"Okay, what the hell are we doing here?" Julia asked, planting her hands on her hips.

I could understand why she might be confused. We were now standing in the Underneath, facing the wreckage of the Oasis.

Though it had to be said that it didn't look nearly as much like wreckage as before. Although she'd been working mostly alone, Xara had done a great deal of work on the place since I'd seen it last.

I strolled casually towards the terracotta and andesite house where I knew Xara lived. I'd come down here several times since the defeat of the Admin, supplying her with resources and building ideas. It was just her, Romeo, and a few former scavengers working to rebuild the once-great city, but they didn't seem to be daunted by the challenge.

Most of the smaller side-buildings had been repaired, and a larger building in the center was under construction. Scavengers and the giant Enderman had torn the place nearly down to its base, so it had to be rebuilt from the ground up.

"I had an idea. We know too little about Giselle- all we've really learned is that she's been around for quite a while now, and she's interfered with the timelines." I began.

"Also, she's unnecessarily mysterious and smug." Julia added bitterly

"Yeah, but that doesn't exactly give many clues as to who she really is." I replied patiently. "Anyways, it suddenly hit me: why don't we ask the man who literally built the Overworld? The Admins must have known about the timelines; if anyone can help, it's them."

Julia was nodding slowly. "Yeah…I suppose that adds up. But Romeo was also really aloof after his whole world-building thing, so…you know there's a chance he won't know anything helpful."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know. This is kind of wishful thinking, I guess."

I hesitated right in front of the door to Xara's little house. The glowstone lamp above the door had been turned off, meaning that the former Admin probably wasn't at home. "Shoot. I wonder where she is." I muttered, rapping my knuckles against the door anyways. There was no answer.

"She's probably working on repairs." Julia guessed, glancing back at the ruined city.

"Most likely. Come on, let's see if we can find her." I suggested, walking back on the carved-andesite path.

We headed towards the large center building, both of us scanning for any signs of humanity. A few passive mobs were roaming around, but I didn't see any other people.

"Xara? XAA-RA?!" Julia called suddenly, making me jump.

"Careful." I warned her. "She might be kind of hostile if she hears you, since you don't know this version of her."

Julia smacked a hand against her forehead. "Dammit, that's right! You yell, then."

"Xara!" I shouted, cupping my hands around my mouth.

"Whatchu holleran' about?" a raspy voice called down. I looked up to see a vaguely familiar person standing on top of one of the pickaxe statues on either side of the main building.

They jumped down, strolling towards me. I saw now that it was a tall, skinny woman, her face streaked with black paint and her unnaturally white hair mostly hidden by the pig hat she wore. I had never been certain if it was fake or not, and I didn't particularly want to ask.

She narrowed her red eyes at us. "Whatchu doin' back here, Jess? Dontcha gotta town to run, or somethin?"

"Hello, Porkchop." I sighed. She'd never been my favorite of the scavengers. To me, it didn't matter that they were helping Xara repair the city; I didn't trust any of them. "Yes, I do, but there's more important things I've gotta deal with right now. Where's Xara?"

She propped her fists on her hips and leaned towards me. "Important, eh? Y'know somethin' that's important ta you may not be important ta the rest'ovus. Whaddaya want from Xara? And whossat?" she asked, nodding towards Julia.

I was starting to get irritated. "Not that it's any of your business, but I need Xara's help. And Julia is with me, so leave her alone."

Porkchop grinned slyly. "Ah-ah, Jess. You don' make the rules down here, ya know. If ya want m'help, I'm gonna haveta ask for somethin' in return. T's just how it works here."

Luckily, I was saved from having to further negotiate with the disagreeable woman. "Porkchop, leave them alone. In case you've forgotten, you don't make the rules down here anymore, either."

Xara had appeared from seemingly nowhere, walking up while we were distracted. Porkchop seemed suddenly guilty. "Uhh…no offense meant, ma'am. How, uh…how didja know I was here?"

"Your voice kind of carries." Xara said, raising a brow. "Now get out of here. I'm sure you have better things to do with your life than pester Jess every time he sets foot down here."

Porkchop scrambled quickly away, and Xara smiled at me. She'd been recovering well from her stint in the Sunshine Institute. Her skin still looked grey from being out of the sunlight, but her eyes were less tired and her attitude had greatly improved. "Hello, Jess. What brings you down here?"

"Uh, I kinda need your help. And Romeo's, if he's here. There's kind of…a thing kinda came up, and I'm just…hoping you can give me some information."

