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Time stopped in the mortal world, and you, as a mortal, couldn’t see what happened next. But Rose saw. Time moved only for her in that moment.

A figure stood beside her. It was a young man in a dark suit, his voice smooth and strange and deep, with a curious echo that made him sound like he existed in a dream. If you could have seen him, you would have noticed he had no shadow. And when he spoke, there was no breath fogging in the cold air.

Rose’s eyes darted up to him in panicked hope.

“Please,” she shouted. “My friend, she was just attacked by a guy, did you see him? Can you call 911? Do you know where the nearest hospital is? Can you help her?”

He didn’t answer right away. The gray of his eyes was so luminous.

“No,” he replied.

She struggled to understand. “But—” she started incredulously, “she’s dying.”

“I know,” he answered.

“You can’t,” she said faintly. “Don’t you understand? She’s been stabbed!”

“She’s already dead,” he said simply.

Her entire body flinched from the impact of his words. “You’re lying,” she said rapidly. “There are too many signs of life left in her. Look at the color of her skin. Look at her mouth.”

“I’m sorry,” he replied quietly, and there was something deeply genuine about his words.

“What are you waiting for?” She was practically screaming at him. “Call the police!”

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I want her to live,” Rose said, and tears sprang unbidden to her eyes. She couldn’t understand his questions. Why didn’t he want to help her?

“All humans plead their case when they’re dying,” the man said. “They bargain for what they want. Most desire more life. Some yearn for a swifter death.”

Now she sensed, at last, that there was something strange about this man. Something unnatural. But that couldn’t be right, not according to her scientific mind.

“I want her back,” she snapped. “I want her the way she was five minutes ago.”

The man didn’t react at all to her rage. His eyes stayed settled on her, dark and haunted.

“What would you do,” he said, “to save your friend’s life?”

“Anything,” she said. Tears were welling again in her eyes. There wasn’t even a hint of hesitation in her voice, not the slightest doubt.

He gave her a sober nod. “Would you work for the gods, in exchange for her life?” he asked.

The gods? She didn’t answer right away, because she didn’t believe in such things. Because it was nonsense.

“What does that mean?” she said.

He bent down to her eye level. “You are asking me to interrupt the natural order of life and death. In exchange, you are offering me your own soul to save hers. This is the only way I can affect her, the only way the universe can stay in balance. To receive a gift, you must offer a sacrifice. In doing so, you are asking for your souls to be bound together, that her dying one be anchored to the living entity within you.”

This couldn’t be real. He had to be a hallucination.

“I don’t believe in the impossible,” she said.

His eyes were grave and searing. “You offer yourself to the gods, giving me your mortal capacity. In exchange, this moment will be undone, and your friend’s life will be returned to her. Should you fail at your new commitment to the gods, she dies. Should you die, she dies.”

Should you die, she dies.

She stared at him, stricken, unsure what to do or believe. This had to be a dream.