Geoffrey dropped tickets into the operator’s open hand and smiled at the group. “Let’s see if Ted is the better man.”
Ted motioned toward the throw line. “Losers first.”
Geoffrey’s first toss dislodged the top milk bottle. His second toss hit the remaining two bottles but failed to knock them from the platform. His last throw missed the bottles entirely.
Ted slapped Geoffrey on the back. “Let me show you how it’s done.”
Martha and Sally clapped their hands together and cheered for Ted. He smirked at them before cocking his arm back and launching the ball. All three bottles exploded from the platform. Martha bounced up and down, tossing her curls over her shoulder. Kate looked away. Clouds slunk across the night sky and blotted out the stars.
Geoffrey cleared his throat. “I was going to win you a bear.”
Kate shook her head. “Next time.”
“Come pick a prize, Martha,” Ted called.
Mikey walked over. “It’s going to take Martha an hour to choose her prize. Wanna ride the Scrambler now?”
Geoffrey looked at Kate, and she shrugged. “I’ll be here when you’re done.”
“Hey, Matthias,” Mikey shouted. “Come on.”
Kate crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself while she watched Geoffrey, Matthias, and Mikey amble over to stand in line for the Scrambler.
Martha’s voice carried over the carnival noise. “No, that one. The one with the necklace.”
Sally snickered. “That necklace is plastic, Martha.”
“But red is my lucky color, and I never turn down jewelry,” she slurred, and both girls burst into giggles.
Kate watched the man behind the booth hand Martha an oversize white bear wearing a necklace made of red beads with an octagonal, plastic ruby pendant. Martha squeezed the bear and thanked Ted. Then Martha pulled the necklace off the bear and strung it over her neck. She lifted the pendant and grinned.
Her thick eyelashes fluttered. “I can see myself in the reflection.”
The plastic pendant caught the blinking lights around the booth and shot sparkles into the air. Kate flinched as the light flashed in her eyes. Her breath hitched. A veil dropped over her vision, obscuring the carnival, and flaunted broken images in front of her eyes. Dark confined space. Sticky hands pressing against her skin. Red beads dropping like hail. Panicked breaths bubbling up her throat.
Kate staggered sideways. She bumped into a light pole and bent over, propping her hands on her knees and blinking so rapidly that it looked as though she stood beneath a strobe light.
“Let’s get out of here and drive up to Look-Off Pointe,” Ted said.
Kate pushed herself upright but pressed one hand against the light pole for support. Bile rose in her throat, so she clenched her jaw. Martha propped the bear on her hip as though she held a toddler, and she slid the red, plastic beads of her necklace through the fingers on her right hand.
Martha sashayed toward Ted. The ruby pendant bounced against her chest as she moved. “I love that idea.”
Sally clasped her hands together. “Me too.”
Martha surveyed the group. “How many cars do we have?”
Charlotte raised her hand. “I drove.”
Ted nodded. “So did I. Geoffrey and John drove too. We can split up, if we want.” His eyes lowered and locked on Martha.
Martha grinned up at him with a smile that was too eager and too wide. “Definitely.”
Charlotte dug through her purse and fished out her car keys. “We’ll need to wait on Matthias.”
Martha pointed as she spoke. “I’ll ride with Ted. John, you and Charlotte can take Sally and Betsy. Geoffrey can bring the rest. Okay? Good, let’s go.” She slipped her arm through Ted’s.
“How will Matthias know where we’ve gone?”
Martha stopped and focused her gaze on Kate. “Kate can tell them, can’t you? Think you can manage that?”
Martha didn’t wait for Kate to respond. She tugged Ted away, and Betsy, Sally, and John followed. Charlotte lingered behind.
“You’ll tell Matthias where we went, right? Tell him I’ll–I mean, we’ll all be at the Pointe waiting for him and the others.”
Kate inhaled the smoky scent of ashes. Her throat closed, and her eyes filled with tears. The girl in her visions was Martha.
Kate remembered the agonizing weeks leading up to Evan’s death when she barely ate, barely got out of bed, barely survived. She hadn’t been able to warn Evan about his shattered windshield, the truck driver who fell asleep, or the way the radio still worked even though Evan’s car was crushed.
