I’m brimming with questions, but I don’t ask them. I don’t know where to begin. All I know is that I can’t run into Levi’s arms, even though it’s what I’ve been dreaming about, and hoping for, all these months. Because of what just happened with Ollie, and because I have no idea where Levi and I stand. I’ve heard nothing from him in months. For all I know, Gravelle was telling the truth, and Levi doesn’t want me. Not in the way I want him.

“Levi?” says a voice behind me. I turn, startled out of my thoughts, to see Maude standing there. Next to her are Pippa and Pru. And the others—Jago, Ansel, and Theodora—are a few paces behind.

Levi makes eye contact with Maude, standing there like he is with his hands still firmly in his pockets. He looks like he always does. Stoic. Maybe I’m the only one who can see that under the surface, there’s more than meets the eye. He doesn’t breathe a word to Maude. But then, after a moment, a smile breaks over his face, and she runs to him, throwing her arms around him and holding him like a lifeline. The other Similars follow, one by one at first, and then in a group, shouting, angling to get in a hug with him. Pippa’s outwardly crying, and Levi’s laughing, teasing her for missing him so much.

“After all this time, Pip,” he says, his face looking considerably lighter than it did five minutes ago, “I didn’t know you cared.” I realize with a pang in my gut that this was the first time any of them had been separated from one another, for their entire lives. No wonder this reunion is so joyous and full of life, if bittersweet. I hug my arms to my chest, trying to harness some of that happiness myself. But my eyes can’t help but flutter to Ollie’s face. If he’s feeling anything besides happy to see Levi, he doesn’t show it. But I wonder: How does he feel, really, about Levi’s return?

Everyone has questions for Levi. Everyone but me. Sure, I want to know it all too. How he got here. Why. If Gravelle let him go. But there’s only one question I really want to ask, and it’s the one question I can’t: Did you come back for me?