After Hugo changed Liam's IV, he came back out and started explaining his theory.

"He hadn't planned on me being alive," Hugo began. "He had thought I died in a car crash when I was nine, which I had faked, so that he would never go looking for me. But he found me when I was in his office. He had come back to collect a few things he needed when you all were in Rome, and he saw me. I tried to hide, but he is almost as smart as I am. He noticed straight away that I was his son because I didn't have my morph suit on. He asked me to join him and help with his plans in getting back at all of you. However, after I explained that I had gone through a lot of trouble to let him think that I didn't even exist. I—Well, that's when he began fighting me." He lifted up his shirt and I saw an almost healed scab, about three inches long.

"He had stabbed me, and left me to die, but I was able to come back to this time to stitch myself up before I lost too much blood." All our mouths had dropped once again, and I stared at Hugo in sorrowfulness.

Hugo kept on with his story. "I tried to figure out a way to help you all, but for the first time in my life, I was stumped. I decided to sleep on it, knowing that somehow God would show me a sign of what to do, but when I woke up, the phone was gone. I had kept it secure and with me as I slept, and after I looked everywhere, I realized only one thing could take that time machine away from me: Blake. That's when I found a note, from Blake, that said, 'You did this to yourself. I'll be watching you, and, if you change your mind, I'll know.' Meaning that Blake knows that if I joined him, I would not have gotten hurt. And he wants me to change my mind and decide to help him. And he'll know if I do."

Hugo paused again. But this time I knew he had nothing more to say.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Several of us asked in unison.

"We wait," Hugo said. It seemed like he was tired of talking, but we all stared at him, waiting for more—for some sort of answer.

"This has to be a joke," Bryan said, unbelieving.

"Yeah, Blake wouldn't actually do all this to us," I said.

"Well, it isn't a joke, Bryan; and Kyara, he would do this. I've studied my father for far too long." Hugo said.

"What the hell are we supposed to do, then!" Bryan said.

"We're stuck here," Luke cried.

"Not necessarily," Hugo finally said. "There is a way out."

"Where?" Bryan said.

"How?" I said.

"There is a phone here. But it's guarded by several of the king's forces. That's why I planned an uprising with the townspeople."

"How do you know the phone is here?" I asked.

"Blake always leaves a way out. He never wanted to kill any of you, I know that as a fact, but he wants you to suffer."

"But if he knows Amy's dead, why wouldn't he bring us back?" Bryan asked.

"That's why we have to find the phone. We need to figure out the truth."

"But how do you know the phone is guarded and in the castle?" I asked.

"Blake explained it in the riddle he left for me," Hugo said.

And then it all clicked. The poem mom recited to us a few days ago wasn't a poem. It was a riddle. Now that that made sense though, what about Hugo's riddle?

"I can tell you the riddle, if you'd like," Hugo said.

We all murmured our obvious yes's.

He pulled out a piece of paper and began reciting the riddle. We all listened intently.

"Stone walls. A glass case.

Only a plan will lead a race.

Or a battle that will start,

In my eyes, you'll do your part.

One must die to find the calling.

But only one, or you'll be falling,

Down a hole you cannot return from,

You must only use one thumb.

If you believe in that hoax,

Travel once more through The Oaks.

And if you can find me, you'll win,

Only then will I count your sin."

He finished, and I couldn't believe what had been read. Still several questions flowed through my mind.

"So basically, Amy had to die. We get one more chance on travelling through time. What else?" I said.

"Let me see it," Bryan said, outstretching his hand toward Hugo. Hugo gave it to him and he read it over in his head.

"I don't get it. Explain, Hugo." Bryan said and gave it back to Hugo.

"Kyara's right. You have to get to 2012 this time. One of you, only one, had to die, which is why I'm so intent on saving Liam's life."

"That's the only reason you're saving him!" I asked, disconcerted.

"No, of course not. I am trying to figure everything out, just like you all are," Hugo sighed.

"Then what?" Bella spoke up for the first time in a long time.

"I know how to get back. We just have to do as the riddle says." Hugo said.

"There has to be another way!" Bryan pleaded.

"I know this is hard for you to understand. But there is no other way. My father is cruel and a very malicious man. Unless God softens his heart, he will only retaliate."

"Isn't he watching us right now, though?" Bryan said.

"We could talk to him," I said, slightly hopeful.

"I've tried. Plus. There's no way he can see or hear us right now. There's no cameras here. The only way he knows what's going on is if he travels here. But the last night he came was the night I got this riddle."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"There's been no sign of him. He had left a note for me four nights in a row. The first night telling me he had taken the phone, the one I recited for you. The second night he asked for me to join him again. The third night he left a note telling me it was in the castle. The fourth night he left the riddle. He hasn't been back since."

"Just because he hasn't left you a note doesn't mean he couldn't still come," I said, trying to figure out everything. For some reason I was calm, and I knew it was God helping me stay this way. I had faith, and I knew we could figure out how to get home some other way.

"He can't come back." Hugo said. "That's the thing. He used up all the time machine's uses. Each phone only has a certain number of times you could use it. He's probably busy creating a new one. That's also why I think that the phone that's here, in the castle, has only one more use. Because he says we have one more chance to get back home."

I sighed and looked at Mom. She had a worried facial expression, one with complete and utter misery. "I don't understand how he could be so evil," she said.

"He's worse than anyone I've ever heard of in my entire life!" Bryan said. "He's basically part of Satan's army."

Hugo looked at Bryan uneasily. "I know he's been awful to us, but at least he used Jesus' army to fight against. We will win. We have the most sovereign on our side. We can beat this."

"But why is God doing this to us? Why can't He just take us home?" I asked.

"We all wonder that, too, Kyara." Dad said. "Sometimes we just have to sit tight and wait. God gifts those who wait."

Tears formed the corners of my eyes. Hugo went back to check on Liam and I heard him put another liquid tube on the post for Liam's IV. It was silent as we listened to Hugo working and thought through our feelings.

I was scared. No, not scared. Petrified. Blake was behind all this. And I knew that from two days ago, but I did not know the extent of it. Blake was evil. God could never forgive him for this, and I knew I certainly couldn't. He would pay for this, and I hoped that the last layer of hell would be his worst nightmare. Before I could think more on the subject, Hugo came back out with a what looked like a smile on his face—I could barely see because my eyes were so watery.

"Liam's awake."