"If he can't handle this, we'll just keep him here at the Pole where he'll be safe until he snaps back to his reality," Nico said, glancing unhappily over her shoulder at the guy. Where he was from sounded way less fantastical than where she and Molly or Raph and Mikey were from. This place probably looked totally and completely nuts to him.

"The way I understand it, we don't really get 'chosen' so much as somehow yanked through because kids identify strongly with us, or we make them feel safe," she said. "I don't know how it works either, but it's at least better than 'you might have been made-up whole-cloth'."