Booksology Say what you will, but science just works for Aria Patel.
As a levelheaded 18-year-old, Aria appreciates the order of science, its desire to cleanly measure things. Physics in particular has this wonderful way of making impossible, massive conundrums make sense.
Maybe Aria gravitated to her love of physics because her dad, who passed away when she was a little girl, was a physicist. But whatever the reason, it’s now a part of her fabric. And that earnest, woven-in appreciation is why she just dumped her boyfriend in her senior year of high school.
Rohan is handsome and sweet, and Aria gets along great with him. But Aria is convinced that going to different colleges will eventually send their relationship into a painful spiral. So, she cuts it off now. In a life that’s already so chaotic, why obsess over complicated relationships and unknowns when the scientific method gives you direction and a straight path to avoid all the drama? It only makes sense.
Flip that sensible perspective around 180 degrees and you’ll see exactly why Aria isn’t very enamored with poetry. That creative construct, with its archaic word choices and obscure meanings, cannot bring understanding.
For some reason, however, her Physics teacher at school has handed the class a poem to read, suggesting that there is great scientific meaning there. However, the only thing the poem does for Aria is give her a headache.
No, worse, it’s much worse than a headache.
Aria suddenly feels a small tingle at the base of her neck, a cold stiffness that creeps its way up. Then a sensation like a brain freeze, without the benefit of ice cream. She’s surrounded by shimmering waves: bright, sharp, strange.
Aria finds herself suddenly falling through what she can only describe as parallel universes. She tumbles into these new versions of her life—each similar to the last but strangely tweaked—and then she moves on.
One version puts Aria and her friends in a wintery Colorado setting. Another has Aria singing in full-throated Bollywood song. The next shows her a futuristic world with robotic AI.
It’s hard for Aria to get her footing, impossible to understand. And there’s no scientific formula that can save her.
Breathe, Aria. Breathe.
The only common elements in these multiverse worlds are the facts that (1) these are indeed versions of Aria’s life, (2) they’re made up of familiar versions of her friends and family—in some, her dad is still achingly alive—and (3) the poem always shows up before she jumps once again.
Surprisingly, Aria’s current multiverse hasn’t slipped away as quickly as the others. In fact, she’s been here for days. She and her bestie, Dilnaz, are closer than ever. In this version, Aria has a loving mom and dad. She and boyfriend Rohan are happy.
Admittedly, this version of her life feels very, very good.
But unless Aria can get back home, she’ll have taken this happiness away from someone else forever: another Aria. She will have stolen it.
And what about her own life and the people she really loves?
