Gretchen McNeil - 3:59

But she couldn’t. She could, however, tell this man the same thing. Maybe he could help get his daughter and wife back, and send Josie and her mom home?

On the other hand, telling Mr. Byrne that she had been pretending to be his daughter might totally backfire. Would he freak out? Have her arrested? Or maybe think that the insanity her mom suffered from was spreading to his daughter? And how much more painful might it be for him if Josie and her mom were stuck there for good? Was it worth mentioning he might never see his wife and daughter again?

No. She couldn’t risk it. As much as she wanted to trust Mr. Byrne, it was for his own good that she kept him in the dark as long as possible.

“I need to see her,” Josie said simply. “Can I go after school today?”

Mr. Byrne smiled warmly. “Of course. I’ll arrange it with the hospital. Do you want me to come with you?”

“No,” she said quickly. The last thing she needed was for Mr. Byrne to witness this mother-daughter reunion.

“I understand.” He reached out and laid his hand over hers. “I’m so glad you reconsidered. I think she’d really like to see you. I hope . . . ” His voice trailed off and he swallowed, trying to maintain his composure. “I hope she recognizes you.”

Josie did too.

12:56 P.M.

“There you are,” Josie said, descending upon Penelope in the science lab. “I need to talk to you.”

Penelope jolted at the sight of Josie and launched the apple she was eating three feet in the air. It soared over Mr. Baines’s desk and splatted onto the floor.

“Sorry,” Josie said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I’m okay,” Penelope said. Her voice shook ever so slightly. “W-what do you want?”

Josie looked around the abandoned science lab. It had taken her twenty minutes to find Penelope’s lunch spot. She’d combed the cafeteria and all the hallways, and only started checking classrooms as a last resort. “Why are you eating in here all by yourself?”

Penelope shrugged. “It’s better than eating in the cafeteria all by myself.”

“Good point.” One Josie had learned only too well.

Penelope picked at one of her cuticles and refused to look Josie in the eye. “So, um, what do you want?”

Josie pulled out the stool opposite Penelope and sat down. “Look, I know you don’t trust me.”

Penelope opened her mouth as if to protest, then snapped it shut again. Apparently, it was too valid a point to argue.

“I know you don’t trust me,” Josie repeated for emphasis. “Or like me very much, for that matter. But I need your help.”

“I’m only good at science and math,” Penelope said. “If you need someone to do your homework in anything else you’re asking the wrong girl.”

“I don’t need help in science or math,” Josie said with a dry laugh.

Penelope’s dark eyes flashed toward Josie just for an instant before resting on the table again.

“But I do need your help,” Josie continued.

“Fuck you,” Penelope said. Her voice was breathy and hoarse, and barely above a whisper.

Josie wasn’t sure what she expected by way of a reaction from Penelope. Curiosity? Interest? Friendship? She didn’t know. But not that.

“Huh?”

Penelope raised her eyes slowly, deliberately. “I said, ‘Fuck you.’”

“I’m not playing, Pen,” she said, using the nickname for her old friend. “I really need your help.”

“Don’t call me that,” Penelope said. She wasn’t whispering anymore. “We are not friends and I don’t care what you do to me; I’m not helping you.” Penelope snatched her bag off the ground and started for the door so quickly Josie barely had time to react.

Thankfully Josie was closer to the door. She headed Penelope off and wedged herself in front of the only exit. “Please, just hear me out.”

“What do you want from me?” Penelope’s voice cracked. “Are you going to threaten to cut our access to the Grid since my dad lost his job? Fine. Do it. I’d rather be eaten alive by the Nox than have to be your bitch for one more day.” Her eyes welled up with tears.

“Jo did that?” Josie said.

“ You did that,” Penelope corrected. She pulled the sleeve of her sweatshirt across her cheeks.

“I’m not Jo.”

She had already resolved to tell Penelope exactly what was going on, but she was hoping to do it at the warehouse or in front of the mirror right at one minute to four to prove to Penelope that she was telling the truth. But Penelope’s violent reaction meant she’d have to play it from the hip.

“Have you lost your mind?” Penelope said.

Josie slowed shook her head. “I can’t explain it now, but Jo and I sort of switched places.”

“Twins?” Penelope sounded dubious.

“Um, kinda.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know.” The warning bell rang. Any minute the room would start filling up for fourth-period physics. Josie needed to hurry it up. “Look, I can’t explain it here, but I’m not Jo Byrne. You remember physics the other day, right? Did I sound like Jo?”

Penelope’s eyes were still red and puffy, but she’d stopped crying. “Yeah, no. You don’t know anything about physics.”

“ Jo doesn’t know anything about physics,” Josie corrected her.

“Riiiiiight,” Penelope said slowly, like she was placating a crazy person.

“And I know you don’t trust her, or me, for that matter, but you know Nick Fiorino, right?”

Penelope nodded.

“Well, he trusts me.”

Penelope laughed. “Yeah, right.”

“Ask him. After school. Find him and ask him.”

Penelope shrugged. “Whatever.” Not exactly a confident reassurance she was going to do what Josie asked.

“Pen,” Josie said, grabbing Penelope’s arm. “Please. Just ask him, okay?”

Penelope tilted her head. Her eye drifted down to Josie’s hand, which gently gripped her arm, then back up to Josie’s face.

“Fine,” she said at last, just as the door opened and students poured into the room. “I’ll ask him. But don’t count on my help, okay?”

“Okay.” Josie let go of her arm. “Thank you.”

Now it was up to Nick.

2:50 P.M.

JOSIE HAD A HARD TIME KEEPING JO’S BMW AT the speed limit as she raced down Route 50 to Annapolis. She’d managed to keep her mind occupied for most of the school day, focusing on boring classroom lectures and trying not to let her mind wander to inappropriate thoughts of Nick. He’d sought her out after school, just to make sure she was okay and knew how to get to the hospital and hadn’t changed her mind about having some company on the trip because he could still bail on track practice and come with her. . . .

Josie sighed as she eased up on the accelerator and signaled for the off-ramp. She couldn’t allow herself to have these feelings for Nick. No way. She had to stay focused on her mom and finding a way to get them home. Besides, it wasn’t like Nick was going to come back with her. Once she created another portal, she and Nick would never see each other again. She had to remember that.

Had to.

Thoughts of Nick vanished the moment Josie turned her car into the parking lot for Old St. Mary’s Hospital. A military facility housed in an old naval hospital outside Annapolis, it was a typical mid-Atlantic façade of brick and white columns, with parallel wings stretching out from either side. Three stories of barred windows gazed out onto the parking lot, thin slits in the moldering brick walls that looked more like the ramparts of a castle than a hospital.

Josie could almost feel the despair radiating from the hospital. Aside from a half dozen cars in the parking lot and a new wheelchair ramp added to the stone steps at the entrance, the building looked abandoned. She’d pictured it as more of a bustling hospital, doctors and orderlies rushing around, an ambulance parked out front. Instead, the only movement was the rippling of leaves from the large elms that flanked the south side of the building.