The doctor explains to her sobbing mother that when Max's neck snapped, he had died painlessly and that, no, there was nothing she could have done to save him after that twenty-foot fall. Yet Mrs. Ruso will probably never stop feeling guilty that, immediately after she discovered his crumpled corpse, she didn't just realign his head, heal his bones and kiss him better as if it had been possible.

Well, possible for a non-magical being.

Alex, on the other hand, feels like if she had been present at the scene of the accident, she could have simply waved her wand to reverse time. She would have been brought back a few seconds, but in enough time to drag her brother away from the ledge so they could both breath a sigh of relief and listen to a distant complaint about deja vu.

Unfortunately, she had been at a party and only heard of the news when her grim-faced dad swung by to drive her to the hospital, and by then it had been too late.

Ignoring the sobs of her mother, Alex announces that she's going to get a coffee. With every step she takes toward the cafeteria her heart sinks lower and lower in her chest. Maximillion is gone, and he's not coming back. It was her fault. If only she was there for him.

The coffee tastes lifeless, like Max's corpse. With each gulp she tries to drink away the guilt. Wait until Justin hears about this; he'll definitely blame her too.

To Be Continued ...