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all that, and that they were so genuinely supportive.
    "Man, you've got some drive," Kyla said, with a sigh. ""I wish I had that."
    "Why don't you?" Stacy said. "Why don't you just tell your brother that you want to make costume design a full time thing?"
    "Because I like to eat," Kyla said. "And pay rent. The costumes are fun, and I'm making a little money, but nowhere near what I'd need to. Besides, my brother needs me to keep the business running. He can't be the only mechanic."
    Hailey sighed heavily. "I know what you mean. We're not even breaking even on the bookstore. We need lots of things...better signage, for one, and some promotion. We just don't have enough customers."
    Stacy's blue eyes filled with concern. "You know, I could always..."
    "Don't go there," Hailey said, but there wasn't any bite in her words. ""We want to make it on our own, Stacy. And you've still got your family pissed off about your money issues. Let's not make it worse."
    Stacy sighed.
    "So that's it?" Tessa said. "You're just going to give up?"
    Hailey's full lips pursed. "Easy for you to say..."
    "Well, it wasn't easy for me to do," Tessa shot back. "I like this place, and I like you guys. I have social anxiety out the wazoo, and I still made it here. I want to help. What kind of promotion are you talking about?"
    Stacy grinned. "Told you I had a good feeling about her," she said off-handedly to her friends.
    "Well, there is one thing," Hailey mused. " Mystics . They''re running a contest, before Mystics Con. They're looking for fan-created artwork and stories and whatever. The winner gets a special appearance by one of the boys."
    Kyla squealed, jumping up and down in her seat a little. "How cool would that be?"
    "How does that help?" Tessa asked, confused.
    "I think we could bring in more of a fangirl base," Hailey said. "I''d love to shift this from being just a generic used bookstore to being a real fandom haven. So if we had one of the  Mystics  guys appear here, and publicized it..."
    "You could publicize it, and bring in lots of potential customers," Tessa finished. "That's brilliant!"
    "Yeah. Now the only trick is winning that contest," Hailey groaned.
    "Kyla, how about your artwork?" Stacy said.
    Kyla blushed. "Oh, no," she stammered. "Those are just sketches, costumes. Not anything that would win a contest. They're going to have lots of comic strips, and fan fiction, and God knows what else."
    "True." Hailey frowned. "Besides, the deadline is in a month."
    "That's not enough time to do something kick ass enough to win," Kyla said, shaking her head.
    Tessa's mind was racing. She liked these girls. She wanted to help them. "You know what? They probably won't have video games."
    They stared at her.
    "Do a Mystics  video game. They haven't come out with one yet. I''ll bet nobody's going to do one."
    "Just one problem," Hailey drawled. "None of us know how to code, sweetie."
    Tessa didn't even think of her next statement.
    "I do," she blurted out. "I'll help you. I'll make the video game."
     
     
     
     
    Four hours after dropping Tessa off at the bookstore, Adam surveyed his work. He'd collected all the Casey-related stuff that was still strewn around the house, which the guys had commented on the last time they were there. He'd boxed up pictures with the intent of sending them off to her months ago, but there were things he simply hadn't thought about, that seemed easier to leave where they were rather than clear them out. The mask he'd won for her at Ren Faire years ago, sitting out on a bookshelf. A vase that never had flowers in it, that stood collecting dust on the mantle. A scented candle. As he boxed that up, he realized he'd never actually liked that particular aroma, but he'd gotten so used to it, it had become sort of a background noise, something he tuned out.
    It was surprisingly freeing to tape the box shut and put her address on it. He'd throw it in the mail the next day.
    Now, after some restless wandering, a few levels