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I was thinking about…” I stopped. The thoughts were just out of reach, like when you’re trying to remember someone’s name and it won’t come to you. You know it, but it’s hiding from you in a dark part of your brain. “I was thinking about something I wanted to do.” It came to me. “Kick boxing!” I shouted. “I was thinking about how I regretted giving up kick boxing.”
    “So that’s when you made the Shift. You Shifted to a reality where you hadn’t given up kick boxing. And everything else rippled out from there.”
    “So I know kick boxing?”
    “I don’t know. Do you?”
    I closed my eyes and thought about it. Yes, I did. In fact, I knew a lot about it. Memories, at least that’s what I thought they were, unlocked themselves. Me and Katie going to classes. Me getting my brown belt before her. I opened my eyes and tried to follow the threads. In one reality I’d quit. But in this new reality, I’d woken up in a world where I hadn’t. And that had somehow got Katie killed.
    I remembered now. I’d been taking Katie to class one night. Dad was away on a work conference and Mum was at one of her book club things. Mum had told Katie and I to stay at home, but I had a competition coming up and really wanted to go. And Katie refused to stay at home alone. So we hopped on my moped and rode off into the rain.
    “I have to undo it,” I said, my nails digging into my palms.
    “You can’t,” Aubrey said gently. “You can’t undo a Shift.”
    “But my sister. It can’t be…” I couldn’t speak any further.
    I buried my head in my hands. I didn’t know what was happening to me and with every second I was losing more and more of the old life. The life with Katie. I couldn’t even remember how I’d met Aubrey. All I knew was that she was my anchor in the storm I’d found myself.
    I felt her rest her arm on my shoulder. “We can try,” she said softly. “Find another way. Where were you, when you made the Shift?”
    I looked at her, my eyes clouded by tears. “I was here,” I said, pointing at the sofa we were sitting on.
    “Here?” Aubrey said. “Here?” She jumped off the sofa.
    I nodded, even more confused.
    “Then you have to get out. They’ll be here any minute.”
    “But you said you’d help me,” I said, sounding annoyingly pathetic.
    “I will. But I can’t help you if you’re locked up.” She dragged me to my feet and pushed me towards the door.
    “Maybe I should be locked up. At least I couldn’t hurt anyone again.”
    “Don’t be an idiot.”
    We’d made it as far as the hallway. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”
    She paused in her shoving and considered me for a second. “Just hide out. I’ll find you.”
    But it was too late. Someone knocked at the door.

Chapter Nine
    Isaw outlines of bodies through the foggy glass of the front door. Aubrey and I looked at each other. “Is there another way out?” I whispered.
    She shook her head.
    “Ms Jones,” a cold male voice shouted from the other side of the door. “This is ARES. Please open up.”
    Aubrey looked from me to the door. Her shoulders sagged, like a little girl waiting for her punishment. I didn’t recognise her. Right then, I was really afraid of the men on the other side of that door. If they could do this to Aubrey Jones, who was the most confident girl I’d ever met, then what hope did I have?
    “It’s OK,” I said, trying to reassure myself as much as her. They banged on the door again and she flinched. I hated seeing her like this. “I’m coming,” I shouted.
    I squeezed Aubrey’s shoulder, pushed past her, and opened the door. I had a glimpse of a man in a grey uniform and behind him a line of men in black combat gear. Then a bag was thrown over my head, I was pulled through the door, and pushed to the floor.
    They were shouting at me to get down, which seemed kind of redundant seeing as my face was already pressed into the cracked tiles. How much more down could I get? My hands