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He gazes at the crystal ball in awe "This is e Foreseers refer to as aball They’re very rare" He turns over the crystal in his hand "In fact, they’re pretty much nonexistent" He bites his lip as he sets the ball down on his lap "They hold a map of soh, so balls are used to keep a secret hidden in the midst of thousands of theirgaze lance at Alex, wondering if I should divulge that inforto keep it fro to want to kno to use it, and that o inside it"

"Inside it?" I ask, du I want to do is go wandering around in my father’s memories with the perverted faerie But I don’t really have a choice "It’s ht you told me you didn’t knoho your father is?" Nicholas questions

"I just recently discovered who he was," I explain with an evasive shrug "A lot of shit’s happened since the last time we talked, well at least in this version of our lives"

"Yes, it has," Nicholas agrees, glancing down at thehis attention to me "How did you find out who your father was? And how did you get a hold of his

He rests his arms behind his head and puts his bare feet up on the table "You ain I’ ability" He winks at me "And beauty"

"Yeah, and without your help I rin creeps across his face "Since I gave you the Ira"

"After you kidnapped ive yourself credit where credit isn’t earned All you do is trick people and s all messy and overly complicated"

He bites at his botto awfully wound up right now I like it"

"Fuck you"

"That’s what I’le hi her aret to you," she says "He likes it et his kicks fro me off, so I sit back down and try to relax "What’s the purpose of theball?" I ask as calmly as I can

Nicholas rolls his eyes "I already told you it’s to keep track of the things someone has done in their lifetio inside it, we should be able to follow a map of his life"

Alex’s forehead creases "Why would your dad give this to you?" he asks ht you said your ave it to you" Nicholas slants forith a look of intrigue on his face "Did you just get caught in a lie?" he askswith him It’s not like him to be so careless "My dad said it would tell me how to save the world from Stephan, or at least fix the world’s future… And if it holds a map of his life, then maybe I can see what vision he erased and recreated to make it so Stephan could end the world"

Nicholas claps his hands "Bravo You figured that one out all on your own"

"You’re such and asshole," I snap "You could have just told s I choose not to share with you," he replies "It’s what makes life fun"

"But you have to tell the truth--yourong

"They’re called loopholes, Gemma," Nicholas says with a satisfied look "You have to ask me the question in order for ive you all my secrets"

"Okay, so do you kno to fix all of this then?" I ask "Do you knohat I need to do to save the world--to put everything back to the way it was likelazily back in the chair "I do Would you likefaeries "Yes, Nicholas’ I force tolerance as Alex gives me an I told you so look, like I should now understand why he gets so aggravated with hi you know aboutballs and Stephan’s evil plan to end the world"

Aislin’s phone starts ringing from inside her pocket She takes it out and when she looks at the screen, she ets to her feet and heads out of the room as she answers it

I redirect "

He does so my command "What would you like to know, princess?"

I press back ravation "How to fix the vision back to what it was"

Nicholas scoops the ets up, and wanders around the coffee table toward et to his feet but I shakeabout visions," Nicholas plops down on the sofa next to me and rotates the crystal ball in his hand, "is that everything is connected to each other"

"I’m not sure what you mean or how that’ll help me fix the vision" I scoot away fro in the light "In the Foreseer world, every vision is connected so say you o down to the local talent show, try out, win, and go on becohtly around the crystal ball "Each one of those events that took place in your life to get you to the grand finale would be seen as their own vision The decision, the trying out, the winning--all of the famous They’re all connected to one another--each one had to happen in order for the other one to happen"

"So if I never er," I say "Then none of the rest would have happened--I would have never tried out or went on to "

"Exactly," Nicholas says with a snap of his finger "And if a Foreseer wants to change the path of your life, he could just alter the first event and it could change everything from that point on So say he put the idea in your head to become a ballerina But on your way to tryouts, you left a et in a car accident and die"