“Do you know the other person?” Asa said in a hushed voice. He had a heavy, ominous feeling, and he didn’t know why.

  Sol 003 shrugged, completely unconcerned. “Maybe it’s still her guest,” he said. “We should go back.”

  The other figure was taller and with lighter hair. Asa couldn’t tell any more at this distance. He wondered, suddenly, if this was the same guest that his mother had been visiting with in his own time line. “All right,” Asa said finally. “Lead the way.”

  When Asa and Sol 003 returned, Rose was sitting on the bed, and he looked much better than when Asa had left. Asa turned a skeptical gaze on Rose 003. Asa wasn’t dumb. He knew they had probably discussed the term violations Rose had incurred, and he knew they had probably wanted to do it without him.

  Rose had always been infuriatingly close-mouthed about himself.

  “We should go,” Rose said gruffly, standing up.

  “Don’t be a stranger,” Rose 003 said with a fake, bright smile on his face.

  “Why does that feel like a threat,” Asa whispered to his Rose.

  “Because it is,” Rose said in a normal volume tone.

  “See ya,” Rose 003 said, lifting his hand up in a wave.

  “Wait,” Asa said. “One last thing. Who was—who was Galatea’s visitor?”

  Rose 003 looked at him with speculative green eyes. “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say,” he said finally.

  “Could I see her?” Asa said in a rush.

  “She’s not available right now,” Rose 003 said calmly. The corner of his mouth curled upward. “But if you returned, I’m sure we could work something—“

  “No,” Rose said, shaking his head, pushing Asa toward the door. “He’s not returning. We’re not making any deals with Galatea.”

  “That’s not what you said with Namah,” Asa said, irritated. “Also, you can’t tell me where I’m going or not going.”

  Rose ignored him.

  Asa heard Rose 003 laugh as they left the infirmary.

  “What did he talk to you about?” Asa asked as they exited the House through the side door.

  “The nexus is located in the same place in this Station as the one in ours,” Rose said. “Is your demon okay to take us through the nexus?”

  “Probably not,” Asa said. “He’s still drained. What else did he tell you?”

  Rose must have activated his contract because Haven appeared. “Hey, Asa,” Haven said brightly. “It’s good to see you when we’re not all in life-threatening danger.” She nosed PQ-9, and he fell onto his back, scolding her in binary.

  “I’m Dandelion,” Asa’s demon said, trotting along beside them, as they started walking toward the nexus.

  “Nice to meet you, Dandelion,” Haven said politely.

  Asa didn’t know where Haven had gotten her politeness from because it certainly wasn’t from her humanoid.

  “Rose, come on,” Asa said, exasperated. “What did he say about the contract violation?”

  “None of your business,” Rose said stubbornly.

  “I’ll just ask Luna,” Asa muttered.

  “And she won’t tell you,” Rose said sharply. “It’s RSS business.”

  “Oh, so it DOES have to do with the Red Seal Syndicate,” Asa said. Dread formed a ball in his throat. “It wasn’t one of the contracts I read for you, was it?”

  “No, of course not,” Rose said shortly.

  “It was a contract for Boss,” Haven piped up.

  “Haven!” Rose said, upset.

  “Asa might be able to help,” Haven argued.

  “He can’t help,” Rose said tightly. “His magic’s locked up.”

  Haven fell silent immediately because she knew exactly to what Rose was referring.

  Gemma had been with the Red Seal Syndicate since she was a very small child. When she was placed under Rose’s leadership, and he had realized exactly how powerful she was, he had wanted to not be at risk for being recruited by the military. So he had asked Asa to take her as his apprentice at the Vermilion House.

  Two years ago, Gemma had been killed due to violation of her contract.

  Asa bleakly wondered if she should have just stayed with the Red Seal Syndicate instead of coming to him. In time-line 003, Gemma was older than Asa had ever seen her. Rose had been able to do what Asa couldn’t: keep Gemma alive and well and happy.

  Asa was a failure, and he knew it.

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  His demon bit his ear from where he was perched on Asa’s shoulder.

  “Ow,” Asa complained. “What was that for?”

  “Stop brooding,” his demon said, and PQ-9 beeped agreement.

  “We’re here,” Rose announced, and Asa looked up in surprise to see the nexus. It looked exactly the same as in their own time-line. He walked closer to the nexus and looked down into it. He could see shifting shapes in the depths of the nexus that he could almost make out, if he just looked hard enough—

  Rose took Asa’s wrist and then shoved him into the nexus in a mirror action to when Asa had shoved Rose into Namah’s nexus. Asa knew Rose had still been annoyed about that, but Asa hadn’t had time to warn him. Asa should have asked him if he would have preferred to be humanoid slime on Namah’s walls.

  When they landed in their own time-line, arriving through the nexus, the Station looked completely identical to the Station they had just left. It was weirdly disorienting. The only reason Asa knew they were in a different place was because PQ-9 had pinged him with a “Welcome to Time-line 001! We hope you enjoy your stay.”

  Rose started to immediately walk away, presumably back to his home, when Asa hurried to catch up to him. “Hey,” Asa said. “Seriously. What did that other Rose want with you?”

  “He just wanted to compare notes,” Rose said dismissively, shoving his hands in his pockets.

  “About what?” Asa countered. “Did he want to know about Namah?”

  Rose shrugged, which probably meant yes.

  “What about Namah?” Asa said, and then a thought occurred to him. “Did you—you didn’t take something from her shop, did you?”

  Rose didn’t answer.

  Asa grabbed Rose’s shoulder to forcefully turn him around. “You stole from her?” Asa said, incredulous. “Do you really think that was a smart idea?”

  “It’s none of your business,” Rose said again, shaking Asa off.

