Chapter 1

The rain hammered against the windows of the school bus, a relentless drumming that matched the frantic beat of my heart. It had been like this for three days, a storm that had turned our city into a series of islands, severing roads and flooding streets.

Inside the bus, it was chaos.

"Get off the bus, Emily! Now!"

My estranged wife, Susan, was screaming, her face contorted with a fanaticism I knew all too well. She was trying to drag our daughter, Emily, down the steps and into the deluge.

Emily, my brilliant, hardworking daughter, clutched her seat, her knuckles white. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the rain that blew in through the open door.

"Mom, no! I can' t! The exam is everything!"

"It' s everything for Mark, too!" Susan shrieked, her voice raw. "This is his year! His lucky year!"

I looked past her to the man standing in the rain, Mark Johnson. He was in his forties, his face a pathetic mask of hope. For twenty years, he had failed the college entrance exam. Twenty years. And for twenty years, Susan had been his cheerleader, his enabler, his everything.

This bus was a specialized transport, the only vehicle the school district could arrange to get students from our flooded neighborhood to the exam center. Emily had earned her spot. Mark was just... Mark.

A cold dread, sharp and familiar, washed over me. This had all happened before.

In a life I no longer lived, I had hesitated. I had tried to reason with Susan. She had succeeded in pulling Emily off the bus.

The result was a catastrophe. Emily missed her chance. Mark, of course, failed again. Consumed by his failure, he jumped from a bridge.

And Susan? At Emily' s belated graduation party, a year later, she had served us a special celebratory toast. The poison was swift. As my vision blurred and my lungs burned, her last words were a curse.

"You ruined him! You stole his destiny!"

The memory was not a dream. It was a promise of what would happen if I failed.

This time, there would be no hesitation.

A surge of pure, cold rage propelled me forward. I grabbed Susan' s arm, my grip like iron.

"Let her go," I said, my voice dangerously low.

She spun around, her eyes wide with shock. "David! What are you doing? This is for Mark! We have to help him!"

"You are not ruining our daughter' s life," I bit out, pulling her away from Emily.

Other parents on the bus, already on edge, started shouting.

"What is wrong with that woman?"

"Her daughter earned that seat! Get her out of here!"

Susan, enraged at being thwarted, turned her fury on the closest target. She lunged at Emily and slapped her, hard, across the face.

The crack of the slap silenced the bus for a second. Emily cried out, stumbling back, her hand flying to her cheek where a red mark was already blooming.

Just as the dam of parental anger was about to break, a voice crackled over the bus driver' s radio.

"All units, be advised. The main bridge on Route 7 is now compromised due to floodwaters. I repeat, the route to the downtown exam center is blocked. Indefinitely."

Panic erupted.

Students started to cry. Parents yelled at the driver, demanding answers he didn' t have.

Through it all, Susan was oblivious. She looked at Mark, a triumphant, crazed smile spreading across her face.

"You see, Mark? It' s destiny! The universe is making way for you!"