Jackie:

  “Am I not what you were expecting?” Firestorm sighed. His lustrous mane flowed like a stream of thermal energy.

  “You’re a Bennu bird,” I screamed, stating the obvious.

  How can a Bennu bird be my guide?

  “I prefer to be called a phoenix. And you, Jackie… you’re a phoenix gene carrier. It’s time to finish what we started.”

  I was speechless.

  I reached my shaky hand and touched his thick skin. It was dry and scaly, but most notably, it was hot, like he had the power of a thousand suns inside him.

  “We have to keep moving, Jackie.”

  “Wait. What’s a phoenix gene carrier? And what happened to Grace and Zayne?”

  Firestorm pulled away. “The answers you seek are this way.”

  He turned, flapped his wings, and flew through the sea of Slipstream sparks as I raced to keep up with him.

  Bolts of electricity danced and linked, shaping a pulsing corridor of light. Each spark we passed bloomed into a gateway to another time and place. There were countless probabilities to explore.

  How does Firestorm know how to navigate this place?

  “How long can I stay this time?” I asked.

  “Not long. Fire portals range in strength. Next time, crank the heat before you enter. Before I take you back to where we left off, I need to show you something else. A new portal to the future opened.”

  “Future? Like it hasn’t happened yet?”

  “Exactly. When we gain access to future probabilities, they’re not written yet, but it means they’re the most probable thing that will happen. The decision is almost made, and everything is falling into place,” Firestorm explained.

  “Can we change it?”

  “We have to change it.” Firestorm rounded a corner and flew into an open vortex.

  “Come see what Bennu Island looks like in the most probable future,” he called to me.

  I locked my gaze on the swirling gateway, willing myself to cross the threshold behind him. My heart pounded as I entered the portal.

  It sucked me in.

  This time seemed different from the last. I became one with it. The scene engulfed me more fully.

  As the future stream swallowed me, Firestorm called out, “Jump on.”

  I flew through the sky like a skipping stone.

  He tried to catch me on his back, but the thrust of my clumsy entrance threw me off balance.

  Gravity yanked me down, and I plummeted through the air in a gut-wrenching rush. My ears popped as the ground raced to meet me.

  With a powerful sweep of his wings, Firestorm reversed course and caught me before I smashed into pieces.

  I landed on his back and gripped his long neck as he flew over the burning land.

  “This is Bennu Island in the future?” I gulped, struggling to catch my breath.

  The island was unrecognizable. Its lush forests were now fields of fire.

  The only constant was the Grid.

  “She’s destroying the island,” Firestorm said. “This future will become reality if we don’t fix the timeline.”

  I held onto Firestorm for dear life despite my sweaty, slippery palms as he flew over the fiery landscape.

  “This exact image flashed in my mind as I ran from that cop on the rooftop. Have I been here before? How far into the future is this? Are Grace and Zayne still here?”

  “You ask a lot of questions.” Firestorm soared past the complex sitting on the lip of the volcano. The castle tower was complete, no longer under construction as it had been.

  Maybe because this was a future portal, I was more immersed in the stream. Rather than being a passive observer, I felt the hot air blowing on my face and inhaled the smoky, blazing fire. My fingers grazed the coarseness of Firestorm’s skin.

  Being fully inside the stream made me feel more in control, like what I did mattered to the future outcome. As Firestorm suggested, I could change it.

  But how?

  “What happened here?” I shouted to Firestorm over the wind.

  “Incoming,” Firestorm called as he took a sharp turn away from the complex.

  A gaggle of Bennu birds chased us.

  My stomach twisted in knots. “Can I get hurt in this stream?”

  “Three scavengers hot on our heels. Hold on tight.” Firestorm flapped his colossal wings.

  “What do they want with us?” I squeezed my thighs to maintain my grip on him.

  “Dinner,” Firestorm replied.

  I figured I could get hurt in the Slipstream by how hard Firestorm beat his wings to escape the ravenous creatures.

