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either side of a dark wooden table, and was already filled with a group of kids who were laughing and playing cards. Aubrey smiled at the assembled group. They finished their drinks, threw down their cards, and cleared off. She hadn’t even said a word. Placing the drinks on the table, she sat down and I slid in opposite her, in small jerking movements, banging my knees on the table as I did.
    She folded her hands under her chin and watched me. I tried to copy her, but my elbow slipped off the table and I jabbed myself in the leg. I leaned back in the leather seat, hoping she hadn’t noticed, and reached for the pale drink in front of me. I sniffed it. It smelt like paint stripper crossed with mint.
    “Aubrey,” I said, coughing and putting the glass back down. “I should probably tell you, I’m only sixteen.”
    “So what? I’m only fifteen,” she said. She laughed at my surprised face and smiled properly for the first time since we’d met. It was like a spotlight going on. “Scott, the rules that apply to normal people no longer apply to you. You’ve got a whole new set of rules to worry about.” She took a swig of her drink. “Besides, with what I’m about to tell you, you’re going to need it.”

Chapter Four
    The ice in her drink danced as she spun the glass in small circles. I watched the shattered light from the mirrors leave dappled trails on the pockmarked table. And waited.
    Whatever she had to tell me, she didn’t want to and I was happy not to hear it. In my experience, if something makes a person that uncomfortable to say it out loud, it’s never good news. Like when Mum told me she was pregnant with Katie. Or Dad tried to give me The Talk.
    I lifted my glass to my lips again, but still couldn’t bring myself to actually drink it. Aubrey had this cute wrinkle above her nose, in between her eyebrows, which I guessed meant she was thinking. Every now and then she’d open her mouth as if about to start speaking. Then stop. And return to spinning the glass.
    I reached out and stopped it. “Look, you don’t have to tell me. I could just go home and we could pretend none of this…” I waved my arm around. “Whatever this is, ever happened. Because if I’m honest, I don’t really want to know.”
    Aubrey’s confused expression vanished. Her brow was smooth once more and her eyebrow hitched upwards. My cowardice was clearly not inspiring confidence.
    “You’re a Shifter, Scott. A person with what I guess you could call a special power.”
    I snorted and leant back in the sofa. “So can I fly? Go invisible?”
    “Don’t be stupid.” She rolled her eyes. “Shifters have the power to change reality. And by doing that, shape reality around them. We can change decisions we make, take paths we didn’t take, and change our present.”
    She really had lost me. I stared blankly, wondering when anything she said was going to start making sense. I must have looked pretty dumb, because she shook her head and sighed. “I don’t usually have to explain any of this. I’m just a Spotter. I track Shifters down and the Regulators bring them in.”
    “And you were tracking me?”
    “No actually. I was following that kid, Lucas.”
    “Lucas? Seb’s mental little brother? What did you want with him?”
    “The guys at ARES had intel he might be a Shifter. But nope. Just another messed-up kid.” She sighed.
    “And who or what is ARES? Because I’m guessing we’re not talking the god of war here?”
    “The The Agency for the Regulation and Evaluation of Shifters. The government division set up to deal with all Shifting affairs. And they don’t take too kindly to people Shifting just to show off. Which is why you’re lucky I spotted you first.”
    “But I don’t know what a Shifter is and I don’t know what I did wrong,” I said, desperately. “All I remember is climbing the Pylon and falling.”
    Aubrey took a sip of her drink. “How much do you know about quantum physics?”
    I