Linh sat in her room, listening to the music she'd chosen and practicing her hydrokinesis. She was making the water form shapes with the music, hoping to finally figure out how to make it into a geometric shape with actual angles, while Tam was visiting Choralmere. Both of them knew it wouldn't take a lot to drive their dad crazy, so Tam decided to go and blast some heavy metal in their dad's room in order to just make him mad.

With absolutely no warning, Linh's imparter buzzed and to her surprise it was Dex of all people.

"Linh?" He sounded oddly hesitant.

"Yeah?" she answered, her voice showing her suspicion.

"I, ummm, I wanted to, you know, invite you over to Slurps and Burps- I know that you're awesome with alchemy, and I promised Sophie to, well, invent a Laughter Liquor. I want to have it ready for the party, and Dad is busy, otherwise I know he'd be helping me as well," Dex was so nervous that she could hear it.

"Dex, are you blushing?" Linh was beside herself trying not to laugh, but it failed, as after a minute of red cheeks, holding her breath, and pinching her nose, she let it out and started giggling. Dex was snorting as well, and Kesler could be heard cracking up in the background. "Fine, I'll come. Just don't blame me if you get covered in splotcher goo again," Linh finally relented and reached for her pathfinder.

"Nice pathfinder, by the way. Why is the crystal amber?" Dex noticed the unique pathfinder before Linh could end the call.

"Promise not to tell anyone?" Dex nodded. "It's because it's made of a twin crystal. It was split in two in such a way that once it was carved into the crystals for two different pathfinders, if you used a certain facet of the pathfinder you would be transported directly to where the twin pathfinder is," Linh explained.

"Let me guess- the twin pathfinder belongs to Tam." Linh could hear a slight edge of resentment in Dex's voice, but she didn't understand why. After all, it made sense for a set of twins to have twin pathfinders. "Yeah, duh! What were you expecting? For it to belong to Keefe or Sophie?" Dex recoiled from the mock anger in her tone.

Linh raised her pathfinder to the light and stepped in, leaving behind a flash of amber, a still-active imparter, a bowl of water and an iPod.

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"Hey Dex!" Sophie waved as she made her way through the traps in the back entrance to Slurps and Burps- most now disabled, to her relief. She froze when she saw Linh as well, stirring an aquamarine solution with a glass rod and humming to herself. Dex, on the other hand, was levitating to get supplies from the higher shelves, and listening to something on what Sophie recognized as something uncannily similar to her iPod.

"Dexter Alvin Dizznee!" Sophie had to yell his full name to get his attention, and even then he seemed strangely distracted.

"Wow, that song is one hell of an earworm," he muttered, dropping to the floor and giving Linh a muddy brown vial.

Sophie was starting to get suspicious. Mai Song, the Song twins' mother, was a composer, and from what she'd heard, none of the elvin music had anything "earwormy" about it. 'Dex must be listening to human music,' she considered, but then shook her head. 'Why on earth would he be listening to human music?'

"So, you're working on that laughter liquor I suggested?" Sophie asked.

Dex nodded. "Yup, and it's been way harder than I thought to find the right ingredients. So far I've figured out that we need fizzleberry juice, crackweed, and dreamnuts. Not sure about the rest, since it's sorta supposed to make people intoxicated, right?" He turned to Linh, pointing to a vial next to her that smelled of mallowmelt. "Try the mallowberries, will you?"

Sophie stared at the amber-gold berries as Linh crushed them with a mortar and pestle. "Mallowberries?"

"The essential flavoring element of mallowmelt," Linh supplied as she tipped a bit into the simmering liquid. "They're known to create an intoxicated feeling in those who eat them straight. They're also extremely tasty, which is why everyone loves mallowmelt-"

"Watch out!" Sophie shrieked as the liquor, now a shimmery bronze color, overflowed the pot and flowed onto the table. Dex swept a bunch of vials into his arms, and Linh jumped back, nearly crashing into the shelves.

Dex groaned as he turned off the burner. "I guess that teaches me to lower the heat before adding those berries."

Kesler poked his head out from the stockroom to see the mess. "You know, Dex, I could have told you that mallowberries are sensitive to heat."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because I wanted to see the results!"

"Darn it, Dad!"

Sophie would have laughed at them, but she had to ask Tam about something. "Linh, do you know where Tam is?"

Linh shrugged. "Not really, but I can create a beam of light that will bring you to him."

Dex grabbed a towel and started wiping up the mess, a slight scowl on his face. Sophie couldn't tell if it was because he was exasperated or because of what he was saying. "It's because she and Tam have twin pathfinders, meaning that one facet will always create a beam of light to where the other is."

"It's cute how he repeats everything I told him like he's an expert, isn't it?" Linh joked, making everyone fall silent. Sophie stared at her while Dex tried to avoid the girls' gazes.

"You just quoted Alvar, you know that?"

Linh's face fell, and she had to flick a few strands of hair out of her face before she replied. "Whoops... I kinda forgot who said that."

Sophie smiled, went behind the counter, and placed a comforting hand on Linh's shoulder. "Hey, we didn't know he was with the Neverseen then. Besides, it's still a cute quote. Mind if I help with the liquor for now?"

Dex was still trying to avoid the girls' eyes, but he nodded and held out a towel to Sophie. "We need to clean up before we start on the next round."

"I'm on it!"

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Holy fluffy t-rex you guys, I haven't posted anything in months! Sorry about that.

Who's super-over-the-top-excited about book 8, Legacy? I mean, Shannon Messenger is killing us with that title and she knows it. It could be the Black Swan legacy, and since one of the rejected titles was Inception it could mean we might be finding out who Sophie's parents are! (Finally!) It could be the Vacker legacy, and have a few focal points on the Vacker family. And of course, it could totally be the Sencen legacy, aka Nightfall.

Love you guys!

SpringStar186