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Back A Fractured Infinity
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

All I could do was hold my breath and think, wait, wait, because her ghost was shivering through me. I cried, squeezing Yusuf’s hand and wheezing in the car, my tears leaking all over my face. I cried at seeing her, and for meeting Yusuf against all the stupid odds and being there with him. I cried for losing Genesis and for her believing in something enough to die for it. For a million other things I couldn’t name. Yusuf let me lose my shit for a while as he eyed the other cars in the parking garage, ready to floor the gas if someone came too close. Finally he said, “We have to make another jump.”

He was right. We drove back to the place that wasn’t our home.

As much as we both wanted to stay there forever, we packed a couple of backpacks from the closet with supplies—a couple of changes of clothes, some sunblock, and canned food. Yusuf snagged a Red Sox hat and tugged the brim low over his eyes. I snapped a picture of him, my tourist, with the instant camera by the door and stuck the picture to the wall with the others. Yusuf loved it, laughing, how long until you think they’ll notice? We cleaned the place as best we could. I grabbed an air mattress and a couple of sheets from the closet and slung the whole cloth-covered bundle over my shoulder.

Soon, like a couple of travelers, we breezed into South Station where this world’s Envisioner waited in the center of a web of glowing pads that teleported people all over the world. I touched the machine and we were gone in a blink. No one would’ve even known we were there.

*   *   *

We stayed on the beach for a long stretch, and I worked with the Envisioner enough to unlock God Mode on the video game that was my life in the Compound, thanks to a combination of recordings from Kaori’s Envisioner and security camera footage from the Theater that she’d uploaded to the machine. Unwittingly gift-wrapping it to the whole Envisioner network where people with admin-level privileges—me and Figueiredo—could access it.

I knew I was missing something, which wasn’t so unusual for me.