A news screen interrupted their escape.
BREAKING BALLOON NEWS, it announced.
CITY UNDER SIEGE BY UNLICENSED PARTY SORCERERS.
The local wizard authorities were apparently baffled by an inflatable elephant stampede.
Footage of Edgar and the team ran beneath a headline calling their bubble witch a menace with sass goggles.
“We’re not unlicensed!” Astrid protested.
“We just haven’t updated it since 2017.”
Hexcel pointed to the screen.
One glitter-pollen attack had apparently turned her into a walking caution sign.
Miriam tried to be reassuring.
“We’ll be forgotten in seventy-two hours.
Or elected mayor.”
The group had an idea for sharpening their minds.
A nearby advertisement suggested NZT unlocked one hundred percent of your brain.
“Wait,” Astrid said, squinting at a sign.
“Was it TNT?
No, LSD?”
“NZT,” Miriam repeated.
“Three letters.
Let’s find some.”
They asked a local, who misunderstood their search as something else entirely.
“If you’re looking for HIV,” he offered, “head to the Red Light District.”
“NZT!” the team shouted in unison.
But by then their balloon dog was already carrying them toward a very different kind of trouble.
The Red Light District had narrow streets, neon signs, and a parking space Hexcel considered perfect.
She maneuvered their absurd ride into it with the concentration of a champion pilot.
Before anyone could congratulate her, a pink-haired defender of the Love Zone appeared.
“Sorry, sparkle squad.
This space is for lovers only!”
Astrid smiled sweetly.
“Hope you like pain with a pout.” Her fiery fist met a wall of attitude.
Hexcel, however, finished parking.
“Parallel parked and emotionally grounded,” she said.
A stranger emerged from the shadows with an offer.
“You lookin’ for something big, bouncy, and ready to blow?”
Edgar perked up.
Astrid and the others exchanged a worried look, but they let him handle the conversation.
Mostly.
The stranger presented a small balloon.
Edgar’s fist answered it before anyone could explain the misunderstanding.
“EDGAR…UPPERCUT!”
The balloon exploded.
“Whoa,” Astrid said as the smoke cleared.
“That balloon had a short fuse.”
Miriam rubbed her temples.
“Maybe the pharmacy.”