Gretchen McNeil - 3:59

“She has access to an X-FEL,” Penelope continued with a smile. “I don’t think we can take it to your house, but maybe I can figure out how to control the beam so we don’t get another boom .” She made the same explosion gesture with her hands.

“Let’s stay away from the boom s, okay?” Josie’d had enough explosions to last a lifetime.

“Right.” Penelope laughed. “If I can figure out how to control the beam, maybe we can just move the mirror to the lab, and try to open another portal to send you home.”

“Awesome,” Josie said.

“And there’s something else,” Penelope said. She scratched her cheek.

“Yeah?”

“You know that injectable you found? The one that’s supposed to suck the Nox into a black hole?”

Josie nodded.

“Any idea how it works? I mean, it seems to me that the Nox would actually have to be inoculated with the formula first. In order for it to work.”

Again, Josie nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Which seems kind of difficult, considering we can’t actually catch them.”

Josie hadn’t really thought about it before, but Penelope was absolutely right. “So the formula is actually useless?”

Penelope shook her head. “Not necessarily. But I was thinking, since I’m already messing around with cycling the laser blasts, there might be a way to create the same effect with the micro black holes without actually having to inoculate the Nox.”

“Crop-dusting the Nox with the formula and then cycling the beams like scattershot. You could literally eradicate hundreds at a time.” Josie’s eyes grew wide. “Penelope, that would be unbelievable.”

Penelope shrugged. “We’ll see if I can make it work.”

“When can you go?”

“I’m bailing on fourth period and driving up to Greenbelt to check it out. Hopefully we can aim for tomorrow night.”

Josie placed her hand on Penelope’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she said. “Without you I’d be stuck here.”

Penelope shrugged. “It’s nothing.”

“Well, in this universe or any other, I officially owe you a favor.”

Penelope turned bright red and started gathering up her things. “I’ve got to get out of here. You and Nick will meet me tonight? At the usual place?”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

7:15 P.M.

Nick was right on time to pick her up. Just like she’d asked.

“Nicholas!” Mr. Byrne exclaimed as he opened the front door. He’d been two seconds ahead of Josie when the doorbell rang. “Good to see you again so soon.”

Nick took the hand Jo’s dad offered and shook it warmly. “Mr. Byrne.”

“You’re here to pick up Josephine?” There was a playful quality to his voice.

“Yes, sir. We have a school project we need to work on.”

“Somewhere well lit, I hope?”

“Of course, sir. We’ll be at a friend’s house, and my car is equipped with dual-mounted megawatt LEDs on the roof.”

Mr. Byrne stepped aside. “Very well, son. Very well. Take care of my princess for me.” He bent down and kissed the top of Josie’s head.

“Thanks, Daddy,” she said as she followed Nick out to his car.

The sun was barely hanging above the horizon as Nick backed his SUV out of the driveway. “Thanks, Daddy,” he mocked in a high falsetto. “You’ve really got this Jo routine down.”

Josie rolled her eyes. “I have to. Poor guy’s been through enough, don’t you think? Last thing he needs is to know his daughter is hiding out in a parallel universe with his estranged wife.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Josie shifted in the passenger seat to face him. “You guess?”

Nick shrugged. “His job is closely linked to the Grid, you know. I mean, in theory, he’s one of them.”

“Yeah, okay, Madison.”

“Hey!” Nick said, hitting the brakes a bit too fiercely as he approached a stop sign. Josie whipped forward as the seat belt tightened across her chest.

“Be careful!” Josie snapped.

“Madison’s heart’s in the right place, okay? She may be a bit abrasive—”

“That’s the understatement of the century.”

Nick sat at the stop sign. “Yeah, but it doesn’t mean she’s wrong.”

Josie pursed her lips. For some irrational reason, she was ticked off by the way Nick defended Madison. “Your girlfriend’s been nothing but a bitch since I got here, so excuse me if I don’t jump on the ‘rah-rah, Madison’ bandwagon, okay?”

Nick gritted his teeth. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“I don’t know,” Josie said, attempting to sound as flippant and disaffected as possible. “You two seem pretty simpatico.”

Nick turned his eyes back to the road and continued the drive. “We dated. Briefly.”

“I knew it,” Josie said under her breath.

“Look,” Nick said sharply. “We went on a few dates last year, but Madison’s . . . intense. About everything. It didn’t work out.” He paused, then shook his head. “And she was never my girlfriend, okay?”

“Whatever.”

“What do you care anyway? It’s not like you’re sticking around. As soon as we find a way to get you home, you’re out of here. Right?”

That was the reality. Ever since she’d tried to get back through the mirror and found a concrete wall in her path, Josie had been singularly focused: find a way home. This wasn’t her world. This wasn’t her life. And yet for some reason the idea of leaving here—of leaving him —made Josie instantly sick to her stomach.

Nick stopped at a light and turned to her. “Right?” he repeated.

His face was drawn, taut like a boxer anticipating a blow to the face. Josie wanted to grab him, to hold on for dear life and never, ever let go.

She’d come here hoping for one day in a perfect life, one day to make amends. A happy family and loving boyfriend, a school full of friends. She’d known it would all be an illusion and a lie, but she hadn’t cared. For one day, everything would be perfect.

Then everything had gone wrong.

But as she sat in the car gazing into Nick’s eyes, she realized that something had happened to her. Nick Fiorino, the great love of her life. Except this wasn’t Nick. Not really. He was a completely different person. Smart, brave, considerate. He took care of his friends, was trying to help save the people they loved. Unselfishly, since he knew his brother was already dead. Even Josie, someone he’d just met. He’d gone out of his way to help her. He’d been the one person she could trust, and the idea of leaving this Nick made her physically ill.

She wanted to tell him. All about her Nick and Madison and how they’d betrayed her, about how she’d come to his world for a fantasy, and about how somewhere along the way he’d become more important to her than she could have predicted.

She wanted to tell him everything.

But she couldn’t.

“Right,” she said, dropping her eyes.

Nick slowly turned back to the road. “That’s what I thought.”

7:41 P.M.

The sun had completely dipped below the horizon by the time Nick pulled his SUV into the warehouse. It was dark and empty.

The only light was from the floods on the top of Nick’s car. He cut the engine, and Josie strained her ears, listening for the telltale flapping and shrieking of the Nox.

It felt strange to be in the near-darkness as Josie slipped out of the car. Nick had pulled a giant flashlight from the backseat of his car and walked off, presumably to fire up the generator, but as Josie stood there beside the car, she had the distinct feeling that she wasn’t alone. She could have sworn she heard a shuffling noise like someone darting around in the dark recesses of the abandoned space, and her eyes must have been playing tricks on her. She thought she saw something move. A shadow in the blackness, darker than the dark, if that was even possible.