that perfect dusky purple, with tiny stars just starting to break through.
Wish I was there, he told her, hoping it wasn’t too sappy of a thing to admit.
Sophie’s reply was a soft, sweet whisper. Me too.
For a second, Keefe could imagine himself right there beside her, with her head resting gently on his shoulder—but he shoved that thought away as fast as he could, hoping she didn’t notice.
Get some rest, Foster.
I will if you will.
Keefe smiled. Deal.
He wasn’t sure how long their minds stayed connected after that, but at some point he drifted off to sleep—and he didn’t have a single nightmare.
* * *
“He looks so peaceful—I feel bad waking him,” someone said—a voice that sounded familiar, but Keefe’s snoozing brain couldn’t recognize it.
“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have any problem with it,” someone else added, followed by a bone-shaking shout of “WAKE UP, HUNKYHAIR!”
Keefe bolted upright, struggling to catch his breath as his heart slammed against his ribs and the room sharpened into focus.
Ro grinned. “Looks like I need to start calling you Droolyhair.”
Keefe gave her an I-will-make-you-suffer-later glare as he reached up to wipe his chin.
“Oh… hey,” he mumbled when he noticed Dex hiding in the doorway—then sucked in a sharp breath and clamped his hand over his mouth.
“HE SPEAKS!” Ro shouted. “And once again, the world did NOT end! MORE! MORE! MORE!”
Keefe gave her a less-than-friendly gesture instead.
Dex laughed. “Sorry. Elwin sent me up here to wake you. My dad and I stopped by with a few things we wanted to test to see if they help.”
Keefe was on his feet immediately, wobbling as his body adjusted to being vertical.
“Hang on,” Ro said, putting out her arms to block him. “Shirt first. And maybe do something about that morning breath?”
Keefe glared at her.
But she had a point, so he grabbed the nearest tunic and pulled it on before chugging some Youth to rinse his mouth.
Dex snorted. “Nice pajamas.”
Keefe hadn’t even noticed what he was wearing, but it must’ve been something Elwin had given him. The bright blue fabric was covered in colorful murcats, which had all been dusted with glitter.
He shrugged, dragging a hand through his wild hair as he followed Dex into the hall.
“Uh, just so you know, it’s about to get really loud,” Dex warned. “My dad thought it would be a good idea to bring the triplets for this, so…”
He didn’t need to finish the sentence.
Keefe could already hear the screaming.
“DAD—LEX KEEPS LOOKING OUT MY WINDOW!”
“IT’S NOT YOUR WINDOW!”
“YES, IT IS—I’M STANDING IN FRONT OF IT!”
“SO AM I!”
“NOW YOU’RE NOT!”
“DAD—REX SHOVED ME INTO BEX. AND SHE SMELLS LIKE ROTTING FLOWERS!”
“YEAH, WELL, YOU SMELL LIKE YOU’VE BEEN ROLLING IN POOP!”
“HE WAS!”
“NO, I WASN’T!”
“OW, DON’T POKE ME!”
Dex rubbed his temples as they headed downstairs. “My mom keeps promising they’ll calm down when they get older, but they’re twelve now, so I don’t think it’s going to happen. And I’m pretty sure they’re going to beat your detention record this year.”
“Not if I can help it,” Ro jumped in. “Hunkyhair and I still have plenty of chaos to cause, don’t we?”
She held out her hand for a high five, but Keefe kept right on walking.
He couldn’t imagine life ever being that normal again.
“Over here!” Elwin called, gesturing for them to join him in the center of the giant main room, where he stood with Kesler in front of the swiveling armchair.
The triplets were way on the other side of the room, making different shadow animals in the multicolored light filtering in through the windows—which was good, since Keefe could already feel crackly waves of their enthusiasm slamming against his senses.
He was going to have quite the headache when they got closer.
“Sorry we woke you,” Kesler told Keefe. “I was hoping you’d already be up.”
Keefe shrugged, trying to tell Kesler it wasn’t a big deal.
“Okay, take a seat.” Kesler patted the armchair. “I’ll try to make this quick. It’s hard to know if I’m on the right track with something until I see how the elixir actually works—and these formulas are so specific to what you’re dealing with that I have to test them on you.”
“I thought it’d be smart to test my prototype, too,” Dex added, pulling something small and silver out of his pocket, which kind of looked like a tiny metal egg. “I’m sure it still needs some tweaks, but I’m hoping I’m close.”
He tapped the top of the egg, and the gadget split open, revealing all kinds of cogs