"How's he get along with Bella?"

"They go do magic practice all the time on some other planet," says Lexi, waving a hand, "I don't see a lot of it - wait, do you think they're not just practicing magic? Or something? You asked that kinda funny."

"Lot of the Jokers come with Bells attached," he says. "There was one in the world I started in, and there's one in the world I live in now, and I'm not attached to either, but there's, let me see - Alice and Stella, Kas and Amariah, Angela and Micaiah, Rose and Beast, and Cam and Jellybean." (He eats another one.) "Five Bells-and-Jokers who're dating."

"Wait, so they're not mostly named Bella?"

"Most of 'em are," he says, "but with ten of 'em in a room, you don't wanna say 'Bella' and have five look up, so they pick nicknames."

"Oh. I wonder what mine would call herself."

"We'll find out," he says serenely.

"I can ask her when I go out of here," says Lexi.

"Good plan."

"Maybe I should show Bella this place today. She'll just flip if I show her that the bathroom turned into a restaurant."

"It won't be in the bathroom permanently," he says. "It'll show up somewhere else next time. Likes to keep us on our toes."

"So I can't go get her?"

"Probably not."

"Darn. Why do I keep finding things when it'd be better for Bella to find them? This happened when I got possessed too, the stupid deck of cards kept telling me it had limitless power and I was like 'dude wait a second I want to give the limitless power to my sister because if I take it she will guilt me and I'll never get a weekend off again, come on' and it was like 'no I cannot wait' and I was like 'oh fine' only then it was actually trying to destroy the world, like, why does this happen to me?"

"What, you want to walk out of the girls' bathroom in the middle of Forks High School?" Lexi says. "Because I bet you get escorted off school property in a hurry, you do that."

"Wouldn't be the first time," he snorts. "But nah, I've got nifty magic, remember? I can be invisible if I feel like it."

"Oh, you have nifty magic, too, I thought it was just Bellas."

"Turns out, my bunch is really good at making nifty magic and her bunch is really good at using it. Works out pretty well."

"Oh. Well, okay, if you wanna come to my world you can do that, I guess," says Lexi.

He beams. Something about him radiates childlike glee with an almost literal luminescence.

Lexi tilts her head, but she gets up and makes for the door.

The Joker takes his jar of jelly beans and follows, turning invisible halfway there.

Lexi opens the door and walks out. +Bella, Bella you're gonna flip, turn invisible and let's cut gym, I found a thing!+

+Cut gym for what thing, please, Lexi?+