And the shoe drops... or does it?

                Marissa followed the sound of boys giggling, knowing it meant Loki and Thor were up to something. It probably wouldn’t be anything too bad since they followed the basic kid rule of being totally silent when they were doing something really wrong. They were hiding in a coat closet, by the sound of it, so they were definitely up to something. She cracked the door open and got her silence. And a shock. Why were her kids glowing in the dark???

                “Lex!” she bellowed, making the two faintly purple wolf pups jump. She shut the door. Closed her eyes and bellowed again, “Lexor Luthor!”

                She was greeted with yet more silence. She rubbed her head, trying to ease the sudden headache that slammed into her. Right, he was probably out trying to get some sucker to buy his “Egyptian Elixir of Health.” The very stuff she was willing to bet had caused her kids to suddenly start glowing in the dark. She jerked the closet door back open.

                “Out here now. Get your winter gear on.”

**********

                “Lex!” Marissa bellowed as she entered Rattigan’s Pub.

                “In the back room,” Missy, the bar tender on duty said nodding toward the door to Louie’s office. “What the hell?” she asked as Marissa stormed through, dragging Thor and Loki behind her. Right, it was dark enough in here that they boys’ new color pallet was probably showing. Great.

                She slammed the door to Louie’s office open and stood there glaring at the assembled men.

                “Marissa, this is a closed meeting—“ Lex began.

                “I told you not to use my kids as lab animals in your elixir scheme, Lex. I know I told you to never, ever use my kids as lab animals.”

                “Now really, Marissa—“ he tried to cut in.

                “And now they glow in the dark!” she spat out angrily.

                More silence, this time sounding as if crickets were chirping.

                “You sort of failed to mention the fact this stuff would make me glow in the dark, Lex,” Louie said reproachfully.

                “I assure you, there is nothing harmful about it,” Lex said soothingly as he glared at Marissa. “It’s only the excess energy of the unused magic bleeding off. You can hardly see it, in fact—”

                Marissa dragged the boys out from behind her and into the room and raised here eyebrows. Both boys were shining brightly enough to give everything around them a violet hue. Nobody spoke at first. And then:

                “Can you make this stuff so it glows in other colors?”

                Marissa looked at the speaker, someone she had not noticed when she first stormed into the office. It was Dante Hancock, the owner of the Pleasure Club and other somewhat hush-hush businesses in town. What was he doing here at Rattigans?

                “Well, yes, actually,” Lex said, sounding surprised. “Only the cream soda flavor radiates purple. That nice brandy flavor I concocted made them glow a lovely blue—”

                “You made them glow blue?!?” Marissa screeched.

                “Marissa, calm down,” Dante said firmly. “They are fine. This is actually pretty mild for wolf pups.” He turned his attention back to Lex. “Put me down for two cases of each and of any other flavor/colors you have. I just put in black lights in the downstairs disco room. This would go over big!”