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It was harder this time, time traveling. The moment Loki and I appeared in a darkened alley in Atlantic City I knew I was in trouble. My right arm throbbed in harmony with my head, accompanied by a new stinging pain deep in my chest. Blood dripped steadily down and over the Kyntalash.

I was a battery, and I was running out of juice.

"That was...unpleasant," Loki spoke beside me, frowning like his disappointing two-star time travel experience was all my fault. He ignored my injuries and peered up at the façade of the hotel. "Explain this doomed scheme of yours in greater depth. And slowly, please. You possess the intellect of a miniscule ant and I would not wish for you to strain yourself."

"Aww thanks, pal," I said, wiping my arm against my shirt, "Though we both know I could slurp down a bowl of alphabet soup and shit out a smarter statement than you any day of the week. I'm eloquent like that."

"You are an unworthy waste of oxygen."

"Eloquent," I shot back, relieved as I started to feel like I belonged among the living again. "We're making a pit stop in the timeline for Xolo. He's a chupacabra that, when used properly, has the power to sneak an image or memory into a victim's head. We need him alive for this traumatizing shindig to go down properly, and this is the night that Nik killed Xolo...and Cherish."

Niko. Niko was still alive. Another sharp pain shot through my chest, and this time the Kyntalash wasn't at fault. I was actually scared to see my brother, scared of messing something up. Christ, this time travel shit was screwing with my head.

"Cherish? Who is she?"

I kicked a soda can away from my feet as ugly memories resurfaced. "A nightmare in silk," I growled, and left it at that. I walked slowly toward the Borgata, trying to conceal the fact that I was limping. "She's in room seventeen-eighty. If I timed this right, Niko's on his way over and Mickey's up there guarding the room. Give me your suit jacket."

"Excuse me?"

I held out my arm, and the motion sent even more blood cascading to the pavement. "Do you see this? Forget saving the world, we're not going to get past the damn lobby with me looking like a slasher victim. Give me your jacket."

He sighed heavily and acquiesced, shoving the material against my chest. "You require medical attention, Aupheling. Not my clothes."

"Kinky," I teased, shrugging on the material. It fit relatively well, although a bit snug. We strode through the sliding doors, the god and the Auphe, each capable of bringing the entire building to ruin. The bleary eyed hotel staff didn't grace us with a second glance.

We got in an elevator and I pressed the button for Cherish's floor. An intoxicated younger couple weaved toward our open door and I gave them my best psychopath smile and flashed my eyes red. Just for a second, just long enough to freak them out and make them question their sanity. They wisely decided to wait for the next available elevator. As the doors closed and the elevator creaked up the shaft I turned to Loki. "For this to work, we're going to have to get Mickey to leave. He's an informant of ours, and he helped us track down Cherish. You're going to need to make him think his services aren't required anymore. I need you to look like Niko. Thank Mickey for his services, promise him oodles of extra burritos or Thai food, whatever, and ask him to leave."

To my displeasure, the elevator stopped a few floors up and the doors opened to reveal a woman and her little girl. The kid's blond hair was tied back in pigtails; her left thumb was in her mouth and her second hand gripped the string of a purple balloon. It was three in the morning...where could they possibly be going? Like hell they were boarding the death elevator with us. "Sorry. We're full," I said, pressing the button to close the door.

The mother looked me over disdainfully and put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Wait, sweetie. Next car."

"But Mom-"

The doors shut again, and I found myself standing in the elevator with Niko. Holy shit, the bastard was good. "Jeez. Okay. Yeah, but..." I said, floundering to regain my composure, "This is a few years in the future, so he would be older. And your hair needs to be shorter. Like, shoulder length. And tied back."

A few seconds passed as Loki made the changes. "Like this?" he said with Niko's voice.

Fucking hell.

"Yeah. Good," I said. I was going to need years of therapy. "So Mickey can't see me, obviously. I'm all wrong for this year. Get him to bring the chupa into the hallway, and once he's gone we'll get to business."

