Emily stared down at herself and hesitated. How had Teddy found something that fit so well? Or was it Alea Iacta? Her cheeks warmed. Had he figured out what would fit just from looking at her? The most likely answer was that his power had kicked in and found something that just fit.

She slid the fedora on and then hesitated before putting on the mask.

The bathroom door slid open and something purple walked out.

Emily didn’t know what to make of Teddy’s costume. It was . . . it was a pimp outfit.

The girl had found a cute yellow summer dress that Emily recognized from their purchases at the thrift store, but she was wearing it over a pair of cargo shorts. That much was bizarre but acceptable.

The huge, fuzzy purple jacket and the hat with a brim that was half Teddy’s height in diameter was . . .

“What are you wearing?” Emily asked.

“My costume,” Teddy said. “It’s a pimp outfit.”

“I noticed,” Emily said. “Do you . . . know what a pimp is?”

Teddy nodded, the huge brim flip-flopping like mad. “Yeah, it’s a kind of big predator.”

Emily felt her nose scrunching up against the inside of her mask. “I don’t . . . I mean, technically. But I don’t think that it’s very appropriate.”

“I mean, it’s not brown,” Teddy said. “But it’s not that bad, is it?”

“It’s . . . I think you’d look a lot better without the coat,” Emily said.

Teddy shrugged out of the jacket. “All right. Can I keep the hat?”

“I . . . maybe the hat should stay too? We can find you a much nicer hat, I’m sure. Maybe a mask as well?” She was certain they could find a nice mask at the Dolla ’n’ Mor’ store. There were always masks for sale there, cheap knockoffs of Hero merchandise.

“Cool,” Teddy said. “So we’re going out like this?”

Emily looked down at herself, worked through the obvious consequences of stepping out of her dorm in the costume she’d be wearing while maybe committing a crime, and then decided that she really wasn’t made for the whole Heroics and Villainy thing. As if it hadn’t been obvious enough already.

“Okay. I think you can wear your hoodie over your dress. It’ll hide your ears, too. And we can bring a backpack to put everything in. I’ll . . . have to change out of all this. Can you give me a minute?”

“Yeah. I’ll be in the bathroom again. Tell me when you’re done, Boss.”

Emily changed back into her normal school clothes, then tossed the costume into her backpack after emptying it. “I’m done!” she called out to Teddy while looking for her phone.

She had a call to make, and then, after that, they would be off to get themselves into a whole heap of trouble.

She was not looking forward to it in the least.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO