He steadily met her gaze. “And you.”
“Wish I’d known that four days ago.”
Nick leaned toward her. “Wish I’d known you four days ago.”
Josie wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but it made her feel all warm and fluttery inside. She picked up the letter and lay back on her bed, propping her head up with a pillow as she read through it again. The note was so calculated. Josie could see that now—the cool, collected machinations of the Jo that everyone here seemed to know and loathe.
Why hadn’t she seen it before? Hard to say. Josie had seen what she wanted to see: a perfect family and a boyfriend who adored her.
But now, Josie had the upper hand. It was what Jo omitted from her note that was the most interesting. No mention of Josie’s mom at Old St. Mary’s. No explanation as to why she’d tricked Josie into switching places. She didn’t want Josie to know that she’d reunited with her mom.
Because Jo and her mom had no intention of switching back.
“What are you thinking?” Nick asked softly, lying down next to her.
“They don’t want to come back,” she said. “Jo and her mom. I’ve seen it in my dreams. Dr. Byrne is terrified. She’s lost the vial of the injectable formula, which was her only bargaining chip. She knows she’ll be blamed for sabotaging the experiment and for your brother’s death. And I think she’s more scared of the Grid than anything.”
“She should be.” Nick inched his body toward her. “And what about Jo? Why doesn’t she want to come back?”
“Jo’s got her sights set on . . .” Josie stopped. She almost said, “. . . on my ex-boyfriend.” But she hadn’t told this Nick about his doppelg?nger in her world, and her relationship with him. Nick gazed at her as he lay on his side next to her, his face so close to her own she could feel his breath against her cheek. She couldn’t tell him. Not now.
“Got her sights set on what?”
“Nothing.” Josie quickly changed the subject. “What I don’t understand is why.”
Nick tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
She propped herself up on one arm. “I mean, why risk opening the portal? Why risk the exchange? For an injectable they have no use for? It doesn’t make sense.”
Nick pushed himself up on one elbow so his face was even with hers once more. “You’re right. If there aren’t Nox in your world, the antidote is useless.”
“Right,” Josie said. “And there aren’t any . . .”
Her voice trailed off. She remembered something, a glimpse of a wing outside her kitchen window, something moving in the darkness, and a far-off scream that sounded like metal grating against a chalkboard. She’d passed it off as an eagle or an owl at the time, but now after what she’d seen of the Nox, the horrible realization dawned on her.
“Oh no,” Josie said, flopping back onto her pillow. “I’m such an idiot.”
“Hardly,” Nick said with a short laugh. “You’re like the smartest person I’ve ever met.”
Normally the compliment would have made Josie all goo-goo, but the mysterious deaths that had plagued her hometown suddenly all made sense. She’d been so stupid not to see it before.
“Dr. Byrne wants the vial,” she said, her mouth suddenly dry, “because there are Nox in my universe.”
“Wait,” Nick said. “I thought you said there weren’t any?”
“There weren’t,” she said. “Were not. As in past tense.” She gave Nick a rough sketch of the dead bodies that had been turning up in the woods outside of town. Victims of animal attacks, partially eaten, always killed at night.
“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?”