crowding out these terrible thoughts. There’d always been some part of him that’d expected to have a choice, when the time came. He’d already accepted that he would fall in love with Quinn Fox, and he knew she would eventually kill him. But he’d still been waiting for something . . . for a moment, perhaps, when he could make the decision to walk into this future willingly.
But this . . . this was no choice. Or, if it was, it was one he’d made long before he’d fully known what he was choosing. He’d already fallen for Dorothy. He couldn’t change that now. The future felt like a vise slowly closing around him.
With the questions still pounding in his head and his lungs burning, he kicked to the surface and swam back to the docks.
Zora was waiting by the Fairmont’s back entrance, their agreed-upon meeting spot should they get separated. She was on her tiptoes, one hand shielding her eyes, and seemed to visibly relax when Ash appeared.
“There you are.” She snatched his arm, dragging him around the corner. “I thought—”
She broke off with a rough shake of her head. She didn’t have to tell him what she thought.
They walked down the dock in silence, Zora steering Ash to the garage, where the boat was parked, instead of back to the party. Ash didn’t know why they were leaving and didn’t think to ask. His head was still full of Dorothy: Dorothy here, Dorothy alive, Dorothy’s lips pressed to his.
Zora, watching him, asked, “Are you okay?”
He exhaled through his teeth. “You saw her?”
“Oh, I saw her, all right.” Zora’s voice was venom. “Our little con artist was standing beside Roman dressed up like a murderous ghost. I guess that explains how the Black Cirkus is able to travel through time, at least.” She glanced at Ash, sideways. “She had the exotic matter when she fell, remember?”
Ash felt this knowledge in his gut a second before it made its way to his head. Of course. He should’ve put that together, but he’d been too distracted by everything else—Dorothy was alive. Dorothy was Quinn. Dorothy was going to kill him—and hadn’t had a chance to think it all through. Dorothy had betrayed them.
Zora stopped walking, abruptly. There was a restless energy in her, her eyes flicking from his face to the water and back again. “So?” she asked. “What now?”
Ash frowned. “What do you mean?”
Zora, voice cracking, said, “Are you in love with her?”
Ash swallowed and looked away.
“Damn it.” Zora stared at him. “We said we would stop this. We came here to figure out how to keep you from falling in love with Quinn, not so that you could make puppy dog eyes at her!”
“I know—”
“I actually thought it was possible, back when you didn’t know her. But now.” Her eyes were wide and bright, but she wasn’t crying. She wouldn’t, not Zora. “It’s Dorothy.”
Ash said, again, “I know.”
“I was the one who told you to go after her. Back in Fort Hunter, I told you that if you fell for her instead of this girl with the white hair . . . Do you remember?”
Ash remembered. “That’s not why this happened. None of this is your fault.”
“You don’t understand.” She began to pace, that restlessness taking her over. “I was so sure it would change things. That you could just fall in love with someone else.” She released a short, fierce laugh. “Easy, right? Just pick another girl and everything would be okay. But that’s what made this happen. If you hadn’t fallen for Dorothy, things could’ve been different. Maybe . . .”
She trailed off, staring out over the black waves, her brows furrowed.
“None of this is your fault, Zora,” Ash said again. He wasn’t sure what else to say.
Zora didn’t appear to be listening. “I never understood before, how impossible this was. All this time I just thought you could make a different decision, change your future. But that decision is what brought you here. It’s like . . . it’s like fate.” Her eyes flicked back to him. “How do you stop a memory?”
Ash looked up at the Fairmont, eyes skimming over the lit-up glass. How do you stop a memory?
Maybe this moment right now was always the only one that’d mattered, this choice the only one he’d ever be given. Dorothy was waiting behind one of those windows. Finally, finally, he knew where she was. He knew she would kill him. He knew how and when.