One vision. One death. If the death I’d seen in the vision was prevented, then I got a new premonition instead.  That was how things were supposed to work. That was how they always had.

I sat in the hallway outside the emergency surgery room – on the floor rather than on a chair. Part of it was because I was curled into a ball with knees against my chest, covering my head with my hands to separate myself from the world and would have been impolite to sit like that on a chair. The other was because I felt like I didn’t deserve to be comfortable while I waited for a doctor to tell me that Ryo’s surgery was complete.

He was going to live, I knew that already; his fate had changed from bleeding out in the alley to dying from lung cancer again the moment the paramedics had arrived. What I didn’t understand was why.

A familiar voice broke through my brooding. ‘Evelyn?’

I looked up and the craggy, shaven face of a forty-something, blond Caucasian man in a police uniform was staring back at me. His green eyes were disgustingly full of pity – a look I’d fortunately never seen on his daughter’s face. 

Trust him to be the one to be assigned to this case.

Swallowing my apprehension, I returned the greeting. ‘Hello, Mr Leganne.’

‘Senior Constable Leganne,’ interjected another voice.

Behind Gwen’s father stood a much younger, uniformed woman of what I guessed was Middle Eastern descent. Her lips were pursed and every strand of her dark hair had been pulled back against her skull into an immaculately tight bun beneath her cap.

Mr Leganne’s look of pity immediately dissolved into one of annoyance. Ignore her, said his face.

‘New partner?’ I asked him.

‘Just for the week. She’s –’

‘Constable Edri,’ said the woman.

‘ – just finished the academy.’

The two of them exchanged glances – his cynical, hers embarrassed. Clearly, they weren’t on the same page.

Mr Leganne cleared his throat and continued, ‘The paramedics checked you out, right?’

‘Yeah. Banged up a bit but it’ll all go away in a week or so.’ Which was far better than what I deserved. ‘They said I was fine to leave but...’ I glanced at the light above the operating room’s door.

‘And that?’ He gestured to my cast.

Of course he’d notice. ‘That’s from something else.’

‘Something else?’

Guess that meant he hadn’t heard about the train incident from Gwen. ‘I fell on my way home from school.’

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t enquire any further. ‘Well, if you’re feeling up to it, Evelyn, then we – ’

‘We would like to ask you some questions about the events that occurred tonight.’ Seemingly sick of standing on the sideline, Edri jumped right back into the conversation with a notebook and pen in hand. Without waiting for an answer, she pulled out some polaroids. Grabbing the first one on the pile, she waved it in front of my face. ‘Did you see this person at all tonight?’

A slightly grainy image of a boy slightly older than myself stared back at me. Blue eyes. Dark hair. Black hoodie. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place where I’d seen him before. The picture had been taken on an angle, through a crowd, but his gaze was aimed directly down the barrel of the camera, as if he had known it had been pointed at him. And if I wasn’t mistaken… the corner of his mouth was tugged up into a smile. 

A chill travelled down my spine.

There was something wrong with that picture.

‘No...’ I answered truthfully. ‘I didn’t see him today.’ My eyes flicked up to Edri’s face. ‘How’s he related to what happened toni– ’

With a hacking cough to clear his throat, Mr Leganne snatched the photo from his subordinate’s fingers and made it disappear. ‘That picture is nothing for you to worry about,’ he said, and flashed the newbie a sidelong glare. ‘Constable Edri meant to ask: why were you and Ryo Oshiro at the Riker house this evening?’

Crap. A real question.

‘But before that,’ Mr Leganne continued ‘why don’t you take a seat?’ 

‘I’m fine here, really.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Absolutely.’ I wouldn’t be able to inflict self-punishment in a chair.

He looked a bit perplexed and shrugged. ‘Very well then. Before we begin, I have to mention that we tried calling your father –’

‘He’s overseas.’

‘As I assumed. I tried giving Linda Doukas a call as well, but she didn’t pick up, so I left her a voicemail – ’

Fourth call from emergency services this month… I was in for a grilling for sure.

‘ – but given that you are a minor and neither your parent nor nominated guardian are available, I need to ask if you’re comfortable making statements in their absence or if you would like to request another trusted adult to be present in their stead.’

A formality. He knew exactly what my answer would be; we went through this every time I got caught up in one of his cases. ‘It’s fine,’ I said. ‘Go ahead.’

‘Why were you and Ryo at the Riker house?’

Right, real questions.

I hesitated. ‘Well… to be honest, we were tailing Ai.’ It would have been stupid to say otherwise.

‘Ai Miyakawa?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why were you tailing her?’

There was an itch on my neck. ‘Well… Ryo was assigned to be her uh, integration buddy, I guess? At school – because they’re both Japanese.’ And dumped the responsibility for looking after her on Gwen, but it was probably best not to involve her right now. ‘I’d seen her hanging out with Andrew before and after school, and Ryo knew that Andrew had a bad reputation – which I’m sure you’re aware of, so we… Well, we were worried, I guess. We spotted them on a date and just followed them to make sure nothing bad was happening.’

‘To the Riker house?’

‘Yeah, but we didn’t know that that's where they were headed.’

‘And what happened when you got there?’

A voice spoke in my ear and an invisible force took over my body. ‘I heard shouting inside and went up to the door, then Andrew opened it and saw me.’

