“Screw that,” Chris says. “What happened is they lied to us. There’s no one here and we’re on our own.” He stabs a finger toward the front door. “We don’t even know if we’re in the future or not. We need to see what’s outside this building.”

Adam moves in front of the door. “No, we need more information first. It might not be safe. You can’t go out there—”

Chris takes a step toward Adam with fire in his eyes. “Get out of my way.”

Here we go again. I raise my hands to stop him. “Aether will want to know why this place is abandoned. We should look around quickly.”

I can practically see smoke coming out of Chris’s nose. But after a long, tense moment, he steps back. “Ten minutes, that’s it. Then I’m going outside.”

Adam nods. “We can split up to cover each floor faster.”

“We’ll take the top two floors.” Chris gestures for Trent to follow him. “Let’s get this over with.”

They head to the stairs while Zoe bites her fingernails. “It’s okay,” Adam says to her with a warm smile. “We can search the other rooms together.”

I’m not sure if I’m included in that “we,” but I prefer to work by myself anyway. “I’ll take the third floor. Alone.”

Before Adam can answer, I spin on my heels and pound up the stairs. The third floor is where they did the medical exams, but it’s dark and empty now. I wish I had a lighter like Trent, but there’s just enough sunshine coming through the windows for me to get by. I take a moment to look outside, but the glass is so caked with dirt and dust that it’s hard to see much. The sun hangs low at the horizon, and based on the position, I’d guess it’s just after dawn. We got in the accelerator after lunch, yet now it’s morning again. Another clue that we’re not in our time anymore.

I move quickly, darting from one room to another. Exam rooms with no tables or beds. Medical labs with no equipment. Empty offices with no desks or chairs. Nothing has been left behind, not even a scrap of paper or a stray paper clip. It’s creepy as hell, wandering these empty rooms alone. I keep imagining that at any second someone will pop out at me, like in a horror movie. But there’s no one here and no clue as to what happened. Or what year this is.

As I’m about to head back to the stairs, something flashes in the corner of my eye. Sunlight glints off an object sitting on a windowsill. I approach it cautiously, and when the sun is no longer in my eyes I see it.

An origami unicorn.

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