Chapter 2

He was leaning in close, his eyes full of scrutiny.

I could almost smell that familiar mint on him, the cologne Irvin always liked.

For one instant my breath caught, and a chill crawled up my spine.

This was the third time Irvin had traveled back.

We were college sweethearts, the clichéd love at first sight. He chased me for two years before we ended up together.

No sordid affairs, no clingy other woman worming her way in.

After graduation we married and became a happy little couple.

But five years ago, a car crash destroyed everything.

In that horrific wreck, Irvin's parents in the car died on the spot, and I was left paralyzed from the neck down, destined to lie in bed the rest of my life.

Irvin nearly went out of his mind, caring for me while chasing down doctor after doctor, begging them to save me.

One night, through the thin door, I heard him drop to his knees before a doctor and break into ragged sobs:

"She's only twenty-five. Why? Why wasn't it me who died…"

Later, he suddenly came to me with a strange, secretive air: "Manny, I have a way to cure you! And if it works, I might even be able to bring my parents back."

That was how I learned he'd been bound by a world-traveling system, and that completing missions earned him rewards.

His first wish was for me to be healthy again.

Two months later, sensation suddenly returned to my body, and I could actually stand and walk. Everyone called it a medical miracle.

And Irvin, who had vanished for those same two months, suddenly reappeared.

He gripped my hand tight, his face lit up: "The system was telling the truth!"

Only then did I understand that during those two missing months, he'd traveled with the system to other eras to run missions.

"Just two more, and I can bring my parents back."

Holding my hand, Irvin's eyes were bright, and I couldn't help letting the same joy rise in me.

The second time, he was gone a full year before he reappeared, and the next day his mother was in our home.

It was as though no one remembered the crash at all.

Irvin, worked up and eager, began preparing for the next journey.

Something uneasy stirred in me. Holding his hand, I asked, needing to be sure:

"There really won't be any danger?"

Irvin soothed me: "There's difficulty, of course. Nothing in this world comes free. But I believe that if I try hard enough, I can do it."

"Look, didn't I bring you and Mom back safe and sound?"

"Don't worry. No matter what, I'll finish the mission. I can't bear to lose you."

The promise sat heavy, and my unease only grew. But I knew I couldn't stop him from going to save his own father.

After that, he left, and this time three years passed.

The memories were nothing but painful. I lifted my eyes to the man in front of me and said:

"I just miss Mom and Dad a little."

If Irvin's mission had failed, then Dad wouldn't be back either.

The man across from me froze for a moment, then nodded:

"It is time to go see them."

The car rolled slowly along the road.

Standing at the door of the elder Blacks' home, I felt a flicker of nerves.

"Knock, knock, knock…"

"Coming, coming."

The door opened.