“And still in jail awaiting trial,” Edd said, leveling it at me like an accusation. It answered my most pressing question, but it was not the answer I wanted. At least I hadn’t made Leo’s situation worse, but there was no comfort in that.

“Well, at least you haven’t changed,” Eddy said, sparing a quick glance at me.

“Excuse me, but I used to be a boy,” I pointed out.

He took a second glance at me. “Oh, right. My mistake.”

“We only see the inner you,” Ned said.

Among the sea of identical faces, the one I most wanted to see—and the one I was most ashamed to face—was Teddy. I had failed to create the kind of shift he wanted. He was counting on me for a bull’s-eye, and I had completely missed the target. The others saw me looking for the AWOL Edward, and all their gazes turned to Edd, as if he was now the one calling the shots. That did not bode well on any level.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Ed gave me that sad sigh once more. “I have been voted out,” he said. “I’m no longer the premier persona.”

“Under his leadership, things have gone increasingly awry. You’ll no longer be taking direction from him,” Edd told me. “I’m in charge now.”

“Where’s number five?” I asked, because Teddy was still nowhere to be seen.

That made Edd get even colder. “What the two of you conspired to do was dangerous and irresponsible.”

“Where is he?” I asked again.

Edd then gestured toward the front of the church. “See for yourself.”

Where the pulpit used to be was now just a pit: a splintered floor and a hole that opened on the remains of a basement. Down in the pit, Teddy sat, tied to a chair. He was in bad shape. Bruised, bloody. Much like I looked after being attacked in the alley. He gazed up at me with a forlorn expression, but didn’t even struggle to free himself, or speak when he saw me. The fight had been bludgeoned out of him.

Now as I looked at the others, I could see evidence of the struggle. A scratched cheek here, a puffy eye there.

“You beat yourself up? Why would you do that?”

I thought they’d all start talking at once, rattling off excuses, but no one said a thing.

“You have no idea, do you?” Edd finally said, shaking his head in disgust. “How did we ever think you’d bring anything but disaster?”

Ed hung his head and walked away. Eddy returned to the safety of his device, and Ned just shrugged. It was Eduardo who took it upon himself to share what the others wouldn’t.

“You were seeking a calmer, more peaceful world,” he said. “Did you sense those worlds there? Did you feel them reaching for you?”