EPILOGUE
Six Weeks Later
Laila scratches at the bandage on her neck as she paces the hospital room. “Are they going to let us go home already? We’re both fine!” she leans out the door to yell. “I don’t need a Healer for this! It was a scratch.”
“Just sit down, Laila. You’re making me dizzy.”
“I’m sorry.” She sits down only to pop right back up again. “I’m sorry for everything. I can’t believe this is the future you chose. This is crazy. Duke is a jerk. We almost died. Why in a million years would you choose this future?”
“You can ask me that a million times, and I still won’t know.”
Laila’s eyes drift to her purse on the chair in the corner. “The other future must’ve been really bad,” she says, “for you to have chosen this one.”
“Yeah, maybe you betrayed me for real in that one,” I say with a laugh.
Her eyebrows lower. “I …”
“I’m just kidding, Laila.” Sort of. Even though I try to tell myself it wasn’t Laila’s fault, I still get an ache in the back of my throat every time I think about it.
My mom comes whisking into the room. “Addie, Laila, I’m sorry. I promise it won’t be much longer. We’re filling out reports, the Healer will be in here to look you over, and then we’ll be able to leave.”
“How did you know where I was, Mom?”