Meine Überraschung geht weiter, auch der zweite Teil könnte mich problemlos in den Bann ziehen. Der Sprung zwischen den Welten, Dimensionen, macht die Geschichte sehr spannend. Außerdem befinden wir uns in diesem Band irgendwie in einer Love Triangle, was... Interessant war. Und natürlich war das Ende so, dass ich umgehend, wirklich umgehend den dritten und finalen Band anfangen musste 😂

mal was ganz anderes, aber mega story. parts vom ersten teil kamen wieder zum vorschein und der wechsel zwischen verrat und loyalität macht das ganze super spannend. bin mega gespannt auf den letzten teil der  cliffhanger ist gut gemacht. kann mich nicht entscheiden welche von den ganzen versionen von theo und paul ich am besten finde 🤩

After all that happened in the last book, Conley started to try to bribe Marguerite and her family into working with him, specifically Marguerite, any way he could. But they always refused. Theo, though, now has grave problems due to the drug that allows travelers to remain in control longer, Nightthief. So to help him Paul had to break the truce with Conley and go to the Triadverse. When he didn't come back Marguerite went after him. Only to discover, through Conley no less, that her boyfriend was splintered through the dimensions. All so she would come work for Conley. He splintered Paul on purpose, of course, so he can broker a deal with her: run a couple of errands for him and get back each piece of Paul's soul, as well as something to help with Theo's health. There's no cure for Theo but Conley has developed something that is supposed to help his immune system and the rest of his body. But to receive all that she has to stop her parents from two universes from inventing the Firebird technology. Upon coming back to her own dimension, her parents immediately object to the plan and ask her for some time before going with Conley's plan. In Marguerite's place, I'm not sure I'd wait either. So she goes to the coordinates Conley sent her, but not alone. Theo goes with her. But in the universe they land in, that Marguerite and that Theo had just had sex. And that makes for a very awkward start. In this universe, it seems that Theo was the lucky one who got to have Marguerite. Even though Paul is very much in love with her. This is a universe at war. A universe that reminds me of WWII. It's terrifying... And soon a siren starts wailing and people are running towards a shelter. As they wait there, surrounded by dozens of people and with bombs falling around them, one finds them. Neither Marguerite nor Theo are hurt but many others are. When they come out the world is more destroyed than before, but their house is intact and they are all fine. Because she's with Theo, and has apparently said no to Paul, Marguerite can't get close to him without it being weird and suspicious. So since Paul is in San Francisco overseeing her parents' new lab, she and Theo pretend to want to take a romantic getaway weekend while they can there. She will have to use Paul to save him and Theo, and that's cruel, they both know it, but what else can they do? When they reach their hotel, Marguerite calls Paul, tells him a lie about having had a fight with Theo and he asks her out for dinner. They have a very pleasant evening and they even flirt a little (more Marguerite than Paul). She knows she won't sleep with him, but kissing is another matter altogether. When Paul kisses her, though, it is to steal one of her Firebirds. He knows she's from another dimension and she eventually is forced to tell the truth. Paul just walks away from her. She's devastated when she gets to Theo and tells him everything. But he's selfless enough to tell her that if need be he'll give away his Firebird and wait patiently to be rescued. He'd do anything for his best friend just like Marguerite would do anything for her boyfriend. When Marguerite asks Paul to meet her, he does. She and Theo convince him to give them back the Firebird in exchange for the knowledge to create their own Firebird and help in fake destroy the research. Paul is still hurt though when they leave... Then Marguerite and Theo are in the next universe. At the first opportunity, she looks up Paul. She's not friends with him and has a hard time finding him, but she leaves him a message on his Facebook with some white lie and asking him to meet her. And then she, her parents and Theo are off to dine with her sister and her fiancé: Wyatt Conley. They actually are in love and the Triadverse Conley didn't interfere. So Marguerite has a crazy idea: ask the man himself, or a version of himself. So they make their way to the hotel Conley is staying at, but as they reach it Marguerite is kidnapped and Theo beaten... Marguerite is terrified. But she's been kidnapped because she sent a message to Paul and he is in the Russian mob. With his father. His mother was no better, she wanted him there, worships his dad. But this Paul is still mostly the same as Marguerite's Paul because he saves her life, even though she has to stay with them for a few days because Conley offered a big reward for her safe return. He takes good care of her, though, even though he is a tad freaked out that she knows him so well and asks so many questions about him. Using the Firebird location option, Theo finds Marguerite and calls the police. Paul takes her someplace safe