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Either way, her terminable merriment hid the soul of a cold-blooded assassin and a stratospherically high IQ. Missy sat on her cot, her cherubic face as wholesome as apple pie and her shiny black curls resembling Snow White’s.

It was like looking at King Kong chained-up on stage. You just knew there would be hell to pay when the restraints were gone and the monster was loose.

It was a miracle Daphne had trapped Missy in the cell without bloodshed. The element of surprise had worked in her favor, but now that was gone. Once she was free, Missy’s vengeance would be the stuff of Fire House lore. And Fire House lore usually consisted of someone burning alive from the inside out.

Missy smiled prettily at Daphne’s wary expression. “Would you be kind enough to explain exactly what’s going on here?” She asked, and her friendly tone sent chills down Daphne’s spine.

“Umm…” She hesitated, wondering where to start. “Well, I’m from the future.”

“Oh, how nice.” Missy nodded as if Daphne had announced she was from Vancouver.

“No, it’s not nice actually. The future is a complete shit-show, so I’ve come back to fix it.” Raiden gave a snort at that pronouncement, which Daphne ignored. The man was impossible to reason with, so it was easier to just pretend she couldn’t hear his naysaying. “I’m a Time Phase and I’m pretty powerful, so I have a plan to save all of us.”

“We know each other in the future, then?” Missy inquired, blue eyes dancing with madness and murder plots.

“We did… until you died.”

Zakkery cringed.

“I die?” Missy made a thoughtful face. “Well, that’s quite sad. I’d planned to live forever. No wonder you’ve come back to change things.”

“Yes, I’m working to fix the past-future.” Daphne hoped that her good intentions would be enough to quell some of Missy’s bloodlust. “Zakk’s helping me with the day-to-day stuff.” She jerked a thumb at Zakkery. “He had no idea he was your Match. I just promised that I would help him find you… which I have.”

“Then you locked her up.” Zakkery seethed. His smoke-colored gaze flicked to Missy, like he still couldn’t believe she was sitting right in front of him.

Missy gave him a perky wave, which may or may not have been a taunt.

Zakkery flinched again and looked back at Daphne. “This is a disaster.” He intoned. Obviously, he was unsure what to say to Missy, so he focused on Daphne instead. “We’ve kidnapped my Match. How am I supposed to come back from that, huh? She’s going to think I’m a fucking bad guy!”

“You are a fucking bad guy.” Daphne scoffed.

He winced again.

“It’s not an insult, cat-hole. So am I! Neither of us are heroes in this story, but we’re the ones who’ll get shit done. Accept it and you’ll be a lot happier.”

“The Fire House are always the heroes.” Missy put in, folding her manicured hands in her lap. Her fingernails were all painted baby-unicorn pink. That was eerie as hell, considering how many lives those graceful palms had snuffed out. “And, of course, Fire Phases write our own stories. The endings are so much happier that way.” She gave a meaningful pause. “Except for our enemies.”

Zakkery closed his eyes in pain. “Gaia.” He whispered. “I am a fucking bad guy.”

“I know. The cursing alone should have clued you in.”

He rubbed his forehead like he wished he could drill through his skull. “This is the worst thing I’ve ever done.”

“We’re being bad guys for good reasons.” Daphne insisted, afraid he would back out of the deal for Missy’s sake. Phases would do anything for their Matches. She knew that better than anyone. “If we stop now she’ll die, Zakk. We’re saving her life. Both of their lives.” She gestured towards Raiden.

Raiden looked singularly unimpressed.

Her idiot Match and Missy were watching the argument like spectators at a tennis tournament. Their gazes went back and forth between Daphne and Zakkery as they fought, filing away every word. It set a bad precedent to bicker in front of their hostages.

Daphne scowled at them. “We should do this later.” She told Zakk.

“No, we’ll do it now.” Zakkery suspected how much of this plan was completely unplanned, and he was about two seconds away from full mutiny.

Daphne and Zakk were like family. They’d been working together for years. But if Missy even asked to go free, he was going to switch sides and then the whole world would be screwed. Daphne needed to keep him on Team Fucking Bad Guys.

The universe depended on it.

She checked the clock. “Alright. We’ll do it now. Hang on.” She jumped into the future.