Chernobog made a sound behind us that was half gasp and half wail. Zeus bit his fist, tears running down his cheeks. Ishtar stepped forward, also with tears in his eyes, but managed to speak.

"She... She was the one who knew the combination..."

My heart stopped again. The whole world seemed to turn to ice, as if the heat death of the universe had arrived, as I realised. Megan had known the combination. But I knew she'd known the combination because she had told my future self – would have told me – in...

I looked at my watchcom again. Ishtar was wrong. We didn't need to worry about the bomb going off in forty minutes. Megan was dead when she was meant to have lived longer, long enough to tell my future self that she knew the combination to Wei'To's safe, so I could get it open and defuse it. But now she wasn't going to.

We didn't need to worry about the bomb at all. Because the paradox reaction was going to happen first.