Seven looked to where Josef was pointing. “He’s just another hallucination of yours. Why do you keep doing that? I told you: if he disappears, you’ll know he’s not real—at least not to anyone else. If he stays put, then he’s a part of physical reality or mass hallucination. Can’t you keep that straight?”

While they were talking, Proteus and Window left the room. “They’re going,” Josef said. “Aren’t you going to follow them?”

“Proteus never even knows when I’m around,” Seven said. “But I can’t stay here any longer. I think he’ll be all right. I’m sure he will. He’s so resourceful—”

“What’s wrong with that?” Josef said. “It didn’t sound like a compliment.”

“You’re not supposed to question me like that,” Seven said. “Don’t try to switch roles with me. Come on, I’m taking you back.”

“But that boy!” Josef said. “At the mercy of God knows what—”

“That’s your trouble. You always exaggerate,” Seven said. He sighed, touched Josef on the arm, and thought of Josef’s bedroom. This time Josef only felt a flash of air, a whoosh of sound, and then a strange scrambled-up sensation. The next thing he knew he was lying above the bed, looking down at his own body or all he could see of it, bundled in a hump beneath the blankets.

“Is that me?” he said. “I’ve been out all over everywhere without my body?” The realization terrified him. He froze.

“Turn around,” Oversoul Seven said. “Your head’s at your feet. You’ve got to line up with your body.”

“I can’t. I don’t know how to. Suppose I don’t get back in?”

“Getting back in is easiest of all,” Seven said. “You just have to want to. And I suggest that you give some thought to solving some of your other problems. In fact, what you’ve seen tonight should help you considerably. But this time it’s up to you. I’ve given you the ingredients for something, but you have to use them. Now get back inside your body. Just drop in—”

“Drop in?” Josef asked.

Seven sighed and gave Josef a slight nudge that lined him up with his physical body. “Go ahead.”

Josef stared at him distrustfully, but he dutifully tried to do what Seven suggested. A funny falling sensation rushed through him. In panic his eyes flew open. He was in bed. The room was perfectly normal, except for a toy-man soldier who stood in the corner.

“You forgot to dismiss your hallucination,” Seven called helpfully. He himself disappeared.