Miss Parker didn't want to leave her children for too long, thoughts of the future now swirling in her head. The devil managed to catch her, and she was supposed to be caught by the Angel next. No matter how many bullets she had, threats she could throw, she remembered Margaret's words. And felt vulnerable. I can't escape my destiny. Now more than ever, I want to. "Why? I love you two, sooo much," she said to them. "But why? Why were you predicted in some of the most ancient scrolls? How can everything be coincidence?" It couldn't be. "What role."

She heard a knock on the door and saw Margaret come in. "How are you doing, Miss Parker?" Margaret asked her. She came closer to the pair. "They sure have missed you."

"And I didn't even know they existed, so how can I really say I missed them?" She picked Onyssius up in her left hand, and the other in her right. "They are getting so much bigger."

"They are. Oftentimes it's tough with what's going on to hold them together. Really beautiful though." Margaret smiled. She let out a small gasp. "You are still an angel carrying angels."

"No more." Miss Parker shook her head. "These scrolls. I don't know what they will ever have to do with us, but just no more. All it's been is a tag to do this, or do that, or because of this and that they made these. Created rules to follow what they believed in the scrolls. Even putting Debbie and Gemini at risk for them. Everything, ever, it was all for scrolls? And for what?" She looked at her children. "For what reason?"

"I don't know," Margaret said. "I just saw the ending."

"You predicted this," Miss Parker said. "You and mom, you saw this. How can you say you saw this, then you saw the ending?" Her voice was getting hoarser. "Margaret. I need to know. Word for word. What the scrolls said between Jarod saves the day, and the kids are born. What does it say?"

Margaret shrugged. "That's dangerous, but even if I could tell you, I couldn't. I don't understand it either. The angels are here." She gestured to them. "From what I gathered, whatever is going to happen." She shook her head. "It goes back again to the beginning phrase, Angel carrying angels."

"No." No! "No. No!" She letted her voice carry, not caring anymore whether it sounded too firm. "I don't care about the damn scrolls, and I sure as hell am not having more kids. I got out of the devil's cage. I'm not going to the Angel's cage. I'm not having anymore. I'm not."

"I." Margaret sighed. "After that, it changes. Everything changes. The wording, I can't even make it out. It becomes. Dark. Very. Very. Dark," she warned Miss Parker. She looked at the children in her arms. "Technically, you are carrying them right now."

"If only this was all it meant." Miss Parker looked down at her children. They were both hitting each other's hands now. "What are you two doing?"

"They just have problems sometimes." Margaret was about to move their hands away. "They are special. Maybe somehow, they know something is going on."

"No." No, that wasn't it. "They are highly connected. They even kick their feet together." She immediately looked at Margaret. "Did you tell Sydney about this?"

"They kick their feet together?" Margaret asked. "I've never seen that. I've just seen them bat each other lightly. Nothing fierce, just exploration."

"Have you told Jarod?" Miss Parker asked. "Jarod!"

"I." Jarod watched them. Propped them up. Tested their mechanics. Everything was fine except one thing. They weren't syncing with each other anymore. Everyone gathered around them, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Sydney, did you know about this?" He looked toward Sydney. He couldn't blame his mom. She wasn't there at the birth, nor did she know how the children of the Centre reacted.

"I haven't seen it," Sydney said. "I left, Jarod, to help Miss Parker and Broots."

"It wasn't very long ago," Margaret assure him. "What's wrong, Jarod?"

"I don't know." Jarod glanced at Miss Parker. She noticed it of course. She'd been gone for so long. Simple actions. She was watching everything. "I don't know."

"Children of the Centre," Sydney said slowly, "don't outgrow their sync. It wouldn't just stop."

Gemini came over. "Maybe they need a reboot?" He tried to take Little Angel's foot and Onyssius' foot, pushing and pulling them gently into sync. Immediately they kicked away. "They don't like it anymore. They don't have that kind of bond anymore." He looked at Jarod. "What does that mean, Jarod?"

"I don't know." Jarod was getting tired of that phrase coming from himself. His mom, Sydney, him. Gemini and Debbie. There were plenty around to make sure they were always okay. What is happening? "Sydney. Anything."

