"Liam!" I squealed and ran to the room to see him smiling, and eyes staring at me as I entered. He was awake!

"No sudden movements, please," Hugo said to Liam.

Liam's eyes squinted as he looked at Hugo.

"Who?" Liam began, but couldn't get much more out.

I would have to explain about Hugo. The past two days he's been out, too much has happened. He looked around the room and I could see his eyes show more confusion.

"I'll explain everything," I said and looked at Hugo asking, with my eyes, if that was okay.

Hugo nodded.

Bryan and Luke came in and said they were glad to see he was okay and awake, then went back out to join the rest of the family because they understood that he would need his rest.

"I'm going to get him some water and food. You've got to be hungry." Hugo said and strolled out to get the food after Liam nodded slightly.

He came back a few seconds later with water in a cup and some stew. He then helped Liam sit up a little more and helped him sip the water. Hugo then began feeding him the stew and he said, "Go ahead and explain everything, now."

I nodded. "You've been out two days," I began. "Less time than we thought you would be, which is good." I smiled. "This is Hugo. He is Bella's brother-" Liam's eyes grew wide. "She didn't know about him, though." And I began to explain Hugo's story. Liam shut his eyes halfway into the story, when he finished eating, but didn't stop me from talking, so I figured he was listening.

Once I finished, Liam opened his eyes and nodded slightly. I could tell he was trying to not get angry, like I knew the rest of my family surely was, with Blake.

"What are we going to do now?" Liam asked slowly, which had been the main question of the night.

"We get the phone in the castle," I said. Liam nodded.

Hugo said we needed to let him rest and that he would check on Liam every ten minutes. As we walked out of the room, though, I heard Liam say to me as we met eyes, "stay."

I smiled and walked over next to his bed and held his hand in mine.

"Let me know if his heartbeat slows or quickens, okay?" Hugo said and then when I nodded, he left the room.

A tear rolled down my cheek, but it wasn't a tear of distress, but rather joy. Liam was going to be okay. And all because of Bella's brother he would survive. This was probably the best thing that could have happened.

"Don't. . . cry. . ." He said in between deep breaths.

More tears fell down my cheek. I wiped them away and clasped his hand. And though it was gentle and barely noticeable, he squeezed mine back. I smiled and lay down next to him. My arm draped over his chest and it held his left hand. My head was nuzzled against his neck and I could hear his heartbeat.

"I love you," I said.

"I love. . . you, too. . . No matter. . . what."

"Save your breath." I said through my tears. "Please," I added.

I could feel him nod against my head.

The silence enveloped us, and his heartbeat sounded perfect. It was finally at the normal beats per minute. He was back, and he would be here with me forever. I would not lose him again. It was true. His will to live was strong, and I knew it was due to my love for him.

~ ~ ~

I woke up to Bryan gently poking my cheek. I had fallen asleep next to Liam and stayed there all night, apparently. Now the sun's rays peeked through the window.

"Time to eat. Come on." Bryan said and hurried out when he noticed I was looking at him annoyed. He seemed happy, or as happy you could be knowing that someone was behind all the pain we've faced the past several days. He had Bella back and nothing could take her away from him. I wouldn't even do anything to harm their relationship. Though I hated Bella yesterday, I felt reconciled with her today.

As I walked out of the room, I took another glance at Liam. He was sound asleep, but knowing he wasn't still in a coma made me happy. I knew my family was waiting for me to eat, so I walked out of the room and into the kitchen. Bacon and eggs were on the table with what looked like spinach. It smelled absolutely amazing. Everyone sat around the table and smiled as I came in.

"Real food, and a feast at that!" Bryan said.

I grinned and sat down, asking how Hugo had gotten all the food.

"I got some from the World War Two era. I used the time machine eight times to go back and forth between this time and that time to bring everything I needed."

"Wait," I started, "how did you use it eight times? We've used our time machine six times already, and you have used it way more than we have, even before the World War Two era. Why is the use of our time machine done, if you used it more than we did? How many uses does each phone have?"

"Mine had unlimited uses because it was the first one Blake made. Blake invented the next few to where, I believe, you can only use it seven times."

