“No,” Emily said. “No, I don’t think I do.” She closed the door. “Where did the toaster come from?”

“Found it,” Trinity said.

Emily made a note never to let them talk to a police officer. “And where did you find it?”

Another Trinity rubbed at her eyes. “Downstairs?”

“You stole the communal toaster?”

“It was just there,” Trinity defended herself. “The bread and butter, too. It’s ours now.”

Emily forgot some of her troubles, mostly because she had much bigger ones to deal with. “All right, everyone off the bed,” she said.

There was a lot of grumbling at that.

Emily pointed to one of the dirty Trinitys, then to the bathroom. “In the shower.”

“Shower!” the girl said before running over. Emily had been expecting a bit more trouble there, but she could live with not having to fight over that.

“Right. Teddy, you remember when I showed you the washing machines?”

Teddy slumped. “I don’t want to clean stuff. It’s boring.”

Emily pointed to her bedsheets, currently stained with what she dearly, dearly hoped was only peanut butter. “Then you should have said something before eating on my bed. You’re the oldest here.”

Teddy grumbled, but she started pulling the sheets off.

“Athena, go wash up, then help Teddy,” Emily said. She turned to the remaining Trinitys. “You two, pick up all this mess.”

“Aww,” she said in stereo.

Emily glared, then noticed that the toaster was missing. “Where is the toaster?” she asked, quite sensibly.

That was when a loud sparking snap sounded from the bathroom and the lights flickered out.

“Oh no,” Trinity said. “I died.”

“You what?” Emily asked. The room was darker, but not so much that she couldn’t see the confused look on both of Trinity’s faces. A form glowed next to Trinity, and another body, dressed the same as the other two, appeared. “What?” Emily asked again.

Did she have four Trinitys now?

“I died,” all three said. “Mister Toaster didn’t like the water.”

Emily walked over to the bathroom, threw the door open, and took in the room at a glance. The shower was still running, water splashing down onto the smoking form of a very shiny, very soapy toaster. “What?” Emily repeated. She almost absently shut the faucet.

“It’s okay,” the Trinitys said. “I can’t die while I’m still alive.”

Emily was developing something of a headache.

“Does this mean I don’t need to do the laundry?” Teddy asked.

Someone knocked at the door.

Taking a deep breath to cool down, Emily stomped over and opened the door just a crack. She came face-to-face with Sam, the girl from one room over. “Yes?” she asked.

“Yo! Power’s out for you, too, huh?”

“Yeah,” Emily said. “Do you, uh, know what happened?”