"I think I can handle a simple trick. Relax," he said, looking and sounding like my brother. The doors opened and we entered the hallway, stepping over a woman passed out on the floor. I hung back, just enough that I could peer around the corner. He nodded at me and continued to where Mickey stood shrouded in a hooded trench coat outside door seventeen-eighty. Mickey bought the illusion. Why shouldn't he? He was expecting Niko...and that's who he saw.

He gestured to Loki to break the door down, which the god did, efficiently and quietly. Mickey disappeared into the room for a moment, and then returned. "Is done," he said.

Loki nodded approvingly. "Bring the creature," he said.

Mickey entered the room for a second time and returned with Xolo wrapped up in a bed comforter. "You want me kill it?"

"No. I will," Loki told him, holding out his arms.

Mickey shrugged and passed him the bundle. "Your call."

"Go," Loki said, "I will have Cal bring you a few dozen additional burritos from Taco Bell. He needs the exercise."

I ducked into a supply closet and waited in the dark until I was sure that our informant was gone and in the elevator. Odin had given us a vial of goat blood back in Asgard, and I slid it out of my pocket and darted back to Loki's side. He had unswaddled Xolo and had one hand clapped over the creature's eyes. I held the vial to Xolo's mouth and gently removed Loki's hand so that the chupa could see who was feeding him.

"How dare you," Cherish hissed from the threshold. I glanced over and saw Promise's daughter dressed in a silk nightgown, sword in hand. Gorgeous and deadly, just like Promise, but very different in all the ways that truly mattered.

I tipped the rest of the blood into Xolo's mouth. I didn't have a clue how this worked, but since the chupa was a simple creature maybe controlling him would be equally simple. "Make Cherish believe she woke up because she heard a noise," I spoke into his ear, "But she doesn't see anything there. Everything is alright. She can see you still sleeping in the other bed. She's tired and wants to go back to sleep."

The thieving vampire blinked, confused for a moment, and then her expression softened. She lowered her sword and swept a hand across her eyes, tired. "Lousy hotel," she murmured, and shut the door.

Loki whistled appreciatively and nodded at me. "I understand the conundrum now," he said, kicking the comforter to the left of the door, "Your brother was wise to kill that thing. No one should have such power."

"Yeah," I said sourly. No one should, but now I did. And I was going to use it on Nik.

The thought made me physically sick.

"Okay," I said, tightening my resolve, "You just met Mickey Mouse's demented twin. Can you be him when Niko gets here?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You feel the need to ask? Are you blind? Mentally ill?"

I looked at my phone. It was almost four in the morning. When I looked back up Mickey had replaced Niko. I smirked. "The rat look is good for you. Charming. Now hang on, I'm going to try something," I told him.

He shrugged, drawing the trench coat closer around his body.

"Make it so Loki can't see or hear me," I spoke into Xolo's ear.

Loki's eyebrows rose. "Impressive," he said, staring through me. He waved a thick-skinned hand through the air, colliding with my shoulder. He gripped it harder than necessary and smiled through yellowed teeth. "Very impressive."

"Xolo, make it so Loki can see and hear me, but no one else can," I amended, and nodded at the god when he made eye contact with me again.

"And now?"

"We wait," I said, leaning tiredly against the wall.

We'd barely waited ten minutes before Niko arrived. He crossed the length of hallway like a whisper, his expression a mask of forced calm. No one else would have noticed, but I could see the barely concealed pain and rage searing out of his eyes.

He stopped beside Loki and kicked the door open, then waited in the hall as Loki acted out the scene that had happened minutes ago. I stood beside my brother, so close that I could've reached out and touched his shoulder, and looked away in shame as I gave Xolo his next order. "When the light comes on, make them see you, Xolo. Make them see you still wrapped up in the comforter on the bed. Cherish...and Nik."

