“You think that’s why I kill Ash?” Dorothy asked, numb. She felt her heart fluttering inside her rib cage like a trapped bird and pressed a hand to her chest, willing it to stop.

This is a mistake, she told herself. Just some big mistake.

“If you don’t kill him, time travel will continue and, eventually, bring about an earthquake that will destroy us all,” Roman said. “I don’t think you have any other choice.”

Dorothy stared at Roman. When he said it like that it all sounded so simple. It left her feeling cold.

“No.” She started shaking her head. She wouldn’t believe this. She couldn’t. “This is Ash we’re talking about. Ash doesn’t want the world destroyed any more than you or I do! If we were to find him, talk to him—”

“I’m sure we could convince Ash to stop traveling through time, sure.” Roman sounded frustrated, like he couldn’t believe that he had to explain something so obvious. “But what happens when Mac gets to him? You said New Seattle is crawling with Cirkus Freaks whose only job is to bring Ash in. And that was before Mac found out that your boy’s capable of traveling through time without a vessel. Gives him a bit more incentive to figure out where he’s gone, doesn’t it?”

Dorothy said nothing. She didn’t want to give Roman the pleasure of letting him know that he’d made a fair point.

“Consider this,” Roman continued. “Once you destroy the rest of the EM and Mac realizes that he has to actually live in this shithole he’s created, how long do you think it’ll take before he realizes Ash is his only chance of traveling through time? The entire city’s already out looking for him! It’s only a matter of time before someone finds him.”

“Even if that’s true, Ash has no idea why he’s able to travel through time without a vessel. If you and I are too terrified to experiment with exotic matter, what makes you think Mac won’t be?”

“How much of that journal did you read before Mac took it off your hands?” Roman asked, frowning.

“Enough. Almost all of it.”

Roman cocked an eyebrow. “Did you get to the part where the Professor starts experimenting with whether a single person with EM in their body can transport others?”

Dorothy felt suddenly cold. “No.”

“It’s complicated, but not impossible. Which means Mac doesn’t need Ash to understand how he’s going through time, he just needs him to give him a ride. Do you honestly think there’s a chance in hell he’ll ever stop looking for him once he reads that?”

Roman steadied Dorothy with a look. She swallowed, hard. “No, I suppose not.”