"It's the Nox," Nick said. "No doubt about it. But how?"

Josie shook her head. "The same way the vial got here?"

"Hm." Nick scooted closer to her on the bed. "Well, if it's just one, you probably don't need to worry much. Then it can't breed. But if there's more than one, it could be catastrophic."

"The deaths have been getting more frequent," Josie said, remembering what Jo said in the last dream. "It went from sixteen in six months to like six in a week."

Nick lowered himself to the bed again, resting his head on her pillow. "Then that's exactly why Dr. Byrne wants the formula. If the Nox are breeding, she'd be the only person who knows how to get rid of them."

"And in my world I bet that would be worth a hell of a lot more than two hundred million."

"Yeah," Nick said softly.

Josie rolled over to face him. Nick was so close to her, lying there on her bed. He stared directly into her eyes and smiled, so sweet and adorable. She wanted to sink into his arms. Screw the antidote. Screw the Nox. She could stay here, with Nick, forever. No one would know. She leaned her body closer to his, and closed her eyes.

A knock on the door sent Josie and Nick scrambling to different sides of the bed. "Princess?" Mr. Byrne asked. "Are you in there?"

Nick stood by the window while Josie grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest so Mr. Byrne couldn't see her blushing. "Yes, Daddy."

The door swung open and the smiling, good-natured face of Mr. Byrne sauntered into the room. "Nicholas!" He walked right up to Nick and shook his hand. "It's good to see you again." Mr. Byrne glanced around the room, looking for something. "Were you two studying?"

"No, sir," Nick said. "I just drove Jos . . ." He swallowed. "I just drove Jo back from Old St. Mary's."

"Ah, I see." He smiled at Josie, sad and understanding. "Well, I'm glad my Josephine had a friend with her today. How was she?"

"Better," Josie said enthusiastically. "It's kind of amazing, actually."

Mr. Byrne nodded. "Well, in that case, I'm sure I'll have an easier time convincing Dr. Cho to let her come home."

Josie's face lit up. "Really?"

"I have a conference call with her doctors set up for tomorrow." He winked at Nick. "At least my position is good for something, eh?"

"That's fantastic news, Mr. Byrne."

"Speaking of jobs," Mr. Byrne said. "Nicholas, how was your tour of the Grid?"

Nick shuffled his feet. "Excellent. Very, um"-he cast a quick glance at Josie-"enlightening."

Mr. Byrne patted Nick on the back. "Good to hear. Care to stay for dinner?"

"No, thank you. My mom's expecting me." Nick pulled his car keys from his pocket as if ready to go.

"I see. Well, give my love to your parents, and I hope"-he cast a knowing glance Josie's way-"we get to see more of you."

Josie could have died from embarrassment, made no less horrific by the fact that Mr. Byrne wasn't actually her father.

"Yes, sir," Nick said. "Thank you, sir." He paused next to Josie as he passed by. "See you at school tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"Good night, Josephine."

She didn't even mind her full name.

3:59 A.M.

"We should go back for it then," Jo says. "If it's that important."

"I can't go back." Her mom sits on the sofa, her head cradled in her hands. "They'll know I have it."

"Had it."

"Same thing."

"No, we have to assume no one has found it, and leave it at that."

"But what if-"

"Don't say it." Her mom holds up her hand for silence.

Jo pauses, mustering her courage. Her mom is not going to like this. "What if I told you," she begins, "that someone's taking care of it?"

Her mom's head snaps up, her eyes enormous, wild. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I have someone looking for it. Someone we can trust."

Her mom launches to her feet and grabs Jo by the shoulders. "What have you done?"

Jo forces a laugh. "It's fine. We can trust her."

"We can't trust anyone," her mom whispers.

FORTY-TWO.

12:35 P.M.

JOSIE WAS JUST SITTING DOWN AT HER SOLO lunch table when she got the text from Penelope.

Meet me in the lab. Stat.

She didn't need to be told twice.

Penelope bounced excitedly on her stool as Josie rushed into the classroom.

"Well?" Josie asked.

"I was there all night," Penelope started. She spoke in quick, disjointed phrases, the hallmark of caffeine-fueled sleep deprivation. "At the warehouse. Set up the laser and did some modifications. Nothing big."

