If you haven't seen Alex Gives Up, there may be spoliers so go watch it, then come back and read!

This story is set between 'Alex Tells the World' and 'Alex Gives Up'.

Alex

"Pay attention Alex!"

My head snapped up at the sound of the agitated voice. A reddish face was leering at me scrupulously.

"Sorry Dad," I apologized quickly.

I'd been caught staring into space again. But who could blame me? This tour of Wizard Headquarters was just about as exciting as our usual wizard lessons. I also wondered the point of it all; Max was so far in the lead, Justin and I were mere dots in the distance. We really didn't need to be reminded of what we were soon going to have to live without.

"And we come to the back end of the tour," drawled the guide.

"Yes!" I said, pumping my fist into the air.

Everyone turned to look at me. Dad was shaking his head; the guide looked highly offended; Justin was hiding a smile and Max was just….well being Max.

"I mean, oh no," I corrected.

"Nice try," Justin muttered.

I elbowed him in the ribs and he groaned loudly. Dad shot us another look and I gave an innocent shrug.

"I hate you," Justin whispered, still clutching at his torso.

"Hate you too," I said with a grin.

The five of us kept on walking. I zoned out again but this time I pretended like I was listening. The guide rambled on about some wizard battle in the seventeenth century that had taken place near here. Justin listened intently, even taking notes; he made me sick. Max tried to pay attention but every now and then his gaze would wander. As the wizard most likely to keep his powers, he had been making a serious effort to act like he was interested in all the learning stuff but he still had the concentration of a goldfish.

"So now we come to the Time Room."

That pricked my ears up. "Time Room? What is that?"

"Gee," piped up Justin sarcastically, "Maybe it's a room where they monitor time?"

"Right you are Justin," the guide said warmly.

Justin shot me his know-it-all smile and I just mimicked him silently, earning yet another disapproving glance from Dad; if I had a nickel for every time I got one of those, I'd be stinking rich.

"Why do you need to monitor time?" I asked curiously as we entered the room. It was full of frenetic wizards with crystal balls, mirror portals, clocks. Almost all of them were on a computer or a phone, pacing in circles bumping into each other.

"Time is a fragile thing Miss Russo. There are many wizards who use time travel for their own purposes. Their actions can sometimes lead to dangerous things, dangerous consequences. We have to make sure the very fabric of time and space isn't destroyed."

All I wanted was a simple 'Time has to be monitored because wizards do stupid things'. Would that have been so hard?

"But we do time spells all the….time?" I pointed out, for lack of a better word. I began to think of the nineteen or so times I'd cast it in hopes of Justin finally getting his first kiss.

"But those only go back a few minutes. We monitor time portals and such here."

I moved closer to a gleaming crystal ball. Seeing how my future turned out was so inviting. Would Max end up being the family wizard, or would by some sheer stroke of luck, Justin or I take out the prize. Would Harper still be my best friend, would her relationship with Zeke last? And most importantly, would Mason still be in my life?

"Time to go Alex," Dad said, yanking me away from the shiny ball.

I looked back at it longingly before it disappeared from view as the door slammed shut.

"Are you going to eat that?"

I sighed and pushed my uneaten cheeseburger towards Max who had been eyeing it off for the last ten minutes. He grabbed it with both hands immediately and began chomping down.

I looked away in disgust and stared out the window. I couldn't help but keep seeing the crystal ball in my mind. It could tell me what is to come. It could help me make my decision; whether to keep magic or drop out of the race for good to focus on my relationship with Mason. It could give me my answer.

But it was dangerous and I would get into a heap of trouble.

But when had the prospect of trouble put me off?

I was torn. I needed a sign.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out to see one new message. From Mason.

Miss you brown eyes

See you when you get back

Xx

I decided to take that as a sign. Fate wanted me to find out what my future with Mason.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom, okay?" I told Justin, who was watching with fascination as Max devoured his food.

"Yeah, whatever," he said, waving his hand at me.

I rolled my eyes at them both and wandered in the direction of the bathroom. When I was sure no one was looking, I turned and bounded up the stairs and out of sight.

Jeez, security was lax around here. I managed to get upstairs without anyone noticing. I pushed open the door hesitantly and to my surprise, there was no one in there.

Hmm, everyone must be at lunch.

I raced to the crystal balls, leaning over to pour into it. I wanted to see something, anything. And then I did. It was me, an older version (at least it looked like me) kissing a dark haired guy with almost wavy hair. But I couldn't see his face, only the back of his head. It could be Mason, I thought, heart pounding.

I moved away and sat at one of the computers. There were records of known time travels. And the names of millions of wizards known to have conducted trips. L. Allen went back fourteen days last June. disappeared twenty years into the future two days ago. came back to 2010 from 2032. Interesting.

Justin

"Seriously, are you done with that yet?"

Max licked his fingers. "Yep, now we can go."

Dad sighed, relieved. But then he looked around, panicked. "Where's Alex? We have to go."

"She's in the bathroom," I answered as Max cleaned his face.

"Go get her."

"Do I look like a girl to you?"

"Yes."

Dad and I both stared at Max who looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. "Sorry," he said.

"Just go," Dad said, pointing me away.

Max snickered as I got to get out of my seat. With a smile, I grabbed him by the ear and pulled him away with me.

"Owwwww!" he yelped.

I let go of him. "C'mon burger boy, let's go."

I flipped through endless records, totally engrossed in the whole thing. There was all kinds of thing in the computer; the do's and don'ts of time travel, a how-to manual and tons more.

The door burst open and I almost jumped out of my skin.

"Oh it's just you," I said, taking in the sight of Justin and Max.

"We're not so thrilled to see you either," Max said. "Oh cool crystal balls."

"And I've lost him," Justin muttered. Then he turned to me. "I've been looking everywhere for you but I should have know you'd try to do something like this."

"Yes you should have," I replied, not moving from my seat.

A new name had just popped up on the screen. A. Russo.

"That's impossible," I muttered.

Justin walked straight towards me, leaning over my shoulder at the screen. He put two and two together very quickly.

He smacked my shoulder. "I can't believe you've been messing around with time, you know it's dangerous."

I checked the computer carefully before I turned around and thumped him one back. "How could I have been time travelling two seconds ago if I've been sitting here the whole time?"

The penny dropped. "Oh."

I felt like smacking him one again but a large bang interrupted my thoughts. The door had just slammed shut.

"That wasn't me," Max said defensively, moving away from the crystal balls.

Footsteps. Or at least it sounded like footsteps. In this room. Yet none of us had moved.

"What's going on? What are you doing Alex?"

"I'm not doing anything, now shut up."

We stayed silent, listening for any tiny movement. Then the lights went out and Justin practically jumped into my arms, throwing himself at me.

"Get away from me," I shouted at him, trying to gather my bearings and figure out what exactly was going on.

We really need some light.

My silent prayer was instantly answered. A ball of light appeared next to us and began to swell and grow larger. I realised with great panic it was a portal. And portals were never good.

Everything was still kind of dark and I could barely see the outline of my brothers. For good measure, I grabbed a hold of Justin's hand and he grabbed Max's.

"What's happening?" Max yelled.

"I don't know," I shouted back. "Just stay together."

I could see the faint figure of someone approaching and hoped it was a wizard worker. But it didn't look like one. The silhouette stepped closer and closer but the face was still hidden by shadows.

"I'm sorry Alex," the figure murmured; it was a woman's voice.

She stepped forward and all I caught was a glimpse of dark hair before she pushed me and sent me and my brothers stumbling into the light.