They all gave him a blank look, but it was Argus who spoke in his accented English.He’d embraced his Greek heritage by wearing a loose-fitting chiton and the cloak that draped over it.He really did look as if he’d stepped out of ancient Greece in that outfit.(For all Ross knew, he had.He had no idea how old Argus was.) “Didn’t you read them?”
“Read what?”
“TheTwilightbooks,” Bryn answered.“I thought everyone read those.”
“I think my sister did?”Ross didn’t really read anything with het romance in it.And really, if he were going to read, it was either fantasy or science fiction most of the time.“I didn’t, though.So how do the books and glitter connect?”
“The vampires sparkle in those books,” Argus explained, already reaching into the box and opening the first bottle.
“Right.”The logic of why they were imitating those vampires when they knew it didn’t match reality cramped his brain.But okay, whatever.He just handed out glitter and let them do their thing.
“Ross, can you hook my collar?”Eldora turned to indicate the high, lacey collar giving her trouble.She too had gone crazy with the costume and wore some Victorian getup with strategic rips in both bodice and skirt.
“Sure.”Ross maneuvered sideways around the stools people sat on and hooked the collar carefully together.“There.You need glitter, too?”
“If you don’t mind.”
Since everyone was hogging the mirrors, she likely would be late if he didn’t help her.Ross set about glittering up her face, ears, and hands, as that was about all the skin you could see on her.Then he saw someone else with half-done makeup and went to help them, and ended up sucked into being wardrobe assistant without meaning to.
Fyffe stuck his head into the room to call loudly over the din of conversation, “Ross, we’re about to open the doors!Stop hiding back here!”
“I’m not procrastinating!”Ross called back, finishing attaching a very scary looking headdress onto a normally shy elf.“I’m doing side quests!”
“Well, stop, we need you out front.”
Ross was not in charge of ticket sales or admitting people—he’d trained people on that—so this didn’t sound promising.“Why?”
“We can’t get the doohickey to connect to the thing—y’know.”
Ross finished and gave Fyffe a deadpan look.“You can’t get the square reader to connect to the Wi-Fi?”
“Yeah, that.”
Shaking his head, he quickly finished up before going out and through the narrow hallway to the front.They hadn’t opened the front doors yet, but he could see people through the glass.Annabella stood behind their register, stabbing at the square reader with a fingernail and scowling at it.She looked like a voluptuous and blond Morticia, so the scowl was actually rather terrifying on a visual level.
“Annabella,” Ross called as he moved to her side.“Let me see.”
She gratefully moved to the side.“It lost its mind for some reason.I turned it off and on, like you said to, and it’s working again, but it won’t connect to the internet.”
Ross pulled up the network connections and realized the problem almost instantly.“Well, it’s trying to connect to the house internet, so no wonder.”
“Oh.Why?”
“Because computers are very literal beings that can’t do anything intuitive.Hang on.”He selected the building Wi-Fi instead, but it disconnected almost immediately.The signal was too weak to be stable.Ross frowned at it, aggravated.He’d tested this days ago to see if there was a problem and there hadn’t been, so why tonight?
Technology, you faithless dog.No cookie for you.
It wasn’t just aggravating, it was problematic.They didn’t have any sort of backup plan.Which was why Ross had tested it earlier.
“Can you not fix it?”Annabella asked anxiously.
“I think we’ll need to do a work around.The Wi-Fi isn’t stable tonight for some reason.”Ross pulled out his phone and checked.He had full signal.Perfect.He hotspotted the square to his phone, and the connection instantly stabilized.“Alright, we’re going to use my phone’s data.I’m going to set the phone right behind the kiosk.Do NOT move it, okay?”
Annabella snapped out a salute.“Roger.But won’t you need your phone?”
“Naw, I’ve got the walkie-talkie.”Ross moved his suit coat back to show it attached to his belt.“This thing isn’t just for show.”
“Who are you supposed to be?”Annabella asked curiously, looking him over from head to foot.He wore a dark, nondescript suit, dress shoes, white shirt, and a tie.“Men in Black?”
