“No, Esther—she really isn’t. She might like the same music and wear the same clothes. She might have a cool piercing and sing in a band—which, by the way, is probably going to be terrible, because they’ve been together for all of twenty seconds, and my friend Shelley says she’s heard Vectra singing in her room and she’s not good . . .”

“Have you made enough noise for your sonar to have located the point yet?”

“Sorry. My point is, Esther, that you are a ray of human sunshine, and Vectra is a joyless vortex sucking all that is good and pure out of the world because she can’t bear the thought of anyone else experiencing happiness. You are pretty much opposites.”

“But she’s my dark twin, exiled to the void—”

“That might have been the case before you came here. Kids are mean. But in Sheffield? Everyone you meet loves you.”

“Except Vectra.”

“I don’t want to dig too deep into this one, but take it from me, you really need to not focus on the one person who doesn’t like you and focus on the ones who do. Why would you pay thirteen pounds to come and watch someone who loathes you when you could be in your room playing Communist Monopoly with two people who think you’re brilliant?”

But Esther was pretty sure Susan didn’t think she was brilliant, and Daisy . . . well Daisy had all but disappeared.

“Communist Monopoly takes ages,” Esther said, not sure she was capable of any more heart-to-hearts until she’d gotten hold of another drink. One she actually liked. “Besides, no one ever wins.”

“Spoken like a true capitalist,” said a familiar voice from behind them.

“SUSAN!” Esther shot off the step and launched into a hug with the sort of force that could take down a tower block. And when she did, Susan didn’t tell her to get off. She hugged her back. Grudges were for people who didn’t care that they’d wronged you, not for people like Esther. Not for friends.

The hug was broken up almost immediately by the bouncer from the front door.

“I warned you. No fee, no entry.” He tightened his grip on Susan’s shoulder and held his other hand out. “Pay up or shove off.”

“Unhand her, you tenacious ape!” Esther said imperiously. “We were about to leave.”

“We were?” In a moment of joyous abandon, Ed Gemmell sprang up and flung the contents of his cup over his shoulder—just as the stage door opened.

The scream that rent the air tore through the city of Sheffield with all the force of a sonic boom.

“What. The. Actual. Hell?” Vectra stormed toward the group by the steps, rage burning so hot that it was almost a surprise that the water hadn’t evaporated on impact.