"I'm surprised you even remember your fake name." Helena sounded impressed.

"Crazy stuff happens in this book," Main said casually, pushing his name tag out of her line of sight.

They followed the guard up from the dungeons, and up a ridiculous number of stone steps. Eventually, they spiraled up to a high tower. The guard knocked on the door."Prince Humperdinck!" he called. "Baron Jenkins is here!"

Main and Helena exchanged a worried glance.

"Crud." Main scratched his neck. "In all the excitement, I kind of forgot the whole point of this was to get an audience with the prince."

*

After no response and repeated knocking, the guard had developed a pale sheen of sweat on his forehead. "I promise you, I just escorted him in here."

"I'm sure there's no secret passageways to the dungeons in there," Main said. 

 The guard blinked. "I can get the architect up from the dungeons and ask him, if you like."

Main puffed his chest out. "No! That won't be necessary. Take us to the Prince's library. We will reside there until he requires our presence."

"Didn't the Prince mention he was going riding this morning?" Helena said pointedly. "I'm sure he's just lost track of the time."

In the library, Main started searching the shelves. 

"Do I even want to know what you're looking for?" Helena sighed. 

"Blueprints to the castle, and known methods of object time-travel," he said, his voice cracking.

Helena felt his forehead. "You just said something logical, I think you're coming down with something."

He brushed her hand away, pacing the halls frantically. "If I did kill Buttercup, I have to go back in time and stop myself from doing that."

Helena gasped. "But if you kill your past self, you won't be here anymore. You'll die!"

He smiled weakly. "The best love stories end in tragedy, don't they?"