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Back A Fractured Infinity Save as PDF
Chapters (41)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. Acknowledgements
  41. About the Author

I saw strings of Christmas lights stretching out into the blackness in my half-sleep haze. Until, later, Yusuf slid under the blanket next to me on the couch. For an instant, I forgot where we were. I only grabbed his hands and held on.

23

KNIFE EDGE

But why did opening the portal with the Envisioner work?

I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I haven’t met anyone in any of the other universes we’ve been in who can do it, just me and Figueiredo.

It’s hard to separate the now and the then when everything is all knotted up in my head. I was doing the dishes at Hassan’s place the morning after the first night he let us stay there, mostly out of houseguest guilt. With Yusuf still asleep on the couch, I was trying to be as quiet as I could. Of course, since it’s me, I picked up a plate and a knife slid off the edge. I stood in front of the dishwasher and in the sliver of a second that the knife fell, I saw both outcomes: it would hit the floor or stab my foot. Either way, I knew I should move but I didn’t.

There were other probable futures, sure. The knife would freeze mid-air, defying all laws of physics. Yusuf would teleport out of the pile of blankets on the couch and catch it. Or we’d gotten in a fight and I’d stormed out of the house and wasn’t even doing dishes in the first place. But the two most likely outcomes for the knife sliding off the plate were that it would stab my foot or bounce on the floor. If that’s the case, Figueiredo is the stab and I’m the bounce. We’re the only real outcomes.

That thought isn’t great to hold in my head when I remember all the selfish things he’s done, like sending Envisioners off to other universes without caring about the consequences. And then I think of all that I’ve done, warping futures and crash-landing into other universes and dragging Yusuf along without even telling him what we were really running from. Maybe me and Figueiredo are exaggerations of each other. Or inversions. But still the same, if that makes sense. Whatever makes us us is the same.

I thought of him as my shadow. It sucks to think that maybe I’m his too.

*   *   *

“I’m excited to show you around,” Yusuf said, his mouth full of toothpaste foam in Hassan’s bathroom the next morning. “The covered market and the Radcliff Camera. The University and my favorite restaurants. And, yes-yes—the library. I spent so much time in a nook on the third floor that I wrote my name on the underside of the windowsill. I wonder if it’s still there?”