3:59

THIRTY-TWO

6:33 A.M.

MR. BYRNE WAS ALREADY AT BREAKFAST WHEN Josie bounded into the dining room. There was an extra bounce in her step, a levity and excitement Josie hadn’t felt since she first stepped through the mirror. She was going to see her mom today.

“Aren’t you looking bright and happy this morning, princess,” Mr. Byrne said, glancing up from his tablet. “Is it going to be a good day?”

“I hope so,” Josie said with as much perkiness as she could muster.

“I’m glad.” Mr. Byrne beamed as she took a seat and poured herself some coffee. Teresa was at her shoulder almost immediately with a bagel and cream cheese. She hovered near the buffet, straightening unused serving platters for a full five minutes before she silently slipped out of the room. Josie waited until she heard the swinging door to the kitchen whoosh into place before she opened a conversation with Mr. Byrne. It was a conversation she’d been rehearsing in her head all night.

“Daddy?” she said meekly.

Mr. Byrne never even looked up from his tablet. “Yes, princess?”

“I’ve been thinking. About what you said last night.”

Mr. Byrne carefully laid his tablet facedown on the table and folded his hands in front of him. “About going to see your mother?”

Josie nodded.

“Why this sudden change of heart, princess?”

She’d been mulling it over in her head since she’d woken up from Jo’s dream. Tell Mr. Byrne what’s going on or not?

On the one hand, he deserved to know. Just like Josie, his life had been ripped apart. His wife and now his daughter were far away, replaced by doppelgängers he didn’t know. Josie thought of her own dad, sitting in his apartment in Landover, wondering what had happened to his happy marriage. She wished she could contact him, let him know it was all a mistake and a misunderstanding. That her mom still loved him and was desperate to get home to him.

But she couldn’t. She could, however, tell this man the same thing. Maybe he could help get his daughter and wife back, and send Josie and her mom home?

On the other hand, telling Mr. Byrne that she had been pretending to be his daughter might totally backfire. Would he freak out? Have her arrested? Or maybe think that the insanity her mom suffered from was spreading to his daughter? And how much more painful might it be for him if Josie and her mom were stuck there for good? Was it worth mentioning he might never see his wife and daughter again?

No. She couldn’t risk it. As much as she wanted to trust Mr. Byrne, it was for his own good that she kept him in the dark as long as possible.

“I need to see her,” Josie said simply. “Can I go after school today?”

Mr. Byrne smiled warmly. “Of course. I’ll arrange it with the hospital. Do you want me to come with you?”

“No,” she said quickly. The last thing she needed was for Mr. Byrne to witness this mother-daughter reunion.

“I understand.” He reached out and laid his hand over hers. “I’m so glad you reconsidered. I think she’d really like to see you. I hope . . . ” His voice trailed off and he swallowed, trying to maintain his composure. “I hope she recognizes you.”

Josie did too.

12:56 P.M.

“There you are,” Josie said, descending upon Penelope in the science lab. “I need to talk to you.”

Penelope jolted at the sight of Josie and launched the apple she was eating three feet in the air. It soared over Mr. Baines’s desk and splatted onto the floor.

“Sorry,” Josie said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I’m okay,” Penelope said. Her voice shook ever so slightly. “W-what do you want?”

Josie looked around the abandoned science lab. It had taken her twenty minutes to find Penelope’s lunch spot. She’d combed the cafeteria and all the hallways, and only started checking classrooms as a last resort. “Why are you eating in here all by yourself?”

Penelope shrugged. “It’s better than eating in the cafeteria all by myself.”

“Good point.” One Josie had learned only too well.

Penelope picked at one of her cuticles and refused to look Josie in the eye. “So, um, what do you want?”

Josie pulled out the stool opposite Penelope and sat down. “Look, I know you don’t trust me.”

Penelope opened her mouth as if to protest, then snapped it shut again. Apparently, it was too valid a point to argue.

“I know you don’t trust me,” Josie repeated for emphasis. “Or like me very much, for that matter. But I need your help.”

“I’m only good at science and math,” Penelope said. “If you need someone to do your homework in anything else you’re asking the wrong girl.”

“I don’t need help in science or math,” Josie said with a dry laugh.

Penelope’s dark eyes flashed toward Josie just for an instant before resting on the table again.

“But I do need your help,” Josie continued.

“Fuck you,” Penelope said. Her voice was breathy and hoarse, and barely above a whisper.

Josie wasn’t sure what she expected by way of a reaction from Penelope. Curiosity? Interest? Friendship? She didn’t know. But not that.

“Huh?”

Penelope raised her eyes slowly, deliberately. “I said, ‘Fuck you.’”

“I’m not playing, Pen,” she said, using the nickname for her old friend. “I really need your help.”

“Don’t call me that,” Penelope said. She wasn’t whispering anymore. “We are not friends and I don’t care what you do to me; I’m not helping you.” Penelope snatched her bag off the ground and started for the door so quickly Josie barely had time to react.

Thankfully Josie was closer to the door. She headed Penelope off and wedged herself in front of the only exit. “Please, just hear me out.”

“What do you want from me?” Penelope’s voice cracked. “Are you going to threaten to cut our access to the Grid since my dad lost his job? Fine. Do it. I’d rather be eaten alive by the Nox than have to be your bitch for one more day.” Her eyes welled up with tears.

“Jo did that?” Josie said.

“You did that,” Penelope corrected. She pulled the sleeve of her sweatshirt across her cheeks.

“I’m not Jo.”

She had already resolved to tell Penelope exactly what was going on, but she was hoping to do it at the warehouse or in front of the mirror right at one minute to four to prove to Penelope that she was telling the truth. But Penelope’s violent reaction meant she’d have to play it from the hip.

“Have you lost your mind?” Penelope said.

Josie slowed shook her head. “I can’t explain it now, but Jo and I sort of switched places.”

“Twins?” Penelope sounded dubious.

“Um, kinda.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know.” The warning bell rang. Any minute the room would start filling up for fourth-period physics. Josie needed to hurry it up. “Look, I can’t explain it here, but I’m not Jo Byrne. You remember physics the other day, right? Did I sound like Jo?”

Penelope’s eyes were still red and puffy, but she’d stopped crying. “Yeah, no. You don’t know anything about physics.”

“Jo doesn’t know anything about physics,” Josie corrected her.

“Riiiiiight,” Penelope said slowly, like she was placating a crazy person.

“And I know you don’t trust her, or me, for that matter, but you know Nick Fiorino, right?”

Penelope nodded.

“Well, he trusts me.”

Penelope laughed. “Yeah, right.”

“Ask him. After school. Find him and ask him.”

Penelope shrugged. “Whatever.” Not exactly a confident reassurance she was going to do what Josie asked.

“Pen,” Josie said, grabbing Penelope’s arm. “Please. Just ask him, okay?”

Penelope tilted her head. Her eye drifted down to Josie’s hand, which gently gripped her arm, then back up to Josie’s face.

“Fine,” she said at last, just as the door opened and students poured into the room. “I’ll ask him. But don’t count on my help, okay?”

“Okay.” Josie let go of her arm. “Thank you.”

Now it was up to Nick.