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"And killing you," Trix said

Sally slowed down, out of breath, getting her bearings She looked at Trix "That, too," she agreed She glanced back and Trix followed her gaze There was no sign of the Shadow Men, but if Trix was really ot away from Sally’s No-Face Men

Her heart ached, but not froh, hoould she ever find Jenny and Holly?

"Hey," Sally said, reaching out to touch her "I’ll find the for, I’ll find theet you out of here We’ll all be safer with you back where you belong"

Trix felt relief wash through her, but then she frowned She didn’t understand why Sally would bother to help her in the ry sneer lifted one corner of the little girl’s mouth, and suddenly Sally see to send you back with my own mark on you," she said "And with my No-Faces on your trail I won’t let them kill Veronica, but they can punish her Iain"

Trix stared at her in wonder Ten or eleven years old, but so ured out She ht not be able to turn back time and prevent the horror and devastation that had hit two Bostons tonight, but she kne to stop Veronica froet Jenny and Holly back in the bargain

"Just tell

"For now?" Sally said, grim and dark-eyed "Just keep up"

She started running again Trix took a deep breath and ran after her, putting her fate and the fate of those she loved in the hands of a little girl But she knew she had no choice Jenny and Holly were out there, somewhere, in the ruin of two cities The survivors of those two Bostons, and the people of Trix’s own city … they were all now depending on Sally Bennet

When he saw Jenny shrink away froth fled For an instant, hope had raced through hinition in her eyes and knew that when she looked at hier This wasn’t his Jenny

Exhaustion weighed him down Thus far, determination had driven him on He loved his family, but he needed theh despair and past weariness But all along, hopelessness had whispered in the back of his mind like some tiny devil seated on his shoulder, and now at last he surrendered to it

Jim turned his back on the restaurant--on not-his-Jenny and not-his-Jenny’s ed three steps before his legs went out from under him and he fell to his knees on the cracked pave

In a et up In a moment he would continue his search In a moment he would catch up with Trix and they would pretend that two cities hadn’t just s around theers, their reality falling apart In a moment--

"Do you know me?"

Her voice froze him in place For a htly that he thought his heart had paused as well Then she touched hiain "Hey," she said "Anybody home in there?"

Jim shuddered and smiled at the same time How many times had she said the sa in his mind, she would try to talk to him and it would be like her voice--her presence--was muffled conversation from another room And then she would touch hih rarely with the same sadness

If he just kept his eyes closed, if he didn’t answer, maybe he could pretend for just a little while that she was his Jenny after all

But he couldn’t do that The sounds of chaos and crisis filled the city, and closing his eyes did not

Jim turned to look at this woman as not his wife She wore a confused and troubled expression, and he wondered what she was seeing on his face--surprise or love or madness, or some combination of all three? "I’ her eyes for so I could wake up and find out it’s all a nightmare"

Not-his-Jenny nodded "Me, too I think there’s going to be a lot of that going around"

Herworriedly at the two of the inside the restaurant drew her attention, and after a quick glance, she set aside her broo to tell me who you are?" she asked

Before he could answer, a fire engine roared down the street without its siren, a grim-faced man behind the wheel They both watched it pass, and Jim saw that a number of people had cos on the block A van pulled up and two burly e to the façade of a music store across the street that had specialized in antique vinyl records The owners, he figured The store existed in his Boston, too, and so for an answer

"I’ht to know But of course she didn’t "Jim Banks"

"Why don’t you come inside, Jim?" she said

He looked at her, amazed at her tenderness, as he always had been "You don’t even know me"

"No, but I can see you know an

"Jennifer," she corrected "No one’s called randfather died"