  My body dripped with sweat under my thin hospital gown. Maybe I preferred being a passive observer.

  I didn’t dare ask Firestorm any more questions as he struggled to fly faster than the hungry predators chasing us.

  One scavenger flew dangerously close, so Firestorm plunged toward the forest fire. Intense heat emanated from its embers.

  The scavenger flew above us, ready to pounce.

  The skin on my back tingled.

  Firestorm craned his long neck as he switched gears. He soared upward swiftly, knocking the scavenger out with a backward thrust of his powerful head.

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  Smack!

  The Bennu bird cried out in pain, falling into the fire below.

  The force of the blow almost knocked me off Firestorm’s back, but I maintained my grip.

  “A little warning next time,” I yelled. My hands shook as I regained my composure.

  “Stay sharp.” Firestorm worked overtime to keep the pace.

  Another scavenger gained on us and snapped at Firestorm’s tail with its razor-sharp teeth.

  I kicked my foot, but it was too far away to make an impact.

  It nipped at my trailing hospital gown.

  Firestorm soared over his rival. Banking hard, he twisted midair to confront it. His massive jaw opened, and from deep within, a blaze burst from his mouth with violent force.

  Firestorm didn’t stop spewing flames until the scavenger yelped and retreated.

  Sitting on the back of a fire-breathing phoenix, I recoiled, sweating from the heat. I didn’t know who I had partnered with, but there wasn’t time to turn back. There was one more scavenger to contend with.

  Firestorm zigzagged away from the final Bennu bird, but this one was quicker and more gruesome than the others. Saliva dripped from its leathery lips.

  The scavenger picked me off Firestorm’s back with its claws.

  I squirmed as its talons gripped my body, squeezing all the air from my lungs. I bit the flesh around its talons, blood pooling in my mouth, until it released me.

  I screamed as I plummeted away from the Grid-covered sky, but nothing came out. My breath caught in my throat, and my stomach crept up to join it.

  I plunged toward the fire-filled earth, silently screaming.

  A cryptic image flashed through my mind’s eye. In a memory from another place and time, I fell into the lower magma chamber of a volcano…

  Loud grunting snapped me back to the present.

  The last Bennu bird screeched and roared from the clouds.

  I was mere feet away from smacking earth when, next thing I knew; I landed on Firestorm’s back again. He saved me in the nick of time.

  I flipped onto my belly and clutched his neck with all my might, my breathing shallow and quick.

  “We’re safe,” he declared.

  My arms tingled with pins and needles as we soared over the field of fire.

  Firestorm was searching for something.

  A building surrounded by flames came into view.

  “Over there,” I pointed.

  Firestorm flew toward it.

  Sweat dripped from my face as we came closer to the scorched land. Fire seemed to be Firestorm’s plaything, but I’d melt as soon as we touched down.

  “Pull your legs in tighter,” Firestorm instructed me as he swooped toward the building. “Now slide your body down my torso.”

  I didn’t know what he meant, so I froze.

  We were coming in hot, and another scavenger followed, so there wasn’t time for error.

  “Slide toward my belly so I can protect you,” Firestorm screamed as he made his descent.

  I shifted my weight and gripped his protruding stomach with my arms around his neck and my legs around his middle.

  His belly heaved as he breathed. His heartbeat reverberated through his blazing hot skin.

  He used his wings to protect me from the flames as he touched the ground.

  I coughed in the smoky air.

  “Hurry, Jackie. Get inside.” Firestorm opened his wings.

  I released my grip, jumped off, and saddled the building.

  I turned, struggling to open the heavy, unhinged steel door hanging by the top bracket.

  Half-opened, I weaseled my weak body through the crack and closed the door as best as possible. My legs gave out when I got inside.

  From the safety of the building, I watched Firestorm face off with another scavenger through the large crack in the door.

  I was safe, but was Firestorm? Without him, I couldn’t navigate the Slipstream to help anyone, not even myself.

