"Tobias, can you do me a favor?"

We haven't always gotten along — I guess I don't really make friends easily with anyone except Jake — but he was there when I went looking for him, perched in the lightning-struck tree that he's made his home. And give him credit, he didn't ask any questions when he saw me in morph gear and with red eyes. «Sure,» he said, ruffling his feathers. «What do you need?»

It's a bit of a group effort, actually. Of course I went to Cassie first. I told her that I couldn't keep quiet anymore. That I wanted to move on. That a crazy part of me still hoped somehow it'd work out. (Okay, I didn't tell her that last bit, but I still think she knew.) I didn't really need her help, but I thought it'd keep me from chickening out if someone knew when it was going down. And I like to think that a small, selfless part of me wanted her to be around in case he needed comforting afterwards, someone to tell him that it wasn't his fault, and I knew she'd be the best person for that.

It hadn't occurred to me that she'd want to make sure I had some comfort, too. But of course she'd thought of that.

"Ask Tobias to help," she said. "He can get Jake out there so you two can talk without people around." I remember thinking at the time that this wasn't really necessary. I could find another way to get ahold of him. But she'd insisted, and I don't know if she talked to him first or if he'd just figured it out (he does have hawk eyes, after all), but whatever the case was, he was there, performing his small, useless task and sticking around to make sure everything was okay in the end.

We don't always get along, but he's a good friend.

They all are.

After what feels like hours I come back to myself. I sit up and wipe my face with my sleeve. "Some brave warrior," I mutter, sniffling. "The Yeerks should see me now. They'd all run away in fear of being drowned." Climbing to my feet, I continue the monologue. "Slugs hate saltwater, right? I could end the war right now."

"Hey, Marco." Of all the people I might've expected to see, Rachel is not high on the list. But there she is, stepping gingerly through the needles and sticks in her leotard and bare feet, looking absolutely beautiful despite all odds. Part of me wishes she was the one I was hopelessly in love with; that'd at least be less complicated.

"Hi." I look her up and down, shaking my head. "Don't tell me you went to school like that."

She flips her hair over her shoulder. "Of course not. Tobias came and got me and Cassie. Just . . . you know, in case."

"She's . . . ?"

"With Jake." I flinch at the name — wonder how long that will last? — and see a rare expression of sympathy.

But neither of us are especially emotional, and definitely not with each other, so we both pretend nothing happened. "That's good," I say, then smirk. It's a small and shaky replica of my normal expression, but I can tell Rachel's relieved to see it. "So why are you all stripped down? If it's for my benefit, I'm afraid you've wasted your time. No offense."

"I thought maybe you'd like to go flying with Tobias and me." She shrugs. "We were going to go visit Ax for a bit when school ended, but today's too nice not to skip class."

It's a sweet lie, and a surprisingly tender gesture from Xena. I pull off my overclothes and bury them safely under some leaves. "Does he know anything? About . . . uh, this?"

Rachel wrinkles her nose as we begin to morph. "How bout we let Cassie explain that to him? I'm not sure how well he understands things like human emotions. Or any emotions." To her credit and my eternal gratitude, she doesn't ask whether I can handle the afternoon without breaking down. I don't know whether she has confidence in my self-control or is comfortable letting me be less than my usual cool self, but both are fine by me.

Speaking of . . . I take to the sky, enjoying the strain of flapping to get above the trees and over the parking lot, then letting the thermals buoy me up to where Tobias is still circling over the school building.

He doesn't say anything about Jake. He simply wheels around and leads us toward Ax's shelter, gliding and weaving through the pockets of air. Suddenly he breaks into a corkscrewing dive, blasting past Rachel and I. «Race you!» he calls, and even though hawks can't grin I can hear the crazy jubilation in his voice.

«We're not gonna let him win, right?» Rachel catches another thermal and shoots up into the air.

I surprise myself by laughing. «Of course not. Let's do it!»

Before she can complain that I've stolen her line, I rocket past her, shooting up towards the sun.

Shit happens. Gay guys fall in love with straight ones. Aliens invade the planet. Mothers are lost and then found and then lost again. Battles are won and kids are endangered. Life goes on.

And time?

Time turns to a new page and starts over.

Another countdown.