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. . .’ She stopped. Nina couldn’t be sure, but she thought tears briefly swelled in Josie’s eyes. Her daughter checked herself. ‘I’m sorry, Mum.’ She bowed her head.
    ‘Just what is it that you spend so much time doing on that computer anyway?’
    Josie sighed, anticipating what was coming next. ‘It’s just a game, Mum. All my friends play it.’ She glanced at the floor, curling her toes into the carpet. ‘You worry too much.’
    ‘Then show me.’ Nina dropped the clothes into a pile by the door and sat down at Josie’s desk. ‘Convince me it’s harmless.’
    Josie shrugged and sullenly logged in to a website that was immediately dancing with crazy characters and 3D animations. ‘This is me, look. You can create little people that resemble you. They’re kind of you but not you. Do you get it?’
    Nina didn’t reply. Pretending to be someone else on the internet didn’t sound at all harmless to Nina. A frown pulled her eyes together and her lips parted. She watched asher daughter leaned over her shoulder and navigated her way around the site. ‘This is the house I made for myself. And look, I have a pet dog. My friends can come to visit me, or I can go over to their houses. I can get a job, earn credits, buy new clothes and stuff. You chat to people by typing in here then it appears in a box on their screen. It’s cool.’ Josie suddenly buzzed with excitement, as if it really was better than real life.
    Nina swallowed. ‘And you’re sure you know everyone that you visit or talk to?’
    ‘Of course,’ Josie said. ‘Only friends on my allowed list can come into my house and only when I say so. It’s really safe, Mum.’ She planted a kiss on Nina’s cheek. ‘I’m not stupid.’
    ‘Your character doesn’t look anything like you. It has red hair, for heaven’s sake.’ Nina laughed, trying to lighten things up. She didn’t want to be a heavy-handed parent.
    ‘That’s why I love going there. It doesn’t have to look like you. You can be whoever you want in Afterlife.’ Josie stared out of the window. ‘It’s like a clean slate.’
    ‘In what?’ Nina stared deep into her daughter’s eyes, looking for signs of dishonesty.
    ‘Afterlife. That’s what the game’s called.’ Josie happily logged off.
    Later, when they had raided the shops, bought things they didn’t really need, ordered milkshakes and doughnuts, tried on shoes, tested lipsticks and doused themselves in perfume, Nina found herself thinking about Afterlife and the chance to be whoever you wanted to be.

CHAPTER 6
    I didn’t encounter Adam again that first afternoon. I saw him through the window, striding across the courtyard, his long legs weaving a purposeful path back to school. The hems of his jeans were soaking. He’d obviously been walking through wet grass.
    I pulled away from the window, my fingers trailing thoughtfully on the stone mullion.
    It was just as well we didn’t see each other. I wouldn’t have been able to foil any friendly conversation, not without appearing rude, and I didn’t want to answer any more questions.
    Besides, after my duties were taken care of, I was left with little time to think, let alone sit and chat. From the minute term began, girls of all ages demanded my attention, and one teenager in particular latched on to me.
    ‘It pisses me off that they don’t care.’ Lexi, a blonde fourteen-year-old, hovered beside me. I checked off the inventory list in the linen storeroom. ‘They must hate me. Why else would they have dumped me here?’
    I put down the clipboard on a pile of towels. ‘That’s just not true,’ I said, although I hadn’t a clue about the girl’ssituation. ‘Your parents love you. And please don’t swear.’
    ‘Mum’s dead,’ she continued. ‘And my dad’s a big git.’ All this said with an accent that wouldn’t be out of place in the royal household.
    ‘But you said
they
.’ I continued counting towels.
    ‘They as in the git and his sidekick. The