Book 5 begins with Kalim telling Ace, Deuce and Grim that their dancing was “like watching an elephant panic and rear back on its hind legs. Aha ha! You can hardly dance…maybe you’re in above your heads here.”
Both Ace and Deuce succeed in their auditions and are assigned to backup positions with Kalim.
When assigned to main vocals Jamil’s first response is to defer to Kalim, but he then changes his mind.
Kalim appears unfazed at first, but the prefect discovers him practicing alone and he confesses that he is pretty upset about being passed over for main vocals. Kalim explains, “I’m always chosen. Always. That’s such an obvious truth that I never even consciously processed it.” “But now I see that was only possible because of Jamil’s constant sacrifices. He created that ‘truth’ in my mind by always holding back. By always letting me win…it stings. ‘Galling’ doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
When called out for the mistakes he makes when he dances Kalim explains, “My body kicks into dance mode all on its own!”
When Deuce becomes upset after Ace mocks him, Kalim says that he looks at Deuce and sees someone who is “trying to write with their non-dominant hand, then yelling, ‘Oh, I’m so bad at writing!’ You’re doing something you know you’re bad at, then beating yourself up when it doesn’t turn out well. Of course you won’t see your strong points when you do things that way.”
At the end of the Book Kalim recognizes the danger that Vil poses to them (“I got a real bad feeling when I saw the look on your face after Neige’s rehearsal. It was practically the same look I saw on Jamil’s face when he lost control of himself over holiday break.”) and slaps poisoned juice out of Rook’s hands, scolding Rook for being willing to drink it despite knowing the danger.
Kalim asks for Jamil’s help with saving the spectators from Vil, but Jamil already has: “When I saw the look on Vil’s face after Neige’s rehearsal I had a feeling something was brewing. And I also had a feeling SOMEONE would poke the hornets’ nest and set off a worst-case scenario.”
Kalim asks why Jamil is making it sound as though it is his fault and Jamil responds “Whether your intentions were pure or not, the result is the same…if you’d stayed out of it, Neige would’ve been the only casualty. Now look at the mess you’ve made of things.” (Insinuating that Jamil might have been intending to leave Neige to Vil until Kalim got involved.)
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 