We take the elevator up a floor and walk down soft carpet to an office with a view of the desert outside. I rub my sweaty hands on my jeans. I thought I had this all figured out, but now I’m doubting my plan. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea. What if she won’t help me? What if she’s in on it all?

She broke into her employer’s office for us. She shot a cop for us. She took a bullet for us. I have to believe she wants to keep us safe and that she wants to do the right thing.

Lynne sits behind her desk and folds her hands on top. “What is it you want to talk about?”

I remain standing, my legs itching to bolt out of the room. But I spit out, “I think Aether is going to kill us.”

She blinks quickly, her smile dropping. “Why would you think that?”

I hesitate, debating how much to tell her. I still don’t know if I can trust her, even though her older self helped us get the evidence, even died for us. “I…remember some things from the future.”

“You—what?” Her mouth drops open, but she quickly recovers. “So back there, you lied? Why?”

“Because in the future we learned about future shock.” I pause, watching my words register on her face. “We have evidence of what Aether has done. And proof that we’re all going to die tomorrow.”

I remove the papers and unfold them, laying them on the table. She leans forward and scans them. Her head jerks up. “How did you get this? Where?”

“We got it in the future. You helped us get it.”

Her eyes widen. “You—you saw me in the future? You talked to me?”

“Yeah. You said you overheard Dr. Kapur telling Dr. Walters they should ‘purge us’ before we died. You said you’d help us stop them.”

“Of course I’ll help you. But what…what was I like? Did you see my daughter by any chance?”

“You felt guilty about what happened to us. About not being able to stop our deaths. And your daughter is married with two kids. She’s a pediatrician.” I pause. I should tell her about her own death, but this might be my one bargaining chip. “I promise to tell you more once I know we’re safe…including how you died.”

She gasps. “I died? While you were in the future?”

But I just raise an eyebrow and wait.

She purses her lips and sits back in her chair, considering. “What can I do to help?”