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“No,” Richard said quickly, and handed over the badge.

Josie grabbed it before he could change his mind, and pressed the elevator button. “I’ll grab it, then meet you guys in the cafeteria.”

As the doors closed, Nick gave her a quick wink. She just hoped he could stall long enough, and that she’d actually find something.

WALKING INTO DR. BYRNE’S OFFICE WAS LIKE walking into a tomb.

It wasn’t the lab where she and Nick’s brother had conducted the experiment, of that Josie was sure. It wasn’t big enough, for starters, and lacked a full lab setup. This was strictly an office: desk, chairs, bookcases, file cabinet, framed diplomas on the wall. All perfectly normal.

Josie didn’t have much time before Richard might get suspicious. There was no way the findings of the investigation would be locked away in Dr. Byrne’s office, but maybe Josie could find something else that might hint at what happened to the X-FEL that day? It was her only shot. She had to think: Where would Dr. Byrne keep important information about her projects?

The locked file cabinet was the obvious choice. Six feet tall with four enormous drawers, it probably had experimental notes going back a decade or more. But that would be more of a reference for Dr. Byrne. Not an easily accessible source of information. No, that would be in her desk.

Josie sat down and opened the large bottom drawer. It was lined with hanging file folders containing the most recent notes and findings. Okay, this was a start. But what exactly was she looking for? A filed marked “How to openly sabotage an X-FEL” was probably a stretch.

Josie flipped through a few files. The names were all innocuous: “calibrations,” “beam tests,” “Jo’s school projects.”

“Jo’s school projects?” Josie said out loud. That didn’t sound right. Josie glanced at the framed photo of Jo and Dr. Byrne on the desk. As far as Josie could tell, Jo wasn’t exactly an academic.

With a trembling hand, Josie pulled the file from the drawer.

The first thing she noticed was that the file was full of chat transcripts. Printed out conversations between two anonymous screen names: xa929 and drtr000. There were no personal references—no names, no genders, no job descriptions—and as Josie read through them, she quickly understood why.

Holy shit.

A “product” sold to the highest bidder.

Had Josie just stumbled across proof that Tony Fiorino’s experiment had been sabotaged?

Nick loosened his tie as he sped back to Bowie. “And you’re sure that’s what you saw?”

“Positive.”

“Two hundred million dollars.” Nick whistled. “That’s enough to kill for.”

“I wonder who they were selling to?” Josie wondered out loud.

“A foreign power, a private company.” Nick ran his fingers through his hair. “Hell, maybe even the Grid. Everyone and their mom would want exclusive ownership of a way to get rid of the Nox.”

Josie nodded. “A traitor. There was a traitor working on Project Raze.” She paused, and looked right at Nick. “It could be anyone,” she said. “Anyone with access to the laser.”

“Even Dr. Byrne herself,” Nick said.

“Would she really keep transcripts of her own illegal activities in her desk drawer?” Josie asked. Seemed like a bonehead move.

“Maybe.” Nick shrugged. “If she felt like she was about to get caught, she could always pretend to be a whistle-blower.”

Josie nodded. “Yeah, that could make sense.”

Nick set his jaw. “If it’s true,” he said slowly, “if she’s responsible for my brother’s death, she’d better pray she never comes back here.”

Jo stiffens.
This is why Nick hates me
.

“We’ll fix it. We’ll have him fix it.”
I have to go back. I have to explain this to Nick.

Josie was smiling before she even opened her eyes. Short of a dream showing her the way home, this was the best thing that could have happened. She pulled off the sleep mask and calmly climbed out of bed. She knew what Dr. Byrne had lost. And more importantly, she knew where to find it.

For the first time in days, Josie could see the light in the darkness.

“AND IT WAS JUST THERE?” NICK ASKED.

Josie smiled. “Yep.”

“In the coffee bin?”

“Smell it.”

Nick held the vial up to his nose and took a guarded sniff. His eyebrows shot up. “Yep, in the coffee bin.”

“Crazy, right?”

“More like amazing. Do you know how many people would kill to have this? The only specimen of my brother’s injectable left in existence?”

Josie looked around the cafeteria to see if anyone was paying attention, then reached out and covered the vial with her hand. “Then let’s keep it on the DL, shall we?”

Nick grinned sheepishly, and slipped the vial into the hip pocket of his cargo pants. “Sorry. I’m a little excited.”

“I know.”

“This is my brother’s legacy. And he died trying to prove it could work.” Nick stared at the table for a moment, fingering his uneaten sandwich, then looked up at Josie. “You’re amazing, you know.”

Josie’s heart hiccupped, but she forced herself not to give in, to let her heart go. “No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. Remembering that the canister in your kitchen had tea not coffee? Putting the pieces together. Not many people would have been able to figure out that Dr. Byrne hid the vial in your own kitchen.”

