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PENELOPE PUSHED THE BOOK AWAY AND SANK her head into her hands. “Which still doesn’t explain exactly how the portal was created.”

Josie and Penelope had been at it for well over an hour, poring over a variety of books as they searched for anything that might explain how the portal had opened between Jo’s and Josie’s worlds. They’d covered everything from theoretical extra dimensions to pseudoparanormal studies, and still nothing quite explained the flash, the mirror, and the portal that opened every twelve hours.

Madison had been quiet, flipping through the discarded books, but she was far from disinterested. She watched Josie closely, listened to every word that came out of her mouth, and Josie couldn’t help but wonder if her reticence to believe Josie’s story had faltered in any way.

“Okay,” Josie said, closing the book in front of her. “Let’s start crossing things off the list, at least.” Her mom always taught her that when faced with a seemingly unanswerable problem, the best tactic was to eliminate impossible answers first, and whatever you were left with, however improbable, had to be the truth. She picked up a book on time travel and chucked it onto the sofa. “It’s not a time loop. Our worlds are too dissimilar to be replaying themselves.”

“Right.” Penelope grabbed two more books and walked them over to the sofa. “I don’t think it’s a holographic multiverse either. Same reason: our worlds are too different.”

“A what-what?” Madison asked.

“It’s a theory of parallel universes,” Josie explained. “Based on the holographic principle. Meaning that every universe has a mirror image, exactly the same in every way.”

Madison stood up and stretched her arms over her head. “I swear you two are speaking a foreign language.”

“We are,” Penelope said. “It’s the language of geek.”

Madison laughed weakly. It was the first time Josie had seen Madison let her guard down since they’d met. The harsh lines around her nose and jaw softened and Josie noticed the heavy circles under her eyes and the deep sagging at the corners of her mouth. The bitch-on-wheels attitude melted away and Josie saw a sad, exhausted girl.

Madison caught Josie watching her and turned quickly, but in that instant Josie had seen something else reflected in Madison’s light brown eyes: fear.

She wandered over to the kitchen and opened the door to the mini fridge. “Dammit,” Madison said. “Someone ate the half a sandwich I had stashed in here.” Madison slammed the door. “I swear those boys will eat anything that’s not nailed down.”

Josie smiled. “Yeah, that sounds like Nick.”

“Oh please,” Madison said with a snort. “You barely know him.”

“And you know him better?” Josie asked. She was pushing, she realized immediately, to see if Madison would spill the exact nature of her relationship with Nick. She was desperate to know, even though she kept trying to remind herself that it didn’t matter. That her attraction to this Nick could never amount to anything. Still, she wanted to know what had happened between them. But before Madison could say another word, Penelope steered them back on course.

“I’m going to cross all the objective collapse theories off the list as well,” Penelope said pointedly, still focused on the pile of books in front of them. “Since there’s no way we can prove the Penrose Interpretation.”

Josie sighed. “You would say that.”

“What do you mean?” Penelope’s eyes pinched together. She looked hurt.

“Sorry,” Josie said. “I’ve just heard it from you before.”

“Huh?”

“Back home. We’re lab partners and we’re doing our end-of-year project on the Penrose Interpretation.”

Penelope arched an eyebrow. “I let you talk me into attempting to prove an unprovable theory? What the hell is wrong with me over there?”

“It’s not unprovable,” Josie said. Why did everyone keep telling her that?

“Okay,” Penelope said. “But even if it’s true, it doesn’t explain how you’re here. Superposition collapses at our mass.”

“Fine.”

Madison popped open a soda and rejoined them at the table. “Superposition? Is that like a superhero thing?”

“Quantum superposition,” Penelope explained, “is the theory that a particle like an electron exists in all of its many property states simultaneously. But when you try to measure it, you only get one reading.”

“Oh, I see,” Madison said. She clearly didn’t. “So where does that leave us?”

There were two books left on the table. Josie picked up one in each hand. “Brane multiverses and quantum gravity.”

Penelope stifled a yawn. “So it must be one of them.”

