“But I can make it so the future is better,” I say.

“But why does it have to be you?” His voice is soft, just a whisper, fearing I’ll leave him.

“I don’t know,” I say. “It just seems like it’s what I was supposed to do, you know?”

He shrugs. “No, I don’t know. It’s your choice what you do.”

“And I’m choosing to try and fix it.” I say. “I mean, what kind of person would I be if I just stood around, letting everything go on in the violent way that it does, if there might be a way to stop it?”

“You’d be human,” he mumbles.

“What?”

He sighs, massaging the back of his neck. “Nothing. Never mind. I’ll take you to your watch.”

“I don’t get it,” I say, rubbing my finger along the back of the golden pocket watch. “I don’t get how this tiny thing could possibly fix the world.”

Aiden flops back on his bed and drapes his hand over his head. “I don’t know either.” He’s been in a downer of a mood since our little conversation.

“I’m sorry,” I say, scratching at the edge the watch. “About what happened?”

He peeks under his arm. “What do you mean?”

I sit down on the foot of the bed. “I’m sorry that you had to find out about Dominic trying to kill me.”

He laughs. “I don’t care about Dominic. I care about you running around and trying to fix the world.”

I open the watch, staring at the numbers. “It just feels like it’s what I’m supposed to do. I mean, they’re all innocent—the Adeptis.”

“And how do you know that?” He lifts his head, resting back on his elbows. “How do you know they're all innocent? Everything down there is fake.”

I ignore him and focus on the watch.

He sits up and slides beside me. “I’m sorry. I’m just upset about Dominic. I thought I’d escaped all that crap when I left The Colony, but I guess not.”

I nod, not pointing out that I know he’s lying. Because something else is troubling him, something deeper, something about me.

“Where did you get this?” I pick up the book I saw earlier and flip through the pages. “I thought all books were destroyed when the virus spread.”

“This guy, Xander, who used to live here, had it on him when he was tossed out of The Colony.”

“Xander,” I say, remember the name. “I’ve heard that name before.”

“Probably from The Colony.”

I shake my head. “No, I heard Greyson say something about a Xander when I was chained up—something about him turning back.”