“That’s her,” Zoe says softly. “I can’t believe it. She looks so…old.”

“Yeah, that’s us,” Adam says to Jasmine, adjusting his glasses and carefully looking everywhere except her breasts. “What do we…”

“Follow me.” She leads us into the side of the club, past a velvet curtain, and gestures at a purple love seat. Adam sits, but I think of all the men who must have sat on the couch and decide to remain standing.

The woman slides close to him, moving between his legs, but he holds up his hands to stop her. “Wait! We just want to talk to you.”

The woman shrugs, but steps back. “Whatever. You paid for thirty minutes.”

“We’d like to ask you a few questions about your sister,” I say.

“My sister?” Jasmine plants her hands on her hips. “Why do you want to know about her?”

“We’re, um…” We really should have planned this out better. I try to think of everything I know about Zoe. “We’re doing a class project on her art. She was a great artist.”

“Is this some kind of sick joke?” Jasmine cocks her head to the side, her eyebrows raised. “My sister died when she was seventeen.”

05:21

05:21

I hear a sharp intake of breath in my head, and Chris starts to swear. Zoe is dead? That must be why she’s not in the system. But if Zoe’s not in the system, does that mean we’re all dead?

No. It could just be a coincidence. It has to be.

Jasmine is eyeing me suspiciously. I need to say something. “Well, you know, art becomes more valuable after someone dies.”

“Hmm.” She shrugs. “I guess it has been about thirty years now.”

Oh God. That means Zoe must have died not long after we returned from this trip to the future. It can’t be a coincidence. It’s all connected somehow—the conversation with the scientists, the empty building and the wrong year, and now this.

“How exactly did your sister die?” Adam asks.

“Not sure that’s any of your business really, but she was murdered.”

Murdered. The word hangs over us, sending chills through me. Someone starts wailing, probably Zoe. I put my hand to my forehead, feeling faint all of a sudden. I need to get these people out of my head. I need to get away from the sinking feeling that everything is going horribly wrong and there’s no way to stop it.

Adam stands up and touches my arm. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just give me a sec.”