"Sue." He grins. "It's short for Suicide Watch."

"Oh goodness," laughs Isabella. "Who named you that, or did you pick it yourself?"

"My friend Aegis," he says. "Her name's Bella Swan and she looks like you. Are you her mom?"

"I - no. I'm not her mother. Her mother and my mother are similar like she and I are similar, though," says Isabella. "...How old are you? I take it you've never been here before?"

"Nope, never," he says cheerfully. "Similar how?"

"This is a weird little restaurant that moves its door around by magic," says Isabella, "and it gets visitors from all kinds of different worlds, and a lot of those worlds have near-copies of some of the same people in them. I'm one of those copies of your friend, I guess, and there are several more of us, and there are several of you, too."

"...There's more of me?" he asks. "Who'd go around making those?"

"Well," says Isabella. "I don't think anyone is setting out to copy you, but - alternates like that do tend to have - similar parents. Are... yours safely out of the picture?" she asks.

"I don't mean to pry. But the version of you from my world left home when he was a little younger than you - I think, you never said how old you are - but the others I've met didn't leave so soon, and I don't think it was good for them."

"I go to Battle School," he says. "In space. I won't see my dad again until I'm at least sixteen or so and probably by then I'll be able to kill him in my sleep."

"I won't," he adds, magnanimously. "Unless he tries to hurt me first. No point otherwise."

"Perhaps you should avoid seeing him even when you are sixteen," suggests Angela.

"I will if I can. But I don't know what's gonna happen," he says.

"I suppose. You don't have any younger siblings, do you?" Isabella asks anxiously. "The one of you from my world - his name's Micaiah, he's upstairs with another one of your alts - he has a little brother. But he's the only one we know of who does."

"Nah," he says, shaking his head.

"Okay. Good. I'd take you up to meet your alts but they're..." She settles on: "Busy. When they're not busy you can meet them. And when my alt is done with her conversation you can meet her too if you like."

"Busy doing what?" he asks brightly.

"Perhaps you can ask them." She is completely willing to fob this one off on Micaiah and Alice. "I can read Micaiah's mind but I am not doing it right now."

Sue giggles.

"You are very cute," Isabella informs him. "But I'm sure you knew that."

"Not really," he says, still giggling.