The question echoed inside her head, pushing out all other thoughts. Fear gripped her in cold hands that squeezed the breath from her lungs. I can’t lose any more of my babies. I can’t survive that. Fay clung to Phaedon’s arm as lightheadedness made her knees weak until she forced herself to breathe. 

“Is time a straight line or circle? If it’s a line, then time heads off into the limitless future, without repeating. If it’s a circle, then time is doomed to repeat itself. So what is the nature of time? Is it a straight line like you hope or the circle you fear?” Someone asked her a long time ago, but she couldn’t recall who.

“I don’t know.” Fay stared at the white threads as they wove together into a tapestry and grayed out images appeared of a library. A man who looked familiar held a scroll written in a language she could almost read. But another man, one she knew too well because he was her annoying elder brother, Hithaglier, the ex-god of history, grabbed the scroll from the other ex-god’s hands. Both men disappeared, and the threads vanished too. 

What the hell was that? I can’t see the past unless I witnessed it or lived it, and I never saw my brother take a scroll from another god. Who was that other god? His face was familiar, but the war of gods and angels ended four thousand years ago, and that was the last time she saw a lot of the ex-gods. 

So what did I see? If that wasn’t a memory, then what was it? It didn’t feel like a vision of the future. Fay staggered for a few steps as she tried to regain her composure and her balance. 

“Are you okay, Mom?” Phaedon wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders. 

“Mommy needs a nap,” Phare said so matter-of-factly that he might actually be right, and he’d offered the perfect excuse for her to slip away.

Fay nodded. “You’re right, but I’ll rest in a little while. I’ll get you settled first,” Fay said and her breath misted in the air as the temperature dropped and her sons froze in place again. Red threads appeared to her right and left, and they wove images featuring Hithaglier again. What trouble did you get into this time, brother? 

Hithaglier stood on a stone platform or the foundation of a ruined building. It was hard to tell which, and he waved his arms around as he talked to a young man who looked about twenty, but if the youth was a demigod, he could be any age from twenty to two thousand. And he might be a demigod since he had Hithaglier’s features and hers too since her family of time gods had the same bone structure. 

Thankfully, Fay’s magic darkened her skin to black and turned her hair blood red, making her look formidable even at her short stature. Meanwhile, Istianna and Hithaglier’s magic lightened their skin and hair until they were as pale as snow, and they looked like animated snow drifts but not when rendered in the colors of firelight as they were now. I’m so glad my magic doesn’t bleach me. I want to be dark and mysterious. 

Phare must be right about her needing sleep because she was thinking inane things about her siblings instead of paying attention to the vision. At least this hasn’t happened yet. Fay stared into the red twining threads. 

 Who was the young man Hithaglier talked to? Hopefully not another son. His other sons are screwed up enough. He doesn’t need anymore. I should change his fate so he can’t father any more screwed up demigods with daddy issues. But she’d have to do that after she dealt with the Riders of the Apocalypse. They were a more immediate threat than her older brother, and they could cause more trouble than he could.

The red threads faded and took the vision with them, leaving Fay standing there in confusion. What did I just see? If that was a vision, it was the strangest one she’d ever had since nothing happened in it. Who was that demigod arguing with my brother? 

Istianna and Hithaglier were twins, so the youngster could be Istianna’s son. Did she have a son? Fay couldn’t recall. She hadn’t seen her elder sister in many years, not since they argued about something in a snowy forest. I know she has daughters, but I don’t know if she has a son.

“Are you okay, Mom?” Phaedon squeezed her shoulders. 

“Yeah, I’m just tired and wondering what will come of those seals breaking.” Fay rubbed her temples with the hand her baby boy wasn’t squeezing. 

Phare leaned into her leg. “You should rest, Mommy.” 

“I will.” Fay didn’t know if resting was a good idea while time was misbehaving. 

Is time unwinding? Fay couldn’t think of any other reason for it to behave like this. It can’t unwind. Sovvan stopped the last seal from breaking. And that bought them time to reverse the apocalypse and make sure a cataclysm didn’t happen. Fay stood there between one son who would grow up and shift to a dragon when he wanted, and another son who would foresee his brother’s fate. A century stood between them, but they were both her babies. 

“Is something wrong?” Phaedrina asked from somewhere ahead. 

Fay couldn’t see her daughter because Fedra and Flair both turned to look at her. Phaedrina must be ahead of them, and she must have overheard Phaedon and Phare. Fedre was a powerful fate, more so than Phaedon since he was thousands of years old. But he just looked at her with concern. If he saw the threads of time that appeared three times now, he didn’t say so. 

“Probably. I don’t think the Apocalypse is supposed to stall out like a storm front, and that might cause some unintended side effects.” That just moved, ‘finding out what the Riders of the Apocalypse could do,’ to the top of her list. Fay strode onward toward the great hall, the only room large enough for that research project. 

“Like what?” Fedre studied her, but his face gave away no hint of his thoughts. 

“I don’t know exactly, but something isn’t right. I can feel it.” Fay didn’t know yet what to do about it. But the moment she did, she’d put a stop to it. 

“You will tell us when you figure out what’s not right,” Fedre said, but it wasn’t a question. It was as close to an order as he’d ever given. Usually, he was sunny and laid back, but ever since his ill-fated trip to Hell, he took things more seriously. 

“Of course,” Fay said because she would tell him. She just might not tell him until after she fixed it. After all, she was his mother, and she’d do anything to keep him safe. 

Her answer satisfied him and his siblings too. Although Flair raised a sardonic brow before he faced forward again. But he always was the most perceptive of her children. Hopefully, he wouldn’t tell his older brother, Fedre, what he suspected.

Fay glared at his back to ensure he stayed quiet about his suspicions. Ahead, Phaedrina and Pharala peeled off when they passed the kitchen to gather some snacks. Phan went outside to check the perimeter and shed his human skin in favor of his dragon scales. He’d growl if trouble came. Faylon and Phobor now led their motley group. At least Fay thought that’s who strode through the corridor ahead of Fedre and Flair. It was hard to tell since she was the shortest person present by a large margin. 

Someone was missing. Fay felt it in her bones, so she ran through the list of her children who were visiting now. She rose onto her tiptoes. Who was missing?

“Is something wrong, Mom? You’re swaying again, and you usually don’t do that unless you wear high heels, but you’re not wearing them.” Phaedon looked down at her with worry in his glowing red eyes. 

“I’m all right. I’m just worried about all this apocalypse stuff. Don’t forget, I survived more than one already. Where’s Phanis?” Fay reached between Fedre and Flair so she could tap Phobor’s back. 

He should know where his twin sister was. The girl acted weird earlier, but at the time, Fay couldn’t delve into why. Do I have time for that now? Probably not. Will I do it anyway? You bet your backside. 

“I haven’t seen her since we went to the Gray Between. She’s probably in her room sulking because she missed the adventure of a lifetime.” Phobor glanced over his shoulder at her like that should suffice. 

“Maybe she is. Will you check on her? She might want to help.” If she was still home. Fay had a feeling her daughter wasn’t home right now. Where did she go? 

That was the question that needed an answer, especially after Pharala’s report of flying riders on strange horses and faces appearing in the sky. That would unsettle anyone, even a demigod. She shuddered to think of what that would do to a regular with no magic. It might drive them crazy or rekindle the old hatred for all things magical. 

“Do you think she’s in trouble—” Phobor let that question trail off because the answer was obvious, and worry clouded his glowing red eyes as time slowed to a crawl. Oh no, not again. How can I accomplish anything when time keeps doing weird things every few minutes? Fay could just stand there and bear witness because she was frozen too.