"Seven was Blake's favorite number, so that makes sense," Dad said.

I nodded, and Hugo then asked me how Liam was, and I told him that he was still asleep. Hugo then took some bacon and eggs and went to check on Liam saying he'd be right back.

"So, what happened last night after I passed out?" I asked.

"We all decided it was best to sleep on it, so we all went to bed as well." Dad said and added, "But before that we realized Hugo was right and that our only chance was to get the phone in the castle. Then we would take it with us back home and find Blake."

"And make him pay," I said, taking a bite of bacon. Then realized that no one else had started eating, I put the bacon back down and waited.

"No. That will only cause more problems." Dad said.

"What?" I asked, confused and slightly angry.

"We need to get everyone back home as well. Remember, the whole world disappeared the night you four were home." Dad stopped. It was hard knowing that there were only three of us now.

"How?" I said. "How are we going to get everyone back?"

"Well, if Hugo is right and we use the phone to get back home, and Blake isn't actually lying in the riddle, then we'll be able to help him get everyone back. We kill him with kindness. That's what Jesus would want."

I nodded. Hugo came back out and smiled as he took his seat and stared at the food.

"I'm sure everyone is hungry and anxious to eat. Kyara, will you bless the food?" Dad asked.

"Sure." I said, while bowing my head and closing my eyes. "Dear Lord. Thank you for this meal and thank you that we are all together. Please bless this food and be with Liam. Thank you for giving a great person like Hugo to us, right when we needed him. Be with us all and help us to find that phone. Amen." I said and looked up.

It took two seconds before everyone started digging in and taking handfuls of bacon and spoonsful of eggs. We all ate silently because we were all so hungry. The food was amazing, and I was so happy that we were all together.

After breakfast Hugo said that he needed to go to the church, for there was another meeting taking place at ten o'clock about breaking into the castle. Bella, Dad, and Bryan decided to go with him, while the rest of us stayed behind with Liam. Hugo said they would be back within the hour and I understood.

Once they left, I went to Liam's room. He had gone back to sleep, so I went back out to Luke, sitting on the chair. Mom had started making lunch.

"How are you doing, buddy?" I asked Luke and noticed he was moping slightly.

"I don't know," Luke said.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I guess I just don't understand something."

"And what might that be?" I asked.

"Should we really trust Hugo? I mean, we just met him. And we were all so confused and mad at Bella yesterday. . ." He trailed off unsure what to say next.

"Hm," I hummed in thought. "All we can do is trust them right now. Yes, Bella was deceiving us before, but she was trying to protect us from Blake. And Hugo seems trustworthy especially because of all he's done to save Liam, and I have a good feeling about him."

Luke nodded, not in complete understanding, but in slight comprehension. "Okay," he said finally.

"How are you otherwise? Anything else bothering you?"

"It's just so hard without Amy being here."

"I know," I said.

"But everyone seems okay about it. Like no one seems to miss her."

I nodded. "We all do show we miss her, but how we choose to show it is different for each of us."

"You're right, I guess."

I held him close to me. The way he was able to cope with this-his bravery-made me brave and able to cope with Amy's death.

A tear formed in the side of my eye and I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because of the feeling of my little brother against me and holding him close made me miss Amy even more. I didn't want to miss Amy so much, but how could I not? She was my little sister and she was gone. Forever.

Luke turned around and looked at me. When he saw that I was tearing up, he hugged me.

"It's going to be okay. Just like you promised me in Rome, I'm going to promise you now," Luke said.

As he said it, several tears escaped my eyes. I held Luke close. He had grown up so much in these past few weeks and I wasn't too surprised to hear him say the words he did. He had always been brave. Even when he was a baby, he barely cried.

The tears that streamed from my eyes weren't tears of sadness, but rather tears of hope. Luke pulled away and wiped away my tears with his hand. I smiled and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"You're a great kid, you know that?" I said.

He shrugged and said, "Thanks."

~ ~ ~

Bella, Hugo, Dad, and Bryan came back around noon based on the position of the sun-a little later than they thought. They explained what happened at the meeting to the three of us.