  “What if she thinks I stole it?” Asa argued.

  “She won’t,” Rose said shortly.

  “What did you even take?” Asa said, following Rose as he started walking again. “Is it going to help Luna? Is that the strong energy that other Rose was talking about?”

  Rose sighed loudly, aggravated.

  “Don’t think I forgot what the other Rose said about you either,” Asa said heatedly. “You violated your contract?” Now Rose was walking so fast, Asa had to almost jog to keep up with him. “When were you going to tell me that?”

  “I wasn’t,” Rose said, abruptly stopped and throwing up his hands in frustration. “You were never supposed to know.”

  Hurt rose inside Asa against his will, magnified by everything that had just happened in that other Galatea’s time-line. His mother kept information from him, Rose kept information from him. Maybe he deserved it after what happened two years ago, maybe he wasn’t trustworthy anymore.

  But Rose was the one who had dragged him into this mess.

  “Why not?” Asa said. “I know we’re not—” Asa stopped, swallowing hard. “But I’d still help you. If you needed it.”

  “We’re not friends, Asa,” Rose said so bluntly that Asa had to fight not to cringe. “Don’t get confused because of what just happened.”

  “But I help you with contracts,” Asa said. “You need my help. You need me.”

  “You owe me,” Rose said, ruthless. “I could pay someone to do what you’re doing.”

  Asa drew back, stung. “I’m better than anyone on the Station,” Asa said. “You couldn’t find someone to do what I can do without going off-Station.”

  “Have you kept up since you left the House?” Rose countered. “Do you know how they’re training the apprentices now?”

  The House received the hand-me-down training manuals from the academies that were planet-side. Asa knew that his mother hacked databases for information whenever she needed something that she couldn’t get otherwise. Asa could do the same. But he hadn’t. He hadn’t been able to get himself to keep up since he left the House, since things had gone so bad under his watch as Head Apprentice.

  And Rose knew it.

  Asa looked away. “Whatever,” he said, crossing his arms. “I don’t know why I even try.”

  This time when Rose left, Asa didn’t try to stop him.

  Asa was glad Rose didn’t know about any of what had happened with Galatea in that other time-line. He didn’t need to know. It wasn’t any of Rose’s business.

  Because he was right. They weren’t actually friends anymore.

  “Rough stuff, kid,” Asa’s demon observed as Asa started the long walk home.

  “Don’t call me kid when you’re just a baby demon,” Asa said tartly.

  It had been over twelve hours since he first left this time-line, which seemed like a shorter amount of time than what had happened. There was always a weird time lag between time-lines, and Asa was probably lucky that he didn’t feel even more tired.

  Asa passed into the Ruby District, which was crowded with people since the nightlife had started in full-swing. The House was fully lit up with neon lights, and there was a line out the door. Asa heard hyperpop music wafting from the open doorway, guards standing by in case of trouble.

  Asa drifted by the doorway, hardly able to see in. He wondered what Mouse was doing—if she was asleep, or if she was still in training. He remembered how he had left her there this morning, and how she hadn’t wanted him to go. It felt like a lifetime ago.

  “Hey,” he said to one of the guards. It was a new shift, and he didn’t recognize any of them. Maybe they were hired out from the mercenary contacts of the Red Seal Syndicate. “Have you seen the new apprentice? Mouse?”

  The guard squinted in thought.

  “About yea-big?” Asa said, motioning with his hand. “Curly hair? Evil smile?”

  “The one who cried all day?” the guard said skeptically.

  “Oh no,” Asa said, his heart dropping. “That couldn’t be her. She wouldn’t cry at all. She’s probably a hardened criminal in some time-lines, actually.”

  “Well,” the guard said. “In that case, I didn’t see a kid like that. Anyway, shouldn’t you be on your way?”

  “She wouldn’t have been crying,” Asa said again because if he said it enough, it would be more true. “She’s tough as nails.”

  “Yeah, okay,” the guard said, shrugging, and then shooed him away with her hand.

  Asa walked home to the Onyx District, feeling even heavier than before.

  “I hope the kid’s okay,” the demon remarked.

  “I hope she is too,” Asa said, crossing his arms again as he walked. It was cold on the Station because they were running out of fuel to heat it. Again. The SAD didn’t bother to argue for more funds, so it was all controlled by the RSS.

  Asa scanned himself into his apartment building and used the stairs again because there wasn’t enough energy for the elevators either. His apartment was freezing, so he dressed in the warmest clothing he had and then piled all his blankets on his sofa bed.

  “You really live like this?” the demon said, dubious.

  PQ-9 beeped an affirmative and damning response.

  “Come on, PQ-9, give me a break,” Asa said, half-hearted. PQ-9 made a sound that made it unlikely he would ever give Asa a break.

  Asa laid down in the pile of blankets, still completely wired from the day. He remembered how hard it had been when he couldn’t see his mother when he wanted to see her. He remembered how hard it had been at night when he couldn’t sleep. He remembered crying a lot at night, at first, when he had suddenly been blocked from seeing his mother as frequently as he had been used to when he was four years old. It hadn’t made sense to him at the time—why would the rules change so suddenly? But now he understood that he had shifted time-lines, so of course the rules were different. Of course his mother wasn’t the same as she had been.

  The image of his mother laying on the floor, bleeding, shot through his mind, and he immediately shoved it away.

  Asa checked his messages, but there were no replies from his mother still. He messaged Rose: “Is Sol okay?” but then didn’t get a reply. Asa hoped Mouse was asleep, that she wasn’t having any trouble adjusting to the environment of the House. Asa’s demon curled up underneath his neck for warmth, and PQ-9 charged next to him.

  Asa tried not to think about how lonely he was, and how lonely he had been for a long, long time.

  [Timeline: 001]