Half-Sick of Shadows

The night before they are to bury Edwards grandmother, he is visited by a stranger in a time machine. The stranger asks Edward to be his friend, and Edward agrees. But Edward has a twin sister, Sophia, who is about to bring a heap of tragedy upon herself through an all-too-literal misunderstanding of a promise she made to their father. Sophia gets to stay at home while Edward finds himself shipped off to boarding school. While there Edward encounters the kind and the not-so-kind and befriends the strangest child, Alf - a boy whose very existence seems to hint at the universes of unlimited possiblities ... and who might one day help Edward liberate Sophia.