“Stop it, Thomas. Let’s just forget about that, all right?” I leaned my head back against the wall and sighed. “How did you get here?”
“Just because the General cut me off doesn’t mean I don’t still have my own ways of getting things done,” Thomas said. “Dr. Moss was able to get his hands on the remote that controls your anchor, plus an extra, and smuggled me out of the Citadel, then I used my connections to get here. Took me longer than I would like, but I did it.”
“I guess that means you’re officially fired, huh?” I noticed he was no longer wearing his KES ring.
“Yeah, I guess it does.”
“I’m so glad you’re here,” I told him. I lay my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. He took my hand and squeezed. I shivered; the cell was always cold. Thomas took off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. I put it on and snuggled up against him. All the talk of analogs and anchors reminded me of something—I’d never had a chance to tell Thomas about my father and his connection to Aurora.
“I found out something else,” I said. “Back at the Citadel. About the tether.”
“Really? What?”
“Dr. Moss came to see me at the gala. He said he consulted with Dr. March and they think—”
“Hold up. Dr. March?”
“Yeah.” I searched his face. “What? What’s wrong with Dr. March?”
“Oh, nothing,” Thomas said offhandedly. “Except I’m pretty sure he doesn’t exist.”
“What?”
“Mossie is a genius, but he’s also a little, you know.” Thomas whistled and whirled his finger in a circular motion around his temple. “He talks about Dr. March all the time, but I’ve never met the man, and never met anybody else who has. I hate to use the word ‘delusion,’ but …”
That was disturbing, but it didn’t change the fact that Dr. Moss had a genuinely possible hypothesis about why I could see Juliana through the tether. “Dr. March or no Dr. March, he had a breakthrough. He says that I can see through the tandem because I have a connection to Aurora.”
“What kind of connection?”
“My father was born here.”
Thomas’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “He showed me the file. Apparently my father was one of the research fellows in Dr. Moss’s lab at the Citadel a long time ago, before he was drafted into the KES for an assignment. On Earth.”
“What kind of assignment?”
“Do you know anything about Operation Looking Glass?” As soon as I asked the question I knew he did.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know much about it other than that the KES sent a couple of agents to Earth in order to sabotage the efforts of scientists in your world from developing the many-worlds technology.”
“My father was one of those scientists,” I told him. “Until he went AWOL and, I guess, married my mom and had me.”
“Wow. That’s news to me,” Thomas said. I stared him down. He held his hands up in surrender. “Seriously, I didn’t know. I would’ve told you if I did.”
“I believe you.”
“So how are you feeling about all this?”
“Lied to,” I confessed. My whole life I’d had this image of who my father was, and now all of that was gone. I couldn’t even guess at what was real and what had been made up. “But it’s stupid to feel betrayed by someone who’s been dead for almost ten years. Right?”
“I don’t think there’s a statue of limitations on that particular emotion,” Thomas said.
“I keep wondering if my mother knew. Or Granddad. And if they would’ve told me someday.” I paused. “You don’t think Operation Looking Glass had anything to do with their deaths, do you?” I had my own suspicions, but I was desperately hoping Thomas would assure me that my parents’ accident was just that—an accident.
Thomas’s face darkened. “I think anything’s possible when it comes to the General.”
I bit down hard on my lip, drawing blood. Still chilled, I shoved my hands into the pocket of Thomas’s jacket and, to my surprise, found something inside. I pulled out a clump of withered, drying flowers—white roses and a bit of baby’s breath, precariously attached to a white elastic band.
“You have my corsage?” I asked, puzzled. Thomas nodded. “But I threw it away back in the Tattered City.”
“I rescued it,” he said. “It was the only thing I had from … us, in your world. I guess I didn’t want to let it go. I meant what I said to you that night on the beach. It was the best night of my life, being with you; it was the one time I really felt like myself. Ironic, huh?” I nodded, pulling him in for a soft, lingering kiss.
“Thomas,” I whispered. “That’s very romantic, you know?”
“I know,” he said with a wry smile.
Then I remembered something. I pulled the Angel Eyes map out and smoothed it over my knees. Thomas leaned over to get a better look. “What’s that?”
“I’m not sure. I thought you might recognize it.” I told him how Callum and I had found it, and how Juliana had given another copy of the map to Libertas. “Why would the king want Juliana to see a weather map? And what the hell would Libertas need it for?”
“This isn’t a weather map,” Thomas said, examining it closely.
“Really? Then what is it?”
“No idea. I’ve never heard of this Operation before.” He put his arms around me and held me tightly, pressing his lips to my forehead. “I’m glad you ran,” he said into my hair. “Even if it meant we had to end up here. At least we’re together.”
“I am, too,” I said, getting choked up again. “I didn’t want to leave, but I just didn’t know what else to do.”
“I understand.” He pulled back a little to look down at my face. I smiled at him sadly. A great cloud of uncertainty hung over us. Would we ever make it out of here? And even if we did, what then? I would go back home, but would Thomas come with me? Or would he stay in Aurora, his home universe? It didn’t feel like he belonged in Aurora. It felt like he belonged with me, wherever I was. But it wasn’t my choice, and, in a way, it wasn’t his either.
For the moment, though, none of that mattered. He bent his head and kissed me deeply. I kissed him back. We kissed each other, sinking deeper and deeper into an unfathomable ocean, straining toward infinity.
