"Oh, well if we're going straight to the important subjects, then yes, that was all me," Vex told him, smug as a cat.

"It's hard enough feeling like people think you don't belong. Not having the right clothes makes it so much worse." Her eyes sought out Percy, drawn by memories of feeling that exact way, and how wonderfully supportive he'd been for her then. "I wasn't going to put Stephanie through that if you ever made up your mind what you wanted to do. Took you long enough, brother."