On the shore, it’s a frenetic, desperate scene as my friends nab the last boats and help the remaining DNA parents board them. I finally see Levi, stumbling out of the building holding a figure in his arms. It’s Theodora. Her body is limp and unmoving. But he has her, and he’s not leaving her here. Even if she is beyond reviving. I feel tears in my eyes for her. For Theodora. I wish I’d been able to tell her how much she meant to me. I also feel a deep kind of longing for Levi—the Levi I fell in love with last year, that Emma first fell in love with. I’ll never see him again. And he’ll never know how I really felt. I watch as he approaches a boat, resting Theodora inside it.

I turn back to Seymour. Levi’s safe, and so are my friends, and it’s time.

Now. Press the orange reboot button, I instruct him. Do it.

He doesn’t hesitate, because he can’t; I won’t let him. He presses it.

I brace myself for the loss of everything I’ve ever known. My memories of Ollie. Of being his best friend and loving him all these years, of splitting sandwiches and watching films and staying up way too late scarfing down junk food and sharing our lives. My memories of the Similars, of my dad, lying lifeless on that cold, hard floor. And, of course, my memories of being with Levi. Of how he rocked my entire world and found a way to heal my scarred heart. I don’t know how quick the process will be—the process of losing myself and my identity and every thought I’ve ever known. I hope it’s not long and drawn out. I hope it isn’t painful.

In moments, it all happens. An explosion erupts somewhere within the compound, and I’m knocked out of my seat. The room is buckling and trembling so violently, the floor literally rolling beneath me, that I can’t stabilize myself. The chair is out of my reach, even as I try crawling over to it, thrusting my body forward to reach it. Seymour is on the floor, unable to grasp on to anything, since I’m still controlling his mind. He’s rocked by the waves, powerless to steady himself.

The bombs have gone off. The entire room rattles as a string of mini-explosions hits, as labs and furnaces and everything else on this compound gets triggered by the initial blast. I climb back gingerly into my seat, finally able to grasp it, and glance hungrily out the window, expecting to see all the boats gone, the shore empty except for fallen guards.