Xara nodded. "Yeah, he's around. What's going…wait. Who the hell are you?" she asked, suddenly catching sight of Julia.

Julia waved, somewhat awkwardly. "Hi. I'm Julia."

Xara's deep purple eyes narrowed. "What in the Overworld are you doing in this timeline?! Don't you know how badly this can mess things up?"

Her suspicious look was suddenly replaced by one of surprise and realization. "Wait. That's what's been going on. Oh, Jess, no. Please tell me you didn't get yourself mixed up in the timelines. Please."

"Uh…sorry." I said by way of reply, not knowing what else to say.

She pressed her fingertips against her forehead. "Jess, I knew you were an adventure seeker, but this is dangerous. Do you know how badly this can mess things up? If you-"

"Yes, Xara, I know. I've already been told, multiple times. We're screwing up the universe, yada yada. I know. That's kind of why we're here." I interrupted.

"It's not actually us that's messing things up, for the record." Julia said. "There's another Prime who's trying to turn back time to fix some of her stupid mistakes- but that's not the point. We're trying to stop her, and we need your help with that."

Xara looked suspiciously between us. "Alright." she said finally. "Romeo's over on the other side of the Oasis. It'll be easier to go there to talk, since the scavengers don't seem to hang out there as much. This isn't the kind of thing they should hear, and not only just because they haven't all gained my full trust."

She turned away, and we followed her along the path to the back of the large building. A lot of gaps still existed in the walls, giving a strange look into the mostly empty interior.

I looked up at the towering mesa hills surrounding us, their bright colours dimmed by the low light of the Underneath. Life had only somewhat improved with the return of Xara. She was doing her best to fix up the Oasis and make it a place for the people of the Underneath to feel safe, but there was really only so much she could do. Although there were still only three main towns, lone scavengers were scattered throughout the entire world, and there wasn't much anyone could do for them with the Underneath still…well, underneathed.

The knowledge that I couldn't do anything to help this forsaken world always hurt bitterly, and I tried to steer my thoughts towards less depressing things.

Romeo was working on reconstructing the roof of a half-broken building that appeared to be a minecart station. He looked surprised to see us, almost as surprised as Julia was to see him.

"I honestly completely forgot that he was still alive in this timeline." she muttered to me. "I mean, I remember you saying it back in Essa's damn prison, but it totally slipped my mind. What is it about my timeline that leads to so many people being dead?"

Romeo had gotten down from the roof, and walked over to meet us as we approached. "Well…hello, Jess. What brings you here? And ah…who's your fellow Prime friend?"

"This is Julia." I said simply. "We need your help."

"You know all the weird things that have been going on recently? Well, it's because of them." Xara told him. Romeo raised his eyebrows, and Julia was quick to jump in.

"No, no, wait. We're not the ones messing stuff up. We're trying to fix the timelines."

"You're still meddling with them, though." Xara said stubbornly.

Julia hesitated. "Well…we're not meaning to…"

"What do you need our help with?" Romeo asked.

I sighed. "We're looking for information. Long story short, another Prime is messing around with the timelines. One of her associates, a woman named Giselle, appears to be suspiciously involved with this whole mess, and we need to find out more about her. Do you know anything?"

My last question didn't need to be asked. As soon as I said her name, both of the former Admins tensed up, glancing at each other with nervous eyes.

Julia gestured between the two of them. "You do know her."

"Ah…yes. Yes, we do." Romeo said slowly. "Or at least, we did."

"How? Who is she? How is she involved with the timelines?" Julia asked in a rush of words.

Another significant glance passed between Xara and Romeo. "It's kind of a long story." Xara tiredly said.

"We need to hear it. Doesn't matter if it's long." I told her staunchly.

Romeo hesitated for a moment, then said, "Alright, I suppose it probably would be good for you to learn this. But let's at least go inside."

He led us into the building, which was still in a state of near deterioration. It was empty except for a few clay blocks scattered around that had probably been from the original roof. Romeo sat down on one of these blocks, and Julia and I did the same. Xara leaned against the wall beside Romeo.

"So. Where should we start?" he asked. I wasn't sure if he was asking us or Xara, but Julia answered anyways.

"Who is Giselle?"

Xara let out a small noise that was somewhere between a cough and a laugh. "That's the longest part of the story, kid."

"Just…start at the beginning. Wherever that may be." I suggested.