Those words alone made me want to vomit. Niko and I never lied to each other. Never. And this? This was worse than a lie. This was mind control. I knew what this creature had done to Niko, the nightmares he'd already endured. But...this was necessary. This was going to allow me to save him.

I felt like the biggest traitor in the universe.

"Is done," Loki said, stepping back out as the lights flashed on.

Niko gestured him to go, and then stepped into the room. I slipped through the gap as he shut the door. If I had to use mind control on my brother, the least I could do was stay and watch his back. Cherish stood with her sword in hand beside the bed. For a long moment they stood like statues, analyzing each other.

"I can make you see him die every minute of every day for the rest of your life. He'll scream for you, and you'll fail him. Every time he dies. Every single time."

I squeezed my eyes shut and swiped a hand over my face. "Goddamn it," I growled.

Her promise was as sharp and biting as an ice storm, and equally as chilling. With Xolo, she could have done it. Would have done it. Nik's expression dripped into something I couldn't stand to see on his face: hatred.

Niko killed her. He gave her a chance to fight for her life, and fight she did in a fury of swords. It still only took moments for her to die. She might have been older, but he was better in every way. Only Niko would give someone like that a chance.

If it'd been me...

Cherish's violet eyes were already starting to fade in death when he walked over to the empty second bed. He stared down for a moment and then swiftly grabbed ahold of the air and twisted quickly. Done. Broken neck. No more threat of mind control.

Xolo stirred in my grip, pressing his nose against my borrowed jacket. "I'm so sorry, Nik," I whispered.

He passed next to me, so close that he nearly clipped my shoulder with his own, and then he was gone.

Loki returned a few minutes later. He had swiped a Snickers candy bar from a vending machine and was stuffing his face with every sign of enjoyment. The god walked over to where I sat on the bed. "Stop moping, you witless pigeon," he said, taking another bite. Chunks of chocolate dropped to the carpet. "We have your awful creature. Now what?"

I lifted my head up off my hands. "Goodfellow," I said, "We have to go see Goodfellow."

"No," he said, realizing what I was saying. "We are not going to willingly bestow the cerebral weapon of mass destruction to the self-obsessed, horny Puck. No."

"Yes," I said simply, and gated the three of us to an alley beside Robin's apartment.

We needed Xolo in the future, but it was impossible to take the chupa with us when we made the next time jump. That meant we needed to leave the creature with someone we trusted. That was the easy part. I trusted Goodfellow. I just wasn't sure how to go about the whole 'Hey, it's me. How are you? Oh, yeah, and guess what? I time travel now' issue.

"My ears do not deceive me, then. How unfortunate. Well, I suppose the world has existed for long enough," he said, scraping a sandwich wrapper off his shoe.

"Oh shut up, you're fine," I dismissed him, and made my decision. "Stay here. I don't know how much he knows, if anything, but I don't want to reveal too much about this whole fuck-up of a situation."

"You intend for me to linger in this disgusting garbage heap?" he inquired with distaste.

"If you get chilly, there's a homeless guy over there that might share his blanket," I quipped, and gated directly into Robin's apartment. Screw subtlety. I didn't have time for it.

Thank all gods, Goodfellow was alone in his kitchen. Fully clothed. His apartment was as pristine as ever and he was occupied with pouring a glass of wine, his back to me.

"Robin?" I said tentatively.

He whirled around, instantly on edge, and saw me. He relaxed. "Ah, Caliban. Do you have any idea what time it is? Have we not been through enough lately, must you really sneak...up...on..." he trailed off as his brain caught up and he saw me, older me, and Xolo. His brow furrowed. One hand brushed the hilt of his sword, but he didn't draw it. Not yet. "Explain," he said.

Xolo was squirming so I sat him down on the hardwood floor. I straightened back up and ran a hand through my tangled mess of hair. "You don't remember anything, then?"

"Remember what, exactly? Who are you?"

"Cal. I'm Cal, Loman. I swear."

"I will decide that for myself. Stop moving. Why the blazes are you in possession of Cherish's cursed creature? Niko just called to confirm he destroyed the monstrosity."

