Eve was waiting at the base of the museum steps. She was dressed all in black like a mourner at a funeral, a black long-sleeve top, black slacks, and black heels. She held a black umbrella over her head, and she wore black lace gloves on her hands. Her face bore a teasing smile, and her glittering eyes latched onto mine. The pedestrians ignored us, as if we were both invisible. Somehow, Eve got brighter and clearer in the midst of the dark day, and the rest of the world blurred into gray shadows.

I ran down the steps and stood in front of her. I was strung out, breaking into little pieces. The rain poured ferociously over my head, but Eve was completely dry, not a drop of rain on her.

“This world isn’t real,” I said.

“No, Dylan, it’s not.”

“None of it. Nothing I’ve seen. It’s never been real.”

“No.”

“Where am I?”

“You tell me. Where are you?”

“I don’t know! All I know is that I don’t belong here. I’m supposed to be somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know! Tell me! Tell me the truth! You lied. You said it was over.”

“I lied because you needed to figure out the truth for yourself.”

“You put me through hell!” I shouted at Eve. “I watched people die. I’ve had to lose everyone I care about, over and over and over. And for what? So you can play games with me? So you can send me to world after world? I’m done with this. I quit.”

Her eyes never blinked, not even once. “Quit? When you’re so close?”

“Close to what?”

“To what you want more than anything.”

“Stop with the riddles! Tell me what’s happening!”

“You don’t need me for that. You already know.”

“I don’t! I don’t know what’s real anymore!”

“Where did your worlds split apart, Dylan? Where did it all begin?”

“Here,” I said. “It happened right here at the Art Institute. I saw that other Dylan in the leather jacket. That’s why I went to your event at the hotel that night. That’s why I found you.”

Eve shook her head. “No, you were well on your way by the time you came to me. You didn’t have to go looking for the Many Worlds. They’d already found you.”

I tried to let it come back to me. I pushed on my temples to think, but my brain felt starved of oxygen, unable to process. Then I realized she was right. To get to the beginning, I had to go further back. I had to return to the one place that my mind didn’t want to go.

“Wait. No. I was in the water. I made it to the surface, and I saw him on the riverbank. Me. That was the first time.”

“Then what happened?”