Dex cracked up.

But his smile faded when Keefe pressed his lips tighter.

“You need to say something,” he told Keefe. “That’s the only way we’re going to know if this works. And it will. Trust me.”

Elwin nudged Keefe with his elbow. “Remember, I can’t hear a thing with these earplugs in. So I can help if it starts to get funky.”

Keefe snorted.

“Funky” made this ability sound like it was just a silly little quirk he was learning to live with.

"I know you’re scared,” Dex told him. “And I know our other tests haven’t gone very well. But I swear, this one will be different.”

Keefe sighed.

It better be different.

Otherwise hard changes were coming—he had to hold himself to that.

“Maybe you need some topic ideas!” Ro suggested. “Let’s see. I mean, you’re both elves, so you could probably talk about sparkles for days—but who wants to listen to that? Oh, you’re both pretty good at pranking! Not as good as me, of course. But who is? Ooo! Ooo! We could plan something for when school starts—make that Great Gulon thing seem like child’s play! Who’s game?”

Keefe shook his head.

Dex glanced over his shoulder again, looking distracted.

“Okay, fine, you’re clearly intimidated by my pranking genius. Can’t blame you for that. Let’s see… what else is there?” Ro tapped her chin with one of her red claws. “It needs to be something that’ll get Hunkyhair fired up, so he’ll be able to see if using this gadget thing is safe. Which means our best bet is probably Blondie.”

“You mean Sophie?” Dex asked, whipping back around to face them.

“Yep! I’m sure you both have lots to say about her.”

Dex cleared his throat. “Not really. I mean… she’s my best friend, but—”

“Aw, come on, Dexy,” Ro interrupted. “You’re among friends. And Hunkyhair told me about your smoochfest with the Mysterious Miss F! High five, by the way!”

Dex turned so red, it looked like flames were about to curl out of his ears.

“Wait, was that a secret?” Ro asked. “I figured you must’ve been shouting that from the rooftops! Especially since Captain Perfectpants hasn’t gotten any lip action—and he probably won’t, now that Fitzphie’s unraveling.”

“It is?” Dex asked.

Ro’s eyebrows shot up. “You haven’t noticed? Wow. Obliviousness is rampant here in Sparkle Town!”

“I’m not oblivious,” Dex argued. “It’s just… none of my business.”

“Really? Huh. I thought she was your best friend. Ohhh, does the smooching thing make it awkward for you guys?”

Dex sank lower in his chair. “Why are we talking about this?”

“Because I’m trying to get a rise out of my boy.” Ro put a hand on Keefe’s shoulder, jostling him. “Nothing you want to say, Hunkyhair? I bet Dexy could relate, if you wanted to unload on him. In fact, you guys should totally do one of those dude-commiseration convos. I bet it would help with all the angst.”

Keefe tried to decide if he wanted to shove his Imparter down her throat or slither under his bed and never come back out.

Slithering seemed like the best option when Dex asked, “What angst?”

But he thankfully got distracted by whatever seemed to be going on behind him.

“Is this a bad time?” Keefe asked.

Dex whipped back around. “Hey—you talked! And see? Nothing happened!”

“Not yet,” Keefe mumbled.

Ro poked him in the side with her claw. “You need to speak up. Enunciate, like you do when you’re getting all command-y. I’m also happy to help overwhelm you so we can see if that changes anything.”

She poked his side again.

And again.

And again.

“Okay, I think I see a flaw in this plan,” Elwin cut in as a word started to bubble up Keefe’s throat. “The test is supposed to see if Keefe is affected by Dex—or if Dex is affected by him. So they should probably be talking alone.”

“Aw, but that sounds like way less fun!” Ro whined.

Elwin dragged her toward the door. “We’ll be right out here in the hall,” he told Keefe. “Just remember—I can’t hear you, so if something happens, you’ll need to come get me.”

“Or me!” Ro added. “But I’ll totally be eavesdropping because I’m not scared of your elf-y abilities!”

Dex cleared his throat when the door slammed shut. “Your bodyguard is… interesting.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Keefe muttered—then froze.

“I’m fine,” Dex told him. “Seriously, talk as much as you want. It’s not going to affect me.”

Keefe swallowed, trying to get some moisture back into his mouth again. But his voice still crackled when he said, “I swear, I’m starting to forget how to do this.”

“I bet.” Dex reached into his pocket, pulling out some piece of circuitry to fidget with. “You’ve had a rough few days. Well… I guess it’s been a rough few years, huh?”

“Pretty much my entire life,” Keefe corrected. He hated how whiny that sounded, so he added, “But… it is what it is.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Dex told him. “It’s okay to talk about it. I’m happy to—”

He whipped his head around again.

“Looks like there’s something else you should be dealing with right now,” Keefe noted.

“Nah, I’m enjoying a break from the madness. You can’t hear all the squealing and crashes because I added noise canceling to my Imparter. But it’s full-fledged mayhem downstairs. Bex and Lex manifested a couple of hours ago.”

“Wow, both of them at the same time?”

“Yep. It was super unexpected—and awesome, of course. Especially since so many people…”

He didn’t finish the sentence. But Keefe was well aware of how judgy everyone was about the Dizznee triplets, since their parents were a bad match.

“Rex didn’t manifest?” he asked.

“Not yet—which is normal,” Dex added quickly. Maybe even a little defensively. “Just because they’re triplets doesn’t mean they do everything the same, you know? Bex started walking days before the others. And Rex is still the only one who can do cartwheels.”

“Makes sense,” Keefe agreed.

“But… that’s why Rex has been pouting,” Dex admitted. “And I can’t really blame him. Especially since Lex keeps pelting him with snowballs.”

“So Lex is a Froster?” Keefe asked.

“Yep. Just like my mom. The whole downstairs looks like a blizzard tore through the house. He’s actually showing pretty solid control—which may not be a good thing, since I’m pretty sure it means I’m going to wake up trapped in a giant ice cube.”

Keefe laughed. “Sounds about right.”

Dex sighed. “Yep. My life is about to get even more chaotic. I don’t even want to think about the pranks Bex is going to pull once she figures out how to walk through walls without getting stuck.”