“I haven’t read much on brane multiverses,” Josie said, turning the book over in her hands.

“The core of the theory is that universes exist on these thin planes,” Penelope said. Even though she was tired, she spoke quickly and her voice had a lifted inflection that Josie recognized. The science excited her. “An infinite number of them all existing very close together, but never intersecting. Some of them would be completely unrecognizable; some of them would be exactly like our own world. And everything in between.”

Josie nodded. “Common multiworld theory.”

“Right.”

Josie skimmed through a chapter on phase shifting of brane multiverses. The idea was that these branes overlapped in space-time with a dimensional phase shift, which meant Jo and Josie and an infinite number of their doppelgängers could have been moving through the same space but on different planes of existence—literally out of phase—in their respective parallel dimensions, and totally unaware of each other. In theory, it could describe how their two worlds—and the people in them—existed. But how the portal was created between them? That was something else entirely.

Josie flipped through the pages when something caught her eye. “‘While the branes overlap without connection between them,’” Josie read out loud, “‘if the gravitons are disrupted from the brane on which they exist, they could attach themselves to another brane in close proximity.’” She looked up sharply. “So gravitons could connect two branes?”

Penelope slid the book over. “Looks like it,” she said after reading a few pages. “It would take a massive subatomic explosion, but two universes could become attached to each other at a single point in space-time.”

“A massive explosion like creating micro black holes using ultradense deuterium and controlled fusion?” Josie said.

Penelope’s eyes grew wide. “Whoa. Does that work?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it does.” Josie gazed at an illustration of a graviton connecting two brane universes. “The gravitons
are
the portal, the stuff that connects our two worlds. They’re what’s holding our universes together.”

“So all we have to do is re-create the explosion,” Penelope said, “and we’ll have ourselves another portal.”

“One problem,” Madison said. “That explosion you’re talking about killed Nick’s brother. So unless you want to go down in a blaze of glory . . .”

Josie slumped back in her chair. “We’re right back where we started.”

“SHIT.” JOSIE SLAMMED THE BRANE MULTIVERSE book closed. What was the point in creating another portal if she or her mom might be killed in the process? They were so close to the answer. She felt like the rug had just been pulled out from under them.

“Do we know what caused the explosion?” Penelope said, scratching her cheek furiously.

Madison shook her head. “We have some of our parents’ notes from the experiment, but the findings of the investigation are in a file somewhere up at Fort Meade. Jackson and I have tried a few times to get our hands on it. No dice.”

“Too bad,” Penelope said absently. “If we knew how the experiment was set up, we might be able to tweak it so there’s no
BOOM
.”

Josie laughed. She couldn’t help it. All the science jargon in the last few hours boiled down to a good, old-fashioned
BOOM
. “If only Jo could show me
that
in one of her dreams.”

Penelope tilted her head. “You share dreams with Jo?”

“Kinda. I can see through her eyes when the portal’s open. Just for that one minute every twelve hours.”

Penelope let the pen fall to the table. “Whoa. That’s wild.”

Josie shook her head.
Wild
wasn’t the word she’d use. “I had another one last night. Dr. Byrne in my kitchen back home. Not my mom, see? Dr. Byrne.”

“Are you telling me that it’s your mom up at Old St. Mary’s?” Madison said. For the first time, there was no hint of sarcasm in Madison’s voice.

Josie nodded. “I was there. Today. It’s her.”

Penelope stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. “So you think your mom and Jo’s mom have the same connection? That they can see through each other’s eyes?”

“Definitely. Dr. Byrne had a nightmare last week. Woke up screaming in the middle of the night. I’m pretty sure she was experiencing the torture my mom’s been going through at Old St. Mary’s.”

Madison sat up straight. “Torture?”

“Yeah.” Josie tried to keep her voice steady and her mind calm as the image of her mother’s scarred body flashed into her mind. “They’re using the Nox on her.”

“Shit,” Madison said.

Josie pushed the image out of her mind. The panic she felt when she thought of her mom trapped there in that hospital room was not going to help.

