“Why?” Theo asked. “I thought everyone enjoyed the festivities of public revelry.”
“Yeah, umm… I went last night,” Carter said. “It wasn’t that great. I’m pretty sure the stuff in the sideshow is fake, and the games are all rigged.”
“We know that,” Ridley said. “That’s why we want to go—to figure out how everything works and beat them at their own game.”
“It’s always good for young magicians’ minds to learn all the mysteries around them,” Theo added. “That way we can better replicate them.”
“Come on,” Leila said, taking Carter’s arm in her own. “It’ll be fun!” Carter didn’t want to go, but he also wanted to keep hanging out with his new… friends. Reluctantly, he gave in.
What was the worst that could happen? (If you ever find yourself as a character in a story, refrain from asking yourself this question. Inevitably, you will find out the answer, and most likely you will not like it.)
The sun had nearly set by the time they made it to the fairgrounds. As the four passed under the twinkling stringed lights at the carnival’s entrance, Carter was on edge. He withdrew the newsboy cap from his bag and put it on. He pulled it low over his eyes, hoping that none of Bosso’s gang would recognize him.
“Let’s get some ride tickets!” Leila said, grabbing Theo and pulling him over to the ticket booth. While the others waited in line, Carter found himself alone with Ridley by the twinkling gate. Theo and Leila seemed to accept Carter without question, but Ridley looked at him like he was a machine she was trying to figure out.
“So?” Ridley asked point-blank. “What’s your deal?”
“My deal?”
“Yeah, where are you from? Where do you live? Where do you go to school? Why are you here?” Ridley asked.
“It’s complicated,” Carter answered honestly.
“So tell me.”
Carter kicked some spilled popcorn on the ground. He wasn’t sure how to answer, but the silence was growing tense.
“I’ll be blunt,” Ridley said. “I want you to know that I don’t trust you. Not one… solid… inch. I voted for you not to see the secret room. Theo and Leila see the best in people. I don’t. Funny how we just spent hours together and I still don’t know a single thing about you. So I’ll ask one last time: Why are you here?”
“Here in Mineral Wells?” Carter asked, shaken by Ridley’s aggressive questioning. Quickly, he lied, “My parents and I are staying at the Royal Spruce Hotel.”
“You mean the Grand Oak Resort?”
“Of course that’s what I meant,” Carter answered, forcing himself to chuckle. Ridley’s fierce stare was throwing him off.
“What do you want from Leila and Theo?” Ridley asked. “What do you want from Mr. Vernon?”
“Nothing,” Carter said. “Nothing! I don’t want anything from anyone. I never have.”
“That’s not true,” Ridley said. “Everyone has something up their sleeve.”
Dozens of thoughts rolled around in Carter’s head. He wanted a home. He wanted a family. He wanted to have friends. But none of those things were realistic. At least not until he came to Mineral Wells. Right now Carter was just trying to hold on to the happiness he’d found since meeting Mr. Vernon the previous night. But how did he say all that to Ridley or Leila or Theo without sounding like a total wastrel? Wastrel is another word for vagabond, that horrible term. The three would vanish him faster than he knew how to vanish himself!
“I’m not a bad person,” he whispered.
“You didn’t answer my question.” Ridley’s stare was unbearable. “What do you want here?”
“To belong, okay?” Carter snapped. He felt tears in his eyes, but he wasn’t sure. Quickly, he wiped at them. “You don’t know what it’s like to be alone.”
Ridley flinched. “You’d be surprised what I know.”
The two stood in silence for a moment, then looked at Theo and Leila, who were laughing and smiling in the ticket line. “They have it easier than most,” Ridley said quietly. “That’s why they’re so fast to accept others. Me? Everyone treats me like I’m different. I’m not different. Not that different. I’m just me.” She softened. “I wasn’t trying to be a jerk to you or anything. I’m just protective of my friends.”
Ms. Zalewski came to mind. Carter said, “I understand. So am I.”
“I guess we have more in common than I thought,” Ridley admitted. “So you really want to be a magician?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it,” Carter answered. “What magic I did just seemed to cause others pain. But watching you all, it seems cool. And I am good with my hands.”
“Oh yeah? You wouldn’t know real magic if it ran over your toes.” With a grin, Ridley ran over Carter’s foot with her wheelchair.
“Ow!” he said. For a moment, he thought Ridley had broken their unspoken truce. Then he noticed the words REAL MAGIC had appeared on the top of his shoe, the letters composed of tiny pieces of masking tape. Carter laughed in amazement. “That’s really good! You’ll have to teach me that one.”
Ridley finally smiled. “We’ll see.”
Theo returned to the gate with Leila holding a stack of small blue paper tickets. She said, “First I want to ride the spinning swings, then we should do bumper cars, and then we have to ride Bosso’s Blender. I heard it’ll make you puke out of your ears.”
“And that’s fun how?” Theo asked.
“How is that not fun?” She laughed and then pulled out a pair of handcuffs from her pocket, slapping them quickly onto Theo’s and Ridley’s wrists before pulling them toward the swings.
“You go ahead,” Carter said. “I, uh… didn’t get any tickets.” He couldn’t afford to. But then he remembered: Someone had made coins appear in his pocket just that morning.
Would it be worth buying his own tickets instead of using the money for dinner? No, it was better to save the money for a real emergency.
“We purchased enough for all of us,” Theo said, awkwardly maneuvering his handcuffed arm to hand Carter some of his. “Leila, can you please remove these?” Leila smacked her palms against their wrists, and the cuffs released. “Thank you.”
“No, really. It’s fine,” Carter protested. He felt uncomfortable taking the tickets without giving something in return. “I’m not sure I even want—”
“You’re riding the rides with us,” Theo interrupted. “No ifs, ands, or buts.”
Carter worried that if he didn’t accept the offer, they’d think he was hiding something. And though he was hiding something—many things, in fact—he wasn’t ready to risk losing anyone over it.
As the swings lifted into the air, and the bumper cars crashed into one another, and the Blender spun them in nauseating circles, Carter forgot himself. The newsboy hat that he’d pulled low over his brow was working. This was the first time in a very long while that he’d allowed himself to feel somewhat safe.