Romeo nodded. "The beginning it is. Well…in the beginning of this world, the first world, there was us. The Admins. But the little-known fact- actually, so little-known that it's a secret- is that there wasn't just three Admins. There were six."

"Six?" Julia echoed. Xara nodded.

"Yes, six. The three you know, the two of us and Fred, were actually the youngest Admins. The others, two women and one other man, were all Admins before us, and chose to share their power for…reasons that aren't important now."

"Each of us had unique powers, specializing in specific things. We all could do amazing things in any field, of course, but we all had specialties." said Romeo.

"Like how yours is building and tinkering with mobs, and Xara's is engineering?" I guessed.

Romeo nodded again. "Exactly, though you only got mine half right."

"The funny thing is, you two have both come in contact with all three of these other former Admins." Xara said.

I blinked. "What?"

"We have? How?" Julia said at the same time.

"Simply through your adventures." Romeo told us. "It's incredible, really, how fate chose to pass you through the hands of every former Admin of this world."

"Don't be dramatic." Xara chastised. "I just said that as a fun little fact, not a reason to wax poetic."

Romeo ignored her. "One of these Admins was a fantastic builder. She was amazingly creative, and could form immense structures in the blink of an eye. She was wily and cautious, and hesitant to trust. Despite this, she was an excellent ruler of her city, for a while. She created an object that supplied her people with endless resources, so they could build the same way she did."

An uneasy feeling prickled at the back of my neck. Was he implying what I thought he was implying? This was way too familiar.

I didn't have too long to question it before Romeo continued. "The second was an inventor, a creator of endless devices and blocks that were nearly magical on their own. He actually helped me create the Structure Block. We were rather close friends, in the beginning, especially since he also had a fondness for mobs, though he preferred learning about them to combining them. He was a very clever engineer as well, and got along with the first Admin I mentioned."

"The third was…different. She was different right from the start." Xara said, frowning. "She didn't have the same tangible abilities as the rest of us. Her powers were vast and complicated, all relating to time and space. She could look into the future, see things in great detail that wouldn't happen for centuries and centuries. Because of this, she was always fairly aloof, and very very mysterious, and apparently that trait didn't die out with the loss of her powers."

"Wait. Wait wait wait." Julia cut in. "Are you telling me…Giselle was an Admin?"

The two looked at each other again, and both nodded. "Yes indeed." Romeo confirmed.

"Then…who were the other two?" Julia asked, wide-eyed.

"Isa and Soren." I said in a low voice. It should've been a question, but it wasn't.

She turned to stare at me, looking even more shocked than before, as Xara nodded again. "Clever. That's right: Isa was the builder; Soren was the engineer."

"But! B-but that's impossible! Isa…she couldn't have been an Admin! She wasn't Admin-ish at all! She…oh my god, are you telling me she created the Eversource?" Julia exclaimed, glancing between Romeo and Xara.

"Oh, yes, that's right. I forgot that's what she called it." Romeo said casually.

Julia looked back at me. "And how the hell did you know?!"

I shrugged. "It was just a guess. I already had this weird feeling about Soren, and when he described Isa as the 'first Admin', it just kinda…all clicked. But…what I don't understand yet is how they lost their powers. Fred was the one who discovered whatever it was that helped him create the golden gauntlet, and not until what had to be after the others were already un-Admined. So…what happened?"

"I'm getting there." Romeo assured me. "One of the most important things to remember about the Admin powers is that they are not a beneficial thing, but a corruptive one. You gain all sorts of incredible abilities, but you begin losing who you are."

"Your sympathy, your ability to effectively communicate, your positivity, your simple humanity…it all goes down the drain after an extended period of time." Xara said, shooting Romeo a significant look.

He didn't seem to notice, caught up in the explanation. "Unfortunately, it took too long for us to realize it back when it was all six of us. We were all being corrupted by the powers, but Soren, Isa, and Giselle were much farther along. While the three of us believed we were supposed to use our abilities to be the protectors and leaders of the world, the others abused them, using our precious home as a playground for over-powered chaos. We figured out that they, especially Soren and Isa, were drunk on power, but it wasn't until much later that we realized it was because of the powers."

"It's not that they were going mad over power, but that the power was actually making them mad." Julia mused, a note of fear in her voice. I was sure she was thinking of her own unnatural abilities.

"Exactly." Xara said. "But however you word it, they were losing their minds. Becoming ridiculously destructive and violent, almost more like boss monsters than people. The rest of us- Fred, Romeo, myself, and Giselle -decided we had to do something. But back then, we didn't know it was possible to remove an Admin's powers and just release them back into the world. When you really think about it, it makes sense, but we had no way to know."

