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from its charger, trying to think of an excuse I hadn’t already used to text my supervisor. I settled for, “Sorry, I thought I had an afternoon shift”, which would probably have got me fired from any other job. My boss was known for being lenient, even if reliability was not listed on my CV.
    I dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved top, leaving my combat boots by the door. I pulled out my dagger from the sheath and put it back with the other knives I’d acquired, stacked on the bedside table. My room was little bigger than a cupboard, a problem when you hoarded the way I did. Books were stacked creatively on every surface, often with trophies from various martial arts classes balanced on top, and “souvenirs” Delta had given me from offworld. When I was twelve, I’d fetched a ladder and painted the ceiling with stars. Not representing the actual stars outside, but the worlds in the Multiverse. Like the doors in the Passages. Close, but distant. Untouchable.
    The aroma of hot chocolate beckoned. My legs were stiff from yesterday, but I could still feel the electric tingle of magic in my blood. My bad mood cleared. The lingering aftereffect of using magic meant I’d be able to use it on Earth, at least for a short time. Today was going to be good.
    Nell was in the kitchen, washing up. She looked like an innocuous housewife from the back—and people had been known to regret making that assumption. “You must be Ada’s clone, seeing as she’s at work,” she said.
    “Ha ha,” I said. “Guess I was more tired than I thought.”
    Nell turned around. “Have they fired you yet?”
    “They won’t fire me. They like me.” I gave her my most innocent smile.
    Nell made a disparaging sound. “Can’t imagine why.”
    “Nice to know you care. Is that hot chocolate I smell?”
    “On the table. Don’t say I don’t spoil you.”
    So it was, and also a stack of toast. I shoved half a slice in my mouth. “You’re amazing,” I said, my voice muffled.
    “Don’t talk with your mouth full. You’re lucky Jeth and Alber aren’t around.”
    I swallowed the mouthful of toast. “Alber’s not up yet?”
    “Hangover. His own fault.”
    I grinned. “Hey, you let him go out.” Unlike me, my seventeen-year-old brother Alber fitted in fine with people his own age. He’d got a handle on the double life better than I did.
    “And Jeth’s at work.”
    Here we go. I could sense a work-related lecture coming a mile off. Jeth was two years older than me, twenty-three, had a ‘real’ job in IT, and was saving to move into his own place. In other words, exactly what Nell wanted me to do. Well, it wasn’t like there was an abundance of affordable flats in London, much less for someone young, single, broke, and who kept a collection of knives in their room. A conventional landlord would kick me out.
    “Ada,” said Nell. “The real world won’t go away if you ignore it.”
    I glanced up at the flickering light. “I’m not ignoring it. I’m helping people. Same as you.” Okay, I’d left my adult card behind today. But I was tired, and kind of ashamed at myself for sleeping through my shift. As well as being the first time I’d done that in a while, it was a reminder that a double life came with a price.
    “Well, I don’t want you to waste your life away. You can’t save everyone.”
    Her face clouded. She never really talked much about her life before she’d moved to Earth. All I knew was that she’d taken me to the transition point to be assigned to a new world and was coached on language and customs. I could never wrap my head around the idea that Nell had known nothing about Earth until she’d been there, and had learned English from scratch. Within a couple of years, she’d been able to pass as an Earth native, and nobody had ever doubted the same of me. When I’d asked why she’d never taught me Enzarian, she’d said, We’re never going back. We have to let the past go. She never spoke about how hard it