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Johnson ponders this for a moment. ‘I’m not sure it matters. Even if it’s not technically your dad, the writing must have the same stuff in it.’

‘That’s true,’ agrees Billie, who suddenly seems to have come alive again now that she’s seen me as a threat for Johnson’s attention. ‘Anyway,
Other-Johnson’s sitting over there, reading it and we have to find out why. You should also turn your phone to mute, Rev.’

I think of the Non-Ape and how close we were to probable death because of my stupid phone and quickly switch it to vibrate only. A second after I do this it vibrates with a call from the
Ape.

‘It’s the Ape,’ I say. ‘What do I do?’

‘Ignore it,’ Johnson says absently.

‘But he spoke to a woman. We need to know who she was.’

Johnson seems mesmerised by the sight of Other-Johnson and can’t take his eyes off him. ‘This is not as cool as it could be.’

I cancel the Ape’s call.

‘It’s not you,’ I tell Johnson. ‘Not really.’

I’m about to reach for Johnson again – I can’t seem to stop myself touching him – when Billie gets there first. ‘What if we spoke to him?’ she says
gently.

Johnson looks at Billie’s hand resting on his arm. ‘What, just walk out there?’

‘He could be dangerous,’ I warn.

‘But what else are we going to do? We said we needed to speak to one of them,’ Billie argues.

‘That’s crazy, Billie,’ I tell her. ‘Walking out there? Seriously?’

But Johnson remains transfixed on Other-Johnson. ‘I want a hat like that.’ I think it’s a joke. Johnson finally tears his eyes away from Other-Johnson who seems totally
engrossed in my dad’s thesis. ‘Billie’s right. Maybe one of us should go out and talk to him.’

‘Billie, it was your idea,’ I offer.

Her eyes widen a little. ‘Excuse me?’

‘To talk to him. You go.’

Her eyes go from wide to narrow in a heartbeat. ‘I’m still way too weak.’

‘Your colour’s coming back,’ I say and we start sparring, neither of us saying the real reason we’re arguing about who should go out there, but underneath we both know
we’d both like to stay hidden with our Johnson.

‘Can barely stand,’ she says.

‘You walked all the way down the track.’

‘And it nearly killed me.’

‘I’m not going out there.’

‘You sort of have to.’

‘Since when?’

‘Since I got these scars on my face.’

‘What difference do they make?’

‘He’d ask questions about how I got them.’

‘So? You can make something up if you’re clever. Which you are. Far cleverer than me.’

‘I’m clever academically. You’re smart in a street way.’

‘I’m not going out there, Billie.’

‘Someone has to.’

We’re at a stalemate and look at Johnson. Maybe he’ll go out there.

‘He might think something’s not quite right if he sees himself sit down beside him.’

Which is a fair point. But that leaves either Billie or me and there’s no way it’s going to be me.

Billie and I lock eyes. She’s not going to budge an inch either.

‘Like I said, he’ll look at these scars and know that Non-Lucas did them to me. They’re from the same place. He’ll be able to tell. He’ll have seen scars like this
before.’

My grip on the world feels like it has just shifted. Like I’m losing my foothold. ‘Maybe we should just sneak past him and—’ I begin lamely.

‘And what?’ interrupts Billie. ‘He’s got the thesis. The same thesis Moth thinks we need.’

‘He’ll know I’m not the real Rev.’

‘But you
are
the real one,’ says Billie.

‘OK, the . . . fake one then,’ I stammer. For a split second I get this image in my head that Johnson and Billie want me out of the way so it’s just them. I might just be
paranoid but they seem very keen to send me out there to meet Other-Johnson.

‘You can do this, Rev. I know you can,’ urges Billie.

I look at her.
Oh my God
, I think
. She really wants rid of me.
First she’s smoking, then her eyes turn black for a second and now this. I’m starting to wonder about
her.

Johnson has been unusually quiet and I know it’s because he knows that this is something we have to do. ‘I can’t go out there, Rev,’ he says apologetically. ‘If it
was one of the others I would, but I can’t go meet myself.’

‘So let’s move on,’ I say. ‘Stick to the original plan. Go find the Ape, get more supplies and run the hell away from here. It’s just Moth’s theory. We
don’t know the paper has anything to do with what’s happened.’