“Okay, so let’s summarize,” Josie said. She had to stay focused if she was going to get her mom out of there, and find a way home. “We have a working theory as to how to create a portal, but without the findings of the investigation into Tony’s death, we risk killing ourselves if we attempt it, right?”

“Right,” Penelope said with a nod.

“Then there’s only one thing to do,” Josie said. She smiled as a plan formed in her head.

“Your smile is freaking me out,” Penelope said, recoiling.

But Madison was intrigued. “What are you thinking?”

It was crazy, but it might work. “We’ll just have to get those notes.”

A clanging noise from the back of the warehouse startled the girls, breaking the silence that had descended upon them. Josie jumped in her chair. “What’s that?”

“Just the rats, I bet.” Madison stood up and gazed into the back of the warehouse.

Josie snorted. “Yeah, I’ve noticed a lot of them around here.”

Madison turned to her. “Really?” she said in exasperation.

Josie couldn’t help herself. The words had just slipped out of her mouth. She was still having a hard time separating the two Madisons. “I’m sorry,” she said. And she meant it. “Really. It’s just . . .” Ugh. She so didn’t want to explain the tragedy of her personal life to the doppelgänger of the girl who had caused it. She felt the heat rising up from her chest to her neck, spreading across her face like a big neon sign flashing,
There’s something I’m not telling you
. She dropped her eyes to the notebook and pretended to examine equations, but Penelope didn’t miss a thing.

“Who is she?” Penelope asked. To the point, as always. “Who is Madison in your world?”

Josie glanced at Madison out of the corner of her eye. “She was my best friend. Until I caught my boyfriend cheating on me. With her.”

Penelope whistled. “Damn.”

“Nick,” Madison said. Her eyes were fixed on Josie. “Your boyfriend was Nick.”

Josie nodded. But for the first time, the topic of Madison and Nick’s betrayal seemed less painful, less vomit-inducing than before. She had bigger issues to deal with, and suddenly instead of anger, Josie just felt sorry for them both.

“What about me?” Penelope fidgeted with her fingers. Clearly the idea of hearing about her alter ego in another dimension made Penelope nervous.

Josie smiled. Just thinking about her old friend gave her a sense of comfort. “Penelope’s the best,” she said. “We’ve been friends since fourth grade. She’s a lot like you, actually. Smart. Practical. Loyal.”

“Interesting.” Penelope gave herself a shake, as if tossing off a bad memory, then glanced at her watch. “It’s late. We should get going.”

Six thirty. Yikes. Mr. Byrne was expecting her for dinner.

“I have an idea. About how to fix our little
BOOM
problem,” Penelope said simply, as she packed up her books and carried them to Madison’s car. “In case you strike out with the file. I’m going to borrow Mr. Baines’s laser rig from the lab. Can I set it up here?”

“Sure,” Madison said, her old swagger returned. “Knock yourself out.”

Josie paused at the door of the black BMW. “Thank you,” she said. “Both of you.”

Madison rolled up the door. She didn’t exactly smile at Josie, but there was something like a nod of acceptance. Whatever. Josie took it.

As she backed out of the warehouse, she felt more hopeful than she had in days. Her mom was here. She had friends. She wasn’t alone in this. She looked up as she turned the wheel to leave; something caught her eye. A shadow ducking around the side of the warehouse. She craned her neck as she drove around the building. She was sure she saw someone. Positive.

But there was no one there.

JOSIE MADE IT JUST IN TIME FOR DINNER.

Mr. Byrne was already seated at the table when Josie burst into the house. “Perfect timing.” He smiled at her warmly. “I’m glad to see you’re finally making an attempt at punctuality.”

So Jo was flakey with time. Good to know.

Teresa arrived the moment Josie sat down at the table with an enormous tray of homemade lasagna. A bowl of string beans was already on the table. She served both, silently as usual, then disappeared back into the kitchen.

“So?” Mr. Byrne asked. She could tell he was trying to sound casual. “How did it go?”