Gideon shook his head. “Lyanka would never let you do that. You know that.”
“But it’s getting too hard on her,” I insisted. “Nobody’s meant to do a thousand readings a year for twenty years straight. She’s exhausted.”
“Which is why she’d never let you do it.” He gave me a knowing look. “Once you open your mind to the spirits, you can’t shut it again.”
“I don’t even think I can open my mind to the spirits. I don’t have the same gift as her. But I can still read a deck of cards.”
“That’s even worse,” Gideon argued. “Then you’d just be a hustler, and you know how Lyanka despises frauds.”
“It doesn’t matter whether she likes it or not. Mom isn’t going to be able to do this stuff much longer, and if I don’t start stepping in to take her place, she’s gonna end up destroying her mind and going insane.” I paused. “Just like her mother did.”
“I know, and I agree with you, Mara. But it’s not up to me.”
“Why not? You’re the boss,” I reminded him. “You have the power to hire and fire people.”
“I can’t exactly fire my girlfriend.” He looked back down at the papers in front of him. “And it’s not that simple.”
“Gideon. We need to do something,” I told him firmly.
He chewed the inside of his cheek, staring off for a moment, then finally relented with a heavy sigh. “All right. I’ll talk to Lyanka, but in the end, she’ll do what she wants to do. You know how she is.” He pointed to the bottle of pills in my hand. “If her head’s already hurting, you better get that aspirin out to her.”
I ran back to the carnival, and when I reached my mom’s tent, a client was inside with her. I ducked in, apologizing as I did, and gave Mom the water and the aspirin. Then I quickly exited and looked around to see if anybody else needed help.
Since the carnival had just started, everything was well stocked, and nobody seemed to need anything. I walked along the edge of the fairgrounds, preferring to stay in the shadows behind the tents and exhibits than mingling with the crowds.
A burst of light came from the other side of the fence, and I looked over to see Roxie playing with a small ball of fire in the palm of her hand.
“You should be careful with that,” I said as I walked over to her.
She shrugged, letting the flames burn blue and yellow a second before closing her fist, extinguishing them. Whenever she was bored or anxious, Roxie resorted to playing with her pyrokinesis.
Right in front of us was a booth selling cotton candy, and another one that had a ring-toss game. We stared in between the booths at the people walking down the midway.
“Looks like a lot of people are coming already.” I leaned on the fence next to her.
“Yeah, that has to be a good sign. Especially after the dry spell we’ve had.”
“Are you doing a show tonight?” I asked.
“Yeah. Just the peep show at eight,” Roxie said. “Zeke says the tigers need a rest, so we’re doing that tomorrow.”
Roxie apparently grew tired of people watching, so she once again made a fireball in her hand, but instead of a usual ball of fire, it was a small red spark that immediately went out.
“Dammit,” Roxie muttered. “My pyro has been acting weird all day. Sometimes I can’t even make any fire at all.”
“Maybe you’ve been using it too much,” I suggested, even though I’d never heard of Roxie having any issues with her fire before.
“Maybe,” she agreed, sounding unconvinced, but a small fireball formed in her hand, which seemed to relax her.
I stared ahead, trying to get a count on how many people might be here. Gideon had heard from a trusted friend that we would do well here. Since it was such a small town, I’d been dubious, but based on the turnout we were already having, it looked like his friend had been right.
And then I saw him, and my stomach dropped.
I’d actually seen Selena first, her black hair pulled back in a ponytail, as she held hands with her boyfriend, Logan. Another guy walked beside them, his hair slicked back, and wore a pair of shades that matched Logan’s.
That had been enough to startle me, but then Gabe had appeared at her side. They’d stopped right across from where I was hidden in the darkness behind the booth, but they were too far away for me to hear them.
“Oh shit,” I whispered.
“We’re far enough away,” Roxie insisted, shifting her fireball from one hand to the other. “Nobody can see the fire.”
“No, not that. It’s Gabe. He’s here.”
The fireball instantly went out, and Roxie leaned forward. “Which one?”
“That one.” I pointed to where Gabe stood, laughing at what Selena had said to him.