“Gravelle and Seymour must have set it up that way,” she says, her face a mask as she tries to work through this. “If the authorities ever came to investigate, and they needed to erase all the evidence of what they’d done, they must have assumed this was the only way. To reset all the minds, destroy the islands—and all their research.”

“It also means they anticipated this. What we’re about to do right now,” Levi adds.

“A fail-safe, like Maude said,” I whisper. I’m only now processing the full repercussions of what that means. My eyes linger on the boats outside the window in the distance. The terror I feel at being reset begins to morph into dread, and, quickly, resignation. I know what I need to do. It’s going to be painful, in more ways than one. But it’s the only way. “Show me how to do it,” I tell Maude, accepting that this has to happen this way. This is what I must do. It has to be me. I’m going to lose my mind anyway, aren’t I? All of my memories, the thoughts that make me me—whoever that even is? Once the reset happens, I’ll be an empty shell of a person. It’s an incredibly scary thought—so overwhelmingly sad, really, that I try not to let myself go there. “I’ll stay here and do the reset. You two need to leave before this bomb goes off. I want you far out in the water before I do it.”

Maude looks stricken. “But why would we let you sacrifice yourself?”

“Because,” I answer her. I choke back tears. “I’m a Duplicate. 002.34.”

“You?” She looks lost, like a little girl. So uncharacteristically out of control. The bewildered expression on her face almost brings me to my knees.

And Levi—I’ve never seen such confusion and hurt on his face. I’ve never seen him entirely speechless.

“Yes,” I answer, forcing my voice not to tremble. “That’s what Gravelle was telling me just now, before I attacked him. Last year, on Castor Island, he switched us. I’ve been with you, and the real Emma, the Similar Emma, has been here. All year. She’s downstairs right now, in the library, by my father’s body. I swear I didn’t know any of this until half an hour ago. I’m as shocked as you are.”

I remember that I still have the infrared light, and I slip it out of my pocket, shining it directly on my wrist, illuminating my time stamp. I know Maude will want to see proof. She’s too logical. Too skeptical. There’s no way she’d believe me otherwise.

“I wish it weren’t true. Believe me, I…” I steel myself. There’s no time to waste. “Please, Maude. Show me what I need to do.”