"So we came up with the next best thing. Removing their powers…and putting them somewhere else." Romeo said grimly. "And if you've figured out who the other Admins were, I'm guessing you can probably piece together where their powers went."

Julia tipped her head to the side like a confused puppy, but didn't say anything. Pieces were slowly spinning into place in my head, and I slowly guessed, "You wouldn't have wanted to risk creating more Admins…so when you took their powers…you gave them to yourselves."

Xara nodded. "That we did. That's why Romeo is such a good builder, and I an engineer. We gained Isa and Soren's powers, respectively."

"At first, it all went as planned. Between the four of us, we overpowered Soren and Isa and managed to contain them long enough to transfer their powers to us." Romeo continued with the story. "Isa's went to me, Soren's went to Xara, like she just said. But then…Giselle turned on us."

Crossing her arms and assuming a bitter expression, Xara said, "She was just as far gone as the other two. We just didn't realize it. She attacked us full-out. Knocked out both Soren and Isa- who probably wouldn't have been any help anyways, might I add -threw Romeo to the side, and almost won in a flat-out power fight against Fred and me. She wanted to kill all of us, and absorb our powers; with two of us carrying twice the amount of magic, it would only make things easier. I'd just gotten Soren's powers, and I couldn't use them well enough to put up that much of a fight…but what she didn't notice was that, as we were fighting, I was slowly draining her powers and transferring them to Fred."

"By the time she figured out what was going on, I had recovered, and the three of us trapped her long enough for Xara to deplete her powers completely." said Romeo. "We knew there was no way any of them could be trusted, especially not Giselle. We wiped Isa's memory entirely, since she had previously been the most aggressive and dangerous, and magicked her entire city up above the clouds. We were planning to do something similar to Soren, but he and Giselle begged to be spared of that. They agreed that in exchange for their lives and memories, they were to vanish from our lives completely, and if they ever returned for any reason, we would kill them on sight."

"Soren, despite his madness, had also always been a coward, and he utterly vanished. I never heard of him again." Xara put in. "But Giselle…she was always a sneaky one. I never actually saw her again, but there were…events, here and there, that seemed to have her name on them. There were never enough clues to say for sure, but you never know."

Julia pressed a hand against the side of her face, looking dazed. "Wow. Just…wow. I never even…that is insane. All of this, is just insane."

Romeo let out a humorless laugh. "Trust me, we know."

I shifted my position on the terracotta block. "So then…what about the timelines? What do you know about those?"

Yet another thoughtful look passed between the two former Admins. "The truth is…not very much." Xara admitted. "With everything else, we never had much reason to be very interested in the timelines. We became aware that they existed, thanks to Giselle, and we learned a few basic things…but that's it."

"Giselle, on the other hand, was obsessed with them. It was insane. She wanted to learn everything about what they were and how they worked, and did quite a few experiments with them. Now, obviously, I wish we had realized how dangerous it was to tamper with them, but only Fred figured out the implications of what she was doing. I remember him mentioning that he did something to fix everything if it got out of control one day, but that was after Giselle had already lost her powers, so the damage had already long been done."

"Wait. Fred did something that could fix the timelines?" Julia asked hopefully.

I sighed. "How much do you wanna bet it's just the missing constant again?"

She slouched in disappointment, and Romeo gestured to me. "Yeah, that was it. But it…if I remember right, he tapped into Giselle's former powers and sent something forward in time that the Prime would connect with. I don't remember the details, or even if he told them to us, but it was something like that."

"That's more than I remember. It was a long time ago, and being trapped in a tiny, explosive cell for centuries can do things to your memory." Xara put in. Romeo at least had the grace to wince at that.

Julia and I exchanged a look. This had all been informative, but not quite as helpful as I'd been hoping. I was just about to suggest we go when Xara leaned suddenly forward, moving out of her slouched position against the wall.

"Listen. I don't know how deep you are in all of this, but let me tell you something. Giselle is dangerous. I know you're both heroes and can take care of yourselves, but I'm serious. You cannot trust her. And if you know of someone who is trusting her, then, well, it's one of two things. Either they absolutely cannot be trusted, at any costs…or they're on the brink of being betrayed."

"She's right." Romeo added. "We were too blind to realize it the first time around, but we know now. Giselle. Is. Dangerous. I'd suggest you do all you can to avoid her. You're in enough trouble as is."

