Sometimes it was easier focusing on the little things, like books, the internet, rather than the black hole of missing people and home. "I know. I've lived places where cell service sucked and I had to depend on libraries or cafes with public wifi, but nothing like this. Still, it could be so much worse."

Mariko hadn't talked a lot about the last world she'd been on – it was too painful, Emma thought, with how deeply Mariko missed MJ, a heartbreak Emma had to learn how to live with now. But as much as Mariko said they were rebuilding, it had been a much worse world than a kitchsy hotel in the desert.