"You modified a free-electron laser?" She knew Penelope was a wiz, but this bordered on genius.

"Yeah, yeah," Penelope said. "It's just commercial grade. No biggie. I couldn't figure out, you know, how the laser and the contents of the vial were going to work to create a portal. I thought maybe a rapid cycling of photons might disrupt the gravitational field, but realized that the laser would have to be like a bazillion times stronger."

"Crap."

"Wait," Penelope said dramatically. "My cousin works at Goddard. For NASA."

Josie snorted. "Figures." Between Goddard and Fort Meade, suburban Maryland in either universe was packed with scientists.

"She has access to an X-FEL," Penelope continued with a smile. "I don't think we can take it to your house, but maybe I can figure out how to control the beam so we don't get another boom." She made the same explosion gesture with her hands.

"Let's stay away from the booms, okay?" Josie'd had enough explosions to last a lifetime.

"Right." Penelope laughed. "If I can figure out how to control the beam, maybe we can just move the mirror to the lab, and try to open another portal to send you home."

"Awesome," Josie said.

"And there's something else," Penelope said. She scratched her cheek.

"Yeah?"

"You know that injectable you found? The one that's supposed to suck the Nox into a black hole?"

Josie nodded.

"Any idea how it works? I mean, it seems to me that the Nox would actually have to be inoculated with the formula first. In order for it to work."

Again, Josie nodded. "That makes sense."

"Which seems kind of difficult, considering we can't actually catch them."

Josie hadn't really thought about it before, but Penelope was absolutely right. "So the formula is actually useless?"

Penelope shook her head. "Not necessarily. But I was thinking, since I'm already messing around with cycling the laser blasts, there might be a way to create the same effect with the micro black holes without actually having to inoculate the Nox."

"Crop-dusting the Nox with the formula and then cycling the beams like scattershot. You could literally eradicate hundreds at a time." Josie's eyes grew wide. "Penelope, that would be unbelievable."

Penelope shrugged. "We'll see if I can make it work."

"When can you go?"

"I'm bailing on fourth period and driving up to Greenbelt to check it out. Hopefully we can aim for tomorrow night."

Josie placed her hand on Penelope's shoulder. "Thank you," she said. "Without you I'd be stuck here."

Penelope shrugged. "It's nothing."

"Well, in this universe or any other, I officially owe you a favor."

Penelope turned bright red and started gathering up her things. "I've got to get out of here. You and Nick will meet me tonight? At the usual place?"

"I wouldn't miss it."

7:15 P.M.

Nick was right on time to pick her up. Just like she'd asked.

"Nicholas!" Mr. Byrne exclaimed as he opened the front door. He'd been two seconds ahead of Josie when the doorbell rang. "Good to see you again so soon."

Nick took the hand Jo's dad offered and shook it warmly. "Mr. Byrne."

"You're here to pick up Josephine?" There was a playful quality to his voice.

"Yes, sir. We have a school project we need to work on."

"Somewhere well lit, I hope?"

"Of course, sir. We'll be at a friend's house, and my car is equipped with dual-mounted megawatt LEDs on the roof."

Mr. Byrne stepped aside. "Very well, son. Very well. Take care of my princess for me." He bent down and kissed the top of Josie's head.

"Thanks, Daddy," she said as she followed Nick out to his car.

The sun was barely hanging above the horizon as Nick backed his SUV out of the driveway. "Thanks, Daddy," he mocked in a high falsetto. "You've really got this Jo routine down."

Josie rolled her eyes. "I have to. Poor guy's been through enough, don't you think? Last thing he needs is to know his daughter is hiding out in a parallel universe with his estranged wife."

"I guess you're right."

Josie shifted in the passenger seat to face him. "You guess?"

Nick shrugged. "His job is closely linked to the Grid, you know. I mean, in theory, he's one of them."

"Yeah, okay, Madison."

"Hey!" Nick said, hitting the brakes a bit too fiercely as he approached a stop sign. Josie whipped forward as the seat belt tightened across her chest.

"Be careful!" Josie snapped.

"Madison's heart's in the right place, okay? She may be a bit abrasive-"