Excerpt from Archive of Unknown Universes by Ruben Reyes, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

PASSWORD: *******

WELCOME, Ana Flores. LAST LOGIN, March 15, 2018. DURATION, 12 Minutes 34 Seconds. DESIGNATED INTERLOCUTOR, Canadian American singer and songwriter Alanis Morissette. HOW CAN I HELP YOU TODAY?

I need to see all the alternate versions of my life.

ISN'T IT IRONIC, Ana Flores, THAT CHILI IS TYPICALLY SERVED HOT, NOT CHILLY? PLEASE CONFIRM THAT THIS REQUEST IS NOT FOR PERSONAL USE.

Yes, this request is for my academic research.

OKAY. WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR ALTERNATE TIMELINES RENDERED VISUALLY OR TEXTUALLY?

Visually.

PLEASE PROVIDE A GUIDING QUESTION.

Who is the Nicaraguan man on the ID my mother was hiding in her passport?

YOU OUGHTA KNOW, THIS WILL TAKE A MINUTE. PLEASE WAIT.

A series of videos appeared, each one sequestered into its own geometric shard on the screen. On each slice of the kaleidoscope, Ana lived out possibilities she hadn't accessed in her timeline. They were, in essence, short films of what could have been.

Only one showed Ana and her mother in their Echo Park apartment. Felicia's fingers snaked through the waves of Ana's long black hair. It was a rare, but not unusual, way Felicia showed loved. More often, her affection manifested in cautious words: drive safe, apply sunscreen, call me when you get there. If the caress was a sign to spend the summer at home, Ana didn't want to see it.

A dozen other clips starred Ana and Luis, each with minor but distinct deviations from the life they knew. In one, they walked down the Charles River, taking a regular study break, an excuse to hold hands away from their friends. But Luis was beach blond, with a thick but close-cut black beard. He'd gone through a rebellious phase her Luis had not.

The shot would be easy to dismiss as fiction or forgery were it not for the way they held hands. Their pinkies were hooked together, Luis's loosely tethered to hers, a lazy way of holding hands all their own. Ana assumed no one else shared it, this quirk they loved and laughed about often. But there they were: blond-Luis and other-Ana, acting like it was their own little invention.

Ana pulled away, overwhelmed. Her phone chimed. Luis was walking to the library now. In her rush to power the Defractor down, she scrolled over a shard in the upper right-hand corner of the kaleidoscope. Her lips were locked on a stranger's. She clicked, and let surprise settle over her.

At the start of the clip, they sat next to each other at her usual table in Leverett Library, both typing furiously. They paused, their timing seemingly choreographed. The unnamed boy extended his slim fingers toward her cheek, turned her face toward his, and leaned in for a kiss. It was brief, but Ana watched her own face break into a smile: natural, contained, but full of joy, the way she imagined she'd look after kissing someone she fiercely cared about. At some point, she and Luis had moved just as easily, earnest in their affection. They'd sat at the same table, tucked in the western corner of the library. Watching herself do the choreography with another man, the motions felt distant, pulled from happier times.

Though he looked a bit like her boyfriend, with the same oblong face and deep-set eyes, the unnamed boy was not Luis. She was really, truly, deeply in love with a man she hadn't met in this life.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Ana rushed to rid herself of the Defractor. A librarian accepted the machine, and Ana put on her best poker face. A second later, Luis walked through the glass doors and swiped into the library. He smiled at her, and she forced herself to smile back.

"I forgot which dryer was busted and had to run my comforter twice," Luis said. "I hope your morning was more productive."

Excerpted from Archive of Unknown Universes by Ruben Reyes. Copyright © 2025 by Ruben Reyes. Excerpted by permission of Mariner Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.