"None taken," Tom grinned.A bunch of other students had filed into the stands. Most of them knew Marie, and were busy greeting her. They knew who Kris...in was, but didn't really know her. Kristin looked around and felt a little lost."Relax," Tom said, squeezing her hand. She smiled gratefully at him.Just then Allison Ventrie showed up. She was Marie's other best friend, but she got on Kristin's nerves. "Hey, Marie," she said. Then she looked over. "Kristin Kelleher? You actually came out of your. We continued on until we came to another creek. She was really tired and I was feeling it, too. There was a grassy area and we lay down on it resting.After a while, I sat up stretching. She sat up and stretched also. I thumped my chest, though not hard, and said, “Josh. Me, Josh. You?” I pointed at her.She didn’t thump but pointed a slender finger at her rather healthy chest and said, “Elena.” She pointed at me and said, “Josh.”I nodded and pointed at her and said, “Elena.” We now had names and. The effects of changing the past, or the way our future is headed, can be devastating. In effect, it would be similar to initiating the cycles again. The cycles were essentially a similar process, set to continue automatically until the desired result was achieved. The alternate choice at that time was the death of our species, so it was an easy choice. It is seldom a good solution. It's a moot point, however, because we currently lack the knowledge or crystal strength to manipulate our world. That was my decision. it was firm and I was committed to it and content with it. I just didn’t take into account a few small details. CHAPTER FIVE The ride up and down the mountain was exciting, beautiful and uneventful. The mares started up the hill with a lot of steam but that was soon burned off and the trip was a gorgeous ride to the high country. Kristen and I rode side by side exchanging small talk. She talked about her latest ropin’ practice and an upcoming event in Steamboat.