The Professor took the seat across from him, and, for a long moment, the two of them sat in silence.

Ash shifted his gaze down to his knees. He’d spent the last year going over and over what he would say to his mentor if he were ever sitting across from him again, but, just now, he found his mind completely blank.

No, that wasn’t quite true. His mind wasn’t blank—it was too full. It felt like that static he saw on old television sets when he couldn’t quite find a station. That was his brain right now: white fuzz and, every few seconds, a word, the beginning of a question, gone before he had a chance to ask it out loud.

He was happy to see the Professor again. Of course he was happy.

But he was angry, too.

This man let him think he was dead. He let his own daughter think he was dead.

And not just for a few days—for over a year. He vanished in the middle of the night and left them behind to clean up the mess he’d made of their city.

Why? That was the question that finally appeared in the static of Ash’s brain. Ash took a deep, steadying breath and looked up to see that the Professor was staring back at him, a sort of sad smile on his face.

“I suppose you’re wondering why I left,” he said apologetically.

“Among other things,” Ash muttered.

The Professor shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Well, I’m afraid that’s quite a long story.”

“We got a hundred years or so to kill.”

“Ha, that’s funny.” The corner of the Professor’s mouth curled. “You told a little joke.”

Ash didn’t laugh. He found himself wishing he had a drink in his hands, just to give them something to do. With nothing else to focus on, they’d clenched together, fingers practically white, the skin at his knuckles pulled tight.

He spread them out wide, clenched them again, trying to get his muscles to relax. When the Professor didn’t say anything, Ash lifted his eyes. “The earthquakes. Start there.”

“I see you’ve done your homework.” The Professor leaned forward, propping his arms on his knees. He took off his glasses and began cleaning the lenses with the hem of his T-shirt. “The earthquakes. This all started because I wanted to find some way to avoid them. After Natasha . . .”