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“That’s not a ruby,” Jazz told him, not unkindly.
“How do you know?”
She shrugged. “My mom has a lot of rubies. What you have there is a rhinestone.”
“Ooh,” Nick breathed. “A rhinestone. So it comes from the Rhine River that begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern part of the Swiss Alps? Wow. I never thought it would be so international. That makes it even more special.”
“What the hell?” Gibby said faintly. “You know about the Rhine but you don’t know what a rhinestone is? I can’t even with you right now. Nick, it’s fake. A rhinestone is costume jewelry. You know, like drag queens wear.”
Nick jerked his head up. “What? That’s not—that can’t be true! The seller on eBay said that it was a mystical and magical ring from the ancient lands that invoked feelings of power fit for royalty!”
Gibby snorted. “Royalty. So, like, drag queens.”
“Would you lay off with the drag queens. It’s not for drag queens!”
“Who sold it to you?”
Nick pulled his phone out again, ready to prove Gibby wrong. He pulled up his eBay account. “I’ll show you. And I’ll accept your apology when you’re ready. And since I’m such a nice guy, I won’t even make you grovel. And… okay. Hold on. Service here sucks. It’s still loading. God, that smell is terrible. I can’t believe I’m about to—aha.See. The seller is Veronica B. Dazzled, and her bio says she is known for her dramatic improv, death drops, and high kicks, spilling tea, and being the biggest star in Milwaukee. You can also see her perform her one-woman show,The Queen and I,on Wednesdays and Fridays at—oh goddammit, she’s a drag queen.”
“It’s moments like these when I relish our friendship,” Gibby said.
“Whatever,” Nick said, putting his phone away. “That doesn’t change a thing. For all we know, Veronica B. Dazzled could be some kind of drag queen witch or sorceress, and this ring is actually a magical decoder ring meant to find one person to wear it so thering’s power can fill the wearer and make them into an Extraordinary. And I am going to put it on right here, right now. Prepare yourselves!”
Jazz took a step back.
Gibby looked at her. “Really?”
“He’s good at selling it. I almost believe him.”
Gibby sighed. “I can’t believe this is how I’m choosing to spend my weekend.”
Nick held his hands over his head, the ring clutched in the left, his pointer finger extended on his right. “Please work,” he whispered before he closed his eyes and slid the ring onto his finger.
He was not overwhelmed with power the moment he wore it.
He waited.
Nothing.
He opened one eye, looking at Gibby and Jazz. “Am I glowing?”
They shook their heads.
“Am I wearing some kind of costume now?”
They shook their heads again.
“Do I look different at all?”
“Well,” Gibby said. “I suppose the ring suits you better than I thought it would. Maybe you could do the whole drag queen thing after all.”
“I paid thirty-seven dollars for this! Plus shipping!”
“Well, according to this website I found,” Jazz said, staring down at her phone, “maybe this will help. You’ll need to answer a few questions.”
“You found a website about how to make magical decoder rings work?” Nick demanded. “How? I spenthourstrying to find one!”
She shrugged. “Maybe. First question: How would you define your sense of style?”
