Amber opened her eyes, half expecting to see a group of people around her distinguished by lights in different colours. But there was just darkness around her, broken only by the first gleam of sunlight on the horizon. She hadn't set her alarm today, because it was Saturday and there was no school to be ready for.

Every day this week, she'd been waiting for the Rainbow to appear, but they weren't there. Violet had been very clear, saying they'd talk more tomorrow. Maybe Jack had decided he didn't like her after all, or she wasn't actually one of these reincarnating souls. That was a little disappointing. Or maybe it was hard for them to know when 'tomorrow' was? They were dead after all, so they could be buried somewhere in a tomb or an ancient temple, where they couldn't see the sun climbing across the sky. It was easy to think that they might not know how much time had passed, wherever they were.

Easier than believing that they might have forgotten her. Like a father who'd told her she was the centre of his world, and then left when she wasn't useful to him any more.

It had been two whole weeks now since she saw them last, and she had a whole list of questions to ask them. Like what kind of powers they had; apart from pulling people into a dream, or being able to tell when a dream was true. She was sure they must have some abilities that would be useful in the real world, if their destiny was to protect this Princess they talked about. But the only vague hint they'd given was the two abilities that she'd seen within Violet's dream. Jack had said they might be superheroes, though. And if two of them had a power each, that might mean that they all had one. Or even more, it could be that Violet could do things apart from pulling her into the dream, and she just hadn't seen. But then, why wouldn't they tell her? And with this plan to all be alive at the same time, how could they be sure that the Princess wouldn't be born when none of them were alive? Who was the enemy they were so scared of, and why couldn't the Princess protect herself? So many questions, and Amber couldn't even start to answer them. It seemed like the Rainbow guys had a lot of story behind them, and even they didn't know the full details of it.

She just wished for a chance to ask. But with that, she was starting to worry that she'd asked too much. That could easily have been the reason they decided to abandon her. People didn't like it when she asked too many questions, after all. Like Father again, even if he was an inconsiderate cunt.

"Morning, Sunshine!" Mom greeted her as she came downstairs, "Not having a lie in today?"

"I just woke up," Amber shrugged, "I think the ghosts taught me how to wake up at the same time every day, or something. I've been awake just before my alarm for two weeks."

"I noticed. Maybe I should be thanking those ghosts, it's certainly making my life easier. And you're wide awake every day, not cranky and half asleep. Did these ghosts say what they want?"

"I told you already. They're waiting to be alive again, and they want us to all be alive at the same time. We're supposed to meet a Princess, but my alarm went off before they could tell me why."

"Well, if she knows any handsome princes, you tell me, okay? I could do with meeting a man with some culture." Mom laughed a little, another one of the jokes that Amber felt like she should understand but didn't quite get. "While you're awake today, would you like to go into town? I've been thinking you need some new clothes, your uniform's getting more than a little worn and you're a growing girl, and there's some luxuries I wouldn't mind for myself too. Think you can behave long enough to get through a shopping trip?"

"Yes, Mom," Amber sighed, "I'll be on my best behaviour." That was one thing she didn't think was quite fair. She'd really never misbehaved, but Mom always talked as if it was something she had to check for. She didn't feel like it was hard to keep her instincts in check, because she'd never felt inclined to hurt anybody or break anything. About the only problems she ever caused were from asking too many questions, wanting to understand, and even after they'd told her off for sticking her nose in someone else's business, everyone told her that curiosity was supposed to be a good thing.

And so, just half an hour after the shops started to open, mother and daughter were walking through the streets of the big city. The streets weren't paved with gold – which seemed so obvious to Amber that she didn't know why Mom felt the need to mention it on every visit – but were shiny marble rectangles, that must have been very expensive, and shone like the sun if you looked at them at the wrong angle on a bright day.

Today was a grey day, so the gleaming tiles reflected only sulking clouds to cover the creamy slabs, and the streets were filled with the hum of a million little conversations rather than the heaving crowds and boisterous teenagers who seemed to fill the place when the sun was trying to bake them all.

They went round quite a number of shops, including a number that Amber would never have been to on her own and certainly couldn't remember how to get to. Rather than just going into a school uniform shop and picking up one that was her size, they had to go into three different shops that seemed to be filled with identical rails of grey and white clothes that nobody would ever wear unless they had to. And then Mom had to talk to the person in charge, and have someone with a measuring tape and cold hands give their opinion of what size Amber was, and how fast she was growing. There wasn't really a lot of choice, but they spent so long discussing options; whether buying clothes that were a half size or a full size too large might make them last a little longer as she grew. Amber knew that was what they had to do; that pinching pennies where they could was Mom's way of affording the different treats she wanted, and that without this hassle there would be no money left for video games, or going out for pizza at the end of a long week of work and school. But knowing it was necessary didn't make it any easier to be patient while the adults talked over her head like she wasn't even there.