Gretchen McNeil - 3:59

“She should be.” Nick inched his body toward her. “And what about Jo? Why doesn’t she want to come back?”

“Jo’s got her sights set on . . .” Josie stopped. She almost said, “. . . on my ex-boyfriend.” But she hadn’t told this Nick about his doppelgänger in her world, and her relationship with him. Nick gazed at her as he lay on his side next to her, his face so close to her own she could feel his breath against her cheek. She couldn’t tell him. Not now.

“Got her sights set on what?”

“Nothing.” Josie quickly changed the subject. “What I don’t understand is why.”

Nick tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

She propped herself up on one arm. “I mean, why risk opening the portal? Why risk the exchange? For an injectable they have no use for? It doesn’t make sense.”

Nick pushed himself up on one elbow so his face was even with hers once more. “You’re right. If there aren’t Nox in your world, the antidote is useless.”

“Right,” Josie said. “And there aren’t any . . .”

Her voice trailed off. She remembered something, a glimpse of a wing outside her kitchen window, something moving in the darkness, and a far-off scream that sounded like metal grating against a chalkboard. She’d passed it off as an eagle or an owl at the time, but now after what she’d seen of the Nox, the horrible realization dawned on her.

“Oh no,” Josie said, flopping back onto her pillow. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Hardly,” Nick said with a short laugh. “You’re like the smartest person I’ve ever met.”

Normally the compliment would have made Josie all goo-goo, but the mysterious deaths that had plagued her hometown suddenly all made sense. She’d been so stupid not to see it before.

“Dr. Byrne wants the vial,” she said, her mouth suddenly dry, “because there are Nox in my universe.”

“Wait,” Nick said. “I thought you said there weren’t any?”

“There weren’t ,” she said. “Were not. As in past tense.” She gave Nick a rough sketch of the dead bodies that had been turning up in the woods outside of town. Victims of animal attacks, partially eaten, always killed at night.

“It’s the Nox,” Nick said. “No doubt about it. But how?”

Josie shook her head. “The same way the vial got here?”

“Hm.” Nick scooted closer to her on the bed. “Well, if it’s just one, you probably don’t need to worry much. Then it can’t breed. But if there’s more than one, it could be catastrophic.”

“The deaths have been getting more frequent,” Josie said, remembering what Jo said in the last dream. “It went from sixteen in six months to like six in a week.”

Nick lowered himself to the bed again, resting his head on her pillow. “Then that’s exactly why Dr. Byrne wants the formula. If the Nox are breeding, she’d be the only person who knows how to get rid of them.”

“And in my world I bet that would be worth a hell of a lot more than two hundred million.”

“Yeah,” Nick said softly.

Josie rolled over to face him. Nick was so close to her, lying there on her bed. He stared directly into her eyes and smiled, so sweet and adorable. She wanted to sink into his arms. Screw the antidote. Screw the Nox. She could stay here, with Nick, forever. No one would know. She leaned her body closer to his, and closed her eyes.

A knock on the door sent Josie and Nick scrambling to different sides of the bed. “Princess?” Mr. Byrne asked. “Are you in there?”

Nick stood by the window while Josie grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest so Mr. Byrne couldn’t see her blushing. “Yes, Daddy.”

The door swung open and the smiling, good-natured face of Mr. Byrne sauntered into the room. “Nicholas!” He walked right up to Nick and shook his hand. “It’s good to see you again.” Mr. Byrne glanced around the room, looking for something. “Were you two studying?”

“No, sir,” Nick said. “I just drove Jos . . .” He swallowed. “I just drove Jo back from Old St. Mary’s.”

“Ah, I see.” He smiled at Josie, sad and understanding. “Well, I’m glad my Josephine had a friend with her today. How was she?”

“Better,” Josie said enthusiastically. “It’s kind of amazing, actually.”

Mr. Byrne nodded. “Well, in that case, I’m sure I’ll have an easier time convincing Dr. Cho to let her come home.”

Josie’s face lit up. “Really?”

“I have a conference call with her doctors set up for tomorrow.” He winked at Nick. “At least my position is good for something, eh?”

“That’s fantastic news, Mr. Byrne.”

“Speaking of jobs,” Mr. Byrne said. “Nicholas, how was your tour of the Grid?”

Nick shuffled his feet. “Excellent. Very, um”—he cast a quick glance at Josie—“enlightening.”

Mr. Byrne patted Nick on the back. “Good to hear. Care to stay for dinner?”

“No, thank you. My mom’s expecting me.” Nick pulled his car keys from his pocket as if ready to go.

“I see. Well, give my love to your parents, and I hope”—he cast a knowing glance Josie’s way—“we get to see more of you.”

Josie could have died from embarrassment, made no less horrific by the fact that Mr. Byrne wasn’t actually her father.

“Yes, sir,” Nick said. “Thank you, sir.” He paused next to Josie as he passed by. “See you at school tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“Good night, Josephine.”

She didn’t even mind her full name.

3:59 A.M.

“We should go back for it then,” Jo says. “If it’s that important.”

“I can’t go back.” Her mom sits on the sofa, her head cradled in her hands. “They’ll know I have it.”

“Had it.”

“Same thing.”

“No, we have to assume no one has found it, and leave it at that.”

“But what if—”

“Don’t say it.” Her mom holds up her hand for silence.

Jo pauses, mustering her courage. Her mom is not going to like this. “What if I told you,” she begins, “that someone’s taking care of it?”

Her mom’s head snaps up, her eyes enormous, wild. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I have someone looking for it. Someone we can trust.”

Her mom launches to her feet and grabs Jo by the shoulders. “What have you done?”

Jo forces a laugh. “It’s fine. We can trust her.”

“We can’t trust anyone,” her mom whispers.

12:35 P.M.

JOSIE WAS JUST SITTING DOWN AT HER SOLO lunch table when she got the text from Penelope.

Meet me in the lab. Stat.

She didn’t need to be told twice.

Penelope bounced excitedly on her stool as Josie rushed into the classroom.

“Well?” Josie asked.

“I was there all night,” Penelope started. She spoke in quick, disjointed phrases, the hallmark of caffeine-fueled sleep deprivation. “At the warehouse. Set up the laser and did some modifications. Nothing big.”

“You modified a free-electron laser?” She knew Penelope was a wiz, but this bordered on genius.

“Yeah, yeah,” Penelope said. “It’s just commercial grade. No biggie. I couldn’t figure out, you know, how the laser and the contents of the vial were going to work to create a portal. I thought maybe a rapid cycling of photons might disrupt the gravitational field, but realized that the laser would have to be like a bazillion times stronger.”

“Crap.”

“Wait,” Penelope said dramatically. “My cousin works at Goddard. For NASA.”

Josie snorted. “Figures.” Between Goddard and Fort Meade, suburban Maryland in either universe was packed with scientists.