“It was an act. Look, I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to be some super-sleuth from the old books, but this has all been a setup. Between me, those who agreed with me in the Congress, my daughter and Trish, the friends they insisted on. I wanted to spare you, Isaac, with what . . . you know, your family, the tragedy . . .”

Isaac teared up but offset it by vigorously shaking his head. “I’ll be okay. I can go. I need to go.”

Cowan nodded, draped with a sad look. “Then I’ve been overruled. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

Isaac glanced over at Sadina, who gave him an encouraging nod.

“Yes, but I don’t really know what I’m agreeing to. But . . . I . . . agree?”

Sadina and Trish laughed, and even old Ms. Cowan cracked a smile.

“It’s simple, Isaac,” she said. “We’re getting on that boat, with our new friend and a few others, and we’re setting sail for the old world. How’s that for a quick recap?” She patted him on the shoulder and started walking back toward the amphitheater.

“Wait, really?” he asked, turning in a circle as the others moved to follow Ms. Cowan. “What is happening? She was just faking all that?”

Sadina pulled him into a hug, squeezing tightly. Then she whispered in his ear.

“Yep. And oh, by the way, they spiked the wine. But don’t worry, it only puts them to sleep.”

Isaac had never felt like this, not once in his entire life. He’d lost his mom, he’d lost his dad. He’d lost a sister, something that broke him to a point that he had to suppress it, hide it away, train himself to stop thinking about it. To stop feeling. But through all the pain and all the anguish, he’d never felt like this.

Groundless. Without foundation. Without gravity, as if nothing tethered him to the earth and never would again. Every step back to the Galileo Auditorium seemed temporary—like someone had slipped magic boots on his feet so that he could walk, for now. His mind was fuzzy. His feelings were fuzzy. He had that intangible sense of waking from a dream, the most realistic dream you’ve ever slipped into, that feeling that everything you know and want to keep knowing is about to fade away forever.

When they came upon the amphitheater, he stopped, almost unable to bear what he saw. But Sadina took his arm, made sure he understood.