Part of me wishes that, too. But then I’d have to live through her tragedies. I’d have to suffer the experiences that made her so hard, so desperate. And I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready for that.

I swallow. “We need to leave soon, or we’ll be late for the banquet.”

“Don’t worry, Alice,” she says pleasantly. “Today’s task is easy. Do you have the tickets?”

“Yes.” I pat the envelope I left on the foyer table, so we could grab it on our way out.

“Open the envelope,” she says. “Make sure everything’s accounted for.”

I sift through the stubs carefully. Cocktail reception: three. Banquet dinner with awards ceremony: three. Parking voucher: one.

“Got ’em,” I say.

“Good. Now destroy the tickets for the cocktail reception.”

My mouth falls open. “Wh-What?” The reception is being held for the Young Scientist Award contenders and their families, right before the banquet. Not all the attendees are invited, so it’s an incredible honor for my brother. “But Archie—”

“Rip them up. He doesn’t need to go.”

“Um, okay?” I close my hand around the tickets, crushing them. “I mean, I’ll do it, sure. But can you tell me why? Archie might seem indifferent, but he does care.”

She sighs. “I doubt it.” A prickly sensation forms on my scalp and moves along my face. It’s not painful like the electric current but almost…soft. As though my older self has reached back ten years and caressed me. “I can’t explain any more than that. It’s dangerous for you to know too much. One wrong move, one detail too many, and we could create ripples that will change the future in ways we never intended. Please, Alice. Trust me on this. You’ll thank me for it later. The whole world will thank you.”

I exhale shakily. She’s definitely said those words to me before, but maybe I needed to hear them one more time.

Quickly, before I can change my mind, I rip the reception tickets into a hundred little pieces. When the confetti falls into the trash can like discarded snow, the Voice speaks again.

“One more thing. Whatever you do, keep Dad away from a man named Charlie.”

I freeze. Charlie. Dad’s old lab partner. The person he’s hoping to run into.

I have my work cut out for me tonight.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

After I get rid of the evidence of my ticket destruction, I descend into the basement. The air smells musty, like it’s circulated the room too many times, and the temperature must be ten degrees cooler down here. Archie is sitting at the scratched-up ping-pong table that he’s converted into a work desk. Every inch of the surface is covered by three oversize computer screens, several microscopes, piles of papers, and a box of slides.