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Holly spoke her last. 'Artemis,' she said. 'Artemis, help me.'
Artemis glanced at her. Once. Briefly. He shouldn't have. The sight of his friend dying almost threw off his count. And right now, the count was the most important thing.
Holly died without a friend to hold her hand. Artemis felt her go – another gift of the magic. He kept on counting, brushing away the tears on his cheeks.
Keep counting. That's all that matters.
Artemis rose, walking swiftly to his fallen friend. Abbot saw him go. He pointed the sword in Artemis's direction.
'You're next, Mud Boy. First the warlocks, then you. Once you are gone, things will return to how they were.'
Artemis ignored him, nodding along with the count in his head, making sure not to rush. The count must be accurate or all was lost.
Abbot elbowed his way between Qwan and No.l. They were so focused that they barely realized that he was there. With two strokes of his 
cursed sword, the job was done. No.l fell backwards, blue magic trailing from his fingers. Qwan did not fall, because the tip of Abbot's sword was keeping him upright.
Artemis did not look into Holly's eyes. He could not. Instead he pried the handgun from her hand and pointed it away from him.
Be careful now. Timing is everything.
Abbot yanked his sword from Qwan's chest, and the small body slumped lifelessly to the ground. Three dead in less time than it would take to tie a shoelace.
Artemis ignored the last breaths and the rhythmic crunching of ash that told him Abbot was coming. Not that the demon was trying to hide it.
'I'm back here, human. Why don't you see if you can turn round in time.'
Artemis searched the volcano floor around Holly for footprints. There were many, but only two side by side, where Abbot had stood as he 
struck. All the while, he counted, remembering his own calculations. An hour per second for a count of forty, followed by a deceleration to thirty minutes per second for a count of eighteen, then a slight jump backwards in time, one minute per second back for a count of two. Then it repeats.
'Maybe I'll keep you,' chuckled Abbot, prodding Artemis's back with his sword. 'It'd be nice to have a pet human around. I could teach you tricks.'
'I have a trick for you,' said Artemis, and he fired a single blast from the gun.
The blast exited the barrel, and then was whipped one minute into the past, just as Artemis had calculated it would be. It faded from the present and emerged just in time to strike the ghostly image of Abbot as he drew back his sword to thrust it into Holly.
The Abbot of one minute ago was lifted and tossed against the crater wall.
The present-time Abbot had barely time to say, 'What happened?' before he winked out of existence, no longer flesh, merely unrealized 
possibility.
'You didn't kill my friends,' replied Artemis, though he was talking to himself. 'That never happened.'
Artemis glanced down nervously. Holly was no longer there. Thank God.
Another quick glance told him that Qwan and No.l were back building their magic circle, as if nothing had happened.
Of course not. Nothing did happen.

The Lost Colony, Chapter 15