"He thinks he did," I admitted darkly.

"Obviously he was mistaken," he said, gesturing to the chupa. Salome approached Xolo with naked curiosity, arching her back as she stalked closer. "And what in the name of Zeus' wandering dick are you wearing? Formal attire? You? Unthinkable. And...is that..." he paused, "Why are you dripping blood on my floor?"

There wasn't going to be an easy way to breech this situation, so I decided I might as well just slap him in the face with it and get the worst over with. I slowly rolled up the bottom of my right sleeve, revealing the bright red and black bands of the Kyntalash. "This is why," I said simply.

His hand dropped from the hilt of his sword. "Gamiseme," he breathed, stepping forward. I held my arm out and he ran his fingers over the metal. From his expression of shock at seeing the device he truly didn't remember a thing. Odin must have succeeded in wiping the others' memories of the incident. I didn't have the energy to care how the god had done it. I'd worry about that when I returned to the past.

"That's enough," I muttered, pulling my arm from his grip and rolling the blood slicked sleeve back down, "If you know what this is, you also know it's not safe to even look at the damn thing."

Robin watched me for a moment, then grasped my elbow and gently steered me to the couch. I sank exhausted into the velvet cushions. He walked back into the kitchen and returned to hand me a glass of water. "What's going on?" he asked softly, sitting beside me.

I took a sip, and the liquid felt cool against my tongue and soothed my throat. "It's been a long fucking couple of days, that's what," I said honestly, and lowered the glass to my lap. "I can't tell you anything."

"Caliban-"

"No. Don't. Don't try to make me tell you. I want to, but I won't. I can't. So please...just don't."

He tightened his jaw but didn't push the issue. "How badly are you bleeding?" he asked instead.

I smiled slightly, then swiped a hand across my eyes and took another sip of water. "Not bad," I lied. He gave me a skeptical look, and my grin widened. I needled him lightly with my elbow. "It's good to see you. I need a massive favor."

"Am I correct that you are both keeping me completely in the dark as to your perilous situation and demanding a favor of me?" he said sourly.

"Yes."

"Fabulous. Business as usual, it seems. At the very least your lack of common sense is intact," he said. Salome approached and began to lap my blood up off the floor. He kicked her lightly, and she hissed and darted back.

"I need you to keep Xolo for me. Keep him safe, keep him hidden. I'm going to need him later."

He sighed, agitated. "Need I remind you that creature is a danger to society as a whole?"

"Trust me, I goddamn know, okay? We all saw what that thing's capable of doing. But if anyone has the means keep the chupa hidden, it's you."

"Flattery will not work on me, kid."

"You're the only one I trust to do it," I pleaded earnestly, "If he ever fell into the wrong hands..."

He groaned. "Yes, yes, we've seen what happens then. Skata. Fine, Caliban. I'll babysit your horrid creature for you. I tire of you constantly dropping new pets at my door. You will pay me a weighty sum when you eventually come to collect him, of course."

"Absolutely. Do you want to be paid in Skittles or Sour Patch Kids?"

"Hopeless. Absolutely hopeless," he said, and chuckled. "Ah, well. Do you require anything else at the moment? Am I to steal some ancient artifact? Introduce you to a powerful ally?"

"Nah, none of that. I'm okay. But I do need a few pages of your stationary," I said, fishing in my pocket. I drew out the note and flashed it at him, briefly, "You know, the one with the anatomy lesson for the kiddies."

He stared as I pocked the note. "How did you get that? Where did you get that?"

I grinned. "No questions, remember?"

"You're no fun," he pouted. He stood up, walked over to his desk, and slid out a few pieces of paper. He turned and leaned against the desk, eyeing me up nonchalantly. "You appear to be...what? Twenty-six? Twenty-seven?"

I smirked and made my way over to him. I plucked the papers from his hand. "You really hate not knowing everything, don't you?" I teased him. I squeezed his shoulder and stepped back. "Don't tell anyone about this. I'll be seeing you."