Josie felt a blush creep up her neck and dropped her head to camouflage her embarrassment. “I’m sure anyone would have known. Penelope. Madison.”

At Madison’s name, Nick cocked his head to the side, opened his mouth to say something, then thought the better of it. He picked up his sandwich and took a monstrous bite.

“Talked to Penelope in first period,” he said, his tone very businesslike as he changed the subject. “She’s going to borrow Mr. Baines’s laser rig and set it up tonight. She wouldn’t tell me what she’s planning, only that it required some ‘tweaking.’ Any idea what she’s working on?”

“Nope.”

Nick shrugged. “Guess we’ll have to just wait and see. Also, I thought I’d take you to Old St. Mary’s after school today.”

Josie dropped her head so Nick couldn’t see her smile. “You don’t have to.”

“I know. I’ll wait in the car if you want, but I thought . . . I don’t know. Maybe you’d like to see her again.”

“Thank you.”

“Besides, maybe she can tell us something about her work that can help. We need to do everything we can to get you home.”

Home. Right. She wanted to go home. And Nick wanted her to go home. Sitting there across a cafeteria table from Nick, she’d momentarily forgotten that little fact.

Nick leaned across the table. “You . . . you do want to go back, right?”

“I need to get my mom home,” she said without actually answering the question.

“Then there we go.” Nick stood up, his face serious. “I’ll see you after school.”

Josie’s mom was sitting up in bed this time when Dr. Cho ushered Josie into her room.

“She’s
much
improved in the last twenty-four hours,” Dr. Cho said when she greeted Josie. “Your visit made a world of difference.”

Josie forced a smile, hoping her face looked benignly happy. “Hi, Mom!” Josie said with an abundance of enthusiasm. Her mom scooted over and Josie sat down on the edge of the bed. “I hear you’re feeling better?”

“Much.” Her mom’s smile was genuine, but her eyes lingered suspiciously on Dr. Cho.

“You two have a good visit,” Dr. Cho said, closing the door as she backed out of the room. “I’ll be back soon.”

Josie was all smiles until she heard the security door click into place, then her Mouseketeer persona vanished. She leaned close to her mom and dropped her voice to little more than a whisper. “Are you okay?”

Her mom let out a deep breath. “Better. They seem excited with my ‘progress.’” She used air quotes.

“Good; let’s keep it that way. Dr. Byrne needs to have a miraculous recovery. I’m pretty sure that’s the only way I can get you out of here.”

“A recovery?”

“Pretend it’s all coming back to you. From what I understand you were conducting an experiment, using laser-generated micro black holes.”

Her mom laughed drily. “That’s ironic. That’s almost exactly what I was doing when I ended up here.”

“Really?”

“Controlled creation of micro black holes using ultradense deuterium and laser-generated fusion.” Her mom shook her head. “Apparently not so controlled. We had a small explosion in the lab. I blacked out for a moment, and woke up here. In this world.”

“That would explain it. If you and the other Dr. Byrne were doing the same experiment at the same time.” Josie made an explosion motion with her hands. “Boom.”

Her mom nodded. “Any idea what composition of deuterium they were using?”

“No, only that it was an injectable compound.”

“An injectable? That’s amazing. I’d love to see the formula.”

“Do you think it would help?” Josie asked. “If you knew what was in the formula, maybe how it caused the explosion that sent you here, do you think we could figure out a way to get home?”

Her mom thought for a moment. “Maybe. Do you have the injectable?”

Josie bit her lip and gave an almost imperceptible nod of her head. Then she cleared her throat. “No. No, I don’t,” she said loudly, in case anyone was listening.

There was a commotion outside the cell and Josie heard hurried footsteps clicking across the floor. They didn’t have much time.

“We’re trying to figure a way to get you out of here,” Josie said quickly.

Her mom’s face went blank. “We?”

“Some friends of mine.”

Josie’s mom gripped her arm tightly, digging her fingers into Josie’s flesh. “Don’t trust them. You can’t. Josie, you can’t trust anyone here, do you understand me?”

Dr. Cho rushed into the room. “I’m sorry,” she said breathlessly. “I’m afraid your mother is due for her medication now. We’ll need to cut your visit short.”

Josie forced the sunny smile back onto her face. “Oh, that sucks.”

“Hospital regulations,” Dr. Cho replied.

More like prison regulations.

Josie stood up, but her mom pulled her back, wrapping her arms tightly around her neck.

“You can’t trust anyone,” she whispered frantically.

A cold sensation spread down Josie’s spine, like an ice cube melting against her skin. All of her hope in getting her and her mom home rested in the trust she’d put in people: Nick, Penelope, even Mr. Byrne in his ignorant way. Had she been wrong? Was she placing them in even worse danger?

“I love you too, Mom,” she said out loud, pulling away. The image of her mom’s haunted, bloodshot eyes followed her from the room.