“I’m so sorry I wasted your time,” Mum said to the police, and they said, “Not at all,” and everyone was smiling, and nobody seemed to know how long I’d been gone.

I asked Mum, and she looked blank, and the police were at the door already, saying goodbye, and when I asked her again, she said, “I had a feeling. A terrible gut feeling. There was this space, this black hole in my center, where you always are. And it was empty.”

She started crying again then. She said, “It’s the most terrible feeling in the world.”

I thought about what Novo had told me on the other side of that door, that I was missing in the Now, and I thought maybe it was like that night horizon, this moment, no beginning or end, and that’s why she couldn’t tell me when it started. That’s why she could only say how it felt.

“I didn’t go anywhere,” I said. “I think I just went to the beach and fell asleep.”

She was shaking. She was too exhausted to be angry with me. Too relieved that I was back. “I panicked,” she said. “I lost it.”

“I’m sorry, Mum. I’m so sorry.”

“You’re here. That’s all that matters, Jude. You’re here.”

She flew around the kitchen like Charlie Parker then, hardly landing, moving from place to place, all nervous energy, asking me if I was hungry, asking me what I wanted to do.

“Are you tired?” she said. “Are you all right? Do you want a shower? A bath, maybe? Shall I make you breakfast? Do you want to go out for lunch?”

The hollows under her eyes were deep gray in the spotlights. Henry and I exchanged glances.

“I think we should both sleep,” I said. “When did you last sleep?”

She stopped moving. Frowned. “I can’t think,” she said, and then she stretched and yawned. “You might be right. I think I’m shattered.”

“Me too.”

She stood, slightly swaying, and reached out her hand once more to stroke my cheek.

“Go to bed,” I said, and she smiled.

“Will you be here when I wake up?”

“Course I will.”

She left the room and Henry pulled out a chair for me to sit down.

“Where is he?” I said. “Where’s Novo, Henry? Do you know?”

“He’s still here,” he said. “Don’t worry. You know that boy would do anything for you.”

“Is he okay?”

“I’m sure he’s fine.”

“My body is so heavy,” I said. “Like I can’t carry it. I feel so strange.”

“That’s only natural.”

“I don’t understand what happened. Tell me what to do,” I said, and he shook his head.

“Help me, Henry. Please. We’re the same, aren’t we? You and me? Can you tell me what I need to know?”