Dorothy’s eyes flickered over the space. For a moment she was too shocked to act. This was the same room she’d woken up in a year ago, when she’d first landed in 2077. Same bed and dresser, same broken mirror. She felt something like nostalgia and, for a fraction of a moment, she could almost pretend that none of the last year had even happened, that it was her first day in the future, and she still had everything ahead of her.

Oh, how many choices she would have made differently! It was almost too much to think about.

And then the moment passed. Dorothy pulled her eyes away from the room and, instead, eyed the bartender’s leg for a good spot to stab. She didn’t want to hit an artery. The plan was to distract him, not kill him. No matter what the rumors said, she’d never actually killed anyone before.

She lifted her knife—

A man stepped out of the shadows. He seemed to appear out of the air itself, the darkness moving away from his face like oil from water, leaving only his smooth, pale skin and heavy brow.

Dorothy froze, her heart stuttering. “Willis?”

“It was stupid of you to come here,” Willis muttered. His expression was dark, but he didn’t look as angry with her as he had the night before, at the library. He moved past her, eyes flicking down the hall to make sure no one had followed them. And then he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the small room, closing the door behind them both.

Only then did he seem to notice the knife she was clutching. He lifted an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Well, I didn’t realize he was a friend of yours,” Dorothy muttered, placing the knife on the dresser. “He was a bit cryptic.”

“I couldn’t risk anyone overhearing us.” The bartender perched on the edge of the twin bed. Other than the dresser, it was the only piece of furniture inside the small room, but Dorothy happened to know that the mattress was lumpy, so she was perfectly happy to stay standing.

“You can call me Levi,” the bartender told her. “I’m a friend of Willis and the others. I don’t think you remember me, but I was around when Ash first brought you in a few weeks ago. I was the one who said it was okay for you to rest back here. You were, uh, different then. Not so much with the hair and the . . .”

Levi motioned to his face, then turned red, and let his hand drop back onto his lap.

“Levi’s a good guy,” Willis explained, in that low, smooth voice of his. “You can trust him.”

“I can’t trust anyone,” Dorothy said, frowning at Willis. “Or didn’t you hear the broadcast just now? Mac Murphy has turned the whole city against me. I’m on the run.”