Altering the future was against the rules. Whose rules? Those rules didn’t care if people died or suffered. They didn’t care if brothers died while sisters dreamed of them. Kate bent over and gulped air.
Charlotte touched her shoulder. “Hey, are you okay?”
Kate wiped at her tears and straightened. “I don’t know.” Alter the future or let Martha face her own fate? A shiver rippled over Kate’s skin, and she rubbed her hands against her arms.
Charlotte worried her bottom lip. “Will you tell Matthias where we’ve gone?”
The Ferris wheel spun round and round, illuminating the faces in the carts. A laugh sounded and stretched toward Kate, wrapping around her heart and squeezing. The laugh sounded like Evan. She imagined them last year on the Ferris wheel, Evan leaning forward in the cart, her gripping his shirt sleeve. Evan pointed out the people below and made up stories about them while Kate giggled and waved to their parents. He would be here now if she had broken the rules. Could she break them now? Could she let Martha fight her battle alone?
“No.”
Charlotte frowned. “No?”
“No!” Kate shouted, looking past Charlotte. She pushed away from the light pole and ran after the group. “Martha! Martha, wait!”
Martha stopped and turned with Ted still attached to her arm. Kate gasped for air. Ted puffed on his cigarette and the end burned like fire.
“Martha, you can’t go,” Kate said.
Martha laughed but she looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
Kate grabbed hold of Martha’s arm and pulled her away from Ted. She dragged Martha beside the Tilt-A-Whirl and shook her head. “You can’t go to the Pointe. Just go home or anywhere else, but don’t go to the Pointe and don’t go with Ted.”
“Why not?” Her eyes narrowed. “Do you have a thing for Ted now? Geoffrey not enough?”
“What? No,” Kate said, shaking her head. “You just can’t go up there with him. Things happen up there.”
Martha pried Kate’s fingers off her forearm and smashed the bear beneath one arm. “Things happen? That’s what I’m hoping. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to continue my good night.” Martha stalked off.
Kate rushed after her and latched onto Martha’s arm, spinning her around. Martha stumbled sideways. The bear fell to the ground.
“Martha, you can’t. Listen to me.”
Martha’s face leveled with Kate’s. Her breath smelled sour like rotting teeth and whiskey. “What is your problem? Let go of me.”
Kate imagined hands shoving her against the car seat. She felt the sharp sting of a burning cigarette against her collarbone. “No!” Kate shouted. “I had a premonition, and Ted is going to do something awful if you go up there tonight.”
Martha’s mouth dropped open, revealing her lipstick-stained teeth. Then she started laughing, releasing the cold sound into the night. “A premonition? You are crazy.” She scoffed. “Listen, witch, I don’t believe in your hocus pocus, and I don’t care what you say.” Martha shook her head and curled her lip at Kate.
Desperation caused Kate to blurt, “I know you steal your daddy’s whiskey and hide it beneath your bed.”
Martha gasped so loudly that several passersby stopped to look at them. Martha staggered sideways, staring at Kate with wild eyes. “How would you know that?” she whispered.
“I know
things, Martha. Please listen to me.”
Martha shook her head. She leaned down, grabbed the dirty bear, and pressed it against her chest. “You are a witch.” She turned and hurried away.
Panic rose in Kate’s chest. She had to stop Martha. She couldn’t let someone be abused like that. Geoffrey. Kate ran to the Scrambler. She arrived just as Geoffrey, Matthias, and Mikey exited the ride. Their steps were unsteady, but their smiles were wide.
“God, that thing scrambles my brain,” Geoffrey joked.
She ran to him. “Geoffrey, I need to talk to you.” She couldn’t hide the desperation from her voice.
Matthias stepped up beside her. “Everything okay?”
Kate looked up at him. His pale eyes focused on her, and she couldn’t look away. “Charlotte wants you to meet her at her car. Everyone is going to Look-Off Pointe.”
Mikey grinned. “Sounds like Ted’s idea.”
Kate nodded. “She’s parked in the south parking lot near the main entrance. They’re waiting on both of you.” It was a lie, of course, but Kate knew that Matthias and Mikey could still catch Charlotte before she left.