and unties her hands. Marguerite soon leaves, finds the exit as Theo finds her. But then Paul exits the building, sees them, Marguerite tackles him, retrieves the splinter of Paul's soul and Paul shoots Theo (twice, one in each kneecap)... And he's remorseless as he flees... Marguerite gives Paul's Firebird to Theo and sends him to Conley as she goes to the Russiaverse to work through what happened away from Paul... It seems like every Marguerite remembers everything and the grand duchess had the unfortunate idea of telling others. Which made them think she's crazy, talking about shadow worlds and other Pauls and a traveler invading her body, so she was sent to Paris to talk with a shrink and feel better. She remembers her real father though. And told him the truth, that she's pregnant. And he also helped with getting her way from the tsar. That dimension's Theo and Marguerite have been in touch and have been talking about what happened in December, but her Theo has also jumped after her and the conversation turns into a fight. After a day of thinking things over and understanding that she was in the wrong all these months, still mixing the two Theos, she goes to talk to him and kind of flees after he opens his heart to her completely (thanks, absinthe) and she tells him she's pregnant. Marguerite had told Vladimir of the pregnancy and begged for his help in keeping the child and he did the best he could: she'd stay until the end of it in the Danish countryside and the woman she stayed with would continue to care for the child, passing them off as a cousin of the royal family, who was to visit them and eventually stay with them permanently. It's not ideal, but it's the best case scenario... And after resolving things with Theo, who would make the cutest uncle, she finally leaves to the "home office", which is an entirely new universe and whose founders of Triad are Conley and her parents. I don't think either three are bad, especially not after knowing that they lost Josie, whose soul splintered in one of her travels because her other self died in an accident. They can't bring her back, she splintered into too many pieces, but still they try... This Conley forced his other two selves not to interfere with Josie's life in any way. And he was protecting his relationship with Josie in that other universe, that why he didn't act to destroy the Firebird project. The Home Office universe is based on corporates and skyscrapers that pass the clouds and it's the ugliest universe to date. Down on the ground, it's dark and the sky can't even be glimpsed... Marguerite doesn't immediately jump ship after she receives Paul's and Theo's information. Instead, she goes with her parents to try to understand this world. Theo and Paul seem to have had a falling out with her parents that they don't truly explain and it makes her curious enough to escape them. Even though it seems to be the most dangerous place in this universe, Marguerite goes Below, to the streets, because that's where her Firebird is telling her Theo is. Even though she finds this world's Theo, who is tough and doesn't seem to like the other Marguerite, he only points a gun at her for the safety of his group and he quickly puts it away at Paul's instruction. They go somewhere safer to talk and it seems that Paul trusts her, even though Theo doesn't, and their conversation is actually nice. And they need each other's help to take down Triad. After having lost their Josie, Marguerite's Home Office parents have gone off the deep end and want to destroy (read unmake) several universes in order to restore their own Josie. They don't think logically or hear it. They've even started tests to bring a device capable of that horror into other dimensions... Marguerite leaps into another universe after this, the one with the last of Paul's splintered soul. She sends Theo back home to tell her parents of the imminent disaster and stays to talk to Paul. But there's a horrible scar on her arm that it's Paul's making... At dinner, Marguerite discovers that her parents abandoned the Firebird project but are working on something that might be infinitely better: inter-dimensional talk. That's what she needs to make making plans easier between her dimension and the Home Office and possibly the Warverse too! Marguerite goes to talk to Paul to try and understand what happened. They were fighting because her parents had canceled the Firebird project and Paul was driving and they had an accident... It ruined Marguerite's plans to pursue painting, though... She brings her Paul back and he's almost as depressed as that universe's Paul, thinking the two of them are connected by pain and not love and she doesn't quite manage to convince him otherwise... Marguerite makes him promise to follow her but I'm not sure he did. And anyway it doesn't quite matter. Triadverse's Theo is back and he gives Marguerite Nightthief, allowing the Home Office one to take over her own body. I enjoyed this book, it was interesting to learn about new worlds. The story is good and appealing, but I didn't love it. It didn't quite lock me to it and the story also didn't absorb me into it. Something was off and I can't say what was... I think I enjoyed the first book a lot more the first time but this one not so much... Maybe it has been too long... Still, it was a nice read.