I was losing patience quickly. “Maybe another lifetime,” I told them. “But right now, let’s focus on the reason why we’re all here: getting everything back to the way it was. Including me.”

Eduardo took a long look at me. “Personal changes are hard to undo,” he said. “If you were able to get the world back to the way it started, but you remained this way, would that be acceptable to you?”

Part of me screamed yes, part of me screamed no, so I sidestepped the question. “What matters most is that everything else gets undone.”

“That’s very noble of you,” said Ed. “Putting the needs of the world before your own.”

I didn’t feel all that noble. I just felt lost. “I . . . I don’t know how to navigate this world,” I confided. “The thought of going back to school on Monday . . . I can’t even imagine what it will be like.”

Ed put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Hey, don’t forget that you have all the memories of this world, Ash. You just need to integrate who you are now into who you were. But in the end, you’re still you.”

“You’ve just had a makeover,” suggested Eduardo.

“More like a make-under,” Eddy said.

“Don’t hide from it,” said Ed. “Experience it. Experiencing your lives is the most important thing you can do.”

14

Here’s the Thing . . .

“Did it happen? I’ve been texting you since last night.”

Katie called just as I was driving away from the Edwards’. It wasn’t that I was avoiding talking to her, it’s just that I was avoiding talking to her.

“I had my phone off,” I told her, which was true. It was off because I knew she’d be trying to reach me.

“So something did happen!”

“Sort of.”

She took that as a yes. “Okay—meet me at the public library at noon.”

“Why there?”

“Because it’s the one place in town where I know I won’t run into Layton.”

The library had a nonsegregation policy. Anyone could sit anywhere they wanted. Unfortunately people tended to bring their predispositions with them, so tables often seemed to divide by race, regardless of policy. Something that often happened in my world, too. When I got there, I was surprised to see that it wasn’t just Katie. Leo was also there. Katie had managed to find him on her own.

“Sit down, Ash,” said Katie.

I sat across from them. Some old guy at another table gave us a glance from behind his newspaper. I couldn’t tell whether the glance was judgmental or just a glance. A moment later, he left. I couldn’t tell if he left because he didn’t approve of the three of us together, or if he just felt it was time to go. That’s the maddening thing about racism. Sometimes you just don’t know.