Sydney came over and tickled Little Angel. She reacted as did Onyssius. He should have acted like he'd simply been tickled but he started to cry. "They are connected. They want to ignore the connection." Sydney looked toward Jarod. "I think it hurts them, Jarod."

"Why would that bond be hurting them?"

"I don't know." Now Sydney was saying the same thing he had been. "There have been very few cases where some of the Centre's twins tried to ignore the sensations of the other. In most cases, it was to try and prevent the Centre from wanting to hold onto them."

"Understandable," Jarod said. "That's clearly not the case here Sydney."

"There was another pair." Sydney found himself moving his back upward. "It's not the same thing." He looked at the children. He tickled Onyssius this time and Little Angel laughed. "Onyssius is rejecting Little Angel's bond. Little Angel isn't rejecting him." Sydney touched both of their hands. "There is something that Onyssius feels within Little Angel that he doesn't want to feel."

"Pain?" Jarod checked over Little Angel, along with Miss Parker. "She doesn't seem to be in any pain."

"It might not be pain, but he feels something from Little Angel," Sydney said again. "I'm sure of it."

"What does she feel if not physical pain?" Kyle spoke up. "I don't want them to be in pain."

Sydney looked toward Margaret. "Is anything like this mentioned in the scrolls?"

"Angel carrying angels, then." Margaret went silent, like she was starting to think. "Puzzles. The pieces. Coming together." She wouldn't say it word for word. She tried to do that as little as possible. "The end of the Centre and the Triumvirate is coming. It's close." Her breathing was uneven, almost stalled. "The answer is in what we've done. What we've accomplished since the Angel carrying angels, and the Angel carrying angels. Yes, I got it!"

She went toward Miss Parker. "There are no more children. It was talking about this, this. She was carrying them, in her arms, and she recognized something wrong with the children. This. This is it." She looked toward the little ones. "Sometime between when Miss Parker was pregnant, and now. Within what we've done, something happened. We need to solve the puzzle now." She walked around, slightly biting her fingernails. "Everyone we encountered. Everything we did. We need to retrace our steps. If we figure out the answer, then it'll be time to end the scrolls." She smiled at Centre. "End the madness of the Centre. No more crashing waves, innocence spilled, sad clowns, it will be over."

"Wait." Jarod recognized that one. "Was that from the scroll?"

"It talked like that all the time," Margaret said to him.

"Alright. So the answer is to retrace our steps," Sydney said. "From when Miss Parker was taken. Every individual we can think of. Every action we took."

"Like. I don't know how many times I've been to the store," Broots said.

Jarod smiled. "Good to have you back, Broots."

Las Vegas

"So sad," Ethan muttered. He waited a few minutes as he came it. "I'm sorry."

Argyle lifted his head. "Huh? Wha- what do you want, huh?"

"To say I'm sorry," Ethan said again. "If you come with me, you'll be rewarded."

"Huh? Wait." Argyle gestured to him. "Yeah. Yeah, I know that voice. You're the one that told me to chase after limousine. Good call. She was alright." He held his place. "I-I don't really want any kind of reward right now. I'm not good right now, okay? It's not a good place, for me, right now. Here. It's not good, it's not good at all? You know? But, it's better than anywhere else. Cause? Memories, you know? And? Gonna be out there. In the elements again, you know, if I. I'm not needed no more."

"You can help Jarod," Ethan said to him.

"Oh? Oh. J-Dog, huh? Hm." Argyle scratched his back. "Man. You know, I'd do anything for J-Dog? You know? But, it's not a good time, and it's not a good place."

"The Sad Clown is in the depths of hell, seeking for escape," Ethan said. "Jarod needs you. Miss Parker needs you. Her children need you."

"Wha, why? How?" Argyle asked. "Huh? What you're saying, it don't make no sense."

"You shouldn't be alone," Ethan said. "If you won't come, then I'll stay with you."

Argyle rubbed the side of his face. "Man. Man. Yo." Argyle started to rub his eyes. "Thanks, you know, I . . ."

"I'll stay or we go," Ethan said to him. "We need you."

