Angela leaned closer to peer at the screen. It looked like it was displaying a map of the world, or at least part of the world—Europe and part of Asia? At the top of the screen was a time stamp: 1918-07-17. 2:56:53. Glowing on the map were two red dots, one in Switzerland and one in Russia. The Switzerland dot was labeled EDUARD "TETE" EINSTEIN. The Russia dot was labeled EDUARD "TETE" EINSTEIN/ALONZO ALFRED ALYSSIUS "JB" T'KAH.

"See?" said JB. "I was in that cellar, rescuing Jonah and Katherine, at the same time as the eight-year-old version of me as Tete Einstein was in Switzerland living his life. That's not supposed to be able to happen! Something like this has only happened once before, and that was when—" he broke off, too horrified to continue.

Angela remembered being told about the other instance in which someone had been duplicated in time. It had been Dalton Sullivan, hadn't it? Second had placed him in the Native American village in 1605, even though he'd already lived through 1605 as John Hudson in England? And that had been possible because…

"Time was coming apart," Kylin finished out loud.

The three of them stared at each other, letting Kylin's statement sink in. Does this mean time is coming apart now? Angela wondered.

She realized that it wasn't "right now" they were talking about; it was 1918. And hadn't Kylin said that she and the other time agents had already lived through two weeks of life in their time since JB had rescued the kids from 1918?

Didn't that have to mean that nothing bad had resulted from JB being duplicated in time?

"Tida said that Gary and Hodge's actions created some Damaged Time, and that's why you only had thirty seconds to get in and out," Angela remembered. "Could that have been why you were able to be duplicated? The Damaged Time?"

"Maybe," said JB. "But last time, in 1605, it wasn't just the Damaged Time. It was all that other stuff Second did too, with the time smack and altering original time and then splitting time into two separate dimensions… we still don't understand exactly how all that stuff fit together and which events were the ones that made other events possible. All I can say is, if time was already messed up enough to allow two versions of me to be in the world at the same time, then that on top of me making it so there were two versions of me at the same time, and all the disruptions of Katherine and me going in and out, and pulling Leonid and the three youngest Romanovs out of their time period permanently… there's no telling what all that ended up doing to time. What it might still be doing."

"I'm not seeing anything," Kylin spoke up, poring over her Elucidator screen. "But—the whole next few years are kind of hazy, just like that span from 1600 to 1611 was. Actually, it looks like it's hazy all the way up through Angela's native time period."

JB stared at Kylin, then consulted his own Elucidator. His head jerked up and he directed his gaze toward Angela. "I'm sorry, Angela, I know I said you could visit the kids, but I don't think that's going to work out now. We need to get you back to the twenty-first century as quickly as possible."

"What? Why?"

"Because the entire twentieth century is in flux now, and the twenty-first century was already in flux, and having anyone missing from their native time creates small disturbances that contribute to the grander scope of things. And of course there are already a lot of ins and outs happening in your time period as we travel there to get each of the kids, and as we pull them out to send them back in time, and as we return them to the twenty-first century afterwards. I know you're just one person, but even one person can be the tipping point during a crisis like this."

JB started typing commands into his Elucidator. Everything was suddenly happening so fast. If JB sent Angela home right now, she'd be back in the twenty-first century without an Elucidator. Which would be bad ordinarily, but completely unacceptable today, considering tomorrow was November 21st.

"Wait!" Angela exclaimed.

JB looked up. "What?"

"Can I—" Angela hesitated before finishing her request. The note had explicitly said to not let JB know she had an Elucidator with her on the morning of the 21st. As of right now, since the Elucidator Gavin had stolen was probably in time agency custody, JB would meet up with her on the 21st thinking she didn't have an Elucidator at all.

And that was how it was supposed to go.

"Can I see Hadley before I leave?" she asked instead.

JB opened his mouth, then glanced over at Kylin, who had moved over to the wall that had all the charts and graphs. His expression softened slightly and he nodded. "His office is next door," he told Angela. "To the left. Say your goodbyes and then have him send you back to the twenty-first century to pick up Maria and Leonid."

Angela nodded. "I'll see you later," she said to JB and Kylin, and hurried to the door. "Open the door?" she tried, and the door opened for her.

