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sleek and straight. She’d wriggled into a pair of black skinny jeans that morning and her alabaster-skinned arms were once more covered to the wrists in a clingy black long-sleeved T-shirt stencilled with a silvery, glow-in-the-dark Iron Man “arc reactor” heart. Sartorially speaking, she was back to her old self.
    But there was something … different about her. Something that looked just a little out of place. Or time. Beneath the brim of her hat, Allie could see there were shadows twisting in the depths of her stormy grey gaze.
    She was still standing there, glaring at herself, when her cousin’s reflection appeared over her shoulder.
    â€œHey, Allie,” Milo said, wrapping her in a brief hug. “Good morning.”
    The circles under his eyes were even darker than the ones under hers. But after their argument last night, Allie was lessthan sympathetic. She had only four words for him: “He has a Walkman.”
    â€œWhat?” Clare asked, poking her head around the door, her golden-brown waves shining. She looked annoyingly well-rested and bright-eyed.
    â€œA Walkman,” Allie repeated. “A portable cassette tape player. From, like, the eighties. I’d never seen one up close before, but there it was. With a secret stash of batteries and this mix tape of songs that was, like, all distorted because he’d been playing it for years, in secret. He still had that stupid skinny leather tie. I know you both think he’s fine there. Acclimatized. But he’s not. He doesn’t want to stay there.”
    Milo’s brow began to knot behind the blond fringe of his hair.
    â€œAllie,” he sighed. “I thought we decided—”
    â€œYou.” Allie cut him short. “ You decided.”
    â€œOkay. I’m eating breakfast before we have this conversation,” Milo said and, turning on his heel, left the girls standing there.
    â€œWow,” Clare said. “Need coffee much?”
    â€œHe’s not the only one.” Allie realized her head was actually throbbing a bit.
    â€œNo kidding.” Clare put a hand on Allie’s arm. “Hang on a second …”
    She frowned and seemed to search for words.
    â€œYou gonna tell me again how wrong I am?” Allie bristled.
    â€œNo.” Clare shook her head. “I was going to tell you that you’re right.”
    Allie glared at her suspiciously. “And … you came to this conclusion when, exactly?”
    â€œIt probably started when I was snogging your cousin goodnight.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œAlso, I didn’t sleep much.” She shrugged. “Partly becauseyou were snoring like a freight train, but mostly because I couldn’t stop thinking about it and ultimately, yeah. I came to the conclusion that I think you’re right. Soldier Boy did want to come with. And not because he’s yearning for a contemporary music fix or pining for the latest in retro-future fashion. I saw how he looked at you.”
    Allie felt a sudden wave of heat rush up her cheeks. With any luck it would at least drive away some of her hangover pallor.
    Clare grinned evilly. “He thinks you’re se-e-ex-ey …” she sang in an annoying warble.
    â€œShut up,” Allie muttered. The after-effects of the brandy made it particularly grating.
    â€œHe called you ma-a-ag-ic …”
    â€œShut!”
    â€œHe wants to ki-i-iss you— Urk!”
    Allie’s hands were around Clare’s throat, but she couldn’t seem to muster a robust choking grip and it did nothing to stop the laughter burbling up through Clare’s windpipe. After a fruitless moment, she dropped her hands to her sides and sighed.
    â€œOh, look,” Clare said once she’d stopped giggling. “You wanna know exactly what I was thinking last night when I should have been sleeping and dreaming of even more snogging with your cousin?”
    â€œEr, no.”
    â€œI