Dr. Walters shakes his head. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

“How could you do this to us?” Chris yells. “You knew this would happen, and you sent us to the future anyway?”

“We thought we were gods, trying to control time.” He lets out a bitter laugh. “So arrogant. So stupid. After your mission failed, Kapur wanted to try again with younger kids. But I couldn’t let him do that. I destroyed the accelerator.”

“You destroyed it?” Adam asks.

“I had to. I couldn’t let them hurt anyone else.” He starts coughing again, his back bouncing off the pillow. When his cough settles down, he continues. “Aether couldn’t build it again without me. They threatened me, but I didn’t care. I was done trying to be a god.”

Zoe kneels beside the bed, almost like she’s begging. Or praying. “Dr. Walters, please. We need to know how to stop this. What about Dr. Kapur? Where is he?”

Dr. Walters scrunches up the sheets in his hands. “That bastard. After I quit, Aether put him on another project. Something involving memory. I didn’t want to know. But karma found him, and he died in a car accident not long after.”

“What about Lynne?” Trent asks. “Future-Adam said she helped him bury the project.”

“She might be able to help you, although I haven’t seen her in years. Adam is the only one who visits me.” His gaze rests on Adam and he smiles sadly. “Such a nice boy.”

“This is bullshit.” Chris paces back and forth, smoke practically steaming out of his ears. “We’re going crazy and we’re all gonna die and there’s nothing we can do? No, screw that.”

“I don’t feel like I’m going crazy…” Trent says.

“But would you know?” Zoe asks.

Trent shrugs. “I don’t think I’m forgetting anything. And hey, what about Adam? His future self said he lied to Aether about having future shock. And he seemed to remember everything, like when we’d be at the library.”

“True, and he cured cancer and all that,” Zoe adds. “He can’t be too brain damaged.”

Chris steps toward Adam, his hands in fists. “Yeah, why aren’t you going to suffer future shock like the rest of us?”

I stand up straighter, wanting to defend Adam again, even though all their words make sense. Throughout all of this, Adam has always been the odd one out. The only one not in foster care. The only one not disposable. The only one alive in the future. And now the only one who isn’t going to lose his mind.

“Is it possible we were all just faking it?” I ask.

“I suppose it’s possible, but…” Dr. Walters doesn’t sound hopeful.