To see whatever it was that Phoebe saw in her stories, May sat in the tent to look through those papers. Wrinkling her nose, she was dismayed to see that so many of them were ripped out of comic books. My future hangs in the balance and we're basing our history off of graphic novels?

Trying to appreciate them the same way that Phoebe did, May skimmed the papers carefully; they were already tattered around the edges. Upon a few readings, she recognized that there was something different about these stories than in any comic books she had read. There was something deeper in the storyline, yet she couldn't put her finger on what.

Two characters behind masks—allegedly, to conceal their identities—talked on a hill-top about the perils the world was facing.

"Earth is so close to other worlds and planets with intelligent life that we could reach out and touch them, you know."

"Problem is, we're not allowed."

"We've never been and we just don't know it."

"We're paying penalties over lifetimes and lifetimes for the sins of our ancestors."

"How foolish we are to not only think that humans are alone, but that we are the only species capable of sin itself."

Drawing sharp breaths in as she read, May flipped through the pages to see that no two of them went together. In fact, they were all out of context; it was as if some choice readings had just been ripped away from something larger.

"There were once 2,500 flourishing worlds with advanced life and civilization. It is now wittled down to about five, give or take."

"Cut off from connection to the other worlds, Earth remains constantly vulnerable to threat with no protection and no awareness."

"Humanity perseveres, nonetheless."

Coming to a page full of nothing but typed words, May skimmed her fingers over a choice passage: "Those whose names are present in the files—and all their descendants—will rise up to the duty of the threat which lies beyond our world."

May gulped. Quietly, she mumbled, "Shit. . . me?"

That was when Phoebe scared her by quickly unzipping the tent without warning. "Hey, buddy! Sorry I didn't knock, it's just that it's a, well, it's a tent. How ya holdin' up?"

"Um. . ." May took one last glance at the papers. "Okay? Fine? How are you?"

"Better than I never was." Phoebe entered the tent. "You know what we need to do." Reaching across May's lap, she flipped through a few of the pages, pointing at one. Her finger had landed on a comic square which portrayed a tree shaped suspiciously like the one she had wanted May to jump out of earlier on.

"The portal?" May said.

"You know it."

Feeling a vibration at her side, May glanced down at her phone. It was from her dad. Frantically, she hit the red button to decline the call.

"I see you're still ghosting them." Phoebe unzipped her backpack to look through it.

"A little bit," May said. "They're my parents. I'm not cutting them off, I'm just. . . fleeing from them. You know how it is."

"I've been to Disney World, I get your point."

"Right. . ." Another call was coming in. May hit the red button once more.

"Shut the phone off," Phoebe said.

"I can't. I'm tracking my steps." [The author assumes, as shall the reader: this was a fib]

"Damn. Bet it's a lot. Still, you can use your apps even if you get rid of the sim card."

"My sim card? No way."

"Why not?"

"Because I might need it."

Removing a light jacket from her backpack, Phoebe slipped her arms into it. "Lemme see that thing. Come on."

"No, you'll do something weird."

"Yeah, but you should still hand it over, anyway."

"You know what? I'll shut the phone off. How's that? Now I'll no clue whether or I'm getting my ten thousand steps, but at least I'll. . . I don't know."

"All right. Whatever."

May went about her business following that, innocently assuming that the subject was closed. Foolishly, she left her phone laying about while she searched for a place in the winds to pee uninterupted, a task which took much longer since she did not have her phone. Upon returning, May saw Phoebe prying the sim card right out of the mobile device.

"Hey, hey, hey!" May shouted. "What are you doing?"

"This is for your own good. You think people can't track you?"

"But. . . all right, I made that up about the steps!" May rushed to Phoebe, who held the sim card far out and away from reach. "That sim card was expensive and I want a connection to the outside world! I want to be able to call 911 or my dad or my father!"

"Or T?"

"No! T blocked me anyway on everything!"

"Oh, that's harsh. Poor you. Still, you did abandon me and all."

"And I'm sorry! I'm totally sorry!"

"Sorry doesn't—" Phoebe gasped when the sim card fell out of her grasp into the dense vegetation below. She stammered briefly and then dropped to her knees to search the ground. "You know what? I actually didn't mean to drop that, I was just screwing with you."

May hit the ground, shouting, "Just find it!"

"We will, we will!"

They did not. Life went on.