Another glance passed between Julia and I, this one a slice more anxious than before. It suddenly occurred to me…what would happen if Giselle double-crossed Essa? Would she dare? Essa was a pretty deadly character herself…but with all this new information in mind, I was no longer so sure that she was the one in charge.

"Thanks for the heads-up." Julia said quietly. Judging by her stiff posture and the anxiety-tinged tone of her voice, the whole conversation wasn't sitting well with her.

I hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Do you think…with what you know about the timelines and what's been going on, do you think we have a chance of fixing everything?"

Xara's jaw tightened, and she didn't say anything. Romeo, however, waved a hand in a dismissive motion. "Of course you do. You defeated me, after all. And you two are Primum Movens- there's very little you can't do when it comes to the timelines."

This wasn't overly comforting, considering who it was coming from, but I relaxed slightly nonetheless. He was right; I'd already been through a lot in my years of hero-ing. Surely defeating Essa couldn't be harder than anything else?

I stood up. "We should probably go back to Beacontown, and fill the others in on what we found out. Again. After that, we'll find the other Primes and continue our search for the missing constant."

"Right." Julia sighed.

With Xara leading the way, we headed towards the square building that housed the portal to the Overworld.

"Good luck with the timelines." Xara told us, gesturing to the portal. "I don't want to even think about what might happen if you fail."

"So no pressure, basically." Julia grumbled.

I set my diamond sword in the item frame beside the portal, hoping it would be enough to transport us to the Order Hall. The portal swirled to life, the frame filling with mixed colours in shades of blue, pink, gold, and everything in-between, all shot through with glimmers of silver. Not wanting to waste any more time than necessary, I jumped through the portal.

I was sent spinning through every colour imaginable, feeling like I was falling through the thin web of reality. I briefly wondered if it would be possible to use this portal to travel to other timelines, but didn't have more than a few moments to really think about it before I was landing with a solid thud on the crimson-carpeted floor of the treasure hall.

I groaned, barely rolling out of the way in time to avoid being squashed by Julia as she landed as well. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, glaring around disagreeably. "As far as magic transportation goes, that is not my favorite."

I stood, then reached out a hand to help her up. "I agree. But hey, at least we're here."

A quick glance out the largest window told me that it was midday, probably only an hour or so after noon. Based on the intense quiet and the lack of reaction to our arrival, the Hall was empty, which meant Lukas and Radar were somewhere out in the chaos of Beacontown. "We should find the others; tell them what-all happened."

Julia nodded hesitantly. "About that…is it okay if I don't? I…kinda want to be alone for a little bit."

"Sure, no problem." I replied immediately. I didn't have to ask why.

"Thanks. I just need a little bit to think, and I'll be fine." She said with a tight-lipped smile.

We split ways, her going upstairs to her temporary room, and me heading out to the town. I had no idea where Radar or Lukas would be, or where to even start looking.

I tried to think of some of the things Radar might be taking care of, but I came up empty. I never seemed to have the ability to remember all the things that went on in this town.

Luckily, my search was stopped almost before it began. I'd just passed the large stained-glass amulet when I saw Nell standing outside her house, talking to Radar.

I hurried over. "Hey, Nell! Hate to be rude, but can I steal Radar for a moment?"

"Jesse, dude! Good to see ya. And it's no problem, brah. I'll seeya around, yeah?" she said, directing the last bit at Radar.

"Yeah, of course." He replied with a small smile that only partially hid his disappointment.

I gave him a mischievous side-eyed look as we walked away. I'd always suspected that he'd had a bit of a crush on Nell, even though he'd gone to great lengths to deny it.

"Did you find Ivor? What happened?" He asked.

I shook my head absent-mindedly. "I'll get to that. Where's Lukas?"

Radar adjusted his glasses. "Uh…I think he and Aiden were going over to Jack's shop, though I can't remember why. Lukas was looking for…something or other. I can't remember."

"Got other things on your mind?" I asked through an impish grin. "Like…a certain energetic surfer girl?"

He flushed pink. "No! What! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Riiiiight." I said, in the obnoxious tone of voice I'd cultivated from years of making fun of my other friends. He turned his head away, stubbornly refusing to look at me.

His silence persisted as we headed towards Bad Luck Alley, which honestly only validated my point. Jack's shop was on the far end of the street, and as we approached the vaguely ship-shaped building, the door opened and two familiar people stepped out.