“And you two?” Matthias asked, not breaking eye contact with Kate.
Geoffrey slipped his arm around Kate’s shoulders. “We’ll be along. You two go on.”
Mikey nodded and walked off, but Matthias hesitated.
“Go on, Matt. We’ll be right behind you,” Geoffrey assured his brother.
Matthias looked as though he wanted to argue, but he didn’t. He nodded and walked away. Once Mikey and Matthias disappeared into the crowd, Kate shrugged out from beneath Geoffrey’s arm and looked at him. She grabbed both of his hands.
“Geoffrey, you’ve got to do something. Martha is going up to Look-Off Pointe with Ted. You can’t let her go with him.”
Geoffrey’s brow furrowed and then he chuckled. “Because he’s big and smelly?”
She squeezed his fingers. “I’m serious. He’s…he’s going to hurt her.”
Geoffrey straightened to his full height, squared his shoulders. “Why would you say that?”
“Because I know. You have to trust me. I wouldn’t make this up.”
Geoffrey pulled out of her grasp and shoved one hand through his messy, dark hair. “I don’t know what you’re saying. Ted wouldn’t hurt Martha. He’s an oaf, but he’s not like that.”
Kate’s stomach twisted. Tell him the truth. “I know it’s going to sound crazy, but I know he’s going to try to hurt her. I saw it. She can’t go up there with him.”
Geoffrey took a step back. A kid tripped down the Scrambler’s exit stairs and stumbled to the nearest trash can where he retched. His friends gathered around, laughing and slapping his back as though he’d won a victory.
Geoffrey’s attention returned to Kate. “What do you mean, you saw it? You’re not making sense.”
Do it. Just tell him. She bounced on the balls of her feet.
“I–I have premonitions. I see the future. Sometimes what I see comes true, but not all the time. And I’ve been seeing this future in pieces for weeks now, and it’s awful and I just realized tonight that it’s Martha because of the red necklace that Ted won at the Milk Bottle Toss,” she babbled. “She’s wearing the necklace, and they’re going to Look-Off Pointe. It has to be Martha.”
Geoffrey held up his hands. “Whoa, whoa. What are you talking about? What do you mean premonitions?” He shook his head and stepped farther away from her. “You see the future? This isn’t making any sense. You…you sound crazy.”
Those three words were all it took to sever the last threads attaching Kate to her hope, to her heart. She broke apart like a seed pod. Kate pressed her hands to her chest. She had to hold the pieces of herself together. Tears welled in her eyes. When she spoke, her voice trembled.
“Geoffrey, you have to believe me. Please. I’m not crazy.”
Geoffrey shook his head. “I can’t deal with this right now. I can barely focus. Are you drunk?”
“No.”
Geoffrey exhaled. “Why don’t we ride up to Look-Off Pointe with everyone else? Have a little fun?”
“Geoffrey, please. I wouldn’t tell you this if it wasn’t important.”
“I don’t know what to say. It all sounds so–”
“Don’t say it,” Kate snapped. She trembled so hard that her teeth rattled together. “Don’t call me crazy.”
As a balloon vendor moseyed past them, every balloon in his cloud of helium colors popped, blanketing his head in flimsy plastic.
Geoffrey slid both hands through his hair and grabbed the back of his neck. His green eyes shone in the carnival lights. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I can’t do this right now. Let’s talk when you’re acting normal again.” He turned his back on her and walked away.
“Geoffrey…”
All the air whooshed from her lungs, and warm tears fell from her lashes onto her cheeks. But this is normal. The world around her slowed as though everyone moved through air thicker than molasses. Kate dropped her hands beside her. There was no use trying to hold herself together anymore. The crowd shifted to make room for Geoffrey, and Matthias’ face came into view. He looked from her to Geoffrey, and as his brother passed, Matthias grabbed Geoffrey’s arm. Kate couldn’t hear their conversation, but Geoffrey jerked out of Matthias’ grasp and stalked off. Matthias called Kate’s name and pushed through the crowd toward her, but she shook her head and ran.
