Flashback ( PDFDrive )

She gave him half a shrug—and a full smile. “You in or not?”
He grinned. “Oh, I am so in.”
• • •
The next day they both lasted ten minutes with their arms in the icy
basin—though some of that might’ve been thanks to the extra body
heat in the water.
But still, it was progress—which was more than Sophie could say
for the lesson afterward, which turned out to be on appetite
suppression.
“Get ready to hate me,” Keefe said as he set a tray in her lap filled
with mouthwatering candy and desserts and then told her she couldn’t
eat any of it.
Ro and Elwin were zero help—both munching happily on trays of
their own.
“I know, appetite suppression’s rough,” Keefe told her. “And sadly
there’s no real trick except distraction—unless you can convince
yourself that you’re not hungry. You’re not, right? You don’t want this
butterblast, do you?”
He took a huge bite of a round, golden pastry topped with giant
sugar crystals.
If it weren’t for her injuries, she would’ve leaped out of bed and
wrestled it away from him.
“Don’t worry, I’ll save you a bite. But first you need to go one solid
hour without your stomach growling. So ignore me”—he took another
giant bite of the butterblast—“and focus on Krakie. Or you can focus
on Krakie’s new buddies.”