After making up from their argument, Fidds' friendship with Lilith was almost back to normal. He had to get a summer job at an auto repair shop to pay for school, but he visited her shack whenever he could. They meditated together; she taught him more about the powers of the mind; he told her about the things he'd learned at college. Then it was over. The summer of 1969 seemed to go by in a flash, and suddenly Fidds was back at Backupsmore.

He learned more and more about engineering, and he also learned more about his mind. He worked ever more diligently on lucid dreaming, on using those dreams to manipulate reality. Months passed, then years. Job offers came up, but Fidds continually chose to go home for the summer, work at the auto shop, and visit Lilith.

As the years in college went by, Fidds stuck by Ford, doing projects with him and generally enjoying his company. Ford became increasingly interested in supernatural happenings, and devoted himself to searching out and analyzing claims of the paranormal. This interest aligned nicely with Fidds' knowledge of the ether, and he thought maybe he should tell Ford about the powers of the mind. But every time he thought about it, he felt so queasy he couldn't speak. When that happened, he figured it was the ether, signaling to him that it wasn't time yet. So he kept his peace.

Then suddenly it was spring of 1975, and Fidds was graduating college with a master's degree in mechanical engineering.

He wrote home, and his ma came to see him graduate. Ford came too, although he was going to attend college for another year before graduating with a Ph.D. Lilith didn't come. For one, she refused to use the mail service, so Fidds couldn't send her a letter; for two, he doubted she'd want to come somewhere so crowded.

After graduating, Fidds went home with his shiny college degree. . . and kept working at the auto shop. He tinkered with parts in his mom's garage in his spare time, though, having been infected with a new dream to make personal computers for people. In his correspondence to Ford, he constantly wrote about how great it would be, about how much these computers would help people. "Just think about it!" he wrote in the late fall. "People could keep all their records for taxes in one machine, or perform in a matter of minutes these complicated functions that would take hours by hand!"

Lilith didn't like the idea of computers, so Fidds quickly stopped talking to her about them. He'd still go visit her — as often as he could, often daily. Then, slowly, daily became every few days, then weekly. Between the auto shop and his personal computer projects, he had virtually no time for much else. It was all he could do to keep writing in his dream journal every day.

Spring of 1976 arrived, and with it, Ford's graduation. Fidds traveled back to his alma mater to support his friend. He even attended an after-party, which he rarely did. At the party, he met Ford's obnoxious twin brother, Stanley. He then did his best to avoid the man at every turn.

"Fiddleford," Ford called, just as Fidds was trying to sneak away from Stanley. "There you are! Come over here, I have to tell you about something!"

That night, Ford told Fidds about his new project. With his words tripping over themselves, he described his large award of grant money, and the small town in Oregon called Gravity Rises that had rumors of supernatural happenings. "We can go and study something no one has ever studied before!"

Fidds blinked. "We?"

Ford nodded, a huge grin on his face. "Yes. Do you want to join me? Do you want to be research partners?"

Fidds didn't know how to respond. "That — that sounds great!"

"So you'll come?"

He hesitated. "I-I'm not sure. I wanna, but. . ."

Ford clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Think about it. I'm headed out there in a couple months. I'll write you and let you know when, and you tell me if you're coming."

"O-okay."

On the bus ride back to Tennessee, Fidds mulled over this opportunity. He wanted to go — it sounded amazing — but he was afraid. Afraid of the unknown. Afraid of leaving Lilith. Afraid of getting attacked by a supernatural creature.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized what this was. This must be his destiny. Years ago, the ether moved to introduce Fidds to Stanford Pines. Now, it moved again, giving Fidds this opportunity. Fidds was to be part of the team that discovered the supernatural. Surely that's what this was!

By the time he got off his bus, he knew what he had to do.

He hurried home in the long shadows of sunset, wrote Ford a letter agreeing to go with him, and put it on his bedside. Then, in the morning, he dropped the letter off at the post office and went to Lilith's shack. She was going to be so happy for him!

"Lilith!" he called, skidding down the familiar hill to her shack. "Lilith, I have great news!"

No response.

Fidds ducked into her shack. "Lilith?"

Nothing.

She must be in town, then. Or something. Fidds went back onto the porch and sat on the ground, waiting.

Nothing.

Then, nothing.

Then — more nothing.

Hours later, Fidds' stomach grumbled. Where was she? He got to his feet, thinking of a few places she could be, and headed for the nearby cliff. Maybe she was out there meditating.

He grinned to himself. Maybe she was out there flying.

When he got to the cliff, there was no one there. Nothing but the wind and the rush of the river below. Fidds peered off the edge as much as his nausea would allow, then stepped back. Where could she be?

He went back to her shack, hoping she'd returned while he was gone. No one was there. By now, Fidds was getting increasingly worried, but he shoved it down. It's fine, he told himself. She's just taking a long time doing whatever errand she's doing in town.

There seemed to be plenty of food here, though. That was really the only reason Lilith went into town.

Fidds walked around the shack, looking for clues. The only thing that looked out of place was a piece of paper on Lilith's folding chair. He picked it up and discovered a note, written in shaky handwriting, addressed to him.

Dear Fiddleford,

I'm going to do it. I'm ready, and I can't wait no more. I'm going to jump off the cliff, and I'm going to fly. I'll probably be gone for a while, exploring and the like, but the next time I see you, I'll be free as a bird.

-Lilith

Fidds stared down at the paper. Horror and excitement warred within him. She. . . she'd done it. Had she been successful?

He ran back to the cliff and searched the trees and river below, looking for any sign of her. He saw nothing that he hadn't seen when he'd come a few minutes ago.

Lilith wasn't here.

She had flown away.

A laugh bubbled up in Fidds' throat. He laughed, he cheered, he danced atop the cliff. "You did it!" he shouted to nothing. "You did it, Lilith!"

In his exulting, he didn't consider the alternative. But he didn't need to. He knew she'd done it. He just knew it. After all these years of practice, she had finally unlocked her final power: the power to fly.

Fidds went home rejoicing that day.

For the majority of the summer, he worked at the auto shop and prepared to leave with Ford. Every day, he checked if Lilith was home yet from her maiden voyage. Every day, he found her shack empty. She must be having a great time, wherever she was.

Finally, Ford wrote him that it was time to leave.

The letter took some wind out of Fidds' sails, to be honest. He was so hoping that Lilith would come back before he had to go. But she wasn't back yet, and he had to answer Ford's summons.

He sat down that day and wrote her a letter, describing where he was and what he was doing. That way, she'd know. She'd know that her prediction had been correct, all those years ago — that Fidds' destiny really was tied with the motions of the ether. Still, he wished he could've seen her before he left. With a heavy heart, he took the letter to her shack and set it on her folding chair.

"Goodbye, Lilith," he said, standing at the top of the hill and waving down at the shack. "I'm so glad you finally got to fly."

Then he turned and headed for home. He kissed his mother on the cheek, grabbed his luggage, and got on the bus, ready for his new journey with Ford. When the research partners got to Gravity Rises, Fidds looked out on the coniferous trees and knew he was one step closer to his destiny.

He never heard from Lilith again.

But whatever adventures she was having, he knew they were likely as great as his own.