“Told you I was a fan. The bottom level is my quiet space, so I kept things simpler. But up here is where I live.” Elwin pushed open the first door, revealing a room packed with so many stuffed animals, Keefe almost wanted to swan-dive into them and drown in fuzzy snuggles. “This is my Emotional Support Stuffed Animal collection. Mrs. Stinkbottom used to be right there.” He pointed to a small gap near a stuffed griffin and a stuffed ghoul. “But I thought she’d be happier with you. I’ll make sure your dad sends her over here tomorrow, along with some clothes and anything else you want. But if you need a snuggle buddy stand-in for tonight, might I suggest Boo Boo the boobrie?”

He pointed to a black-and-yellow stuffed bird with a mohawk and long, curled eyelashes.

“See, and I think Hunkyhair might prefer cuddling with that,” Ro said, pointing to a shimmering silver moonlark.

Keefe rolled his eyes as Elwin coughed to cover his laugh.

“Come on, seriously! An eye roll is all I get for that?” Ro tapped the top of Keefe’s head. “I know you have about a billion snarky comebacks dancing around this brain. Bet you’re composing another verse of The Ballad of Bo and Ro, too. What do you think is going to happen if you say it? I’m going to fall madly in love with him? Actually, you know what? Let’s not test that, just to be safe. But come on, Hunkyhair, hit me with something. I deserve it for that moonlark comment!”

Keefe turned away.

Somehow the longer he stayed quiet, the scarier it felt to speak. Like his words might be storing up power.

“I’m not going to let anything happen, Keefe,” Elwin assured him, grabbing Boo Boo the boobrie and leading them down the hall to the far door. “But if you need a little time to process all of this, I’m not going to fight you. Right now, I want you to settle in and get some rest.”

He pulled open the door and Ro groaned. “Okay, now you’re just messing with me.”

“Kind of,” Elwin agreed. “But not completely. I call this my ‘prism room.’ Everything is designed to catch the light differently.”

“Yeah, and it’s sparkle overload,” Ro grumbled, shielding her eyes.

She wasn’t wrong.

The walls were covered in tiny crystal beads that refracted so many glints of light, the floor and ceiling looked like a hologram. And the bed was piled with dozens of jewel-encrusted pillows.

“If it’s too much, we can move you to another room tomorrow,” Elwin told him, “but for tonight, I thought it might be good to have you sleep in here. Because the best part about the prism is…”

He snapped his fingers, turning off the chandeliers and transforming the room into a tiny universe. Each fleck of light was now a star, twinkling steadily though the inky darkness.

“Ohhhhh,” Ro breathed. “Now these are my kind of sparkles.” She ran a hand gently down the wall, watching the stars shimmer on her skin. “This reminds me of my father’s palace. Some of the microbes he cultivates there look just like this.”

Keefe might’ve imagined it, but Ro sounded a little choked up. And normally he would’ve teased her about it. So he was actually kind of glad he had a reason to stay quiet.

He never really thought about what it must be like for Ro, living somewhere so different and far away from her own world—particularly because it was also somewhere people sometimes judged her or mistreated her or tried to kill her.

“Okay, this is officially freaking me out!” Ro said, grabbing Keefe’s wrists and shaking his arms. “Stop looking at me all sappy like that! And stop with the thoughtful silence! It’s time to be you again. Bring on the insults! Bring on the rhymes. Bring on the bets!”

“He’ll get there,” Elwin said when Keefe pressed his lips tighter together. “He just needs some time to process. And sleep will help too. I’m guessing you don’t want any dinner?”

Keefe shook his head so hard, it hurt his neck a little.

“Then I’ll leave you to settle in. But I want you to take these before you go to bed.” He dug through his satchel, pulled out five vials in various shades of blue, and set them on the round table beside the bed. Then added a deep purple one. “That last one’s a sedative, since I have a feeling you’re going to want one—but I’ll leave that up to you. The others aren’t optional, but that one is. And if you need anything else… well, I was about to say ‘holler,’ but I think we both know that’s not going to happen. So just come find me. I’ll be in my lab for the next few hours, which is the third door on the other side of the hall.”

“You gonna make something to fix our boy?” Ro asked.

“It’s not about fixing.” His eyes shifted to Keefe. “You’re not broken, Keefe. I know it feels like it. But right now, you’re just… adjusting. And I have a few ideas for some elixirs that might help smooth out the process. That’s what I’ll be working on—though I might need to wait until I speak to Kesler Dizznee tomorrow morning. I don’t usually work with amarallitine, and it can be a little volatile. Plus, I need to go to Slurps and Burps to get some supplies. Anyway, none of that really matters to you. Sorry, I think out loud a lot when I’m home, so it’s a little strange having someone around here who can hear me. Try to get some rest. And if you want to dim the lights more, just keep snapping. I figured you might not enjoy darkness right now, so I have it on the brightest setting. But if you can’t sleep with all that light, there are ten other levels, including absolute pitch black. I wouldn’t recommend that one unless you take the sedative—and then it won’t really matter since you’ll be knocked out cold anyway. Aaaaaaaand I’m rambling again. Sorry. Gonna take some getting used to, having company.”

He gave some sort of awkward wave as he turned to leave.

“Wait.”

It took Keefe’s brain a second to process that the whispered voice had come from him, and he squeezed his eyes shut for a beat, hoping hoping hoping he wouldn’t find Elwin frozen in place when he opened them again.

“Everything okay?” Elwin asked when Keefe dared a peek.

Keefe released the breath he’d been holding and nodded.

But he needed to use his voice again to say two things.

First, “Thank you.”

He wanted to add more, since Elwin deserved a lot more gratitude than that for taking him in and saving him from ending up in one of the Council’s facilities.

But each word was a risk, and he’d thought of something much more important to communicate—something that might be another way to help him take control of his new abilities.

He cleared his throat, telling himself to keep his tone neutral as he whispered, “Tell Dex.”

Elwin frowned. “Tell Dex what?”

Ro knew what he meant. “Actually, that’s a good idea. Your techy friend made something to help Blondie with some of her abilities, didn’t he?”

Keefe nodded.

Technically, some of the gadgets had been made by Tinker—the Black Swan’s Technopath—but Dex had designed some bracelets that would’ve helped Sophie with her enhancing if he hadn’t used crush cuffs and made it awkward.

Dex had even invented an ability restrictor—which… had seemed like a really horrible idea. Particularly after the Council forced Foster to wear it.