COLORS AND FACES streamed by her face like ribbons of light. Tears streaked from her face, splashing into her hair, whipping through the air like a rainstorm. She ran past the Ferris wheel, the carousel, and the bumper cars. She ran until her chest burned. As she neared the exit, she saw her mama standing beneath the lit archway, wringing her hands together, scanning faces.
When she saw Kate, her mama’s eyes widened. She held out her arms, and Kate slammed into her with such force that her mama stumbled backward but still held on. She crushed her arms around Kate.
“Little Blackbird,” her mama said, pressing her close. Then she pulled away and cupped Kate’s face in her hands. “What’s wrong? Tell me. What happened?”
Kate squeezed her eyes together and choked on her heartache, on the disappointment. She leaned forward and pressed her forehead against her mama’s chest.
“Are you hurt?”
Kate swallowed. Only on the inside. She shook her head.
Her mama slipped her arm around Kate’s shoulders and turned her outward so they could walk side by side through the exit. “I told your dad that you were coming. He’s waiting for us in the car.”
Kate blinked up at her mama. More tears dripped from her dark lashes. Her bottom lip quivered. “How did you know I needed you?”
“Oh, baby,” she said without answering, “what have they done to you?”
Kate allowed herself to be bundled into the backseat as though she was a toddler. She didn’t want to cry in front of her parents, but too many emotions crowded inside her, and they leaked from every pore. She covered her face in her hands and crumpled forward.
The radio station stopped working. Someone turned off the static. A streetlight cracked and burst overhead and rained sparks onto the car as they passed by. Was this why it was forbidden to try and alter the truth? Did lives fall apart? Would no one believe the truth anyway?
When she felt them nearing the house, Kate stared out the window as her daddy pulled into the driveway. The silhouette of the magnolia tree down by the river loomed in the darkness. The tree reminded her of Geoffrey. She could almost imagine his thin form standing there, waiting for her. She saw the boulders where she’d sat with him, the reeds where they’d kissed for the first time. None of those moments would ever happen again. They’d never laugh and skip pebbles across the water. They’d never race to the top of the next hill. They’d never be so close that not even a sliver of pine straw could come between them.
Kate knew the fire in her spirit had been snuffed. She fel
t the hollow left behind, heard the rattle of her breaths. Her tears were dry, but her eyes burned. She climbed out of the car and dragged her feet to the front door. Once inside her room, she sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the window. She imagined Geoffrey on the other side, his crooked grin, his long fingers resting on the windowsill.
Raindrops splattered against the panes, light at first but soon pelting the house with fast rain moving in sheets blown in by easterly gusts of wind. Kate thought of all the people still enjoying the carnival, none of them suspecting a summer storm.
“Want to talk about it?” Her mama stood in the doorway with her black hair spilling over her shoulders. Her dark eyes studied Kate.
Kate wilted beneath her gaze. She sagged forward. “He didn’t want me.” The truth closed her throat and squeezed her chest so tight she could barely inhale. Hearing the words aloud brought another onslaught of tears. Not only did he not believe me or want me as I am, but he also thinks I’m crazy.
Her mama breezed in and sat beside her on the bed. “Who didn’t?”
Kate stared at the teardrops splashing into her hands. The wind howled. “Don’t be mad, okay?” She glanced up at her mama. Her expression was difficult to read. “Promise?”
“I can’t promise anything other than I’ll listen and I’ll try not to be mad. Now, who are we talking about?”
Kate sighed. To say anything about him now would mean she had to surrender the secret she’d been guarding from her parents. “Geoffrey Hamilton.” Even saying his name created an ache for him, a longing she couldn’t shove aside. Thunder rattled the books on Kate’s shelves.
“Based on your reaction, I’m going to assume that Geoffrey is more than your friend. Although I can’t imagine how since you’ve never once mentioned his name in any sort of serious conversation.”
Kate swallowed and closed her eyes. “I’ve lied. I’ve been seeing him all summer. In the park. We’ve been meeting there.”
She felt her mama stiffen beside her on the bed. Kate stood and walked to the window. When she turned, her mama’s hands were clenched in her lap, and her full lips were reduced to a thin slash.
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