"I don't get it, what does anybody need Argyle for, huh? I'm just a screwup. I couldn't even catch the limousine, and at the end, it was Jarod's skill that tracked it," Argyle said. "Miss Parker too, it was just coincidence. I just wanted to make it up to J-Dog. Didn't have a chance to. I'm even now. So." He shrugged. "Mac and cheese is dinner, yo? If you're gonna come up. But, I won't be able to stay much longer. This was."

His father's place. Ethan wrapped his arms around the sad clown. The voices kept telling him there was a connection. A connection Argyle knew. "I will come up for Mac and cheese."

"Oh, really?" Argyle asked. "Fine, okay. Um. This way."

As Ethan went up behind Argyle, he pulled out his phone, dialing Jarod.

"Ethan."

"Jarod. Your clown is so sad," Ethan said to him. "I'm eating Mac and cheese with him soon."

"Argyle? What happened?"

"Here. So, here. You can start on that," Argyle said. "I got another pack on the other side. That's good Mac and cheese. Don't judge it too bad. Not the fancy kind, box was less than a buck, but it's good. Makes the stomach full. Anything that makes the stomach full," he muttered. "Load up on those." He went back to the kitchen.

It was so lonely. Gaw. It was worse than being out there, alone. Being there, alone. Not having him there. Why couldn't he be there? Argyle wasn't himself, he was losing his mind again. On the streets or not, he felt like he was barely hanging on out there again. Even Mona saw it and she bailed. Yeah, all this take about clowns and angels and weird stuff? He lost both of his.

His dad, and Mona bailed. She bailed after she told him she was pregnant and scared, but he just lost his dad. She was gone though now, gone. He tried to call her, to talk to her, she was nowhere. She was nowhere. Sad clown. Yeah. If fit him. "Mac and Cheese, Argyle, keep it together." Mac and cheese it. Mac and cheese. Right now he had company and some Mac and cheese.

"Argyle?" Ethan came into the kitchen with the phone. "Jarod wants to talk to you."

"Oh? Yeah, okay. Mac and Cheese and J-rod you know?" Argyle took the phone. "Hey. Yo. Hey. What's up?"

"I'm sorry to hear about your father, Argyle. And Mona. And the baby, I didn't know all that happened."

"Well. Stuff, you know, life? Not always perfect," he said. "Just, Mac and Cheesin' it now with my new friend over here."

"I lost Miss Parker for a time, and my twins," Jarod said on the phone. "I kept my eyes in different places."

"Can't watch everything," Argyle said. "Besides, all your uh, conspiracy and running and all that stuff. I mean, wasn't nothing to do with it. He was my dad. People get old. He wasn't the healthiest."

"Ethan wants you to come here. I agree, I think you should."

"Ah, rolling out the red carpet for Argyle, that's big of you, Jarod. Big of you. I-I'm not really myself though. I'm not, I'm just not. I. I already drove Mona away, and a family I never even saw. So. I-I-"

"There's nothing you can say, or do, that will make me abandon you right now, Argyle."

Mac and Cheese. "I don't know, Jarod. Not a perfect prince."

"We met with you trying to sell me to the Centre, Argyle."

"Yeah. You know I'm not a perfect prince. I'm just a dumb clown." Argyle watched his Mac and Cheese. "Dividing the water up, it cooked faster. You fix one, but then you put it in another pot that's warm and then you can shove it in the other pot and put like a little more warm water, and then you got yourself two quicker bowls of Mac and Cheese."

"Ethan's bringing you here. After you eat. Okay?"

"Hey, yo, condolences go a long way," Argyle said. "Ethan keeps telling me you need something. Not myself, J-rod, not myself, I doubt I can help. Wasting your time."

"Whether you can or can't, I don't want you alone right now. Okay?"

Aw. Such a nice guy. He was always such a nice guy. Argyle looked at Ethan. "Alright. Don't guarantee I can do anything, J-rod, but yeah. I'll be there."

Ethan watched as Argyle stumbled around the steps of the current rental Jarod had. He wasn't in a good state at all. He'd been there, not knowing which way to go. Argyle was there right now. Even though he hardly knew him, he could see how much he was like him. He wasn't raised by the Centre, but his mind was lost. His feelings and his emotions. It was a slew. Getting him to come would be as hard as getting him not to come.

He was just going with the motions. Ethan knocked on Jarod's door.

Jarod opened it. "Ethan. Argyle." Jarod got behind Argyle. "Come on in."

