The bar was dark and empty. Would it not be wise to put the book down for a bit and go home and make a snack? Perhaps he could plan a magnificent meal for Shy and Wendy, go to the shops, and spend the rest of the afternoon cooking in their wonderfully equipped kitchen. He’d never been much of a cook though. He’d never done much of anything besides write books. He was useless, really. How Wendy and Shy put up with him he’d never know.

The bad guys must have a laser gun. Roy couldn’t actually call it a laser gun, though, that was silly. If this were a TV show, the guns would be called something cool and futuristic. Zapper. Taser. Faser?

Roy jumped off his barstool and aimed his index finger at a bottle of gin.

“Watch out! He’s got a faser!”

“Where’d you get this anyway?” Shy passed the joint back to Liam. Neither one of them had ever tried weed before. They’d almost bought a little vape pen, but they were so expensive and she’d always wanted to try rolling a joint, so they’d bought rolling papers instead.

Liam inhaled deeply and then coughed out the smoke. “My mom. She has a dealer. Actually, I think she might be a dealer.”

“Seriously?” Shy was impressed. Her parents were so boring. Well, maybe not boring, but old-fashioned. “How do you know?”

“I found a giant jar full of pot in a paper shopping bag in her closet. I was looking for the dog leash. And now it all makes sense. I mean, she’s always been really weird. Now I know why.”

Shy nodded. “I already feel weird.”

“Me too,” Liam said and put his arm around her. They were huddled on a bench in the playground next to the entrance to the BQE. It was sort of a clichéd thing to do, but where else could they go, Starbucks?

Shy put her head on his shoulder and they looked up at the darkening sky. It was a little after five o’clock. Stars appeared one at a time in the expanse of azure, twinkling brightly, like they’d been switched on.

Shy pointed at a freshly glowing pinkish-red dot.

“Mars is the Roman god of war.”

She’d garnered this fact from Mr. Streko’s Twitter feed, which she’d decided to be more strict with herself about and not look at more than four times a day so as not to become an obsessive teen stalker. Also, she was starting to really like Liam.

“And also a candy bar,” she added with a giggle.

Liam snorted and actual snot came out of his nose. He pulled his arm away from her and wiped at the snot with the back of his hand.

“Ugh. I can already tell I’m not going to like my mom’s weed.”

Shy didn’t move. “I like it.”