"Fine, yes!" JB blurted, and Sam let her head flop forward with relief. Had the rest of her body not been frozen, she likely would have collapsed.

The next few moments were a blur. She hardly registered what the other two were saying, but soon Virginia had dug into the stuffer-sack and pulled out a syringe, which she jabbed into her own forearm at JB's instructions. In the back of her mind, Sam knew this would have its own repercussions, but right now she was too relieved and too sleep-deprived to care. Better to deal with the end of the world later than be stuck in a time hollow forever.

"You need to unfreeze us so we can change into daytime clothing," said JB. "We'll stick out in our ballroom clothes and we can't attract unnecessary attention." Sam was proud of him for thinking of that when it hadn't even crossed her mind. The all-nighter she'd pulled before the ball was clearly catching up with her.

"If I free you, you will try to stop me," said Virginia.

"There's no point," JB said bitterly. "You already got your cure and it's not like I'm going to leave you here with Sam now that I know I can't trust you. I have no choice but to bring you along."

"You can't trust me?" Virginia scoffed. "How can I trust you?"

"You insisted on coming with me, didn't you? You want to walk around publicly in your nightgown?"

Virginia pursed her lips. "Of course not."

"Then you need to unfreeze us."

"Tell me how to summon clothes from the bag."

"We need to change clothes too," said Sam. "I doubt you want to take off our clothes and do it for us."

Virginia's face turned as pink as the rosette's on Sam's dress and she quickly shook her head. "Dear me, no!"

So it was settled. JB and Sam kept a safe distance from Virginia at her request and they all took turns changing into day clothes. Virginia was only an inch or two taller than Sam and they had similar figures, so Virginia easily fit into the outfit Sam had worn on the boat, and Sam wore the lilac dress and bonnet from her first day in 1849.

They whizzed through outer time once again, and all Sam wanted to do was sleep. JB had been yelling instructions at Virginia, but as they neared the distant lights that signaled their arrival, Sam closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. Just two seconds of rest…

JB shook her elbow. "Sam, don't fall asleep. I need you."

I need you. She opened her eyes just as their feet splashed onto wet cobblestone. She squinted at him through the streaking rain. "You need me?"

JB let go of her arm and dusted himself off. "You're the Poe expert, right?"

Oh. Of course. "Right," she said.

Virginia rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times. JB took advantage of the opportunity and snatched both the pocket watch and the mystery elucidator out of her hands.

"No!" she protested, but JB tightened his grip on them and stared her dead in the eyes. She whimpered.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Poe," he said. "You got what you wanted and I can't undo it with these. Now, stay close and keep an eye out for—"

"Eddie!" Virginia dove past JB and onto the sidewalk behind him, all thoughts of the elucidators apparently forgotten.

JB whipped around and Sam shielded her eyes from the rain to get a better look. Though it was daytime, the sky was dark with angry clouds and chimney smoke. Beneath a lamppost, Virginia knelt on the ground, shaking what looked like a pile of clothes. Except when Sam and JB caught up with her, it was clear that it wasn't just clothes on the ground. A pale-faced man with dark hair, sunken eyes, and a mustache gazed up at Virginia with a weak smile and said, "Sissy, my dear. Thank God you are well."

"Eddie," Virginia cried, "what's happened? Why do you lie here in the rain? Whose clothes are you wearing?" She tugged on the sleeve of a worn gabardine coat that was buttoned around him much too tightly. A straw hat lay on the ground beside him. The clothing looked so out of character, it might have been comical under different circumstances.

Snippets of text from history books flashed in Sam's mind. Found outside a tavern in Baltimore, delirious, in someone else's clothes. At least he didn't sound delirious at the moment. Maybe they had time to turn things around.

Poe seemed to attempt a laugh. "Ugly, no? The man said my own coat and hat were too recognizable."

"What man?" JB said, though from the look on his face, Sam was sure he already knew.

"The same man I met after the ball," said Poe.

"The hooded man," Sam whispered.

"Yes," said Poe. "He has done me such a kindness."

Sam glanced at JB, but he just shook his head.

Virginia took Poe's hand and brushed some stray hair out of his face. "What kindness, Eddie?"

"He told me how to save you."

"We already saved her!" said JB. "Now it's time we need to save, if that's even possible anymore."

