Christmas:

Quig, Grew-Ella, and Betsy left to give magpie and the other two dozen children their Christmas Boxes and stockings. They came back and opened the front door.

"Quig is my choice and I love him," Grew-Ella said to her mother.

Quig squeezed Grew-Ella's hand. "I love you too and always."

She snuggled into him, her wings expanded, and they lifted each other a foot off the ground.

His wings fluttered with hers, but not in a broken and sad flight. "Wow, this is the first time I've flown since Zoreon attacked me."

An hour later, Avery and Grew-Ella's brother, Madd-Ox, woke to a breakfast of sausage burgers.

Karen handed the adults large stockings and Christmas boxes.

Betsy chased Quig and Grew-Ella with a toy snake before opening the rest of her gifts.

*

Hours Later:

Grew-Ella, Quig, and Avery dragged the table and set mismatched porcelain dinnerware on top.

"Is your husband coming?" Avery asked Karen.

"He's been here and left."

They sat at the dining table, covered with chicken nuggets, chickpea sausages, cocoon rolls, and mounds of fresh salad.

Dot popped in a burst of light, yelling at Phyllis, who stood off to the side. "Go away!"

"You were supposed to come tomorrow. Betsy might get hurt, and if you don't stop this, you'll die," Chase said.

"Stop threatening me. I'm not signing anything, and both Betsy and Grew-Ella are coming with me." Phyllis held her laser gun to his throat and whispered. "I work for Silvan-Mack." She kicked him.

Chase whimpered like a puppy.

"That is abuse." Grew-Ella broke a plate and grabbed a shard. "Stay away from him, or I'll jab you in your little kneecaps." She made a stabbing motion.

"I'll kill you." Phyllis whipped out her massive laser gun and fired at Grew-Ella.

"You deserve a jab to the eye!" Betsy leaped from her seat, punched Phyllis in the left eye, grabbed her ears, and tugged. She yanked her hair; strands breaking off in clumps. "My fingers plan to rip your cotton candy hair out!" She pulled Phyllis's hair again.

Avery pried Betsy's fingers away.

Phyllis raised her hand to smack Betsy across her mouth, but she missed and hit Chase. "Sugar, I'm not trying to put you in a workhouse, but give you rich parents."

Quig flung himself in front of Betsy.

"I'll take her to another room." Avery left with Betsy and ran to a bedroom, but she dropped her phone near the door and recorded everyone's conversations, just in case the other devices failed.

"You didn't need deadly weapons," Chase said. "And I know you cheated on me."

"What did you say?" Phyllis asked.

"I don't know why I said that." Chase stepped back.

Phyllis dabbed her neck again with a truth potion.

Quig broke into a pretend giggle and kissed his wife.

"Why are you laughing?" Phyllis asked.

"I'm not attracted to you because you're scary, and Ida is not dead; she's a reborn elemental," Quig said.

"You should've kept that nugget of delusion to yourself." Karen stepped back.

"No, it's true," Phyllis said. "Yoleta told me. They can't lie."

Quig stammered. "Your truth potion works." He shoved his hand over his mouth.

Chase leaned in and winked at Phyllis. "I think we're both under the influence. I divorced you because of your cheating."

"It was only Zoreon and the prime minister, and they don't count because they're leaders." Phyllis's eyes sparkled. "I made this potion on purpose to force Quig to confess that he doesn't love my sister, and it won't work on me."

"You're an idiot." Quig covered his mouth with his hand.

"I'll force you into a Workhouse if you don't annul your marriage to Quig." Phyllis launched at Grew-Ella. "I found out we have the power to reinstate the NDA and the contract."

"Looks like you broke the contract," Dot said. "But only an idiot would think an airborne truth potion wouldn't harm you too? You're not that bright, or is it that you think you're a special chosen one because you were pretty?"

"I didn't! I take that...back! It's the truth potion," Phyllis said.

Dot reached for her. "Destroy your malfunctioning temporal watch, and I can work out a deal with Yoleta."

Phyllis laughed. "I can't even get it to work right yet, but nothing in the NDA actually ties back to me. Silvan-Mack used a shell company. Do you think we'd attach our name to that?" She turned to Chase. "I'm going to get my baby checked out. All this fighting can't be good for it. You can pick the brat up at the hospital when I give birth because she is going to have a wonky toe. Guess what? I'm five months pregnant, and she's yours."

"I had a dream about the baby," Chase cried out. "Phyllis, you don't understand; you'll die if you play with time."

"And while you believe it, the only person who will die is my sister." Phyllis placed her hand on her stomach. "Are you going to raise your daughter in the tent village with your new wife?"