I gated out of his apartment and back into the alley. Loki took one look at me without Xolo and raised his eyes to the heavens. "You've killed us all, Aupheling. The atrocities that Puck could do with a creature such as that..." he trailed off and shivered.

"He's not gonna do diddly squat. Honestly. You're such a drama queen, you know that?" I said, and gated us into the library so that we copy the letter onto Robin's stationary. The building was closed, but as gating was a free pass to everywhere that didn't stop us. The library had a miniscule budget, which meant piss poor security and zilch in the guards department.

Loki ran his fingers across one of the dusty shelves as we waited for the page to print. "Enlighten me...are you certain you will survive additional time jumps?" he asked, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

I glanced at him as I took the finished page from the tray and pocketed it. "I'll be fine," I said, even though I was ready to hurl at the mere thought of using the Kyntalash again. "We might as well go now, get it over with."

"To your present?"

"Two weeks before. Robin's having a party, and we're taking charge of the guest list."

We set on a date, time, and location and made the jump. I came out even worse this time. It felt like someone was slowly ripping out my intestines and flaying them with a knife. "Goddamn it," I hissed, crouching with my elbows on my knees and hands pressed against my eyes. "Fuck."

"Are you..."

"I'm fine!" I snapped. I straightened up, taking in the abandoned junkyard. I pulled out my phone and turned it on. "Here," I said, handing it to Loki, "Block the number and call Goodfellow. Pretend you just found out he's having a party and you weren't invited. Oh, the horror. The humanity. You'll die alone in a shack with Thor-"

Loki smacked me across the chest, successfully knocking the wind out of me. I hunched over and grinned through the pain as I struggled to catch my breath. I'd deserved that one.

He dialed the number and put the phone to his ear.

"Speaker," I wheezed out, using the rusted bumper of a truck to pull myself back up.

He shot me a death glare but hit the button.

"Who is this?" Robin's voice asked.

"Intriguing news has spread amongst the inner circles that you are having a party. Whoring. Alcohol. Sex. Am I not invited?"

There was a brief pause. "Loki?" he said finally, sounding delighted and unsurprised. I'd been right, apparently. Gods did call him all the time. "Ah yes, greetings my friend. You must forgive me, but when I enquired after you Thor told me that you were still neck deep in that con down in Vegas."

"I have grown tired of that enterprise," Loki improvised, not missing a beat, "The tedious process has taken too long and the stakes are far too low, not to mention the human women are ridiculous and sparkly. Poor company for a god."

"If you remember I did advise you against the con at the start. As it stands now, I must admit I am hesitant to invite you to another party after your disappointing behavior at the last."

Loki winced. Actually winced. I perked up, interested.

"Those deaths were not my fault-"

"Three kitsunes, Loki. Three."

"Yes, well-"

"I had to have the entire spare bedroom completely remodeled. There was blood caked into the dressers and unidentifiable fluids globbed on the ceiling. And what were you all gamou doing with the microwave and the bedsheets like that? And the goddamn horses?"

I fought desperately not to laugh.

Loki glared harder in my direction. "Not entirely my fault, then."

"Whose fault do you suggest it was?"

"I do not...they were all so flexible, and they had those tails, and one of them suggested...I mean..."

I elbowed him.

"Yes, okay, it was my fault. I am sorry," he said in flat tones, pushing me away against a rusted car, "Now please, let me attend this party. I swear I will behave and I won't kill anyone. For fuck's sake, Goodfellow, I'm bored."

"Well..."

"All I want to do is show Thor how to drink and whore in a manner befitting of gods, not rutting hogs drunk from fallen fermented orchard apples. No killing. You have my solemn word."

There was a pause. "Alright," Robin said reluctantly, sighing dramatically, "Since you begged so pathetically. But remember, if you so much as put a scratch on anyone in my presence, I'll have you working as my microwave heating Cal's horrid Thai and pizza leftovers for the next ten years. Do not test me."

