Gretchen McNeil - 3:59

Nick shook his head. “He’s just a liaison for the government, Mads. You know that. Mr. Byrne’s pretty harmless, despite what Jo leads people to believe.”

“Don’t care.” Jackson’s knuckles flexed over the gun handle. “You shouldn’t have brought her here without giving us a heads-up.”

Nick put his hand on Jackson’s arm. “Chill. You’re going to have to trust me on this one. She’s not Jo Byrne.”

Jackson’s eyes never left Josie’s face. “You, I trust. Her? Not so much.”

“Just listen,” Nick said. He nodded at Josie and smiled, all sign of strain or tension gone from his face. “Go ahead. Tell them exactly what you told me.”

Josie felt the weight of four people staring daggers at her. Meanwhile Nick was still all smiles. Sure, he’d believed her story because he was there to see the mirror do its thing. But these people? She glanced at Madison, whose body was so rigid and tense she looked like a cheetah about to take down a gazelle. Jackson’s eyebrows brooded low on his dark face, angry, intense. The twins stood behind her, shoulder-to-shoulder like an impenetrable wall.

They hated her, all of them. Well, hated Jo. And she doubted whether any of them would buy what she was selling. Still, at this point, she didn’t have much of a choice. Nothing left to do but tell the truth.

It came out with surprising ease. Nick’s beaming smile helped. She kept her eyes focused on his and he gave her the occasional nod and wink as she got to the really crazy parts. The train, the dreams, the mirror—it all flowed out of her like a faucet turned on full blast. And when it was done, she realized that the mood in the warehouse had changed.

“Tell them what time it was,” Nick said coolly when she was done.

“Three fifty-nine.”

Zeb and Zeke exchanged a glance, and Jackson’s jaw dropped. “Really?” he said.

Madison threw up her hands. “I can’t believe you guys are taking her seriously.”

“It happened a week ago yesterday. On the fifteenth. Six months to the day. Hell, to the second!” Nick strolled over to the large dry-erase board and flipped it over to the opposite side. It was a time line of some sort, with arrows and circles connecting a series of photos that had been stuck around it. He jabbed his finger at a point on the timeline and smiled. “And there was a huge shipment that day. On the afternoon train from Andrews. Now, it could be a coincidence, but I can’t help but think the two things are related.”

Josie was confused. “A huge shipment of what?”

“Ultradense deuterium,” Nick said.

Josie caught her breath. “Oh my God. My mom got a shipment of ultradense deuterium on the fifteenth. On the same train that stopped me at the tracks. It can’t be a coincidence.” Josie’s mind raced. “Same shipment, same train, same time. If there was an anomaly of some kind, that could have been enough to create the portal between our dimensions.”

Nick turned sharply. “What kind of anomaly?”

“Not sure.” Josie shrugged. “A previous weakness in the curvature of space? Or something violent enough to create one, like a massive, subatomic explosion.”

“Goddammit!” Madison whirled on Nick. “I can’t believe you fell for her bullshit. Nick, she’s conning you. ‘A massive, subatomic explosion,’” Madison mocked. “She’s been after you for years and she’ll do anything to get your attention.”

“Mads, she took the trail through the woods. After sunset. She barely survived a Nox attack. No one who knows what they are would risk it.”

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Madison said coldly.

“She could have known you were following her,” Zeb said.

“Did it for attention,” Zeke added.

The idea that someone would willingly subject themselves to a Nox attack just to get the attention of a boy—even if that boy was Nick Fiorino—was so ludicrous, Josie laughed out loud.

Madison whirled on her. “You think this is funny?”

Josie pushed up the sleeves of her sweater, exposing her heavily bandaged arms. “Yeah, these are so funny.”

“Too bad they didn’t attack your face.” Madison turned around and walked toward a sofa.

Josie wasn’t sure if it was her entrenched hatred for the Madison who had betrayed her, or whether this Madison was just grating on her nerves, but something snapped.

“Hey,” she said, spinning Madison around by the arm. “I don’t know how to explain what happened to me or how I got here, but it happened. I don’t particularly like being stuck here with you any more than you like me invading your little clubhouse. But it’s done. Deal.”

“Time out,” Nick said, stepping between them. His voice was calm. “Everybody play nice.”

Josie folded her arms across her chest. “I will if she will.”

Madison stepped right up in Nick’s face. “It’s her mom’s fault your brother is dead.”

Josie gasped. Tony was dead?

“It’s Tony’s fault too,” Nick said through clenched teeth.

Madison shook her head. “He wasn’t the one operating the X-FEL. It’s because of that woman locked away in that loony bin in Annapolis that Tony’s dead. ZZ’s aunt and uncle. Jackson’s dad. My dad. All dead because of her .”

“Wait,” Josie said, turning to Nick. “A loony bin?”

“They’re not dead,” Jackson said through gritted teeth. “They’re missing.”

Madison swung around on him. “What, do you think a micro black hole swallowed them up? Our parents are dead, Jax, and if they’re not they will be before we can get to them. You really think whoever has them will just let them go?”

“I . . . ,” Jackson started. Clearly he had no answer.

“All we can hope for is answers. Answers that she”—Madison jabbed her thumb in Josie’s direction—“might have.”

“Nick, Dr. Byrne’s in a loony bin?”

Nick held up his hand, signaling for Josie to wait. Madison turned her back on them and stood panting, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest. Josie was trying to process all the information she’d just heard—ultradense deuterium, micro black holes, Tony was dead, and everyone else was missing family members—and Dr. Byrne wasn’t traveling for work or on vacation. She was in an asylum. One more thing Jo didn’t tell her.

Nick laid a hand gently on Madison’s shoulder. “Mads, calm down.”

Josie’s stomach clenched. The way Nick touched her, the way his hands lightly grazed the skin of Madison’s bare arms, the softness in his voice. Josie recognized it right away. They’d been intimate, maybe still were. No wonder Madison hated Jo: she was in love with Nick too.

Madison sunk her head to her chest but didn’t say anything as Nick continued. “I know this doesn’t make any logical sense, but I saw the mirror with my own eyes. I saw it morph away at exactly three fifty-nine. Three fifty-nine,” he added for emphasis. “Is that a coincidence? I felt the concrete wall with my own hands, and then . . . I felt something close in on me as the portal closed. I don’t know how to explain it, but Josie’s telling the truth.”

“Don’t defend her!” Madison erupted. “How many more people are going to disappear because of her family, huh? I’m done with this.” She walked to the corner where the generator hummed away. Over the dull noise, Josie could just make out a sob.

Silence fell. Jackson still held the gun, but it hung limply in his hand, forgotten, as his eyes followed Madison to the corner of the room. The twins wandered back to a sofa and sat stiffly side by side. Nick shoved his hands deep into his pockets and stared at the floor, kicking at something in the dusty concrete with the toe of his boot. And Josie just stood rooted in place.