okay. let's work with what we can. Just concentrate, Paul. I know it sounds like some kind of hypnotist or mentalist bullshit, but if you focus, maybe you'll remember something."

Paul screws his good eye shut as he concentrates. "I'm not remembering anything. What exactly am I supposed to remember here?"

"You know how Steve died?"

"Got his head cut off. What exactly are you getting at?"

"Um..." I tap my chin, trying to think of the best way to say this without giving away too much. "We think the same killer who got Steve tried to kill you too."

"Wait, who's 'we?'"

I sigh again, wondering how I could explain this to Paul and not seem insane. "Okay. I can't really tell you how I would know this, but...before your memory blanked out, do you remember seeing a pair of eyes in the water?"

Paul frowns. "You mean when I turned the faucet on?"

"Yeah. Were there eyes in the water? There were, am I right?"

Paul closes his eye again. "Yeah. One eye, anyway. That's all I'm seeing. After that, it all skips ahead to me on the floor, screaming."

Alex? Steve's voice enters my thoughts. The door opens, seemingly all by itself, then closes again. Surprisingly, he's using my first name - he must really need to get my attention. Oh, good, there you are. I thought you'd show up here.

Paul looks around. "Who's that, Alex? Who're you talking to?"

I ignore Paul as another message comes in from Steve. Krause says there's this guy walking around on the first floor. Looks really suspicious. Seconds later, he appears on Paul's other side for a split second, just long enough for me to notice him before he goes invisible again. We gotta go, guy, he tells me. I dunno about you, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that guy Krause is trailing is the Aqua Killer looking to finish the job.

Just one more question, I think, while Paul continues to look around wildly.

"Was that...was that Steve's voice?" Paul asks. "Shit, what the hell's going on?"

Screw it. Before I can tell him to stop, Steve becomes visible again. Paul screams, terrified by the sight of his dead friend.

"It's okay," Steve says, laying a hand on Paul's shoulder. "This isn't a nightmare or anything. I'm real, Alex here is real." He shrugs before adding, "Unfortunately, I'm still dead."

"What the...what...?" Paul can't even bring himself to form complete sentences.

"We gotta go now," Steve says again.

"One last question, dammit!" I yell at him. Turning to Paul, I ask, "The one eye you saw, was it gray? Really dark gray, like mine?"

Paul doesn't speak, just nods his head vigorously.

"That's what I thought," I say. Steve steps back out into the hall, going invisible again. "We'll be able to explain all this later," I tell him. "But right now, there's other important business to take care of. Hope you get back to school soon!"

I follow Steve out the door and he immediately thinks, Krause says the guy's leaving the building right now.

What? The elevator door opens and I jump in, mashing down the first-floor button. As soon as the elevator reaches its destination, I barrel out, down the lobby and out the front door. Freddie becomes visible for a moment under the covered entrance, and points towards a fountain across the street.

A shadowy figure stands in front of this fountain, under a streetlight. I can see that he's wearing a gray hoodie, and he's tall - an inch or so above six feet. His back is turned to us, but I know right away that this must be the same guy I saw twice during the weekend.

The third time, clearly, is not the charm.

I run across the street and, defying all reason, yell, "HEY! Hey, you! You here to kill my friend, is that it? Huh?!"

The guy turns around and looks down at me as I get closer. He's got rugged features, but I don't pay much attention to them.

Not at first, anyway.

I shove him, and to my surprise (probably as much as his), he stumbles backwards, almost falling into the fountain.

"Answer me, goddammit!" I yell. "Why are you here? Why are you killing all these people?"

The guy regains his balance and shoves me back with all his strength, knocking me to the sidewalk. I'm sure I'll have a nice set of backside bruises by tomorrow morning.

Then he leans over me so I can see his stubble-covered face, and he pauses a moment, a look of shock forming as he sees me. A split second later, that expression vanishes, and he growls in a Southern-accented voice, "Stay out of this, boy. You don't have a horse in this race."

A dozen retorts start to queue up on my tongue like toxic spiders, but none of them make it out of my mouth, because I freeze as my brain registers something truly chilling.

Not only does this man have the exact same gray eyes as myself and Gabe, but he also has Gabe's exact same nose and mouth. I could have put a photo of my twin through age-progression software and gotten a result indistinguishable from this guy. Well, maybe not with the scraggly jaw, or the overgrown hair, or the scars raking his cheek. But aside from those, he's Gabe, age forty.

Who are you? I think, unable to find my voice at the moment.

The man ignores me, instead walking away from me and turning his back.

I stagger to my feet. "Who are you?" I ask out loud. "Who the f-"

The man steps into the fountain and shrinks down into the water, dissolving like a melting wax sculpture until there's no more sign of him. My incomplete swear dies on my lips as I stare into the heart of the fountain, my brain only able to spit out one coherent thought.

I just saw the goddamn Aqua Killer.