“Is there anything I need to worry about?” I asked Ashley and Rain. I picked up the bags, slinging them over the one shoulder.

“Seee?” Kenzie cut in, bringing the phone closer to her face. “You two are making it awkward. She’s worried.”

“Wondering if I need to be worried, actually.”

“You’re fine if it’s you, Victoria,” Rain said.

“Yeah, she’s fine,” Kenzie said. She shook her head and smiled. “I’m having a friend over. It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s a big deal to you, for one thing,” Ashley said.

“Because I never used to get to have friends over, not because there’s any need to be worried, geez! My mom’s a good cook, I have stuff I want to show off, and—”

“She’s not your mom, and that’s not your dad.”

We’d been making our way to the front door of the train station when Ashley said it. Kenzie stopped in her tracks.

“Ah man,” Rain said, in the background.

People walked past us to enter the station. While Kenzie and I stood still, the crowd moved on. The train pulled into the station, noisy as it approached, muffled somewhat as it passed indoors. It drowned out everything and brought all conversation to a halt.

Kenzie hit a button on her phone, and held it to her ear, her back to me.

There were a dozen things I wanted to say or do, and I held my tongue. There was still the train ride, and it would only frustrate if I interrupted a conversation now.

“Ashley—” she said. “Ashley, ugh, let me talk, okay? Because I have a train to catch. You’re wrong, you’re lying, and I’m really bothered you’re lying. I’m really tired of this. That was rude.”

A pause.

“Yeah, well, I love you a lot but I don’t like you a lot right now. I’m going to hang up. Hm? Yeah. Okay. Fine.”

She hung up, spun in a half circle to face me, and smiled. “Sorry. She wants you to call her at the end of the night, if possible. She says she spent some time in Earth N at one point, getting the lay of the land, she can give tips on who’s there.”

“I will. Kenzie, I have a lot of questions,” I said.

“Can we not make a big deal of this?” she asked. “There’s the train to catch, and I meant what I said about not wanting you to be prejudiced or anything.”

“Catching the train? Sure,” I said. “We can do that, and I can come over. I won’t break my word like that. I just… want to make sure I’m not missing anything vital.”