Sam shrugged. “Someone tried to charge too many toys at once? I dunno. I’ll take the stairs down a level. There are a bunch of dudes there who would love to show how manly they are by resetting the breaker.”

“Do you know how?” Emily asked.

“Yeah, I’m not an idiot. But I’m not crawling through this place’s basement with no lights either. I’ll let some bonehead do it for a smile and a wink.” She looked past Emily. “You all right? You look frazzled.”

“I’m . . . perfectly all right,” Emily lied.

“Right . . . well, stay safe and all that.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Emily said. She closed the door and turned to stare at five entirely unabashed girls. She couldn’t even find it in her to chew them out. “Never mind the laundry,” she began. Teddy cheered. “For now. At least until the power returns.” Teddy pouted. “We . . . need to figure things out for Trinity, and . . . yeah.”

“Oh!” Trinity said. “My power is that there’s always three of me. So when I die I get to live again. I don’t have to do laundry or anything, I just need to die and I’ll have clean clothes again.”

Emily didn’t know where to begin with that. She decided not to.

“You know what? I’m fine with that. Does it always spawn a new you . . . near you?”

“It’s not a new me, it’s just more of me,” Trinity said. “I think I get a bit more dumb when there’s less of me. Maybe. It’s really hard to tell.” All three of her held their chins. “Should I die two more times so that I don’t have to shower?” She frowned. “But I like showers.”

Emily considered the value of suicide as a way to avoid having to take a shower, then nixed that plan. “No, no, please don’t do that. In fact, try not to die?” She didn’t expect to have to add “no dying” to the house rules, but there she was.

The power came back on, the lights switching on with a snap. “Aw, dang it,” Teddy said. She grumbled and picked up the blankets again.

Emily eyed Trinity up and down. “Do you know what all of you sees?”

Trinity blinked all six eyes. “Yeah?”

“Even when another you isn’t around?”

“But all mes are me.”

“Right,” Emily said. “So can one of you go with Teddy and Athena, just to keep an eye on things, and another . . . part of you can stay here and tell me if there’s trouble?”

“I can do that!” Trinity cheered. “Can we hug while we do that?”

“How about one of you showers while the other you stays with me, then you switch.”

“Whoa, I’ll be doing three fun things at once!”

Emily was worried.