Poe closed his eyes and smiled. "Time is saved too." He dug into his coat pocket and pulled out an empty glass vial, which he held out for them to see.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

Poe made what looked like an attempt at a shrug. "I'm not entirely certain. All the man told me is that if I drank this potion right here, on this day, he would give me what I need to save Virginia without disrupting history. I would die, but Virginia would live."

"And you believed him?" JB exploded. "Give me that." He snatched the empty vial from Poe and waved it in front of his elucidator. "Come on, come on, scan!" After a pause, the elucidator beeped and JB flinched.

"What does it say?" said Sam

JB anxiously ran his fingers through his hair and murmured, "Poe's right. That vial contained Liquid Lunacy, a deadly poison from my time." He paused and looked at Sam with concern in his eyes. "Come to think of it, it's probably what was put into your wine in 1817, Sam."

Sam shuddered.

"Then we must heal Eddie immediately," Virginia said with quivering lips.

"We can't," said JB quietly. "I don't know how the hooded man got ahold of this stuff, but it's irreversible if you drink this much of it."

"Can you not save him?" Virginia pleaded. "Surely there is something you can do."

JB shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Poe. There is no cure for this, not with the amount he's ingested."

Poe seemed to remember something and pulled another vial out of his pocket. "This one is for you, Sissy," he said. Virginia recoiled, but Poe brushed her cheek and said, "No, this one is different. It will only put you in a deathlike state for a few hours to fool Muddy and everyone else. Once you are sealed in a coffin, our friends here will set you free when no one is looking. This is what the man gave me in exchange for my life."

JB grabbed and scanned the second vial to confirm and his eyes grew even wider. "Where is this person getting these rare drugs? Liquid Lunacy and now a vial of Juliet's Sleep? The agency can't even access this stuff. "

"And why would the hooded man do this?" said Sam. "What does he have to gain?"

"Nothing," murmured Poe. "I asked him the same question, and his response was so strange…"

JB looked back down at Poe, who appeared even weaker now than when they'd arrived. "What did the man tell you?"

Poe closed his eyes and furrowed his brow, as if the memory was fading. Finally, he breathed and said, "He told me that chaos was an art and that he had mastered it. He kept repeating, 'This makes for a better story.' He talked like a playwright and director and producer all in one, orchestrating a saga of chaos. He told me history would contemplate my mysterious death for centuries now and immortalize my work, when otherwise I would be forgotten."

Sam's knees threatened to buckle. She felt nauseous. The hooded man had been ten steps ahead of them the entire time and now there was nothing they could do but play their part in the plan, lest the universe implode.

JB was pacing now, mumbling, "And here I thought Second Chance was the biggest threat to time I would ever encounter…"

A horrible wail cut through the rain, all anguish and rage. Sam realized it was Virginia.

"Damn you, Edgar!" Virginia wept. "Just minutes ago in the time hollow you said losing me was a living hell, yet you'll make me suffer a life without you? How could you do this to me, Edgar? How, how, how…" She buried her face in his chest as her voice trailed off into sobs.

Sam felt on the verge of tears herself and it took her a moment to croak, "You're sure there's nothing that can fix this, JB?"

JB only shook his head and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "All we can do now is wait for the poison to spread to his brain. He won't be lucid for much longer."

"What about Virginia?"

"There's no way Cira will let me take her to my time, but if we fake her death like Poe said, I can send her to the twentieth century. My former co-worker lives there with his wife and they can help her adjust."

"So can I," said Sam, "when I go back."

JB didn't answer. He seemed much too preoccupied with other thoughts. She could practically see the wheels in his head turning. She shifted her focus back to the Poes.

"You've always been stronger and more deserving than I, Sissy," Poe was saying. "You will not suffer like I have."

"Don't you dare tell me how I will suffer," she shot back. "Edgar, you are such a selfish fool." Even as she said it, she bent down and kissed him; a long, tender kiss that could only come from a place of deep love and devotion. "I will not leave you, Eddie."

"Please, Sissy, you must," he said. "I feel my mind failing me already. I cannot bear for you to see me in such a mad state."

"I have seen you in all manner of states, Edgar."

"You've only seen me drunk. This is different. Please, Sissy, I beg you. Leave before I lose myself."

"Mrs. Poe, he's right." Sam hated to be the one to pull Virginia away from her dying husband, but she knew they would not be alone much longer. Sooner or later Poe would be found and they could not leave any evidence of being here.

Poe kissed Virginia one last time and whispered, "Goodbye, Sissy. I will see you again, my love."