3:59

FIFTY

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.”

“You kept it?”

Josie shrugged. “You’re not the only one who can lie. The one your mom has is a fake.”

“Oh.”

“With any luck, your dad and Nick are working out a way to use this to get rid of the Nox for good.”

Jo straightened up, her tears forgotten. “Daddy?”

“Yeah.” Josie turned her back so Jo couldn’t see her smile. “He’s with Nick.”

“What do you mean?” Jo snapped.

Oh, Josie was going to enjoy this. “They’re breaking into Grid headquarters at Fort Meade to steal a laser.”

Josie expected to see jealousy reflected in Jo’s face. Instead, all the color had drained out of it and Josie could see that she was trembling.

“My . . . my father?”

“Yes!” Josie said, exasperated. She felt oddly protective of Mr. Byrne. The way his wife and daughter had abandoned him, lied to him. Like Josie, all he wanted was his family back, and Josie would do everything in her power to make that happen for both of their sakes. “Maybe if you’d bothered to trust him, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Trust him? Trust my father?” Jo looked confused, uncomprehending, as if Josie had spoken her last words in Swahili.

“Duh,” Josie said. “He wants what’s best for you both. Hell, he’s been trying to get my mom out of Old St. Mary’s for the last few days just because I asked him to. And he never even questioned me when Nick and I asked for his help.”

“Getting her out of Old St. Mary’s?”

Why was Jo suddenly so slow in putting all these pieces together?

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Jo shook her head back and forth. “He’s not going to help your mom.”

There was something in the slow, metered way in which Jo said the words that made every hair on the back of Josie’s neck stand at attention. There was fear in Jo’s voice, combined with a kind of resignation that made Josie’s mouth go instantly dry. “What do you mean?” she croaked.

“Josie,” Jo said simply. “He’s the one who put her there.”