Flashback ( PDFDrive )

Tinker nodded, flicking through the different lenses on her
eyepiece as she studied Dex closer, making Dex’s cheeks flush the
same shade as his hair.
He reached for one of the gray puffs resting on the table, like he
needed something to fidget with. “It’s cool you have tomples. I’ve
always wanted one.”
“That thing’s alive?” Sophie realized as the puff stirred in his palm.
Dex held the creature out to her. “Yep. Wanna see?”
She’d started to reach for it when he added, “They’re kind of like
what you’d get if you crossed a hedgehog, a kitten, and a really big
cockroach.”
Sophie jerked her hand away just in time to avoid the six spindly
brown legs that emerged from the fur.
“Okay, that’s just wrong,” she said, scooting as far as she could
from the fluffy bug-of-doom. “Why would you want one of those?”
“Aw, don’t listen to her,” Dex whispered to the tomple as he set it
back on the table. “She doesn’t know what cute is—trust me.”
He winked and Sophie felt her jaw fall, wondering when they’d
reached a point where they could joke about that.
“Besides,” he added, “tomples feed on dust, so they’re awesome to
have in labs. I’ve been asking my dad to get one for Slurps and Burps
for years. But he’s worried all the alchemy stuff we do could mix with
the dust and make the tomple sick. So I’m stuck cleaning all the
shelves myself.”
The tomple skittered back toward its fluffy friend, and Sophie tried
not to squeal like a five-year-old. But she couldn’t help it when she
noticed a blur of black fur snatch something from the next table over
and duck behind one of the larger contraptions.