"It went a little long because I let people ask questions and I asked one of the townspeople to go investigate around the castle more at the beginning of the meeting and he didn't get back until an hour later," Hugo said.

"But he did come back with good news. A door to the castle was completely abandoned-no guards were there. But when he went to the door, he found it locked. That was a whole new problem because these doors are locked in a different way than doors in 2012 are locked. These doors, especially castle doors, are barred shut. Keys are the only way to open the doors, unless of course you knock down the door. Too many guards would see us, then and come after us, so that's not an option. And with the amounts of tools we have and the people, we wouldn't be able to make or use a battering ram, so the next best thing is to take over the guards and use a key."

"So," Bella continued for Hugo, "we had the townsman, Wymer, count the guards at the main gate. He said that he had counted them on his first mission and said he was able to see eleven. He guessed no more than twenty were within the premise of the gate. So, we needed at least twenty men with swords and pitchforks to raid the castle."

"Forty-two signed up for battle," Bryan said.

"Did you sign up?" I asked Bryan.

"Yes. They need me," he said.

"I signed up to, of course," Hugo said. "Everyone in the town looks up to me."

I knew there would be no getting Bryan out of this.

"Wait," Dad said. "I just thought of this. I should have thought of it earlier, but . . . Anyway. Where is King Edward? What if he is here? We can't have him fighting in the battle, especially because if he dies, we all don't exist."

"Isn't Edmund already born, though?" I asked.

"Still. We don't want to kill the king. That would completely change history."

"King Edward is out of the country currently. Wymer heard a guard talking to another guard about the king being in France."

"Okay, good." Dad said. "Then this will be easier if the king doesn't know about it."

Hugo nodded.

"Then I can help in the battle. They may need me. The more the better," Dad said.

"No." A tear escaped Mom's eye. "I'm not losing you again."

"He'll be safe with us," Hugo said. "We have enough swords for fifty men. Plus, the battle is mostly just a diversion to go and get the phone."

"Please," was all Mom said.

"Our mission is to find the phone. So, I think at least one of you should come with me. We need all the help we can get. And anyway, we'll need to get into the dungeon to get the phone." Hugo said.

"You don't even know where the dungeon is located. How are you supposed to get to it? Surely there are more guards within the castle," Mom said.

"That's why all of us should go, and Hugo, you should come with us to search for the phone," Dad said.

"Okay, so it's settled. All three of us will go," Hugo said.

I bit my lip. "When is it?"

"Tomorrow. We will have another meeting after lunch, in two hours, to plan it out."

I nodded.

"I'm going to go check on Liam," said Hugo.

"I'll go with you," I said and followed him to Liam's room.

His eyes were still closed, and he seemed quite peaceful, sleeping. Hugo went to check his pulse as I stood at the doorway and watched.

"His pulse is almost normal, and he feels warm." Hugo began to get another IV ready and hook it up.

I smiled slightly, but felt, for some reason, that something was wrong or going to be wrong.

"He's been sleeping a lot," I said.

"He just got out of a coma, he needs the rest."

I nodded, and Liam slowly opened his eyes.

I ran to the other side of the bed and held his hand in mine.

"How are you?" I asked.

"Hanging in there," Liam said, and smiled.

Hugo finished hooking up the IV and told me he'd be in the kitchen. "If anything happens, come and get me," he said and left the room.

"Okay," I said a little too late, for Hugo had already exited.

"So, what's the plan with the phone?" Liam asked.

"Hugo says it's in the dungeon of the castle," I said, and I explained what happened while he was asleep.

"I wish I could help," Liam said, referring to the planned battle.

"I know but-"

"My leg is messed up and I'll just be sitting here while you all get the phone." He sounded angry, and I couldn't blame him.

The problem that I was facing was the fact that, if we lost the battle, what would be the purpose? If Bryan, Hugo, or Dad somehow died in battle, then home wouldn't work if the riddle was true, and Blake wasn't lying in the riddle. There had to be another way to get the phone.

This had to work. The battle must be won.