Jen paced Rosie’s cabin, bleary eyed, her hair full of glitter and her eyes drained of sleep. The rest of Roanoke watched as Jen paced, noting that they had never seen anyone who had not slept in as many days as Jen had not slept.
Jen had not slept since . . .
How long had she been working nonstop on Galaxy Wars?
“Jen’s moving, like, really fast,” said April, with a bit of admiration, because April aspired to be one of the busiest, most efficient people on the planet.
“Jen needs tea,” Molly said.
“Jen needs SLEEP,” Jo said.
Bubbles chirped in the affirmative. Bubbles loved many things, and curling up for a snooze was on the top of the list.
Mal couldn’t think of what Jen needed yet, but her accordion test was only a day away, and she was still pretty confident that once she passed, everything would go back to normal.
Whatever that was.
“Jerry,” Rosie said, “I’m going to need you to take a deep breath.”
“Well, it’s JEN,” Jen muttered, plastering her hands to the sides of her face. “Okay so it’s JEN. And. What’s happening? Something is happening? There’s a mouse? I knew that! Is something else falling apart? Is GALAXY WARS falling apart? Is something wrong?”
“Everything is fine,” Rosie said, gently pushing Jen down into a comfy chair, where Jen rocked dangerously close to the cliff of sleep. “We just have the small issue of our newest visitor and the impending arrival of . . .”
“My mother,” Castor said.
“Indeed,” Rosie said. “Anything else we should know?”
“She was expecting quite a bit of cheese,” Castor said. “So she could arrive a bit . . . cranky.”
“Well, that we will have to deal with when the time comes,” Rosie said, “as we’re all pretty fond of our cheese over here.”
“Castor’s mom’s a pirate,” Ripley whispered to Mal and Molly.
“That’s freaking cool,” Mal whispered back.
“Castor is also a pirate,” Jo added, in case that wasn’t clear.
“Wait. How long have you known Castor was a pirate?” April growled.
“Not very long,” Jo said. “Maybe a few thousand seconds.”
Jen startled straight, almost knocking her mug to the floor. “FFtah! What? I’m ready! I’m—” She promptly collapsed back asleep.
“So basically, we’re thinking your mother will arrive, and you will head back off into the great celestial yonder,” Rosie said. “Which I don’t think should interrupt Galaxy Wars.”
Jen, if she had been awake, would have been relieved. But Jen was in a sleep so deep a herd of elephants could not rouse her.
Ripley stepped forward. “I think Castor should get to participate in Galaxy Wars,” she said. “If she has to leave, she should get a chance to play.”
“Do you want to play?” Rosie asked.
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream,” Castor blushed, “of interrupting—”
Rosie leaned on her desk. “I think it’s a fine idea. BUT, your cabin will have to decide whose place you’ll be taking. You need to compete with the same number you had at the competition’s start. Those are the rules, arcane though they may be.”
Rosie picked up a blanket and walked over to drop it on Jen, who was curled up like a cat now. “I’ll let you choose, and you can let me know tonight.”