They took the truck through a back road into the woods behind what was left of Arcadia Bay, Prescott wedged uncomfortably in the center of the front seat, his hands tied behind his back. He had had them take a duffel bag from the trunk of his Bentley, explaining only that it contained "supplies". He was cooperating a little too well, as if he wanted to show them what he knew. It was not a comforting thought. When they reached the clearing, they found that it had been sheltered by a nearby hillside and was untouched by the storm. Max supposed this was no accident.

They sat Prescott by the fire pit, and under his direction, Chloe set everything up, got a knife and a first-aid kit from the duffel, while Max made sure he behaved. Once the fire was blazing and the right symbols had been drawn in the dirt, Prescott claiming they depended on the moon, he described the last step. "Now the seer concentrates on the fire, and lets some of their own blood into it. The talent runs in families. Are you ready to see the future, Chloe Price?"

He still doesn't get it, Max thought. He thinks we're like him.

Chloe was looking at her in alarm. "No, Prescott," Max said, "you are."

"Me?" He said, surprised. "No, I can't do that anymore. It won't work. Why would you want me to do it?"

"Just curious. Chloe, untie one of his arms." Chloe moved to comply.

Prescott was visibly terrified now. "You can't make me do it. It can't be forced!"

"Then no problem, eh Prescott?" Chloe answered. "Don't worry, I won't cut too deep. Probably."

He lurched, tried to get up and run, but Max was right on top of him, the barrel of Prescott's own gun against the back of his neck before he started moving. Chloe grabbed his arm, slashed it with the knife, and yanked it over the fire, flinging drops of blood into the flames. "Fuck, no!" he grunted, pulling his arm back, looking around wildly. His gaze crossed the fire, and stopped. Suddenly he went slack, staring into the flames, his wounded arm flopping to his side.

"Huh, real peaceful all of a sudden," said Chloe. "It gives me chills to imagine him here, watching my dad like this. Creepy bastard. So… why are we doing this?"

"William told me he was afraid of something in his own visions. I think the spirits here may have a score to settle, just as much as we do. Maybe more so."

"Damn, Max, if that is true, that is some spooky shit."

Max's voice was cold. "Not as spooky as discovering I can rewind fucking time."

Chloe reached out, ran her hand down Max's back. "Yeah. I got so wrapped up in all the crazy shit going on I lost track of how totally fucked up this entire thing is. No wonder you want your power gone."

Then they became aware of a new sound, the crunching of something heavy moving through the woods, accompanied by deep, snuffling grunts. They looked up to see a grizzly bear the size of a small car appear at the edge of the clearing. It stopped, looking from Max, to Chloe, to Prescott, and back again. It raised its head, sniffed the air.

They backed away, and Chloe raised her gun, her voice edged with panic. "Whoah, Max, that thing is huge! I don't think this is part of the regularly scheduled program!"

"I don't think that's a normal bear, Chloe. There haven't been grizzlies in Oregon for a century."

"Well what the fuck is it then?!"

The bear fixed its gaze on Prescott, started walking toward him. "Max?!" yelled Chloe, but Max just gestured for her to be still. The bear crossed the fire, stepping right over it as if it wasn't there, put its nose to Prescott's face. It sniffed, recoiled, grunting, then opened its huge jaws and roared into his face. His eyes widened and he seemed to wake up, looked up at the bear, apparently seeing it for the first time. He sprang to his feet, turned to run, and this time Max didn't try to stop him. He made it a couple of steps before the bear lunged forward, slapping him on the back with one paw, knocking him face first into the dirt. It took his ankle in its jaws, and began to drag him back across the clearing. Prescott grunted in pain, reaching toward his ankle and flailing at the bear's face, to no apparent effect. He tried jerking his leg away, but the bear just tightened its grip, causing him to emit a thin, high-pitched whine. He looked up Chloe, his face desperate. "For God's sake, shoot it!"

She stood impassively. "Sorry Prescott, I'm a nature lover. I'd never hurt an animal."

He looked over to Max, who also stood impassive, and finding no help there, went back to thrashing ineffectively at the bear's head. It had reached the edge of the clearing, and was pulling him into the woods.

Chloe looked at Max quizzically. "What now? Should we follow it?"

"We can try."

