AN: As always, this story is not to be read unless you have read the previous entries in the Oblivion series (that is, unless you enjoy spoilers of previous installments.) If you have read from "The New Kid" to "Shake, Rattle, and Roll Over the Edge," then feel free to enjoy my latest story without spoiling anything!

Episode 6 - "JJ Abrams Was Right"

Chapter 1

Wednesday night, 11:58pm. Enzo Lessico entered his bedroom, filed slowly past his sleeping wife, and descended the stairs to the second floor. He entered the spare bedroom, picked up the Latin-English dictionary he'd spent the last several days studying over and over so he would know how to perform as many incantations as possible. He flipped it open to a page almost at random, but he had no need to read directly from the book - he had memorized the three phrases he would need to utter, one after the other, from 11:59pm to 12:01am.

Enzo's watch beeped as 11:59 came along. He spoke the first incantation quickly but carefully, so as to get the pronunciation correct. "Haec domus intrare parallela dimensionis." He gazed out the window, and wondered what it would be like for someone else to look outside and see the street outside vanish entirely from view like a projector screen going dark. This is the one thing I wish I could do, he thought, see my own illusions as they happen.

The stroke of midnight arrived with another beep from Enzo's watch, and he spoke the second incantation: "Aetheres erit coloratum sicut sanguis." Again, to Enzo's eye, it appeared as if nothing had changed.

12:01am and the third incantation: "Quid deorsum cadit mos iam cadere sursum." Enzo closed the book and placed it back on its shelf. I don't think this is actual Latin, but then again it'll most likely work anyway, thought Enzo. It's only meant to focus the illusion anyway.

He removed a pen and paper, wrote a note to Lara explaining what was happening, left it on her nightstand, and descended to the garage. He then started the car and left the house, to drive down to NemoConTech headquarters in Santa Marina. Oh, how I wish I could see the looks on everyone's faces, he thought. Or maybe I can, if I ask Ansem real nicely.

-October 25-

Thursday morning, 7:30am. By now, school should have been starting, but due to yesterday's earthquake the building was closed for a week, perhaps longer if the repairs couldn't be finished soon enough. So, the Nemo boys were taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep in.

Tim, however, had to wonder if he was even awake yet, because although he felt awake, there was something very wrong with the curtain. It should have been glowing white with the rising sun streaming through, but instead it seemed to be a disturbing ruby red. Tim noted for a second that it was almost the exact shade of red as Axel's ridiculous hair dye.

Okay, I'm going outside to see what's happening, Tim thought. But as soon as he disentangled himself from his bedsheets, he fell down, flat on his stomach, onto the ceiling. Ouch!

The noise woke up Axel, who also emerged from his bed and for his trouble found himself splayed across the ceiling in his underwear. "Whoa, dude!" he cried. "Did you develop some new power in your sleep or something?"

"No," said Tim. "I'm guessing you didn't, either?"

"No!" yelled Axel. "I don't know how to turn gravity upside down!"

"It can't be gravity," Tim said. "Look at our beds, our furniture. It's all still staying on the floor like nothing's wrong."

"Oh, really?" griped Axel. "What are you trying to say? Is this one of those pocket dimension things they have on Fringe?"

"I don't know," said Tim, crossing to the window and pulling the curtain open.

The sight that met his eyes was a very bizarre one indeed. The sky was, in fact, a lurid bright red, bathing everything in a weird hellfire glow. But that wasn't the most wrong thing about the view. The street was no longer there - at least, not as the street it used to be. What had yesterday been a concrete boulevard had become a rough stone path on rocky ground, and on the other side of this path was a number of fountainous springs that glowed vividly blue even in the red daylight. Not a single car was in sight, nor any sign that a 2000-student high school existed just one hundred feet away.

"Ojo de Cielo Springs," said Tim, realizing what he was looking at. "Are we in the past or something?"

Axel snorted. "Who cares? Let's just get out of here and try to figure out what the hell just happened to us!"