Did Jarod sense it too? No, Jarod couldn't sense. But. He knew Argyle at his worse too. He must have a feeling. If he didn't do something, the sad clown wouldn't stick around anymore.

"Ah, hey. Lookee at the newcomers." Argyle got semi close to the babies. "Can't get real close." He lifted his armpit. "Should have took a shower. Days ago. But hey, they're cute."

"Just, no closer than that," Miss Parker said to him.

"Gotcha, Miss P. totally." Argyle looked at Jarod. "So? What is it you want me to do?" He looked on the other side. "Hey, Pope Mom's all over here too, huh?" He turned around and saw Broots and Debbie. He turned around even farther and saw Kyle in the shadows. "Geez, full party over here. Sure you got room, Jarod?"

"Plenty," Jarod said. "And you? Had better get some real food. Not some mac and cheese. Nice and warm on the stove."

Argyle's body ticked slightly as he started to go to the kitchen.

Ethan came closer to Jarod, touching his arm. "The sad clown may not be with us long, Jarod," he whispered to him. "I don't know if he reaches happiness again. The scrolls, his last mention, this is it."

"I know." Jarod patted his arm. "I'll do everything I can not to lose him."

Ethan saw the resolve in Jarod's eyes. Of anyone Jarod ever pretended with, Argyle was the one he kept bumping into. Over and over. As impossible as it was to even meet Jarod one more time, he met him three before he even helped Miss Parker. He was a friend, a close friend, maybe even the only outside friend Jarod actually had. No family connection. No Centre connection. They just gravitated to each other.

Argyle sat down and ate some food. "It's okay. Who made it? Wait." He looked at Jarod. "It's absolutely excellent, best and finest in cuisine if it was Miss P's."

Ethan watched Jarod smile lightly at the clown.

"It wasn't Miss Parker. It was my mom," Jarod said.

"Ah." Argyle seemed to lose his appetite. "Sorry. Just, remembered the last trip me and dad took. Met your mom along the way. The food was terrible, he kept saying it over and over. Potatoes had no flavor. Ketchup had no flavor. No flavor." He set his fork down. "Even when he tried some of Miss P's pie, he hated it too."

"He tried Miss Parker's pie?" Jarod asked. "When?"

"Uh? Right before Pope Mom revealed herself, she like, got pie for Miss Parker." Argyle shrugged. "Then when they took off your mom said, 'try some pie'. He didn't want to order a whole pie. He thought it'd be the same way, so he snagged a scoop of Miss Parker's." He sniffed.  "You know, I could probably use more of a shower than food right now, J-Dog."

"My sister ate some of the pie, and your dad ate it afterwards?" Ethan asked. "The pie. There's something about the pie."

"He hated it too," Argyle said. "Jarod, gonna find a shower. Don't want to get anyone sick, you got like, newbies here. Real new newbies, you know?"

"Yeah, no problem, I'll help." Jarod looked toward Ethan briefly before helping him get ready for a decent shower.

"I'll be right out here," Jarod insisted to Argyle. "Maybe, I can even find Mona. Get you to talk. At least find a way for you to see your new baby when it comes."

"Ah. Ah, she won't even open the door," Argyle said to Jarod. "I-I'm not fit. I'm not right in the head. At least, not right now. Not gonna go there right now. Quick shower. I'll be out, yo. I mean, what am I gonna do in a shower?"

Ethan turned away. The sad clown was okay, but the pie. Miss Parker's pie. Jarod came near Ethan. "Something about the pie, Jarod," Ethan warned him. "There's something about the pie Miss Parker was supposed to eat."

Ethan watched as Jarod went toward Miss Parker.

"How do you feel?" Jarod asked her.

"Not kicking my feet in unison, but I'm okay," she said. "Why?"

"Pie." Ethan moved toward Miss Parker. "Argyle's father. He ate your pie."

"Not the most hygienic move," Miss Parker said. "What about the pie?"

"Between when you were pregnant and now. Something happened. We're trying to find that something." Could that something be . . . "Are you sure you feel fine?"

"I am absolutely fine," she drolled out. "For being separated from my kids for three months, I'm fine." She sighed. "The pie doesn't make sense. Even if he was real sick and I had a cold. It's been." She counted on her fingers. "A little over nine months."

