JEM FOLLOWED THE WORDS coming out of Petar's mouth as if they were wolves. The syllables circled his head, snarling and dangerous.

"I don't know when he first got the idea. Maybe it was always there and he just didn't realize it. But at some point, my father decided that Volos alone wasn't enough for him. He wanted the Earth, too.

"It consumed him, swallowed him up inside it. Once the idea was planted, it grew into something monstrous and twisted like ivy that runs over an old building and begins crumbling the walls with its roots. My father was crumbling on the inside while, on the outside, he was being replaced by something terrifying.

"Every facet of his research became a part of his mission. Weather control experiments that would have helped grow crops became weapons. Workers became soldiers. The Koschei appeared, each of them clones started from a single tissue sample in a petri dish. My father harnessed the very core of Volos and turned it into a furnace fueling his global war machine. Unlimited power coupled with unlimited ingenuity. A dangerous combination in any situation. In this instance, catastrophic.

"He will succeed," Petar paused to let the words sink in. "He has everything going for him. This world is wholly unprepared to stop him. On top of that, he has the sheer element of surprise. Even if the Earth's governments managed to come together to fight him, even if they could study his weapons and build some kind of resistance, they'll never do it in time.

"That's why I came over. To try to warn someone. Anyone. Anyone who could make a difference. If I'd had more time to prepare...maybe, maybe I could have gotten a message across. But I failed. Maybe I went to the wrong people, maybe I didn't try hard enough. Maybe nobody would have listened anyway. There are too many maybes. My only chance now is to go back and stop him over there."

The two cut a bizarre picture in the darkening glow sifting through the window shade. Jem, thin and attentive, duct-taped to the hotel bed. Petar, hunched in a chair he'd pulled over beside the bed, a mountain of grief and despair etched into his face with steel. Flower-petal patterns from the curtain floated over them both, shadows on shadows. Petar sighed and looked at Jem.

"That's where you come in, Jem. You need to get me back. Just stay with me a week. Just come to Colorado with me, get me across, and you'll be able to go back to your family. I'll make it worth your while. Your mother works two jobs; what if she didn't have to? I left $50,000 with her at the hospital to cover the bill. I have access to more money, a lot more. Just...not enough to make a difference."

"How can I even help?" Jem asked. This was all too big for him. He felt like a flea floundering in the ocean.

"It's...a little complicated. See, everyone's body has a unique vibration," Petar said, "well below the molecular level. Some are more closely matched than others, but each particular vibration determines a lot about you, about your personality and your body type. The interstatic breach – the doorway to Volos – requires a finely tuned vibration to initiate the quantum anomaly that allows it to open. My father uses calibrated circle-throw vibration machines to open the breach. That's how I got over here. The problem is, I don't exactly have one on this side, or the time to build one. And even if I could build one, I don't have the exact formula my father uses, so there's no telling where it will spit me out on Volos." Petar paled slightly. "I've been through that once; I'm not keen to make it happen again.

"So before I came over, I screened for vibration matches. In the whole of the US, I found two people who matched the requirements. One was an elderly lady in Oregon. Ninety-two years old, on life support, visited four times a week by her daughter and grandchildren."

"And the second was me," Jem filled in the blanks.

"Exactly. Since I couldn't easily take the woman off life support and get her to Colorado without killing her, you were my only option. Congratulations, you won the quantum lottery. I'm sorry."

Jem was surprised to find that Petar actually did sound sorry. He was even more surprised to find himself on the brink of going along with everything. Deep down, he'd been waiting for something like this his whole life. Adventure, excitement, the idea that he was something special. His father had always said that he'd end up doing something important. But that's just what dads say. And after his death, Jem had begun spending more and more time in his room. Alone. Thinking. Watching movies. Reading books. Getting lost in other worlds that were both more exciting and less painful than this one.

Accidentally having the right type of molecules didn't suddenly make him a hero, but in a small way, he'd be a part of saving the world.

He realized that Petar was waiting for him to say something. He thought about his mother and Ashley. School. Mounting bills. A week wasn't very long. He made up his mind.

"Will it hurt?" he asked.

"What?"

"The static breach thingy."

Petar threw back his head and laughed. "Not at all. I hear it's actually very pleasant."

"Okay. But I have one condition," Jem said.

"We'll see," said Petar. "What is it?"

"Let me call my mom and tell her not to worry."

After a few more minutes, Petar relented and cut away the duct tape on Jem's wrists and ankles. The two left the hotel room and crossed the street to a gas station with a payphone. Petar didn't like the idea of calling from the hotel phone. He doubted the CIA was still interested in him or Jem's family, but he wasn't the kind of person who took unnecessary chances. While Jem thumbed change into the box, Petar walked a few steps away to give him some privacy.

The conversation was short, but, judging by Jem's face, emotional.

"I love you, mom. Tell Ash, too." He paused while his mother spoke on the other end. "No, I'm not changing my mind. You've gotta trust me on this." Pause. "I will."

Petar saw Jem discretely wipe a hand across his eye as he hung up the phone and turned toward him. His eyes were puffy. Petar almost called off the whole thing right there. Every single person he hurt made it harder for him to justify his actions. The future seemed distant, hazy. This was right here in the now, visceral and cutting. But if he gave up now, all the other lives would have been given in vain. That was all Petar had to run with, and even that was slipping away like fine grains of sand.

"Let's get some sleep," he said when Jem walked up. "We have a long trip ahead of us."

Thanks for reading my story! Please VOTE and let me know what you think of it so far, then check out Chapter 31!