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She might as well have been kissing a watermelon.
    She pulled away, studying Marcus’s expression for any sign that he’d felt something, but his cheeks were the same shade of pink as before.
    â€œWell?” Eddie called again.
    â€œYou can turn around now,” Lena said.
    â€œGood,” he said, cruising over. “Now, let’s see if that worked. Call up your energy, both of you.”
    Lena took a deep breath and summoned her energy. It took more effort than normal, but finally her fingers started to glow. She sighed as she saw they were still the wrong color. Meanwhile, Marcus’s were the exact shade of purple that hers should have been.
    â€œStill nothing,” Eddie said, and Lena couldn’t help noticing how worried he sounded.
    â€œShould we…should we kiss again?” Marcus asked.
    But Eddie was shaking his head. “This doesn’t make sense. The kiss should have fixed it. Are you sure you did everything the same way?”
    â€œWell, there was the party and everything,” said Lena. “And we were in a closet.”
    â€œA closet?” Eddie seemed to think this over. “Okay, follow me.” He zipped across the park to a tiny shack where the bathrooms were. On the side of the building was a door that looked like it led to a storage room. He hopped off the Segway and tried to open the door, but the handle wouldn’t budge. Eddie started whistling tunelessly to himself as he took out some kind of gadget that looked like an oversized Swiss army knife. He inserted one end into the lock and— click! —it opened.
    He turned and gave Lena and Marcus a devilish grin. “Shh, you never saw me with this,” he said, tucking the contraption back into his pocket. “Okay, in you go.”
    Lena peered into the tiny room full of cleaning supplies and dented trash barrels. “In there?”
    â€œYou wanted a closet? I found you a closet. Now, let’s go. The boss lady will be calling me any minute, and I want to be able to tell her the crisis is over.”
    â€œCome on,” Marcus said, heading inside. “Let’s give it a try.”
    Lena sighed and followed him. If this was how disastrous her rites of passage were going to be, she wasn’t sure she wanted to do them anymore.
    When Lena and Marcus were inside, half-choked by the smells of dirt and bleach, Eddie slammed the door shut, and they were alone in the darkness.
    â€œThis is pretty crazy, huh?” Marcus said after a minute.
    â€œThat’s a total understatement. Let’s get this over with.” Lena heard him suck in a breath and realized how harsh her words must have sounded. “Sorry,” she added more softly. “This is just all so crazy. I woke up really happy this morning and now…”
    â€œI know,” he said. “But it’ll be okay. We’ll fix it.”
    She let out a long breath and took a step forward. This time, even though the light was dim, their lips managed to find each other right away. Maybe they were getting better at this whole kissing thing.
    Lena closed her eyes and waited for the zing to charge through her body again.
    Nothing.
    Marcus pulled away first this time. “I don’t get it. I mean…it was nice.” He let out an embarrassed chuckle. “Really nice. But it’s not the same.”
    â€œI know!” She focused on her fingers, and a moment later, they sparked red again. “It didn’t work.”
    Just then, Eddie threw open the door. “Well, how was it?” he asked, sounding eerily like Connie Reynolds.
    The two of them shook their heads, and Eddie’s face fell. “Shoot,” he said. “This is not good. It should have worked!”
    Lena had never heard Eddie sound so stressed out before, and judging by the frown on Marcus’s face, he hadn’t either. “Um, Eddie?” she asked. “You can fix this, can’t you?”
    â€œI am