"I would never dream of it," Loki said through clenched teeth. He disconnected the call.

I managed to keep my mouth shut for a few seconds before I couldn't help myself anymore. "A microwave, bedsheets, and some horses, huh?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I make one tiny mistake, and I never hear the end of it," he said, more amused than angry, "Besides, everything was going well until one of the kitsune's tails...well..." he trailed off and waved a hand in some swirling gesture I couldn't quite make out.

"And then it stopped going well?"

"You could say that," he said, smirking. He threw the phone at my face. "What now?"

I whipped the device back at him. "Blackmail."

It was incredibly easy for Loki to force himself to attend the party. He called his present self up in Vegas and used Goodfellow's voice to blackmail him with the same information I remembered from attending the fated party: Sif's hair. As soon as he threatened telling Thor that he, Loki, had chopped off her golden locks, Loki went from disinterested and sullen to desperate and sullen. Very, very desperate.

It was funny as hell.

Afterwards I gated us across town to the vacant stairwell of my apartment complex. "You live here? This building should be condemned," Loki complained as we trudged upwards.

"Hey, don't knock our place," I shot back, kicking the back of his leg lightly, "It's kickass. Water even comes from the fridge."

"How very magical for you," he drawled, shifting into Goodfellow in the time it took to climb two steps. "Are you certain all I must accomplish is make sure Niko drags you along to that party?"

I nodded, then looked away and hung back in a shadow as Loki finished the climb to the door. To my home. It was painfully difficult to just stand there and wait. I clenched my hands so tightly that my fingernails nearly broke the skin of my palms. Niko was in that room. My Niko, not some prequel from eight years ago. I wanted nothing more than to run to him like a frightened five-year-old and tell him everything.

But Odin had warned me that every alteration in the timeline would leave repercussions, and I wasn't willing to take the chance. So I watched Loki pick the lock and continue inside like he owned the place, and I didn't run into the apartment.

It was so goddamn hard.

The minutes seemed to crawl as I hunched against the wall and waited, hands deep in my pockets. Finally, Loki stepped back into the hallway and looked back over his shoulder. "And for gods sake, make sure that kid wears something decent for a change. His wardrobe is a tattered pile of scraps, barely fit for mopping the floors of a slaughterhouse."

"Yes, and perhaps while I'm at it I will solve the world's hunger crisis," Niko said wryly, leaning in the doorframe, "Worry less about his attire at this event and more about who he will permanently maim. Your priorities are skewed."

Loki continued down the steps and waved a dismissive hand. "I'm eighty percent sure he will not cause a cataclysmic incident."

I slipped deeper into the shadow and watched as Niko shut the door. The god and I continued down the stairwell in silence.

"I agree that the past eight years have made an impressive difference in your brother," Loki said when we opened the main door and stepped outside. He looked me over with a smirk, "Alas, you remain an obstinate asshole."

"Yeah, well. Everyone can't win the personality jackpot," I said. The smell of chili cheese dogs wafted from a nearby street cart, and I pulled the collar of my borrowed suit up so that I could smell blood and sweat instead.

Loki steered us into yet another deserted alley and leaned nonchalantly against the brick wall. "What exactly did we just accomplish with all these meetings and phone calls?" he asked, openly amused, "Beside setting ourselves up on a disastrous blind date?"

I snorted and covered my face with my hands. "Oh hell, you're right," I said, and smiled at the absurdity of it all, "No, that's it, really. That's all we accomplished. A goddamn blind date. I suppose we could start a matchmaking service when this is all over."

"The Puck would be delighted, I'm sure," Loki said, rolling his eyes.

Delighted was one word for it. There were other far more colorful phrases I could have used to describe that situation. "Let's just go," I said, shaking my head. I sighed and held up my Kyntalash next to his, "Goddamn matching bracelet powers...activate."

"You're ridiculous," Loki said, and we made the final time jump to the day my whole world exploded.

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