"We rent a small apartment, so no."

"Sadly, everyone thinks you rejected me for a woman who belongs in the workhouse, but you won't stay married because I'm the one who froze your accounts and stole from you. Chase, you won't see anything from our divorce as long as you stay with her." Phyllis stormed out.

*

The Unfinished Future:

Others standing on the beach didn't notice Chase and Dot.

"This is Grew-Ella's private funeral," Chase said.

Ocean waves crashed into her boots. "Thanks for taking me here."

"I dreamed about it for two weeks, but I only got the date yesterday. It's a month after they adopted their second daughter. I know Grew-Ella will come back, but this still makes me sad." Chase kicked the wet sand. "Her kindness is more important than any power."

Dot shook her head. "No, Grew-Ella still might die within this. Every time the loop restarts, Zoreon and Silvan-Mack become stronger, and Grew-Ella's time becomes closer to being locked. If we don't end this soon, she'll die."

Chase hugged himself. "But I don't want Quig to be left alone."

They watched the broken future like a movie that was fixed but decaying with holes.

Quig collapsed on the beach and Karen held him as they both sobbed.

Sand, ivy, and wind formed into Ida's body. She turned into flesh. "Noel has ascended, but we can still save Grew-Ella."

"Frog, I'd do anything to save her." Quig's crushed wing twitched, and he collapsed. The wet sand covered him.

Future Dot held him up.

Ida spoke to Ghoul Frog. "Give Dot the other temporal watch. Phyllis doesn't deserve her watch, and the visions will go to Chase. After I come back, I can warn myself through his dreams."

"The time traveler has to be me, not Dot." Yoleta glared at Frog. "No one has a more regretful heart than I do. I believed in Phyllis's lies and Grew-Ella is dead because of me." Yoleta moaned. "Life without her is hard, and I didn't realize that I'd miss her this much."

"I'm sorry, but you're not ready." Frog examined the temporal watch, and it glimmered near Future Dot. "Time has chosen her. Dot will hand it over to her past self and disappear into the broken timeline." He slipped the band around her wrist.

"Could I save Lana at least?" Future Dot asked.

"You can only go in the past for two minutes, and will disappear because you won't exist, but no matter how many times you try to save Lana, she'll die."

"Dot is not a chosen one," Yoleta yelled.

"Time magic loves volunteers with good intentions, and as for Grew-Ella, Phyllis was already dead when she killed her sister. A ghost cannot kill a living person, but the device causes a time loop and anyone else can die," Frog said.

*

May: Quig and Grew-Ella's Kitchen, Friday Night:

Grew-Ella and Quig washed laundry and waited for their potato casserole to cook while they listened to the radio.

"Authorities located Silvan-Mack's body in the trash vat at the Workhouse Prison 34," Chase announced. "Prime Minister Yoleta claims his death was a failed escape attempt."

Grew-Ella hugged Quig. "Did they finally find my sister's body?"

He didn't say anything.

"Why did she try to break him out? Didn't she realize they'd fix the escape route through the vats?" She wrung out Betsy's dress and tossed it in the washer.

"Dot told me that..." Quig folded clean clothes on the table and placed them in the basket.

Chase spoke over the radio again. "Authorities located bone fragments belonging to my banshee of an ex-wife, supermodel, Phyllis. She was wearing a temporal watch, so she might have survived, but would be severely disfigured. That would be worse than death for the abusive, cheating, jerk."

Quig kissed Grew-Ella's forehead and turned off the radio. He walked to the counter and grasped a letter in his hands.

"I was supposed to die, right?" Grew-Ella asked. "I wouldn't invite my sister to my house, but that doesn't mean I wanted this to happen. Vengeance isn't my thing, and it's odd that she died in my place."

"You don't know that, and she made her choice." His lips trembled. "Maybe this will make you smile, or at least... I hope it will. The foster board sent us a letter with a wax seal." He handed her a letter that rested on the table.

"I'm terrified to open it." Grew-Ella tore into it and read it. "Do we finally get to officially foster Magpie?"

Quig grabbed the letter and grinned. "These aren't foster papers, but adoption papers. We go to court in a month. No capable family members were located." He kissed her. "Placement started yesterday."

The oven dinged.

"I ended up with two daughters and my dream husband in a year, and my sister found death." Grew-Ella washed her hands, located oven mitts, and pulled the dish out of the oven.

Onions covered layers of crispy potatoes and yogurt sauce.

Quig spoke. "We should probably make a care package and send it to Chase in the mail. Chase and Tiffany still can't access most of their money."

