Gretchen McNeil - 3:59

“So do you have the vial or not?” Jo tried to sound harsh, but there was a tremor in her voice, and she shifted her weight back and forth between her feet. Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five.

Josie flashed a view of the vial in her hand, then clenched it firmly behind her back.

Jo’s hand shot forward. “Give it to me.”

“You said I could come home,” Josie said, taking a step back. Her hand grazed the heavy, viscous surface of the portal.

Jo held up her hands. “No!” she squeaked. She glanced to her left, took a slow breath, and regained her usual composure. “I mean, not now.”

Not exactly a surprise answer. “Why not?” Thirty-three, thirty-four.

Jo’s eyes shifted to her left again. “Because . . .”

“Because we can’t allow it.” Josie knew that voice, only the version of it that she knew was more like a jingly domed bell, while this voice was harsh and staccato and lacking anything even remotely considered hospitable. Dr. Byrne stepped into the room from the hallway. She held a gun clasped tightly in her left hand, only it wasn’t pointed at Josie but off to the side. With a violent yank, Dr. Byrne pulled someone into Josie’s view. The straight, black hair. The watery dark eyes.

Penelope.

Josie clenched the vial even tighter. “What is she doing here?”

Penelope gasped. “Josie?” she said. Her eyes flitted back and forth between Josie and her doppelgänger. Josie could pinpoint the exact moment Penelope realized she wasn’t in Kansas anymore. “Wait, which of you is Josie?”

“It’s me, Pen,” Josie said.

“But . . .”

“I know.” Josie’s voice choked off. She’d lost Penelope once and to have her here, in danger again—it was too much. Josie swallowed hard, forcing the emotion back into the pit of her stomach. She had to focus, now more than ever. Penelope’s life depended on it. Thirty-nine, forty.

Penelope stared at the mirror, taking in all the details of Jo’s room. She turned and took a quick look at Josie’s bedroom, then back to the mirror. “Wow,” she breathed.

“Enough,” Dr. Byrne said, tugging at Penelope’s arm. The gun wavered. “Give me the vial,” Dr. Byrne said coldly. “And I’ll let her go.”

A new plan began to take shape in Josie’s mind. A laser, right there in her house. Penelope would know how to use it, if only Josie could get her out of there. She could get Josie’s dad, explain what she saw. Together, maybe they could force Dr. Byrne and Jo to switch back. . . .

“You can’t come home,” Jo said, in that soothing you-can-trust-me voice that had at one time been so seductive. “Okay? We can’t both be here. Someone will find out the truth. But I can give you something else.”

“Josephine, hurry.”

Forty-seven, forty-eight. Josie shrugged. “Like what?”

“Nick. We can exchange them.”

Josie practically laughed out loud. The idea of exchanging her old boyfriend for the Nick she’d grown to care for was ludicrous. “Not a chance.”

Jo tilted her head to the side, her expertly waxed brows drawn together. She must have thought the idea of delivering Nick would have Josie salivating, and Josie’s lukewarm reaction threw her for a loop. Her pinched face reflected confusion, but her eyes reflected something else. Something more like suspicion. “Why is that funny?”

Fifty-three, fifty-four, fifty-five.

The five-second countdown. Time to act.

Josie tossed her head. “I’ll give it”—she nodded at Penelope—“to her.”

“Fine.” Dr. Byrne shoved Penelope. She stumbled forward, unable to take her eyes off Josie. Jo crept up behind her and stood at her elbow almost as sentry.

Josie caught sight of the mirror just as the image began to blur. Time was up.

She spun around and threw her arms around Penelope, enveloping her in a massive bear hug. “Tell my dad,” Josie whispered directly into Penelope’s ear. “She’s not my mom. You’ve got to get the mirror free at exactly three fifty-nine p.m.”

Penelope stiffened, unused to the physical contact. “Huh?”

Fifty-nine, sixty.

“Do it,” Josie hissed.

“O-okay.”

“Run,” she whispered. “Now.”

4:00 A.M.

WITHOUT ANOTHER WORD, JOSIE BROKE HER embrace and tossed the vial toward Dr. Byrne, who lunged for it, dropping her aim momentarily. Josie had timed it perfectly. Just as the image muddied, she gripped Jo’s arm as tightly as she could, then with all of her strength, she yanked Jo toward the mirror.

Jo was caught off guard, focused on her mom’s attempt to catch the vial. She lost her balance, stumbled forward, and tripped on the bottom edge of the mirror. Josie gave one final heave, and Jo careened with her through the mirror.

She landed on top of Josie, momentarily knocking the breath out of her. Josie rolled onto her side and just caught sight of the distorted image of Penelope dashing out the bedroom door before the mirror only reflected Josie and Jo.

Finally, something had gone right. Josie prayed that Penelope made it out of the house safely, and that Josie’s dad would listen to the bizarre story she told him with an open, objective state of mind.

“What did you do?” Jo screamed. She sounded winded, taking labored breaths between each word. “What the hell did you do?”

Josie pulled herself up on the side of the bed; her legs were wobbly and weak. But with one look at Jo, she felt a shot of adrenaline racing through her. She reared back her arm and slapped Jo across the face.

“Me?” Josie roared. “What the hell have I done?”

Josie braced herself, prepared for Jo to lunge at her. Instead, Jo collapsed onto the floor and dissolved into tears.

Okay. Josie wasn’t expecting that.

“Why are you crying?”

Jo didn’t answer, just continued to sob.

Josie was torn between incredulity and offense. Shouldn’t she be the one crying? Wasn’t she the one who had been lied to, manipulated, and stranded in another world?

“Stop it,” Josie said, more harshly than she realized. “This is all your fault.”

“I know,” Jo wailed. “I know it is.”

Dammit. She’s not supposed to admit to being wrong. How was Josie supposed to continue to hate her if she admitted this was all her fault?

“Calm down.” Josie grabbed a wad of tissues from the dresser and shoved them in Jo’s face. “Here.”

Jo stopped wailing and took the tissues, dabbing gingerly at her eyes while she tried to control her sobs. “What,” she started, “what are you going to do with me?”

“Do with you?” Josie had no idea what she was talking about. “I needed you as a hostage.”

Jo’s eyes grew wide and her bottom lip trembled. Shit, wrong choice of words, Josie.

“Not like that,” Josie said quickly. “More like collateral. I needed to make sure I had a way home.”

Jo shook her head. “It’s no use. She won’t go.”

“Your mom?”

Jo nodded. “Not after what happened.”

“Look, I don’t care where you guys end up. Your mom sabotaged an experiment and tried to sell state secrets to the Grid? Whatever. Don’t care. As long as my mom and I get to go home.” The idea had never occurred to her that Jo and Josie, Dr. Byrne and Josie’s mom could all stay in the same world at the same time. It would be weird, but whatever. “So your mom doesn’t have to go back if she doesn’t want to, okay?”

“She doesn’t?”

“I don’t see why not.” Another idea flashed in her mind. If Jo and Dr. Byrne could stay in her world, why not Nick?

“We just have to make sure everyone is safe.” Josie slipped the real vial out of her pocket. “I’ve got the injectable, so that’s something to bargain with.”