“This is perfectly adequate.” Robert reached into his pocket and brought out a mobile phone that looked like it was circa 1999 to a collective groan from the others.

“How can you have that out in public without being embarrassed?” Edmund said.

The conversation continued but Matt didn’t hear the rest. He was too busy watching his friends in front of him, once more sliding back into their usual roles like they were born to play them. For him, the group was more than family—it was fate. And they all worked together in harmony.

Robert was the lovable butt of everyone’s jokes. He was timid and quiet, but the most diplomatic of the group. At an early age Robert found out that he had been named after a famous poet, and had a deep crisis of self-identity. It resonated to this day, as he weighed up outcomes before acting, as though to live up to his namesake.

Pru was vivacious—a girl who talked first and thought later. This had got her into a lot of trouble at school, but her good grades and inquisitive mind often saved her. Her love of mechanics really kicked in when she borrowed a school laptop from the library and brought it back in pieces. The librarian made her put it back together, which Pru did right in front of her.

Edmund was classically handsome and fiercely intelligent. In any other group, he would have risen to the top. But instead he was relegated to be the right-hand man to Tim—anyone else might have been miffed by that. But not Edmund. He was always one to go with the flow, content to be needed when he was needed. He was Tim’s friend from kindergarten and possessed many of the same traits, but he was never quite as good. But Edmund didn’t possess Tim’s intensity, which made him more approachable.

They were all in orbit around the twins, having a regard for Tim and Rachel that, although unspoken, was never really hidden. Tim and Rachel were untouchable—people trod lightly around them. The Claypaths were the most important family in Marsden, with Roger Claypath casting a formidable shadow in the police force and Ava Claypath casting an equal one in the social scene. This was a rather silly thought, as Matt had met both of the Claypath parents and they were the friendliest people in whose company he had ever been. Tim and Rachel shared that friendliness, although sometimes Tim clearly reveled in his power. And power he most definitely had.