  He charged straight at the Bennu bird, unflinching. Both creatures were similar in makeup; massive bodies with epic wingspans, long drooping necks, flaky skin, sharp teeth and talons. They were evenly matched.

  I winced when Firestorm took a hit to the face. His blood glowed as it splattered onto the ground.

  He didn’t miss a beat, though. He flapped his wings to fly upward and blew a barrage of fireballs so powerful they knocked the scavenger backward.

  Firestorm jumped onto its back and unleashed a fury of fire, bites, and pecks from his beak.

  The scavenger’s battle cry was way more intense than the general calls I heard in the previous stream. These screams were full of intense pain.

  I hugged my knees to my chest. If Firestorm wanted to, he could rip me in half.

  He delivered the final blow with his flamethrower and pushed the scavenger into the nearby flames.

  It shrieked as the fire consumed it.

  Firestorm moved to the door I hid behind and banged on it.

  “Jackie, let me in.”

  Do I want him inside? I backed away, shaking my head.

  He kicked the broken door open with ease and contracted his large body to fit through the door.

  I halfheartedly closed it behind him.

  “We don’t have much time. The scavenger will rebirth.”

  “Those things can rebirth?”

  “That’s what phoenixes do,” Firestorm replied matter-of-factly. “Do you recognize this place?”

  I looked around the building. It was the warehouse where Grace had found Zayne in the cage. It was in complete disrepair, covered with layers of filth and ash.

  The eerie space gave me chills.

  “It reeks of rotten flesh.” I covered my nose.

  “The path to immortality is lined with death,” Firestorm said.

  Rather than one cage where Zayne once lived, there were rows of cages. Some housed deformed skeletons and rotting carcasses.

  Bits of broken drones littered the floor.

  The shelves still contained torture devices of every kind, but there were also three-ring binders.

  I grabbed one. It was branded the Life Rite logo I couldn’t escape.

  “What does this mean?” I asked.

  “We have to stop Life Rite. They’re going to burn Bennu Island to the ground. They’ve done enough to hurt my people, but this will be the end of them. You’ll help me, right?”

  “What do I have to do?” I asked. “How am I supposed to change anything? They’ve got me right where they want me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The fire portal I used to get here was in my Life Rite luxury apartment. I have to stay for two weeks while I recover from the PX virus. Who am I kidding? They’ll never release me, will they?”

  “We need to get you out of there.”

  “I can’t leave. Life Rite’s taking care of Baxter.”

  “Don’t believe anything they tell you.”

  I bit my lip. I should have asked for proof to ensure Baxter’s safety.

  “Have they taken any blood from you, Jackie?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Don’t give them any more,” he shouted.

  “Like I have a choice, Firestorm.”

  “You’re not safe with them.”

  “What can I do? I’m their prisoner.”

  My mind reeled. What did they want with my blood, and why was Firestorm so adamant not to give it to them? Sure, I could use the Slipstream to escape on some level, but my physical body was still in that apartment.

  My face contorted as I sniffled.

  “You have more power than you know,” Firestorm told me.

  He could probably tell I didn’t believe him. I felt like a useless Duster.

  “Let’s go back to the previous stream,” he whispered. “You need to see where you fit into everything, who we’re up against, and why.”

  “I’m curious to know what happens to Zayne and Grace, but I’ve got bigger problems. I need to check on Baxter. Plus, I’ve got to protect myself. You said it. I’m not safe with Life Rite.”

  “I’ll teach you how to bring your physical body into the Slipstream with you,” he promised, “but first you need to see the rest. Otherwise, you won’t understand why I need you to help me save Grace.”

  “Save Grace?” I asked. “Isn’t the goal to stop Life Rite? Why does Grace need saving?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Your vague answers aren’t enough anymore. I’m going back for my Pops.”

  “Jackie, Grace is your mother,” Firestorm shouted.

  “What? No, that can’t be.” My legs faltered, and I crashed into a shelf. My hand scraped against a torture device with spikes, drawing blood.

  “I told you, your mother needs our help. Grace is your mother, and we need to save her. Will you help me?”