“Nope.” Jasper shrugged, his smile as easy as ever, not in the least rattled despite his attire. “We’re expected upstairs. Patient visits.”

Somehow Jasper’s confidence seemed to have defeated the young doctors’ urge to tease. It was something, the way their faces transformed from joking to respectful.

“I bet the kids will be happy to see you.” The shorter doctor offered a warmer smile this time, but unlike Jasper, I didn’t grin back.

“They usually are.” Jasper still seemed perfectly at ease having the world’s most bizarre conversation in a men’s room. “We play the Odyssey card game with them.”

“Wow. I used to play that in high school,” the shorter doctor shared. I was a little afraid we were about to get into the specifics of the game right there, but then his companion added, “Good luck, guys.”

Finally, the doctors went into the stalls, and we grabbed our stuff and headed out to the hall. Where more people would see us. I had to swallow hard.

“Come on. Let’s introduce you to the rest of the gang.” Jasper knew no such hesitation as he headed to the bank of elevators near the restrooms. He punched the button for floor three, sparing a grin for an elderly couple sharing the elevator with us. His comfort in costume was impressive, but he still carried the frog head under his arm.

“Why don’t you put your mask on?” I asked, trying not to make eye contact with the others in the elevator.

“It’s hot and dark in there. Hard to see where I’m going. And sometimes it scares the younger kids. Instead, I wait until they ask me to wear it for a picture or something like that.”

“Makes sense.” I wouldn’t be in any hurry to put the giant mask on either. I followed him off the elevator to a waiting area where several costumed people were standing around. Most of the outfits I recognized from Odyssey cards—wizards and reapers and various anthropomorphic animals. A guy about our age in an impressive wizard’s outfit strode over. His velvet robes dragged the floor and flowed down his arms. Why couldn’t Jasper have needed another wizard? At least this guy was covered. And warm. I shivered again.

“You were right. He is the perfect Neptune.” The wizard sized me up in a way that made me feel a bit like a bug under a magnifying glass, going as far as to circle me before reaching out to straighten my toga. It took all my restraint not to knock his hand away.

I settled for giving him a hard stare instead. “Uh. Hands off the costume.”

“Sorry.” Wizard guy shrugged. “Habit. I had fun altering this one.”