So I didn’t answer him, because I couldn’t give him the answer he wanted to hear. And I thought about Teddy, who wanted me to reach down into the murky depths, alter all of human history, and make the world better than when I started. How could I not be tempted by the prospect?

“I swear to you, Leo. I will fix what I broke.”

“What if you can’t? What if broken means broken?”

“If I can’t fix it,” I told him, “then I’ll die trying.”

I had a run-in with Layton just before the game. It was ten minutes to kickoff. I was suiting up with the rest of the team, but I was distracted. Staring at my hands, staring at my feet—wondering if I had what it took to make the sweeping kind of change Teddy had been grooming me for. People trained their whole lives for far less important things. I had barely trained at all. When I finally looked up, most everyone else had gone. It was just me and Layton.

“So, did you get an earful this afternoon?” he asked. “You like listening to other people’s conversations?”

The last thing I wanted was to get into this now, but I couldn’t shake off Layton’s taunting. He was baiting me, and against my better judgment, I took the bait.

“Not particularly,” I said. Even though I hadn’t heard a thing, I didn’t tell Layton that. I let him sweat about it. “But some conversations you can’t tune out no matter how hard you try.”

“Well, Ash, I know sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong is kind of your thing, but what goes on between me and Katie? That’s none of your business.”

“Whose business is it, Layton? You wrap your arm around Katie like you want to protect her, but who’s going to protect her from you?”

Then Layton got almost, but not quite, in my face. It wasn’t rage, but a calculated, controlled threat. “You had better watch yourself. I don’t care who your father is, I swear I’ll—”

“You’ll what? You’ll hit me? Go on, do it. I want you to. Hit me so hard that it knocks me into next Tuesday. Because I know something about next Tuesday that you don’t.”

“And what would that be?”

Then I whispered in his ear. “Hit me hard enough, and you won’t be there.”

And in that moment, I would have done it. I would have slipped into Elsewhere and pushed him right into that pit of oblivion to join Ralston and his goons. No trace, no evidence.