‘And that’s when…?’ Mr Leganne gestured to the swollen, bruised areas of my face.

‘Does it look that bad?’ 

He avoided the question. ‘Were you aware that Stephano Riker – Andrew’s father – was deceased when you arrived?’

‘No, I didn’t realise there was a dead body until I went into the house.’

‘And why exactly did you do that?’ Mr Leganne held my gaze. ‘There were adults on the scene who were in contact with the police and paramedics, so why did you run off into the house alone?’

‘Is stupidity acceptable as an answer?’

‘No.’

Didn’t think so. ‘As I said, I was worried about Ai. I wasn’t thinking about my own safety.’ Or Ryo’s for that matter.

‘I see… And what happened after that?’

‘I caught up to Andrew and Ai. Then Ryo and Andrew fought and – ’ There was a lump in my throat. ‘And…’ I swallowed and looked down again. Come on, girl. Get a grip...

‘Sorry, Evelyn. We just have to make sure of the facts.’

I couldn’t say it. Curling back up into my ball, I folded my arms across my knees and hid behind them. My breath was trembling and my eyes were swimming. None of this would have happened if… 

If I’d just left Fate alone.

If I’d let Ai die like she was meant to.

My gut wrenched. The thought made me feel sick, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it was true. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t tried to meddle with the future.

‘Evelyn.’

I didn’t respond.

‘Evelyn…’ I heard the squeak of rubber on tiles, and knew that Mr Leganne had crouched down to my level. ‘Evelyn, what happened here was not your fault.’

I stifled a scoff. 

‘Protecting your friends is a very honourable cause. Now, I wouldn’t advise that you repeat this experience because it was indeed reckless and you could have died. But both you and Ryo did what you thought was right and I’d like to think that if it was my daughter or my son that was in danger, that you’d try to protect them too – ’

Chances were that I’d be the reason she was in danger in the first place.

‘ – and as guilty as you feel about Ryo getting injured, I’m sure he has no regrets about protecting you too.’

Maybe not, but that didn’t absolve me of my guilt. He was right about one thing though; wallowing in it wasn’t helping. I raised my eyes. ‘Did you catch him, by the way?’

‘Riker?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Unfortunately, I can’t give you any further details on that matter.’

‘So that’s a no…?’

Without confirming or denying my suspicions, Mr Leganne stood up and offered me a hand. Reluctantly, I took it. With a jerk of his head, he gestured to the doors of the emergency operating theatre. The door was open and the doctor in charge of Ryo’s surgery was headed towards us.

He inclined his head at the two police officers. ‘Constables.’ He looked at me. ‘Miss White.’

I nodded back.

‘You’ll be happy to hear that the surgery was successful. We’ll have to keep him here under observation for a few days to make sure that there were no complications, but Mr Oshiro is expected to make a full recovery.’

Mr Leganne shot me a look that I assumed was meant to say, ‘See, what did I tell you?’. 

The doctor continued. ‘He is, however, still sedated, so any questions you officers have for him will have to wait until tomorrow. Now, I don’t believe the paramedics were able to contact his next of kin – ’

‘We did. His mother is on her way,’ said Edri.

‘In that case, I’ll make sure that reception knows to send her to me.’ With another incline of the head, the doctor swept down the hall towards the lobby, the conversation ending as abruptly as it had begun.

I grimaced. If Mariko Oshiro was on her way, it would probably be best if I escaped before she got here. ‘Are we done with the questions, Mr Leganne?’

‘Senior Constable Leganne,’ corrected Edri once again.

‘For now,’ Mr Leganne answered, ignoring her. ‘If something comes up, we’ll give you a call.’ 

Good luck with that. ‘I dropped my phone somewhere on Andrew’s lawn.’

‘Ah, right.’ Mr Leganne glanced at Edri, who made a sour face, but produced a clear ziplock bag with my now-cracked smartphone inside it. ‘We found it at the scene, but I figure it’s safe to give it back.’

Edri muttered something under her breath about evidence but nevertheless handed the device to him to hand to me.

With a mumbled thank you, I gave it a quick check. The screen had a spiderweb of cracks running across it – either from being dropped or getting stepped on during the altercation – but for the most part it still seemed to work. ‘I’m guessing you have my details on file?’

‘Have your phone number or home address changed since last month?’

‘Nope.’

A wry smile escaped him. ‘Then yes, I have them on file.’ Expression returning to neutral, he continued, ‘Do you need help organising a ride home? I can give Ms Doukas another call.’

So that I could be subjected to her wrath a day earlier? ‘No, thank you. There’s a taxi rank outside; I’ll just get one home.’

Mr Leganne frowned. ‘Are you sure? If you’re willing to wait, we can give you a ride on our way back to the station. Or Mrs Oshiro could – you live next door right?’

I could also douse myself with gasoline and light myself on fire, but I wouldn’t choose to do that either. ‘It’s fine. It’s only a ten minute ride and I… could use the time to think.’

The frown deepened. ‘Alright, if you insist. Just be careful on your way home.’ He looked at Edri. ‘We should wait for Mrs Oshiro and give her a proper debriefing when she arrives.’

And that was my cue to leave. With a muttered goodbye, I left the two constables to have a one-sided discussion about what to do next.