his shoulder before he turned back to Keefe. “Hey, don’t look at me like that! You hailed me! I could be doing lots of other things right now instead of sitting here, watching you pout. Rex has been doing enough of that!”
“He’s not pouting—he’s brooding,” Ro corrected. “Pouting would have his shoulders hunched and his lip jutting out more. And sulking would have his eyes all downcast. Wow. I kind of hate myself for knowing that. Clearly I’ve been spending too much time with a silent, moody boy.”
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