"Where the heck am I supposed to take it to?!"

First Charlie, then him. One Drama Queen was enough for me, thank you.

He sighed, "Someplace far from Henry. Someplace where he'll never find it." I shook my head. Where in the world could I put this stuff? He put his hands on my shoulders and spoke just above a whisper. "There are things on that computer that people can't even begin to comprehend. Once they scratch the surface, that green stuff will become valuable. They'd use it immediately and... I don't even know what would happen, but it would be horrible. You can't trust the human race."

I looked at him like he was crazy, which he probably was. "You are the human race, idiot." He only shook his head and handed me my now-filled bag back. "Henry probably already used it, Joe," I argued.

He sighed, "Well, I can't do anything about that now."

It all seemed like a sick joke. But would Henry work with Joe? Just to mess with me? No. If Henry had water, and Joe was on fire, he'd drink it without hesitation. Might even grab some microwave popcorn and a lawn chair.

"Where do I take it?" I asked.

He thought for a second. "Charlie's bike shop," he finally said. Are you actually kidding me? I thought. "There's a blue door in there. When you open it, there should be a staircase." He began talking more quietly. "The staircase is a tool for time travel. It's called a Stereobate, according to my research. That's what's on the computer: research. About us and our family. About that staircase and who we are. Claire, there's things our parents didn't tell us.

"We have the ability to see that door. We have the ability to time travel. Going up the staircase takes you to the future. Going down leads to the past. There's a door for every year, and I've found that, when you open it, it's New Years. Every single time. I went in a few years into the future for two minutes, then left. Then, I went to the year before that: New Years. I started to walk back down, and decided to go back, just to see. It resets every time the door closes. Then, I came back to 2005. It was five minutes after I went into that staircase. Your original year never resets.

"I've developed a substance that will give somebody the ability to time travel. Some are born with it, like us. That green stuff can give someone our abilities with just one drop. If Henry consumed that, he could potentially ruin the fabric of space and time."

I didn't want to believe him, but the mention of the staircase had me suspicious. How could he have known about that? He never went into Charlie's - he didn't even own a bike.

He kept explaining, "You, Anna, and I were born with the power. We're called Travelers. Mom and Dad can do it, too. Why they never told us, I don't know. We have a gift, Claire."

Even though he knew about Charlie's door, I still thought this couldn't be true. "Are you high?" I asked. "You sound like you're high."

He shook his head. "No, I'm not. I promise."

"So you want me to take this..." I trailed off, holding up my bag.

"Down or up the staircase," he finished. "Then come back. Just put it somewhere that Henry can't get to it."

"Little problem with your plan," I said, "Henry can see the door." He grabbed the backpack from my hands and pulled the plastic bag out. Examining it carefully, he sighed. "Now what?" I asked.

He thought for a few minutes, "You still need to take it to a different year. That thing goes to the end of the world; it'd take him ages to find the exact year you put it in, especially if you don't hide it by the door."

"What's the point if he can already time travel?" I questioned.

"Maybe it wears off," he said, "and even if it doesn't, he'll still want it. I'm 95% sure he has no idea what he can do."

"He'll figure it out," I warned.

"Then get this crap away from him before he does. He doesn't need to know more than what's already at his disposal."

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

"Charlie," I called, walking into Charlie's bike shop for the third time that day.

"Claire?" he asked, walking out from the back. "What's wrong?"

"I need to use your staircase," I said.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I don't even understand how it's there."

"Because only my brother and I can see it...and Anna and our parents..."

"And Henry."

"Right..." He stood, silent for a while. I sighed, "It doesn't make sense to me either, but I have to take that stuff Henry stole down the staircase."

"Why?"

"Because it's dangerous."

"Where does that staircase lead, anyway?"

"It's a tool for time travel called a... Stereobate." He looked at me like I had four heads, pretty much like I expected him to. "My brother has done a bunch of research on it," I explained. I pulled out the laptop and found his research and showed to him.

He read it aloud, "'Travelers - people with the ability to see Stereobates and use them.

"'Stereobates - Staircases that allow a person to time travel. Each door in the staircase is a different year. It's believed that Stereobates are built into a blank, void point in time. It isn't known who first built the staircase, but they have been used for thousands of years, having first been discovered by the ancient Greeks. The first Stereobate was apparently deemed sacred to the goddess Persephone, and those who could see it were thought to be blessed. They would travel down the staircase for various reasons, believing it was a way into the palace of Hades in Erebos (the Underworld). The top step - as far into the future as you can go - is called the Stylobate - the year of the end of the universe. There are no accounts of anyone traveling that far.' So... you're a Traveler?" he said.

I nodded, "Yeah."

"And you need to use my staircase to take all this stuff to... the Underworld?" he asked.

I sighed. "Another year. To hide it from Henry."

He nodded. That had to be the weirdest thing that's ever happened to him. Well, it was pretty weird to me, too, considering I just found out I had time travel abilities. That's pretty fricken groundbreaking if you ask me.

It might not have been smart to tell Charlie in some people's eyes, but I trusted him. As long as I didn't give him the green stuff, he couldn't do anything anyway.

"I'll be back tomorrow."