"That is a great idea, and we could make it a family project." Grew-Ella used the food printer to manufacture mushroom soup and placed it on the kitchen table.

"Girls, it's time for dinner," Quig yelled out.

Betsy dragged Magpie to the kitchen. "Can she stay a little longer? The children's home is awful."

"Your sister is home." Grew-Ella smiled.

"Move her bed inside my room. She shouldn't have to share a room with ghosts," Betsy said.

"Boo!" Magpie made ghost noises. "But I like Lana."

"Okay, that is genuinely creepy, and you are sharing a room with your sister," Quig said.

There was a knock at the door, and they opened it. Yoleta stood there, and Quig let her in.

She held a basket of gifts and gave them to the girls.

Betsy and Magpie opened them, and there were glow-in-the-dark bracelets and art kits.

"Thank you," Betsy cried out.

Magpie imitated her.

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Grew-Ella asked. "We are celebrating adopting Magpie."

"I'm the baby." Magpie hugged Betsy.

"No, I won't stay long. I'm taking my daughters out for dinner." Yoleta sighed to herself. "Sorry, won't erase what I did."

"By being forced to be an executioner?" Quig asked.

"No, for what I did to my daughters, caused by my love for toxic beauty standards, I laughed at ugly face contests when my daughters were in the room, and I realized that his how the boys in school talked to them, because of our influence," Yoleta whispered. "Most of Frog's marriages didn't work out because dictators chose when and who he was married to."

Grew-Ella hugged her. "I'm sorry."

"Even my daughters refer to Frog's third wife as Mom. Frog and I aren't going to work out. All of my marriages were destroyed because of me. I'm the problem, but I'll be okay, and I want to be a better prime minister and a mother."

*

Inside Chase's Camper: Three Months Later:

Chase dropped his daughter off at daycare. He drove a mile before Phyllis popped behind him.

"I'm here," Phyllis said.

He swerved to keep from crashing into a jeep. Chase stopped the camper in the library parking lot, and he smacked himself, but he was still awake. "How did you get inside? If you're here to take our daughter, then leave."

"Don't worry, I don't want the ugly brat. She's hideous, like Grew-Ella." Phyllis's reflection showed, but no breath appeared.

"Phyllis, you're dead or dying," Chase said.

She ignored him.

"I'm shocked that you still have all your body parts." He texted Dot before speaking. "Phyllis, whatever you're selling, count me out."

"The Kill Home is going to execute Silvan-Mack. With my sister dead, the revolution dies with her. She is the rebel queen."

"Silvan-Mack died in a failed breakout attempt. Don't you remember?" Chase asked.

Phyllis didn't answer at first. Her skin appeared translucent, but she smiled and winked at him. "With all this fighting, Junior and Madd-Ox will probably fight each other over who is king."

"They'd had two kings before, but that is not the issue," Chase said.

Dot broke through the side door of the camper with Frog.

"Who informed you where I was?" Phyllis asked.

"Actually, I texted her. She's my best friend," Chase said. "I lied; your truth serum worked. You and Silvan-Mack are morons."

"You what?" Phyllis hit him, but her hand slipped through. "I gave you my child, and you betrayed me."

"You abandoned her because she wasn't pretty enough," Chase yelled at her. "Silvan-Mack deserved to suffer. He put children in workhouses, and you deserve the same!"

Dot pulled her arm away. "We're going through the main event, and not only is my mind clearer, I recognize and remember more."

"My memories are jumbled, but I think I originally gave you the watch," Frog said.

"I remember both timelines." Chase trembled. "And I was a bad person."

"Each timeline, you become a different person," Dot said to Chase. "But you didn't start as evil."

"I sometimes remember bits and pieces of the old timeline, and I am having nightmares," Chase said.

"What do you mean?" Phyllis asked.

"You aren't supposed to win." Dot crouched by Phyllis. "You're a paradox. When you kill Grew-Ella, the timeline starts over again, but it leaves cracks for the workhouse leaders to win."

"They should win!" Phyllis screamed.

Dot glanced at her temporal watch. "Time is so close to the main event that I'm even remembering enough that I can show you what will happen, and what happened. The watch feels like you're ready to see everything."

"Can I come too? I want to know. Everything is mixed up in my head," Frog said.

"Your lies can't stop me." Phyllis kicked through her seat.

Dot grasped Dot's and Chase's hands. "Why can I only feel Dot's hand?" she asked Frog.

"Because you're not fully dead yet," Chase said.

"Grab Chase's hand," Dot said to Frog.

They linked hands and vanished into the past.