‘Rev, I can’t take much more of whatever this is,’ Billie says. ‘I’m scared and I want to know that tomorrow it’s going to be all right. That we’re
going to be all back to normal. At the moment this is our only option to try and make sense of this. So get out there and ask him stuff.’ She stares at me, almost daring me to say no. I am
staggered that my best ever friend could so casually dispose of me, just so she can be alone with Johnson. ‘Go out there, get the papers and if you can, find out what he knows.’

‘And then what?’ I ask. ‘I just wander back over here again? Tell him, “Thank you, it was very nice seeing you but I now need to go shopping”?’

‘You love shopping. He’ll understand.’ She gives me a lame smile.

‘Would you understand?’ I ask Johnson.

Johnson hesitates briefly. ‘I’d probably wait for you. Long as you brought me back a hat.’ He’s trying to reassure me with gentle humour, but it’s not working
because my fists are clenched so tight my knuckles are white.

They are ganging up on me and because of the crushing weight of disappointment that Johnson would give me up so easily and that my best friend has turned on me, I am ready to give them what they
want.

‘What if he attacks me?’

‘I wouldn’t do that to you. Not ever.’ Johnson’s blazing blue eyes find mine. ‘He’ll be the same.’

Was that a glimmer of light? Have I got this wrong? Does he like me after all? But if so, why send me out there?

‘He looks pretty laid back,’ reinforces Billie. I can picture her now offering comfort to Johnson as he mourns my savage death.

I look back out at Other-Johnson and he does indeed look calm and collected. And approachable. It should be any girl’s wildest fantasy coming true – not one, but two Johnsons –
but my heart is hammering in my chest and the pulse in my neck feels like I’ve got a scared fish trapped in my throat.

I take a huge breath and force myself to keep calm, my eyes darting from one Johnson to the other.
Can I do this?
I think.
Can I actually go out there?

‘Tell me what to ask him.’

‘You’re going to do it?’ Johnson looks surprised.

I nod my head. ‘You’re right, we need answers.’

‘You sure?’ He is genuinely worried.

‘No. But tell me what to say anyway.’

‘You need to work out what he knows,’ says Johnson.

‘And if he can tell us where everyone went,’ says Billie.

‘And grab the science paper.’

‘Hang on, I need a notepad,’ I say trying to sound calm. ‘You might as well send me for coffees while you’re at it.’

‘Just those three things,’ Billie says.

‘Where everyone went,’ says Johnson.

‘Why he’s here. Where he’s come from,’ adds Billie.

‘Then grab the papers,’ finishes Johnson.

‘That’s four things,’ I say.

‘Three is the new four.’ he jokes.

I already know I’m going to make a complete mess of this, but I clearly don’t have a choice.

My phone vibrates with another call from the Ape. Again I ignore it.

Johnson puts a hand on my wrist. ‘Any problems, run.’

‘Got it.’

‘I’ll try and intercept, slow him down, whatever. But if it goes badly you and Billie call the Ape and then go find the others.’

‘It won’t,’ I say. ‘It won’t go badly. I promise.’

‘But be quick.’

‘Quick?’

‘The other Rev’s not in the supermarket any more and we can’t have her showing up while you’re out there.’

The thought makes my stomach lurch. ‘I’d forgotten.’

Billie sees Johnson’s hand on my wrist and then pulls me towards her, slipping me out of his grip. She gives me a mighty hug. ‘Best friends forever.’

Yeah right
, I think before I turn and face the Other-Johnson. He is identical to Johnson and in that lies the blindest hope any fool ever had. I’m trying to make myself believe
that he will be just as cool and just as easy-going.

I collect myself and get to my feet. I almost can’t move as I try to squash the panic growing through me, and I’m expecting a big comedy shove from Billie as she pushes me out into
the square, but when I look at her and Johnson they are as heart-in-mouth scared as I am.

I slide out of my leather jacket and neaten myself up, trying to present myself as appealing and approachable as possible, I step out into the open and walk hesitantly into the cobbled town
square. My heart is going like a jackhammer and each step takes at least a minute because my legs are turning to jelly and I don’t seem to have any sensation in my arms other than my burns
itching like crazy. The tingling in my shoulders is back with a vengeance. This is madness. I realise it now.

I glance back to Johnson and it’s like he’s realised that too because there’s a worry on his face and he’s starting to gesture for me to come back. But I’m halfway
between Johnson and Other-Johnson now and, even though he hasn’t turned or heard me and I still have the opportunity to back out of this, there is something unnaturally compelling about
Other-Johnson. It is like a physical force drawing me towards him.

