The only other option was to stay in the woods, and attempt a third changeover with the Fae to buy us another fourteen days, but I'd voiced doubts over the prospect. I still wanted to follow my gut instinct – and that instinct was to return to the city.
The Cal-Tech people were hunched around their computer screens, exactly as they'd been each time I'd checked on progress, and I was beginning to suspect they never left the mess. Judging by the crumpled clothing, bleary eyes and a multitude of disposable coffee cups covering every available inch of desk space, I thought I wasn't too far off the mark. Epi greeted us with a worried frown, and hurried over, pushing his glasses up his nose. “The location change has slowed progress considerably,” he announced. “We have no guarantees they will d