"That's how I was supposed to go," Debbie reminded her. "A year and no symptoms." She looked at Miss Parker. "I was a kid though. Is it different for other people?"

Miss Parker straightened her back. "No. My father made it to his last day," she said. "One year with you. This can't be the same thing."

"Your dad was healthy beforehand," Jarod reminded her. "Debbie was healthy beforehand. The Colonel wasn't as healthy."

"You were never contagious either, Sweetie," Broots reminded her with a smile.

"It doesn't matter." Kyle came over from his place in the shadows. "Miss Parker came from the triumvirate. Slowing down things. Speeding up things. They are the masters at viruses, diseases, cloning, everything." Kyle came over toward Little Angel and Onyssius. "What if it's similar, Jarod?"

Ethan bent down and examined the twins too. He felt Onyssius' foot. He felt Little Angel's foot. "Onyssius. He has the gift," Ethan said. He looked toward Jarod. "He has the gift like me and Miss Parker. Our mother. When he reacts to the twin sensation, he can feel something wrong in Little Angel." Ethan looked toward Miss Parker. "It's not always easy to feel what's wrong inside of you with the gift. It's easier to feel others." He looked back toward Jarod. "It's not pain, it's his gift, Jarod. It's telling him. Screaming that something is wrong." Ethan kept rubbing his little feet. "Something is wrong."

"No." Miss Parker rejected it. "No, no, no. They were waiting, with baited breath, for these two to be born," she said. "No way, Ethan, would they give anything that was going to hurt them. They wanted them alive, born, they were the chosen ones to everybody."

"But why?" Sydney asked Miss Parker. "We don't know that. What if this is it?" He looked back at them.

"I got daily massages everyday for my pregnancy there, just for their health," Miss Parker said. "It's the only thing I miss."

"I bet Jarod would be happy to give you daily massages," Kyle said looking at his brother. "He's probably been a masseuse at some point."

"Something is wrong." Ethan kept touching Onyssius' feet. "What's wrong?" He wanted to hear it. See it. Something was wrong, but he couldn't see it.

"The puzzle," Margaret said from the side of the room. "The answer is in the puzzle. Argyle is one piece. We need to find more."

"He's so young," Ethan said looking toward Jarod and Miss Parker. "He can't form words, even in his thoughts. He's so young. He can't convey it to me, but something is wrong. Very wrong. Pie, it's not pie. It is pie. It's." Ethan grabbed his head. "Weakened. The voices say weakened by pie. Wea . . ." He stopped. Oh no.

Oh no. Ethan lowered his head, trying to keep himself from crying. "This was it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"What?" Jarod asked with Miss Parker almost immediately by his side too. "Ethan? What?"

"He'll destroy it all. When they go too far." Ethan closed his eyes and slowly moved back and forth.

"Ethan." Miss Parker sounded panicked. "Ethan. Ethan? Please, tell us. What's wrong, what's going on?"

"Jarod will destroy the triumvirate itself," Ethan said, "because they go too far."

"I've been through this plenty of times," Jarod said. "They always go too far."

"Jarod. I'm. I'm so sorry, Brother." Ethan let go of Onyssius' little foot. "There's something in the heavens that brings upon hell. There's something in the sky they need to stop. That's why the Centre was created in the first place," Ethan said. "to stop it."

"Stop what?" Jarod asked. "Ethan, please? You've got to open up more."

"You can't see it. You can't feel it. You can't hear it. You need someone who can." Ethan gently touched Onyssius' foot once more. "This is what I . . . was supposed to be for," he revealed. "I get it now."

"What?" Miss Parker asked right beside him. "Come on, Ethan, work with me here! I've already been through a lot, I need to know what's going on."

"The angel and the chosen one. They thought your mom was it, so they made my dad it too. 'Cause he was Jarod's dad. But, Raines took me instead." Ethan sighed. "Raines saved me."

"Raines saved you?" Jarod asked.

"Raines took me before they could do anything. If. With the gift, with the genes. With the two set of genes in one." Ethan could hardly speak. "Only they can feel what no one else does. But if everyone is affected at the same time, it does no good. So. They . . ." Ethan looked back at Miss Parker. "They gave you something, Miss Parker. It didn't hurt them at birth, or even afterward. It's transparent. You can't see it."