She turned left and knocked on the door next to JB's. Nothing happened. "Hadley?" she said, remembering how Kylin had spoken to JB's door. "Um, it's Angela. Can I come in?"

The door opened into a room much like JB's office, but with different furniture and décor. Hadley was just getting up from his desk, and his worried frown turned into a full-faced smile when he saw Angela. "Angela! It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," Angela replied, and for a moment she forgot why she was there. She would be perfectly happy to just stand there and look at Hadley for a few minutes, or hours, or possibly days.

But she didn't have that luxury. "Close the door," she said, and the door closed behind her.

Hadley laughed. "I see you've already got the hang of this time period's technology."

Angela laughed with him, but quickly sobered up. "Hadley, JB said I have to get back to the twenty-first century as soon as possible, but I needed to ask you a favor first. I know it's my fault Gavin was able to take the last Elucidator you gave me—"

"It wasn't your fault," Hadley disagreed. "You were just trying to do your job. How were you to know Gavin was working for Gary and Hodge?"

Angela shrugged. "I still feel bad about it. It was my Elucidator that ended up freeing Gary and Hodge and putting all those kids in danger." She took a deep breath. "Anyhow, I was wondering if it would be possible for you to get me a replacement Elucidator. A—another replacement," she amended, remembering that the one Gavin had taken had been her second.

All the laughter went out from Hadley's face. "Angela… I wish I could. I think it's important for you to have one. But after what happened with Gavin, we received strict orders from Central Office that we are not, under any circumstances, allowed to let any Elucidator be used by anyone who's not a certified time agent. We've even all been mandated to change our passcodes and upgrade our security settings. It's not your fault," he added quickly. "It's just an extra precaution we're taking because of Gary and Hodge."

Angela could see why the time agency would make that argument. Angela's possession of an Elucidator had been the catalyst not only for everything that had just happened in 1918, but also for Jonah and Katherine going back into 1903 and being caught by Mileva Einstein. Although, she couldn't help thinking, there might not even be time anymore if that particular time-travel trip hadn't happened.

But it didn't matter what the new rules or precautions were. Angela having an Elucidator tomorrow morning may turn out to be just as important as it had been for Mileva to learn about time travel.

Angela felt her pockets and realized she didn't have her wallet with her. "I have to show you something," she told Hadley. "It's at my house. It's really important. Trust me."

Hadley locked eyes with her, and she knew he trusted her. "All right," he said. "I'll come to your house and see whatever it is you want to show me. But—" He checked his Elucidator. "I don't think we'll have time to do that just yet. You're supposed to be on Jonah and Chip's street by 5:22pm, and you closed the door of the time cave at 5:14pm. Eight minutes is just enough time for you to drive over from the parking garage on Main Street where we've placed your car, but you won't have time to do anything else until after you've picked up Maria and Leonid."

That was a good point. "So… what, you'll come over later? After I've picked them up and brought them home?"

"I'll give you all a couple hours to get to know each other, and for them to get situated, as long as whatever you want to show me isn't too urgent," Hadley decided. "Is it?"

"It's very urgent that you see it tonight," Angela told him. "The actual time doesn't matter, but it has to still be November 20th, 2012. And… you probably shouldn't tell anyone else at the time agency about this."

Hadley looked worried, but he nodded. "How about nine o'clock?"

"Nine o'clock. You can just meet me in the kitchen? I'll make sure I shut the shades this time."

Hadley agreed, and Angela silently prayed that nothing would go wrong in the three and a half hours in which she would be without an Elucidator. What if another emergency came up and Hadley wasn't able to come? What if all the time disturbances JB had been talking about made it so the next twelve or twenty-four hours were Damaged Time? What if November 21 had been a mistake and the person who'd written the note had actually meant to write November 20?

Hadley was still maintaining eye contact with her, and Angela found that if she focused on the depth of his gaze, she could calm down enough to breathe. Hadley believed that this would all work out. Sure, he didn't yet know about the note, but he was an experienced time agent who had a pretty good idea of the way time disturbances and Damaged Time worked. And he trusted her.

She would have to trust him too.