Afterward, the gang walked along the aisle of game booths. They each took turns trying to figure out how the games were fixed—fixed in this case means set up to be advantageous to one person, and it wasn’t the person playing the game.
At the Milk Bottle Pyramid, Carter offered up the theory he’d told Mr. Vernon. Ridley added, “Probably. But they also could fill the bottoms with lead so they weigh, like, ten pounds each. And look—that heavy curtain behind them helps hold them up.”
At the Balloon Dart Throw, Theo said, “They underinflate the balloons, and the darts are too light to have any force behind them. So they bounce right off.”
At the Duck Pond Game, Leila noted, “Catching the rubber ducks with the pole and string and hook is easy, but ninety-nine percent of them have a lame prize marked on the bottom. No one wins the big prize here.”
Ridley appeared to be the sharpest of the bunch. As she rolled down the strip, she’d point and say, “That basketball hoop is too small for the ball to go through,” or, “The space between the stuffed cats is bigger than it looks, it’s just they’re so furry you’d never know,” or, “The plate curves so coins slide off except for the ones they glued on to look like winners.”
“Astounding,” Theo said.
“Carter, how would you like a pink flamingo?” Leila asked.
“To eat?” Carter joked. “Or as a pet?”
“Up to you!” she said, pointing to the flock of stuffed pink birds hanging from the ceiling of the Ring Toss booth.
Carter laughed, then said, “But we know it’s rigged.”
“Yeah, but beating a rigged game is more fun.” Ridley smirked. “Win once, all you get is a tiny parrot. Win twice, you get a sketchy-looking bear. But win all three throws and you walk away with a giant pink flamingo. It’s the biggest prize in the whole carnival. Everyone will notice how great we really are!”
Carter actually didn’t want to be noticed.
“If you look around, you’ll notice no one has a flamingo,” Leila said. “No one wins the best prizes. But we’re going to be the first.”
Carter’s face flushed. His instinct told him to turn and run away. Instead he forced himself to ask, “Why are you guys being so nice to me?”
Theo scrunched up his face, confused. “Why would we not be nice to you?”
Ridley crossed her arms and scowled. “It’s so you can belong, dummy. We all know what it’s like to feel the opposite.”
Carter had to force a smile away to keep from looking like a fool.
Leila walked up to the booth runner and said, “Three tickets for three rings, please!” She handed one ring to Ridley, one to Theo, and kept one for herself.
“Ladies first,” Theo said.
Ridley rolled over. Her eyes sized up the distance, the green bottles, the weight of the ring in her hand, and so on.
“Come on, we don’t have all day,” the booth runner said. Ridley tossed the ring, and it landed on the first bottle. She stuck her tongue out at the man.
Leila stepped up next. She stretched her arms overhead and cracked her knuckles. Standing on one leg, the other extended behind her, she bent forward, leaning as far over the rail as possible. She gave a slight toss and the ring landed on the closest bottle.
“That’s cheating,” the booth runner hissed.
“No, it’s not,” Leila said, still stretched out over the rail. “It says no touching the rail. I’m not touching. I’m hovering above.”
“Step back!” the booth runner insisted.
“Hey, buddy!” Ridley waved from her wheelchair, her red brows furrowed. “During my turn I couldn’t even get close to the railing, so let’s just call it even, whaddya say?”
The booth runner took a step back with a huff.
Then it was Theo’s turn. He slid his violin bow out of his pants pocket. (This time, Carter saw the folding mechanism lock into place.) Theo waved the bow over the ring on the counter and it began to float. Carter held his breath. He still didn’t know how Theo made things levitate.
The ring danced into the air. The booth runner looked like he was going to faint. A second later, the ring landed gently on one of the bottles with a satisfying clink!
“Yes!” Carter pumped his fist. He couldn’t help it.
“One flamingo a-go-go, please!” said Leila.
Still scratching his head, the booth runner handed them the giant prize. The four friends high-fived and burst into laughter. Ridley rolled triumphantly down the midway as Leila skipped beside her, the giant pink flamingo bobbing atop her shoulders. On the other side of the wheelchair, Theo stepped along in his usual way. Carter weaved in front of them, unable to hide his excitement. “How did you do that?”
“A real magician never reveals her secrets,” said Ridley.
“Oh, that old myth,” Theo said with a chuckle.
“Not a myth,” said Ridley. “It’s a rule of real magic.”
“You wouldn’t know real magic if it bit you on the knee,” Carter said.
Ridley gazed down to find the words REAL MAGIC on her pants leg. Carter had snuck the words off his shoe and onto her knee without her noticing. Ridley half smiled, impressed.
“You didn’t let me finish,” said Ridley. “I was going to say that a magician never reveals her secrets to just anyone. How’d I beat the ring toss? By gauging the weight and using simple physics.”
“There’s this thing called gravity,” Leila said with a playful shrug. “You’ve probably heard of it: a very helpful law of nature. I used that. Since the rings are made of super-springy plastic, the closer you are, the less they bounce.”
“And you?” Carter asked Theo. “Ready to finally tell me the secret of your bow?”
Theo considered, then said, “Not yet.”
Everyone laughed.
TEN
After beating one of the unbeatable games, the four friends went to the fun house and the hall of mirrors. When the others went to the sideshow, Carter excused himself, saying he needed the bathroom. In actuality, he didn’t want any of Bosso’s gang to find him in there again.
Finally, they each tried their might at the Test Your Strength machine. None of them won. “It’s the one game in the whole place that isn’t rigged,” Leila noted.
“Oh, it’s rigged all right,” Ridley groaned, “if you’re not a giant hulk with huge muscles.”
“We have to ride the Ferris wheel!” Leila cried, dragging the others along.
The four of them made their way into a rusty caged car. As the ground retreated beneath them, Carter’s stomach dropped and he came face-to-face with the full moon. Ridley called out to the woman at the controls, “Keep an eye on my chair, please! That bell was very expensive!” When the others stared at her, aghast, she added, “What? You guys are the only ones allowed to crack jokes?”
The metal car jerked to a halt at the wheel’s highest point and swung slightly in the wind. Leila rocked back and forth next to Carter, making the car swing harder.
“Cut it out,” growled Ridley. “You’re going to make me puke tiny cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches everywhere.”
“Sorry!” Leila said. “It’s this cage.… I’m always thinking of an escape.”
“You’re going to rock your way out?” Ridley asked.