"Asymptiomatic?" Sydney asked.

"Yes," Ethan said. "The angels, they are angels because their purpose is to bring the warning. A warning soon enough to hopefully put a stop to it."

"A stop to what?" Jarod asked.

"The end of the world, Jarod," Ethan said. "Their purpose was to warn soon enough."

"Hang, hang on?" Miss Parker blinked. "End of the world?"

"Written in the dead sea scrolls," Jarod reminded her.

"But, that was their purpose. I'm sorry." Ethan looked at Miss Parker. "I'm sorry. The angels have warned us." He reached his hand out toward her. "Now all three will go to heaven."

Miss Parker twitched. "What?"

"The angels. All three of them. Not the fake ones or anything the Centre created," Ethan said. "You and the babies. Miss Parker. Pie."

"Okay, now I am beyond frustrated!" Miss Parker yelled. "Say it, Ethan! What's happening?"

"Two battle to win," Ethan couldn't take it. "Why couldn't we just be happy?" He held his head again.

"Ethan?"

"Miss Parker. Jarod. I understand it now," Margaret said.

"Oh good," Miss Parker said relieved. Finally someone who would be able to translate what he was saying."

"They made you sick," Margaret said to Miss Parker. "While you were pregnant. It's something similar to what Debbie Broots had, but that wasn't long enough. They didn't create that on a whim, everything that happened to us between the times of you being pregnant and now was fate."

Miss Parker kept her eyes on her.

"Simple. No pain. No warning. Until it hits," Margaret said. "How healthy was Argyle's father, Jarod?"

"Older. Health. Declines." Each word slowed down almost to it's own sentence.

"The pie was infected by you, and he's dead because of it. You have a healthier immune system, stronger, and younger. But." Margaret looked toward Jarod. "Ethan wasn't speaking in riddles, Jarod. That was from the scrolls." Her eyes started to water. "The angels warned us, and now they will return to heaven," she said clearly, "and his rage will be so great that he will cause the destruction of the evil that brought it."

"No." Jarod looked toward Miss Parker carefully. "No."

"Noo." Broots looked at Miss Parker too. "I've kissed you several times."

Argyle came out of the bathroom. "I just did it once," Argyle said coming into the conversation he didn't understand. "But, hey, she started it," he said to Jarod.

"Those." Sydney quietly tried to rage inside.

Margaret covered her mouth, unable to speak anymore.

Miss Parker. Little Angel. Onyssius.

"It's similar," Miss Parker said to Jarod. "Hurry up, get it to them. You have plenty from Debbie, Jarod, move it! Try it for them."

"But . . ." Jarod couldn't finish. It was an early cure. Even if it worked for Broots and Argyle. Onyssius and Little Angel were already displaying symptoms. And the scrolls words. "But you and them-"

"Try it, just try it. Just hurry up and try it." She was trying to keep it together. "Save whoever you can."

"But . . ."

" . . . and his rage will be so great," Ethan found himself saying, "that he will cause the destruction of the evil that brought it."

"No." Jarod shook his head, his own eyes starting to water as he heard those words again. Now they were echoing over and over in his head. His rage will be so great. His rage will be so great.

His rage will be soooo great.

"The cures, Jarod, try the cures for them!" Miss Parker yelled. "You can't waste time on anything else, just get the cures. Now. Save who you can. Save who you can!"

Jarod grabbed her and brought her in close for a hug. Even his Miss Parker was breaking down knowing what was supposed to happen. What the scrolls predicted.

"Just me, just me, why couldn't it just take me?!" All efforts to be the strong woman she always had to be were gone now. Her tears overflowed on him. She hung on tightly to him as she cried. Cried for all the pain. All the years. All the insanity. All the loss. And now, not just her life, but her children's.

"I'll get the cures," Kyle said as he stood up. "Everyone follow me. Everyone should take it, just in case." Kyle led them all out. Even Argyle followed without knowing what was going on.

"~Kree kraw toads foot~" Jarod sang gently in his own little trance. "~Geese walk, bare foot.~ Morning time's gonna come, Angel." He breathed deeply. "I promise."