They followed the bear's path at what they imagined to be a safe distance, but the woods rapidly grew thicker, less familiar, and it got harder and harder to keep up. They spread out into the underbrush to keep a better eye on Prescott and the bear. The cedars grew dense around them, and the sounds of the forest seemed to fade away. The birdsong disappeared, the susurration of the breeze in the treetops faded away. Soon all they could hear was the bear dragging Prescott, and their own crunching footsteps. The woods became unnerving, alien.

Then, rounding a particularly large cedar trunk, Max almost walked into a doe. A familiar doe. It looked up at her, then moved to stand directly in her path. She tried to shoo it, then tried to just go around, but it moved to block her. "Chloe," she called, "I think we need to stop."

"Yeah," came the response through the trees. "I'm getting that message too."

Max heard Chloe change direction, crunch toward her. She appeared between the trees trailed by a blue butterfly, the blue butterfly. The bear receded into the forest; there was no way they'd find it, or Prescott, after this.

"Well, that's pretty fucked," Chloe said. "That bear stole our bad guy, and these two are in on it. I feel like I'm in some kinda messed up Disney movie." The doe turned to Chloe, swished its tail.

"I think we should take their advice," said Max.

"I guess we don't have a choice."

As Chloe said this, the butterfly flew over to Max, landed on top of her head. She giggled. "Aw, it tickles."

Then there was sudden darkness, and they came to in the clearing, the fire before them reduced to glowing embers. They had each sunk to their knees and dropped their guns. But there was no sign of Prescott, not even scuffs in the dirt from him being dragged. "Ugh… what the fuck?!" Chloe stood up, held her hands to her face.

"It was a vision," Max said, "this felt just like when I saw the tornado."

"Man that's trippy. What the hell happened to Prescott?"

"I… get the feeling we're not going to see him again."

"The feeling, huh? I'd rather have his head on a platter. Maybe the bear was just saving him from us."

"I don't know Chloe. It looked pretty angry to me, and our spirit animals were there too. And… there's something else." Max couldn't put her finger on it, but everything felt slightly different than it had moments before. The woods had an extra solidity which she hadn't realized was missing until it returned. She held out her right hand to rewind, expected to see the rising smoke from the fire pit reverse course and slide back down. But nothing happened. She concentrated, waited for the pain in her head from the effort. But still, nothing happened.

"Chloe… I can't rewind. My power is gone!" Max stared at her hands, then flung herself at Chloe, wrapped her arms around her in a crushing hug, buried her head in Chloe's shoulder. "It really is over… I can have a normal life again… Chloe I love you and now I can't take it back I think maybe I always did but didn't know it I'm sorry I'm such a dork and left your for five years please don't be mad oh God Chloe…" and with that she started bawling, muffled by Chloe's jacket.

Chloe just held on, rested her cheek on top of Max's head. "Wow." she said, softly. "Max. I know. I love you too, I always will. You coulda told me before, you know."

It took a moment for Max to reply. "When I could rewind… what if I told you and you made fun of me or something and I rewound and then I had this hurt and you didn't even know why, it would fuck everything up… I wanted to tell you last night…"

"Last night? At my place?"

"Yeah you were so sad about Rachel and I just wanted to say hey Chloe I love you it will be OK but I was afraid…"

"I thought you didn't remember last night?"

"I don't… wait." Max pulled back, looked up at Chloe in sudden surprise. "I do! And Wednesday night, CSI Arcadia Bay! But I still remember the other stuff too. Wowser. This is so weird, Chloe."

"That's for sure. Let's get the hell out of here, this place gives me the creeps."

"Yeah. And tomorrow, let's drive up to Seattle. There's so much I've wanted to show you for so long."

"You got it, Mad Max. Wonder if Prescott left us anything good in here, maybe a hundred grand in unmarked bills or a gold brick." She leaned over the duffel they'd brought from his car, pulled out two big, weathered notebooks, started flipping through one. "Whoah, check this out, the guy kept a log of all his evil deeds."

"Chloe, I don't want to know. I don't think you do either."

"Huh, maybe not." She closed the notebook. "What should we do with them?"

Max took the notebooks, turned, and tossed them into the embers of the fire. The dry paper blackened and ignited, soon becoming a pillar of flame. In less than a minute, there was nothing left but flakes of ash. "Let's go," said Max, taking Chloe's hand and leading her back toward the truck.

Behind them, the old elk stood in the clearing, watching them walk away, arm in arm.