"Oh, my god, no," Alex said with a laugh. "I know you're the subject of conspiracy theories and my dad was in the career of trying to stamp them out, but not everything in my life is a setup. I told you. It's run by Kyle's uncle and with Forrest's history background, it's not a big surprise. I mean, I was probably the reason he was recruited in the first place, not the other way around. Eduardo keeping an eye on his nephew, he pretty much knew all of us."

His smile turned into a dubious look and he shook his head. "Nothing about this place makes sense. Not their reasoning for the program, not why I can't seem to hack into their system, none of it."

His heart seized a little when Michael joked about not being here long and he looked away. What Michael said next didn't make anything better. He pressed his lips together and looked back at Michael. That was one of his theories. But. "I prefer to think of that theory more as the Matrix. We're all plugged in. We just need to figure out what the red pill is. Which means we're all real."

He took a breath. "Of course I'm miserable. Not all the time, but not knowing what this place is or how to get out? But look. If you're not sure what's real or not, ask me any question that you want." He reached out and grabbed one of Michael's hand. "Look into my head and see the truth. Or at least my truth. Anything I can do to get you there."