“You make the costumes?” My head tilted as I considered him again. He was tall and wide, built like a linebacker, and he had a scruffy beard. He was the sort of guy who probably grew his first beard in junior high, and his hands were bigger than mine. I had a hard time picturing him threading a needle.

“Some of them.” His grin had a lot of swagger to it.

“Kellan’s a theater major. You’ll be seeing his designs on Broadway someday.” Jasper slapped Kellan on the shoulder, pride clear in his voice. I had no business caring about their easy friendship, but knowing that wasn’t enough to stop an edge from creeping into my voice.

“Cool.”

“You’re shorter than our last Neptune. But I suppose you’ll do.” A petite red-haired elf gave me a regal nod. She had a mask embroidered with leaves covering her mouth and nose, and elbow-length gloves on as well.

“And this is April.”

“Oh. Right. Your sister.” The red hair should have tipped me off. But she’d been born when we were seven or eight, a surprise for the whole family, and had been little more than a preschooler when we’d stopped being friends. “You got big.”

“You probably remember her as a tiny—”

“Jasper.” She elbowed him hard enough that he winced. And now both her mask and Jasper’s interest in the hospital made more sense. She’d been born with some rare genetic blood disorder that impacted her immune system’s ability to fight off infections and had been hospitalized a lot as a kid, especially before they found out what was wrong.

“Sorry. Meet my super ancient and wise sister.”

“Dork.” April rolled her eyes before giving me another critical look. “I told Jasper to find us a Neptune and you’re not a bad look-alike, but you need to own it more. Like maybe don’t look like we’re asking you to chew glass.”

“Damn. You’re ice cold.” Kellan sounded impressed, and honestly, so was I. April had a lot of personality packed into a small package, and I liked how she wasn’t afraid to tell it like it was.

“Sorry.” Straightening my shoulders, I tried to force myself to relax. Mine was hardly the most outrageous costume in the group. And everyone else was laughing and joking and acting like this was the highlight of their week.

“Okay.” Jasper clapped his hands, the clear leader of this motley group. Like his sister, he had a natural take-charge quality to him that I’d always admired. Jasper got stuff done. “Everyone ready?”