I take another step. He still hasn’t heard me. I can still turn back. But somehow my legs are carrying me forward, as if I’ve been hijacked and I can’t maintain control over my
body. I’m little more than a few metres from him. I can’t even turn back and look at Johnson. Nothing will work like I want it to as I’m drawn closer and closer to
Other-Johnson.

‘Johnson?’ I say before I can stop myself.

Other-Johnson turns his head slowly my way and I watch his grin spread all over his lips.

‘Rev!’ He gets to his feet and, dropping the thesis, he opens his arms to me.

I look at his wide-open arms and for a moment I can hear the blood rushing in my head. There’s a physical force now, like a horizontal gravity that drags me towards him.

‘I went to your flat but no one was home. No one’s home anywhere,’ he says.

As soon as I reach him, his arms wrap around me and I can smell the faint musk of a downright delicious aftershave as he wraps me tighter than tight.

‘What’s happening?’ he whispers.

‘I dunno,’ I somehow whisper back.

‘Waited at your place, found your dad’s papers. Remembered you told me he was a scientist so I thought, he was clever, why not have a read? Can’t make head nor tail of it
though.’

‘You went inside my flat?’

‘I know where the keys are hidden.’

‘Sorry, forgot,’ I lie, and raise a smile.

‘It was in your room, lying on your bed.’

I’d been reading it? I mean the other me had been. The thought registers but Other-Johnson finds my chin and gently angles my face towards his. I gaze into his eyes and they are alive and
brimming with everything Johnson. But there’s something else there, something much more magical. He looks at me with love in his eyes. True, honest and pure love. Not like the way Kyle looks
at me; that is a watered down version, a pale imitation of Other-Johnson’s undeniable passion.

It leaves me giddy and I’m powerless to stop Other-Johnson’s lips closing on mine and kissing me. The kiss is mingled with tiny whispers about how he was scared he’d never see
me again, how he would have done anything to find me, torn up the fabric of reality if he had to. I don’t know how he can speak when he’s kissing me and then I realise that his voice is
in my head and I go into a panic because if he’s a mind reader then I’m dead. And, ohmyGod, I shouldn’t even be thinking that, but of course it’s too late because the more I
think about it the more the Other-Johnson will know anyway. But the kiss goes on and his voice is gentle, reaching inside me and caressing every part of me. His hands run over my back and down to
the swell of my hips. It’s like he’s feeling me all over to make sure I’m real and that I’m actually there.

‘Thought I’d lost you,’ he whispers, out loud this time.

His lips find mine again and I find myself pulling him tighter because I have never experienced a kiss that I never wanted to end until now. There is nothing in the world like this kiss. The
whole awful situation we’re in is fading away; everything before now was empty and insignificant.

‘Can’t believe it’s you.’ His voice reaches into my head again, but his kiss moves past the physical and touches what can only be my soul. I feel a vibrating between us
and I’m imagining it’s because my body is starting to shudder. The vibration continues until Johnson’s lips finally leave mine and he looks down at the vibrating intruder in my
pocket.

‘You’ve got a call,’ he says.

I hang there limply not knowing what to do, breathless and exhausted. I don’t seem to be able to move but Other-Johnson slips his hand under the hem of my T-shirt and squeezes it down into
my front jeans pocket.

‘Excuse me,’ he whispers with a grin.

The feel of his hand makes my thigh tickle and I have to move slightly so he can get his whole hand into my pocket. I could probably try harder to retrieve the phone for myself, but I want him
to do it, I want to feel his hand touching me. He collects the phone and slips it out of my pocket and to my dismay the tingle in my thigh dies away.

‘There’s actually someone else out there,’ he says quietly studying my vibrating phone.

I am already lost to him and I wish that I wasn’t. I need to stay focused, to ask my questions and to get answers. I try to clear my head. I’ve not even considered what the real
Johnson is thinking about me. Is he hurt that I’m so easily and readily kissing the Other-Johnson or will he think I’m playing the part perfectly? I know for certain that Billie will be
ecstatic now. She’ll rest a consoling hand on Johnson and he’ll turn to her and she’ll whisper something about me being a bit of a slag or something . . . I can’t believe
I’m thinking so badly of her. Where did that come from? One minute I’m praying she won’t die and the next I’m thinking she’s my sworn enemy. I’m tired, exhausted
and everything is raw and fragile. I keep lurching through the hours and minutes without finding anything solid or concrete to cling on to.