Bryson and Gabby exchanged a look, both of them knowing that last phrase communicated a million different things. Luckily, they didn’t push him to explain because right then Helga came running out of the woods, having already spotted him, her face lit up. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she pulled Michael into a hug even more viselike than Bryson’s. She even swung him around a couple of times for good measure.

Once the world had stopped spinning and he was on his own two feet again, Michael laughed, as genuinely as he ever had.

“Man,” he said, “I don’t even know what to say. You guys are all right, I’m all right, we’re back together again. If only Sarah…” He faltered there, grief plucking at his heart. The pain was still heavy and hot, but it didn’t overwhelm him like it had at times before.

“I know, sweetie,” Helga said, hugging him one more time, holding on for a beat longer than normal. “I need to…well, uh…” She stepped back, and the look on her face was strange, mysterious.

“What?” Michael asked.

She looked away. “For now, it’s nothing.”

“What?” Michael pressed, his curiosity close to uncontrollable now.

“Later,” she replied emphatically. “I promise.”

Michael threw his hands up. “Okay. I guess we don’t need to spoil the party any more than we already have.”

Gabby stepped closer to him and lightly touched his arm. “What’re we doing here, Michael? Back at the tree house you were going nuts—all those KillSims, Kaine…we were scared to death. Then you sent us off, and ever since, we’ve been tramping around trying to find this factory you’re talking about. There’s nothing here.”

“She’s right,” Bryson added. “Not a thing, not a person. So what are we doing here?”

With a sinking feeling, Michael realized he didn’t know. Not fully, anyway. “I assumed this was where the Mortality Doctrine…factory was. Whatever you want to call it. This is where I came—this was the end of the Path.” He pointed to the center of the field in which they stood. “I was standing right there when the world spun around me and I was sucked into the Doctrine program’s vortex. Next thing I knew, I was a different dude in a real body. This has to be it.”

Bryson, Helga, and Gabby all turned in a circle to take in their surroundings, as if his pronouncement would make them see things differently. But everything in sight was programmed with superior code—it felt almost as real as Lifeblood Deep. Nothing stood out as unusual or menacing. Grass, hills, forest, the ruins of an ancient castle, and a cabin—all of which had been searched thoroughly by Michael’s friends.

They faced him again.

“What is it?” Gabby asked. “What is the factory? Where are we?”