I shifted into a run, calling Lukas's name. He glanced over immediately, and grinned when he saw it was me.

"There you are! I was wondering when you'd get back." Lukas said as I came to a halt in front of them. "I'm glad you found us."

"Lukas was looking for a map of someplace he wants to set a story, the nerd." Aiden told us, though the words were affectionate.

Lukas rolled his eyes. "Oh, like I'm the nerd of this relationship."

"I think you are." I put in, at the same time that Aiden said, "Sorry, dear, but you are. It's indisputable."

Lukas gently elbowed him, and Aiden leaned over to press a kiss against Lukas's forehead.

"Cut the PDA, you two. There are children here." I said, indicating Radar with a nod of my head.

Lukas laughed unashamedly. It took a moment for Radar to absorb what I'd said, sputtering angrily as it finally sank in.

"Hey! Not funny, Jess." he snapped, crossing his arms. "And for the record, I'm eighteen."

"They grow up so fast." Aiden remarked, earning a disgruntled huff from Radar.

"So, what happened?" Lukas asked me.

I sighed, reaching up to run a hand through my hair. "Hooo. A lot."

The four of us stood in the shade of Jack's shop, on the grassy area along the side of the building where we weren't too obvious to passers-by. I briefly explained what had happened since Julia and I had left that morning; how we'd found Ivor, what he'd had to say about our whole quest, and the whole thing with the Admins.

Some extra explanation was required for Aiden's benefit, since he didn't know as much about the Admins in general, but Lukas and Radar were equally in awe as I recounted the secret history of the three forgotten Admins.

At first, Lukas flat-out refused to believe that Soren was an Admin, proclaiming that I'd made the whole thing up to mess with him. Radar accepted it a bit quicker, saying that even if it was a little insane, it also made a twisted kind of sense.

Aiden was quick to voice his suspicions about Giselle and Essa's alliance. "I mean, does Essa know all this? About what Giselle tried to do to the other Admins? And if so, why is she trusting her? This whole thing just feels way too fishy to me."

"I don't know. Giselle seemed like she was part of Essa's inner circle, so how could she not know her past? But at the same time…" I mused.

Lukas was grumbling something under his breath. "What?" Radar prompted, but he shook his head.

"Lukas, what? We're brainstorming here. If you have theories, share them." I ordered.

He sighed, crossing his arms. "I'm just…this is interesting and all, but it's not getting us anywhere. We're still no closer to finding out the missing constant."

"Well, we are a little closer." Radar said. "We know that it's something that Fred sent forward in time, and something that's linked directly to the Primes."

"But that could be anything!" Lukas snapped. "Like, literally any object that any of the Primes have ever used! Like the amulet, or the sword that broke the Command Block, or even the fucking flint and steel! That doesn't help us at all!"

Aiden pointed at him, looking thoughtful. "Wait, could it be the amulet? That seems significant enough, right?" Lukas gave him a weird look, and he shrugged. "Look, I don't know. It's just an idea. I kinda got the sense that it was something that was important to the Primes' lives, not just an object they interacted with."

"Yeah, I thought that too. But it still doesn't tell us what this thing is." I said.

"Well, you tell us, Jess. What physical objects have had the most significance in your adventures?" asked Radar.

"I don't know." I said quietly. "The Command Block sword seems like a good idea, but it broke all the way back in the Old Builder's Games. The flint-and-steel would make sense, but I don't know if it fully matches up, since it was so important to the Old Builders and all. Maybe…"

It hit me like a lightning bolt. My words dropped off and I stepped backwards, feeling like I'd been physically struck. The answer pounded in my mind, horrible puzzle pieces snapping together to create a final picture I never wanted to see.

"Boss? Are you okay?" Radar asked. I hardly heard him.

"Jess? What happened?" I was dimly aware of Aiden asking. I raised a hand to my face, covering my open mouth.

"Oh god. T-The missing constant…we were right; it was Essa's all along. Oh god." I murmured.

Radar straightened up from his slouched position against the side of the building. "Wait, you figured it out? That's great!" he exclaimed. I shook my head slowly, still trying to drag myself out of my realm of shock.

"It…it is great, right? Jess?" Lukas asked.

"No. I mean, yes, it's good I know the constant, but…"

"What is it? You mentioned it was in Essa's timeline, but hers is so whacked, how did you know? What do we need to fix?" Radar rambled.

It took me several moments more before I could speak. "Reuben. The missing constant is Reuben."