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I would’ve known that even if Mom and Dad hadn’t already told me "Wouldn’t you want your child back? But it’s impossible Josie splintered into too many pieces My parents know there’s no way they can ever re-create her again"

"There’s one way," Paul says "One thing they can do to every dimension Josie ever visited, to make sure each splinter of her consciousness returns holance at each other; he’s as bewildered as I am This outstrips any of our research at home I ask Paul, "What do they have to do to all those diently, as if he could soften what he says next "Destroy the face-to-face with versions of ave me the directions to find them This apartment must be what counts as luxury in this dimension, but to me it looks bare and soulless: no houseplants, no chalkboard wall scribbled with equations, no piles of books I could almost believe my parents had chosen to live in a hotel room instead of a family home--it’s that impersonal and cold

"You tried to find your version of Theodore Beck, didn’t you?" Mo to hold it back for a Reasonable Discussion "Below is dangerous, sweetheart You shouldn’t have--"

I don’t need to hear it "I found Theo And Paul"

My parents exchange a glance Dad says, "I suppose you’re not going to tell us where they are"

"No, I’ to do about Josie"

I don’t repeat what Paul told me out loud because I still don’t believe it I can’t

My father looks like he doesn’t knohat to say, or that he’s too ashaained her poise The only sign of her disco to keep back the nonexistent cold "Journeys through the dierous, even for a perfect traveler Of course we don’t have to tell you that; you’ve faced considerable dangers yourself Surely, at some point, you’ve asked yourself whether these journeys shouldn’t be abandoned completely"

I have, but the doubts have never been s I’ve been able to see--the different selves I’ve been, and gotten to know in other worlds--for hs the scary parts So far

"After Josie’s death, we first thought we should abandon the project altogether," Moh to justify ical advancement But then your father and I spoke with Wyatt Conley, and we realized we had a new goal One worth any cost Worth every sacrifice"

"You want Josie back," I say "But what are you going to do to make that happen?"

I want the Josie after her splintering is an impossibility Or if it isn’t, to telljustifiable

But froo still, I know Paul told me the truth Triad may be motivated by sincere love formy Wyatt Conley ever drea directly in front of uerite, the splinters of Josie’s soul are scattered too widely for us to collect But if that dier contain her--"

"Because it ceased to exist?" I ask

After aless would work"

I’m unnerved in a way that feels like physical disorientation, like the entire planet began spinning on a completely new axis My whole life, I’ve joked about "Moh I always knew they weren’t crazy, just way out there But what I see in my mother’s face now--and in my father’s, too--it’s insanity